Chapter 24: Dead Broke
It's another peaceful day in the Inkwell forest, especially at the Kettle cottage. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the goat was grazing. Suddenly the sound of punching and kicking cuts through the peaceful air. Inside the cottage, particularly in Cuphead and Mugman's room, the brothers were in the middle of another fight. They were in a fight cloud only pausing the fight to yell at each other.
"I'm sick of you always touching my stuff!" Cuphead yelled.
"Yeah? Well, I'm sick of your face!" Mugman yelled.
A soft breeze blew around the boys.
"Hey! Close the window!" Cuphead yelled. "You know I hate fighting when it's drafty."
"It ain't open," Mugman said.
And indeed, the window was closed.
"Well, then where's that wind coming from?"
Suddenly, the breeze grew stronger, it picked the boys up in the air, and spun them around. The spinning soon stopped, and the boys dropped to the floor. The white bed sheet floated off Cuphead's bed, it glowed an eerie blue, and a moaning face appeared on it.
"A g-g-ghost!" Cuphead and Mugman shouted before they crawled under the bed.
They peek from under the bed and see the ghost flying in circles.
"Why is it here?" Mugman wondered worriedly.
"What does it want?" Cuphead wondered worriedly.
"And... yuck. When's the last time you cleaned under here?" Mugman asked.
"Who cleans under the bed?" Cuphead asked.
HUFF
A gust of air hit their backs, they turn their heads, and see glowing orange-red eyes staring back at them. Followed by a sharp tooth grin. The creature hissed at them.
Cuphead and Mugman scream before scrambling out from the bed. The ghost floats towards them, they back up against the bed and the monster grabs the boys with large black hands.
The boys keep screaming before the ghost removes the sheet, revealing a ghostly Chalice. And Bendy comes out from under the bed still holding Cuphead and Mugman.
"Boo." Bendy and Chalice said.
Cuphead and Mugman screamed and Bendy lets them go before turning his hands back to normal.
Bendy and Chalice laughed.
"You are good," Bendy said.
"Oh, stop, you're too good." Chalice said.
"Excuse you, I am bad and don't you forget it," Bendy said proudly.
"Chalice?" Cuphead wondered. Then he gasped before covering Bendy's face with a pillow.
"What are you doing?" Bendy asked.
"You don't have your cat nose painted on. What if Chalice sees—"
Bendy pushes the pillow away. "Cup, it's cool. Chalice knows already," he said.
"She does? You do? You told her?" Cuphead asked.
"She found out and she's surprisingly okay with it, aren't ya toots?" Bendy said.
"That's Miss Chalice, and yes. 'Sides, it's not like I'm one to judge what a person should be. I mean just look at me."
"Right, you're a ghost," Cuphead said. "Which means I win Mugsy, now fork it over."
Mugman hands Cuphead a dollar from his pocket.
"Ghost? How many ghosts you know can do this?" Chalice asked before changing into her living form and started tap dancing.
"So, not a ghost," Mugman said, snatching the dollar from the cup.
"Hmm. Would you say that you're half a ghost?" Cuphead asked.
"Well, I'd say you're half right," Chalice answered.
Cuphead takes the dollar back, rips it in half, and gives one of the halves to Mugman.
"But keep it under your straw, boys. Mum's the word. It's a secret." Chalice said.
"So, you got any ghost powers?" Cuphead asked.
"Ooh, yeah!" Mugman exclaimed.
"Hmm. I'd show ya, but what's in it for me?" Chalice asked.
Cuphead and Mugman give her the two halves of the dollar. Chalice looks at Bendy.
"I've seen what you got already," Bendy said.
"Fine," Chalice said putting the dollar away before changing back into her ghost form.
"I can fly," Chalice said before flying around the room. "I can disappear." She vanished.
"What? Huh?" Cuphead and Mugman wondered.
"I can pick stuff up," Chalice said, grabbing Mugman's candy bag from under the bed.
