Nothing to really put up here today, so lets just dive right in.
Avery groaned as she tried to bury her head back into her pillow, but the pillow was no match for the banging sound coming from the roof above. It had been going on for the past several minutes now, ever since the sun had begun to rise. She had complained to her uncle the night before that some of the boards on the roof could use replacing. But she hadn't expected him to be up there THIS early in the morning.
Now, she knew that her uncle Eustace was an early riser but at the same time he knew that she was NOT a morning person. All she wanted to do was just sleep in a little bit longer, but the constant banging of his hammer on the boards of the roof was just about to drive her insane. Thankfully she knew that she was not alone in that department.
Already she could hear that her aunt was outside, yelling at Eustace about the noise. This was followed by a loud crunch and the sound of Eustace screaming in pain. Avery snickered slightly at her uncle's clumsiness as she began to get up from bed.
She walked to her wardrobe and began changing into whatever outfit she wanted to wear for the day. But while she was in the middle of it, she heard one last bang from Eustace's hammer. This was followed by the sounds of rending wood, a loud thunk, Muriel groaning and Courage howling.
She looked at the window and said, "That can't be good."
She ran over to her window and what she saw was a bit... shocking to say the least. Her aunt was laying sprawled on the ground with a bump forming on her forehead. She couldn't hear her too well, but Avery could tell that her aunt was groaning from the pain. She even looked up to see her uncle giving off a look of complete and utter guilt.
She raced down the stairs and right out the front door. Not wasting a beat, she helped her aunt up onto her feet and began to walk her inside. Just as she was opening the door, Eustace was there and even held the door open for them. Even though he was doing something nice for them now, Avery still felt the need to shoot him a glare. She wasn't sure, but she believed that she could see her uncle twitch a little under her gaze.
She and Courage led Muriel over to her rocking chair and stood her in front of it.
"Aunt Muriel, are you okay?" Avery asked.
Muriel took a curious look around the living room, smiled and said, "Oh this is a lovely room."
Eustace looked at her in surprise and said, "Eh?"
Muriel sat down on her rocker and said, "And what a comfy chair."
Eustace was even more confused now and Avery asked, "Aunt Muriel? Are. You. Oh. Kay?"
Muriel looked at her said, "I'm feeling just fine young lady. Is this YOUR house? It seems nice."
Eustace picked up a cup of tea that Muriel had set out and offered it to her. But Muriel was more interested in an old wedding photo of her and Eustace.
"What a nice couple," Muriel said. "Who are they?"
Avery groaned inside of her mind.
'Great, now we have to deal with a case of amnesia. Can we please just get another spook running around here instead?' she said in her mind.
Courage even began pacing back and forth, clutching his head and babbling to himself.
'Don't you go to pieces on me either Courage,' Avery thought.
Eustace took the photo back from her and offered her the tea again, which she graciously took this time. Muriel thanked him and asked him what his name was.
"What's my name?" asked Eustace in confusion. "Hey now, what's YOUR name?"
Muriel shrugged and Avery asked, "Aunt Muriel, please tell me you know my name."
Muriel shook her head and said, "I'm sorry young lady, but I haven't the foggiest idea."
Eustace pointed to Courage and said, "Well, what's HIS name?"
Muriel looked down at Courage and Courage merely smiled and waved at her cheerfully. He was desperate for Muriel to remember him, knowing that things would probably turn bleak if she didn't.
But to his and Avery's dismay, she shrugged and said, "I've never seen him before in my life."
Eustace smiled evily and went to grab Courage. But Avery stepped in his way and tried to stop him.
"Uncle Eustace, should you really take advantage of Aunt Muriel's condition? Come on, even YOU are better than this," she pleaded with him not knowing if she was correct.
Though her pleas fell on deaf ears and Eustace said, "The dog should be spending time outside anyway. Do I need to put YOU out too."
Avery just stood there, flabbergasted that he would say something like that to her. This was enough distraction from her for Eusatce to walk behind her and grab Courage by the nape of his neck. He immediatly walked to the back door and threw the dog outside. He chuckled to himself and sat back down in his arm chair. Avery's mouth still hanging open from what her uncle had just said to her. But she knew that there was no use fighting with him right now and trudged up the stairs in defeat.
