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Cuphead: Isle of Memories (REWRITE)

*Hey, everyone, I'm back!!! Who misses me?! Eh? Eh? Well, anyways, I'm back with another episode of Cuphead: Isle of Memories. We're about halfway done with the story. However, the updates will be slower to maybe once a month because I got work and school to contend with. This is published on February 10, 2024. If you guys like the story, don't be afraid to leave kudos and comment! They will be greatly appreciated! Have a blessed day! Bye!*

Episode Twelve: The Living Legend

“We are the Calix Animi.”

Mugman kept hearing the phrase. He couldn’t move or wake up for a moment. Pictures of strangers fighting each other flashed before his eyes until finally he saw a pool in a dark wide hallway. It was glowing with three glowing orbs with two on one side and one on the other side.

“Love. Value. Protect.”

“Love thy neighbor. Value the lives around you. Protect those less fortunate.”

“Mugman…Mugman…Mugman!!” his mother’s voice cried from within the pool.

Mugman couldn’t respond to the voice or call out to her. He was paralyzed.

“Mugman! Mugman! C’mon, Mugman, wake up!!”

He felt like he was being pulled towards the pool, but he couldn’t scream or move to get out of whatever force was pulling him towards it. His vision had become more blue as he got closer. He looked into it to find a group of warriors within the reflection of the water, laying dead in a battlefield. He watched his arm moved towards the water to touch it before—

“Mugman! Mugman, wake up, bud!!”

Mugman gasped and snapped his eyes open, his vision a blur for a moment until he could finally move again. He saw Cuphead, Cassidy, Natalie, Canteen, and Chalice standing over him.

Cuphead smiled in relief. “Oh, thank goodness.”

“DJIMMI, WE GOT A SITUATION!!” Ribby’s voice was heard from a distance.

“It’s okay! He’s awake now!” Cuphead shouted, but Djimmi came into Mugman’s field of vision to look at him.

“What happened?” Djimmi asked the kids, mostly Mugman.

Mugman groaned in pain and held his head.

“I dunno. One minute, we’re looking at Natalie and Cuphead dancin’ and then the next minute, he just fainted,” Chalice explained.

Mugman tried to remember why he fainted exactly. He could’ve sworn he heard someone calling his name. Then there was that pool…that glowing pool. Why did he see a glowing pool? Was that Quadratus calling him? No, Quadratus didn’t have a power to do that, he would think. The vision bothered him as he looked to see his hands glowing blue and shaking.

Djimmi noticed this and examined his hands. “What’s wrong with your hands?”

Mugman was snapped out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

The genie helped the mug up on his feet. “C’mon, let me take a look at your hands.” When he saw Mugman’s legs wobbling, Djimmi picked him up and carried him over to his tent.

Cuphead glanced over in concern. “What’s wrong with Mugman?”

“Give me a second,” Djimmi sat Mugman down on the chair while the kids came over to the genie’s tent in concern.

Mugman could his hands shaking more while glowing blue.

Cassidy saw this and attempted to hold his hand, but she felt a small shock when trying to hold his hand.

He gasped when he saw her get zapped from trying to hold his hand to comfort him. “Sorry.”

Djimmi observed this while kneeling down in front of Mugman. “Hold still.” He gently grabbed Mugman by the arm and examined the hand shaking. “It looks like your hands are under a magnetic force.”

“What?” the kids uttered in confusion.

“Magnetic force?” Natalie questioned.

“Yeah, like he’s being pulled towards someplace unknown,” Djimmi explained.

Mugman thought for a moment, and the vision of the pool kept invading his mind. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t keep quiet about it.

“The pool…”

The kids and Djimmi looked at Mugman.

“Huh? What pool?” Cuphead questioned his brother.

Canteen and Chalice exchanged quick glances at each other as if they were thinking of the same thing and then back to their friend.

Mugman shook his head. “I don’t know…”

“Are you seeing Quadratus in your vision?” Djimmi questioned.

“No…Quadratus…he wasn’t in the pool. But someone else is…” Mugman uttered, now feeling the blue glow spreading up towards his arms.

Chalice could feel a shiver down her spine.

“Maybe you shouldn’t talk about your visions for a little bit,” Djimmi said before getting out two bracelets and put them on Mugman’s wrists, causing the blue glow to fade from Mugman’s body. “It’s an anti-magic bracelet. It will probably keep your visions at bay for a while. Take it off if you need to.”

“What’s happening to me?” Mugman asked Djimmi in a shaky tone.

The genie frowned. “I don’t have an answer for that. Whatever it is, it’s probably nothing. I suggest you get some rest and drink water, okay?”

Mugman nodded his head.

Djimmi was putting everything away in his tent as Mugman walked out.

The kids followed Mugman out of the tent.

“You okay?” Cuphead asked his brother.

Mugman had the look of guilt on his face to see his brother still wearing the red suit and Natalie wearing her dress. “I’m sorry I ruined your date.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Natalie reassured Mugman. “It was coming to an end anyway.”

“Yeah, we ain’t worried about that,” Cuphead replied to his brother. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“No…Yes…” a sigh escaped Mugman’s lips. “I don’t know.”

Cassidy leaned her head against his with a small purr. “Whatever it is…we’ll all get through it, okay?”

He nodded in agreement with his lover. “Yeah…okay.”

Chalice and Canteen had been silent the entire time, looking at the mug in concern.

Chalice, however, decided to plaster a smile. “Hey, why don’t we all get some rest? It’s gettin’ late, ya know?”

Mugman rubbed his arm and nodded. “Yeah…I guess.”

He walked away from the group with the vision still in his mind, leaving the kids to look at him in concern.

~.~

It was late at night when the boys were already in their pajamas. The brothers decided to switch bunk beds with Mugman at the bottom and Cuphead at the top, just in case Mugman would have a vision and fall off the bed. He wouldn’t have to fall far if he ended up rolling off of bed.

With both of the brothers asleep, Mugman started to toss and turn from a strange dream that no one will ever know except for him.

He saw the faceless warriors fighting against each other. He was breathing heavily in fear while watching the demons tearing through citizens with their bare claws and teeth. Blood was everywhere while he could hear the words in Latin once again.

“Multa bella pugnabuntur.

Multi milites in manibus sunt mali.

Nondum venit finis, sed cito venit.

Agnus ueniet ad gregem et reducet eos in campums seculorum.”

In the real world, Mugman groaned uncomfortably and clutched his blanket tighter. His hands started to glow blue again, breaking through the anti-magic bracelet around his wrists. The blue glow spread across his body as Mugman tossed and turned more.

Back into his vision, the battle raged on while he noticed that his body was glowing blue. He breathed heavily and grabbed his head. He shut his eyes while his body was trembling.

“Make it stop! Make it stop!” Mugman screamed, but it was muffled by the Latin words spoken to him.

He snapped his eyes open to find that glowing pool again, but he shut his eyes again. The tears leaked out of his eyes.

“Ite, et lapsorum quaerite memoriam.

Ite, et lapsorum quaerite memoriam.

Ite, et lapsorum quaerite memoriam.”

“Shut up! Shut up!!” Mugman screamed.

“Mugman…MUGMAN!!!”

Mugman snapped his eyes open with a gasp to find Cuphead by his bedside. His vision was blue.

“Buddy, you okay?” Cuphead asked.

Mugman rubbed his eyes and the blue in his vision was gone. He looked down at his body glowing blue, which caused Cuphead to clench his jaw.

“Your bracelets were broken while you’re asleep,” Cuphead explained.

Mugman kept seeing visions of the pool and hearing words whispered in his head. He groaned and massaged his head to soothe his headache.

“I-I gotta go…” Mugman uttered as he stood up.

“Whoa, whoa.” Cuphead hurried to stop his brother. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know, b-but I have to get there. I can’t keep ignoring it.”

“Ignoring what?” Cuphead questioned with a brow raised.

“The vision, Cuphead!” Mugman blurted out, his hands trembling. “Something is trying to lead me somewhere and I need to get there. I know it sounds insane and probably ridiculous, but I can’t ignore it. I-I can’t…”

Cuphead watched his brother’s body trembling with a soft look. He frowned and pondered for a moment until his head perked up like an idea came to him.

“Why don’t we go wherever you’re going together?” Cuphead asked.

“Really? You would come with me? You don’t know where we’re even going,” Mugman pointed.

Cuphead gave his brother a deadpan stare. “Mugsy, how many places have I dragged you into where you didn’t know where we were going at first?”

Mugman blinked for a moment to think about it. “A lot of places.”

“Sooo, you get to drag me to a place I don’t know either.”

“But, Cuphead, we both don’t know where we’re going.”

“So? Let’s go,” Cuphead said while opening their bedroom window.

“Wait,” Mugman uttered. “What if it’s someplace dangerous?”

“We got powers, bud. I ain’t too worried about it. We can bring the others if that makes you more comfortable.”

“Maybe…I think we should have more people just in case something goes wrong,” Mugman replied logically.

“Great idea, bud,” Cuphead whispered before climbing out of the window.

Mugman sighed and followed after his brother.

~.~

“So, let me get this straight,” Natalie uttered while walking through the forest with Cassidy, Chalice, Canteen, Cuphead, Aurora, and Mugman. She rubbed her eyes with a yawn. She was in her nightgown and holding her little sister’s hand. “Mugman has some weird vision of some pool…and we’re going towards it.”

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it,” Cuphead replied. “Though I don’t think we know where exactly.”

“Djimmi said something about Mugman’s hands being under some kind of a magnetic force,” Canteen noted while pointing at Mugman’s hands glowing blue and guiding everyone through the forest.

Cassidy stayed beside Mugman and pressed her head against his. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, angel,” Mugman replied while receiving affection back.

“What’s going to happen once we find the pool?” Chalice asked. “Is it going to hurt Mugman or—?”

Chalice’s sentence was cut off once they noticed the mausoleum glowing blue in front of them.

Aurora noticed Mugman’s pupils glowing blue. “What’s happening to Mugsy?”

The rest of the kids looked at Mugman.

Mugman’s body glowed blue as if he was being pulled towards the mausoleum.

“Mugman?” Cuphead called nervously.

Mugman didn’t listen to his brother as he headed towards the entrance of the mausoleum.

“G-Guys?” Mugman stuttered, looking around for them.

“We’re right here, Mugs,” Chalice reassured him. “Whatever is going on with you, don’t fight it, okay?”

Mugman nodded. He stopped fighting the pull and headed into the blue glowing building. The others glanced at Chalice in confusion as she frowned and looked away.

“What’s happening to him, Chalice?” Cassidy asked in fear.

Chalice frowned and looked at her friends. “It’s hard to explain.”

Canteen held her hand, reassuring her that it was okay to not talk about it at the moment. Whatever it was that she was keeping from everybody, anyway.

The kids shifted their attention back to Mugman, who came upon the square gap on the floor. He jumped into the darkness as everyone else approached the edge.

“What is he doing?” Natalie questioned.

Chalice frowned and jumped into the darkness to follow Mugman.

Cuphead swooped Natalie off of her feet while picking up Aurora. He dropped down with his orange wings spread and both of the girls in his arms to keep them safe.

Canteen and Cassidy exchanged glances at each other. They held hands and jumped down into the darkness.

Once the kids landed on the ground, Cuphead managed to let Natalie and Aurora go. The kids watched Mugman walking down the wide hall, approaching the glowing pool at the end of it. The three orbs glowed brighter at the mug’s presence. He looked into the pool and caressed the water.

The voices grew from the pool, Latin phrases that the kids weren’t familiar with except for Chalice. She understood the words:

“Noli timere.

Noli timere.

Noli timere.”

Cuphead felt the sudden burn in his chest, causing him to stumble.

“Ack! Mugsy!” Cuphead cried, getting everyone’s attention.

Natalie rushed by her boyfriend. “Cups! Cups, what’s wrong?!”

“I-I don’t know!!!” Cuphead cried in pain.

Chalice noticed her hands glowing in a bright sunny color. She felt the sudden warmth that she could’ve sworn it wasn’t from the fire. She started to tremble at the sight of the brightness, trying to snuff it out by covering herself. But it wouldn’t dim the brightness.

Cassidy’s heart was racing as she saw Mugman falling into the water. She hurried towards him to save him, but Canteen stopped her.

“No! Cassi, you’re going to drown yourself!” Canteen shouted.

The kids turned and watched the pool glowed brighter.

~.~

“Stop! Thief!”

Mugman snapped his eyes open with a gasp. What did he just do? Was he stealing something? He looked around to find himself in a town that was smaller than Inkwell Isle. There were cabins everywhere with citizens using stoves to cook their food. There wasn’t electricity either.

“W-Where am I?”

“Stop, thief!”

Mugman turned to see a couple of soldiers in bright red uniforms charging towards him. “Wait, wait, I didn’t steal—”

The soldiers phased right through him as if he was invisible.

“—anything,” Mugman finished his sentence and turned to find the soldiers were chasing someone else.

He joined them in the pursuit, wondering who they were chasing. However, he felt something magnetic pulling him in another direction to the left. He stumbled and noticed someone hiding in the shadows. Mugman could see that this must be the thief that the guards were calling…except he recognized that thief somehow. Once the thief leaned into the light to watch out for more guards, the white porcelain cup head with a curved handle and some designs shaped like electric shocks and there were fire engravings on his handle.

Mugman widened his eyes in shock. “G-Gabriel?”

“Hm?” Gabriel responded to his name, but he didn’t find anyone nearby him.

Mugman realized that he couldn’t see him as well…but could hear him strangely.

Gabriel shrugged it off and hurried off.

“Wait!” Mugman cried while chasing after Gabriel.

Gabriel rushed around the town, carrying a satchel of whatever he stole from the market.

“Gabriel, wait!” Mugman shouted, chasing after Gabriel until they arrived at a shack. It looked rundown and in poor condition with just a fireplace and furniture scattered all over the place.

Mugman widened his eyes in shock at Gabriel’s living conditions and followed him into his home where he saw a pregnant cup woman who…looked a lot like his mother, but different. She appeared to be sickly while her blonde hair was falling out.

