Welcome everyone to my adaptation of The Cuphead Show!
I'm so excited to be writing this and I hope you'll come along as Audrey enters a new adventure!
I should mention; in many episodes, I will be adding fun little comments, especially episodes I really enjoyed. Also, some episodes will and will not be in this, due to the fact that it wasn't the best or wasn't a fave. I will add fan made episodes or rewrites of some.
Don't worry! It'll work out fine!
Also, a shout out to Gemwing2012 for giving me the inspiration for the title! You rock!
Now, without further delay, let's begin our story...
Season 1, Episode 1; So Much For A Peaceful Night
Friday, February 18th, 2022
The day was coming to an end as Audrey finished up some last minute work. She typed fast on her laptop, editing the latest article she was given by one of her employees. Next to being editor in chief in The New York Times, she was a whizz at getting things done quickly, even if it was last minute.
"And that should do it." She sighed, as she stopped typing and skimmed over her work. She double checked everything before submitting to the public.
Finally! It was done.
And with that, she looked at her watch and saw it was time to head home.
After she gathered her things, she heard a knock at the door. "Come in." She called. The door opened to reveal her new intern, Lexie Luthor.
She moved from Texas to New York a few years back and Audrey helped her to land an intern position. After working for a few years, Lexie hoped to continue her pursuit in writing and help co-write with another friend of hers.
"Ah, Lex. Good to see you." Audrey smiled.
"Hey, Mrs. Anderson. I wanted to let you know that I got a file from the fashion industry ready for submission." Lexie informed her, stepping into her office
"Has she reviewed the outline and edited the answers from the interview?" Audrey asked.
"Yes, ma'am." She replied, handing her a file. She took it from her, opened it up and skimmed over before nodding.
"Yep. Looks good. Appreciate you delivering this to me. And you don't need to call me 'ma'am' all the time. I may be editor in chief, but I'm still me."
"I know. I just want to make a good impression. You are editor in chief after all." Lexie replied. "And not only that, but you're one not to mess with."
Audrey smiled. "It's ok. I know you want to make a good impression, but remember, this internship is till the summer. Then, you can head home and sleep till noon to your heart's content. Besides, we all appreciate your hard work. It isn't easy."
"Right. Thanks, Mrs. Anderson." she sheepishly replied.
As Audrey went back to her desk, Lexie mentioned "So, I heard about new shows coming to Netflix. I was thinking of taking a peek at them."
"Oh that sounds like fun. I'll have to see if Josh wants to do a little movie night. I'll see if I can invite some friends over. What are you planning for this weekend?" Audrey asked.
"Oh, my friend Katie Gemwing is here from England for a week. We're going to Nintendo World later tonight after dinner." Lexie answered.
"Oooh fun. Let me know how it goes. Anyway, I'm gonna head home. Have a good weekend."
"Will do. Say hi to Josh for me." Lexie replied, before slipping out of her office.
Audrey smiled. She enjoyed Lexie's bubbly and very spunky personality. It was sad that she would be returning home in a few months to pursue her dreams, and Audrey made sure she put in a really good word for anyone who hires her, along with a stern remark about harassment in the workplace. She felt bad she went through that a lot, and wanted to put an end to it.
Sighing, she gathered her things, placed her coat on, locked her office and headed in the garage, she found her car, slipped in, started the engine and headed home.
One of the things she and Josh like to do on Friday nights is stay home and watch Netflix. It felt honestly better to just chill than do anything else that night. Josh often worked long hours and needed something to keep his mind off of things.
And what better way than to drown one's sorrows in a movie night?
They would sometimes have their friends Steve and Sasha over, but they're out of town for business and wouldn't be coming back for a while.
"Sad they're not coming over, but at least we won't fight over who's turn it was to choose." Audrey sighed as she turned on a street leading to her house.
A few hours later, Audrey, who was now wearing her favorite sweatshirt and sweatpants, was checking the snacks in her pantry when she heard the door open. Josh, her husband, stepped in, and smiled.
His blonde hair was slicked back, and his blue eyes looked tired but happy. He wore a brown vest with a white undershirt, tan pants, dress shoes and was holding onto his heavy orange winter jacket in one hand and briefcase in the other.
"Hey, sweetie. How was work?" Audrey asked as Josh gave her a kiss.
"Not too bad. I finally closed that sale with another mechanic company in New Jersey." Josh replied, as he hung up his coat and slipped off his shoes. "Man, those people are tough cookies. I had to throw everything at them."
"Glad to hear. My day went pretty well. Got all those articles edited before sending them out. We should be getting something tomorrow." Audrey added, as she poured Josh some hot coffee.
He took a sip and sighed.
"Ahhh. That's better. But man is it freezing outside!" He sighed. "I thought it snowed more in Chicago."
"Well, it does. But New York doesn't get tons of snow. It's colder." Audrey informed him.
"Makes sense. So, what do we have for snacks tonight?" He asked.
"Erm, let's see, pizza bites, obviously, uh I got some pigs in a blanket from the store, bought more pretzels for you, buttered popcorn, a few sodas, and oh, Lexie told me of these amazing spicy chicken taquitos she bought once. They're really good." Audrey replied.
"Wow, looks like we got a full house tonight. I'll go change and then we'll pick something to watch." he informed her. She nodded and he strode off to the master bedroom singing "Don't go changing, to try and please me…"
Audrey rolled her eyes. She knew her dad did that everytime her mom, sister or even herself would say they're going to change in their bedroom.
And it got old fast.
After a while, Josh came out in his hoodie and black sweatpants while Audrey got the oven on for their snacks.
