A/N: I stole this title from a South Park episode implying that this is when the actual grand adventure for our doggos finally starts. But it does so in an unexpected and unfavorable (to say the very least) way. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: 'It' Hits the Fan

As they approached Shirley's wagon, it was moving around very violently, and there were muffled screams wailing in agony from it. Courage and Noel stopped in their tracks, about 5 yards from the door. It rattled around violently again and Courage yelped in fear.

"This is safe, is it not?" Noel asked, kind of scared now too.

"Y-yes," Courage confirmed through chattering teeth.

Both dogs were terrified.

"Well, I'm not going to just stand here all day," Noel said, trying to display some bravery. He advanced to open the door.

"No!" Courage warned.

Noel opened the door, and the entire room was a dark void. But everything in the room was barely lit up in a green glow. The screams were now much louder, and Shirley was seen floating around in the middle of the void clearly "orchestrating" something with her arms and chanting in a language that had to have been from another dimension. The sudden open of the door caught her attention and agitated her, to say the very least. She groaned at their presence and puffed out her arms in opposite directions to cut off or pause the ritual or whatever she was doing. The screams slowly faded, and the room returned to normal. Shirley was then suddenly standing right in front of Noel, clearly upset at him.

"Do you always approach violently shaking trailers housing screams of terror?" Shirley asked with an annoyed expression.

"Uh, no," Noel replied, clearly not knowing what else to say. "Um, allow me to introduce myself-."

"You are Noel, are you not?" She cut him off.

"Yes, I'm… Noel," Noel replied feeling stupid.

Shirley peaked around Noel to find Courage standing there not really paying attention to anything.

"You," she pointed at him, which got his attention. Her expression seemed to slightly lighten upon noticing his presence. "It is good to see you again, no?"

"Mmm hmm," Courage slowly nodded nervously.

"It has been some time, has it not?"

"Well I had to come back sooner or later," Courage admitted, scratching his head.

"Yes, I suppose so," Shirley said dully. "So state your true business."

"We have come for any info regarding Noel's parents," Courage pointed at Noel. "He said that you are the one who found him, learned of his name, and briefly raised him."

Shirley's apathetic expression then changed to horror.

"He said you used magic to find out his name or something-."

"His parents are dead," she replied very swiftly, and very coldly.

Courage couldn't help but notice Noel's posture sink when they heard those words. Still feeling guilty from earlier, he gently rubbed Noel's back to try to comfort him, but Noel still shook him away and continued to weep without sobbing.

"They were jumped and murdered by a gang of criminals right after he was born," Shirley continued. "They hid him in a dumpster, and they were both slaughtered right next to it. The gang most certainly disposed of the bodies." Her face carried a sad, but slightly guilty look after spilling all of this information.

"So that's it?" Noel choked out. "I've been wondering my whole life where I could maybe find a couple of bones? Why? Why me?! I didn't have anybody left, but now I've realized that I never had anybody in the first place." He pitifully wept.

Courage felt awful, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to try to comfort his friend. So he talked to Shirley again for Noel's sake.

"No," Courage said strongly. "That couldn't have been what happened."

"I wish it went any other way, dog," Shirley pitifully responded, giving the ground a depressed look. "But that is what happened. You came to me wanting facts, and I give you facts. And that is too bad."

Courage desperately pulled his ears. "Is there any 'silver lining' to any of this?"

"I'm afraid not much," Shirley admitted. "Noel survived, and that is a good thing. It is also a good thing that you two don't have to embark on such a dangerous journey, mess with forces that threaten our way of life, and get yourselves killed. That is too bad."

"What?" Courage asked.

"But I feel sorry for you two," she ignored him. "Here," she quickly handed him some money. "Go buy yourselves some sort of delightful treat, but make sure to bring me back a wrap. The type of wrap is of your choice, I'll eat anything. Now go!" She lightly shoved Courage out of the doorway with the money and shut the door.

"Okay then," Courage passively griped.

Noel was still silent with his paws in his eyes.

"Well, I guess come on," Courage said to him before walking.

Noel followed him back into the cold, freezing desert and towards the town of Nowhere. It was silent for a good while. There were only the sounds of their footsteps in the desert sand and the breathing of them both. But after a while, Noel finally broke the silence.

