After half an eternity, the story is finally continuing and we are slowly approaching the end of the second season.
I apologize that you had to wait so long. The last few weeks have been more of a burden than a relief for me. Depression has made my life difficult, my work has been exhausting, I've turned 26 and I've really put myself down several times.
However, there is also good news. I have created a Discord server for writers who are both experienced and new. I invite you to join and post your stories. No matter if or Archieve of our Own. Anyone can post their story on the server and share their ideas.
The Discord server is called: Cuphead Writers
Oh and to talk about Archieve of our Own. As I see that my stories are not really well received there I will probably delete the account at the end of the month which is a shame as I would have been on there for a year in August.
If you are interested you are welcome to read it. My user is the same on the site.
Until then
Sitting in the garden, Elder Kettle whistled happily as he watered his plants and vegetables. They shone and looked extremely appetizing. Well, he had put a lot of effort into them and liked to show them off. But as beautiful as his plants were, he also knew that they quickly became a target when it came to insects, birds or other greedy people who occasionally dropped by to grab one or two of his fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon when you consider what era they were in. 1930 was in the middle of the Great Depression. A time when many people were reluctant to steal to get food. This not only affected the individual stores in town or Porkrind's own, but also ordinary citizens who grew their own vegetables were victims of thieves. Food thieves to be more precise.
Elder Kettle was therefore very, very careful and walked carefully and backwards to the shed to get his basket out of it, which he always used to collect his vegetables. With the door within reach, he looked from left to right and then left again before turning with a jerk to the door of the shed and opening it. "What the...!" but as soon as he opened it he was greeted by a wall of orange that belonged to the Pumpkin Pumpky that the three cups had stored in there a few days ago before the competition took place.
The only thing was that the competition was taking place today and the pumpkin was blocking the way. "Boys! Get your pumpkin out of here right now!" roared Elder Kettle in the direction of the cottage. One of the upper windows opened, from which the three cups looked out in confusion but also amazement while Elder Kettle tried not to fume with rage as he usually did. "We're coming Elder Kettle!" without hesitating or messing around, the three cups closed the window and ran out the back door towards Elder Kettle. How quickly they managed to get from their room down to the kitchen in a second nobody asked. Not even Alicia. Normally, she would have given herself a face palm by now.
But this was not quite true. The three were not away or in the city or anywhere else on the Inkwell Isles. Nor had Alicia been abducted by the devil. No, the devil remained in the underworld and continued to sulk around in his own bedchamber while he wished Alicia was back in his arms. So where was she then? The three mugs asked themselves the moment before Elder Kettle demanded that their prize-winning pumpkin disappear from his shed. The only answer he got to his request was a nervous swallow. "Oh uh I don't really know Elder Kettle", "The pumpkin looks very heavy to pull out of the shed" the two brothers spoke in a nervous voice so as not to be burdened with the work that rested on them. After all, they were the ones who had brought the pumpkin into the shed in the first place.
"I don't care if the pumpkin is heavy or not! I want it out of my shed!" he shouted in frustration and pushed all three cups towards the shed without many words. "I want it out, that's all I ask," he muttered in annoyance while the three cups thought about how to get the pumpkin out and, above all, where it should be stored. "But Elder Kettle we don't even know where to store Pumpky", "Yes, the competition is only in a few days".
But the poster that Elder Kettle held in his hands advertising the competition said something else. The competition was actually taking place today. Eyes wide open, the three cups ran to the shed and pulled at the pumpkin with all their might. However, it did not budge. He remained standing in place while the three cups lost their heads one by one. Literally. They lay in front of the three now headless bodies.
"We need help" the statement was clear for all three of them. They couldn't get the pumpkin out of the shed with their micro metric arms. No matter how many times they tried. Nothing would work unless they had help. Help in the form of Alicia and Lucifer. Both adults were strong enough, or rather could use their strength to get the pumpkin out of the shed. So the three didn't hesitate long, picking up their heads, screwing them to their bodies, momentarily dizzy with Mugman the only one whose face swelled slightly green before shaking their heads and running into the cottage. Elder Kettle, meanwhile, tended to his vegetables and protected them from any vermin.
The door to the guest room was within reach of the three cups as they ran out of the kitchen into the living room and stopped in front of it to catch their breath. Not because the path was so far away, but because of the effort of pulling the pumpkin out of the shed. That plus running here took the three of them out of breath, so they had to exhale before knocking on the door to let not only Alicia but also Lucifer and Blood know they were coming in.
But before their hands could knock on the door, there was a loud thud followed by a loud crash inside the guest room. This not only confused the three cups but also caused them to involuntarily distance themselves from the door. No one knew why. Actually, there was nothing to fear. At least that's what the three cups hoped and approached the door slowly and carefully. Slowly and carefully, Cuphead reached for the doorknob and turned it to the right before pushing the door inwards to enter the guest room. Or that's what he wanted.
