Oh boy, oh boy what does the title mean?
Well nothing good that's all I'm telling you guys.
Two chapters to go until this story is all done. I'm really happy to finally end this one here. I really prefer this one here over the first one.
I'm more or less happy to hear from you guys that you love Grimm Cane and Finnegan Figg. I might think about adding them in the future.
But for now I hope you enjoy this chapter and see you than.
Until then
It was a peaceful midday on the Inkwell Isle's. The birds were twittering, the children in the park were laughing as they played together. Even outside the town, the inhabitants seemed to be doing well. Many were reading the daily newspaper. A rather rare sight as the reason was the headline that happened to be on the front page. Grimm Cane, the oh-so-great ringmaster, was under arrest after his true nature was revealed and some former circus employees testified to their experience of working with him. The testimonies revealed much that the residents of Inkwell Isle didn't know.
Many turned their backs on Grimm and his people. Posters advertising the circus ended up in the nearby garbage can among old rotten sandwiches and broken shoes with holes in the soles. Garbage. That was all they were worth. However, there seemed to be great news about the theater. Apparently Finnegan seemed to be blooming like a rose on the theater stage in recent weeks. His performances and acting skills were second to none. He could sing, act and deliver each role so well that the audience couldn't contain their excitement.
The former shy German Shepherd who escaped the orphanage became a popular and valued resident of the Inkwell Isle. Almost as popular and respected as a certain man with a Dice for a head whose radio show was known for everyone winning only to be labeled rigged after a certain mug lost in the final round. Everyone knew who it was. You could look it up. No need for a detailed explanation. Not for the man with a Dice for a head.
What needed an explanation, however, was how Alicia was doing. Was she back to her old self? Or had she changed after the abduction? Questions upon questions that the others were asking themselves in their heads while they were all in the living room spending time together. The three cups played with their marbles. Cuphead was fully concentrated on firing his orange ball at his brother Mugman's turquoise blue ones to throw them out of the ring. He forgot that Cuppy's yellow marbles clearly outnumbered his or his brother's.
Blood, meanwhile, was experimenting with some potions around him, mixing up some colorful liquids to create a new potion, or rather an explosion that he was fortunately able to stop in time before the whole cottage was reduced to ashes as it had been once before when a rat named Werner Werman briefly visited to claim the entire cottage for himself. Alicia included, of course. She should have known he had a crush on her. But fortunately Elder Kettle used Lucifer's help to solve the rat problem.
Using a stick of dynamite as a pen was a good move to get rid of Werner. The price was that the cottage was destroyed. Well, only for half a second before Lucifer wielded his trident and repaired the house. But nobody wanted to witness another explosion, so the only solution was to throw the potion the wolf was holding out of the window. Should the potion explode. But it didn't. The potion only changed its color to pink and became the "False Love Potion". A potion that was used to deceive deceitful or even money-hungry people. The potion had very little effect. So little that the enchanted persons regained consciousness faster than the user wanted.
Lucifer and Alicia were lying comfortably on the sofa. The latter was held in a soft, fluffy and, above all, warm and secure embrace. The reason was more than obvious. Lucifer didn't want to lose Alicia before it was time for him, her and the mug called Cuppy to go home. The portal was already near Quadratu's pond. A sacred place on the Inkwell Isles that meant a lot to the inhabitants. But before they could really return home or to the other Inkwell Isles. The book version that Lucifer and Cuppy originally came from was still ongoing.
Quadratus did help, but Varian seemed to be more annoyed every second as the face in the pond continued to rhyme. "I swear if you rhyme one more time I'll toss a stone in your pond!" Varian grumbled annoyed before Quadratus stopped rhyming and continued talking normally instead. "Rhymes are overrated and exhausting anyway." Varian silently agreed with his statement.
But not everyone was in the living room. Yes, Varian and Eira were missing because they were both very busy at the moment anyway, but someone else was missing. The master of the house, you could say. The guardian of Cuphead and Mugman. "Where is Elder Kettle anyway?" asked the younger one "Yes, where is he? He'd never miss his music," countered the older of the two siblings, looking towards the radio, which was playing soft jazz music.
