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elm-writes-stories · 1 year ago

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Cuphead: Isle of Memories (Rewrite)

*Hey guys! I'm back with another episode of the rewrite of Cuphead: Isle of Memories. This is published on August 31, 2023. If you guys like this episode, don't forget to heart, reblog, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated! Have a nice day!*

Episode Three: Angels and Gamblers

Porkrind hadn't been himself lately.

Jerry was well aware of that, but he had never seen a pig so obsessed before. Porkrind had been on the floor, trying to map out Hell for a few days. He marked all the possible locations where Cassidy might be and tried to find entrances around the island. Brineybeard volunteered to go with Porkrind around the island to find any entryway to Hell, but they hadn't found anything through his scouting.

Porkrind refused to give up. If he had to get his daughter out of the Devil's hands and back home where she belonged, he will do whatever it takes. He made a promise a long time ago to take care of Cassidy to an old friend of his and he wasn't intending on quitting on that promise any time soon.

But Jerry noticed Porkrind getting bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep. Some nights, Jerry could barely sleep because of Porkrind staying up all night to find Cassidy. He tried to get Porkrind to go to sleep in the most polite way possible, but the one-eyed pig refused. Porkrind had to believe that he was close, right? Right?

Jerry didn't believe so. Dice ended up sleeping in the other room after a few days of staying with the Howling Aces since he couldn't sleep in the room Porkrind and Jerry was in. Jerry was very tempted to follow Dice and share a room with him.

Today, the kids were gone for some reason with Murray and Elder Kettle looking for them and Jerry and Dice stayed behind with the Howling Aces, who were busy doing their own thing with fixing their planes. Porkrind stayed behind too...cooped up in his room to draw out the map in Hell.

Dice and Jerry stood outside of the room, now concerned for Porkrind.

"This is the fifth day and he's still in here," Dice whispered to Jerry.

Jerry shook his head. "I've never seen him like this."

"Really?"

Jerry nodded in confirmation.

"You know, I can hear you guys talkin' behind me," Porkrind replied while drawing the map. His tone sounded irritated.

"Sorry," Jerry responded. "Eh, we're just worried about you."

"I'm fine," Porkrind answered while focusing on the map. "Don't worry about me."

"Do you need help with the map?" Dice asked with a brow raised. "You've been on it for five days."

"Nah, I'm fine," Porkrind replied without looking behind him. "Thanks anyway."

"O-Okay. If you need anything, we'll be right here," Jerry let Porkrind know.

Porkrind simply nodded.

"Come on, let's leave him be—" Jerry grabbed Dice's arm to gently pull him along until Dice moved his arm out of Jerry's grasp and peered over Porkrind's shoulder. Jerry watched in curiosity of what Dice was doing.

Porkrind noticed a silhouette looking over his shoulder, getting him to finally look up and notice King Dice. "What?"

Dice examined the map that Porkrind drew with his head tilt and his brow furrowed. "No offense, Porks, but that map for Hell is not even close to accurate."

"Porks?" Porkrind uttered with his brow raised.

"Is it okay to call you that? I was thinking of Porky, but that kind of sounded offensive. Or Po—"

"Please...don't call me Po," Porkrind replied with a frown.

"Okay, Po is definitely off-limits along with Porky. Noted," Dice noted to himself. "So, Porks it is then...unless you have any objections."

"Wait, why are you even giving me nicknames?" Porkrind probed. "You barely know me."

"Oh, I gave nicknames for everyone," Dice responded while sitting down next to the pig and crossing his legs in doing so. "For example, I called Cuphead and Mugman, Cups and Mugs. For Chalice, Chal. For Natalie, Nat. For Aurora, Rori since everyone is calling her that. For Canteen...eh, it was kind of hard to come up with the nickname that sticks with him...so I'm calling him Hughes for the time-being. Murray is still Murray. Elder Kettle is...EK. Um, Sergant O'Fera is just Sarge. Bulldog is Big Bone because of the sweet bone tattoo on his shoulder. The Yankee Yippers...I call them yippies. And for Jerry, I am debating between JJ or Jay. So...you're not the only one I'm thinking of nicknames for if that makes you feel any better."

"Immensely," Porkrind responded with a sigh.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that I nicknamed Tabitha as Tabitcha," Dice added.

Porkrind almost blurted out a laugh. "What?"

"Oh yeah, that's her nickname alright...but I'll be calling her that behind her back."

"If we ever see her again, I dare you to call her that to her face," Porkrind replied.

"Ooh, what am I getting out of that dare?" Dice asked with a flirty grin.

"A bag full of coin," Porkrind answered.

"Ooh, sounds good."

"If we ever see her again."

