Three Girls and a Dog

The City of Townsville had one more resident than usual today, as self-proclaimed "super genius" Dexter joined Professor Utonium and his daughters, the Powerpuff Girls, in the Professor's lab. But this was no social gathering. Hours ago, Dexter's meddling older sister Dee Dee was doused with Chemical X, the same chemical that created the girls, and it transformed her into a terrifying monster. She followed that up with a destructive rampage through Dexter's laboratory, eventually smashing into a machine that sent her to another universe.

Inside the lab, the Professor and Blossom, the leader of the Powerpuff Girls, were rushing with urgency to retrieve the damaged parts of the machine. Blossom was dashing back and forth in the air, grabbing every piece for the broken transporter she could. Professor reached for any equipment he found that might help repair it.

Dexter was looking at a stabilizer ray, observing the lab as he went on. "This quantum stabilizer ray is last year's model." he said, "But, I suppose your lab will serve as a temporary workspace."

Blossom and Buttercup's sweet-natured sister, went up to Dexter and asked him, "How are we going to find Dee Dee? You said yourself she could be anywhere!"

Professor, with machinery in his hands, told her proudly, "That's true, Bubbles, but Dexter and I may have come up with a way to track her!"

"Of course!" said Dexter boldly. "My scientific genius knows no bounds."

While Blossom and Bubbles just gave uncertain looks to him, Buttercup glared. She had no clue what he was saying.

"So, what's your brilliant plan, genius?" asked Buttercup, sarcastically.

"I'm glad you asked, Buttercup," Dexter replied with a smile.

He took his lavender lab glove off his right hand and placed it under a transportation sensor. "By tweaking your Professor's amateur lab gear to search for the unique universal properties found in my own glove," the boy genius said, "we can track those properties as they appear in universes they are not native to--"

"We're going to go ahead and trust that YOU understand what you're saying," Buttercup interrupted him.

"When the sensor is switched on," Dexter explained, holding up one thumb to the girls, "Dee Dee will stick out like a sore thumb."

"Oh!" the green eyed Powerpuff Girl said, smiling and understanding his explanation. "And then, we go get her!"

"But Dee Dee trashed your transporter!" exclaimed Bubbles.

"I think I may have the solution to that, girls!" Professor happily told them. He showed Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup three bracelets that were the same colors as their eyes and dresses; complete with hearts in the middle of them. "These bracelets will allow you to travel to other universes!" he said.

"Cool!" yelled Buttercup, smiling and looking up at the wristbands.

Professor gave the girls a spray bottle that had a big 'Y' on the cover. "And when you do find Dee Dee," he instructed, "simply administer this Chemical-Y spray! It should cancel out the effects of the Chemical-X dosing and reverse her mutation!"

Blossom took the bottle and all three Powerpuff Girls put on their trademark bracelets and smiled; determined expressions on their faces. They were ready for action!

"Got it! Catch and spray!" said Buttercup.

"We're ready to go save Dee Dee!" Bubbles declared.

"Any luck picking up her signal, Dexter?" Blossom asked.

"I believe I have found her," Dexter said while he turned the dial on the transmitter. The expression on his face was a mix of intelligence and worry. "Strange..."

"What?" asked Bubbles.

Dexter began to become even more worried as he picked up his sister's signal. "She seems to be... in the Middle of Nowhere!" the boy genius cried.

The Middle of Nowhere was nothing but a dry dirt land without any grass and barely a drop of water. The only thing that stood in it was an old farmhouse and rusty windmill. The home looked like it hadn't been painted in years, nothing was growing there, and the windmill next to it was so ancient. The wind howled in the sky, causing the object to creak as it spun.

An elderly woman's voice said from inside the house in a worried Scottish accent, "Oh, dear, Eustace! Courage's sitter should have been here fifteen minutes ago!"

The woman stood at the end of the living room of this house, staring out the window and hoping for someone to show up. Her name was Muriel Bagge. She was a plump woman with white curled hair; wearing just a dark, golden dress, light yellow apron, aged black farming boots and pink, rounded glasses. Behind her, lay a small pink dog on the floor, who tried to take a nap. His name was Courage. Aside from his fur being pink in color, his ears were mixed colors of brown and black, including his nose. Three black spots were on his back. Unlike most dogs, Courage had the ability to walk like a human and manipulate objects with his paws, but he was a coward and had been one since he was born.

Eustace, Muriel's cantankerous husband, sat in his favorite red chair as he was changing channels on their old, wooden black and white television set. "Oh, well, looks like we can't go out," he grumbled, pressing a button on the TV remote.

Muriel turned away from the window and glared at him with her hands on her hips. "Eustace, you turn off that television this second!" she scolded him. "Tonight is our anniversary and we're going into town and havin' a nice dinner like we do every year!"

Eustace scooped Courage up and showed him to his wife. "We've never done that before in our lives, Muriel!" he snapped. "Besides, we can't just leave the dog alone! Think of the dog!"

Courage gave the farmer an irritated, annoyed glare, as if he were to say, "Since when do you care about me?"

Outside, there was a loud ZAP! The Powerpuff Girls arrived at their destination via teleportation. "We made it!" Blossom said, delighted.

"There's something creepy about this place," Bubbles whispered nervously.

"Yeah, everything!" Buttercup agreed in an arrogant tone of voice. "Let's just find Dee Dee and get outta here."

The threesome levitated to the porch of the house and stood at the front door. "So, who's knocking?" asked Buttercup to her sisters.

"Not it!" Bubbles whimpered. "Who knows what's in there?"

"Ugh! I'll do it!" groaned Blossom while glaring at them. "Some superheroes YOU are!" She attempted to knock on the door, but hesitated.

"Awww, what's the matter?" Buttercup asked, mocking her. "Is the big, tough superhero scared of some run down old house?"

Blossom let out a nervous chuckle and attempted to knock on the door again. Suddenly, before she did, it swung open and there was a huge, shadowy, human-like figure with glowing eyes looking down at the girls. It said in a booming, sweet natured voice, "Oh! You must be the dog-sitters!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom screamed in fear. It was only Muriel. She went to the porch and pushed them gently inside. "You girls had me worried!" The grandmotherly woman said. "We were expecting you fifteen minutes ago!" Eustace was waiting impatiently for the girls, too.

"Yeah, and you just lost your tip!" he snarled.

"Wait," said Blossom as she and her sisters were brought into the house, "I think there's a misunderstanding, here."

Muriel gestured a hand towards Courage, who was quite surprised. "I'd like to introduce you to Courage!" she said. The pink dog eyed the threesome suspiciously. Since he is said animal and colorblind, all he saw were three bug eyed beings that resembled aliens. When they came closer to him, Courage got scared and did a certain thing he knew how to do.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!!!"

Blossom looked up at Muriel, unsure and Buttercup gave the dog an awkward frown, except Bubbles, who fell in love with Courage immediately because she adored all kinds of animals. "Aww, don't worry," Muriel told them. "He likes you. He always gets like this with new people. I'm sure that by the end of the night, you four will be the best of friends!" She turned to her husband and said, "Come along now, Eustace!" The pink and green eye colored Powerpuff Girls saw Courage didn't like them, but was afraid of them.

Eustace held up a flyer that read "DOG SITTER" on it. The paper had a picture of a faceless, demon creature wearing a hat and an "I HEART DOG" t-shirt. "You sure these are the dog-sitters?" he asked. "Don't look nothin' like their picture."

Muriel softly pushed Eustace out the doorway. The grumpy man hung his head down with a "Why me?" kind of face. "Now you stop trying to get out of this dinner, Eustace!" she said to him. She turned to the Powerpuff Girls, saying, "Have a great time, girls and thanks again! We'll be back by midnight!"

And they left with a slam of the door. Unfortunately, that was going to be the only time Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup saw them, and also the final time Courage would ever see his owners again.

I never thought old people were so idiotic! Buttercup thought to herself. If that lady actually believed this dog liked us, she needs her head examined!

"Come on, let's go," said Blossom, disappointed. "Dee Dee's obviously not here."

"But what about this cute, fuzzy, pink little puppy?" Bubbles asked; her "love for animals" instinct taking over. "Someone has to watch him!"

"What? No way!" Buttercup said. "He hates us! Let's go."

"No!" replied Bubbles, running towards the cowardly dog and making kissy lips. "Look at him! He's so sweet!"

Courage hid behind Eustace's chair from the girls. He envisioned them as bug-eyed aliens with four long, green tentacles, huge fly eyes and human hair. He HAD to get out of the house, one way or another. Blossom kept staring at Bubbles like she didn't know what she was doing. She levitated off the floor and picked Courage up, but he shivered and squirmed to try to get away from her. The small dog turned his head to not look in Bubbles' eyes.

"You're just a little nervous, aren't you, Courage?" the innocent Powerpuff Girl asked. "We'll take care of you!"

"Put him down, Bubbles!" Buttercup ordered her when she saw the uncomfortable grimace on Courage's face. "He looks sick."

Blossom tried to get Bubbles back onto the main priority. "Buttercup's right, Bubbles," she said. "We're here to find Dee Dee, not watch some weird, scared dog."

Bubbles held Courage tightly with tears in her eyes. He kept squirming to get out of her arms, but she was too strong. "B-b-but we can't just leave him here all alone!" she sobbed. "You saw how creepy it is out there!"

"Ugh! Fine," sighed Blossom in frustration. "We'll stay until the real dog-sitter shows up. Then, we have to go! The entire multiverse is at stake here, remember?"

Buttercup sat in Muriel's rocker, crossed her arms and said, "This is the worst universe I've ever been to."

For the next few minutes or so, Buttercup pouted in the rocker, Blossom took a seat in Eustace's chair, thinking and Bubbles stayed on the living room rug with Courage, who cowered and backed away from her while she stared at him, wide eyed and happy.

"So, does he do anything?" Buttercup asked, breaking the silence.

Bubbles took a tennis ball out of her dress pocket for Courage to fetch. "Oh, here!" she yelled, playfully. "Catch, Courage!"

She threw the ball at him, but instead of catching it, he screamed and ran away.

"Worst. Universe. Ever," Buttercup muttered under her breath.

At that very second, Blossom heard the doorbell ring and looked at the door. "That must be the real dog-sitter!" she exclaimed, smiling and went to answer it.

When the pink eyed Powerpuff Girl opened the door, the figure in the ad Muriel and Eustace had received was standing on the front porch. Lightening and thunder flashed in the sky. "Um," Blossom said. "Are you the dog-sitter?"

The demon didn't answer, but pointed both thumbs at his "I HEART DOG" t-shirt. "I guess it's him," Blossom told her sisters. Bubbles stared at the doorway with a blank expression. Buttercup saw him and was ready for a fight. Courage screamed in terror at the demon. Buttercup called Blossom and Bubbles for a huddle.

"NO WAY are we leaving Courage with this nightmare!" Bubbles shouted in anger.

"I might have to agree with Bubbles here," Buttercup said. "This guy's clearly evil."

"We're in a different universe," Blossom argued, "so we can't just be declaring people 'evil' without knowing the details. We'll hang around for a few more minutes and make sure everything's cool, but we are on a tight schedule!"

The demon came inside and sat in Eustace's chair. The girls floated towards him. Courage eyed him the same way he did them. Bubbles and Buttercup continued to glower, knowing full well this creature couldn't be trusted.

"So, how long have you been a dog-sitter?" Blossom asked the demon

"I have been collecting the souls of dogs since the beginning of time," he replied telepathically in a ghostly voice. He opened his slimy mouth and laughed evilly. Courage screamed and dashed into the kitchen to hide.

Having enough, Buttercup grabbed the demon by his shirt and pulled him toward the door. "That's it!" she yelled, furious. "You're outta here!" Bubbles followed her to watch her kick this monster out of the house.

Meanwhile, Courage was cowering behind the kitchen door. First, those "alien girls" came to him and now, this guy! Which was worse and why did this keep happening to him? Maybe if he stayed in the room, they'd take each other out! Or they'd team up! The demon would get his soul, the "aliens" would take his body back to their spaceship and eat him! There was no doubt about it, he WANTED to get out of his own house. He was sure he could make it all the way into town.

The small dog looked out the kitchen door window to see the Powerpuff Girls confronting the demon. The creature hissed, slapped Buttercup and sent her slamming against the wall.

"BUTTERCUP!" Blossom and Bubbles shrieked in shock and unison. Blossom glared at the demon. "Buttercup and Bubbles were right!" she shouted. "You ARE after Courage! We won't let you take him! If you want a fight, you're gonna get one, buddy!"

The demon screeched and the girls battled with him, destroying the house in the process. Courage screamed to high heaven and ran to the back door. He pulled and yanked on the handle, but it was locked. He used various tools to try and open it, but they didn't work. In the living room, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were shooting lasers from their eyes at the demon. When he spotted Courage attempting to escape, he squealed loudly, broke through the kitchen door and snatched him. The cowardly dog wailed pitifully for help. The Powerpuff Girls rushed into the room to see Courage in the demon's clutches.

"Now, you're gonna get it, pal! Let him go!" Buttercup roared. She shot lasers from her eyes, which burned the demon in the back and made him drop poor Courage on the ground. Unbeknownst to the girls and monster, the small pink dog sneaked past them and dug himself out of the house. With that, Courage ran off to the town where, hopefully, he could find his owners and warn them of what was going on.

The demon disintegrated and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Once the girls could see, it was quiet. "Good riddance!" Buttercup growled.

"Good job, girls!" Blossom said with victory, giving her sisters a high five. "That monster won't be bothering Courage anymore!"

Bubbles looked around. Courage was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, Blossom? Buttercup?" she asked. "Where's Courage?"

"He's gone!" Buttercup yelled. "We gotta find him!"

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup searched all over the farmhouse for the dog; calling his name and checking every single room to see if he was there. They met back in the kitchen. It was like Courage just vanished. Bubbles started crying. "We'll never find him!" she sobbed. "He's gone forever!"

"Don't cry, Bubbles." said Blossom, comforting her. "We'll find him."

Buttercup noticed a large pile of dirt underneath the back door. She opened it to see tiny tracks of paw prints in the sand. They lead to the town and roads of Nowhere. While Blossom was getting Bubbles to stop crying, Buttercup called to them, "Hey, Blossom, Bubbles! You might wanna check this out!"

The two flew to the doorway. "What is it, Buttercup?" asked Blossom.

"Take a look at these paw print tracks!" Buttercup replied.

The pink eye colored Powerpuff Girl studied the straight lines of two dog foot prints. There was no doubt the tracks belonged to Courage. "Oh, no!" Blossom said, worried. "Courage must've snuck out of here on his own while we were fighting that demon!"

"Yeah!" said Buttercup. "That explains the pile of dirt I found under the door!"

"He could be in danger!" Bubbles cried. "We have to save him!"

"You're right, Bubbles," replied Blossom. "We need to follow him to make sure he doesn't get hurt! Come on!"

And they zoomed off into the sky, in search of Courage. It was the beginning of the big adventure the girls would be sharing with him.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were searching for Courage as they flew in the sky. The sun already went down and it was becoming next to impossible for the girls to look for him. They had arrived in the town of Nowhere, which the cowardly dog ran off to. They looked in every alley and parts of the road, but saw no sign of him.

"It's no use," said Buttercup, hunkering down. "We've looked everywhere for that dog, girls. He could probably be in China, by now. I say we give up."

"We can't stop now, Buttercup," Blossom replied. "We have to find Courage and bring him back to the farmhouse. If it takes all night, we'll do what we can until he's found. The couple who own him put us in charge, remember?"

"I thought you didn't want to look after him, Blossom. I didn't wanna do it, either."

"After what's happened today, I've changed my mind. We're going to find him, for his own sake and Bubbles. Courage is our responsibility."

Buttercup sighed and hoped they would be able to find Courage soon. "Courage!" Bubbles called out. "Where are you?"

"Look!" Blossom said, pointing to Jean Bon the Pig, who was the owner of a meat market. "Maybe that person can tell us where Courage is!"

The Powerpuff Girls flew downward towards the Nowhere Meat Store. They went inside, asked Jean Bon where Courage was and described him to the pig after being greeted by him. "Yeah, I saw that dog run past here," Jean Bon said to them in a gruff voice. "Somebody told me he saw him running away from the Café and towards the road, screaming 'Muriel, Muriel!' I don't know who that is, but he sure was in a hurry to look for her."

"He's running toward the road?!" Bubbles exclaimed in fear; the situation now dire. "He could get himself..." She was too scared to say it.

"Thanks, Mr. Jean Bon," said Blossom. "We'll get him out of there as soon as possible."

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup left the store and headed for one of Nowhere's nearest streets. The girls used their supervision to locate Courage and right off the bat, they saw him running on the sidewalk, scared to death and yelling, "MURIEL! MURIEL!"

"There he is!" yelled Buttercup. "Let's get him!"

The threesome dashed to the dog and flew behind him. Hearing the girls, Courage turned his head to see them chasing him and screamed; trying his best to get away. They pursued him through various parts of the town, until, finally, Buttercup tackled and pinned him down to the ground on his stomach, unintentionally. It was the only way she was able to catch him.

Courage wailed, beating his fists on the pebble covered road like a child throwing a fit and kicked his feet; wanting to get out of her grasp. Whenever he panicked, he babbled in incoherent dog gibberish. Buttercup was finding it increasingly difficult to keep him under control. He kept on fighting with her, making her immensely frustrated.

"Stop it!" Buttercup shouted at Courage. "Hold still! Bad dog! Stop it!"

Blossom and Bubbles met up with her to help restrain Courage. He kicked and didn't stop screaming, but the girls held him tight. They flew towards the Bagge farmhouse. "Alright," Blossom said, "let's get Courage back to the farmhouse before we have any more problems."

"Yeah," Bubbles replied.

"The last time I have to see this dog, the better," said Buttercup under her breath.

Unfortunately, Courage harbored a terrible fear of heights, and when he saw just how high up he was, he went into a full fledged panic attack, screamed and started flailing in the Powerpuff Girls' arms. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup desperately tried to keep the cowardly dog secure.

"Bad dog! Bad dog!" Buttercup scolded him.

"I can't hold onto him much longer!" cried Bubbles.

Before Blossom even told her sisters to keep holding onto him, Courage ended up slipping out of their hands and falling nearly hundreds of feet down to the road. He screamed his lungs out. Bubbles immediately dashed in his direction behind a streak of blue light. "COURAGE!" She shrieked.

"OH MY GOSH!" Blossom yelled, and followed Bubbles to get Courage.

"WHOA!" bellowed Buttercup, horrified. She joined her sisters to save the small pink dog.

Just when Courage was about to fall to his death, the Powerpuff Girls flew underneath him and he landed in their hands safely. The poor dog shivered with fear and covered his eyes. All he wanted to do was find Muriel and hide in her arms. He was absolutely terrified and wanted to escape these "alien girls from outer space."

On their way back to the farmhouse, Bubbles noticed an old pickup truck that was turned upside down. "Hey, somebody's been hurt!" she said with worry.

"Where?" Buttercup asked her.

"It's that pickup truck!" replied Blossom, pointing to the overturned vehicle on the side of the road. "Let's go check it out!"

Courage heard this and instantly knew what pickup truck they were talking about. It belonged to Muriel and Eustace. Although, he couldn't talk, he hoped his owners were okay. He lied in their grasp, cradled like a baby and looked directly ahead to see the truck for himself. The dog gasped, and didn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup reached the vehicle, and, after putting Courage down on his own two feet, used their superhuman strength to flip it right side up. Their jaws dropped in complete shock when they saw the heartbreaking image before them. Even Courage's heart shattered like a stain glass window.

It was Muriel and Eustace in the truck, all right. They were limp like dolls and not moving. There was blood inside the truck everywhere. Their faces were severely scraped, their glasses were broken and they were cut from head to toe on their bodies.

Muriel and Eustace Bagge were dead.

Tears began to flow down Bubbles' face. Buttercup and Blossom were so traumatized, they could barely speak.

"NO! NO!!" Courage cried. He ran to Muriel's side door, opened it and unbuckled her seatbelt, only to have her body almost fall on top of him. He jumped out of the way and tugged on his beloved owner's arm to see if she was going to wake up. The cowardly dog became more frantic and started babbling in gibberish; pulling on her dress and apron.

