FanFiction based on -Courage The Cowardly Dog- owned by John R. Dilworth / CN
Story written by MysticaL-AceR (AceOfSpeed94 on Deviantart)
RATED: T for Drama and Minor Violence.
Artwork Cover For this Fanfiction on my dA Link:
aceofspeed94/art/The-Courageous-Brigade-Road-To-Somewhere-Cover-821640565
The Courageous Brigade - Road To Somewhere
It seems that the world apocalypse has begun when another meteor has stricken upon Earth, almost half-size of the planet. However instead of making the globe rotating around the Sun in high speed 1000 years in the future after impact, it unleashed a tremendous shock-wave force annihilating almost everything within its path of meteor's range. After first wave of disaster, the huge meteor was shredded to pieces forming a shower rain of flaming tiny meteors all over the world.
Earth was burnt into crisp, but it pretty much shaken the rest of the population who may have survived after being knocked away from Sun's radius a little bit. Moment of silence has been settled down upon affected cities, villages, humanity and animal casualties. At least it didn't finished off the entire race of existence just like the dinosaurs.
In Nowhere (or so it was), only pile of crumbling down buildings were left, with broken down streets, smoke rising up polluting the air 24/7 as the sky was all red looking like blood and fire. The weather was most likely giving waves of sandstorms with thunders and lightnings, one after another. Buried vehicles and houses with skeletons under the sand and it became more of a post-apocalyptic wasteland since the incident. Whoever survived the catastrophe was very lucky, but unlikely to survive any longer. It would take a very long time as they live to sob on their lost beloved ones or their memories. Food and water has been running scarce, while gas and oil remained the precious resources to have ever owned. Some animals seemed to survive more than humans.
As we fast forward in time through sand storms and sudden weather changing conditions, the planet was recovering slowly as the remaining survivors were about to re-enter a new era of life in the post-apocalyptic environments. Where it used to be located the Bagge Farm, there was Courage who survived and awaken from under lairs of wooden planks. Crying the soul out of him and screaming from many miles away. For he had lost his owners Muriel and Eustace along with the farmhouse being destroyed once he finally woke up from the disaster. Lots of planks and house holdings were lying on the ground scattered everywhere. Only thing left that seemed to be intact on the surface was Eustace's truck cabin and a computer processor chip still in a good shape. Half of the vehicle was snapped in two with broken down engine and it became more of a rust bucket.
The windmill being destroyed as well, could trigger the Windmill Vandals to arrive anytime once more from the dead during night time only, but when the sun sets up, they vanish. Courage had to hide underground from them many nights straight since the basement of the farmhouse was also buried in sand. He was too weak as if a plague just hit him like a train, to reconstruct everything back to normal all by himself. Dizzy, unable to stand up as the pink hound was still limping after awakening, he was somehow still recovering.
Courage's attempts to find and recover his owners has been interrupted when a pack of vicious wardogs, some of them were riding motorcycles even, came on sight to attack him and scavenge the area for their delight. Courage had no power of standing up against the wild pack, as he was knocked out easily due to loss of his mind and will, leaving him with a scar on his left eye done by one of dog's claws. After being unconscious again for many hours, he woke up captured in an almost intact industrial building all tied up in chains against a wall. He had to meet face to face with no one other than... Mad Dog.
After screaming in terror, of course Courage would recognize him after that intense train crash, but seeing how M.D. survived as well after that collision and the apocalypse, it was never a good sign! A huge amount of cold fear was running down on Courage's spine after he saw most of M.D.'s face was disfigured and his muzzle was replaced with heavy metallic muzzle with razor-sharp fangs that could tear apart not only flesh and bones, but rough metal structures as well. Apparently he looked a lot more buffed up than his previous look and has spikey dog collars attached to his shoulders, most likely the dog was mutated from meteor's shock wave.