"I don't doubt we'll see her again soon."

Jerry smiled underneath his scarf to see Porkrind loosened up a bit around Dice.

"Okay, okay, you're distracting me," Porkrind replied while trying to focus back on the map.

"Right, the map. You have it drawn completely wrong," Dice pointed out.

"How would you know?"

"I've been down there for years. I know what I'm talking about," Dice indicated with a finger raised and drag along the map. "Let's see...hmm...okay, there are chances where Cassidy is kept in the dungeons of Hell because you know, that's where Big D would usually take the prisoners who are mortals. Even though he's not supposed to do that."

Porkrind tilted his head. "How come?"

Dice shrugged his shoulders. "Contract with the Most High...or something. I've never really pay attention to the politics of that place."

"Do you think that Cassidy might be where Mugman was at? In the prison cells by the library?" Porkrind asked.

"Possibly," Dice said. "Big D's got many places in Hell that had the lava pit, which is where the souls go to suffer and be tormented forever. He also got a big soul vault where he stuffed all the souls in. The prized soul cage was where Cuphead's soul was next to the soul vault. And—" as King Dice rambled on about all the places in Hell and where they were exactly to help Porkrind out, Porkrind stared at Dice to listen to him.

If Porkrind could say one thing he learned about Dice was that the pig could sit and listen to Dice talking for hours straight without stopping. Could anyone really blame him though? It wouldn't be a surprise if everyone else felt the same way. Dice's voice was like honey whether he was trying to lure anyone or not. If he could talk anyone in the base in giving up their souls for the Devil, he could without fail...if they didn't know him any better. It was no wonder Dice was able to get souls to the Devil without fail for a while until Cuphead and Mugman showed up on his radio show. It was no wonder people would always gather to listen to the radio with his voice specifically.

Heck, even Porkrind found a guilty pleasure in listening in to the radio show despite knowing that the game show Dice was hosting was rigged for players to win. It was a miracle that Cuphead and Mugman managed to break Dice's spell by just being their stupid chaotic selves.

"—And that's the map for Hell," Dice replied.

Porkrind didn't realize that Dice was drawing on the map the entire time, showing all the right places and spots where Cassidy might be at. Shoot, he had been thinking too much about Dice's voice.

"Sooo, any questions?" Dice asked Porkrind.

Porkrind blinked his eye. "Uhhh..."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go on a tangent, but I figured if you are going to be working with a map, might as well be the right one, right?"

Porkrind blushed and nodded. "Yeah. Might as well."

Dice blushed back and shook it off. "Heh, well, I guess I'll leave alone. If you need anymore help, you know where to find me." He said this a flirty grin before walking away.

Porkrind blushed madly and shook it off. Ugh, it was just a stupid crush. Wait...why was he having a crush all the sudden?! Why?! Porkrind covered his face with a groan. He had to go somewhere else where he could focus more and not that stupid flirty grin Dice walked away with.

Porkrind sighed and looked at the map, which was detailed of all the possible locations of where his daughter could be at. But maybe...he needed something a bit more that might uncover the entrances to Hell. Porkrind got up and picked up the map, exiting out of the base.

~.~

Porkrind searched for his other shop that he had here a long time ago. Of course, it had been a while since he had seen it along with Cassidy seeing it. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know that he had another shop here in this island. Jerry already knew and he would upkeep it during his monthly trips to the other island when the oceans were safe to travel across.

Porkrind found his other shop over by where the mountain climbers were competing each other. He looked around to make sure he wasn't followed and entered into the shop. He didn't have as much stuff in this shop as he did with his old shop before it was ransacked by that crazy maniac. He entered the back of the shop, looking around for a map of the island. He found the map folded into the second shelf of the wooden shelf next to the back door. He pulled it out, dragging out something else. The book fell from the shelf, causing him to back away for a moment. He looked down and noticed the title of the old leather book.

"Memories to give to Cassidy when she grows up."

Porkrind blinked in shock and sat down on the chair, picking up the book. It turned out to be a scrapbook. Now, he was no arts and crafts kind of guy, but he thought of making the book for Cassidy ever since she ended up under his roof. He wanted to tell her everything, but he knew he couldn't put it to words. She wouldn't believed his words anyway. He had worked on it for years...although, it admittingly got lost in all the mix-up once she started to grow up.

He might have accidentally placed it in the crate to ship it to the other shop. Jerry probably didn't know about the book. Which was fine anyways. It was his secret project after all. He opened the book up and the first thing he saw was a photo of Shayna and Porkrind as kids at church in black and white. It was where it all started. Porkrind smiled a bit when he flipped the book to find the next photo of them being teenagers, sitting at a parlor shop and eating ice cream together. That must be their first date. He could hear the awkward conversations while they were dating during the time.

