Hello my lovely readers! We are back with a new chapter!
Sorry that the uploading is not as frequent as I thought it would be, been busy with work and life, not to mention mental stuff.
In our last episode, the boys and Audrey met the Pirate, Captain BrineyBeard, who was on a quest to find his girlfriend. However, he forgot to mention that his love is a dreaded sea beast! What will happen to our heroes now?! Let's find out!
Now, let's continue our story...
Season 2, Episode 5: Not So Smooth Sailing
Part II
Hours had passed after the group was thrown overboard. Because Cala Maria's tidalwave was powerful, it knocked out our heroes cold.
They woke up, feeling like they were hit by a truck, as Mugman spat out sand from his mouth and opened his eyes allowing sand to flow out. Audrey coughed out sand and dusted her dress.
Once Mugman got a good look of the place, he nudged his brother, who looked up and gazed at the area. Thankfully, they didn't go far, as the waves had rolled them onto shore, just outside the creepy cove. There were a few wrecked pirate ships, but Brineybeard's ship was nowhere to be found.
Speaking of which, the captain was near them, along with his parrot, but the trio recalled the events that happened prior, seeing Cala Maria turn him into stone. They approached him and with all their might, pushed him onto his back, seeing the rest of him turned to stone. The only thing was, the red box of sweets for Cala wasn't.
But that wasn't the trio's concern. When they saw his stoned face, they screamed, but quickly covered their mouths with their hands, completely terrified of the sight. Now it became very clear that Cala was not playing games and if they were not careful, they could be next.
"Ok, high seas adventure over, let's get out of here!" Cuphead cried.
"Agreed!" Mugman whimpered.
"Don't tell me twice!" Audrye shuddered.
Without missing a beat, they zipped away, as Cuphead yelped in fear. They needed to find someway off the land and head back to the docks, and far away from Cala Maria.
But as they ran, Mugman slowed down, eventually stopping, looking back at Briney with a sorrowful expression. He then grabbed Cuphead's handle and yanked him back, startling him. Audrey saw that and hustled back, curious to know his motives.
"Hey! What was that for!?" Cuphead exclaimed.
"We can't just leave, Cuppy." Mugman replied. With all his might, he managed to get the stoned face captain on his feet, balancing him in place. As he placed the parrot on his shoulder, he added. "We promise Briney we'd help him."
"Ok, honey, I know you have a heart to help people, but in situations like this, we have to leave." Audrey argued. "Did you not see what she's done to him? And the other pirates?"
"I know, but it wouldn't be right to leave him like this." Mugman stated. He then strolled away as he looked around for something as his brother sarcastically asked
"So your plan is what? Convince a dreaded sea beast that a big rock loves her? That's crazy! That's basically a death wish!"
"Mugman, Cuphead's right. Cala is a powerful monster and I don't think my sketchbook alone could help." Audrey mentioned. "If we make a wrong move, we're done."
"Maybe, but I made a promise, and I'm gonna deliver these sweets." Mugman announced, returning with some rope. He marched over to Briney once more and proceeded to tie the rope around his waist.
"You go in there, and you'll never see Elder Kettle or the cottage again!" Cups warned him. "I ain't gonna be the one to tell him what happened. I'll have Audrey do it."
"Yeah-wait what?! Why am I telling him?!" Audrey asked. "He'll get mad at me for telling him that!"
"I dunno, figured he'd be less angry since you're a grownup." Cups shrugged.
Audrey rolled her eyes. Leave it to Cuphead to come up with a lame reason like that.
Mugman had finished tying and tightening the rope as he mentioned "We'll never see Kettle or the cottage again anyway, since we're hundreds of miles from home."
Cuphead was a bit silent when he said that. Mugs made a point. They weren't going home, even if they weren't turned to stone. Audrey could see that as well, and began having a bad feeling. She wasn't able to make portals or teleport them out. Monica would have no issue with that. But since she or Andy was not here, they didn't have a ton of options.
On top of that, she could make a boat and head out, but Mugman seemed pretty persistent to keep his word to Briney, despite his reluctance to even go on a 'high-seas' adventure in the first place.
"Well, you're on your own, buddy!" Cupehad retorted. "Audrey and I will make a boat and head back home! With or without you."
"So what else is new?" Mugman coldly remarked, as he threw the lasso over Briney and around his waist.
He then began to pull and tug on the stoned captain, but despite his best efforts, he couldn't budge him. He pulled, strained, and grunted but the stone was not moving, not an inch.