He headed to the living room, flopped on the couch, turned on the TV and headed to their Netflix account. There was a small notification that said
New Releases.
Curious, Josh clicked on the message to see what shows were new to Netflix. He skimmed over the latest titles, trying to see if something caught his eye…when he stopped.
"Oh my gosh." He gasped.
"What? What's wrong?" Audrey asked from the kitchen.
"I don't believe this." He gasped again.
"Oh I know; I can't believe the pretzels are so salty! I swear the ones at Wrigley were not that tangy." Audrey mentioned.
"No. Not that. Come check what's streaming." Josh replied. Audrey stepped into the living room, trying to figure out what he was referring to...and her mouth dropped to the floor.
On the screen showed two small cup boys; one with a small red nose, red shorts, a bended red straw, and brown shoes, and the other had a large blue nose, blue shorts, an upright blue straw and orange tint shoes. But both wore yellow gloves. The background they were presumably walking along looked like a graveyard of some type and in big white letters at the top read
"THE CUPHEAD SHOW!"
Audrey was speechless.
She had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
There was a show.
Of Cuphead and Mugman.
On her TV.
Josh was the one who broke the silence. "Uh, you're seeing this too, right?"
"Y-yeah. This is, this is…I don't know what this is. I-I have no words. It's a show?!" She gasped. Just then her phone buzzed and she looked at it oddly.
"Strange. It's an unknown caller." She muttered.
"Put it on speaker and maybe if it's some creep, we can say we're from the FBI." Josh suggested.
"Ok, that's lying." Audrey argued.
"What? Worked for me when I was at school." He shrugged.
"Because your mom is an officer!" She argued. "Argh, never mind. I'll answer." she glared at Josh, who held back a laugh, before answering. "Hello?"
"Yes, is this Mrs. Audrey Carter?" The voice on the other end replied.
"Erm, who's calling?" Audrey asked.
"Oh, hi, my name is Danielle Johnson. I'm one of the animators at Studio MDHR." That nearly caused Audrey to scream and Josh covering his mouth from gasping out loud.
Studio MDHR? Calling her?! Why would they be calling her?
Collecting herself, she responded "Oh wow, uh, hi, Danielle, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was calling to ask if you signed onto Netflix yet." Danielle proceeded. "We wanted to surprise you with a little show we've been creating for some time."
"Y-yeah, I saw it. You made an entire show based on Cuphead?" Audrey asked.
"Yes, ma'am. One of our employers knew your professor, Isabelle Jenkins Madison, and a while back she had given us this amazing report about Cuphead and used your name." Danielle added. "We loved the story of Cuphead so much, that we wanted to make a show out of it."
"You made a show out of a report I made in college? Wow, I-I'm so honored. I wrote that years ago." Audrey gasped. "That's incredible! Wow, I feel like I'm on cloud nine right now."
Danielle laughed "I certainly would be shocked if I found out about that too. Anyway, we've been working on this show for quite some time and we're excited to show this to the world."
"Oh wow. When did you guys start production?" Audrey asked.
"In July of 2019. We've had to work long hours with the animation, background, music, you know, all that jazz." Danielle replied.
"Since 2019? Must have been hard to work when the pandemic hit." Audrey sighed.
"Oh, trust me, it was. Anyway, we wanted to let you enjoy the first season of The Cuphead Show. We're hoping to get the second season out in August."
"Cool. How many seasons are there?" Audrey asked.
"Just three. Since this is Netflix, we can only do so many. But who knows what'll happen." Danielle explained. "Anyway, I'll let you take a look at it. When you're done, call me back and let me know how the show went."
"Uh, ok, sure. I'll let you know. Again, thank you so much. It's so cool to see something I wrote come to life." Audrey beamed.
"I agree. Anyway, enjoy the show, Mrs. Anderson. Have a good day."
She then hung up and was silent for a while. The thought of a report she wrote in college turning into a show was, amazing! She never dreamed of something like this happening so she pinched herself five times to be safe.
Nope. This was real.
"Well, I never guessed that my wife was going to be a superstar." Josh joked. " You had no clue about this?"
"No. When Dr. Madison read over the report, she told me she was going to give it to them." Audrey replied. "I didn't think they'd make a show from that."
"Still, that's awesome! Man, that's still cool." Then he had an idea. "Hey, here's a thought; let's get the boys to see this! It would be cool for them to see themselves on the big screen."
"That's a good idea, but I spoke with them yesterday and they're going to a far away Island to continue the search for magic to help Chalice, so they're kinda busy." Audrey unfortunately said.
"Dang it. Would have been cool. Oh well. You wanna watch it?" He asked.
"Erm, let's see the trailer first. And then decide. I know it's your turn to pick." Audrey remembered.
"Yeah, but this is something cool too." He admitted.
"Ok, tell you what. We'll watch the trailer and the first episode. If we don't like it, we can simply watch something else." She planned out. "I know cartoons aren't really your thing."
"It's not that I don't like them but oftentimes they can come off as, clique. I mean, it's the same thing; they get in trouble with babysitting, misunderstandings, you know, those kinda things."
"Ok. Makes sense. But did you still wanna check it out?" Audrey asked.
"Eh, sure, why not? After all, I'm a bit curious myself." Then they heard the oven timer go off. "Ooh, pizza bites!" he squealed. Audrey rolled her eyes playfully and headed to the kitchen.
Shortly, their snack buffet was ready on the coffee table. Josh was snuggled in with Audrey on the couch, while a nice warm blanket covered them and they proceeded to watch the trailer. As they began to watch it, Audrey began to compare the characters from both the book and the story.
