The Final Pull

The mutated chalice stopped in her tracks. Everyone ceased fighting and stared. Why did it go quiet all of a sudden? Was Cuphead's plan working?

The pink cup then let out a screech, bringing her clawed hands up to her head. It looked as if they were trying to cover her cup. Mug's yellow eyes widened. It was trying to keep his brother and the demon in! Acting quick, he rushed over and pushed the female down onto her stomach. She tried to flop around like a fish out of water, but Mugman pinned her down. He made sure to keep the arms down so they could not interfere with what was going on inside of there.

Something came zooming out of the enlarged pink cup. It didn't look like a demon, so Mug had to assume it was his brother's soul. King Dice saw the silhouette of the young cup spiral without any direction. Making his gloved hands glow a purple color, he dove to catch the red cup before he became a wandering soul.

"Gotcha!" The die man announced as he caught the boy by the ghostly tail. "Don't go floating away from us now." But the pale-colored soul did not answer. Cup looked unresponsive in that state; mouth curved down and eyes drooped three quarters of the way closed. His straw hovered above his head like a halo.

Dice prepared to put the soul into the cup's dormant body. But before he could move, he felt someone breathing by his neck. His green eyes shifted to the side to find his boss eyeing the vulnerable soul like it was something he wanted to devour. The Devil's yellow eyes glowed bright and saliva dripped from his fangs. This was a soul that had caused him a lot of trouble in the past. It was very hard for the alpha demon to pass up this opportunity to snatch this vulnerable soul.

"Um, boss. Do ya mind?" Dice snapped at him. David seemed to wake up from his friend's voice and immediately apologized for acting in such a way. The king trudged his way over to the cup child's body. Elder Kettle, Spoonfred, and Kiki were sticking close to Cup's body. Saltbaker and Forkington were also watching, but kept their distance from the scene. Dice lay the soul down on top of Cuphead, aligning with his body. The wispy soul easily entered back into the porcelain body. Once it was nestled back in, the boy seemed to come back to life. Cup gasped and coughed at the jarring sensation of oxygen hitting his lungs again.

"Cuphead!" Kettle and Spoonfred said in relief. The kettle reached out to stabilize his boy as he tried to sit up.

"Take it easy, Cuphead. It'll probably take a minute for your body to respond to what you want it to do." King Dice warned him. Cup panted and looked toward the two mutated cups. Mug struggled to keep the enlarged female pinned down. It was as if he were trying to hold a hungry shark still. Teeth and claws tried to flail about.

"Come on, Chalice. Push him out! You can do it!" The red cup quietly said. But nothing else was coming out of her sickly pink cup. "No…something's wrong." Cuphead pushed himself up and tried to run forward. He didn't get very far before being tripped up by his own legs. Cup fell face first onto the grassy ground. "Mugman, pull it out now!" The young cup called out. Straining his voice caused another coughing fit for him. Dice and Kettle came over to try and help the boy up.

Mugman, on the other hand, heard his brother's voice and obeyed. Without hesitation, he plunged a hand deep into the girl's cup. Sure enough, he felt a tentacle. The mutated mug started to pull with all his might. This part was never easy. Those suckers liked to hold onto a soul for all they were worth.

As soon as a dull red tentacle began to emerge, his other clawed hand grabbed on. Now began the real struggle to get all the tentacles and bulbous center of it out. It was slowly coming out. That was until Chalice's cup came back and knocked Mugman in the head. The impact caused the young mug to stumble back and nearly lose his grip. The demon squirmed back in a little.

Oh no, you don't! Mug internally hissed as he got his grip back.

"Boss, you should go help the kid!" King Dice said to the Devil.

"I can't." The creature said flatly. "If I interfere, Mugman will lose his grip and we'll have to start this whole process over." Dice realized what his boss was saying, but that didn't put anyone's tension at ease. They all looked back to the struggle between the two cups.

