Blackwolfen: And we arrived in the third Season and final Arc of the Story. If you read the ending of the last chapter you may have noticed someone is joining the gang to save Alicia and Mugman. This someone is none other than Gemwing88. I'm more than happy for her to join in.
Gemwing88: When Blackwolfen had asked for my persona to have a guest starring role in her adaptation of The Devil's Revenge in TCS Season 3, I was rather surprised and most honored. I was super excited and happy to help out with helping on this.
Cuppy, Lucifer, Blood, Varian and Eira had seen so many unexpected things in their times back in their own dimensions, but nothing could have prepared them for the figure that had fallen out of the portal after Varian's machine had malfunctioned, causing a rift to open and spit out the unexpected visitor.
The figure was a human woman, much like Alicia, only she was much different. While Alicia was a fully live action human, the young woman standing before them was fully animated, looking like a combination of Disney animation and anime. The stranger has fair skin, short dark brown hair in a bob-cut and bright blue eyes.
Her choice of attire is a crystal blue denim jacket with rolled-up sleeves and white cuffs, breast and hoodie pockets, and silver buttons over a midnight blue tank top with a crystal blue collar and shoulders. Pinned onto the jacket is a blue fire opal Hidden Mickey Mouse brooch. She also wore medium navy blue denim jeans with light blue back and side pockets resembling cute little patches dotted with tiny midnight blue hidden Mickey Mouse heads, a purple belt and black knee-length boots.
On her right wrist is a silver bracelet adorned with blue, white and purple gemstone charm links as well as a seven-pointed star encrusted with tiny diamonds in the center. On the same wrist, she also had on a bracelet made from light blue woven cords, two white beads and a crocus purple one in the middle and a silver heart toggle. On her left wrist is a silver watch bracelet. And around her neck is a silver locket in the shape and design of a book with engravings of a heart resembling the logo from Kingdom Hearts, small wing-like designs at each side of the heart and a teardrop-shaped diamond in the center.
A bit disoriented, the stranger dusted her jeans white readjusting her jacket. As she did so, a tiny creature dizzily popped its head out of one of her breast pockets.
It was a small, fairy-sized dragon-like creature with fur instead of scales, which was white as sea foam, deep ocean blue spines on the back of its head and the small of its back. It has an ocean blue crest that looks like a tuft of hair crowning its head, small silver antlers and long, pointy rabbit-like ears with blue tips. Its tail is bushy and fox-like with a blue tip and its paws are dipped in light blue. It has aqua green eyes and instead of the typical bat-like appearance, its wings are more flower-like.
The wings are a light sea green with dark blue tips and the stalks are black. The creature also wore a midnight blue neckerchief with a silver rim around its neck. "Wow…What a ride…" the creature groaned dizzily. "You're telling me, bud." The woman agreed before she looked around. "What on earth just happened? Where are Lexie and Natty? And Liam, Matt and Andy. And… and… Vale?"
There was a trace of concern and pining lacing the woman's tone as she voiced out that name. A familiar feeling Lucifer knew all too well when he was separated from his beloved wife. "Yeah, I don't see Aster, Cyra, Ash, Daisy, Aya or the Cups anywhere either." The fairy dragon thing piped up. There was a flicker of familiarity across their faces as they searched their surroundings but also uncertainty as though they had been here before.
The group looks confused at the visitor. "Uh Varian?" Eira said in a worried voice pointing at the woman."How did that happen?" The Fox didn't know that question. He had problems with the portal a few weeks ago. It wasn't working correctly and seems to be having trouble creating a portal at all. Rifts in the dimensions weren't usual for him, Eira and Dr. Kahl. They could always close them in time before something enters this dimension.
But seeing a rift outside the junkyard wasn't a good sign at all."I don't know Eira but I hope it's a friend not a foe." Slowly, he walks to the person while the others stay behind and watch the whole thing. Cuppy and Cuphead hide under Blood's coat while Lucifer protects Eira with his trident. The woman and her companion slowly turned around and looked surprised at first but calmed down when they noticed Varian. "Oh, hello there." The woman greeted, speaking in a voice that sounds like a cross between British and American. "I don't think we have seen you anywhere on the Isles before."
Varian looks confused. "Um, I don't know how to say this but you're from another dimension and came out of a dimensional rift into this dimension." Before the woman could respond, the fairy dragon peers up behind Varian and freaks out when he spotted Lucifer.
"Aaah! THE DEVIL!" The woman gasped in horror before she became angry. She reached for her beaded bracelet, transforming it into a large key-like weapon with wings for the hand guard, the teeth resembling a wing similar to the fairy dragon's, a white teardrop-shaped gemstone and a bright blue silken braided chain with the beads on it as well as a book key chain. "Get behind me!" The woman declared as she pulled Varian behind herself before glaring at Lucifer. "How did you escape from the Astral Plane, you creep?! Nat, Lex and I made it clear that we'll NEVER join you! And I'll NEVER be your queen!"