"I don't know, maybe he's upstairs in his room sleeping?" Alicia replied with a shrug before she nuzzled into Lucifer's chest as he tenderly and slowly stroked his claws over her back. But it didn't sound all that convincing to the two brothers. Cuppy could hardly say anything about it nor deny it as it wasn't his Elder Kettle but Cupheads and Mugmans. What's more, the character of Elder Kettle here was much different from the one he knew.
Nevertheless, both brothers ran upstairs to make sure that Elder Kettle wasn't really asleep as Alicia claimed. "You're really sure Elder Kettle's asleep? Or was this just so we could have more time together?" Lucifer whispered in her ear. Of course the latter statement wasn't true as Alicia loved spending time with both her husband and the three cups. After all, they were part of her family themselves. So the young adult half-demon and queen of Inkewell Hell didn't hesitate for long to take her legs in her hands to look after the two brothers should they get into danger or even scream out loud, which was the case at the moment. "What's happening?!", 'I don't know!' both mugs shouted before a cloud of smoke came out of the room they were running from. The others were only just coming upstairs when they saw it, as well as the two frightened siblings hiding behind Alicia.
Nobody knew exactly what was going on, let alone why an explosion suddenly went off and the top floor was filled with smoke. The three cups coughed out the smoke while Blood, Alicia and Lucifer each put a hand over their mouths to avoid inhaling the smoke. The laughter that rang out as they did so was enough to identify the culprit. The old raspy laugh could only match Elder Kettle who happened to appear right in front of the group as the smoke slowly cleared. "Elder Kettle?" said the three cups, surprised and confused at the same time. He was responsible for the chaos up here?
"But you hate fireworks?" Wait, that noise was just fireworks? Alicia didn't want to believe it but... "Well, outside, yeah. But we're inside!" That doesn't make any sense! "Now, you boys ready for a day of fun?" Without hesitation, Elder Kettle handed Cuphead, Mugsy and Cuppy three presents. Alicia felt a slight undercurrent. As if there was something bad in these presents. Mugsy's statement that it wasn't Christmas only confirmed it when all three of them tore open their presents only to find that they contained lit fireworks which went off immediately.
Alicia ducked in time as a missile flew towards her, hitting Lucifer in the stomach and exploding. Her eyes widened in concern and she ran to her husband and asked him if he was hurt. But since Lucifer was a toon, which were considered indestructible, her concern was gone but not entirely ofcourse. "This isn't my kind of fun." Lucifer growled in annoyance as he coughed up a cloud of pitch-black smoke and knocked the dust and soot from his fur. His claws and horns were slightly filthy from the explosion, his fur shaggy like a dog that hadn't been bathed or brushed in a long time. He wasn't too thrilled about what Elder Kettle had just done and pulled himself together to keep from exploding in anger.
Downstairs at the breakfast table, the three cups were waiting for their breakfast, or rather late breakfast. Like every day, Elder Kettle prepared pancakes, which fried golden brown on the stove before landing on the plate. "Ugh!", 'Yuck!' but instead of golden brown pancakes, they ended up on the plate completely burnt. "Thanks, my appetite is gone." Not only did Cuppy's hunger disappear, but so did that of the others. "Well, can't win 'em all, boys." Elder Kettle shrugged his shoulders.
Somehow Elder Kettle is behaving strangely, Alicia thought. The old Kettle was usually rather calm, composed and only seemed to switch to his youthful phase when he overheard how old and fragile he was. However, Elder Kettle would never go so far as to simply throw food out of the window. Even if it was burnt. "Always have a plan B." Elder Kettle held a cookie tin in his hands almost unnaturally. Not just any cookie tin. It was the cookie jar that caused all three cups to break Elder Kettle's glasses. The glasses they had been trying to fix before a certain chalice showed up and caused everything to go, well...down the drain.
Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugsy stared at the cookie jar, each other, and then asked Elder Kettle, "But you never share your cookies," Cuppy said with a nervous, confused expression. "Are you feeling all right?" Alicia asked, just in case. It could be that the three cups had said something again that made Elder Kettle want to act stupid again. "Never better," the group heard in response before the now open biscuit tin was on the table. Of course, the three cups grinned like Cheshire cats and immediately helped themselves.
