I have returned from the dead one again ladies and gentlemen. I once again apologize for the lengthy delay. Main reason being, the links I used that assisted me in viewing episodes so that they could assist with my writings had stopped working. So initially I was going to have to use transcripts and memory of the episode as well as what little footage I could find.
But then, I did the one thing that I honestly should have done years ago and that was getting the DVD pack. They've been very helpful and hopefully delays will become less and less in the future.
So let's not keep you guys waiting. Enjoy the chapter.
It was a bleak day out in the Middle of Nowhere. The skies had started off dark that day and as time wore on, the clouds just kept getting darker and darker. By the early evening, it felt like a storm was just on the horizon. Not wanting her aunt and the fresh wash to be caught in a potential rain storm, Avery assisted her aunt with hanging up the laundry outside. Whereas inside the house at the same time, Courage was busy applying a fresh coat of paint to Muriel's rocking chair and Eustace was doing a little bit of maintenance around the house, much to his aggravation.
By the time that Avery and her aunt had finished up, there was not a single bright cloud left in the sky and the wind had pick up considerably that even Avery's bracelet could detect a foreboding feel in the atmosphere.
As they went back inside, Muriel walked over to her rocking chair and said, "Oh Courage, you did such a nice job repainting my chair. That quick drying paint is amazing."
Avery smirked and said, "I told Uncle Eustace that stuff would come in handy."
"And you were right dear," Muriel said as she sat down and Courage handed her the remote.
Muriel turned on the TV and the three of them sat down to watch. The program that Muriel had turned to involved some guy in glasses and goofy overalls with bananas in his ears, dancing to some goofy music and then the bananas in his ears rotating with a silly clicking sound. They were so distracted that they didn't even notice the nail that was coming up through the floor board and embedded itself into the rocking chair.
They were just settling into the show when the music suddenly stopped and was replaced by the sound of an alarm and the local news broadcaster disrupting the show.
"This is the Nowhere Emergency Broadcast System," he announced, breaking the three of them out of their focus. "We interrupt this program with an emergency tornado watch! This is an emergency! Watch for a tornado!"
For the duration of the short broadcast, the broadcaster was acting in his usual excitable manor, almost like the man wasn't taking it seriously. That is until something sucked him up off the ground and out of sight.
Muriel was instantly alarmed by the announcement and said, "Oh my! A tornado! We better get to the cellar."
Avery looked at her aunt and said, "Actually Aunt Muriel, a watch just means that conditions are favorable for forming tornados. It doesn't mean that one is going to strike. A tornado WARNING is the one that we should be afraid of."
But as she said that, a strong blast of wind hit the house, making the sidings and even the windows of the house rattle. The fact that the bracelet was pulsating in time with the blasts of wind hitting the house didn't help matters either.
She sweat dropped and said, "Then again, sometimes the weather itself does a better job warning you than the news. Let's go."
With that, Muriel tried to stand up from her chair, only to find that she was unable to pull herself out of it. Moreover, the nail that had driven itself deep into the chair had prevented Muriel from simply picking the chair up off of the ground with her. She was effectively trapped in place.
"Oh, my! I'm stuck!" Muriel said as she tried pulling herself up.
"Stuck? How can you be stuck?" Avery asked and grabbed her aunt's hands and tried to pull her out of the chair. No matter how hard they tried though, they could not get Muriel to come out of the chair. It was only then that Muriel got a good look at the can that Courage had been using when repainting the rocking chair.
"Courage, I thought you used the quick drying PAINT on the chair!" Muriel said in alarm as she looked at the can.
Courage looked back at the can and got a good look at it as he picked it up, seeing that it actually saw that he had used quick drying GLUE instead. After a few seconds he hollered and threw it away, alarmed that he had inadvertently trapped Muriel in her own chair.
"Ugh! Uncle Eustace must have stored them next to each other again. I told him the decals looked too similar," Avery shouted in frustration.
Courage turned back to Muriel and began trying to pull her out again. Avery got behind her aunt and tried pulling the chair off of the floor as well. What they didn't realize is that Eustace was still working down in the basement and the floor board continuing to be pulled up had caused the light fixture he'd been working on to be pulled up as well. When the duo lost their grip on Muriel and the chair, it caused the fixture to slam down on top of Eustace's head and knock him out cold.
With no luck in getting Muriel out, she looked at Courage in alarm and said, "You'd better go find Eustace."