Inside Mad Dog's little hideout in the industrial area, were the most valuable objects that he could ever scavenge from Nowhere Ruins, such as diamonds, good amount of scrap, history relics and population belongings, among them including... Shirley's saxophone? That didn't sound good either when Courage noticed it too, but Mad Dog didn't bother to notice its magic abilities. M.D. just took out an old wedding picture of Muriel and Eustace out of his pocket, along with a much older picture of Courage's parents, to mock Courage around. Infuriating the pink hound by licking them with gross saliva! He noticed how they meant very much to Courage and therefor the heartless dog took the mementos with him to remind Courage who's in control of authority around here.
Mad Dog had dog camps with gangs controlling almost every part of Nowhere Ruins and reconstructed oil wells around nearby other destroyed cities, for profit and fuel for their bikes. The meteor must have brought to Earth a huge amount of resources to be harvested by the luckiest survivor to lay its hands on. His main objective was still unchanged and determined to find Bunny if she was okay after the disaster and eliminate Kitty if she survived. Some things never change.
But Mad Dog wasn't standing around too long facing his well-deserved revenge on Courage since he helped Bunny escape, just thinking about that he smacked down Courage's face a few times leaving him ugly and painful bruises enough for Courage to start growling in fury. Instead, Mad Dog was packing up everything (his gold and other valuable stuff he had scavenged) to hit the road far away on finding Bunny himself since he wasn't too very fond of his gang on succeeding his objective. With that occasion he would return to his real "citadel" set up specially for both him and Bunny, over where Washington D.C. used to be. And that would be the exact location where the huge meteor just hit.
Metal-fanged dog thought that if he would be able to gain all the wealth of the world that has been left after the apocalypse and earn respect from the survivors he had enslaved (which is unlikely), he would triumph over Bunny's heart and rule over the wastelands, even if Bunny didn't liked it. And if she didn't survived, Mad Dog would still kill whoever opposes his canine dominance he had proved to survive through years of saving dogs alike him to join his side. Since he had all the resources and factories he had stocked overtime. If Kitty was dead by now, he would consider it already mission accomplished but he would have to make sure still.
Now that he had full control over the most entire country, he would travel to check if everything is under control. Therefor his guards took Courage out from the chains and locked him up in a cell to rot for all eternity. Surprisingly his cellmate was the Hunchback. Could this be the only "human" who survived?
After a chit chat they had together, they came up with a plan of escape and they eventually busted out of the building with diversion. As M.D. gang were chasing after them, they didn't took notice of sniper dogs patrolling the area outside as well but luckily they had bad aim. The wardogs were armed with weapons stolen from abandoned military bases. Courage and Hunchback evaded with minor bruises and bullet scratches losing the tail of its chasers. Mad Dog took no effort on himself recovering his lost prisoners, for he was too busy and ready to go with his monstrosity of a vehicle built by his mechanic who was forced to work for him, Charlie the Mouse a.k.a (the big rodent who punched Le Quack in the face for stinky cheese years ago) He didn't appreciate Mad Dog's company but rather being turned into cat food, he had to obey.
The dog's "chariot" was a mixture of his broken down pink lowrider with Di Lung's red corvette and its wheels were replaced with huge tank tracks stolen from what it used to be out of Dr. Zalost's Tower ruins. Mounted with a tank mortar on the top of the machine too followed by two trailers with goods. On each side of the vehicle were mounted machine guns hidden inside doggy houses mounted on tracks supports. The mechanical legs were rumored to be scavenged by a rival gang faction trying to stand up against M.D. And that's where Katz and his cat followers came in to split territories, during when Courage and other survivors were yet to be awaken. Mad Dog and Katz never came to an agreement to join together which is a relief for Courage.
However he was wondering what if the rest of villains he had faced before or allies he had, would survive as well ? Not only around Nowhere Ruins, but the whole world ? The courageous hound was left in disgust and fully with vengeance to take out M.D. and recover the mementos of his owners and parents he had ever witnessed to be intact. Of course fear was still getting the best of Courage about future consequences, but we all know that he would do everything to keep his friends close, punish the evil, and recover what he had lost overtime... his sanity.