“You alright, love?” Gabriel asked softly while kissing her cheek tenderly.

“I’m alright. I felt a kick today.”

“You have?” Gabriel inquired with a soft smile.

She placed his hand on her stomach to feel little feet kicking inside the womb.

“Do you feel it?” she asked.

“Aye, I do,” he responded. “You can tell he wants out.”

“She,” she teasingly argued.

“Oh? I don’t think so. He’s going to be a strapping young boy like me.”

His wife rolled her eyes. “Or she’s going to become a strapping young girl like her father.”

“You think?”

“I know so.”

He chuckled. “Remember the deal, love? I name the boys and you name the girls.”

“If it’s a girl, I’m going to name her Rose.”

“Rose, huh? Beautiful.”

She noticed the satchel strap over his shoulder. “What did you steal this time?”

“You’re saying that as if I have been stealing every day,” Gabriel replied with a smirk.

“You have,” his wife said without hesitation.

He rolled his eyes playfully and opened his satchel to find that it was food. “A lot of food. Wouldn’t want you and the baby to starve.”

“That’s considerate of you, dear,” his wife said while sitting up to eat the food.

Mugman gazed at Gabriel softly. Before he could reach towards Gabriel and his wife, the memory switched to Gabriel being captured by the guards for the professor, who was a fork with a coat and glasses.

“I see that you have a nasty record of stealing things in the market, Mr. Arch-Cup,” the fork professor replied while looking through Gabriel’s records. “If I were you, I would thank the Most High that you’re not in jail right at this second. Though you should consider your choices carefully. What I am about to offer you could enrich you from this poor state you and your family were living in.”

“How did you—?”

“Rumors fly, good sir,” the professor answered without hesitation. “There is something I would like you to steal and it could save your entire family. Heck, I shall pay you a good sum for it and keep the soldiers off of your back so that you can provide for your family.”

“What am I stealing?”

“An excellent question. There are two orbs that were untouched by this exclusive group called the Calix Animi. They say that only the purest of blood and worthy can obtain these orbs, but you, my friend, are a common thief, not a pure blood and definitely not someone the Most High would deem worthy, which is perfect for this operation,” the professor replied.

Gabriel arched a brow. “Uh…thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” the professor said abrasively. “It’s up to you whether you’re up for it or not.”

“How much will you pay me if I do this?”

“As I said before, just enough to keep you and your family off the streets. Besides, I’m sure you didn’t find any better jobs than the jobs here.”

Gabriel took a moment to ponder about this offer.

Mugman looked to the side to find another memory of Gabriel’s wife coughing and holding her stomach. She couldn’t move and rubbed her stomach to soothe the baby in the womb. The memory disappeared, causing Mugman to shift his attention to Gabriel.

Gabriel huffed out a breath and looked up at the fork professor. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent,” the professor said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll do fine in this operation.”

Mugman watched a memory appear to see Gabriel sneaking into the familiar mausoleum and followed after him.

Gabriel approached the two orbs, one blue and one red. With a deep breath, Gabriel carefully put the orbs in his satchel to take back to the fork professor. Both Mugman and Gabriel weren’t sure why the professor wanted the orbs, but one could assume that the professor might be studying in a subject to which everyone called him insane over. But before Gabriel could make his quick exit before the members of the Calix Animi wake up, the orbs were mixed together in his satchel. Were the orbs supposed to do that?

When Gabriel opened the satchel, the substance leaped inside of Gabriel. Everything was turning blue and red in his vision while screaming in agony from the flames and electricity.

Mugman watched in horror at Gabriel’s suffering as everything became a blur to Mugman. He felt electricity running through his veins as he cried out in pain. His powers must have been responding to Gabriel’s newfound the powers. Mugman felt a tug towards Gabriel, but he couldn’t tell what was going on after everything went dark.

~.~

The building started to shake slightly, which was noticed by Canteen.

Canteen let Cassidy go and noticed Chalice’s body glowing brighter than usual.

“What’s happening?!” Canteen shouted his question.

“I-I think there’s s-something else I didn’t mention to you,” Chalice stuttered, her body glowing brighter.

“What?!”

Chalice stumbled trying to go to her boyfriend until Canteen rushed to catch her.

“Chalice, what’s happening to you?” Canteen asked, his voice trembling.

“Cuppy!” Aurora’s shout caught Chalice and Canteen’s attention.

They turned to find Cuphead burning up in his body, agonizing him further.

Natalie tried to get near him, but was too afraid of the growing flames coming out of his body. “Cups!”

Cassidy looked down at the pool for her boyfriend. She heard Natalie calling Cuphead’s name. She turned to notice the flames growing with wide eyes in fear for Natalie’s life. She looked at the water and then glanced around for a bucket. Once she found an old bucket, she scooped the water from the glowing pool and hurried to douse the flames on Cuphead’s body. Once she poured water over him, the flames exploded as if it had been doused by gasoline instead of water. The explosion pushed Natalie and Cassidy away from Cuphead.

Natalie bumped into the podium and noticed a pink orb about to fall on Aurora behind her. She got up and held up the orb to save her sister from the pink orb falling on her little sister. However, the pink substance flew out of the orb and into Natalie’s body, causing her to drop the empty orb in front of her feet. She collapsed on her knees and gripped her chest as her veins glowed pink.

Aurora hurried by her big sister. “Sissy, Sissy! What’s wrong?!”

Natalie gritted her teeth to keep her from screaming in pain.

Cassidy flew onto the podium that held the green orb, knocking it over. The green orb broke and the green substance was set free. The red feline noticed it coming towards her, but it was too late to run from it since it entered her body. She could feel something growing inside of her. She clenched her teeth with tears in her face.

Chalice noticed the girls suffering. “Oh no…”

“Oh no, what?” Canteen asked in fear. “What’s happening to them?”

Chalice glanced up at him. “The prophecy…it’s coming true.”

“What prophecy?” Canteen probed. He could feel the building shaking, knocking over the dark blue orb and breaking it. The substance from the orb lingered out and into Canteen without hesitation. Canteen’s body tensed up from the strange feeling, until he could feel his head hurting.

“C-Chalice,” Canteen whimpered in pain. He held his head and fell onto his knees with screams in pain.

Chalice noticed this and hugged him tightly while he started to scream in pain.

Aurora witnessed all of this with fear in her eyes. She trembled until an idea came to her. She looked at her sister and said in a hurried tone, “I’m going to ged Briney! Hold on!”

She looked around for an exit and found it on the side by Cassidy. She hurried to the exit and rushed up the stairs to get help.

~.~

Mugman fluttered his eyes open and noticed that he only had red vision on one eye and the blue vision on his other eye. A groan escaped his lips…but he didn’t sound like him.

“What the—?” Even Mugman’s own voice didn’t sound like his own.

He saw six strangers around him, but their faces were clearer than before. One at the center of the group was a familiar female chalice leaning down to get a closer look at him.

“Chalice?” Mugman recognized…but his own voice still didn’t sound like him.

“That’s the Legendary Chalice to you,” she corrected him with a growl. “Question is, who are you, thief?”

“Thief?” Mugman glanced at his hands to realize that…wait a second, those weren’t his hands. They were much bigger than his usual hands. He got up on his feet, completely ignoring the Calix Animi group. He didn’t realize he was so much taller than before. He spotted a mirror and hurried towards it to look into it. Once he looked into it, his eyes widened in horror. He could see that he had one eye red and one eye blue…but that wasn’t all. He appeared a lot like Gabriel…wait, no, he was Gabriel now…or possessing him.

Mugman turned back around to face the Calix Animi group as Gabriel. He noticed their eyes glowing different colors.

“Who are you?” Mugman asked with Gabriel’s voice.

“We asked you first,” a silver spoon said with her arms crossed.

Before Mugman could introduce himself, he felt like something pushed him out of Gabriel’s body. Mugman tumbled onto the ground and looked to see that he was himself again. He glanced up to find Gabriel blinking in confusion.

“The bloody hell?” Gabriel uttered.

“Who are you?” the spoon asked impatiently.

“Gabriel…who are you?” Gabriel replied in confusion.

“We’re the Calix Animi,” The Legendary Chalice said. “You better have a good reason for stealing those orbs.”

“Let alone absorbing them,” the spoon, Silversmith, spoke up.

“He must have a pure blood and was worthy of the Most High if he’s able to absorb it,” the adult cup girl with pink glowing eyes, Esther, replied softly.

“Look, I didn’t think I could absorb whatever this substance was in those bloody orbs,” Gabriel growled at the group.

“Hey, hey, you don’t need to get angry. We just want to understand why you broke into the mausoleum,” the other cup man, Chester, said with his hands raised up.

“I need to get whatever this is out of me. Is there a way to do it?” Gabriel interrogated the group.

The group looked at each other and then at Gabriel.

“Unless you died, there’s no way to get the gifts out of you,” the old plate said.

Mugman watched it unfold while tilting his head.

“Well, I’m definitely not going that route,” Gabriel responded.

The Legendary Chalice smirked. “Or we can train you on how to use your powers and become part of the Calix Animi.”

The old plate glared at her. “Are you crazy?! We are going to welcome a thief! I bet he came from a poor family and had nothing else better to do than to steal.”

“Oi,” Gabriel uttered in offense. “I have a sick wife, mate!”

“You have a sick wife?” the cup girl with pink glowing eyes uttered.

“Don’t fall for his deceit, Esther,” the plate groaned. “You know he’s using that to his advantage.”

“No, I’m not,” Gabriel argued. “My wife is pregnant and if I can’t save her, then she’ll die along with the baby.”

Esther, the cup, stepped towards Gabriel. “Show me where she is. Maybe I can help her.”

Gabriel arched a brow to appear skeptic, but he nodded in agreement. “I’ll show you.”

Mugman watched on with curiosity and another memory appeared when the members of the Calix Animi in Gabriel’s shack with Esther healing Gabriel’s pregnant wife.

Esther smiled to see Gabriel’s wife healed from the sickness. “You have beautiful babies.”

“Babies?” Gabriel uttered.

“Yeah, you’re going to have twins,” Esther pointed out to him.

“We should get her somewhere safe,” The Legendary Chalice replied.

“Wait, we’re already taking him and his wife in already?” the silver spoon with green eyes questioned the Legendary Chalice. “Didn’t he try to steal from us?”

“Hold on for a second,” the cup with purple eyes glowing replied while placing his hand in Gabriel’s head.

Mugman watched with wide eyes and noticed Gabriel’s veins glowing.

The cup with purple eyes removed his hand from Gabriel’s head. “He’s trying to help out his family.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do to help,” Esther replied.

“We are not going to take them in,” the old plate growled. “They don’t have pure blood and they were not worthy to the Most High.”

“Why? They’re too poor for your taste?” the purple-eyed cup, Chester, responded. “C’mon, Grandius. The man is trying to help his sick wife, who is expecting twins soon.”

“Exactly,” The Legendary Chalice replied. “We are the Calix Animi. We are supposed to help people and fight the demons.”

“Yes, we are helping people who needed help. Not criminals,” Grandius, the old plate, said with a growl.

The female plate, Marilyn, frowned with dark blue glow in her veins. “Perhaps maybe there is a purpose as to why he’s here. Why don’t we take him in since he already absorbed the orb?”

“I’m not sure about this,” Silversmith said with uncertainty.

“Then let’s do it,” the gold chalice answered excitedly. She turned to Gabriel. “What do you say? We take both you and your wife in and keep you safe from the demons and soldiers on the streets.”

“Until the twins are born at least,” Grandius said. “But after the twins are born, you and your wife won’t be welcomed further into the mausoleum. Understood?”

The others turned to Grandius with small glares.

Gabriel nodded his head in understanding. “Understood. Thank you.”

The Legendary Chalice smiled. “No problem.”

As the others were exiting out of the shack, Grandius pulled Gabriel aside away from Gabriel’s wife’s earshot.

“Since the others think you and your wife are worthy of staying, you might want to watch your step around here. If you pull one little trick up from your sleeve, you best believe that I will make sure that you won’t breathe again. Filthy criminals like you will become the downfall of the Calix Animi. You better remember that,” Grandius said before walking away.

Gabriel stood there with widened eyes. He looked back to see his pregnant wife staring up at him to silently ask what was wrong.

It was sudden that everything glitched around Mugman. Mugman could feel the sparks electrocuting his body. He clenched his teeth in pain as his eyes turned bright blue. The vision of the battlefield showed up except it was the members of the Calix Animi members fighting it.

“Stop…Stop!” Mugman screamed while watching each Calix Animi members slaughtering themselves. “STOP!! WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING EACH OTHER?!”

“Mugman…”

“Ma?” Mugman whirled around and noticed someone tackling him onto the ground. For a moment, he saw Grandius Plate choking him.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Grandius Plate growled at him. “You should never exist!”

“Get off of me!!!” Mugman barked, zapping the plate with his electricity. His eyes widened when he realized that he shattered Grandius in pieces when trying to get him off of the mug. “What’s happening?”

Mugman glanced down to look at his hands.

The pieces of the Grandius Plate were put back together automatically.

“Your bloodline ends now!” Grandius growled.

“Leave me alone!” Mugman cried. He felt paralyzed in his whole body that he couldn’t run when he wanted to. The plate gripped Mugman around the throat again. It was sudden that the plate was transformed into the familiar tiger with green eyes staring into his blue ones.

“Did you really think you could get away from me?”

“GET OFF OF ME!!!” Mugman cried and zapped Hunter with the sparks. He watched Hunter stumbled back away from the mug. Mugman kept shooting sparks at the tiger. “GET AWAY!!!”

Hunter had electricity in his veins.

“Get away!” Mugman repeated again as he kept shooting the sparks at the tiger. However, he could feel himself draining. “G-Get away…from me—”

Everything went dark around him once again.

~.~

The storm was brewing in the night sky.

