The rewrite is starting earlier than planned. I hope you forgive me for this but I was not satisfied with the other one. I did not like the individual chapters and I had the feeling the more chapters the less was the interest.

That's how I felt when I was writing. So we're starting completely from scratch with new chapters and old ones being rewritten.

If there are any questions you are welcome to ask me. I will answer them in the next chapter

Until then

February 18, 2022

It was quiet in the cafeteria as Alicia finished the rest of her meal while looking at her smartphone. The email with the invitation to the interview that Ms. Ross had scheduled with her and a Pixar employee still hadn't arrived. It had been two weeks since Ms. Ross had given her the notice. But since then there was radio silence and that worried her a lot. Oh man please don't tell me he forgot. Well, Turning Red was still in progress, probably he didn't have time. She kept eating until she got a notification from her Netflix account. A new series was added. She tapped on the notification, hoping she hadn't misread it.

The new series that was added was called The Cuphead Show. She hoped it wasn't a joke from Netflix, which is why she clicked on the trailer and watched it. Cuphead and Mugman looked very similar to their book counterparts. Only their skin and the cups they had as heads were a different skin tone. The skins are more of a beige tint instead of gray. Both wear yellow gloves instead of white. Cuphead's shoes are brown with Mugman's having an orange tint. The latter also had thin eyebrows.

Otherwise, they looked very similar to the two brothers in the book. But that could not be said for Elder Kettle. His color scheme is more of a grey shade instead of tan, with his lid and stripe being slate grey. He also wears a small pair of glasses and a pair of red slippers. The cane has more a derpy design. Of course, she already suspected that the devil would also be in the series and looked different from her husband Lucifer. The appearance looked almost the same just like the Fur. Only his hands and feet were a darker gray than those of his book counterpart, the horns and claws were yellow instead of white and his nose gained a red flush. The eyes were yellow with a red iris.

The rest of the trailer showed other characters but she ignored them and was very excited about it and looking forward to watching the series. But with whom? Jazz and Soos were unfortunately not there. Both had family obligations to do and thus out of town. She thought and knew who she could watch the show with. Cuphead and Mugman. Both brothers had wanted to spend a movie night with her for a long time. All right then, I'll get them out of the book. With this thought she got up and took the tray with the empty plate to the tray cart that was next to the door where it went into the kitchen.

She grabbed her backpack and headed outside to the parking lot to go to her apartment. When she arrived at her apartment, she parked behind the house and got out of the car with her backpack. It was surprisingly quiet, which confused Alicia a bit. She knew that two of her neighbors were gone. She also knew that one of them was working the night shift. But still it was strange.

She shrugged her shoulders and went upstairs to her apartment and took off her shoes and jacket while taking her backpack to the kitchen and turning on the TV. Luckily she had a Smart TV and Netflix was already literally grinning at her. But she still had to quickly get the book to pick up the two brothers. But she already clicked on the series and stopped the TV. She put the book on the table and went into it. But what she didn't notice was that while she disappeared into the book, a spark of magic that glowed golden flew towards the TV. The spark merged with the screen, which then began to flicker and show different areas from the show. From the inside of the house where the two brothers lived to strange places like Sugar Land or the Underworld. But everything seemed so lifeless.

Suddenly, several figures appeared on the screen tapping or hitting the screen with worried expressions on their faces. These included Cuphead and Mugman before the screen flickered again and the devil could be seen approaching the screen with a grin before the picture returned to normal and the N from Netflix could be seen. Alicia didn't notice anything because she was on the Inkwell Isle's in the book and there she was looking for the two brothers who were on the way in the city as Elder Kettle explained to her.

Both brothers walked through the streets. Mugman snapped his fingers while Cuphead started whistling a tune.

Cuppy: Morning on Inkwell Isles shimmers
Morning on Inkwell Isles shines
And I know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly fine

Both brothers continued down the street. A few residents of the town heard Cuppy singing and swayed to the tune as they went about their 's the mayor en route to his office and there's the sofa clerk selling some quills "Morning, kids" said the salesman as Mugman handed him a small box containing eggs from the bag he was carrying. The vendor flipped him a 25 cent coin which Mugman caught with his hand.

Cuppy: My neighbourhood is so wonderfully good
But things could not go wrong
There's no way that they could

When both arrived on the main street, they were accompanied by several residents of the island who sang and danced along with them.

Morning on Inkwell Isles shimmers
Morning on Inkwell Isles Shines
And we know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly fine

While they were singing they passed some former debtors who were enjoying the sunny day. Sally and her husband were sitting in the park on a picnic blanket enjoying the beautiful weather.

Look! The Stageplays are off on a picnic

Said one of the residents as he pointed to the two actors who were a bit startled by the singing and dancing but thought nothing of it. Sally even laughed when she saw the blushing face of her husband who wanted to sink into the ground. But the two were not the only ones in the park. Ribby and Croaks were also out and about in the park. Both were training and were a bit distracted by the music when they saw the two mug brothers and the crowd of people running after them.

Look! Ribby and Croaks are sparring

Out of the park, the two brothers continued walking while the people behind them went other ways.