"What are we doing?" he asked.

"We are going out for hot cocoa and to fetch Shirley a wrap," Courage tried to say enthusiastically for Noel's sake.

"But why?" Noel said. "We just found out that my parents are dead and we're going out for cocoa? I don't understand you sometimes."

"It's what Shirley wants us to do," Courage said. "She gave us the money and she wants a wrap. And if there is something you need to know about Shirley, it is to NEVER tell her you'll do something and never do it. Or really never do that to any gypsy type person. She'll curse you for that, and her curses are no joke! And besides, you need something to cheer you up and there's nothing better than some hot chocolate from Nowhere!"

"Dude," Noel said. "Isn't there ever a moment in your life where you don't do something for someone else? You reek of blind affection, and your life seems like it revolves around others and their needs. When are you ever going to tell someone 'no' and do something for yourself instead?"

Courage felt offended by this again, and he couldn't even pretend he was in a good mood anymore after that. "I do stuff for myself ALL of the time!"

"Oh really?" Noel replied sarcastically. "Well you don't do it enough. Why don't you EVER tell ANYONE off for requests?"

"I just love helping out others," Courage replied confidently.

"You don't respect yourself enough," Noel pressed.

"Why are you picking on me about helping others?" Courage said.

"I'm trying to help you," Noel said. "Look, it's good to help others, but you cannot help everyone."

"Sure I can," Courage responded, still confident.

"It's impossible," Noel said. "Sometimes you have to cut corners and screw others to survive. That is also if you want to keep your self respect."

"I've managed to make that possible," Courage claimed.

"No, you haven't," Noel groaned. "Maybe someday you'll see what I mean."

Courage tried to avoid making this argument volatile like the last one.

"Maybe I'm just too stubborn," Courage challenged with a grin.

"Maybe so," Noel sighed, defeated.

"Point, Courage," the voice in Courage's mind spoke to him with content.

"Come on, buddy," Courage smiled at Noel. "Cheer up! You have me to help you get through this. And PLEASE trust me this time. I know I've failed promises and made mistakes before, but this time you can trust me. I won't let you down. But right now let's go get some tasty cocoa and think of new ways to spend our new friendship the way we both want it."

"Okay," Noel sighed to Courage. Noel wanted to feel optimistic about living a simple life with Courage, but he just didn't see how he could ever be happy again. He'll just have to try to put his trust in Courage and see what happens.

Soon after that, Nowhere came into view.

-o0o-

Courage led them to a vintage non-chain drive-in burger joint for their warm treats and Shirley's wrap. They had to walk across Nowhere and freeze their tails off to get to it. The place was called 'Ken's Better Burger,' and he had been there previously with Eustace. Eustace claimed to have gotten food poisoning from there and refused to go back, but Courage returns on his own all of the time and is even friends with the owner, Ken. He thinks that Eustace was just annoyed by the owner, and that was the real reason why he never came back.

"I'm sure you're going to love this place, even though we're just getting hot chocolate," Courage said, proudly.

"I bet I will man, you just lead the way," Noel replied with optimism.

When they got to the window, Courage had to jump up to knock. After a few seconds, a GIANT, but slightly chunky alligator opened up the window very swiftly. It scared the hell out of Noel.

"Hello Courrrrrrrrrrrrage!" He sang loudly and in a low, operatic voice with a lot of vibrato and a slight Cajun accent.

"Barrrrrrrrrrrrrru!" Courage sang back in a higher voice in response.

"Ohh! I see you've brought yourself a little friend!" He laughed, leaning down to poke Noel in the belly and smile down at him. Noel rubbed where he was poked, as he did not know how to respond to who was supposedly Ken. "And what might be the name you carry, cher?" he asked Noel.

"Uh, Noel," he shyly spoke to him.

"Noel!? Hahaha! That is a darling, precious name!" He gave Noel a high five without him even expecting it. Noel looked down at his paw, which started turning a little red. "Now, Courage, my main man, whatchu up to, baby?"

"We are here to just get some hot cocoa and a chicken salad wrap," Courage smiled back.

"Groovy!" Ken replied. "Two cocoas for you two LOVELY little dogs, and a chicken salad wrap?"

"Yup," Courage confirmed before paying with Shirley's money.

