#missing pieces mugman

[bugflavouredbones]

holy hot dog, i havent posted in this blog in FOREVERRRR (quite a few months)

i might be welcoming silly questions for now i still dont think ill be continuing the story line, but i like the characters and their like my kids or smtg so i still havent let go

their writing was kinda awful but i promise im cool(er) now 😉

[genderqueermercury]

y’all remember the doodle I made of a human!Saltbaker? Well. I’ve done it fr

[elm-writes-stories]

Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! I'm back with the new episode! To let you all know, this is going to be a long chapter/episode. I'm so sorry in advance for this. There's a lot of juicy stuff in the episode though, I promise. Anyway, this is published on October 11, 2023. If you guys enjoy the episode, don't be afraid to heart it, reblog, and comment! They would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy!*

Episode Eight: A Devil in a Red Dress

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!”

Cassidy woke up with a jolt. The familiar voice screamed in her mind. It seemed to be in pain and in grief. She couldn’t remember how she ended up in a lone cell. She was in the dark, alone. Just as she should be…right? She bit her lips and started to sob, tears streaming down her red furry cheeks. Her heart hurt when she remembered the voice who told her that he loved her. Now she could remember every single detail of the fight. She was choking Natalie…she might have killed Canteen…she was fighting with Mugman. No, no, no…she remembered now.

She sobbed into her hands, burying her face. Maybe she deserved to be surrounded by darkness. Maybe she deserved to die along with her kind. She was a demon. A burden. She became what others see her as her whole life. A monster.

Cassidy looked up to see the silver door of her cell, crying her eyes out. She felt something tingle under her red fur. The feline glanced down and noticed her veins glowing blue. That was weird. Tremaine didn’t look like that. There was something else that happened. Did…something electrocuted her?

She heard an evil chuckle as she looked up to find The Devil peeking through the window of the door.

“You know, Cassi, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re valuable, I would’ve killed you instantly for failing me to not kill any of your ex-friends,” Devil stated with a grin. “What’s holding you back from killing your little ex-friends, hm? Is it because you still care about them even though they could care less about you?”

Cassidy gritted her teeth. “You’re lying.”

“Oh? I’m lying?” Devil stated. “Let me ask you something. How could you care about a world that doesn’t give a damn about you? It’s not like anyone is going to miss you. No one in this world will ever miss a piece of burden such as yourself.”

“D-Dad and Jerry would—”

“Your ‘dads’ only took you in because they feel nothing but pity for you. You pathetic thing. Your ‘friends’ only pretend to be your friends because they’re afraid of you. You saw Natalie’s memories. She laughed and mocked you. She pushed you around and dragged you everywhere, even though there are places that could’ve killed you. Everyone thinks you’re a burden. Do you really think that everyone else will not see you that way? Think again, Cassidy. Think again.”

Cassidy tried to fight the tears, but she felt more anger than sadness. “Mugman doesn’t see me that way!”

“Yes he does—”

“No, he doesn’t! He loves me! He says so himself! You can’t keep lying to me like this—!” Cassidy felt the burn in her veins all the sudden, causing her to scream in pain.

“He never loves you! No one loves you! Why can’t you accept that?!” Devil yelled demonically.

“Mugman loves me!”

“No, he doesn’t!”

“Dad loves me!”

“Ha! You know that’s a lie—!”

“Jerry loves me!”

“Oh, get over it, will you?! I’m telling you! They are only pretending to love you—”

“Mugman loves me!”

“Shut up!”

“Dad and Jerry love me! And I refuse to believe anything else other than that!” Cassidy growled, a sudden burst of electricity zapped at the door. It almost got the Devil, which shocked both Cassidy and Devil.

Cassidy looked at her paws in confusion as to how she did that.

Devil gritted his teeth in anger. “Well, if you won’t accept the truth I’ve given you, then I guess I have use force!” The Devil teleported into her cell and snatched her chest, pulling her soul out of her body. For a moment, she felt her body going limped. It was a painful process but she felt she was ripped out of her body. She looked down and saw her own body, laying on the ground in the red silky dress. The Devil took her away from her cell with teleportation, just to put her soul in the special soul vault where she will never get out.

~.~

Mugman snapped his eyes open and sat up abruptly in the late evening, his vision blue for a moment until it faded instantly. He breathed heavily with tears streaming down his porcelain cheeks. He saw it all. He saw the Devil taking Cassidy’s soul without remorse and hesitation. It had to be a bad dream, right?

“Mugman?” Cuphead’s voice piped up.

Mugman turned to see Cuphead, Chalice, Canteen, and Natalie looking at him with concern.

“Are you okay?” Chalice asked softly.

Mugman broke down into tears, which got Cuphead to rush over and hug his brother.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, buddy. It’s okay. It’s probably a bad dream,” Cuphead soothed his brother.

Mugman cried into Cuphead’s chest, gripping his shoulders.

Chalice frowned to show sympathy along with Canteen and Natalie. However, the three kids notice Mugman growing angrier than normal.

“Uh, Mugman?” Canteen uttered.

Mugman pulled out of his brother’s hold and stormed out of the bedroom, his brows drawn together and his veins glowing blue.

“Mugsy?” Cuphead questioned while following his brother. “Hey, are you okay?”

Mugman extended his wings when he was about to approach the exit of the base. Cuphead zoomed in front of his brother. “Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

“Move, Cuphead. I gotta go—”

When Mugman tried to walk past him, Cuphead blocked the way.

“Where?”

“Just move—”

“Mugman, please talk to me.”

“Just let me go—”

“No! No way! I don’t want to lose you, Mugman.”

“You won’t—”

“I already almost lost you twice. I can’t lose you again. Please, Mugman, tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”

“Since when are you helpful?” Mugman snarled, causing Cuphead to wince at the question. Mugman gasped to realize what he said and shook his head. “Nevermind, stupid question. I gotta go—”

“Why do you always gotta go?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Lately, you’ve been trying to do things on your own that can get you hurt or killed. Usually, you would get onto me about that! The first time you went out by yourself to save Cassidy, we weren’t able to save Cassi—” Cuphead widened his eyes when he noticed his brother tearing up. “Wait, does this have something to do with Cassidy?”

“Cuphead, please—”

“Answer the question.”

Mugman hugged himself, tearing up.

Cuphead waited patiently for his brother to answer.

Mugman looked up at his brother. “The Devil…he…he…” He collapsed on his knees, his wings withdrawn in his back as he was sobbing.

Cuphead kneeled down and rubbed his brother’s shoulder. This time, Chalice joined in and placed her hand on Mugman’s other shoulder.

“Hey, you ain’t gotta explain it if you can’t,” Chalice said while hugging Mugman from the side.

Porkrind approached the scene while rubbing his eye. “What’s the commotion? It’s in the middle of the night.”

Dice entered the entryway with a pot of coffee. “I was wondering what the sobbing sound.”

Porkrind arched a brow at the former gambler. “Why are you drinking coffee in the middle of the night? You know it’s gonna keep you up at night, right?”

“It’s kind of why I drink it.”

Porkrind shook his head with a sigh and shifted his gaze back at the kids. “You kids should head back to bed—”

“I-I can’t,” Mugman sobbed, hugging himself tighter.

“Why not?” Porkrind asked.

“Please, I don’t want to go back to sleep,” Mugman whimpered.

Dice looked at his half-empty coffee pot and held it over to Mugman. “Wanna take a drink?”

“What? Don’t give him that,” Porkrind scolded Dice.

“Why not? He obviously gets nightmares,” Dice replied with a deadpan stare.

Jerry entered the scene with a groan. “Guys, it’s in the middle of the night—can’t we all go back to sleep and worry in the morning?”

Mugman shook his head and stood up. “I can’t…I gotta go—”

“Go…where?” Dice asked.

Cuphead blocked the entrance. “No! You’re not going down to the Underworld again by yourself.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a dumb idea,” Dice responded while throwing the pot of coffee aside. “You guys just came out of there and you were in a coma for a couple of days while Canteen here got injured.”

Porkrind frowned when thinking about his kid. “Well, now we know where the entrance to the Devil’s lair is, we just need to update the map.”

“Yeah, and then we need to make a cure for Cassidy and make a thought-out plan to rescue her. Then we’ll be swell,” Dice responded with a bright grin.

“Now that’s an idea I can get behind,” Chalice encouraged. “There’s someone in jail who can help us make the cure. He’s able to help last time.”

“You’re not saying who I think you’re saying,” Porkrind growled with his arms crossed.

“He’s changed—”

Porkrind shook his head at Chalice’s comment. “Eh-eh, he doesn’t change in the span of overnight. Seems a little suspicious.”

“You do realize that he’s been in jail for a couple of weeks, right?” Chalice responded.

“Oh no, not him,” Cuphead groaned.

“Hey, he’s able to help your brother last time with the cure. I’m sure he’ll be up for it to help Cassi.”

Mugman relaxed a bit once he realized that everyone had already thought of a way to get Cassidy out of Hell. He frowned and took deep breaths.

“Great, we got a plan. Now, let’s get some sleep and do this in the morning,” Jerry determined.

“We don’t have much time,” Mugman uttered.

“What do you mean?” King Dice questioned. “She’s most likely just sticking with Big D while Big D rubs his hands evilly and thinking of a world-ending plan. I think we got a little time for sleep—”

“No, Devil already took her soul!” Mugman cried, collapsing on his knees.

“What?” Porkrind growled.

“I-I saw it…I saw the Devil taking her soul and putting her soul in the special soul-vault,” Mugman whimpered.

“Hey, that’s where I was when he took my soul,” Cuphead recalled.

“Are you sure that it wasn’t just a dream?” Jerry asked in fear.

Mugman’s lips wobbled. “I can’t even tell what’s real or a dream anymore.”

Porkrind clenched his jaw to keep himself from crying and huffed. He walked over by Mugman and pulled him up by his feet.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Porkrind determined.

“What?” Mugman uttered in surprise.

“Whoa, whoa, do we even have a foolproof plan to get into Hell?” Dice questioned the pig.

“Yeah, I got a plan. We’re gonna get that maniac out of jail and have him make a cure for Cassi. Then, we’re going down to Hell, rescue Cassi, and kill the Devil,” Porkrind responded with a growl as he was ready to head out of the door.

Dice raised his finger nervously. “Eh, technically, you can’t kill the Devil.”

“Then I guess I oughta knock him out cold,”Porkrind stated with a cold stare before leaving the base.

Dice and Jerry exchanged looks of confusion.

“We should catch up to him before he gets himself hurt,” Jerry responded.

“Yeah,” Dice agreed.

Both Dice and Jerry exited the base to catch up to Porkrind.

Chalice placed her hand on Mugman’s shoulder with a soft smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Cassidy out of this.”

“Yeah, and the Devil will pay for it,” Cuphead reassured his brother.

Mugman wiped the tears away with a small smile. “Okay.”

Natalie clenched her fists and pumped them up with a determined smile. “Now, let’s go kick some demon butt and rescue Cassi!”

Canteen nodded his head in agreement.

The six kids exited the base and hurried to catch up with the three adults.

~.~

 Chef Saltbaker sat alone in his cell with a bored look on his face. His head was resting on his hand while sitting on the creaky bed. The police had shut down the prison since Tremaine had infected half of the population of the town. Now, they barricaded the premises of the prison, not letting any infectees into the prison.

Saltbaker couldn’t do community service, which part of him was glad. But he was still banned from the kitchens and his sentence has been extended since he was in the kitchen to make the cure for Mugman. A little sacrifice won’t hurt…right? Well, if it weren’t for the fact that the sentencing went from five years to ten years, maybe he wouldn’t feel like he was tortured by boredom and Tabitha’s constant complaints of the prison’s condition.

He heard a clink sound from the bars and looked up to see the bug cop standing there with a baton.

“You got yourselves visitors,” the cop responded while referring to Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, Chalice, Cuphead, Mugman, Canteen, and Natalie approaching the cell.

“Ah, you still allow visitors. It makes being here less boring I suppose,” Saltbaker replied cheekily to the bug cop.

The cop rolled his eyes and turned to the others. “Ya got fifteen minutes.” He walked away from the group.

Porkrind instantly turned to the chef. “So, I heard you can make a cure for Tremaine.”

Saltbaker arched a brow and stood up from his bed, walking over to the bars dividing him and the group. “Well…yeah. That’s what extended my sentencing period.”

“Sorry,” Chalice uttered.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Is Mugman…?” Saltbaker noticed Mugman standing there without having Tremaine inside of him. “Oh good, it cured him.”

“Well, we’re going to need your help curing someone else,” Chalice uttered with a nervous smile.

Saltbaker tilted his head and looked at Canteen. “It’s not him, is it?”

“No…actually…it’s Cassi,” Mugman responded.

“That piece of burden?” Tabitha snarled.

“Mom, stop calling her that,” Natalie argued.

“Well, she is. No one remembers her fondly—”

Dice flicked one of his cards at her to keep Tabitha’s mouth shut.

“Ah, Cassidy. I remembered her fondly,” Saltbaker interrupted while looking at the scratch mark on his finger that appeared to be from a cat. “She’s probably the only one besides you kids who appreciates my cooking.”

“Yeah, and you’re gonna make a cure for her,” Porkrind growled with his arms crossed.

Saltbaker arched a brow. “Wait, how did she get Tremaine inside of her—?”

“The less you know, the better,” Porkrind snarled at the chef.

The chef sighed. “I would make the cure for her, but I’m trapped in this cell. If you have some genius plan to get me out and back into the kitchen, that would be swell—”

Chalice pulled out the key to his cell with a mischievous grin.

Saltbaker smirked back. “Oh, you’re good. But you’re also gonna need a distraction—”

They heard an explosion, drawing the bug cops’ attentions as they ran outside.

Cuphead and Canteen smirked and fist-bumped each other.

“You little gremlins,” Saltbaker responded with a chuckle.

Chalice unlocked the cell door, letting Saltbaker walk out of his cell. Saltbaker was guided out of the prison with Tabitha looking onward with jealousy written on her face.

Tabitha ripped the card out of her mouth and threw it aside. “You’re willing to let a maniac out of his own cell rather than your own mother, Natalie?”