"What is..." but something heavy seemed to be standing in front of the door, preventing the young mug from opening it. Even with the help of his brother Mugman and Cuppy, the door didn't seem to open an inch. There must be something heavy in front of the door. It couldn't be anything else. But there were no boxes or crates in the guest room. Elder Kettle had stored them in the cellar so that Alicia and the others had more space. So what was blocking the door and preventing the three cups from going into the guest room? Well, a sneeze answered that. "Wait, was that Alicia?" wondered Cuppy. He recognized the sneezing from everywhere and could already guess who was responsible for the blockade.
Now they could open the door and see the chaos in the guest room. The beds were pressed against the sides of the room, the closets were either on the floor or leaning against the wall, the desk was overturned, as were the chairs, bedside tables and Blood himself, who was lying on the floor. He looked really down and out. The only thing missing were the stars that normally circled above the heads of toons while they were knocked out. But the wolf only scratched his head painfully as he grabbed one of the overturned chairs and sat down on it to get his mind back to normal.
But the question of who or what was responsible for the chaos was quickly answered for the three cups as a Rockdrake lay on its back directly in front of them. Lucifer was lying on his stomach with a surprised but relieved expression on his face. Why he had that look on his face was because that very Rockdrake was Alicia and because she was apparently responsible for the chaos in the guest room and for the door blockade.
Normally she would have received a warning from Elder Kettle, who was now standing behind the three cups and also wanted to know what was going on. But before he could open his mouth and say anything at all, he and the three cups immediately saw Alicia's sick and sniffling face. They knew that she wasn't feeling well and that she had caught a cold. Her moans and sniffles were hard to ignore as she sneezed again and unintentionally changed into her demon form. She was now lying on her bed. Like the other two, the bedposts were slanted instead of straight and almost looked as if they would fall apart at any moment. But they didn't. Lucifer was already taking care of that, using his demon powers to clean up the mess that was still in the guest room.
The closets disappeared and reappeared in their original position, the beds were back in place without a scratch and the room was generally spotless, as if a wyvern hadn't just flown through it. Even if that is not the case. Because yes, it was true that Alicia was a Wyvern a few seconds ago. But that was rather unintentional as she had difficulty controlling her powers due to her cold. Unfortunately, this was a disadvantage of the demon fever.
"Demon fever!" the three cups roared as Lucifer explained what Alicia had while covering her ears to keep her headache from getting worse than usual. So bad that the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall in the living room came to life. The clock opened its tired eyes, while it stretched out its "arms" and opened its mouth, the cuckoo flew out of it and circled flying around the living room. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing. But here we are talking about a cuckoo.
It wasn't long before the bird began to make itself heard loud and clear. So loud that it could be heard not only in the living room but throughout the cottage. "What the heck is going on here?" Elder Kettle came out of the kitchen, angry and annoyed but also confused, while covering his ears as it was extremely loud thanks to the bird.
Elder Kettle wasn't the only one annoyed by the sudden volume. Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman all showed little enthusiasm. In fact, the three were rather anxious and confused as to why the cuckoo bird had suddenly come to life when they remembered what Lucifer had explained a minute ago. "Unfortunately, there is a downside to demon fever," and that downside was for Alicia. She couldn't keep her powers under control. That's why every time she coughed, she unintentionally transformed into one of her animal forms or unintentionally used her demon powers.
Demon fever was not a normal illness that could simply be cured with conventional medicine. No, it was a serious illness. Not only because Alicia was a danger to everyone in the cottage and on the Inkwell Isle's at the moment, but also because she could die from the disease if left untreated. The shocked expressions on the faces of the three cups said it all. They knew that Alicia was in a bad situation if a cure wasn't found for her quickly. At the moment, Alicia's health mattered more than her pumpkin. But Elder Kettle didn't care. He wanted the pumpkin out of the shed.
"And don't think about going into town first!" They didn't want to do that anyway because today is the competition. But they needed help to get the pumpkin out of the shed and wanted to ask Alicia if she could help them. But with her illness, Alicia couldn't help them. Feelings of guilt spread through her mind. They didn't want to be selfish. But again, Elder Kettle was more impatient by the second.
So, rather unintentionally, they decided to ask Lucifer or Blood for help. Asking costs nothing. Well, not quite. Lucifer had something to do. He had to find the ingredients for the cure for Alicia and couldn't help. "I have to travel to the underworld for the serum" Unfortunately, all the ingredients he needed were there. "And what if the devil finds out that Alicia is ill?" the three cups asked each other with worrying expressions on their faces. They hadn't thought about that yet. The devil could use it to kidnap Alicia and have her with him without her being able to defend herself. Well, at the moment she couldn't anyway because she was lying head first in the pillow, moaning with a blocked nose while more chaos was created in the living room and it was getting louder and louder.