They literally gobbled up every cookie one by one, leaving more than enough cookie crumbs on the table, the chairs and, how could you guess, the entire kitchen. The adults didn't reach for the cookies. Nyx, who had been sleeping in Alicia's hoodie pocket and hadn't noticed what had just happened, asked, "Why is Elder Kettle allowing those three to eat out of the cookie jar?" Alicia didn't know what to say. Was Elder Kettle really out of his mind? Or was this just a dream she was having? Or was it the devil's work to get the souls of Cuphead and Cuppy?
Questions upon questions that never ended for the rest of the group members, because the extraordinary breakfast was of course not the end of the spectacle. No, before Alicia knew it, Elder Kettle grabbed all three cups and ran out the front door with them. "Day of fun!" shouted the four escapades. The others looked out the open door and didn't know what to do. The same could be said for the front yard goat. The later one was fast asleep until the front door burst open and the accompanying noise woke her. But Alicia suspected that sleeping on the floor like a flat board was not particularly comfortable for a goat.
Nevertheless, the goat didn't think anything of it and went back to sleep. Meanwhile, Elder Kettle ran, three cups in hand, literally, to the car. All three cups were laughing as they sat on the back seat, just waiting to go for a ride with Elder Kettle. The car key was already in the ignition when suddenly he remembered, "Oh! What's this?" He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, opened it, and a big fat stack of banknotes landed in his hands. "Well, well. Not bad, old man." He leafed through every single bill before the engine growled and the car drove off. "Did he really drive off without us?" Blood asked in amazement before the tires screeched from afar, the car stopped briefly, and then reversed back to the cottage. The group was even more confused. What's going on? Why did they stop? Did they forget something? Did Mugsy have to go to the bathroom again?
The latter was not asked in vain, but the answer was quite simple. "Hey, fellas! Day of fun!" Elder Kettle waved to the others and offered them a ride. "You too goat!" the older Kettle added. Unlike the others, the goat didn't hesitate, got up, bleated like a goat, and jumped into the cart with anticipation. But they were not yet complete. The others were still missing. "Come on, guys, we don't want to miss out on any fun!" Cuphead called confidently, knowing that today would be a special day if Elder Kettle was acting so strangely. But that was exactly why the others weren't jumping into the car.
Something was wrong with the whole situation. Not only Alicia knew that, but also Blood, Lucifer and Nyx. The latter decided to hide in the hoodie pocket again. She preferred to stay hidden before the devil would see her. "Should we really...?" Alicia was unsure about the whole thing. Should they go or should they stay? "Well, it's hard for us to find out what's going on with Elder Kettle if we don't accompany him and the others." Blood's statement was right on the mark. They could stay here and worry or accompany the Porcelain quartet to find out what was going on.
Slowly, the remaining members wandered down the hill on which the teapot house stood. They opened the fence gate before getting into the car. Lucifer held the front passenger door open for his beloved queen before getting in himself and closing the door, and he was just as surprised by the fast ride. But speed wasn't the only thing that worried the group. "Hey, look! No hands!" but Elder Kettle's carelessness as he let go of the steering wheel. 'Elder Kettle!' Alicia shouted in panic and grabbed the steering wheel to just make the turn into the cornfield instead of crashing into it. 'Can we go a little slower?' Mugsy asked before Elder Kettle deliberately ignored his question and rammed the accelerator into the floor of the vehicle to go even faster.
The forest was gone in a few seconds. Inkwell City, the capital and only city on Inkwell Isle, was in sight. The high-rises, skyscrapers and shops were in abundance. But Elder Kettle had his sights set on the optician. He parked his car right in front of it, between a green and a blue car, and deliberately rammed into the two parked cars. "What are we doing at the glasses shop?" Cuphead asked, confused. He had imagined this to be a fun day. Or was this one of the many excuses Elder Kettle used to go shopping with the three cups?
"You just let your ol' Elder Kettle do the talkin'." nobody had expected this answer when they entered the store and ran into the optician again. The same one who, with several people, was about to set the cottage on fire. But when she heard the ringing, she didn't chase the group away, but served them as was her job as a saleswoman: "How can I help you, gentlemen and the lady with the black hair?" Alicias face turned a little red. "Seven pairs of your most expensive sunglasses, please." the shop assistant showed no enthusiasm. Rather, she was annoyed that there was a goat in her shop. "Better than make it eight pairs." What the hell is going on here?