Avery continued pulling at her aunt and said, "I'll keep trying to get her out."
Courage wasted no time in turning about and in her frustration, Avery looked at the bracelet and said, "Why aren't you helping me right now?"
The bracelet remained still.
Courage meanwhile had run out onto the front porch to search for Eustace. But as he looked out in the distance, he realized that he was already too late. Out in the plains and fast approaching the farmhouse was dark colored funnel cloud that kicked up the dirt as it rolled along. In a matter of seconds, the funnel grew in size, indicating that it was getting closer and moving swiftly.
Courage ran from the porch, around to the other side of the house and down the cellar stairs. He found Eustace lying on the cellar floor and tried to babble at him, but when he got no response Courage quickly realized that the old farmer had been knocked unconscious.
He howled and ran over to wake the old man up. He slapped Eustace across the face multiple times, licked Eustace's face much to his own disgust and even splashed water all over Eustace's face. But unfortunately, nothing worked. He ran back outside and back onto the front porch, but by now the winds were much too strong for him.
Courage grabbed onto a beam holding up the awning over the porch as the tornado approached the house. He watched as the funnel struck the barn, smashing it to pieces. Followed promptly by the windmill which stood no chance against the twister's violent winds. As the funnel drew closer to the farm house, the winds only grew stronger. Eventually the winds grew so strong that Courage could not keep his hold on the beam anymore. His paws let go of the beam, forcing him to smash through the window behind him.
He smashed into Avery, who was still trying to pull her aunt out from the chair, causing both him and her to tumble over.
Muriel gasped while Avery sat up and the young woman said, "Courage! Are you okay?"
Instead of giving her an answer, Courage stood back up and battled the winds that were now pouring in through the open front door, trying desperately to reach the front entrance and slam it shut. Meanwhile, various small pieces of debris were flying through the open door and broken window. Finally Courage was able to reach the door and closed it up, taking the time to catch his breath in relief.
The relief was short lived though as the walls to the house suddenly broke apart as the violent twister had reached the farm house. Avery was knocked aside as the violent storm sent her reeling backwards and the funnel pulled at Muriel and her rocking chair. All that either Courage or Avery could do was watch as the floorboards beneath Muriel suddenly broke apart and both she and her chair were sucked up into the tornado, crying out for the both her niece and Courage as she disappeared into the funnel cloud.
The tornado continued it's progress as it moved on from the farm, carrying Muriel inside of it with the farmer's wife calling out to Courage and her niece. Courage wasted no time in running after them, with Avery trying figure out what she could do. But the little dog and the tornado were just too fast for her to be able to catch up to them. Even Courage quickly realized that he couldn't keep pace with the twister, so he started using a pogo stick and began bouncing after them. It somehow helped him speed up and he continued doing this until he and the tornado approached a cliff, only for the tornado to suddenly change directions and move in the opposite direction and back towards the farm. Courage didn't notice this soon enough and he ended up bouncing right off the cliff as a result.
Upon getting back to the top of the cliff, Courage began following the funnel using a big wheeled tricycle, pedaling as fast as his legs would allow. But no matter how fast he pedaled, he couldn't catch up but he could still hear Muriel's terrified screams within the tornado itself. He was growing tired, but knew that he couldn't stop. That is until a tire on the tricycle suddenly popped and caused him to crash.
In another act of desperation, Courage tried using a kite to follow after as the tornado continued it's destructive path across the Kansas plains. The winds pulled the kite along, allowing the kite to carry Courage along with it. The problem is that he was gliding through a more forested area, his rear scraping painfully against the trees as he flew along. This continued until bad luck struck once again and caused the string attached to the kite to snap, sending him back down to the ground once more, scraping against the rocks and dirt as he lost his momentum.
However, this idea had actually driven him forward with enough speed that he had been able to get ahead of the tornado and right into it's damage path, looming ever closer to him. In an act of pure desperation and not sure what he was thinking at this point, Courage took the kite string and tied it the rock in front of him and then took the other end and ran it all the way over to a nearby tree and tied it off. Not even sure if this plan was even going to work, Courage ran a safe distance away from the tree and waited for the twister to come. Sure enough, the funnel reached the string and began rolling over it... only for the tornado to suddenly fall over and then dissipate completely the very second the funnel hit some nearby jagged peaks.
Courage had to admit that what he had just witnessed was surprising, but he was extra pleased with the result as he let out a victory yell.