The thunder boomed and the lightning cracked across the sky. Aurora was sure that the heavy rain will come pouring down next. She was lost in the woods, forgetting the way to get to the hide-out.

“Briney! Briney!” Aurora cried. She put on a brave face and hurried through the dark woods. However, she could see yellow eyes lurking in the shadows, causing her to breathe heavily in fear. Were these creatures in the woods dangerous? The rain poured in the woods, making it harder for her to see where she was even going. She shivered in the cold rain as she stumbled into a space where the water droplets weren’t rained on. She felt a warmth behind her back and saw a glow shining from behind to light up her path.

“Are you lost, little one?” A gentle voice asked softly.

She turned to face the bright glowing man, towering over her to shelter her from the rain.

Aurora nodded her head and answered, “My friends are in trouble and I need to get Briney.”

“I’ll help you find him,” He said, holding out his hand.

Aurora took his hand with a smile. He walked her through the dark woods, lighting up the pathways so that no monster could snatch the toddler up in the dark.

“What’s happening with your friends? Are they hurt?” He asked.

“I think so. They were screaming in pain. There’s something inside of them, but I don’t know what,” Aurora answered, sticking close to the bright glowing figure.

“And you think Briney can help?”

“I think he can help Sissy. I’m not sure about the others.”

“Where were you at?”

“A temple I think?”

The glowing figure nodded in understanding. “I’m sorry that it’s happening to them.”

“Why is it hurting them?”

The Most High stayed silent for a moment. Then he sighed, “Their bodies weren’t used to these kinds of powers. Or “gifts” they’re once called. It will take some time for their bodies to be used to it. That’s why it’s hurting them now.

“Then I hope they will be okay.”

“I hope so too,” He said before looking ahead.

“Who are you?” she asked Him.

“I’m the Most High. And you?”

“Aurora,” she chirped.

“Beautiful name,” He said as He noticed her little legs getting tired. “You need a lift?”

“Please,” she uttered innocently.

“Here.” He lifted her up onto his shoulders with her legs dangling around the back of his neck. He held her legs just so that she wouldn’t fall. “How’s that?”

“Wow! I can see the camp from here.”

The Most High chuckled. “We’re getting closer to it.”

Aurora rested her hands on the Most High’s glowing head. “Can we be friends?”

“Of course, we can be friends.”

The little girl gasped happily. “Best friends?”

“Yes, even best friends.”

“Really?!”

He nodded. “Really. Really.” Up ahead, he noticed that they were approaching camp. “Here you are. You should be able to get to Briney from here.” He lifted Aurora off of his shoulders and placed her on the ground.

“Thank you, bestie,” Aurora said while rushing off towards the camp.

The Most High chuckled and watched her hurry to find the pirate over by Porkrind’s shop. He heard a scream in pain and hurried to the house where it came from. He peeked through the window and found Elder Kettle trying to get Murray to wake up from the couch while Murray was screaming.

“Murray!” Elder Kettle called while shaking him.

Murray snapped his one eye open with the purple glow, muttering Latin words.

O’Fera barged into the house with an urgent look. “What’s going on?!”

“Something’s happening to him!” Elder Kettle shouted.

O’Fera shook Murray. “Murray, Murray, can you hear me?”

Murray grabbed his head and curled himself up, screaming in pain.

The Most High gasped in concern and phased through the wall. He walked beside Murray and placed his hand on his shoulder without O’Fera and Elder Kettle seeing him.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” The Most High soothed. “It’s okay. The pain won’t last.”

With that said, the pain in Murray’s body became less tense, surprising both O’Fera and Elder Kettle.

“The mausoleum…” Murray finally uttered.

“What?” Elder Kettle questioned.

“My boys…” Murray said with tears in his eye. He rushed out of the front door, not aware that he moved away from the Most High’s hand.

“Murray, wait!” O’Fera called, following Murray with Elder Kettle.

The Most High was left alone in the living room. With a huff in determination, he walked out of the house by the front door to follow the others.

Meanwhile, Brineybeard found Aurora around the shop after he asked Porkrind and Jerry if they had seen Aurora and Natalie. Chef Saltbaker was there as well, looking for Chalice.

“Lass!” Brineybeard gasped and picked her up with a hearty laugh. “Yer okay, lass! Wait, where’s yer sister?”

“Sissy and the others are at the temple!” Aurora alerted Brineybeard.

“Wait, Cassi is there too?!” Porkrind shouted.

“Yeah, something is happening to them!” Aurora explained.

“Then let’s not waste time,” Chef Saltbaker determined.

Dice walked up to the group from his tent. “What’s going on here? Why is everyone shouting in the middle of the night?”

In the distance, there was a familiar scream echoing through the forest.

“What was that?” Chef Saltbaker uttered.

“That sounds like Cuphead,” Porkrind responded.

“Murray, where are you going?!” Elder Kettle shouted from the side.

The group turned to find Elder Kettle and O’Fera following Murray towards the forest.

“What’s going on with him?” Porkrind questioned O’Fera.

“I don’t know,” O’Fera responded in panic.

“We got to hurry! Sissy and the others might be in danger,” Aurora encouraged.

They watched Murray entering the forest to follow the scream.

“Let’s go!” Brineybeard responded as the adults awake hurried to follow after Murray with Aurora in the pirate’s arm.

~.~

Mugman gasped awake and sat up in the middle of the battlefield.

He realized that Gabriel was trying to fight the demons trying to get to his pregnant wife.

“Run, Lily! Run!” Gabriel called out to his wife while fighting the demons.

Lily, Gabriel’s wife, ran from the scene.

“Lily?”

In a flash of memory, Mugman saw his own mother running out of the house with both Cuphead and Mugman as babies in her arms. He glanced to the side to see that Murray was fighting back against Hunter and his assassins.

The memory faded back to Gabriel slashing the last of the demons. He turned to the side to see the Legendary Chalice stumbling back with side bleeding. Gabriel rushed by her side with urgency.

“Are you alright, lass?” Gabriel asked.

She nodded her head.

“Good, come on,” Gabriel urged while helping the Legendary Chalice up on her feet.

The memory switched back to Mugman’s mother, as a nurse, tending to Murray’s wound while the bombs were going off outside of the tent. She wrapped the last bandage on his side with a soft smile. Murray stared at her in pure awe and adoration.

“Get some rest,” she replied to him. “You should be able to recover in a few days.”

“Wow…” Murray uttered.

“What?”

He blushed and looked to the side. “Nothing…sorry.”

She smiled at him softly. “Rest up.”

“What’s your name?”

“Hm?”

“You know, in case I see you again,” he added.

She grinned at him. “Lily…Lily Rose.”

“Murray Cup.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” She gave him one last smile and walked away to tend to other patients.

The memory switched back to Gabriel helping The Legendary Chalice behind the boulder while fire arrows were shot at them.

They both looked over the boulder as Gabriel rose back to fight the demons once again.

“Wh-What are you doing?” She stuttered.

“Our friends are back out there. I’m going to help them,” he reassured her.

He ran back out into the battlefield.

“Gabriel, wait!” She called out to him.

As Gabriel was running through the battlefield to help the others, Mugman watched arrows raining down from the orange fiery skies.

The Legendary Chalice noticed this as well as she got up and hurried after Gabriel to help him in the battlefield. She cast a shield to protect Gabriel from the incoming arrows.

Gabriel noticed and looked to see her joining the fight with her spear. She impaled one of the demons charging towards her. With a nod from her, Gabriel spread his wings with red and blue feathers. They charged into the battle, fighting the demons trying to get to the mortals in the village.

Mugman noticed Grandius Plate stumbling through the battlefield, appearing to be fearful of everything around him. When Gabriel approached Grandius to help him, Mugman noticed an arrow coming down to Grandius, causing him to grab Gabriel and moved him in the way to get shot by the arrow instead of him.

The arrow impaled Gabriel from behind, causing him to fall over.

Mugman breathed heavily at this sight and looked to the side to find the Legendary Chalice clenching her spear in anger after witnessing it.

“NOOOO!” The Legendary Chalice screamed while aiming her spear. The lightning burst out of the tip and zapped into Grandius Plate, shattering him.

She hurried up to Gabriel and held him. “Gabriel? Gabriel! Are you alright?!”

“C-Chalice…my wife…my kids—”

“C’mon, let’s get you—” The Legendary Chalice looked up and watched the Devil and the demons rampaging the village as if it was theirs to claim. “No…”

“Ch-Chalice…”

She glanced back at him.

“M-Make sure that my family is safe…please…”

“No, Gabriel. You’re going to make it. You’re going to see them again—”

Gabriel passed out in her arms, exhaling his last breath. She saw the gifts extracted from him, combined together in her hands. She shook her head rapidly in denial.

“No…No! C’mon, Gabriel, I know that you’re stronger than that…please…come back…”

Mugman frowned and noticed a shift in the memory back to the empty hallway with Gabriel disappearing from her arms. He watched her standing over by the pool he kept seeing in his visions with her spear.

Out of spite, she dropped her spear into the pool and watched it sink further and further until the light from the spear faded.

Mugman gasped to see the Most High approaching beside The Legendary Chalice, who was now just holding the Eternal’s Orb.

The Most High stood quietly beside her, taking in the silence until she spoke.

“We’re never your chosen ones, are we?” The Legendary Chalice replied while looking away from the Most High.

The Most High was silent for a moment. He looked down at the pool. “Your group was made to protect mortal kind from demons.”

“But we failed at that…heh, I guess pride really got into some of our heads.”

“If I were you, I would protect these gifts from the Devil. Who knows what he could do with them once he finds them?”

“Right…”

He frowned and placed his hand on her shoulder. A sigh escaped his lips. “You will remember them for a long time. The memories of both the good and the bad will be engraved in your head. You will be reborn and you will still have half of your powers once you moved on to the next life. But I will tell you this, you will have this again. You will have friends who you cared about. People you will fight for and with. And they will care for you back.”

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“The New Calix Animi will be formed in the times of trouble. You’ll see,” The Most High replied.

The memory of the Most High and The Legendary Chalice faded away.

Mugman was left facing the darkness.

~.~

Captain Brineybeard, Aurora, O’Fera, Elder Kettle, Dice, Porkrind, Jerry, and Saltbaker followed Murray through the forest where they witnessed the mausoleum glowing blue.

“What the heck?!” Saltbaker shrieked at the sight.

Murray ran into the building without hesitation.

The others stood outside of the entrance with wide eyes in shock.

“Are we sure we should enter there?” Dice questioned the group.

The screams echoed from outside, sounding like Cassidy’s.

“CASSI!” Porkrind and Jerry gasped in unison and hurried inside.

“Guys, wait!” O’Fera shouted while the others chased after them.

They noticed a large gap in the middle of the room, but they didn’t hesitate to jump in.

Once they reached the bottom of the pit, they widened their eyes at the sight of the kids suffering with something glowing within each of them. There was a bright blue glow within the pool ahead of them, but they weren’t focused on that.

Brineybeard didn’t hesitate to hurry besides Natalie and cradle her in his arms. “Natalie, are ye alright, lass?”

Natalie clenched her teeth and looked up at Brineybeard and Aurora. “B-Briney…?”

“It’s alright, lass, we’re here.”

Porkrind and Jerry noticed Cassidy screaming in pain at the far corner of the hallway.

“Hold on, honey!” Porkrind shouted while both of the men hurried towards her.

Cassidy noticed both of her father figures coming up to her, scurrying back in fear. “No, stay back—” Unintentionally, the vines burst from the ground to stab the men, but Dice’s card swiftly moved in front of them to block the attack.

Porkrind shielded Jerry with his body, not aware that the card came to defend him too until he noticed Dice hurrying beside him.

“You guys okay?” Dice questioned them.

Porkrind moved the card aside and watched his daughter writhe in pain. He was about to go around the card and the vines to get to his daughter, but the vines grew more to block his way.

Saltbaker rushed by Chalice and Canteen holding each other. “Hey, what’s going on?!”

Both Chalice and Canteen couldn’t answer, their limbs shaking from gold and dark blue glows in their veins.

O’Fera noticed Murray crawling over to Cuphead, hugging him despite his son being on fire and suffering. The different colored glows grew brighter and brighter in the room where Elder Kettle and O’Fera were the only ones covering their eyes.

The different-colored glows shined bright from outside of the mausoleum and then dimmed. Once the brightness was turning dim, Elder Kettle and O’Fera uncovered their eyes to watch the glow from the pool faded into darkness.

Murray fell over on the floor with Cuphead in his arms, no longer suffering.

Natalie went limped in Brineybeard’s arms for a moment.

Chalice and Canteen regained their breaths, still holding onto each other for dear life.

Cassidy trembled in the cold as Porkrind was able to get around the now dead vines and picked his daughter up in her arms.

“Are you okay, honey?” Porkrind asked softly.

“I-I don’t know,” Cassidy answered with a whimper.

Jerry came beside them and comforted Cassidy. “It’s alright. We’re right here.”

Elder Kettle approached Cuphead and Murray. “Are you guys okay? Wait, where’s your brother?”

Cuphead lifted his eyes up to the old tea kettle and then shifted his gaze at the pool that was no longer glowing. “M-Mugsy…”

O’Fera glanced at what Cuphead was looking at. She didn’t hesitate to jump into the pool after Mugman.

“O’Fera!” Elder Kettle called.

There were bubbles forming into the surface as O’Fera popped back out of the water with passed out Mugman in her arms. She yanked him out of the water by the collar of his shirt with her mouth and used her arms to get on the cobblestone floor.

Mugman breathed heavily, his limbs trembling. He fluttered his eyes open to find his friends, his brother, and his girlfriend having different-colored glows in their veins. He blinked a couple of times to realize something must have happened while he was in the pool. He glanced up at O’Fera.

“You okay, kid?” she asked.

“What happened?” Elder Kettle probed the other kids.

The other kids looked at Mugman, who didn’t know how to answer.

“What did I just do?” Mugman uttered in fear.

To Be Continued...