In addition to the cuckoo that had come to life, there was now also a parade of crockery in the living room and the radio was playing jazz music to which the sofa and armchair were dancing. It now looked more like a dance hall than a normal living room. But the others didn't have to worry about the devil. Since Alicia was no longer with him, he had locked himself in his bedroom and never spoken to anyone. Instead, he hid under his comforter and hugged the photo of Alicia that he had put on his bedside table.
They didn't have to worry about him.
"So our oh-so-great hybrid is sick?" But who they did have to worry about were Alicia's rivals. "Demon fever. Hmm, I was wondering when she would get it." Dayju and the others stared skeptically but also grinning mischievously into the mirror that only Henchman and Amnon were allowed to use besides the devil himself. The latter kept watch so that no one would find out that Silk and the others were using the mirror to spy on Alicia. But the husky demon didn't really seem to be armed for the task. The beads of sweat fell from his face as if they were a waterfall obstructing his vision as he watched for possible danger. He hated to disappoint Silk. Not because he would get another beating but also because he wanted to show Silk that he wasn't useless as she always called him when he failed.
He didn't want to disappoint Silk again and get a beating. It wouldn't be the first time. He had gotten his black eye, which was slowly but surely paling, the other day when Silk and the others heard the news about the wedding. He swallowed even harder at the thought of what would happen if Silk and the others found out that their plan to murder Alicia had been discovered. "No, no one will find out as long as no one approaches the throne room," whispering to himself with motivation that no one comes into the throne room he marched back and forth like a soldier in front of the entrance. The husky demon took a stick in his hand and held it over his shoulder like the Buckingham Palace guards held their firearms.
While he took the task of guard duty seriously, Alicia's rivals prepared themselves. Caterina polished her bow, Daiyu tended to her fans, Vespae sprayed herself with her perfume and was completely enveloped in a cloud of perfume, Scorpina spread her claws and tail and Silk bit into a metal plate that shattered into several pieces. They were all ready and approached the elevator usually used by the Devil or Henchman to get to the surface faster.
Even though the elevator was only suitable for a maximum of four people, all the rivals could fit in it. Well, you could say that. Caterina was pressed between Silk and Vespae and tried hard to reach the switch to activate the elevator. "Come on!" her fingers almost touched the switch before Daiyu rolled with her eyes and used one of her nine tails to flip the switch so the elevator could take them up before anyone found out they were using it without the devil's permission.
Danger approached the cottage with every second that passed. Alicia and the others knew nothing about it. More precisely, they suspected nothing. Alicia might be ill and lying in bed. But someone had to look after her. But who? Lucifer was busy collecting the ingredients, Blood helped the three cups to free the pumpkin from the shed and bring it to the competition. Elder Kettle couldn't take care of them either. The garden had priority in his eyes. So who took care of Alicia?
Knock! Knock!
"Huh?", "Who's at the door?" Now the question answered itself because someone knocked on the front door. But who could it be? Curious but also cautious, Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman approached the front door. They tiptoed closer and closer to the door handle with their hands. It was only centimetres before the three of them were able to touch the door handle and the front door opened by itself, revealing a familiar face behind the door.
"Hi!" it was The Baroness. She was standing in front of the front door with a shoulder bag around her shoulder in a matching pink and pastel color. Like her dress, the shoulder bag was also decorated with sweets. The buttons were peppermint candies, the strap was red licorice and the fabric of the bag itself was made of chewy candy. "The Baroness, what are you doing here?" Cuppy was the only one to ask as the other two cups couldn't think of a word to say.
In fact, they didn't know what to say because the Baroness was already in the cottage, walked past them, Blood and Lucifer and went straight to the guest room where Alicia was peacefully trying to sleep until she was woken up and groaned and looked at the door to see who had woken her from her sleep. "What's...", "Oh dear..." before Alicia could really say anything, she felt someone lying next to her on the bed. She knew it wasn't Lucifer. He was no longer in the guest room as he had gone in search of the ingredients for the serum that would heal Alicia. So who was sitting on the bed now?
"You don't look so good, my love," Alicia felt the hand on her forehead. She also knew who the hand belonged to. Only one person on the Inkwell Isles wore the white opera gloves. Baroness Von Bon Bon. "Don't worry, I'll look after you while the others are away," Alicia didn't know what to say. Of course she could refuse the Baroness's help. After all, Alicia was not only a danger to herself but also to others. The burning flowers crying out in pain were not in the room for nothing before the Baroness put them out with a watering can in her hand and saved them from burning. They exhaled with relief as smoke rose from the ground.