When the world is sayin' no
Don't waste your time feelin' low
Brandishing his walking stick, Elder Kettle leaped onto the sales counter without warning and spun the optician around, improving not only her mood. She reached for a rack of eight pairs of sunglasses and threw each one at the group until everyone was wearing a pair.
Click your heels, go, go, go
And dance across a rainbow
Elder Kettles arms reached for the others before he left the store with them without paying for the sunglasses, of course. The optician didn't even notice because she was humming the melody and dancing before she even realized what was going on and she growled softly with anger. "That was amazing!" Cuphead beamed with joy. Less pleased were Alicia, Blood and Lucifer. After all, they had robbed the woman by charming her.
Just like Chalice always did, to either get things for free or to escape from trouble. The song... Alicia recognized it. She knew who sang this song, but where did Elder Kettle know it from? "How did you know Chalice's song?" Alicia asked politely but also thoughtfully, while she slowly took the sunglasses off her nose to look into Elder Kettle's eyes. "You still haven't figured it out, have ya?" W-Wait, is it... Alicia hoped she wasn't mistaken in her thoughts. She really hoped that it was Chalice who had taken over Elder Kettle's body and not the devil as a transformation.
"It's me, Chalice." Elder Kettle replied.
But nobody believed him. Well, not quite. Alicia and Cuppy already had a faint idea why Elder Kettle was behaving so badly today. The fireworks, the burnt pancakes and now the theft were not part of his normal agenda. "I possessed your Elder Kettle." Nyx's eyes pulled back just as she pulled herself deeper into Alicia's hoodie pocket. The Sprigon didn't want Chalice to possess her. But the one who sounded the most convincing was Mugman. He studied Elder Kettle's appearance and demeanor before uttering a "banana oil".
Cuphead followed and doesn't really believe that Elder Kettle was possessed by Chalice. It was more or less clear that the statement the senior claimed didn't really sound convincing. So he pondered, rubbed under his chin and said "Okay. Then, if I'm not Chalice, how would I know you all broke into a cookie factory and you two got thrown into the ol' Hooba Dooba?" his fingers pointed explicitly at Cuphead and Mugman with the implication that it wasn't a lie but true. Almost everyone had broken into the cookie factory (not counting Lucifer, Blood and Nyx) and only two ended up in jail. But referring to the jail as Hooba Dooba was not Elder Kettle's way of speaking.
"Shh! Elder Kettle doesn't know we got thrown into the ol' Hooba Dooba." but the whispering of Cuphead and the nervous sweaty face of Mugman said more than clearly that it was Chalice. It's not for nothing that Cuphead would call his Guardian Elder Kettle if his name is Elder Kettle. "Yeah. And Hooba Dooba's not even a thing." corrected the younger of the two cups. He was one hundred percent sure that the prison should not be called something like that.
But the gasps from the two brothers' said something else, "It is Chalice!" Even Cuppy was sure that it was Chalice who had taken possession of Elder Kettle. Alicia, however, was still skeptical. Well, only until Elder Kettle opened his mouth wide and held Chalice open in her ghost form. "Heya, ding-dongs." she greeted the group with a wink before disappearing into the old Kettle's mouth, his lips grinning. Screaming, Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugsy hid behind Alicia, Blood and Lucifer. The goat followed suit and also hid behind the king of Inkwell Hell.
"You're possessing Elder Kettle?" Alicia asked, her arms restricted. She seemed to be one of the few who wasn't really excited about it, let alone afraid. Sure, it was a bit creepy that Chalice from this version of Inkwell Isle's could possess other people. Ms. Chalice from the book version could do it to a certain extent even if someone ate into an Astral Cookie. Only then would she swap bodies with that person, which in this case was Cuppy and his brother. But by no means with complete strangers. Ms. Chalice wouldn't even dare to do that there. She knew how valuable a soul was after Saltbaker had almost turned her into a Wondertart.
"That's right, girl." Okay, that's new. Normally, Alicia didn't care about nicknames as long as they didn't come into contact with a fictional character that sounded almost identical to hers. But calling her a 'girl' was new. Just as it was new that the group decided to have a fun day without Elder Kettle. But well, his bad back was a hurdle and a sign of his age. The days of having fun were over for him. "We don't need Elder Kettle to have our day of fun." But that doesn't necessarily mean they're just going to sit around and do nothing.