Aside from the boys, Elder Kettle's scheme color was more of a gray shade instead of tan, with his lid and stripe being slate gray. He additionally wore a small pair of glasses, a pair of red slippers instead of boots, and his cane as more of a derby design.
Then, as Audrey suspected, The Devil made an appearance. Though, despite him looking like his counterpart from the story (one which Audrey never hoped to see again), there were a few differences she caught.
In addition to now always shown as having a tail, his nose had gained a red flush instead of black, along with having longer yellow horns instead of white horns, and red irises instead of black.
His fur looked more softer and less scruffy and has also gained a slight blue tint. He additionally was a bit fat and his ears are a bit longer and spikier. On top of that, he had an English accent, not dark and demented as she previously encountered.
But as soon as he came on, Josh groaned. "Of course he had to be in this too."
"Well, who were you expecting, Donkey Kong?" Audrey asked.
"I'm just saying. One was enough. Ugh, it still gives me the willies just thinking of that." Josh shuddered.
Audrey sighed. She knew his adventure in InkWell's story didn't start off on a good note.
For one thing, he encountered the Devil and his lackeys who wanted to know where Audrey was. Josh and a few of his friends escaped to warn Audrey, but were recaptured and were used to blackmail Audrey to marry him in exchange for their freedom. She reluctantly agreed, but Josh and the others pulled off the biggest wedding crash in history, saved Audrey, and returned home for their wedding.
Josh made it very clear to The Devil not to bother them anymore.
"Don't worry. It's over now. The good thing is this is a cartoon on Netflix, not a magic book." Audrey reminded him.
Then the trailer ended with The Devil declaring
"I'm going to get that cup!"
"...Head?" A fat imp who Audrey assumed was Henchman asked.
However, he didn't avoid the devil hitting him over the head with his pitchfork before scoffing "Oh, shut up!"
The screen then went back to the episode list, with the title cover.
"Wow, that was, something." Josh commented.
"Yep. Alright, let's see, episode one…Carn-evil. Huh. That's, pretty cute." Audrey mentioned as she scrolled downward, seeing the other episodes. "Wow, there's only twelve episodes for season one? Interesting."
She went back to episode one, clicked on it and pressed play. After the "Netflix Original" title card goes by, the screen then changes to Cuphead's well, head. Mugman flew around in a miniplane calling out "Nyeow!" imitating the sound of a plane.
"Huh. That's cute." Josh commented, taking a piece of popcorn into his mouth.
The scene then changes to a table with an oil lamp, an inkwell, an old pen lying next to it, two rolls of paper that were tied with threads, and two red dice with black dots were on the right to the rolled up scroll with the numbers one and four shown on the screen. Then the rolled up scroll unfolded and a familiar Isle appeared to the couple.
*New song: Welcome to the Cuphead show!*
Come with me to the Inkwell Isles
It's just off the coast, maybe twenty-nine miles
*The scene then transitioned from the map to the isle itself, seeing that there were three characters; Captain BrineyBeard, Cala Maria and Grim Matchstick.*
*Josh: Maybe twenty-nine? My grandmother lived farther than that!
*Audrey: Shush! Let's keep watching!
Where there's good and there's bad
And then there's in between. With Cuphead and Mugman, you'll see what I mean…
*Then, they see an owl in the branches and fly through the woods before making it to a clearing to show the cottage.*
Ice cream and rockets, trouble never ends!
*Just then there was a rumble from the cottage before the boys flew out the front door, riding a red rocket while holding ice cream cones, while Elder Kettle shook his cane at them annoyed before ducking.*
*Josh: hey, the rocket's a nice touch
*Audrey; I agree.
Watch these ding-dongs as they make new friends (Zig-zag, zig-zag!)
*As they flew, they slammed into a branch, causing them to fall into a mud puddle, while getting Ribby and Croaks dirty.*
*Cuphead gave a sheepish grin, before nearly escaping their fists, as Mugman grabbed his handle and both made a dash for it.*
*Josh: Wait, did they call them 'ding-dongs'?
*Audrey: That's a new one.
They'll need some help just to stay on track
*As they made a dash through town, Audrey noticed the Root Pack eyeing the boys while reading a newspaper. There were also a few new characters, one that wore a long green trench coat, Porkrind was carrying a crate in his hands and a spider character wearing a red and white striped shirt and a gray paperboy hat.
*Just then, two gloved hands grabbed the boys' handles and They were spun around until they stopped, dizzily posing and gesturing to Ms. Chalice, who's beaming with a charming smile as she poses between them before the rocket zoomed by in front of them.*
Oh no, there's that guy! You better watch your back
*The scene now revealed the Devil, King Dice and Henchman in his throne room. The Devil was seemingly glared straightforward at the screen with a sinister scowl, while King Dice was leaning against the throne, inspecting his gloved hand with a smug grin. To the right of the Devil is Henchman, holding a tray carrying a teapot and a teacup*
*Josh: Oh come on, that blockhead is in this too?
*Audrey: Again, he's a huge part of the story, not to mention a huge pain.
*The Devil then bared his teeth while squinting one eye closed as his other eye bulged wide, his pupil turning into a silhouette of the Cup Brothers, before transitioning to to the next scene.
So, if you'rе lookin' for fun (Yes, we're lookin' for fun!)