Somehow the mark of his beloved owners being gone changed radically Courage's behavior, even though he wishes not to rely on violence, but when he takes it too long to stand up against any foe he may face, he loses it completely unleashing blood rage in his eyes. And it only depends on him for self-control. Courage would often blame himself for not awakening in time after the impact, to check on Muriel and Eustace. He would worry about Katz later after Mad Dog is finished again this time, once and for all.
As Courage and Hunchback were now been left in peace, walking through miles of occupied dog gang camps along the way in which they avoided. Nowhere Ruins seemed to be more populated in vicious K-9s and ravaging cats making the land less empty than how it originally was. They knew Nowhere like the palm of their hands (and paws), they have stumbled across what was left of County Fair. Courage immediately noticed and found hay-body parts of his old fellow the Scarecrow scattered all over.
He, together with Hunchback was able to put him back together with tools they found on sand covered booths. They were lucky that not everything were been taken away by M.D.'s patrolling gangs. The Scarecrow now fully repaired and recovered couldn't believe his eye buttons to see his old friend Courage again alive and somehow well. After they introduced themselves to Hunchback, Scarecrow learned from Courage that the woman who actually took her willing and kind heart (Muriel) of repairing him in the first time around and he attempted to protect her, was no more.
Therefor the Scarecrow decided to join them, for he didn't had anymore purpose to be left behind in an abandoned County Fair and exposed. And he would be pleased to help Courage find his owners within the range of destroyed Bagge Farm. But their journey back to the farm wasn't so easy, for all they had to do was to hide from the occasional dog patrols passing by. Scarecrow was ready to get on his Commando side of being overprotective of his friends as he still had that instinct, but it was best to not risk of being chewed to pieces by dogs yet, suggested by Courage. Cause the pink hound had a lot worse than he could ever imagine, judging by his eye-scar and bruises all over his body.
Once the trio arrived at the farm ruins, Courage once again began to shed tears as he, Hunchback and Scarecrow have began searching yet with no prevail, as if they have like been vanished off the face of Earth! Just like the rest of the humanity left. Upon the sandy roads were nothing but skeletons, dead plants, car wreckage and torn off buildings. What else could be standing up after the apocalypse ? Hunchback was searching around where the barn was located and yet he found a little bell he used to play with Courage back in the day and kept it, cause all of his bells were stolen by wardogs. No such thing as maximum wealth could ever win Bunny's heart as Mad Dog would think.
Suddenly Courage found the computer processor out of his old technological sarcastic friend that helped him many times, including when the Computer taught Courage how to speak English. And he kept it hopefully he would be able to repair it, but the monitor, keyboard and scanner were destroyed in tiny pieces. The only way he would revive his computer, was if he had to connect the processor into a different intact computer or other operating machine. Things that were very doubtful to find.
Without any luck of finding Courage's owners, the trio gave up believing it was all hopeless and would waste up even more energy out of their bodies. Luckily Scarecrow was made out of hay, he didn't sweat, needed to drink or eat. He was exactly like Computer. Proof that he was once alive again after putting back together confirms that. Hunchback on the other hand, was as old as he ever was, and needed to lean to his stick for stability he found randomly and strapped his bell to it, but he could still walk and run, due to its optimistic behavior he wouldn't let oldness get the best of him. He didn't even wanted to think about food or water for he was used to live like a hobo on the streets before.
On any worse scenario he would feel like steal everything from dog camps they seek. Since the camps were filled mostly with dog food and water, it would be a great chance to sneak upon them one by one taking down the camps along the way to chase after Mad Dog. Sending the vicious dog a message at least. Any sign of food they would find, would be truly welcomed.
Suddenly Courage remembered that if they cannot find his owners, somebody with mystic readings would definitely be useful at this moment. Shirley the Medium... Oh but he only hoped she was okay too. Without further delay, the trio went towards Shirley's wagon. Far away in the outskirts of Nowhere Ruins, Courage, Hunchback and Scarecrow didn't even made it halfway towards the wagon and they stood in shock to see the horrific scene up ahead.
