The Family that Shouldn’t Be
Summary: With Muriel and Eustace dead, Courage finds himself all alone at the farmhouse. Fortunately or unfortunately for Courage, the villains he faced in the past begins to make themselves at home at the farmhouse, bringing with them much fun and mayhem the small pink dog can handle.
All Courage the Cowardly Dog character belongs to John Dilworth
The Weremole Who Helped Save the Night
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For whatever reason Courage, Katz, and Cajun could understand, Le Quack decided to stay at the farmhouse. The duck claimed it was until he got paid, but Courage was sure there was another reason. The first thing Le Quack tried to claim was Eustace's old armchair only for Katz to calmly explain to the duck that the recliner is his. So, Le Quack decided on Muriel's rocking chair. Courage wasn't happy about it at first, but he always been used to lying on the floor.
The farmhouse was quiet for days following the windmill vandal's incident, and the occupants of the farmhouse even erected a huge sign next to the windmill, stating not to come near the windmill except for weekly maintenances. Additionally, to this sign, a second sign reading 'No Foxes Allowed' was put up on the chicken coop after Courage came across Cajun getting ready to behead one of the chickens. Courage was able to rescue the poor scared fowl in time and reprimanded Cajun for it, which the fox whined that he couldn't help it and that it was in his nature to do that. Luckily for Cajun and Katz, their heads were able to reattach to their bodies without any problems. Except when Cajun's mouth would run, making Katz knock the fox's head off. Courage scolded Katz on taking pleasure in tormenting Cajun.
The backdoor squeaked open as Courage walked out with a bucket full of eggshells and leftover vegetables and fruits and tipped the contents into the compost bin they built. Courage turned to look at the garden. Fortuitously the plants weren't harmed by the vandals and were thriving, and Courage hoped the seeds were doing well and would sprout soon. His ears perked up when he heard a car pull up.
"Huh?" he wondered and went back into the kitchen.
Courage set the bucket next to the sink and trekked through the dining room and into the living room. Once he arrived, the vehicle had sped off as Katz stood at the door looking down. Curious, Courage walked over to the feline, and being thankful that he was smaller was able to see what Katz was looking at. It was a large rectangle package wrapped in brown paper.
"Did you order something?" Katz asked Courage.
"Uh-uh." Courage answered.
"Maybe one of the other two did," Katz said with a sigh.
Katz picked up the package, and Courage was closing the front door when Cajun came out of the basement, and Le Quack walked down the stairs.
"Who was at the door?" Cajun asked.
"Someone has left a package. Did either of you order something?" Katz inquired as he set the package down
"Non." Le Quack answered.
"Not to my knowledge. Let's see what it is." Cajun said, tearing the package out of Katz's paws. Cajun ignored Katz as he pulled the box over to himself, and Courage and the villains stared at the trunk. Cajun popped the latches, opened the lid, and to Courage's dismay, a ventriloquist puppet laid inside.
"Qu'est-ce que ç'est?" Le Quack asked.
"It's a dummy," Cajun said, lifting the puppet from the trunk.
"The correct word is ventriloquist puppet." Katz corrected.
"dummy, puppet, what's the difference? It's still a creepy doll." Cajun stated, turning the dummy this way and that way.
Courage continued to stare at the dummy as Cajun lifted one of its arms and let it drop. He met a moving, talking dummy once before on the submarine cruise Katz had blown up. The dog was still surprised that Katz didn't realize he was pretending to be the ventriloquist's dummy. Courage thought that dummy was friendly and understood his fear of dark confined places, but this dummy was. . . Creepy. From its wooden black painted hair slicked back, its black suit and bowtie, to its blue colored eyes. Its eyes looked almost life-like, and it felt like it was watching Courage. A shiver ran down his spine, and Courage was sure goosebumps appeared on his skin even if he has fur covering his body.
Cajun stuck his arm into the dummy's back and worked its mouth. "Hi! I'm Vinny the dummy!" he made it say.