Lucifer looked confused and worried at the same time. "Why are you pointing that thing at me?" He shoveled the Keyblade away. "And why would I want to marry you when I'm already married?". "Whoa! Hold on, he's friendly and not like the Devil." Varian cried frantically, trying to explain before the woman attempted to do something she would regret. "Friendly?! He tried to take all of the souls on the Isles to hurt Kate and our friends!" The fairy dragon protested.
Blood helped Varian, "Listen I know which Devil you're talking about but Lucifer is not the same." He uses his magic wand to show you what he meant with that as you saw a picture with Alicia and Lucifer at their wedding day, their date on the Harvest festival and the rescue from the forces wedding. "Do you still think he's evil?" The Wolf asked. The woman's angry face softened into a look of recognition as she noticed Alicia in the pictures, lowering her Keyblade in shock.
"Alicia?" She gasped. "You know her?" asked Cuppy as he walked up to her. The woman looked down at him, her face gentle. "Yes, she ended up in my own version of the Inkwell Isles in the TCS universe" She explained. "She helped rescue my best friends, Lexie, Natty, the Cuphead and Mugman from there and me from the Devil after he kidnapped us from the cookie factory.". "Woah!" gasped Cuphead with the Devil's trident in his hand. The woman then transformed her Keybalde back into its bracelet form and secured it back onto her wrist, regarding Lucifer an apologetic look.
"I reckon you're her husband." She spoke. "I'm so sorry about almost attacking you, sir. In all honesty, you do look a lot like a much nastier and scarier version of the Devil we had first encountered in the past." Lucifer smiles, walks up to the woman, puts his hand on her shoulder and says "I accept the apology. Don't worry I won't judge you Miss…"
"Katie Gemwing." The woman replied before she mentioned to the creature. "And this is my companion and best friend, Kaichi the Ocean Sprigon.", "Hey." Kaichi greeted, waving awkwardly. Cuphead tilts his head, cluelessly asking, "A what?" Cuppy gave himself a facepalm. "To explain much clearly, it's a short for sprite dragon." Kaichi said bluntly. The cup is still confused.
"He was a character of my own creation." Katie explained. "Originally, he was just a drawing until he was brought to life when my friends and I were pulled into a Cuphead book during a trip to a Comic Con convention in New York. Long story." Cuppy raises his eyebrow, claiming, "Wait there's more than one book?". "There is?" Kaichi asked. "Gee, I thought we had the only one." Katie looked just as puzzled. "You know, I'm not so sure. Things are confusing enough as it is with our current predicament." Cuppy tries his best to explain what he meant and tells Katie and Kaichi about the adventure he and his brother Mugman had with Alicia in the book.
But the mention of Alicia's name questions Katie and Kaichi. "Speaking of Alicia, where is she? Isn't she with you?" Katie inquired. "Yeah, is she running late because of some errands?" Kaichi chimed in. She saw the sad looking faces. Blood, Varian and Eira looked down while Cuppy sniffled and Cuphead held back his tears but couldn't hold them and cried. Lucifer was the only one who growled in anger. "What is it something we said?" Kaichi asked nervously.
"No, it's she and Mugman who were kidnapped a few minutes ago by the Devil." Eira explains while comforting the crying Cuphead. "W-what?! How-?!" Katie stopped when she noticed the trident in Cuphead's hands, making her groan. "Oh no, not again." Lucifer looks confused about her reaction. "What do you mean with not again, Katie?". "All I can say is that my friends and I went through a similar situation with our Cuphead playing around with our Devil's pitchfork." Katie replied.
"Pitchfork? Why is it called pitchfork?" asked Cuppy while Blood and the others roll their eyes. Katie shrugged in reply. "I really have no idea. I always preferred it to be called a trident myself but the writers in the cartoon went with calling it a pitchfork.". The others were glad they called it trident and not pitchfork. But right now they need to free Alicia and Mugman. "We need to rescue Alicia and Mugman and fast!" Eira said urgently. "Before he can crown her and start with the ritual." Blood added in thinking of a plan to rescue both Alicia and Mugman from the Underworld.
"And we're gonna need to get too." Katie confirmed. "After what my Cuphead and I went through to get there to rescue Lexie, Natty, Kaichi and our Mugman, asking the Quardratus here could be out of the question as no doubt he would be on vacation right now. And to cut to the chase, the best way to get Alicia and Mugman back is to make a deal with the Devil.", "WHAT?!" cried both Cupheads.
"Do any of you know of the rule of pitch- er, I mean trident ownership?" Katie asked. All shake their heads. "Finders keepers, losers weepers." Kaichi stated. "In other words, if the Devil wants his trident back, he would have to make a trade." Katie explained. Blood wasn't so sure. "I doubt the Devil will agree to it. He's not like the one you faced in your dimension, Katie."
Katie's face changed to a questioned one. How did Blood know about her own Devil? "How do you even know about the Devil from my dimension?" She asked. "You can thank Misterie for that." Blood replied. Kaichi's eyes were practically wider than teacup saucers as he sputtered, "Wait! How do you even know Misterie?!" Blood smiled. "We're good old friends."