The wagon was also completely destroyed. Just like the farmhouse. Plenty of planks around everywhere, the firepit was no more and lots of rocks and boulders were scattered around. Only a pair of wagon wheels were to be seen intact on the horizon buried in sand. Shards of crystal ball glass were sparkling the entire land. But no sign of Shirley. Until later after searching the area more, Courage noticed a piece of purple cape fabric stuck next to a boulder not far from where the wagon was.
The team rushed towards it and moved the heavy boulder together out of the away, only to finally find the medium laying on the ground still unconscious with lots of damage cuts around her fur skin, clothes, dry blood stains on her mouth and forehead. Scarecrow picked her up close to him, relived to hear that she was still breathing assuring Courage that she'll be fine. But the hound expected the worse. Presuming she was still knocked out and resting, the team had to find blankets and place her on them until she was able to wake up.
Not a moment too soon, the pursuers from the abandoned hideout caught up with them. Therefor another brawl was engaged. The enraged dogs got a taste of their own medicine when Scarecrow stole their bike as soon they parked and attacked. He was running them all over with the bike around the area knowing the shards may pop out the bike's tires. Even though the wardogs were able to dodge his roadkill attempts, that didn't worked out when Hunchback and Courage were able distract them away from Shirley and Scarecrow, giving Scarecrow the final blows. M.D.'s dogs may seem ruthless and evil, but their brains still remained dumb as harmless puppies, once their bike got their tires flat out from crystal ball shards as they tried to run away with it.
Once the coast was clear again, eventually Shirley woke up. In which she originally thought that nobody would ever survive, even herself to be given a chance of second life. The first thing Shirley seen with her eyes open was Courage's face towards her.
Hunchback and Scarecrow were amazed she survived as well! Not everything it seemed to be all hopeless after all but Courage had the urge of still fighting back and restore peace even when it seemed to be the end of the world as they knew. If Mad Dog succeeded in making his own dog empire, they would do the same of breaking down his control and power. Once Shirley began to speak in a very weak voice after awakening and coughing, she revealed afterwards that she wanted to warn everybody about the upcoming apocalypse but nobody believed her.
She foreseen it coming it sooner. But she didn't knew exactly when and how, as her future reading concentration suddenly interrupted when her crystal ball was turning very hot with red boiling steam inside but it didn't blew up, and it resulted her a major headache knocking herself cold, when the disaster already occurred. It was too late. All she could remember were the emblems shown on the crystal ball before the danger happened. A skull shaped rock, bloody fangs and bones, and a white human hand. (The meteor... evil's rule and downfall... and hope.)
Courage understood the medium that it wasn't her fault at all and she shouldn't blame herself. Nobody would have anything to do about it to prevent it, yet Shirley was very glad to see again the sunlight again, despite that there were lots of smoke clouds covering the sky. After Courage introduced his friends to Shirley, sadness washed over her eyes when her home was gone too. Trying to hold up her tears, she felt emptiness from within her robes. Her saxophone was stolen. Everything precious she ever held up inside the wagon were scavenged by the pack of wild dogs. And her crystal ball was smashed to pieces along with its replacements too. Surprisingly Mad Dog's gang didn't had noticed her large golden earring she was still wearing, while she was laying on the ground on her right side, otherwise it would've been a nasty and painful result! But why didn't they saved her too while scavenging, since she was a dog as well? Assuming she was in a "dead state" they left her rot behind the boulder.
After hearing from Courage that her saxophone was taken away by Mad Dog, it wasn't the real time to get upset knowing her behavior of cursing everyone who messed with her or her stuff would solve anything. This was the end after all. Courage suggested Shirley to come along with them back at the farm hopefully to be safe, but she refused and wanted to be alone with hopeless thoughts at first. However the trio, especially Courage convinced her to remain positive assuring that they'll restore everything (if not all) back together. The fact that she lives again for a reason just like the trio, is a sign that even in the end there is still hope. And with hopes up that her mystic readings of finding lost objects at least were still working would be an advantage to save more lives. Even without the crystal ball, she could tell from inner medium instincts but with very low precision without the ball's accuracy.
