Here's the next chapter! Sorry it took so long to post this!

To cloverman: Oh my god yes! While it might not necessarily be the next story, I will DEFINITELY be doing that! I can guarantee it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Courage the Cowardly Dog! Not at all!

Now, let's hop back into our story!

The Shadow of Courage

Two weeks later.

Gavin sighed happily as he finished his dinner before he got up, taking his dishes to the kitchen and washing them before putting them up.

"Another wonderful meal Muriel," He said as he washed his hands and dried them, before turning his attention back to the table.

"Why thank you Gavin!" She replied as she continued to eat.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed," he said as he started to leave the room, but not before patting Courage on the head. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Gavin," Muriel said with Courage.

"Whatever," Eustace said as he continued to eat, causing Gavin to sigh in slight irritation before he left the room and made his way upstairs.

He grabbed some pajamas, which consisted of a gray short sleeve shirt, underwear, and blue pants, before he went to the bathroom and took a shower. He then went to his room to go to bed.

A few hours later…

A few miles outside of the town of Nowhere was a large mansion, which was the home of one of the richest men in Kansas. It was simple in design, but extravagant at the same time, since the man loved to flaunt his wealth.

The miserly curmudgeon was currently examining the moon via the telescope in his private observatory.

"Aaaah! The moon looks good enough to buy Jennings. What a nice addition it would make to my collection," The man stated with a greedy look on his face to his butler, who was standing several feet away from him in the room.

"Yes indeed sir. But some things are just not for sale," Jennings stated with a bored look on his face.

"Everything is for sale Jennings," The old man stated angrily, turning from his telescope to face the butler. "Even people."

Jennings silently sighed. "Yes sir," He replied with a nod. "Even people."

The old man shook his head in disappointment. "You should know that after fifty years with me," He said as Jennings stepped out of the room. "And another thing Jennings," He called out, prompting his butler to turn and look at him. "YOU'RE FIRED!" He then began to laugh wildly, before he eventually began to wheeze.

Jennings slowly shut the door and turned away, saddened that he had just lost his job. He then heard a shocked gasp followed by a loud thud come from the room he had just left, and turned towards the door.

He heard a few coughs, before the old man weakly called out, "J-Jennings!"

For a moment, Jennings considered helping the old man. But as he thought about it, he recalled that the man he had served for practically his whole life had just fired him without a second thought. The man didn't care for him, so why should he help him out now in his time of need? Jennings threw away his dishtowel and began walking away with a happy smile, deciding to help himself to some of the old man's priceless antiques before leaving the manor for good.

"Oh, Jennings," The old man weakly moaned as he lay on the floor. "I can't move." He shuddered a few more times until, he shuddered once more, and then was gone.

Hardly a second had passed after his death when his shadow that had been cast across the moonlit floor of the observatory suddenly stirred of its own accord and looked down at the body before it glanced around the room a few times. A large smile appeared on its featureless face before it cried out happily, "I'm FREEEEEEE!" It then ran away from the room, leaving the old man's body on the floor.

Eventually the shadow reached the town of Nowhere, which still had a few people out since Merlino's Famous Ice Cream was serving half-priced ice cream that night. The shadow noticed a little girl standing in the alley right next to the shop, happily licking her vanilla ice cream without a care in the world.

The shadow silently tiptoed along the brick wall of the alley towards the girl, stopping right behind her. The girl, sensing that something was off, stopped licking and turned around. The shadow morphed into a large, sharp-toothed demon and roared at her.

The little girl screamed in horror, dropping her ice cream on the ground as she ran away from the now laughing shadow. The shadow then noticed the forgotten ice cream on the ground, and did the exact same thing it had done to the girl to it. The ice cream shuddered and straightened up as if it were alive before it then melted into a small puddle, causing the shadow to laugh triumphantly once more until there was a flash of lightning.

Not wanting to be caught in the thunderstorm, the shadow dashed through the rapidly emptying streets with a small cry of panic, searching for cover.

Gavin woke up when a loud peal of thunder rang throughout the house. He sighed. "Well, Courage is probably terrified right now," He said as he got out of bed and made his way to his bedroom door. "And knowing Eustace, he probably kicked her out of the room so he could sleep. I'll keep her company till she falls asleep."

