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elm-writes-stories · 10 months

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Cuphead: Isle of Shadows(Rewrite)

*Hey guys! I'm back with another episode of the rewrite of Cuphead: Isle of Shadows. This is published on July 16, 2023. If you guys like this episode, don't forget to heart it, reblog, and comment! That would be greatly appreciated! Warning: There will be blood, cannibalism, and violence, including gun shot wounds. If you don't like any of those things, please don't read. Enjoy!*

Episode Three: When The Innocent Becomes The Prey

Violence was always the answer.

As a ten-year-old, Hunter understood that. His father made him understand that. His cuts, bruises, and scars marked deep into his skin and shaped into what a beautiful mix of a victim and a monster he had become.

His father ran the Mason Corporations, something Hunter knew he would inherit soon. The Mason Corporations was supposed to give the medications out to patients with mental illnesses both rare and common and to diagnose them with proper treatments. No law in the Inkwell Isle said how the patients should be diagnosed. What most patients called the torture chamber, Hunter and his father called a lab. Many times, his father conducted experiments on the patients by giving medications that either works well for them or doesn’t. However, most of the time, it doesn’t work out.

Hunter heard many screams and cries of pain and agony from desperate people begging with all of their souls to be cured of this torturous illnesses that crippled them, only for them to form new illnesses along with it. Since watching his father running endless experiments of the ill lab rats, Hunter decided to experiment on his own.

Every day after school, Hunter would trap squirrels in cages and put the cages into the red round tub. Then, he grabbed a water hose and placed it in the tub, turning the water on. From there, Hunter watched as the squirrels in cages would fight for breath. Try as they could, the water eventually caught up to the squirrels. Hunter watched their heads disappeared into the water and the bubbles surfacing until the bubbles no longer came up.

Hunter would do this every day until a teacher caught him doing those experiments. Of course, the teacher expressed her concerns to Hunter’s mother and father without knowing that they were the wrong people to tell about her concerns about Hunter. After the teacher told Hunter’s parents about him, the young tiger could hear his parents yelling at each other at night.

“Please, Robert! We can’t keep hiding this! Everyone will know that you run the cult—”

“Shut up, woman!” Robert, Hunter’s father, shouted. “I told you not to tell anyone. I swear if you run your mouth and tell everyone about what I do, I’ll kill you. You hear me? Kill you!”

“Robert, please, if Hunter doesn’t stop acting like this, everyone in this city will know—”

“Then we’ll put him in a mental hospital. The city will see that there’s something wrong with my son and it’ll paint us as good parents for trying to help him,” Robert said. “Think about it, Victoria. The city will see that I am a good father to him.”

A sigh came from Hunter’s mother. “Right. We should do that.”

Hunter had his round ears pinned back with his fangs shown when he snarled.

The next day, Hunter was sent to the mental hospital called Tremaine Institute. The doctors there were trying to manhandle him into the hospital as the young tiger kicked and screamed, glaring at his parents for the last time in a long time.

If Hunter remembered his first three years at Tremaine Institute, there were kids there. What happened to those kids? Hunter was never friends with them. But there was one kid he liked to pick on. A very gullible kid who goes by Tommy Lee Cup, a schizophrenic child who was withdrawn from his peers.

Tommy Lee Cup had a big orange nose with a broken-off handle. His ceramic head was cracked as if he had damaged himself before going into the mental institution. His hands fidgeted together, his arms to his sides at all times, and his eyes always looked around the room for anything. He couldn’t concentrate on Hunter coming up beside him.

“Hey,” Hunter greeted the young cup. “I want you to show you something in Room 327.”

Tommy flinched back and shook his head. “We’re not allowed to leave here. Hey, look, someone drew a blue dog.”

“Really?” Hunter asked and then glanced at the kid. “Oh come on, I’m sure no one will notice us.”

“B-But—”

Hunter took Tommy by the hand. “C’mon. I promise it’ll be quick.”

Hunter led Tommy away from the room, leading him down the hall to room 327, right where a chair and an electroconvulsive machine with two dials and headphones were at.