After a few minutes of attempting to rouse her, Courage began to realize Muriel was gone. Gone forever. And there wasn't going to be a way for him to get her and Eustace back. Tears filled his eyes while harsh reality crashed on him. Bubbles started to sob. Blossom and Buttercup held their heads down in mourning.

Courage fell to his knees, lifted his head to the sky, pulled his ears and screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The small pink dog screeched as a large puddle of tears formed under him. All of Nowhere heard his loud, mournful cries and howls. The residents knew something terrible must've happened. Courage buried his face in Muriel's clothes and continued to bawl. When he stopped crying and calmed himself to sniffles, and after the girls ceased mourning themselves, Blossom took the opportunity to bring her sisters close for a huddle.

"What do we do?" Bubbles asked.

"Here's what we're going to do, girls," Blossom said. "We're going to inform the police what happened, and Courage will be our main priority."

"If Courage doesn't have anybody to take care of him, who will?"

"We will, Bubbles."

"WHAT?!" Buttercup blurted out. "Blossom, you can't be serious! If you think I'm going to be the owner of that dog, forget it!"

"What other choice do we have, Buttercup?" replied Blossom, glaring. "It's either that or Courage ending up in a dog pound! We're going to tell the Professor what went on and see if he'll let us keep him. Understand?"

"All right, I'll do it," sighed Buttercup, crossing her arms in defeat, "but I won't like it."

The girls attempted to get Courage to come with them, but he was so scared of them, he kept screaming and grabbing onto Muriel's body, refusing to leave it. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were left with no other option but to take him with them by force. Buttercup pried Courage loose from Muriel's lifeless corpse and they flew off with him, while he was crying and screaming the whole time.

The threesome arrived at the police station and alerted the authorities of where the bodies were located. When the chief saw that the Powerpuff Girls weren't Courage's actual owners, he ordered his assistant to have him put in the pound, but Bubbles and Blossom reasoned with him and said the three of them would take care of him after they had a talk with their father about it. The officers asked where he lived, so the girls lied, telling them their father lived not too far from Nowhere.

After they left the station, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup teleported home to Townsville with a resilient, heartbroken and frightened Courage to take care of, if the Professor gave them permission.

The Powerpuff Girls teleported back to Townsville with an emotionally traumatized Courage. He finally stopped screaming and crying; save for a few sniffles and sobs. After an hour or so, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup returned home. Blossom opened the door and looked around the house. Once the coast was clear and she saw no sign of Professor Utonium, the intelligent Powerpuff Girl signaled for her sisters to follow her. Buttercup and Bubbles brought the cowardly dog into the living room. Blossom flew down the hall and found the Professor in his lab.

"Professor?" she called, levitating down the stairs.

"Oh, hello, Blossom," Professor greeted her, looking up from his chemical experiment, "I didn't hear you girls come in."

"Can I tell you something? It's very important."

"Blossom, you know you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I'm listening."

"Well..." she hesitated. "We arrived in the Middle of Nowhere to find Dee Dee..."

"Yes. Go on." he urged her.

"And then, we were brought into this house by an old woman, who thought we were dog-sitters for her pet."

Professor's eyes narrowed. Blossom swallowed nervously, but managed to continue.

"So, Bubbles begged us to look after the dog and I gave in. Suddenly, this demon creature came to the door and I thought he was the real dog-sitter, but in reality, he was after his soul. We fought it off and..." She sighed, before looking up at him again. "The point I'm trying to get across, Professor," Blossom explained, "is that something terrible happened to this dog's owners, and he has no place to live, anymore, and I was wondering if we could keep him."

"A dog?" Professor repeated. "Blossom, we have been over this countless times. You girls do not need a dog."

"Professor," protested Blossom, "this dog's from that universe you sent us in to find Dee Dee. If we hadn't saved him from that demon, he could've been..." She was unable to say it.

"Sweetie, I know you and your sisters want to protect this dog," he replied, "but once you get one, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. There's visits to the vet, toys, collars and food; Not to mention the bills. And to top it all off, it's a huge responsibility."

"We'll work on our allowance to pay for all that stuff, Professor, I promise," Blossom told him. "Give us a chance, please. We can't just leave him the way he is. Don't make us take him to the city pound. You know how Bubbles hates the idea of animals in cages."

Professor thought long and hard about this. Although, the situation was dire, he knew his daughters were very trustworthy and responsible. Blossom waited for his response and to her relief, he smiled and said, "I honestly don't see why not. You girls have treated animals wonderfully in the past. This dog will be no different."

Blossom, elated, grabbed her father in a tight hug. "Oh, thank you, Professor!" she exclaimed.

"You're quite welcome," he chuckled. "But, you'll have to take very good care of him."

"Don't worry, we will! Be right back!"

She dashed out the door. Meanwhile, Buttercup and Bubbles were waiting for her; restraining Courage from trying to run away. When Blossom came to them upset, Buttercup smiled, as if to say, "Yes! We're not keeping the dog!" It turns out, Blossom grinned widely, having just teased them.

"YAY!" Bubbles squealed in delight.

"Aww nuts!" Buttercup snarled, slapping a hand on her forehead.

Courage, however, panicked and sobbed. He wasn't stupid. He didn't want to live with these "aliens!" They were going to eat him for dinner, he could see it, now. He desperately flailed in the girls' grasp to escape.

"Bad dog!" Buttercup scolded him. "You better stop that!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The pink dog howled, petrified.

Bubbles kept a firm grip on Courage to make him stop. "Professor said to bring Courage down to the lab so he can see him," Blossom informed them. The two Powerpuff Girls looked at each other. This was going to be difficult.

The kids carried Courage downstairs to the lab. When he saw the various chemicals and equipment, his paranoia got worse. He was too scared and heartbroken to get free and bolt. Professor was in the middle of the room waiting for them.

"Well, well, well," he said, walking towards the characters and impressed. "All right, girls, let me take a look at him."

"You're not gonna hurt him, are you, Professor?" asked Bubbles, worried.

"Don't worry, Bubbles," he reassured her, "I'm not gonna hurt him, I just want to look."

"Can we get this over with?" mumbled Buttercup, annoyed.

The instant Professor Utonium reached out a hand to Courage's head, the cowardly dog whined in fright and began to squirm as if he was expecting him to suddenly strike him.

"Easy, boy. Easy." the scientist comforted him.

Courage still looked away from him as tears drizzled off his muzzle.

"I won't hurt you." whispered the Professor, doing his best to sound friendly.

The moment Courage realized the Professor wasn't threatening in the slightest, he quit cowering and looked up at him. The Powerpuff Girls watched while their father stroked the small dog on the head, who sniffled and wiped his tears.

"That's a good dog." Professor praised him, smiling warmly. "You'll be all right. See? I'm not a threat, now, am I?"

Blossom and Bubbles couldn't help but smile at the scene, too. At one point, Courage even allowed him to scratch him on the ears. After this, Professor asked the girls, "What's his name?"

"Courage." they answered in unison.

"Courage?" he gasped. "It is most unusual name for a dog." He patted the pink canine on his head. "If that's what you go by, that's what we'll call you. Don't worry, Courage. You've found a good home, here."

Courage grimaced. He knew this wasn't his real home.

When the evening came around, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup put Courage in the laundry room; making it as comfortable for him as possible. The girls created a bed for him out of an old basket, pillow and blanket. At dinner, the Professor brought Courage some hamburger meat, since he didn't have any dog food to feed him with. He wasn't picky and devoured his meal instantly.

While Professor, along with the girls, wanted to care for this dog, he was becoming increasingly concerned with Courage's behavior towards Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. He cowered every time the girls got near him. All thoughts of Dexter and what happened to Dee Dee were temporarily forgotten, as the family had a new challenge; taking care of a cowardly dog who was scared of them.

Professor successfully put Courage to bed after tucking Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom in that night. He made sure he had water and was warm enough. He said goodnight to him and left the room. The poor dog turned on his side and fell into a miserable sleep.

Back in the girls' room, Bubbles was the only one with her eyes open. She was trying to wrap her head around why Courage didn't want her an inch in front of him. Why does Courage not wanna be around me? She thought. ''Doesn't he know we want to help him? If I could only make him see we're not scary.''

Bubbles gave a sad sigh, cuddled her stuffed octopus, Octi, and soon, she too, went to sleep.

Unfortunately, in the laundry room, Courage was tossing and turning in his bed. His head was pouring with sweat and his eyes were filled with tears. He moaned in his sleep, "Oh no." and flailed.

Courage dreamed he was back in the living room of his old farmhouse in the Middle of Nowhere. He lied in Muriel's lap while she sat in her rocker, drinking a warm cup of tea. Eustace sat in his chair reading the Nowhere newspaper. Courage looked around and saw no sign of those "alien girls." The dog smiled and sighed contentedly. Everything seemed to be back to normal. He was where he belonged.

Or so he thought.

All of a sudden, a light filled the room, blinding him for a second. When he opened his eyes, the room was filled completely with white, from top to bottom. The dog was now lying on the floor. Muriel and Eustace had just vanished out of thin air. Courage got on his own two feet and desperately called for Muriel; panicked and frightened.

The only thing that was alone in the room with him was his huge, black shadow on the wall. He quickly turned around to see fire engulfing it. The next thing he knew, the demon who tried to capture his soul popped out of it like lava from a volcano. Courage let out a gigantic, terror stricken gasp.

"Now that we're alone..." The demon said telepathically.

He laughed an evil laugh and started to make his way towards him. The cowardly dog screamed at the top of his lungs and goaded into a run. The monster took out an iron torture collar from his pocket, spun it like a lasso and threw it at Courage. It locked onto the canine's neck with a clunk, making him choke. The demon held the long chain leash behind it. Courage, in desperation, tried to pull the collar off, but was unable to due to the object being stronger than him.

Before the poor dog had a chance to even move, his attacker grabbed the chains and began tossing him like a ragdoll; making him hit his head and body on the walls. The room changed into a dark, blood red color. Courage screamed while he was being thrown like a toy.

Just when it looked like the demon would never cease from chucking this dog against the room, he flung him in the air. Courage slammed into a wall and fell face first onto the floor. He picked himself up and moaned from the excruciating pain.

When he recovered, he saw a more terrifying sight; the alien versions of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. The cowardly dog's jaw dropped and his eyes widened like saucers. Courage screamed, until Alien Blossom, along with her sisters, grabbed hold of the chain leash on his collar and jerked him toward the demon; letting go of it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" He shouted tearfully.

To Courage's horror, the demon was telekinetically bringing him to a giant fire pit. The dog grabbed a piece of the floor that was flying off, and held onto it for dear life, trying to prevent these monsters from claiming his soul. Skulls were reflected in his tearful, traumatized eyes. At that very second, the demon threw Courage into the hole, but he held onto the ledge. As if that wasn't bad enough, it cracked underneath his tiny, frail paws.

"NO!" Courage cried.

The cowardly dog's paws trembled on the cracking ledge from weakness. In a matter of seconds, it broke, and Courage ended up falling into the fire with the pieces. A horrible, bloodcurdling scream came out of his mouth as he fell into the dark, flaming abyss.

While he fell, he could hear Blossom, Bubbles and Professor Utonium call out with worry, "COURAGE, WAKE UP!"

That is when his nightmare finally ended. Courage was covered in tears, wailing his lungs out. He was back in the laundry room of the Utonium family; safely in his basket bed. He continued to sob and screech in his sleep. Professor and the Powerpuff Girls were in the room with him, incredibly concerned. The scientist gently shook the dog, not hurting him. Courage's noises and anguished cries had awoken them from their own sleep. It was already 6:00 in the morning.

"Courage, wake up! Courage!" yelled Professor. Bubbles took part in telling him to wake up.

Courage immediately woke up with a violent start. He gasped for breath, glancing around the room to remember where he was. The minute he saw Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, however, his entire face became stark white, and he gave a scream of alarm. The dog leaped backwards out of his bed, cornered himself against the wall and rapidly backed away. Tears streamed down Courage's face, and he gave a depressed whimper. He felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

"Courage," Professor said, attempting to ease his fears. "Just calm down, boy. Everything's all right, now."

Courage remained cornered against the wall in front of Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and the Professor. The poor dog was distraught, under a high amount of stress, and had an overwhelming urge to vomit because of how petrified he became during that moment. Tears poured out of his eyes nonstop like a rainstorm. It broke Bubbles and Blossom's hearts, including their father's, to see this animal upset. Whatever nightmare Courage was screaming about in his sleep, it must have been truly awful.

Courage didn't hear Professor talking to and trying to calm him. Instead, he was having a flashback of his nightmare, where he saw the alien counterparts of the Powerpuff Girls. Bubbles had barely any time to float towards the cowardly dog, when he screamed and bolted to the door to escape.

"Girls, catch him!" Professor cried.

Courage was just about to grab the doorknob, until he heard Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup darting behind him. He turned to see them in front of him and began to babble in panicky, nonsensical gibberish. The cowardly dog pulled his ears down and stayed glued to the door. "Courage, we won't hurt you, boy," said Blossom. "We only want to help you. I promise."

"Why don't you trust us?" Bubbles asked, tearing up herself while seeing the tearful grimace on his face.

"What is your problem you wussy dog?!" snapped Buttercup. "Can't you get it through your thick head we won't kill you?!"

"Buttercup!" Bubbles, Blossom and the Professor scolded her, glaring. Unable to take the stress, and the girls being near him any longer, Courage sat on the floor and burst into tears. Bubbles, Blossom and even Buttercup couldn't believe the sight. He was acting like a little toddler having a full-blown tantrum. The cowardly dog made the loudest, mournful wail, yet. The girls decided not to lay a hand on him, for they knew doing so would no doubt make him worse. Professor Utonium walked over to the doorway between Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, scooped Courage up and tried to comfort him, but it was no use. He kept crying his eyes out.

"I've never seen a dog cry this much." said Blossom, looking at Courage with sympathy. "Courage must've had a terrible nightmare."

"That's why he won't shut up?" Buttercup asked ignorantly.

"Buttercup!" Bubbles said sternly, "Can't you just, for once in your life, show a little compassion, especially towards poor Courage right now?"

"Sorry, Bubbles. I left that feeling in one of my dress pockets!"

"Alright, that's enough!" yelled Professor over Courage's screaming and sobbing. "I want you to go to your room, Buttercup and think about what you've just said! I've had it with the way you're treating Courage! He has feelings just like you and under no circumstances are you aloud to yell at him or call him names! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes you do." Buttercup mumbled.

"Good." he replied. "Now go to your room."

Buttercup sighed in frustration, turned, floated up the stairs and down the hallway to her and her sisters' room, muttering, "That crybaby of a mutt. What did I... I'm always gettin' blamed."

Courage continued to bawl and was now squirming in the Professor's arms. He had to lean back to avoid being kicked or hit by this dog in the face. "Courage!" Professor shouted, struggling to hold him. "What's the matter?! Your bad dream's over! It's okay!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOWWWWW!!!!" howled Courage, miserably. He cried out, "MURIEL! MURIEL!"

Hearing him say that name, Professor gasped at how the cowardly dog was able to speak in English language like a human. "Muriel?" he repeated. "Blossom, Bubbles, who's Muriel?"

Blossom and Bubbles were about to say, "We don't know." when Courage took a marker and drew an accurate picture of Muriel on a piece of paper he picked up with the pen. He wrote her name underneath the drawing, quoted and presented it to Professor Utonium; tapping his paw on it and pointing at the picture. The scientist studied the drawing intently. He then showed it to Blossom and Bubbles. "Girls," he said seriously. "Is this her?"

He handed the picture to Blossom. She and Bubbles stared at it together. The pink eyed Powerpuff Girl remembered Muriel, the one who asked the threesome to dog-sit for Courage. After a few minutes, Blossom replied, "Yes, Professor. She was Courage's owner."

Courage ceased from squalling and whined pitifully. Professor gave his daughters a saddened expression. "What happened to her, Blossom?" He asked.

Bubbles and Blossom took turns telling their father what happened when they and Buttercup were teleported to the Middle of Nowhere. The two explained to him how they were mistaken for Courage's dog sitters and saved him from the dog soul stealing demon. They also informed him of the unknown car accident Muriel and Eustace got killed in, and how Courage refused to come with the threesome because he was scared of them.

By the time they finished, Professor was speechless and dumbstruck. How Courage had to go through that demon and the loss of his owners was beyond him. He could only be very glad that he and Dexter sent the girls to the Middle of Nowhere when they did.

Courage was quite disfigured with his face drenched with tears. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. Professor gave a melancholy stare to Bubbles and Blossom, saying, "Oh, Blossom, Bubbles... That's... that's... I really don't know what to say about it. Why didn't you tell me about this before? I had no idea it was that terrible. We might've been able to work something out, if you said anything earlier."

"We wanted to," replied Bubbles, "but we were focused on Courage so much, that we forgot."

"We're sorry, Professor." Blossom sighed.

"Sorry?" asked Professor, surprised. "I'm proud of you girls for what you did." He kneeled down to their level and put an arm around them, with Courage in the other. "If Dexter and I hadn't sent you to the Middle of Nowhere in the first place, goodness knows what might've happened to Courage. You did the right thing by asking my permission if he can live with us. We're the only family he has from now on."

"Thank you, Professor," Blossom and Bubbles said in unison.

Courage grimaced, whined and shook with fright. He really WAS going to be a "prisoner" to these "aliens," and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Speaking of 'forgetting'," stated Blossom, "where is Dexter? I haven't seen him since we teleported to Nowhere."

"Dexter, Blossom," the Professor began, "left an hour after we sent you to that universe. He realized he made a horrible mistake about Dee Dee's location and went back to his world to find a solution to fix the problem. Until then, there's no telling where she is or what damage she's causing as a monster. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed and hope we find her very soon."

The utterance of the word, "monster" caused Courage to panic again. What if the "aliens" sacrificed him to the beast the scientist was talking about? He didn't want to think about if that would ever happen, but he couldn't help it. Dealing with the "bug eyed" girls from space was more than enough. The last thing he needed was being forced to be fed to a humongous monster by three creatures with human hair.

"Don't worry, Professor," Bubbles said, "we'll find Dee Dee and turn her back to normal before she causes any more trouble."

"Bubbles, I know you will."

Professor carried Courage to his bed and tucked him in. He walked to the door and started to leave the room with the girls when Bubbles asked, "May I please stay with Courage for a while, Professor? I want to show him I'm not scary and earn his trust."

"I don't know about that, Bubbles," replied Professor, doubtfully. "I'm concerned of how he's been behaving towards you and your sisters. It's like he thinks you're aliens or something. I believe that's why he's acting the way he is with you girls."

"Please?" The innocent Powerpuff Girl begged. "I promise, I'll be gentle with him."

"Oh, all right," Professor said, giving in and smiling. "Don't stay in here with him for too long. You have to go to school in an hour."

"OK, Professor."

Professor Utonium patted Bubbles on the head and he, followed by Blossom, left and closed the door. Courage and Bubbles were now the only ones in the room. The instant she came towards him, the cowardly dog sobbed and hid under the blanket in fear.

"Courage," said Bubbles in an effort to earn his trust, "you can come out now. I won't hurt you and I'm not scary."

"No..." Courage quavered, not trusting this "alien." Bubbles couldn't take it, anymore. This was the final straw. On the verge of crying, she yelled at him, "What would it take to get you to trust me?! You just lost your family and we're doing all we can to take care of you! We're all you have now, Courage!" She collapsed to her knees and sobbed, "Why don't you trust me? Why?"

When he heard her crying, Courage immediately revealed himself, took the blanket off and got out of his bed. Confused, he walked to the weeping Bubbles, stopped in front of her and stared. Finally, the dog studied the blue eyed Powerpuff Girl carefully. The bug eyed alien he thought he was seeing all along was just a little human child. Sure, she looked different from other children, but she was a child nonetheless.

Courage felt horrible for the way he judged these kids and didn't even give them a chance. He began to tear up once more, hugged Bubbles as if to apologize and wept with her; pleading for forgiveness. After a few minutes, both characters managed to calm down. Bubbles looked down at the cowardly dog and asked, "Does this mean you trust me?"

