Spells and Louds
Chapter 62: Courageously Cowardly part 1
(Royal Woods High School)
The final bell of the last school day of the week has rung and all of the teens can finally head home or the mall and do their own teenager thing.
In the hallways Leni, Luna and Sunset spot Lori putting her things away.
"Hey Lori" greeted Leni. "Hey guys" replied Lori.
"Got any plans this Saturday?" asked Sunset.
"Well, I think it's best to finally tell you guys, but mom got a lottery ticket and she won five hundred thousand dollars!" said Lori.
"Whoa!" they respond in shock.
"I know right! That's how we responded when mom told us, though dad passed out" replied Lori.
"So, what are you guys gonna do with the extra-large cash?" asked Luna.
"Well, after dad regained consciousness, we told him and he said that he was gonna rent us a boat so we can spend a lovely vacation out at Lake Eddy" replied Lori.
"Awesome" said Luna. "Good for you guys" said Sunset. "Totes send us some pics of your great time!" said Leni.
Lori closes her locker and walks away. "I will, see you guys when we get back" said Lori as she then leaves.
Leni, Sunset and Leni also decide to head home. "Don't you have any work today sis?" asked Luna.
"No. Mrs. Carmichael said that she's closing Reiningers for the day to bring her son to visit their grandma" said Leni.
"Looks like we get some teen sis hang time later" said Sunset. "I'm not planning any live stream gaming later, so I'm available!"
"I don't have any gigs this weekend and Sam said she's gonna be busy for the weekend too, so you gals can count me in!" said Luna.
"Totes cool! Maybe we can ask dad if we can have a movie marathon for Saturday" said Leni.
"Sounds cool sis" said Sunset. "Now we're talking!" said Luna.
(Spellman Estate)
Leni's car pulls into the drive way. The three teenage girls exit the car and head inside. When they enter they are shocked to see Lincoln, Linka, Jordan, Timmy, Gwen, Lily, Neil, Leon, Sergei and they're Pokémon tending to a wounded pink dog.
"Whoa! What the heck is going on here?" asked Luna. "And where did this dog come from?" asked Sunset. "The poor thing!" said Leni. She approaches them and helps tend to his bruises.
The dog's fur is pink with some black spots. His ears are brown and he has some bruises, cuts, scratches and a black eye. Also he's a beagle.
Gwen already has the first aid kit and all of them are helping him get healed up. "Dudes! What happened to the little guy?" asked Luna. Sunset and Luna approach them and also help out.
"That's the thing. We don't know" said Neil. "What do you mean you don't know?" asked Sunset.
Lincoln stood up from his position on the couch. "It happened earlier when we were coming back home from school".
(Flashback)
The Vulture Bike and the poof Scooter are headed for Spellman Estate. But on their way there they notice something staggering on the road.
They make an immediate stop and are shocked to see a pink beagle badly hurt.
They all get off their rides and help him up. "Hey there little guy, are you okay?" said Linka with worry. She then slowly picks up Courage.
All the dog could do was whimper in fear and pain.
"Something must've happened to him" said Jordan. "Look at all those bruise marks! Someone must've abused him" said Timmy.
Lincoln then sees a collar on the dog with the name "Courage". Lincoln stands up and looks around the place.
"Whoever did this is gonna pay" said Lincoln. The others nodded and decided to take him home to be treated for his wounds.
(End Flashback)
"And that's what happened" said Lincoln. Gwen looks at the name of the dog. "Strange name for a dog" said Sergei. "There's a reason to why he's named like that" said Leon.
Absol approached Courage who was still not responding. "I can sense his thoughts, he's in pain, distress and afraid. Something or some people tried to get rid of him and I don't think their done with him yet" said Absol.
"But where did he come from?" asked Linka.
Then they notice Roselia and Eevee looking out the window and towards the great gate. It then hit them.
"Is he from another world?" asked Jordan. Absol approached the two Pokémon and asked them through their own language.
Absol then returns to the others. "Roselia and Eevee said that they saw a bright light emitting from the gate, but it only lasted a few short seconds. But they didn't see anything come out. I could only guess he came through the back of the gate" said Absol.
"That's not possible, the gate only opens on the front end. Which is facing this house" said Neil.
They all look at Courage again. "Poor Courage. I wonder what happened to him?" said Linka.
