Courage had never noticed just how big Nowhere was before. Sure, he'd been in and out of town plenty of times before, but that had always been alongside either Muriel or the Farmer, and they'd always only been in town to do one or two things, like picking up the groceries or going to watch a movie. But now he was alone? The place felt like a sprawling metropolis that he could get lost in at a moment's notice. There was so much to do and see that it almost overloaded the dog, who currently had his eyes trained on the now-open map Computer had given him like it was the rosetta stone in his paws, scanning every inch of it to make heads or tails of which part of Nowhere the road from the farmhouse entered from.
It probably didn't help that Computer had printed a map that lacked any sort of names for any of the many lookalike buildings, and once he was back at the farm, the pink dog would certainly be giving the sapient machine a piece of his mind about that fact. One part of him even had a passing thought that it might have been deliberate, but he shoved that thought aside because it wasn't in Computer's character at all; he may have been a passive-aggressive sass-engine 99% of the time, but he'd never, ever steered the pink pooch wrong. Even when he'd had that stint as 'Mega Muriel the Magnificent' (a name that Courage still ribbed him with in response to any sort of backchat) he'd never tried to bring Courage any harm; it was more that he had been trying to prove a point about being fearless that had backfired tremendously.
Regardless, the pink dog was currently good and lost at the entrance of town, and the map was as good as junk until he found any of the landmarks displayed on it. If there was any time he would have cursed his short stature and the overly-tall architecture of humans, it would have definitely been at this point, but the dog was nothing if not perseverant, and was soon trotting off into the town, on the hunt for some way to get his bearings, exhaling an annoyed-sounding breath as his paws carried him forward into the sleepy, night-time town.
—-
Meanwhile, back at the farmhouse, Computer was concerned. Or, at least, he was feeling whatever digital approximation of concern he was capable of and kept jealously guarded from reality, his monitor flickering as he regarded the empty attic, still typing away at the behemoth of text that he'd decided to work on whilst Courage was out. He found stillness to be deafening at the best of times, but even his magnum opus (in his mind at least) wasn't doing much to alleviate the feelings of discontentment. He was used to being alone at night when all the Bagges were asleep, but something about this night felt… wrong, in some manner of speaking. The fact that he'd usually be in sleep mode himself at this hour and time didn't tick by so agonisingly slowly was most definitely part of the inherent 'wrongness' he felt here and now, but there was also something else that he couldn't quite put his mouse on.
'I bet the Twit's somehow got lost following a straight road.' The machine thought to himself, letting out a synthesised sigh as he exited his work. He couldn't help but shake that feeling of something being off, and at the current second was wishing he hadn't been 'blessed' with something as illogical as emotion. Worry was not a good feeling; It was far too close to fear for his liking (not that he'd ever admit he felt fear, even in the face of his hard drive being fried), and currently it was nagging at him much like the dog himself did. What was he to do, though? Neither Muriel nor Courage was here, and he adamantly refused to take over the Farmer's frail body again, if he could even still move after being immobile again for so many years. He hadn't tried, truth be told, since the whole incident at the power plant; being seconds from having his entire consciousness eradicated had shaken his very foundations and pride in himself in a way he'd never thought possible.
"You flesh creatures are dull. Dull, dull, dull…" He didn't truly believe that, of course, even when he had uttered it back then. Being in an organic body had been an experience full of elation; his plastic and metal body couldn't feel the sensation of wind, or the thrum of adrenaline from doing any of the stunts he had whilst inhabiting Muriel. But something about that near-death experience, and watching Courage sacrifice life and limb to stop him getting himself hurt (the memory of the scent of Courage's burned fur and flesh still gave him pause) had changed something inside Computer dramatically, even if he hadn't shown it on the outside.
There was also frustration, of course, in the stirring pot of Computer's innermost thoughts; he and the Twit were close friends after all, and being stuck sitting so idle brought a litany of self-annoyance to PC that lurked just at the border of that ever-so-aggravating worry. He trusted in Courage's competence, of course; nobody could just happen to survive all the madness the dog did through sheer dumb luck, even with Computer's own assistance, but being all alone in a large town like Nowhere was a likely recipe for disaster with the dog's track record for attracting nightmarish horrors and demons from beyond the veil so frequently. He'd have sneered at himself if he had the ability to, before an idea came to mind; an incredibly stupid one, yes, but 'incredibly stupid' seemed to always work out for Courage, as loathe as he was to admit it.
Now if only he could… aha! The machine rocked slightly on the small desk, feeling out for those 'legs' of his that had gone so unused, focusing on finding and moving them one at a time. This was different from the charge the electrical storm had granted him that let him even form those limbs in the first place; that purple bolt of freak lightning had overcharged him immensely in comparison to how he functioned normally, and he could tell how markedly heavier the limb felt running off his regular power source. Eventually, however, he managed to get at least one of the silvery tentacle-esque limbs out from his base, grasping at the ground with the scarlet claw that tipped the arm as he tilted himself slightly. One of six down was progress, and proof that the metaphorical muscle memory was still there too.