"Uh, huh," Courage replied tearfully and smiled. However, no sooner did he hug her, that the thought of Muriel holding him made him cry again. His owners killed in that truck accident still raced through his mind. Bubbles petted him on his temple to comfort him.

"I know how much you miss Muriel, Courage," she said to him. "But she's in a better place now. If she were still living, she wouldn't want to see you like this, would she?"

Courage shook his head no and sniffled. Bubbles got a handkerchief out of her nightgown pocket and used it to dry his eyes, as well as her own. She scooped the small pink dog up, carried him to his basket and tucked him in. After a nightmare like that, Courage deserved some sleep.

"Don't worry, Courage," said Bubbles, adjusting him in the bed to make him more comfortable, "you'll never be alone again. You have us to take care of you."

Courage was doubtful about what she said. He wanted to believe her, but he barely know her. He thought of trying to talk and tell her how it may not work out with him, but how could he? He spoke nothing but gibberish. Even if he did try to tell her, she wouldn't understand him, anyway. How can three, odd looking girls possibly take care of a dog like him? It was going to be hard for him to adapt to his new life. It'd take him months, maybe a year.

Bubbles sat at Courage's bedside and hummed a lullaby that Professor always sang to her whenever she got scared. The second before she finished, Courage drifted off to sleep. Bubbles kissed his forehead and floated out of the room. In the hallway, she turned and opened the door a little; staring sweetly at the snoring cowardly dog.

"Sweet dreams, Courage," Bubbles whispered, and closed the door. With that, she caught up with her sisters and they flew off to Pokey Oaks Kindergarten.

Courage had been the new pet of the Powerpuff Girls for over a week now. He spent most of his time with Bubbles and Blossom, but kept his distance from Buttercup because her tough attitude scared him. He often expected her to scare him with a giant mask and make fun of him or even call him a stupid dog, just like Eustace since he put up with the old farmer's abuse.

To the cowardly dog's surprise, Buttercup pretty much ignored him. The girls and Professor didn't know it, but Courage was starting to become homesick and depressed. He desperately wanted to go back to Nowhere and mourn for his sweet, gentle Muriel and never see these "bug eyed girls from outer space" for the rest of his life. He was starting to trust Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, but he still felt uneasy and suspicious about them.

The reason Courage acted cowardly 95% of the time was because his parents, two aristocratic dogs named Henry and Violet, were forcibly sent into space by an evil veterinarian when he was a tiny puppy after the man feed him from being stuck in a fence. That led to him being abandoned and taken in by Muriel.

Now, Muriel was gone, along with Eustace. Courage knew he didn't belong in Townsville and simply wanted to run away; to go back to his own world, but that was next to impossible. It was his job to protect the ones he loved, but he hadn't seen the girls as his family, yet. This new life felt incredibly scary to him.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Courage would stay awake in the laundry room and think about Muriel. Tonight was no different. He wondered how he would be able to go on without her.

Tears filled his eyes and he whined quietly. He wanted to ask himself why this happened and why he was now living with bug eyed girls from outer space, if he only could. Feeling thirsty, he got out of his bed and left the laundry room to go to the kitchen and get a glass of water.

Once he entered the kitchen, he tried to be silent and not wake Professor Utonium or the girls. He searched everywhere for the glasses, until he discovered them all the way up on the top shelf.

The cowardly dog sighed, went to get one of the dining room chairs, climbed onto it for a boost, then proceeded to attempt to reach for a glass. He strained and clenched his yellow teeth; his scrawny arms barely getting his small paws to touch the glass. When his index finger made the slightest bit of contact with it, the cup tipped over and began to fall to the floor.

Gasping, Courage grabbed and fumbled with the cup in his paws, but he couldn't grip it. It smashed onto the floor in pieces. Knowing he was going to be in trouble for waking somebody up, he cowered and did what he could to clean his mess and get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. He was picking up the pieces of broken glass, when he heard Bubbles' voice ask, "Courage? What are you doing up?"

A shivering Courage turned around to see Bubbles levitating before him. He babbled in nervous dog gibberish, trying to explain he wanted a glass of water and the cup fell out of his paws and broke. He was just waiting for the sweet natured Powerpuff Girl to scold him for something he didn't even do, like Eustace did when he got mad at him, but she simply smiled and said, "That's okay, Courage. We all have accidents, sometimes. You came in here for a drink of water, didn't you?"

"Mm-hmm," nodded Courage timidly.

"Let me help you," Bubbles replied. "The cabinet's far too high for you to reach."

The small pink canine watched in astonishment as Bubbles took a new glass off the shelf, closed the door, went to the sink and filled it with water. She handed it to him.

"There you go, you sweetest, cutest dog in the whole wide world," she said. Courage looked at his water, then at Bubbles, and at that moment, smiled for the very first time since he came to live with her and her sisters, as if to say, "Thank you."

After helping him clean up the mess before Blossom, Buttercup and the Professor woke up, she carried him back to the laundry room with his water and tucked him in.

Courage gulped down his glass of water, put it on the floor next to the left side of his bed and did his best to fall asleep. He finally went to sleep at 4:00 A. M.

The next morning, Bubbles brought him out for breakfast. When he saw the girls sitting at the table and waiting for the Professor to bring them eggs and bacon on three, sparkling white plates, Courage took it upon himself to push an extra chair towards the table. He went to get a book, placed it in the seat and climbed on it.

Since he was a small dog, Courage often had to use books or a bucket in order to sit at the table and see. Blossom and Buttercup just stared at him awkwardly.

"What's the dog doing at the table?" asked Buttercup arrogantly.

"I think Courage wants to have breakfast with us, Buttercup," Bubbles answered. Since she had an adoration for animals, she knew exactly what the cowardly dog wanted to do.

"Oh, come on, Bubbles!" sighed Buttercup, slapping a hand on her forehead. "He's a dog, for crying out loud! Dogs can't sit at the table!"

"Well, what do you call what he's doing, right now?" Bubbles argued.

"I don't think the Professor's gonna like seeing Courage sitting at the table, Bubbles," Blossom stated. "You know we have rules in this house, and that could be one of them."

"If I ask him, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"I understand, but don't be surprised if he says no."

Professor hummed with his eyes closed while he walked to the table with his and the girls' breakfast; unaware Courage was sitting at the end of it. It wasn't until he opened his eyes, that he noticed the pink canine directly in front of him.

"Girls!" Professor gasped. "What is Courage doing sitting at the table?" He glanced sternly at Bubbles and asked, "Bubbles, did you do this?"

"No, Professor." she replied. "Courage did it by himself. He wants to sit at the table and have breakfast with us. Can he, please?"

"Bubbles, Courage is a dog, not a human being," explained Professor.

"Oh, can he, Professor? Please?" Bubbles asked. "He's trying really hard to be a part of the family. I promise, he won't make a mess. He'll be good."

Buttercup shook her head with her hand slapped on her forehead again and muttered under her breath, "Ay, ay, ay."

Professor looked at Bubbles and Courage for a few seconds, before finally giving in. "Oh, all right," he smiled sympathetically. "I'll get an extra plate."

"Did you hear that, Courage?" Bubbles asked the dog happily. "You get to join us."

Courage gave Bubbles and her sisters a timid smirk. It seemed like he was warming up to them and didn't think of these girls as aliens, anymore. Professor brought him a plate of plenty of eggs and two strips of bacon. He thought he might need some extra protein to get his strength back.

The family began eating their breakfast and engaging in conversation. Before Courage had a chance to dive into his eggs, a memory of Eustace popped into his head, asking in an irritated, nasty voice, "What're you doin' sittin' at the table, you stupid dog?!"

Courage immediately dropped his fork on his plate and gave a piteous whimper. He simply stood up on the book, took his plate and went back down to the floor.

"Courage?" said Bubbles, concerned.

"What's his problem?" Buttercup asked, not caring in the least bit.

"Courage, you can come back up here," Blossom told him. "It's okay."

"We're not mad at you, boy," Professor nodded. "You can eat at the table with us, if you like. We won't mind at all and are perfectly fine with it."

Courage glanced at them, as if he were to say, "Really?"

"Come on," Bubbles said, "you can sit right near me."

The cowardly dog smiled, picked his plate up and rejoined them in his seat. Although, he tried to maintain good table manners, Courage couldn't help but moan while he wolfed down his food. Nothing had ever tasted this delicious. He wasn't being starved by the Utonium family at all but lost his appetite since he mourned his former owners. Blossom, Bubbles and the Professor knew it would take a while for him to slow down.

After breakfast, the girls took Courage on a little tour of the house. By the time they brought him to the last room, which was their bedroom, he examined everything and was curious about it. He noticed a peculiar phone sitting on a stool at the left end of it. It was colored in white and red, and had a smile on its face, looking just like a clown.

"Huh?" Courage gasped, staring quizzically at the object.

"Oh, that?" Blossom said, coming up to him. "That's the Powerpuff Hotline, Courage. The Mayor uses this phone to call us whenever Townsville is in immediate danger."

"Uh, huh," nodded Bubbles. "We protect Townsville from all the forces of evil. It's our job."

"Yeah!" smiled Buttercup with a tough attitude. "And we get to kick butt all the time!" She threw three punches, unknowingly almost hitting Courage in the face. "Punch, bam, POW!"

Courage screamed, curled up into a ball and cowered again. "Buttercup!" Bubbles and Blossom scolded her in unison. The sweet natured Powerpuff Girl instantly came to the cowardly dog's aid and did her best to comfort him.

"He's scared again?" Buttercup asked in an annoyed, ignorant voice. "I can't believe this dog! He acts like a baby who's afraid of everything!"

"Courage can't help being the way he is, Buttercup," Blossom glared. "He's a cowardly dog for a reason. We don't know what that reason is, but I have a feeling it's because of something in his past that he went through."

"Seriously?" Buttercup barked. "Blossom, he's a dog! There's no reason for him to act like a wimp! Dogs are supposed to be brave and loyal! Rin Tin Tin had more bravery than this mutt."

"Stop it, Buttercup!" Bubbles yelled over Courage's whimpering. "You're hurting Courage's feelings!"

"Alright you two!" shouted Blossom, breaking up the fight. "I thought we were going to pitch in and try to lift Courage's spirits! He's just been through a traumatic experience and we are going to make sure that he is cheered up. I don't want to hear anymore arguing. Understand?!"

"Yes, Blossom," they sighed.

Courage began to calm down a little bit, and after everyone focused on him once more, he started to have fun with what Blossom and Bubbles, aside from Buttercup, were doing with him. First, they played hide and seek.

He was picked to find the girls and being a dog, used his sense of smell to find Blossom and Bubbles. The two playfully, but gently jumped out of their hiding place, which was a bush, and tackled him in heap.

For the first time, Courage laughed with joy. He felt guilty for doing this and wondered if it was okay for him to since Muriel's fate left him heartbroken, but he really needed and deserved this moment. He wasn't this happy for the longest time. Bubbles and Blossom laughed along with him.

Buttercup, however, found more important things to do than spend time with this new dog. She was busy punching her slab of meat and when she saw her sisters and Courage having fun outside through one of the bedroom windows, she groaned, shrugged it off and went back to her activity.

The rest of the afternoon went along great, without any concerns. The following evening, after a hearty dinner, Blossom and Bubbles gave Courage a very soothing and relaxing bath.

Bubbles had put in some soap that was made for dogs and Blossom made sure the water was at a perfect temperature; neither too hot nor cold. Courage was used to having baths before, but this one he liked the most. The girls put bath toys in the tub for him to play with, and he started to lightly splash them. They readily splashed him back and soon, the three characters were having a wonderful laugh again.

Courage splashed the two Powerpuff Girls some more, laughing hysterically. Professor Utonium came in to check on them and smiled at the sight. Buttercup remained at the doorway and glowered. Someone was beginning to get a bit jealous.

Some time later, after Courage, Blossom and Bubbles were dried off, the girls got dressed in their nightgowns and went to bed. Courage, trusting Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, decided to climb on the foot of their bed and lied down on his haunches atop the blanket.

"Hey, dog." said Buttercup with a cocky smile on her face, "If I were you, I'd find a nice piece of carpet. Professor's gonna have a cow if he sees you sleeping on our bed."

Blossom and Bubbles glared at her for the remark. Professor came into the room to tell them good night, until he saw the cowardly dog at the foot of the bed. Instead of "having a cow" like Buttercup expected, Professor gave a warm grin.

"Well, well, well," he chuckled, walking to and sitting on the bed, "who do we have here?" He patted Courage on the head and scratched him under his chin. "It looks like Courage is finally breaking out of his shell for you girls."

"Isn't it wonderful, Professor?" asked Bubbles, smiling.

"It sure is, Bubbles," he replied. "With a little time and patience, any animal can go from skittish to trusting of humans."

"We really worked hard to show him we weren't threatening," Blossom said.

"I can tell."

"Can Courage sleep on our bed, Professor?" asked Bubbles.

"I don't see why not," he told her. "After all, you girls should take this as a good sign."

"What?" Buttercup gasped. "Professor, you can't be...!"

"OK, Buttercup, that's enough," Professor interrupted her. "Good night, girls. I'll see you and Courage in the morning."

"Good night, Professor," they said. Courage fell asleep and snored the second the scientist left the room and turned off the light. While Blossom and Buttercup slept, Bubbles woke up and tenderly stroked the dog's head.

She smiled and whispered, "Good night, Courage. I love you," kissed him on the ear and went to sleep herself. He opened one eye and smiled back at her, as if to say, "I love you, too." He fell into a peaceful sleep; The best sleep he had in days. He now knew he had nothing to fear. He was safe with these kids and could sense it.

Courage was happy for the first time since the disaster he went through.

For the next few days, Courage became increasingly worried about the Powerpuff Girls because almost every day, they were leaving the Utonium residence to fight crime and battle monsters. It was the "monster" part the cowardly dog was most afraid of. What Courage didn't realize, was that Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were superheroes and it was their job to make Townsville safe. When the girls got ready to go after the Mayor called them to take care of whatever burglar or creature that was threatening the town, Courage would often panic and do everything in his power to prevent them from leaving, but Professor Utonium stopped him and allowed Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles to thwart evil.

Sometimes, the Powerpuff Girls returned home right before their bedtime at 8:30, which was twenty four hours and caused Courage to worry even more. Horrible thoughts raced through the pink dog's mind and he wondered if they were going to come back. Ever since the accident Muriel and Eustace lost their lives in, Courage became severely paranoid and was scared the girls were going to get killed. He already lost two family members. The last thing he needed or wanted was losing the kids who took him in. Tonight was no exception.

Courage was sitting on Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup's bed in the dark, waiting anxiously for them to come home. A thought bubble appeared above his head, showing Blossom and her sisters getting devoured by a giant monster that resembled King Ghidorah. He cowered and screamed in fear as his thought vanished into thin air. Hearing the noise, Professor rushed into the room and yelled out, startled. Courage screamed again and hid under the bed.

"What's going on in here?" the scientist asked, turning on the light. He calmly looked around the room to find what the matter was. He heard Courage shivering underneath the girls' bed and went to investigate. Professor bent down to the floor and peeked under the blanket; lifting up the pink end of the cloth and revealing the cowardly dog.

"Courage?" Professor gasped, concerned. "What happened? Why are you hiding under the girls' bed?"

Courage's only reply was a terrified whimper. He crawled out of his hiding place and stood on his own two feet. He looked away from the Professor, incredibly ashamed of himself. It wasn't until the man saw the uncomfortable grimace on the small pink canine's face, that he knew exactly what was wrong.

"Oh, I think I understand, now," said Professor in a gentle and comforting tone. "You're worried Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup won't come home, aren't you?"

Courage sighed and sadly nodded his head. Tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. Professor took a handkerchief out of one of his lab coat pockets and dried his eyes. It was almost like he knew what he was thinking.

"Courage, the girls are fine," Professor told him. "You have nothing to worry about or be afraid of. It's Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles' job to protect the City of Townsville." He picked Courage up, sat on the bed and placed him on his lap. "Before I created them, this town was in complete turmoil. Morning, noon and night, crime and evil were running rampant. Nobody seemed to care or know what to do. That's where Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup came in. I thought of a formula that could create the perfect little girl; Sugar, spice and everything nice. I was about ready to finish it, when I accidentally added an extra ingredient to the mix. It's a chemical known as, Chemical X."

Courage gasped and grimaced at the mention of that. Professor gently patted him on the head to calm him.

"I know it sounds scary," the scientist continued, "but the most fantastic and wonderful thing that came out of it, is we always have the love and heroic deeds of the girls. Everybody in our city adores them, as well as I, and they're loyal to us in the very same way you were to Muriel."

The mention of Muriel caused the cowardly dog to quiver his lips. He buried his face in his paws and moaned, "Ohh..."

Professor tenderly took Courage's paws off his face and he glanced at him.

"Sometimes, when we've lost someone we've loved our whole life," explained Professor, "it takes a bit of time to move on and be happy again." He chuckled, "Now, I'm no mind reader, Courage, but it looks to me you're acting like Muriel's death is all your fault. It is not yours or anybody's fault. It's just the circle of life in motion. But, you see, not all of us will arrive together at the end. You will always love Muriel and miss her, but here's the most important thing; She will forever be in your heart."

Courage smiled at him. He knew he was no longer alone and now had a new family. By the time Professor Utonium left the room, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup returned home safely from stopping Fuzzy Lumpkins from doing his old tricks.

After dinner, the girls and Courage remained in the living room, until it was time for bed. Even though, he remembered the pep talk Professor gave him, the dog was still extremely overprotective of the kids and wanted to try to protect them in any manner possible. While they were asleep, Courage crawled toward Bubbles quietly and gently nuzzled himself under her arm. She woke up for a second, wondering what was happening, then noticed him cuddling against her. She smiled, thinking this was adorable and kissed him on the tip of his right ear. Soon, both of the characters fell asleep peacefully. It seemed like Courage was finally at home with the Utonium family.

It was the day where the girls were given the task of cleaning up around the house; a task which Buttercup hated with every fiber of her being. Courage, Bubbles and Blossom actually had a fun time straightening up the living room. He was also amazed at how they were able to vacuum the ceiling with no trouble at all. He already knew the girls had superpowers, but they made it look so easy.

"What's the point of this?" grumbled an annoyed Buttercup. "This house is gonna get dirty no matter how many times we clean it."

Courage handed Bubbles a duster for the pictures on the wall and helped her scrub the glass table in the middle of the room with soap and a wash cloth.

"Aw, come on, Buttercup," Blossom said, "get in the spirit, for a change. You know the Professor wants us to do this once every month."

"Uh, huh," nodded Bubbles. "Besides, Courage and I like doing this." She turned to the cowardly dog and asked, "Don't you, Courage?"

"Mm-hmm." Courage smiled. When Muriel was alive, he always loved to help her take care of the farmhouse. It was one of his favorite things to do.

"Whatever." grumbled Buttercup. "I got better things to do than this."

Some time later, Blossom, Bubbles and Courage brought Professor Utonium into the living room to surprise him. Buttercup, glaring, followed close behind. The girls took the blindfold off his face to show him what they and the small pink dog did. Professor's face brightened when he saw how neat and tidy the entire room was.

"Wow, girls!" The scientist exclaimed. "You and Courage really outdid yourselves! The place looks great."

Courage smiled at them. For once, he wasn't being berated and called names, like Eustace always did to him.

"That's everything, Professor," Blossom told him. "Good as new."

But Bubbles felt like she had forgotten something. It finally occurred to her she forgot to clean out one, last thing. "Well, not everything," she stated sheepishly. "I... kind of forgot to clean the junk out of the hallway closet."

"Buttercup, that was supposed to be your job!" glared Blossom.

"So? I can't always pull my weight around here, Blossom!" growled Buttercup.

Courage babbled in gibberish and pointed to the end of the hallway where the closet was; jumping up and down to get their attention.

"What is it, Courage?" asked Blossom.

The cowardly dog continued to jabber in his own language, trying to explain to the Powerpuff Girls and Professor that he wanted to help with the closet, but none of them, except Bubbles, could understand what the heck he was saying.

"OK, I have NO idea what the dog is saying," Buttercup said with a confused frown on her face. "Just what kind of a dog is he?"

"I think he's trying to tell us something," explained Blossom. "What's the matter, boy?"