He was just about to start climbing up the peaks where Muriel's rocking chair had landed, when he heard a honking sound and looked over to see Eustace's truck, looking all banged up and beaten as result of the debris and destructive winds, and then to his surprise, he saw Avery climbing out of the driver's seat and running over to him.
"Courage! Are you okay?" she ran over to him and rested her hand on top of his head.
Courage nodded and then pointed up at the jagged peaks where they could see Muriel's rocking chair.
"She landed up there? Well let's go get her and get her into the truck. We need to get back before Uncle Eustace wakes up and realizes it's gone," she said and then pointed back at the vehicle. Only for said truck to suddenly fall apart and die as soon as she acknowledged it.
She sighed and said, "Great! Now I gotta explain THAT to him."
Courage tugged on her pants leg and pointed back up at the top of the peaks where the rocking chair was still sitting.
Avery rubbed the back of her head and said, "Right. Let's go see if Aunt Muriel is ok."
Courage wasted no time in climbing up the rocks with Avery following close behind him. Even though it tired them out quickly, they were able to reach the top in moments. But to their shock, all that they saw in the chair was Muriel's dress, her apron and her boots. But there was no sign of Muriel herself.
"Oh no!" Avery said at the sight of her aunt's clothes. "Aunt Muriel!" She called out. "Where are you?"
It was then that she received her answer as a portion of Muriel's clothing flew upwards and a toddler with white hair, like Muriel's, was standing on top of the chair.
"Hi!" the toddler said, making both Avery and Courage gasp.
Avery was a bit more wide eyed than Courage was though.
"I'm Muriel! I'm only three and a half years old. Who are you two?" the now de-aged Muriel said.
Avery stared back at her and said, "Aunt Muriel?"
"That's me name. Do not wear it out," Muriel said and laughed childishly.
Avery felt her eye twitch as her heart rate began to race.
"Oh no. Oh. Heck. No!" Avery said as she looked at her toddler aunt.
Muriel looked at Courage, laughed and said, "You're funny looking."
'First a tornado warning, then a chase through the plains and now a kid?' Avery said in her head. 'It's official, this is the worst day ever.'
It took nearly an hour, but eventually the trio were able to get back to the farmhouse, now all torn to shambles. They had taken turns carrying the now toddler Muriel and the rocking chair seeing as she refused to get out of, though each time Avery had carried the chair, it looked like she was coming closer and closer to snapping. She had never been a fan of kids before and this case certainly wasn't helping matters in the slightest. Sure there were times where she been able tolerate kids and dear lord she would never try to mistreat them. But the now toddler Muriel is the closest she has ever come to snapping at a kid. The only thing that was stopping her is that this was her beloved aunt. Her beloved aunt that was now driving her last nerves.
She sighed in relief as the remains of the farm house appeared in sight and she said, "Finally, we're almost home."
But that didn't stop little Muriel from being an annoyance.
"I want to go to the candy store!" she said, making Avery's eye twitch again. "I want to buy a toy! I want to watch TV! I want to go to the zoo! I want to go swimming! I want a new doll! I want a new front tooth! I want a tea party! I want a party dress!"
Avery's hands were shaking and said, "Yeah and there's a lot of things that I want too, but those all have to wait."
She looked at Courage and based on the slightly annoyed look that was now on his face, she knew that HE knew that this was going to suck.
Upon reaching the farm house, Courage kicked the front door open and walked into the ruins of the living room. Avery on the other hand, had simply walked around the broken wall as she didn't see the point in using the front door currently. At least not until they got the house fixed. Courage on the other hand, walked right in and had just set the rocking chair down on the ground before Muriel started up again.
"I'm thirsty! I'm thirsty! I'M THIRSTTTTYYYYY!" Muriel wailed.
Avery shuddered at the sound of Little Muriel's wails and was about ready to let loose a tirade of swears and other foul language, but thankfully Courage started tugging on her hand to pull her away from there. They went back towards the remains kitchen where, thankfully, some of the dishes had remained intact. But the pipes were broken, so water was leaking out of them. Good news for them though as it allowed them to fill up a glass of water for Muriel.
"Well this is a fine mess we have ourselves in now boy. Tornado today was bad enough, but now we have a kid to look after. A kid! Courage, I hope you have some ideas, because I am NOT good with kids," she said as Courage filled up the glass. Even though he couldn't say it, Avery had a feeling that Courage didn't know either.