"Alrighty then!" Ken laughed. "I'll run off and do my magic now!" He then shut the window and disappeared further into the building.

"Was that Ken?" Noel asked.

"Yes, of course that was him," Courage laughed.

"Why was he like that? Why did he sing a lot? And what kind of broken Cajun dialect was that?" Noel asked.

"It's actually a very long story," Courage said. "He told me everything over time."

"Like how long?" Noel asked.

"You're gonna to want to sit down," Courage warned Noel.

"Eh, I'm fine," Noel said with a little bit of fear.

"No, seriously, sit," Courage grabbed onto Noel and made him sit on the nearest vacant bench. Noel didn't resist.

Courage then popped a squat right next to him before telling Ken's tale.

"All of his life, he always dreamt of performing on Broadway," Courage continued.

"Then why didn't he do it? His singing and vibrato are actually quite INSANE!" Noel pointed out.

"Well, he did try," Courage continued. "But everybody was always too scared of him because he was a MASSIVE alligator, and his powerful voice rumbled the whole street. So they didn't even let him audition before they told him he had to leave New York City. That's when he ended up washed away in New Orleans. Even though he knew he had great talent, it didn't matter how good he was because they were never going to let a gator like him in. They judged the poor guy before they even knew him. So he dwelled in the sewers beneath New Orleans and ate and ate to try to quell his depression. Before he even knew it, he also ate both animals and humans that found themselves down there. After guiltily preferring the taste of fresh meat, he'd set up traps throughout the city above for unsuspecting victims to fall and become his meal. He lived like this for years until one day, a dog he was just about to eat howled in such a way that lifted him out of his depression and self pity. The howl he described as the tenor from Heaven, and it reinspired him in such a way that made him want to make music again. So after letting the dog go, he proceeded to help the dog with his own little mission to save a little orphan girl, so that he could make music with the dog. However, the dog ended up horrifically drowning to save the little girl he had been trying to protect. His new friend died a hero's death, but he succeeded in saving the girl's life."

Courage paused for a moment to wipe his eyes, as he was feeling pity for both the dog and his friend Ken. But then he continued.

"Ken then chased and eventually ate the dog's nemesis, who was another, fatter dog. Afterwards, he left New Orleans for good and tried to bury everything that happened there. However, he left in deep depression again and traveled inland on foot until he couldn't anymore. He'd hear that tenor from Heaven drown underwater in his nightmares before ceasing. It was just all too much for him to bear, so he tried to let go of it all as he endlessly traveled. He ended up in the middle of the desert, not too far from Nowhere. Crawling through the desert and dying of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion, he gave the world one last operatic yell in agony. It was a very specific one from the same aria he practiced for the Broadway audition that got him kicked out of New York City to begin with. But once he ran out of breath, he fell to the ground to die. But apparently, his voice was heard by Dr. Gerhardt Von Orbison, the same sound doctor who brought his house to life (if you remember my encounter with him). Gerhardt knew that Ken was in trouble, and so he used his music to bring Ken to him. He took care of Ken and even managed to revive him spiritually. Now feeling like a new gator, Ken opened up a burger joint to kinda 'repay' Nowhere for lifting him back up. And now, after years of working at a burger joint, he met me, and I set him up with that beaver I know named Trent, who built that dam if you remember and has a heart for jazz drumming and percussion. So in his off time, he'll go perform at clubs with Trent, often performing "Big Easy" and "Ragtime" style charts, which of course were birthed from New Orleans. And sometimes I join them too on bass/yoyo!" Courage smiled proudly at that last part. "Or piano, like once or twice."

"Wow," Noel said. "I was scared of him BEFORE you told me that story!"

"He's perfectly harmless now," Courage chuckled.

"But, all of the blood on his hands!" Noel pointed out. "He could eat both of us in one bite!"

"He's moved on from that," Courage laughed at how scared Noel was. "You can't judge a book by its cover. You're no better than the Broadway judges if you do that, and they're kinda the ones who made him into that temporary monster in the first place. And besides, people change, you saw how friendly he is."

"Yeah, maybe, but still," Noel was still on edge.

"He would've eaten my innocent little butt YEARS ago if he wanted to, but he didn't," Courage pointed out.

"Alright, you win again, dummy," Noel whined.