"Whoa." Katie uttered. "Funny, she never mentioned anything much about you before. Although in retrospect, I guess the girls and I didn't bothered to ask her much about her life outside of her job and helping us with our own Devil-related problems.". "We can talk about that later right now we need to find a way to the Underworld and save Mugman and Alicia before the Devil can do the ritual!" Interrupted Cuppy. His voice sounded worried. "Ritual? What ritual?" Katie asked, confused and concerned.
The others were also confused but Blood explained what the ritual was. "A long time ago, Muru and Misterie and I were visiting this dimension and saw how deadly and dangerous the Devil was." He remained silent but continued "Back then he didn't need his trident to cause trouble and chaos. He could do that without it.". "Wait, WHAT?!" Kaichi exclaimed in disbelief. "But what does it all have to do with Alicia?" Katie asked.
The Wolf continues. "We cursed him and took half of his powers away from him and transferred it into his own trident to weaken him as best as we could." he sighs "That was the only way to stop him. And the only way for him to break this curse he needed to marry a young woman, crown her and do a Blood Ritual." Blood knew back then that it was impossible for the Devil to find a woman he would fall in love with. "You don't mean-? No! He can't!" Katie cried. "Alicia's already married! He can't force a married woman to be his bride! That's NOT right!"
"Sadly, he did it Katie." Eira sighed, knowing that she was the one to blame. "Hey Eira, it wasn't your fault. The Devil tricked us!" Varian said. "Isn't there a way to, you know, break Alicia out of this?" Kaichi asked. Blood shook his head. "Not that I know of and even if the Devil would try everything to get her!". "Isn't there like a marriage contract he had her sign?" Katie asked. "Maybe if we get our hands on it and destroy it, the Blood Ritual could maybe be useless."
Cuppy was about to say something but Cuphead interrupted him, "We tried it but the Devil wished from Djimmi that his marriage contract is indestructible. Not even he, me, Lucifer or Alicia and Djimmi could destroy it.". "Where there's a will, there's a way." Katie claimed. "No matter what, we'll find some way to break that marriage contract and Alicia will be free from that manic for good." Cuppy hoped that too. He missed Alicia and Mugman. "I hope you're right Katie because this will be our only chance." Blood mentioned as he knew it was a tough situation the group was facing. "Does… anyone have a plan on how we can sneak Alicia and Mugman away before we set out?" Katie asked. Cuphead thought for a minute until above his head appeared a lightbulb. "I think I have an idea!"
Meanwhile, in the Underworld, demons garbed in black cloth and masks were overseeing prisoners of the Underworld slaving away in the deepest and darkest depths of the dungeons or tormenting them. Almost every prisoner was either carrying a heavy block of stone above their heads or were attached with cuffs on their hand on the wall. And some were either locked away in prison cells or suspended in cages above the raging flames.
Every single prisoner was terrified or miserable… save for a certain young mug, who was suspended up on a wall by his wrists as he was casually and calmly whistling a cheery tone next to a gangly, gormless, bearded looking man, who hung there with a blank thousand yard stare. His eyes looked around the place while he decided to stop whistling and having a small talk with the prisoner next to him to cheer the mood up a bit. "So, how long have you been here?" The curious mug asked, hoping he would get a normal answer.
The prisoner just hung there, staring blankly ahead of himself before he let out a blood curdling scream in answer:
"AAAAAAAAHHH!"
"Ya don't say? Well, I'm only here till my brother and our friends come and get me and Alicia." Mugman said innocently. A large shadow eclipsed him and the prisoner. The shadow belonged to one of the demons around here. "Prisoner! Don't talk to the inhabitants!" The demon bellowed as he stomped towards Mugman, clutching a spear. The young mug kept his mouth shut but gasped in amazement. "Wow! Look at them chompers!" He exclaimed and pointed with his foot at the fangs of the demon "Can you even close your mouth all the way?". The demon looked nervous and snapped, "Don't talk to me either!"
But Mugman wasn't finished yet with his questions. "Just on more question. Is it hard for you to eat pasghetti with those?" The demon's eyes looked from left to right and back to left before he answered Mugman's hopefully last question. "Not if I cut it up." The demon simply said. For some reason, the idea of cutting up spaghetti before eating it disgusted Mugman as it though the most disgusting thing he had ever heard. "Eww! You cut up pasghetti? " Mugman winced. "Gross."
"I said don't talk to me!" The demon grumbled in annoyance before the young mug noticed a switch next to him on the wall. "Oh, hey. What's this thing do?" Mugman asked. Curious to know what it was for, he slipped one of his hands out of his shackles and reached for the level, pulling it down. "Oh no!" The demon yelped in alarm as he witnessed this before a trap door opened up beneath his feet. The demon fell down into the trap before a great burst of flames shot out and the trap door closed up as though nothing had happened.