#cuphead #mugman #ocs x canons #ms chalice #canteen hughes #king dice #elder kettle #porkrind #cuphead jerry #cuphead: isle of memories rewrite #chef saltbaker #the howling aces cuphead #oc parent #ribby and croaks #djimmi the great

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

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YAY!

Sometimes, we fail to see what we already have, and seek out what we don't. That's what happened to our favorite cup brothers after they decided to make a birthday wish on a star. Sometimes, what we get is too much. ---- Welcome to the XIII-Cup-Parents au. Asks are to be opened soon!

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

Text

THEM <3

I never draw them

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

Text

Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! Happy New Year! I'm sorry that I've published this late! I've been busy with work and had been running into a writer's block, but I'm back! Anyway, this episode is published on January 1, 2024. If you guys like this chapter, don't be afraid to heart, reblog, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated! Happy New Year and let's hope this year will be a good year! Enjoy!*

Episode Eleven: Turning Up the Charm

Today was a relaxing day for once in Mugman’s life.

No demons. No Tremaine.

Just him reading a story with Cassidy sitting on his lap to read. Her purring were the only sounds that he could listen to all day. Now, he wished every day could be like this. It didn’t help he was sitting on the bean bag in the corner of the library Djimmi made.

She was resting her eyes while they were reading, which was causing him to fall asleep reading the story with her. And he didn’t mind as long as she was in his arms. But he could’ve sworn he would accidentally drop the book falling asleep like this. He started to move around to close the book, which woke her up a little.

“Oh, sorry,” Mugman whispered to her while putting the book back on the shelf.

“It’s okay,” she said tiredly, cuddling her head on his shoulder. Her paws were making biscuits on his shirt with a content smile.

Once he put the book away, he leaned back so that she could get comfortable laying on him. A smile formed his face. He began resting his eyes and holding her in his arms.

Before he could sink into a deep sleep, Chalice appeared by his side as a ghost.

“Mugsy!” Chalice shouted with a sudden urgency, waking both Mugman and Cassidy up with yelps and jolts.

Mugman took a few deep breaths with a groan. “Chalice…”

“I have a crisis,” Chalice replied. “It’s urgent…and, uh, private.”

“Private?” Mugman questioned.

Chalice nodded her head. “I promise it’ll be real quick.”

“Okay…” Mugman moved a little while Cassidy scooted off of him. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said while watching him get up from the bean bag.

He felt his legs ache from letting Cassidy sit on his lap for too long. He shook off the aches and followed Chalice around the corner away from Cassidy.

“So, what exactly do you need from me?” Mugman questioned.

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Chalice stated. Once they got away from Cassidy, she turned to him. “Okay, there’s been something that has been bothering me and you’re the only one…well, besides Cuphead by now, that knows what to do.”

“Uh…know what to do about what?”

“Ya know? Uh…this…um…well, you know how you are when ya first met Cassi.”

Mugman tilted his head for a moment until he realized what she was talking about. Then he smirked teasingly at her. “Yeah?”

“Well, let’s say that there’s a fella who knew how to play the violin, fix some things, and he’s a nerd when it comes to myths and legends. I dont’ know if he likes me back the same way though,” she responded.

He blinked in shock. “I thought he already likes ya.”

She blushed. “He does?!”

“Yeah, I thought that was obvious.”

“Wait, we’re talkin’ about the same guy, right?” she asked.

“Canteen Hughes?” Mugman inquired.

“Yeah, we’re talkin’ about the same guy,” she said.

He arched a brow. “And you like him back.”

“Well, yeah…I mean, I think he’s neat. I dunno how this works. You and Cuphead might be the only two ding-dongs I know that knows about this kind of feeling,” Chalice replied. “Ugh, now I realize why Saltbaker kept saying he’s my future boyfriend.”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Mugman responded while rubbing his hands. “Maybe you can ask him out on a date.”

“Oh, like you did with Cassi?”

“Yeah.”

“Good one. But if I were to ask him out on the date, it has to be spectacular!”

“Uh, well, it doesn’t have to be—”

“I know! We can start arguing and then not getting along until finally we confess our feelings for each other and we are dating officially!” Chalice replied.

“Uhhh, I’m not sure that’s how romance works—”

It was sudden that Cuphead zoomed into the scene with a panicked look on his face. “Hey, Mugsy! I just asked Nat out on a date and she said yes! What do I do now?!”

“Whoa, whoa, one at a time!” Mugman shouted until he noticed his brother’s legs bruised. “Wait, what happened to your legs, Cuphead?”

“Uh…it’s a long story,” Cuphead answered nervously.

“Wait, you asked Nat out on a date?” Chalice questioned with a gasp.

“Yeah,” Cuphead responded nervously.

Chalice’s smile brightened. “Way to go, Cups! I knew you had it in you! Now, I have a question for you. How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Cuphead asked.

“Ask her out on a date?” Chalice persisted.

“I dunno. We got ourselves into a dangerous situation and kind of confessed our feelings to each other. I mean, we kissed on the lips first and then I asked her out on a date,” Cuphead responded.

“Wait, what?!” Chalice and Mugman gasped.

“You jumped into it?!” Mugman shouted.

“No, she kissed first!” Cuphead said immaturely.

“Aww,” Chalice replied. “Wait, you said you were in a dangerous situation?”

“Yeah?” Cuphead uttered.

“And you confessed to each other about your feelings?”

“Yes.”

She pondered for a moment and then smirked mischievously. “That gives me an idea.”

“Wait, Mugman, which one of you kiss on the lips first? You or Cassi?” Cuphead asked.

“We haven’t kiss each other on the lips yet,” Mugman answered sheepishly.

“WHAT?! You two have been together all this time and haven’t kissed each other on the lips yet?!” Cuphead yelled.

“Not so loud, Cuphead!” Mugman whispered harshly to his brother.

Chalice groaned impatiently. “Can we get back to the matter at hand?”

Mugman nodded. “Yes, yes, please.”

“How did you two ding-dongs get those girls to like ya? Let alone letting girls kiss ya first?” Chalice asked the brothers.

The cup brothers were silent for a moment while looking at each other. Then they glanced back at Chalice.

“I dunno,” Cuphead responded.

“Yeah, me neither,” Mugman replied.

Chalice slapped her forehead with a sigh in discouragement. “I thought you both would be more experts on romance.”

“Chalice, I just asked Nat out on a date. I don’t know how I got her to even like me,” Cuphead responded. “I mean, I did tell her how I feel about her.”

“Yeah, I did the same to Cassidy…although I thought I was confessing it to you,” Mugman said while looking at his brother.

“Hey, at least, you got together with Cassi thanks to me,” Cuphead replied with a smirk.

“So, I guess I got to tell him how I feel then,” Chalice replied, pondering. “While turning up that charm of acting like a ding-dong! That’s what I’ll do! I get him to come with me on a perilous journey, get trapped in a cave with him, confess to him on how I feel, and then ask him on a date. Or kiss him on the lips first and then ask him out on a date. Whichever works!”

“Uh,” the brothers uttered.

“Thanks, fellas! Wish me luck!” Chalice said as she flew away.

Cuphead and Mugman froze and looked at each other.

“Should we go after her?” Cuphead questioned.

“Nah, she’ll be fine,” Mugman responded and shifted his attention back to Cuphead. “Soooo, you asked Nat on the date, huh?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cuphead said with a blush. “Mind helpin’ me out?”

“Helping out?”

The cup brothers turned to see Cassidy walking to them.

“Oh, Cassi,” Mugman replied excitedly and hurried over to her. “Sorry I was taking so long to get back to you.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I was wondering about what’s happenin’ with Chalice.”

“She’s on her own journey. Say, maybe you could help us,” Mugman suggested to his girlfriend.

“Ooh, help with what?” Cassidy asked excitedly.

“You see, Cuphead just asked Nat out on a date,” Mugman replied.

“Hey, no need on tellin’ the whole world about it,” Cuphead responded defensively.

“Shush,” Mugman replied, continuing to talk to Cassidy. “I’m going to get Cuphead a nice suit for his date. Do you think you would want to help Natalie with getting ready for the date? Kind of like what they did with us?”

Cassidy seemed uneasy for a moment, which was noticed by Mugman.

“Oh, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to,” Mugman replied.

“No, I want to,” Cassidy said. “It’s just…I’m never a fashion expert. Natalie knows more than I do and I feel like I’m going to mess it up for her.”

“You won’t,” Mugman said softly. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

Cassidy thought about it. Her ears perked as soon as an idea struck her. “Ooh! I know someone else who’s a fashion expert!”

The red feline kissed Mugman on the cheek and ran off with a newfound determination.

Mugman gazed at her with a lovey-dovey smile.

Cuphead rubbed his arm. “So, are you gonna help me pick out a suit?”

“Yeah!” Mugman said excitedly. “Right this way, my dear brother!”

Cuphead walked with Mugman while rolling his eyes.

~.~

Canteen had been trying to get back into building things in his tent.

Ever since he was a kid, he had a mechanic family that didn’t have a happy family. Remembering those families that died all those years ago still brought him back to that trauma. However, he wanted to build something…something like a plane.

Canteen had been drawing on a blueprint paper of all the screws and parts needed to build a plane on his wooden desk, but his mind started to drift off today.

Instead of drawing screws, he drew a face on the blueprint. His pencil outlined the details of the person’s face and he found himself drawing Chalice. It appeared to be accurate to the detail. He kept drawing her face, including her eyes and her dimples when she smiled. Then he drew her torso and a skirt she always wore since he first met her. Her heels were last. A smile came on his face as he drew more in detail.

“Whatcha drawin’?” A familiar cheery voice spoke beside him.

Canteen jumped with a yelp and covered the drawing of Chalice. He looked over his shoulder to find Chalice floating next to him.

“Uh…nothing. Nothing…j-just working on a new project,” Canteen stuttered with his face red.

“Ooh, can I see?” Chalice asked excitedly.

“Uh…i-it’s not really complete yet.”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind seein’ it anyway. Unless you don’t want me too—”

“No! No, uh, I just…uh, haven’t sketch the full picture yet.”

She turned into her physical form with a bright grin. “Well, you can show me it when you’re ready! But, on a fun side of things, I got an adventure we both can go on! Together!”

“T-Together? As in me and you together?”

“Yep! I heard that there’s a really cool place that we can explore together! It’s about…maybe thirty miles from this place. What d’ya say we go and see what’s there?”

Canteen blushed at the thought of going with Chalice someplace. “Um…yeah, sure.”

“Alright! Let’s go!” Chalice started to walk away.

“Wait,” Canteen urged while leaving the blueprint behind. “Where are we going exactly?”

“Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said with a wink.

He blushed and followed her out of the camp.

~.~

Natalie had been pacing in front of the ship with her anxious thoughts running through her liquid mind. She couldn’t believe she said yes to dating Cuphead. First, she kissed him and then she accepted his offer for a date.

She had been many dates before because her mother forced her too and most of them were little boys richer than her. Or guys that were way older than she liked to admit. And of course, she chased away the dates who were boys her age. She always thought it was them, but now she believed it to be her once she realized how badly she mistreated Cassidy. Natalie couldn’t believe that it took Cassidy being under the Devil’s control to wake her up.

“Natalie—”

Natalie screeched and spun around to find Cassidy behind her. She grabbed her chest and sighed in relief. “Oh, Cassi, it’s just you. Sorry, I was thinking about stuff.”

Cassidy gave her a smirk. “About your date with Cuphead?”

Natalie’s face turned redder than a tomato. “How did you—?”

“Cuphead told Mugman and Mugman told me,” the red cat said.

“Oh,” Natalie uttered while rubbing her arm nervously.

“And I came to help you get ready for your date. You know, the same way you helped me get ready for a date with Mugman.”

Natalie frowned. “You remembered that?”

“Of course I remembered,” Cassidy said. She noticed Natalie’s frown. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t think you would remember what I’ve done that was good.”

Cassidy softened her gaze. “Well, I would be lying if I said that you never did anything to help me.”

“Yeah, but I—”

“I want to forget the past.”

Natalie glanced up at her friend in shock. “But—”

“You have done horrible things to me in the past,” Cassidy said softly. “I stuck around you, because you were the only friend my age who even tolerated me at the time. I feel like I have to want to do things with you so that I can be around you. Or do the things only you want to do just to be around you. But you’ve changed. I’ve noticed that you’re not like that anymore.”

Natalie widened her eyes more.

“I don’t hate you, Natalie. I’ve never hated you. I’m always going to be your friend…I’ve always made that promise to you. But I want to forget about what happened in the past. It brings pain to even talk about it.”

Natalie softened her gaze and nodded. “Okay. I just want to say I’m sorry…for everything.”

“I forgive you.”

There was silence as both of the friends exchanged soft smiles.

“Now,” Cassidy began excitedly. “Let’s pick a cute dress for you.”

“But you don’t like clothes shopping,” Natalie pointed out.

Cassidy grinned. “Well, I know someone who knows about fashion. C’mon!”

She grabbed Natalie by the wrist, pulling her away from the ship and hurrying away to pick a cute outfit for her.

~.~

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Canteen asked while strolling through the forest with Chalice.

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Chalice said while looking for a cave around them to get trapped in.

Canteen didn’t seem convinced by Chalice’s answer. He looked around the forest to hear the pretty birds chirping and the sun shining through the leaves of the trees. The branches swayed to the gentle breeze, setting chills down on his spine.

He glanced at her and softly gazed at her. “Sooo, are you going to give me some hint as to where we’re going?”

She turned back with a small smirk at him. “It’s gonna blow your socks off.”

“That’s not a hint,” he teased with a blush.

“It’s some hint,” she quipped.

He rolled his eyes playfully. “Look, if you think it’s my birthday, you’re way off by two months and twenty days.”

Her smirk widened. “I’ll be sure to note that. But it’s not for your birthday.”

He dropped his playful look. “Then…what are you taking me out for?”

“Well, there’s something I oughta show you and I thought you would like it—”

Both Chalice and Canteen stopped when they noticed a temple ahead of them. For some reason, the white stoned temple seemed familiar to her.