Cuphead glared at Tabitha over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Natalie. “Don’t listen to her. She ain’t worth listenin’ to.”

Natalie frowned and snuggled close to Cuphead, who blushed a little.

“You and your sister are disappointments!” Tabitha called angrily. “That’s why your father left you both! If it weren’t for me, you both wouldn’t even get to this far! Your father doesn’t care about you!”

Natalie became fed up and whirled around with a glare at her mother, yanking herself out of Cuphead’s arm. “Call me a disappointment! I don’t care! But don’t you dare talk about Aurora like that! You’re supposed to be our mom!”

She started to tear up. “You’re supposed to protect us! But you don’t protect us! You’re the one who doesn’t care about us! You care about our status, our beauty, and your profit! You can call me a disappointment all you want, but you have no right to talk about Aurora the way you do! Aurora is not and will never be like you and me!”

She wiped her tears away, calming down a bit more. “I will stop trying to be like you, because I’m not you. I’m me. I’m Natalie Ruth. And I refuse to be anything else other than that.”

With that said, Natalie walked away and held Cuphead’s hand without hesitation. Cuphead blushed to the point where his face was completely red and the liquid in his head boiled. She was blushing too as he was holding her hand softly, caressing his thumb over her knuckles.

Natalie turned to look at Cuphead, who stared at her with sparkling eyes.

“You’re so beautiful…” Cuphead uttered before blinking and snapping out of his trance. “I mean…uh-hehe…let’s, um, focus on gettin’ Cassi out of hell.”

Natalie blushed and nodded her head.

They hurried out of the prison, following the group back to base while the cops were distracted by putting the fire out.

~.~

Porkrind, Dice, and Jerry snuck Saltbaker into the Howling Aces base with the kids behind them.

“Looks like everyone is still asleep,” Dice whispered to the others.

“Good, let’s get to work,” Saltbaker said while coming into the kitchen of the base. He looked through the ingredients and found honey and milk in the fridge, however, there was a small amount of milk left and more honey left behind. Saltbaker glanced over at Chalice with a frown on his face. He searched through the cabinets and found the med-kit and took out a syringe. He turned to the others, noticing them staring at him intently.

“Why do you need a syringe?” Jerry questioned the chef.

“Oh, it’s in the ingredients. To make the cure, you need to mix honey, milk, and the blood of the Calix Animi member,” Saltbaker responded.

“What if you’re lying about the ingredients like last time?” Porkrind asked with skepticism in his tone.

“Believe me, if I were lying about the ingredients, I wouldn’t even include the blood in the ingredients,” Saltbaker responded.

“I told him it was one of the ingredients when he made the cure last time,” Chalice added.

Porkrind arched a brow. “Oh, uh, okay. Wait, how did you know the ingredients?”

“Quadratus told us,” Cuphead replied with a bright smile.

“Quadratus?” Jerry questioned and glanced at Dice.

Dice shrugged his shoulders.

Saltbaker got out an empty bowl and started pouring all the milk and using as much as honey as he could. He looked at Chalice and then at the others until an idea struck him. “Say…Is that the member of the Calix Animi?”

The group looked behind them.

“Where?” Cuphead asked excitedly.

Canteen looked back and noticed Chalice extending her arm while Saltbaker was using the syringe to draw blood out of Chalice’s arm that wasn’t bandaged. He squirted the blood into the bowl from the syringe and bandaged Chalice’s other arm after he put down the syringe. Canteen gave the chef a deadpan stare while watching it unfold. When the group turned around to look at him, Saltbaker started mixing Chalice’s blood with milk and honey.

“There’s no one behind us,” Jerry replied with a deadpan stare.

“Oh, really? I thought I saw someone,” Saltbaker said while beads of sweat form on the side of his head.

Canteen clenched his teeth while Saltbaker continued to mix the ingredients until the bright blue glow exploded suddenly.

“Good gravy!” Saltbaker shouted, causing everyone to gasp.

“SHHH!!!” Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, and the kids shushed Saltbaker.

They suddenly heard footsteps running to the kitchen.

O’Fera appeared from the side door. “Did someone get hurt?”

She froze when she noticed Chef Saltbaker in her kitchen in his black and white striped pajamas, mixing unknown ingredients in the bowl that was glowing blue. She looked to see Chalice scratching the bandage on her other arm nervously and then back up at Saltbaker. She noticed a bloody syringe on the counter next to the bowl.

Saltbaker moved his eyes at the bloody syringe and then back at the sergeant. “It’s not what it looks like—”

“You used a child for your own sick cooking experiments?” O’Fera growled at Saltbaker, ready to attack him.

“No, it’s not like that,” Chalice responded quickly to diffuse the situation. “He’s makin’ the cure for Tremaine.”

“Yeah,” Cuphead added.

O’Fera calmed down a bit. “And he’s the only who can make it, because—”

“He’s an expert on making magical foods,” Chalice explained.

“Oh, like that Wondertart incident he almost cooked up one time?” O’Fera questioned while giving the chef a withering glare.

Saltbaker laughed nervously. “It was only one time.”

“And you went to jail for it,” she snarled.

“Right…” Saltbaker responded. “But hey, I’ve changed now.”

“Really?” O’Fera replied. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

The chef rolled his eyes with a groan.

The familiar brown rat popped out from the top of Mugman’s porcelain head. “Vill vu all chust sdop schouding for fiffe zeconds? Vu’re ruining mein peauty sleep.”

“Hey! What are you still doing in Mugman’s head?!” Cuphead shouted at Werner angrily.

Werner laid his chin on the edge of Mugman’s porcelain head. “It’s nice und cosy up here.”

“Werner, get out of his head,” O’Fera demanded tiredly.

“Nein!” Werner said while ducking back into Mugman’s head.

Mugman rubbed his arm with a nervous laugh at the others.

O��Fera rolled her eyes at the rat and looked at the chef. “Alright, first off, who are you making the cure for? Because it doesn’t look like this can be given to multiple people.”

“It’s for Cassidy,” Porkrind responded with his arms crossed.

O’Fera’s brow quirked up. “And you let Saltbaker out in the middle of the night because—?”

“The Devil has her soul in the soul vault,” Mugman explained.

O’Fera squinted in confusion. “How?”

Werner popped out his head out of Mugman’s head again. “Does the liquid in your head glow plue veneffer vu haffe ein ‘fizion’?”

“Uh…I don’t know,” Mugman answered.

“Hmm, schtrange,” Werner responded while climbing out of Mugman’s head and landed on his shoulder. He sat down and pondered for a moment, his clothes soaked from being in the liquid in Mugman’s cup head. “How often do vu get fizions?”

“Uh…every night,” Mugman answered.

Werner nodded his head in understanding. “Okay. Vo’s Cazi?”

“Uh…my girlfriend,” the mug responded.

“Ah, vu are romandically infolffed I zee. I honestly neffer zee vu vith any girl. Glad I vas broffen vrong,” Werner replied with a smirk.

“Alright, can we get back to the subject at hand?” O’Fera interrupted. “Look, it’s in the middle of the night and—”

“Please, Sergeant,” Mugman begged. “If we don’t save Cassi now, who knows what the Devil is going to do to her sooner than later. I know that it’s risky and you probably don’t think it’s safe, but please…I—” he clenched his teeth to withhold the tears. “—I want to help her in any way I can. Please, let me help her.”

O’Fera frowned at the sight of Mugman almost ready to break down in tears with a little whine. With a sigh, she crossed her arms loosely. “You’re not going down there…”

Mugman frowned and looked away.

“…Without reinforcements,” she finished with a small soft smile.

Mugman perked his head up with his eyes widened. Everyone else smiled at Sergeant O’Fera, who drew her brows in determination.

“We know the entrance to Hell here, right?” O’Fera asked the others.

“Yep,” Dice responded.

“Right where you picked us up last time,” Chalice replied.

O’Fera nodded her head in understanding. “I got a plan on how we can get in.”

~.~

Throughout the isle, there were more and more infectees eating the remaining food in the shops until they eat from the trashcans. The silhouette of a long plane flew over them, catching some of their attention. Up in the night sky, the plane flew in the shape of a dachshund with windows on each side of the plane. It had a face of a dachshund with long ears and a bow used as a propeller. Within the long plane, Mugman looked out of the window to find the volcano they were circling around to enter into Hell.

Mugman felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to find Cuphead rubbing his shoulder.

“You ready?” Cuphead asked his brother.

Mugman drew his brows together in determination and nodded his head.

Werner popped out from Mugman’s head. “Alright! Let’s get ready! Ve’re apout to chump into Hell!”

Mugman and Cuphead looked to see Brineybeard, Ribby, and Croaks aboard on the plane along with Bulldog and the pups known as the Yankee Yippers. Porkrind took his hammer out while Jerry loaded his guns. Dice practiced his card magic for combat. Saltbaker held onto the cure in the syringe, leaning against the wall.

Natalie rubbed her arm nervously while Chalice patted her back to reassure her that everything will be alright. However, Chalice noticed Canteen sitting in the shadows, rubbing his bandaged arm. She went over to him and sat next to him.

“Ya ready to get Cassidy?” Chalice asked with a bright smile.

Canteen faked a grin and nodded a bit. “Yeah, a little. Although. I think I should stay back with the Howling Aces.”

“Why?” Chalice questioned.

“I, um, not a good fighter…” Canteen uttered sadly. “I think it’s best if you guys go without me. That way I won’t weigh you down.”

Chalice frowned with a brow arched.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be safe,” Canteen reassured Chalice.

“Okay, if you say so,” Chalice responded sadly.

Canteen frowned when she got up and walk away, not knowing he was approached by Bulldog and Charlie Left-legs.

O’Fera was driving the plane with Murray sitting next to her. “Prepare for landing.”

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.

The plane landed on all four paws on the edge of the volcano. Everyone got out of the plane with Bulldog setting up the crane and platform while Charlie strung up his webs so that it could hold the platform and connected to crane.

“Bulldog, Charlie, and Canteen, stay here and wait till I signal you guys to pull us up,” O’Fera stated. She looked at the others. “Brineybeard, Ribby, Croaks, Saltbaker, and Werner, go with the kids. Porkrind, Dice, Jerry, and Murray, you’re coming with me to get Cassidy’s soul.

The group nodded their heads in agreement. O’Fera hopped onto the platform, signaling Porkrind, Dice, Murray, and Jerry to come with her.

They stepped onto the platform and Charlie lowered the platform into the volcano. The group was lowered into the volcano.

Dice glanced at O’Fera with a brow quirked up. “Do you know how to get souls out of the soul vault without trading your soul?”

“Do you?” O’Fera questioned.

“Yeah…”

“Then that’s one reason why you’re coming with us,” O’Fera responded. “Do you know where we can free Cassi’s soul?”

Dice cracked his knuckles. “Yep. I know this place from the back of my hand.”

Once the platform landed on the ground into the underworld, Dice stepped off of it, leading his group through Hell to get to the library.

It was the kids’ turn along with Brineybeard, Saltbaker, Ribby, and Croaks. As they were getting onto the platform, Chalice looked back at Canteen with a frown. Canteen softly smiled at her in reassurance that he will be alright up here with Charlie and Bulldog. He waved at her for good luck as the platform was being lowered by Charlie.

Saltbaker noticed this exchange between Chalice and Canteen and placed a hand on her shoulder with a soothing rub. The lower they went, the more determined the kids became to rescue their friend.

~.~

Dice led O’Fera, Murray, Porkrind, and Jerry through the hallways of Hell.

“We’re almost there,” Dice informed the group.

They snuck towards the library while Dice went towards the door and checked to see if the coast was clear. His eyes widened when he saw a couple of imps cleaning the library. Dice hid behind the door and looked at the others, shaking his head.

O’Fera, Porkrind, Murray, and Jerry peeked inside to find the imps dusting the shelves. Jerry took out a smoke bomb from his jacket, but was stopped by Murray.

“I got this one,” Murray whispered to them and snuck into the library.

The others watched intently while Murray was sneaking up to the imps.

Murray placed his heads on their heads, controlling their memories that would paralyze them. The imps fell onto the ground, trembling from the powers.

“Okay, the coast is clear,” Murray whispered to the others.

O’Fera came in while looking at Murray both impressed and shocked. “How did you do that?”

Murray rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll explain it once we’re done here.”

O’Fera smirked at him with her arms crossed.

Dice climbed up to the shelves where all the soul contracts used to be, only noticing one in the C-section. They all could assume that it might be Cassidy’s contract. Dice brought the contract out and looked to see that there was no signature but there was a sentence written in bronze.

“A deal was made by the handshake.”

No wonder Cassidy didn’t sign her name. She shook hands with the Devil.

Dice climbed back down to the others, not realizing another small contract fell out of the one he was holding.

Porkrind picked it up and opened it up to see that it had his own signature and Jerry’s.

Jerry peeked over his shoulder and gasped.

“We’ve never made any deals with him,” Porkrind growled.

“Look, he forged our signatures to give up Cassidy’s soul,” Jerry pointed out.

“Are you kidding me?” Porkrind growled.

Dice looked around the library. “Guys, we need to make this quick.”

Murray and O’Fera witnessed Porkrind putting the contract on the ground and Dice getting another upside down cross from the wall. He flipped it over, letting it glow bright in his hand.

Dice dropped the cross onto Cassidy’s contract, burning it. The bright glow took over in a shape of a cross and disappeared without a trace.

“Whoa,” Dice uttered in shock. “We did it.”

“We need to find Cassidy,” Jerry determined, opening the door and rushing out.

“Jerry, wait!” Porkrind called while chasing after him. Dice followed after them.

O’Fera and Murray hurried after the guys and followed them towards the soul vault where they froze instantly in shock. They saw a faded glow from a figure holding Cassidy’s soul.

“Hey!” Porkrind shouted before the glowing figure disappeared with Cassidy’s soul in his arms.

“What’s that?!” Jerry shouted in panic.

“It’s not the Devil at least,” Dice responded nervously.

“Come on! We got to find her!” Porkrind replied in panic.

Everyone rushed through the soul vault, looking for Cassidy’s soul.

