A/N. Man, being a senior high school student is hard. I miss writing fanfiction.
Anyway, short but also a little spicy! Let's see what the kids are up to.
Welp.
Alexa was kind of already failing at that goal of keeping them safe.
"Hold still; I don't know what I'm doing, but I'd like to get it right," she mumbled as she tightened the badges around Cuphead's cracking head. He winced in pain, but tried not to move too much.
"I have no idea where it went wrong!" Mugman shouted to the skies as he threw his hands up in frustration. "When he said their weakness was in their roots, how did they expect us to get to them anyway?!"
"Well, they are called the Root Pack for a reason…" Alexa mumbled as she rubbed one of the healing ointments they bought on one of the cracks in Cuphead's head. "But I have no idea what that means."
"Well, screw it!" Cuphead cried as he rolled up his sleeves, only for them to fall back over his pale porcelain arms. "I'm goin' back in there, and this time, we're gettin' that contract whether they wanna give it or not!"
"Hang on, Cuphead; don't you dare try anything rash again!" Mugman muttered, wobbling a little as Alexa helped him stand upright. "Do you want your head to get bashed in again?"
"Well, no… but the longer we're here, just sittin' around like a buncha ducks, the longer we don't get that stupid contract! Come on? Ya with me, or not?"
"While I hate how correct you sound, we need to rest and make a plan!"
"Rest, my foot!"
"Cuphead, I swear to the Amini—"
Alexa had just tuned the rest out. All she saw was the brothers so close to getting into another fight cloud, exchanging yells so loud they could probably be heard all the way back at the cottage, and finally Mugman yelling something that left Cuphead speechless. Alexa hadn't really been paying attention until their voices went quiet, scribbling away in her journal and tuning out the noise (living in a house of two younger sisters and constantly arguing parents helped).
"If you guys are done," she mumbled as she stood up and put away the hardcover notebook. Dusting off her hands by the palms, she walked over and pulled them both apart gently. "We can either rest up for a while, or get right to the fighting stuff and take out these Root Pack guys. Come on, what we doing?"
Without replying or even looking at her, they both rolled up their sleeves, let them fall back onto their arms, and trudged toward the garden.
Alexa's brows furrowed. Something was off.
The fight—for the second time—didn't go very well.
Then again.
And again.
Alexa was getting fed up. So were the boys.
When the boys began arguing again, Alexa just stepped aside and leaned against the fence, watching them fight, but not against the vegetables. Her art skills weren't very good, but her boredom was so high she figured she'd try. With the small feather pen she'd been given, she scribbled across an empty page a few doodles of the boys and herself. Some of the drawings of the boys were of them fighting Goopy Le Grande or trying out their abilities, and drawings of her were about her in the spawn-in space she always entered in her dreams. Being in her magical girl phase, she couldn't resist drawing herself Sailor Moon style, even if the eyes were… quite difficult.
"…aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHH—"
She hugged the notebook to her chest as Cuphead landed in front of her, face down in the dirt and probably in some very hard pain. Right next to him, Mugman landed on his feet, catching the falling parchments, one for each member, she figured. She caught the last one as it fluttered past, putting it into the satchel she carried. Dusting off her shorts, she stood up and put her fists on her hips.
"Alright! Just a few more debtors to go! We might be finished in time for lunch! You guys up for the next one or shall we take a rest?"
The boys mumbled half-hearted responses, and Alexa frowned. They'd only done two (technically four) bosses so far, and they were already burnt out? But then again, the Root Pack had done a good number on them. So she figured she could cut them some slack. So she tightened the satchel's strap around her torso and crouched down to the boys' level. "So, where to next?"
Mugman took out the map from his pocket and tapped an area near the coast, on the same path they were on which led to the ocean. "Ribby and Croaks are right nearby, so we can tackle them next."
"Got it," Alexa nodded as she packed her new journal and pen. "Come on, those contracts aren't gonna collect themselves!"
A bush rustled, but she didn't think too much of it. They were still near the woods, and no doubt some little critters might come by the garden for some snacks.
And so the three of them headed off down the path, to the shore where the restaurant on a boat sat.
Alexa was hoping she could figure out what suddenly happened between the brothers on the way there.
The little 3 of Hearts card squinted its eyes as far as it could follow her. It had almost fallen out of the bush, but it was sure to hold onto the brambles amidst the leaves. It had gotten the information the boss needed. So it snapped its fingers, folded itself up, and jumped into the hole in the ground to land right in the boss' palm.
It landed on its feet, and King Dice nodded at it. The card unfurled itself and played its memory of the battle and the kids' conversation on its flat cardboard body. King Dice nodded as he watched in approval until he saw the kids walking away.
"Good. That's all we need for now."
As the card changed back to normal, King Dice returned it to his coat pocket with all his other card servants. Adjusting his bow tie, he hummed a little tune to himself as he walked to the boss' office. He knocked when he got there, and entered when he was told to. He bowed, gritting his teeth quietly before he stood up straight.
"Good news, boss: besides the three of them now being on their way to those silly little frogs, the boys don't seem to be doing so good. I don't mean in terms of power, but… well, let's just say they deme to be having trouble getting along."
"… I see. And the girl?"
"Nothing yet, sir."
"Good. You are dismissed. Send more cards if you have to. I will continue to search for what I need here."
"Understood."
Dicr bowed and left, sure that the door was quietly closed. He walked away and dusted off his suit, making sure to look his very best—like he always ŝ̷̡̖̾̊͜h̵̦̼͌̈ö̸̬̟́̏ù̴͎̚͝l̷͉̀d̷͚̯̠̉͊͠ would.
As soon as he was out of earshot, he opened another small hole in the ground and shuffled some of his cards. Picking one at random, he flipped it in the air and held it to his face as it wobbled and turned to face him. It immediately saluted, though in fear, but Dice didn't care. As long as orders were done, that was all that mattered.
"I want you to follow those kids all the way as much as you can until they arrive at the Mausoleum," he whispered to it. "Especially the girl. If she stays out of any fight, alert me at once. Then it'll be my turn."
It saluted, and Dice dropped it down the hole, fidgeting with a small pair of red-and-white dice as he walked back to the casino.
Now, all he had to do was wait.
Thank you for reading! If you can, please give some feedback, as it helps support this book and makes me very happy! But as Ate Nat says, let's avoid the flames, please. God bless us all!