He flipped to the next page and frowned to see the wedding photo of Shayna and Jack, smiling together at the alter with no one else around them. Not even Porkrind. Up above the black and white photo, he saw the letters he placed together.

"This is your parents."

Porkrind flipped to the next page and saw a set of photos of Jack and Shayna's wedding. One of them was Shayna shoving cake into Jack's mouth with teasing grins, earning a chuckle from the pig. The second photo had them dancing together and laughing throughout the dance. Porkrind wasn't in the wedding photos much but that didn't matter. This was about Cassidy knowing her parents, not about him. He looked at the third photo to see Shayna and Jack on their honeymoon at the beach. The last photo was Shayna and Jack standing in front of their first house with Jack picking her up bridal style.

He kept seeing Shayna smiling through the photos the more pages he flipped until he started to tear up. He couldn't keep going. It has been fifteen years since Shayna has died, but Porkrind was still not over it. Had he grieved properly? Raising Cassidy was his promise to Shayna, a way to keep the memories of Shayna alive...

Porkrind clenched his jaw and was about to close the book until a page slipped and revealed the photo of the hospital with Jack and Shayna showing Cassidy to Porkrind. Porkrind stopped and opened it to examine it.

"Huh? I don't remember putting this here," Porkrind uttered.

Porkrind flipped through the next page to find more photos of Cassidy as a toddler, which had some burns on the corners of the black and white photos. He blinked to wonder if he was seeing things, but he wasn't. He saw Cassidy as a kitten, playing dangling toys with her pupils enlarged and Jack dangling the toys in front of his daughter with a smile. In the next photo, little Cassidy was resting on Jack's shoulder while Jack was watching Shayna cook with a fond smile.

Porkrind tried not to cry while looking at another photo to see Shayna reading a book to Cassidy while the kitten smiled in excitement. He flipped through the next page and he froze to see a picture of himself with baby Cassidy sleeping on his shoulders now. The pig turned the page and saw more photos of him and Cassidy. One of them that caught his eye was the brown photo of Porkrind and Cassidy dancing when she's a little girl. Porkrind took the photo out of the book and looked at it further. He clenched his jaw and finally released small sobs, hugging the photo. He tried not to cry so loud, but he couldn't contain it any longer.

"I'm so sorry," Porkrind uttered an apology. "I let you down. I let you both down."

With that said, he gripped the photo tightly, swearing to himself he will never let it go.

~.~

"What are you doing?" Jerry asked Dice while watching Dice exploring the kitchen of the base.

"I am just making sure Porkrind ain't overhearing my plan," Dice replied and glanced at Jerry. "Look, he's been cooped up in his room and I kind of want to do something...eh...well..."

"Nice?"

"No, not nice...just something get him out of the room. Take in the fresh air and relax a bit, you know? And you're the only person that knows him well enough. Sooo, do you know what he likes or what gets him out of the room?"

Jerry looked around the room and leaned forward. "I'll tell you secret. It's..."

Dice leaned forward in anticipation.

"Nothing."

Dice gave him a deadpan stare. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Jerry replied. "Porkrind is the most antisocial guy I've ever met. I had to get him out of his shop by making some deliveries. And even that doesn't work because he had Cassidy run the delivers when she got older. So...there's nothing we can do to get him out of the room."

"So, we're just gonna sit there and let him wallow in obsession and guilt?"

"I don't like that solution either," Jerry said with a sigh. "Unless you got a better idea."

"Hmm...what does Porkrind like? Like maybe there's something we could give to him as a gift or something to cheer him up."

"Uh...gold and Cassidy."

"Huh? Really?"

"As far as I know him."

"Hey guys," O'Fera called while entering the kitchen. "Porkrind wasn't in his room. Do you guys know where he went?"

Dice and Jerry exchanged glances at each other.

"I have no idea."

"He might be at his other shop," Jerry predicted.

"He has another shop here?!" Dice shouted in shock.

Jerry nodded his head. "We should check there to see how he was holding up. There might be a reason he was there."

Jerry and Dice exited the kitchen and the base to find Porkrind's shop. As they reached Porkrind's shop, they heard sniffling in the shop. Was Porkrind crying in there?

Dice and Jerry exchanged gazes with Dice shrugging at Jerry.

Jerry opened the door and the door creaked, causing the sobs to die down.

"Porkrind?" Jerry uttered. He looked around the shop.

Dice and Jerry tiptoed around the shop and peeked to the back room to find Porkrind sitting on the chair, gripping a photo for dear life.

Jerry softened his gaze and approached him. "Porkrind...you okay?"