~.~

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Ribby questioned Mugman as they were walking through the hallways towards the dungeons.

Mugman nodded his head.

Werner popped out of Mugman’s ceramic head with a withering glare at Ribby. “Hey, don’t gueszion zee mug. He knovs vere he’s koing!”

“Hey, since when did you start believing in Mugsy?” Cuphead questioned the rat.

“Zince he’s schowed his bovers,” Werner answered plainly.

“I got powers too,” Cuphead responded.

“Ha! Zee only zuberpover vu kot vas peing Hannoying,” Werner said while laughing at the cup.

Cuphead growled, his eyes turned flaming red as his fists started to become aflame.

Werner stopped laughing and looked at Cuphead in fear. He ducked his head into Mugman’s ceramic head.

Brineybeard patted Cuphead’s shoulder. “Why don’t we calm down? Who knows wha’ could lurkin’ around here?”

“The pirate is right,” Saltbaker said while holding the syringe close. “The demons might be nearby and your glowing fists might draw their attention to us.”

Chalice sighed while rubbing her hands. “Oh, I hope Canteen is doing okay up there. He ain’t the same as he was ever since we tried to get Cassidy out of here the first time.”

“Really? He seemed to be the same to me,” Saltbaker responded.

“I don’t know. He ain’t as talkative as he used to be,” Chalice responded.

“Yeah, I did notice that,” Natalie replied.

“Might have to check on him once we get back,” Chalice responded.

“Guys, we’re here,” Mugman alerted the group.

Croaks and Ribby ran ahead of them.

“Guys, wait!” Saltbaker alerted them.

“Cassi!” Ribby called.

“Cassi!” Croaks joined, searching within the cells until they found the silver door.

Ribby looked through the window along with Croaks.

“Oh no, Cassi!” Ribby shouted.

“Hang on!” Croaks growled in determination and used his shoulder to bash the silver door.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, you’re making too much noise,” Saltbaker whispered to the frogs harshly.

Cuphead touched the silver door, having it melt in his hands to reveal Cassidy’s soulless body laying against the wall.

Mugman gasped and ran towards her, sliding on his knees beside her. “C-Cassi?” He moved her black bangs out of her face to see her fully. He tried to hold in the tears when he was seeing her like this.

“Hurry,” Chalice ordered.

Saltbaker rushed towards her until he noticed her opening her eyes, red with white slit pupils. With a gasp, Saltbaker grabbed Mugman by the handle. Mugman screeched and zapped Saltbaker, electrocuting him.

“Ow! I’m trying to save your life!” Saltbaker shouted at Mugman, his veins glowing blue.

Mugman breathed heavily with Werner popping out of his head with sparks around his body.

“Ow, that really hurts,” Werner groaned in pain, losing his German accent.

They heard Cassidy laughing evilly, causing everyone to widen their eyes in fear.

“Zat’s your girlfriend?” Werner questioned.

Mugman nodded his head with a sigh of admiration. “Yeah…”

Werner gave the mug teen a deadpan stare. “Ve’re zubozed to pe afraid of your girlfriend, not Hadmiring her.”

The walls fell away from them as if they had been tricked to think they were in the dungeons. But they were in the grand throne room, surrounded by imps and demons. The Devil was sitting at the throne, his veins glowing orange.

“Well, well, look who shows up for a little rescue mission,” The Devil stated while using his fingers to control Cassidy’s body.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Ribby shouted.

“Yeah!” Croaks added.

Before they could charge at the Devil for controlling Cassidy like a puppet, the imps came forward with their weapons.

Ribby and Croaks clenched their fists, ready to fight.

Brineybeard took out his sword and stood in front of Natalie to defend her.

Cuphead clenched his fists, the red flames glowing.

Chalice turned into a ghost with a determined look on her face.

The blue sparks came out of Mugman’s body, his glare set on the Devil.

Werner ducked back into Mugman’s head and then coming back up with a mini-gun aimed at the imps around them.

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Devil mocked them. “I have enough patience as it is. I have been waiting for this moment when I can finally kill you all. Now…let’s get the party started, shall we?”

The imps charged towards the others.

Ribby and Croaks yelled out their battle-cry and threw punches at the imps, knocking down every single one of them coming at them.

Brineybeard slashed through the demons with his sword while Werner was firing his mini gun at the imps from Mugman’s head.

Cassidy threw a fireball at Natalie, but it was intercepted by Cuphead. Cuphead threw the fireball back at Cassidy with his wings spread out. Cassidy grabbed the fireball and held it for a brief while.

Mugman zoomed towards Devil, causing Werner to fall back into the mug’s head. He did not hesitate to throw punches at the Devil, letting the sparks fly out of his hands to electrocute the Devil.

The Devil took a hit, his body convulsing a bit until he managed to control himself and smacking Mugman in the face with the back of his pitchfork. He raised his hands up to control Cassidy’s body, turning her around to aim the fireball at Mugman. Before she could throw it, Chalice jumped into her body as a ghost and possessed her, yanking the aim to Devil instead. The fireball was thrown at the Devil, hitting his body.

Cassidy had blue eyes instead of red, indicating that Chalice was possessing her temporary.

“Hurry, Saltbaker! I don’t know how much longer I can hold her!” Chalice shouted with Cassidy’s voice.

Saltbaker nodded his head and rushed towards Cassidy.

Devil noticed Saltbaker running towards Cassidy with the cure in his hand. The demon growled and used his telepathic powers to shove Saltbaker away from Cassidy, sending him flying towards Ribby and Croaks. He took back Cassidy’s body under his possession, shoving Chalice out of Cassidy’s body.

Saltbaker shrieked and crashed against the frogs, knocking them back away from the imps.

Brineybeard gasped and hurried to defend the others by slashing at the incoming imps attacking them. “Are you guys okay?”

“Never better,” Saltbaker groaned.

Mugman drew his brows together and charged towards Devil, tackling him off the throne.

Cuphead was about help, but the imps were piling up on him. He threw his fists at them to get them away from him. Natalie noticed this while breathing heavily in fear. She looked to see Chalice being shoved out of Cassidy’s body, reverting her back to her physical form. Chalice groaned in pain and looked up to Cassidy forming fireballs in her paws.

Before Cassidy would throw a fire ball at Chalice, a mini cannonball crashed between her and Chalice. It blew up before they both could question what it was.

Chalice gasped and looked to the side to see Canteen holding a pistol. He jumped between Cassidy and Chalice with a glare at her, earning Chalice’s bright smile.

“If you want to hurt her, you’re going to have to get through me,” Canteen growled, his gun aimed at her.

Cuphead noticed Canteen standing between Cassidy and Chalice while Bulldog and Charlie entered the scene with Esther tagging along with them.

Bulldog took out his M60 machine gun and fired the bullets at the imps, backing them away from Cuphead and Brineybeard.

Charlie threw bombs in his webs at the imps while Esther fired her shotgun at the imps attacking Brineybeard.

Mugman punched the Devil continuously and sent sparks onto the Devil’s body until someone familiar knocked him away from the Devil. Mugman groaned in pain and looked up. His breathing stopped and his mind went blank. He could only stare in horror to see a familiar tiger standing over him, his stomach opened and an orange glow in his veins.

Devil stood back up with a condescending smirk. “You remember Hunter, don’t you?”

Mugman had tears trickling down to his face, watching Hunter approaching him closer. When Hunter leaned down to meet Mugman’s eye-level, a smirk came to his face.

“It’s nice to see you again, little animal,” Hunter snarled.

Werner popped out of Mugman’s head. “Hey, vo are vu calling little animal?!” Angrily, Werner hopped onto Hunter’s forehead, slamming his fists between the tiger’s eyes with a battle-cry.

Before Devil could step in to help Hunter, a wooden hammer slammed into his face and knocked him back. Devil growled in pain and looked to see Porkrind gripping the hammer with a pissed-off look on his face. The Devil laughed and more arms were pulled from his sides to scare the pig.

Jerry came into the scene and used the other arms out of his trench-coat to pull out his pistols. “Two can play that game.”

Before Devil could attack both Jerry and Porkrind, two cards blocked his eyes. Devil screamed and ripped them off, realizing Dice was right beside him and holding his pitchfork to aim it at Devil.

“Don’t make me use this,” Dice growled.

O’Fera and Murray jumped into the scene, helping Cuphead and Charlie with the imps with O’Fera firing her gun and Murray jumping into the imps’ memories and torturing them with it. Bulldog joined O’Fera, firing at the imps.

O’Fera looked at Bulldog. “Wait, who’s at the edge?!”

“Djimmi, Cagney, Hilda, and Bowlboy! Don’t worry, they’ll lift us up once we let them know!” Bulldog shouted in determination.

Natalie was the only one not fighting the imps. She didn’t know what to do until she noticed Cassidy ready to fire another fireball at Canteen. Chalice got up and gripped Canteen’s bandage shoulder with a glare at possessed Cassidy.

Natalie had to think of something to do. She noticed the Devil controlling her despite being attacked by Porkrind, Jerry, and Dice while Mugman couldn’t move an inch from noticing Hunter and Werner attacking Hunter. Natalie wondered if she could get Cassidy away from the Devil. That’s when an idea struck her. She took off her pink high-heels and threw one of them at Cassidy’s head. Cassidy got hit in the head by the shoes and looked at Natalie.

“Come get me!” Natalie shouted and ran off.

Cassidy grinned evilly and chased after Natalie.

Chalice and Canteen gasped in shock and chased after Cassidy.

Saltbaker noticed this and decided to hurry after the other kids.

Natalie lured Cassidy through the halls of Hell, hoping to get her friend further enough away from the Devil for him to lose control of her. However, Natalie hit a dead end and gasped in fear. She turned to find Cassidy creeping closer to her, a fireball ready in her paw until she crossed an invisible line. Her veins no longer glowed orange and she slumped forward, her fur pale as if she had no soul within her.

Natalie smiled in relief and noticed Chalice and Canteen approaching them. Chalice widened her eyes and noticed Saltbaker rushing besides Cassidy, injecting the cure into her body. Cassidy vomited out Tremaine, but she was still slumped forward.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Saltbaker shouted to the kids while picking Cassidy up in his arms.

The kids nodded their heads in agreement and hurried back to the others.

~.~

Mugman watched Werner slamming his tiny fists against Hunter’s forehead before Hunter thrusted Werner against the wall.

“Ow!” Werner yelped.

Hunter turned back to Mugman, who breathed heavily in fear. “You know, I should be thanking you for killing me. I can come back more powerful thanks to you.”

Cuphead noticed Hunter approaching his brother, his brows drawn together. He zoomed towards the tiger and punched him square in the face. “You get away from my brudda! If you ever come near him again, I’ll kill you myself! Ya hear me?!”

As Cuphead was saying this, his body started to burn up in pure anger and vengeance while growing more orange phoenix feathers in his body.

Mugman widened his eyes in shock to see his brother defending him.

Cuphead turned to his brother. “You okay, Mugsy?”

Mugman noticed Hunter forming a fireball. “CUPHEAD, LOOK OUT!!!”

Cuphead turned too late as Hunter shot a fireball at the cup, knocking him back away from his brother.

“CUPHEAD!” Mugman cried, breathing heavily. He looked back at Hunter, who laughed.

“Now, your annoying brother won’t interfere,” Hunter growled at Mugman.

Mugman gritted his teeth in anger and stood up with blue tears streaming down on his face. “Don’t you call him that. Only I get to call him that!”

With that said, the sparks grew larger around Mugman’s body. Mugman’s blue feathers glowed around his torso and his eyes glowed blue, charging towards the tiger and punching his face while electrocuting him.

“You don’t come near me, my brother, my dad, Elder Kettle, and Cassidy ever again! I won’t let you use me to hurt my family again!” Mugman cried, slamming his fists against the tiger’s face before finally shoving him back against the wall.

Dice, Jerry, Porkrind, and Devil noticed before Porkrind landed the last punch at Devil.

Dice dropped the pitchfork when he noticed Saltbaker running out of the hallway with Cassidy in his arms and Chalice, Canteen, and Natalie following him.

“Guys! We got her! Let’s go!” Saltbaker shouted.

Mugman switched his gaze over to find Cassidy’s soulless body in Saltbaker’s arms. He dashed towards Cuphead to pick him up and then to Cassidy, picking her off of Saltbaker’s arms.

“What the—?” Saltbaker uttered with a confused look.

“We got to go! More are coming!” Esther pointed at more imps coming towards them.

O’Fera led the group consisting of Bulldog, Murray, Dice, Porkrind, Jerry, Charlie, and Esther towards Saltbaker and his group.

Brineybeard, Ribby, and Croaks joined the others and ran towards the exit as fast as they could.

Werner rushed behind them, climbing up on one of Brineybeard’s wooden peg legs and onto the pirate’s broad shoulder.

Devil growled. “You don’t just get to run away!” He looked at his imps. “AFTER THEM!”

The imps chased the others through the hallways, following Mugman towards the exit. Mugman flew up through the volcano exit while the others jumped onto the platform.

“PULL US UP!!” Bulldog shouted as the platform was being pulled up immediately by Cagney, Djimmi, and Hilda.

Bowlboy stood and watched in shock while the others were being pulled up. “Hurry!”

Everyone hurried to dissemble the crane and get onto the plane. O’Fera controlled the plane to take off and get away from the entrance of Hell for good.

~.~

 Elder Kettle waited at the Howling Aces’ base with Sally, Aurora, and Philip along with the Root Pack, the Moonshine Mob, the Casino gang, and the Yankee Yippers.

“Are they gonna make it?” Ollie asked with a trembling voice.

“I hope so,” Elder Kettle responded.

They heard someone approaching the front door, looking up in fear and anticipation until the door opened to reveal Mugman carrying both Cassidy and Cuphead in his arms.

Mugman had blue feathers glowing as he carried them inside of the base towards the others.

“Oh dear,” Sally uttered in shock.

“Are they dead?” Ollie questioned tearfully.

Mugman collapsed on his knees, holding them tightly. The tears started to trickle down on Mugman’s cheeks.