What do they all always mean by Day of Fun? Alicia asked herself mentally after these words were mentioned again and again until she got a spark. Did Chalice know that Alicia, Cuppy and Lucifer would no longer be here but would return to their worlds? Was that the reason why they dragged her here to have one last bit of fun with the two brothers? Could well be. After all, the latest news traveled fast on the Inkwell Isle's. Every new rumor that came out on the Inkwell Isle's was spread to every corner of the country. So it was quite possible that Chalice knew about it and was planning to spend a nice day with Alicia and the group before heading home.
Elder Kettle therefore stayed in the car for the time being because of his back pain. "Now, goat, you watch Elder Kettle while we're gone, okay?" but the old kettle shouldn't be all alone. The goat stayed with him while the others spent a day full of fun and joy. Dizzy and with stars above his head, Elder Kettle regained consciousness as the goat licked him with its cold, slobbery tongue. His screams could be heard clearly from afar. Or at least Alicia heard it followed by "Kettle, you old rascal. You still got it.".
A few streets further, on a street corner to be precise, the group led by the four cups entered a pharmaceutical store that had a small bar as well as medicines. "Seven root beers." the salesman slid across the bar counter, stopping right in front of each one. The brown liquid, the white foam and the red and white striped straws, which resembled Cuphead's and Cuppy's straws, not only looked delicious on the outside but also tasted really good. Alicia reached for her glass and drank a little. You could feel the tingling sensation as it slowly went down her throat. The foam on top even stuck to her lips and resembled a beard.
Lucifer smiles a little. Not only because of the beard Alicia now had, but also because Nyx dipped her head into the glass to drink from the root beer as well. "Hey, where did Chalice go?" Cuppy asked, looking like everyone else to the edge of the bar where there was only an empty, untouched glass filled with root beer. "I don't know. She was just here a second ago." replied Mugsy, sitting closer to the edge. The statement seemed plausible to a complete stranger. Maybe she was in the loo or had somewhere to go? A stranger would think. But as soon as Cuphead made a face, the others followed suit. They knew that something wasn't quite right here.
"Well, I'm sure she won't mind if we start without her." Cuphead rolled his eyes and offered Mugsy the chance to start drinking his root beer. "Go ahead." confirmed his statement even more clearly. But his brother just shook his head "After you.". "Well, you always take the first sip." Cuppy added. "It's your thing remember?" agreed Cuphead as they both stared at Mugsy as if he knew it in his sleep, or did he? "Oh, of course Mugsy remembers." he giggled nervously 'Cause I'm Mugsy!' and slipped out of his glass until 'Ah-ha!', 'What?' both Cupheads had discovered the impostor. "The real Mugsy always drinks his root beer floats in one gulp." Cuphead explained to his supposed brother.
"Face it, Mugsy. You're Chalice." Alicia never really noticed how Mugsy drank his root beer because she had never seen him drink root beer before. But where Cuphead is right, he is right "All right. Ya got me." The Chalice had taken possession of Mugsy without him realizing it while, like Elder Kettle, he was also dizzy and stars were circling over his head. That was, of course, until his tired, blurry eyes caught sight of the glass of root beer and the group finally clinked glasses. "Brain freeze!" grumbled Mugman as he drained the entire glass in one gulp.
But drinking root beer was only part of the agenda. Outside Inkwell City, the Flytrap docked at a jetty. Today, for once, there were no visitors. Instead, Ribby was baking cake, which the four cups were keen to have a slice of. You could already see their faces from the porthole and knew what they were planning to do to either get at the cake or mess it up. As Chalice took possession of Ribby, his brother Croaks stood behind him and stretched out his hands to take the tray of cakes from his brother. However, he got shot in the face with two cakes. His joy quickly turned to anger as he grabbed two more pies and angrily peppered them back at his brother while Chalice flew out of his body to escape the ensuing pie fight and laugh heartily with the three cups outside. It was funny to watch the two frogs throwing food at each other but the adults in the group saw it differently. More a waste of food than fun. Alicia thought to herself as she shook her head.
Meanwhile, the so-called "fun day" continued in the forest. Or rather, in Porkrind's store, into whose window the three cups peered just to see how well Porkrind can tap dance. Oh boy Porkrind wouldn't be happy to hear that Chalice just invaded his body. For good reason, it was humiliating enough for the pig to be constantly set on fire or even laughed at. But embarrassing himself in front of his customers was the height of humiliation.