As she walked up, she could still hear Eustace degrading her aunt verbally with various demands that he was making up off the top of his head. Avery however was fuming. It was bad enough that he had caused her aunt some injury, but now he was demeaning her and treating her like garbage for his own selfish needs. All the while, he had thrown out the dog that both she and her aunt were pretty fond of.
She walked back into her room, buried her face into her pillow and just screamed in aggravation. She knew her uncle could be a pain in the neck, but he had never sunk to this kind of low in any of her memories.
She had just sat back on her bed, when the window suddenly shattered inwards. She looked over to the window to see Courage land on the bucket of his computer chair and began typing away with great vigor. She couldn't see what he was typing, but she could see the fury of his typing so it must have been about her aunt.
The computer beeped and said, "Well, you don't have to hit so hard. Let me look for an amnesia therapist."
The computer went to his 'Searching' screen. It took a few moments, but he did get a hit.
"I've found one that seems to "fit the bill" dare I say. He calls himself Le Quack and appears to have some sort of success. Shall I e-mail him?" the computer asked.
"No, we just asked you to search simply for the fun of it. What do you think?" Avery said in irritable sarcasm.
"There's no need for sarcasm with me young lady. I'll send him an e-mail, but I'm going to tell him to take his time," the computer scolded her.
Avery rolled her eyes and sat back down on her bed.
She looked back at Courage and said, "Better stay up here or stay outside until it's all settled boy. We don't need Uncle Eustace knowing that you are back in the house. It would only make things worse for the both of us."
Courage could only nod in agreement.
About an hour later, a duck, that was nearly as tall as Avery, arrived at the house. His feathers were all white, blue curled hair on top of his head and a mustache coming out of both sides of his bill. He had a slightly friendly look to his face, almost like he was very happy about something. Courage had gone back outside and Avery stuck her out of the still broken window to see the duck knock on the door. She was already beginning to sigh in relief to know that her aunt might actually get some help.
Eustace opened the door and rudely blurted, "We don't want any!"
Le Quack pulled out his card and gave it to Eustace.
"Afternoon my good man, I am Doctor Le Quack. Are you the patient?" Le Quack asked him in a thick French accent.
"Who?" Eustace asked in confusion.
"Where the patient?" Le Quack asked.
Eustace became even more confused and decided that he was done with this. He threw the card away and turned back into the house and tried to slam the door. But Le Quack caught the door in time and pushed it open again.
"I am an amnesia specialist and have been sent for," Le Quack explained.
Eusatce stuck his head back out of the door and said, "I didn't send for you!"
"No?" Le Quack asked.
With this, he pulled out his mallet and knocked Eustace VERY HARD on the head. Hard enough to knock the old farmer out on his back.
Avery gasped out an "eep" as she covered her mouth and pulled her head back into the window to keep her from being seen or heard. Courage even howled in despair at the realization that he had just invited a criminal over to the house.
Le Quack laughed and walked past Eustace's unconcious form, grabbed him by the feet and began dragging the old man back into the house. He stuffed Eustace into the closet under the stairs and left him there; out of sight.
Back in her room, Avery began to panic a little. It was bad enough seeing her uncle being attacked so roughly, but now she realized that now this guy was in their house. Worse yet is that she was trapped up here while he was down there... with her aunt. She knew she couldn't just sit up there while did whatever to her, but she wasn't sure how to handle it. The duck had attacked Eustace unprovoked and would no doubt do the same to anyone he came across. There's no way she could take him on herself.
Unless...
She looked at her bracelet and said, "Hey you! Can you do something to help?"
Nothing happened.
"Can you make me super strong and take this guy on myself?"
Nothing happened.
"Or make me invisible so I can slip by him and call the police?"
Nothing happened.
"Please?"
Still nothing.
Avery groaned in aggravation and said, "Well you're a big help."
The bracelet remained silent and still like usual.
She suddenly heard her aunt screaming from downstairs and Avery's blood suddenly ran cold. Now, no longer caring if she got hurt or not, ran out the attic door and stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the den. Now she could no longer hear her aunt screaming. Instead it now sounded like she was... laughing?