"Whoa." Cuphead and Mugman said.
"I can pass through stuff," Chalice said after phasing through the floor.
Cuphead and Mugman exclaim.
"What else? What else?" Chalice thought aloud. "Oh! I can do this!"
The ghost roars while making the scariest face imaginable. Cuphead and Mugman froze from shock while Bendy chuckled.
"And I can possess people," Chalice said before flying and phasing into Mugman's body.
Mugman twitches a bit before standing straight with his eyes glowing blue.
"My name is Mugman." He said in a monotone voice. "I'm a weenie who's afraid of everything." He squeezes his nose, "Honk, honk."
Cuphead and Bendy laugh at the act. Chalice then quickly flies out of Mugman and into Cuphead. The cup twitches before he stands up straight with his eyes glowing blue.
"My name Is Cuphead." He said in a monotone voice. "My straw is bent, and I ain't too worried about anything."
"Yes! He says all of that." Mugman said with a laugh.
Bendy laughs too.
Chalice phases out of Cuphead and floats in the air.
"Neat," Cuphead said.
Chalice laughed.
"Oh, possess Bendy next, that'll be hilarious," Cuphead suggested.
Chalice went quiet and then looked Bendy in the eye. He gave her an indifferent look with a raised eyebrow. If she could, she would be sweating.
"Uh, n'ah, I think you guys get the idea." She said masking the fear.
Cuphead and Mugman shrugged.
"You know, as a devil, I got some neat powers too," Bendy said. "For instance, I can melt my body down and sink into the cracks."
The little devil demonstrated this by melting his body into the floorboard. Only his gloves and bowtie remained. Cuphead grabs them.
"I can climb on walls," came Bendy's voice. The black mass climbed on the wall and then on the ceiling over their heads.
Cuphead and Mugman had to crane their necks just to see the inky mass.
"I can change my body shape."
Bendy's body drops onto the floor before morphing into a melted, deformed Bendy shape.
"Glowing eyes," Bendy said, making his eyes glow. "Make my teeth and claws sharper in an instant." He shows off this before changing back into his true form.
"Let's see, oh, and can't forget this," Bendy said before roaring making the scariest face imaginable just like Chalice did.
Cuphead, Mugman, and Chalice froze.
Bendy changed back and then cleared his throat. "I can also deepen my voice," he said with a deeper, ominous voice.
"And I can throw it anywhere I want,"
His voice echoed around the room with him moving his lips.
"Whoa!" Cuphead and Mugman exclaimed.
"And of course possession, moving through the shadows, and the ever famous... soul snatching," Bendy listed off. "I'll need a volunteer for the last one. Any takers?"
Cuphead and Mugman backed away with their hands over their chests. "No thanks!" they said.
Bendy laughed.
Soon they all laughed.
"Okay, okay! Enough with the showing off." Chalice said. "Hey, you ding-dongs wanna grab some ice cream? My treat."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" the boys said.
The four went into the city and were getting ice cream from the Ice Cream Man. His truck was parked outside of the Inkwell Theater.
"There you go. Enjoy your flavors of the day!" The Ice Cream Man said excitedly. He hands the children four ice creams of various flavors on cones.
"Yay!" the four exclaimed.
"That'll be one dollar." The Ice Cream Man said while extending his hand out.
Cuphead offers the ripped dollar.
"Sorry, I don't accept damaged currency." The ice cream man said.
"But that's all we have," Cuphead said.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The Ice Cream man shook his head before taking the ice cream back. "I'm afraid the flavor of the day is goodbye!" he yelled. He slams the serving window shut before driving away.
Bendy stomps his foot down. "Darn it!" he shouted.
"Oh nuts," Chalice said and snapped her fingers.
"I really had my heart set on ice cream," Mugman said sadly.
Just then, Cuphead smiles as dollar signs flash in his eyes. He scratches his chin.
