Finally another chapter done and done sorry for the delay it took allot of research on the subject to make sure this chapter was just right I hope you enjoy
On a fine night in Mexico, we find the Bagge family dressed in stereotypical Mexican attire that consisted of sombreros and ponchos, walking amongst the people of the small town they were visiting which has been decorated in honor of the day of the dead.
"What a grand idea it was of Gavin to suggest the entire family take a week's vacation to the colorful town of Mexico," says Muriel, taking in the vibrant colorful sights the town had to offer, while Eustace walking beside her is seen bored out of his mind as usual.
Courage all the while as Madeline was holding him, can be seen playing with a Mexican-styled yoyo that ended up hitting him on the head. Katy meanwhile is bored out of her mind as well, while they continue walking by the small town.
Entering the town square, the family is greeted by a banner that read The Day of the Dead Celebration (all welcome). Everyone except Eustace is excited by what they are experiencing.
The mariachi band's music can be heard throughout the whole block, dancers circling the center dancing and fanning their skirts mesmerizing the crowd, Tables at one side of the party were decorated with marigolds as well as most traditional food you would expect for such a celebration from pan de Muertos, tamales, enchiladas and of course sugar skulls.
"This is all quite grand!" Muriel exclaims excitedly, Gavin, sharing his mother's excitement says "You never get this kind of excitement at home, it's so lively" Afterward he turns to face Eustace, asking "What do you think we should do first, Dad?" Gavin, unfortunately, notices that Eustace already made his way to the snack table taking one of every food item the party had to offer.
Gavin was disappointed by this, Muriel approached her beloved son to say" Oh don't be sad dear you know how your father is around food" Gavin attempts to cheer himself up before he and the family join the festivities as well.
While the grown-ups spend it joining the fun as well as getting to know the people of Mexico, we see Madeline play soccer with some of the Mexican kids, while Katy decides to lean on one of the walls after serving herself some hot chocolate from the refreshment table.
As soon as Katy was about to take a sip, she is suddenly stopped by a voice telling her "I would taste that first if I were you" Katy unphased by these words, says "I can handle a little hot chocolate." She turns around only to notice the guy beside her turned out to be a teenage boy with messy black hair and a face filled with freckles. He wore a white collar shirt, jeans, and blue shoes the one thing Katy would see the most was how attractive he was. She could barely say anything, all she did was gawk at his appearance while he spoke.
Katy is suddenly brought back to reality when he hears the guy before her "OYE LADY !" The guy shouts, Katy responds sheepishly asking "Oh sorry I was thinking about something, what were you saying?" the teenager responds "The hot chocolate in your hand happens to be Chocolate con Jalapeno, it's very strong" Katy while giggling slightly says "oh so this is spicy hot chocolate" looking back at the young man setting aside the cup.
Katy blushes as the guy says "You are not from around are you?" Katy replies "W-we are just visiting from the state's m-my name is Katy" nervously introduces herself. The boy before her, says "My name is Rafael, I'm kind of the guy to talk to about this little town."
"Would you care to show me?" asks Katy, Rafael signals for her to follow him and she does, looking like she is entranced by him. Meanwhile, Courage who was enjoying one maybe two sugar skulls on the table, then he notices the mug of hot chocolate Katy had left behind. Not wanting it to go to waste, he decides to take the cup and drink from it like how a baby would drink from a bottle.
What poor Courage soon began to realize was that it was not only hot but also spicy as well because when he finished the mug, he starts to feel his entire body go from pink to crimson red his raised hears began to shoot out steam from the inside, and when he cried out in pain he was letting out fire like a dragon before quickly running around find somewhere or something to cool off the taste.
Courage begins to notice a bucket of water in a nearby alley luckily enough, successfully manages to drench out the spicy taste from his mouth. Just then, Courage began to notice a glow beyond the outside of the town. His curiosity got the better of him and he decides to investigate the source. What he found was very frightening as he approaches what appeared to be a goat pen, he is greeted with the sound of bleating.