*The scene then shows the boys happily walking along the trial with flowers and the sun bouncing to the tune.*
And a dash of heebiе-jeebies (We've got the heebie-jeebies)
*The boys then clung to each other, as the setting changed to nighttime with ghosts swirling around, as well as the rocket they rode on previously.*
Then pack your bags and let's go!
*Just then the rocket that's been flying around, zooms back and picks them up, heading towards a large theater, where a band with anthropomorphic instruments were playing, while an instrument was conducting, or was about to. *
Welcome to The Cuphead Show!
*The boys flew in, and knocked him back, allowing Cuphead to start conducting at a rapid rate.*
Welcome to The Cuphead Show!
*Soon the song ended, Cuphead very much enjoyed conducting the band, but not before nearly avoiding the rocket that flew in his direction. It exploded sending dozens of music sheets at the screen.*
Cuphead ducked and saw the huge hole in the wall. He gave a sheepish shrug before taking a bow. The curtain fell to reveal the logo, while Mugman, who looked a bit banged up, appeared from the right side and blew the trombone he was holding, before he collapsed, spilling the liquid from his head.
"Sheesh, he cannot catch a break." Josh commented as the title for the episode appeared.
"Yeah, that's the cup boys for you. Always getting into trouble." Audrey shrugged.
Soon the episode started.
Not much occurred at the beginning of the episode, besides the fact the boys were given the task to paint the fence, which by their expressions did not sound like a good way to spend the day.
"Oh, banana oil! Paint the fence, milk the goat, patch the roof...! It's the same old stuff every day! What we need is a little fun and adventure!" Cuphead complained as he tossed paint around from his brush.
Then, he came up with the idea of using a cannon to blast the pain around quickly. "Wow, that's, somehow an effective yet dangerous way to do it." Josh mentioned. Audrey nodded and took a bite of her pizza roll.
Just then, Elder Kettle came out, asking "Hey, boys! How's that fen-"
*BOOM!*
The cannon exploded and he, along with the newly destroyed fence, was covered in paint. Josh busted out laughing while Audrey held back a giggle.
Ok, that was pretty funny, and so unexpected.
Once Josh stopped laughing, he sighed. "Oh man, I can totally picture me and Steve doing that. Ah, that would be so funny to do."
"I actually can see the two of you doing something like that in college." Audrey mentioned in a sly tone. "I think the superintendent would kick you both out in a heartbeat."
"Well, I guess I live on the edge of danger. I did save my lovely wife from a demonic freak." he cooly stated, facing Audrey before kissing her lips. She smiled back and nuzzled his nose with hers, and giggled.
The two then faced the TV and proceeded. The boys were now on their way to the store to get more paint supplies from someone by the name of Porkrind. Audrey never heard of a name like that.
Then she remembered; Cuphead, from the storybook, mentioned to her that he was a rough salesman who wasn't really friendly to, well, anyone. He often gave the boys supplies for their journey to battle the debtors.
"Boy, was he steamed." Mugman commented as the two walked along the path.
"Eh. I ain't too worried about it. You know, that should have worked." Cuphead mentioned, before he got his hands out of his pockets to caress his chin. "If only I used a little less gunpowder... Hmm... Oh, well!"
"Wow, he seems pretty confident in himself." Josh mentioned, taking a sip of his soda.
"Yeah, he definitely is like the one from the book, but even he knew his limits." Audrey added, adjusting herself.
As the boys reached the door, Mugman reminded him "Eh... let's just focus on getting more paint. And try not to get distracted-" but before he could enter the shop, Cuphead grabbed his handle and pulled him back.
"Mugman! Look!" he squealed. But before the scene could change to what they gazed upon, suddenly, the screen began to stagger and then froze.
"What the? Hey! What gives!?" Josh groaned as he and Audrey hopped off the couch to the TV. "I just did an update, people!"
"No, I don't think that's it…" Audrey trailed off, examining the screen. Everything was fine, minus the glitching and frozen screen, so what were the issues? She tapped lightly on the screen as Josh looked behind at the wires and plugs.
He walked to Audrey and claimed "Everything's smooth sailing there. So what could be going on…?"
Just then as he gave an additional light tap, a small flicker sparked behind the cables. Not damaging it, but adding, something to it. Suddenly, a blue and red portal appeared, startling the two and without warning, both were pulled into the screen, causing them to plummet down.
They both screamed as they fell, as the portal at home closed and everything went silent.
"You know what I do when I'm not so sure? I double-down!" Cuphead smiled, blinking his eyes twice to his brother.
"What does that even mean?" Mugman asked, annoyed.
"It means we're going to that-" but before Cuphead could finish, suddenly there came the sound of two people screaming and then
*THUD!*
The boys were startled by that and quickly went to search for that sound.
"Oh, my head." Audrey groaned as she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a blue sky and sun rays peeking out from the leaves and branches. She sat up, rubbed her head and tried to think where she could be. She looked around and found herself in a forest of some type and landed near a meadow of flowers. Thankfully unharmed, she stood up and dusted herself off.
To her surprise, she was no longer wearing her sweats. Instead, she wore a light blue dress that went to her knees that had short sleeves with a circle neckline and a matching belt, matching flats, her wedding ring, and a small shoulder bag. Nothing drastic was done to her hair when she looked in a small body of water, except the fact it was brushed out and looked more neater, and her makeup was touched up.
She smiled. She missed wearing this dress and had asked one of her friends who was in the fashion industry to make something like it. She's had to push her order farther due to high demands.
While she was thrilled to be back in her favorite dress, she needed to find Josh.
"Josh? Josh? Where are you?" Audrey called.
Then, a groaned voice called from her right; "Over here."