Cuphead watched with an annoyed look, viewing his brother's struggle and was debating if he could just leave, come back and still see his brother failing at getting him to move. After a second, he took a sigh. He knew the choice he was going to make might make him regret it.
He pulled Audrey aside and announced "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need to help him."
"You sure? I know it would be wrong to leave him, but that means we'd be up against the sea beast." Audrey pointed out.
"Yeah, but seeing him struggle is just sad." He stated. "Might as well get it over with so we can go home."
"Good call."
They approached a struggling Mugman and Cuphead announced "Fine, we'll help ya."
Immediately, he stopped pulling and cheerfully instructed
"Ok! You and Miss Audrey get the head, and I'll get the legs."
And so that was that. Cuphead and Audrey lifted a side of his head while Mugman got his legs. Audrey was strong, with all her time she spent at the gym with Sasha, but carrying a twenty ton weight pirate that was turned to stone was more than she could handle.
She was, though, impressed with how well the boys were doing, despite their grunting as they carried Briney.
"I just hope her cove isn't too far and I hope we can find her, before she finds us." Audrey thought.
A bit later, the trio trudge their way inside the cove, feeling a chilling air run over their cheeks. The cove had its typical decor; stalagmites, pebbles scattered in the water, skeletons, you know the works. Mugman looked around, sensing danger around him.
Granted, a cove where a sea beast that can turn people into stone isn't really a happy fun place.
He looked around when he saw something on the ground near the water.
"Oh look! A starfish!"
However, he failed to see the skull head with an eyepatch on the ground, as he tripped over it, lost his grip on the captain's legs and dropped it. It landed with a thud along with the sound of something breaking.
Mugs looked in complete shock, as he saw that both legs were shattered, complete cut off from the rest of his body. Cuphead and Audrey's face grew pale with fear, unable to say anything.
Finally Cuphead whispered "You broke his legs…"
Mugs frantically thought of a solution before suggesting
"Uhhh there's always glue-"
But just as he replied with that, the waves rolled in and swept the broken legs away, vanishing from sight. His heart quickened and his face scrunched up.
Scanning around quickly, he spotted a treasure chest, filled to the brim with gold, jewels and even a king's crown. Normally, one would grab what they could stuffing their pockets with gold, but Mugman was more interested in the peg-like legs of the chest.
He yanked them off, shoved and twisted them on the legs, got him up and stood back, very proud of what he accomplished. Audrey saw that his legs were now replaced with two pegs. Not that it was going to accomplish anything especially since he was turned to stone.
"Ah. Good as new." He beamed.
There was a short pause, as Cuphead stood near his brother and simply looked at his attempt to fix this.
"Hmmm…"
That was all Mugman needed to hear, as he teared up and began to bawl his eyes out. Audrey knew Cuphead didn't say anything mean to him but the fact that it wasn't the best idea to put pegs in the legs place.
Audrey hugged him and replied "Oh sweet angel. It's ok. Oh honey, it's ok."
"Well, he's solid stone now." Cuphead mentioned, patting Mugman's back. "It's not like he was using 'em. In fact, this might be a good time to call it a day."
He began to walk off, but his brother stopped crying, reached over and once more pulled him back by the handle, placing him near him.
"No way. We just can't leave, Cuphead." Mugman argued. "We made a promise to Briney and I intend to fulfill that promise! And on top of that, we have a responsibility."
"Great. If we end up eaten or turned to stone, we'll all know whose fault it is." Cuphead sarcastically replied. "And the only responsibility we have is to get off of this place and go home!"
"Look, you're the one who wanted a 'high seas adventure'!" Mugman reminded him. "So we are going to have a high seas adventure and you are going to like it!"
"Oh no they're arguing again…" Audrey groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose with her pointer finger and thumb.
"This is no time for the blame game." Cuphead expressed, crossing his arms across his chest.
"You started the blame game!" Mugman shouted.
"It takes two to play the blame game!"
"Yeah and you started it!"
As the two bickered with each other, the three of them failed to see a large shadow approaching, looming over them. Audrey wondered about that, trying to figure out if it was the sun's light making a shadow appear from a large rock.
But she was very wrong.
"Who cares who-!" Cuphead started, but stopped when they heard the sound of a low growl. They felt a shiver shrivel up their spines, as they wondered if a familiar sea beast had returned to finish them off.