Tommy’s scream could be heard later on in the night, down the hall. The doctors hurried down the hallway and bursted through the door to find Hunter using the electroconvulsive machine on Tommy. Tommy’s scream faded by the time the doctors moved away from the machine and turned it off.

“Don’t you realize what you have done?!” one of the doctors yelled at Hunter while the other doctors picked up dead Tommy from the chair.

Hunter’s response was a shit-eating grin that let his fangs glistened in the light, putting the doctor yelling at him in fear.

In the next three years, Hunter was in a straitjacket and had his mouth muzzled and barely having food to feed until Hunter managed to convinced therapists that he didn’t like hurting people anymore and he said it with so much fear and emotion. Heck, he copied Tommy’s tendencies with the fidgeting of the hands and not concentrating on the therapist talking to him. The doctors fell for it and released Hunter back to the world. However, the doctors didn’t know until too late that it was one of the worst mistakes they could have ever make.

Hunter was back home with his parents, dead silent. Hunter’s mother, Victoria, had chills down her spine while Robert was more than happy that Hunter was home. But Hunter could tell it was fake. For the first time in a long while, he was angry at his parents. His glare never withering when looking at both his mom and his dad. What was this growing flame in his heart? Anger? Betrayal? Revenge? Maybe all three?

Yes…all three.

In the dead night after his father went to sleep and his mother getting ready for bed, thirteen-year-old Hunter walked around the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife he could find. He hurried up to his father’s room as quietly as possible until he approached his father’s bedside. Then, without remorse, Hunter stabbed his father in the chest. Robert snapped his eyes open and was about to scream until Hunter covered his father’s mouth.

Hunter could’ve sworn he saw his father smirking underneath his paw. What a sick bastard. He kept stabbing his father in the chest until his father could stop screaming in pain. Robert still kept that sick twisted smile until he drew his last breath. Hunter became what Robert wanted. A monster just like him.

It was then Victoria came out of the shower with the robe on and saw Hunter standing over her husband’s dead body with a bloody knife. She screamed in horror and ran out of the bedroom, causing Hunter to chase after her. He slashed her leg, causing her to trip over down the hallway and limp her way towards the phone. She quickly dialed the number to the Inkwell Police Department. The phone rang for a short while.

“Inkwell Police Department, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked.

“You need to get to the Manson Mansion immediately! My son is—!”

Hunter stabbed her hip, causing Victoria to scream in pain.

“HUNTER, STOP IT!!”

Hunter didn’t stop as he kept stabbing his mother over and over again.

“MA’AM! MA’AM!!!” the operator shouted in panic.

Victoria screamed until she couldn’t anymore and laid on the floor. Hunter breathed heavily and started to let out little giggles of maniacal joy. He sunk his teeth into his mother’s flesh, tearing her apart piece by piece.

By the time the police showed up, they busted through the door and searched around the mansion until they finally found Hunter eating his mother’s dead corpse. When the flashlights shined on him, Hunter turned around to face the officers and gave the bloody grin.

~.~

Forty-One Years Later:

Inkwell city streets were burning in the dark night. Screams from surprised civilians put a smile on the old tiger’s face. Hunter, now as an adult, watched the civilians’ blood filling the sewer the waters and leaking into the cracks of the sidewalks. His followers didn’t hesitate to kill and deliver souls right to the Devil.

The Devil stood next to Hunter to watch all the chaos unfold in front of him with a wicked grin. “My, my, my, you didn’t lie when you said you would deliver more souls to you.”

“More souls to torture,” Hunter replied.

Behind Hunter and Devil, King Dice, Henchman, and Stickler were watching the destruction. While Henchman and King Dice was in horror of the sight in front of them, Stickler seemed unfazed by it and added more souls in his book.

“Hrmm, he did not hold back,” Stickler said while writing down the numbers.

Hunter glanced at Devil next to him with a smirk. “Since you’ve now seen what I’m capable of, why don’t I take care of those cups? I’m sure that will take the burden off of your shoulders.”

The Devil grinned wickedly. “Oh, that would be lovely.”

Hunter nodded his head. “Enjoy the view. I’ll be back with their heads.” The tiger walked away and motioned three assassins to come with him to hunt for those cups.

The Devil intake the smell of blood and corpses with a sigh.

