Benita Bizarre attempts to turn Courage back into Melvin Bizarre ("Courage, Come Home" Episode #4), her evil nephew. What happens instead, even Benita could not have predicted...
Courage stood across the stream, oblivious to everything around him except for the being he saw on the other side of the stream. Someone he has not expected to ever see again. Someone he had hoped never to see again.
The youth opposite Courage was a mirror image of himself, but with cold, cruel eyes. The face and form was the same, and his clothes were like the ones Courage wore, except that the shirt was purple instead of red.
I.Q., Harmony, Joy, and Sparky has told Courage about Melvin Bizarre. One day, Courage had made the mistake of playing in a storm, and was knocked out of the sky by a lighting bolt. Benita Bizarre had found him, unconcious. When Courage woke up, Benita found out that he had lost his memory. Benita had told Courage that he was her nephew, Melvin Bizarre. As Melvin, Courage had become evil, a twisted copy of his true self. Later, he regained his memory, and Melvin slid into the dark, hidden parts of Courage's sub-concious mind. In time, Melvin was forgotten by everyone.
Now, Courage face his doppleganger. His face showed none of the fear that he felt rising inside him. His name was Courage, and it was his personality, as well. But that did not mean that he did not feel fear. He did. Often. He just never let it overcome him.
"Greetings, brother!" Melvin grinned across the stream. "Good to see you again."
"Wish I could say the same for you, 'brother'," Courage replied. The term was symbolic. Courage and Melvin were the same person, one good, one evil. If it had not been for the support of his friends, Courage might have become like Melvin. Only his friends, and Courage's own willpower kept had kept Melvin from surfacing.
Until now.
"Is that any way to greet your brother, Courage?" Melvin sneered. His fists were on his hips as their eyes met, Melvin's just as brown as Courage's.
"We're not related!" Courage replied. "You're not me! You never was and you never will be!" Courage refused to use Melvin's name, and now, he refused to call him "brother". Already, Courage was trying to deny the existance of Melvin, something he was finding harder and harder to do every second he was with his twin.
"But we are," Melvin sneered back. "We are the same. I'm coming back, Courage. You won't keep me away for much longer. Soon, I will return. And the first ones to suffer will be your friends!" Melvin's evil laughter chilled Courage's blood.
"NO!" Courage screamed. As he lept at Melvin, the scenery around him melted and faded away.
"NO!" Courage's scream was heard throughout the Bugaloos' clearing. He sat up suddenly, sweating and his heart pounding in his chest. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
"Just a dream," he told himself. "Just a bloody bad dream..."
"Courage, are you alright?" Courage turned in his bed to see Joy. The pretty girl in the pink dress was the first to arrive at Courage's pad. I.Q., Harmony, and Sparky followed right behind her, all concerned for their friend.
Joy sat on the edge of Courage's bed, concern for him in her eyes. She could see him fighting for control over his shaking.
"Yeah, mate. Wot's up?" I.Q. asked.
For a moment, Courage concidered telling them it was nothing, to leave him alone. Only one thought stopped him. That is wot Melvin Bizarre would say.
"I dreamed Melvin Bizarre returned. He was dressed like I was, but in purple. He said that he was returning, and the first to suffer would be all of you."
"'Melvin'?" Sparky asked. "The guy you turned into when you lost your memory?" Courage nodded.
Sparky shivered in fright. He remembered what had happened to Courage when he had fell from the sky and got amnesia. As "Melvin Bizarre", Courage had been cruel, hatefull, and a downright bully. Only the love and persistance of his friends had allowed Courage to regain his memory and his true personality.
But lurking deep within his sub-concious mind was an alter-ego Courage would rather forget. If Courage was capiable of hate, he would have hated Melvin Bizarre.
"He can't come back, mate," Harmony said. "He's gone. For good."
"That's the rub, Harmony. He still exists," Courage pointed to his head, "in here."
"But not in here," I.Q. smiled, tapping Courage's chest, right over the youth's heart. Courage smiled back at his friend.