"Is that…her?" Cuphead gulped
They looked and saw that thankfully, it wasn't Cala Maria.
Instead, it was an enormous crab monster, with yellow eyes, orange irises and mountain shaped black pupils. It gave a thunderous roar, snapping its claws together, before glaring at them.
After a short pause, Mugman calmly answered his brother's question.
"It's just a giant crab monster."
"Oh, is that all?" Cuphead sighed.
"Whew. For a second there, I thought we were in actual danger." Audrey chuckled.
It sunk in for a second for them, when they came to the realization.
"Giant Crab Monster?!" They cried. They screamed in terror as the crab monster roared. The trio zipped off, hiding behind stalagmites, behind where the stoned captain was.
They peered out, as Audrey held them both in a protective state. The crab monster drew close to them, reached its enormous claw out and pulled out the red heart box, the same one Briney was still holding on to.
As he pulled it away, Mugman squirmed himself from Audrey's grip and shouted at the crab monster.
"Hey! Those aren't for you!" He shouted.
The crab monster hissed at him, snapping his claw at him. It was almost like saying "Too bad, so sad" or "Back off".
That ticked him off.
Before Audrey could stop him, Mugman marched from his hiding spot and commanded. "Give me back those sweets!" He saw that the crab was not going to comply with his demands. He looked over and grabbed a sword that was embedded in a skull's chest.
Hate to know who the poor unfortunate fool was who got stabbed.
He grasped it in his hands before shouting
"En garde!"
The crab snatched a sword and pointed it at Mugsy, growling. Audrey began to panic.
She knew Mugman wanted to deliver those sweets and fulfill their responsibility to deliver those sweets but this was not a good idea, especially dealing with a giant crab monster!
Mugman charged at the crab monster and did the one thing Audrey and Cuphead did not expect him to do; he began to sword fight the monster.
As they clashed, Audrey and Cuphead's jaws were on the floor, surprised by how well he was handling the sword, the crab and the battle.
She didn't underestimate Mugman for anything he did, but normally when something like this happened, he would shrink up, and shake very badly. So seeing him like this was a new change, and it made her believe he can build more confidence.
The two continued to battle; swords clashing, Mugman grunting. It was intense. Finally, after a while, Mugsy managed to knock the sword out of the crab's claw, as it splashed into the water. The crab was surprised by this and froze when Mugman pointed his sword at him.
He pointed back at Briney. The crab got the message and carefully placed the heart box back into his hands. Mugman then pointed to the large cove, indicating for him to leave. He scampered away, vanishing from sight.
Once he was out of sight, Audrey and Cuphead rushed towards Mugman, who stood triumphantly.
"Mugman! You ok?!" Cuphead asked.
"Oh honey, that was amazing!" Audrey cried. "You were so brave!"
"Thank you." Mugman beamed. "No one gets in the way of us delivering the goods."
He then placed the sword in the side of his pants, as if there was a baldric. He was feeling pretty good…until his pants fell down revealing his white underpants with red hearts all over. Audrey busted out laughing but quickly covered her mouth.
"Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to laugh." She quickly replied. "It just happened so fast."
"Oh jeez!" Mugman cried, as he quickly pulled up his pants, feeling his face turn red. "So much for heroics."
"Hey, it's ok. You did so well." Cuphead claimed. "How did you know how to do that?"
"Erm, well, you know how Elder Kettle has a one on one time with each of us?" Mugs asked.
"Yeah. He usually takes me to the park or something."
"Well, during my time with him, I asked him to teach me some sword fighting. I know that's not like me, but I-I want to be more courageous and I don't want to be like a scaredy cat all the time. I kinda feel like that."
Before Audrey could reply, suddenly they heard the sound of classical music, echoing softly from a nearby cave. They additionally saw green lights flash a bit. The thing was it was in sync with the music that was playing.
Cuphead nudged head over back to Briney, and the two got the message. They got a good grip on him and trudged in the cave, the music getting louder. When they entered the cave, their previous fears resurfaced.
They saw none other than Cala Maria. Her back was turned to them, as she combed her hair with a sword fish. While Audrey saw her outside the cove, it was difficult to see her appearance, but now she was able to see.
She had a purple dead octopus as hair, pale purple skin, and turquoise eyelids. When she turned around to the side, Audrey saw she had thin pink lips, a small and pointed nose, big blue eyes, big eyelashes and thin eyebrows.