Canteen gasped in recognition of the temple. “Whoa.”

“Whoa what?”

The silver canteen headed off towards the temple, taking the lead now with fascination in his eyes.

“Canteen, wait!” Chalice chased after Canteen towards the temple.

The kids reached to the bottom of the steps, looking up at the two front statues.

Chalice softened her gaze at one of the statues of a cup woman with long wavy hair resting on her shoulder and her name engraved under her feet of her name.

“Esther Cupchal.”

Chalice frowned at the name and then looked at the other statue, a man with a cup for his head that was chipped on the side. His name was engraved under his feet as well, but it was barely readable.

“Chester Cupchal.”

Canteen focused on the entrance of the temple with an awed look. “Is this what you’re trying to show me?”

Chalice faked a smile. “Yeah, definitely. Definitely! Since ya like myths and stuff, you might like looking at a mausoleum.”

He turned to look at her and saw her fake smile. “Are you sure this is the place you want to show me?”

She waved off her emotions and took him by the hand. “Yeah. C’mon. There’s so much to look at.”

They head into the mausoleum. Once they were inside, Chalice found herself more familiar with her surroundings. She looked at more statues of familiar friends, remembering their dead bodies in the glitch of her memories. She moved her eyes away from the statues and focused forward, leaving Canteen in confusion.

Canteen noticed one of the statues that was a spoon with the name under her feet:

Silversmith Spoon.

The canteen realized that Chalice was trying to keep her gaze away from the statues. He frowned at the sight of her and hurried beside her, faking a grin.

“Hey, if you want, we can find somewhere else to explore. I’m sure there are plenty of things in the forest we can explore other than this mausoleum,” Canteen said.

She faked a smile. “Aww, I thought you liked myths and legends.”

“I do,” he replied with a blush. “But I’m sure there are more adventures out there than this old mausoleum.” As he was saying the last part, he stepped on the floor plate that sunk below his foot.

He widened his eyes in shock and looked down to see that he pressed the floor plate.

The ground began to open under their feet as they wrapped their arms around each other and fell into the dark abyss with screams.

~.~

Cassidy was guiding Natalie through the village, looking for this supposed “fashion expert” to help her find her friend a perfect dress for the date.

Natalie was surprised to see this side of Cassidy, the one who was all giddy and excited for her best friend’s date. Not that Cassidy had never been happy for Natalie before, but Natalie could see a gleam in her eyes that were filled with pure genuine joy. She knew Cassidy didn’t like clothes shopping as much as Natalie, but it didn’t feel like Cassidy was sacrificing her own happiness for Natalie’s sake. Or forcing herself to dangerous situations to please her best friend. Maybe because this time…Natalie didn’t ask her too. And maybe this time…Cassidy wanted to do this.

However, Natalie felt a slight disappointment when she was taken to Porkrind’s shop. She blinked in confusion and glanced at her best friend.

“Why are we—?”

The answer was revealed immediately after Cassidy opened the door. The girls noticed Dice leaning over the counter and talking to Porkrind, who seemed to lean a bit towards the former gambler in interest of what he was saying.

“So, here’s the thing, if we can make your shop just a tad bit fancier,” Dice began while gesturing to the shop without looking at the girls. “You should be getting more customers and more customers means more money.”

“Make it fancy?” Porkrind questioned. He crossed his arm with a brow raised. “How fancy are we talking?”

“Well…” Dice looked around the shop until he noticed the girls. “Oh, hey, girls.” He glanced at the pig to whisper, “You got your first customers.”

“Actually, Dice, we’re looking for you,” Cassidy clarified.

“Me?” King Dice glanced at Porkrind, who shrugged his shoulders. Dice shifted his attention back at the girls. “Why me?”

“We need your fashion expertise,” Cassidy replied excitedly.

A smug smile formed on the die’s lips. “Well, well, you came to the right place. So, who do we need to dress up?”

Cassidy glanced at Natalie, who waved at Dice nervously.

“Hi,” Natalie uttered.

“Hello,” Dice responded.

“She needs a perfect dress for her date with Cuphead,” Cassidy said with a bright smile.

Natalie’s entire face turned red and she smiled nervously.

“Oh,” Dice responded with a small chuckle. “I didn’t think that cup is gonna get a girl because of his lack of…well, intelligence. But I see he’s got you fallin’ for him.”

“Hey, Cuphead is not stupid,” Natalie argued with Dice in a defensive manner.

Dice blinked in shock.

Porkrind put his hand on his hip and looked at Dice with a teasing smirk at him. “Better not talk bad about her man.”

Dice giggled and glanced at the one-eyed pig. “He ain’t a man just yet.” He shifted his attention to Natalie while rubbing the bottom edge of his square face. “Buuuut…I can get you pretty up before the date. You know, if we put some light make-up and a pretty pink dress on ya, you would look fabulous. It’ll even knock Cuphead’s socks off.”

Natalie suddenly became uncomfortable when Dice offered his hand to guide her. Cassidy noticed the discomfort in her friend’s face along with Dice and Porkrind.

“You okay, Nat?” Cassidy asked with a brow raised.

Dice blinked in realization and frowned for a moment. He shook off his frown and gave Natalie a comforting smile. “Would it better if you have a lady help getting you ready for your date?”

Natalie glanced at Cassidy for a moment and then back at King Dice with a small nod.

“What—?” Cassidy seemed confused until Dice pulled her aside and whispered to her about what happened to Natalie before they went to rescue the feline from Hell. The red cat gasped in shock and glanced at her friend with a soft look.

Natalie looked away in shame and embarrassment.

Dice turned to Porkrind. “Hey, Porks, you got a phone? I gotta make a call real quick.”

Porkrind darted his gaze at Natalie and then back at Dice. He pointed at the phone hooked on the wall next to him. “Knock yourself out.”

Dice nodded and headed to the phone. He dialed the number and leaned against the wall, holding the speaker.

“Hello, is this Sally?” Dice called. An answer came, causing him to smile. “This is Dice. Uh, say, someone needs your help in dressing her up and getting her ready for her date. Do you mind helping her out?”

Dice smiled when he got a response he wanted to hear. “Great. We’re right inside of Pork’s shop. See you soon.”

He hung up the phone and glanced at the ladies. “So, I got someone on her way to help ya out.”

“Thanks, Dice,” Natalie said with a weak smile.

Not even a minute later, Sally entered the shop with a bright smile and dresses on her arms.

“I heard someone is trying to get ready for a date,” Sally replied excitedly.

Natalie rose her hand slowly. “I am.”

“Ooh, I got a bunch of pretty dresses that are not costumes. Wanna try them on?” Sally asked while showing many dresses on her arms.

Natalie nodded her head. “Sure.”

“I can come with you if it’s okay with Dad,” Cassidy said while looking at her father.

Porkrind smiled. “Yeah, yeah. Just stay safe out there and have fun.”

The feline grinned and stayed by Natalie while they walked away to go with Sally to try on dresses.

Once the girls left, Porkrind huffed a sigh and looked at his desk.

Dice noticed Porkrind’s sigh. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Porkrind said.

“You sure?”

The one-eyed pig glanced at Dice to notice the former gambler leaning forward a bit in interest.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that…she keeps reminding me too much of an old friend I had once.”

“Shayna, right?”

Porkrind glanced at Dice in shock.

“Uh, Jerry told me about you lost her. I’m sorry for your loss.”

The pig waved it off. “It was years ago.”

Dice frowned to notice him looking away. “But it still hurts you to this day, right?”

“Sometimes.”

Dice tilted his head. “Is she Shayna’s daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh…well, that puts things into perspective than.”

“What?”

“Well, most people hate red cats back then. But you didn’t because your friend was one of them. I guess it’s why you cared so much about Cassidy since she’s your friend’s daughter.”

Porkrind huffed a laugh. “You’re a detective now?”

“You can say that I’m connecting the dots here. Am I getting any of it right so far?”

The pig looked away sadly again. “Yeah, you’re getting it right.”

There was a brief silence while Dice frowned and looked away.

Porkrind noticed Dice shifting his glance away and cleared his throat to get his attention back. “You know, I’m wondering what the boys are even doing to get Cuphead ready for his date.”

Dice huffed up a laugh. “Yeah, I wonder that too.”

~.~

Mugman searched through the closet of their new home, finding a bunch of clothes he didn’t know they even had. Suits, shirts, shorts, and pants. Heck, even coats with two pairs of winter boots for the snow.

Cuphead sat at the edge of the bed while staring at his brother looking through the closet.

“Man, to think Djimmi would add clothes on top of giving us a house to live in. Oh! There’s that red suit I was lookin’ for!” He turned to show the red suit to Cuphead. “What do you think, Cuphead—?”

Mugman noticed Cuphead looking at the ground without lifting his eyes up to see the suit. He tilted his head in confusion. “Hey, aren’t you excited about your date?”

“Huh?” Cuphead snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his brother. He faked a smile. “Uh, yeah, I am.”

Mugman wasn’t convinced. “Cuphead, the date is gonna be fine as long as the Devil, the demons, and the infectees won’t find us here. Which they won’t tonight. Or any other night hopefully—”

“I ain’t worried about the date.”

“Then…you’re worried about something.”

Cuphead rubbed his hands without saying a word.

Mugman set the suit aside and sat by his brother. “Hey, if there’s somethin’ bothering ya, you know you can talk to me about it, right?”

Cuphead nodded his head, but there was no response still.

Mugman looked ahead with a sad look. “Did I…do anything that made you feel like you can’t talk to me?”

His brother shook his head. “Nah, you did nothing wrong—”

“Are you sure?”

“Mugman, it ain’t got anything to do with you. I just—” Cuphead couldn’t finish the sentence without hugging himself.

“You just what?”

“I just thought about how I was trying to help you set up for your date with Cassi. Now you’re trying to help me set up for my date with Nat. It’s kind of nice, you know? Like how you were trying to keep me from losing my soul to the Devil. And now, sometimes I feel like I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt.”

Mugman frowned while listening to his brother.

“I’m sorry I hadn’t been the best brudda to you in a past,” Cuphead said.

Mugman chuckled a bit. “I hadn’t been the best brother to you either.” He placed a hand on Cuphead’s shoulder, getting his brother’s attention. “It’s okay, Cuphead. You don’t have to feel guilty about it anymore.”

“I know…I just…can’t help but think about what it could’ve been if I ain’t so stupid.”

“Well, what you did a lot of stupid things,” Mugman corrected his brother. “Going to that carnival where the Devil tries to steal souls, getting answers wrong on Roll the Dice, stealing cookies from the cookie factory, getting ourselves arrested being in that said cookie factory, almost getting yourself injured at every turn, blowing up wood for the winter, stealing the Devil’s pitchfork—”

“Are you trying to make me feel better? Because it ain’t workin’ so far.”

Mugman sighed. “But besides all of that, Cuphead, I couldn’t have asked for a better brother who is also my best friend. You annoy me and irritate me, but you also taught me a lot of things….good things! Like being brave and making decisions that were opposite of yours when situations arise.”

“Okay…”

“You also were there for me when I’m hurt, sad, lonely, and when I needed you the most. You get me into a lot of trouble and it was all fun while it lasted. What it could’ve been doesn’t matter now. We got each other and right now, I’m gonna help you get ready for that date of yours. Just like how you helped me.”

Cuphead smiled softly. “Thanks, Mugsy.”

Mugman nodded and skipped off the subject. “Say, you want to wear the red suit or…any other suit?”

“I’ll stick with the red one since it suits me more.”

“Perfect.”

Cuphead pondered for a moment. “I wonder how Chalice was doing confessing to Canteen.”

“Oh yeah. I’m sure they’re fine.”

~.~

Canteen and Chalice were laying on the ground with groans of pain from the fall.

Chalice sprung herself up on her feet and dusted herself off. “Well, that was quite a fall—” She noticed Canteen barely standing up with wobbly legs. “Golly, Canteen, you okay?!”

“Yep…” Canteen answered with a thumbs up. “Are we still at the mausoleum?”

Chalice looked up at the hole they fell from. “Looks like we’re under it now.”

“Geez…”

“Hey, we got ourselves trapped in the cave.”

“Uh…yeah?”

“Ooh, okay. Um…how should I—how should we—?”

“We just look for the way out,” Canteen said with an obvious tone. He pointed straight ahead. “There might be something ahead. Let’s go.” He limped forward, causing concern for her.

She clenched her teeth. “Man, I didn’t think about the injuries for this trip.”

Both of them walked through the cave, shivering in the soft breeze. Canteen’s limping started to bother Chalice to the point where she contorted her face in guilt.

“Man, this is not how I would imagine this.”

“Imagine what?” Canteen asked with confusion.

“Well, you see…um, I was thinkin’ that we go on a perilous journey—without gettin’ injured…and, you know…say our deepest feelings.”

“Deepest feelings?” Canteen questioned.

“Yeah. What’s your deepest feeling right now?”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’m the one that got us trapped here. I didn’t think there was a pressure plate.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see that either. Don’t feel bad. It happens.”

He frowned.

She noticed it with a curious look. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Canteen…”

He went silent for a moment until he glanced at Chalice. “Have you ever felt like…?”

She leaned a bit to listen what else he had to say.

“You know…have you ever felt like you’re a bad omen?”

Chalice blinked at the question. “A bad omen…?”

“Yeah.”

She pondered for a second. “Well, before I met the two ding-dongs, I did feel like a bad omen. But when I did meet them, I didn’t feel so…alone. I felt like I gained something that I’ve lost a long time ago. It’s…hard to explain.”

He reached his hand out for hers to comfort her until she noticed. He pulled away, blushing in embarrassment. She gave him a warm smile and held his hand. He was shocked at the gesture for a moment until he exchanged a warm smile back to her and held her hand a bit tighter.

“Soo, do you feel like a bad omen?” she asked softly.

He lost his smile. “Well…yeah. I get called ‘Bad Luck Hughes’ growing up.”

“Oh golly! Why?”

