"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Courage screamed and dashed out the door once Eustace had frightened him with the same mask he'd always use.

While outside, Courage gasped for breath as he tried to recover from his fright. After a bit, he calmed down.

"How sad."

Courage's ears perked up. He looked around. In the distance he saw a shadow. The person approached him, revealing to be a female duck with white feathers, blue eyes, short purple hair, purple feet, and wore a pearl necklace.

Courage didn't scream again. He just stared at the duck with confusion. Who was she? What was she doing here?

"Hello," she said, rather depressingly. "What a lovely home you have. You must have a lovely family."

Courage was confused more. He tilted his head as he continued to stare at her. Courage was confused by not only her depressed face and tone, but also why she was just complimenting him when he just met her.

"Who are you?" Courage asked.

"Audrey," she answered, holding her wing out for a handshake, despite the fact she still held an depressed face.

"Well, I'm Courage," Courage introduced himself to the duck, shaking her wing awkwardly.

"Lovely name," she said rather depressingly again.

Courage was about to say something when he saw his owner Muriel walking outside just in time to see him and Audrey. She gave a warm smile once she saw Audrey.

"Why, Courage, you've made a new friend," she said while looking at Audrey and moving aside to show her the doorway, "Come on in. Any friend of Courage's is welcome."

"So sweet, I like the offer," Audrey said, even though she still looked more depressed than thrilled. She followed Muriel into the house, with Courage coming in behind her as well.

'She doesn't seem to be too dangerous, though I should keep an eye on her just in case,' Courage thought to himself as he followed Audrey and Muriel into the kitchen.

They were sitting at the table, where Audrey was taking a sip of the tea Muriel prepared for her. Eustace was also at the table, reading his newspaper and not even batting an eye at Audrey.

"Oh, dear, you look like you're sad," Muriel said with concern before asking, "Why's the long face?"

"Oh, I've been like this for five years," Audrey said. She looked like she was about to burst into tears, much to Muriel and, even Courage's, concern.

"Oh, poor thing," Muriel said sympathetically before asking, "Do you mind asking about it? You don't have to if you don't want to. It's fine by us."

"Sure, even though it's sad, I like sharing my feelings with others," Audrey said, "My name is Audrey Pond, and I come from the forest. I had a very good friend who grew up with me. Melissa."

Audrey took out a photo and showed it to Muriel. Muriel looked at the photo. It was of a tall cat with blue eyes with yellow fur and green stripes and tips on her ears and tail.

"She looks lovely," Muriel told Audrey before handing the photo back to her, "What happened to her, dear?"

"It happened five years ago," Audrey said, trying to contain herself from bursting into tears as she explained, "We were walking down the path when we met some snake. Melissa spent a lot of time with him. I noticed something was wrong when I saw bruises on her arms. I realized the snake was badly abusing her and was trying to force her to be his slave. When he found out I was trying to get Melissa to run away...he threatened my life."

"I'm really sorry about what happened," Muriel said, feeling sympathetic. Even Courage felt bad for Audrey. It reminded him of how Kitty felt when Bunny was being abused by Mad Dog. He was glad that at least Audrey was being kind to him and didn't try to attack him like Kitty had did.

"Ever since then, I ran away and started wandering off to places, having a fear that I might not ever see Melissa again," Audrey finished her story to Muriel. Tears were already pouring down her cheeks. She shut her eyes as more tears poured down.

Muriel, feeling sympathetic, walked over and had allowed Audrey to hug her. Audrey sniffled as she cried more into Muriel's apron. Muriel patted her back as she did.

Courage watched his owner being hugged by the depressed sobbing duck. He needed to do something quick. He continued to watch as Muriel led Audrey to the living room. He had saved Melinda's life before, now he needed to save Melissa's.

Audrey stared at the photo of her best friend. Muriel was kind enough to let her stay at the farmhouse and let her sleep in the guestroom.

She stared at the photo until she heard someone knocking on her door. "Come in!" she called out.

The door opened and it was Courage. Courage walked over and sat next to Audrey on the bed. "Hey, Audrey," he said with a warm smile.

"Hey, Courage," Audrey said, still sad from earlier, "What do you want?"

"I feel bad for you, Audrey," Courage said, "So, I'm gonna try to break Melissa out."

Audrey grew surprised at Courage's words. "You're kidding, right?" she asked, "You can't really be serious."

"I am," Courage said and added, "I may be a cowardly dog, but I'm also a brave dog. Plus, this isn't the first time I've planned a rescue mission and saved someone's life."

"Well, how are you planning on saving Melissa?" Audrey asked.

"Well, I can't plan a rescue if I don't know where it will be at," Courage said, "And since you know the snake and tried to get Melissa to run away, I thought you might know where the snake is or where he's holding Melissa."

"Well, no doubt that I know where the location is, but are you sure you can save Melissa on your own?" Audrey said, her tone turning into a questioning one at the end of her sentence.

"Who said I was going to save her alone?" Courage asked with a grin.

Audrey blinked a couple of times before sighing. "Well, here's the map to his castle," she said, pulling out a map and handing it to Courage, "If you wanna rescue Melissa, you must know the outsides and insides of the castle first. The snake has guards so it won't be easy."

"Thanks, Audrey," Courage said, taking the map and heading to the door before saying, "Audrey, I'll save Melissa. I promise."

Audrey watched as Courage closed the door. She still had her frown, and hoped that Courage would come back to the farmhouse with Melissa in one piece. Meanwhile, Courage headed downstairs and picked up the telephone. He was going to need his friends' help again.

So before I start an Melinda x Cajun Fox fanfic, I wanted to introduce two more characters that had Courage had met that would appear in the future fanfic as well as recurring characters. You already met Audrey, you'll meet Melissa very soon.