Appearing from it was a very strange-looking creature that was even taller than him looming over a goat stable snarling and growling. Courage approaches, only to be met with glowing green eyes that stare back at him as it snarls, Courage at the sight started to scream, and when he did it instead sounded like a Mexican singer's Grito, before zipping back into town before the skeletal woman could lay a hand on the pink dog.
Back in town, he rushes to Muriel babbling tugging on her dress, and pointing frantically, this also gets the attention of the citizens. Muriel notices Courage's behavior "What's wrong Courage?" Asks Muriel Courage continues to babble next he transforms himself into a monster, then into a skeleton head with glowing green eyes, and finally a stereotypical witch complete with green skin a black pointy hat, and a broom.
Once again, unfortunately, it was met with no reaction other than confusion as courage babbles on while pointing to where he last saw the beast, Katy would then notice something out in the field snarling. it was the beast from earlier that looked terrorizing "I think I know what Courage was running from" says Katy. Citizens either retreat to their homes or hide where they can while screaming "LA CHUPACABRA!"
Courage witnessing such actions, decides to follow the example of the town and hop off his safe spot lift Muriel and Eustace off the ground and run to find somewhere to hide. Only for Katy to stop him by asking "Courage, you aren't really scared of a monster are you?" Courage confirms this nodding his head.
"But you deal with monsters all the time what makes this one different?" Asks Katy in disbelief, before she manages to get her grandparents off the cowardly dog and grabs his fluffy pink body as he squirms and babbles. Katy tries to calm him down by saying "Calm down Courage I'm right beside you in this, two heads are better than one right?" All Courage does is look at the readers and say "Easy for her to say, if your options are dealing with supernatural beings or running home and pretending this never happened wouldn't you take the latter?"
Rafael in shock says "I never thought I'd see the day I get to see La Chupacabra!" the family looks back at him "The what?" Asks Muriel. Rafael would explain "You see growing up I keep hearing stories about not going into the fields after night because that is when the Chupacabra has his feast of sheep and goats every night."
"I always thought they were just stories until now" explained Rafael who Katy then lands on asking "Think you can protect a sweet girl like me from that thing?" Rafael gets her off with ease explaining "Oh you have nothing to worry about la Chupacabra only eats goats and sheep and he hates people most people simply see him as a monster who causes trouble" Hearing the story fascinated the family, minus Eustace of course until he said something that caught his interest.
"If you ask me he's almost like what you people call sasquatch or how do you say his name: bigfoot?" Rafael says. Eustace soon starts to get an idea of how he can make the situation work in his favor "Say Sonny, would you say this chewy whatever his name is be worth a reward if somewhere catches him?" The family all look at the elderly farmer with confusion "You would be honored as a hero by these people if you caught it" Rafael says sarcastically "La Chupacabra would be worth maybe a million pesos to the lucky idiot who decides to catch him."
With a greedy smug look on his face, Eustace knew he had an opportunity on his hands for some quick money. "That's for me!" Eustace says with a chuckle, stating how he will capture the creature singlehandedly "All I need is me mallet from my briefcase and some extra essentials, and the reward is as good as mine!" The farmer says as he makes his way back to where he and the family are staying so that he can get what he needs.
The people Eustace passes by happen to hear him, fascinated by his words some of them begin to think "Did that man just say he was going for La Chupacabra?" Said a resident, another one answers "he did! He did say he was going after La Chupacabra!" It was not long before the Mexican people decide to follow Eustace's example and prepare to hunt it down rather than run from it.
Muriel who was slightly annoyed by the party's abrupt end, decides to leave and make some tea. Gavin and Gina decide to join her, but not before Gina tells Katy "Katy honey don't stay out too late with your boyfriend, and make sure to watch Maddie" much to her annoyance as she says "Yeah mom!"
Rafael looking at what just happened says "I don't believe this, he believes he will be rewarded for La Chupacabra's capture" scratching his head "Apparently when money is involved Grandpa will be on it like salt on a pretzel" Katy explains, Courage still in her arms starts to babble more pointing for home. Madeline acting brave would say "Courage is right, we should go after it!"