"You're not very good at that." Le Quack stated.
"Yes, we can see your mouth move." Agreed Katz,
"Well, duh, I'm not a ventriloquist," Cajun answered as he pulled his arm out and placed the dummy back into its trunk.
While the villains went off to continue what they were doing, Courage eyed the trunk and couldn't shake the bad feeling he had.
Later that night, Courage sat up in bed, feeling thirsty. He glanced over with half-lidded eyes at Katz's back as quietly as not to wake the feline, Courage out of bed, and headed downstairs for a glass of water. He stopped mid-yawn at the top of the stairs and was a little more awake when he heard noises coming from downstairs. From ghosts to robbers went through his mind as he stood there, shaking in fear. He stared down the hallway where the bedroom was and debated whether to wake Katz up. He decided he didn't want to wake the cat up, fearing what he would do more than whatever was down in the living if the dog woke him up. So, swallowing hard, Courage began his descent down to confront whatever it may be.
Courage stepped down from the last step, and with only the moonlight gleaming through the window as his source of light, the canine looked around for the intruder. Glancing around the room revealed no intruder of any kind and nothing out of place. Except the dummy was no longer in its case. It was now sitting in the rocking chair with one of its arm dangling over the armrest. Courage let out the breath he was holding. It must've been Cajun setting up the dummy as to play a joke on the others. A quiet nervous chuckle slipped out Courage's mouth, and he walked towards the kitchen. He drank his water and went back upstairs only to pause and look through the railing at the dummy. He still wondered what was it about the puppet that creeps him out so much.
The next few days brought unexpected surprises for the occupants of the farmhouse. First were the few holes that started showing up around the house. Katz was sure Courage was responsible for them even though the dog insisted on being innocent. Regardless, Katz made Courage fill in the holes. The next strange surprise was another package arrived at the house containing another dummy just as equally creepy as the first. Cajun thought it was funny at first until a third showed up the next day. Courage pondered on why they were receiving the dummies.
Courage woke up later than he usually woke up as he had some trouble sleeping last night. Nightmares of Muriel attacked by unknown beings plagued him, but what made it even weirder was when he went to save the older woman, she had changed to Katz in trouble. Courage had woken from that, being glad that he didn't wake up screaming and waking Katz up. He laid there, wondering why that happened in his dream. He had saved Katz once, but that wasn't enough to warrant Courage dreaming about the feline. Right? Courage neared the bottom of the stairs and came to a halt when he heard Katz ask, "Which one of you two blathering idiots is responsible for this?"
Courage could see Katz holding another dummy in his paw, making it four now. The feline was not in the least bit amused. Cajun looked up from the cookbook he was studying, and Le Quack looked away from the tv, remote in his wing.
"Why does it have to be Le Quack or me? Why ain't you pointing fingers at the dog?" Cajun inquired.
"Because the dog is afraid of everything, including his own shadow and can't prank anyone if his life depended on it," Katz answered.
"Hey!" Courage declared putting his paws on his hips. It was true, but still!
"How do we know that you aren't the one, how do you say, doing it?" Le Quack asked.
"Even I'm not inane enough to find purchasing one dummy, no less than four a funny joke," Katz said as he rubbed his temple. "Regardless of whoever is responsible for this, I want these dummies out the house. Today." Katz tossed the dummy to the ground and walked away, leaving it lying in a heap.
Cajun went back to his cookbook as Courage walked over to the dummy. He wished he knew who was sending them these dummies, but not of the packages had return addresses on them. Courage picked up the dummy and stared at it before walking through the house and out the back door. The dog trod towards the barn, weaving around to the side, set the dummy down, and began to dig. Once Courage had a hole wide enough and deep enough for the dummy, he dropped it in and kicked dirt on it. With one less doll for them to deal with, Courage went to work on his chores and figure out what he's going to do with the three remaining dummies.