A couple of tears landed on Cuphead’s cracked face, instantly shocking him and waking him up.

Cuphead snapped his eyes awake with a gasp. “Whoa! What the—?” He realized he was in Mugman’s arms and crawled out of it. “Mugsy—” he looked to notice Cassidy laying in his arms without her soul. “Oh…”

“I’m sorry,” Mugman uttered to Cuphead.

“For what?”

“For not being a good brother. For not being good enough to protect you,” Mugman responded.

“Hey, you ain’t a bad brother. And you’ve always protected me. It’s me who doesn’t protect you enough,” Cuphead said sadly.

Ollie started to sob.

“Ollie, no,” Sal warned the onion.

Mugman held Cassidy closely as the others hurried inside of the base.

“We’re back!” Djimmi announced before noticing Mugman holding soulless Cassidy. The genie turned to Porkrind and Jerry to see their sad looks. “What happened with Cassidy’s soul?”

“Some glowing figure took her soul,” Dice responded. “We don’t know what it was, but—”

“The Most High,” Mugman gasped when the adults mentioned the glowing figure. He held her tighter until he broke down in tears. “Why? Why did you take her from me?”

Porkrind frowned and tried to hold in his tears. Jerry placed a hand on Porkrind’s shoulder, comforting him.

Everyone gathered around dead Cassidy as Ollie begin to cry to see someone dead. Ollie’s stench caused the others to start sniffling.

~.~

Cassidy woke up to a bright glowing light carrying her out of Hell.

Part of her didn’t know who the figure under the glowing light was, but once she was out of Hell and into a brighter place, she almost understood who it was.

The Most High carried her soul towards the golden gates as the gates opened for him to walk through. “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Cassidy frowned and snuggled close to Most High’s chest. She nodded her head. “I’m sorry…I wasn’t thinking clearly and I’m…I shouldn’t have made deals with the Devil.”

“That’s true. You shouldn’t have. But I see why you did. You didn’t think you’re loved. Didn’t you know that it’s a lie that was created for a long time?” The Most High asked her.

“It didn’t feel like a lie. It felt like it was truth.”

The Most High set Cassidy down on her feet. “Well, I like you to meet someone who will tell you otherwise.” The Most High gestured Cassidy to look forward.

Cassidy looked forward to find a grassy field with various of multi-color flowers. Up ahead, she could see two red felines running to her. They were adults and…she instantly recognized them.

“Mom? Dad?”

Jack and Shayna slid on their knees and hugged their daughter with cries of joy.

“My precious baby!” Shayna whimpered into her daughter’s shoulders.

Jack kissed the top of Cassidy’s head. “We love you so much, sweetheart. More than anything in this world.”

“Really?” Cassidy asked, her voice cracked.

“Of course,” Shayna, Cassidy’s mother, replied while wiping the tears away from her daughter’s face. “Look at you. You’re all grown up.”

Cassidy started to sob while snuggling her parents. “Why did you guys leave me?”

“Oh, baby,” Jack choked back tears.

Shayna wiped her own tears away. “I left you with Po to keep you safe from the Night Stalkers. It was only to keep you safe, honey. If I can come back for you, I would’ve…but…life had other plans.”

Cassidy blinked her eyes. “Po? You mean…?”

“Yeah, your adopted dad,” Shayna answered.

Cassidy tilted her head. “How come he never told me anything about you guys?”

Shayna frowned and looked to the side.

Cassidy glanced to the side and saw a cloud playing a memory of Porkrind collapsing on his knees in the snow.

“Shay?” Porkrind uttered on his knees.

Shayna looked back at Cassidy. “He tends to bottle things up. I wish he wouldn’t. It would catch up to him at the end. Maybe you can help me through that the same way he helped you through your childhood.”

Cassidy watched more memories of Porkrind defending her from bullies along with Jerry. She widened her eyes to find Jerry jumping into the lake when Cassidy was thrown into it by her bullies and Porkrind punching the teacher for calling Cassidy a burden. She also noticed the memories where she was dancing with Porkrind to practice her date with Mugman. She saw that she was dancing with Jerry when she wanted to go to Natalie’s birthday party. She saw Dice playing cards with her, Jerry, and Porkrind with Dice shutting Tabitha up so that they could play cards together without Tabitha making a comment.

She saw Mugman complimenting her when reading beside her one time and calling her an angel. She also saw Chalice and Cuphead prioritizing what Cassidy desires for her birthday along with Canteen defending her when Natalie tried to make suggestions that would go her way.

She also saw Ribby and Croaks being happy whenever she came around to visit them along with Cagney, Hilda, and Goopy Le Grande. Even there were memories of Djimmi the Great giggling at Cassidy’s antics as a kitten.

Most of all, she saw Natalie not being a good friend to her by walking all over and getting Cassidy to do things she wants. However, she also saw that Natalie was the one who rescued Cassidy out of the tree trunk and would defend Cassidy whenever someone made a snide remark at Cassidy.

Cassidy started to cry when she saw everyone surrounding her soulless body and crying. Mugman holding her and sobbing into her chest. Ribby and Croaks were crying into each other’s shoulders to see Cassidy like this while Porkrind was trying to hold in his tears until he finally collapsed on his knees, sobbing. Jerry hugged Porkrind from the side, joined in by Dice placing a hand on Porkrind’s shoulder. Cuphead whimpered a bit from the onion stench while Murray and Elder Kettle hugged him. Natalie sobbed to see her friend like this along with Aurora. Chalice and Canteen comforted Natalie and Aurora, trying to hold in their tears as well.

“They love me,” Cassidy uttered.

“Yes, they do,” The Most High replied.

“I’m…I’m not a burden to them,” Cassidy added.

“You never were, Cassidy,” The Most High said. “And you never will be to me. You are loved by me and everyone who you call family. Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

“It’s going to be easy for me to forget,” Cassidy responded.

“Then I will remind you along with the others of how much loved you are,” The Most High replied.

Shayna and Jack stood beside her.

The Most High looked at Cassidy. “You can stay or you can go. It’s your choice.”

Cassidy looked at the memories in tears. She looked up at her real parents, who were smiling at them. Then she noticed the cups, who were smiling at her too.

Cassidy wiped her tears away. “I want to go back to them.”

The Most High nodded his head. “Then you shall go back to them.”

“Can we hug our daughter before she leaves?” Jack requested.

The Most High nodded his head. “Of course.”

Jack and Shayna pulled Cassidy into a hug for one last time as all three of them purred.

“Will I see you guys again?” Cassidy asked her parents.

“Of course, you will,” Jack responded.

Shayna kissed her daughter’s forehead and looked into her daughter’s eyes. “Po and Jerry did such a good job raising such a beautiful girl like you.”

“They sure did,” Jack agreed.

Cassidy sniffled and wiped her tears away.

“Don’t be angry at Po,” Shay reminded Cassidy. “He bottled a lot of things up, but he shows more emotion when you’re around. Can you tell him that I’m proud of him for me?”

“Yeah, of course,” Cassidy replied while wiping the tears away.

“Thank you,” Shayna responded while her parents let Cassidy go.

The Most High extended his hand out for Cassidy. “Are you ready?”

Cassidy nodded her head and grabbed his hand. “Yeah.”

“Good,” The Most High said as he guided her into the memory where everyone was surrounding her at the Howling Aces base.

~.~

 The cries faded from Ollie with the stench fading from the air. However, half of the group were still sobbing like Natalie and Aurora. Both of the girls were comforted by Brineybeard holding them close like they were his own daughters.

Cassidy’s soul watched them still gathered around and looked to see Djimmi sighing.

“We gotta bury her,” Djimmi responded.

“No,” Mugman whimpered. “Give me five more minutes with her.”

O’Fera frowned and looked away, wiping the remaining tears away.

Cassidy’s soul shook her head and entered back into her body without anyone being aware. However, Werner noticed color coming back to Cassidy’s body.

Mugman noticed Cassidy’s felt warmer than expected. Before he could question the sudden warmness, he heard purring. He gasped and looked at her, noticing her fluttering her eyes open to wake up.

Everyone gasped at the sight with both in happiness and shock.

Cassidy glanced up and the first person she saw was Mugman. “Mugsy…?”

“Angel…?” Mugman uttered in tears. He buried his head against her forehead, sobbing.

She caressed his face, crying along with him.

“I thought I lost you,” Mugman uttered.

She rubbed her face against his, purring louder than before. “I love you too.”

He held her tighter, his wings extended to wrap around her.

She gasped in shock. “Whoa, you got wings?!”

Mugman giggled and placed her on the floor, letting her sit up and looking at his wings. “Yeah. You missed a lot.”

“Wow,” she responded with a blush.

“Yeah.”

She looked to see Porkrind, who was now tearing up. “Dad?”

Porkrind immediately rushed up to her and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. “I miss you so much!”

“I miss you too, Dad,” Cassidy responded.

Jerry approached beside Porkrind.

“Jerry!” Cassidy cried while leaping into Jerry’s arms.

Jerry hugged her with all of his sick arms. “Oh, Cassi, you’re alive!”

Ribby and Croaks ran towards Cassidy. “CASSI!” They picked her up from Jerry’s arms and hugged the red feline.

“We misses ya,” Ribby whimpered.

“The Devil will pay for what he did to you!” Croaks responded out of vengeance.

“Guys, guys, I’m okay,” Cassidy reassured the frog brothers. “I miss you both too.”

Cagney swept Cassidy off of Ribby and Croaks’ arms and spun her around. “It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you!”

“Oh, we got so much catching up to do,” Hilda replied excitedly.

“Where’s Goopy?” Cassidy asked Hilda and Cagney.

“Uh…no idea,” Cagney responded.

“CASSI!”

Cassidy was suddenly tackled out of Cagney’s hold by Cuphead. Cuphead twirled around and hugged. “You’re back! You’re back! You’re back!”

“Careful, Cuphead, you’re going to crush her bones!” Mugman hurried to Cuphead to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Cassidy.

Chalice and Canteen approached Cassidy.

“It’s good to have you back, Cassi,” Chalice replied warmly and hugged her.

“It’s good to be back—” Cassidy noticed Canteen’s bandaged arm. “Did I—?”

“Not intentionally,” Canteen answered. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Cassidy noticed Aurora running up to her.

“Cassi!!” Aurora shouted with joy.

Cassidy picked Aurora up and spun her around in a hug. “Aw, Rori!”

She looked up at Natalie, who gave her a frown. She rubbed her arm and gave a deep sigh.

“Cassi…”

Cassidy put Aurora down and listened to Natalie intently.

Natalie sighed heavily and looked into the feline’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Cassidy’s gaze softened.

“I’m sorry that I called you a burden…I’m sorry that I pressured to do things that I only want…I-I’m sorry for being a terrible friend. I will understand if you don’t forgive me. I wasn’t the friend you deserved. I was caught up in being like Mom that I was pushing you away. But I won’t try to be her. I want to be a better friend to you. You deserve to have a better friend than how I treated you back then and—”

Cassidy hugged Natalie, interrupting her speech. “I forgive you.”

Natalie clenched her jaw and hugged her back, crying into her shoulder.

Brineybeard smiled proudly at Natalie.

Cassidy and Natalie broke away while Mugman approached beside Cassidy and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Cuphead approached beside Natalie and held her hand with a soft proud smile at her. They both blushed at each other, but they still held hands.

Chalice and Canteen stood side by side as Chalice glanced at Canteen and smirked at him.

“Hey, Hughes,” Chalice called.

“Hm?” Canteen questioned.

“You are a hero today,” she responded. “Do you know what heroes get when they save damsels in distress?”

“Uh…I have think about all the stories I read and—”

Chalice kissed his cheek with a blush on her face. “They get a kiss on the cheek, silly.”

Canteen blushed madly. “Oh…”

“I’m trying to say thank you for saving me.”

“Right, right,” Canteen answered with his face becoming more red.

Cassidy looked up at Porkrind, who smiled at her. She pulled out of Mugman’s hold and climbed up on her father’s shoulder. She rubbed her head against his. “Thank you, Dad, for everything.”

Porkrind smiled softly and hugged her.

“And Dad?”

“Hm?”

“Mom is proud of you.”

Porkrind widened his eye in shock. “Huh?”

“Um…I saw her up in Heaven and she wanted me to tell you how proud she is for you and how you raised me.”

Porkrind softened his gaze while slightly freaked out. “You’ve seen your parents?”

Cassidy nodded her head.

“I’m sorry I haven’t told you about them—”

“It’s okay. I understand,” she said. “Maybe you can tell me more about them someday.”

Porkrind smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Cassidy climbed back down from her father and went to her friends, cuddling her boyfriend.

Porkrind smiled softly and watched his daughter talking with her group of friends.

Djimmi floated next to Porkrind. “She’s a miracle, isn’t she?”

The one-eyed pig nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, she really is.”

To Be Continued...

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long chapter, but I really hope that you enjoy it nevertheless. Please leave hearts and comments. Reblogs are appreciated. <3

[creonininkwell]

Does Creon have a role in the episode Cupstaged? 🙂

Of course!

She's Cat Man

Initially, she was stage crew. But after seeing the disastrous auditions, and Creon intervening before each disaster, Sally decided Creon was a good fit. Creon objected. She didn't want to take the part that both Mugman and Cuphead wanted. But seeing how no one else was available, she decided that she'd compromise by playing Cat-man. She already committed to being the back-up in case no one auditioned for Cat-Man.

Since Sally picked herself as "Cup Rogers," Creon proposed that they improvise the script a bit. Sally was all for it. Creon also managed to recruit volunteers who were more than happy to be part of backstage crew. They needed a few extra sets and prop pieces and some puppeteers to puppet the demented cat puppets. Cuphead and Mugman got to help make some new impromptu set pieces. The Devil refused to participate, being a sore loser and everything.

Since the main roles were all taken, only a few volunteers were willing to stay and be part of backstage crew. The puppies from the “Flying Aces” boss fight were more than happy to puppet the cat puppets and switch between backstage crew. Willy Warbles wanted to try in some way to participate, but he wasn’t so sure found more comfort working backstage, especially with the hodge-podge synthesizer that Dr.Kahl accidentally made.

