It was a nice day in the Inkwell Isles and Gwen was doing her usual chores around the cottage with her best friends. Gwen finishes up and goes into her room to tidy up. As she was sorting her clothes out, she noticed her window was slightly open.
"Huh? I don't remember opening the window."
Gwen goes to close the window when she catches sight of tiny footprints that led to her drawers. She opens the drawers where she hid the amethyst brooch Ms. Chalice gave her and realized it was stolen. Gwen groaned and said,
"Who would be stupid enough to steal from me?"
Gwen goes to look outside the window and catches sight of a little soup can-tank carrying the box with the amethyst brooch. Gwen shapeshifted into her ghost form and flew out of her room and went in front of the tank and did a scary face and roared. To Gwen's surprise, a little rat wearing a German helmet jumped out in fear as Gwen took back the box with the amethyst brooch and angrily yelled,
"You dare steal from me you rotten little thief?!"
The little rat looked up at Gwen and said,
"Nein! I vas just borrowing your purple sparkly thingy for my inventions!"
Gwen put the amethyst brooch in her pocket and said,
"Well, go away and stay out from my room! How did you get in there anyway?" Gwen asked.
"Oh, those two dumb cups left your vindow open and I let myself in. Well, auf wiedersehen!"
The rat got in his tank and was about to leave until Gwen asked,
"Wait! Who are you?"
"Werner Werman!" He called.
Gwen floated there, amazed with Werner and flew back into her room, closed and locked the window and goes to confront her friends.
"Guys!" Gwen called.
The cups speed in front of Gwen and sternly asked them,
"Did you guys leave my window open?!"
"Mugman left it open!" Cuphead quickly pointed at Mugman.
"Me?! You were the one who left it open to ventilate the room!"
The cups were bickering as Gwen loses patience and yelled,
"ENOUGH!"
The cups stopped arguing and stared at Gwen.
"The point is, a rat broke into my room and stole something from me and I managed to get back! And he told me that you guys left it open! You know I don't like being lied to! And I told you guys to not leave the window open!" Gwen scolded them with frustration.
The cups looked guilty and said in unison,
"Sorry Gwen."
"Thank you, now go fight or play somewhere else. Just stay out of my room!" Gwen reminded them.
Gwen goes back into her room, locks her door and puts the box with the amethyst brooch in a new hiding spot. Feeling exhausted, she lays in bed and decided to sleep off her frustration.
An hour later, she wakes up, feeling better and decided to go for a walk in the woods. Gwen sits down under a tree to rest for a while.
Just then she heard a familiar voice say,
"Guten tag!"
Gwen looked down and saw Werner in his little tank approach her and she sighed and asked,
"What do you want now?"
"I remember who you are now. You're dat human with the magic inkvell, am I right?" Werner said.
"Who wants to know?" Gwen asked, folding her arms.
"Vell, I never see a human do vhat you just did. Turn into a ghost. Ya?"
Gwen looked at Werner un-amused and asked,
"What about it?"
"Vell, I was thinking you could help me vith something."
Gwen realized where this was going and said,
"Let me guess, you want me to help you with something, and when I do, then you either double-cross me or try to keep me prisoner or get rid of me. Am I right?"
"Nein! I just have a vittle problem and I think you can help me." Werner explained.
Gwen is still not convinced and says,
"Sorry, little guy. I can't get mixed up with danger again. So, good day to you. By the way, your German accent is not convincing."
Gwen gets up and is about to walk away until she noticed Werner in her face on a tree branch and says,
"Oh, come on! I just need you to help me vith getting my house back from a very mean and vicious cat, uh katzen."
Gwen's eyes popped and asked,
"What? What vicious cat?"
"He is called Katzenwagen. He's ze most feral, ferocious katzen in all the land!"
Gwen never heard of such a cat and asked,
"What did he do?"
"He chased me out of my home and now claims the home all to himself! I need you to help me reclaim it!" Werner yelled.
Gwen was unsure, but she decided to see for herself if Werner is telling the truth or not.
"Could you show me?" Gwen asked.
"Ya! Follow me!"
Werner said as he hopped into his little soup can-tank and leads her to a house in the woods with signs that say,
"No trespassing! Not welcome! Go away!"