She looked up and sighed. Josh was stuck in a bush, but his first half of his body was stuck inside the bush, showing his legs frantically moving about.
"Ok, ok! Hold still. Stop moving your legs and let me help you!" Audrey argued, as she approached Josh. He stopped moving his legs and she grabbed a hold of them, tugging to get him out. By the third powerful yank, she tugged him out, a bit too hard, which caused them to be flung back, hitting the ground back first with another THUD!
Audrey shook her head and was about to ask Josh if he was ok but stopped. It turned out she wasn't the only one who's clothes had changed. Josh was wearing dress pants, dress shoes, a paper boy hat, white shirt with rolled up sleeves, suspenders, a red bow tie, a brown shoulder bag and his wedding ring.
He seemed to take notice too.
"Well, guess we gotta dress the part, you know?" He chuckled standing up and then helping her up. After they collected and dusted off ourselves, he took a sigh. "Ok, so what do you suppose happened to us this time?"
"Well, we were watching the show and then the screen began to go static and then suddenly froze, and while we were checking it we…got pulled in?" Audrey retraced her thoughts. "But what doesn't make sense is I didn't have my key with me. It's back in one of my drawers."
"That is odd. Argh. Well, regardless of that, we'd better make the best of this, and see if we can find someone who can help us." Josh mentioned.
Just then, they heard the sound of footsteps running towards them, and to their surprise, they were face to face with none other than the Cup boys from the series themselves. They stopped in their tracks, out of breath and looked at them with shocked expressions.
Mugman looked a bit nervous while his older brother was more curious, carefully examining the two humans. He had never seen humans like these before. Sure he's seen them around the city and town, but these two were…different.
Finally, Cuphead spoke "Wow. I've never seen two humans like you two before. Are you new in town?"
"Erm, well, yeah. We kinda, dropped in." Josh joked, which Audrey rolled her eyes to. "We were at home watching-"
But before he could finish, Audrey butted in and quickly stated "A picture show! And once it was done, we decided to take a walk in the forest."
"Cool, cool. Good to know. Well, it's nice to meet you two. My name is Cuphead, and this is my brother, Mugman." Cuphead replied, motioning over to a shy Mugman.
"Heh heh, uh, hello." He meekly stated.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Audrey and this is my husband, Josh." Audrey introduced.
"Nice to meet ya." Josh smiled.
"Pleasure. Now, since that's all figured out, come on Mugman! We're going to that carnival!" He cheered.
"Carnival?" Both humans asked. They followed the boys out of the forest and noticed a carnival located in a large meadow surrounded by trees. It basically had everything a carnival could have; rides, food, a ferris wheel, a variety of booths and of course the sound of laughter in the air.
As Cuphead gazed in awe at the sight, Josh pulled Audrey back and asked "What was with that whole thing, saying we came out of a picture show?"
"They won't understand what a 'TV' is since this has a style of the 1930s cartoons." Audrey explained "And they'll get confused on how we were watching a show about them."
"Well, I guess that makes sense. Don't want to add to the confusion." Josh pondered.
Then Cuphead interrupted their thoughts by pleadeding "Can we go to the carnival? Please? Please? Pleeeeeease?"
"Absolutely not!" Mugman argued, making his brother's smile vanish.
"No offense, but I'm with Mugman on this one. You should probably get your supplies and head-"
"Ok, I need to know, how is it that three mature people were convinced into going to a carnival by a little kid?" Josh asked.
"Honestly, your guess is as good as mine." Audrey sighed.
For some odd reason, as Audrey was taking Mugman's side of the debate, Cuphead somehow managed to convince them to go to the carnival. While the humans were still trying to process it, the boys decided to have some fun.
Audrey witnessed them going on the roller coaster, eating tons of food, riding the merry-go-round, eating more food, riding the ferris wheel, eating even more food, laughing on the 'swing about' ride, then puking in a barrel, and then riding the roller coaster a second time. After that, the boys got off the ride, filled with giggles and laughs.
"Ok, I have to admit, that was kinda fun to watch that montage." Audrey smiled as they followed the laughing boys around the booths.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to see someone do a montage like that, and always wanted to try one." Josh mentioned as he handed his wife a bag of popcorn.
They continued to walk along near the boys who were still giggling. As they walked, Audey couldn't help but notice the games around the area. Apparently, souls were a theme here because she read game signs; whack-a-soul, pin-the-tail-on-the-soul, soul toss (like ring toss), and even a balloon and soul game.
Somehow she felt uneasy about it, but thought it was just the theme and moved on.
"Whew. I gotta hand it to you, Cuphead; That was great!" Mugman cheered. "And we still have time to get supplies and fix the fen... Cuphead?"
The trio realized he was no longer with them but was walking in awe near a giant skee ball like machine which was titled as 'Soul Ball.' Cuphead was mesmerized by the big signs of winning big, and prizes. He grabbed a ball from the side and rolled it into the hole.
It gave a 'DING' followed by "Winner!"
"Ha-hah!" Cuphead laughed as he rolled another one, winning a second time. The group came near him. They were surprised by his winning streak and decided to watch him.
Audrey always loved seeing those people at arcades or festivals who were masters of those games and large crowds would watch in awe. That seemed to be the thing here, because one by one, more people began to watch Cuphead and his winning streak.
Mugman and Audrey noticed a cute anthropomorphic telephone (which kinda reminded Audrey of the one from the Disney short Thru the Mirror) rolling a ball as well. Unfortunately, he missed the hole, resulting in a buzzard sound followed by a "Loser" announcement.