They returned to the living room to bring Muriel her water, but to their shock, the spunky toddler was missing, causing Courage to scream.
Avery groaned and said, "And this is what I was worried about. Okay, let's look around. She couldn't have gotten far."
It didn't take long for them to locate her as they heard her giggles coming from the remains of the cellar below them. They looked down to see her sitting on Eustace's stomach as the old man began to stir.
He sat up and looked at Muriel, letting out a grunt of confusion as Muriel laughed and said, "Hi! I'm Muriel! I'm only three and a half years old. Who are you?"
"What?" Eustace said as he sat up too fast and hit his head on a fallen beam just above him, knocking himself out once more.
Avery shook her head and said, "You're the lucky one right now Uncle Eustace."
As Eustace fell back again, little Muriel began bouncing on his belly screaming, "I WANT AN EASTER EGG! I WANT AN EASTER EGG! I WANT AN EASTER EGG!"
Avery's eye twitched again and she yelled, "HEY! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! HE'S NOT A TRAMPOLINE!"
Muriel was unfazed by her yelling and looked up at her and Courage and said, "I'm hungry! I'm hungry! I'M HUNGRRRRY!'
Both Avery and Courage getting aggravated at this point, but Courage babbled something down to Muriel.
Avery sighed and said, "It can't get any worse than this."
Little did Avery know about the annoyance she and Courage were about to be subjected to.
About the only food they had that had been left untouched by the tornado were many boxes of macaroni and cheese. Not much, but Avery knew it was something that a lot of little kids seemed to like, so maybe this would help keep her calmed down.
Muriel was currently seated at the table, a book placed beneath her to give her a little boost as Courage and Avery were preparing the macaroni and cheese for her. Courage stirred the pasta as Avery painstakingly measured out the ingredients. The little lass had been very demanding on how she wanted the dish to turn out and getting it perfectly for her was a task that was going to be much easier said than done.
But before long, they finished the meal with a small mound of noodles and a generous topping of cheese on top. They brought it over to the white-haired toddler who took one look at the meal and looked away in disgust.
"This stinks! I hate it this way," Muriel said in disgust.
"We just made that," Avery said in anger. "What's wrong with it?"
"Less cheese!" Muriel said angrily.
Avery let out a groan of annoyance and both she and Courage went back to the stove. So they made a new batch of macaroni and cheese with a small mound of macaroni with a more conservative slathering of cheese.
Muriel looked at it as they served it and said, "More macaroni!"
So they went back over to the stove, this time with annoyance being evident as Courage began stirring the macaroni a bit faster this time. This time they had a stack of macaroni and a generous slathering of cheese, but the toddler still was not satisfied.
"Less macaroni!" she said.
This is about how it went for the next hour. Courage and Avery, having to go back to the stove over and over again and the two of them becoming more and more frustrated each time they did so. Every time they brought a new dish over to the table there was always something else wrong with it. Be it either too little cheese or too much cheese. Sometimes it was too much macaroni or too little macaroni. At one point it was too little cheese AND too little macaroni.
They were both just about at their wits end with the toddler's demanding attitude when Courage brought out a stack of macaroni that had the cheese swirled all around the stack. The rising anger evident in his eyes.
Avery got down to eye level with Muriel, eye twitching and with a strained voice she said, "Is this. Good. Enough. For you?"
This time, Muriel smiled and said, "Oh perfect." And then she threw the plate aside and let the entire macaroni dish splatter all over the duo's faces.
With her arms crossed, little Muriel looked away from them and said, "I hate macaroni and cheese."
By now, Avery was seeing red. She was just about ready to reach out to the toddler, but Courage was able to pull Avery away from the situation and a rhythmic pulsing from the bracelet was able to help bring Avery's temper down. It didn't make her annoyance subside though.
She began wiping the remains of the macaroni and cheese off of her face and said, "And this is why I can't stand kids."
Some time later Muriel was back in the living room, balancing on a board that was sitting over the gaping hole above the cellar. Not so bad at first, but then she began to bounce up and down on top of the board and putting herself at risk.
Avery was trying to coax Muriel off of the board and back onto the solid ground, while Courage was trying to reach out to Muriel to pull her back over before she hurt herself.
But Muriel continued bouncing and cried, "Come on, play with me. Play with me! PLAY WITH MEEEEEEEEE!"