Cuppy: Yes, my Inkwell Isles are so gentle and still
Can things go wrong?
I don't think they will

As Cuppy continued to sing, Mugman noticed that someone was suddenly standing not far away from them. "Hey Cuppy!" said Mugman, but his brother didn't hear him and walked on with his eyes closed while the younger brother followed him. "Hey Cuphead watch out!".

Morning on Inkwell Isles shimmers
Morning on Inkwell Isles shines
And I know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly…

The older brother felt like he ran into something and was lying with his butt on the floor. "Hey, watch where you're..." he looked up and saw Alicia standing in front of him. "Alicia!" both brothers shouted as they both hugged her legs. "Hey you two mugs how's it going?" asked Alicia as the two disengaged from her legs. "Pretty good," said Mugman. "Yeah it couldn't be better" added Cuphead. Yep it was pleasantly warm on the islands. She felt the warmth through the hoodie Alicia wore. "Aren't you a little warm with that hoodie on?" asked Mugman. But Alicia shook her head.

"It's fine so far from the warmth" she said, gently stroking Cuphead and Mugman over their heads. Or rather the edge since she was otherwise reaching into the liquid. "So why are you back in the book?" asked Cuphead. She only came into the book when she visited the two brothers or was brought into the book by her husband. "Well, I promised you both that I would take you both to a movie night at my house," when they both heard the word movie night, their pupils grew thick with joy. Both mugs were very happy and went back to their cottage with Alicia. There both packed spare clothes which consisted only of a black sweater and red and blue shorts. "Is that all you're going to take with you?" asked Alicia when she saw the almost empty suitcases of the two brothers.

But that's all the two brothers needed. It didn't take long until the three were back in Alicia's apartment. "So what are we watching?" asked Cuppy as he came out of the book first and looked to the TV where he saw himself and Mugman in a graveyard. Mugman jumped out of the book and looked at the screen confused as well. "Since when is there a series about us?" asked Cuppy. "As of today," Alicia said as she went into the kitchen and prepared the popcorn while the two brothers set their things aside.

From the kitchen you could smell the freshly popped popcorn that Alicia filled into a large bowl before she went into the kitchen to the two brothers who sat down to her right and left respectively. She pressed the start button and the N of Netflix dissolved into several threads before Cuphead's head appeared. Mugman flew around it in his plane. "Nyeow!" Mugman said before disappearing. Both brothers and Alicia had to laugh. Once because Mugman sounded so funny and once because Alicia knew that it was a reference to the Universal Pictures logo from 1929 where also an airplane flies around the earth before the logo appeared.

The image becomes dark until a table appeared on which an oil lamp, an inkwell, an old pen next to which were two rolls of paper tied with threads. Two red dice with black dots from the perspective on which the table was showed the numbers 1 and 4. Another scroll opened on which a familiar island appeared. The Inkwell Isles.

Come with me to the Inkwell Isles, it's just off the coast maybe twenty-nine miles.

Sang the narrator while the camera zoomed in on the map. The map changed and showed not only the islands but also three other faces that the three immediately recognized. They were Grim, Cala Maria and Captain Brineybeard.

Where there's good and there's bad, and then there's in between,

The camera switched to an owl sitting on a branch and flying away as the camera passes through the trees. With the trees out of the way, the owl reappeared flying toward a fence that opened to reveal a cottage that resembled a porcelain teapot with a thatched roof, a wooden door and two windows that were next to the door. A stone fountain with a roof stood on the left side of the stone path while a goat tied to a wooden peg stood on the right side gleefully eating its grass.

With Cuphead, and Mugman, you'll see what I mean.

Suddenly there was a rumbling in the house as Cuphead and Mugman came flying out of the front door on a red rocket. Both had a cone of ice cream with two scoops in each hand. Cuphead had a light blue and orange scoop while Mugman had a pink and mint green scoop. The expressions on their faces were different. While Cuphead looked happy, Mugman looked more worried and didn't want to sit on the rocket. Cuppy slapped himself in the face when he saw how stupid his version is here.

Ice cream and rockets, trouble never ends!

Also annoyed was Elder Kettle who came out of the door with his cane raised before ducking in shock as both brothers flew by overhead while he looked annoyed at both of them. Meanwhile, the two brothers flew through the forest. Mugman no longer looked scared, but grinned just like his older brother before they both flew into a branch and fell off the rocket.

Watch these ding-dongs as they make new friends! (Zig-zag, Zig-zag!)

Both landed in a puddle of mud and got Ribby and Croaks dirty who were not very happy about it and held up their boxing gloves to punch both brothers in the face. But Mugman reacted quickly and grabbed the handle from his brother and ran away with them while the two frogs punched each other. Or to put it better, they flailed around and kept their eyes closed and didn't even notice that both brothers were already gone.

They'll need some help just to stay on track.

As Mugman continued to run through the town they were in, three more familiar faces appeared. It was Ollie, Chauncey and Sal who looked after the two brothers. While they were looking at a newspaper. But both ran on and ignored the three other figures that walked through the streets. One was Porkrind holding a box in his hands, a kind of spider toon with a red and white striped sweater and a blue cap on his head and a presumed figure with a long red nose wearing a turquoise cape and a similar hat to the one Professor McGonagall wears but in gray instead of black.

