A/N: Welcome to this week's edition of "Heart, Soul, and Mind". Today, we're gonna have a look at things from Natty's perspective! Little do any of us know, she's in for quite a surprise! What is it? Stay "tooned"!

(Natty's P.O.V.)

After thanking and bidding farewell to Misterie, the gang and I set out to find and warn the other debtors about the Devil's return. We needed a team that was willing to stand up to him for all that he has done to them.

The thing that bothered me was their willingness to help us. Granted, they weren't heartless, and some were difficult to beat. You should see how many times I've died the first time playing the game, but I wasn't sure if they'd be persuaded to join us in taking him down.

While Hilda went to warn Cagney, we decided to start with the Root Pack. Before we left, Misterie informed us that they were near one of the lighthouses in Isle 1, so we navigated through the woods to find them. Cuphead was a bit nervous leaving his brother behind, worried the Devil and his goons might do something horrible to him, but we assured him that Misterie will keep an eye on him and will protect him with her magic.

I have to admit, finding their home took a bit longer than I thought. I guess because I was so used to the game's format and could simply walk up to a place without any problems, but since this was different, our journey to the garden took time.

While we walked, I thought hard and long about all that happened; falling through a portal, meeting Bon Bon, getting captured by Dice, meeting the Devil himself and escaping his grasp. It was still bizarre that alot happened in a short amount of time. Kinda reminds me of Mario Party, especially at the last five turns. Anything can happen at this point.

Only this time, instead of facing each other in mini-games or weird and bizarre boards, we were up against the Devil and his goons.

He had an entire army to do his bidding and use it against us.

We had to be prepared.

We found the lighthouse a few feet away from the cottage. Cuphead went to warn Elder Kettle about the situation and to take him to Misterie's hut for protection. While the Kettle did not owe his soul to the Devil in any way, he could still be in danger. We couldn't risk anyone else from his family being taken.

The lighthouse was near the large cliff, looking to be about a ten foot, maybe fifteen foot drop if one was not careful. I know there's water down below, but a nasty fall could result in a nasty injury.

Soooo, let's not do that.

The Root Pack was talking to each other but stopped when I politely spoke up, "Erm, excuse me, Root Pack? Sorry to interrupt but we need to talk to you."

They turned to see us and beamed when they saw Cuphead along with us.

"Eyyy! If it ain't the Cup Brothers!" Sal Spudder smiled. "And the humans from another world!"

"You've heard about us?" Lexie asked.

"Sure, word gets out pretty quick around here." Chauncey Chantenay brought up. "I mean, you guys escaping the Devil was crazy! I'm glad you're okay."

"Well, thanks to Lexie's planning, we got out." Katie smiled. "Without that plan, I don't know what would have happened.

"Aww gee, Kate." Lexie blushed.

"Well, glad to hear that." Sal beamed. He noticed that Cuphead was looking down at his feet looking rather sad. "Hey, Cups. Why the long face?"

"Erm, it's just, there's only one of the cups here…" He glumly replied.

"But where's Mugman?" Ollie Bulb asked, looking around nervously.

Now, this was going to be hard to tell them, especially for Cuphead. Poor little guy is still having a hard time wrapping this around his mind and blames himself for what had happened. We all tried to reassure him that it was Dice's fault for taking Mugman's soul, but I could tell he still felt pretty guilty.

"Erm, uh, well…" I began, not sure how to even begin telling them what happened.

Lexie, though, took a deep breath and sadly replied, "He...he lost his soul to Dice and his goons."

Katie sighs sadly as she hangs her head low, solemnly confirming the statement.

The veggie pack gasped in fear. They couldn't believe that Mugman, sweet, loving, kind and fun Mugman, was defeated. The thought was so overwhelming for Ollie as he began to whimper, tears slipping down his face.

"Oh no, no, Ollie don't-" Sal started but Ollie began to sob, as tears fell like waterfalls from his eyes.

Normally, I would find that funny in cartoons when one was upset over something silly, but this was no laughing matter. It was still ironic; an onion crying. This is coming from an onion that makes people cry when they cut them. And I should know, since I've done that while helping my mom in the kitchen.