"I'm fine," Porkrind replied, his voice croaked from crying earlier.

Dice glanced over at the book and attempted to look at the pictures until Porkrind closed it and moved it away from him.

"What are you reading?" Dice asked in curiosity.

Porkrind picked the book up and stuffed the photo back into it, carrying it out of the shop. "It's nothing."

Dice and Jerry stood there, dumbfounded.

~.~

Dice and Jerry walked around the village after exiting Porkrind's shop with Dice trying to think of something by rubbing his smooth edged chin and humming.

Jerry arched a brow at Dice, trying to read his face. "What are you thinking about?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm just remembering what you said about how Porkrind only likes gold and Cassidy, right?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Well, I was just thinking that maybe we could get him some gold and he could buy whatever he desires," Dice replied with a small smile.

"No amount of gold is ever going to help him get over his grief," Jerry responded.

"You said so yourself—"

"I know what I said. Didn't you see Porkrind in there? He had that book with pictures of Shayna and Cassi in it and he's obviously looking through it."

"Wait, what? Who's Shayna?" Dice asked.

Jerry sighed. "Well, Porkrind knows more about her than I do...but she was his childhood best friend. She died a long time ago when Cassidy was born."

"Oh," Dice uttered. "Maybe gold might buy him...uh...something nice to wear."

Jerry gave Dice a deadpan stare.

"What?! I'm trying to think of something that can be...uh..."

"Nice?"

"No! Again, not nice. Just something...uh...to get his mind off of Cassidy for a moment. You know, like going to a party or something."

Jerry snorted. "Good luck with that. I've said this before and I'll say it again, Porkrind is antisocial. He hates socializing with people."

"Is it because he lost his childhood best friend a long time ago?"

Jerry softened his gaze. "Maybe."

They suddenly heard alarm bells ringing, causing them to tense up. They shot a glance over at the bank, being robbed by a familiar cow in cowgirl clothes, sucking all the gold with her vacuum attached to her back.

"Esther?" Dice recognized.

Chips and Mr. Wheezy shoved bags of gold coins into the trunk of the black sleek car.

"I think we got everything we need!" Chips shouted and noticed Dice and Jerry. Chips saw the bug cops approaching the scene.

"Put your hands up!" one of the bug cops shouted.

Dice and Jerry turned to face them with wide eyes in fear.

Chips hurried behind Dice and pointed a small pistol on the side of Dice's head. "Don't move or I'll shoot him!"

"What the frick, man?!" Dice shouted.

Mr. Wheezy did the same thing with Jerry. "Yeah! We'll shoot them both if you don't play your cards right!"

Jerry growled and elbowed Mr. Wheezy in the gut. Mr. Wheezy doubled over as Jerry snatched the gun from Mr. Wheezy and pointed it at both of them. "Would you be so kind and let my friend go?"

Dice blushed a bit at Jerry's movement. Before Chips could let go of Dice, a dart flew into Jerry's neck. Jerry gasped and took the dart out immediately to see a purple fluff at the end of the dart. The darts flew and hit the cops approaching them. The cops passed out quickly along with Jerry.

Dice clenched his jaw as he felt something on his arm. He looked to find a dart on his arm. "Oh come on—" Everything went black quickly.

~.~

"Thanks for the save, Phear."

"Where would you be without me?"

"I can't believe y'all robbed a bank! Can't you just get a job before robbing a bank?!"

"Sorry, dear, but the job slots are full in this village."

Dice groaned awake, his wrists bound against Jerry. He fluttered his eyes open and his vision was nothing but a blur at first. The light was the only thing blinding him in some dark place. His vision was clear finally and gasped to realize that he was in a dark cavern. He struggled in his binds and glanced over his shoulder to find Jerry still unconscious.

"Rise and shine, sleepy beauty," a familiar voice echoed.

Dice glanced up and noticed Esther Winchester staring at him with a smirk on her face.

"It's about time I see your face again since you know...your little cup blew up my wagon," Esther responded.

"Okay, that was an accident—"

"And you stole the desert limes."

Dice went silent for a moment. "But to be fair, Saltbaker didn't use the limes at all. I mean, you had the limes back, right?"

"I had to snatch it back from you," Esther growled.

"Look, I'm sorry for stealing the limes and-and blowing up your wagon. Is there a way I can make it up to you?" Dice questioned.

Esther straightened up with her arms crossed and a sneer. "Hm, you know, you could do something for me. Both you and your friend there could do something for us."

"And...what is that?" Dice asked timidly.

Esther gestured to the shattered wagon. "Help us rebuild the wagon and maybe you might get yourself some allies."

"Allies?"