And it'll take a very long time before she regains fully her consciousness, to recover the ability again to talk with the dead. Shirley dropped her flags down that she would do everything for free now, just to see peace restored once again, or at least how it was before, for it was pointless to charge fees on poor survivors remaining. Only Mad Dog's gang of wardogs would do now such a thing to spare lives of the remaining lost survivors. Animals or humans, it didn't matter. The medium however swore in her mind, that if she ever gets her hands back on her instrument, she will lay the most horrific curse or spell upon that K-9 monster, for all the damage he had tormented many survivor souls, she never thought she'd use, that is if he will live to see it.
Despite the injuries, Shirley indeed helped out the trio finding Muriel and Eustace back at the farm. The poor dog Courage couldn't open his eyes when Hunchback and Scarecrow dragged the skeletons still wearing glasses out of the sand and dirt. It was best for him to not look at all, otherwise he will be left into even more depression forever wishing he would die as well with them. Shirley seen the affection on the dog's eyes, therefor she grabbed Courage in for a hug just so he won't be able to see his owners's bones to collapse into dust. He didn't deserve to see that while he cried a waterfall down from under his eyes. The medium gave Hunchback and Scarecrow an eye sign to quickly create graves for them, before poor Courage would open his eyes again. The funeral went calm while Scarecrow was standing in his Commando suit looking out after possibly incoming intruders. Hunchback, Shirley and Courage mourned for the old Bagge couple resting now in peace.
Scarecrow and Courage were very fond of Muriel and even though Eustace was more of a trouble maker towards them, they accepted the fact that this wasn't deserved at all. There are many ways of punishing a soul for wrong doings, but not this disaster. No matter how much a human can be so cruel one another, an apocalypse affecting almost majority of innocent lives was too much to bear. And torturing in the post-apocalyptic world like Mad Dog would do just to get his love back, would have tragic consequences. If he was smart enough to figure it out that maybe one day an uprising would start over Nowhere Ruins, he would better give up or come to an agreement. Yet none of those were in dog's mind, as the disaster apparently blinded his consciousness.
After the funeral, they all had one purpose. Chasing down Mad Dog to the ends of Earth if they had to, and any villain who stood in their way would think to take control over the lands. Taking down enemy territories and camps for the remaining survivors to occupy providing food and scrap, restoring peace, recover their stolen goods and scavenge for food, gas, water and any useful items to keep them going and live. And for that, they needed a vehicle. Courage and Scarecrow suggested themselves that they could use Eustace's truck cabin and build up like a van from the remaining wooden planks scattered across the farm land.
Shirley reminded them about her wagon wheels still intact and gave them an okay sign to take those and whatever they could find from her land as well. After Courage and Scarecrow left the farm, Hunchback felt the horror after seeing another group of vicious dogs coming after him and Shirley. And the night came upon again with red sky. That could've only mean one thing. Two troubles in one in fact. Mad Dog's gang and Windmill Vandals. They had no idea obvious about the vandals for all they could do is hide inside Eustace's truck cabin. While both dogs and the vandals were duking in it out, Courage and Scarecrow better make it faster before anything goes south from here.
In the meantime, Scarecrow was caring the wagon wheels, some towels and pieces of heavy scrap metal, while Courage was holding up piles of wooden wagon planks and blankets, unaware about the danger was going on in the farm. Courage still broken himself inside of what happened despite his weak condition, he was very determined to not give up. Suddenly an idea stroke upon Scarecrow, if they could fuse Eustace's half truck with what it used to look like Shirley's wagon back in the day. Courage knew every detail of the wagon since he often visited Shirley for help. That would give Scarecrow the layout idea of the entire vehicle structure. No stable home where they could live in peace, they had to make a mobile home. And Scarecrow was an excellent mechanic, given that he drove the combine harvester with razor-sharp blades he built and used to chase down Courage in the cornfield to protect Muriel. They put every resource they could find in huge bags to carry but it was very far away from the farm. As they were thinking how they could get there faster, they were ambushed by a different gang.