There was even a sign with Werner's face in a red circle with a diagonal line across. Gwen was now feeling uncomfortable with the mission and asked,
"Wait, what exactly are we doing? I'm getting the feeling he does not like visitors."
"Ve are gonna drive that villainous katzen out of my home vith my inventions and tricks and your magic!" Werner answered.
"How?" Asked Gwen.
"I know a secret passage into the house and ve will sneak in!"
Werner said and lead her to the back of the house to a little mouse hole that lead to the inside of the house. Werner goes inside and Gwen just stood there. Werner comes back out and asks,
"Vell? Are ya coming?"
"Uh, there's just one little problem. I'm too big to fit in that hole!"
"You got that magic inkvell, ya? You can make yourself my size ya silly girl!"
Gwen haven't thought about shrinking herself to a smaller size before. Then she realized something.
"Wait a minute! I heard the mouse stories! I'm not gonna risk getting squashed, tossed and worst off all: eaten! I almost got eaten by a giant castle-monster once! Did NOT enjoy that!" Gwen expressed her concern.
"Don't vorry! I'll show you how to avoid those things! Now, come on! Shrink!" Werner argued.
Gwen took a deep breath, then she got out her ink pen, closed her eyes and thought really hard until finally, she magically shrinks down to Werner's size. Gwen opened her eyes and saw the new perspective of the world around her like the grass was now taller than her and the house was enormous to her now.
"Vow! Look at you! You are just the right size now!" Werner said, impressed.
"Now, let's get going!"
Gwen follows Werner inside the mouse hole and Gwen is in awe that she had never been inside of the walls of a house before.
"Huh, so this is what the inside of the walls look like." Gwen said as they walked.
"Shh!"
Werner shushed her and pointed at a hole. Gwen looked out and saw there was a living room with furniture and to her shock, there was a very large grey cat sleeping on the carpet.
"That's Katzenwagen." Werner pointed out.
Gwen felt scared and asked,
"So, what now?"
"First, ve head to ze kitchen! Follow me and be quiet!" Werner whispered.
Gwen follows Werner quietly through the living room and into the kitchen while avoiding Katzenwagen as he was snoring. They reach a cupboard and Werner opens the door and moves his tank inside and whispers,
"Now, help me set up my tank!"
Gwen climbs into the cupboard, gets out her ink pen and magically fixed up his tank. Just then, they hear Katzenwagen come into the kitchen and Gwen's heart started beating fast. She gets behind the tank as the large cat goes to the fridge to get a bottle of milk when he noticed the cupboard door was slightly left open.
"Huh? I don't remember leaving the cupboard door open."
He puts the bottle of milk on the table and goes to investigate as Gwen painted herself invisible to avoid being caught. Katzenwagen opens and realized that Werner is back and yelled,
"Werner! I thought I told you to never come back or else I'll eat you!"
"Oh, but I'm back! Vith a vengeance!" Werner aimed his tank at Katzenwagen and a large boot on gears punched him into the oven. Gwen was shocked at the tank and realized Werner is more cunning than she thought. Katzenwagen gets out of the oven, now very angry and yelled,
"This means war you little vermin!"
Katzenwagen sets up a bunch of mousetraps all over the kitchen floor and waited for Werner to come out. Just then, Werner dropped from above the ceiling and stares at the bottle of milk and says,
"Ah, someone has left this delicious bottle of milk unattended. I think I'll give it a little sip."
Werner attempts to open the bottle and Katzenwagen angrily yowled and leaps toward the table until Gwen used her ink pen to make him stop and drop him on the mousetraps, injuring him.
"Oopsies!"
Werner said and takes a sip out of the bottle of milk. Katzenwagen was confused on how he was stopped so suddenly. But he wasn't ready to give up yet.
Katzenwagen grabs a frying pan and looks for Werner, ready to squash him, unaware that Werner was on top of his head. Just then, Katzenwagen looks in a mirror and realized Werner was right there and tries to smash him, but unfortunately smashed his own head as Werner quickly dodged and landed on his nose. Katzenwagen smashed his own nose and Werner dodges yet again while Gwen magically pulls the rug from under him, making him fall down, once again injured.
"Oopsies!"