In this AU, I’d like to think they had a few days before the first showing, rather the next day or even that night. I know it’s a cartoon, but that’s kind of ridiculous. So Creon would have time, albeit a little time crunch, to recruit Dr, Kahl and Werner Werman to create some stage props. She’s had to rein in their insanity so they wouldn’t go overboard or adding unnecessary bells and whistles. The automaton helped transport the heavier props to the theater. He also wanted to participate in some way. For those familiar with the film “Iron Giant,” the automaton was able to control his detachable hand remotely and help backstage.

Mugman still has some stage-fright, but he managed to puppet some of the sock puppets. The first showing and the next few showings were a huge success. Despite playing the villain, Creon’s performance was fun and captivating, that the audience loved her just as much as Cup Rogers. Creon just borrowed a lot from anime villains, Broadway, along whatever bits of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai she remembers.

Elder Kettle enjoyed the show and was really proud of both the boys and Creon. Cuphead actually had fun working backstage, especially since it was really challenging to go from one cue to another. Mugman was extremely proud of the fact that he didn’t freeze up working as a puppeteer. Willy’s dad is proud listening to his son rock out on the synthesizer and the puppies had loads of fun.

The Devil...the Devil was shocked at the overall performance, and the reception of Catman. He didn’t think people would eventually sympathize for the villain near the end. Now he feels like he missed out.

[delta-the-mando]

Alright..

Alright!

It is done! I have finally finished this rambling! Good way to start off July, don’t ya think? :D

As I’ve said in a previous post, I’ve switched from trying to piece together the odds and ends of The Cuphead Show to possibly predict future plot, to just..talking about things I’d like to talk about. You’ll see some things listed here from the list of unfired Chekhov’s guns, but I of course won’t talk about everything on that list.

It’s still a long post though, so..proceed, if ye so desire!

NOTE: THIS DOES ALSO CONTAIN TALK OF THE DEVIL’S PITCHFORK, SO BE AWARE OF THAT!

And also just quick apologies to people I’ve tagged, I just wanted to let you guys know I referenced some of your posts in this so that’s why I tagged you and linked your posts. 💙 If you want me to un-tag you or remove the links, please let me know!

The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between

"Come with me to the Inkwell Isles; it's just off the coast, maybe 29 miles; where there's good and there's bad and then there's in-between; with Cuphead and Mugman you'll see what I mean."

The intro lyrics state there's good, bad, and an in-between at Inkwell, and seemingly hints that the cupbros are said "in-between". Personally, I believe this "in-between" is referring to neutrality, grey morality, or otherwise middle ground. However, while the brothers could represent the middle ground between good and bad, the line "With Cuphead and Mugman you'll see what I mean" could alternatively mean that if you follow Cuphead and Mugman on their misadventures, you'll see the good, the bad, and the neutral all around Inkwell. Doesn't necessarily mean they're the in-between, just that these things exist all around wherever you go.

JERRY

This guy could’ve been just some random background character we’ll never see again, but the fact that he’s not only a named character (his name isn’t spoken, but his name is listed in the end credits) but ALSO in the INTRO, that clearly indicates SOME kind of importance. But WHAT’S his importance?? @dimonds456 theorizes that Jerry is out to collect the bounty on Cuphead (as well as mention other interesting things) in their post regarding the black market, but regardless of whether or not this ends up being true, we’ll definitely see Jerry again in the future.

Another question I personally have though is, what is Jerry? And I don’t just mean his profession. I have been pondering this for a while now and had a theory...but it got parry-slapped out of my hands when I realized Jerry is a bit of red herring, or otherwise wild goose chase. Now I'm running back and forth between two different possibilities that would have different outcomes in the overall storyline.

Why do I say he’s a red herring/wild goose chase?

Well, first I want you to look at his nose. It shares a major resemblance to the Devil's nose, and the noses of his imps (most of them have purple noses, but some do have red).

Jerry also has a slim body type like them, too (with the exception of Henchman). And, before you ask:

His tall hat could very well be hiding horns.

The long robe he wears could be hiding a tail.

The Devil and many of his imps don’t have wings, so he may just not have any to hide.

No, I'm not saying that's the Devil in disguise or anything, but I'm saying he could very well be a type of devil nonetheless. The only thing that would really throw the theory off is how Jerry has white eyes with black pupils, rather than the yellow eyes with red pupils that devils have. Even when the Devil himself shapeshifts into something (or someone, looking at Quadratus) else, his eyes remain red and yellow..

..EXCEPT FOR THE TIME WHEN HE WAS THE CARNY.

When I rewatched the episode to double-check his eye color, my dad said “They probably made a mistake.” And normally, I would agree. In cartoons, there’s a lot of times where you’ll see something missing for a frame or two, or something is incorrectly colored, etc., so if the Devil’s eyes were black and white for only one quick scene in that Carny segment, I could understand that and would only pass it off as simply an error in the sense that the animators wanted to mimic old cartoons in that exact way, that sometimes things are incorrectly colored, though it would definitely be weird for that to be the only time that incorrect colors happen in the show.

However, because the coloration is consistent throughout the whole Carny segment, and because of this last scene where we actually watch his eyes go from black and white to red and yellow, that right there indicates that it was an intentional choice. He can change his eye color if he really wanted to.

So Jerry still could be a devil with at least some shapeshifting ability to change his eye color.

..HOWEVER, that was my ORIGINAL theory.

I want you to redirect your attention now to this spider guy in the trailer. So far we haven’t seen this guy in any episodes, we don’t know his name, and he seems to be glaring at Jerry from across the street. He’s a blank slate character, and we currently don’t have a lot to go off of to figure out his importance in the series.

But what we can see is his appearance, and he actually shares similarities with Jerry!

Think about it:

Their noses are also the same.

White eyes with black pupils.

Jerry’s scarf could be hiding big fangs.

Jerry’s robe could also be hiding yet another set of legs.

They both have black faces and, I’m assuming, arms.

They both have those little hairs on the sides of their faces, a detail that previously escaped my notice.

Now, the one tiny problem with this possibility is, unless spider-people aren’t all shaped the same, Jerry’s body type is still slimmer than Mr. Spider here. But because we only have the one spider to really go off of, this problem could easily be brushed aside for the time being.

Could Jerry be one of these spider-folk? Are these two glaring at each other in the intro because they might know each other? Are they rivals, or just not get along with each other? Only time will tell us at this point.

Mugman’s connection with Quadratus

Now obviously some good questions one may ask would be “Who exactly is Quadratus?” or “Why’s Quadratus—this all-knowing ancient being—just..out there?”

But a more important question to ask would be, how exactly does Mugman know Quadratus and how to summon him?

Here’s what I personally think happened:

Mugman first found out about Quadratus from either a book or a story told by Elder Kettle.

Let’s say the isles have a library. I’m not sure how often the cupbros go into town or if the library would have many books about such things as this, whether Quadratus would fall under their ancient history or myths and fables I’m not sure (In-game, Quadratus is known by others, and it’s said that very few have spoken with him). But either way, maybe the book caught Mugman’s eye and he decided to give it a read.

Or better yet, he found the book not at a library, but in Elder Kettle’s house. Elder Kettle has bookshelves with both books and potion bottles (the potion from the game, anyone?). There’s a possibility one of those books is historical/fantasy with mention of Quadratus. Maybe Mugman read it out of curiosity and even asked Elder Kettle if Quadratus actually exists, and got to listen to Elder Kettle tell a story about Quadratus in response, which would also happen to include the necessary information of making the water fizzy to summon him (I don’t know if it would be in the book). Or maybe he only found out about Quadratus from one of Elder Kettle’s story times.

Elder Kettle is a war vet, so of course he has stories to tell. And how he fabricated the story of the “handle fairy”, he’s also good at making up stories. So whether or not the stories he tells are actually true, chances are Cuphead and/or Mugman will still believe them. And believe Mugman did. He never told Cuphead, probably because he figured Cup would think this Quadratus story is—and I quote—“banana oil”, which is why Cuphead doesn’t know about Quadratus in Sweater Off Dead, but Mugman does.

And the fact Mugman knew exactly where to find Quadratus indicates that he’s visited him before in the past. I believe Mugman had gone out in search of Quadratus during the night (because if he went out during the day, Cuphead might get worried when he can’t find his bro, and if Mugsy told him he was searching for Quadratus he’d probably talk him out of it, which would clearly cause obvious lack-of-sweater problems later on) and when he did finally find him, and summoned him, he probably decided to stay and ask some questions so it’s not exactly a “wasted trip”, summoning an ancient being and then like..leaving right afterwards, y’know?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mugman had asked Quadratus about the future, and was warned of great danger ahead, perhaps even more specifically warned to keep an extra close eye on his brother. This right here could also be the start of Mugman’s increased paranoia and fear of danger. Mugman’s attention to detail and how he immediately springs into action to save Cup’s soul from Soulball, despite literally trembling in fear of the Devil moments before, would show that he already knew something might happen and he had to be ready to help his bro.

“But Del, wouldn’t he have noticed the carn-evil sign before they entered the carnival?”

Good catch, but the boys were probably too focused on having fun at the carnival and evading responsibilities for even Mugman to initially notice the sign’s a little off. Think of a time when you were too focused (or not focused at all) on something and didn’t notice something else. It happens sometimes, it’s natural.

And hey. They’re still kids. They’re going to get distracted. Also natural. :3

“Stunned” souls and Mugman’s “parry” ability

Still on the subject of Mugman, I’d like to draw your attention to how he can literally grab Cuphead’s soul and shove it back into his body, and also look at the way Cup’s soul behaves.

The only other character we've seen handle Cup's soul is the Devil.

Mugman has the apparent ability to revive someone (which is done in-game with a parry-slap).

Cuphead’s soul doesn’t actually seem to respond outside of his body, from what we’ve seen.

Souls are temporarily stunned when they first leave their bodies.

Allow me to explain Points 3 and 4 real quick:

While the first case of Cuphead’s “stunned soul” (Carn-evil) could be explained in a way that everything was just happening so quickly that Cuphead couldn’t register what was going on—

—the second time, however (Sweater Luck Next Time), he doesn’t do anything till he’s back in his body. He just stays in a dazed unresponsive state and slowly begins to float away, before Mugman jumps in to revive him again.

And I say souls are temporarily stunned because in both of these cases, Cuphead’s soul had just left his body; compare this to the other souls that were freed when the Soulball game was destroyed, that immediately flew back to their bodies. They had some time to adjust, whereas Cuphead didn’t even get the chance to before being “parry patty-cake’d” back to life.

So now going back to Points 1 and 2, while Mugman’s ability to grab Cuphead’s soul could just be used as cartoon-logic comedic factor or whatnot (like how Cuphead lassoed the moon in Root Packed), I’d instead say he legit has the ability to revive someone - something that no one else may have (though we don’t know for sure yet). The question then is, if only he has this ability, then how?

Well...remember Quadratus?

Mugman likely found out from him that he would need to protect his brother’s soul, and Quadratus probably gave him a potion to grant him this ability, similar to the potion in the game that allows us to parry (and have literal finger guns, of course, but that's another topic). It's clear that Quadratus keeps strange and rare items in his pool, such as the ball of invisible yarn made from the fur of a long-extinct creature, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had a potion in there too.

Also I’d like to point out that neither time that Cuphead was revived did he even THANK Mugman for saving him. The first time he was revived, he took a deep breath and yelled “RUN!” before running away with his brother. The second time, he just stood next to his brother, looking up at the Devil. No acknowledgement whatsoever that he had literally just lost his soul and was brought back to life.

So this leads me to another question..

Did Cuphead even know that Mugman revived him, or that Mug even has this ability?

Honestly? I don’t think he knows. Remember that unresponsive soul state? I believe that when Cup is revived, he retains zero memory of what happened during that dazed timeframe. Maybe to him he just got really super dizzy, or blacked out, or his memory just goes YEET. All he can really assume is that Mugman helped him..but what he doesn’t know is how exactly.

Nightmarish foreshadowing

I had already been freaking out over this, though @masteroffakesmiles already beat me to putting it into words both here and here.

I believe Cuphead’s nightmare in Sweater Off Dead is heavy foreshadowing for future episodes.

The first thing that happens in the nightmare is that Mugman gets taken away..

..and we see that happen in The Devil’s Pitchfork.

Cuphead next turns to Elder Kettle for help..

..and I think you see where I’m going with this.

I brought up this theory to a friend of mine, and to quote their response:

“So in the nightmare in Sweater Off Dead, like you pointed out, Mugman was taken, which could be foreshadowing, but the fact Elder Kettle supposedly DIED in the nightmare?? Look I’m not saying Elder Kettle is gonna die, because I don’t think this is the type of show to do something like that, but I am saying there could very well be a death fake-out or something.”

Sorta like what masteroffakesmiles said. We’re all on the same wavelength here.

The chances of something actually happening to Elder Kettle is still pretty darn slim, despite the show taking a more angsty turn, but making Cuphead think something bad happened? Oh heck yes, that’s going on the Devil’s to-do list.

Reminds me actually of the second Lego Movie when Emmet’s dream was foreshadowing the movie’s events. Maybe, just maybe, we’re getting the same thing happening here.

Also..remember: Ol’ Scratch may not actually know who Elder Kettle is, but Cup did slip and say his name once, to which the Devil asks “Who’s Elder Kettle?” before having a door slammed in his face. He might think about this later on..and get an idea of what to do next.

The “saving Mugman arc”

Also brought up by masteroffakesmiles here, it’s clear the “saving Mugman arc” will take at least two episodes, judging by a scene in the trailer that doesn’t appear in The Devil’s Pitchfork.

What worries me is how challenging this might actually be for Cuphead. This whole ordeal does not seem like it can easily be resolved in two episodes already (which is why I say at least two), and not only that...but when you think about just how joyful Cuphead was to zap the Devil with his own pitchfork, even tricking him by saying he was gonna give it back..then zapping him again..

...I think the Devil will play dirty and do the same thing right back.

He’ll say he’ll release Mugman…but then NOT do that..