Two arms appeared that grabbed both brothers by the handle and pulled them towards them. It was Chalice. The rocket on which both brothers were sitting flew past them and changed the scene. On a throne sat the devil in the company of King Dice and a fat purple Imp holding a tray with a golden teapot and a white small teacup while Dice looks at his gloves. "So one thing never changed" said Alicia as she looked annoyed at the Dice before turning her attention to the devil sitting annoyed on his throne.

Oh no, there's that guy! You better watch your back!

The camera moved closer to him. His left eye changed and showed both brothers appearing on a dirt road that had several small flowers next to a fence that looked very much like Cagney.

So if you're lookin' for fun,

While both brothers were walking along the path, beaming with joy, the rocket appeared again, making its rounds in the background.

Yes, we're lookin' for fun!

Both brothers now looked at the camera as the two began to sing. But the mood changed when lightning struck. Instead of the fence, gravestones were now visible and the flowers had skulls while ghosts flew in the background.

And a dash of heebie-jeebies,

Both brothers were shaking like aspen leaves and held on tightly while they calmly walked along the path.

We've got the heebie-jeebies.

Cuphead and Mugman looked at the camera again as they started singing along again.

Then pack your bags and let's go!

The rocket took them both again as they flew into a building that was an orchestra. Seriously? Alicia gave herself a face palm when she saw the "orchestra" made up of live instruments.

Welcome to The Cuphead Show!

The conductor was also a living instrument, but she couldn't quite make out what kind of instrument he was supposed to be because Cuphead hurled him away with the rocket that Mugman was still sitting on and conducted the orchestra himself.

Welcome to The Cuphead Shooow!

He liked it very much and saw only much too late the Mugman who flew with the rocket directly into the was another bang and behind the smoke and sheet music you could see the damage from the explosion. Cuphead ducked while there was a hole in the middle where there should have been some and the conductor lay unconscious on the right edge. The rest of the orchestra members were slightly burned and a bit confused by the explosion while Cuphead just looked nervously into the camera and bowed while the curtain was closed.

On the curtain was the logo of the show while Mugman appeared from the right side and was also slightly burned while the end of his straw was slightly torn. He played with the trombone before falling over from exhaustion and spilling the contents insinde of his head on stage. Cuppy was not really pleased with how he was portrayed in the intro. Mugman and Alicia, however, had to chuckle when they saw his pout. Yes, he was a bit more mature than Cuphead here, but he also likes to play pranks and such.

"Oh come on you're always messing around too" said Alicia as she and Mugman looked at Cuppy with a smug grin. Cuppy just stuck out his tongue and didn't want to talk to them, he wanted to watch the show. The first episode was called Carn-Evil and so far the episode was quite enjoyable. Both brothers were given the task of painting the fence by Elder Kettle, which did not please Cuphead very much. "It's the same old stuff every day! What we need is a little fun and adventure" he said while waving the brush full of white paint in the direction of his brother who, of course, got a few white spots on his face. Alicia had to grin and chuckle. Not only because of the white paint on Mugman's face but also because of Elder Kettle who got a full load after Cuphead loaded it into a cannon to speed up the process.

Of course it didn't work out the way he thought it would because now they had to get new materials. Of course, the next one in question was Porkrind. But before Mugman went to the door and could open it, Cuphead pulled him away and... "Oh come on!" said Alicia annoyed when the picture was frozen. Both brothers were confused until Alicia stood up and walked over to the screen. That the screen now stopped surprised them both very much. But Cuphead suddenly felt that something was wrong. She was about to tap the screen when a portal appeared instead of Mugman, who was halfway in the picture, and Alicia's Hand slowly get's suck into it.

She tried to free herself but somehow her hand wouldn't come out of the screen and she was pulled deeper into the screen by someone. "Alicia!" Cuppy yelled as he grabbed her legs and tried to pull her out of the TV. But he wasn't strong enough and fell with her into the world of The Cuphead Show. Mugman was still speechless. He was still holding the bowl of popcorn his brother had handed him as he tried to pull Alicia out of the TV. "You know what I do when I'm not so sure? I double down!" Cuphead said as Mugman looked at him in confusion. He was about to say something when he was interrupted by two screams. "What was that?" he asked in a shaky voice. "I don't know let's see what it could be!" Cuphead ran into the forest while Mugman stood still until he followed his brother. "Wait Cuphead!".

When Alicia regained consciousness after being sucked into the TV, she slowly opened her eyes. At first she saw everything only blurred until she saw branches and leaves and treetops. "Ow, my head hurts," Alicia slowly stood up and realized she was lying in the middle of a bush. She didn't know exactly why she ended up in the bush, but what she did know was that everything but herself looked like been drawn. Almost as if she was in a cartoon.

She had to think back to the very first time she landed in the book and had a hard time getting used to it. Well, a real person in a cartoon world. You don't see that every day. Well, let's just say it was unusual for Alicia."Alicia?" said a familiar voice she heard above her. "Cuppy is that you?" she asked as she walked out of the bush and looked around. She found no sign of the cup. "Um up here," he said. Alicia looked up and saw Cuppy dangling from a branch with his handle stuck. He wasn't too pleased about it. To be more precise, he was visibly annoyed about it and wanted quite happily to be back on the ground and not hanging here in the air.