Werner said and jumps off Katzenwagen and runs off. In the mouse hole, Werner says to Gwen,
"That was stupendous! You're really getting the hang of zis!"
Gwen was not sure what she was doing was helping Werner, but just making it worse.
"It doesn't feel right, tormenting that guy."
"Aw relax. Sooner or later, ve'll get zis katzen to leave and I'll have my home back!" Werner said, unsympathetic.
Just then, a trumpet horn is squeezed into the mouse hole and Gwen said,
"Uh oh!"
Werner grabs a lit stick of dynamite and sticks it into the hole as Gwen runs for cover. Katzenwagen tries to blow, but no sound comes out. He looks at the trumpet when he realizes too late there was a stick of dynamite and suddenly… BOOM! It blew up in his face.
Later, Katzenwagen tries using a female rat finger puppet but Werner has Gwen magically smash his paw with a hammer.
"OUCH!"
He yelled in pain as his paw swelled red in pain. Finally getting fed up with Werner, Katzenwagen resorts to one final drastic measure, blowing up the mouse hole. He stuffs the mousehole up with a bunch of dynamite sticks. Gwen was getting tired of tormenting the cat and decided to leave the house until Werner stops her and says,
"Vait! Ve're not done yet!" Werner gets in his tank, uses a buzzsaw to open a hole in the wall and rolls over Katzenwagen's feet.
"OW! My feet!" Yelled Katzenwagen.
"It is no use! The house is mine… again!"
Katzenwagen angrily confronts Werner and says,
"Over my dead body!"
"My sentiments exactly!"
Gwen's eyes popped and asked herself,
"Again? What does he mean again?"
Gwen started to suspect Werner may have tricked her into helping him take the house.
Werner puts on his goggles, and charges at Katzenwagen. He activates various weapons to attack as Katzenwagen looked scared until he slams his foot, making a floor piece knock Werner up in the air and his pointed helmet gets stuck in the ceiling. Katzenwagen looks at Werner smugly and says,
"Do you give up yet, Werner?"
"I suppose I have no other options..." Werner said sadly.
Katzenwagen smiled smugly until Werner said mischievously,
"Except zis one!"
Werner pushed a button on his helmet, making is point detach from his helmet and falls into a hole in the floor. Katzenwagen is shocked and then hears a sizzling noise coming from the mousehole. Katzenwagen runs to the mousehole and realized Werner lit the stuffed dynamite and was about to blow up.
"Vell, vell, vell. If I can't have zis house, neither can you!"
Katzenwagen panicked until Gwen yelled,
"STOP!"
Katzenwagen looked around for the other voice and saw Gwen running from the other mousehole and uses her ink pen to put out the fuse. Katzenwagen is shocked to see a tiny human in the kitchen. He angrily walks up to her, trapping her against the wall and says,
"You little girl! Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"
Gwen took a deep breath and comes clean with him and walked up to him and said,
"I'm Gwen. I'm the girl who carries the magic inkwell."
Katzenwagen's eyes popped and realized she's the one who was doing the magic earlier. Gwen continued,
"Werner told me that this was his house and you kicked him out of his house and claimed this house for yourself? Is that true? Did you really kick him out and claimed this house for yourself?"
Katzenwagen was shocked and glared at Werner and yelled,
"What lies have you been telling her?!"
Werner looked nervous and said, "Vhat are you talking about lies?"
Katzenwagen lowers his paw down to her, gesturing her to step on.
"No! Please don't eat me!" Gwen begged.
"I'm not gonna eat you. I need to show you something." Katzenwagen explained.
Gwen reluctantly complies and he lifts her up to his face and says,
"Little girl, there's something you should know. Werner never owned this house; it actually belongs to me."
Katzenwagen grabs the deed and shows Gwen his signature that he is the true owner of the house.
"See?"
Gwen is shocked and realized her suspicion was correct.
"I am so sorry Mr. Cat! I had no idea I was being used!" Gwen apologized.
"That's Katzenwagen to you. And he tried to take my house before, but I managed to kick him out last time. I just didn't realize he'd try to use you to do it again." Katzenwagen explained.
Gwen was stunned and knelt down in his palm in disbelief. Just then, they hear a sizzling noise again and realized Werner lit the fuse again and drank the whole bottle of milk while he was at it. Katzenwagen traps Gwen in his paws and runs away until suddenly… KABOOM!