Avery's stress was boiling over once again and said, "If it weren't for the fact that you're supposed to be my aunt-"
Courage rested a paw on Avery's arm and shook his head, stopping her from saying something that she would greatly regret. The calming pulsations of her bracelet did assist in calming her down. Still she, looked at the bracelet and continued to wonder why it couldn't help in this situation.
Right after the macaroni and cheese debacle, Avery had tried pressing the bracelet against Muriel, which had been a far more difficult task than one would think. Every time the rambunctious toddler had come within arms reach of Avery, she'd been too feisty to keep still. And even when she had managed to wrangle in the energetic toddler and press the bracelet against her, nothing had happened.
She looked at the bracelet upon her wrist and thought, 'What good are you here?'
Meanwhile, Muriel continued bouncing on top of the board and would not stop. Courage had tried scolding her, but Muriel had simply giggled and called him funny looking, making Avery want to groan again.
Back in the cellar, Eustace began to stir once more. Rubbing the top of his head, he avoided the fallen beam this time and began to ponder where he was. That is until he looked up and saw Courage walking out on top of the board.
Eustace narrowed his eyes and said, "What are you doing dog? Where's Muriel?"
Avery's head appeared in the hole, looking down at him and said, "Uncle Eustace, before we tell you that, there's something you need to know."
Eustace grimaced and said, "Avery, where is your aunt?"
That's when Muriel popped up, giggling and said, "Hi, I'm Muriel. I'm only three and a half years old. Who are you?"
Eustace only looked at Muriel in confusion, until Courage lost his balance on the board and fell into the cellar and landed on top of the old farmer.
Eustace grunted in pain as Courage landed on top of him and said, "What'd you do that for, stupid dog?"
Avery shook her head and said, "Hold up, I'll come do... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PUT THAT DOWN!"
Even though Eustace was just in front of Courage, it was Avery's yells that had caught the little dog's attention. He looked up and screamed at what he was seeing, before jumping off of Eustace and running to safety. And that was when Eustace's armchair landed right on top of the old farmer.
"Whoopsey," Muriel and said then began to giggle like crazy.
Avery sighed, shook her head and said, "You know what, I'm done. I am just done with this day today."
Back in the living room, Muriel was back on her rocking chair, rocking it aggressively and giggling the whole time as she did. By now, Avery was sitting further away from her and trying her best to tune the annoying toddler out. Right she was desperately wishing that her guitar hadn't been blown away by the tornado as it would have been a good way to tune the bratty version of her aunt out.
It wasn't long before Courage walked back in through the front door and babbled something angrily at Muriel. Whatever it was must been harrowing, because Muriel instantly stopped rocking and began sobbing and wailing. She wailed something out, but Avery couldn't make it out as she merely covered her ears with her hands to completely block the cries out from her hearing.
As she wailed, Courage calmly babbled to her some more. Whatever it was must have worked because within seconds, Muriel's cries stopped and she was back to smiling again. Then she took it another step too far.
"Guess what I found," Muriel said and then turned away from Courage.
"Wait! No! Whatever you do don't-" Avery tried stopping her, but it was too late.
Muriel pulled out the tiki mask that Eustace loved to use on Courage all the time and said, "Booga booga booga!"
Courage screamed and ran away as Muriel sat on the chair and continued laughing at Courage's expense.
"Hey!" Avery said and took the mask from Muriel's hands, which didn't deter the youngster in the slightest. "Why'd you do that? Can't you see that he's completely terrified now!"
Muriel continued to laugh and said, "He's so funny."
Avery rolled her eyes and went back to trying to tune her out. She now remembered that kids not only annoyed her, but could be unnecessarily cruel at times as well.
They had to find a way to fix this and fast.
Hours passed and eventually it was night time. By the time the moon was rising, Muriel had mercifully fallen asleep on the rocking chair and was currently sucking her thumb. Avery was breathing a sigh of relief because, for now at least, the nightmare was on hold.
During the few hours of daylight that they had had, Courage had sifted through the debris of the farm house and, to his and Avery's surprise, they had found the computer. After plugging him in to make sure that power was still coming into the house, the computer booted up and addressed them.
"About time. It was getting rather boring in that wood pile. Though I'm not sure that this is a better alternative," the computer snarked.
Avery was having none of it as she sat at the computer with Courage and said, "Look, it's been a very very rough day today. Can you please save the snark for another time before I RETURN YOU TO THE DEBRIS PILE?!"