She additionally had a turquoise fish tail, her seashell bra was now greenish-turquoise, and had two marks in each of her arms.
They proceeded to the ledge as the music proceeded and Audrey knew a song was coming.
*New Song: Cala Maria's Song*
Cala: My father was a sailor. My mother was a fish
*She proceeded to brush her hair, before stopping, still not noticing the remaining crew of Briney Beard.
Cala: Since I was little girl I've only had one wish. A tiny dream belonged to me.
*She then swam over to the side, as the group placed Briney in front of large stones and watched her in fear. She retreated to a stone pillar with mirrors of different sizes and shapes, along with a pirate's wheel, treasure chest and other various items. She closed her eyes and began to reflect on her past life.
Cala: To be known across the seven seas
*Suddenly Audrey's sketchbook began to glow and when she opened it, she and the Cups saw ocean waves and a ship began to form on the page. It then changed to Cala's tail emerging from the ocean and smashing it.
Cala: I started small but my ambition grew. And now I'm known across the ocean blue.
*Just then more boats appeared before she emerged from the water, destroying the ships. Her hair was messy and pointed, while the tentacles of the octopus were now snakes with bright yellow eyes that were shown to mirror her expressions. her eyes are a bright red, with slitted black pupils. Her teeth were sharper, and her tongue was splitted in two in the end.
Cala: All my life what I wanted to be. The fiercest monster in the deep blue sea
*They looked and saw the same image from the sketchbook on a frame hanging on the wall of the cove. She briefly turned to her siren form before, which scared the trio more than it did before, making them shrink behind the stalagmites.
Cala: It's a lonely life. But the only life
*She then leaned over the edge as she gazed herself in the reflection of the water, before tracing a circle around. She then gazed angrily at her reflection, splashing her reflection.
Cala: I would ever want for me. But I've come so far
*As Cala sang, Mugman crept from the stalagmite creeping towards the edge, while his brother and Audrey panicked.
Cuphead: (whispering)
Mugs! No!
Audrey: (Whispering) Get back here! She will kill you!
Cala: And now I'm a star. And everyone knows me
*She smacked the top of the stack of skeletons on the side of her, before she twirled a bit.
Cala: Yes, I am number one sea beast!
*She briefly turned into her siren form before turning to normal.
Cala: I am the Cala Maria!
*She spread her arms out ending on a high note.
*End of Song*
As Cala finished, she was surprised to hear the sound of applause, believing she was the only one in the cove. She looked and saw a kid with blue shorts and a mug for a head, sitting near the ledge and applauding, his face a bit swooned.
"Wow. You have a beautiful voice."
She drew closer to him, only a few feet away as he gave a small giggle.
"Heh. Uh, hi Miss Cala Maria, ma'am. My name is-" Mugman started but she interrupted him.
"Dinner. Your name is dinner." She simply stated, Audrey noticing her Russian accent.
"Actually my name is-" Mugman started but stopped when he realized what she meant. "Oh. You're going to eat us."
She gave him an annoyed look, her arms across her chest, as if she was saying "Well, duh, what else would I mean by that?"
"Well, if you're going to eat us, then I'm gonna tell you why we came here." He announced, retreating back to Briney Beard and the others.
She rolled her eyes annoyed, hoping this would go quickly, as she wanted to devour them soon.
"This stone loves you!" Mugman announced, gesturing to Briney.
"Yeah. It's love on the rocks." Cuphead joked, tapping Briney a bit. He gave a small laugh while Audrey smiled. "Get it?"
Mugman didn't think it was funny, not in the slightest.
"Not helping."
"Kid, I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about." Cala bluntly stated.
"Really? You didn't hear what Briney said?" Audrey asked, arching an eyebrow. "I mean, he was trying to confess something to you and stuff."
"Listen, I wasn't really interested in what he was saying." Cala pointed out. "All I knew was a ship was approaching and I knew I had to attack it. It's how I roll."
"Well, you can't ignore this. Look." Mugman replied. He then grabbed the heart shaped gift from Briney's hands and held it up to her. "He even brought this for you."
Cala looked surprised. "A gift? Wow. No one has ever given me a gift before."
Audrey wanted to point out the reason behind it, but she decided to keep her mouth shut. She was in a good mood and she didn't want to risk breaking it.
"What is it?"
"See for yourself." Mugman confidently answered, as he grabbed the lid of it and pulled it off. Now when opening a gift box like this, your first initial thought is you got a huge thing of chocolates and other surprises.