Not only that..but it’s clear a lot of us are thinking that “vile Mugman” from the game’s bad ending is gonna be a thing. And that right there, my friends..is a whole new door to so much angst potential.

It would actually be fairly easy for Ol’ Scratch to manipulate Mugman. Remember, both the Devil and Mugman heard Cuphead say “There’s nothing you can take from me that I care about,” so poor Mugsy would still be thinking about this and the Devil would obviously bring it back up. Think something like “Oh, but you heard your brother.. He doesn’t care about you.” Mugman would then remember the day’s other events, and think..maybe..maybe the Devil is right..

And there you have it. He’s got the little mug right where he wants him.

My friend and I had dug into this and here’s a couple important chunks of their reply:

“One thing I find interesting about the entirety of (The Devils Pitchfork) is how the dynamic between Cuphead and Mugman is showcased. Cuphead seemingly wants to be more independent from his brother, but the way he expresses that makes it seem like he’s tired of him, or annoyed with him. Not only that, but instead of apologizing when being confronted with that, he goes on to say, ‘well, if it makes you feel any better…’ (…) For Mugman, throughout the day, it probably seemed like Cuphead wanted to get rid of him. This is emphasized by the fact that the last thing Cuphead said was ‘There’s nothing you can take from me that I care about.’”

“All this is to say that if it does go the route that the Devil claims Mugman’s soul, or something along the lines of the game’s bad end, he could bring this up, as a way to touch a nerve. ‘Oh, you didn’t seem to care about me before, why are you suddenly doing it now?’ And even if nothing like the bad end happens, and it turns out Mugman was just taken and nothing more, that could still be brought up, during or after the rescue attempt. Think somewhere along the lines of ‘But I thought you didn’t like me anymore’.”

There’s a LOT of potential here, and it hurts. And it hurts that it makes sense.

So now, if “vile Mugman” is gonna happen, let’s quickly talk about the next obvious thing: the missing chunk of his handle.

It’s very odd to think his handle would just..lose a chunk of itself when he turns evil. If the show does go this route, I’d like to believe something caused it to break.

Like, say, I dunno…an accidental blast from a certain pitchfork? Maybe out of carelessness, perhaps? Hm?

This would actually be a great angst point, as Cuphead, most likely the cause of said accident, would feel absolutely terrible that he hurt his brother..

And Mugman..?

Oh..How do you guys think he’d feel…that his brother hurt him?

And from Handle With Care, we know he wouldn’t..*ahem*..handle the situation well, with his handle breaking again.

I dunno about you guys….but all I’m hearing..is a big “STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

The sweater

The sweater is still out there somewhere!! This is still a key item of importance!!

Maybe it could be used against the Devil again in the Saving Mugman arc!

Or maybe used against Jerry to help Cuphead if the whole “bounty hunting” thing is true!

“Wait wait, Del, you mentioned Jerry..what do you mean by that?”

Let’s step back to the possibility of Jerry being a type of devil. So far the only devilish type we’ve seen the sweater’s effect on is the Devil himself. Quadratus said the sweater would keep the Devil at bay. That was the purpose of the sweater, as that was the problem at the time: to keep the Devil from taking Cup’s soul. But I’m curious to know if the sweater’s effect would work on just ANY devil, including the imps. If it does, and if Jerry is a devil, then that could be a way to keep him at bay too!

…Buuuuut there IS another thing I’ve been thinking about..

The Devil obviously got the sweater off of him somehow at the end of Sweater Luck Next Time. But if he couldn’t remove it himself, because he can’t touch it, then who removed it? Did Henchman? Some other imps? If that’s the case, then either the sweater doesn’t affect other devils, OR the effect can’t go through GLOVES.

And Ol’ Scratch doesn’t wear any, so he had to rely on someone else to remove the sweater.

But y’know what else?

JERRY wears gloves.

That means, even if the sweater could shock him if slipped over him like what happened to Mr. S in Sweater Luck Next Time, he could easily just pull it off and keep it at arm’s length. So much for that.

Or.. Maybe..

The shocking effect can’t go through clothes at all..

And that’s why Jerry is so darn bundled up in clothing..

Because he prepared himself for anything.

[kris-bj]

So can we get a litte summary of what the story will be?

Oh... Ok, this is tricky

But the story is obvious, find the ink machine but obviously not that easy, there might be something after this ink machine, that machine is only the door closed, once found something else needs to be fixed. The problem is who the good and who is the bad guy? And why? When you look at our main characters, they would do "things" to "fix" problems

This story blurs the line between good and evil, actually, it removes the line completely

There will be fun lore too, if MatPat touches this it's more complex than the fnaf plot, but if you blink , you might miss references and actual answers, think deep enough you can figure out the answers before the series even reaches that point

Each character has 2 arcs, maybe more depending on the character, their first arc confronts their past or who they are, and the second is connected to each piece they are connected to, and the third arcs will be given to specific characters

BENDY is not who he seems to be, how he acts, his so called demon-nature, so on

ALICE will have her story revealed, how did she become a fallen? She not all cutesy and bubbly all the time

BORIS a child but with special tantrums, he's smarter than you think and has quite the interesting attitude

CUPHEAD his heart is too soft, this tough guy couldn't even aim his gun right at his own enemies, quite the actor am I right?

MUGMAN he can pull of the tough guy act without acting, push your luck, and ur face would be left blue

NOTE - the cuphead show has some canon, so have fun fitting that in

FELIX he has not left his mischievous life behind, cuphead is always watching his back in case the cat is around felix pushed cups outta plane once, im proud of that scene

SCOURGE this showdown bandit now has a name and is always up for a showdown, he might be the key they were looking for in relation to the machine

I can't reveal much cuz of the spoiler, even characters

Lemme know if you wanna know about their rivals, they have quite a role 😉

[marinerainbow]

The roles my OC's would have if they were canon in their respective worlds

🦋Betty Locera (Cuphead Universe)🦋

~NPC and Minor Character~

In the game, Betty, along with her brother Boris, would have been one of the NPC's in the game that you can talk to as you travel around the isles. Since they are the Kettle Family's neighbors, maybe you could enter their household and they would offer an upgrade? Kind of like a fusion between Elder Kettle and Porkrind I guess.

In the show, Betty and her family would still be minor characters that would show up on occasion. Possibly be in the background as well. Who knows, maybe they would have gotten a whole episode dedicated to them (Betty does babysit the boys, so that I imagine would be the episodes plot if she did get the spotlight).

Essentially, she's part of the supporting cast, but not the main supporting character like Ms. Chalice or Elder Kettle.

🔎Detective Sketch (Cuphead Universe)🔎

~NPC and Minor Character~

In the game, Sketch would also be an NPC. However l can imagine they would give the boys/the player tips... Though it would be said in a exasperated way, like "'Ya seriously tried 'ta beat 'em with a peashooter?" Or something. Then offer a couple of suggestions of what they think would be the best weapon against that boss (though that probably wouldn't stop players from dying so many times)

In the show, they wouldn't show up as often as Betty. Especially since they stay in city, and Cuphead and Mugman go all over the place. They definitely would have caught the boys at least once getting into trouble though.

And no, they wouldn't fall for Chalice's charm (they'd go easy on Chalice since she's a kid, but they wouldn't let her get away with swindling either).

🌼Prism (NiGHTS into Dreams)🌼

(This applies to both games, I just didn't have enough room to include the JoD poster)

~Unlockable Help~

In both games, Prism wouldn't show up right away. She's a guardian, the last of her kind. And aside from NiGHTS, she's the only one protecting all of Nightopia, so she travels everywhere. She'd probably be programmed to show up randomly, or even not at all.

Even when she's around, the visitors/player would have to find her if they want her help. Flying around the nightopia/level, it may take them a minute to find Prism flying around. But once they do, she'll follow the player around and will help protect them from nightmaren and finding items that will aid them.

In Jorney of Dreams, like everyone else, Prism would have gotten a bit more spotlight with the cutscenes. I like to think that during those times that NiGHTS left Will and Helen to chase Octopaw, Prism would stumble upon them and, after finding out NiGHTS left them alone, would then guide them to wherever they are (and then berate NiGHTS once she and the player found them).

🐰Poppy (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)🐰

~Background Character~

Honestly, the most screentime I can see Poppy getting is at the end when all the toons rushed in the Acme factory after the weasels and Doom were defeated. Though unlike the others, Poppy would remain silent and listen to everyone else's theories on what Doom really was. Both because she's a nervous wreck, and she would be listening and analyzing what everyone was saying to put the pieces together herself.

Maybe she would show up in the background when Eddie was in Toontown. Maybe.

Though, if she were to have a speaking line, I imagine it would be right after Baby Herman pointed out that the will was still missing, saying something like "I hate to say it, but Mr. Herman is right. Cloverleaf wasn't the only company bidding on us today." (She, like Delores, would have gone to check the probate after the news of what happened came out. Maybe if Delores got more screentime, Poppy would have had a moment to see her as well).

Any questions anyone has, I'll be more than happy to answer ^^

[zibiscusloon]

{Miss Cyclops}

-The Guardian of the Ruins-

And ancient being of the Isles of Old, Miss Cyclops is the Guardian of the Ruins, guarding the remains of the fallen kingdom.

She and the creatures of the Ruins are often treated by the Inkwell Authorities as loiterers, despite the fact nobody owns the Ruins they all live in. As such they all frequent prison regularly. It’s not like she cares to escape though.. she knows her daughter Amara will watch over the land while she’s gone. (Amara often evades the police so she does watch till everyone else gets out of jail. She’s to young for prison! >:v )

-She’s 860 years old. She’s been around for a long time, and was present for the fall of the original kingdom. She works to actively preserve the Kingdom she once called her home..

-She despises the Devil. He completely decimated her land and took over the rest of the Inkwell Isles, the residents eventually shoving her and all the Ruin creatures (mountain goats, lions, dragons, and centaurs) out.

-When they first found Amara, they found the girl (physically 7 years old), in a flower bed surrounding a statue of Amaranth the Treacherous. It didn’t take long for them to eventually put the pieces together on Amara’s identity.

-She has no intention of informing Amara of her past, despite the fact that in the past, the girl essentially led to the downfall of their home, she’s grown to care for her. And she doesn’t want her to bare the responsibly and guilt of actions she doesn’t even remember committing.

-May or may not have freaked out upon Chalice and Amara meeting again (as they’re aware of the relationship they had in the past..)

-Aromantic Asexual, Nonbinary, uses She/They.

-She’s rather fond of Mugman due to their time in prison together.

-Their lil pink blanket is a Mother’s Day gift Amara knit for them.

-They’re training Amara to eventually become the new Guardian of the Ruins, as even though she has a long lifespan, she’s not immortal, and she’s always worried over who will preserve the land of her home..

-She’s relatively gentle with the creatures and Amara (she always worries about accidentally hurting them..) but outside of her lil found family, she has no issues throwing around her temper freely. And lord to not test her when she’s pissed-

-Back when the kingdom still stood, she was actually a librarian! She now holds onto old books of her time and likes to collect modern books written on her era (and uses them to point out historical inaccuracies to Amara.)

-She’s selectively mute. She can talk. She just doesn’t see the need for words. Amara’s the only person still alive to ever hear her voice.

[bugflavouredbones]

Hi! Want some brownies? They're home-made!

AND IM BACK! im so sorry for the incredibly long wait, but im here now and probably not as dedicated to the comic as i was in the beginning, but ill try to update it as much as possible 😊👍

also im gonna close my inbox till i can finish up the other questions (shouldnt take long theres only 2)

[l-ii-zz]

so when ever cuphead and mugman fuse I’m thinking those that bring agnus In control since you previously stated that candle head is basically a fusion but he’s still his own person so wouldn’t be the same for chalice boy I might be over reading this because I’m a amateur theorist but hey and

one I notice A lot of kids(oc) have just a teeny bit of trauma here WHATS ABT THAT Lol

mmmmm, yes and no.

It's hard to explain, though. As I said some time ago, when Agnus died, his soul was shattered in two, which it made him reincarnate in two individual bodies: the twins Cup and Mug.

So technically, Agnus doesn't take control of the fusion 'cause the brothers already are Agnus himself, doesn't matter if they are separated or fused; they are Agnus, Agnus is them. So, saying that Agnus takes control of Chalice boy is like saying that he's a third entity completely individual of Cup and Mug, which is wrong. So, Why does Candlehead is the only fusion who was able to earn his own and individual entity? This anomaly doesn't even happen with Cannon, Mug's and Bendy's fusion, saying that Bendy is the one who committed this anomaly would be a false accusation. So what happened there?

There's another missing thing: WHY can Bendy fuse with the brothers in the first time?. In this story, the only people able to do this fusing magic are Cuphead, Mugman and Bendy. Cuphead and Mugman can fuse because they share one shattered soul; when they fuse, they're putting the two pieces of soul back together. So why Bendy can fuse with them too? Doesn't make sense with this context, right?

Well, there is a reason for that, and it has to do with two angel wings and a tiny lonely feather. Have you ever wondered Why Golden Wings is the only fusion that has... wings? ;)

ANYWAY-

[differentdonutwonderland]

(This is set 3 months after cuphead and mugman were thrown in jail (a lost episode of the cuphead show season two which isn't out yet but in the story it is out) and this is a creepypasta. TW: mentions of blood, guts, swearing and abortion. If any of these makes you uncomfortable or too sensitive to you please keep scrolling)

Hi, I need to tell you something about the cuphead show season two. After the second season, I saw an episode called "the origin of cuphead.EXE" I thought this was strange because Netflix would never name a kid's show's episode that. But as curious as I was, I clicked on it. The one thing I will never forget. The episode started like normal. But there was something off about it. The theme seemed out of tune, broken up but at the start of the song, Cala Maria (the mermaid) seemed scared so did Grim Matchstick. The dragon had the webbings on his wings nearly burned. And when Ribby and Croak saw cuphead and mugman, they looked more scared than I have ever seen them both. But miss chalice... After she draged the two cupheaded boys to her, she looked frightened, not wanting to do this, I felt like they were forced to do it. At the end of the intro, the cartoon started. It started with the two main characters, cuphead and mugman. They were sitting in a jail cell with their black and white striped prison clothes on but the clothes looked worn out and the main characters looked tired with cuphead's straw being ripped and mugman's straw screwed up.