"What is going on down there?" she whispered to herself.
She silently crept down the stairs as she had probably made enough noise already. How the guy didn't hear her, she had no idea. Taking a risk, she peeked her head out from the wall on the stairs to see that her aunt was bound in rope and that the criminal was... tickling her foot?
"Well that's... less violent," Avery whispered.
The duck was smiling and asked, "Now do you remember?"
Avery raised an eyebrow, smiled a little in relief and thought to herself, 'Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he really is trying to help her. I guess Uncle Eustace just got on his nerves a little, not surprising there. Still, he could have been a lot less violent about it.'
Then the therapist asked, "Where are the family jewels?"
She smile dropped and she thought, 'Then again, I've been wrong before.'
It was then that a strong wind began to blow into the room. Le Quack was knocked off of his feet and blown into the wall on the far side of the room. Avery looked over to the door and saw that Courage was there with a large fan, that was still blowing a strong wind.
'Good dog,' Avery said in her head.
But as relief was just starting to wash over her, the fan suddenly died and the wind stopped.
"Dammit,' Avery screamed in her head.
Courage tried to start up the fan again, but it just wouldn't start up again. So he tried to take the time to grab Muriel, but Le Quack was already on his feet. Wasting no time, he pulled out his mallet and began chasing Courage all around the room. The chase went out into the kitchen and Avery saw an oppertunity. While Le Quack was gone, she dashed down the stairs and over to her aunt.
Muriel looked at her with a smile and said, "Why hello again young lady. What can I do for ya?"
Avery didn't answer and instead began looking over the bundle of ropes that her aunt was encased in to start untying her. But before she could do anything, she heard the back door slam shut and this was followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Avery began to sweat, looked at her aunt and said, "I can't get you out now, but I'll be back later."
She went back up the stairs, knowing that she needed to hide.
Muriel smiled and said, "Bye bye, see you later."
Le Quack reentered the room and asked, "Who are you talking to?"
"The nice young lady," Muriel answered.
Le Quack looked around the room, scratched the underside of his bill and said, "Clearly there's more going on here than I thought."
Avery was back up in her room, rubbing her temples in frustration. She now knew that what she SHOULD have done was gone straight out the open front door and left to get the police. But her fears and worries had gotten the better of her and she wanted to make sure that her aunt was okay first. She now figured that the best way that she can help her aunt would be to get out of there and get help.
"Live and learn Avery. Live and learn," she told herself.
It was here that Courage climbed back in through the still broken window. The little dog wasted no time getting onto his computer chair and began typing away. Avery walked over and saw that he was sending a message to the local police department.
She patted the top of his head and said, "I didn't know you could message the police from this thing. I need to learn more about computers."
They were pulled out of their message when they heard the sound of Muriel screaming once again. After Courage sent the message, they both ran from there and back towards the stairs. Avery couldn't see too well from them, but could swear that what she could see was very... bizarre to say the least.
Muriel was tied up in a chair with a toy train running under it on a track. Le Quack began placing large pies on top of the train and sending them towards her. Muriel shrieked as the pie came closer. Le Quack even got a little sadistic as he increased the speed of the train and allowed the pie to splat into her.
Avery was about to charge in there, but Courage shook his head at her and went down by himself. Knowing what he was getting at, Avery kneeled on the stairs to remain hidden but still keep as close an eye on the scene as possible.
"Now do you remember? Where is your piggy bank?" he asked.
Muriel shrugged and Le Quack frowned.
"Pity," he said as he prepared another pie.
Avery watched Courage creep from the chair and to the TV. He crawled away from the TV, dragging two wires with him. He attached them to the train bridge, which Le Quack certainly took notice of. He tried rushing Courage, but Courage was quicker and activated something as he pushed a button. He did this, just as both Le Quack and the train reached the exact same spot. The resulting explosion left Le Quack singed and very angry.
"How annoying," the criminal duck growled.
Courage began tugging at the ropes binding Muriel, but Le Quack began coming at Courage again. Brandishing his mallet, the duck chased the dog into the kitchen once more. Seeing another oppurtunity, Avery decided that now would be a good time to grab her aunt and get her out to the truck. Best thing to do at this point would be to drive themselves to the police station if needed.
