Gwen had been training in self-defense with her new teachers Ribby and Croaks for a while and is now getting stronger and felt ready to keep herself safe from the Devil or anyone.
One day, Gwen decided to take a break from her training and go to the park for a stroll. Gwen looked at the beautiful walkways, watched children playing on the playground, and said "Hi" to some of her admirers. Gwen sits down on the park bench resting and watching other people and children walk through the park.
And then a group of people caught her eye, three large anthropomorphic vegetables without legs were hopping along the pathway with menacingly looks on their faces. They approach an old mouse-lady feeding pigeons and the three vegetables made sad looks on their faces. The potato asked,
"Hey lady, you gots some spare change? Our luck has run dry so could ya help us out?"
The old lady said,
"Oh, you poor chaps. Alright, here's a dime."
The old lady said sympathetically and tosses them a dime.
"Thanks! Bless you!" The onion said.
"Bye!" Said the carrot and all three vegetables hop away.
After leaving the old lady, the three vegetables snicker and the potato said,
"What a sucker!"
"Yeah! So many dumb people around here to scam for the money to throw our party at the abandoned garden tonight! As soon as we get enough dough to get the stuff we need." The carrot added.
"Wait, we're scamming people? Oh, how sad!"
The onion asked and prepared to cry. The potato slapped him and scolded,
"Will you quit it with the waterworks Ollie?! We can't have you crying… again!"
"Sorry Sal! Sorry Chauncey!" Ollie apologized to his two friends.
Gwen watched them leave and assumed they were conmen and kept her business to herself.
Suddenly, a giant red cyclops with an eyepatch arrived at the park. People started screaming and running away. Gwen took notice and said,
"Uh, a cyclops with an eyepatch? How does that work exactly?"
The blind cyclops was trying to find out where he was and was feeling all the trees around and accidentally stepped on the playground. Gwen sighed and said,
"Hmm. Fine, I'll help him."
Gwen gets up from the bench and goes up to the blind cyclops and yelled,
"Hey you! Listen to me! Follow the sound of my voice!"
The blind cyclops babbled fiercely and Gwen said,
"Just follow me big guy. I'll lead you out of here. That's right, come on."
The blind cyclops reaches his hands out followed Gwen's voice as she led him out of the park while trying not to get grabbed and he followed her to the outskirts of the city. Then, she used her ink pen and said,
"Now, listen for a ringing bell, it will lead you home."
Gwen makes a bell with wings and whispered to it,
"Return this guy back to a certain sender."
She sent the flying bell away and the blind cyclops followed it far away from the city back to Hell.
"Is the Devil losing his touch?" Gwen jokingly said and laughed.
Gwen was satisfied with her work as a group of people cheered her. The old lady comes up to Gwen and said,
"Oh, thank you dear child! I thought we were done for! But you have saved us!"
"Yeah, sure. Anytime." Gwen replied.
A group of kids run up to Gwen and an anthropomorphic kitten said,
"Gwen! The playground is squashed! Can you fix it please?"
Gwen looked at the smashed playground and said,
"No problem, I'll make it the way it was. Maybe even better than ever."
Gwen rose her ink pen and magically made the playground restore itself.
"Yay! Thanks Gwen!"
The children cheered and ran to the playground and started playing again. The old lady said to Gwen,
"You really are a miracle brought to us."
The old lady walked away and sat back on the bench to feed the pigeons. Gwen smiled at the old lady's compliment and decided to walk back to the cottage. The three vegetables took notice of Gwen.
"Well, I'll be a son of a Brussels sprout! Did you see that kid and what she did?" Sal asked his two friends.
"Yeah! She drove that scary monster away!" Ollie said.
"Yeah, and she's magical too!" Chauncey added.
Sal gets an idea and said,
"Hey fellas! I got a new idea how we could score some dough!"
"You have? What is it?" Ollie asked.
"We will make this kid our 'friend' and have her restore the abandoned garden. Then, with her on our side, we're gonna be rich!" Sal explained his scheme.
Chauncey laughed and said,
"Oh Sal! You're a genius!"
Ollie snickered and said,
"Well golly! Let's do it Root Pack!"
The Root Pack hop after Gwen into the forest.
Meanwhile, Gwen was walking along the dirt road until she hears some thumping sounds coming from behind her. Gwen turned around, but she saw no one. Thinking it was nothing at first, Gwen turned and continued walking. Then, she heard the thumping noises again and Gwen stopped and looked down at the ground and saw three shadows coming up behind her. Gwen quickly turned around, armed with her ink pen and the Root Pack flinched.
"Uh, are you three stalking me?" Gwen asked.
"Hey, hey. Relax kid. We ain't gonna hurt ya. We just wanna talk to ya." Sal explained.