Courage walked out of the farmhouse and walked a fair distance before sitting down on the sandy ground. The dog gazed up at the sky as the setting sun painted the heavens in the colors of orange, red, purple, and dark blue. Katz was still angry that no one got rid of the dummies, Cajun pointed out that there were no return addresses so they couldn't send them back and the only way he could think on how to get rid of them was by fire. Le Quack suggested they could sell the dummies to some suckers and started scheming up a con for the dummies. Courage shook his head as he focused on another thought — the villains. The house was a lot louder and chaotic, with three personalities clashing against each other, and he could tell Katz preferred it when it was only the two of them. Courage knew that since the farmhouse is his, he could kick the fox and duck out, but despite four people living in the house, it felt livelier than it did when it was just him.
By the time Courage finished his musing, the sun had winked away, and the moon was starting to come up. Courage started at the moon with furrowed brows. The moon wasn't quite full yet, but it seemed more significant than usual and glowed a strange green color.
"That's weird," he commented out loud.
He stayed long enough to see the moon make its final ascent into the sky, got up, and headed back to the house, intending to check on Katz. Before coming out, Katz had his usual cup of tea, felt drowsy, and decided to take a bit of a nap. Courage watched with worry on his face as Katz stumbled up the stairs. It was abnormal for Katz to become tired before dinner, and Courage hoped Katz wasn't coming down with anything. He decided he'll check on the feline first and then help Cajun make dinner. Hopefully, Katz will be awake by the time dinner is ready, so he and the other two villains wouldn't have to draw straws to see who was going to wake Katz up.
Courage at least hoped Cajun and Le Quack wouldn't cheat like they did the last time. Courage reached for the door handle when he heard a noise in the kitchen. A sound he didn't associate with cooking. He hopped up onto the trashcan and peered through the window. To his amazement, he saw Cajun on his knees, pinning the duck to his chest with one paw while the other one held his beak shut. Le Quack struggled to free himself, but what was more shocking to Courage was that one of the dummies was moving! It was making its way slowly towards Cajun, and Le Quack and Courage could feel his heartbeat quicken as he questioned why Cajun was holding Le Quack and letting the doll come towards them.
Looking back to Cajun, the dog could not see a hint of fear on the fox; he looked calm and relaxed. The dummy clamped its hands on Le Quack's face, and the duck's eyes widened visibly. Courage could see the dummy's mouth moving as it seemed to speak, but he couldn't hear what it was saying. Courage's eyes widen in shock as light poured out of Le Quack and the dummy's eyes. He couldn't see what was happening, but when the light died down, the dummy slumped over, and Le Quack stopped his struggling. Cajun set the duck down, and Courage watched as Le Quack seemed to examine his wings. Courage knew that something has happened not just to Le Quack but with Cajun as well. He needed to warn Katz, but he couldn't go through the kitchen with those two in there. Going around the house would take time, so Courage's only other option was to go through the basement using the cellar door.
He hopped down and ran over to the newly repaired cellar doors, pulled them open, down the stairs across the room, up the stairs, and out the door. Courage was sure Cajun and Le Quack heard him open the door, but he didn't care as he rushed up the stairs to the second floor. He burst through the bedroom door and slammed the door shut.
"Katz! Katz!" whatever he was going to say died away when Katz said, "Dog?"
Katz slowly turned when Courage came in, but what made the dog pause was the fact that Katz was wearing the white suit he favored, and Courage knew that Katz only wore it during a business or a scheme. His eyes were a little more different than Katz's, Courage wasn't sure how he could tell, but he was able to and the way he spoke. . .
"Whatever is the matter?" Katz asked.
He spoke and had the same mannerism as Katz, but the voice didn't have the British accent the dog knew so well.
"Wh-who are you, and what have you done with Katz?" Courage demanded.
One of Katz's- no, not Katz- eyebrows rose, and he said, "Very perspective of you. Your beloved Katz is in here."
He picked up the puppet, and Courage watched in horror as the not Katz manipulated the puppet's mouth.
"Cou. . . rage. . ." it said his name in Katz's accent.