More tentacles began to ooze out of her cup. One more, and then two more. Those muscular appendages lashed out at Mugman. One wrapped around his arm. Another tried to loop itself around his head. Mug quickly ducked away from that one as he realized the tentacle squeezing his arm was starting to radiate heat. Cup looked on in utter horror. It seemed as though all their efforts were starting to crumble. The demon was not coming out all the way. And to make matters worse, it was going to start burning Mugman soon if nothing happened to sway the battle. Someone had to step in and do something. The young cup forced himself up and ran forward. His legs threatened to give out with every step, but he pushed through it.

"Let go of them, you monster!" He yelled at Tanuki. Chalice's glowing eyes looked up to see him coming. A bit occupied with the blue mug at the moment, Tanuki could only watch as the young cup barreled into him. The impact took his host off her feet. She fell onto her back. The impact jarred the demon and made him let go for a mere second. That moment was just enough for Mugman to give an extra pull. The dull red demon was finally yanked out with a squishy sounding pop. It landed on the ground with all its secretions spilling everywhere. All ten of its tentacles lay motionless for a moment. For it was still recovering from being ejected from its host.

Chalice immediately reverted to her golden color and shrunk down to her usual size. Cup didn't think anything of it at the moment, but she still retained a physical body rather than a ghostly one. His only concern was making sure she was okay. The golden chalice was unconscious from the struggle. He gently nudged her and called her name, but she still didn't respond. Cuphead quickly realized that the demon was still at large and they were all still in danger. He cradled Chalice in his arms as he stood up to look for his brother.

Meanwhile, Mug was sent flying back from all the momentum he had built up. His brown boots stumbled about. He finally couldn't keep himself upright and let his body collapse to a sitting position on the ground. Mugman panted hard as he reverted to his normal self as well. He had expended a lot of energy pulling the demon out. They all needed some time to recover now. Everyone was tired as their adversary started to get up again.

The demon's tentacles curled up and pressed against the ground like oversized knuckles to push itself up. King Dice took a dive and scooped Mugman up before it could pounce onto the mug child. For it was mad and trying to get revenge on Mug. Dice took Mugman and ran for it.

"Everyone huddle up and back away!" The die man called out. They all obeyed and nudged up against one another for protection. Mugman, who was still in Dice's arms, called out to the Devil.

"Do it now, David! End him now!"

A black streak ejected from the group and beelined it for the disobedient demon. He prepared to bring his black trident down onto the parasite's vulnerable center. Tanuki saw the king of Hell coming for him and immediately started to transform. A tentacle wrapped around the trident's body. It quickly changed to a familiar paw. The red fur raced up its arm as the rest of the body transformed. David stopped on the spot as he found himself looking at the red impostor. Panic rushed through the Devil's body. How was this possible? How could this traitor still be around? Memories of their previous battle flooded David's mind.

"Time for our rematch." The red creature growled and went to stand up to its full height. David pushed Tanuki away. The demon's slender body tumbled away from the terse but forceful push. The King of Hell turned tail and went back for the group. And just for a split second, everyone saw fear on the Devil's face.

"We're going with plan B!" He announced.

"Wha-? David, what's going on?" Mugman called out to him.

"Just picture that library you were talking about!" David spilled out. He had reached the group just as Tanuki was shaking off his attack. Bright flames frothed at the red demon's paws and down its back. A sly smile glared at the Devil.

"But-" The mug child began to argue. However, there was no time. Tanuki was bounding toward them as his flames grew larger and larger.

"Just do it!" The Devil demanded. Mug closed his eyes and pictured the library as the King of Hell slammed the handle end of his trident on the ground. The group was huddled so close together that they all teleported away in an instant. Only a poof of flames remained where they had stood.

Tanuki ended up landed right where his prey had been. His glowing eyes widened in disbelief. The demon's surprise quickly changed to rage. Digging his claws into the ground, the flames on his body boiled even hotter. He lifted his round head to the sky and yowled in anger from being denied the one thing he had wanted for so long. The flames erupted off his back like a volcano spewing lava. To an onlooker sailing by on the sea, they would not have been able to tell the difference.

Eventually, the screams and flames died down. Tanuki began to compose himself.

"Go ahead and run, you coward. But I'll find you yet. And you will pay for what you did to me!"