"Say, I just thought of a way we could get all the ice cream we could ever want!" Cuphead said excitedly.
"Oh yeah?" Chalice said.
"Yeah, yeah! Huddle up!" he said. The four huddled together as Cuphead whispered his idea.
Sometime later Sally Stageplay, the director and owner of the theater, turns off the lights in the theater. She was a skinny fair-skinned human with curly blonde hair.
"Until tomorrow, dear, sweet The Theater," Sally said. She turned to walk away from the stage.
Suddenly, there came a ghostly moaning.
Sally gasped. "Who's there?" She asked.
The masks of comedy and tragedy flew around before the ghost Chalice roared with a scary face.
Sally screamed and ran into her office. She pants before grabbing her phone.
"Hello, operator! I need the police right away!" Sally cried out.
"We're so sorry your phone line is dead... And soon you'll be joining it,"
The chilling voice made Sally slam the phone down.
Ominous laughter echoes in the room.
Sally shakes with fear before she felt air brushing over her shoulders. She looks up and sees Bendy Devil hooked to the ceiling. He slowly turns his head, his eyes burning like embers, before he hisses at her.
The woman screams again.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Oh, do excuse me," Sally said casually.
She goes to the front doors of the theater. Cuphead and Mugman stand there with nets.
"Paranormal Pest Removers! They scare 'em... We snare 'em." Cuphead said.
"Are you having any paranormal issues?" Mugman asked.
Without a word, Sally pulls the boys inside.
Chalice was moaning and flying in circles when Mugman jumped and caught her in his net. Cuphead goes to the office where Bendy is crouching on the desk and hisses at him. When the little devil pounces at him, the cup catches him in the net. With the ghost and demon in the nets, Cuphead, Mugman, and Sally walk out of the theater.
"Bravo, bravo!" Sally said cheerfully. "Wonderful job, boys."
"That'll be 50 cents, please," Mugman said holding a piggybank.
Sally takes her coin purse from her purse and drops two quarters into the pig. After the woman walks away, Chalice transforms into her living self and flies out of Mugman's net. Bendy melts down and slips out of Cuphead's net before morphing back into his shape.
"It's the perfect scam," Cuphead said. "You two go in and haunt the joint, then we come along and un-haunt it for money."
"Boys, we got ourselves a gold mine," Chalice said.
"With twice the scoops," Bendy added.
"And extra sprinkles," Mugman added.
For the next several hours, Bendy and Chalice go hunt in different houses, sometimes alone, sometimes together, and scare the people inside. And whenever the resident screams, Cuphead and Mugman knock on the door and offer to remove the paranormal pests for a quarter each. Before long it was nighttime, and the children laughed triumphantly.
Bendy shook the piggy bank in his hands. "Ah, a piggybank full of quarters, is there a sweeter sound?" he asked while hugging the pig.
"Definitely got enough for ice cream now," Mugman said taking the piggybank.
"I guess we're done scamming," Cuphead said.
"Unless you want those extra sprinkles," Chalice said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" The boys said, nodding.
"That's the spirit. Now, to find one last sucker." Chalice said.
Bendy gasped. "This one," he said pointing at another house.
This house definitely stood out from the others in the neighborhood. It was taller, darker, older looking, and in almost total disrepair.
"It's so creepy half the work is done already," Bendy said walking through the gate. The others follow him.
"This looks like a two-person job, don't you think kitty?" Chalice asked.
"I think you're right toots. You take the upstairs I'll take the downstairs," Bendy said before taking a bow. "After you, Miss Ghost," he said.
"Why thank you, Mister Devil," Chalice said with a curtsy.
They chuckled.
"And we'll see you two in a minute, paranormal removers," Chalice said. She winks at the cups before transforming into her ghost self and phasing into the house.
"Gloves and tie?" Cuphead asked, extending his hand to Bendy.