"No!" Courage wailed in horror.
Not Katz tossed the dummy aside. "It has been years since my brothers, and I were flesh and blood. Now, all we have to do is wait for the magic of the moon to end." He eyed Courage. "Now, you are the last one to provide my brother with a body."
"Oooooooh!" cried Courage as the dummy possessing Katz walked towards him.
Fortunately for Courage, the cat had to walk around the bed, giving Courage time to turn and open the door. Unfortunately for Courage, Cajun and Le Quack stood outside the door, blocking his escape. Or so they thought. Courage let loose his patented scream and launched himself into the air like a rocket. He crashed through the ceiling and landed in the attic. He sat there, stunned and groaning.
Hearing, "You can't escape." had the dog shaking his head to clear it, and he looked down into the hole. The dummy possessed villains stared back up. Frighten, Courage rushed off, grabbed some wooden boards, nails, and a hammer conveniently left up in the attic and covered up the hole. Taking more wooden boards, Courage quickly made his way to the door and board that up like he was trying to keep the undead out. Tossing the hammer aside, Courage ran over to the computer and forgetting the bucket he usually sat on, hopped onto the seat.
"About time, you came back." the computer drawled. "I was beginning to grow bored with defeating the angry kitty at chess all the time."
Sweat popped off Courage as he heard the doorknob rattle and began typing furiously, "Four dummies. . . Refers to themselves as brothers. . . Weird green moonlight! Search quickly!"
"Don't rush me. It'll take a minute," Computer replied perturbed.
"I don't have a minute!" Courage wailed as he heard pounding on the door.
"During 1904," computer began. "there were four brothers known to be ruthless and hassled people." Courage chewed on his claws as the computer showed the dog photos of the four brothers while his current enemies banged on the door, causing it to bow in with each blow. The boards creaked but held. "One day, they crossed the wrong old woman. She turned out to be a witch, and she turned them into indestructible walking, talking dummies. Apparently, she had a thing for turning people into dummies. The story goes; they searched for a way to reverse the curse, but no matter how long they searched, they didn't find any. They did, however, find a way to transfer their souls."
The computer continued showing Courage photos and telling him the story. "How do you find these things?" Courage wondered.
"You'll be surprised what anyone would put on the internet. Now, do you want me to continue or not, twit?" Computer asked, annoyed for being interrupted.
"Sorry." Courage apologized.
"The four brothers found they could transfer souls with another person with an incantation when the moon is green, which occurs once every three hundred years."
The brothers spent ninety-nine years waiting for the moon to turn green. Courage thought as the blows on the door grew worse.
"Oh, and one more thing." The computer said, catching Courage's attention. "The moon's effect only lasts an hour once it started its ascent." Courage pulled the fur on his left arm aside like it's a shirt sleeve to look at the watch there as computer confirmed, "You have less than thirty minutes to put back the souls in their rightful bodies, or it'll be another three hundred years before whoever is in the dummies can find new bodies to occupy. So. No pressure."
"What's the incantation?" Courage hastily typed since he didn't hear what the dummy said before.
"No clue." Computer answered. "I guess not everything is posted online."
"Ooooooooo!" Courage wailed again, tugging on his ears.
A loud boom that shook the house followed by a crash had Courage turning to the door with a scream. The brothers had blasted the door in no doubt by using dynamite Le Quack kept in the basement. As the smoke cleared, the possessed villains stood in the doorway.
"Give it up, dog. There's nowhere you can go." The brother possessing Cajun stated.
Courage proved him wrong by throwing himself out the window. The villains walked over to the window, amazed the dog would do that.
"Should we go after him?" the brother in Cajun inquired.
"No," the brother in Katz answered. "We'll leave him with our brother. The moon is still in its magical stage, and we must make preparations so our hosts can't get their bodies back before it ends."
Courage launched himself out the window far, and after bouncing a few times on the ground, he came to a halt near the barn. He laughed from the pain. The dog froze at a voice, crooning, "Hello, body."