"Bubbles, why don't you try to figure out what Courage's saying?" Professor asked.

"OK, I will," Bubbles nodded. The sweet natured Powerpuff Girl watched Courage closely. She read his body language and listened to the babbling in his voice carefully. At that moment, she understood what he was trying to tell the family.

"Courage says that he wants to help with the closet," she said.

"You understood what he was saying?" asked Buttercup, surprised.

"Of course," replied Bubbles. "It's my job."

"Don't worry, girls," Professor said, "I'll take care of the closet. You and Courage both have worked hard and deserve a break."

"Thanks, Professor," the kids grinned in unison.

On the way back to their room, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, with Courage following them, went about their business. Bubbles sat with the small pink dog on the bed, Buttercup was busy playing a portable video game console and Blossom remained in her beanbag chair. Her sisters knew by the look on her face that she was thinking of an idea.

"I know that look, Blossom," Buttercup mentioned sarcastically. "What's your brilliant idea, this time?"

"I was just thinking," said Blossom, "if Courage had the ability to communicate like we humans do, then maybe, it'd be easier for us to understand him."

"Oh, no!" Buttercup gasped, shocked. "Blossom, you're not thinking of teaching that dog to talk, are you? He's annoying enough as it is!"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking, Buttercup," Blossom pointed out. "He'd be able to say something to us without trying to babble."

"Yeah!" yelled Bubbles excitedly. "That's a great idea, Blossom! Let's do it!"

"My life's a living..." Buttercup mumbled, slapping a hand on her forehead. To her, this plan was absolutely ridiculous. In her eyes, Courage was one taco short of a combination plate, but Bubbles and Blossom saw he was smart. The next day, the girls, excluding Buttercup, who wanted no part of the plan, taught the cowardly dog how to speak human. They began on something very easy for him; Reciting the letters of the alphabet one at a time.

Courage didn't think he was doing that good at his speaking. In fact, he thought he was doing terribly. Bubbles and Blossom gently kept pushing him to try his best and in the next couple weeks, his speech became more clear. He was beginning to pronounce words like, "ball," "kite," "plane" and "apple." They kept on giving him new pronunciations and soon, he started to form sentences for the following six months.

It was now time to see if this dog could really speak clearly or not.

For the final test, Blossom and Bubbles wanted to make sure all of Courage's lessons paid off for him. He stood in the middle of the room while all three of the girls watched him.

"Okay, Courage," Blossom instructed, "this last test is going to prove if you can talk. There's not going to be a score or anything. Just do the best you can."

Courage silently and nervously nodded. He wasn't sure if he would be able to pull it off.

"You ready?" she asked. "All you gotta do is say your own name."

The pink dog sadly shook his head no.

"He's not gonna say it." snarled Buttercup. Bubbles harshly thumped her on the arm and turned her attention back to Courage. "Come on, Courage," said Bubbles, giving him confidence. "You can do it. You'll do fine."

Courage cleared his throat and uttered with difficulty, "C-Cuh... C-c-c-cuh... Uh..."

"Oh, come on!" Blossom laughed goodheartedly. "You can do better than that! It's okay, try again."

After a second, Courage took a deep breath and perfectly barked out, "C-C-COUR-AGE!"

Buttercup slapped herself in the face twice; in disbelief of what she just heard. Blossom and Bubbles succeeded in getting this dog to talk.

"Excellent!" Blossom cheered in delight as she and Bubbles applauded him.

"Hooray!" gigged Bubbles.

Courage donned an elated smile, walked over to them and cried, "C-Courage! Courage!"

"You speak phenomenally." the leader of the Powerpuff Girls praised him.

"Blossom!" Courage spoke. "Bubbles! Buttercup!"

"Good boy!" Bubbles smiled, patting him on the head.

"Great," sighed Buttercup under her breath. "The dog's talking."

"I... I can't believe it," said Courage in a complete sentence. "I can talk." From now on, if he wanted to tell them something, he had no problem opening his mouth to say it. He was incredibly proud of himself.

"See?" chuckled Blossom. "Talking's not so bad, now, is it?"

"No," the cowardly dog shook his head happily. "Actually, it kinda feels great. Oh, if only Muriel could hear me this minute..."

The mention of Muriel made him pause on his sentence. Immediately, his expression transformed from happy to somber. Tears formed in his eyes once more and harsh reality reared its ugly head. Blossom and Bubbles gave him sympathetic looks.

"She's really dead..." Courage whimpered; tears rolling down his cheeks. "Isn't she?" It was more of a statement rather than an outright question.

Courage turned away from Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, walked to their bed, sat down on it, buried his face in his paws and sobbed. Blossom and Bubbles floated toward and sat in between him.

"Oh, Courage, don't cry," Bubbles said, attempting to comfort him.

"We can't stand to see you cry," agreed Blossom, patting him on the back.

"I can't go on without her!" Courage wailed. "She was the only one I had."

Blossom gently cupped his chin to make him look her in the face. "Courage," she reassured him, "you will go on. You do, you know. You have to." A tear drizzled down Courage's muzzle and Blossom wiped it away with her hand. "At first, we don't even think we can make it. But you will. You'll see. Muriel's looking down on you right now and she knows you're in a good home."

"R-really?" Courage sniffled.

"Yeah," Bubbles reminded him, nodding. "You're not alone, anymore. You got us to take care of you."

"You got Buttercup," continued the intelligent Powerpuff Girl, "and you got the Professor..."

"Buttercup doesn't like me." quivered Courage. "I'm scared of her. She reminds me too much of Eustace."

"Eustace?" Blossom and Bubbles repeated in unison.

"Yeah," Courage said. "He hated me since the day I came into that house. Muriel took me in and cared for me when I was just a puppy. My parents were sent into outer space by an evil vet who wanted to breed dogs in there. I was abandoned shortly after that, until Muriel discovered me in an alley behind the office. That's how I got my name. She thought I was so brave for being out there by myself, she named me, 'Courage.'"

"What did Eustace do to you that was so bad?" asked Blossom.

Courage told them, in vivid detail, how Eustace would take out a green face mask to scare him and get him out of his sight, how he strangled him when he got really mad with him; kicked him physically off the bed and out of the house, etc. Eustace went so far to attempt to kill Courage with all of the previous villains the dog had defeated in the past; Katz, Cajun Fox, the Weremole, Le Quack, the Queen of the Black Puddle and the Clutching Foot. Courage had managed to get rid of them and free Muriel by screaming so loud, that the floor broke from underneath them and sent them falling into a hole. Eustace especially went out of his way to call Courage a stupid dog and belittle him.

Bubbles and Blossom stared at the cowardly dog, dumbstruck and the fact he was put through all that abuse broke Bubbles' heart.

"Even though he hated me," Courage said, "I still managed to save his life, most of the time, but he never appreciated me. To him, I was the bane of his existence. And Buttercup... I'm scared she's gonna do the same horrible things to me."

"Oh, Courage," said Bubbles in a worried tone, "Buttercup won't do those things to you. She's not like that."

"She may have a bad attitude sometimes," Blossom clarified, "but deep down, she has a good heart."

"Sure, she does," scoffed the pink canine.

"No, really. It'll just take time for her to get to know you better. Once she gets to know you, I promise, she won't be so angry."

"Are you sure?"

"We're positive," Bubbles answered.

Courage just stared at them, before giving them a hug. They readily hugged him back and the three characters stayed there for the longest time.

That night, Courage had a hard time sleeping because he was worried about what was going to happen with his relationship with Buttercup. When you're thinking about that kind of situation, you have trouble sleeping, but Courage soon fell asleep and his thoughts melted away.

An anxious Dexter worked day and night in his laboratory to search for his mutated sister, Dee Dee. Since Courage came into the picture, the Powerpuff Girls unintentionally forgot about the situation involving her turning into a monster. He made a plan to visit the Utonium family again and right when he was about to proceed with his journey, the radar on his computer presented him with his sister's location. She was being transported directly to Townsville.

"Einstein's ghost!" The boy genius exclaimed. "Dee Dee is headed for Townsville! I must meet with the Powerpuff Girls as soon as possible! I can only hope Dee Dee does not cause any damage when she arrives. I will meet with them in three days and then, we will determine if we can catch her. I pray we are not too late."

He stared at his teleportation countdown timer and shook his head grimly. Meanwhile, far outside of Townsville, the shadow of Dee Dee's mutated form appeared. She roared a mighty roar and giggled in delight. Things were about to get messy.

In Townsville Central Park, something diabolical was being planned. A large volcano was in the middle of the grassy area, with an observatory on the very top. This was the lair of the most evil, threatening character to the townspeople and the Powerpuff Girls' #1 archenemy. He was none other than the super intelligent mastermind, Mojo Jojo.

Mojo had always detested Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup and attempted many times to destroy them, but each of his tries backfired in his face. He was an anthropomorphic, black and green colored primate with pointed ears and pink eyes. Under his metal purple and white hat, was an enlarged brain that was protruding from his head. He donned a blue vest and pants with a purple and white belt around it; including white gloves and boots over his hands and feet to match. He wore a long purple cape behind his back.

Before the Powerpuff Girls came along, Mojo Jojo was just an ordinary baby chimpanzee and Professor Utonium's lab assistant, simply called, "Jojo." What Mojo simply didn't want to believe and kept on denying, was that he actually helped Professor create Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. The scientist was busy mixing the ingredients for the perfect little girl, when the monkey abruptly shoved him from behind, causing his hand to slam into the Chemical X container, which made Mojo what he is and Townsville's beloved superheroes exist.

That was then, this was now. Mojo Jojo was working on a full proof plan to eliminate the girls. At that moment, he came up with an ingenious solution. He was certain this would finish them off forever.

"At last! I have done it!" Mojo yelled with victory. "I, the evil Mojo Jojo, have succeeded in a glorious plan that will finally rid of the Powerpuff Girls!" He laughed maniacally as he smiled at his finished work. His sharp teeth shined in the moonlight. This invention he built was specifically designed to cut all three girls in half vertically, one at a time. He constructed three metal tables with straps that were strong enough to hold Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles' arms and legs. Above them, was a gigantic laser that had the ability to cut any object in half, even humans or animals.

"Oh, I am so proud of myself!" Mojo smiled with a sob. He wiped one tear from his eye, joyfully. "And now, to find something to test it with."

He looked around his laboratory, searching for an object he could use as bait, but there wasn't anything he could try the machine on.

"Curses..." he growled. "If I do not have any bait, I cannot test the machine, and if I cannot test the machine, I will not be sure it will work on the Powerpuff Girls." He thought for a moment, and then, a wicked idea popped into his head; An awful, wicked idea. An insanely twisted, dark, wicked and awful idea. A murderous grin appeared on Mojo's face, he walked over to the automatic window and pressed the button that read, "OPEN."

"Well..." the evil mastermind smirked. "I will just have to pay Townsville a visit and search for any perfect specimen I can find for my greatest invention... won't I?"

He laughed in a maniacal tone once more while he watched the City of Townsville from his window. His nasty deed was about to begin.

Courage was helping the Powerpuff Girls build a replica of Townsville in the bedroom. The girls were going to present it for show-and-tell at their school, Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, which was next Monday, but they were so caught up in taking care of Courage and crime fighting, that they completely forgot. Luckily, they had plenty of time to prepare. Courage offered to help, but Buttercup refused to let him touch the nearly finished model; her excuse being it was a "very delicate" replica and it didn't need to be touched by clumsy, wussy dogs. To her dismay, Blossom and Bubbles allowed the cowardly dog to assist them.

They were almost done with it, until the girls heard the oh so familiar BEEP, BEEP, BEEP of the Powerpuff Hotline.

"Yes, Mayor?" answered Blossom with urgency after she picked up the phone.

Bubbles, Buttercup and Courage heard nonsensical, terrified gibberish on the other line. It was the pickle loving, but slow-witted Mayor of Townsville. He was giving Blossom a description of what the threat looked like.

"Yellow horns and a tutu, you say?" asked the leader of the Powerpuff Girls in a suspicious tone of voice.

"What's going on?" Courage asked, worried.

"Shh." Bubbles told him, putting a finger to her lips.

"All right, Mayor, we're on it!" Blossom replied and hung up the phone. She turned to her sisters and ordered, "Girls, trouble! The Mayor said there was a yellow horned monster wearing a tutu who's about to head for Townsville!"

Courage started to cower at the mention of the monster, and Buttercup and Bubbles realized something; It was Dexter's sister, Dee Dee!

"W-w-what?!" Courage gasped.

"That's Dee Dee!" Bubbles exclaimed. "We gotta turn her back to normal before she destroys the city!"

"I'll get the Chemical Y spray!" yelled Buttercup. She dashed out of the room for a second, then, returned with the spray. Blossom placed it in Professor Utonium's laboratory so it wouldn't get broken. "Let's go turn Dee Dee back into a human!" she declared.

"Come on, girls!" Blossom said. They were about to dash through the ceiling and soar into the sky, when Courage screamed, "NO!"

The girls turned to see a scared to death Courage grimacing and shaking with fright. He couldn't stand to be more than ten feet away from them and now stuck to Bubbles like glue.

"What are you whining about now, dog?!" Buttercup snarled. "We don't have time for you, right now! We gotta stop Dexter's sister, Dee Dee from wreaking havoc on our town!"

"I don't want you guys to go out there!" protested Courage. "You could get hurt or worse, eaten by the monster! Don't go!"

"Ugh!" scoffed Buttercup. "I have never seen a dog so clingy as you!"

"Courage, we won't be gone long," explained Blossom. "We'll be back before you know it. We have to take care of this problem or it'll get worse. Do you understand?"

"But, but, but...!" the small pink dog stammered.

"No buts!" Buttercup scolded. "The only 'but' you need to worry about is yours if you hold us hostage and not let us do our job!"

Courage sniffled and whined, but he didn't cry--he certainly had done plenty of that in the previous week; more than enough, actually--and Bubbles floated down toward him. She put her hands on his shoulders. "Courage," she said, "I promise, we'll come back, safe and sound. You have nothing to be scared of. We're not going to leave you forever."

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart."

Courage stared at her for a second, then, reluctantly sighed, "Okay."

And so, the Powerpuff Girls flew off to find the mutated Dee Dee monster and turn her back into the same, goofy girl she always was. On their way to their destination, Bubbles thought about how worried and panicky Courage had been before they left. Was he really so afraid of her and her sisters leaving and never coming back? Being an animal lover, it saddened her to think the poor canine was still hurting, mentally.

"You all right, Bubbles?" Buttercup asked when she and Blossom saw the uncomfortable look on their sister's face.

"Huh?" gasped Bubbles, having gotten their attention.

"Are you okay?" repeated Blossom. "You've been quiet since we left."

"Yeah," Bubbles nodded. "I was just thinking about Courage. He seemed upset when we were gonna leave."

"Bubbles, he'll get over it!" Buttercup said. "He needs to stop stickin' to us like glue and give us a chance to defend Townsville."

"Buttercup, Courage's gone through an emotional time," Blossom stated. "We have to be sensitive to his feelings."

"Sensitive, shmensitive!" Buttercup grumbled. "Dogs aren't supposed to be clingy, like he is!"

Blossom shook her head in annoyance. She was getting tired of Buttercup refusing to accept Courage as their pet and part of the family. So did Bubbles. A few minutes later, the Powerpuff Girls arrived at the forest; the precise location where they would find Dee Dee.

"So, where is she?" asked Buttercup.

"I don't know," replied Bubbles.

"Girls, split up," Blossom ordered. "Bubbles, you search for her on the east side of the woods. Buttercup, you search west. I'll head north. We don't have much time left. If we don't find Dee Dee soon, the whole town could be in serious trouble. Go!"

Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles flew separately in different directions to find Dee Dee. They met back an hour later. Dee Dee was nowhere to be seen.

"I couldn't find her, anywhere," Buttercup said.

"Me, neither," sighed Bubbles.

"Come on, girls," Blossom told her sisters, "we can't give up now. The Mayor said she was in this part of the forest. We gotta keep looking."

Suddenly, they were jolted by earthquake-like trembles in the form of footsteps. They got louder, and louder, until....

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRR!!!

It was Dexter's mutated sister, Dee Dee! Her appearance was horrifying. She had the skin and coloring of a lizard, long, sharp talons and teeth and humongous feet. Her blonde pigtails were now striped yellow and gold horns on top of her head, and she had a blue horn with purple stripes that resembled a rhino's. She doubled to a Godzilla size; big enough to destroy Townsville. Spines the color of her tutu were on her back, head and the sides of her arms.

"It's Dee Dee!" Blossom yelled, shocked.

Buttercup immediately retrieved the Chemical-Y spray from her pocket and attempted to aim for Dee's face, but she slammed her grotesque hand on her, causing the tough Powerpuff Girl to crash to the ground. Bubbles and Blossom did everything to distract Dee Dee, but nothing was working. Before the girls got a chance to spray her with Chemical Y, she swiped at them; making the bottle break.

Giggling hysterically, Dee Dee ran deeper into the woods and out of sight. The girls had no choice but to come back empty handed. When he saw them looking like they were beaten to a pulp, Courage became even more paranoid and didn't want them to leave again, but they explained to him again that they had to do what they did.

Meanwhile, at the observatory, Mojo Jojo had his eye on the mutated Dee Dee monster. Looking at the forest through his telescope, he discovered the creature and laughed maniacally. He found the perfect thing to destroy Townsville.

That same evening, after Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and Courage went to bed, the cowardly dog was having difficulty sleeping. Thoughts about the Powerpuff Girls getting hurt or killed still raced in his mind. He tossed, moaned, turned and buried his muzzle into the girls' pink, blue and green colored blanket. At that moment, he couldn't take it, anymore. Courage looked over at Bubbles and softly crawled over to her. He gently nudged her on the shoulder to wake her up.

"Bubbles?" whispered Courage, so as not to disturb Blossom and Buttercup. "Bubbles, are you awake?"

"Hmm?" Bubbles blurted out, half asleep. She turned on her back to see the small dog giving her a worried stare in the face. "Courage?" she asked. "What is it?"

"I can't sleep," he replied. "I wanted to tell you something, but you and your sisters were already in bed."

"What did you want to tell us about?"

"You and Blossom would believe me, but Buttercup, since she hates me, wouldn't wanna hear it."

"Courage," said Bubbles, yawning, "Buttercup can be pretty stubborn, but she'll learn to like you, someday."

"I hope so," sighed Courage.

"What did you want to tell us?" asked the sweet natured Powerpuff Girl once more. "Whatever it is, I can keep it a secret."

Courage hesitated for a brief second, then told her, "I'm sorry... for what I did when I met you guys."

"Sorry?" Bubbles repeated. "What can you possibly be sorry for? You're a sweet dog who's done nothing wrong."

"Well..." the cowardly dog mumbled. "I kinda did. I... I thought you girls were bug-eyed aliens from outer space who were gonna eat me."

Now realizing why Courage was scared of her and her sisters earlier, Bubbles said sympathetically, "Ohh, so that's why you were scared of us. We would never hurt or eat you, Courage. We're a family and families look out for each other."

"I know," sighed Courage, "but I've seen some scary and horrible things. I couldn't help myself when you guys showed up. After what happened to Muriel and and Eustace." He choked up, attempting to restrain himself from crying. "Sometimes I wish I saved them that night when I had the chance, but this time, I feel like I let Muriel down."

"Then, that bad dream you had the other night," Bubbles mentioned, recalling the episode from a few weeks ago, "the one you woke up screaming from; It was about Muriel, wasn't it?"

"Yes and no," Courage answered, nodding and shaking his head. "You and your sisters, as aliens, and the dog sitter who wanted to get my soul, were torturing me and throwing me in a fire pit."

Bubbles felt heartbroken and had an urge to cry herself after hearing that. How awful for her poor Courage to feel that way! It simply placed him into a strong depression, despite the fact he was happy in his new home. In the course of the months, he came to live with the Utonium family, Bubbles began to truly love Courage, and he grew a lot on Blossom. He clearly formed a strong bond with them, except Buttercup.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," he said. "I just..."

Bubbles put a hand on the canine's shoulder to comfort him. No wonder Courage had been such an emotional wreck. He was trying his hardest to be happy again and doing a good job with it, but it would take a long time for his mental wounds to heal.