However, the cups didn't care. They laughed their heads off. Literally. Lucifer, Blood and Alicia, on the other hand, didn't really seem to know whether they should laugh or not. The wolf smirked a little as he wasn't on good terms with Porkrind anyway, but otherwise the joke passed them by. "Well, at least another one who's happy to see Porkrind humiliate himself even further." Nyx fluttered curiously out of Alicia's hoodie pocket to the window of the store to see what was so funny. A soft giggle sounded in Alicia's ears. A giggle that only suited Nyx. The shadow sprigon also enjoyed the humiliation of the pig like the four cups.
But they didn't want to spend the whole day getting on other people's nerves. I hope not. Alicia was extremely reluctant to be held responsible as a co-perpetrator if the four cups took things too far. So Blood suggested that they go to the pier to have a bit of fun. That way they wouldn't just annoy more people by having Chalice invade their bodies again. That was the wolf's plan until Chalice spotted Sherman and Dorris at a High Striker fairground attraction.
Alicia nudged Blood while Chalice was about to enter Sherman's body to present his beloved spouse with the grand prize of a teddy bear. But before Dorris could even touch it with the tip of her fingers, Sherman suddenly ran over to Alicia and handed her the teddy bear. "Um..." the blush on her cheeks said that Alicia was not very happy about it. On the whole, she was hardly happy about holding a prize in her hands that someone else actually deserved. It was not for nothing that she deliberately kept her distance from Sherman as his beloved wife stood behind him with the mallet in both hands, just waiting for him to look at her after Chalice left his body.
Judging by his confused eyes, he didn't know what had just happened, why Alicia was holding the main prize in her hands and was willing to give it back and why his wife was hitting his foot with a mallet. He howled in pain like a fire engine siren. Feeling the pain, it wasn't long before he was hobbling on one foot while his wife walked away rubbing her hands together as if nothing had happened. "Wow, this really was a day of fun." However, none of the four cups really cared about Sherman's well-being as Alicia did while she placed the teddy bear at his feet, apologized several times and followed the group.
Was she angry? A little. Embarrassed? More than clearly. She didn't want to be dragged into such a mess. Alicia preferred to keep to herself. On the sidelines rather than the center of attention. She'd always been like that since middle school. That's not going to change any time soon. "Well, I didn't think it was funny." The group stopped as soon as Alicia said this sentence. All eyes were on her. Another thing she didn't like besides being the center of attention. "What do you mean, Al?" Cuphead asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. His straw tilted as well.
"Didn't you like the day?" Mugsy looked at her nervously as if he didn't know if they had done anything wrong. "If you think it's fun to humiliate other people, then my answer is no." Crossing her arms, Alicia turned away from the four of them and showed them her back. "I think fun is different from humiliating people." Alicia had to endure this kind of 'fun' more than enough in her school days. Whether it was someone spilling apple juice in her backpack or the Alice in Wonderland stickers on her locker at university. Alicia didn't want to be bullied or become a bully herself. The four cups behaved as the latter.
The beaming faces quickly disappeared. The four cups didn't know that they were behaving like bullies. Porkrind, Elder Kettle, Sherman. They were all innocent and tried to spend the day as best they could until Chalice gained control of her body and turned the tables, leaving Porkrind humiliated and Sherman nursing his foot in pain while trying to ask his wife what happened. Only to be hit on the head again with a mallet. Alicia couldn't ignore the bump and the birds flying around his head. She still felt bad.
"Hey, look!" Cuphead may still feel uncomfortable about what Alicia had said but his attention quickly fell on a couple of vending machines. Not just any vending machines with toys in them, but fortune telling machines. Okay, that's weird and creepy. "Let's get out fortunes and maybe we'll find out." with no argument from the others. They went to the three vending machines, especially the wolf.
One machine was partially covered by a curtain behind which was a sphere. A ball for fortune telling. In other words, a fortune-telling sphere. The wooden frame was colored in white while the walls of the machine were striped in red and pastel pink. Above the curtain and the coin slot was a golden metal eye with golden lightning bolts on either side.