Courage looked back to see the dummy he had buried standing near the hole he had climbed out with dirt falling off him. "I did not appreciate getting buried like that. I think I'll repay the favor once we switch bodies."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Courage screamed and made a run for it.
He could hear the dummy's legs creaked as he pursued him.
Courage feared the dummy would catch him and transfer their souls. His ears caught the sound of something falling into a hole. He stopped and looked back to see the dummy missing and a hole in the ground. He faintly heard, "Who or what are you?" from the hole followed by a growl and then "N-no! Stay away from me!"
The dog heard screaming and a scuffle coming from the hole. It went on for a few minutes when the dummy flew out the hole startling Courage. The dummy landed nearby, groaning with some mild damage done to the dummy's wooden body, and the puppet's suit ripped and shredded. The question Courage was about to ask was answered for him when the Weremole came up from the hole. The dog, frightened to see the Weremole again, was sure he was going to attack him next. Courage was about to plead with the Weremole but stopped when he noticed he was growling at the dummy.
Courage looked up at the sky and noticed the moon was losing its green glow. He was running out of time, and he didn't have the magic spell to get Katz, Cajun, and Le Quack back into their bodies and the three brothers into the dummies. He looked over towards the dummy, and an idea popped into his head. He hurried over to the dummy and demanded, "What's the spell to transfer souls?"
"Stupid dog. What makes you think I'm gonna tell you?" the dummy inquired.
They both heard a growl and looking back at Weremole, saw that he had left his hole and was inching closer, drool trickling down his chin.
"If you don't tell me, then I'll let my. . . friend, use you as a chew toy." Courage threatened.
It worked as Courage hoped for the doll said, "Alright! Alright! I'll tell you!"
"Oh, no!" Courage said not wanting to risk having his or Weremole's soul transferred with the dummy. "Write it in the sand, and it better be the correct one."
The dummy's eyes focused on the Weremole sitting there with his teeth bared and began writing the chant in the sand. Once the dummy had finished, Courage read the spell, committing it to memory. The dog wiped the sand with his foot, erasing the words, and headed for the house. He stopped when he heard footsteps behind him, le looked back to see Weremole following him.
"D-do you want to help?" he asked.
The Weremole made a chuffing sound, which Courage took as a yes. While on their trek, they heard voices, and the two hid near the chicken coop. Courage held a finger to his lips and looking around the corner saw the villains had started digging a hole and had several bags of cement piled up nearby.
"I hate this tiny feather body already." Le Quack growled.
"At least you don't have goofy eyeballs. How the heck does this fox keep them behind these sunglasses?" Cajun asked.
Courage spotted all three of the dummies sitting against the cement bags. The dog slowly and quietly crept towards them.
"Silence your jabbering and finish digging the hole." Katz barked. "We need to get these dolls encased in cement and buried before time runs out."
"Why aren't you helping?" Cajun asked.
"Because I'm the eldest and the leader. Now get back to digging." Katz stated and walked back towards the house.
Courage reached the puppets and reached out to grab them when a voice crying out, "Hey!" startled him.
Having been found out, Courage grabbed the dolls and ran far enough towards open space to say the spell. He turned towards the villains, and facing the dummies towards them, began chanting the spell. He was interrupted when paws wrapped around his neck, causing the canine to choke and sputter. Courage was unaware Katz had come back.
"Pity, our brother will be without a body. Convenient for us that we are digging a hole to hide the corpse along with the dolls." Katz said with a grin.
Courage dropped the dummies and grabbed at Katz's paws, his vision beginning to grow dim. The pressure around his neck released him as the dummy in Katz screamed. Courage sat on the ground, taking in large gulps of air and saw that the Weremole had chomped down on Katz's tail. The dog picked the puppets up again and facing them away from him once again spoke the incantation. When Courage had finished, the Weremole dug his way into the ground as Katz screamed, "No!"