"Is there somethin' wrong?" Ken suddenly asked, which scared both of the dogs beyond their wildest dreams. Apparently Ken reappeared at the window without either dog noticing.

"Uh, no, we're both fine," Courage smiled. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Oh, me? I just got here haha!" Ken replied joyfully. "All I heard was your cute little friend callin' you a dummy, dummy!" He laughed again.

A great wave of relief rushed over both dogs.

"Oh, yeah," Ken remembered. "Here ya go, darlins," he said as he handed them the warm, chocolatey drinks and the wrap. "Nice to meet you little friend," he pointed at Noel.

Then he suddenly squashed Courage through the window. Noel gasped in utter horror. But then he realized that he was hugging Courage when Courage hugged him back with just as much affection.

As they walked away, Ken kept hollering to Courage with goodbyes.

"Courage, my man, come and see me again sometime sugar"

"Alrighty," Courage replied with another smile and a wag of his tail. And after that, they went back off to Shirley's.

After enough distance has grown between them and Ken's, Noel decided to speak up.

"Well, don't you two have some sort of special friendship," Noel laughed. "How come you've never told me about him?"

"Oh, he's just overly friendly," Courage said. "And I'm not that close to him. And he's more like a distant uncle than a peer anyway. And I really don't even see him very much."

"Oh," Noel replied, staring down at the steamy cups of cocoa. "Whose drink is whose?"

"I dunno, just grab one," Courage said.

After Noel took one, he continued to examine it, like it was poisoned or something. He stared and watched Courage take a sip of his. He smiled greatly at the delicious taste of the drink, but then stopped when he noticed Noel staring at him.

"What?" Courage asked.

"Man, you are probably slurping up remains of dead dogs and human skin right now," Noel harmlessly quipped.

"Oh, just shut up and take a sip, trust me, you'll feel better," Courage reassured.

Noel shrugged and took a sip.

"Oh, I forgot to warn you," Courage said. "Ken crushes up white chocolate chips and mixes them with vanilla for an extra creamy, vanilla experience too.

After finishing his first gulp, Noel looked back over at Courage dully.

"I feel about as vanilla as one could get," he said cynically.

"Well, better that than sad," Courage remarked.

"I suppose so."

It was still cold outside, but the rich and creamy hot chocolate coated both dogs' stomachs with warmth and content. But just as both dogs were walking by the alley by the grocery store, Noel stuck his paw in front of Courage to get him to stop walking.

"What are you do-?" Courage was interrupted as Noel shoved a paw over his mouth.

"Shh," he shushed Courage. They waited in complete silence, besides the normal sounds of Nowhere all around them. "Listen, very, carefully," Noel slowly whispered. Then after some time, a very small and slightly distorted female sounding voice came from that dark alleyway as a slight groan. Courage and Noel gasped at each other. Noel started to go into the alleyway before Courage grabbed his arm.

"Watch the fur, idiot!" Noel groaned.

"What are you doing?" Courage asked. "This is Nowhere! You don't go walking into dark alleys like that, especially not this one in particular. It's a closed-in alleyway"

"Did you forget, I used to LIVE in these alleys!" Noel proclaimed in a harsh whisper. "And this was the one I'd dwell in the most. It's safe, you coward."

"But why are you so interested about what's in there?" Courage asked with another tug.

"Because I've heard that voice before," Noel said emotionally. "I don't remember who it belongs to, but it's calling me, I know it is." He shook Courage free and advanced into the alleyway.

"Ooh this is not good," Courage pulled on his ears before cautiously following Noel.

It was even quieter inside the alley. And once they entered, they never heard that voice again. Courage was trying to scan for anyone or anything that could cause them harm, but his eyes were having trouble adjusting to the dark. The memory of that voice disturbed him, as it was a creepy sound anyway. And he dreaded hearing it again and possibly louder, and much closer to him. The memory of that sound worked with the cold air and sent chills throughout Courage's body. But when they finally reached the back wall of the alleyway, they found absolutely nothing. Noel turned around to face Courage.

"There's nothing here," he said sadly. "But I KNOW I heard something. You did too, right?"

"Y-yes, I d-did," Courage responded nervously through chattering teeth. "But there i-isn't anything h-here." Then it hit Courage like a missile. His body heated up with adrenaline. "Noel, this is a trap! I should have known better! We need to leave! NOW!" He tried tugging Noel.