As an insult to injury, without warning, a long plastic pipe like tube came out from one of the holes, and like a vacuum, sucked on the telephone. Not dragging him down, but taking his soul, leaving him lifeless and colorless.
Both began to get worried and they had a right to, especially seeing other inhabitants looking lifeless and colorless, almost zombie like.
"I gotta bad feeling about this…" Audrey muttered.
"Same here." Mugman added. He looked at the sign of the carnival.
"Carnival…"
But then, the lights of the first part of the word went out, revealing the lit-up word at the end.
"Carn-evil…EVIL?!" He gasped. Audrey noticed that too. Now, something seriously felt wrong about being here.
Mugman nervously made his way to his winning-streak brother and tapped his shoulder lightly. "Uh…Cuphead?"
"Not now, Mugsy! I'm on a hot streak!" Cuphead claimed, not bothering to look at him.
As he continued to win, gaining the cheers and affections from people, Audrey was still tense about the game as well as the sign. Then, from her bag, there was a glow from the inside. She opened it up and pulled out a sketchbook and pen that looked exactly like the one from her first two adventures. She opened to the first blank page and to her amazement, words began to form.
"Josh, take a look at this." She nudged her husband. He looked and his eyes grew wide.
"Cool. A magic sketchbook. Similar to the one you had before. What's it written?" he asked.
In fine penmanship, it read;
"Life is full of distractions, especially in games,
Do not lured from the path,
You and your soul will end up in chains."
"Ok, creepy. Cool, yet creepy. What does that mean? And it wrote by itself?" Josh wondered. "How could that be?
"Dunno, but it's serving as a warning, that's certain. I just hope we can figure out what that means." Audrey sighed.
As they pondered over the warning, as well as continued to watch Cuphead strive on his winning advantage, little did the inhabitants know that the pipes with countless souls, were being sent to the underworld, where none other than the devil, who was rubbing his hands and chuckling evil, watched with great satisfaction of their arrival.
"Everyone loves carnival." He snickered to himself, as he turned to see a fat purple imp holding a notebook while sitting near a counter that was increasing rapidly. It had a small sign that read "customers served" underneath the counter. He gave a small smile as his boss appeared next to it.
"What a haul…"
You know what would make this bad guy feel more like himself? You guessed it; a bad guy song!
*New song: The Devil's Song*
Devil; Whooooaaaa! In case you ain't heard, I'm the Devil.
*he taps his foot tapping to the beat, while pointing his thumb
to himself
Devil; I'm real low down, not on the level.
*slithers on the floor like a snake before standing up near his
pitchfork which is laying next to a rock.
Devil; They call me Old Scratch, Mr. S, the Big D.
*grabbing his pitchfork, dancing lightly and pulling out a white
top hat from behind his head.
Devil; I'm the king of the underworld. Yeah, it's great to be me.
*Sits on his throne after a purposeful jump, surrounded by
statues and portraits of himself (ego much?) looks only to the statue next to him, playfully scratching its chin before turning his throne and playing on his organ
Devil; Ho-di-llie doh-di-llie doh-di-llie doh.
Imps: Ho-di-llie doh-di-llie doh-di-llie doh.
Devil; Hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee!
Souls: Hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee-di-llie hee.
*They sing before vanishing
Devil; I'm a real naughty boy, I'm sure you'll agree.
*turns into dragon form, wrapping his body around the fat imp,
who grins nervously at him and nods quickly.
Devil; I get my kicks playing tricks on the locals.
*Now in his spider form as he dangled from a thread, touching a
mirror that was on a wall with one of his legs.
Devil; They're easy marks, they're real dumb yokels.
*The reflection ripples to view him in his true form popping a
balloon of an anthropomorphic sandwich kid. While the kid cries, the devil steals and begins licking his lollipop (How rude!)
Devil; But now folks, listen closely, it's time I made a confession…
*The room is dark but the only thing lit was a silhouette of the Devil,
whispering like he's got a big secret.
Devil; Collecting people's souls is my greatest obsession!
*The room lights up to reveal his enormous soul vault which are
connected to many pipes that the captured souls were in.
He began to laugh diabolically, quite pleased with his work. In fact, he was so thrilled that he decided to break out into dance.
Wearing a white tailcoat with a matching top hat, white spats, and a red bow tie, he danced to the beat of the music. However, it was short lived when one of his minions was calling his name.
"Uh, hey boss! Boss? Hey, Boss!-"
"WHAT?! I was singing!" The devil shouted at the fat imp, who was named Henchman.
"The…soul counter stopped." Henchman replied, nervously. The devil looked at the counter and sure enough, it stopped. He banged on it a few times, wondering if there was something stuck or it was slow, but to no avail. He turned around and saw that souls were no longer being sent through the pipes.
Now, he was really confused. What was going on?
Pulling down his periscope, he peered to the surface world, only to see that no one was playing the games he had created. It was almost like a ghost town out there. He turned a bit and finally saw the problem.
Everyone was watching and cheering on this little boy who had a cup for a head, a black sweater, red shorts and a bended straw. Apparently, he was on a winning streak at the "Soul Ball" game.
He heard people chant the kids name:
"Cuphead! Cuphead! Cuphead!"
He rolled his eyes, but before he pulled away, he noticed something, or should I say someone, who caught his eye.
He turned the scope a bit and saw the rarest creature in InkWell; a human girl. Sure, he saw a few humans here and there, but never like her.
She had short strawberry blonde hair, cream skin, brown eyes, wearing a light blue dress that went to her knees that had short sleeves, matching flats, and a small shoulder bag.