King Dice slowly approached beside his boss. “Uh…Big D.”

“Hm?”

“Hate to be a downer, but don’t you think that this is a little…excessive?”

The Devil snapped out of his trance and whirled his head to look at his righthand man. “Excessive?!”

“D’uh, yeah, I was going to ask the same thing,” Henchman added.

The Devil widened his eyes in shock. “Are you kidding me?! Thisis what we live for!!! The chaos!!! The screams!!! The torture!!! That is not excessive!!”

“Hrmm, it’s a bit of a pain to add more souls to the slaughter,” Stickler said with his finger raised.

“Even you are against this?!” Devil barked. “You’ve counted souls for centuries and this is excessive to you?!”

“Ehhh, on the contrary, I am not against this. However, I do think that this is more extreme than what we have throughout the centuries. We should’ve saved all of this for the End Times,” Stickler noted.

“And do you know when that will be?” Devil questioned.

“Errm,” Stickler groaned while lowering his finger.

“Exactly,” Devil responded with a sass. He looked out towards the burning city with an evil smile. “Now, this is the beginning of a new era! Those who opposed me will fear me! I will be respected again! With the Night Stalkers in my grasp, I can rule the world! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!” The Devil’s laugh echoed throughout the night.

~.~

The night was quiet while Elder Kettle’s house was filled with the sound of jazz music coming from Elder Kettle’s prized radio and the laughter from Cuphead, Mugman, and Chalice.

Elder Kettle was dusting the shelves and wasn’t paying attention much to his surroundings. Once he was done dusting the shelves, Elder Kettle turned to look at the cup kids playing with marbles on the living room floor with a small smile on his face. However, the old tea kettle started to notice that Mugman was starting to appear a lot more like an old friend that he knew from such a long time ago.

Murray.

The static interrupted his thoughts. Elder Kettle turned to see the jazz music was no longer playing on the radio. He sighed and headed over to turn the dial until—

“We interrupt this program to inform the listeners that there’s literal hell going on in Inkwell Isle,” the radio announcer spoke.

Elder Kettle widened his eyes in shock and turned the radio up slightly for him to listen in.

“The Night Stalkers are back and burning down the city! Single guardians, hide your children now! Better yet, leave the city and never return unless the situation dies down! Or else…oh no…they’ve found me. AAAAHH—!”

Elder Kettle heard slashing sounds and shut off the radio immediately with clenched teeth.

“Is…everything okay, Elder Kettle?” Mugman asked innocently.

“What’s the Night Stalkers?” Cuphead probed, feigning ignorance.

Elder Kettle bit his finger for a moment until he calmed himself down. “Okay, you listen to me and listen to me carefully. Pack your bags. We don’t have much time.”

“Wait, wait, where are we going?” Cuphead questioned.

“Pack. Your. Bags. Now,” Elder Kettle spoke more lowly.

Cuphead and Mugman were scared for a moment at their caretaker’s tone. But they headed up the stairs to pack their bags anyway. Chalice went with them to keep them company for a while. While they were doing that, Elder Kettle hurried to the kitchen and packed up the pots and pans needed for the trip until he came across two blue potions he’d kept hidden for fifteen years. He examined the potions and then looked behind him to hear the boys packing things up. With a sigh, he stuffed the potions in his pocket and hurried out of the kitchen.

Cuphead and Mugman carried their belongings in their bags with Chalice trailing behind them. Elder Kettle nodded his head in approval.

“Good. Good. C’mon,” Elder Kettle said while gesturing the kids to follow him. They headed towards the front door until they heard someone pounding the door. “Back. Back.”

The kids backed up with their caretaker. Elder Kettle hurried to the back door until he saw an unfamiliar silhouette hidden behind the curtain covering the top half of the back door window. Elder Kettle turned the kids and motioned them to go upstairs. The kids hurried up the stairs without question. They ended up going to Elder Kettle’s room and Elder Kettle locked the bedroom door.

“E-Elder Kettle, what’s going on?” Mugman uttered in fear.

They heard someone breaking down the front door from upstairs.

“Get behind me,” Elder Kettle softly commanded.