"Don't worry I'll help you" said Alicia as she transformed into her Wyvern form and with extreme care removed the branch and lowered Cuppy to the ground before transforming back into a human. He pulled the branch out of his handle and thanked her. "So where are we?" she asked him. Cuppy looked around and shrugged. "I don't know maybe somewhere on Inkwell Isle's?". But that could not be. They were not in the book, so where were they?

Alicia thought "Let's think back to what happened before we landed here" Cuppy nodded and thought as well. "So we were in your apartment trying to watch the show when the screen...", "Froze over and I was going to see what the reason was until..." they both fell silent when they knew what the reason was why they were here. They were on Inkwell Isle's but it was the one from the TV Show and not from the book. But that wasn't the only thing they noticed "Where's Mugman?" asked Alicia as she looked around and called out to him. But the younger brother does not answer. "He didn't come with me when I tried to pull you out of the TV or did he?" no matter what it was he also called for Mugman.

But the two heard nothing from the younger brother. However, two others heard the voices of the two. These followed the voices deep into the forest. Alicia and Cuppy shouted and didn't even notice that two people were standing in front of them on the path they were on. All four looked at each other in confusion. The two people in front of them were Cuphead and Mugman from the series. Both of them could no longer close their mouths in astonishment.

Once because of Cuppy. He looked like Cuphead only there were differences between him and the other Cuphead. And then because of Alicia. She was a real person in a cartoon world that actually consisted only of drawn characters. Seeing a real person shocked both brothers a lot. Mugman shivered while Cuphead curiously walked up to them and grabbed Cuppy's face. Or he wanted to, but Cuppy grabbed his hand and pushed it away before he could even think about grabbing his face. "Hey what's this nonsense!" he said annoyed as he grabbed Cuphead's hand and took it out of his face which shocked him a lot. "Wow, a real clone of me!" he said before turning his attention to Alicia. "And what are you?" he asked her.

She did not know what to answer him. It won't go wrong. "A real human," she said. Cuphead and Mugman were very fond of her looks. Especially how she was dressed. She didn't wear typical clothes that women and girls of that time wore. "Ah cool and what are your two names?" he asked curiously. Alicia and Cuppy looked at each other annoyed. Yep this Cuphead is a little weird. "My name is Alicia Powell but you can call me Alicia" Alicia introduced herself. "And I'm Cuphead" Cuppy introduced himself which annoyed the other Cuphead a bit. "Hey my name is Cuphead!" he said as he got in Cuppy's face and pointed his thumb at himself.

But Cuppy didn't put up with it "Well too bad but I had the name before you so..." his gaze wandered from the other annoyed Cuphead to Alicia. Her look told him not to overdo it. "Yes Cuphead is my full name but many people call me Cuppy" he said annoyed. "But we can't call you two Cuphead 1 and Cuphead 2 so we'll just call you Cuppy" said Mugman who had calmed down and approached the two. They were no threat to him as he introduced himself as well. "Alright since we all introduced ourselves what do you say we go to that carnival over there?" suggested Cuphead to the others as he pointed to said carnival.

The carnival was located in a large meadow surrounded by trees. Besides food stalls, there were other attractions such as a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, a carousel and many game booths. A carnival would not be bad to make friends with the two here and maybe find someone who could help them. Alicia nodded as did Cuppy. Only Mugman was unsure and didn't want to go. "Absolutely not!" he said and showed the carnival his back as he stood in front of the three. Cuppy and Cuphead looked at him confused until Alicia knew why he didn't want to go. They still had to repair the fence that Cuphead had destroyed with the cannonball to speed up the "process". "I agree with Mugman, we should gather the stuff for the fence first and then we can go to the carnival" she suggested.

"Yes or we could..." before Alicia could say anything the four were already at the carnival. So much for first the work and then the fun. She sighed which Cuppy noticed and tried to cheer her up a bit by walking with her through the carnival while the two brothers. The carnival itself was huge and besides the many stalls, there were also a lot of game stalls. Normally Alicia would have nothing against it would be there only one thing. All the game booths had the word soul in the title. From Soul Ring to Shoot the Soul, every booth was like that. Cuppy tried his luck at one of the game booths and won. But unfortunately there was no prize.

Disappointed, they both went to the brothers who were having a great time and laughing. "I've gotta hand it to you, Cuphead. That was great!" Mugman said. "Yeah, I have to admit that was a lot of fun, even if I didn't really like all the game booths," Alicia had a bad feeling about those. She herself didn't play at any of the game booths because she had to admit that she was always bad with those. Except when it comes to shooting. Then she is good. Maybe it's also because her grandfather always took her hunting when he had to watch her. She misses him a lot.

"And we still have time to get supplies and fix the fen-" interrupted Alicia's thoughts as she looked down at the others and saw only two of three cups. Cuphead was not with them "Cuphead?" said Alicia looking around while the other two also looked around for the missing cup and saw him. Alicia, however, did not. It wasn't until she felt Cuppy pull on her hoodie that she saw Cuphead walk over to a Skee Ball Machine.

Above this was a sign that said "SOUL BALL". Generally, there were several signs above the machine. On one it said "PLAY" on another "WIN BIG", "PRIZES" and many arrows pointing to the machine. Every single sign had several light bulbs that lit up alternately and magically attracted you. Cuphead looked down from them to a basket that stood next to the machine in which several balls with different patterns lay, one of which he took and rolled onto the ramp.