"Noooo!" Ollie wailed, as Chauncey patted his back.

"There, there, buddy. It'll be okay…"

Sal was anything but happy. He clenched his fists hard and growled, "That lousy plug! Why I oughta-!"

He was ready to start pummeling something, or someone if we weren't careful, when Liam quickly mentioned, "Which brings us to finding you; the Devil reopened the casino and is planning on hunting you three down for your souls."

"Not only that, but he's going after the rest of the debtors and won't stop till he has them." Lexie brought up.

"Which is why we are asking of you three to join our rebellion to stop him and his goons." I announced. "It would be a big help for us to have more friends than lose them and could help us return home."

"And it's only a matter of time his minions will know where you are all hiding." Katie added. "He'll turn Inkwell on its head to find everyone and will hurt innocent people who would stand in his way."

Ollie took a sniffle and asked, "Will you excuse me for a second? I-I need to calm down a bit."

We nodded and he disappeared into the ground. I couldn't blame him. Hearing a good friend lost their soul to the king of darkness himself is not a light conversation nor thought to deal with.

He kinda reminded me of myself a bit. Whenever I was upset, I would leave the area for a more suitable environment to calm down. It usually took a while since I was pretty emotional about things, but I was glad to have people now to help me with emotions like that. I just hope I can help him the same way people helped me.

Turning my attention back to the remainder of the group, Sal pondered over before responding, "I see. We heard through the grapevine the Devil was up to something so that's why we were hiding here. But what can we-!"

Just then, we all heard a loud, agonizing scream from behind us.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

It sounded like Ollie! Very similar to the way Mugman lost his… oh no!

Katie gasped in horror.

"NO!" Lexie screamed.

"OLLIE!" I cried.

We raced down the small slope, and came to a screeching halt as we witnessed King Dice snatching Ollie's soul. Much like Mugman, Ollie was lifeless and colorless, collapsing onto the ground defeated.

"OLLIE, NO!" Lexie cried. "GIVE HIM BACK!"

Dice, ignoring Lexie, then placed the soul in the same crystal sphere we saw earlier and gazed at it with a wicked grin.

"Huh, would have liked to get all three of them, but I guess getting the weakest of the bundle is fine." He chortled.

Then Cuphead, feeling more anger than he did before, shouted at Dice, "HEY! I WANT MUGMAN'S SOUL BACK RIGHT NOW!"

Dice turned to see us and gave a smirk.

"Well, look who's here. The boss was quite happy when I brought the mug's soul to him." He announced to Cuphead. "He was hoping to get yours as well, Cup-face, but he'll get it at a later date."

"Not on MY watch!" Lexie shouted.

The three of us proceeded to pull out our Keyblades while Liam pulled out a fighting staff and Matt prepared his yo-yo. I know the girls and I still need to master our abilities as well as figure out our powers, but honestly, this is the best time to do it, and who better to be a punching bag than King Dice himself?

"You really know how to push a girl's buttons, Dicey boy!" Katie growled at him as Kaichi's fur stood up in anger.

"Oh well, look who found out my scheme." Dice sarcastically replied, pretending to be dramatic. "Oh, I've been foiled yet again."

"This isn't funny! Let him and Mugman go now!" Liam exclaimed.

"After all the trouble of getting it? I think not." Dice retorted.

Lexie was looking very ticked off at this point. She reminded me of moments in cartoons when one was so angry, they had steam come out of their ears like a train whistle.

"Dice...let them go before I use your HEAD in Yahtzee!"

Katie suddenly let out a growl at Dice, similar to the last time we encountered the sleazy blockhead; draconic in nature.

Dice let out a mocking, yet dark chuckle as he replied to Lexie, "Oooohhh, would LOVE to see ya try, darlin'."

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he summoned cards and imps, and then they proceeded to attack us.

We fended them better than we did the previous time, considering we now have a better grip on our weapons. Lexie swiped at the ground and created a replica of Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey and he performed a spin attack, knocking out surrounding goons.

"Awesome! We got Cappy!" I squealed. I love the game Super Mario Odyssey and seeing Cappy with us was really cool!