"Oops." Mugman squeaked, realizing his mistake before he slipped his hand back into its shackle. It was a mystery why he hadn't thought about escaping from them if he's able to take his hands out of them at any time. After a short pause, Mugman then looked back to the prisoner next to him, beaming an innocent smile. "Well, on the bright side, now we can keep talking.". And yet again, the prisoner continues to scream while Mugman is talking about how he found a shoe on the side of the road.
Meanwhile inside a small control room the Devil and Henchman watched the young mug from afar. The frown was hard to miss on the face of the Devil. He was still angry about the fact that the cup got his trident. The Devil narrowed his eyes sinisterly before he growled bitterly, "If that mug's brother thinks he can steal my trident, he's got another thing coming." Henchman remained silent, knowing that it wasn't a good idea to interrupt his boss. Especially when he's mad. But knowing Henchman, he couldn't help it and voice his concern.
"Duh, but Boss, you can't just kidnap people and bring 'em down here." The Devil's eyes wander from the young mug to Henchman with a dark frown on his face. The chubby demon was fiddling with his fingers nervously as he added in, "It's against the rules.", "RULES?! I don't care about rules!" The Devil roared. "They stole my trident! Half of my powers are tied up to that thing, no thanks to that manticore and those wolves years ago! I can't zap stuff or shoot fire! I can't even teleport!".
"Duh, well at least you can still transform." Henchman pointed out with a nervous smile. Even if the Devil was still angry, Henchman tried to calm him down with the fact that he doesn't need his trident to transform. "That's not as much fun as shooting fire!" The Devil snapped. He then looked saddened as he looked down to his own hands. "It was my whole style. I was so expressive when I had my trident. Now, I don't even know what to do with my own hands."
He awkwardly waved his hands about, not knowing what to do, grunting in confusion before he sighed, disappointed. "Duh, you still got that big spoon that came with it." Henchman offered happily as he held up a huge golden spoon, which he had pulled out from a very large box. The Devil saw it and in his eyes you could see how embarrassed the giant spoon made him. Sure, it was bad enough that his trident was stolen but he didn't want anyone to see him walking around with the spoon. There was simply nothing intimidating about wielding a giant spoon.
"Would you put that thing away before someone sees it? Especially my dear Alicia?" The Devil demanded, frantically waving his hands about and held them up in embarrassment. "It's embarrassing!" Henchman noticed it and quickly hid the Spoon behind him but due to it being larger than him you could still see it just like his blushed cheeks. But the Devil had other things in mind as he turned around and walked up to the window to watch over his newest prisoner, revenge on his mind.
"It's time to even the score with that cup." The Devil declared as he clenched his fist. "Before I start the ritual with my beautiful bride, first, I'll crush the spirit of the cup's beloved brother.". The Devil scowled sinisterly as he watched a cheerily oblivious Mugman happily singing a goofy tune while swinging back and forth from his shackles while the prisoner continued to scream his lungs out. "Look at that blue-nosed buffoon." The Devil sneered before he grinned deviously. "This will be so easy."
"Duh, I dunno, Boss." Henchman piped up, catching the Devil's attention. "I wouldn't underestimate Mugman." Of course the Devil didn't take this seriously. "Oh please!" The Devil scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I bet I can break his spirit and seduce my lovely bride before the clock strikes 12." He then glanced up at a clock suspended on the wall next to him with a malicious grin, arrogantly confident in his statement. Of course, Henchman said something else that took the Devil by surprise.
"I'll take that bet." Henchman chimed. "What? I wasn't suggesting…" the Devil started to protest before he started to reconsider. He was intrigued by Henchman's innocent challenge for a bet. He could do with a bit of fun and add in a bit of spice in his feat to break Mugman's spirit and seduce Alicia all in one night. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to humor Henchman with his little bet. "Hmmm… alright, Henchman, what's on the line?" The Devil smirked.
"An all-expense-paid trip to the destination of my choice!" Henchman beamed, flapping his tiny little wings in excitement. "Deal." The Devil agreed, holding his hand out to shake on it. Grinning like a child on Christmas Day, Henchman took the Devil's hand and shook it, sealing the deal. However, the moment they let go, Henchman suddenly frowned while giving the Devil a stern and warning look. "And no cheatin'." Henchman warned in a scolding tone like a parent telling their child to be on their best behavior during an important event.
The Devil faked a gasp of shock before he quickly said, "Why Henchman, you cut me to the quick."
Inside the Devil's bedchamber, tucked in bed on the many pillows, laid Alicia in a deep slumber knowing she was back in the Underworld. What she didn't know was about the ritual the Devil had planned to do with her. She didn't know about it. But how could she when she never heard about the curse in general? Blood never said anything about it and she never asked him. Nor did she question herself why the Devil was so weak without his trident when Lucifer could use his powers without it.