Courage took one look at Bubbles, before saying with a timid smile, "However, I appreciate what you did to save my life. If you and your sisters never had shown up at the right time, I would've been a goner."

Bubbles gave Courage a hug right before he went to the foot of the bed to try and get some sleep. Just as he was about to lay back down on his haunches, Bubbles said, "Courage?"

He turned around, as if responding to a general's order. The sweet natured Powerpuff Girl simply smiled and told him, "Welcome to the family."

The cowardly dog smiled back and soon, sleep and Courage finally found each other.

However, the next morning, Mojo Jojo stormed into Townsville to find a perfect specimen to test out his machine he was going to destroy the Powerpuff Girls with. He had written down every location of the city where he could find any person or animal, but his search failed, as most of the people and animals were just aggressive, too young and gross. There was one location he didn't check off his list, yet. That just happened to be Utonium residence.

Nobody was home because the girls, Professor and Courage were out on a family outing to the park. Mojo snuck into Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup's bedroom via one of the windows, and when he got inside, he spotted pieces of light pink fur on the floor. He picked them up with a pair of tweezers and examined them; immediately discovering them as dog hair. They belonged to Courage.

Mojo smiled evilly and took the samples back to the observatory, where he tested the DNA to make sure it was dog hair. The results were undeniable proof. Mojo, at last, found his test subject for his machine, and that test subject was right in the Powerpuff household. The intelligent mastermind laughed a menacing laugh. All he had to do now was find this dog and capture him. He was going to destroy Townsville in the next two days to get what he wanted.

Mojo Jojo marked a day off his calendar, which was March 14. He had written something on the 15th and circled it. The note read, "ABDUCT PINK HAIRED DOG FROM POWERPUFF GIRLS." He brainstormed his abduction of Courage carefully. The only time he would have to do it was when Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were not present with the cowardly dog at that moment. He looked over the blueprints of his plan again and studied them.

"Now, let's see..." Mojo said, looking at the blueprints and pointing his index finger to where Courage, and later on, the girls, would be positioned. "I will strap the dog onto one of the tables, which I will soon trap the girls into, and then..." He gasped, "Wait! They will break in through the ceiling like they always do! No matter, I have my ways of forcing those three do-gooders into the path of the laser! Yes, it is perfect! Soon, I will get rid of those little brats and it's all thanks to that dog!"

He laughed evilly, thinking his plan was going to go on without a hitch.

Back at the Utonuim residence, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, along with Courage's help, completed the replica of Townsville the girls were going to present at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten for show and tell the day after tomorrow.

"Well, everyone?" asked Blossom proudly. "Is that a work of art or is that a work of art?"

"It's amazing, Blossom!" Bubbles exclaimed. "Miss Keane's sure gonna be impressed!"

"Miss Keane?" Courage asked. "Who's that?"

"Ugh!" groaned Buttercup. "Don't you know anything, dog? Miss Keane is the teacher at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, which, for your information, is the school we go to."

Courage was reminded painfully of the professional dog trainer Eustace hired to force him to be perfect. She criticized him terribly for not doing any of the tasks right and that led to him having nightmares about him not being what she and the farmer were wanting him to be. He finally got rid of her by drawing a picture instead of the perfect 6 she wanted him to, and he proceeded to fold the paper in the form of a 6; causing the trainer to scream and sink into a puddle while she referred to Courage as an "imperfect dog" and told him he would never reach the perfect level of perfection. He gulped and nervous thoughts ran through his mind, thinking Miss Keane was the exact same way.

"W-what's she like?" asked the small pink canine.

"Miss Keane is very nice to us," Bubbles told him. "She teaches our class a lot of things, we get to play, and take field trips and..."

"OK, Bubbles," Blossom said, interrupting her, "you're getting too excited again. Courage can't remember all that in one sitting."

"Sorry," she chuckled.

"Courage, why don't you stay here while we go get the Professor and show him the replica?" asked Blossom.

"Sure, Blossom," Courage replied. "Besides, this is more your and your sisters' thing, not mine."

"Oh, nonsense. You helped work on it, too, so it's just as much as your thing as it is ours."

"What is this project for, anyway?"

"It's for show and tell at school the day after tomorrow. Miss Keane has it every year. It's where we present what we own or made to the whole class so they can learn about them."

"Oh."

"You stay there, Courage," Bubbles instructed, "and we'll be right back."

And they dashed out of the bedroom behind pink, blue and green lights. Courage sat on the edge of the bed with his paws on his knees. It wasn't until he looked at the Townsville replica, that he noticed something wrong with it.

"Hmm..." Courage murmured, staring quizzically at the model. He walked over to the table it was on and examined it. There was a miniature toy light stand that Blossom forgot to glue onto the grey colored cardboard platform. The cowardly dog picked the object up and stared at for a second.

"Looks like Blossom forgot to put this on while we were building this thing." he said to himself. "I'll just fix it real quick. After all, what harm could it do?"

Courage grabbed the glue bottle sitting next to the replica and aimed it at the dry end of the light pole. However, he squeezed it too hard and a giant glob of the sticky white substance spewed out, covering his arm and completely drenching the toy.

"Oh no!" cried Courage, terrified. "Oh no no no!"

The miniature stuck to his paws and he hysterically attempted to brush the glue off onto the square shaped platform of the replica, only to end up destroying it by accident. He screamed and did his best to keep it from crumbling, but at that very moment, the model of Townsville was now a mess of broken pieces and mountain of glue.

"What do I do? What do I do?!" Courage asked himself in a complete panic. He snatched it off the table, but glue spilled onto the floor in large amounts.

The small pink dog continued to cower and his paranoia became even stronger when he heard Blossom, Bubbles, the Professor and Buttercup's voices getting closer and louder towards the room; telling their father how hard they worked on it and how amazing it looked, to which, Professor replied, "Oh, really?" in an impressed voice. Courage desperately tried to unstick himself from the dismantled model and hide it, but it was no use. Having no other options left, he hid the glue covered object behind his back and smiled sheepishly. He knew he was dead meat.

"Well, girls, I really can't wait to see it," Professor Utonium said from behind the door.

"You're gonna love it, Professor," Bubbles giggled.

"Yeah," agreed Blossom. "All our hard work paid off, with a little help from Courage, of course."

"It took us two weeks to make it," Buttercup mentioned, relieved.

By the time the family opened the door and entered the room, they were shocked to find puddles of glue on the carpet and a very guilty, smiling Courage with his paws behind his back. He was covered from head to toe in the stuff.

"Oh, my goodness!" Professor shouted in shock. "What on earth happened in here?!"

"Oh, hi, guys!" chuckled Courage nervously. "Back so soon?"

"Courage, what is going on, here?" Blossom asked, glaring. "And why are you covered in glue?"

"Because... because..." he faltered. He quickly thought up a lie. "Um, you know how this cheap glue brand is always trying to stick to people! I was cleaning up when the glue exploded on me! Y-yeah!"

"How did it do that?" Bubbles pointed out.

"Uh, um..." Courage whimpered.

Buttercup wasn't buying it. She glared at Courage and dashed over to him. "Alright, dog, what are you trying to pull and what do you have behind your back?!" she snapped.

"N-nothing!" The small dog stammered.

Suddenly, Buttercup grabbed and pulled something sticky out from behind Courage. The glue was so hard, it literally yanked the fur off his paws in chunks.

"YEOWWWW!" screeched Courage painfully.

The tough Powerpuff Girl was horrified at what she was holding in her hands; a big ball of glue mixed with model fragments. Buttercup, angrier than she had ever been, bellowed at Courage, "WHAT WAS OUR PROJECT DOING GLUED TO YOUR PAWS?!?!?!"

Shivering with fright at her tone, Courage started to cower again. "I'm sorry, Buttercup!" he pleaded. "I'm sorry! It was an accident! I saw a piece Blossom forgot to put in there and I just wanted to help!"

"YOU'RE THE ACCIDENT DOG!!!" argued Buttercup. "YOU TOTALLY DESTROYED IT!! It took us two weeks to make that model, but YOU had to put your fingers where they didn't belong!"

"That's quite enough out of you, Buttercup," lectured Professor. "What Courage did was clearly an accident and it isn't right to blame him for something he didn't do." He sighed, "Oh, well. It looks like we'll have to do something to get this glue out of the carpet."

"Don't worry, Professor," Blossom said, "we'll take care of it."

"It's not gonna be easy," stated Bubbles.

"It's OK, girls," the Professor reassured them. "I can get it out of the carpet. In the meantime, you can give Courage a bath and see if you can get that glue off his fur."

Courage hung his head down sadly. He really messed up big time.

While Professor Utonium and Buttercup worked on getting the glue out of the carpet, Blossom and Bubbles gave Courage another bath, but it wasn't pleasant like the last one. Blossom tried hard to get the glue off his fur by scrubbing him down with a wash cloth, but it didn't work. She and Bubbles had no other choice but to scrape it off him using a soft kitchen utensil, and it caused him to scream in pain.

"YEEEE-OWWWWW!"

"Courage, hold still!" Blossom grunted. "I can't get it off you if you're squirming!" She used the device to tenderly tug a final bit of glue from one of his ears.

"YIPE!" Courage hollered, agonized and feeling the sticky liquid tear off his ear.

"That should do it." Bubbles said. She and her sister took a bucket full of water and dumped it on the cowardly dog. He coughed and sputtered, before shaking the water off his body. Both girls took Courage out of the bathtub and dried him off with their pink and blue towels. He stuck his head out of the cloths wrapped around him.

"I'm really sorry." Courage told the girls, ashamed of himself.

"You don't have to be sorry, Courage." Blossom said, "We know it was just an accident."

"Yeah." nodded Bubbles, "You were only trying to help."

"But I can't do anything right." he mumbled. "Eustace said I never could. He always put me down, even when I tried my best. I can see it now, Buttercup's gonna snap one day and call me a stupid dog, just like he did."

"Oh, Courage, you know that's not true," Blossom comforted him. "You can do a lot of things right, you just gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself. They say if you think negative all the time, something bad could happen to you."

"And bad things have been happening to me for my whole life," Courage sighed.

"Not all bad things, boy. You had a wonderful time with Muriel, didn't you?"

"Yes. She would always let me help with the laundry or try out her happy plums..."

"There ya go! That's the spirit! See? Good stuff did happen to you. You just, you know, have to give yourself some more credit."

The pink dog half smiled at her, feeling much more confident and said. "Okay, I'll do my best."

Blossom and Bubbles took the towels off Courage and she blew him dry using her super breath while her intelligent sister held him. After that, the girls all remained in the living room, trying to think about what new subject they were going to bring to show and tell that day.

"So, anyone got any bright ideas?" asked Buttercup.

"Nope," replied Blossom, "I've got nothing, but I'm sure we'll think of it sooner or later."

"I showed them Octi last year," Bubbles mentioned.

"Don't look at me," Buttercup groaned. "I got jack squat."

They thought intently for a moment, until Bubbles smiled, finally thinking of a fantastic idea.

"Girls, I think I've got the solution to our problem!" she proudly declared.

"What is it, Bubbles?" Blossom asked.

"We can bring Courage to show and tell!" The sweet natured Powerpuff Girl answered.

"WHAT?!" Buttercup gasped. "Bubbles, have you lost your mind?"

"No, it's great!" Bubbles said. "Everybody will be able to play with him and learn about him. It's perfect!"

"Bubbles, that's one of the best ideas you've ever had!" Blossom grinned. "There's only one person to ask."

Buttercup just slapped a hand on her forehead in annoyance.

"Hmm, I don't know, girls," thought Professor doubtfully.

"Oh, Professor, please?" begged Bubbles. "Pretty please with sugar lumps on top?"

"Bubbles, I know you want to bring Courage to show and tell," the scientist said, "but you have to think about how he will react. He isn't the bravest dog on the planet and won't like the idea. If you brought him there, he could go into a full fledged panic attack and run out of the school screaming."

"Okay, dilemma solved, Professor," said Buttercup, relieved and talking very fast, "don't worry, we won't bring the dog."

Blossom and Bubbles glared at her, then turned their attention back to the Professor.

"Professor," Blossom told him, "if Courage gives this a chance and sees it isn't scary, then, he can go, right?"

"I don't see why not," Professor smiled. "Okay. If Courage gives this a chance, he can stay at the school with you girls, but if he gets frightened, take him straight back home. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" Blossom and Bubbles chimed in unison.

Buttercup, on the other hand, groaned. This was going to be the longest show and tell she would ever participate in.

"Show and Tell Day" at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten had finally arrived. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup woke up early, got ready and joined Professor Utonium and Courage for breakfast. The cowardly dog actually was quite happy he got to join the kids and their father at the table when Eustace always resented it. Courage was busy chowing down on cereal while the girls made themselves some oatmeal.

"Good morning, Professor," they greeted him and joined both of them at the table. Bubbles came over to Courage and hugged him, giggling, "And a very good morning to you, Courage!"

Since his mouth was full, he couldn't reply, so he just nodded, smiled and mumbled, "Mm, hmm."

"Good morning, girls," the scientist answered. "Now, that you're here, there's something we should talk about."

"What?" asked Blossom, looking up from her hot oatmeal.

"Don't you have something you want to tell Courage?" Professor mentioned, pointing to Courage at the other side of the table. The pink dog's ears perked up with nervousness and he stared at them.

"Oh, right," nodded Bubbles, remembering her plan. "Uh, Courage? We've been thinking about this since yesterday, and because we don't have anything else we can use, we're gonna bring you to our show and tell program at school today."

The instant he heard this, Courage did a spit take with his breakfast and went into a coughing fit. Professor patted him on the back to calm him. Once he was able to breathe properly, he stammered with fright, "Bubbles... wait a second! D-d-did you just say you wanted to bring me to that place? Why me?"

"Aw, good..." Buttercup snarled. "Did Bubbles stutter, you crybaby? We don't have anything to work with for our stupid project, so we need you to be there with us. Get it?"

"B-but, what if the kids don't like me?" shivered Courage. "And what if they try to scare me?"

"You're just gonna have to suck it up, dog!" She snapped. "You can't run and hide from everything you come across. You gotta learn to be tough! I swear, you're worse than Bubbles when it comes to being scared of everything."

"Buttercup!" Bubbles and Blossom scolded her.

"Buttercup, I want you to come with me to my lab, right now!" ordered Professor angrily.

"But, Professor-" she protested.

"GO THERE NOW YOUNG LADY!" Professor burst out.

Buttercup knew this wasn't the time to argue. She floated out of her chair and followed him to the lab. When Courage looked like he was about to cry, Bubbles and Blossom did their best to comfort him.

Professor turned on the light and proceeded to go down the stairs. Buttercup following him from behind. He went to grab two chairs and put them in the middle of the room.

"Sit down, Buttercup!" he told her, gesturing towards one of the chairs. She levitated downstairs and sat in the chair. He took his seat in front of her.

"Now, look," he began, "I know you act headstrong and like to play rough, but I have had it with the way you're putting Courage down all the time! He is a part of this family, whether you like it or not!"

"But he acts like a scared little baby all the time," she said. "I'm really getting tired of him wanting to run, scream and hide over the stupidest things."

"Those 'stupid things' don't make him a baby, and being scared certainly doesn't make him one, either."

"I've tried to be patient, Professor, but I can't, anymore. He's gotta learn to toughen up, eventually."

Professor sighed and put a hand on Buttercup's shoulder. "Buttercup," he said, "you can't force Courage to be someone he's not. It's perfectly normal for him to be scared, at the moment. He's been brought to a new world with things he doesn't even know about, yet, so we all have to give him some time and let him adjust to this environment. Being a cowardly dog is part of his nature. You shouldn't be hard on him."

"What about him being scared of everything?" The tough Powerpuff Girl asked. "Me, Blossom and Bubbles can't have him clinging to us, every chance he gets."

"Like I said," he responded, "that is all part of his nature. Try to see the world the way he sees it, so, you'll understand him better. Bubbles came out of her shell, and he will, too, someday."

"You think so, Professor?" quipped Buttercup, unsure.

"Think so?" repeated Professor, chuckling. "I know so. Once Courage gets used to this universe, he'll be much more comfortable in it. Trust me." He hugged her, before saying, "Run along and finish breakfast, you and your sisters don't wanna be late for school."

Buttercup smiled and flew back into the dining room. Courage, however, flinched and grimaced when she looked like she was coming towards him.

"It's okay, Courage," Blossom soothed him, "Buttercup's not gonna hurt you." She glowered back at her sister.

Bubbles turned her attention to him. "As I said before, Courage," she reminded the cowardly dog, "it'd really be a big help if you came with us for show and tell today."

"N-no!" he gulped. "They'll hurt me, Bubbles!"

Blossom sighed, but gave him a warm smile. "They won't do anything to hurt you, boy," she reassured him. "There's nothing for you to be scared of. The kids will just wanna look at you. Maybe, if they're real nice, they'll even pet you."

"You're really gonna like it, Courage," Bubbles explained, trying to cheer him up. "All our friends will love you! We do lots of fun things!"

"Are you sure?" he asked suspiciously.

"Absolutely sure."

"Promise?"

"Yes!" They all nodded in unison.

"Give it a try, for me," the innocent Powerpuff Girl begged. "Please?"

Courage was hesitant. He had never been around a large group of schoolchildren before. Would he be able to handle it? How would the kids react if the girls brought him into the classroom? Millions of thoughts ran through his mind. Finally, he sighed and timidly grinned, "Okay, I'll try. I'll try."

While the breakfast dishes were cleaned up, Bubbles went into the closet to get something for Courage. Seconds later, she came back with a retractable blue leash; a bone shaped dog tag on the front of the collar. His old one had been left behind when the girls took him out of his universe and into theirs. Professor let her use the money she saved to go to the pet store and buy a new one. She put the collar around the dog's neck and held the end of it.

"My, don't you look handsome!" Blossom complemented him. "You look like a million bucks."

"I do?" he gasped.

"Do you see any other dog in this room who's wearing a pretty blue leash like that?" she pointed out. "Because I sure don't."

"Can we go, now?" Buttercup impatiently asked.

Bubbles scooped Courage up in her arms and the kids said goodbye to the Professor. On the way to school, Courage was having a less-than-fun time riding on her back while they flew in the sky.

"Bubbles, I don't know how I let you talk me into this!" He cried; his fear of heights threatening to take over and clutching onto her dress to keep himself from falling. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Does he do anything but whine and complain?" grumbled Buttercup. Blossom shook her head, ignoring her arrogance. "Look who's calling the kettle black." she added.

"I know I'm not gonna like this," Courage muttered to himself. Despite the fact he promised he would do this for Bubbles, the cowardly dog was still doubtful and scared about the whole thing.

A few minutes passed, and the kids arrived at Pokey Oakes, just in time. Blossom and Buttercup levitated off the ground and floated to the doorway. Bubbles gently put Courage down on his own two feet, floated off the pavement square and tugged on his leash, gesturing for him to follow her; However, he was standing on the walkway, frozen like a block of ice.

"Courage?" she asked, worried and concerned. "What's the matter?" She immediately flew back to him and absolutely hated to see him like this.

"I wanna go home," moaned Courage fearfully.

"Why? We just brought you here," Bubbles replied.

"Can't I go home?" he whined. "I just KNOW something bad is going to happen. I'm weak when it comes to something like this."

"Nothing bad's going to happen. The kids here are very nice and may want to play with you. Besides, you don't even know what's in there, yet. How do you know you're not gonna like it if you've never tried it?"

"I'm not taking any chances! It's gonna be scary, that's why!"

"Come on, Bubbles!" Blossom called to her sister. "We won't be able to stay in class if you keep running back to Courage every time he calls for you!"

"I'll be there in a minute!" yelled Bubbles.

She turned her attention to Courage again and comforted him reassuringly, "Look, Courage, if you give this a chance, I'll ask Miss Keane if you can stay. We'll wait a while, and if you're still scared and want to go home, I'll tell her I'm leaving real quick and come back here. Then, you can wait for us until we return from school. Does that sound good to you?"

"Oh, I don't know..." the small pink dog murmured inaudibly.

"I promise." Bubbles swore, "I won't let anything bad happen to you." She drew an 'X' over her chest. "Cross my heart."