Alicia and the other two approached Cuphead and watched him first. I have a bad feeling about this. Yes Alicia knew something was wrong with this carnival. After all, she hadn't seen any vendors yet and no one seemed to have to pay anything here either. Something is rotten here. "Winner!" Alicia jerked when she heard the voice and looked at the Skee Ball Machine where the light bulb was glowing green. "Ha-ha!" laughed Cuphead as he hit the middle hole and took the next ball and rolled it back up the ramp. The light bulb lit up green again and the machine said "Winner!" once more. Mugman and Cuppy noticed Cuphead staring at them in challenge. "Eh? Eh?" both declined, however. Or rather, Cuppy shook his head while Mugman gave him a thumbs up.

Alicia, however, looked around as she was getting more and more worried with each passing second. And no not because Cuphead always hit the middle hole and attracted the other visitors. No, it was because she saw with her own eyes how a carnival visitor who was playing the same game as Cuphead lost his soul when he lost the game. The middle hole behaved like a vacuum cleaner and sucked in the visitor's soul while the machine shaked. His body became darker and was no longer as colorful as before. In general, he looked like a zombie, only he was not hungry for brains, but just stood there and slowly moved forward as if nothing had happened.

And she heard a flickering sound behind her. She turned around and saw the carnival's entrance sign. Wait a minute. She looked closer and didn't know if it was a joke or not. The sign said Carnevil and not Carneval. "Carnival" she heard and realized Mugman was standing next to her, also looking at the sign flickered even more and the word Carn disappeared and only Evil was visible. "Evil?!" yelled Mugman. As Alicia had read that she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She took a few steps back and bumped into someone. Slowly she turned around and saw more visitors who had lost their souls and were wandering around aimlessly, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.

"Cuphead? Cuppy?", " We should go," Alicia added while Mugman was nervous, not wanting to stay here anymore. She suspected who this carnival or rather Carn-Evil? Well, never mind. She knew who this one probably belonged to and didn't want to stay here anymore, just like Mugman. But Cuphead was unfortunately stubborn and the guests that appeared around him and the others didn't make things any better. "Not now, Mugsy and Ali! I'm on a hot streak" Of course you are. Alicia rolled her eyes in annoyance. Wait Ali? Is that my new nickname? She didn't know if she had misheard but even if she had, the nickname wasn't as bad as Alice.

Cuphead threw the ball which landed in the middle visitors rejoiced and cheered while Mugman became even more nervous than before and Cuppy just watched him and thought nothing of it. Alicia, however, wondered one thing. Where exactly do all the stolen souls disappear? Well, her question was answered. Even though she didn't see it, there was a tube under each game booth that brought all the collected souls to the same place. The Underworld. These screamed and got deeper and deeper into the underworld. Next to the many tubes that led through a hole stood a creature.

This creature was none other than the devil. He looked at the collected souls rubbing his hands and snickering. "Everyone loves a carnival" he said, beaming with joy as he walked away from the many tubes and next to a counter who counted all the new souls. Next to the counter sat on a rock a purple Imp with yellow gloves writing something in a notepad while he looked at the counter, which was increasing with every second. The devil appeared next to him, looking at the counter as well. "What a haul" Yes he was more than satisfied. So much so that he couldn't help but start singing.

Whoa! In case you ain't heard, I'm the Devil.

He started singing while looking at the camera and pointing at himself, tapping his left foot to the beat of the tune.

I'm real low down, not on the level.

Like a snake, he began to move while walking towards his trident that was leaning next to a rock.

They call me Old Scratch, Mr. S, the Big D

He grabs his trident and started dancing lightly with a white top hat he pulls out from behind his head.

I'm the king of the underworld. Yeah, it's great to be me.

With a purposeful jump he landed on his throne and was surrounded by statues and portraits showing him. He looked to the left at a statue that showed only his head, which he tickled under the chin before turning around with his throne and playing a Organ.

Ho-di-llie doh-di-llie doh-di-llie doh.

While playing with the instrument, his head detached itself from his body, which he moved back and forth with his shoulders before it repositioned itself in its original place.

Ho-di-llie doh-di-llie doh-di-llie doh.

His gaze wandered to a couple of Imps working on a boiler and singing along with him.

Hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee!

The devil continued to play the organ while souls flew by through a pipe that was behind him.

Hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee!

These also sang along before they disappeared.

I'm a real naughty boy, I'm sure you'll agree.

The devil now looked somewhat seductive and moved his left shoulder into a circular motion while wrapping himself around the purple Imp into his dragon form and grinning diabolically at him while the latter, notebook in hand, grinned nervously at him and nodded.

I get my kicks playing tricks on the locals.

In his spider form, the devil dangled on a thread in front of a mirror on the wall, which he touched with one of his many legs.

They're easy marks, they're real dumb yokels.

The mirror shows an anthropomorphic bread child holding a red balloon and a lollipop in his hand, which he just licks until the devil with his tail end burst the balloon and the child starts to cry.

But now folks, listen closely,it's time I made a confession.

Without thinking about it, he took the lollipop and up into it before throwing the stick away and walking out of the mirror while everything went dark except for him.

Collecting people's souls is my greatest obsession!