They weren't dogs. But they seem to purr a lot either from their four-wheeled scrap-welded car or their muzzles which stopped in front of them. Katz's gang of cats had to show up in a time like this, as they were armed ready with most horrific insects iconic to Katz, huge spiders and venomous scorpions were a bonus... leading Courage to scream with his generic fright mood. Unlike Mad Dog's faction of dog bikers, the cats preferred ordinary vehicles for extra armor than bikes for protection, and keeping the ammunition of insects stored in their trunk if needed.
Before they could even make a move upon Courage and Scarecrow they all immediately were been startled by a heavy and loud growl coming out of where the cats came from. The felines were obviously been chased by a huge monster leaving gigantic footprints they have often come across their land. Therefor the cats drove off knowing the creature would turn their vehicle upside down or crushing them like pancakes in no time, ignoring Courage and Scarecrow leaving them two awaiting their doom. They braced themselves until Courage noticed that the huge creature who stepped out of the darkness that was showing in the horizon, was actually Bigfoot! He scared off the cats and the chase stopped when the monster soon realized what he was seeing. Both Courage and Bigfoot began to hop in happiness and hugged each other to see themselves reunited again after a very long time, and he survived the apocalypse as well!
The Scarecrow remained confused as he took position of defending himself and Courage, ready to attack Bigfoot with a crowbar he had in hand, but very soon he dropped it. Courage convinced Bigfoot that it was okay to not hurt Scarecrow. Bigfoot was very loyal of his friend as much as Scarecrow was. While unable to speak he at least understood whatever Courage was speaking. Bigfoot often called out "Mommy!" looking for her adoptive owner apparently missing as well. Courage assumed the worst that he could be in the same situation as his own owners were, but he never told about his tragedy just yet.
Suddenly Courage's moment of happiness has been ended when he absolutely forgot that its night-time already and he remembered that the windmill was gone! His entire body was shaking and his head tingling as if something bad was happening. Hunchback and Shirley were in danger and they left them with the Vandals! Without further delay he requested Bigfoot's help of carrying the stuff he collected together with Scarecrow and hurry up back towards the farm. Knowing how Bigfoot was big and had enough big strength of carrying an entire bus (not as powerful to carry M.D.'s chariot but still), he gladly accepted rather than running around getting lost again. He would eventually return back in search of his Mommy later or sometime again, but now it begins the rushy hour. It was hard to convince him with Scarecrow around but time was ticking.
Back at the farm, Shirley and Hunchback watched, while hiding themselves inside Eustace's truck cabin as Mad Dog's gang of dogs were been decapitated one by one. They stood no chance against the vandals. The black energy formed from the vandals was easily sensed by Shirley as she was trying to make sense of all this madness. Something she never felt before. The Vandals were still running around in circles where the windmill used to be located. And then Hunchback noticed bits of the windmill blades buried within the sand. He came with a conclusion of repairing the windmill, believing that's what the vandals wanted, but Shirley knew that would be a death wish stepping out in the battle field with the vandals around. She relied perhaps on daylight waiting for them to disappear again, however horror just stricken upon the vehicle occupants, catching them by surprise. The Vandals sensed Shirley's ability to read their supernatural energy as they followed towards Eustace's cabin.
With a "Uh oh..." they gone out of the vehicle before many attacks from melee weapons cut through the truck, as they started to run from vandal's decapitating attempts. Running through pile of dead dogs, was exhausting. Hunchback being very old he had to stop to catch a breather, but Shirley wasn't going to let him die by those horse-riding bone ghosts. Normally she would take out her saxophone or anything she owned using spells but without them, she had to rely on whatever he could grab from the ground and luck. Tossing random objects over at vandals got their attention distracted from Hunchback. It was her chance to test out her defending and agility skills, instead of relying much on magic. Something that was quite unusual.