Gwen lowered her ink pen and asked,
"What do you want?"
"Well kid, we saw what youse did to that monster back there and I gotta say…"
Sal wrapped his arm around her and finished,
"Very impressive if you ask me."
"Uh, thanks?" Gwen said, feeling uncomfortable.
Sal continued,
"Allow me to introduce ourselves, I'm Sal. This is Ollie."
Ollie waved to Gwen,
"Hi!"
Sal continued,
"And this here is Chauncey."
"Salutations kid!" Chauncey said.
"Okay, nice to meet you all but I have to get going so goodbye." Gwen said.
Gwen attempted to leave but Sal tightened his grip around her shoulder and said,
"What's the rush kid? We got a uh, proposition for ya."
Gwen rolled her eyes and said under her breath,
"Oh no, not this again."
Gwen apparently knew someone would try to ask her for a favor and be taken advantage of. But she reluctantly asked,
"What is it?"
"You see, we's got a problem back at our worn-down garden. Our home, yeah. It has been sucked dry of all our nutrients. So, we was wonderin' if you could help us restore it to its rightful glory and we'd be forever grateful." Sal explained.
"Yeah, our home is gone." Chauncey said.
"Wait, our home is sucked dry?! That's so sad!"
Ollie asked as Chauncey facepalmed. Ollie was about to start crying.
"Hey! Turn off the waterworks will ya?! The last thing we need is you peeling all over the place! Then we'll all start crying again!" Sal yelled.
Gwen was shocked that Ollie could make others cry with his crying and stinging sensation. Sal turned to Gwen again and said,
"Eh, don't mind him. He gets emotional. Look kid, all we're askin' is a helping hand to restore our precious home. What do you say, eh?"
Gwen looked at them suspiciously, knowing they were up to something. But she decided to go along with.
"Well, I'd 'love' to help you guys, but I have one question for you: What's in it for me?" Gwen asked.
The Root Pack were shocked.
"We uh, we'll be your friends for life!" Chauncey said.
Gwen was unamused and said,
"Mm-hmm. And?"
"Uh, you'll be famous!" Ollie added.
Gwen was still unamused and said,
"I feel like something's still missing."
Sal sighed and said,
"Fine kid, you help us and we'll help you with whatever you need!"
Gwen smiled smugly and happily said,
"Great! I'll help you then."
The Root Pack smiled sinisterly.
"Great! Let's get going then!" Sal said.
The Root Pack grab Gwen's arms and led her to the abandoned garden.
That evening, they arrive at the abandoned garden. the Root Pack open the broken gate and walked in. Gwen was disgusted and asked,
"Ugh! Who takes care of your garden?"
"No one. We haven't had fresh soil, manure and water in ages." Sal answered.
"Yeah, our once precious home is now in ruins." Chauncey answered, making himself look sad.
"It's so sad, isn't it?
Ollie asked as about to cry until Chauncey slapped him.
"So, how 'bout it kid? Can you restore it with your magic?" Sal asked.
Gwen sighed and said,
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."
Gwen got out her ink pen and used the inkwell to magically restore their garden with fresh soil, manure and water flowing to a restored garden hose. The Root Pack stood in awe as they watched the garden is restored.
"Ya did it kid! You brought our home back to life!" Sal said as he patted her back.
The Root Pack sat on the soil and suck up the nutrients and felt refreshed. Gwen looked disgusted and said,
"Uh okay, you got your precious garden back, so now I'll be on my way."
Sal grabbed her hand, pulled her back and said,
"Hold on there, kid."
Gwen folded her arms and asked,
"What now?"
"Because you did so good, we wanna reward ya with a special surprise for ya!" Sal announced.
Gwen grew worried and asked,
"What's that?"
Ollie and Chauncey brought along more anthropomorphic vegetables.
"Okay! Let's get this party started everybody!" Chauncey announced.
Gwen was shocked and asked,
"Party? What party?"
"Uh, now that you brought our garden back to life, we're gonna celebrate your victory kid!" Sal explained.
The vegetables line up at the gate and an anthropomorphic eggplant got out his money box and said,
"One dollar per entry."
The vegetables all pay a dollar and step into the garden. Gwen started to think this was a money-making scheme as all the vegetables started partying and a band started playing jazz music. Gwen stood and looked at all the partying vegetables and wasn't sure if she made a mistake or not. Just then, Sal comes up to Gwen with two female anthropomorphic tomatoes and said,
"Hey kid, let me introduce you to some friends of mine. The Heirloom Sisters."
"Hi kid, I'm Cherry and this is Brandywine. We're a couple of hot tomatoes."
Cherry introduced herself and her sister to Gwen.
Gwen reluctantly shakes their hands and said,
"Hi ladies, I'm Gwen."
