Chapter One
~Author's Note~
I am so very excited to be writing this fanfiction! I have had many ideas for this, but I narrowed it down to one! So, viewers please comment and please share your ideas in my first chapter! Also, thank you for reading this!
The day was as bright as a magnolia in may as the two cup brothers went out on their normal stroll through the forest. Cagney the Carnation greets them with a smile, having been freed from his contract, and waves as the two brothers disappear deep into the woods. It is a bit cooler now, due to the beginning of autumn, and Mugman and Cuphead are both wearing scarfs of their own colors. Red for Cuphead and blue for Mugman to match their shorts of course. A sudden rustle, coming from one part of the woods around them, and something they had never seen ran past them.
A blue creature, small but fast, so fast they only saw a blue blur shoot by them.
A small animal dashes away from a woman walking out from the bushes beside them. Her short bob was red, like a crimson gem on a ring, and her hair parted on her left side. Her hair was also in bouncy curls that move every time she looks around. She was wearing a light pink blouse that was tucked into her rose-red skirt that stopped at her ankles. Her mud-covered boots are what Mugman noticed as she saw them looking at her.
"Uh-um...H-hello little ones...do you happen to know where I could find Inkwell Isle?" Her voice was sweet like honey as she asks the boys for directions.
Cuphead smiles at her as he boasts. "Yes ma'am, we actually live over there! We can show you if ya want?"
Mugman smiled, agreeing with his older brother as always, nodding his head in agreement. "It's only a short walk from here!" Mugman explains as Cuphead starts walking.
"Oh! Well, thank you both!" She replies happily following them.
"My name's Cuphead and this is my brother Mugs!" Cuphead said as he was walking beside her.
"Mugman is my full name, but you can call me Mugs if you want." Mugman explains while pushing his brother out of the way.
"Well, you two boys have fine names at that! Where are my manners? The name's Porsha Doll, but you two can call me Mss Porsh for short." Porsha replies as Mugman smiles and takes her hand.
"Here we are! Good ol' Inkwell!" Cuphead exclaims as they all walk into Inkwell Isle.
"Wow, it is just like in the notes..." Porsha says faintly, causing Mugman to shift his focus to her.
"What was that Miss?" Mugman asks while Cuphead turns around to see all the commotion.
"Oh, sorry Mugman and Cuphead. I need to actually explain why I am here." Porsha began to say but was cut off by people rushing to one part in the isle.
"No, not again..." Cuphead groans as he dashes toward all the commotion as Mugman follows close behind.
Porsha caught up with the boys and could see a man being thrown out of a shop. Cuphead realizes that it's Porkrind's establishment and he pushes through the crowd. He looks to the person that was thrown and surprise! Surprise! It was King Dice. Well, his title, while he was the Devil's right-hand man, was King Dice, but since the contracts are all broken he only goes by Dice now. His tatter clothes was a symbol of everything that he had thought was good to be gone in his life. Cuphead and Mugman still remember the casino crumbling around them as they defeated the devil that day.
~~~Flashback~~~
"Mugs! C'mon!" Cuphead yelled as the two burned the last of the remaining contracts.
"Good gosh! Cuphead! Someone is still inside this place!" Mugman informed him with caution as the building was beginning to crumble.
They noticed that it was King Dice trying to get all other members out of the casino. He was the last one to leave but a beam from the wall had fallen on top of him. This left him awaiting a suffocating death. Cuphead and Mugman tried to remove the beam, but none of their weapons worked on it.
"...You two boys ...leave me be..." King Dice sputtered out as he could feel the weight of the beam beginning to crush his ribs and spine.
"No! We gotta try somethin' Cups!" Mugman yelled as the two tried harder to move the beam off of him.
"...It's no use...boys just go!" King Dice said as his voice trailed off into him trying to cough out the dust and debris from his lungs.
"You deserve a chance to live! Just like anyone else does!" Cuphead said sternly as he and Mugman gabbed King Dice's arms and pulled.
Suddenly, through the crashing rubble, there was a screeching sound that came from the main office. A blue light thrashed and crashed all around them as the three shielded themselves from the blast. Unexpectedly, when the boys looked again they were out of the casino. Well, the casino and what was left of it that it. Nothing was there anymore at all but one symbol a hand pointing north. King Dice coughed, causing the boys to spin around, and the brothers had helped him to his feet.
"...W-why..." Dice asked but he then went into a coughing fit.
"You need a doctor!" Cuphead explained as the three walked onward away from the scene.
~~~Present~~~
Cuphead shook his head from that memory and saw his brother was right beside him in the crowd. Porkrind scowls at Dice as he banns him from entering his shop. Dice simply laid on the gravel, trying not to say anything witty to piss of the pig even more, and clenches his fists. He knew he wasn't wanted here, but he was trying to fix his mistakes. The only problem with this is that no one would even let him try. The only people who knew he wanted to change was Cuphead and Mugman.