For the moment, the room was still quiet. This calmed not only the Baroness but also Alicia. She exhaled with relief before curling up under the blanket like a frightened puppy before a thunderstorm. But Alicia's feelings of guilt did not diminish. In fact, they got worse. "Oh man, I really hope Lucifer comes back soon," she grumbled annoyed while the Baroness soothed her with caressing movements and slowly put her to sleep.
She slept like a baby. Not even the door slamming beside her bed woke her. It was a deep sleep that Alicia was in while the Baroness prepared tea in the kitchen and Elder Kettle was busy harvesting his fruits and vegetables, finally able to go to the shed thanks to Blood's efforts. It was peaceful in the cottage for the moment. But only for the moment. "So there lies our sick queen," Silk and the other rivals appeared from the window of the guest room, weapons in hand. Their eyes were fixed on Alicia. They saw how sickly and weak she lay in bed and what a mess the room had become. The books were still scattered around the room, except for Alicia's bed.
"I have to admit, she really got it," Daiyu replied in astonishment. The kitsune demon would never have thought that the hybrid possessed such a power, even stronger than that of the devil himself. "Good, then we can kill her easier!" Clasping her hands, Caterina was ready to take Alicia down at once. There was no one to protect her anyway. The cups were gone, the wolf had disappeared from the scene, and they saw nothing of the copy of the devil.
So why wait any longer when they could serve Alicia up on a silver platter? No one was there to stop them. Caterina thought to herself and drew an arrow from her bow, aimed it at Alicia and was ready to fire. "Are you out of your mind?" but Vespae stopped her and lowered the bow from the cat demon, who took great offense at this. After all, Alicia would be dead now if she hadn't interfered. But the wasp demon had a reason why she did it. Just as Caterina was about to say something, the door to the guest room opened. Startled, the rivals hid and peered into the room from all sides of the window. "I hope this tea will help you ease the sickness before your husband returns with the ingredients" said the Baroness, reassured but also a little worried, while Elder Kettle came into the room with a fresh bowl of chicken soup and handed it to Alicia.
Apparently it wasn't as easy for Alicia to disappear from the scene as the five rivals thought.
The three cups thought the same thing as they pulled the trolley on which their pumpkin Pumpky was lying. "Who would have thought that this would be a physical effort?" puffed Cuphead as he and the others pushed the pumpkin along. They were already on the part of the Inkwell Isle where the competition was taking place. However, they still had to register the pumpkin to take part in the competition.
An anthropomorphic bear sat at the registration desk with an anthropomorphic donut with a brown glaze and an anthropomorphic beagle. The three heard the efforts of the three cups but paid no attention to them. Quite the opposite. They looked at the papers with all the participants and compared them with those from last year before a huge shadow overshadowed them. Now they noticed the huge pumpkin and couldn't believe what they were seeing. The bear opened its mouth in shock and the glaze on the donut changed color from brown to white as if it were a ghost. The beagle, in turn, rolled his eyes back and fell backwards in shock, along with his chair, so that only his legs, feet and tail were visible.
"We... *gasp* ...want... *gasp*to register..." Cuphead huffed and puffed with effort before he could finish the sentence. Mugman fell face first to the floor, some liquid dripping from his head, while Cuppy braced himself against the table, exhaled and finished the sentence, "our pumpkin!" and slumped to the floor with his butt, wiping the sweat from his brow. Blood smiled a little as the Beagle calmed down, scratched his head, shook it, and swallowed nervously like the other two before they went about their task of asking the three cups for a name to enter them into the contest. "Cuphead, Mugman and Cuppy," Cuphead replied, pointing at himself and the others as the three employees wrote this down and asked the three to bring their pumpkin to the other pumpkins.
Although they were out of breath, the three cups did not give up and pulled/pushed the firecracker wagon with their last strength to the other pumpkins before the donut placed a sign in front of it with a number and the names of the participants on it. "Number 26?" Cuphead asked himself in confusion as he looked at the other pumpkins. The numbers were much smaller, as were most of the pumpkins, with a few exceptions like Bowlboy's pumpkin that was number 15 and another pumpkin that was number 6. Cuphead wanted to know who it belonged to, while Mugman and Cuppy joined Blood for a drink to recover from the exertion as it was still a while before the competition started.
Until then, they could still enjoy the rest of the festivities such as the pumpkin spinning top, pumpkin fishing, pumpkin shooting... Yes, there were many sales and game stands with the pumpkin theme. They even sold pumpkin plushies, lemonade and cookies. "Oooh!" Mugman tried the latter and seemed delighted with the taste. "This tastes extremely delicious!" of course he bought more cookies before tucking into them. Cuppy continued to look around until he noticed a mirror that changed its appearance into the shape of what looked like a pumpkin.