The computer huffed and said, "It seems that I have touched a nerve. Very well, tell me what has been happening."
Both Courage and Avery spent the next few minutes telling the computer about all of the events of this lousy day including the tornado, Muriel getting sucked up into the tornado, turning into a toddler and all the frustration that she had put them through.
Not that the last part was important, the duo just wanted to vent.
The computer processed all of this information and said, "I have heard something like this before. To get the old Muriel back, you'll have to place her into a tornado that spins in the opposite direction."
Courage typed onto the computer, 'Do tornados spin in reverse?'
"Only in the southern hemisphere, you twit," the computer answered.
Avery clenched her fist and said, "What did I just say about snark?"
"Right right, sheesh talk about not letting someone have a little fun," the computer responded.
Courage continued typing and punched in, "All the way down there?"
"Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru... your choice," the computer answered. "Personally, I like the chicken tandoori in Sri Lanka."
"Huh?" Courage grunted and scratched his head.
Avery shook her head and said, "What does that have to do with anything? Sri Lanka is in the NORTHERN hemisphere."
"Just giving out some travel recommendations. If you're going south, you might as well make an extra stop there on the way back," the computer answered.
Satisfied with this answer, they were about to settle in for for the night. But right before she turned away, a sudden thought hit Avery as she looked back at the computer and said, "I have one more question."
The computer sighed and said, "Make it quick."
Avery held up the bracelet and said, "I tried to use this earlier to turn my aunt back to normal. It can transform me when I need to use it, but didn't work on her. Any idea why it wouldn't work?"
"Young lady, I know as much about that cursed trinket as you do," the computer said. "It could be for any reason. For example, the reason your aunt became a toddler was for a scientific one and maybe magic can't alter that. Maybe it's abilities extend to you and you alone. Maybe it doesn't have the power to manipulate one's age. Or it could be all three for all we know."
Avery sighed and said, "I should have figured. Thanks anyway."
"Don't mention it. Good lucking fixing your aunt," the computer said and then powered itself down.
Courage sat beside Avery as she stared at the computer. She merely pat him on the head in comfort.
"Let's rest up boy, we need to catch a plane first thing tomorrow. Because the sooner we get this done, the better," she said.
A few hours later, all three were onboard a plane bound for any place that was south of the Equator. Was it a relaxing trip down there? You wish. The entire trip, Muriel had acted like any unrestrained toddler would. Running up and down the aisle, trilling at the top of her lungs for the entirety of the trip. Avery had hoped that she would tire herself out quickly, but even a few hours after having taken off, the energized toddler showed no signs of slowing down. Avery could look at Courage and she could tell that even he was completely done with this.
And Muriel continued running up and down the aisle, making her trilling sound. Eventually the flight attendant decided that she had had enough, so she grabbed a parachute, threw open the door and right before she jumped out she yelled, "I can't take it anymore!"
Avery watched as the woman jumped out and said, "I wish I could go with you."
And Muriel still didn't slow down as she continued running up and down the plane with no signs of stopping. Soon even the pilot had decided that he too had had enough as he came running out of the cockpit, clutching his hair in madness.
"I can't take it anymore either," he said and took off his hat and headset, before putting it all on Courage's head. "Good luck!"
He too grabbed a parachute and jumped out the open door of the plane as well, laughing in hysterics all the way down.
Avery looked at Courage and said, "I sure hope you know how to fly a plane."
A few minutes later, the three of them were up in the cockpit as Courage was reading a pilot's manual, with Avery reading it over his shoulder. All the while, Muriel was bouncing around on the copilot's seat and being a general nuisance once again.
Avery looked at her and said, "Hey! You need to sit down! It's too dangerous to be bouncing around in here!"
Her warning fell on deaf ears though and Muriel continued bouncing around. But then she began messing around with some of the plane's controls and now, all bets were off. Avery grabbed the toddler and carried her out of the cockpit and tossed back out into the sitting area of the plane. Instead of complaining about being tossed out of the room, Muriel began complaining about a variety of things instead.
"I'm thirsty! I'm hungry! I'm dizzy! I'm nauseas! I'm going to hurl! I'm going to blow chunks!" Muriel complained as the duo closed the door.
Avery sat in the co-pilot seat and said, "We had better find a tornado soon. Because I am about to jump out the plane as well. Parachute or no parachute."