The machine to the right looked much more modern, but was the smallest of the three. It looked more like a slot machine you would find in Las Vegas, except that the screen didn't show a slot machine but a picture of a white glove inside a vortex with red flashing lights around it. Next to the coin slot was a small gap-like opening from which the card was probably printed. The sides of the machine were colored blue with a black cauldron on top with purple clouds of smoke coming out of it. The machine to the right was the largest of the three and, like the one on the far left, consisted of a simple wooden frame.
The walls were not painted like the other two, but seemed to be fading and losing color. The only color left was the yellow roof and the interior of the machine. There, a small black plush cat sat on a turquoise cushion and served as a mechanical fortune teller.
Each of the four cups went to one of the three machines. Chalice went to the machine on the far left, Cuphead went to the middle one and Mugsy and Cuppy shared the machine on the far right. With a coin in their hands, they each inserted one into the machine they were standing in front of. The glove spun as the red dots lit up one by one and the sound of a printer was heard. The slips of paper with the fortunes on them appeared one by one from the machine. "Your lack of common sense will be your undoing." Cuphead read on his slip of paper. "Huh, that suits you." added Cuppy.
Cuphead gave him an annoyed look. He wanted to argue against it but let it go because Lucifer was standing behind him. The three adults were now standing at the machine to find out their fortune. "Well, that's no help." Blood said annoyed as he read his note saying that his goals were within reach. "Mine isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows either," Lucifer mentioned. His note only wished him good luck. Nothing more. "What about yours, Mugsy?" Alicia asked as she waited for her note and looked at the younger brother behind her.
"Mine says, You're one tough cookie." Aww. Alicia smirked and held it in at first, but let it out to show him that she thought the prediction was cute. "It's not a clue, but it is true." she said and patted him on the head. "Hey, what does yours say, Chalice and Ali?" Cuppy asked curiously as he and the others waited for both ladies to answer. Chalice just stared at her note, realizing too late that she had been asked a question. "It's nothin'." she mentioned, hiding the note behind her back as she smiled nervously at the others.
Whatever was written on the note worried her. Worries that she didn't want to pass on. "It's just some silly nonsense." she smiled nervously at the others. Something wasn't right. Why was she behaving so strangely? The others must have thought so before they turned their attention to Alicia, who got the same question. "I..." she didn't know what to say. There was no sentence on the note. Just a picture. "Uh... Hey! You guys wanna get some cotton candy?" Oh god thanks for that Chalice. Chalice had helped Alicia out of a jam with this question because she suspected that Alicia had gotten the same card as she had.
"Boy, do we!" The three cups replied in sync and immediately went to check out the next stall selling candy floss. The question of what was on the cards was now completely irrelevant. The main thing was candy floss. That's what the three cups wanted. But both ladies knew that this would not last long. That's why Chalice stayed behind with the promise that she'd be there. But Alicia wanted to show her card to the others. At least to the adults. "Guys..." Lucifer and Blood stopped, Nyx peeked out of her hoodie. All three knew that Alicia was worried. Something was bothering her. That something was the card she got from the vending machine.
She held out her hand and presented the card. Unlike the others, this one was wrapped in black and contained no text. Instead of text, all you could see was the outline of a creature. A creature with glowing yellow eyes and red pupils. Lucifer, Blood and Nyx took a closer look before they gasped or, in the case of the former, growled. The outline was that of the devil. There was no doubt about it. Each of them would recognize that outline. The horns, the ears and above all the eyes were an indication of the Devil and that Alicia would not have a good future.
However, Alicia was not the only one with this card. Chalice held an identical card in her hand. The devil's face smiled at her. She knew what was coming next and swallowed nervously. In an alleyway between a few stalls, Chalice lifted an old, scuffed curtain. The alley seemed empty until flames shot out of the ground and an elevator appeared. A familiar elevator that Alicia and the others had encountered more than once. The elevator dinged and the door opened. There were two demons in the elevator. Henchman and Amnon. Neither of them were smiling or happy, as was usually the case.
"Uh, Boss wants to see ya." Without a word, sighing, Chalice walked towards the elevator "Yeah, I figured." and stood between the two demons before Amnon pressed the switch to take the elevator down to the underworld. The devil was waiting for Chalice there. She knew that, both demons knew that, the devil himself knew that. But who didn't know were the three cups, Alicia and the others. They didn't know that Chalice was in cahoots with the devil. They didn't know that Chalice had made a deal with the devil.
A deal that affects Alicia's future.