Now the vandals were onto Shirley, but just as the first swing of axe was about to slice her neck off, the vandal's arm was suddenly grabbed by Bigfoot's mouth unable to swing anymore. Courage was back just in time along with Scarecrow to see the death party going on. Bigfoot did his best to save Shirley in time, with full force he ripped off the vandal's bone arm holding the axe, leaving the vandal armless. Bigfoot now in full rage mode tried to take all 4 vandals by himself while he tossed the axe in the air only to be grabbed by Shirley to defend herself. Bigfoot was even strong enough to pull out a vandal's horse to a stop, jumping on top of one of the vandal's head and grabbed it with its teeth ripping off its skeleton shoulders. There was no way for this big guy to calm down once everything he saw was red while in rage mode.
Courage, Scarecrow and Hunchback taking advantage of the chaos, went up and fixed the windmill immediately before their friends were in further more danger. Knowing how everyone of them were in very weak state, it was a miracle that their actions haven't flawed in the slightest. What determined Bigfoot to jump onto a death trap to save his friends, was obvious that Courage told him a lot about them, while attempting to reach back at the farm. The vandals were vanished as the windmill started to turn again, but its power source plug was connected to nothing yet since the house was destroyed. At least the propeller kept running giving the entire team, time to breathe in relief of their victory. The medium thanked Bigfoot for saving her.
Without wasting much time, it begins the construction of the vehicle after placing all parts together by the brigade. Eustace's cabin was reworked a bit now with a spiky bumper in case they run into road killing enemies head-on, only one headlight was working but it was more than enough to light up the road ahead. The wagon itself was a bit smaller than how originally it was but it was fitting at the back of the truck's cabin forming up like a van than a pick-up truck. A little stove was built inside the van along with a telescope mounted so that anyone could see through it in the distance. They redesigned the entire vehicle a bit so that everyone could live in. It was no longer Shirley's only property now as they were free to do whatever they desired within the van during the journey. With the exception of samba dancing that left Bigfoot in disappointment. His huge feet could leave permanent footprint marks on the ground.
It was clear that he might damage the van floor with his walking or dancing. Therefor he had to get used with sneak in tip-toes. And his appetite for food grew stronger than ever, however during these times, he was struggling to not eat absolutely everything since it was critical and essential for his friends to live as well besides him. Hunchback was playing with his bell-cane in enjoyment of seeing the situation all settled down for now. Before everyone was set up to start their adventure of liberating Nowhere Ruins of Mad Dog's control, Courage remembered the computer processor chip he had it once within his computer in the attic. He asked Scarecrow if he could do something about it, but since Scarecrow was more of a mechanic and not an IT Technician, he couldn't let the poor dog's face all in sorrow. So he found out to introduced it within the truck's dashboard where Eustace's "stupid radio" was. Along with a phone screen found randomly and changed buttons hoping to somehow start it.
After hours of attempts to reawaken the computer, Courage had doubts that this will work out, but when he started the now functioning truck engine, the computer panel's screen also started up with the same green color the computer usualy had, leaving Courage stunned by this nearly-impossible event. Computer's voice started to talk with the same sarcastic voice wondering what happened after a long time of silence. Courage was more than happy he could jump through the cabin's roof if he liked, yet he sustained himself from doing so hearing his beloved computer alive again. The Computer felt really different as now a new source of energy was overflowing his circuits.
The truck battery all charged up from windmill's power and gas stolen from taken down dog camps done by Scarecrow and Hunchback in a stealth way, have gave it enough juice to react again in front of Courage now sitting at the driver's seat while Shirley next to him. "How pathetic..." was Computer's response. But one way or another, he had to get used to it from now on. The brigade washed themselves up from dust with water stolen as well, and taking care of their wounds with towels or bandages found from the farm and wagon before entering the vehicle.
Since there was no internet anymore, while very low frequency signals started to rework again after years of no signal at all around the world triggered by Mad Dog's camps, computer's processor unleashed its little wires to control over the truck by accessing better its functionalities. Therefor he became the "K.I.T.T." of Nowhere. However he would have to limit himself for now from excessive use of energy, since they were in the middle of wasteland. And finding better energy sources left was going to be a challenge for the brigade. All computer could ever provide was the situation awareness around the location they were currently been located. Luckily he would track down the roads the truck has ever been, preventing the brigade from getting lost. Providing up a history map after discovering new locations built up after the apocalypse, as they drove now out of the farm's range.