Sure enough, it was only a matter of minutes before Courage looked out and saw a tornado grinding along the ground below. He hollered out in joy and pointed it out to Avery.
She looked at it said, "Oh thank you!"
They flew the plane down from the top of the clouds and down towards the top of the funnel cloud.
"If this doesn't work, I'm jumping!" Avery said right before Courage hit the eject button, throwing Little Muriel out of the plane and down into the funnel below.
"GERONIMO!" Muriel called out as she fell into the funnel.
Courage and Avery sent the plane into a dive, flying close to the ground. Right as they got close, Courage leveled off the plane and flew towards the tornado. Thankfully the bottom of the funnel was lifted just off of the ground, allowing them to fly underneath it... just as Muriel reached the bottom of the tornado and crashed through the top of the plane.
Avery felt the jolt as Muriel landed and said to herself, "Please work! Please work! Please work!"
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the cockpit door opened up and in stepped her aunt, now a fully grown adult again. Though Avery felt a little bit of embarrassment when she saw that her aunt was dressed in nothing but her undergarments.
"Excuse me, pilot," Muriel said as she stepped in. "Have you got any of those little bags of peanuts?"
It took her a moment, but Muriel did take notice that it was Courage who was flying the plane. And when she looked to the seat next to him, she was surprised to see her niece sitting there as well.
"Courage! Avery!" she said in surprise. "I didn't know you two could fly a plane."
Avery chuckled and said, "Yeah, we just learned. Now you may want to take a seat, where going to fly home now."
Muriel did just that and even though she didn't know it, both Courage and Avery were sighing in relief. Not only glad to have regular Muriel back, but now they didn't have to deal with LITTLE Muriel anymore.
They then made a turn with the plane and began flying back towards Kansas.
Back at the farm, Eustace groaned as he walked up the cellar steps and threw open the cellar doors, wondering where Muriel was. He climbed outside and looked around, not even bothered by all the destruction that the tornado had caused the day before. One would say, that he should have been more alarmed by the growing rumbling sound.
"Muriel!" he called out, eyes narrowing in impatience.
The rumbling just grew louder.
"MURIEL!" Eustace called out again.
The volume of the rumbling increased.
"Muriel! Where's my dinner?!" Eustace demanded, not even looking up as the rumbling sound became more deafening.
He was so focused on finding his wife, that he didn't even know what had hit him once the plane nose slammed into him, sending him back into the cellar and out cold once more. Only this time with his form a little more twisted.
Back outside, Avery, Courage and Muriel were climbing out of the plane as Courage jumped down to Muriel as Avery loomed in the doorway above.
"Oh you two are such great fliers, but you both need a little work on your parking," Muriel stated.
Avery jumped down out of the plane and said, "One step at a time Aunt Muriel. One step at a time."
After getting cleaned up and changed into a fresh set of clothes; Courage, Muriel and Avery were back to sitting in the destroyed remains of the living room and watching the TV which, surprisingly, was still operating. They were watching the same program that they had been watching at the time of the first tornado alert. Avery didn't care about the rerun. All she cared about is that her aunt was normal again and now she could just sit back and relax not having to deal with anymore kids. Not for now at least.
Just like before though, the program was interrupted by the Nowhere News sounding an alert with their televised siren and broadcast.
"This is the Nowhere Emergency Broadcast System. The tornado emergency is over," said the newscaster.
Avery sighed and said, "Oh good. Only took two days for that to happen."
"That is a good thing," Muriel said as she continued rocking in her chair.
"Now the only thing to worry about is that GIANT tidal wave roaring across the plains!" the newscaster said excitedly before a wave came along and washed him away.
Gulping, Avery looked towards the front of the house and she could see the giant wave coming straight towards them. Courage grabbed Muriel and climbed on top of Eustace, while Avery held up the bracelet and let it glow.
She turned to her mermaid form and said, "The weather has been crazy here. Just another spring in Nowhere."
She let the wave overtake her as Courage held Muriel above his as he used Eustace as a surfboard to keep themselves above the water.
And finally it's done. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter more than I did.
Honestly, I think I might have gone a little overboard with Avery's aggravation and her dislike of kids. But then again, the kid she had to deal with was little Muriel. Can anyone really blame Avery for getting as frustrated as she did?
Anyway, now that I have a decent way to access the episodes, we should be able have less delays going forward.
Next time we look at the episode, Journey To The Center Of Nowhere