I also noticed that this episode was darker than all the other episodes of this show. The main people of the show were in silence. As I was about to exit the episode, I heard cuphead say in a not so cheery tone "mugman?" Mugman looked at him. "We need to get out of here" mugman stayed quite but nodded. "And I know how" the red cup said. Then the screen turned black. All that could be heard was whispers. Then the screen showed the cup brothers now covered in blood, running from the now burning prison. They looked worse than before, especially mugman. The blue mug looked lifeless, he looked like something or someone drained him from all life. After what seemed like minutes, they both were hiding in an alleyway.

Cuphead whispered "I'm sorry mugs, this was all my fault" as mugman was ignoring the cup. Then in the background, a 7 month pregnant woman who passed. the camera was focused on this woman then, I saw a red ripped straw from behind her and the screen went black again but this time there was a scream of pain and fear. And the screen showed cuphead Infront of the now dead woman with a piece of broken glass in one hand and a 7 month old foetus in the other. Slowly, cuphead put the foetus in his head making the liquid go from white to a pinkie colour. Cuphead turned to the now terrified mug and said him a psychotic voice "do you want to go to a better place?" The poor blue mug was shaking in fear because of his brother. Then the cup ran towards the mug and slit his brother's stomach open. The mug fell to the ground as his guts came out.

The cup turned towards where I was sitting and said "this was all a lie," then the show ended. I was in tears. Not knowing what the fuck to do, I was scared. My once favourite game with its own show was ruined for me. When my brother came back from his friends house, I turned the TV off. And everything was normal but... I felt like someone was watching me from afar... I had nightmares about that damn episode and when I told my friends who had seen the show, they said that they didn't know what I was on about. And every night, I would have the exact same dream. It was cuphead Standing Infront of the two dead bodies and he would say stuff like "it's all your fault" or "you're next" but it would always scare the crap out of me.

[s-creations]

Quomodo Mundus Cadit - Chapter 5

The defeat of the Devil should have been the end of it. The Cup Brothers won and all debts were to be forgiven.

At least…that was the original plan. No one was expecting the world  to fall apart. Whatever was contained in the Devil was not unleashed  onto the world. Now it’s up to two powerless children, a dice with no  title, and a immortal being with no powers to fix what’s become broken.

(Story idea inspired by artwork created by @inazumaneko)

Fandom: The Cuphead Show/Cuphead Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Relationships: Cuphead & Mugman & The Devil & King Dice, The Devil/King Dice Warnings/Additional Tags: Lots of Characters, Violence, Blood, Sacrifice, People are gonna die, Death, Elder Kettle is in this but won’t appear for awhile, AU, Inspired by Tumblr, End of the World.

It took a few minutes to calm the Cup Brothers down. Cuphead almost launched himself at the ram. While Mugman had leaned as close as he could while spewing numerous questions.

 “Whoa, hey, whoa! Keep your kids in order!” The ram shouted. The rag he was holding was now being used as a weapon as he batted at Mugman with it.

 “Okay, okay boys, calm down!” Dice quickly gathered the boys up. One wiggling child in each arm. He gave a sheepish smile towards the disgruntled ram. “Sorry about that. They’re a, uh…a little eager. Could you tell us a little more about this kettle?”

 “I told you all I know. They guy was old and was asking for directions to the same place you’re asking about. Why are your brats so hyper?”

 Dice tensed slightly at this. “Ah, well-”

 “He’s our grandpa!” Cuphead announced.

 “He went missing from our home and we didn’t know where he went and he didn’t leave us a note and-” Mugman sobbed weakly.

 Dice quickly changed Mugman’s position so the mug could cling to the other desperately. Hiding his face away into Dice’s shoulder. “Look, we’ll just take the information and get out of your wool.”

 Letting out a huff, the ram pulled out a pencil and a rather old piece of paper. Copying the map from the book and drawing a path to the marked location. “This is the quickest path. Which would normally take about four days. Normally. But it’s crazy out there, so don’t rush it if you can avoid it. There are a number of shops around here you can stock up on. If anything, a good cart would be a preferable way to travel, over walking.”

 Lucifer took the paper and book, as Dice’s hands were very full. He gave a nod and mumbled out a short, “Thanks.”

 The ram merely gave a nod back before attending to another customer. Dice gave a quick ‘Come on.’ as he headed for the exit. Lucifer felt his fur itch at the numerous eyes on their backs. 

 Once outside, Dice placed Cuphead back on the ground. Keeping a few seconds' eye on him in case the cup decided to run back for desperate answers. When Cuphead did nothing more than pout and cross his arms, Dice determined the younger wouldn’t run off suddenly. Mugman was determined to remain where he was. Arms and legs secured around Dice, shaking his head furiously when asked if he wanted to be put down. Dice merely sighed and placed a hand on the back of Mugman’s head. 

 “Well, at least we have a path now.” Lucifer said, holding the paper up.

 “You heard him, four days. When the world was semi-normal. Who knows how long this will take.” 

 “Then we take his advice,” Lucifer tucked the paper away in his pocket before walking off, “Get supplies, get a cart, and get going.”

 It was slightly worrisome that all stores only took gold for payment. Slightly, because Dice didn’t have to worry about having to trade anything away. But every time Lucifer handed a coin over from a new pouch, Diced felt worry curdle in his stomach. If every store outside of the city also required money, would they have enough?

 Basic supplies were easy to purchase. Not having to dig through the garbage and ruin was beneficial. Shockingly. The worrisome purchase was the cart.

 The seller had to convince Dice and Lucifer that, no, he had not soaked his carts in water to rot intentionally. Or that he did indeed feed his skeletal looking horses. 

 (Dice was hit with worry, wondering where Phear Lap and the rest of his crew could have been.)

 “They won’t die the moment we hook them up and move, right?” Lucifer raised a brow. The seller desperately saying they wouldn’t.

 It took longer than Dice would have liked to decide which cart to purchase. But they eventually settled on a small cart. Containing enough room to have two people up front, two people in the back, and their bags/supplies. The down side would be Dice and Lucifer would have to pull their legs close. The curse of being so tall and slender. But it’s the best they could do, so comfort had to be sacrificed in some way. 

 Even as it started to grow dark, the group filled the back of the cart. Adults up front, kids in the back, and they set off. It took no time for the Cup Brothers to fall asleep. Cuphead keeping an arm around Mugman’s shoulder. A freshly bought blanket draped over them both. It was unnerving quiet as they traveled the dirt and mud road. Nothing stirring beyond the branches, beyond the treeline. Dice quickly decided he liked it this way. Would make it hard for someone to sneak up on them. 

 “Think the old man is okay?” Lucifer asked. He was leaning back with his arms folded behind his head. 

 “I hope so… For the boys sake. If Cuphead pulled that sword from their house, my guess would be it belonged to the kettle. So…that would mean he can fight…right?”

 Lucifer lifted a finger for each point he listed off. “The guy is old.  Really old. He hasn’t been in a proper fight. He left any weapons at his house-”

 “We don’t know if that part is accurate.” Dice argued back quickly.

 “...Sure. But my guess is that Cuphead holds the only weapon that ever hung in that place. Beyond that is the fact the guy is traveling alone. That’s worrisome.”

 The ex-con man frowned. Casting a quick glance back to the sleeping brothers. “Are you suggesting that Elder Kettle is already dead?”

 “I’m saying that I’m trying to be realistic. I don’t want to assume the worst. However, those boys… If we find the worst, I’m worried how they’ll react.”

 Dice gave a weak laugh at that. “I never thought I’d see the day where the Devil was concerned about someone.”

 Lucifer huffed at this. Sitting up to cross his arms, turning away slightly. “The Devil, no. But Lucifer…has conflicting views right now.”

 “Ah, right, sorry…” Dice allowed the quiet to wash over them again. Eyes traveling towards the steadily darkening sky. “You…never fully explained how you work now.”

 “To be fair to myself, I was kind of out of it.”

 “Good point. Do you feel up to talking about it now?”

 Lucifer gave a bit of a nod. “Suppose so…”

 “So…can you die?”

 “I really hope not.”

 Dice grumbled. “That doesn’t answer the question.”

 “Well, let’s put it this way. I don’t want to test the theory. My guess would be that I could. I have nothing in my ‘power’ to sustain myself. If I was hurt before, I could easily heal myself. Now? Well…I feel sluggish, tired. I remember what I had. But I’m not myself.” 

 “Are you…going to be okay?”

 “I have to be. We have to be.”

 “Do you think you’ll be able to claim your powers back?”

 “I have the body of a mortal. Not built like those boys. You and I are not designed to hold such power. We’ll combust, honestly. If there was a way to slowly reclaim it, it might work? But I doubt it would work.”

 “So our best bet to fix this madness would be to destroy it.”

 “Apparently.”

 “Back to square one?”

 “Back to square one.”

 Dice nodded slowly. “Do you…want to go back to normal?” Tapping his foot against the wood. Lucifer gave a slow answer. “I’m not sure, and I mean this genuinely. Normal means the target for greedy souls and judgment. Even with the worlds falling around us, it’s weirdly peaceful. Not having to worry about collecting lost souls.”

 “But this is better?”

 “In some way, yeah. Yeah it is. This is the first time in I don’t know how long, where my mind’s not a buzz of activity. It’s calm, it’s quiet. It’s nice not having to hold so many negative emotions burning in my chest.”

 “I never thought about it that way…”

 “But, I also know I’m the best bet to deal with that power. “

 “Aren’t…we destroying it?”

 “Yeah. But if you think I’m letting you or those boys anywhere near the fight, you’re wrong.”

 “Lucifer-” Dice fell quiet when the other leaned against him suddenly.

 “I’m sin Dice, pure and simple… Let me try and correct one thing.”

 “...Okay.”

 “I’m really tired, Dice…”

 “I know…” Dice smiled softly down at the other, “How about you get some sleep? It’s getting dark anyway, I’ll probably be pulling off soon.”

 Lucifer closed his eyes, snoring softly, still leaning against Dice. On his part, Dice checked to make sure the other was truly asleep before laying his head against Lucifer’s. It was strangely peaceful. Dice giving a silent wish that it could stay like this for as long as possible.

 ________________________

 The day and a half of travel was honestly easy sailing. Lucifer concluded that plunders and bandits were probably based closer to home. Easier for scores and having a certain home base instead of roaming in open lands that were marked as dangerous. 

 “Leaving that to the crazy travelers.” He muttered at the end. 

 So the calm that had fallen over was quickly wiped away when they came across the town limit sign. While it no doubt would have normally said ‘Welcome to’ whatever this town was, it had severely changed. The bright painting job was dulled, barely seen against the dark, rotting wood. The overall sign looked close to falling over if one good wind came through. The only ‘repair’ being that of another piece of wood placed over the town's name. With large words of ‘YOUR DOOM’ spelled out with red paint. At least, it was a hope of red paint.

 “‘Welcome to your doom’? How clever.” Lucifer mumbled as they slowly passed by. 

 No one laughed.

 Reaching the town proper, they were met with a barrier. A sturdy wall of wood towering before them. The possibly only stable thing they’ve seen this entire time. Large, locked doors finishing off the imposing feature. Dice brought the cart to a stop right at the door, all taking in what was before them. 

 “Can we…go around?” Mugman asked weakly. 

 “I’d rather not get off the main path if we can help it,” Dice replied. He peered down both ways to see how far the wall went. There seemed to be no end. “Plus, I’m not seeing where this wall ends. Forward is our best bet.”

 “Since we’ve not been greeted yet, we could have lucked out. The town might be abandoned.” Lucifer added. 

 Dice frowned. “Look at that wall, it’s to perfect-”

 Cuphead perked up and jumped to the front between the adults, shouting, “I wanna go knock!”

 The cup just jumped off the cart, only to be caught in Dice's arms. “Ah, we’ll both knock. And we’re not going to rush this.”

 Lucifer took the offered reins while Dice and Cuphead departed. Mugman shuffled to the front, sitting nervously as he and Lucifer watched. The other two approached the door. Cuphead beaming as he ran circles around Dice (being stuck in a cart for so long gave him a lot of pent up energy) and knocked on the doors before bouncing next to the other. Dice putting a hand gently on the top of Cuphead’s rim. The quiet stare down was broken when the door barely cracked open. 

 No sound was made. It was unclear if the door was opened by another or by Cuphead knocking. 

 “Um, hello?” Dice called out. No response.

 The ex-con man cleared his throat before calling out again. “If we could get some help, please? We’re hoping we could pass through the town. …Hello?”

 Still nothing.

 “Well, that’s good enough for me. No one’s home!” Reins in hand, Lucifer spurred the horse forward. Dice easily got himself and Cuphead out of the way as the cart dashed by. Mugman let out a fearful squeak at the sudden movement, gripping onto the seat until the cart stopped once more. Now positioned at the town’s center. 

 A large decorative fountain was off, no water flowing, the foundation cracked with the main feature falling apart. The buildings in similar states, cracked and falling apart. In the distance was a rather imposing building. Similar to the wooden wall, the building looked like it was either new or the best repaired place, actual time and care put into it to keep it up. 

 Lucifer eventually stopped laughing, wiping away a single tear before letting out a sigh. “Ah, it was getting a little quiet. You okay there kid?”

 “Ugh, I would have liked some warning,” Mugman huffed, “I wasn’t ready to move! My stomach hurts now.”

 “...Sorry about that. I’m sure sudden movement isn’t helpful with your depth perception. One eye working isn’t fun. How about-” Lucifer paused, taking a deep breath, pupils widening slightly.

 Mugman noticed the sudden pause, looking over. “Mr. Lucifer? ...Are you okay?”

 “Do you smell that?”

 “Smell what?”

 “It’s…I don’t know. It’s like the air is spicy…spicy and sweet. Rather sickening actually. What is that smell? It’s so familiar…”

 “Lucifer!” Dice rushed forward with Cuphead in his arms, frowning deeply. “What are you doing? We need to be careful!”