He then left his room after putting on a pair of dark blue pajama pants, and saw that Courage was just leaving the master bedroom as well, a scared look on her face. "Courage," He said softly so he wouldn't scare her, catching her attention. "You alright?"

She looked at him and shook her head. "N-no," She replied shakily, fear in her voice.

He went over to her with a warm smile. "Well then, good thing I'm here," He said, causing her to smile a little bit. "Come on, let's go have a little snack and then go to bed."

She nodded, and the two of them made their way down the hall, stopping to look out the window right at the top of the stairs. He sighed happily as he looked out at the night sky. "What a beautiful night, wouldn't you say so Courage?" He asked her.

"Mhm," She replied with a nod, before she looked down at the front of the farmhouse. Her eyes widened as she went "OOOOOH!" before grabbing his pant leg and yanking on it to get his attention.

"What is it Courage?" He asked her, causing her to point down. He looked at where she was pointing, and felt shivers run down his spine.

Standing in front of the porch of the farmhouse was a shadowy humanoid figure, with no visible features other than a mouth. There was a flash of lightning, and the two watched as the shadowy figure ran into the house.

"Um, what was that?" Gavin asked, turning to look at Courage next to him. But she was no longer there.

She was running down the hallway screaming at the top of her lungs in fear while waving her arms around. He quickly went after her, and followed her to the master bedroom, where she was spouting out gibberish to a now wide-awake Eustace and Muriel before briefly turning into a robber holding a tv.

Gavin led the three down the stairs to the living room, and turned on the lights while Muriel, wearing her nightcap and gown while holding a rolling pin, and Eustace, wearing his long sleeve pajama shirt and pants while holding a baseball bat over his head, ran into the room with Courage hiding behind Muriel.

The elderly couple didn't see any sign of an intruder though, and relaxed, while Gavin and Courage looked extremely confused, with Courage expressing her confusion by saying, "This is crazy! I saw a burglar I did!"

"That's it! You're sleeping in the attic," Eustace stated grumpily before he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

"But I don't wanna sleep in the attic," She said as Eustace and Muriel went back upstairs, with Gavin following them. "I'm telling you someone's here, or my name's Shirley. And it's not."

As Gavin turned off the lights, the shadowy figure became visible in the darkness and laughed, before following the four upstairs.

"Eustace, must Courage really sleep in the attic?" Muriel asked him as he got back into bed with her. "It's so cold."

"Naw, she seems happy to me, and Gavin's with her as well to keep her company," He said as he turned over.

Gavin sat on the floor against the wall, shivering slightly while an old tattered blanket was wrapped around him as he held a shivering Courage in his arms. The attic was rather large and had a few boxes of things on one side, while one large light brown window sat in one wall. All the walls were completely bare as well as the pointed ceiling and floor, which were all made out of the same light-brown wood as the outside of the house, with a single bare bulb hanging from the middle of the room. Next to the window was a lovely little light brown wooden chair set on top of a pale minty green rug, with a light brown wooden table sitting in front of it. A large light tan boxy computer with a pale green screen sat on top of the table, with a single hinged light yellow lamp to the left of it and a rectangular light grayish white printer and scanner with an inwardly curving top sitting on the floor to the right of the table.

"It's alright Courage, I'm here," He whispered into her ear, calming her down slightly. "And I know you saw someone. I believe you."

She then howled with worry. "I just know something bad's going to happen," She said, turning to him with worry in her eyes.

He opened his mouth to respond, but froze when he heard a loud roaring behind him while Courage's eyes widened. He turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw a shadow monster with sharp teeth and horns on the wall.

Courage then screamed in fright, before running off right through the door, leaving a hole in the door shaped like her while the monster disappeared, much to Gavin's dismay.

"Oh Kami! Where's it gone now?" He asked as he got up and ran to the door, opening it before he took off after Courage, who was heading back to Muriel's bedroom.

She once again spouted out gibberish before briefly turning into a large monster that looked like the shadow they had seen in the attic right as Gavin arrived.

She led the three of them back to the attic, Eustace and Muriel holding their weapons again.

"Did you break that door?" Eustace asked her as he pointed at the hole in the door.

"OOOH Forget the door!" She cried, pulling on her ears in frustration before she morphed into a bipedal version of the shadow she and Gavin had seen.