The little devil takes off his gloves and hands them to Cuphead. But when it came to the bowtie, Bendy paused for a second before walking closer to the cup and fashioned it around his neck.
"What are you doing?" Cuphead asked. A blush on his cheeks.
"You'll look more professional with this on," Bendy answered before finishing the tie. "Perfect,"
As they looked at each other, Bendy started to blush too before backing away.
"Anyway, down I go," Bendy said. He melts down and sinks through the floorboards.
Once inside, Bendy and Chalice go around the house, moaning, roaring, hissing, and chuckling darkly... but they can't find anyone to scare. The house inside was dusty, disheveled, and furniture and mirrors were broken. The only living things in the house were spiders on the cobwebs.
"Chalice!" Bendy called out softly while in the front room. "Chalice!"
"Bendy?" Chalice said flying close to Bendy from the stairs.
"I can't find anyone down here," Bendy said. "Any luck upstairs?"
"Nope. Nice going picking a deserted house, Bendy," Chalice said.
"It looked like a good place to scam, and you know it," Bendy said.
Chalice rolled her eyes before floating towards the fireplace.
"It doesn't make sense though. Why would anyone abandon such a big house?" Bendy wondered.
"Yikes," Chalice said. "Maybe these paintings scared people away." She was looking at four paintings hung over the fireplace.
"Let me see," Bendy said. He climbs up the wall with his claws. "Yikes."
There were four paintings of vulture women with red eyes and white hair tied in buns. They each have unpleasant expressions on their faces.
"Oh look, their names," Bendy said, pointing at the names carved under the paintings.
"Hmm. Let's see," Chalice hummed. "Belinda, Bedelia, Bonnie, Boo-Boo. Ooh, what's that?"
Bendy climbs higher while Chalice flies. There's a long piece of wood above the paintings and there are words carved into it.
"We are the Birnbaum quadruplets." Chalice and Bendy read at the same time. "Say our names to release our spirits."
Bendy and Chalice looked at each other before laughing.
"Yeah, right," Chalice said.
Bendy jumps down from the wall and lands on his feet. Chalice changes to her living form and joins the little devil on the ground.
"Well, this place was a bust. Guess we'll have to find another house." Chalice said.
"We could hit the dock houses. The houses are a little smaller but they're probably better than this dump," Bendy said.
Suddenly, a fire erupts in the fireplace and the candles start to burn too.
The two gasped before turning around and seeing that the paintings of the vultures had vanished.
"They're gone," Chalice said.
"That can't be good," Bendy said.
Voices laughing startle the chalice and devil. They turn around and Chalice screamed.
Outside the house, Cuphead and Mugman can hear screaming.
"You hear that?" Cuphead said. "That must be the lady of the house."
"That's our cue," Mugman said.
Cuphead knocks on the door, and a few seconds later, the doors open... but no one is there.
"I guess we'll let ourselves in." the cup said with a shrug.
The boys open the door wider and salute.
"Paranormal pest removers!" Cuphead and Mugman said at the same time.
The boys frown before cautiously walking inside.
"Ugh. Kind of a dump." Cuphead whispered before saying in a louder voice. "They scare 'em, we—"
The chandelier drops right in front of the brothers.
"Whoa!" the boys exclaimed.
"Good job, Chalice," Cuphead whispered. "Nothing to worry about, ma'am," he called out. "Just a falling chandelier. We see this kind of thing all the time." They walk past the mess.
They look around for their friend.
"Okay, you check upstairs for Chalice, I'll look for Bendy," Cuphead whispered.
"Right," Mugman whispered with a wink.
"My brother and I are going to look around for the paranormal pests," Cuphead called. "You just stay calm ma'am and don't attempt to stop us. We're professionals."
The boys split up, Cuphead heads downstairs while Mugman goes upstairs.
"Yoo-hoo! Miss Ghost! Come out, come out, wherever you are." Mugman called out as he looked around the hallway.
Behind him, a dresser drawer glows green, and floats close to him. It hits him against his head.