"Yer fightin' against something. Something big. I can sense it. We can all sense it," Esther said, referring to the rest of the casino gang surrounding her. "Y'all didn't think we notice some weirdos in black hoods roaming around the village after that pirate guy told us about...what is it? What are they called?"

As Esther was talking, Jerry woke up and recovered his vision in a short amount of time and realized that his hands were bound...well...not all of his hands. Jerry started to cut through the zip ties with his other arms hidden underneath the green trench coat and a pocket knife.

"Uh...the Night Stalkers, I believe," Pirouletta responded.

"But they're dead. They were all dead down in Hell," Dice responded.

"They were?" Chips asked while arching a brow.

Jerry managed to cut through the zip ties that bound both him and Dice. Before Dice could understand what happened next, Jerry stood and spun around, taking off his green trench coat and pulling out his pistols with his six arms stretched out to aim at the gang.

"You better have a good reason for kidnappin' us!" Jerry growled at the gang.

"Whoa! Put the guns down, partner!" Chips shouted while raising his pistol up along with Mr. Wheezy and Phear Lap. Ginette, Pip, and Dot ducked behind Pirouletta, who took out her shotgun. Esther drew out her two pistols to aim it at Jerry.

"Boy, ya better put down yer guns or it's gonna get real messy!" Esther threatened with a Southern drawl.

"If I were you, I'd be listenin' to her," Mr. Wheezy warned.

Dice stood up and stepped between Jerry and the gang. "Whoa, whoa, let's not start a fight here. Who knows what we will summon if we start a fight in the dark caverns?"

"Nothin' will come up to get us," Esther reassured coldly. "We've checked."

"You've checked?" Dice uttered with a brow arched.

"Yepperoo," Chips responded. "Safe from the Night Stalkers...or maybe it's more cozy than out in the heating desert."

"Well, we need the wagon to shelter everyone. Do you think you can help us or not?"

Jerry lowered his guns. "What do you need us to do?"

"Well, if you can gather the planks, that would be wonderful," Esther instructed.

With that said, Dice, Jerry, Esther, and the rest of the gang started to rebuild the blue wagon plank by plank.

~.~

Porkrind was back in the room at the Howling Aces' base, staring at the book he carried out with him. He tried not to cry while looking through the photos of Cassidy and Shayna once again. Porkrind glanced over at the maps, frowning. Brineybeard and Porkrind hadn't found the entrances to Hell from this island yet...maybe...maybe there wasn't any entrance besides the ones back in the other island.

The one-eyed pig sighed until he heard someone rushing towards the room. He perked his head up and found Dice stumbling into the room with heavy pants. He had blue paint all over his purple clothes while the die wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"H-Hey," Dice panted.

"Hey?" Porkrind uttered.

Dice took out a bag of coin. "I got you some coin."

Porkrind arched a brow. "But you're not buying anything."

"Eh, a little birdie told me that you like gold," Dice said with a flirty grin.

Porkrind blushed and shook his head. "Keep it."

"What?" Dice questioned. "Why? You might want to purchase something."

"Like what?"

"Uh...you know, something you like. Like maybe new clothes...or new shoes. Something along those lines. You know, something to cheer ya right up."

"What cheers me up is finding my own daughter," Porkrind responded while closing the book with pictures of Cassidy and Shayna.

Dice noticed the title of the book and glanced up at Porkrind. "Touche...maybe it could for a party."

"A party?"

"Yeah, Jerry and I helped fix Esther's wagon in the cavern in the Western area. Esther decided to throw a party at the wagon and you're invited to come."

Porkrind arched a brow at Dice. "And what do you get out of this?"

"What?"

"You're doing something nice for me. It ain't something you normally do for a common folk like myself. So, what's your game?"

Dice arched a brow. "Well...I was hoping maybe you could...you know...stop isolating yourself in your room."

"I'm not isolating myself."

"Yes, you are. You do realize Jerry is worried about you."

"He shouldn't be."

"Well, he is."

Porkrind huffed.

"Look, Porks, I'm looking out for you—"

"Why?"

Dice frowned.

Porkrind arched a brow. "You don't know, huh?"

"No, I do know...it's just...it's complicated."

"Why make it complicated?"

"I don't know. You and Jerry looked out for me. I thought that maybe I return the favor at least," Dice blurted out.

Porkrind softened his gaze. "Let's call it even then." He went back to look at the book and the maps of both the island and the underworld.

Dice frowned and sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone. But just know that you're invited to the party." With that said, Dice walked away and placed the bag of coin by the doorway.

Porkrind watched Dice's silhouette disappear, frowning more. He shook his head and tried not to think about what Dice just said. He looked to see the bag of coin staring at him right in the face. Where did he even get a bag of coin in such a short amount of time? Porkrind ignored his questions and continued to look at the maps.