With that said Madeline leaves the group and makes her way to where the goat pen is, with Katy following behind concerned, Rafael by her side, and Courage chasing behind saying to himself "The things I do for love!"
Once the kids are out in the fields, Katy loses sight of her sister due to the lack of light outside the small Mexican town, Rafael assures Madeline's safety making Katy giggle like an idiot when she feels Rafael place a hand on her shoulder. Courage rolling his eyes conveniently pulls out a flashlight from his person and sheds some light on the open field.
Katy thanks her little pink dog while Rafael remains confused by what he had witnessed, asking Katy "You can understand your dog?" Katy would respond that it's complicated. They journey deep into the field the deeper they go however, Courage begins to take notice of how Rafael seems to look over his shoulder with each passing minute.
After about a few more hours of walking, Courage's flashlight begins to turn off much to both his and Katy's disappointment. "Aw man why we were probably close, I mean Maddie couldn't have gotten far could she?" Asks Katy. Unbeknownst to the two with Rafael's behavior, he says to them "Oh I would not worry about your little sister my dear, she will be joining us momentarily."
Katy turns to Rafael "What do you mean?" she asks in a confused manner, only for Rafael to now be seen glowing red while his eyes glowed green explaining "You see, I knew you would be stupid enough to fall for a pretty face like mine, so I decided you shall be the one who comes with me to a place you can forever call home!" Afterward, as he begins to cackle maniacally, the glowing red aura begins evolving into fiery flames that dissipate after revealing something new.
Katy as well as Courage were terrified to see that Rafael was a charred skeleton dressed all in black, with a red bandana and a black stereotypical Mexican hat still maintaining the glowing green eyes. "I am el Charro Negro luring those foolish enough to encounter me straight to the land below!" Says the monster Courage starts to scream, and as he does his fur starts to go from pink to yellow.
"I was simply just going to persuade you to come with me" Explains the monster "But after what had happened like your dog crying chupacabra and your sister running off the way she did, I decided to use it as an advantage to lure you away from the crowd." Afterward, El Charro Negro grabs Katy and tosses her over his shoulder and as she struggles to break free, the monster says "And now we shall be off" summoning what appeared to be a sinister-looking black horse.
Courage in horror attempts to save her only to be blocked off by a wall of fire summoned by El Charro Negro, who proceeds to carry his victim over to his horse stating "Do not worry dear Katy, the ride to hell won't be long" Unfortunately before he can even mount Katy on the horse, he is suddenly interfered by the sound of a loud whistle from a policeman sporting a red mustache causing him to drop Katy, strangely enough, the cop is also wearing a sombrero and a colorful poncho with a gold badge peeking out the side and riding a hobby horse.
Once The Policeman gets El Charro Negro's attention, the officer explains "Senior we received an anonymous tip that you are parked in what is a no-parking zone" pointing to a conveniently placed sign, followed by a painted area where they happen to be standing. The officer continues "Unless you wish to pay a hundred dólar fine, I suggest moving your horse!" El Charro Negro would nervously say to the cop "Oh si right away senior, I was unaware it will not happen again I assure you."
After doing so the officer leaves, then when El Charro Negro is about to recollect Katy in his grasp, he soon sees that she is gone. He also notices that a now slightly charred Courage had managed to save Katy realizing he got through his wall of fire. Furious, he mounts his horse and gives chase.
Courage continues to run once he realizes who was behind him. He knew he could not outrun him forever, especially while carrying another person. He had to think on his feet for some kind of idea. Acting quickly, he conveniently takes out a smoke machine with a label on the side that reads Dil's portable smoke machine, battery-powered Once they stop, Courage starts it up the moment El Charro Negro arrives.
As soon as he passes by the smoke from the machine, the monster starts to laugh "Do you think smoke can stop me stupid dog!" Says El Charro Negro who fails to realize as soon as the smoke clears, that he was standing in thin air beside a cliff, over him fifty feet below a cactus field. And just as soon as he is about to react, he falls over in a very cartoonish fashion.
Katy and Courage are relieved that they were out of harm's way, with Katy saying "Man I can't believe that happened" relieved that it was over...