"They must take the pumpkin motto very seriously," he said to himself before someone appeared next to him in the mirror. Unlike Cuppy, this one looked normal and that made the person laugh. Confused Cuppy looked to the person who was an anthropomorphic pumpkin with a white bow tie, blue dungarees and black shoes. The pumpkin boy laughed more and more every second until it went from a normal laugh to a crazy laugh. Cuppy slowly moved away from him and turned his attention to the rest of the festival, hoping not to see the pumpkin again. "Luckily Alicia isn't here otherwise she'd have another reason to lock herself in" unfortunately this wasn't the first time Alicia had locked herself in Inkwell Hell after seeing something creepy like that pumpkin boy who was still laughing hysterically at his appearance in the strange mirror.
It still sent shivers down his spine. "Hey kiddo, do you want a piece of candied pumpkin?" a vendor offered Cuppy while he stopped in front of his stall and thought about whether he wanted one or not. His stomach was already growling and demanding something to eat. So he reached into his pocket, pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to the vendor before reaching for the candied pumpkin and tasting it. At first, he was not very enthusiastic about the taste and wanted his money back. But then he tried the candied pumpkin again and, like Mugman with the cookies, he liked it.
"An important announcement to all visitors to the festival and all participants in the pumpkin competition" rang out from all the loudspeakers dotted around the festival to which visitors and vendors were looking. Everyone stopped what they were doing or about to do. One dog was about to throw a ball at a pyramid of cans and stood like a statue in the pose before throwing the ball. Another visitor was eating a slice of pumpkin pie while another was about to pay for his.
The silence at the festival was audible. Nobody said anything or moved. You could release a tumbleweed and nobody would care. Everyone just waited to hear what the loudspeaker voice had to say. It might be seconds but for some it felt like hours before the loudspeaker voice announced the following information. "The competition starts in exactly 5 minutes. Therefore we ask all visitors who want to watch the competition to gather at the main square and all participants to report behind the grandstand within this time to wait there with their pumpkins until their number is called!".
He, Cuphead and Mugman didn't hesitate for long. They dropped everything and sprinted towards the stage. Well, the candied pumpkin and the cookies floated briefly in the air before falling to the ground. The competition was more important than eating the masses of white ones they could buy at the festival if they won. "Are you ready?" Cuphead asked his brother and Cuppy as they held hands. "Of course I'm ready! I was born ready!" Mugman agreed before he remembered that he was standing on stage with the others as they presented and weighed their pumpkin and presumably to collect their trophy.
His stage fright would get in the way. He knew that and quickly swallowed his proud words. He didn't want to brag that much. "Well, I must say I'm a bit nervous," Cuppy's sweating face was noticed by the two cups. He seemed to be overwhelmed by the mass of visitors. Well, you would think he would have gotten used to it. After all, he and his brother had told all the former debtors the good news on a stage when they defeated Lucifer back then. But now he was at a competition. What's more, there were a lot more people there. No wonder he was nervous. "Don't worry, we'll manage this together!" Cuphead assured them both.
"Yes you're right Cuphead we can do this together!", "Yes now I can feel my stage fright slowly disappearing" as the three prepared and waited for their number to be called Silk and the others prepared a diabolical plan to use on Alicia.
The plan seemed quite simple. They had to get rid of Elder Kettle and the Baroness so that they could take their time with Alicia and get rid of her once and for all. "So Daiyu you know what to do" the kitsune demon nodded to the Alaskan Malmute demon and used her demonic powers: Hallucination.
Her nine tails moved back and forth rhythmically as if they were trying to hypnotize you. Daiyu slowly opened her fan and uttered a sentence in a Japanese language. This created a bright white glittering dust from her tails. She swirled it around her and sent it to Elder Kettle, who was in the kitchen washing dishes at the moment the dust hit him. He may not have felt it, but that didn't bother Daiyu. She now had him in her power and used his thoughts to create a hallucination that distracted Elder Kettle and caused him to lose his cottage.
"カブトムシの疫病"
His cheerful whistling disappeared as Daiyu uttered these words. He dropped the pot in the sink, turned off the tap and looked towards the back door that led to the garden. The peaceful atmosphere in the kitchen disappeared with each passing second as the kettle approached the back door. His hands were literally shaking as he reached for the doorknob, turned it and slowly opened it. Elder Kettle's eyes stared from the shed on the left to the garden on the right, which he tended every day. He didn't notice or see anything out of the ordinary that would cause him much concern. "Hmm!" Shrugging his shoulders, Elder Kettle decided to go back into the cottage to finish his work when he suddenly heard a noise that made his whole body jerk.
Elder Kettle knew and feared the sound he had just heard. It sounded like small feet stamping on the ground in increased numbers. His eyes followed the sound to his garden, which had looked fine a second ago but was now covered in thousands of insects, bugs, snails and the like. His jaw dropped in shock and fear as these vermin raided his plants. "My babies!" he shouted in panic and grabbed a broom and began to shoo away every single vermin. The rivals were delighted that this would take a long time. After all, one of them was cottaging. So only one was missing.