"Ooooh!" The elderly couple said to each other before they barged into the room, Gavin and Courage behind them.

But like before, there was nothing in the room except for the computer, which was plugged into the wall right next to the window.

"But! But!" Courage sputtered, extremely confused as to what was going on, as was Gavin.

"Now Courage, we aren't going to be doing this all night, are we," Muriel stated before she walked out.

The three of them watched her walk out before Eustace walked over with clenched fists to Courage, who was now sitting on the floor.

"What did I tell you? If you wake me up again, you'll be sleeping with the termites," He stated, putting his hands on his hips as Courage shook in fear, much to Gavin's displeasure. "So, I'm going to give you one more chance to act like a real dog."

She then leaped onto his leg, wrapping her arms around it as she said, "Master," with large sad eyes, much to Eustace's shock. Gavin held back a chuckle upon seeing this, finding it a bit funny.

"I wonder what's taking Eustace so long," Muriel asked as she lay in bed, watching the hallway through her bedroom doorway. "He should be here by now."

The shadowy figure then appeared on the wall outside her doorway upon hearing that, a large smile on its face. It then morphed into a silhouette of Eustace choking Courage.

"OH!" Muriel cried out in shock before she frowned, and grabbed her rolling pin before she ran out of bed and to the attic.

Eustace was, in fact, not choking Courage. He was in fact scaring her with giant fake eyeballs over his real ones, which was making Gavin frown in slight anger.

'Seriously Eustace. Stop torturing her!' He thought as Courage screamed in fear, making Eustace laugh. 'She has more than enough things to be afraid of. Don't add to the list.'

Muriel then ran into the room and bonked Eustace on the head with her rolling pin, knocking the fake eyeballs off as he spun around feeling dizzy. She then picked up Courage and beckoned for Gavin to follow her, before she spoke, "Now you sleep in the attic."

The three then left, shutting the door behind them.

"What did I do?" Eustace asked, shrugging in confusion. He then sat on the creaky floor before grabbing the old blanket and wrapping it around him as he said, "I can't believe I have ta sleep in the a-a-attic!" He then mumbled a bit before he yelled out, "Dog!"

His shadow on the wall then changed to that of a rabbit, confusing him.

"What?! Who's doing that?" He asked, looking around the room. The shadow then changed to that of Courage waving at him. "Oh, it's you!"

The shadow then wiggled its tongue at him, before laughing.

"Mock me eh? Two can play at this game," He said, causing the shadow to stop laughing and look at him. Eustace made a shadow hand on the wall, before making it slap the shadow dog on the face twice and flick the front of its muzzle several times.

He laughed while the shadow dog growled in anger before biting his shadow hand, hurting Eustace's real one.

"OOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!" Eustace cried as he held his bitten hand while the shadow dog laughed, before he frowned. "I'll strangle you for that." The shadow dog then ran away, causing Eustace to chase after it as he said, "Come back here!"

The shadow laughed as it went under the door, while Eustace ran through the door with a loud "OW!" He then poked his head through the hole as he said, "Now look what that dog made me do!"

Gavin was just heading back to his room after drinking some warm milk when he noticed Eustace run to his bedroom looking very angry.

He quickly went after him, and saw that Eustace was strangling Courage while shaking her. Right as he was about to run over and stop Eustace, Muriel sat up and whacked him on the head with her rolling pin, allowing Courage to escape.

Gavin quickly went after Courage, and saw her hide in the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. Eustace ran past him, and stopped in the kitchen, looking around as he said, "Where is that lousy dog?"

He bent down and reached out for the cupboard door, only for Courage to launch herself onto his face in fright, breaking off the door in the process.

She shook in fright on Eustace's face until she realized where she was. "Oh no! I'm going to get strangled!" She said, before Eustace pulled her off and started shaking her as he strangled her.

"Say uncle! Say it!" He said as he shook her.

Muriel came running in again, and bashed Eustace on the head with the rolling pin a third time, breaking it in the process as he dropped Courage.

Gavin quickly picked her up and held her close in his arms, before he walked out of the room, Muriel following him with broken pin in hand as Courage said, "Uncle?"