Courage sighed and reluctantly said, "Okay."

"That's a good puppy," she tittered, smiling and patted him on the head. She picked him up again and floated to the door.

Blossom and Buttercup were displeased with Bubbles when she caught up with them. "What took you so long?" Buttercup asked, irritated.

"Courage got scared and I wanted to make him feel better," she answered.

"I understand that," Blossom nodded, "but try not to get too distracted with him during class, all right?"

"This is gonna be a long day," groaned Buttercup as she rolled her eyes.

Blossom pushed open the door and the girls went in the building. To Courage's surprise, it was not as scary as he imagined it was going to be. He saw a bunch of children at pink colored desks, sitting in blue chairs. They were laughing and sounding like all of them were having a good time. The kids were making projects, some were playing with toys, others drew pictures, etc. Miss Keane, the girls and their classmates' kindergarten teacher, noticed the foursome and came up to them right away in a cheery mood.

"Why, hello, girls!" she greeted them. "It's so good to see you again. I hope you had a nice summer vacation."

"Thanks, Miss Keane," Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles grinned in unison.

When she noticed Courage in Bubbles' arms, Miss Keane tickled him lightly on the stomach, causing him to tremble and grimace. "Aww, Bubbles!" she chuckled sweetly. "Who's your little doggy friend?"

"This is Courage," the innocent Powerpuff Girl responded. "I hope you don't mind, Miss Keane, but we brought him for show and tell. There was an accident with our model of Townsville that we promised."

"Oh, no, dear!" The teacher exclaimed. "I don't mind at all. I'm sure the class would love to meet and play with Courage during show and tell. He can be our visitor for the day. Why don't the four of you go play, until I take roll call?"

Courage gave a timid smirk to Miss Keane. It seemed to him she had a way with children.

Bubbles brought him toward the play area in the middle of the room. He caught the attention of the kids, whose reactions went into a raucous chorus of, ''Cool! It's a puppy, I love puppies! That's awesome! Can I pet him? I wanna hold him, I wanna hold him!''

The dog looked left and right at the rows of children; growing more anxious by the noise.

"Bubbles..." Courage quavered.

"They like you, Courage," Bubbles soothed him. "They're not gonna hurt you."

She placed him down on the floor, took his leash off and placed it into her dress pocket. He was unsure of what to do, first.

"Go on," urged Bubbles, pointing to a toy box in the corner. "There's a bunch of toys you can play with in that box. Or, if you ask nicely, some of the kids will share their toys with you."

Courage gulped and proceeded to make his way toward one of the kids. A boy was happily playing with a toy bulldozer. The cowardly dog sat in front of him and watched.

"Hi, doggy!" the boy waved at him. "Where did you come from?"

Courage just pointed to the Powerpuff Girls, who were visiting with their friends.

"You belong to Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup?" the boy gaped. "That's so cool!" He presented his bulldozer to the pink canine. "Hey, you wanna play with my bulldozer?"

"Mm-hmm!" nodded Courage eagerly. He handed his bulldozer to him and he proceeded to make motor-like growls; dragging the toy across the floor and picking up blocks with its shovel.

"You're funny, doggy!" the boy laughed with glee. Bubbles, who was playing house with a girl named, Mary, noticed this, tapped Blossom on the shoulder and pointed to Courage. Both of them smiled at such an adorable sight. Buttercup was too busy playing trucks with Mitch Mitchelson, the toughest kid in the school, to even pay attention.

"OK, class, take your seats," announced Miss Keane.

Bubbles went to get Courage while the rest of the children cleaned the play area of toys and games. She brought him to her and her sisters' desk and set him down next to it on the floor, before taking her seat with Blossom and Buttercup.

Once the class had started, Miss Keane took roll call and then, show and tell began. Each of the classmates showed very interesting models like dinosaurs or airplanes, but most of them presented their favorite toys and things. Mitch created a small, water powered rocket. He demonstrated how it worked, and Courage wasn't the only one who screamed at the blast. He clutched onto Bubbles in fear, so she picked him up and held him in her lap to calm him. The last kid told everyone about the autograph he got from his favorite basketball player, Mikey Chamberlain, on his basketball.

It was now Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup's turn to show off their new pet to everyone.

"That was terrific, Richie!" Miss Keane applauded him. She stared at the girls, saying, "Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, it's now your turn to show your dog, Courage, to the class."

Courage's heart nearly sank into his stomach. He felt drops of sweat dripping off the sides of his head, his body began to tremble violently and all he wanted to do at that time was hide under the girls' desk. Blossom and Buttercup got out of their seats, while Bubbles carried him. They levitated to the blackboard and faced the class. The cowardly dog did everything in his power to try and get out of her grasp, but it didn't work. He froze, his ears went upright and his teeth were chattering up a storm.

"Oh, it's okay, boy," Blossom attempted to console him. "You're okay."

"Are you kidding me?" Buttercup complained in frustration.

Bubbles didn't say a word, but hoped Courage wouldn't go into another one of his episodes and run out of the school screaming.

"Girls," wondered a concerned Miss Keane while she watched the petrified dog, "don't you want to tell us a little bit about Courage?"

"Um..." began Bubbles, trying to find a good place to start. "Well... Courage is the newest member of our family. We adopted him from a place called the Middle of Nowhere. He's been our pet for a few weeks, now and we take very good care of him."

"Why is he all shaky like that, and where's the Middle of Nowhere?" asked a girl named Molly. The children started to laugh loudly, and that was making Courage's paranoia worse.

"I hate to break it to you guys," answered Blossom, taking over, "but he isn't exactly the bravest dog. He's cowardly, and what that means is, he's virtually afraid of everything around him. He was even afraid of us, at first. The Middle of Nowhere, the place we adopted him from, is another world, quite far from here."

"Can he do any tricks?" asked Harry Pitt. "My dog can do awesome tricks!"

"They taught him how to talk," sighed Buttercup, deadpan.

"Ooooh!" the children squealed in unison and excitement. "We wanna hear him!"

"I don't know, everybody," Bubbles shook her head. Even if she wanted to try, with the state Courage was in, there was no way she could get him to talk to her classmates. "Courage's too scared to talk, at the moment."

"Right, 'cause he's more of a chicken than a dog!" Mitch cried mockingly.

"Courage is NOT a chicken, Mitch Mitchelson!" scowled Bubbles. "You take that back! He's never been in a classroom, before!"

"Oh, no?" he asked. "He sure acts like one!" The little boy went up to the cowardly dog, acted like a chicken and made clucking sounds at him.

"Stop it, Mitch!" Blossom ordered him, standing her ground. "You're scaring him!"

The pink dog got more scared by the minute. He howled, squirmed out of the innocent Powerpuff Girl's arms and hid behind Miss Keane, startling her.

"Mitchel, that is quite enough!" she shouted. "Stop making fun of this poor dog, this instant!"

Buttercup decided to stand up for Courage, once and for all; recalling the pep talk Professor gave her earlier. Glaring, she got in Mitch's face and shouted,

"LEAVE COURAGE ALONE!!!"

The whole classroom fell silent. Even Courage calmed down almost instantly. Every single one of the kids, including Bubbles, Blossom and Miss Keane, stared in complete shock. After a couple of seconds, Buttercup gave a stunned Mitch the death glare.

"You listen to me, Mitch Mitchelson!" Buttercup said in a threatening voice, "If you ever and I mean, ever bother that dog again, you'll be dealing with me, before you can even blink. Courage can't help being a coward! That's just the way he is! If you don't like it, then, LAY OFF!"

Blossom, Bubbles and Courage's mouths hung open at Buttercup's bravado. Up until that point, she had detested this animal and his cowardice. Now, she did the only thing Professor would be proud of her for doing. Mitch was so traumatized, he scurried back to his desk like a mouse.

None of them saw it coming, but all the kids in the room began to applaud and cheer for Buttercup due to her defending this dog, whom she finally came to accept as her pet. Miss Keane couldn't help but clap, too. Bubbles and Blossom had gigantic grins on their faces. Courage took part in the cheering, as well.

"Oh, thank you, Buttercup!" he blurted out, running to her and giving her a giant hug. The words escaped his mouth before he realized it.

The children gasped and stopped in surprise. They and Miss Keane thought the girls were joking when they told them they taught him to talk, but the evidence was clear as crystal.

After the "celebration" was over, Blossom and Bubbles brought Courage with their classmates to recess, except Mitch, who was given a time out for his behavior. She let Buttercup off with a warning, but congratulated her for what she did.

The girls' friends were amazed by how they taught Courage to talk. He allowed them to pet and play with him. He also got to be the leader of "Simon Says," along with other games. Everyone was treating him like an equal. It was the happiest moment of his life.

Suddenly, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup heard the oh so familiar, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP of the hotline. Blossom rushed into the school and picked up the phone. Her sisters joined her. Courage became suspicious and wanted to know what was happening, so, he followed the threesome inside.

"Yes, Mayor?" Blossom spoke, urgently into the phone.

"Blossom!" said the Mayor, frantic on the other line. "Mojo Jojo is attempting to destroy Townsville, yet again! You and your sisters need to get down here, quick!"

"All right, Mayor! We're on it!" Blossom replied, heroically.

"Mojo up to his old tricks, again, eh?" questioned Buttercup.

"Yeah, and this time, it's a doozy! Let's roll!"

Suddenly, the girls heard Courage ask, "Who's Mojo? Whoever he is, I don't like him, already!"

They turned around to see him standing in front of them.

"Who's Mojo?" he repeated, paranoid.

"Mojo Jojo is a super intelligent, evil primate who's been trying to take over Townsville and rid of us for years," Blossom told him. "He's become our arch rival ever since."

"OH NO!" the pink dog wailed, shaking with fright.

"We're going to stop him!" Bubbles declared.

"No!" Courage protested. "I don't want you guys to do this!"

"We HAVE to do it!" said Buttercup. "We have no choice! If we don't, the town'll be destroyed!"

"You'll get hurt!" He yelled. "What if I never see you again?!"

"We've dealt with Mojo before," Bubbles explained. "We can handle this, Courage. You need to understand."

Courage went into hysterics, got down on his knees and tugged on Buttercup's dress. "Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, please!" the cowardly dog pleaded. "I don't wanna lose you!"

"Will you just stop it?!" Buttercup snapped as she grabbed back the end of her dress from his paws. "Just because we'll be going to stop a villain, pal, it doesn't mean it'll be the end of the world! We won't vanish off the face of the earth! The three of us are going to kick his butt and we'll be back before you know it! This is our job to protect everyone in the city, Courage, whether you like it or not! Got it?!"

"But, but, but, but, but, but, but!"

"Ah ah ah. No buts." Said Buttercup.

"Girls, let's go, now!" Blossom alerted them. "We don't have time for this! Mojo's probably damaged half of Townsville!"

Bubbles saw Courage about to go into tears. "NO!" He sobbed.

She kissed him on the nose, wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, took his leash out of her pocket and put it back on him. Blossom and Buttercup already left and zoomed into the sky.

"I promise, Courage, I'll be right back," Bubbles said. "You stay here and be a good dog for Miss Keane. I love you."

And Courage watched her fly into the air to catch up with her sisters. The dog felt heartbroken, because it sounded like the owner he grew close to was telling him goodbye. His protective instinct took over, so, he snuck behind Miss Keane's desk and slipped out the door without being spotted. He goaded into a run; following the Powerpuff Girls to Townsville.

Courage already lost Muriel and the last thing he wanted was to lose his new family.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup made it to Townsville, only to encounter Mojo destroying it and the citizens fleeing in terror. Once again, he was in a Godzilla-sized robot and using every weapon of his in the book to cause destruction and mayhem. They wasted no time in dashing towards him.

"NOT SO FAST... MOJO JOJO!" The girls cried in unison, confronting him.

The super intelligent primate gave them a smug, taunting grin. "Oh, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup," he purred, "It's so good to see you again and for you to witness me going to take over TOWNSVILLE!"

"Think again, you dork!" Buttercup snapped. "Haven't you learned by now, you never succeed in taking over Townsville, no matter how many times you try? That's because you're a loser and we always kick your butt!"

Mojo cackled menacingly. "Oh, yeah, like YOU'RE going to kick my butt, this time, Buttercup!" he smirked sarcastically. "You see, you little freaks are not going to do anything to me. It's more of a matter of what I'm gonna do to you!"

"Girls, attack!" ordered Blossom.

In a matter of seconds, all four characters battled with each other and chaos erupted in the brawl; Buildings were smashed, cars were sent flying and Mojo sent the girls crashing to the ground. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup used every one of their superpowers to try and take him down, but he dodged them swiftly.

"Is that all you got, girls?" Mojo laughed. "You're going to have to do better, if you want to stop me."

"We have to do something!" exclaimed Bubbles. "Mojo has never been this quick before."

"I've got an idea!" said Buttercup. "Come on!"

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the foursome, Courage was right behind them; his leash flapping in the wind.

Whimpering, a thought bubble appeared above the cowardly dog's head while he entered the destruction of Townsville. He envisioned Mojo Jojo as a king-sized gorilla about to eat his new family. The monster Mojo swallowed Blossom and Buttercup whole, but when he held Bubbles near his giant mouth, Courage outright lost it and his thought faded away instantly.

"BUBBLES, NOOOOOOO!" He wailed, running as fast as his legs could carry him. "The things I do for love! Hold on, girls! I'm coming... I hope."

To his horror, he reached Mojo and the kids' confrontation. His jaw dropped to the ground and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup crashed straight into a building; making a huge crater in the middle of it, but they quickly recovered and went back to battling their archenemy; still unaware Courage was watching the whole thing in pure terror.

"I gotta save Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup!" the pink canine declared. "What do I do?! What do I do?!"

The girls were losing energy and Mojo seemed to gain the upper hand. Courage could only watch helplessly as he saw his family get the tar beaten out of them.

Courage felt like he was reliving Muriel and Eustace being killed in that truck accident a few weeks earlier while he watched the Powerpuff Girls getting beaten to a pulp by Mojo Jojo. The poor dog wanted to cry so badly, but he wanted to help his new owners, even if it meant putting his own life in danger. He always rescued Muriel from certain doom when she was alive, and now, it was up to him to do the same for Blossom and her sisters.

Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles had been knocked unconscious by Mojo's robot yet again, and it seemed like the evil mastermind finally won.

"YES, YES, YES!" cheered Mojo victoriously. "Yeah! I ROCK! I rock... so hard! My plan is working perfectly. With those brats out of my hair, I can capture that little dog of theirs to test him out on my new superweapon that will destroy them." He cackled in a way that made Courage's blood run cold.

The cowardly dog screamed with fright and proceeded to look for the girls.

"Blossom!" he cried. "Bubbles! Buttercup! Where are you?" As he ran through the ransacked city, he hoped and prayed that somehow, they would be okay.

Blossom woke up, only to discover she, Buttercup and Bubbles were lying face down in a crater.

"Buttercup, Bubbles?" she gasped, urgently. She attempted to rouse both of them. "Come on, guys! We can't let Mojo win!"

Soon, Bubbles and Buttercup came to. After recovering, they battled Mojo once more. Courage managed to catch up and gasped, petrified when he saw Mojo's robot. At that moment, he couldn't take it, anymore. The second he saw the girls flying toward the super intelligent primate, he screeched at the top of his lungs,

"STOP!"

"Huh?" Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup quipped in unison, shocked.

"Wha...?" uttered Mojo; his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

"Courage?" gasped Bubbles.

"What the heck is that mutt doing here?!" asked Buttercup furiously.

Blossom used her supervision and right then and there, spotted Courage jumping up and down in a frenzy and cowering.

"Holy...!" she shouted. "It is Courage! He must've followed us!"

"WHAT?!" Buttercup roared. "Bubbles, I thought you told him to wait for us at the school!"

"I did, Buttercup!" Bubbles argued. "I never expected him to sneak out!"

While the girls were bantering, a creepy and devilish smile appeared on Mojo's face. He then proceeded to put his robot into maximum overdrive and had it run towards Courage.

You're mine, little doggy! He thought to himself.

The second the cowardly dog saw the machine coming towards him, he didn't hesitate to scream and run for his life. Mojo laughed maniacally and gave chase; destroying the rest of the city in the progress.

"Help!" Courage wailed to high heaven. He attempted to leap over a police line gate to get away, but the end of his leash wrapped itself around it; choking and trapping him. He desperately tried to remove the collar from his neck, but it was too tight. Mojo was right on the pink canine's tail. Courage did the one thing he could think of to do.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

That was enough to catch Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup's attention.

"COURAGE!" They squealed, alarmed. And they dashed to him in the nick of time. Just when Mojo was about to capture the poor dog, Blossom and Buttercup tomahawked him; sending him flying into more buildings. Bubbles succeeded in getting Courage free and scooped him up in her arms.

"Courage, are you okay?" she asked.

Once he got the breath to speak, the pink dog whined, "Please, Bubbles, stop this! I don't want you and your sisters to--"

He was cut off when Mojo hit Blossom and Buttercup in a surprise attack. They slammed into the sidewalk.

"GIRLS!" Bubbles shrieked.

"Oh, no!" Courage howled. The innocent Powerpuff Girl put the small dog on his own feet and dashed towards her opponent. Before Mojo could even blink, Bubbles cracked open the glass surface of the robot and threw him to the ground. Blossom and Buttercup got off the sidewalk and joined her to beat the crud out of him.

"Girls, no!" protested Courage. "Don't!"

One by one, the girls threw every punch at Mojo, but he fought back with great force. With his protective instinct taking over, Courage hurled a rock at the evil mastermind's head; stopping him from hurting the kids.

"YEOW!" Mojo roared painfully. He looked around to find who threw the rock, and then... he spotted Courage.

"You!" He snarled. The cowardly dog ran in fear; Mojo pursuing after him.

Courage screamed while the super intelligent primate gained on him. Though, he was fast, Mojo was faster. To his dismay, the pink dog found himself at a dead end. He turned to see Mojo walking toward him.

"I've got you, now!" he sneered.

"NO NO! NO NO!" whined Courage.

"YES! YES!" Screamed Mojo.

Mojo was about to take his net gun from his pocket, until...

KER-POW!

He was hit in the back and thrown in the air by the Powerpuff Girls. His face scraped against the road; leaving a nasty burn.

While Blossom and Buttercup kept an eye on Mojo, Bubbles went to retrieve Courage.

"You know what your problem is, Mojo?" asked Blossom. "You just don't know when to quit!"

"Yeah!" agreed Buttercup. "And you should know you can't defeat us!"

Mojo picked himself up from the pavement. "Go ahead, girls!" he smirked evilly. "Go ahead and try to scare me! I always come back and that is something you should know, by now. You see, you may have won the battle, but I am just getting started!"

He howled with laughter, making Courage quake with fright. Mojo activated a switch, and before Blossom could grab him, his robot repaired itself, placed him inside and flew back to the observatory.

The girls and Courage stared in shock. Buttercup glowered at him.

"Let's go home." she mumbled, defeated. Bubbles held the dog in her arms while they flew in the sky; back to the Utonium house. Mojo Jojo had never escaped before, but this time, he was successful.

The injured Powerpuff Girls, along with Courage, came home that night after the cowardly dog distracted them from defeating Mojo Jojo. He and the kids had just gotten toward the bedroom, when Buttercup grabbed him by his front. She proceeded to quickly float into the room. Bubbles and Blossom attempted to stop her.

"Buttercup, put Courage down!" cried Bubbles.

"Buttercup, stop!" Blossom exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

Buttercup was too mad at Courage to even hear her sisters. She roughly slammed him against the wall, cornering him and leaving her handprint in his fur.

"Why didn't you wait at the school like we told you to you worthless mutt?!" Buttercup asked, yelling. "You were supposed to wait THERE!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Courage whimpered, terrified. "I won't do it again! I promise!"

"Don't give me that guilt trip!" argued the tough Powerpuff Girl. "You knew EXACTLY what you were doing! Thanks to you, Townsville is destroyed, and it wouldn't have happened if you had not clung to us so much and left us alone!"

"This isn't Courage's fault, Buttercup!" Blossom said.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO DEFEND HIM, BLOSSOM!" snapped Buttercup. "We all saw what he did! Because of him, Mojo got away with destroying the city and putting other lives in danger!"