Daiyu therefore prepared to use another hallucination to get rid of The Baroness. Again a dust of glitter appeared from the tips of her sweat and this time it was pink. It traveled downstairs to the living room where the Baroness was knitting a scarf for Alicia. Surprisingly, the scarf was not made of any candy material or the like but of real fabric and fur. Just like Elder Kettle, the Baroness was hit by the dust and stopped knitting. "What's..." she got a sick feeling in her stomach when there was a sudden knock at the door. Startled but also a little surprised, the Baroness put her almost finished scarf aside, stood up and went to the front door where the knocking continued.
"被験者"
The front door opened and several dark figures stood in front of it. She gasped until her eyes gave her a better view of the figures standing in front of the front door. "Hello madam Baroness Von Bon Bon" it was her subjects: Lord Gob Packer, Kernel Von Pop, Muffsky Chernikov, Sargent Gumbo Gumbull, Sir Waffington III, Patsy Menthol and some Jelly Bullies. All former subjects who had served the Baroness before the devil cursed her.
"I...I..." she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Before her eyes, she saw her subjects. The ones she had been looking for after a long time, after her curse had been broken. But she had given up all hope. Clearly, old inhabitants were returning and Sugar Land was slowly returning to its former state. But she still missed her subjects. They meant everything to her. After all, they greeted her every day or helped her or made sure she didn't feel so alone. Now seeing her subjects before her eyes delighted the ruler of the sugar land so much that she burst into tears. "Oh Kernel, Muffsky, Sargent how I have missed you all!" she hugged her subjects and was just as distracted as Elder Kettle.
In fact, the Baroness didn't realize that she was hugging the goat while Elder Kettle was beating his pile of manure, which he thought was the vermin. "Get out of here! Go away!" he growled annoyed and continued to beat the pile of manure. Silk smirked just like the others. "You've really outdone yourself Daiyu," Silk patted her on the shoulder as the kitsune closed her fans and their tails joined together to form a large one. "Don't mention it" she had done her part and now the five demons were on their way to make Alicia disappear from the scene. Once and for all!
They ran, flew and jumped to the window and opened it from the outside to get into the guest room where Alicia was lying and trying to sleep. Shadows of her rivals enveloped her. Claws sharp as knives, teeth hard as steel, spikes filled with poison and eyes glowing with rage fell on Alicia and approached her at a slow pace. Every second the rivals were in the same room as Alicia felt like an eternity.
Now they finally had the opportunity to get Alicia ready so that they could finally wear the crown they had been hoping for so long. And let's be honest, Alicia was not worthy of being queen. She wasn't even a real demon! She was a hybrid. A half-breed, a bastard in the eyes of five demons who didn't want to serve her, let alone realize that Alicia would be their queen. "Dream on princess, you'll never wear the crown!" Silk whispered, towering over Alicia, claws outstretched and teeth snarling.
Caterina drew her bow, Vespae extended her spike ready to be fired at any moment, Daiyu opened her fans again and let several spirit flames appear while Scorpina extended her own spike. "Let's do it!" whispered the cat demon and waited for a sign from the others.
"And now number 25!" shouted the competition announcer as the pumpkin with that number was pulled onto the stage by two small anthropomorphic cats. The pumpkin itself was not particularly large. A little bigger than a normal pumpkin but nothing compared to the pumpkin from the three cups. They were confident of victory until Bowlboy came out of the shadows. "I have to say...".
Shrugging their shoulders, startled and frightened, the three of them looked around until they saw the bowl leaning against the wall next to a few switches and levers that controlled either the curtain or other parts of the stage. "Your pumpkin has grown a lot since I last saw it" yes Bowlboy was very surprised as he had actually hoped that he would win again this year and add another to his collection of trophies.
But with the three-cup pumpkin, he probably had to settle for second place. He didn't like that. Not at all. His face may look neutral at the moment, but inside he was boiling with rage. How dare the three of them knock him out of first place! "Well, apparently our care had helped our pumpkin to grow", "Yes, we took great care of it" mentioned Cuphead and Cuppy while the latter stroked the pumpkin. "Yes, and our love and care helped him to outgrow himself" the two were not prepared for Mugman's statement.
"It's not the right time for baby-talking!" his brother whispered to him while Bowlboy remained silent, not knowing what to say. He scratched his head thoughtfully and opened his mouth to say something when the two cats went through the curtain and pulled their pumpkin with their place on it after them. They had ended up in 16th place and were only given a participant badge. Their disappointed expressions were not hard to miss. The judges were probably even stricter this year than last year. At least that seemed to be the case when you looked at the other participants who also only got a participant badge and sighed in disappointment.