"Hey! What's all the fuss about?" Cuphead asks looking at Porkrind.
"This guy is nothin' more than a caper! He always has been!" Porkrind explains as the crowd around them agrees.
"If I may interrupt this brutality of a conversation?" Porsha asks walking elegantly in front of Dice and the two boys.
"Ya may..." Porkrind confusingly replies as she thanks him.
"This is Inkwell Isle, correct?" Porsha asks, already knowing the answer.
"Ya, it's the only one we got round these parts!" Porkrind says as the two boys look at Dice.
"Well, I can see the hospitality is spitting with these two boys, but may I ask why this man is so bad?" Porsha replies again with a question.
"I already told ya! He's a no good caper!" Porkrind repeats and Porsha asks again.
"Please explain further? As you can see, I am new around these parts." Porsha makes her expression look as if she is in some sort of confusion. The cases Porkrind to explain even more.
"Well, if it wasn't for him then we wouldn't have gotten our souls sold to the Devil himself in the first place!" The crowd all agrees with them, causing Dice to sink down even more in the ground.
"So, this is what is left of the so-called: Right Hand Man?" Porsha asks turning around as she notices Dice's depressing expression.
"Yeah!" a person from the crowd booms causing an uproar of insults to start spreading.
Porsha covers Cuphead and Mugman's non-existent ears at such foul language being heard. Porsha knelt down beside Dice and put her hand on his shoulder. This causes Dice to flench because it was the first time someone actually acknowledged his existance without throwing things at him. Porsha stood up and then claps her hands, causing a gust of wind to silence the crowd.
She starts naming off all of the actions that they had done and why they all had made deals. The crowd stood back from her in fear. Porsha sighs as she looks at the crowd with sympathy, after all, these people all had hit rock bottom and chose the only way they knew out of it. She looks to Cuphead and Mugman and thanks them for saving the town.
"Do I have everyone's attention now?" Porsha asks as the people nod in agreement. "Splendid, now if everyone would stop patronizing this man then you all should have one less thing to worry about."
"But he-" Porsha cut off the person in the crowd.
"He is just like you all! He was at rock bottom, with no other way out, and someone pushed him back to the top! There were consequences, good and bad, but that can come from all of you people as well as I! Now, just give this man one week to try and put faith back into you people." Porsha explains as the crowd looks to Porkrind. His head is down and arms crossed over his big belly.
Porkrind lets out a frustrating grunt, "Alright!" he holds out his hand to Dice. "You got one week to convince us that you are really tryin' kay?"
"Thank you." Dice said as he shook Porkrind's hand and was jolted up to his feet.
"Hey, miss?" Porkrind says to Porsha as the crowd disappears one by one.
"Yes, sir?" Porsha replies as she awaits answers.
"How'd ya know what we all did if ya new around these parts?" Porkrind asks looking skeptical.
"Well, I have an ability to look into one's past and see things." Porsha explains as the cup brothers gasps in amazement. "Also, Mr. Dice..."
Dice gets flustered, knowing he just had his mind and memories invaded, and just quickly puts his hand in his pockets. "Sorry for the intrusion to your mind. I only got the information I needed to quell the crowd forming around us. So, don't fret yourself just yet."
"Well, it sure did work, that's for sure." Dice replies looking in the opposite direction.
"Wait? Can you see anything you want from a person?" Cuphead asks as Mugman takes her hand.
"Well, yes little ones, I sure can...but I this was not the right way to do it..." Porsha explains as the brothers give confusing stares.
"Ya gotta ask permission first, right?" Dice finishes Porsha's thoughts before she even spoke it.
"Yes." She nods and Mugman grips her hand a bit tighter.
"Can you tell me what I ate for breakfast?" He asks out of curiosity.
"Well you had Scrambled eggs, and toast with strawberry jam on top...and some orange juice." Porsha rattles off what both of the brothers had and they look at each other with excitement.
"Wowza!" Exclaims Cuphead as his brother nods in agreement.
Porsha giggles, seeing them in such excitement, then realizes why she came here. "Oh, right! Boys thank you for showing me this place, but could someone here help me?"
"What ya lookin' for now miss?" Porkrind asks ushering them all to come inside his shop.
Dice hesitates at the door, but Porkrind pulls him in by his collar. "You too buster!" Porkrind drags Dice to a chair and tells him to sit. Dice does as he's told and sits in the creaky chair.
"Charming..." Dice says as he tries to make the chair have as little noise as possible.
"Well it ain't the queen of France's throne, but ya can endure it." Porkrind says walking to his counter.
"You seem to be out of stock of a lot of items. Sir, has your shipment not come in yet?" Porsha asks and Porkrind nods.