“Heh, it’s complicated.”

“I’m all for complicated, you know.”

He paused for a moment and then sighed. “Whenever I get adopted…my parents just died…”

Chalice blinked in shock.

“Like…one of the parents who adopted me got into a car accident. The other parents got themselves killed in a fight…Heck, the third time I got adopted, my parents just got jumped by a gang and died. That’s when the rumor started to spread by the caretakers in the orphanage. They would tell the parents who would think about adopting me that I was ‘Bad Luck Hughes’ and to not adopt me if they don’t want bad luck in their houses. Then the kids became afraid of me…like I was going to hurt them…and I would never hurt anyone…ever…” He started to choke out the words at the end.

She widened her eyes in shock to hear this from him. Then she watched him trying not to sob in front of her with a frown.

“I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone ever…not even you.”

She smiled softly and held his hand tighter while listening to him break down and cry.

“Now I got us trapped in this cave and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t brought the best of luck with the group…it’s almost like every bad thing happened and I’m scared that if I lose you…I-I don’t know what would happen. I just…I guess I don’t want anything bad to take you from me.”

She blushed at his words.

He shook his head while wiping his tears away. “Sorry…that was pretty stupid thing to say.”

“It ain’t stupid. Out of all of the things I’ve heard in my past lives, you ain’t saying anything stupid.”

He glanced at her and sniffled. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she said while leaning her head against his.

He smiled softly and let her lay her head on his. They continued to walk through the cave and saw a door ahead.

“Is that the way out?” Canteen asked timidly.

Chalice opened the door. They both widened their eyes to discover there were three orbs resting on both sides of the wide hallway. One was glowing pink, one was glowing bright green, and one was glowing dark blue.

By the end of the hallway, there was a glowing pool. She stepped forward towards the pool, followed by Canteen.

“Chalice?” Canteen called, but she didn’t respond.

Her eyes started to tremble as she continued towards the pool. She looked down to find that there was no bottom of the glowing pool. She didn’t want to jump into it, but she remembered something about it…something familiar.

“I—I remember this place…”

He looked at her in shock. “What?”

She tilted her head and got on her knees, trying to find the source of the glow in the pool. “I remember this pool.”

He arched a brow in confusion. “What are you remembering?”

She glanced at him. He could see the tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know…” she said sadly.

He frowned and looked at the orbs. He was curious about the dark blue orb, but he didn’t draw near it when he turned to look at her. He came by her and sat next to her to stare at the glowing pool.

“Canteen…there’s something I oughta tell ya…and I need you to not tell the others about it,” she said finally. “Not until I can be brave enough to tell them.”

He looked at her and nodded. “I won’t, I promise.”

She smiled at him softly. “You read the legends of the Legendary Chalice, right?”

He nodded his head.

She continued, “Well, what those legends didn’t tell ya was a long time ago, the Calix Animi were supposed to serve the Most High and protect mortals from dealing with demons, but the gifts from the Most High became their own gifts when the members of the Calix Animi became prideful. The members say that only people who are chosen by the Most High and worthy will obtain the last two gifts. Then a ding-dong thief managed to mix the last two gifts together and became one of them.”

Canteen tilted his head. “ The two gifts mixed together? Wait! Are you talking about the Eternal’s Orb?”

She smiled. “Yep. That’s how the Eternal’s Orb was born. Anyway, the other members didn’t react too kindly when they saw a thief having the Eternal’s Orb inside of him. Of course, that caused a lot of division between them. The Devil sees this and well…took advantage of it. There was a battle and…let’s say that the Legendary Chalice lost everything. She’s the only one who survived the battle.”

He frowned when listening to the story. “She must have felt alone.”

“And a bad omen too.”

He perked his head up.

She sighed sadly. “She decided to do something that she regretted and caused her to reincarnate so many times. She threw her spear down into that pool, gather the powers of her dead friends, and hid them away in this place…except for one.”

“The Eternal’s Orb?”

“Yeah, she placed it over at the other mausoleum at someplace different that eventually became Sugarland,” Chalice replied. “Don’t ask me why…I still didn’t get why I decided to place Eternal’s Orb to this day. Probably scared that the demons might find it…? Not sure.”

He frowned. “And now you’re here.”

“Yep…”

He held her hand, catching her attention. “I won’t say anything to anyone. I promise.”

“I know. I trust you, Hughes,” she said with a soft smile while she grabbed his face and kissed his lips. He widened his eyes before melting into the kiss. He grabbed her face to keep the kiss going until they broke away to look into each other’s eyes. Their eyes suddenly broadened cartoonishly as Canteen let go of her face.

“Whoa,” he uttered.

She felt sudden chills coming down her spine. “Wow…heh, I’ve never felt this before.”

“Me neither…” he said while blushing madly.

She got excited and kissed his lips again, almost knocking him down. He gasped in shock once her lips crashed into his again, but his shock melted away as he caressed her face.

They both broke away, causing Chalice to bounce away like a little kid.

“Whoa, wow! Wow,” she responded, trying to keep herself together.

He giggled giddily. “Yeah…” He realized that they were still in the hallway. “Uh, should we get out of here? Maybe later we can…you know, find someplace to hang out and…”

“Date?” she finished with a smile.

“Yeah.”

She came up to him and helped him up on his feet with a lovesick grin. “I would love that.”

They both turned to look and found a door to the side. They went to the door and opened it to find that there was a way out from under the ground. As they went up the stairs, they were holding hands and walking as close to each other as they could.

~.~

The night was young.

Cuphead had been standing outside of the theater with his red suit after the brothers were told by Cassidy through the phone that they were getting ready at Sally’s theater.

The cup became impatient, which was noticed by his brother.

“She’ll come out. Don’t worry,” Mugman reassured his brother.

Cuphead looked away ashamed. “I know. I’m just…well…you know how it feels, huh?”

“Anxious, impatient, nervous, and excited all mix together?”

“Yeah.”

Mugman smiled softly. “Welcome to dating.”

They heard heels clicked and turned their heads to notice their girlfriends coming out.

Cassidy let Natalie walk towards Cuphead.

Cuphead’s pupils dilated when he saw her wearing her dark pink dress with a skirt that appeared to be fluffy and with feathers dragging on the floor. She had only light make-up with light pink eyeshadows and light blushes on her cheeks. She had her brown liquid hair up in a bun, pinned by the dark pink feathers. She had long light pink gloves on that went up to her elbows and heels.

She seemed nervous. “Heh, I don’t know if I picked the right dress for the date—”

“Pretty,” Cuphead blurted out.

She stopped her sentence and blushed. Then she gave a smile. “You think so?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah.” Then he noticed Natalie wearing the pink pearl necklace that Cuphead gave to her when Mugman was first dating Cassidy. “Hey, you’re wearing the necklace I gave ya a long time ago.”

“Yeah…you don’t mind, right?”

He shook his head. “I bought it for you. I don’t mind at all whether you wear it or not.”

She grinned at him. “Ready?”

He nodded and held his arm out. “Ready.”

She wrapped her arm around his and stayed close to him.

Mugman watched them with a proud smirk at his brother. He felt someone lean against him and looked to see Cassidy rubbing her head against his with purrs. He wrapped his arm around her waist while her tail embraced around his waist.

“Are we going to spy on them like they did to us?” she whispered against the side of his head.

He giggled. “Maybe. Maybe not. I ain’t too worried about them.”

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “You know, since everything is getting calmer, do you think we can try another date?”

He looked at her. “Like going out to eat kind of date?”

She nodded her head with a ‘Mhm’.

He gave a small chuckle. “I would love that.”

Chalice and Canteen approached them with bruises and scratches, which were noticed by Mugman and Cassidy.

“By golly, what happened to you both?” Mugman questioned Chalice and Canteen.

Both Chalice and Canteen exchanged glances at each other and snickered a bit.

“Well, let’s just say that we went on a perilous journey,” she said with a shrug.

Mugman looked to see Chalice holding Canteen’s hand. “Oh. Well, congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Canteen answered bashfully.

Chalice looked to see Cuphead and Natalie going to Fly Trap and sitting at the dock of the ferry ship. “Did I miss anything with Cuphead and Natalie?”

“Other than them getting ready for a date, not that much,” Mugman answered.

They watched as the cups were going on date. By the end of the date, Cuphead and Natalie danced with each other to the music played by Ribby and Croaks.

As Mugman watched on, he felt something strange in his body. His vision became a blur for a moment. He almost stumbled, but he felt Cassidy holding him up. He glanced at her to notice her concern look with a clearer vision.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said.

His friends and his girlfriend didn’t believe him, but they didn’t push further.

As they watched, Mugman couldn’t help but felt like something was calling him. It was calling his name. He tried to ignore it, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore. A vision of a pool came and went for a second. He became light-headed from trying to ignore this weird vision. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he couldn’t. His legs were shaking and he was breathing shallow breaths. He could barely hear Cassidy’s concern tone, but it was muffled. He could assume that she was asking if he was okay. He gave a slight nod to her as his vision became a blur. Then the blur became black. He lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground.

He could no longer hear the voices asking him if he was alright. It was just him and the darkness.

To Be Continued...

#cuphead #mugman #ocs x canons #ms chalice #canteen hughes #king dice #porkrind #sally stageplay #cuphead: isle of memories rewrite

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

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Happy New Year!!!

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

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Relate.

As a writer, my New Years Resolution is to stop being a lazy bitch and actually get my stories finished.

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elm-writes-stories · 4 months

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Sing(My Version) Rewrite Chapter 1:

*Hey guys, I'm back with the first chapter of my rewrite of my version of Sing! Yay! This is published on December 18, 2023. If you guys like this first chapter, don't forget to reblog, heart it, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated. I wrote my own songs for this new chapter, so I'm sorry in advance if the song-writing sucks. If I practice more, I'll get better at it. For now, I hope you guys enjoy it!*

The stage was lit up by purple and blue colors.

Today was the day the world will look upon the greatest show in the history of animal kind.

“Here is where it all started,” a voice boomed from the stage. The koala in a tight blue suit emerged from the curtains with a headset attached to the side of his face and a microphone in front of his lips. The curtain parted, revealing a black sheep on stage dressed in sparkly lavender dress standing on top of a cut-out of a hill. She was a statue singing to the moon.

The koala continued, “Here is where an ordinary little guy fell in love with the theater.”

The curtain closed after he said that.

“Everything about it. From the sounds—”

The little saxophone played a couple of notes in the background.

“—the lighting—”

The stage lit up in all different colors.

“—to even the smell of lavender—”

The stage curtains parted and the purple dust flowed out from the darkness. The lights came on with silhouettes of a young koala peering over the edge of the balcony with the adult koala holding him.

“He was only six years old at the time and his dream to become the first marsupial in space were…replaced,” the koala replied.

The light flickered to show the next slide of the silhouettes of the koala, now an adult, standing in front of the red ribbon with his father beside him and a cheering crowd in front of them.

“Some folks may have said that he grew up to become the greatest showman.”

The silhouettes changed with a flicker of the light with the audience praising the koala while holding awards.

“Some folks called him a visionary.”

The silhouettes changed again under the flicker of the light and revealed the audience screaming at the koala angrily, throwing tomatoes at him.

“Some called him insane.”

The koala became more centered on stage, taking the attention away from the silhouettes. “But I believe wonder and magic don’t come easy. And, oh, there will never be a doubt where the name Buster Moon will go down in entertainment history. I should know because I’m Buster Moon!”

The imaginary cheering from the audience was replaced by the creaking noises of the theater. The colorful lights were only imaginary lights replaced by the pale sunlight shining through the ceiling drafts.

The red curtains that were on stage never moved an inch and Buster Moon, the koala in the tight blue suit, stood in front of the empty stage and faced the empty red seats all throughout the rows and the balconies.

Buster realized that he didn't have the headset and the microphone on and he was giving an imaginary performance in front of the invisible audience members. He sighed deeply. “Great exercise for the day, Moon.”

“Are you talking to your invisible audience again, Mr. Moon?” A sweet voice rang from the side.

Buster turned his head and noticed the antelope assistant secretary approaching him named Mizuki. She had a blue notepad in her hooves with the pen.

“Ah, Mizuki, you’re here early,” Buster replied with a bright smile.

“Bright and early,” Mizuki claimed eagerly.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he responded with a grin and hurried over by her side. “Alright, fill me in. What’s on the agenda today?”

They started to walk to the stage and up the steps towards his office.

“Well, you have an appointment with the bank at three o’clock this afternoon,” she responded.

He nodded his head with a ‘Mhm’.

“And you have the stage crew from your last show wanting their paychecks since the ones you gave them bounced,” she added.

He clenched his teeth. “Ooh, yeah. I really need to find the money to pay them. It’s not fair to hold them out for this long—”

They heard banging noises as they entered the hallway to get to Buster’s office. Their eyes widened when they noticed that there was a crowd of animals noticing them with angry looks on their faces.

“I mean to tell you that they’re already here,” Mizuki whispered to Buster.

Buster awkwardly wave at them with a nervous smile. “Hey guys…”

He immediately took Mizuki by the hoof and led her back downstairs and towards the backstage.

“GET BACK HERE, MOON!!!”

“How long have they been here?” Buster whispered to Mizuki harshly. “Please don’t tell me that they’ve come in while I was talking to myself.”

“Uh…no. They got here before you did,” she whispered back.

“Oh geez…Did you think they heard me?”

“Uh…they would’ve already been on stage to strangle you if they had.”

“Good point.”

“MOON, GIVE US OUR PAYCHECKS!!!”

“Uh! There’s some technical difficulties! I’ll fix it later!” Buster looked back to see the angry stage crew chasing after them.

“Pay us now!” the chimp demanded angrily.

“Again! Technical difficulties! What part of technical difficulties did you not hear?!” Buster shouted at the stage crew.

Buster and Mizuki approached the half crescent moon cut-out and the koala pulled the lever. He hopped on it while pulling Mizuki up on it with him. The moon raised them up away from the angry crew.