"Calm down, Courage," Noel said, slapping Courage's paws off of him. "We can't be certain of that yet."

"But it IS!" Courage cried out of fear now, tugging on his ears.

"Okay, fine, you win, as always," Noel interrupted. "I guess this isn't as important to you right now as it is for me, so I guess we'll leave."

"N-no, that's not why-," Courage tried to amend before getting interrupted again by Noel.

"No, we're leaving," Noel said. "Come on."

The voice in Courage's head was silent this time.

But as they started walking back towards the entrance, Courage noticed a sticky, squishing sound coming from Noel's feet. As he looked down at his feet, he noticed that Noel had indeed stepped in something icky. He cringed in utmost disgust.

"Yuck!" exclaimed Courage.

"What?" Noel asked in confusion.

"I think you stepped in something," Courage grimaced.

"Huh?" Noel said before lifting up his foot to see it covered in a sticky, black substance. "Aw, sick!" he exclaimed, and he tried scraping it off. However, whatever it was seemed to horrifically grow in volume. And it was now spreading up his legs and his paw he used for scraping.

"AHHHHH!" Courage trademark screamed, as he spilled his cocoa and dropped Shirley's wrap. "What do I do? What do I do?!"

"AHHH! Courage!" Noel screamed as he fell. His own cup of hot cocoa splashed onto the pavement, and Courage felt some of the searing hot droplets singe his fur. The dark substance seemed to make it harder for Noel to walk. It now spread so far that now he couldn't even get back up.

Courage then spotted some dark tendrils of some sort suddenly emerge from underneath the closest dumpster to Noel. They seemed to be after Noel. He completely booked it towards him and ran as fast as he could. Just as he was about to reach Noel, the tendrils completely wrapped around Noel's right leg and began to pull him towards the dumpster. Courage jumped and barely got a hold of Noel's clean paw just inches from the dumpster. Noel's entire lower body was now coated in the substance, and the tendrils only pulled harder. He feared that it was causing great pain to Noel, whose feet were now entirely under the dumpster.

"Courage!" Noel cried. "Don't let me go! I don't want to go!" He tried kicking, but his black coated leg just would not budge. Instead, the substance made its way much faster to the rest of his body.

"You're not going anywhere!" Courage groaned as he pulled harder on Noel's paw. He now had his other paw on Noel's forearm and pulled as hard as he could with both.

Noel groaned in pain. The substance was now up to his shoulders and making its way to his head and the arm Courage was pulling.

"AH, Courage, it's too late!" Noel cried.

"No it's not!' Courage barked and pulled even harder.

The black substance started spreading onto Courage's paw too. It moved like it had spider-like legs underneath it, and Courage cold feel them. He yelped in fear upon feeling them dig into his arm. As it started to coat his arm, it was cold, very cold, and VERY sticky. He then looked back to Noel, who was now covered up to his neck.

"Courage," Noel choked out weakly. "Don't l-leave m-me," he sobbed. Then his entire face was coated in that black substance. Noel's expression froze in that terrified look, and it greatly disturbed Courage.

"AHHHH!" he screamed again staring into the now black, unmoving face of Noel. But he didn't let go of him. He'd never let go, EVER!

But then more tendrils made their way underneath Noel's arm and wrapped around it on top of Courage's paw. It then grew a crimson spike that stabbed Courage's paw. It felt just like a hot needle.

"OUCH!" Courage shrieked in pain. But the scary part was when his arm went completely numb, and he caught the substance retreating off of his arm and back onto Noel's, who was now deathly still. Another tendril grabbed Courage and threw him further away from the dumpster. And then in less than a blink of an eye, substance-covered Noel and the tendrils completely disappeared under the dumpster, and it was deathly silent again.

Courage, who was still full of adrenaline, quickly tried to crawl back over to the dumpster, but his muzzle hit the ground when his numb arm gave out underneath him. Feeling nothing but hopelessness and fear, he then slid himself the rest of the way with his one working arm. He looked under the dumpster and saw nothing but the pitch black. Utterly terrified, he decided to make his way under the dumpster. He made a promise to Noel, and he was going to keep it this time even if it killed him.