It became brighter again and the devil was now standing in front of a safe in which the souls flew in that came through many tubes. He began to laugh diabolically. The flames rose around him and he now wears a white tailcoat with a matching top hat, white spats, and a red bow tie. He started to dance and was so absorbed in it that he did not hear the calls from the Imp. "Uh, hey, boss" but as I said he continued to ignore it and dance while using his trident as a dancing stick. "Boss!" the devil trew away the top hat and did not hear the shouts of the imp.

The latter was frustrated and tried again and a little louder than before. "Hey, Boss!" "What?! I was singing!" the devil, who was now more than annoyed, yelled at Imp, who tried to find the right words to avoid upsetting the devil, who was already in a bad mood by interrupting him. "The...the soul counter stopped" he pointed upwards to the said counter which, as already mentioned, stopped counting. Even when the devil hit it several times, the counter did not go on.

Confused, he walked toward the tubes. But there were no more souls to be seen in them. Also no more new ones came. They were empty and that confused the devil very much. "What the-" he said in shock and wanted to get to the bottom of it. He reached up and looked through the periscope that appeared on the surface.

He looked around but the carnival was completely deserted. Or so he looked until he looked to the right and found the rest of the visitors standing in front of the Skee Ball machine, watching Cuphead juggle the four balls and send them all one after the other into the middle hole. The machine said "Winner!" and the visitors cheered for Cuphead. "Cuphead, Cuphead, Cuphead!" they shouted, which did not please the devil.

Actually, he would now pull down the periscope again, but his eyes wandered from the cup that was preparing for the next throw to a beautiful young lady with black hair who looked different. She was not drawn like all the others. No, she looked real. The young lady turned her head slightly to the side so that the devil could look at her better than before. The purple Imp with the notebook walked up to him and saw the devil wagging his tail. "Uhh do you see something you are interested in boss?" asked the Imp. The devil pushed the periscope up and had slightly flushed cheeks while his pupils took on hearts.

"You could say that Henchman" said the devil as he opened his mouth and rolled out his tongue. Yes he was in love. In love with the young lady. His heart pounded very strongly so that you could not only hear it but you could also see how the heart gave a slight imprint. As if it would try to flee from his body. This worried Henchman a little. He's never seen his boss like this before.

"So you're not going to do anything about the soul counter?" he asked him until the devil shook his head and was back to his old self. "Of course I found out why no more souls are coming!" he said annoyed. But as soon as he thinks of the young woman again, he was head over heels in love again. That he would like to introduce himself to her was clear. "Looks like we have a real show-off and a beautiful young lady" he said seductive as he teleported away with his trident.

The devil was very happy, but Alicia was not so happy. She wanted to get away from the carnival, but she couldn't when Cuphead was about to challenge his luck. So she went up to him and bent down so that she was at the same eye level as the cup. "Cuphead, maybe you should quit while you're ahead" she suggested but he was against it "Double down!" he shouted which not only scared Alicia but also Mugman who was standing next to his brother.

Cuppy was standing next to Alicia and was also thinking about playing the game but suddenly he heard something behind him and turned around. The sky that had just shown daylight was now dark and looked as if it was night. The visitors and Cuppy noticed it and also saw that a cloud of smoke appeared in front of the visitors from which a figure came that Cuppy knew only too well. "The Devil!" screamed an elephant that ran away in panic, as well as the rest of the visitors who left him alone with Alicia and the three cups.

The devil, however, did not mind that the visitors ran away in fear. He polished his claws and checked whether dirt stuck to them before he turned to his fur and horns and cared for them. It looked like he was preparing for a date. "My fans. They love me" he said smugly before his eyes wandered to Alicia who didn't notice that the devil was only a few meters away from her. "Hmm, it's about time I introduced myself to the little Lady." Yes, he only now saw that she was smaller than him. More precisely, three heads smaller.

Alicia crossed her arms and continued to watch as Cuphead prepared for the next throw while Cuppy clung to her leg. She sensed this and looked down. He seemed very anxious. Which was actually unnatural for him. She was about to ask what was going on when she felt someone standing behind her. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at it and saw that it was not a normal hand but a claw. The same as that of Lucifer. Only this was dark gray and had yellow claws. Alicia looked up and to her shock and also annoyance the devil stood behind her.

He was the same size as her husband Lucifer. Why do I have to be so small? She tried not to pay attention to him, but it didn't work because she saw him staring at her seductively. On top of that, he seemed to have fallen in love with her, as Alicia already feared. Cuppy saw it too and stood in front of Alicia while looking at the devil with annoyance. But the latter ignored the angry cup, pushed him away with his trident so that he was now standing next to Mugman and tried to seduce Alicia further "Tell me you beautiful young lady what is your name?" Oh god he is in love with me! She was silent and did not know what to say.

That he stroked her cheeks didn't make it any better. She hated it and kept avoiding his hand with her head, but unfortunately he was as persistent as Lucifer and didn't let go. Only when the machine said "Winner!" again did he look at Cuphead. "Hmm we can talk later my dearest when I'm done with the cup and get his soul" he let go of her cheek he was still holding on to with his fingertips before he went to Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman. Mugman felt someone standing behind him. He turned around, hoping it was Alicia but she was still standing some distance from him and saw only a furry figure, he looked up and saw the devil.