None of them was prepared for the shock they were about to recieve...
Benita Bizarre was working on rewiring one of her Stereo Zappers to do something she has been thinking of doing for a long time. As she soddered the new wires in the weapon, the rock witch thought about the purpose for which she was doing the rewiring in the first place.
Ever since the incident in which Courage has lost his memory and had become her "nephew", Benita has been thinking about how much potintial the Bugaloo had for rotteness. If she could just cause "Melvin" to resurface from Courage's deep sub-concious mind, Benita would have an ally she could trust, even an heir, should anything happen to her. And the irony of the thing would be that the Bugaloos' own friend would become their enemy!
"There!" she said, after a little more tinkering with the Zapper. "This Stereo Zapper will change Courage back into 'Melvin Bizarre'." She held the Zapper for Funky Rat, Tweeter, and Wolfer to see.
"Who?" Tweeter asked.
"Yeah...who?" Woolfer repeated. Tweeter and Woolfer were twins, except that Tweeter was taller than Woolfer.
"Vho iz 'Melvin Bizarre'?" Fuky, the German Rat asked.
"That's right!" Benita snapped. "You three weren't here when I found Courage lying on the side of the road, knocked out. When he woke up, he had amnesia."
"'Amnesia'?" Tweeter asked. "I had a girlfriend by that name."
"It's not a girl's name, you twit!" Benita stormed. Tweeter, Woolfer, and Funky visiably cringed from their boss. "Amnesia is what happens when someone loses their memory! They don't remember who they are, where they are, or anything else about themselves! Courage lost his memory, and I made him think he was my nephew, Melvin! What a wonderously rotten kid he was!" Benita smiled whistfully at the memory. Then, she scowled, remembering the outcome. "But the other Bugaloos came and helped restore his memory. It was 'Exit Melvin, reenter Courage'! Well, this little device will bring back my dear, sweet nephew, and rob the Bugaloos of Courage -- permenantly!"
Laughing in intipication, Benita left her Jukebox Penthouse for Tranquility Forest, Funky Rat, Tweeter, and Woolfer right behind her.
The Bugaloos went about their daily chores, unaware that Benita and her henchmen were sneaking through their forest home. Dealing with the Grapevine and been easy enough. Benita, Flunky, Tweeter, and Woolfer just made it look as if they were going on a picnic in Tranquility Forest. Out of character for the witch, maybe, but not enough to be suspicious about.
Benita had decided a direct confrontation would be best. The sooner she zapped Courage and released Melvin, the better. Just as the teens were finishing their chores and about to gather at their bandstand for some rehersal, Benita and her flunkies jumped out from the bushes. Benita leveled the Zapper at Courage, ready to fire.
"Okay. Nobody move! I've got you covered!" Benitat shouted.
"Benita Bizarre!" I.Q. responded. "Wot are you doing here?"
"Doing something I've been meaning to do since it happened!" The Zapper never wavered from its target.
"'It'?" Harmony asked. "Wot do you mean 'it'?"
"Just this: Goodbye Courage; Hello Melvin!" With those words, Benita fired the Zapper.
For once, Benita's aim was right on target. Courage was bathed in purple light from the altered weapon. The air around him pulsed with the purple light. Then, the light slowly faded away.
Courage had instictivly thrown up his arm to shield himself from the ray. Now, he lowered them, shaking his head to clear it. As his eyes focused, Courage saw a sight that made his blood run cold.
Standing nearby was a youth dressed like Courage, but in purple. The face and the body was the same, too. At the moment, the new boy was looking over himself, flexing his muscles, and admiring his clothes.
Presently, he looked over to the stunned Courage, who was sitting behind his drum set. He grinned when he saw the expression on his twin's face.
"Greetings, brother!"
Courage slowly rose from his seat and moved out from behind the drums, still staring at his nightmare come to life. He knew who it was. But how...?
"You're unsually quiet, brother," the boy sneered at him. "I told you I would return!"