"Yeah. Gwendolyn Mae Emmons. We heard about you." Brandywine said.
"Anyway ladies, this is the kid we're 'honoring' here tonight for making all this possible." Sal said to the sisters.
"You got spunk kid. We like that about you." Said Cherry.
"Yeah dearie, and a big heart." Brandywine added.
An anthropomorphic pickle comes up to Gwen and serves her a flowerpot filled with water and said,
"Here ya go kid! It's on the house!"
Gwen uncomfortably takes the flowerpot and said,
"Uh, I appreciate the party you're throwing for me but I…"
Before Gwen could finish her sentence, she catches sight of Cuphead and Mugman hiding in the bushes in the garden and signaling her to come over.
"Uh, I need to check on the water! I think we need more!"
Gwen quickly said and stepped away from Sal and the Heirloom sisters. Sal shrugged it off and continued talking to the tomato sisters.
Gwen slipped away from the party and goes to the garden and Cuphead and Mugman pull her into the bushes.
"Guys! What are you doing here?" Gwen asked quietly.
"We've been lookin' for you when we heard some music over here!" Cuphead said.
"Gwen, don't you know who those three vegetables are?" Asked Mugman.
"Who?" Asked Gwen.
"That's the Root Pack, they're those party-loving freeloaders!" Mugman explained.
"What?! Freeloaders?!" Gwen was shocked.
"You see…"
Cuphead explained the time the Root Pack tricked the cups to leaving Elder Kettle's garden under their care. But it was a ruse to throw a party for their vegetable friends and attempted to get them all to leave but failed until they used Ollie's crying to finally get them to leave.
"Wow, that explains a lot. I had a gut feeling they were using me for something. They said their home needed to be restored, but I should've known it was a trick so they could throw their stupid party and get rich." Gwen said feeling duped.
"Hey, we know how you feel." Said Cuphead.
"We wish there was a way to get back at them for sucking up Elder Kettle's garden dry at the last moment after the party was over. Luckily for us, Elder Kettle mistook the Root Pack for his babies and almost chopped them up for his Baby Stew, but they ran away for good."
Mugman finished the story.
Gwen thought for a moment, then peeked out of the bushes and saw Ollie drinking happily. She gets an idea and said,
"You know what guys? Maybe there is a way! You said that Ollie guy makes everybody cry when he's crying, right?"
"Yes." Both cups answered at once.
"Well, let's do it again!" Gwen suggested.
"Okay Gwen!" Both cups replied.
Gwen and the cups go sit next to Ollie. Gwen winked to her friends and said,
"You know guys, I don't think the Devil's ever gonna leave me alone." Said Gwen, making herself look sad.
"What's that? The Devil? That' so sad." Ollie said and hiccupped from drinking too much.
"Oh yeah, he's the whole reason I'm here in this world. I may have escaped from him but he's still chasing after me." Gwen continued.
"Oh my! That terrible!" Ollie said, having a few tears in his eyes.
Cuphead winked at Gwen said,
"Oh yeah, he doesn't leave poor Gwen alone. Almost makes you wanna cry."
Ollie hiccupped and said,
"Oh, poor Gwen! That's horrible!"
"Oh yeah, poor Gwen can never get a good night's sleep without keeping an eye out for the Devil coming for her." Cuphead said sadly.
"Yeah, Gwen has to keep on her feet for that guy." Mugman added.
Ollie gears up to cry and Gwen finished up and said,
"Oh, did I mention my parents threatened to disown me if I didn't marry this rich jerk they arranged for me?"
Ollie was shocked and said,
"Disowned?!"
Ollie started wailing his tears, his skin peeling and released his stinging fumes. Gwen and the cups smiled and left to hide in the garden. Ollie's stench spread all over the garden and all the vegetables started crying. Cherry and Brandywine get angry at Sal.
"You made this a pity party again!" Cherry snapped.
"Goodbye again!" Snapped Brandywine and both sisters leave.
"No! Wait! Wait!" Sal yelled and then started crying.
The whole garden flooded and Gwen, trying to hold back her tears opens the gate and flushes the crying guests out of the garden for good.
It was dawn and Gwen and the cups were in the newly grown garden. They held each other and cry until Ollie's stench cleared up. Gwen wiped her tears and said,
"Well, that was a real splash guys!"
The three friends laugh as Sal and Chauncey hop up to Ollie.
"You had to blubber again, didn't you?!" Sal scolded and punched him.
Ollie fell down and said,
"It wasn't my fault! It was the kid and those two cups who made me do it!" Ollie fearfully explained.
"What?! Those two cups again?!" Chauncey exclaimed.
The Root Pack hop over to Gwen and the cups.
"You cups again! You had to crash our party again! Didn't you?" Sal confronted them.