The kids obeyed and stayed behind the old tea kettle. They heard footsteps lurking throughout the house until they heard someone coming upstairs and down into the hallway. Elder Kettle firmly stared at his bedroom door, waiting for someone to break it down. Someone pounded on the bedroom door, causing the cup brothers to tremble in fear.

Chalice noticed the brothers’ fears, took a deep breath, and turned into a ghost behind Elder Kettle. She phased through the floor. Cuphead and Mugman noticed, but they didn’t say anything. They heard someone approaching Elder Kettle’s bedroom door.

“Boys, hide under the bed. I’ll take care of this,” Elder Kettle whispered to the cup brothers.

“No, I ain’t leavin’ you,” Cuphead argued with his fists clenched as if he was ready to fight whoever was on the other side of the door.

Mugman glanced around the bedroom to find a weapon for them to defend themselves. But it was too late as the door was broken down, revealing a hooded man carrying his rifle that was aimed at Elder Kettle. Cuphead put his arm out to protect Mugman with a glare at the hooded figure. However, the boys and Elder Kettle noticed the ghost of Chalice phasing herself inside of the hooded figure, taking over his body.

Cuphead and Mugman smiled ecstatically to see their friend using possession to possess their enemies while Elder Kettle stood there in pure shock and confusion.

Chalice, taking control of the assassin’s body, turned him around and aimed the rifle to the couple of assassins going down the hallway. Before saying or doing anything, Chalice used the hooded man to pull the trigger and shoot the two assassins approaching her and her friends.

The tiger approached up the stairs and hid behind the shelf with his Tommy gun. Chalice controlled the man to reload his rifle and aim the tiger coming out of his hiding spot. The bullets hit the man before Chalice could force him to pull the trigger. She phased out of him and through the floor once the assassin collapsed on the ground.

Chalice phased into the tiger, attempting to possess him but she underestimated how hard it would be to take control of him.

While Chalice was struggling to take control of the leader of the cult, Elder Kettle peeked down the hallway and looked at the boys’ bedroom on the other side of the hall. Upon realizing that the boys had a window in their bedroom, giving them a chance to escape from their invader.

“C’mon,” Elder Kettle commanded as he and the boys hurried across the hallway and entered into their bedroom. Elder Kettle closed the door and barricaded the door with the small shelf. The old tea kettle turned and hurried to open the window behind them.

The boys looked behind them to see Chalice phasing through the barricaded door.

“We better go now!” Chalice warned. “This guy’s not easy to possess!”

They heard someone kicking the door.

Mugman and Cuphead hurried to the window with Cuphead climbing out of the window first with Chalice flying out of the window. Mugman rushed behind him until he heard the door knocked down. Before he could make a leap out of the window, he was grabbed by the wrist.

Mugman turned back and looked in horror to find the old tiger gripping his wrist with a growl. However, Mugman bit down the tiger’s arm in self-defense, causing the mysterious tiger to howl in pain. Mugman rushed out of the window and hurried behind his family and friend. Elder Kettle grabbed the goat from the front yard and hurried through the woods.

Out of anger, Hunter, the tiger, peeked out of the window and fired bullets at them, but they disappeared into the dark woods. Hunter looked at the bite mark on his arm and instead of being angry about it, he gave a smirk.

“What a little animal,” Hunter growled and looked out into the woods. He heard the phone ringing suddenly. Hunter strode through the house and went downstairs where he saw the phone ringing near the doorway to the kitchen. The tiger picked up the phone to see who was calling.

“Kettle, you have thirty minutes to get your rusty heinie down here and pay your tab!” Porkrind’s voice came from the phone.

Hunter smirked to hear the familiar pig’s voice. Not that he knew the pig before, but Hunter could tell what the pig was known for…his shop.

Hunter knew where to go next.

~.~

“Kettle? Kettle?!”

The phone hung up on Porkrind in his shop.

Porkrind grumbled and placed the phone back on its stand. “Great. First, you didn’t answer and now you hung up on me for no reason.”

Cassidy entered the room with a raised brow. “Wait, why does Elder Kettle need to pay the tab? I don’t think he bought anything.”