"Take this!" Katie shouted at some cards, as she casted an Aero spell, trapping the cards in a whirlwind.

"Good one, Kate!" Lexie called.

Katie smiled and resumed her battle. She held up one of the summoning charms Misterie lent us.

Holding the charm close to her heart, Katie called out, "Give me strength!"

Twirling her Keyblade like Sora, she raised it up and summoned… Simba from The Lion King as he roars, hitting the ground on all fours, growling and ready for battle.

"Ohhh, okay now THAT'S cool!" Lexie claimed.

"Niiiice!" I beamed.

Simba then suddenly transformed into his "King's Flare" form from the third game. Kate leapt onto his back as he charged at the cards, performing a Firaga Leap and letting out a Firaga Roar. He then performed his big finisher as he leapt into the air, spun around in suspension, until he burst in a blazing explosion.

Wow, gotta say, this is way better than watching it on a screen.

As we continued to fight off Dice's goons, and at some point, I was unaware that Lex stumbled closer to the edge of the cliff closest to the lighthouse.

I didn't think much about that, considering I was distracted with my own battles.

Next thing I knew, I glanced and saw Dice jump into a portal. Oh great, what was that blockhead up to now? Was he leaving? I swear the guy reminded me of Pete from Kingdom Hearts 2, where he sent out Heartless to deal with us and not do it himself.

"Huh?!" I heard Lexie exclaim. "Where'd he-?!"

Suddenly, both Katie and I spotted Dice…right behind a distracted Lexie.

"LEX!" Katie yelled. "WATCH OUT!"

Lexie barely got to turn around before Dice quickly grabbed her from behind, "Gotcha!"

"HEY!" Lexie yelled, struggling against him. "HANDS OFF!"

"LEXIE!" Katie and I shouted.

We tried our best to fight off his cards, but it was no use. They just wouldn't stop spawning. Lexie tried to use her own Keyblade, but Dice snatched it, throwing it to the side while he wrapped arms all over her waist.

"That's better…" Dice crooned. "Now, how 'bout a quick kiss?"

"Hey! Hands off!" Liam shouted and attempted to attack Dice, but a swarm of cards tackled him. "Oh, come on!"

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Kate shouted, as we both charged at him.

The problem was more cards blocked our path before we could reach them. This wasn't looking good!

"Get out of our way!" Katie demanded.

We kept knocking them back, but more kept coming and barricaded our path. Dang it! Now what?!

I was starting to panic. With the remaining members of the Root Pack, Cuphead and Liam busy, no one was going to rescue Lex! Oh jeez, what am I gonna do!? I tried casting spells to get a better handle on things, but these stupid cards still kept coming. The other issue was I didn't know how to teleport, so getting to her was going to be harder.

"GUYS!" Lexie cried out, but her voice was shaking with fear. I know she was a strong person, but in a grip like that, it's hard to break free.

Then, Dice moved back a bit, maybe moving a bit from the battle, I dunno, but just as he's about to try and kiss Lex, suddenly, a small piece of the ground cracked off the cliff, causing Dice to loose balance and his grip on her, making her fall!

"LEX!" We all screamed. Even Dice panicked a bit, since he knew the Devil needed her for his conquest.

Alive.

Panicking, I bolted towards the edge, shoving Dice out of the way, and jumped down after Lex. I know this was a bad move to do, but I didn't have time to come up with a plan.

Actually correction; this was the plan!

"I got you! I got you!" I kept calling, as I reached out my hand towards her, her face covered with terror.

To be honest, I've never seen Lexie so terrified. Sure, she was startled when we were confronting the Devil, but this was a whole new level of fear. And if I can say, I was really scared too. I was worried that Lexie would be hurt or worse, despite me being scared of my own well being. But at that point, I didn't care.

Lex was important to save.

As Lexie screamed her head off, I pushed aside all fear and dove harder after her. I knew this was gonna be a make or break moment but I had to try.

I was coming in really close when suddenly, as if in slow motion, something began to happen. I felt my body changing, somehow. I began to see a glow, not from the sunlight, but from myself.