“THIS ISN’T OVER MOON!”

Buster sighed in relief while Mizuki was holding onto the moon cut-out for dear life. They hopped off of the cut-out and balanced themselves across the planks, careful to not fall.

“Anything else I need to know before going into my office?” Buster asked in a peppy voice.

“Ms. Crawly is getting your coffee.”

“Ah, that’s one good news,” he said with a calmer tone. They approached the wall that had a hole in it in front of the other wall. Only except, it wasn’t the other wall. Buster removed it so easily and squeezed through the hole to approach his office.

“I didn’t know you have a secret passageway to your office,” Mizuki gasped in shock while crawling through.

Buster held the framed poster up and waited till Mizuki was all the way through to align it right. “Yeah. You never know when you’re going to need it.”

Mizuki sat on the couch with small giggle. “Oh! I almost forgot you also have lunch with Eddie Noodleman at Les Calamars around noon.”

He froze and twitched his ears. “Uh…I didn’t schedule that—”

“Really? Ms. Crawly put it down on the notes,” Mizuki said while looking at the notes.

Buster sighed. “That crazy lizard.”

On cue, Ms. Crawly, the iguana with her glass eye out of place, entered the office with a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Moon.”

“Ah, speak of the devil. Good morning to you too, Ms. Crawly. What a lovely morning, isn’t it?” Buster responded while running up to his office chair.

Ms. Crawly placed the white coffee cup on his wooden desk. “It is. It is. I brought you some coffee.”

Buster noticed it empty. “Really?” he showed the empty coffee cup with confusion in his face. “Where is it?”

“Oh dear, I must have drank it on the way up those stairs,” Ms. Crawly uttered. Before she could walk away, Buster sat on the edge of the desk while holding the empty coffee cup.

“You scheduled me with Eddie today?” Buster questioned.

“Oh yes, Eddie called you several times throughout the week. Eddie called me and asked if he could talk to you. Well, you weren’t available at the moment yesterday since…you were doing something else on stage, so I told him that I can put you down to spend some time with him,” Ms. Crawly responded with a smile.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Buster responded, faking a smile. “Wait, how much does it cost? I would—”

“Oh, don’t worry, Eddie covered it,” Ms. Crawly responded.

“Oh, he shouldn’t have to do that—”

“He insisted, Mr. Moon. Strongly insisted.”

Buster sighed. “Of course.”

“I suggest you go out to eat with him. He can help out with the theater situation.”

“No, this is something I oughta do on my own…if I involve him…well, I don’t know. It might be too much of a burden for him to help me out.”

“Oh, Mr. Moon, you can’t assume that. You and Eddie have been friends since college.”

“Eddie Noodleman…as in…wait, is he the grandson of Nana Noodleman?” Mizuki asked Ms. Crawly.

Ms. Crawly nodded her head. “Why yes. They’re the richest family in Bell City.”

Mizuki brightly smiled. “That is a great opportunity to ask for help!”

Buster shook his head. “I’ve already wasted the bank’s loans by making mediocre productions. I wouldn’t have the appointment with the bank if I hadn’t. If we make another mediocre production, I would’ve ended up wasting the funds from Eddie’s family.”

Mizuki frowned at Buster’s words.

“Fine, I’ll go out and have lunch with him, but I’ll strongly decline his help with the payments,” Buster responded with a positive smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. I always do.”

“You better hurry. It’s almost noon,” Ms. Crawly alerted Buster of the time.

“Already?!” Buster shrieked. “Great, my day has only just started.”

Buster got up from his seat and placed his coffee cup down on the desk. “Welp, ladies, I’m taking off!” He hurried towards the poster before forgetting something. He went back and grabbed two metal lunch boxes. “Just in case.”

Buster moved the framed poster out of the way and entered through the hole in the wall.

Ms. Crawly and Mizuki watched the poster swing close as Mizuki straightened it.

“I don’t think the restaurant will let Mr. Moon take the lunch boxes in,” Ms. Crawly whispered to Mizuki.

“Should we tell him?”

Ms. Crawly shrugged. “I think he knows. Want to help me with filing?”

“Sure!” Mizuki responded excitedly and both of the ladies went over to Ms. Crawly’s desk next to Buster’s office.

~.~

Buster brought his red bike out of the theater and scrolled through his phone to find out that he did miss a lot of calls from Eddie. The koala let out a sigh and scrolled through his music app called Songify. He took out his earbuds from his pocket and untangled the wire as quickly as he could. He plugged the wire into his phone and placed the earplugs into his round ears. Turning up the music, he got onto his bike and pedaled down the streets of Bell City.

The music begin to play, but it seems to be a record scratching at first until the choir sang majestically like angels from the Heavens and echoed into the koala’s eardrums. The buildings turned into cardboard settings in Buster’s mind with the lights lit up from the voices of the choir. The world itself became a stage and Buster was part of it.

“Heey!!”

The music stopped and a deep tenor voice croon.

“Ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome to the show.”

The choir sang with all of their hearts, appearing on the sidewalks Buster was riding by.

“Heey!!”

The koala stepped out into the scene on the curb of the intersection with the white top-hat and suit, with a small stick that had the crystal under his paw.

“Sit back and relax.

This is only the beginning.”

The choir appeared behind the koala, with different animals wearing white robes. The citizens around them ignored the singing choir and koala, their focus on their phones.

“Heey!!”

The koala sang beautifully while the music started to pick up in the middle of his verse.

“Watch and be dazzled

Ignore the misery you carried.

Let it take your breath away.

Trap you in a fantasy land.

Leave behind the burdens of reality!”

The koala started to lead to a dance, letting the choir behind him dance with him. The animal citizens shifted their attention away from their phones to find them dancing. They all started to follow Buster, dancing behind him without him being aware.

“Don’t resist it, you know you want it.

Fly your colors in the sky.

Who cares what comes next?

The crowd cheers for you.

Can’t you hear it coming closer?

Don’t resist it, let it take over.”

The pig with gold sparkling jacket and sweatpants drummed on the trashcans Buster was pedaling by. The notes of the music had gotten intense with the koala’s voice going higher.

“Your heart burns in your chest.

Let your big dreams lead you.

March to the beat of the drums.

Break through your walls,

Holding you back from your potential.

Tell me, don’t you want to take a leap of faith?”

The beat dropped while the animals, including the citizens, dance to the unnamed choreography together. The sky lit up from the sun glowing brighter. The music intensified when the chorus hit.

“Where we are covered in gold,

Where gangs become family,

Big dreams come true!

Anything is possible!

Oh, let your heart sing!”

Buster took a turn to the right into another street and entered a huge park full of green grass and trees, being followed by the dancing citizens.

“Lift your voices, don’t let it drown!

And the world can’t stop you!

Make these come true!

Anything is possible!

Oh, let your heart sing!”

The choir sang angelically as Buster rode down the stairs in the middle of the city park.

“Heey!!”

The koala kept singing his heart out while dancing on the stairs.

“The new age will rise.

The new generation is born.”

The choir danced on the steps with the koala.

“Heey!!”

The koala reached to the bottom of the steps with a little hop.

“Where the outcasts become performers

And we give them a round of applause.”

The choir sang louder and the music had gotten more intense.

The koala brightly smiled and followed Buster onto another street, ushering more animals to dance with him.

“Don’t resist it, you know you want it.

Let it shine through the streets.

Fly your colors in the sky.

Who cares what comes next?

Break through your walls

Holding you back from your potential.

Take the leap of faith.”

The beat dropped while every animal dance in the street behind Buster without Buster being aware of them dancing.

“Where we are covered in gold,

Where gangs become family,

Big dreams come true!

Anything is possible!

Oh, let your heart sing!

Lift your voices, don’t let it drown!

And the world can’t stop you!

Make these come true!

Anything is possible!

Oh, let your heart sing!”

They reached to the end of the song while the lead koala singer and the choir gave it their all. The lights flickered up in the sky and the fireworks exploded behind them.

“Oh, let your heart sing!

Oh, let your heart sing!

Oh, let your heart sing!”

The number ended with Buster taking out his earplugs as soon as he arrived at the fancy restaurant called Les Calamars. He looked at the time on his watch to realize that it was broken. He looked at the time on his phone to realize that he was a few minutes late.

Buster turned around to find that there were no dancing animals or singers behind him. He sighed and secured his bike on the railing.

~.~

Buster opened the doors to Les Calamars and looked through the animals dining.

He spotted a sheep with white wool on top of his head like an afro on his phone with a red rubber jacket and a yellow and white striped shirt underneath. He laid back against the chair with the orange shorts pulled up to his lower back. The sheep wore a red bead necklace Buster gave him when they met in high school. That was how Buster could tell it was Eddie.

Eddie noticed Buster from the corner of his eyes and turned his head to look at the koala. The sheep smiled and waved his hoof.

Buster grinned sheepishly and blushed. He walked across the restaurant and hopped up on the chair across from Eddie.

“Look who shows up. I almost thought that you might cancel on me again,” Eddie said with a teasing smile.

“Sorry about last time. I, uh, got busy…”

Eddie tilted his head. “Did another show flop again?”

Buster faked a smile. “What?! No, no—”

Eddie arched a brow, not convinced by Buster’s lie.

The koala sighed heavily. “Sort of.”

“How much do you have to pay back in loans? I can get my parents to help you pay it back so that you can keep the theater.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll handle it.”

“How are you going to get more money? Rob a bank?”

Buster scratched his chin. “Hmm.”

“Don’t you even think about it, Buster.”

“You’re the one who put the idea in.”

Eddie rolled his eyes playfully. “I’m telling you, my parents are loaded. It’ll be a one time thing if you’re more comfortable with that.”

“Eddie, please, I know you’re trying to help me, but you don’t need to.”

“Come on, man. The bank is going to try to repossess the theater. How are you going to have money magically appear in your pocket to pay back the loans you’ve borrowed?”

Buster frowned and looked away.

Eddie laid back with a sigh. “All I’m saying is, I want to help you in any way I can. If you won’t allow me to…I’ll accept that. But know that I’m here when you need me, okay? I always got your back no matter what.”

The koala smiled softly. “Of course.”

The pig waitress came by their table. “Hello, my name is Rosita and I’ll be taking your orders. Would you like to order anything?”

“Oh, um, uh…I won’t get anything—”

“Don’t worry, I got it covered,” Eddie reassured Buster.

“Eddie—”

“You’re not starving on my watch.” Eddie shifted his attention to the pig waitress. “Could I get a shrimp salad with ranch please? And whatever he has.”

Rosita, the pig waitress, wrote down the order and waited for Buster to order something.

Buster blinked in shock and looked at the menu. “Um…could I get, um…uh…tuna sandwiches with eucalypt tea on the side?”

She nodded her head with a small friendly smile. “Of course, I’ll get those right away. Let me take these menus.” She picked the menus up from the boys. She hurried away with the menus in her hooves.

Eddie smiled at his friend.

“You sure you got it covered? Maybe I should take back my order—”

“Hey, it’s fine. I got you,” Eddie responded.

Buster sighed and rested his head on his paw.

Eddie frowned and changed the subject. “Soo, how is the new secretary assistant? I heard she’s helping Ms. Crawly with things.”

“Yeah, Ms. Crawly was getting too old to keep track of things. Mizuki was willing to help, so I hired her.”

“Oh, so that’s her name.”

“Yep,” Buster answered with a little blush.

“Um…are you having a—?”

“No, she has a boyfriend.”

Eddie blinked and smirked. “How do you know I was going to ask that?”

“Because I know you, Eddie.”

Eddie rolled his eyes playfully with a humorless chuckle. “Har Har. Come on, you were a looker in college.”

Buster’s shoulders tensed up a bit.

“I see you get girls and guys crushing on you. And you don’t even notice them.”

“I was studying during college.”

“I know.”

Buster rolled his eyes. “I don’t have a crush on Mizuki. It’s unprofessional to even pursue that anyway.”

“Oh, I understand that completely,” Eddie responded. “Just saying though. You blushed when you mentioned her.”

The koala shook his head. “Let’s just skip the subject.”

“Alright. Alright. Um, what’s your next big idea? Whatever you got, you gotta bring the house down…or should I say bring it up from financial debt?”

“I—I don’t know, Eddie. Nobody wants to see any of the musicals and I haven’t done the best. I couldn’t even pay my last stage crew. I gotta think of something big and eye-catching. Something that will wow the world.”

They heard humming noises and looked to see the waitress, Rosita, coming in with their orders while singing soothingly,

“Oh, my darling, my darling, my darling sunshine.

You shine brighter than the sun and the moon combine.

Can’t you, can’t you, can’t you, can’t you see?

I’m blinded by the way you smile at me.”

Buster seemed captivated by her voice, tilting his head to listen more. Rosita put their orders on the table while singing quietly,

“Oh, I want to...

Dance with you, dance with you, dance with you, oh-oh.

Twirl you into my arms and sweep you off of your feet.

I want you to dance with me, dance with me, dance with me, yeah.

Don’t ever let me go, my sunshine.”

“You have a pretty voice,” Buster blurted out the compliment.

Rosita immediately stopped singing and blushed in embarrassment. “Oh, um, thanks. Sorry about that. If you guys need anything else, let me know.”

“You got it,” Eddie responded.

When Rosita walked away, Eddie noticed Buster picking at his food. “Uh-oh.”

“What?”

“I see the gears in your head turning,” Eddie pointed out.

“Eh, it’s nothing,” Buster said, taking a bite of his tuna sandwich. “Wow, I forgot how much I miss sandwiches.”

“Have you been eating?”

Buster swallowed and giggled nervously. “Of course I have. Three times a day.”

Eddie noticed Buster had been lightweight and sighed in discouragement. “Buster…”

“Okay, not as much as I should, but hey, I’m eating now. It counts for something.”

Eddie smirked a bit. “I should just take you out for lunch every day, huh?”

“No need for that. I don’t want to drain your money.”