Still his grumpy personality remains intact. They didn't even cared anymore if the windmill will ever stop again, since they won't be going back anytime sooner or later for it was too dangerous, at least for now. It was extremely hard for Courage to leave the home he grown up so many years, but instead of wasting time to repair everything back up only to be ambushed again by Mad Dog patrols or Katz's felines, they had to make sure nothing will be left for them to steal. It was a battle between dogs and cats over the wasteland. One can assume if the brigade will ever bump into a different territory ruled by an ally or a different villain as they move on. However Courage still had in mind to repair the farm once everything is absolutely settled up over the wasteland with the occasion of revisiting his owners's graves.
And thus, Courage was no longer alone. Despite his weak state but slowly recovering, even when everything seemed to be dead as hostiles were all over parts of the world fighting for survival, and poor survivors wandering around were fighting their own fear of not being attacked or killed by hostiles, it was up for the brigade to put an end to this atrocity. There can be arguments between Courage's allies or bounding telling each others about their past life, to somehow get along even more for it was wise to not let the depression get the best of them.
What were they going to do once everything is settled up, it was up to Courage and his friends to decide their own endeavors. This could've mean the whole new meaning of having 'courage'. Not cowardly stupid, but cowardly brave. Even when horror strikes upon them again, the apocalypse may bring up new supernatural forces or enemies leading Courage to scream in his generic voice like always. They were going to be prepared to fight and protect each other. No matter even if their inner past moments or present events could affected them somehow.
But for now, Mad Dog was on their list. The courageous brigade would not rest in peace ever, until they see Mad Dog's demise permanently as a priority. They would however clear out Nowhere Ruins of remaining hostiles so they have picked up every weapon they could find on the road or taken down camps, from melee types (especially Eustace's mallet) to broken down rusty rifles. Not intentionally directed to enemies but to scare them off at least. If anything was about to go very extreme for the brigade, they would have no choice but to use their equipment wisely. Considering how some military bases were wrecked also, M.D.s dogs obviously had to pick them up, when their jaws weren't enough to chew on whoever they jumped on.
Whatever happened to Bunny and Kitty had to be also Courage's concern. Wherever Mad Dog thinks he would find Bunny, that's where the brigade would have to follow as well, to reassure Bunny and Kitty's trust on dogs back. And not the ones of the Mad Dog liking. As for Katz's gang, they would most likely attack by surprise when you're least expected as they prefer stealth than rampaging like berserk wardogs. Wherever Katz lived after the disaster remains a mystery since his motel and kandy store were gone too, as the only option would be underground tunnels... like buzzards.
THE END.. of plot summary.
Author's Note: As much as i suck at writing stories sometimes, as i'm not a writer myself most of the time, i hope this doesn't seem very off by details and you could at least get the point of idea. Sorry ^^; Because i am occupied in real life I don't think i'll ever expand this fanfiction in chapters to write down, as this was a one-shot idea i had time to write down after i drawn my artwork, but i do encourage the best writers out there who are also deep Courage fans to expand my idea with my permission of course, if what i had in mind here seems appealing.
I'll leave it in progress, in case if people decides me to continue it instead when nobody feels like doing it for me, but it'll take me a very loooong time to organize every dialogue between characters and events step by step, unlike this summary i did.
I would consider this a wild story ride i have written in a very long time, ever since i got hooked up with Courage the Cowardly Dog community fanbase recently. I hope this wasn't a waste of time writing as it took me few weeks to form up the plot behind the deviation. The whole story was more inspired off of Mad-Max, particularly Fury Road movie and the game from 2015. You guys should definitely try them! Because the setup in a wasteland of nothingness was fitting with the events of Nowhere.
Thanks for reading and any feedback are welcomed!