The light was a rose pink color, much to my surprise. Then, I felt my hands twitch and saw them transform into claws. My feet began to twitch and sting a bit, as they turned into paws. Then, my teeth began to hurt, as they began to move and stretch. I felt them and they felt sharp like fangs. My ears began to ring so loud it began to hurt, as they too stretched out a bit and became pointed and furry. My back began to hunch over for a second as I felt something tear from it. They glistened in the sunlight. Were they wings? Suddenly, I began to see raven-colored fur begin to grow all over me and I then let out a thunderous roar.

After a second, right before Lex's eyes, I transformed into-

"A wolf?!"

I wish I was lying but I wasn't.

Not having time to figure things out, and as time began to resume back to its normal state of Lexie plummeting down to earth, I flew down and grabbed Lexie's shirt collar with my mouth. Using my wings, I soared upward and reach the top, landing safely on the ground and placed Lexie gently down.

When everyone saw me, they were amazed and shocked, even Dice was stunned.

"A Pterolycus?!" Kate gasped.

"Incredible!" Liam beamed.

"Whoa!" Matt claimed

"It-it can't be!" Dice trembled.

"She looks so beautiful!" Katie exclaimed.

"Alright, Nat! Great catch!" Kaichi called.

Once I placed Lexie safely on the ground, my attention turned to Dice, and boy was I ticked off!

"Ooohhh jeez, that's one mean looking wolf…" Dice muttered.

Seeing my angry face, he decided to see if he could make a run for it. It wasn't as funny as seeing him run in The Cuphead Show!, when the Devil sent out his third finest demons after Cuphead.

Okay, side note, I love that episode, especially when I mentioned "That whole episode could have worked out in his favor if he didn't lose his cool. Twice."

That, however, is another conversation for a different time.

I then proceeded to chase after him and once I got close, I leaped into the air, and pounced on him hard, and then proceeded to fight him. I felt like I was in a big dust cloud where many people got into a fight.

People were shocked by how hard I was going, startled even.

"Oh my…!" Katie gasped.

"Yikes! That's gotta hurt!" Kaichi winced

"Oh! Ouch! Sheesh!" Liam remarked as Katie covered Matt's eyes.

"Wait! I wanna see!" Matt protested, trying to move Kate's hands from his eyes.

"Uh, no, not really." Liam gulped.

Even Simba cringed at the sight of me beating the mess out of Dice, and that's surprising, considering he had a huge, epic tussle with his evil uncle.

After a while, I finally stopped, still on top of Dice, who was banged up pretty badly, and I was snarling at him. His face was pure terror, panting and shaking. In the short amount of time we've unintentionally encountered him, seeing him terrified was a whole new side of him.

He'd better remember who he's dealing with.

"O-okay, t-take it easy, I-I was only kidding…" Dice shuddered as I leaned in close, showing him my bared teeth. Realizing I was still ticked, he quickly teleported out along with his goons.

"Hey! Get back here!" Liam shouted.

"Coward!" Lex growled.

And as quickly as the battle started, it ended. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of damage here, not compared to Misterie's shop. I still felt bad we wrecked the place, but there were some scorch marks on the ground and a few bushes were burned so nothing too bad here.

"I always knew he was a thin-skinned bully to begin with." Kate scoffed.

"No arguments there!" Kaichi sternly replied.

Out of breath, I sat down and then changed back to my human form, a bit shocked. My body shook a bit and I was completely speechless. My mind was still trying to process the entire thing before I finally managed to ask

"What-what just happened?"

"Nat! You were amazing!" Katie beamed.

"Yo, that was cool!" Liam added.

"You just turned into a Pterolycus and kicked Dice's butt big time!" Kaichi mentioned.

"Yeah! Thanks for the save!" Lexie smiled.

As the group approached me, suddenly, I scrambled to my feet a bit scared. Honestly, not sure why I did that. Maybe I was still bewildered about what just happened and panicked my powers would start up like that, or what, but I panicked a bit.

"Stay back! Please!" I pleaded. "I-I don't wanna hurt you…"

The group arched an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hurt us?" Katie echoed in confusion.

