A/N: Welcome to this week's chapter of "Starting a New Chapter"! Today we're diving into my first boss battle! What schenanigans will happen here? Stay tuned!

(Lexie's P.O.V)

Once I started this contract trip, I trekked across the dirt road toward the Root Pack's territory.

The garden was HUGE! It was bigger than my grandmother's garden back home! It had tomatoes, cucumbers, several fruit bearing trees, and even several vegetables.

"Root Pack, eh? Seems no one's here…" I spoke, looking around.

"Not necessarily. They're more underground." Cuphead stated.

"Yeah, we'll handle them here. You take cover." Mugman added.

"Once that book starts glowing, it's time to write." Cuphead instructed as he pointed at the book I was holding.

I winked in reply. "You got it!"

I hurried away to take cover near the fence as the boys headed into the garden, looking around for the first debtors they will have to fight.

"Yo, Root Pack! We need your contract!" Cuphead called out.

"Yeesh, and I thought people in collections have it rough…" I thought.

At first, nothing happened…but then there was a loud rumble and the first member of the Root Pack came out; a large anthropomorphic potato.

Okay, I think I might need to go on a nightshade free diet.

Suddenly I heard:

"GOOD DAY FOR A SWELL BATTLE! AND BEGIN!"

Uhhhhh what was that? A voice in my head?

"Just gonna pretend I didn't hear that."

I then spotted my notebook…glowing? Oh! Guess it was time to record the battle.

"Oh snap! Alright here we go!" I exclaimed and began to write down in the book.

As I scribbled the battle down, I spared a moment to see the Cups in action and I was most surprised to see…bullets from their fingers?

"Whoa...okay that's sooo cool!" I commented. "That's some Mega man stuff going on here…"

Once the potato guy was defeated, an anthropomorphic onion now came out of the ground and started crying

"A crying onion?" I snickered. "That's a new one."

I saw Cuphead about to blast the poor guy with the finger gun when I grabbed his arm.

"CUPHEAD! C'mon now, don't shoot this guy!" I scolded him. "He's practically unarmed!"

"But Lex!" He whined.

"Cuphead, don't argue with her." Mugsy retorted. "It's best not to fight someone who's not able to fight."

Cuphead rolled his eyes "Okay, okay. Fine. I'll stand down."

Upon seeing this, the poor onion fella gave us a sweet, bashfully warm smile. Man, I felt bad that this poor guy owed the Devil his soul. What could he have possibly offered him?

He sunk into the ground as happy as can be and for a bit, I was satisfied that we did a good deed. When suddenly…

What came from the ground was an angry looking beet!?

"What the-?!"

The beet gave us a toothy snarl as he started to spin around and then float back and forth all over the battlefield!

"Hey! HEY! C'mon, man we were just trying to help!" I cried, dodging an attempted smack from the beet character.

"Wait, Miss Lexie!" Mugman called. "You can't rush out to fight him! I know you have the pen and book, but he's very powerful."

"And Elder Kettle did tell us that the debtors won't be very friendly when we approach them." Cuphead added.

I could barely say another word before I saw a carrot ascend from the ground? What was the deal with these strange vegetables?

Ohhhhhh….the "Root Pack"...vegetables that grew from under the ground.

The carrot I saw then started rubbing his head as he sicced baby carrots at us. Wait, he had telekinesis…? What was the deal with that?

I looked at it oddly until a thought came to me.

"Eh? Ohhhh, because carrots are good for your eyesight...whoever made this book is quite clever." I said as I continued writing.

Just then, the battle ended and the book stopped glowing. The boys got the contract, shook hands with the Root Pack and approached me.

"We got one!" Cuphead cheered.

"How was that, Miss Lexie?" Mugman asked.

"That was awesome!" I responded. "Man, I don't think I've ever gotten a good look at y'all's powers, 'til just now."

"Oh yeah, Elder Kettle gave us these powers to help fight them since the debtors won't give up without a fight." Cuphead explained.

"As much as he hates to see us go through this, we need to play along for the moment before he can help us."Mugman sighed.

"Yeah...we saw what happened." I said sadly. "That's not fair, the way the Devil took advantage of you."

Cuphead looked down in deep sadness and almost guilt as he sighed, "Yeah...I feel kinda bad dragging Mugsy into this…"

I couldn't believe that Cuphead was being so hard on himself. He shouldn't blame himself! It was the Devil's fault for taking advantage of him because he's just a young boy who didn't know any better. If there was anyone to blame for the brothers being forced into this whole mess, it was the Devil!

I knelt down and put my hand on Cuphead's shoulder, looking him deep in the eyes with reassurance.

"Cuphead, listen. This is NOT your fault." I told him gently. "HE made the deal with you FIRST! He KNEW you were too young to gamble and like the coward he is, decided to take advantage of that. That's on him, NOT you. Okay?"

Cuphead stared back at me with teary eyes before he gave me a tearful and grateful smile before he wiped his tears away.

"Okay. Thanks, Lex." He sniffled.

I gave Cuphead the biggest hug I could manage, Mugsy joining in.

"And know this, Cups, we're gonna clear this no matter what he throws at us!" Mugman declared.

I nodded in agreement while gently rubbing his back. But part of me was…angry. Not at Cuphead obviously, but both the Devil and Dice. How dare they take advantage of someone so young and so innocent like Cups?! I mean, I've heard from my Bible lessons that the Devil is an "equal opportunity" tempter, but STILL! How disgusting!

Erm, anyway, venting aside, we're getting off track.

"So uh...who's next?" I asked.

"Uhh, looks like Goopy. He lives in the forest near the Fly Trap." Mugman explained.

I nodded before I said, "I guess. Let's head over there."

We gather our bearings and leave the Root Pack's territory. Once we deal with Goopy and visit the Fly Trap, I hope to see if we could find Liam, Katie and Natty.

I just hope that they're all doing okay and that the Devil hadn't gotten his hands on them. The last thing I want is for them to go through a repeat of what Josh, Steve, Sasha and I had been through the last time I was here…

(Normal P.O.V)

Meanwhile, in his office, the Devil and King Dice watched Lexie through a looking glass after the Cups had prevailed over Goopy and gotten a hold of his soul contract.

"Huh, not bad for a start. Looks like she's getting the hang of it." Dice commented.

"She's certainly someone to be reckoned with…" The Devil stated.

"Agreed. So what's the next move?"

"Keep an eye on her and the little brats."

The Devil gave the looking glass a mischievous grin as he continued to watch Lexie enter Ribby and Croaks' riverboat.

"Since she seems to care about them, perhaps it might prove to be...a weak spot."

Dice's eyes turned a bright jade green as he watched Lexie along with his employer. The task to "keep an eye" on her? Delicious…

"Oh, of course Boss. I'd be more than happy to keep an eye on her." Dice said with a sly smirk and a spark of lust in his eye.

"I figured you would." The Devil sneered. "But don't rough her up too much. I need her alive for this plan to work."

Dice bowed. "Oh, of course sir. I wouldn't dream of hurting her."

He jumped and teleported out of sight while the Devil snickeered.

"Soon, Lexie dear, you'll help bring Inkwell to its knees and we will be unstoppable."

A/N: Uh oh...seems the Devil has something planned for me. What exactly? Stay tuned!