Inside of Courage's mind. He starts to relive the horrible conflict that brought him there,
(Flashback)
It's been almost five years since he's stayed with Eustace and Muriel in Nowhere Kansas. He's fought his way to protecting his owners from whatever evil that comes.
He might not get respected by Eustace but at least he had Muriel. Things were going pretty well for him, and no matter what he'll always save her. But he can't save her from every evil.
And then, it happened. Muriel was sent to be checked up by Dr. Vindaloo after she collapsed in the kitchen. The results came back to something worse.
Muriel didn't have much time to live, she was dying. For Eustace it was heartbreaking and devastating. But Courage took it for the worse, he thought he could always be there to save Muriel, but there are some things in this world that cannot be easily defied, and that was death itself.
So for the next three weeks, both Courage and Eustace did whatever they could to make Muriel's last moments on earth worth it and memorable. Heck they even got along just for her.
Though those moments could not last longer, and finally, she was gone. Muriel Bagge passed away at the age of 79. She is buried next to the farm house.
Many people attended her funeral. Heck even Ma Bagge was there, even though she despised Muriel. She was the one woman who could make Eustace happy.
The day after the funeral, things started to change for the worse. Eustace started to become even meaner and very abusive. He would order Courage to cook all of his meals and do all of the house work.
This goes on for the next two months, but the worst part is that every time Courage trips or fails to accomplish the task on time. Eustace would bring out his belt and whip the poor dog. This was something he's never done before.
Courage knew that Eustace was still grieving inside and it's what made him into an even horrible person.
Courage was the last piece of love that Muriel showed to the world and Eustace didn't want it to linger in his house one bit.
Every last memory of his wife's love has faded from his thoughts and now he's blaming courage for bringing this horrible outcome to him. But courage still kept on living and helping the mean old man. It's what Muriel would've wanted. Well, that's how courage thinks.
Until one day, Courage wakes up from the couch, since he's no longer allowed to sleep in the bed room. He wakes up, heads to the kitchen and makes breakfast and this time he did it well and perfectly.
Courage picks up the tray with the plate of Bacon, Eggs, Toast and Coffee along with the daily newspaper and newly polished shoes.
Courage slowly opens the door to see Eustace still asleep. Courage slowly walks towards him and places the tray on the bed.
Courage sits on the bed's edge and smiles at the sleeping old man. Even though he's cruel, Courage knows he's lived a life of jealousy and hatred and it was not Eustace's fault.
Courage then pats the man's bald head, but then he pulls his paw away and looks in fear. When he touched his bald head, he felt ….. Cold. Like stone cold. Like Dead Cold!
Courage gets off the bed and starts to shed tears. He runs to the other side and sees the old man's closed eyes and his smile.
Courage didn't know what to do, except for one thing that a dog would do for his dead owner. He howled! He howled in grief, in pain, in sadness and in fear.
Eustace Bagge is dead. The howls of the dog reached the town and pretty soon police as well as Eustace's ma came.
Dr. Vindaloo has made the result that he died in his sleep through a heart attack. Then he gave Courage a note which was in the hand of Eustace.
Courage read the note.
Dear Stupi- Courage
I know we haven't seen eye-to-eye and I know I've been total garbage to you and been treating you like trash. I'm sorry for treating you like this, but I guess that was just the side of me that still hated and cried. I couldn't get over the fact that the one woman we cared for, Muriel was gone. I know you always do whatever you can to keep her safe, which is something I should've done as well. Maybe that's why I hated you, I was jealous that you were the better protector to her. Me, I'm just the mean old husband who loves his truck more. I hope you're reading this and understand, that I never meant to hurt you. I was just a scared boy, who never knew kindness or how to be nice.
From your last owner and family, Eustace Bagge. Don't stop living, you Stupid Dog.
Courage drops the note and starts to cry. Ma Bagge sees this and picks up the note. She reads it and also cries.
And just when things were already bad, suddenly all of these hardened emotions were getting too much for the lady older than her son. She then collapses.
Courage calls the doctor who immediately brings her in the medical room.
An hour later he comes out to tell courage that she died. Also from a heart attack. It seems that everything that has happened was too much for the very old lady, first Muriel then Eustace.
Now Courage was truly alone in the world.