Seeing the startled look on my face, She then coaxed me gently, "Natty, it's okay, you don't have to be afraid."

"Yeah, you've totally got things under control." Kaichi added.

"Hey, it's okay, no one's hurt that we're friends with." Liam assured.

"Yeah, Nat, we know you. You'd never do that." Lexie agreed as Katie gently nodded.

Seeing that they weren't afraid of me and my new founded abilities, I took a deep breath, calming down

"Sorry, I was really surprised. It happened so fast." I admitted. "I was just thinking I needed to save Lex and wanted to protect her, like a mother wolf does to her pups."

"And it was a very brave and noble thing you did, Nat." Katie mentioned.

"We all think so." Liam chimed in.

"Yeah! That fight with King Dice was awesome!" Matt exclaimed.

Kaichi began to laugh as he stated, "Dice should have seen the look on his face when you were about to beat him up! He looked like he was gonna squeal like a girl!"

We all busted out laughing, remembering how silly it was for Dice to run away like that. And to think, people respected him, considering he's the manager and the Devil's right hand man. If people found out about that, which I hope they do, it could ruin his reputation.

Not that I would care or anything, but just a thought

"That was pretty funny." I giggled.

"Serves him right for trying to hit on Lex again." Liam said.

"But still, it-it was incredible." I stated, my voice shaking a bit that was mixed of both nerves and excitement. "I never knew I had this power inside of me."

"All the more reason why we need to be careful and keep well away from the Devil, until we learn to master and control our magic as best as possible." Katie reminded us.

Oh, right, there was still that. No doubt Dice would return to tell his employer about what happened. I was a bit worried, considering he'll come up with something even more terrifying than before. There's no limit to his evil planning.

Kate then turned to Simba and smiled.

"Thank you. You've been of great help." She then hugged him and, to all of our surprise, he actually began to purr, which made Katie giggle a bit.

"Wait, is he purring?" I asked, amazed. "I have watched The Lion King more than twenty times, and this was the first time I heard him purr like that."

"Wow, never heard that from him before." Liam stated.

"Eh, he and Nala purred when they nuzzled each other if you listen hard enough." Kate claimed.

After she had let him go, Simba disappeared in a shimmer of light and she was holding her summon charm.

"Would you believe me that I actually wanted to do that?" She giggled.

"I think you mentioned something like that but eh, I'm not complaining." Lexie replied, as Katie beamed.

While we had a great victory and me learning about my abilities, I needed to address the elephant back in the room.

No matter how painful it was to bring it up.

"But...I still feel bad that we lost one of the Root Pack members and we got there before Dice did." I glumly stated.

"Don't worry. We'll get him and Mugman back… somehow…" Katie sadly replied.

"Yeah, at least the remaining two members of the Root Pack are safe… that's at least some good news, right?" Kaichi asked, trying to lift our spirits.

"I suppose…" Lexie trailed off.

"I think we'd better get Sal and Chauncey to a safe place and head on to help out the next debtor the Devil's targeting next." Katie suggested.

"Good call." I agreed.

"Who's next?" Kaichi asked.

"Well, Hilda sent word to Cagney and I think also Goopy soooo, I guess we can move to the second Isle…?" Cuphead trailed off. Then he recalled. "Oh wait, we still need the frog brothers at the Fly Trap."

Katie nodded and replied, "Okay, we should stop there and warn them, before we head on for the second Isle."

We all agreed, gave the Root Pack directions for safety, and headed over to the Fly Trap. As we headed back to the forest to visit the restaurant, my mind was still swirling.

"Wow, just after that, I got my powers unlocked! That's so cool!" My thoughts squealed. "But still, the power it holds. Now I know why the Devil wants me, and the girls. If I thought my powers were something, who knows what Kate and Lex's are like…"

I just hope the way they get their powers isn't as terrifying as what I went through to unlock mine.

(Normal P.O.V)

Dice hopped out of the portal, frustrated and out of breath, as he found himself in the hallways of the casino. After dismissing his goons, he walked down to the throne room.