The latter waved at him with wagging fingers. "Hello" he said while Mugman starts stuttering "Cup...Cuppy Cup... Cuphead!". He nudged both of them several times to get their attention, but Cuphead was too focused on his throw that he didn't notice the devil standing right behind him. Cuppy noticed and tried to make him aware of the devil as well. "Cuphead!" they both shoved at him, causing him to lose his grip and drop the ball "Watch it!" he said annoyed.

The ball rolled on and landed not in the middle hole as before but in the bottom one where it said "Loser" above it. The machine said this again loudly while a buzzer sounded. This didn't really please Cuphead "Aw, heck" he said annoyed that he had lost and immediately looked at the two culprits who were responsible for this. "Now look at what you two made me do!" However, Cuphead quickly realized that something was wrong. Once it was suddenly dark, then the rest of the visitors were missing and on top of that both his brother and Cuppy seemed to be afraid of someone.

This someone was none other than the devil himself of whom Cuphead was now also afraid as he looked up at him and began to stutter. "And that's game!" Wait what? Before Alicia could even say anything she heard the machine shake hard. The middle hole was acting like a vacuum cleaner again and was now sucking in Cuphead's soul. The eyes of the three widened when they saw this. Alicia got scared, Cuppy was shaking like a leaf and Mugman jumped after his brother's soul and grabbed it before it disappeared forever in the Skee Ball machine. With it, he went back to his brother, who was no longer shining with color as before, and reinserted the soul into his body.

Like Charlie from All Dogs Go to Heaven after this one escaped from the Heaven and came out of the water, Cuphead took a deep breath and regained his colors. "Run!" he yelled and ran away in panic. Mugman and Cuppy followed him while the devil looked after them. "Ooh, I love it when they run" said the devil and wanted to devote himself to the three cups, but before he did that he wanted to continue talking to the young lady. "Where were we?" he asked as he turned to her, but she was no longer standing there. She was gone as were the three cups. But that did not bother him. "Don't worry, I'll find you, my dearest," he flew after the others with his trident, chuckling menacingly.

"I'm sorry I made you miss! This is all my fault!" both brothers hugged each other tightly and cried. Cuppy who was close on their heels was only panic-stricken. He knew that if he had played the game he would probably have met the same fate. And he did not want to experience that again. "We should've never have come here in the first place! It's all my fault!" Cuphead cried while Alicia finally reached the three after having to walk through several stalls and hoping that the devil did not follow her.

She looked around several times but didn't see him anywhere, which reassured her. "Guys, I know this is a stupid situation we're in right now, but we'd better stick together or else-" not far from the three cups a fireball appeared that almost hit them if the three hadn't dodged it in time. Alicia looked behind her and rolled her eyes both annoyed and frightened when she saw the devil hovering with the trident following them like a predator.

Alicia saw him ready to throw another fireball at the three brothers, which is why she pushed them away and was thrown away by the explosion of the fireball. She landed in a booth that offered stuffed animals and other prizes. "I think I lost him" she said, rubbing her head as she slowly tried to get up from the mountain of stuffed animals.

She landed softly, but still she felt a slight pain on her head and rubbed the spot while she didn't realize until too late that the devil appeared from a cloud of smoke behind her. "Surprise!" he said and stretched out his arms to her as if he wanted to embrace her. But it did not come to that. Alicia ran away from the half-destroyed booth before the devil could even touch her. Where did the three cups go? she asked herself as she looked around and saw a carousel that was spinning and had four horses. The three cups were sitting on one of them, taking a short breather.

But the peace was short-lived as the devil appeared on the other side and fired a green beam that hit the carousel horse on which the three cups were sitting. To everyone's shock, it turned into a skeleton horse. Or rather Stalhorse? Well, both had one thing in common. Their eyes were shining. Only this one glowed green instead of red.

All three cups were frightened when this one not only transformed but also came to life. "Whoa!" it broke away from the pole and jumped back and forth like a wild mustang in a rodeo, trying to throw the three riders off its back. "Bad horsey!" "Whoa!" but no matter how well the three clung on, they flew off his back and landed right in front of Alicia who was glad to see the three of them safe and sound before she had to run away again.

So the four of them ran away "We need to find a good hiding place!" suggested Alicia who went ahead followed by Cuppy who nodded and agreed with her still panicking. "I agree with you!" he said, but Alicia didn't hear anything from the other two, so she turned around and saw them standing behind a cardboard cutout and quickly taking a picture. Okay who took a picture of the two of them? It wasn't the devil, because as soon as the photo was taken, the two ran after them while the devil destroyed the cardboard cutout with another fireball.

"You can't escape me my dearest!" said the devil who looked even more seductive while Alicia turned around and saw him. He came closer and closer. That didn't make it better that she was the last one and therefore closer to him. She saw the hand slowly reach out and approach her. "Alicia get in here quick!" she looked away from the devil and saw a funhouse that looked like a clown. Normally she would have said no, but what other option did she have when the devil was chasing her?

So she gathered all her courage and ran into the house, following the three cups until they ran into a stone wall that had previously shown the exit, while below them the floor opened up in which the four fell down. Well they did fall but they were more on a slide and wiping out sharp spikes that appeared from holes in front of them before they reached the end of the slide and found themselves in a hallway where there were several doors. However, none of them showed where the exit was.