I. Q. remembered what Courage had told them about his dream. Looking at the two of them, he realized now who it was.
"Melvin Bizarre!" he gasped in realization. "Somehow, Benita's Zapper split Melvin's personality from Courage's body! They are now two different people!"
Benita looked from her Zapper to Melvin, then to Courage, then back to her Zapper.
"Not the original plan, but still workable," she said.
"Not just 'workable', Auntie Benita," Melvin smiled. "Better than your original plan. Now, I won't have to lug around his goody-goody personality!" Melvin cocked a thumb toward Courage. Joy, I.Q., Harmony, and Sparky, finally snapping out of their initial shock, ran to Courage's side.
"Are you alright?" Joy asked.
"Yeah, mate," Harmony added. "Did that Zapper hurt you?
''No, Courage answered, his eyes still on his twin. "Surprisingly, I'm okay.''
"Melvin, let's return to the Penthouse,'' Benita said, a bit uneasily. This was too strange, even for her.
''Of course, Auntie,'' Melvin replied. To Courage, he said, ''See you around, brother.'' Then, he left with Benita and her henchmen.
After Benita and her bunch left Tranquility Forest, the Bugaloos began discussing the reappearce of Melvin Bizarre.
''T...t...that was h...h...him, wasn't it?" Sparky asked. Glumly, Courage nodded. ''Why did he call you, 'brother'?''
"Because we are --or where- the same person. Like it or not, Melvin was a part of me. Whatever that Zapper was supposed to do, it split the two personalities into two people."
"Meaning?" Harmony asked.
"Meaning," I.Q. said, "Courage and Melvin now exist ast two seperate people. Now, Benita has an ally that knows our secrets."
"And it there is one person in all the world that Melvin loves and respects, it's Benita," Courage added.
"I'm sure the feelin's mutural," Harmony said. "So wot are we gonna do about it?" All looked to I.Q. for and answer.
His reply stunned them all.
"Nothing."
"Nothin'?" Harmony looked at his bandmate. "That's all? We just keep goin' on with our lives as if nothin' hoppened?"
"Exaxtly. We can't do anything about Melvin, can we? He exists for real, now. We can't put him back into Courage, now can we?"
"No," Courage responded. "And even if we could, I wouldn't want him back, either!"
"Courage!" Joy gasped, shocked by the youth's words. Always the cheerful one, Joy sought to see something good in everyone, even their enemies.
"I mean it! I don't ever want to feel the things he made me feel, ever again!" Courage was still somewhat shaken by the nightmare he had earlier, and that nightmare's come to life.
"In a way, mates, we can be thankfull to Benita," Harmony said.
"How so?" I.Q. asked.
Benita has freed Courage from Melvin --and vice, versa. Because of her, Courage --and we-- won't have to worry about Melvin's personality taking over Courage's body!" Harmony grinned.
That's certainly true!" Joy smiled.
"Benita will probibly put Melvin as her head flunky," Courage said.
"I wonder how Funky Rate will take that," Harmony replied.
"Yes," I.Q. smiled. "He's been Benita's second for years."
"Funky would be jealous!" Courage grinned.
"Well, Melvin is one of Benita's family, after all," Joy commented. "A nephew she created.
"Funky's still goin' to be purple and plaid," Harmony said.
"What?" Sparky asked, looking toward the Bugaloo keyboardist. Harmony spoke in Cockney Rhyming Slang, and Sparky and the others sometimes had a hard time understanding him.
"Funky will be mad," Harmony grinned.
"Oh."
As the Bugaloos and Sparky discussed Melvin, they were unaware of just how right they were, and the trouble that was brewing at Benita's Jukebox.
"It won't work," Melvin said. He regarded the German rat distainfully.
"How could it fail?" Funky retorted.
"They don't have evil personalities in their sub-concious minds," the boy reminded him.
"Vot does that haf to do wif anythink?"
"I was created within Courage's sub-concious mind when he had amnesia. He alone developed a personality totally opposite of himself. They did not."
"What harm is it to try, Melvin, dear?" Benita asked. She lounged on her divian like some gaudy Cleopatra clone.