Thanks to some of Eustace's secret stash of money (which was written in the back of the note for Courage) Courage was able to hold one last funeral at the farm house.
But only a few people came to see the service, obviously a lot of people never liked Eustace or her mother. But courage thought they were fool's to not see what was truly wrong with him.
The following day a man came to talk to Courage about the will that Eustace made before his death.
The will stated that if the owner of the house passes away. Then the property would belong to Muriel. But since she's no longer with them, then written in the note. The farm house would go to the one only member in the family that Eustace would actually call family, Courage.
After the talk. The man left and Courage was alone. To stay in the house, protect it and keep it alive.
He vowed that he will do everything to keep the house and its memories alive.
But faith would not let him. Word of Eustace's death went out fast and pretty soon Courage was faced with all of his enemies. Coming back for revenge.
Revenge on Courage, revenge for all of their humiliations, but mostly revenge for the memory of the two people he protected. They wanted everything gone. Including the dog.
Courage got word of this nightmare from Shirley who overheard Katz in a bar talking about revenge.
Thank goodness Courage still had one person who was helpful enough. But the town was about to fall to ruin.
The following week. The town of Nowhere has been ravaged. The villains have come to strike.
Katz, Le Quack, Benton Tarentella, Eroll Van Volkheim, The Cajun Fox, Freaky Fred, The Clutching Foot, Dr. Gerbil, Jeeves "Evil" Weevil, The King of Flan, Di Lung and his newly built Mecha Courage (now buffed), The Queen of the Black Puddle, The Great Fusilli, Bushwick and Eliza and Elisa Stitch (How did they get out of the quilt!)
All of them wreak havoc on the poor town. Many of the citizens are either dead or taken prisoner.
Though they could not find Shirley's wagon. But she was not their priority, they were after the Bagge Farm house.
Courage vowed to protect the house from any evil. And that's what he's gonna do "the things I do for love" said the dog. Unfortunately he was not ready for them.
It all happened so fast. All he remembers is boarding up all the doors and window, then he hears a loud whoosh sound, almost like a missile and then there was a bright light.
Now Courage is surrounded by burnt debris everywhere. All of the parts of the house are on fire. He has some burn marks on him.
Courage sees the computer lying on the living room ground, damaged. Courage approaches the computer and tries to type on it.
"Come on! Come one! You gotta be okay!" said Courage with worry.
The Computer turns on and starts coughing. "C-Coura-ge R-Run. N-Now" said the Computer before it dies out permanently. Courage sheds some tears. One of his confidants is gone.
Courage spots the collar he first wore. He then sees a picture of Eustace and Muriel, he tries to reach for it but he gets knocked away by a large mechanical hand.
Courage opens his eyes and sees a muscular Mecha Courage standing before him. But it was more than just a robo-dog, it was a suit and Di lung was piloting it. "Stupid Dog! Now you will get crushed by my new Mecha Courage!"
Courage gets back up and picks up a steel pipe that was exposed. He charges and whacks the bot many times. Which wasn't doing anything at all.
"Are you stupid or something? This is a new Mecha Courage, way more better than you!" said the crazy genius Asian.
He picks up Courage and throws him out of the house and he lands at the feet of Katz. "Hello Dog" said Katz.
Katz kicks courage towards the other villains who all kick him like he was a soccer ball.
After one big kick from Le Quack. Courage gets up and in his horror the Farm House, where he was raised and loved collapses. Some of the debris fall onto the two gravestones.
Courage in his fit of rage starts to do his signature yell. The same on that beat them, once. But he's stopped when Clutching foot kicks him in the stomach, causing Courage to vomit onto the ground.
"Thank you for shutting him up" said Katz as he and the others approach the dog. "And now to finish the last remaining memory of that stupid old woman and man".
Katz pulls out a knife. All courage could do was wait for his demise. 'Well, at least I fought my all, and now I can join Muriel and Eustace, oh and Ma Bagge' Courage smiles and closes his eyes.
But then Katz and his crew get knocked away by a wagon. Courage opens his eyes and sees. "Sh-Shirley?"
"Get in stupid dog!" said Shirley. Courage uses whats left of his strength to hop onto the wagon and they ride off.
The villains regain their consciousness and go after the runaway wagon. Courage looks back to the burnt house and cries.