Part of him felt someone standing behind him. He knew that there wasn't anyone behind but the wall. However, he could sense someone standing close behind him, almost like she was looking over his shoulder. Shayna might be disappointed in him. Maybe he wasn't going fast enough to save her daughter. He might not be doing enough to watch over Cassidy back in Hell. He made a promise he could never keep. The ghost of Shayna stood behind him, her gaze soft. She would pity at what kind of a pig he became. She walked closer and closer to him to only comfort, unaware of the cold shivers he was getting and the destructive words in his head from her presence being near him.

Porkrind stopped what he was doing and pressed his hands against the sides of his head, hearing all of the dark voices in his head.

"You're not doing enough!"

"Are you really going to wallow up here in obsession and guilt?!"

"Why can't you do something?!"

"Why did you break your promise to Shayna?!"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Porkrind clenched his fists while tears trickled from his eyes. He growled and stood up. "That's it!"

Porkrind stormed off and hurried out of his room, getting away from the ghost and the voices in his head.

~.~

The music was lively at the newly built blue wagon within the cave.

Esther gambled with her friends while Dice was the card-dealer with a smile on his face. Esther had a hot winning streak, putting both Chips and Mr. Wheezy to shame. Pirouletta didn't really care about winning, smiling at her friends enjoying themselves. Phear Lap placed his bets, trying to one-up Pip and Dot.

Ginette watched them all with her eyes rolled playfully until she noticed Jerry sitting at the bar and staring down at the whiskey glass. She walked over and leaned against the counter.

"Need somethin' stronger?" Ginnette asked.

Jerry shook his head. "No, no, it's fine. I think I had enough for today."

"You only had one drink."

"Mhm."

Ginette frowned. "So, what seems to be concerning to you?"

Jerry glanced up at the martini.

"I can tell by your face," Ginette responded.

Jerry stared down at the glass. "A...friend of mine is...um...well, he's been cooped up in his room. He lost his daughter down in the underworld and now he was trying to find a way to get down to Hell and get her back."

"His daughter?"

"Yeah, her name is Cassidy...she's the last of her kind of red cats."

"Red cats?"

Jerry nodded his head solemnly. "But I've been concerned about both of them. I don't know if Cassidy is alive or Devil is just using her corpse now as a puppet. I want to find Cassidy just as much as Porkrind does...but I don't know what I'll see once we find her. I either find her dead, puppeteer, or alive and was beaten and tortured. I don't know if I want to see any of those outcomes for Cassidy."

Ginette cleaned the glass. "Well, I'm not sure if this is gonna to make you feel better, but I figured I should tell you something. I think we're still confused on what we saw. A couple of days ago, we saw the Devil with six hooded men and two demons at his disposal and...well...this red-furred cat. I'm assumin' the cat must be this Cassidy you're talking about—"

Jerry widened his eyes in shock, his grip on the whisky glass shaking. "C-Cassi? Is she okay? Wait, where did you even see her at?"

"Last I checked, Devil was making deals with the Moonshine Mob, selling 'em some booze. But it looked too...different to be booze though," Ginette responded.

"That ain't booze," Jerry uttered in horror.

They heard someone bursting through the doors as everyone looked to see Porkrind huffing as if he had been running.

Dice brightly smiled. "Porks! You came!"

"I came to drink," Porkrind responded while looking up at Ginette. "Give me the strongest liquor you got."

"Coming right up," Ginette said while Porkrind hurried over by the counter next to Jerry.

"Porkrind, there's something you oughta know—"

"Here's the strongest we got," Ginette interrupted by placing the whiskey bottle and the whiskey glass next to Porkrind. She poured it for him.

"Leave the bottle here," Porkrind commanded, which Ginette nodded in understanding.

"Porkrind, I know what happened to—"

"Ya sure you're not up for poker?" Dice asked, sliding next to Porkrind.

"For Pete's sakes, Dice, I'm trying to tell Porkrind something important," Jerry replied while Porkrind took a gulp of whiskey between them.

"Like what?" Dice questioned.

"It's about—!"

"HEY! Haven't seen yer face 'round here, stranger!" Esther bellowed, leaning next to Dice in a drunken state.

Dice smiled. "Oh! Porkrind, meet Esther. Esther, Porkrind—"

"I'm trying to say something important—"

"Say, friend, why the long face?" Phear Lap, a skeleton horse, asked Porkrind while sitting next to Jerry.

"Yeah, you look like someone punched your eye out," Mangosteen, the black billiard ball, said with a dumber tone. He floated next to Phear Lap.