It was bad enough to be defeated by those two Cup boys, but being beaten by a little girl was nothing to take lightly. He knew his employer was not going to be happy about this, despite getting one soul from the Root Pack.

He saw the doors, took a deep breath and headed on in.

When he entered, he was surprised to see his employer, lounging on his throne, sipping on a beverage. When he looked up from his drink, he set the glass down on a tray that an imp was holding.

"Oh, there you are, Boss. You wanted to see me?" Dice asked, feeling a tad nervous.

"Ah, yes, Dice…" The Devil began, but his eyes trailed down to his tattered clothes. He could tell by just looking at him, he had a rough time.

"I see your mission went well."

Dice gave out an annoyed huff. "I hardly think of it going well. I had them right where I wanted and then the young one Natty transformed into a wolf and tackled me!"

The Devil arched an eyebrow in surprise.

"A wolf you say?" He repeated.

"Yeah; fur, claws and everything. Never seen that happen before." Dice claimed. "But the interesting thing was she had wings that went with it too."

"Huh, interesting. So, young Natty has activated her powers? What did you do to trigger it?" The Devil asked.

Dice rubbed his head in thought as he searched his brain.

"Trying to remember…. Oh wait, we were in the middle of the battle and I decided maybe I could snag a quick kiss from Lexie. I disarmed her, got her in my grip, but as I was about to kiss her, the ground cracked a little bit and I lost my balance and my grip on her and she…fell off the cliff?"

He realized that what he said was a huge mistake. The Devil burst into literal flames as he roared.

"YOU IDIOT! I DON'T WANT HER DEAD!"

"Yikes! N-now hold on Boss!" Dice protested. "You-you told me she was really annoying especially since she brought up…you know who? You ranted on for three hours!"

"As much as I find her annoying and a pain in the neck, I NEED HER ALIVE FOR MY PLAN TO SUCCEED, YOU MORON!" The Devil shouted, as he stood up and pointed his pitchfork at Dice.

He then shot several lasers at him, making him jump in fear and ran and hid behind a pillar as the lasers broke a few pieces off.

"Wait! Wait! Give me a second chance! I'll do better!" Dice cried.

Dice then let out a yelp as he dodged a fireball that was barreling toward him.

"Yikes!"

"I am very VERY DISAPPOINTED!" The Devil roared. "I COULD BREAK YOUR HEAD TO PIECES!"

He charged up his pitchfork ready to blast Dice, but after a moment…he rescinded the blast, pulling his weapon back.

"But seeing as I gave you those powers to get those souls, I'll have to keep you around." The Devil stated, taking a sigh. "For now."

He sat back down on his throne before instructing, "Get yourself ready and head back to confront the group again. But if I hear word that you tried to kill them in any way, especially my bride to be, I will make you wish you were never born. Is that clear!?

To make his point more clearer, he squinted one eye closed while bulging the other one wider. The pupil transformed into a silhouette of a dice getting cleaved in half before being shattered into a million pieces and completely cut away into oblivion by a cleaver.

Dice gave a nervous gulp as he replied, "Crystal, Boss."

"Good. Now get out of my sight."

Dice saluted and was about to run out of the throne room, when his employer pondered over for a moment before responding, "Actually Dice, don't get too upset about the whole thing. I should be thanking you."

Dice turned around as he arched an eyebrow in worried confusion, "How so?"

"Like I said, you pushed Natty and she unlocked her powers." The Devil reminded him. "I'm curious to know if that's how I get the others to show themselves. It might be based on emotion, but to what limit?"

He strummed his fingers on the armrest, while a terrible nasty grin grew on his face.

He knew exactly how to get Lexie and Katie to reveal their powers.

"I look forward to knowing what you and little Lexie are capable of, Katie, my dear." He thought. "Since you're my future queen, I'd like to know what your powers are like and how powerful you truly are most of all. Don't disappoint me…"

A/N: Welp, it seems Natty has developed insane powers! But uh oh! The Devil seems to be pleased with this, meaning he's one step closer to accomplishing his goals with us. What on earth will happen next? Stay tuned for next week's edition of "Heart, Soul, and Mind"!