"Now we come to our last participant with the number 26!" Now it was the turn of the three cups. It was their turn to present their pumpkin and hopefully win. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Mugman shivered and shook like a rattlesnake with his knees and teeth rattling. His stage fright was getting to him again and he breathed in and out frantically before Cuppy and his brother calmed him down and reassured him that everything would be alright.
"Relax Mugsy everything will be fine I promise" Cuphead's words calmed Mugman down a little. Not completely but a little "O-O-Okay" he stuttered a little before they grabbed their handcarts and pushed him onto the stage with combined strength. Bowlboy watched the whole thing and still couldn't believe that his pumpkin wasn't going to take first place. Or so it seemed. He grinned diabolically. He had something planned. But what? "Oh boy will you be happy if you lose again like last year" in his hand, which was hidden behind his back, was a slug. A glowing red slug with black horns instead of antennae and razor-sharp teeth. "Let's see if your pumpkin can survive against a Mexican devil slug" he bent down and released the slug.
She set off to look at the pumpkin of the three cups. Bowlboy also laughed diabolically and hysterically like a mad scientist. However, the slug wasn't exactly moving fast. To be precise, it hadn't even made half a meter. "Oh, right. slugs aren't exactly fast." Annoyed, he nudged the slug to push it further forward. But that didn't help him as the slug curled up and the announcer announced that first place went to the three cups.
"The three judges congratulated the three cups and presented them with the trophy. The cup was three times as big as the three cups themselves, which is why they had problems carrying it and almost fell over before someone helped them. Someone who used his magic and made the cup float. Of course this someone was Blood. Who else. It couldn't be Lucifer. He was busy collecting the ingredients and slowly made his way back home to prepare the serum. But he better hurry because Alicia's life was in danger.
Silk and the others were getting closer to her throat by the second. Caterina's finger was already twitching. She was ready to fire her bow. Just like her, the others were ready to make the hybrid finally disappear from the screen. Silk growled louder with every second she approached Alicia's face. She wanted to snap and opened her mouth. But before she could, Alicia's nose twitched and she sneezed.
She sneezed and caught all five demons in one go. Like how the valient little tailor caught the flies. Only the five rivals were not immortalized on a piece of clothing but instead noticed that they had been infected by Alicia. "What is- *cough*" coughed Vespae while her still bright eyes now looked sickly. Daiyu felt her throat scratching and her powers playing against her will. She unintentionally used hallucinations against the others. Silk, Caterina, Vespae and Scorpina saw their worst fears.
It was the devil himself. Ironic, considering that the five of them actually loved him. They would do anything for him to earn his approval like King Dice who was kicked out by the devil and lost his job after failing again. But why were they afraid of the devil?
Well, the reason for that was because he was on fire from head to toe and angry at the five of them for disobeying his instructions and disrespecting him. "No boss, er master we-" "SILENCE!" but begging and pleading didn't help them. The devil was angry and even more on fire than before. He now looked much more threatening than usual and none of the rivals were happy about that, so they quickly left and jumped out of the window to escape to the elevator that was waiting for them outside with the door wide open.
"Come back you traitors!" roared the devil behind them, but the rivals didn't care. They were safe and on their way down before the devil could reach them. "Phew! That was... Achoo!" Before Silk could even finish her sentence, she sneezed several times in succession, catching not only the elevator control panel but also the other demonesses who now had snot on their faces or bodies. Vespae was less than pleased about this, as was Caterina, who had just had her fur groomed. But complaining didn't help anyone now because they knew that they had messed up killing Alicia but had infected themselves with demon fever and were therefore unable to complain or do anything else at the moment. How could they when they were running high fevers, coughing, and had waterfalls of snot falling from their nostrils?
Her health was more important than anything else at the moment. Although it will probably be difficult to explain why the control panel was full of snot. Well, Amnon will take care of that. After all, he was Silk's little servant who did everything she said. So he'll take care of the five of them. He would be out of the loop for the time being when it came to news about Alicia, but Silk was already looking forward to her hot lemon bath. Vespae, on the other hand, was very much looking forward to her sugary drink, which was made exclusively for insect demons so that they could be revived more quickly than normal demons who had to drink the serum to get rid of the disease.
With a flip of the switch, the elevator disappeared in flames, leaving nothing but a burning square on the ground that left an imprint in the grass. Lucifer saw it just as he came back from the forest, carrying a cloth bag over his shoulder containing the ingredients he had collected to cook the serum for Alicia to make her feel better quickly. But he wondered why this imprint could be seen here. Had the devil really been here while Lucifer was away? He didn't want to believe it and growled angrily before going to the open guest room window to see if his dearest Alicia was all right. "Alicia?" he whispered until his yellow eyes caught sight of her on the bed drinking tea with the Baroness.