"How could you punch someone's eye out?" Pip asked while Pip and Dot were jumping together on the counter in front of Phear, stacked on top of each other as an anthropomorphic domino.

"Oh, come on, ding dong! You don't punch someone's eye out! You cut it out!" Dot responded below him while kicking Pip in the face.

"Hey!" Pip shouted with offense.

"Hey, Gin, get us another round of whatever he has!" Chips pointed.

"Will you all just shut up for one second?!" Jerry shouted.

"Geez, ya look like you need more than just one glass of whiskey—" Rumulus, the anthropomorphic whiskey bottle, replied while falling over onto the floor.

"Yeah, you need something nice and relaxing—" Ol' Ethan, the anthropomorphic whiskey glass, said while collapsing against the wall.

Jerry groaned. "It's about Cassidy! She's with the Devil!"

The music stopped dead in its tracks while everyone glanced at Jerry with wide-eyed shock.

Dice tilted his head. "Wait. What? How did you—?"

"I told him that we saw them," Ginette explained to the rest of the group.

"OH! I forgot we saw a little red cat next to that big-horned cat," Chips uttered drunkenly.

Dice blinked in shock. "Wait! Where?!"

"Saw her with Devs...trading some booze or whatever—" Ol' Ethan said while smiling drunkenly.

"They saw us and we ran before we got a closer look," Chips said with a drunken giggle and a hiccup. "It was funny actually because—because we were scrambling for our lives and hid ourselves in this cave."

"The Devil will never find us here!" Mr. Wheezy replied.

The patrons drunkenly laughed in pure euphoric before hearing something teleport behind them.

They all turned around slowly to find the Devil standing behind them outside, rubbing his nails against his chest. Porkrind and Jerry noticed Cassidy standing next to Devil, her eyes red with white slit pupils. Her grin had fangs, causing them both to look in horror.

"Oh, don't stop the party on our account—"

"RUN!!!"

Phear rushed outside of the wagon and pulled it.

"NO, CASSI!!" Porkrind shouted.

Phear Lap sprinted away from the Devil while pulling the wagon.

The Devil chuckled at their reaction while putting a hand on the cat's shoulder. "Such cowards."

Cassidy giggled maniacally.

~.~

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Cuphead asked Canteen as they were running from the Moonshine Casino. Cuphead was carrying passed out Mugman in his arms while Chalice was flying behind Canteen as a ghost.

“Yep! I know where I—AAH!” Canteen yelped when he slipped and tumbled down the ditch.

“Oh golly!” Chalice shouted and flew down next to Canteen. “Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Canteen said with a smile and a thumbs up.

“GET BACK HERE!!” Charlie’s voice shouted from behind them as Cuphead slid down the ditch and sprinted ahead of them. The kids trailed behind Cuphead, but it was hard to keep up when Cuphead started to speed up again.

Cuphead didn’t realize how fast he was going until he bumped into Brineybeard’s leg with Mugman in his arms.

“Ah! Lad!” Brineybeard whimpered in pain.

“Oh, sorry,” Cuphead uttered. He looked around and realized that he was by the Howling Aces’ base with O’Fera, Bulldog, the pups, Murray, and Elder Kettle approaching them.

“Where have you kids been?!” O’Fera said with a scolding tone.

Chalice and Canteen approached the group with heavy pants.

“You gotta hide us!” Canteen yelled in panic.

“From who? Wha’ are ye runnin’ from?” Brineybeard questioned.

Charlie stormed into the scene with Light Bug, Lenny, Anteater, Announcer Snail, and five other mobsters by his side. Ribby and Croaks were running behind him.

“Whoa, Charlie, let’s think for a second,” Ribby said while standing between the group and the Moonshine Mob.

“Think?! That mug possessed us and had us say some weird mumbo jumbo language!” Charlie shouted at Ribby. “There ain’t nothin’ to think about!”

“Mugman possessing people?” Elder Kettle questioned. “How?”

“I don’t know! Ask your kid!” Charlie snarled while referring to Mugman groaning awake in Cuphead’s arms.

“W-What happened?” Mugman uttered, disoriented.

“Look, as far as I know the lad, he has no malicious intentions. We dunno wha’ caused whatever control he had on ye ‘n yer gang, but we needs t’ calm down afore we could—”

“THE DEVIL IS HERE!!!!”

Everyone glanced to see Phear Lap pulling the blue wagon and running towards the group. Mugman fluttered his eyes open to finally wake up and realized what the situation was happening.

“What?” Mugman questioned.

Phear Lap stopped in front of the group, panting. His two legs were wobbling from running for so long.

Dice, Porkrind, and Jerry peeked out of the wagon and walked out of it

They hurried to the group.