She rushed back to her aunt and tried to pick her up off the chair. But then she remembered how heavy her aunt really was and tumbled to the floor as she had tried to carry her out.
"Courage makes this look so much easier," Avery muttered into the floor.
"Oh hello again," Muriel said with a smile.
Approaching footsteps told Avery that it was time to hide again. So slipping a little on her own two feet, she dashed back for the stairs again. She was out of sight again, just as Le Quack reentered the room once again.
"I heard you talking to somebody? Who was it?" he asked.
"Just the nice young lady again," Muriel answered.
Le Quack looked around and saw some scuff marks on the floor by Muriel's chair.
"Is someone else in the house? Better to keep my eyes open," he asked himself.
Avery went back to her room and buried her eyes in her hands and began banging her head against the wall. That was the second time that she had botched up rescuing her aunt. So now she knew that she would either have to go for help or take on Le Quack herself. She didn't know what she should do and was now starting to beat herself up about it. And the bracelet certainly was not being helpful either.
Why did this thing ignore her?
Suddenly, there was a loud crash in the room and Avery looked up to see a cutout on the wall shaped like Courage. And sitting back on the computer chair was Courage himself, typing away again.
'He sure is a sturdy dog isn't he?' Avery thought.
"You have an e-mail from the police, I'll read it to you," the computer said as Courage typed. "A madman in your house? How horrible. Where are you?"
Courage typed in the answer and they both waited for a response.
"You poor thing. What do you want from us?" the computer added.
Courage stared back in annoyance and even growled, but Avery was less subtle.
"I know that last line was from you. Stop fooling around, this is a serious matter," Avery said to the computer angrily.
The computer chuckled and said, "There's always time for a joke young lady. I'll tell them that you need help."
Avery could practically feel the steam coming out of her ears. Their anger was replaced with concern almost right away, as they heard Muriel scream again. They wasted no time going back downstairs. This time Avery followed Courage down, not wanting to remain hidden this time.
Muriel was still tied up as Le Quack held up a platter with a lid on it. A clothes pin clamped tightly on his bill. He chuckled as he removed the lid off of the platter, revealing a wedge of smelly cheese underneath it. Avery gagged as she could smell it from where she was standing and Courage looked like he was about to throw up. Le Quack began holding the cheese closer to Muriel's face.
Now Courage was absolutely done as he stood in the dining room doorway and growled angrily at Le Quack. Le Quack, clearly also done, made a sour expression at him and began charging towards the door. Courage made sure to slam the door right in Le Quack's face and they could hear the clattering sound of him crashing on the other side. Before they could do anything else, Courage let out a loud whistle towards the dining room window. Avery heard a clattering sound from outside and saw one of the windows open up. She watched as a large mouse stepped into the room through it.
"Hello! What's the problem now?" he asked.
Courage pointed at the door and babbled urgently.
The mouse looked back at the door and said, "A cheese problem? I can fix that."
He stepped over to the door, opened it and was met by Le Quack still standing there holding his tray of cheese. The mouse put on a bib, glared at Le Quack and punched him, square in the face. As Le Quack flew across the room again, the mouse grabbed the cheese and ate it up in one bite with a loud belch.
"Well, I guess that's one way to take care of a problem," Avery said.
Courage stepped out, pulled a five out of a wallet he had and babbled to the mouse.
The mouse took the five and said, "No prob." Before turning around and leaving through the window again.
"Friend of yours?" Avery asked him and Courage nodded.
Muriel screamed once more and they both looked to see Le Quack carrying her and then depositing her on the couch. He turned his attention towards Courage, still standing in the doorway. Avery was still around the corner, thinking that Courage would probably pull back as well.
Le Quack grimaced, turned back to Muriel and said, "My darling, I must leave you for a moment. But only for a moment."
He then took his mallet and gave her a conk on the head as well, though a bit lighter than the one that he had given to Eustace earlier. He even gave her a kiss on the head before turning his focus back to Courage.