"But, he didn't mean it!" Bubbles told her.

"AWW, COME ON, BUBBLES!!" Buttercup growled. "We all know that's a crock of chocolate pudding! Now, both of you, back off!" She turned her attention back to a frightened Courage. "You have got to be the most aggravating, whiny wimp I have ever met! I have never seen such a pathetic, ugly cowardly dog like you in all my life! You don't have any bravery and I don't think you know the meaning of the word!"

"That's not true!" protested Courage, sounding almost like a two year old.

"SHUT UP!!!" She snapped, getting in his face. "IT IS TRUE! You don't do anything, except scream, whine like a baby and think everything you encounter is gonna kill you!" She started to mock him. "I'm so scared! Oh no! Something's gonna come after me! I'll just scream and run to Blossom and Bubbles like the crybaby I am! Whaaaaah!"

"BUTTERCUP!" Bubbles and Blossom shrieked in shock and unison.

"STAY OUT OF IT GIRLS!!" the tough Powerpuff Girl ordered. Her sisters could only watch helplessly.

"Stop it, Buttercup!" Courage begged. "Please, stop! I didn't mean to... I didn't want-"

"Cut with the bull hockey!" she interrupted with a sarcastic laugh. "You knew if you snuck out of the school, that you would get us to come running back while you act like a scared little baby! Coming to your universe was a huge mistake and everything was just fine until you came into our lives! I've had it up to here with you! You don't belong here and never will!"

"But... but I..." The pink dog stammered.

"NO NO NO! NO BUTS!" Buttercup barked. "You're treating our job as superheroes like it's a big game! It's not, OK?! We don't have time to come to your every whim when you scream your head off! I liked it when it was just me, my sisters and the Professor, but it all came crashing down the day you showed up! This is all because of you! It's YOUR fault Mojo Jojo got away with what he did!"

"I... I..." squeaked Courage, on the verge of tears.

"What?! Are you gonna whine again?!" she taunted him. "Figures! You wanna know what I think of you?! You wanna know what I think?!" She bellowed, "YOU ARE A STUPID DOG!!! A stupid, ugly, useless lily-livered dog! THAT'S WHAT I THINK!!!"

That's when Courage stood and stared at her with his mouth agape. Blossom and Bubbles gasped and put their hands over their mouths. Buttercup still glowered at him.

He was frozen like a block of ice. Buttercup remained furious while she saw tears forming into the small pink dog's eyes. Bubbles felt like crying herself. Blossom just floated in midair and was stunned at her Buttercup's behavior.

Courage whined, before bawling and running out of the room with his paws over his eyes. Bubbles immediately chased after him.

"Courage, wait!" She called in a worried tone.

Buttercup floated to the doorway, only to see Courage and Bubbles go out of sight and into the hall. She went back into the room to find an angry shaking Blossom sitting on the bed with her arms crossed and back turned.

"Blossom?" asked Buttercup, floating toward her from behind.

"You... you... you have no idea what he's been through." responded Blossom in a shaky and quiet voice, looking ready to completely lose it.

"What?"

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT COURAGE HAS BEEN THROUGH!!!" Bellowed the leader of the Powerpuff Girls.

"He wouldn't listen to me." Buttercup replied. "He was whining and-"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE, BUTTERCUP!!! AND YOU KNOW IT!!" Blossom snapped, turning to look her in the face with the dirtiest look ever. "You've done a lot of nasty things with that attitude of yours! BUT THIS SHOULD TOP THEM ALL!! IT'S for you to go and insult, frighten, and belittle Courage the way you did! that proves to me you really don't care about him or his feelings!"

"I don't care about him? Geez, Blossom. Calm down. I broke my back trying to look after him, didn't I?" Buttercup replied.

"YOU HAVEN'T LIFTED A FINGER TO HELP HIM WHATSOEVER! Ever since he's been here, you've treated him like he was the most despised criminal in Townsville! SHAME ON YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING JERK!!" Blossom bellowed.

"Blossom, I-" Buttercup said, but Blossom cut her off.

"DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD!" Shouted Blossom. "AND HERE'S A QUESTION! YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, BUTTERCUP?!

"What's funny? What are you talking about? It's funny in a cosmic sort of way." Buttercup replied.

"Well, Mrs. Funny Girl, let me say this!" The leader of the Powerpuff Girls burst out, red in the face with rage burning in her eyes. "IS THIS HOW YOU GET YOUR SICK KICKS?! CALLING COURAGE A STUPID DOG?! AND MAKING HIM CRY LIKE THAT?! AND NEVER CARING ABOUT HIM WHATSOEVER?!

"What? Blossom, that's ridiculous. Don't be like that. Did you not see me stand up for him today? Does that not matter to you?"

"I thought it did right up until what just happened!" growled the intelligent Powerpuff Girl. "We know how much you hated Courage and wanted him gone since the day we first met and adopted him! You don't seem to get it through your thick skull that poor dog has recently lost his family! The family he's been with his whole life! How would you feel, Buttercup, if the Professor was dead in a split second and you had all the opportunities to save him when he was alive but never got the chance?!"

Buttercup now realized the severity of the situation and the comparison. She hung her head, very ashamed of herself. If she and Professor Utonium were in said predicament, it would be awful. Both her and her sisters would be in mourning for weeks if the same thing happened to them.

"Wow." sighed Buttercup sadly. "Yeah, Blossom. You're right. I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was that bad."

"OF COURSE YOU DID!" Blossom raged. "You knew how horrible the disaster was and you're just too stubborn and egotistical to admit it! AND I'M NOT THE ONE WHO YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO!"

Blossom left Buttercup alone in the room. She levitated to the bed and sat on it while holding her head in her hands.

"What have I done?" Buttercup asked herself softly.

"Courage!" Bubbles called out. "Courage, wait! Please, wait!"

She looked all over the house for the cowardly dog, but he was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, she heard sobbing coming from the basement and didn't hesitate to go in the direction of the noise. Bubbles opened the door and floated downstairs, only to find a still teary eyed Courage standing on a stack of crates; trying to unlock the window.

"Courage," she gasped. "What are you doing?"

Courage turned to see her floating in front of him and looking very concerned. Tears drizzled down his muzzle in unrestrained gushes. The sight was beginning to make Bubbles' heart twist.

"I AM GOING AWAY!!" He wailed. "I CAN'T STAY HERE ANYMORE!!"

"What?!" uttered a shocked Bubbles. "But, you can't! Not after all we've done for you!"

"Bubbles, I told you Buttercup hated me!" The pink dog argued. "I told you she was gonna call me a stupid dog, but you, along with Blossom, didn't wanna listen to me!" He sobbed, "It doesn't matter! Nobody listens to me, anyway, and everything I do is wrong! It's best if you didn't have a useless dog like me as a pet! Buttercup was totally right! I don't belong here and never will!"

"Don't say that." protested Bubbles, close to tears. "Courage, please don't go. You do belong here and have a good home. It's dangerous in Townsville and you won't survive by yourself out there."

"I DON'T CARE!" yelled Courage. "I don't care how much you want me to stay! I'm not gonna live here for the rest of my life and get ridiculed by that brat you call a sister! I went through it with Eustace every darn time I turned around and I won't sit and go through it again!"

"Well, what about what me, Blossom and the Professor? We've bent over backwards trying to keep you happy and safe. Does that not matter to you, anymore?"

"You, Blossom and the Professor aren't Muriel. Muriel was the one thing I've ever had in my life; the one human who truly loved me after I lost my parents. Now, she's gone, and I can't deal with it. Do you honestly think, Bubbles, it's easy for me to be happy in this new environment, when all this time, my heart has been hurting like crazy? It's not."

Tears spilled down Bubbles' cheeks. "But I want you with me!" she whimpered. "I love you so much, Courage! Please, don't leave! Please!"

Courage sniffled and wiped his tears. No matter how much she begged, he knew he couldn't stay. He could no longer hold in his sorrow and heartache. It was too much for him to bear.

The cowardly dog stared at the Powerpuff Girl, before finally replying, "Watch me."

Courage opened the window and crawled out of it. Bubbles desperately begged him not to go, and even went so far as to attempt to pull him back into the room, but he was already outside in the cold, night air. She called his name over and over, but it was no use. He was out of her sight.

Bubbles rushed out of the house to the front door, startling her sisters and the Professor. She saw Courage in the distance as he walked away from the Utonium residence.

"COURAGE!!" screeched Bubbles, sobbing. "COME BACK!! DON'T GO!! COME BACK!!"

Blossom and Buttercup restrained her and tried to calm her down, but she continued to cry as loud as she can. Courage looked back at the house with tears in his eyes again. He brushed one away from his cheek and sadly whispered, "Goodbye."

That was the last time they saw him. He was gone.

"NO!!!" Bubbles shrieked. "NO!!!"

She fell to her knees on the walkway, buried her face in her hands and bawled like a baby. Professor carried her back into the house with a grief stricken Buttercup and Blossom following from behind.

Bubbles was way beyond furious at Buttercup by the time the kids went to their room. It wasn't until Blossom sat with her on the bed to comfort her in which her voice came back loud and clear.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" She roared at Buttercup. "IF YOU HAD TREATED COURAGE WITH LOVE AND RESPECT AND KEPT YOUR STUPID MOUTH SHUT, HE WOULDN'T HAVE RUN AWAY!!"

"Bubbles, I am-" Buttercup began to say, but Bubbles cut her off.

"You know, Buttercup," glowered Bubbles, "There are some times I love to have you as a sister, but because of your attitude, I find you totally disgusting! Courage didn't deserve what you said to him at all, and now, thanks to you, he's gone!" Bubbles screamed, "I REALLY HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY!!!"

"Bubbles, I'm so sorry." the tough Powerpuff Girl sighed. Bubbles kept on giving Buttercup a look that could kill.

"SORRY WILL NOT HELP THIS TIME!!" Bellowed Bubbles. "I'm through accepting your petty apologizes every time you're being mean to me or somebody else! It doesn't even matter if you say you're sorry to Courage either! He thinks he doesn't belong here since you've forced him out of the house! And here's another thing! I NEVER, EVER, WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!!! NOR SHOULD I CALL YOU MY SISTER!!!"

She flew off to the bathroom and locked the door, crying her heart out.

Blossom turned to Buttercup before tearfully and angrily saying, "Are you satisfied?! Are you proud of youself?! You went too far this time! And there's no way you can fix it! Well, you know what? I would love to forgive you for what you did to Courage." while shivering. Blossom then said in anger and sadness while choking up, "But I'm sorry! This is going to take me a very, very, very long time for me to do that! Is that okay?!" And she flew out of the room in tears.

Buttercup just remained floating in the air and hung her head in sadness.

After a few hours, Courage had made it into Townsville; heartbroken, hungry and deathly afraid.

He went deep into the city, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. It seemed, and was, hopeless. He would never find his way out of this suburban jungle. At last, he encountered an alley; somewhere he could rest, for a while. It reminded him of the alley he was forced to stay in when he was abandoned as a puppy, until Muriel discovered him. Simply having no other choice, he entered it and sat in between two trash cans. At that moment, tears came down his cheeks afresh and a certain memory came right back to him.

''A tiny puppy, about only a year old and clad in nothing but a diaper, was sitting in an alley, crying behind the Pets of Tomorrow Animal Clinic. His parents had just been forced into outer space by an evil veterinarian not even a few minutes ago. The little pup cried and cried the whole time; knowing he never would see his parents again.''

''"Oh, my, you poor thing." A woman's voice exclaimed, concerned. "Out here, all alone?"''

''The puppy looked up to see a middle aged woman with long red, curly hair. She spoke in a sweet-natured Scottish accent and donned a hat and coat. She scooped him up in her arms; staring at him affectionately. He had no idea who she was, but sensed she was loving and gentle.''

''"What courage you have." she said, admiring his bravery to be out all by himself. "Would you like to come home with me?"''

The puppy whimpered, but soon, smiled at her instantly, as if to say, "I'd love to. Thank you... so much."

''"I'll call you, 'Courage,'" she told him, carrying him back with her. "We'll have a grand time."''

Unable to control his emotions, Courage simply broke down and bawled. He just stayed in that alley and lost it. He was extremely lucky nobody in town heard him or he'd be dead meat. Tears completely covered his face and he lied on his stomach; pounding on the ground like a toddler throwing a fit. The poor dog lost track of how many times he cried.

Out of all the terrible experiences he faced, this was the icing on the cake. He wished Muriel was alive, right now, holding him and telling him it was going to be okay. He wanted to hide from everyone and everything.

Had things taken a different turn, he could've saved himself and his owners from the so-called "dog-sitter." Then, it'd be back to normal. He'd be in Muriel's lap while she drank tea, help her around the house, etc. Heck, he wanted to be scared by Eustace and his mask, for the umpteenth time, but it was never going to happen again. This strange world was where he was going to stay for the rest of his life.

Once he became calm, Courage got up and resumed his trek through Townsville; now on his own.

"Muriel... I'm sorry," he whimpered to himself, sniffling. "What happened to you is all my fault. I should've saved you when I had the chance, but this time..." More tears welled up in his eyes, which were red and swollen from so much crying. "I failed you! I let you down! You didn't deserve me when we met, years ago. I'm so sorry. I wish I was back home with you in Nowhere. I don't belong here in this universe. I just wanna go home. I guess you can say that it can't get any worse than this."

He waited for Muriel to answer; to comfort him, to soothe him. Nothing. Nothing but the air blowing against his fur.

Before Courage knew it, thunder crashed in the sky. Soon, rain came pouring down before you could even blink. The cowardly dog let out a high pitched scream in agony, remorse and absolute terror.

If there was one thing he was scared to death of, besides monsters and other malevolent creatures, it was a thunderstorm. He immediately had to find shelter and rushed through the drenched streets.

As he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, he ended up slipping and falling face first into a muddy puddle. A man, who stood right where Courage plopped in the messy substance, gasped as his finest suit got splattered. His face instantly turned red with anger.

"You mangy mongrel... OF A STUPID DOG!!" The man roared as the pink dog looked up at him fearfully. "Look what you've done to my best suit! I was planning to wear this at my dinner with my boss tonight! My clothes are ruined, thanks to you, pup!"

Courage was too traumatized to speak and sprang to his feet; goading into a run. Once he knew the man was out of his sight, he shook the mud off his body and continued to search for some place he could stay, until the storm passed.

His paranoia grew while he walked through the quiet city. Without Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup around to help him, Townsville was a very frightening area. He soon came across the local junkyard, which, unbeknownst to him, was the hideout of the notorious Gangreen Gang.

Soon, to his blessed relief, he found a box that was big enough for him. Before he had a chance to reach it, each of the Gangreen Gang appeared. Courage screamed his lungs out as Ace, Snake, Grubber, Lil Arturo and the slow-witted Big Billy jumped out at him.

The cowardly dog was frozen like a block of ice; his eyes the size of saucers and his jaw down to the floor. The green-skin colored troublemakers surrounded him.

Ace, the gang's leader, walked towards Courage. He was a tall, skinny teenager with an orange and blue jacket, a white T-shirt, sandy colored pants, long black hair, sunglasses and pointed shoes.

"Well, whadda we got, here?" he asked threateningly.

"Looks like a dog to me, boss!" Lil Arturo answered in a Spanish accent.

"Yeah, looksss like we got a dog around thessse partsss!" Snake snickered.

"What do you think, Grubber?" Ace questioned. Grubber's only reply was a raspberry sound he made with his long tongue, as if to say, "Yeah, it's a dog!"

"Billy love doggies!" Billy guffawed.

"Well, boys," smirked Ace evilly, "Let's give this little puppy a Gangreen Gang welcome!" All of them cackled maniacally and Courage screamed to high heaven, before bolting back the way he came. The boys proceeded to chase after him. Everywhere he ran, they were gaining on him. He managed to squeeze under a storm drain and lose them. When he saw the coast was clear, the dog crawled out of the drain and got to his feet.

"I've GOT to get outta this scary town, and I gotta do it, now!" cried Courage, cowering and dusting himself off. He ran through the city; hoping and praying he could find a passage that would lead him out of there. This was a matter of do or die.

Mojo, however, was sitting in one of the alleyways in the shadows; armed with a net blaster and watching the poor dog's every move.

And so, the predator waits for his prey, and then, he will pounce on it! The evil mastermind thought to himself.

If Courage was scared out of his wits after he was ambushed by the Gangreen Gang before, he was truly petrified at this point.

The poor dog had absolutely nowhere to go or anybody to ask for help. Running away was simply not worth it, anymore. He was considering returning to the Utonium house and being held by Bubbles. But he was so far away from her and her family, now. After all, he had only been living with them for the last few weeks. How could he find his way back if the girls couldn't find him or knew where he was?

To make matters worse, Mojo was right in the alleyway waiting for him.

Courage got an extremely sixth sense when he knew something was wrong or if there was danger afoot. He knew that something bad was going to happen, he just knew it. He kept walking; doing his best to ignore the unfriendly presence lurking about. He had a feeling he was not alone in this part of town. Something, or someone, was watching him.

"Ohh, there's something wrong, here," the pink dog gulped, "or my name is Ivana, and it's not..."

The sound of evil laughter made him yelp and turn around. He stumbled backwards and fell to the pavement; backing away.

"W-who's there?" he whimpered. "Hello...?"

There was no answer.

Courage got to his feet and didn't hesitate to sprint out of there. He was getting more frightened by the minute and wasn't going to stay in the area, if his life depended on it.

"Hello, little doggy." an unfamiliar and sinister voice chimed, making him gasp.

The cowardly dog turned once more to see a pair of pink glaring eyes staring at him in the darkness. He grimaced, put his paws to the side of his muzzle and his body quaked in horror.

Mojo Jojo stepped out of the alleyway, revealing himself. He was conveniently hiding his net blaster behind his back.

"Who are you?" Courage quipped, paranoid. "What do you want?"

"Don't be afraid, you defenseless hound." Mojo smirked, putting on a friendly act. "I am known as Mojo Jojo, and I couldn't help but notice how wet, cold, lonely and hungry you are."

"And why should that be any of your business?" questioned Courage, suspiciously. "I don't need to tell you who I am or what I'm doing."

"Now, now, is that any way to treat somebody who is trying to be your new friend?"

"You are NOT my friend, and I know who are! You're that evil monkey who tried to hurt Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. Whatever y-you want from me, buddy, you're not gonna get it."

"Oh, but I know everything about you, Courage!" said Mojo nonchalantly.

"How do you know my name?!" Courage screeched; his eyes widening in shock.

"Oh, I heard Bubbles scream it when you decided to risk your life for her and her sisters," the mastermind answered. "You would do anything for them, wouldn't you? But it looks like Buttercup hates you and kicked you out of their house, am I correct?"

Courage didn't reply, but timidly nodded.

"That is what I thought," sneered Mojo. "She was getting jealous and wanted you to leave. She didn't want you as a part of the family and has detested you ever since. You don't have a family, anymore."

"Mm-hmm." the cowardly dog whined.

"Well... we can fix that!"

He pulled out the net blaster and aimed it at him. Courage's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Unless you want to do this the hard way, Courage," the super intelligent primate instructed, "and don't want to be caught in a net, you are going to come with me quietly and will not resist under any circumstances. Are we clear, dog?"

Mojo began to make his way towards him. Courage, white as a ghost and began to scream as he turned and ran for his life.

The second Mojo pulled his net blaster on him, Courage was already running for the hills. The cowardly dog screamed in pure, primal fear. Mojo immediately pursued him; shooting every net at him under the sun.

"HELP!" squealed Courage, terrified. "SOMEBODY, HELP!"

But the thunder was so loud, nobody even heard him.

"You're mine you stupid dog!" Mojo called out from behind, cackling.

Courage ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Mojo shot nets at him, and he dodged them with each jump. Some of the nets went up in the air and got caught around light poles. Despite his legs cramping and threatening to get tired, the pink canine wouldn't give up and was determined to escape his attacker. Even though he was fast, the evil mastermind was faster.

"Oh no!" shouted Courage. He turned and gasped to see Mojo coming in his direction and purring menacingly, "Here, doggy, doggy, doggy..." He prepared to aim the net blaster and fire the last net at him.