"There's no use crying over spilled milk, or in your case a farm house" said Shirley. "Sorry I wasn't helping at all".
They finally get some distance from the villains and make it to the charred up town.
There Courage meets up with some old friends.
Charlie the Mouse, The Three-Headed Space Chicken, Robot Randy, The Evil Eggplants, Kitty and Bunny, Donnie, Clyde and Payne The Duck Brothers, The Hunchback of Nowhere, The Twin Raccoon's, The Storm Goddess and her Dog Duncan.
Courage was surprised. He has all of his friends there with him and it was shocking that some of them traveled from space to reach there.
"We heard, that you're owners, have died" said Randy. "We're sorry we weren't here to help you out before" said the Duck Brothers. "And we heard from Shirley about the Villains" said the large Eggplant. "You have helped us out on different and hard times" said The Hunchback. "And we're here now to help you fight this" said Kitty and Bunny. "So don't worry about it buddy" said Charlie.
The Storm Empress and her dog approached Courage and hugged him. "I'm so sorry about what happened to Muriel. I know she meant so much to you" said the Storm Empress. Her dog barks in response and hugs courage. The raccoon brothers also join in. The Three-Headed chicken cries and takes a picture.
"Thank you. All of you, but I can't let you all do this" said Courage. "I already lost my family, I don't want you guys to sacrifice yourselves for me".
They all knew what he meant. "Courage" said Shirley. "You are not alone in this. We will not let you fight this one by yourself" she then hands him an amulet.
"If anything goes wrong, this will take you elsewhere. Think of it as my gift to you. so you can live on. Also free of charge" said Shirley.
Courage didn't know what to say, so he just hugs her. Shirley is caught off guard by this and returns the hug. Then she decides to stop. "Okay that's enough, I'm not much of a hugger".
Randy looks to the distance. "They're coming, and they don't look happy" said Randy. He then transforms his hand into a missile launcher
"Then let's give them a what not shall we boys" said Donnie. "I'm always ready for a fight" said Clyde. "No you aren't" said Payne. The three duck brothers arm their blasters
The Storm Empress makes all the clouds gather and make some thunder sounds. Charlie cracks his knuckles and wears boxing gloves. Kitty and Bunny pull out knives. The Evil Eggplants rally to form a wall. The Hunchback carries a large bell attached to a chain. The Raccoon Twins growl and The Three-Headed chicken brings out some explosives.
Courage believes they could win this. But then they all hear a beeping sound. To their right, they see a bomb with a timer and it was sitting next to a puddle with a hand waving goodbye to them.
All they could see was a bright light. Courage opens his eyes once again. He sees that all of his friends are down and badly wounded.
Randy is missing his legs and is crawling to get back up. The Duck brothers were unconscious. Duncan licks the Storm Empress's face so she can wake up. Kitty was digging Bunny out of the rubble. Charlie gets up but falls back down because his foot's been wounded.
Then he sees the Raccoon brother crying for his dead twin. The Hunchback was lying lifeless under a large rock. The Three-Headed Chicken was now roasted, just like their father. The Wall of Evil Eggplants has been destroyed and none of them survived.
It was happening all over again. He lost his parents, he lost Muriel, he lost Eustace, he lost Ma Bagge, he lost the Farm House and now he was about to lose his friends.
Courage gets up and walks towards Kitty and helps her dig Bunny out. Thankfully she was still alive.
"Courage, you have to get out of here" said Bunny weakly. "What? No!" said Courage. "You have to leave Courage. Please we'll hold them off" said Kitty.
"Get out of here kid" said Charlie. The Raccoon brother gets up and charges towards the villains in the distance. Seeing this the Duck brothers wake up and join him.
"You won't make it Courage. Just go" said Randy as he props himself up on some pillars and fires his missiles.
The Storm Empress gets up and charges lightning from her hands. Her dog growls and barks at the villains. "Please. Let us do this, for you".
Courage didn't want to leave. But then he's dragged by Shirley. "You are getting out of here now!" said Shirley. She then touches the amulet. It starts to glow and create a portal.
But then the portal starts to glitch. "It seems the amulet has been damaged. You must go through or it will close forever" said Shirley.
"I'm not leaving all of you!" said Courage. Shirley looks down and sighs. "Fine". She then throws Courage into the portal.