He searched the entire underside of the dumpster and found ABSOLUTELY nothing. There wasn't even any trash under there either which added to the eeriness.

"No," he said in a panic. "This can't be."

He frantically scraped and scratched the entire ground and the entire bottom of the dumpster to hopefully find some sort of secret passageway or something. With no luck, he crawled out and looked at the whole perimeter of the dumpster, inside and out.

"Noel!" he cried as he threw everything out of the dumpster. When he found the bottom again, he fell into a deep sob.

"Why?!" he cried. "Just, why?!"

Why did what just happened have to happen? He's never really failed trying to save somebody, so why wasn't he able to save Noel? They were just starting their new life together! Noel was his friend that was here to stay, not be horrifically torn away from him! After years of losing friends, he thought maybe Noel was here to stay for good.

Courage cried even harder

And now that Noel was gone, he felt lost. He felt naked, vulnerable, and scared. He felt just like he did when his parents-

"WAIT?" Courage said to himself, suddenly realizing something. He recalled how he felt before Noel befriended him. It was that feeling that existed even before he knew Noel even existed! That feeling like there was something missing in his 'perfect' life. The feeling of emptiness and feeling lost. The feeling he thought the absence of his parents caused him his whole life, but he knew deep down inside that it was something else. And then he remembered what Computer told him. EVERYTHING made perfect sense now!

He felt something was missing even when there wasn't anything missing. But he got it ALL wrong! There WAS something missing all of this time after all. It was something he recently had a little relief from for the past 18 or so hours. He had been longing for a fellow dog companion all of this time! He had yearned for someone to play with, confide in, connect with, snuggle up with, and even fight with his whole life. He loved Muriel greatly, but she was his owner and not of his kind. She did not offer what Noel did. Noel was an equal, and there was a good bridge of communication between them. And they had actually come such a long way.

He continued to reflect on their friendship, but then he came to his senses again.

"Wait?" he said again. "Everything does make sense now!"

The air somehow got much colder. Another wave of fear and worry flushed over him again.

"Oh god, I must get back to Shirley!"

Courage got up to fall back down again because of his arm. He stifled a whine before getting back up and running as fast as he could back to Shirley's. He ran down block after block, accidentally slapping everything and everyone with his numb arm. He accidentally slapped a stack of mail from someone's hands, and it fell all over the sidewalk.

"Hey! Watch it, mutt!," the man yelled at him.

Courage was in too much of a panic to apologize, and all he concentrated on was moving his legs as fast as he could to Shirley's. Once he left Nowhere, he increased the length of his strides and momentum.

"Please be there," he wheezed out with burning lungs of cold air. "Please be there."

As he FINALLY approached Shirley's wagon, he reached to open the door. But before his paw could make contact, the door already opened. Courage fell down forward. He looked up and Shirley was there, staring down at him. She had been the one to open the door. And the wrinkles under her eyes were much darker than before.

"We need to talk," she said in a tone more serious than ever.

End of Chapter

A/N: Well, Noel may be in trouble, and Shirley has something she's SUPER concerned about (which is NOT good), but at least Courage made that long anticipated revelation. Hurray for Courage for FINALLY finding the source of his primary internal conflict! The poor pup was just very lonely and needed a doggo buddy. I wrote it this way to show that sometimes our biggest problems can really be solved with really small solutions. Also what I did towards the end with Courage accidently slapping everyone with his numb arm was actually a subtle reference to the "Horton Hears a Who!" movie for slight comic relief. Also (because I'm super nostalgic), I don't know if any of you caught it or not but yes, it is HEAVILY implied that Ken is the same alligator as King Gator from All Dogs Go To Heaven. This thus implies that this takes place in the same universe as All Dogs Go To Heaven, and we may or may not encounter more characters. But since this is all "implied" and isn't the main focus of the story, this doesn't officially qualify as a crossover. And since he doesn't really have a name, I named him "Ken" because he is voiced by the fabulous, one and only Ken Page (RIP PS: He was still alive when I wrote this chapter :(. I suppose it just makes the whole thing even more sad). Also I apologize for the lengthy chapter. I decided to drag out the part with Ken a little longer. The next chapter will follow pretty soon and will probably be shorter. It will dive a little bit more into Shirley's backstory, Noel's backstory, introduce the main antagonist, and introduce more characters ;)