Yep, those are questions Alicia could wait for an answer from the Devil. At least she hoped that. But lying in bed wasn't helping that and she didn't wanted to stay here with Mugman for an eternity. No, she wanted to be back in the arms of her rightful husband Lucifer and not be together with an excuse of a Devil. "He can wait many thousand years for me to be his wife and queen!" She snapped. Annoyed, she stood up from the bed and thought about how to escape the Underworld without the Devil noticing she and Mugman were gone.
"Hmmm…" She thought until the door behind her opened and a familiar looking shadow appeared in the room. Alicia didn't have to think twice to know that the shadow belonged to the Devil. "Oh Alicia darling!" The Devil called in a singsong tone as he knocked on the door. "I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your future husband by coming in anyway!", "Really? That one quote from The Fairly Oddparents?" Alicia thought to herself.
True to his statement, the Devil opened the door and entered the room with a huge grin on his face. At least he didn't charge his way through by using a battering ram to demolish the door down to come inside. "Oh jeez, can't you leave me alone? I'm not in the mood for that and what do you mean with "my" future husband? I'm already married to Lucifer!" She growled as her eyes glowed slightly red similar to Lucifer when he gets angry. "Oh, you haven't forgotten about the last time you were down here concerning that orange buffoon, Dijimmi, did you darling?" The Devil crooned.
Alicia raised an eyebrow. "What, you mean that marriage contract and fake wedding? I'm still and never will love you nor will I ever be yours!" Her fur puffed up in anger. Alicia wasn't happy nor does she want to have a small talk with the Devil. Her only wish now was to leave this place with Mugman. So she didn't ask twice where the young mug was and if he's hurt or not. "Quite the contrary, my love." The Devil stated. "Once I'm done breaking that mug's spirit to spite that infuriating cup for stealing and zapping me with my own trident, we will commence with the Blood Ritual so I may regain my full powers and make you my beautiful queen for eternity."
"Wait?"What!?" Alicia backed away from the Devil. The mentioning of the Blood ritual was new for her. "A blood ritual?" she stuttered in fear. "You heard me." The Devil answered. "You see, my dear, I had once been very powerful where I didn't need my trident until your wolf friend and some acquaintances of his from other dimensions had interfered and trapped half of my powers inside it. So, in order to regain my full powers, I need a willing bride to perform a blood ritual, giving me all the powers at my fingertips. And you're the lucky lady who fits the bill to be my devoted queen."
"This can't be real!" Alicia thought, shaking her head in disbelief. "Please tell me you're joking." She claimed. "This is a joke right?" She hoped it was one. Unfortunately, judging from the look on the Devil's face, he wasn't. He was dead serious. She backed away, bumping into the bed and stumbling onto it, sitting there helplessly. "S-S-Stay away-y-y f-f-from m-m-me!" She stuttered. "Oh, I can't do that. You're too lovely to stay away." The Devil sneered as he approached the bed. "You're going to be my wife and queen no matter what you say."
He reaches down and cups her chin in his claw, lifting her head slightly forcing Alicia to look into his yellow eyes. "But I'm already married!" She protested, in annoyance. "Oh please! The so-called marriage with that faker is a flex arrangement." The Devil scoffed. "Once the Blood Ritual is seen to, you'll forever be with your TRUE husband — ME!" Alicia can't believe what he said. "Yeah right." She was definitely not going to agree with that. "You know, you're the most beautiful creature I have the pleasure to choose to be my queen." The Devil commented. "And I'm sure once we complete the ritual, I know you'll love it down here with me."
Alicia scoffs. "As if I want to be together with you after all the chaos you did!" In her hands, she held the letter the Devil had send to her with all the pictures he did during his tour around Inkwell City to 'blow up' some steam. "You create chaos, terrorize the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isles and you're still after the souls of Cuppy and Cuphead!" she counted, trying her hardest not to blow up as the Devil usually is doing when he gets angry.
"Only because I needed to get back into the swing of things after the cups' soul debts had expired and all the times you kept refusing me." The Devil insisted. "And I needed to track down the moronic critic who had written that insulting review about me in the paper this morning. Lost my touch? Bah! He should think twice before doing another news article about me in next week's paper!" Alicia wasn't sure what to say at all. Should she say anything? Her mind right now was focused on her escape and Mugsy.
"He must be scared." she thought and looked depressed. As though he had read her mind, the Devil smirked as he said, "Oh, if you're worried about that little blue-nosed friend of yours, no need. He's fine… for now.". "Where is he?!" Alicia growled. "Oh, he's perfectly comfortable in the dungeon." The Devil shrugged in reply. "He seems to be taking his stay in there surprisingly well; making some interesting new friends and making light conversation with one of the jailers there."
Alicia's eyes widened in horror. She couldn't think straight and wanted to save her friend but the Devil had other plans in mind as his tail wrapped around her waist. "No need to waste your strength, my dearest. You'll need to save your energy for the ritual." The Devil said. "As much as I would love to snuggle with you for a bit, I'm afraid I'm in a "crunch for time" as you would say. You see, I made a bet with Henchman earlier, and I claimed I would break that mug's spirit and win you over before the clock strikes twelve tonight."