Courage looks back to the portal and sees Shirley waving to him. "We will not meet again Stupid Dog" said Shirley before the portal disappears.
Courage gets up and cries. He then wanders through the woods and tries to look for some help. Some part of him wants to go back. He looks at the amulet in his hand and it starts to face to dust. Which means it used up all of tis' energy.
Courage looks down and continues walking. He then spots a road and tries to get some help. But now all of the pain in his body was starting to kick in. he staggers onto the road and then collapses.
The last thing he sees and hears are a bunch of kids with worried looks. And then darkness.
But in his mind, he could still hear the voices of his owners.
(End Flashback)
Courage starts to stir. He opens his eyes and sees that he's in a living room, a big living room. Two couches. Two chairs. One coffee table and a big screen TV.
And there laying down on the couch was Linka. And with her was a first aid kit. Courage approaches the sleeping girl slowly and notices that he's all bandaged up and his eye was slowly healing.
Courage didn't know what was happening, where he was or who this white-haired girl is. But he feels like he owes her his life, for saving him. Courage gets onto the couch and snuggles close to her and drifts off to sleep.
A few minutes later. Linka wakes up and sees that the dog was now sleeping next to her. She smiles and gets up. She slowly strokes his fur which causes him to wake up as well.
Courage opens his eyes and looks at the girl. "Hey there Courage" said Linka with a comforting smile.
At first Courage felt nervous. But then she hugs him gently. "It's okay. It's okay, you're safe now" said Linka.
Courage returns the hug and whimpers. The others are by the stairs watching this. It was very touching to see their sister/daughter comforting the wounded pink beagle.
After the hug Linka carries Courage to the kitchen. Where they see all of the Spellman Family members and their Pokémon are already eating breakfast.
Linka places Courage on the ground and gets him a food bowl. Neil puts bacon, eggs and a toast on it.
Linka then sets the food bowl and the water bowl onto the ground next to the Pokémon. Courage wasn't sure what those creatures were. But judging by Linka's comforting look, he could trust them.
Courage walks towards them on his hind legs and eats his food.
The others were shocked that he just walked on his hind legs, but he was from another world and they've seen Johnny's pet dog Dukey walk on his hind legs too.
Thankfully it was Saturday. Which means they don't have to worry about school.
Linka brings Courage to the backyard. Even though he was hurt he wanted some fresh air and he was shocked at how big the backyard was.
Linka sets him down under a tree and sits next to him. She then strokes his back, but carefully as to not touch the bandaged areas.
Linka then speaks to him. "My name, is Linka Spellman. I used to have a big family. But because of horrible events I was adopted by a better family. I'm not from this world, just like you" said Linka.
Then they spot the other kids in the backyard spending time together.
"Those are my adopted siblings. That's my gender bent counterpart Lincoln, my pink hatted bro Timmy and his fairy god brother Poof, my fashion loving sister Leni, the music loving sister Luna, the artistic and gamer sister Sunset and the baby is Lily" said Linka.
"Our parents are Neil and Gwen. Neil has two adopted brothers, Leon and Sergei. Those are the Pokémon of my siblings. Absol, Roselia, Gabite, Loudred and Eevee. The AI of the house is Harv, he's like a computer in a building" said Linka.
Courage was a bit confused by this. But deep down he felt like, this was another chance to be with a family that he could protect.
Courage then relaxed on Linka's lap and closed his eyes. Muriel and Eustace would be happy to know that he found a new family.
"Oh, some of my siblings are super heroes" said Linka. Courage's eyes open in shock after hearing that.
(Nowhere, Kansas. Or what's left of it)
Katz slaps Shirley making her fall onto the ground. "Where is the dog?" asked Katz.
Shirley gets up and spits some blood on his face. "I don't like your attitude" said Katz.
"Well I don't like your face ugly" replied Shirley. Katz then kicks Shirley making her hit a broken wall.
Shirley looks around and sees that the others are either getting beaten up or getting killed. Shirley gets back up again.
"I'm going to ask again" Katz holds Shirley by her throat. "Where is that Stupid Dog? Where is Courage?"
To be continued …
I would like to thank Joanne Frances Cajilig for the idea of this story. She finally came through with a plot on how it could work. This has got to be the hardest story I could ever make and it's just getting started. Please leave a review and tell me what you all think.