The whole house is blown to smithereens and Katzenwagen is blown into the forest. He noticed he was all covered in smoke. He opens his paws and saw Gwen was still in one piece as she is laying down and breathing heavily from the explosion.
"You saved me? After all I did to you?" Gwen asked, now feeling more guilty.
"Yes, little girl." Katzenwagen said as he winced in pain.
"Oh here, let me help you."
Gwen got out her ink pen and healed Katzenwagen's injuries.
"Oh, thank you little girl."
Katzenwagen said as he stood on his feet, feeling much better.
Just then, they hear two familiar voices calling,
"Gwen! Gwen!"
Gwen realized it was her two best friends and said,
"Oh! That's my friends Cuphead and Mugman!"
The cups arrived at the explosion and saw Katzenwagen by the trees.
"Hey mister! You seen our best friend? She went on a walk earlier but she never came back!" Cuphead asked.
"Oh, you mean this little girl?"
Katzenwagen raised Gwen in his paw to the cups and they stare at her shrunken size.
"Gwen?" Both cups asked in shock.
"Hey, guys. Yes, I'm tiny now. I know."
Cuphead lifts his hand and Gwen stepped on his palm and asked,
"What are you guys doing out here?"
"We waited for you to come back, but you never did so we came looking for you!" Cuphead explained.
Mugman takes Gwen from Cuphead and continued,
"Then, we heard the explosion and figured you were probably there and here we are. What happened?"
Gwen looked guilty and explained to the cups the situation with Werner and Katzenwagen. Both cups gasped and Cuphead said,
"Gwen, that was no ordinary rat! That's Werner Werman! That nasty rodent who tried to take our cottage once!"
Gwen gasped and asked,
"What? I don't remember that!"
"You see…"
The cups explain to Gwen the time they were working on a surprise cake for Elder Kettle and accidentally left the front door open and Werner ran into the house and claimed ownership. After failed attempts to get Werner to leave, Werner trapped the cups on the wall until Elder Kettle battled Werner until he threatened to blow up the cups, forcing Elder Kettle to surrender and handed him the deed. But he handed Werner a lit stick of dynamite and blew up the whole cottage, finally forcing Werner to leave once and for all. Gwen was shocked and asked,
"Wait, where was I that day?"
"You were taking acting lessons from Sally Stageplay, remember?" Cuphead reminded her.
"Oh, yeah! Does that explain why I came home that day and the cottage looked like it was blown up and I restored it again?"
"Yep." Both cups answered.
"Oh. But I really messed up big time for trusting that vermin and got this poor guy's house destroyed!"
Gwen said, feeling more guilty as she hung her head down.
"It's okay, Gwen. You can make it up to him, just like you always have with other people we've met and faced."
Mugman said as he tilted her tiny head up with his finger. Gwen thought about it and said,
"You know Mugman, you're right. I have to fix this. But I can't do it without you guys."
"That's our Gwen." Said Cuphead.
Katzenwagen smiled and said,
"First though, can you restore my house?"
Gwen gets out her ink pen and says,
"Can do! I can even make it better than ever!"
She raised her ink pen and magically rebuilds his house and makes it grander than the one before. Katzenwagen and the cups are in awe of the newly restored house.
Katzenwagen takes Gwen and they all head inside and close the door. Katzenwagen is amazed that he had all his furniture and belongings back and had new stuff.
"You really are full of surprises little girl!" Katzenwagen complimented.
"Thanks, I get that a lot." Gwen answered, feeling better.
"You'd be surprised what Gwen can do!" Cuphead told him.
"See Gwen? There's nothing you can't do! Don you feel better now?" Mugman asked.
Gwen smiled and said,
"Yes Mugman, I do."
Just then, a bunch of silverware and knives were shot at the cups, pinning them to the kitchen wall. Katzenwagen and Gwen looked and saw Werner in his tank, ready to attack. Katzenwagen placed Gwen on his shoulder and said,
"This is the last straw you nasty little vermin!"
Gwen raised her ink pen and was ready to fight.
"Zis house is mine!"
Werner yelled, put on his goggles and charged at Katzenwagen. Gwen thought of something and whispered in his ear an idea . Katzenwagen pretended to look doomed as Werner drew closer.