"Yeah! Party's over jerks!" Cuphead yelled.
"It serves you freeloaders right for using our best friend to throw another stupid party and make money off of her!" Mugman yelled.
Gwen angrily gets out her ink pen and uses the inkwell to turn the garden back to it's destroyed form.
"What? No!" Said Sal as the Root pack now looked sorrowful and lifted the dirt in their hands as all the nutrients were sucked dry.
"Nobody uses me, makes money off of me and gets away with it!" Gwen yelled.
The Root Pack look at Gwen as she was about to use one of her attacks and all three say,
"Uh oh."
Gwen uses her giant glove attack and pounds the Root Pack into the dirt. The Root Pack are packed halfway into the ground, beaten severely with stars circling their heads.
"Well, at least we still got the money from our guests!" Chauncey weakly said.
"Oh, you mean this money?"
Gwen asked as she held up the box of money.
"Wait, how did you get that money Gwen?" Asked Cuphead.
"Swiped it from that dumb eggplant when he wasn't looking." Gwen answered.
"Aw!" The Root Pack groaned in defeat.
"Now, what am I going to do with you three moochers? What can I do to give you the punishment you deserve?" Gwen asked.
"Ooh Gwen! I think I got an idea!" Said Mugman.
"What's that Mugman?" Asked Gwen.
She kneels down to Mugman and he whispers his idea into her ear. Gwen laughed and Cuphead asked,
"Well, what did he say?"
"Uh, he said…"
Gwen whispered Mugman's idea into Cuphead's unseen ear and he started laughing.
"Hot dog! Do it Gwen! Do it!"
Gwen and the cups turn to the Root Pack and Gwen raised her ink pen and said,
"You know fellas, you promised me you were gonna help me out with something if I helped you. I have just the thing in mind."
"Oh no!" The Root Pack answered at once.
That morning, they were back at the cottage in the front yard, Gwen made the Root Pack go to work, planting Elder Kettle's garden that they destroyed last time.
Gwen used her giant glove to prepare to pound them if they tried anything. Gwen, Cuphead and Mugman sit in lawn chairs as Ollie came up to them with a platter of three glasses of lemonade with straws.
"Fresh lemonade?" Ollie offered, tired from his hard work.
The three friends each take a glass and Gwen said,
"Thanks Ollie. Now back to work!"
Ollie hurried back to work in the garden before the giant glove pounded him. Cuphead took a sip and said,
"Thanks Gwen. You don't know how long we waited to get back at those jerks!"
Gwen took a sip and said,
"You're welcome Cuphead. I should also thank you guys for coming for me again. I don't know what might've happened if you didn't."
Mugman took a sip and said,
"Aw shucks Gweny. You're our best friend."
Gwen smiled as Sal called,
"Okay! We're finished! Now can we go?"
Gwen sat up and looked at the garden of bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and spinach. it looked planted and healthy. So, Gwen said,
"Looks great fellas! Alright you can go!"
"Uh! Finally!" Said Chauncey, exhausted.
The Root Pack was about to leave, Gwen uses her giant glove and grabs the Root Pack and brings them to her. Gwen gives them an angry look and said,
"Don't ever come near me, my friends or Elder Kettle's garden again! Got it?!"
The Root Pack fearfully nodded. Gwen uses the giant glove and spins the Root Pack around and finally throws them far away from the cottage as their screaming dies off in the distance. Gwen folded her arms, satisfied with her work hears Elder Kettle coming out of the cottage and said,
"Good morning Cuphead, Mugman and Gwen! I'm making omelettes!"
"Yay! Omelettes!" Both cups said excitedly.
"Wow, sounds delicious Elder Kettle!" Gwen said.
Elder Kettle sees his garden with the vegetables grown and said,
"Ooh! My new babies have grown just in time!"
Elder Kettle picks some peppers, onions, spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes and the four all head inside.
Gwen helps Elder Kettle chop up the vegetables and Elder Kettle makes veggie omelettes for his family. They all sit down and eat breakfast together. Gwen thought about making Ollie cry last night and accidentally used her ink pen to make the same stinging fumes and make Elder Kettle, Cuphead, Mugman and even herself cry.
"Oops! Sorry!"
Gwen quickly used her ink pen to clear the stench. Everyone stopped crying and Elder Kettle said,
"Wow Gwen, is that a new attack you learned? That's a real tear-jerker!"
Gwen was shocked and said,
"Uh, yes! Something I learned from some freeloading jerks recently."
Gwen quickly put her ink pen away and continued eating. She realized she learns a new ability or skill from the people she encountered such as fireball blast from Grim Matchstick, self-defense from Ribby and Croaks and ghost transformation from the ghosts. Gwen felt confident she's getting stronger every day to fight the Devil and keep her friends safe.