That was not the case for them this time.
Mugman smelled something funny and when he looked, he gagged. In the place of the chocolates, there were fish heads, tentacles, eggs, and other things that are just so disgusting to even mention. To make it worse, there were flies buzzing around them.
"Ugh! I'm so sorry! I thought these were sweets!" Mugman gagged, holding his nose.
Audrey wasn't sure if Briney got them from a cheap boat shop or something, but his taste in sweets was not even on point.
Surprisingly, Cala was overjoyed with what she saw.
"They are! Oh! He even brought my favorite; squid liver." She sighed, as she reached over and picked one out of the box. She popped it in her mouth, sighing with satisfaction.
"Mm! Mmm!"
The heroes gagged and Audrey held her hand over her mouth. That was the most disgusting thing they've ever seen.
"Thank goodness Josh gets me actual chocolates for holidays." Audrey thought as Cala finished eating.
She placed her arms on the edge of the rock and began caressing Briney's head gently, as she was lost in thought.
"Hmm. What a sweet gesture." She sighed. "Too bad I turned him into stone."
She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek, her lips glistening in the light. Mugman thought it was romantic, Audrey and Cuphead were still trying to process the whole thing.
After a second she replied. "Now where were we? Ah yes."
She turned to her siren form, her eyes now yellow this time which scared the living daylights out of them. The boys gasped and held onto Audrey who was trying to come up with a plan.
"Dang it, thought she would have forgotten." She muttered.
She reached for her sketchbook and before she or Cala could do anything, just then, a pink heart began to form on Briney's chest glowing brighter and brighter until a burst of light shot out, cracking the stone.
Then within seconds
CRACK!
The stone was shattered and Briney and his parrot were back to their normal forms. Cala was shocked. She nor the others didn't expect this to happen.
As Briney took a step, he lost his balance and fell stomach first. He was a bit confused by this, but when he looked at his legs, he frowned.
"Hey! These ain't me legs!" He pointed out.
Mugman was trying to hold it together, when he burst into tears once more.
"I'm sorry!" He wailed. "I dropped you and shattered your legs! I'm a terrible person!"
"Oh no, honey, you're not." Audrey assured him, holding him close.
To their surprise, he wasn't mad at all. Not one bit.
He did a front flip, landing on his leg-erm peg legs as he announced "Are ya kidding? Most pirates have one peg leg and I gots two!"
He did a cute little dance, laughing with joy before he gave a final pose. The trio took a breath of relief.
The last thing they needed was for him to be another enemy of theirs. They had enough from a ton of others.
"No one has ever unstoned themselves before." Cala chimed in. "How is that even possible?"
"It's cause I love ya, baby." Briney replied. It was short lived because Cala fired at him and once more he was turned to stone.
"Don't call me baby." Cala growled.
"Oh come on!" Audrey cried. "Seriously?! We just got him back!"
Just then, to their surprise once more, he unstoned himself as he replied "Understood."
She looked at him with a confused look as she asked
"I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
"Why it's me, BrineyBeard!" He replied. His parrot, who was unstoned as well, squawked his name as he circled around him.
Cala pondered for a second, trying to recall him or remember if she ever spent time with him in her past, but nothing was jogging her memory.
"Hmm…Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
"BrineyBeard! We went on a date, I took ye to that Italian joint, we had the seafood pasta, and for dessert, we had…" He recalled.
"...Tiramisu!" Cala gasped, her eyes widening.
"Yes! So I came all this way to ask ye." He beamed, getting on one knee. "Would ye be me girlfriend?"
There was a long pause, as Audrey saw a cringed look appear on Cala's face, something that was oddly familiar to her. Granted, she's seen that look and wasn't a stranger to it, but something about that look, especially in this situation, seemed familiar.
Finally, Cala answered.
"Look, Briney, you're a nice guy. But for me, my career comes first."
"But-"
"Romance isn't in the cards right now."
"But-"
"It would never work between us."
"But-"
Audrey took a small sharp breath. Now she knew why.
"Oh man, she just used all the sayings that girls give to guys when they're trying to say no. She just played that entire deck."
Mugman was heartbroken by this, while Cuphead was really confused. Just then, one of the eggs hatched and a baby octopus broke free, and latched onto Cuppy's face. He began trying to yank it off, with Audrey's help.
As she and Cuphead struggled, Cala explained her reasoning. "In fact, I planned to eat you on our first date. But I filled up on Tiramisu."