Melvin let out an exasperated breath. It was true. However he felt toward his "brother" and his friends, however he felt toward other people, Melvin love his "Aunt" Benita. He would never go against her wishes.
"Alright," he sighed. "I still don't think it will work, but we'll have a go at it. I just don't believe that the Zapper will create evil doubles of the other Bugaloos!"
"Vot do vou mean, 'Ve'?" Funky asked, staring up at Melvin with defiant, beady eyes.
"Melvin's going with you," Benita answered, before Melvin could open his mouth.
"Vot!?!"
"Oh, didn't I mention it? Melvin's my new second. He'll be taking most of your old jobs. Well, the non-domestic ones, anyway," Benita's smile got wider.
"Vot?! My jobs? But, mein goddess...
"Hey," Melvin grinned, "you're still the chauffeur!"
"Right!" Benita laughed. "Now, if you're going to make evil Bugaloos, you'd better get going."
"Right. Come on, Funky. Let's try your idea," Melvin sighed. As they were going out the door, he added, "I still say it's not going to work..."
Benita watched them leave. It was good to have family around the Penthouse...even if that family was created from the hidden parts of a Bugaloo's mind. She sighed happily about the great tmes she and her nephew would have.
As the Bugaloos were finishing with rehersal, Melvin and Funky crept along the rim of the clearing. Funky hefted the Zapper that had been used on Courage. Melvin was still unconvinced that Funky's plan would work. None of them had a second, not-so-nice personality inside them as Courage had. There was nothing to sustain such thoughts and feelings.
As the Bugaloos and Sparky gathered together for supper, Funky Rat jumped out of his hiding place.
"Vow, ve vill see if this Zapper vill vork on the rest of you!" Funky cried. He aimed and pulled the trigger. Just has Courage and been, earlier, Joy, I.Q., Harmony, and Sparky were bathed in a purple light.
When the light faded, there was...
Nothing.
Nothing byt four Bugaloos and a firefly, looking around the clearing, confused.
"Wot was that all about?" Harmony asked.
"I told you it wouldn't work, Funky," Melvin said, coming out of hiding. "Funky thought that the Zapper could create evil doubles of the rest of you. I kept telling him that, unlike Courage, you don't have 'secret selves' lurking int your sub-concious minds. But he didn't want to listen." To Funky, he said, "Let's go now. It didn't work."
"Nein!" Funky fired again, with the same result. Again and again, he fired at the Bugaloos, trying to create a second, evil, Bugaloos band. But to no avail. It just could not be done.
"It's not working," Melvin sighed. Finally, he got tired of Funky's obvious failure. Melvin lifted the protesting rat in his strong arms and proceeded to carry him out of the clearing.
"Some other time, 'brother'!" Melvin called to Courage as he left.
For a moment, everyone sat or stood in stunned silence, not knowing what to say. It was Courage who spoke first.
"Yeah. Some other time."
Courage knew that thing were going to be different, now. With Melvin helping Benita, foiling the witch's plots were going to be tougher. Melvin was smarter than Benita's other flunkies, and the fact that he was Courage's twin made fighting him all the more difficult.
Courage had an uplifting thought, although he was not sure if he should tell the others, for fear of getting their hopes up.
If Melvin has my knowledge and abilities, wot else does he have? Is it possible that he has my feelings , too? Is there a hope that Melvin can be changed to good?
Courage let this thought cheer him as he watched the spot where Melvin had disappeared into the forest. Maybe --just maybe-- there was hope for Melvin, after all! All they could do was try. Courage resolved to change Melvin for the better. If not today, then tomorrow. However long it took, Melvin was going to change. Courage would see to that.
THE END
WHEW! That was a tough fic to write! And it almost didn't end with such an uplifting thought, either. It almost ended three paragraphs too soon! Oh, well, at least I got it to end on an upbeat note! ^_^ Did I get the accents right, though? I hope so. At least I managed one of Harmony's Cockney rhymes in the fic. I don't know where more would have fit in.