Courage glanced every which way; desperately trying to find an escape route. He simply had to take a risk or he'd be done for. When it seemed hopeless, he found something he could jump over, to where the fiend couldn't reach him; a giant sewer hole on the side of the road. The dog simply dashed towards it, getting farther away from Mojo.

"WHAT?!?!" Mojo cried, astonished. His guinea pig for his superweapon was not going to get away so easily. He aimed the blaster at the area the cowardly dog was headed to and waited for him at the perfect moment. This was his chance.

ERRRR-BOOOM!

In slow motion, Courage had barely attempted to leap over the hole, but it was too late. The net from Mojo's weapon caught him before he made another move toward it. He tumbled on the ground and was almost about to go over the edge.

"NOOOOOOOO!! NOT GOOD!! NOT GOOD!!" He howled. He attempted to chew through the netting, but it was too strong. A shadow loomed over him. Before he realized it, Mojo picked him up; holding the end of the net as he dangled in midair.

"I warned you not to do this the hard way, dog, but it was simply of your own accord," growled Mojo. A fanged smile appeared on his face. "No matter, I have special plans for you!"

"NO!" Courage wailed; tears forming in his eyes.

Mojo sneered, "Yes!"

He threw him on the pavement and dragged him in the net from behind. All the while, the cowardly dog sobbed, "HELP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY! NOOOO! NO! HELP ME! HELP!"

Once again, no one could hear him but Mojo, who was laughing loudly at his success. His kidnapping plan worked perfectly.

Mojo, at last, arrived at his observatory; Courage in his grasp. He dragged him across the floor to the back room. The poor dog couldn't believe how many weapons and evil plans he had. Once they got inside, Courage spotted a small, square shaped cage in the corner of his eye. The super intelligent primate yanked him in front of his face.

"Ready for the test?" He snickered, devilishly.

"What are you gonna do with me?" Courage managed to choke out.

"Oh, it is simple, my dear puppy," he chuckled. "You see, you will be my test subject for my newest weapon to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. With it, I will be rid of those brats forever!"

The instant Courage heard this, he screamed. "No, you can't!" The cowardly dog begged. "I won't let you!"

"What are you gonna do, slobber all over me?" taunted Mojo. "You can't do anything, you're just a dumb, ugly dog!"

He opened the cage, took him out of the net and threw him into it; locking the door as tightly as possible. Courage got up, grabbed onto the bars and shook them; making the cage rattle.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" He yelled. "You can't do this! You can't keep me in here! I won't let you do this! Let me-"

Mojo, unable to take the dog's whining, bellowed, "SHUT UP YOU INCOMPETENT MUTT!!"

That shut Courage up instantly. He was so startled, he leaped backwards and hit his head on the bars. It was a miracle he didn't split his skull open.

"Your whiny banter won't be able to save you! Nobody, not even Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup will save you!" Mojo declared. And he left with a slam of the door.

A few minutes passed, and Courage remained lying in his cage, shell-shocked beyond belief. Just when he thought he couldn't cry, anymore, he began bawling like a baby and screaming. He slammed down on his stomach; his arms covering his eyes. After an hour, he stopped and calmed himself to whimpering and sniffles. He was lucky he didn't make himself sick. He lied on his side in a puddle of his own tears; some trickling on his muzzle. He closed his eyes for a second, and at that moment, his most fondest and heartwarming memories returned. All of his sweet memories of his parents and Muriel.

I'll be your candle on the water

My love for you will always burn

I know you're lost and drifting,

But the clouds are lifting

Don't give up, you have somewhere to turn

I'll be your candle on the water,

Till every wave is warm and bright

My soul is there beside you,

Let this candle guide you;

Soon, you'll see a golden stream of light

Suddenly, Courage started having memories of the times he spent with Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles, too. Despite the fact they only knew each other for a couple weeks, he truly saw them as his new family.

A cold and friendless tide has found you

Don't let the stormy darkness pull you down

I'll paint a ray of hope around you,

Circling in the air; lighted by a prayer

I'll be your candle on the water

This flame inside of me will grow

Keep holding on, you'll make it

Here's my hand, so take it

Look for me reaching out to show,

As sure as rivers flow...

I'll never let you go

I'll never let you go

I'll never let you go

Courage curled himself into a ball and sobbed. Mojo could do whatever he wanted with him, and he was never going to be happy again.

"BUBBLES!" Buttercup shouted, pounding on the bedroom door. "You can't just stay locked in there forever! It's our bedroom too!"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY TO YOU, BUTTERCUP?!?! I'm never speaking to you again!" Bubbles snarled at her. "GO AWAY!!"

Buttercup and Blossom were floating outside the hallway, waiting for Bubbles to come out of their bedroom, but it looked like she was never going to. Ever since Courage ran away, a sense of anger built up in her heart. Buttercup had attempted multiple times to get her to talk to her, but they failed miserably. The damage had already been done.

"Bubbles, please, just let me say-" the tough Powerpuff Girl told her, but Bubbles cut her off yet again.

"YOU REALLY DO NOT NEED TO SAY ANYTHING, BUTTERCUP!!!" snapped Bubbles. "You took Courage's happiness and mine and smashed them all to pieces! You just had to open your stupid mouth and hurt his feelings! You don't care about anyone, Buttercup, but yourself! I should've listened to Courage when he told me you hated him!"

"I don't hate him." Said Buttercup, trying to reason with Bubbles.

"YES YOU DO! STOP LYING! You've hated him since the day we met him! Does you calling him a stupid, ugly, worthless and pathetic cowardly dog ring a bell?!"

"Listen to me for a minute, Bubbles." responded Buttercup, but Bubbles still snapped at Buttercup.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME! What you did was not only selfish and self-centered, it was completely disgusting! We wanted to give that poor puppy a home, but you didn't wanna do it! Just because he was cowardly didn't mean he didn't have a heart or wanted somebody to love him!" She screeched at her, "WAY TO GO YOU ANTI-DOG JERK!!"

Buttercup's jaws dropped and she looked like a deer in the headlights. Bubbles remained sitting on the ground her face buried in her hands and continued to cry loudly. Reality was starting to pierce Buttercup's thick head. Why did she have to go and open her mouth? Why did she have to treat Courage like he was a revolting gutter rat?

"I said it before and I'll say it again!" added Blossom angrily, "I honestly hope you're satisfied and proud of yourself, Buttercup! Do you see the damage you've done?! Do you not realize how serious this is?! Courage made this family real the only way he knew how and he actually felt like he had a real home after he lost his owners in that horrible accident! I know he screamed a lot and he wasn't the bravest dog at times! But, he loved each and every one of us, even you, despite the fact you did it in your best power to push him away! It looks like you've succeeded in doing just that!"

That was enough to hit home.

Tears welled up in Buttercup's eyes. She tried her hardest to hide it, but she wasn't very successful.

"Blossom... I... I'm sorry!" she gasped, choking up. "I'm so, so sorry to you and Bubbles. I know I acted like a jerk! I was just jealous of him and I hate myself for what I did. I hope both of you can forgive me."

Buttercup pulled Blossom into a hug and broke down crying. Buttercup felt the urge to kick herself for her behavior. When Courage came into their lives, she was a heartless idiot. He had given each of the girls something to look forward to. What did they have to look forward to, now? Blossom, now feeling very bad for being so harsh on Buttercup, began to comfort Buttercup, telling her that it will be okay.

Suddenly, both girls heard their bedroom door open and a voice say, "I forgive you."

The innocent Powerpuff Girl floated towards them and they engaged in a group hug. They had no idea how long they stayed there, but it was all worth it.

"What do you guys say we go look for that dog, huh?" asked a determined Buttercup, pulling away.

"He has a name, you know." giggled Bubbles.

"I know that. I was just messin' with ya." she chuckled. "When we get him back, we'll give him all the love and care he deserves."

"Now, you're talkin,' Buttercup." laughed Blossom. "Come on, girls. We got a member of the family to save."

And they dashed into the sky; determined to bring Courage back.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup looked everywhere in Townsville for Courage, even to the point of showing pictures of him to the citizens, but none of them had seen him, at all. The whole time they were searching, Bubbles kept calling his name and the other girls joined in, too. It looked like they were never going to find the cowardly dog.

"I looked around the districts and alleys," Buttercup said, "but I couldn't find him."

"What if we never find Courage?" Bubbles whimpered. "Something terrible must've happened to him, I know it."

"We can't give up, now, girls," Blossom told them. "If it takes all night, we're gonna get Courage and bring him home. He's not just some dog we agreed to babysit for his former masters when we met him, anymore. He's a member of our family, and families stick together, no matter what. Let's keep looking."

"I really hope he's okay," added Bubbles, worried.

Unbeknownst to the girls, they flew right past the observatory, where Mojo was holding Courage prisoner. To prevent them from breaking through the ceiling, like they always did, Mojo installed a high energy force field around it.

~ * ~

Inside the observatory's back room, the cowardly dog was now frozen solid with fear, at the back of his cage. He stopped crying and was not taking lightly to what the evil mastermind was going to do to him.

What's gonna happen to me? He thought. ''What is Mojo even planning to do to me? This is NOT good!''

Suddenly, the opening of the door jolted him out of his thoughts. To his dismay, Mojo was standing at the doorway, ready for him; smiling a malicious smile.

"Time to meet your demise, puppy!" The super intelligent primate cackled.

Before Courage realized it, Mojo unlocked the cage, grabbed him by the ears and carried him to the weapon testing room. He tried to fight him, but he slammed him down onto one of the metallic tables, placed his paws and feet in the cuffs, then proceeded to go to the control panel, which activated the laser. The pink canine strained desperately to get free, but the cuffs were too strong.

"Struggle all you want, you stupid dog!" Mojo roared. "You are now my test subject for this superweapon I plan to use to rid of the Powerpuff Girls!"

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!" screamed a tearful Courage, pulling with all his might. He strained so hard, the cuffs were making his paws raw and start to bleed. "Why are you doing this? Why do you wanna destroy the Powerpuff Girls? What have they ever done to you?"

"What have they ever done to me?" repeated Mojo furiously. "I'll tell you, you whining mutt! Every time I try to take over Townsville and rule the world, those little brats ALWAYS foil my plans! This time, I am not going down without a fight. That laser, which I put you in front of, is my latest invention! It is designed to cut anything in half, even Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles, but to be sure it works, I have to test it on something, and that something is you!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Howled Courage to high heaven.

"YES!" Mojo hollered.

Giving a frightening, fang-filled wide smile, he switched on the laser and set the intensity to level twelve. A bright red laser beam shot out towards Courage and began to cut the table he was on in half. He attempted to get back, but it was headed straight for him.

"YES, YES!" cheered Mojo maniacally. "THAT'S IT!"

When the laser was just about to come in contact with his fur, Courage couldn't take it, anymore. He shut his eyes tight and shouted at the top of his lungs,

"HE-E-E-E-ELP!!!"

And that is when Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup heard him.

"COURAGE!" The kids shrieked. They immediately back the way they came; leading them to Mojo's lair. They were shocked to see the force field protecting the dome of the observatory.

"Mojo's got Courage!" yelled Bubbles.

"We can't get in there with that force field in the way!" exclaimed Buttercup. "What do we do?"

"It looks like I'll have to use my ice breath," Blossom said, "and then, we might be able to bust our way in."

Blossom took a deep breath and blew air out, causing her ice breath super power to emerge. It started to cover the entire force field, until it was nothing but a ball of ice. Mojo was too preoccupied to notice.

"OK, girls," she instructed, "on the count of three, we're gonna break through the ice and get inside Mojo's lab! Ready?"

"Ready!" Buttercup and Bubbles said in unison.

"One..."

Inside the lab, it looked like it was the end for Courage. He was about to join Muriel soon. He closed his eyes and awaited his fate.

"Two..." Blossom counted; she and her sisters backing up and preparing to ram the ice dome.

Mojo watched the scene before him with glee and malice. That dog would be cut in half any second, now.

"THREE!"

The Powerpuff Girls rammed into the ice with force, making the observatory shake and rumble. Mojo and Courage gasped while they heard the loud gonging sounds echoing through the room.

"What is going on out there?" Mojo asked himself. It wasn't until he saw ice covering his window and saw it blocking the force field, that he knew exactly what was happening.

"Powerpuff Girls?!" he quipped. Courage's jaw dropped in shock upon hearing those names. He was going to be saved. The kids continued to ram into the wall of the ice, until it cracked and broke into a million pieces. Leading the way, Blossom and her sisters crashed through the ceiling and glowered at Mojo.

"All right, Mojo!" Blossom snapped. "Hand Courage over and we'll go easy on you!"

"Aww," Mojo mocked them in an infantile tone, "wook at the wittle herwoes here to save their pwecious puppy!"

"Blossom, Buttercup, Bubbles, help me!" Courage howled with terror, seeing the laser about to cut him. "Hurry!"

Blossom and Buttercup tackled the evil mastermind and restrained him, while Bubbles went to rescue the cowardly dog. She freed Courage from the table and scooped him up in her arms.

"I've got you, Courage!" she said.

Courage was so emotionally overwhelmed and relieved, the only thing he could do was cry.

Unfortunately, Mojo broke free of the two Powerpuff Girls' grasp, overpowered them and attacked Bubbles; causing her to drop Courage, who was flung in the air and slid across the floor like a hockey puck. He watched helplessly while Mojo, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup beat the tar out of each other. The super intelligent primate used every weapon he had to take the three superheroes down, but they fought back. Buttercup slammed Mojo into the wall, broke his helmet and burned him with her laser eyes. Blossom and Bubbles gave him a black eye. At last, he was supposedly knocked unconscious.

"All right!" The kids whooped victoriously. At that moment, they heard Courage holler joyfully from across the room, "Girls!" He ran toward them, but they dashed in his direction behind pink, green and blue lights; scooping him up in their arms and hugging him.

"Oh, Courage, thank goodness, you're okay!" grinned Blossom. "We're so glad to see you."

"I thought I was a goner!" Courage sobbed happily. "Thank you, thank you, so much!"

"We've been lookin' all over Townsville for ya, you nutty dog!" laughed Buttercup.

"You have?" he gaped.

"Yeah!" added Bubbles. "You're one of the family, silly."

"Really? I am?" If Courage was stunned before, the dog was now completely knocked for six.

"Of course, you are," smirked Blossom, "and you always will be."

"Courage," Buttercup sighed, "I'm really sorry I called you names and made you run away. I was jealous and thought you were extremely annoying. I didn't mean all those things I said." She gave him an eyebrow raised, half smile. "By the way, you're a pretty cool dog. Can you forgive me?"

Courage said nothing, but nodded as tears welled up in his eyes again. The characters embraced in a heartwarming group hug. The small pink dog licked the girls' faces excitedly and they giggled. Buttercup was the only one who didn't enjoy it, very much. Without warning, a familiar hand with a white glove reached around Courage's neck and pulled him back by force in a headlock. Mojo had woken up from his blackout and was armed with a melting ray. He shoved it into the side of Courage's head.

"Courage!" Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup cried, alarmed.

Courage struggled in Mojo's grip and screamed. His paws were digging into the villain's arm; clawing at it to get free.

"Oh, what a touching reunion," Mojo taunted them. He turned on the ray and it lit up with a humming noise. "Too bad it has to end so abruptly! If you girls come near the dog just once, so help me, I'll melt his head clean off!"

"You wouldn't!" Buttercup protested.

"No!" Bubbles blurted out, about to cry.

"That's low, Mojo, even for you!" declared Blossom.

"You think I am joking?" threatened Mojo. The Powerpuff Girls were flabbergasted. Their archenemy was evil, but he had never stooped to this level when they confronted him in the past during his planning to take over Townsville or his other crimes.

"As I said," he mentioned, "come anywhere near me or try to rescue Courage, and that will bring him one step closer to his demise."

"Girls, help me!" bawled Courage hysterically. "Please!"

Tears formed in girls' eyes when they stared into his. There was nothing she could do. Mojo had become a legit psychopath and was willing to kill the poor dog in order to get what he wanted. They could no longer stand by and see Courage suffer. If they had to sacrifice themselves to save him, then so be it. The three hugged each other and started crying.

"Take us, Mojo!" The sweet natured Powerpuff Girl wept. "We're the ones you want!"

"Take us instead and let Courage go." The tough Powerpuff Girl sobbed.

"We surrender. Just don't kill Courage." Blossom wept.

The girls cried harder.

"NO!" Courage wailed.

"Bubbles!" Buttercup and Blossom gasped.

"Well," Mojo chuckled, "I'm glad you girls are finally starting to see things the way I want them. With you little freaks defeated forever, that gives me the chance to take over Townsville! I knew I would find a solution to stop you, eventually. It's all thanks to your doggy!"

Not wanting to lose his life or see the girls get captured by this evil being, Courage did the one thing he thought of to do to make the monkey release him. Becoming tough and angry, he clutched onto Mojo's arm, opened his mouth and bit him, hard. The second Mojo felt Courage's teeth chomp on his arm, he cringed and his face became red in color.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAGH!!!"

He threw Courage off his arm in pain; sending him flying. He screamed his lungs out, heading directly for the laser beam. He covered his eyes, expecting to be sliced, but was caught in midair. He looked around, only to see Buttercup holding him.

"Gotcha!" She said.

"Phew!" he uttered, relieved.

After she brought him to a safe spot in the corner of the room, Buttercup and her sisters focused their attention on Mojo, who was still holding his arm in agony from the bite wound Courage gave him. He turned around to see them glaring at him and inching closer.

"N-n-now, Blossom, Buttercup, Bubbles, this isn't what it looks like!" stuttered Mojo, cowering, lying and backing away. "I found Courage and asked him if he wanted to stay with me, until you found him. You understand that, right?" He got more paranoid while Bubbles grabbed him by his front. "Oh, no, please, have mercy," he begged. "N-no. No! No!"

Courage watched this and covered his eyes, hearing the girls pummeling Mojo. Every few minutes, he peeked through his paws, then, looked away to not see the beating. Once it got quiet, Courage turned around and saw the Powerpuff Girls floating above a mangled Mojo Jojo. His cape was torn in several places, his helmet was shattered and he moaned in pain. Buttercup floated to the control panel for the laser and destroyed it; making the machine shut down, for good.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Mojo!" Blossom snapped, "if you try to threaten Courage again, WE'LL KILL YA!"

Courage walked over to the girls and they exchanged glances for a moment, before the threesome glomped him and he laughed along with them. Their family was back together.

All of a sudden, the group heard a loud BOOM outside, causing him to cower.

"What was that?" asked Buttercup. Bubbles went to the window, only to notice Dee Dee's mutated monster form crashing through Townsville.

"It's Dee Dee!" she warned them. "She's destroying Townsville!"

"Oh, no, is it that monster again?" Courage grimaced.

"Yeah, it's her, all right," Buttercup nodded. "We gotta get Dexter to help us."

"What about Mojo?" Bubbles wondered.

"We'll worry about him later, Bubbles," said Blossom. "Dee Dee's more important, at the moment. Let's go!"

"Wait!" Courage called out. "I don't want you guys to get hurt! Let me come with you!"

"It's too dangerous," Buttercup told him, "you'll be mince meat, before you know it!"

"But!"

"We can handle this, Courage," Blossom reassured him. "Besides, she's not really a monster. She was just turned into one because of Chemical X. We have to take care of this problem, or it'll be too late. Do you understand?"

Courage thought about this long and hard. He didn't want to lose them again, but at the same time, he wanted them to do what was right.

"You're right," the cowardly dog replied, smiling timidly, "you don't need me to help you with this. It's your job to protect everyone out there, not mine."

"Good dog. Bubbles, drop Courage off at home and ask the Professor to make more Chemical Y spray. Meet us in the center of Townsville."

And Bubbles did what she was told. After putting Courage in their bedroom and telling him goodbye, she went to the Professor's lab and helped him whip up a new concoction of Chemical Y spray, since the first can got broken by Dee Dee a few weeks earlier. She put the new can in her dress pocket and flew off to Townsville for the next showdown she and her sisters were about to face.

Back in the girls' bedroom, Courage hoped and prayed his family was going to make it out alive.

"Be careful girls." Courage said, gulping.