Alicia ignores his words and tries to free herself from the Devil's grip. "I don't care about the bet! I want to save Mugsy and get the heck out of here!" She growled. "You're not going anywhere but to the altar where our ritual will take place." The Devil sneered. "You're going to stay and wait in here like a good little bride." The door opens and two large shadows appear inside the room as the Devil dragged Alicia closer to the door. She wondered who was standing in front of the door.
"And to ensure you don't sneak out and try to pull anything, two of my finest demons shall stand guard." The Devil declared. "And just to make sure you don't attempt to use your magic or own shape shifting abilities…" With a snap of his fingers, he made a golden cuff-like bracelet appear in his hands in a small burst of flames. Wordlessly, he grabs Alicia's wrist and clasps the cuff onto it. A small crackle of green magic sparked for a second before it faded away as if nothing happened.
"What the… What is this?!" Alicia demanded as she tried to turn into her wolf form but her body refused to obey her. "It's an enchanted bracelet specially crafted to negate your powers." The Devil explained. "It will keep you from trying to use your powers to escape." The angry looking face was hard to miss. Alicia wasn't happy about the news and was certainly not glad about it. She wanted to get out of here as fast as she could but with the cuff around her wrist and the demons standing guard, she had no way of escaping.
"Why can't I remove this stupid cuff ?" she asked, trying to remove it with all her strength but the cuff stayed on her wrist no matter how hard she tried. "Only until the end of the ritual." The Devil answered. "I'm not going to take any chances and have a repeat of last time. But don't worry, I'll gladly have it removed by then." Alicia sighed, walked up to the bed and covered herself under the blanket, hoping that all this was just a nightmare and not the reality. "Good idea, my sweet. You go and get some well-earned rest until the ritual." The Devil beamed. "In the meantime, I should head back to the dungeon and break that mug's spirit. Sleep well, my queen."
His footsteps were quieter and quieter until only the closed door was heard and Alicia was left alone in the bedroom. Outside, the Devil gave the two demons a very important order before he heads over to the dungeon. "Don't let her out or let anyone except for me in! I don't want her to be running around here while I'll take care of that mug!" He ordered. The demons nodded and stood guard between the door, they kept their eyes open and didn't let anyone in or out.
Back up the surface, after listening to Cuphead's plan, everyone made preparations before Lucifer could teleport them to the Underworld, Cuphead grabbing the tandem bike and the Devil's trident. "Careful, Cups." Blood said. As everyone was gathering, Katie noticed Cuphead looked sad and worried. "You okay there, kiddo?" She asked. The cup shakes his head as a tear is running down his face, sniffling, "It's all my fault! If I had listened to Ali and the others, she and Mugsy would be here and not captured!"
"Hey, it's okay." Katie crooned. "Look, you made a mistake, I understand but what matters is that you want to make amends and help them. I know how you feel because I have this friend who went through the same turmoil. So, you can be certain this isn't my first time venturing to the Underworld to rescue a friend or two after they got nabbed by the Devil in my dimension." Blood agreed with her.
"We went through the Underworld multiple times and always came out of it without a scratch so what will make this different from the other times we went down there?" He asked, patting Cuphead on his shoulder. "We all make mistakes but the good thing is you can learn from them." "And you won't be alone." Katie chimed in. "If there's one thing the Devil severely underestimates is the power of friendship." The Cup wiped his tears away and thanked Blood and Katie for their kind words. "Thanks fellas, I really needed it."
It's hard to believe but even Cuphead needed a pep talk. "And there's also another huge advantage we have other than the safety in numbers tactic." Katie smirked mischievously with a wink. "The element of surprise." For emphasis, she suddenly transformed into a crystal blue dragon with a white underbelly, white claws, a white crest and mane, dainty deer-like ears, smooth curvy white horns atop of her head, a tuft of white fur on the tip of her tail and midnight blue bird-like wings.
She wore a dark blue-black necklace with a round blue gemstone pendant that has four silver beads at each end and one bead as well as purple scarf-like ribbons with blue tips at the bottom. Around the wrists of her foreclaws are white-golden bracelets with large blue teardrop-shaped gemstones at the top and tiny round ones at the bottom. "Wow!" gasped Cuppy, Cuphead and Varian. "Since when can you do that? We thought Alicia and Lucifer were the only ones capable of turning into other animals?" Eira gasped, surprised to see Katie in her dragon form.
Sure it might be a smaller dragon rather than the large wyvern Alicia is always turning into or the serpentine dragon form Lucifer is choosing. But the glow was new for Eira and the others. "That's another story for another time." Katie shrugged. "Yeah. A REALLY long story." Kaichi piped up. The others didn't know what to say and simply shrugged with their shoulders before Lucifer prepared himself to teleport himself and the others in the Underworld. "Before we go down there, I think it's best to split up in two groups." Lucifer suggested.