"Ow!" Mugman exclaimed. When he saw the drawer, he whispered. "Good idea, Chalice," then he cried out. "No! Get back you fiend!" he then gives a mock scream before running away. He runs into a bathroom that doesn't have a door.
The drawer slams against the doorway but it can't fit.
"Okay Chalice, you can drop it, we're all alone in here," Mugman said.
Then the drawer shoots one of its boxes at Mugman.
"Ow!" Mugman groaned. "That one hurt! Take it easy!"
Another box hits Mugman so hard he's thrown against the wall and lands in the tub.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Cuphead is looking around trying to find the little devil.
"Come on out, you demon!" Cuphead said mocking a yell, looking under the table. "You can't hide forever,"
The cup looked toward the door and saw a silhouette that looked like Bendy. The shadow hissed.
"Nice work, Bendy. Get ready to jump," Cuphead whispered. He backs away, "Ah ha! I got you now!" he yelled mockingly.
The cup runs to the door, but the silhouette vanishes into the darkness. The rug under his feet pulled back, the cup fell forward, and tumbled down a flight of stairs into the basement. He lands with a thud.
Cuphead groaned and rubbed his head.
"Take it easy, Bendy, that could've killed me," Cuphead whispered. Then he yelled, "Come on you fiend, gimmie your best shot!"
Just then a giant black hand grabbed the cup. Its fingers squeezed around his chest.
Cuphead lightly hits the arm with his net. "Take this you demon!" he yelled mockingly.
The fingers squeeze tighter. Cuphead can feel the air being pushed out of his body.
"Okay, okay! Now take— Ow! Take it easy, buddy!" Cuphead yelled. He hits the arm harder, but the squeezing wouldn't stop. "Seriously stop!"
Suddenly, the hand squeezes Cuphead so much that he slips and pops out of the grip and shoots out through the floor. He lands in the front room. At that moment, the ceiling caves in, and a bathtub drops and crashes into the floor, inches from Cuphead.
Mugman, inside the tub, lifts himself and groans before spotting his brother.
"Cuphead?" Mugman asked. "Are you okay?" he asked. "I think Chalice is taking her act a little too far."
"Yeah, Bendy is really laying it thick downstairs," Cuphead said, slowly getting up before flinching and grabbing his side. "I think he bent my ribs."
"Cuphead? Look." Mugman said. A stunned look on his face and points upward. Two paintings of Chalice and Bendy with frightened expressions were now hanging over the fireplace.
Cuphead gulped. "But if those two are in those paintings, then that means this house really is..."
"Haunted," Mugman said fearfully.
The sound of laughing voices comes from behind them. The boys turn around to see four female ghost vultures floating toward them. They had glowing red eyes.
"So these are real g-g-ghosts?" Cuphead asked with tears in his eyes.
"Ya-huh," Mugman answered with a nod, tears in his eyes too.
"This is terrible!" Cuphead whined.
"I just wanted ice cream," Mugman said.
The brothers stopped crying when they heard the vultures cackling. The ghosts circled above them, and the brothers shook with fear.
"We're the p-p-paranormal pests removers." Mugman stuttered.
"Are— Are you having any p-p-paranormal issues?" Cuphead asked.
"Why, yes! We've been trapped in that painting for 100 years." Belinda said.
"Waiting for someone to take our places," Bedelia added.
"Can you help with that?" Bonnie asked.
"All right, you let our friends out of those paintings this instant!" Cuphead demanded, still shaking with fear.
The four ghosts just laughed back.
"Oh, we couldn't possibly," Bonnie said. "It's our turn to go out into the world and have some fun."
"Do you have any idea what it's like to be trapped in the same house with your sibling day in and day out?" Boo-Boo said.
Cuphead and Mugman looked at each other for a second.
"Yes." The brothers answered with deadpan expressions.