Since Daiyu had left, the hallucinations also seemed to have disappeared, causing them to return to their actual tasks. The garden and Alicia's health. Relieved that she was well, he entered the cottage not through the door but through the window in the guest room. This surprised not only the Baroness but also Alicia when they heard the creaking on the floor and thought it was something bad. But they knew it was just Lucifer and didn't worry much about it. "Lucifer, you could have come into the cottage through the front door," the Baroness admonished him like a little child with nonsense on his mind.
Alicia, however, only giggled when she saw Lucifer's nervous face. Yes, he knew he was in a tight spot and would have a hard time talking his way out of it. However, he didn't care about the instruction. The main thing was that Alicia was fine and smiling again. That was all the King of Inkwell Hell wanted. "Yes, I'm very sorry too, but I just wanted to see how my dearest was before I prepare the serum," he explained to her, hoping she would understand. Now the Baroness was still staring at him apprehensively. She didn't really want to believe him but she didn't have anything else up her sleeve at the moment so she let it go. Why upset her about it when there was more good news anyway.
In addition to the news that Alicia would soon be healthy again, the three cups and Blood returned with good news. News in the form of happy expressions and a gold cup that the three of them had won. A goal they had long wished for had finally been achieved. "I'm very proud of you boys" proud as ever Elder Kettle patted the three cups on the back as he took the trophy from them and placed it on a shelf where other trophies and awards could be seen such as a medal for weightlifting or as recognition for being a war hero. It was not hard to see that these awards belonged to Elder Kettle.
But he was proud that the three cups had finally managed to win something they could be proud of. At least he hoped so. Especially when it came to Cuphead. He was the one who caused the most problems. Well, Cuppy was rather quiet and Mugman wouldn't even dream of getting into mischief. "Hey Mugsy, where did you store the fireworks?" but you could guess that Cuphead was of a different opinion and would rather be a naughty mug than a good one. "What do you need the fireworks for? We've already had enough fireworks today," Mugman asked him annoyed with his arms crossed. Cuphead couldn't give him a real answer, however, as he was wondering what to say himself.
But Lucifer didn't seem to care. He was busy with other things in the kitchen and filled an orange liquid into a small bottle before he closed it and grabbed a glass to take both things to the guest room where Alicia had eaten everything diligently in the meantime. The empty teacup was still on the bedside table with the tea bag inside.
Meanwhile, Alicia herself lay in bed and tried to sleep until she was woken up by Lucifer stroking her cheek tenderly. "Hmm?" she grumbled before her eyes adjusted to the light. Only then did she notice the glass Lucifer offered her with the orange liquid. For some reason, however, this very liquid seemed to remind her very strongly of the serum. The cure for diphtheria that Balto had brought to Nome with the other sled dogs to cure Rosie and the other children.
The liquid that Alicia fortunately only had to drink and wasn't injected with like in the movie looked similar. Not that Alicia minded, but she preferred swallowing medicine rather than having it injected into her body. However, the medicine worked quickly on both of them and Alicia's face, which had previously been white as snow, quickly warmed back to its natural color. She was back to her old self, you could say. "Are you feeling better, my love?" Lucifer asked, just to be on the safe side. Demon fiber was not lethal to demons or imps. However, Alicia was a hybrid and could theoretically die from the disease.
"Yes, I'm better," Alicia confirmed with a smile and a kiss on Lucifer's nose. He exhaled with relief and joined her on the bed, hugging her and staying with her. The serum helped her to recover quickly, which pleased him. Alicia would soon be well again and nothing and no one could ruin the moment they were enjoying. The devil still lay depressed in his bedchamber and crawled even more under the covers, hoping that he would be left alone. The rivals were all sick in bed and being nursed by Amnon. Of course, he wore a nurse's outfit while he went from bed to bed, from bathtub to bathtub, to attend to everyone. Did he mind the outfit that was actually meant for women? Nope, it didn't.
You could say he enjoyed it as he ran around with a grin on his face. After all, he was proud of one thing: no one had noticed that the elevator was gone. Not even Henchman, who was a little confused about Amnon's clothes but didn't say anything else. Even Lilith, who just shook her head, seemed to keep her opinion to herself as she went about her business.
Just like Henchman, who appeared with a serving trolley on which a fresh newspaper had just come out of a pipe and landed exactly on the serving trolley next to the food hood. The little purple fat demon imp whistled a song as he passed tortured souls that were either spit out by the imps and demons or tortured on torture instruments, several trap doors where prisoners were thrown into the hellfire and several transparent tubes through which the collected souls from the surface landed in the soul vault. Nope none of them bothered him. Why should he? He was just used to it. Just like he was used to handing his boss the newspaper and breakfast every day. So he walked on through the underworld until he saw the door to his boss's bedchamber.
Encouraged, he approached the door and now hummed instead of whistled and knocked on the door.