Just then, Gwen fired her giant glove attack at Werner and grasped him and pounded his tank. Gwen brought Werner to Katzenwagen and he clutched Werner in his paw very tightly. Katzenwagen growled viciously, then he remembered her friends and helped them down from the wall.
Then Katzenwagen lifted Gwen off his shoulder and placed her in Cuphead's hands and said,
"Excuse us, little girl."
Katzenwagen steps out of the kitchen and Gwen and the cups hear Katzenwagen yowling and beating up Werner as the trio winced at the sound of Werner screaming in agony. The cups enter the room and saw Werner beat up badly in Katzenwagen's clutches.
To finish him off, Katzenwagen opens the door and says,
"Never come back!"
Werner fearfully nodded until Gwen yelled,
"Wait!"
Katzenwagen and Werner look at Gwen being brought over by Cuphead and she jumped on Katzenwagen's fist holding Werner and gave him an angry look.
"Help me, please!" Werner begged.
"Help you? After all you've done?!" Gwen asked angrily.
Then she gets her ink pen and shot her cyan-beam attack at him, giving him a black eye.
"I'm sorry! Just please don't throw me out!" Werner begged for mercy.
"Oh, I'm not gonna throw you out." Gwen said.
"You're not?" Werner asked.
"No, he is!"
Gwen pointed up to Katzenwagen smiling smugly at Werner.
Katzenwagen lifts Gwen and places her back on his shoulder and Katzenwagen raised Werner in his fist. Spins his arm fast and threw Werner as hard as he could out of the house.
"And don't come back!" Katzenwagen yelled out.
Katzenwagen caught his breath and lifted Gwen into his paws up to his face and said,
"I owe this all to you little girl. Thank you."
Gwen smiled and hugged his face.
"I'm sorry once again." She said to him.
"All is forgiven." Katzenwagen assured her.
Gwen was placed down on the floor, used her ink pen and magically restores herself back to her normal size on the floor. Gwen stood up and said,
"Ah finally, just the size I like!"
Katzenwagen looked surprised at Gwen at her true size and said,
"Wow, so this is your real size huh?"
"Yep, this is the real me." Gwen said.
"Uh, if you're finished Gwen, can we go home now?" Mugman asked, holding her hand.
"Yeah, I've had enough being small for a while." Gwen agreed.
"Don't worry, I promise we won't come back since you had those 'Go away' signs for a reason." Gwen promised Katzenwagen.
"Actually, those signs were meant for Werner specifically. Why do think I had that one sign with Werner's face on it?" Katzenwagen explained.
Gwen felt shocked and said,
"Oh, that explains a lot."
"But you can visit me anytime. It gets a little lonely. Just remember to close the door when you come in." Katzenwagen explained.
"Oh, I will. You hear that guys? Close the door when you enter the house! And the windows!" Gwen reminded them.
"Yes, Gwen." Both cups answered.
The trio leave the house and Katzenwagen called out,
"Wait!"
The trio stop and Gwen asked,
"Yes?"
"Before you go, could you give me my bottle of milk back? That vermin drank my last one!" Katzenwagen asked.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"
Gwen raised her ink pen and granted him a cold bottle of fresh milk.
"Thank you!" Katzenwagen said as he opened the bottle and drank some milk.
"You're welcome! By the way, check your refrigerator. There's a surprise for you." Gwen told him.
The cups take Gwen's hands and head back to the cottage.
Katzenwagen waved goodbye, closes and locks the door and checks the refrigerator. Inside, his refrigerator was filled with a dozen bottles of milk. Katzenwagen smiled and said,
"What a good kid she is."
Back at the cottage that night, Gwen used her new shrinking ability and cleans in hard-to-reach areas in the cottage. After restoring herself back to her regular size, Gwen goes upstairs in her room and lays in bed, exhausted from another long day. Then again, she's glad to have learned a new ability that could be useful to her in the future.
She is still wondering how to approach her family when she visits them. She worries that they may still want her to go through the arranged marriage or maybe they'll finally respect her wishes to follow her heart. But she knew one thing, her sister Rose wants her back more than anything. So, Gwen considers going back to the human world to find Rose and seek her help with their parents when she feels ready.