The same bright light Courage saw blazed in not only Katz's eyes but everyone else as well. He dropped the dummies and squinted his eyes. Once the light died away, Courage blinked his eyes and saw Katz, Cajun, and Le Quack lying on the ground, but stirring, which he saw as a good sign. The dog looked up at the moon and saw it was no longer green. He did it. He restored the villains to their rightful bodies.
"Whew!" he sighed in relief.
His relief didn't last long as a voice growled, "You. . . Stupid. . . Mangy. . . dog!"
Gasping in horror, Courage watched as the dummies climbed to their feet, eyes filled with rage set on him.
"You cost us our bodies! Now we're going to see to it you never see the light of day again!" the eldest brother growled.
Courage began shaking even when the Weremole dug his way out the ground in front of the dog growling at the dummies. Courage was shocked to see the feral mole willing to protect the dog, but he didn't stop their approach, but something did.
The voice full of cold rage made the dummies stop in their tracks. They turned to see Katz standing in the middle, Cajun on his left, and Le Quack on his right, glaring down at the dummies with fury blazing in their eyes. At least Courage was sure Cajun's eyes were rage-filled behind his sunglasses. Katz took hold of his head and cracked his neck to the right then the left, which still made Courage cringe when the feline does that.
Looking back down at the dummies which they did not move, Katz said calmly, "Gentlemen."
All three picked up a weapon of their choosing. Le Quack held up a wooden club with sharp spikes sticking from it, Cajun picked up a double-headed ax, and Katz had the flamethrower he was planning to use on Courage once. The dog was so glad he wasn't at the receiving end of those weapons, but he and Weremole still moved out of the way.
"Let the pain begin," Katz concluded.
Courage and Weremole watched from the sidelines as they took their anger of having their bodies taken on the dummies. Courage winced as a blow was landed, and the dummies scream rend the air. One puppet even crawled towards Courage only to be pulled back. Courage had to admit the villains were brutal in taking their revenge out on the dummies, but because of the magic placed on them, they couldn't destroy the puppets. After minutes of pounding, chopping, and burning the dolls had satisfied the villains, learning themselves they couldn't kill them, Cajun went and gathered the trunks the dummies came in while Katz got chains.
Weremole had gone off and came back with the fourth dummy, and they worked together wrapping the chains around the dummies, placing them into their trunks, wrapping the chains around them, and putting them into a catapult Courage didn't know they owned. No one spoke a word while they did this, and they watched with a pull of the lever, the trunks were tossed into the air and far away from them.
Once the trunks were out of sight, Cajun was the first to speak. "Man, I'm exhausted. I could sleep for a week."
"Oui." Le Quack agreed as he followed the fox into the house.
The only one not to speak was Katz, who just headed inside. Courage couldn't blame the villains for feeling exhausted. He was exhausted himself. He decided he'll fill in the hole in the morning for right now; he wanted to sleep. The Weremole followed as far as the back of the house and dug his way into the ground nearby. When Courage got into the kitchen, he paused for a minute and walked over to the fridge. He searched the refrigerator and came out with a large metal bowl. Sitting inside the container were rabbit meat Cajun had been marinating for their dinner. Courage took a sniff and smelt spices, but they didn't smell overly spiced, but even if they were, the dog was sure the Weremole would eat it and not care. Courage took the bowl outside and set it next to the hole. The Weremole poked his nose out the hole and sniffed the air.
"Cajun was planning on cooking this for our dinner, but I think he wouldn't mind you having it after helping us out." Courage told the Weremole.
The Weremole stuck his head out and sniffed at the bowl. He opened his mouth wide and engulfed the entire dish. Courage made a disgusted face watching the Weremole eat and spit up the container and go back into his hole. Courage took the bowl back inside and set it in the sink to clean in the morning. He went up to his and Katz's bedroom and found the cat passed out on the bed. The dog climbed into the bed, not at all surprised that Katz didn't stir. As Courage closed his eyes, he realized that there was now a new addition living on the farm.