He knows the Underworld was big like Inkwell Hell. Searching in one group wasn't that effective as splitting up into two. Katie nodded in agreement as she transformed back. "Good idea." She confirmed. "We also need to see if we can grab Alicia's marriage contract if we have any chances of destroying it and free her from that phony arrangement with that psycho.". "Okay, and who's going to save Alicia?" Varian asked while holding Eira close to him.
"Hmmm… leave that to me, Cuppy and Luci here." Katie stated. "You guys go with Blood and Cuphead to search for Mugman." Lucifer raises an eyebrow as he hears his nickname. "Also, if either of us find the marriage contract, keep it on your person and make sure the Devil doesn't try to swipe it back." Katie instructed. "Okay." Cuppy nodded. "So are we ready to go?" Blood asked. Lucifer nodded and got out his trident. "Everyone gather in close and hold tight." Cuphead quickly grabs the Devil's trident and the tandem bike before he gets in with the group gathering around Lucifer.
"Well… here goes nothin'." Cuphead said with a nervous gulp. With the strike of his trident Lucifer hit the ground and the group is enveloped in a large dark gray cloud of smoke.
Back in the Underworld, Devil arrived in the dungeon walking down the stairs while Henchman's gaze followed him. The news of his boss winning half of the bet didn't really make the fat demon imp happy as he knew if the Devil would manage to break the mug's spirit he would lose his bet. Smirking, the Devil approached a large pipe. His smirk turned into a malicious grin as he grabbed the turning wheel on the pipe, snickering deviously as he deliberately increased the fire walls burning around the walls of the dungeon in hopes that the intense heat would be unbearable for Mugman.
Mugman ignored the flames however as his attention was focused on the game of marbles he was playing on his own. He flicked a green marble out of the ring and cheered, "Yes!", "Hey! How are you doing, champ?" The Devil asked as he walked over to Mugman and bent down a bit with a grin, which dropped into a mocking sneer. "Hot enough for ya." And yet again Mugman ignored him as he continued to play his games of marbles. As Mugman was contentedly seeing to his game, the Devil glanced up to see a prisoner trudging past them while carrying a huge rock over his head, struggling to carry it through the intense heat of the flames. The poor soul groaned in exhaustion as he suddenly started to literally melt into a puddle.
Despite this, Mugman didn't show any signs of discomfort from the unbearable heat. Ironically, the Devil appeared to be affected. True, he can tolerate the heat of mortal flames and even the sun in during the hottest summers up on the surface, but the fires of the Underworld turned up this high and combined with his fur, even the Devil himself couldn't handle this intense heat in his own domain. "Heh. Not too… steamy, is it?" The Devil asked, wiping his forehead as he started to sweat.
"Nah, I'm comfortable." Mugman replied as he happily continued to play with his marbles, surprisingly not bothered or affected by the intense heat of the fire surrounding him. The Devil, meanwhile, struggled to maintain his composure as he was the one ironically sweating bullets due to the intense heat as his sweat formed a puddle at his feet. Unable to withstand the heat any longer, he quickly rushed back to lower the temperature while the oblivious Mugman played with his marbles some more.
The puddle of his own sweat evaporated into oblivion the moment he returned to his spot and stance behind Mugman, the Devil heaved a huge sigh of relief as the mug was still blissfully playing with his marbles to pass the time. Composing himself, the Devil decided to use a different tactic to break his prisoner. "So, are you enjoying the Underworld? Thinking about how you're going to spend the rest of eternity?" The Devil asked in a spooky voice for emphasis on the word "eternity" in hopes to at least scare Mugman a bit.
Despite this, Mugman was not bothered by his predicament. And he had a good reason why he's putting up such a calm and casual demeanor about it. "Just passin' the time 'til my brother, friends and Alicia's husband come to save us." Mugman stated. "What? You think your brother and friends are going to save you and my darling Alicia?" The Devil questioned. The absurdity of such a notion amused the Devil. As if those wretched cups, their idiot friends and that phony copy of his would dare to venture down into his domain and try to steal his beloved bride away.
Chuckling, the Devil looked over his shoulder, pointed his thumb at Mugman with one hand while calling out to the prisoners, "He thinks his brother and their friends are going to come down here and save him and my queen!" He laughed mockingly at the statement. However, none of the prisoners were joining him as they simply slumped against their confinements miserably after centuries of imprisonment and torment within the bowels of the Underworld dungeons. The Devil scowled as he glared at his prisoners.
"Ha-ha?" The Devil spoke while motioning to the prisoners to play along. "Oh!" One prisoner gasped in meek surprise before he nervously and weakly laughed. Sure enough, the rest of the prisoners weakly and nervously laughed along as much as they could. Well, all of them except for Mugman's bearded prisoner mate, who simply let out another tormented scream at the top of his lungs, still suspended by his wrists against the wall. After a while of giggling and chuckling to himself, the Devil turned back to Mugman, calmly and casually asking, "Exactly how long do you think you've been down here?"