Eventually, the mirror image of the first limb was out, grasping the other side of the desk and lifting the sapient machine off the wooden platform he called home entirely, slowly meandering forward like a foal taking its first steps, but quickly after finding his balance, beginning the process of escaping from the confines of this house.
Then came the third and fourth legs, each limb a perfect duplicate of the other three, his monitor pulling forward and making the wires plugged into his metaphorical head taut as his limbs tugged and pulled him further forward. 'Ah yes, that little snag.' he thought to himself with the most sarcastic venom he could muster internally, the mildest of 'ughs' escaping his speaker. He hadn't really thought this through too much, had he? He'd been plenty mobile when he was supercharged by the storm, yes, but being severed from the house's electrical system now he was running on normal power? It was entirely possible he'd just keel over without anything to draw energy from.
But hey, if he did end up on the floor like a floundering fish, Courage would just plug him back in when he got back and he'd finally get that peace and quiet he was after. And if he didn't? Well, he was free to go meandering off where he liked to find the dog. It was a win/win in his book. Now if he could only get those last two legs working. The fact they were unresponsive was only making the sensation of utter frustration in the back of Computer's thoughts even worse.
In the meantime, he continued to lurch forward, digging his four present limbs into the wooden flooring below as he pulled against the cables, leaving gashes in the wood as he struggled against the wiring holding him down, until finally… SNAP! The cables gave way, one after another, sending the machine hurtling forward from the sudden momentum, his four limbs clattering as he anchored himself to the planks below, forcing himself to a stop before he smashed monitor-first into the wall, the humming crackle of sparking electricity from the torn cables filling the air of the attic. Well, at least that proved he didn't need to be plugged in, at least for the time being.
His monitor flickered as he righted himself, his 'claws' letting go of the ground before moving toward the staircase from the attic with purpose, those cables still flailing wildly behind him with the electrical energy coursing through them, heavily clunking down the wooden stairs, half-focused on where he walked and half-focused on trying to draw out the remaining limbs; the fact these final two seemed to be so adamant to stay tucked away was extremely irritating, not to mention that it seemed highly illogical. They were part of his body after all; why was getting them to move so difficult? They couldn't have rusted, could they? That didn't add up with the others being in pristine condition even remotely, so that seemed out of the question. Maybe it was a power issue. He was running off far less electricity than he had back then, after all.
'Bah!' The machine thought to himself, and if he had a face he would have had the mother of all sneers on it, deciding he'd puzzle out the issue later; right now he wanted to get out into the world again and find the pink dog before a gateway to an eldritch realm opened in the middle of town or some other such nonsense took place, as it was wont to do around Courage. He'd probably have to find a body first, though; a meaty, durable one like Muriel's had been, so that meant the Farmer was still far out of the question (not that he'd willingly possess the crotchety bag of bones again even if he was option 1). The police were another option he weighed, but how was he to attract them, and would they even come? So he threw that option to the wayside too.
There was, at least in his mind, one final option that didn't make him want to short circuit himself; attracting some of the local wildlife. His main issue, of course, was the current lack of his tertiary pair of limbs; he had doubts he could balance himself on only two whilst wrangling with, and uploading himself into, something fleshy. His second issue was finding something big enough to begin with; anything smaller than a dog would probably be far too small and slippery to get a good grip on. The cogs soon turned however, and the machine gave an almost-amused chuckle to himself as an idea came to mind. 'Of course! That weremole still haunts this area; I just need a 'willing participant' to attract it, provided it's a full moon, of course.'
His goals now in mind, he rounded the second set of stairs leading to the farmhouse's ground floor, clunking down them with complete disregard to the noise he was creating; he knew the farmer had slept through louder, so what was the point of him trying to be quiet and sneaky? It made no difference, even as he passed the Farmer (who had fallen asleep on his chair, face covered by his newspaper the Twit always mentioned him reading) and gave him an eyeless glare. 'Such a slob of a human. I'll never understand the Twit's urge to help him.' He tutted in internal dialogue, before all but bowling the wooden door to the house open and stepping down into the dust.
Some time had definitely passed between Courage's leaving and now Computer's exit from the farm, the pink pooch's pawprints undisturbed on the ground thanks to the still night. He tilted his monitor upward toward the sky, and were he capable of any sort of expression currently, he would have had the most deranged of scowls on his face; the moon was only waning. That threw that plan to the wind as well. Only one way, it seemed, and that was to go in-person (or more accurately in-monitor) and hope he found something worthwhile to take control of in the meantime; he'd settle for a coyote or fox if he truly had to, but for now it was just him and his 4 functioning legs.
And so off he went, following the pawprints in the dust, his claw-like limbs moving him tirelessly down the road.
A shorter chapter this time around, mostly for the sake of setting some more of the pieces of the story in place.
If I have literally any readers at all; thanks for giving my story a go!
I'll see you all in Ch. 4 :)
- ValourousPinkDog