The buzz saws in the floor and that the room was spinning didn't really help them with finding the exit. Gravity, of course, quickly set in on Alicia and she was the first to fall, followed by the three cups and found themselves in front of a large mirror. They were all mirrored in it and looked at their reflection in confusion. Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman's reflection changed to the devil while in Alicia's reflection the Devil appeared behind her.

Or so it seemed when he touched her shoulder with his hand in the mirror she had to realize that she felt it in real and that the devil was standing behind her in real. This scared not only Alicia but also the three cups who ran away in panic while Alicia tried to escape him but he held her tight. They ran into a tube that led them outside where they landed on a soft mattress before the devil appeared out of the tube in his dragon form and held Alicia in his arms and continued to chase the three cups.

"Let me go!" she said annoyed but the devil didn't even think about it. "Why should I? You are mine my love" she didn't like that at all. As soon as he saw her he wanted to make her his queen and wife. Somehow this seems familiar. Yes, she knew who she meant by that. Yep Lucifer her husband. But unlike him, he did not fire fireballs from his trident while opening his mouth. "When I'm done with the three cups, I'll be happy to take you to my kingdom" Okay, that's enough! Yes, Alicia had had enough and decided to stop being the damsel in distress. No, she transformed into her Wyvern form at that very moment as the devil fired another fireball that went straight for Cuphead and the others like a homing missile and swooped down on the three cups to grab them before the fireball could hit them.

This hit the Skee Ball machine instead of the three cups. The devil realized what he had done and looked shocked at the destroyed machine, which consisted only of debris from which came all the collected souls he had stolen. Alicia and the others heard it. She stopped in mid-air and looked with her head behind her while the three cups climbed from her foot claw up onto her back and held on to the many spines on her back. "No!" the devil shouted in horror while the remaining souls returned to their rightful bodies and they shone with color again. This pleased Alicia who slowly lowered to the ground and landed on it with her wings to let the three cups down from her back before they ran away towards the exit.

Frustrated, angry, sighing, and also amazed, the devil tried to process the whole thing that just happened before he momentarily burst into flames and looked toward the exit through which the three cups ran. Alicia was also about to leave, but looked at him before changing back into her human form. "You don't just get to run away". "Wow, boss. I never saw you let no one escape before" he looked next to him and saw Henchman appear next to him and was impressed not only by the chaos but also by the fact that he just let the four of them go.

"He didn't escape! He played the game. He lost. His soul belongs to me!" the devil roared at him while he looked at the exit. "I'll get that cup!". "Head? Cuppy?" said Henchman as the devil hit him on the head with the trident. "Oh shut up!". Yes, he didn't want to hear any more about it, but his thoughts were now more absorbed in Alicia, whom he couldn't let go of.

"So let me get this straight, you're immortal, a demon, can turn into a wolf, wyvern, and phoenix, and you're married to the devil?" enumerated Cuphead as the four made their way to the cottage where Elder Kettle was already waiting for them. Alicia She didn't realize it, but she was back in her demon form because she wanted to make sure that the devil wouldn't continue to haunt her and the others.

Only when he tried to attack her with a shovel did she notice and raise her arm protectively. But she didn't feel the shovel because Elder Kettle dropped it. The reason? Well, all three cups stood protectively in front of Alicia. Therefore, he lowered the shovel and took a closer look at Alicia. She was a demon, but she didn't seem to be a danger. She didn't threaten him, didn't use her powers or do anything else that demons normally did.

No, she only tried to protect herself by raising her arms and placing them protectively in front of her face. "No, Elder Kettle, please don't attack Alicia, she saved us from the Dev-" Mugman and Cuppy covered his mouth so that Elder Kettle would not know that the devil was after them. Well, rather after Cuphead because he still owed him his soul.

But also after Alicia. Unfortunately. "Oh, if that's the case, then I'm very sorry for the way I reacted, my dearest," said Elder Kettle as he threw away the shovel and walked over to her while the three cups got out of his way. "You should never judge anyone by their looks" he held out his hand which Alicia shook with her human hand. She was glad he accepted her. Both in her human form and in her demon form. "Thank you so much," she said, exhaling in relief while Elder Kettle pondered. She had helped her two boys escape the fire. Where this came from he did not know. Nor did he want to know. But he thought it was fair that she and Cuppy should stay in the cottage as a token of his gratitude. It was strange to have two Cupheads in the cottage, but he would soon get used to it.

"Say, do you two even know where you're going to spend the night?" he asked Alicia and Cuppy. Both were a bit shocked because they didn't even know how to get back to their own worlds. "Well not really" said Alicia who was nervous and scratching the back of her head while Cuppy twiddled with his fingers. So the answer was clear and unambiguous. "Then it is decided that you will stay with me and the boys". Both were more than shocked at this. "Really?" asked Cuppy while Elder Kettle nodded. That settled the question of where the two would sleep for the time being.

Well, better than sleeping outside. With joy the two went into the house while the two brothers took care of the fence. Alicia didn't want to be sucked into the TV, but she couldn't change that now. She was trapped here with Cuppy for the first time until they found a way to return home.

Songs: Morning in Ponyville, Welcome to the Cuphead Show and The Devil's Song