"Good! Then you'll be used to it," Boo-Boo said. "'cause whoever's in the painting at the stroke of midnight stays trapped in there for the next 100 years." Then she laughed.
Cuphead and Mugman looked at the clock. It was five till twelve. They gasped.
"That's in five minutes," Mugman said meekly.
Cuphead frowned and walked toward the vulture ghost Bonnie.
"Now, listen here, lady." Cuphead said, "We're gonna get our—"
Bonnie slams a painting frame over Cuphead. She lifts the frame to reveal the cup now trapped inside.
"Cuphead!" Mugman cried out.
"Haha. Three down, only one more to go," Boo-Boo said. She reaches for Mugman.
The mug backs away but sees another ghost sister try to slam the last frame over him. He dodges it in time. He runs to the fireplace and grabs the painting of Chalice. He slams it down on Belinda who now replaces Chalice, and the girl jumps out of the painting.
"Chalice!" Mugman said happily.
The ghosts laugh and the children run. Bonnie cuts in front of them with the painting of Cuphead. Chalice transforms into her ghost self, phases into the floor, flies behind Bonnie, grabs the painting, and slams it over the vulture ghost. Cuphead jumps out of the painting.
"Cuphead! I was just—" Mugman said before Boo-Boo slams an empty picture frame over him.
Chalice flies and gets the frame with Bendy.
"Cuphead! Catch!" Chalice throws the painting toward the cup.
Boo-Boo slams a painting over Chalice, trapping her and freeing Belinda.
Cuphead catches the painting of Bendy.
"Come to Mama!" Bedelia shouted.
Cuphead dodges her and Bedelia gets trapped in a frame by Belinda.
Boo-Boo tries to trap Mugman but misses and destroys the painting frame.
"You broke it, you idiot!" Belinda yelled.
"We still have three more. That should be plenty." Boo-Boo said.
Soon everyone is going back and forth with the painting frames. Bendy gets replaced by Boo-Boo, Belinda gets replaced by Mugman, and so on. And in the process, two more frames get smashed to pieces.
Only one minute left till midnight. Cuphead and Mugman stood in front of the fireplace and the four vultures chuckled. Belinda was holding the last empty painting frame.
"Well, it would seem that there's only one frame left," Belinda said. "but it's still big enough for the two of you."
"Where did Bendy and Chalice go?" Mugman asked.
"See you in 100 years!" Belinda said.
Just as she's about to slam down the frame, two inky melted hands rise through the floorboards and catch the frame before it reaches the cups. A head with demon horns forms followed by sharp teeth forming a snarl.
Belinda shrieks and drops the frame. Chalice catches the frame and slams it over the vultures. The ghosts screamed before they were silenced and overshadowed by the ringing of the clock when it struck midnight.
Bendy changes back into his little devil self as Chalice holds up the painting.
"I got a lot of plans for these next 100 years, and I don't wanna spend 'em trapped in a painting," Chalice said.
The four vultures could only stare back motionless in the painting.
"I'll take that," Bendy said before taking the painting from Chalice. "I got a perfect place in mind for this back home."
"You want to take that to the Underworld? Why?" Cuphead asked.
"Just because," Bendy said with a shrug.
The children walked out the door.
"I don't know about you weirdos, but I'm done haunting for tonight," Bendy said.
"Yeah. Whadda you say we get some ice cream already?" Chalice suggested.
"Ooh! With extra sprinkles." Mugman added cheerfully.
"Hey, wait a minute. Where's our piggy bank?" Cuphead asked.
They checked their pockets, but no one had the pig.
"Did we leave it in the house?" Mugman asked.
Bendy gasped.
Everyone turned to see the little devil stare at the painting horrifically.
"What is it?" Cuphead asked.
Bendy points at the painting silently. The cup kids looked where he was pointing and there, top center behind the vultures, was the piggybank smiling back at them.
"NOOOO!" the four children screamed. They were so loud, it could be heard across the island.