As soon as he saw her, his eyes grew wide and his pupils changed to big pink hearts. Oh yeah, he was head over heels for this girl. He had never seen anyone like her before. Sure, there was a human boy next to her, but he assumed he was a friend or something.
Nothing too important right?
Henchman, who waited for his master's response, noticed that he was muttering weird things like "Oh my oh my'' or "Who is she?" or "She's sooo lovely." Henchman arched an eyebrow.
"D'uh, boss, you ok?" He asked. "You've never mumbled that before."
Pulling himself from the telescope, the Devil readjusted himself and claimed "Oh, I just saw something that caught my eye." In a more annoyed tone, he stated "But I'm heading to the surface. Looks like we have a real show-off."
He grabbed his pitchfork and teleported from the underworld.
Back on the surface, Audrey was quite surprised at how big the crowd got, watching and cheering on Cuphead as he continued to win each time he rolled the ball. Mugman, however, was becoming more nervous each time his brother played.
"Cuphead, maybe you should quit while you're ahead." He warned him through gritted teeth.
"Double-down!" Cuphead responded as he threw the ball, which bounced off from the machine, to a pole, to inside the hole of the game. The people gave a loud cheer as Cuphead took a bow.
"Thank you, thank you." He got his next ball ready, rubbing it while trying to figure out what his next trick shot should be.
While he pondered it over, suddenly, from a puff of smoke, the Devil, who wasn't wearing his suit any longer, appeared near the crowd, with a bored expression on his face while he removed some dirt from under his fingernails.
"THE DEVIL!" An anthropomorphic elephant with green overalls screamed and ran off, as many of the inhabitants followed suit. As soon as he screamed that name, both Audrey and Josh jumped a bit.
Even though they saw him during the trailer, they didn't think they would see him so soon. They turned around, even though they didn't want to, there he was in the flesh (and fur).
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Josh muttered as he pulled Audrey close to him in a protective state. "As if one was bad enough, we have to deal with another."
"Well, he hasn't taken notice of us yet, so let's be thankful for that." Audrey whispered. "And, argh, of course he's the same size as the one from the story book. Why do I have to be the shortest person here?"
They moved a bit from the game as The Devil took a sigh.
"My fans…they love me." He then collected himself and approached the cup boys. Mugman was the first to notice him, and the first for his face to turn pale.
"Hello." The devil grinned, waving his fingers at the little mug.
Mugman was so scared by his arrival that he couldn't speak. The only thing that came out of his mouth was a wheezing, trying to get words out. He tapped his brother on the shoulder, trying to get his attention.
"C-c-c-Cup. Cuphead!" He stuttered, tapping harder on Cuphead's shoulder. Unfortunately, he tapped him a bit too hard, which made Cuphead lose his concentration and grip on the ball.
"Watch it!" Cuphead cried, not turning around and watched his ball bounce into the lower hole. Then there was the "Loser" announcement" followed by a buzzer going off.
Now, the two humans had a bad feeling about this.
"Aww, heck! Now look what you made me do!" Cuphead stated annoyed looking at his brother with a frown. Mugman then nervously points up at the devil, who was still standing behind him. As Cuphead looked up, now he began to wheeze and stutter, his body shaking in fear.
"And that's game!" the Devil taunted in a singsong voice. Suddenly, there was a rattle that came from the machine and the same pipe that came out from before appeared and sucked the living soul from him, leaving him lifeless and colorless.
That startled Audrey. "Sheesh, and to think the other one's methods were very gruesome." She shuddered.
Mugman did not hesitate to run to the captured soul, pull it out from the hole and patted back into his brother. Cuphead took a deep breath regaining his life and color, before shouting one word that made it very clear about their situation;
"RUUUUUUUNN!"
"Good enough for me." Josh and Audrey agreed at once.
As the four scampered from The Devil, the demon smirked. "Oh, I love it when they run." He levitated himself while laughing evilly and flew towards the group. He began blasting fire from his pitchfork, trying to shatter the boys.
"I'm sorry I made you miss! This is all my fault!" Mugman wailed as he clung to Cuphead.
"We should've never have come here in the first place! It's all my fault!" Cuphead argued.
"You're right! It is your fault!" Mugman agreed.
"Can we please figure out who's fault it is later?!" Josh asked as he ran holding his hat with one hand and Audrey's hand with the other. "We got a freaky demon on our trail who wants to kill us!"
The Devil tried numerous attempts to knock the boys off or transformed rides into living nightmares, but they managed to avoid them and proceeded to run. There was one instance, however, the Devil transformed game booths into living monsters, which scared them.
Thinking fast, Audrey pulled out her sketchbook and quickly drew in it. Just as it worked before, the page began to glow and from above came an anvil which crashed unto the monsters, crushing them.
"Whew! Thanks, Audrey!" Cuphead gasped.
"No time to thank me! Keep moving!" Audrey informed them.
As they proceed to run and avoid the flames of the devil, she realized that they were all open targets. She told the group to split up, which would force him to choose which duo he wanted to hunt down. While Audrey and Josh ran towards the wrecked ferris wheel, The Devil proceeded to follow the cup boys, transforming a fun house into a house of horror.
"Ok, that might have been a bad idea." Audrey gasped, trying to catch her breath. Thankfully, the boys fell out, unharmed, but were still being hunted down. They ran with the humans once more until Mugman got an idea.
"Come on, Cuphead! It's time for a double down!" He grabbed Cuphead and ran in the opposite direction, with the humans following him. Suddenly, he came to a halt, which was confusing and terrifying at once.