...Or so she thought, when the two are suddenly faced with El Charro Negro once more who is enshrouded in flames. "You will not be so lucky a second time after I finish you" the monster states. Just before he was about to do something, another monster which was one Courage saw earlier, stood in between the victims and El Charro Negro and lets out a mighty roar, scaring the creature into a hole where the source of the flames was coming from before it closes.
Courage looks more closely at the monster who saves him, soon his fear turns to satisfaction and joy when he sees that the monster was someone he knew that had rouge and pink fur mismatched eyes, and very big feet. The monster after one glance at Courage, shares in his joy as the two begin dancing side by side, while Katy stared on with confusion.
Katy stops their fun immediately asking "What is going on here!" Courage makes an attempt to explain through babbling but to no avail. Then from behind the monster's back appeared Madeline, much to Katy's relief rushed over to pick her up and say "You had me scared you shouldn't have run off the way you did" Madeline would then explain "Well I wanted to catch the bigfoot and I did, he was really nice when I saw him we played in the goat farm then saw you guys in danger, so we came to help." Katy simply just hugged her and said "What am I gonna do with you."
Their reunion was soon interrupted by a voice approaching the group shouting "THERE HE IS LA CHUPACABRA!" And to everyone's surprise, it was an angry mob led by none other than Eustace Bagge who by just one glance, would say "Well if it ain't my Bigfoot, so you're the chewy guy I'm getting paid to nab. I hope you had a good life you ain't escaping again" holding in his hands his mallet and a megaphone to tell the people behind him" GET READY MEN, THIS MONSTER IS AS GOOD AS DEAD!"
Katy seeing Courage and Madeline attempt to protect it, Katy would do so as well telling Eustace "Grandpa everything's fine, this guy saved our lives." Eustace, however, did not want to hear her "Get out of the way ya bigfoot-loving rugrats, I'm getting my reward, and ain't nothing you can say that can convince me otherwise!" says Eustace then instantly before Eustace or the mob can take a step further, another familiar voice can be heard within the crowd saying "Nobody lay a hand on my son!" the crowd stand aside in confusion and shock, only to reveal a little old woman.
the Monster takes notice of the little old woman shouting excitedly "MOMMY!" rushing toward the little old woman who happily takes him into a hug "Theodore, I've been looking for you everywhere." witnessing this, none of the mob members dared to stop it. Eustace especially was more startled and irritated at the fact that not only was he being stopped from claiming what was his, but also the fact that no was else was doing so either.
The people surrounding the reuniting family are soon in awe rather than anger. Theodore's mother then tugs on her son's ear afterward, and scolds her son "How many times does mommy have to tell you, Theodore, when we go on vacation always stay close to mommy you were lucky enough not to be kidnapped!" The little old woman would soon drag her son away by his ear, grumbling all the while Theodore follow behind in dismay and apologizes.
"You stupid dog!" Eustace angrily rants, throwing his hat down on the grass "You had to ruin everything like always!" During his rant, Eustace fails to notice the mob quickly start to run back to town, or even a giant white owl flying towards him as it grabs him by his arms and drags him away while he screams.
Back in the small Mexican town, the Day of the Dead celebration continues. While Courage and Madeline playing with the locals Gavin who was dancing with Katy had heard everything they went through, asking her "I hope this reminds you why you shouldn't talk to strangers young lady?" Katy begrudgingly answers with "Yeah especially strangers that are really demons skeletons." Muriel who was dancing with Gina, would say "Lucky for you Courage saved ya when he did dear." The teenage girl agrees to what her grandma says no doubt about it. Muriel while dancing, began to wonder "I wonder where Eustace could be, he was with you girls wasn't he?" Katy nervously just looks at her unsure how to answer.
What had happened to Eustace was after the owl carried him away. Eustace was brought to its nest where the farmer was now placed beside two baby owls, who rather than see him as a meal, see him instead as a brother much to his vexation.
AND...Done I hope this pleases you guys and please as always a review is appreciated hopefully ill have the next chapter out soon