"Would ye at least think about being me girlfriend?" Briney asked. "Maybe down the road?"
She leaned close back, gazing at his cute face. "Oh, sweet, sweet, Briney. You are a charmer. But I'm afraid I must eat you and your crew now. Eh, how about I give you a ten second head start?"
Finally, the two were able to yank the squid off Cuphead's face, not hearing a word of the conversation.
"What did she say?!" Cups asked, panting.
"Oh, she said she was going to eat us." Mugman sighed, smitten by the romance.
"Oh." Cuphead sighed.
"For a second there, I thought it was going to end badly." Audrey chuckled. But like before, the trio realized what she said.
"Eat us!?"
"Squawk! Run for your lives! Run for your lives!" The parrot shouted, snapping everyone out of the love trance.
Without missing a beat, they bolted away, just as Cala turned to her siren form again and dove head first into the water. They raced out of the cove as fast as their legs, pegs and wings could carry them, not daring to look back to see where Cala was.
Once they exited the cove, they came to halt, and frantically looked around for something to get them off.
Cuphead then cried out "Look! There's the ship!" They saw it was there, thankfully without a scratch, several feet from the cove and stuck between a few rocks, holding it in place. "Hurry!"
They rushed towards it, but stopped when Cala once more emerged from the water, blocking their path. She gave a thunderous roar, sending a shiver up their spines.
"We'll never escape!" Briney cried. "She's so good at what she does."
It's official, this guy loves her even if she's trying to kill them.
Mugman didn't think this was a good time to think fondly of her. He looked over and saw the 'sweets' Briney was holding in his hands. Thinking quickly, he grabbed it and held it up.
"Hey lady! You want this!?" He called out.
Cala gasped in fear. "My sweets!"
"Then go get it!" Mugman tossed the box like it was a frisbee out into and it landed in the ocean, several feet away. Cala then dove down, swimming after her gift and gave the crew a chance to run and swim to the ship.
They scurried onboard, much to their relief and began conducting a plan to leave. As they plotted, Cala rose from the water, sweets in hand, and popped one in her mouth, overjoyed with the treat.
"Mmm! So tasty!" She sighed.
She was very much distracted, unaware that the crew made it to the ship. The issue was though, since the rocks were holding it in place, it was not planning on going anywhere, which caused them to panic.
"No, no no no no! We're stuck on the rocks!" Mugman cried, as the trio looked over the ledge.
"What're we gonna do?!" Cuphead wailed.
"It's ok, we'll come up with something." Audrey answered. "Let me see if I can get my sketchbook out and draw something to free us."
Audrey dug into her bag, trying to get her sketchbook out as Briney rushed to the forecastle deck, as his parrot squawked. "Squawk! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"
As he gazed over back at Cala, he became smitten once more and took a sigh.
"Aw! Exquisit."
Cala finished munching on a sweet when she looked over, shocked to see the crew on the ship. Briney then blew her a kiss which made her blush and smile a bit. She returned the gesture by blowing him a kiss.
Huh, guess she's got a thing for him after all.
However, while it was a gentle kiss, it blew on the ship so hard, it caused the ship to be free of the rocks and zoom out in the ocean. The trio was holding onto the side for dear life, as they saw the cove and Cala Maria vanish from sight.
Back at the docks, Josh was trying to come up with a plan to find the trio when suddenly he heard someone shout "Ship approaching! At full speed!"
He looked and the same red ship was indeed approaching at rapid speed. He jumped out of the way as it came to a screeching halt at the docks. The captain and his crew were flung from the ledge to the deck, landing on their stomachs. Josh stood up and saw Audrey, Mugman and Briney aboard.
"Audrey!" He cried, dashing onto the ship. "You ok?! What happened?!"
"Ugh, just a little high seas adventure." Audrey chuckled, as Josh helped her up. "But we're alive and have a story to tell."
Mugman stood up, shook the dizziness off him and was about to depart when he felt Briney place a hand on his shoulder.
"Mugman, I want to thank ye." Briney announced. "Ye came through on a promise to a pirate. Know what that makes ye?"
"What?" Mugman asked.
"A real pirate." Briney answered.
"Really?" Mugman asked, surprised. "But I was scared and I broke your legs."
"Ay, that be true, but now I can boast to the other pirates about the daring adventure we had." He claimed. Sometimes even the best pirates in the world can get a little skittish. And because of that, ye won't ever forget it."