"What did I dooo?" Eustace asked as he rubbed his hurting head, before his shadow in the moonlight turned into a giant monster and roared at him.

Gavin was just tucking Courage into bed next to Muriel when they all heard Eustace cry out, "AAAAAAAA!"

"Oh! That was Eustace!" Muriel said as she started to get out of bed. "He's in trouble!"

"Wait, you stay here!" Courage and Gavin said together, gently making her get back into bed. "We'll go!"

Courage then whimpered. "I must be nuts!"

The two of them made their way down the stairs to the kitchen, and found Eustace's hat sitting on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Where is he?" Gavin asked as Courage ran over to the hat and gasped. She picked it up, and a scenario of Eustace getting eaten by a shadow monster followed by Muriel getting eaten went through her mind, causing her to scream in fright and throw the hat into the air before running off.

Gavin quickly went after her, leaving the kitchen empty once more. He followed her back to the bedroom, where they saw that Muriel was now gone!

Courage howled in panic, pulling her ears before Gavin gently picked her up. "Stay calm Courage. Stay calm," He said as he walked down the hallway, doing his best to calm her down. "Come on. Let's see what we can learn about this strange shadow on the computer."

Back in the kitchen, the fridge opened, and Eustace stuck his head out, before tiptoeing out across the floor. "What is this craziness? Am I losing my mind?" He asked himself, rubbing a hand over his bald head. "No, just my hat. Where is my hat?" He looked around before he looked down and saw that his hat was at his feet. "Oh, there's my hat!" He continued, reaching down and picking it up.

As soon as he picked it up, a shadow octopus appeared, scaring him even more. He screamed as he put on his hat and ran away.

Gavin peered around the doorway to the attic, making sure the strange shadow was nowhere in sight before he opened the door and walked over to the computer, Courage still in his arms as he sat down.

Courage quickly turned on the computer and started typing as she said, "Come on! Come on! Evil. Shadowy. Evil Things. Search!"

"You twit," The Computer replied with a British accent. "Do you mean 'evil shadows?'"

"I don't know," Courage replied.

"What a loser. Of course you do!" Computer replied, causing the two of them to frown.

"Okay, you don't have to get personal," She said with her paws on her hips.

"Searching," Computer stated, while Gavin continued to hug Courage and gently pet her, calming her down.

"Search found: 1 item," Computer said with the sound of a bell ringing.

"What? What?" Courage asked as she furiously typed on the keys.

"'Evil Shadows.' Ooh, I wouldn't want them in my house," Computer read, causing Gavin to frown and Courage to howl in panic before she stopped.

"I better stop doing that, I'm beginning to like it," She said to him, causing him to nod as she began typing on the keys once more. "How do we get rid of evil shadows?"

"'How to get rid of evil shadows.' 1. Pleasant conversation. 2. Move out of the house," Computer stated.

"You kidding? This thing is dangerous," She said adamantly. "How do you talk to a shadow?"

"I don't know. You're on your own kids," Computer said before he shut himself off.

"I've gotta save Muriel," Courage said to Gavin with a snap of her fingers.

'I know, but what if she's just using the bathroom or something,' He thought as he followed her to the kitchen, where she then pulled out a flashlight from beneath the sink. 'I mean, for all we know this shadow might not actually be evil.'

"Let's start in the basement," She said, leading him to the basement door and opening it. "The things I do for love," She muttered to herself before turning on the flashlight. "Hey shadow! Are you down there?" She then flashed the light over to the light, where a monstrous shadow with sharp teeth appeared, causing her to scream in fright before slamming the door.

She rested against the wall next to the door, her heart beating like a drum.

"Hey, how about I do the talking alright?" Gavin asked as he picked her up in his arms. "If you get scared I want you to scream into my chest, okay?"

"Alright," She replied as he opened the door and started going down the stairs. "Here goes nothing." She then turned on the flashlight, allowing him to see as he went down the stairs.

Once he reached the bottom, he spoke, "Okay shadow, if you took Muriel, where is she?"

Suddenly a horned monster shadow appeared in the light, making her scream in fright right into his chest and turn off the light, while he was more startled than scared. She then turned the light back on, and screamed again upon seeing a headless Muriel outline in the light before turning it off.