"Mugman, what are you doing?" Audrey shuddered.
"What are you, nuts?!" Cuphead shouted.
"Now pretend like we're cornered!" Mugman instructed, trying to make sure his plan would work.
"Who needs to pretend?! We are cornered!" Cuphead argued.
Then from the flames, the devil approached the group laughing wickedly. He pointed his pitchfork at the group, cocked as one does to a gun, and fired at them. Suddenly everything began to go in slow motion. The flames came closer and closer until Mugman shouted
"JUMP!"
He shoved his brother, as well as himself, out of the way, while Josh grabbed Audrey and jumped out of the way, which caused the flames to hit and destroy the soul ball game.
The Devil's mouth dropped in shock and from its remains, the souls that had been captured were set free, returning to their former bodies, bringing life and color back to them.
"NO!" The Devil cried in agony. He began facepalming himself multiple times as the group realized their chance to slip away into the forest, which he took notice of.
"You don't just get to run away!" The rest of the carnival was on fire and began to fall in shambles.
Then, Henchman flew by and informed his boss "Wow, boss. I never saw you let no one escape before."
"He didn't escape! He played the game. He lost. His soul belongs to me!" The Devil argued.
No matter what, he was going to get that soul. He wasn't going to let some immature mortal get away from him.
"I'll get that cup…" The devil growled as he looked at the exit, completely ignoring the destroyed carnival in the background.
"...Head?" Henchman added. He wasn't able to avoid his boss whacking him on the head with his pitchfork.
"Oh, shut up." The devil growled, crossing his arms across his chest.
While he was furious that he lost the chance at getting that soul, there was something that was in the back of his mind. It was about that human girl he spotted earlier. For someone like her, she really knew how to take charge, especially with that magic sketch pad and pen she had. He began to wonder if she was something he was looking for after all…
Upon arriving at the cottage, the group was out of breath.
"Whew, that was close." Cuphead panted.
"You're telling me!" Mugman gasped. "We nearly escaped death! Multiple times!"
"Well, the good news is he's not chasing us." Josh mentioned. "So, that's a good start."
"But, seeing that was pretty crazy, I don't think telling your guardian or whomever you're staying with is a good idea." Audrey stated.
As she caught her breath, she was able to see the cottage and noticed different features to it. There was a fence that stretched around the area, and a gate connected to it. The cottage itself looked like a teapot with a thatched roof, a wooden door and two windows next to it. There was a stone fountain with a roof that was on the left of the stone path while a goat who was gleefully eating the grass was tied to a wooden peg on the right.
When he saw Audrey, he gave a happy "Bahh" at her.
"Awww, such a cute goat." Audrey smiled.
"Yeah, but bathing him is annoying." Cuphead remarked. "Anyway, I think we had a great day today!"
"Wouldn't call being chased by a demonic king a great day…" Josh muttered.
Just then, they heard "Oh, good. You boys are back. Did you get the paint for the fence?"
They turned to see Elder Kettle approach them from the house. When he saw Josh and Audie, he at first looked surprised, but then smiled.
"Oh! We have visitors!" He beamed. "Glad to meet you two. What are your names?"
"I'm Josh, and this is my wife, Audrey." Josh replied, as Audrey gave a friendly wave.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both. Are you new in town?" Kettle asked.
"You can say that." Audrey sheepishly smiled.
"Well, if you would like to, you both can stay in the cottage as long as you like." He mentioned. "Unless you have a place to stay…"
"Erm, not really, but we would hate to intrude…" Audrey trailed off.
She remembered when Josh met Elder Kettle from the story book, and had asked to stay a bit while he and the guys hid from the Devil. He told her it was awkward, inviting them to his house. But since he had a reason to hide, Kettle wasn't offended.
"Oh, nonsense. I'm more than happy to have some guests in the home." He smiled.
He then leaned close to us and whispered. "And it would be a big help if you were to keep an eye on the boys. They can be reckless and very adventurous."
"But I don't-" Josh started, but Audrey cut in.
"Think you need to tell us twice about that. We'll keep an eye on them."
Kettle nodded and headed back inside, while Josh looked at his wife, annoyed.
"Really? Not only are we stuck in this world, but now we're on babysitting duty?"
"Look, I know it's annoying and I don't like it either, but at the same time, we need to see if someone is able to help us get home." Audrey mentioned. "And it's not gonna be an overnight thing. From the looks of things, this Inkwell might be different from the book, not only the setting but maybe the characters too."
She then grasped Josh's hands lightly before she proceeded. "And with the Devil around, possibly hunting down Cuphead's soul, we need to be extra careful."
Josh pondered a bit, and then smiled. "You're right. I guess this was not the sort of thing you wanted to happen on a Friday night."
"But, if I know the two of us, we have been through much worse situations." Audrey reminded him. "We can face anything."
"Right. I mean, what could possibly happen in a place like this-?"
*BOOM!*
The two jumped as they saw Cuphead, once more using a cannon to blast paint all over the fence, but got Elder Kettle in the process again.
"Hmmm. Still too much gun powder." Cuphead claimed.
"And you still owe the Devil your soul." Mugman sighed.
Audrey and Josh looked at each other, and sheepishly smiled.
Turns out, that is possible in a place like this. They just needed to stay away from craziness and the Devil as far as possible.
And their next adventure was just beginning.
Well, looks like the couple is in for a real time here in the show! What adventures and thrills await them and can they get back home? Stay 'Tooned'!
Anyway, thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review but let's avoid the flames please :D