"My last shipment was months ago. Once these two boys defeated the Devil, my stock and supplies started runnin' thin. Now my shipments that are supposed to come in are all on hold." Porkrind explains cleaning off his counter.
"Where your supplies coming from the north or south end?" Porsha asks and Porkrind sighs.
"The North, why?" He asks and Porsha gets a worrisome expression.
"Well, you need to seek business elsewhere then...all the towns in the North are almost gone...there has been an outbreak of fires and other natural disasters around those parts..." She explains as the room went silent.
"Ya gotta be pullin' my leg!" Dice says aloud, but Porsha reassures them that it is true.
"I have traveled from Aster City to come here, so I have seen some awful sights." Porsha says sitting down on one of the creaky chairs.
"That's terrible...how is this all happenin' here?" Porkrind asks in disbelief.
"With good actions come consequences, I suppose...but this is why I came all this way. Please, I have tracked all the cities and towns that are listed in this journal...so far you all are the only place that hasn't been ransacked. I want to do everything I can to see if there is a way to stop it." Porsha explains and Dice stands up.
"Where'd you get that journal, if you don't mind me askin' miss?" Dice asks and Porsha hands it to him.
Dice starts fumbling through the pages, "It was my father's journal, see he was a scientist and my mother was a doctor. They kept journals and recording everywhere around the house." Porsha continues as Dice stops on one page.
"How'd he get so much information on this town?" Dice asks in surprise. All the time he was here for about five years and did not even come close to this much information of Inkwell.
"Well, that one is a breeze to answer. My father's name around here is Moon." Porsha said, causing Porkrind and Dice to shoot a stare at her in disbelief.
"Moon?" Porkrind asks as Dice finishes his name.
"As in the Man in the Moon!? You are his daughter?" Dice closes the book as Porsha takes it back.
"Yes." She nods and Cuphead and Mugman exchange blank stares.
"How come we never heard of your father before?" Cuphead asks looking at her.
Porkrind and Dice share a scarce look as Porsha explains. "Well, my father was one who wanted to originally help others. He worked under Dr. Kahl's wing at the time he was here and started researching something that Dr. Kahl did not care for. You two are also too young to have known who he was because this was ten years ago."
"Oh, but Elder Kettle knows everyone!" Mugman replies and Cuphead chimes in.
"He would always talk about people who we didn't know before we were born."
"Alright, alright, let's not bunk this any more than need be. Boys, shouldn't ya be home by now?" Porkrind asks looking at his watch.
"Why don't I accompany them home?" Dice asks as Porkrind scoffs.
"I could join them to ease your mind?" Porsha says as Porkrind grudgingly agrees.
The boys were now home safe and sound as Dice and Porsha were walking away from the home. Porsha looks at the sky and sees stars shining above them. Dice notices, for some reason, she gazes up at them amazement and tries to see why they were so beautiful. he caught himself staring at Porsha in the illumination of the moonlight. He quickly changes his view to the ground. Porsha notices his clothing is all a mess.
"It is late, but do you want some new clothes?" She asks and Dice glances up.
"Parden?" Dice asks as he denies what he just heard. Especially from a person he just met...a stranger actually being kind.
"Would you like some new clothes? It looks like you have been through enough already for one day." She states noticing a shop still open. "Here, c'mon then."
Dice follows her into the store and he can feel eyes watching his every move. Then somehow Porsha directs her attention away from him as she asks the clerk for something. She comes back and hands Dice a stack of clothing. He looks clueless and Porsha laughs as the employee ushers him into a changing room. Dice realizes that he might as well play along with this and tries on some pieces of clothing. With the ones he has are not fitting the best, some tighter in some places and looser in others, but they will have to do for now. He walks out in purple slacks, brown suspenders, and a light cream collar shirt he just now tucks in.
"Well?" He asks, awaiting a reply while Porsha stands up form waiting.
"It's missin' one more thing..." She replies and Dice laughs.
"Like what?" Dice asks in amusement.
"A new pair of gloves perhaps?" Porsha replies handing him a pair.
Dice just looks at her, "I don't think I can get all this now." he says.
"Then it's a good thing I am buyin' then isn't it?" Porsha explains already handing the cashier the money.
"Wait, hold your horses now! I didn't ask you to do that!" Dice replies trying to get her to stop.
"I know, but a little kindness never hurt anyone, right?" Porsha replies as the cashier tells them to have a good evening.
"You really did not have to do this..." Dice repeats as they exit the shop.
"As I stated before, a little kindness can go a long way. Now Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" Porsha asks causing Dice to sigh in frustration.
"No, but do not pay any more for me! People will think I bribed you or somethin' just because you're doing all this!" Dice retaliates back to her.
"Well, then let them think what they want to think. When someone needs help I help them." Porsha scoffs at him and sees an inn nearby.
"You are a stubborn one...but thank you nonetheless..." Dice mumbles at the beginning of his sentence as the two check into the inn.