This happened a few more times, with the shadow in the light being different each time. On the seventh time, the shadow was that of a man, with no discernable features other than a mouth.

"Stooop already!" The shadow shouted out in a male voice, before it cried into its hands, shadowy tears falling off them.

"Huh?" The two said, confused.

"I can't take it anymore," The shadow said as his tears disappeared. "On and off! On and off! On and off! You're driving me crazy!"

"Wait, we're driving you crazy?" Gavin replied.

"What have you done with Muriel?!" Courage demanded.

"I haven't done anything to her," The shadow replied.

"Then where is she?" Courage asked.

"What do I look like, her twin?" The shadow said, before they all heard the sound of a toilet flush above them.

'So she was in the bathroom after all,' Gavin thought as the shadow spoke up.

"See? She's been in the bathroom," The shadow replied, pointing at Courage.

"But why are you scaring everyone to death?" Courage asked him, while Gavin felt around for a chair to sit in. He soon found one, and sat in it, while the shadow responded.

"Well, I was the shadow of a cruel old rich dude," He replied, now laying on a shadow couch.

"Yes yes, go on," Courage said as she wrote down on a notepad that she had gotten from who knows where.

"But that's not me! That's not me at all. I've always wanted to be in showbiz, to be a star baby! A star!" He replied as he made a cane and top hat appear in his hands and danced.

"Hm, don't we all," Courage said to herself as she put away the notepad and pen. "I have an idea. Come with me."

She then hopped out of Gavin's arms and started heading back up the stairs, prompting him and the shadow to follow her. She led them outside and then stopped.

"I don't know how to make it in showbiz, but up there are the real stars," Courage said to the shadow as she gestured to the sky, which was standing on the ground between her and Gavin, who was feeling rather sleepy. "Why don't you hang with them?"

"You mean become the shadow of a real star?" The shadow asked.

"It's worth a try," She replied.

"Huh, never thought of that before," He replied, a finger to his chin in thought. "Sounds too romantic to me, but what the heck! It sure beats scaring the jeepers out of folks!"

"By the way," Gavin said with a yawn. "Do you know where Eustace is?"

"Do you mean the old guy? He's hiding in that old pickup truck over there. He's a bigger coward than you are," He said to Courage, making the two of them smile.

"Gee thanks!" She replied, before stretching her arm out and shaking her shadows hand with the shadow's. "Good luck!"

"Thanks! See you in the funny papers!" The shadow said with a wave goodbye as he moved off into the distance before somehow leaping off the ground into the air with a white outline surrounding him. He then burst into thousands of tiny white dots before they all disappeared into space, while a new shiny star appeared.

"Hm! Not bad," She said as she turned to Gavin with a smile on her face. "Thanks for helping me and believing in me Gavin."

"You're welcome Courage," He replied, giving her a hug as he picked her up and walked over to the truck. "Eustace, come on. It's time to go to bed." He then made his way back into the house, with Eustace getting out of the truck, scratching his head in confusion as he walked back inside.

As Gavin made his way up the stairs after putting up the flashlight and turning off the rest of the lights in the house, he suddenly heard soft snoring. Looking down, he smiled upon seeing Courage fast asleep in his arms.

'She looks so peaceful compared to earlier,' He thought as he arrived at the master bedroom and walked in. Eustace and Muriel were back in bed, with Eustace already fast asleep.

"Ah, thank you Gavin," Muriel said as she watched him set Courage down on the foot of the bed.

"You're welcome Muriel," He whispered as he walked out of the room and towards his bedroom. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight dear," She replied before turning off her bedroom lamp, plunging her bedroom into darkness. She then closed her eyes, and after a few minutes, fell fast asleep.

"What a night," he said as he got into bed. "I wonder if more things like that have happened around here?" With that, he closed his eyes, and fell fast asleep.

Well, this was an interesting chapter!

Can't wait for the next chapter!

So, you guys really wanted Courage to be changed at the end of the first season (Final total was 11 votes for season 1, 6 for season 2, and 5 for season 3). Alright. I'll make it happen. Though, you want her to be shorter than 4 feet or taller than 4 feet?

I currently have a poll out right now about 101 Dalmatians the series. Please vote! Thank you!

Please leave a review, and have a wonderful day!

PuzzleMaster1998 signing off!