 “What? I didn’t go too far.” Lucifer recovered quickly, laughing as he leaned back in his seat. Mugman showed concern by the sudden change, but didn’t comment as he wasn’t sure how he could explain what happened. 

 “You do realize that every new location has new, possibly dangerous unknowns. We can’t afford to be careless.”

 Look around. This town is dead. We have nothing to worry abou-”

 In a flash, a lasso rope was wrapped around Lucifer’s chest, arms not pinned to his sides. A silent question of ‘What the heck?’ hanging in the air before he was pulled off the cart. Lucifer wasn’t pulled far, but enough for the other three couldn’t help as numerous people started to appear. Seeming to crawl out from every shadowy crack, pouring out from every opening. Faces covered with masks made with eerie available and usable pieces of material. Armed with equally makeshift weapons. 

 Dice immediately put Cuphead down, next to Mugman on the cart, starting to pull his knife out. There were a lot, so he was planning on taking down who he could. Well, that was the plan. But their attackers were faster. Just as the knife was pulled out, another rope was lassoed around his wrist. There was a resounding ‘SNAP’ that was followed by Dice’s scream of pain. Knife dropped, his broken wrist now hanging uselessly. From somewhere behind Dice, he could hear Lucifer let out a fearful cry of “Dice!”. 

 The adults were taken down first. Dice doing his best to fight back with a broken wrist. Lucifer suddenly turned feral as he attempted to break free. With the strength of a normal mortal, he quickly lost the fight. Being overpowered and tied down easily. 

 Cuphead tried to defend Dice, jumping down from the cart to rush over. Only to skid to a halt hearing Mugman cry out. The mug attempted to keep the attackers away from him and the cart unsuccessfully. One grabbed the younger’s arm while the rest started to drag the supplies away. 

 “Get away from him!” Cuphead quickly turned, trying to reach his brother. He was easily picked up, being casually held under someone’s arm. Unable to break free no matter how hard he kicked and squirmed. Another painful mark of how useless he was without that power. 

 All in the party was quickly pinned down. Dice and Lucifer tied up with the latter snarling and snapping at who he could. The Cup Brother’s unable to fight back, even with the minimal restraints they had. Too tired and too young to break free. 

 One of the attackers at the front stepped forward. “Oh glorious leader! We have caught those who have dared to trespass on our land.”

 A loud beating of a drum sounded after this. Walking towards the group was what could only be seen as a mini parade. At the front was a villager carrying a heavy drum, one that was hit with every step the group took. Behind that was a collection of six carrying a rather intense, elaborate chair.

 Or, suppose a throne would be a more appropriate term. It wasn’t painted in any gold or silver. But strangely enough it seemed to shine. Created out of the finest and least damaged collection of garbage the villagers could find. At the center of this over the top throne was an equally overly dressed person. Draping himself over each arm in some dramatic fashion.

 The small group came to a stop when they reached the larger group. It was a long pause of silence before the lounging man shot up. It was as he sat up properly that a sash with the word ‘MAYOR’ was seen draped across him. 

 “Well, well, well, what idiots decided to invade our dear home? Thought you could get the drop on us? To steal our stuff and just disappear into the night? As if!”

 “Look, we just wanted to pass through,” Dice said quickly, “We just need to travel through. We had no plans to steal anything.”

“A likely story. Only saying this because you got caught.” The Mayor stepped off his throne, nose stuck up in the air as he stalked forward. “Such rags… Uh, you’re depressing me, being in such a state.”

 “The world’s ending you idiot! You’re dressed in actual garbage.” Cuphead snapped back. 

 “Oh blah, commoners would say that. You say it’s ending. I say it’s thriving! My dear followers and I have never been happier!”

 The large crowd let out a ‘Hoorah!’ in response.

 “Perfectly in sync! Wonderful job. Now, back to you lot,” the Mayor shuffled back when Lucifer let out a low growl, “Ugh, such attitude. First you try to rob us. Now you try to attack us for defending ourselves. Just for that, payment is needed.”

 Bloodshot eyes landed on the scarf currently wrapped around Mugman. Dice, already knowing where this was going, gave a frantic cry of ‘No!’ as the scarf was ripped off. The mug let out a yelp, both from the sudden movement and when a few pieces fell from his chipped eye. 

 The Mayor’s eyes grew wide upon seeing the handle and blue striped straw. The scarf he had grabbed fluttering down to the muddy ground. Another minute passed in tense silence before Cuphead’s covering was ripped off as well. Even without the handle, it was clear the Mayor recognized the cup. That he recognized both brothers. 

 “My loyal followers! The Melodious Voice from Beyond has blessed us once more! She’s allowed her enemy to fall into our lap. Allowing us to take vengeance against those who would want to harm her. Oh, what a glorious time.” The Mayor cracked gleefully as he practically danced his way back to his throne. Posing dramatically as he gave the fearful group a smug look. 

 “Play pitiful all you want. Your time to flee has run out. Now you pay for crimes against our beloved Voice.”

 “They’re kids!” Dice tried to argue, “They’ve done nothing wrong. Whatever this voice has told you, you can’t-”

 “Save your breath!” The Mayor waved his hand, “Your mind has been corrupted by the vile beings here. You will be given salvation later. But for now, WE PREPARE! Tomorrow we shall sacrifice those who would have harmed our Savior Voice! Take those vile beings to the jail! Separate cells please.”

 As one the mob moved, all heading towards the large newly built building they had spotted when they arrived. Lucifer attempted to snap, bite and tear at what he could possibly reach. But was being held out too far for him to reach anyone. The other three squirming and trying to push away only amounted to nothing as well. The interior was nothing but cells. Lined up along each wall that could be seen. Lucifer and Dice were carried to the left, while the Cup Brothers to the right. 

 “Wait, wait, what are you doing? You can’t separate us!” Dice called out, eyes on the frantic brothers. 

 Lucifer was brought out of his feral mentality upon hearing Dice. Pupils narrowing to the smallest sliver in anger. His writhing and attacks increased drastically while screaming, “You hurt them and I’ll rip your HEART OUT!”

 The Cup Brothers attempting to reach out to the adults as if stretching far enough would bring them closer. They were tossed into the farthest cell. Mugman let out a scream of pain as his face hit the stone floor. A dangerously large chunk falling away from his cracked eye. Cuphead frantically tries to comfort his brother and break down the cell door. Calling out desperately for glue or for some help.

 Only to be ignored. 

[elm-writes-stories]

Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite) Episode one teaser:

Episode One: Blood and Bones

“Hey, you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Cuphead questioned. 

“C-Cuphead?” Mugman uttered while he was on the verge of tears. He hugged his brother immediately, who hugged him back slowly. 

“Uh, did you have a nightmare?” Cuphead asked awkwardly.

Mugman nodded his head. “It’s all better now.” 

“Good!” Cuphead chirped while breaking away from his brother. “C’mon, Dad is making breakfast with Elder Kettle! Come on!” The red-strawed cup slid down the ladder of their bunk beds and hurried out of the bedroom excitedly.

“Cuphead, wait!” Mugman said while hopping down from the top bunk and rushing out of the bedroom and downstairs. As they reached downstairs, they saw Murray trying to flip the pancakes. 

“You’re doing good!” Elder Kettle informed with a bright smile. 

“Yeah, I have made these before, but I think I need some recollection of how to make breakfast.” 

“Well, hey, at least you’re helping in the kitchen,” Elder Kettle said before noticing Mugman and Cuphead sitting on the table. He nudged Murray. “Hey, watch this.” 

Murray scooted back for Elder Kettle flipped the pancakes to the boys while using his nose to blew the last one over his head. Murray glanced back and watched Cuphead raising his plate up, catching all of the pancakes. 

Mugman raised his plate, expecting to miss but still hoping that he would catch them. However, Mugman caught all of the pancakes on his plate. The mug was happy that he caught them…but there was something off about that. He never caught those pancakes before. This would’ve been the first time he had caught them. Mugman shook his head to ignore it. He watched his brother squirting all of the syrup into his pancakes and passing it on to Mugman. Mugman sighed, expecting to only get a tiny bit squirted out before…more syrup was poured onto his pancakes. 

Wait a minute, Cuphead usually takes all the syrup. 

Mugman blinked in confusion while watching his father and Elder Kettle talking. He then started to eat pancakes, but the syrup tasted bland and his mouth made a crunching sound instead of the chewing sound like normal pancakes. The pancakes also tasted…fleshy. He swallowed and looked down. He gasped in horror to find that the pancakes were not pancakes. There was blood covering the stacks of lungs, heart, small intestines, large intestines, and rib cages in pieces surrounding the stack. Mugman breathed heavily in horror while feeling blood covering his face. 

“Hey, Mugsy?” 

Mugman was snapped out of his vision to realize that now he was just eating pancakes. He had syrup covering his face instead of blood. He looked at his brother.

“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Cuphead asked. 

Cuphead…had just said that.

[rorrster]

have a drawing of the 3 best characters in existence

[painywainy]

Theres also one where Mugman has no memory of cuphead or anything else (missing pieces au) and one where Mugsy works for the casino while Cuphead thinks he’s missing (sacrificed mugs au)

(I have realized how many aus love putting pressure on mugsy)

[fandomfan2000]

Song analysis #3 God of Loss

here's a link to the Song

this is fanart of @brightgoat​‘s ask blog @askcupsandcasinos​, a few of the photos I drew were HEAVILY inspired by some of the stuff Bright's drawn so please check out the original blog. 

I think this Lyric\song title relates to Mugman because of his whole ‘spade’ aesthetic, as we know, according to Brightgoat and king Dice, spades are often associated with death and loss. The whole ‘God” part of this title is more or less ironic, after Mugmans little break down when he and cups visited Quadratus, we now know that he’s still suffering from PTSD and is looking to achieve something more then a mere mortal should, which as Quadratus stated will only end in his demise. Making the title of “god of loss” a perfect fit for the mug.

more under cut 

“My father was a carpenter My mother, she died young”

These lyrics essentially just talk about Elder Kettle. He was Mugman and Cupheads Parental figure. He may not have been a “carpenter” but I see that line as more saying that he was humble and a hard worker, instilling these qualities into Mugman & Cuphead (well more or less). “My Mother she died young” is rather self explanatory, even though Elder Kettle didn't die young, he did pass away when the boys were relatively young, which was equally crushing to Cups and Mugs as a guardian dyeing young, if not more because they had no one left. 

“I’m the eldest of my brothers You’re the trouble in my blood Trouble in my blood”

this line also feels self explanatory but I’ll explain it any way. 

Its basically just stating facts, Mugman is “technically older” then cuphead “by like, a minute or something”. Aaaand Cuphead is usually seen as the trouble maker f the 2 whos always getting them roped into trouble. Which I think Mugman, just judging by the way he treats Cuphead does believe that cuphead is trouble.

This also refers to how Mugs’ ancestors and his relation to him has and will cause nothing but trouble. 

“I swore that I’d stay humble Like my father was before He built the home I live in Of sand and mud and smoke Sand and mud and smoke “

This line correlate’s to Elder Kettle having been a very simple and kind man and how the boys see him in a good light. It also serve as an ironic statement as we all know Mugmans main sin is pride.

I see this line as more about Elder Kettle and Mugs’ ancestors and their effect on them, how they helped shape and build Mugs into the person he is. It also seems like a reference to the Bible and how Adam, the first human, was created. In the Bible God made him by taking, I think it was dust I'm not sure though, from the ground and created man, which I think is close enough to “Sand & Mud & smoke” to have a correlation as all those things come from the earth. I figured a reference to the Bible was fitting considering the whole ‘heaven and Hell’ theme.

“Yes, we will leave here without a trace Take a new name and an old shape”

This line correlates to Mugmans fear of death...or more a fear of being forgotten and not accomplishing anything notable his life before passing. It also correlates to Elder Kettles death and how he just disappeared, everything and everyone related to him went missing after his death.

the picture I drew is a redraw of Elder Kettles grave from this post.

This line refers to the parallels between Cuphead & Mugman vs The legendary chalice and her mystery friend whos been hinted at a few times. How their personalities kind of line up, Cuphead & Chalice being the more outgoing risk takers and Mugman & mystery cup being the prideful scientist’s. Meaning Cups & Mugs are the “new names” but really thanks to their ancestors giving them their signature soul powers, are living in “old shapes’ so to speak. Did any of that make any sense??? anyway moving on

“I’ll be no outlaw, no renegade Just your faithful god of loss”

(Eheheh this is my favorite verse it fits so well >:D)

So this just refers to 3 of the main 4′s roles (Devil, King Dice, Mugman) and kinda, maybe, sorta Mug mans internal thoughts. King Dice is a well known and respected outlaw\criminal as we know, having been having been “outlawed across half the globe” if I'm remembering correctly. The Devils whole thing is that he’s a renegade, fighting against his fathers oppressive rule to create change... even if what he’s doing is ultimately pointless. Lastly Mugman. The line relating to him I've already touched on but again its and of more ironic if anything. Mug man is simply the “god of loss”. 

“So meet me by the river On a boat-shaped piece of earth We press our bones together And the spider does its work With flakes of garlic And petals from a rose If it’s small enough to carry You and I can call it home You and I can call it home”

okokok theres a lot to cover here ahhhh...  

“So meet me by the river” could hint at the river of souls running through purgatory, not particularly relevant but considering that's were the Chalice is, its an important setting in the story so that makes this line relevant. 

“We press our bones together” could reference just the characters and how their dynamics help progress the story, haha that comparison is kind of a stretch though. “And the spider does its work” I think refers to the devil (you know how his head can shape shift into a spider and all-) and his family and how their busy in the background, doing things mugs doesn't really understand or know of yet, which have the possibility of negatively impacting the brothers.

“If it’s small enough to carry You and I can call it home”

this refers to how the mystical inkwell and indirectly the memories the brother carry of Elder Kettle, allow them to find ‘home’ anywhere as long as their with each other and have their basic necessities met. The inkwell is small & their memories require no space to take with them, along with the fact that if they could utilize the inkwell they could create a home, and whole worlds for themselves.

annnywayy that concludes song analysis #3 hope you enjoyed’

stay tuned for more~