Courage screamed in terror and dashed for the backdoor, only to find that this time it had been nailed shut. Boards were nailed into the wall on both sides of the door. Le Quack had no problem chasing Courage into the kitchen, even walking right past Avery without him seeing her. He even set his mallet to the side and had grabbed a large vacuum to use on the dog.
He cornered Courage in the kitchen and turned on the vacuum, a vacuum so powerful that Courage had to grip the handle of the door to keep himself from being pulled into the cleaning appliance. It was even strong enough to pull in the things that Courage kept hidden in his fur. An accordion, soccer ball and even an anchor; a freaking anchor. Even the boards holding the door shut were no match for the vacuum's power as the nails came loose and were sucked inside along with the boards. Avery couldn't help but wince as some of Courage's fur were also pulled into the vacuum. His howl of pain didn't help matters either.
Now it was Avery that was officially done with this creep. It was bad enough that he had hurt her uncle and aunt and left her in a state of terror, but now he was hurting the one thing that made life in the middle of Nowhere bearable. She looked at the mallet that Le Quack had left behind and with rage filling her veins, she grabbed Le Quack's mallet and crept up right behind the french duck. Le Quack was laughing so hard to himself, that he couldn't even hear her creeping up on him.
Avery raised the mallet high above her head and said, "Hey bird brain!"
Le Quack heard her voice and turned to look at her and said, "Qu'est-ce que çest?"
He saw Avery with the mallet high above and with a firey hatred in her eyes.
He frowned and with fear in his eyes, he said, "Uh-oh!"
And with that, Avery brought the mallet down as hard as she could on Le Quack's head. Hard enough to bring him down. She even brought the mallet down on the vacuum, destroying it in the process. Courage landed on the floor and began sighing in relief.
A few seconds later, Avery heard the sounds of sirens approaching the house and approaching fast. A moment later, several uniformed police officers came running in through the backdoor, practically stepping all over Courage in the process. But he looked no worse for the wear and Avery just sat back against the door frame and breathed a sigh of relief.
They marched over to Le Quack and cuffed him as they stood over him. The chief even stating that they had been looking for him for quite a while now. Courage crawled over to Avery and she patted the little dog on the top of his head and they smiled at one another.
"It's okay boy. We're safe now," she said to him.
"Good job you two," the chief said to the both of them. "We'll be in contact about the reward money."
"Reward money?" Avery said and her eyes began to light up. "I like the sound of that."
The police loaded Le Quack into the back of their paddy wagon and drove off right away. With the threat now over, Courage went back over to Muriel on the couch and untied her. He babbled to her as she began to sit up on the couch. Muriel looked around the room and a smile formed on her face.
She looked down at Courage and said, "A cup of tea would be lovely."
Courage hugged her thankfully and Avery couldn't help but smile as well as she too wrapped an arm around her aunt's shoulders.
"Oh, have either of you see Eustace?" Muriel asked.
That's when Avery looked over at the closet door and said, "Oh yeah, I think he's still in the closet. We should check on him."
She opened the closet door and saw that her uncle was now awake inside. He looked up at her and groaned.
"Where am I? Who are you? Who am I?" he asked her and then pointed to himself.
Avery was now dumbfounded, but decided that in this case it would be best to let his memories return naturally with some rest and a change of scenery. Maybe a few days away would help him.
She closed the door and said, "Hey aunt Muriel, do you guys still rent that lake house a few counties over?"
Muriel nodded and said, "Of course we do. Why do you ask?"
Avery looked back at the closet and said, "I think Uncle Eustace could use a few days away."
A few miles away, there sat a wrecked paddy wagon just off the side of the road with one of the passengers walking away calmly from the wreck. He wore no badge, but wore the clothing of one of the officers. Officers that were nowhere in sight.
Alright so that'll do it for this chapter. Yeah I kinda wanted Avery to be the hero for once instead of just assisting Courage and I wanted her to do it without help from the bracelet, hence why it had little involvement in this chapter.
The next chapter will be an original one and it'll focus a bit on Avery and Eustace.
I should mention that one episode I will NOT be doing is Cajun Granny Stew. I do apologize as that is an episode I love, but I really cannot think of a way to do that episode in the style I'm going for here. So I'll have the next chapter take place while that one is going on.