“Dude, you’re not draining anything. I’d be happy to help you if you need it,” Eddie responded with a small smile. “You’re my friend. I want to help you in anyway I can. But you do need to take better care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry, Eddie. I’ll be just fine,” Buster responded with a smile, eating his sandwich.

“Suit yourself,” Eddie said with a sigh.

“So, what’s new with you?” Buster asked with a bright smile.

“Uh…well, I got myself a fitness partner,” Eddie responded.

“Wow, that’s great!”

“Well…not really when he wakes you up early in the morning playing Cascada on his phone,” Eddie replied with a sheepish smile.

Buster giggled nervously. “Well, I’m sure he’s a fun fellow to work out with.”

“Fun and energetic.”

“See? Exactly what you need.”

Eddie rolled his eyes playfully again. “Whatever, man.”

Buster chuckled as their lunch continued on and their conversations got more relaxed.

~.~

The lunch went better than expected.

Buster was full from all the sandwiches and sleepy from the tea while he walked out of the restaurant with Eddie. “You know, I should be getting back to the theater. Who knows what needs to be done?”

“Alright, alright. Just don’t overwork yourself,” Eddie responded.

“I’ll be fine. Absolutely fine. Have fun with your new fitness partner,” Buster teased the sheep.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Buster chuckled while walking down the sidewalk, untying his bike, and rode off with it while Eddie was watching him.

Eddie heard his phone ringing and picked it up to talk into it. “Hello…oh, hey, Gunter….Yeah, I just got out of lunch with a friend….Yeah, yeah, I’ll make it to the gym. Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

Buster overheard the conversation as he was leaving his friend and chuckled. He turned back to ride his bike through the city, taking his phone out with his headphones. He searched through his Songify playlist until he heard an angelic male voice.

“Hey-ey-ey.

Ooh, ooh, ooh.

Hey-ey-ey.

Ooh, ooh, ooh.”

Buster twitched his ears and squeezed the brakes of his bike to jerk to a stop to hear the angelic voice. Part of him wondered if he was dead or what. He pedaled his bike to follow the hums from a stranger, cutting through alleyways until he finally got into the alleyway where the voice was coming from. The voice was coming from the young adult gorilla in a black leather jacket, leaning against the building. His black fur spiked up like his hairstyle, his thumbs in his pockets.

Buster arched a brow and stopped closer to the gorilla to hear more of his voice.

“Don’t know what to say.

I’m keeping in tabs.

Might get caught in the act.

Don’t worry about me.”

Buster got off of his bike and leaned it against the wall to move around the gorilla, who was not paying attention to his surroundings.

“I give anything to make you proud.

But I’m such a mess.

I give anything to make you smile.

But I’m such a mess.”

“Wow—”

The gorilla gasped and whirled around. “Bloody Mary.”

“Sorry to give ya a scare,” Buster responded. “But can I say that you have a beautiful voice?”

The mountain gorilla smiled a bit nervously. “Uh, thanks.” He looked around with his shoulders tensed.

Buster realized of how he approached the young gorilla. “Oh, uh, sorry. That’s a weird way to approach someone.”

“No, no, you’re fine. But, um, I’m in a bit…uh, well—in a busy situation.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about it, kid. Oh, I heard that there’s a talent show downtown if you ever want to take a shot at singing,” Buster replied. As soon as Buster said that, he stopped himself. “Wait…wait! This just gave me an idea!”

“What—?”

“Thank you so much! What’s your name?”

“Uh…Johnny?”

“Thanks for the inspiration, Johnny!” Buster shouted with a bright smile on his face before running off to get his bike and riding off away from the gorilla.

Johnny blinked in question. “…What?” The gorilla heard a crackle and noticed two cops, one rhino and one tiger, walking down the sidewalk. He hid against the wall, watching the cops walking by without paying attention. He waited until they’re an earshot away and got out his walkie-talkie.

“Guys, the cops are right nearby. Stay where you are—,” Johnny whispered to the walkie-talkie.

Interrupting Johnny’s instruction, the glass broke above Johnny and the three gorillas with small bunny masks that only cover the top part of their faces landed on the ground with the larger gorilla carrying the safe full of money.

The cops that just walked by hurried back to the alleyway.

“Hey!” The tiger cop growled while putting his gun up.

The larger gorilla huffed and nodded to his pack to get the truck.

One of the large gorilla rushed to the black pick-up truck parked on the other side of the alleyway and drove through the alleyway. The leader and the other gorilla hopped onto the pick-up while the cops fired the bullets until the truck reached to them. They jumped out of the way as Johnny grabbed the leader’s hand and was pulled into the pick-up.

“Johnny, you were supposed to be on look-out!” the leader shouted.

“I-I’m sorry, Dad,” Johnny stuttered.

“And where’s your mask?!” his father shouted.

Johnny pulled down bunny mask to cover the top half of his face.

His father looked to the get-away driver. “Faster, Barry!”

Barry, the get-away driver, stepped on the gas, unaware they were speeding past Buster before he could cross the street to get to his theater.

Buster saw the black truck and the police cars driving through the crosswalk in a flash, causing him to gasp and jerked his bike to a sudden stop. He breathed heavily as a sudden flash of someone getting hit by a semi-truck flashed in his mind. For a moment, he was breathing heavily from almost being hit until the sounds of sirens faded. He snapped out of the sudden memory, trying to think of the inspiring idea he got from this fellow named Johnny.

He looked both ways before crossing the street and made it back to the theater.

~.~

Mizuki was getting filing done with Ms. Crawly until her ears twitched to hear footsteps approaching closer to her. Before she could turn around, she saw hooves covering her eyes.

“Guess who?” A familiar deep male voice asked.

Mizuki sighed playfully. “Hmm, if I were to have to guess, um, it’s Justin Fiber.”

“Ha, you wish.”

The hooves uncovered her eyes as Mizuki turned around to see her antelope boyfriend, Babeesh.

“Babe!” Mizuki chirped and stood up, kissing his lips.

“How’s my little secretary doin’ in this depressing piece of crap?” Babeesh questioned, wrapping his arm around her waist possessively.

Ms. Crawly ignored Babeesh while getting some more filing done.

“We just got filing done,” Mizuki replied to her boyfriend. “And it’s not a piece of crap, babe. It just needs some renovating and we should be solid.”

“If your boss can focus on getting the money instead of hitting on you,” Babeesh grumbled.

“Mr. Moon is not hitting on me. He has never expressed interest in me,” Mizuki responded with her arms crossed.

On cue, Buster swung open the door to the secretary office. “Mizuki, Ms. Crawly, I got an idea that might be able to revive the theater!” Buster noticed Babeesh. “Oh, hey, Babeesh. How are you?”

Babeesh glared at Buster.

“I’ll take that as you’re doing good,” Buster replied and shifted his glance at Mizuki and Ms. Crawly. “Anyway! I have an idea that can revolutionize the theater! It’s going to be spectacular! Fantastic! And may I say breath-taking!”

“That’s what you say on all of your past shows before they flop,” Babeesh growled at the koala.

“Right. But this one is different than any musical I’ve put out before. If we’re lucky, we can make big bucks from this—”

“Again, you’ve said that last time with all of your shows—”

“Babeesh,” Mizuki scolded her boyfriend.

“What’s your idea, Mr. Moon?” Ms. Crawly asked.

Buster ran towards Ms. Crawly’s desk and hopped on it, turning to face Mizuki and Babeesh with a positive smile. “Drum roll please!”

Ms. Crawly did the drum roll on her desk while Buster did it by tapping his feet on the wood.

“A talent show!” Buster announced.

Babeesh quirked a brow. “A talent show?”

Buster nodded his head. “Yes. I’ve passed by two animals who have amazing singing talents and let me tell ya, they are amazing. We don’t have that many talent shows except from clubs. Why not take advantage of it and make it bigger?! People can join in and use whatever talents they have! Most of it might be singing though so…what do you think?!”

“Oh, Mr. Moon, that’s a wonderful idea,” Ms. Crawly responded.

“It sounds like a good idea…but how are we going to do it without the money? Like they have to be motivated to show up to the auditions?” Mizuki asked.

“We’ll figure that out later!” Buster determined.

“How about you figure out now before your precious show flops again?” Babeesh growled, irritated by Buster’s optimism.

“Babeesh,” Mizuki uttered.

Babeesh rolled his eyes. “Have fun in your crappy work environment.” With that said, he walked away from her.

She sighed sadly.

Buster watched Babeesh exiting the secretary office and looked at Mizuki. “Why is he always this grumpy?”

“It’s nothing to be concerned with,” Mizuki reassured Buster.

“Oh, okay, anyway, once the talent show struck gold, I might be able to pay back the loans to the bank. I just have to tell the bank about it,” Buster responded. “Hopefully, we’ll figure something out.”

Mizuki smiled a bit. “Yeah, hopefully.”

~.~

The police had been searching for the black pick-up truck for hours. They searched around the Bell City for the gorilla gang. Unbeknownst to them, the gang had been hiding in the garage called Dexter’s Shop. The garage was up against the tree so that the gorillas could climb on it and sleep in.

Johnny closed the garage in the early evening, hiding the black pick-up truck from the eyes of civilians and cops alike. With a sigh, he took off his bunny mask and tossed it aside.

“Great job, everybody! Let’s keep this up and we might get this shop back and running!” the lead gorilla, Johnny’s father, announced. “Oi, Johnny, a word.”

His father wrapped his arms around Johnny’s broad shoulders.

“Yeah?” Johnny asked as he was being guided to the hallway out of earshot from the other gorillas.

“Look, Johnny. I know you got of a lot things on your mind,” his father replied. “But…I need you to take part of this gang, son. Someday, all of this, the shop, the heists, the gang, will all be yours. You need to know how to lead the gang. Think of this as if you’re going to be a king someday. All of this is going to be yours. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I’m not going to be here someday.”

“I know. I know,” Johnny replied with a frown.

“Well, sometimes I can’t tell if you know that or not,” his father replied.

There was a brief pause.

His father patted on Johnny’s shoulder. “Keep your chin up, son. Your old man ain’t gonna be gone that soon. I still got some fight left within me. But I want you to know that you need to think about your future sooner than later. Just sleep on it, okay?”

Johnny nodded his head in understanding.

“Good. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be a new day,” his father replied positively while going to the other gorillas to talk with them.

Johnny climbed up his tree further away from the gorillas, entering his own room. He had posters of a yak with red hair covering his face known as Elton Jock, singing his heart out. He also had news clippings of his mother singing at a karaoke club. His clothes were scattered across the room. Johnny shut the door and took off his leather jacket, revealing a green shirt with a yellow lightning bolt in the middle. He collapsed on the bed with a tired sigh.

“What a day,” Johnny said to himself.

The gorilla stared up at the ceiling, getting out his phone and put on headphones. He listened to the soft melody that reminded him of a song he used to listen to when he was little.

He hummed a little and tapped his fingers on the round bed. Johnny closed his eyes to fall asleep to the music. The memories of his mother played in his head like an old tape-recorder. He could remember her smile as she was watching him walk to her for the first time as a toddler. Perched on her back, he remembered being carried around by his mother and watched her cook in front of him and his father. Where did it all go wrong?

Johnny opened his eyes with a sigh. He sat up from the bed and turned off his music, pulling his headphones out of his ears. Johnny turned over to the drawer next to his bed and pulled it out to reveal the VHS tape he had kept for a while. He took the VHS tape and inserted into the VHS player.

He turned the television on and watched to see the video of himself of when he’s a toddler, burying his father on the sand of the coast of Bell City except for his head and his hands.

“Oh no! Marcus, can you get out of the sand?” a woman’s voice asked in concern, assuming to be Johnny’s mother holding the camera.

“Ha! Watch me!” Marcus, Johnny’s father, replied playfully. He played dead, fooling little Johnny to approach his father. Marcus suddenly rose out of the sand and grabbed little Johnny, causing him to scream and laugh.

Johnny chuckled at the video playing, getting teary-eyed.

“Oh, he got you, Johnny!” his mother shouted from the video.

“Ma! Ma! Come join us!” little Johnny replied with a smile.

“Yeah, come join us,” Marcus responded.

“I don’t want to drop the camera,” Johnny’s mother responded.

“Here, I’ll hold the camera. Spend some time with Johnny,” Marcus offered, coming forward and taking the camera.

The footage revealed to be a female gorilla, carrying around an oxygen tank. She was losing most of her hair and her weight thanks to cancer many years ago. Little Johnny and his mother went up to the ocean, greeted by the waves. Whenever the waves crashed on the shore, they would run back.

Marcus would laugh at their antics. “Uh-oh, the ocean’s in a mood today.”

Johnny’s mother into the camera. “Oh no, I look so ugly.”

“No, you don’t. You’re bloody gorgeous,” Marcus replied while coming towards her with the camera.

“You’re not ugly, Mama,” Little Johnny responded.

“See? Take your son’s word for it,” Marcus said with a tease.

“Alright, alright, I guess I’ll believe both of you,” she teased back.

“Yay!” Little Johnny said while climbing on his mother’s back.

“Oi, boy, don’t climb on your mother’s back,” Marcus reminded the little gorilla.

“Oh, sorry,” little Johnny said and climbed down from his mother.

She smiled warmly at him. “It’s alright, dear. It’s alright.”

Johnny paused the video and stared at his mother for a while, looking at the pictures of when she was young without having cancer. He sighed and looked at his mother in the video.

“I still think you’re gorgeous, Mum,” Johnny said sadly. “Dad and I…We miss you a lot. I wish you were still here.”

Johnny frowned at the thought of his mother. He turned to look at the pictures of her singing at a karaoke club in the news clipping, playing the keys of the piano. Maybe he should try singing.

“Oh, I heard that there’s a talent show downtown if you ever want to take a shot at singing.”

Johnny thought about what that strange koala said. Was this a sign to start looking for talent shows that will consider taking his voice? Only time could tell.

To Be Continued...

#sing 2016 #sing johnny #buster moon #sing rosita #sing mizuki #ms. crawly #eddie noodleman #sing gunter #sing(my version) rewrite

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