“Guys, Big D is here,” Dice alerted the group.

“Big D?” Charlie questioned. “Wait, is that the gangster’s name with, uh, six hooded figures, two demons, and one red feline? That Big D?”

“You saw the Devil?!” Croaks gasped in fear.

“Cassi?!” Mugman shouted.

“Well, if that’s the Big D…then yeah, I saw ‘im! A couple of days ago! He gave us some booze though. That’s pretty much all he did,” Charlie replied while rubbing his chin.

“Although,” Light Bug added. “It strangely didn’t look like booze.”

“Well…it’s enough anyway—”

“It’s not booze,” Murray said with a shaky tone.

“So, it was Tremaine this whole time?!” Canteen shouted in fear.

“I knew there was something off about that coloring!” Chalice added.

“What in the world is Tremaine?!” Charlie asked.

“It’s where you turn into a monster,” Chalice explained.

Charlie nodded his head in understanding. “Oh, huh…I hope the patrons are not turned into monsters in the casino.”

“What about Cassi?” Mugman questioned. “Is she okay? Is she hurt?”

“Who’s Cassi?” Charlie probed.

Porkrind frowned and looked away. Jerry rubbed his shoulder while Dice clenched his teeth.

“Is-Is Cassi okay?” Mugman uttered to the three men.

Dice frowned. “Uh, let’s just say that…um…shoot, I can’t even bring myself to say it.”

“Please tell me,” Mugman begged.

Porkrind tried not to cry, gritting his teeth to help withhold the tears.

“Cassi ain’t the same person,” Jerry responded finally. “The Devil took control of her.”

Mugman’s pupils shrunk in fear. “N-No. No…”

“Yeah,” Esther added while popping her head out of the wagon. “She’s got some orange glow in her veins!”

“Wait…there’s Tremaine inside of her?” Cuphead uttered.

“We can cure her the same way we did with Mugman!” Chalice chirped excitedly.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Canteen responded.

“Wait, wait, if Tremaine is inside of the booze and youse kids found the trail from the sewers under the casino…then—” Croaks noticed something off in the distance. He walked towards it, his eyes widening more in horror.

“Croaks?” Ribby uttered and followed his brother.

Everyone else followed the frog brothers, including the Howling Aces, Moonshine Mob, Esther, and her gang. As they approached the cliff, everyone looked on with terror.

“So…that’s Tremaine,” Charlie muttered to himself.

Right over the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean, Tremaine was spreading across the blue waters. It wasn’t covering the entire ocean just yet, but the spread was faster than they have ever seen.

“Oh no…” Murray said.

They heard someone teleporting behind them, causing everyone to whirl around to find Devil with six hooded figures, Henchman, Stickler, and Cassidy by his side.

“Like my handiwork?” Devil replied with a cheeky grin. “I had some help.”

“You little—” Charlie growled and charged towards Devil, but was stopped by Light Bug and Lenny. “Youse got a lot nerve showin’ up here!”

Ribby and Croaks noticed Cassidy, their gazes softened.

“What did you do to Cassi?!” Croaks snarled at Devil.

“Yeah!” Ribby added before the frogs charged towards Devil, but they were held back by Brineybeard and Bulldog.

Mugman peeked through the crowd and noticed Cassidy, his heart breaking at the sight of her form now. “C-Cassi?”

It was sudden that when Cassidy saw Mugman, her red eyes with white pupils faded, reverting back to her normal eyes.

“M-Mugsy?” Cassidy recognized instantly, her tears trickling out of her eyes.

Devil lost his cheeky smirk and clenched his fist, controlling the veins inside Cassidy. Cassidy screamed in pain.

“HEY!” Ribby growled while everyone took out their weapons. They were about to charge towards Devil for torturing Cassidy until they saw twenty citizens coming towards them with Tremaine in their veins. They all came from the Moonshine Casino.

Devil smirked. “Well, hate to end the party so soon, but there is some…minor problems that needed to be fixed. Ta-Ta for now.”

With that said, Devil disappeared with Cassidy, Henchman, Stickler, and the six hooded assassins, leaving the resistance gang with the infected citizens.

“What do we do?!” Lenny shouted in panic.

Phear Lap brought his dart gun and shot the darts at the citizens, knocking them all out.

“Wow…uh…that was quick,” Ribby responded.

In the distance, they heard screams of terror from within the village and roars from more citizens infected with Tremaine.

“Back to base?” Bulldog asked O’Fera.

O’Fera nodded her head. “Yep. We got new people to hide.”

Everyone hurried back to the Howling Aces’ base to hide from the chaos that was happening in the village.

To Be Continued...