"I dunno. A couple of days?" Mugman shrugged as he picked up a couple of marbles in his hands. It amused the Devil how easily naive the young mug is. It was actually a couple of hours since he had brought him and Alicia down here. And that gave the advantage of Mugman's lack of knowing the current time he was dragged down here. And this is where the Devil can manipulate him, breaking him emotionally. "Oh Mugman, Mugman, Mugman." The Devil sighed in a fake sympathetic voice.
He reached down and clasped a claw over a confused Mugman's shoulder as though he was a sympathetic parent gently breaking some devastating news. "It might seem like that, but it's actually been 80 years." The Devil lied. Now, he just needed to deliver the killing blow that would surely make the little mug a hysterically broken wreck. "And I'm afraid your dear brother and all of your poor friends are all dead!" The Devil declared with a scary smile on his face.
There was an awkward silence between them as Mugman simply stared at him. At first, the Devil assumed that the young mug was trying to let the "devastating news" sink in. The Devil had hoped Mugman would break down crying in tears of horror and devastation. He would have even settled if the kid had actually screamed in denial. But… Mugman did the exact opposite of what the Devil had been hoping for; he smiled. "Great, then they're all here then." Mugman beamed happily. "What?" The Devil exclaimed in confusion and disbelief. "No, they're all dead. But they're not here. They're…"
The Devil stops and thinks for a moment on how to describe where Mugman's supposedly dead brother and friends went. With an obviously fake sad and sympathetic look on his face, the Devil placed his hand on his chest and pointed upwards, indicating he was referring to Heaven. Mugman simply stared at him in suspicion before he went back to playing with his marbles, bluntly claiming, "Not buying it." Shocked and frustrated, the Devil shot back onto his feet, practically throwing his hands up in the air, yelling, "What?! Oh! Not buying it?!" growled the Devil in frustration. Why can't the mug give in like any other prisoner in the dungeon or like his bride Alicia?
"Listen, I know my brother, our friends and Lucifer and if they were down here, then they're not dead." Mugman explained while he picked up some marbles, ready to flick them again "Which means they're coming to save me and Alicia." Playfully and innocently, Mugman continues to play his game of marbles while the Devil turns around and grumbles in anger. With his fist raised, he looked up to the control room as his ears had picked up someone singing or humming. Up in the control room, Henchman had decided to practice some hula dancing, confident that he was winning the bet. He wore a straw-colored grass skirt and a blue flower garland as he happily hula danced, singing a tropical tune.
The Devil looked dumbfounded, seeing Henchman like that before he remembered the bet and growled even more than before.
Meanwhile, Katie and her group were teleported directly into the throne room of the Underworld in a massive cloud of smoke. Once the smoke cleared, Katie couldn't help but shudder as memories of past experiences back in her dimension entered her mind. "Is everything okay, Katie?" asked Blood. "I-I'm fine." Katie shivered. "I know this is not my dimension's Underworld, but this place still gives me the heebie jeebies, unearthing some bad memories."
"This place is creeping me out too, Kate." Kaichi piped up, his ears drooping down nervously as he trembled in her breast pocket. The Cups agreed with her and shook as well knowing that the Underworld is not really a great place to live in. If you're not a demon or imp of course. Sure they can breathe here without the need of a magical bracelet. But seeing how big and massive the throne room is doesn't change the mood of the group. They turned to notice they were standing just below the three tapestries of the Devil in his goat, spider and dragon form, only they looked a lot more nightmarishly monstrous as each form of the Devil tormented souls in his wake.
Cuphead and Eira gulped nervously as they walked past those tapestries. "Yikes." Cuphead muttered meekly. "You can say that again." Cuppy agreed. "Never did I imagine being down here again." shivered Eira holding onto Varian, unnerved by the monstrous illustrations of the Devil's creature forms. "Whoever painted the Devil in three of these of tapestries must have a strong stomach." Katie commented with a shudder. "A REALLY strong stomach." Kaichi added bluntly.
The others silently agreed with them and nodded while they looked out for the Devil, Lilith or any of his demons and imps. They're in his realm and not back on the surface. Which means they needed to be careful. "Ugh, why is it so hot down here?" asked Cuphead, sweating while he and Cuppy pushed the tandem, while following the group before the cup realized why it was so hot down here in the Underworld. "Oh, right."
"Our best bet to find Alicia and Mugman is to split up as agreed." Katie stated. "I'll go with Cuppy and Lucifer to see where the Devil is keeping Alicia. Cuphead, you go with Blood and take Eira and Varian to go look for Mugsy." The wolf and the two foxes nodded while grabbing the Cup with them. The tandem was leaned against one of the many pillars. "Okay, let's go." Cuppy declared with determination as he and his group set off to find Alicia. "Don't worry, Ali, we'll get you and Musgy out of here." Katie whispered.
"I'm coming for you, my love. Hold on." Lucifer spoke as he trailed alongside Katie and Cuppy to go find his wife. The search and rescue begins. They can only pray they are not too late…