Mugman smiled brightly. It did feel good to be an actual pirate, especially since he overcame a dreaded sea beast.
"Yeah! I did!" He cheered. "Ya hear that, Cuphead!? I'm a real pirate!"
However, they looked, and saw that Cuphead was nowhere in sight.
"Say, where is he?" Audrey asked. "Oh please don't tell me he was thrown overboard."
Just then they heard Cuphead call "Uh guys! Help!"
They looked up and saw that his sweater was snagged on the pole of the crows nest, struggling to get down.
"Well, looks like he finally got his high seas adventure!" Briney joked. The others joined in laughing before they headed up to the crows nest and got him down.
They were about to bid Briney farewell, when suddenly, a magic glow formed around Mugman. He was shocked by this, examining his whole body.
"Whooaaa. Miss Audrey, what is this?" He asked, astonished.
"I-I don't know!" Audrey gasped.
Then the magic around him began to swirl faster and faster and then
BANG!
A burst of light shone, nearly blinding them. The light beamed for about five seconds when it faded leaving a small spark in Mugman's palm. The group gazed at it, trying to make sense of what it was and where it came from. Then it shifted into a small heart pin.
The pin was decorated black with a skull, accessorized with a pirate's hat, and two swords clashing.
The captain and the crew were in shock. They had never seen anything like this before, let alone it appearing from magic.
Finally Josh broke the silence by asking "Ok, are we all seeing the same thing?"
"Yeah. A pirate pin…" Mugman replied.
"What?! Mugman gets one and I don't!?" Cuphead whined. "That's not fair!"
Before Audrey could say anything, a thought came to her. It did indeed look like a pin, but something about it told her it was for something else.
"The heart of a true pirate…wait! That's it."
"What's it?" Josh asked.
"This is what Monica was talking about!" Audrey squealed. "These are the ingredients for the portal to get home!"
"Oooohhhhh!" The cups replied.
"Wait, so, we get these pin like objects, to make the portal, but also to remind ourselves of what we overcame?" Mugman asked.
"Looks like it." Cuphead nodded.
"Wait, ye mean ye and your handsome lad ain't from here?" Briney asked Audrey.
"Yeah. It's a bit of a long story but we're not from Inkwell or this world." Audrey replied. "Trust me that's a big adventure in itself."
"I see. Well, I hope ye and your lads can come and sail the seven seas with me once again." Briney announced. "We'll have more adventures then."
They bid him farewell and departed from the docks, heading home.
A few hours later, it was bedtime and Audrey had finished tucking Mugman into bed. Cuphead was fast asleep in his, snoring contently.
"There we go, all tucked in and ready for bed." Audrey smiled.
"Thanks, Miss Audrey." Mugman smiled. "Glad we're back safe and sound."
"Oh yes. It was a great day, but after that, I could use some shuteye." Audrey nodded, yawning a bit.
She kissed him on the forehead and was about to leave when Mugman asked.
"Miss Audrey, is-is it wrong that I get scared?"
"Oh of course not, honey. Being scared is normal, especially in scary moments like that." She replied. "You remember how I told you Mario gets scared too?"
He nodded.
"Well, he has a younger brother named Luigi." She continued. "He gets scared a lot too, but it's nothing to be ashamed about. He had to go through three haunted mansions to save Mario and his friends."
"Wow. Three? That must have been scary." Mugs gulped. "Were there any ghosts?"
"Tons. But he got help from a scientist who had an invention to suck up and trap the ghosts." Audrey added. "As he went through the mansion, he gained courage and saved the day. You see, without fear, we won't know how to be brave."
Mugman smiled, bid her good night and drifted off to sleep.
Audrey closed the door quietly and headed to the guest room. She was filled with happiness and excitement, knowing they had one part of the spell in their midst.
While there were four more and she had absolutely no idea how to get the others, she had confidence she and Josh would be able to open a portal and head home.
"But I don't wanna rush through it. I'll have some fun. I'll be like Mario or Sonic who while they had a task, still makes time to have some fun. Especially if we can get to shock a certain demon once and a while."
Whew! Close call! Glad they managed to make it out alive, and from the looks of things, maybe Briney and Cala could be a thing. Hopefully.
But in other good news, they found the first pin of the spell! How will they obtain the others? Wait and see! "Toon" in next time for another thrilling adventure!
As always, thanks so much for reading. Don't forget to write a review, but let's avoid the flames please :D