“He’s got packages delivered by Jerry and Jerry had been complaining to me that he hadn’t gotten a cent out of Kettle every time he makes a delivery,” Porkrind said with a groan. “Don’t let people take advantage of you, sweetheart. It ain’t worth your time if all people do is take advantage of you.”

Cassidy nodded her head in understanding with a frown.

Porkrind noticed her frown and lost his irritated scowl on his face. He sighed and kneeled to meet her eye-level. “Are you still upset about Jerry?”

“No.”

Porkrind arched a brow.

She lowered her head with her ears pinned back. “I kinda missed doing deliveries with him.”

“Well, he shouldn’t have pulled you into his little secret operation. Even if it’s because you want to help, you need to understand that the Devil is bigger than any bully you will ever face. He ain’t going to be happy if he finds out that he and his imps were beaten by a small cat girl.”

Cassidy perked her ears up to look at her one-eyed father.

“Honey, I’ve seen you building weapons, but I didn’t think to ask what they were for,” he said while looking at a bunch of weapons of various of cat toys and arrows on the workbench.

She chuckled nervously.

“I gotta say though, the weapons you made are pretty nifty,” Porkrind complimented.

“Well, I did have the best teacher,” Cassidy remarked while referring to her father by looking at him with a soft smile.

They suddenly heard a knock from the door.

“Porkrind! Porkrind! Open up!” Elder Kettle urged in panic.

“The shop’s open you know!” Porkrind said, standing up to his feet and facing the door with his arms crossed.

Elder Kettle opened the door and let the kids inside first.

“Whoa, whoa, this ain’t a family hang-out!” Porkrind shouted.

Cassidy brightly smiled to see Cuphead, Mugman, and Chalice. “Guys!”

“Hiya, Cassidy!” Chalice greeted back.

“Hi!” Cuphead said with a wave.

“Uh…h-hi! Uh, how are you doing?” Mugman asked with a blush on his face.

Cassidy also blushed and giggled awkwardly. “Well, I’m doin’ alright. I enjoyed my lunch with Natalie…although I ended up vomiting from the sweets and…yeah…”

There was an awkward pause.

“That is way too much information,” Cassidy added.

“Oh, that’s okay,” Mugman replied. “Now I know where we won’t be taking you if we do go out together.”

“Or if it’s just Mugman who takes you out,” Chalice replied with a mischievous smirk on her face.

The mug’s ceramic face went red instantly. “Chalice…”

Chalice giggled at her friend’s reaction.

Elder Kettle locked the shop door.

“Hey!” Porkrind shouted at Elder Kettle while approaching the old tea kettle. “Why are you locking up the shop?! That’s supposed to be my job—”

“Porkrind, listen to me!” Elder Kettle urged and grabbed the pig’s shoulder. “There’s a madman comin’ after me and the kids! We ain’t safe out in the woods!”

Porkrind arched a brow. “Wait…I called you about paying your tab—”

Elder Kettle gave the pig money, who accepted it immediately.

“Oh, thanks…anyways, I called you about your tab and you didn’t answer. I mean, you did answer the phone, but you didn’t even talk…wait…did you answer the phone?”

“Uh…no. It must have been ringing after the kids and I got out of the house,” Elder Kettle replied. “That’s why I’m saying that there’s a madman coming after me and my kids! The Night Stalkers are out in the city now killin’ people!”

“Wait, what?” Porkrind questioned with a brow raised.

“The Night Stalkers! They’re at it again!” Elder Kettle said in a panicked tone.

The one-eyed pig widened his eye in shock.

Cassidy glanced up at her father. “At it again?”

Porkrind looked at his daughter. “Cassi, pack your gadgets. You may need them.”

Cassidy hurried to the back room and gathered her gadgets. She grabbed her quiver full of arrows and her bow. Before she headed back to the group, Cassidy’s ears flicked to hear someone walking around the shop. She froze in fear while her ears followed the sound towards the back door next to the table where she got her gadgets and weapon. She watched intensely at the knob turning. Once the door swung open, she jumped back with a gasp until she realized that someone coming through the door was Jerry entering from the back of the shop.

Cassidy gasped happily. “Jerry!”

Jerry smiled under the scarf covering his mouth. “Hey Cassi—”

The sudden gunshot sounded and the bullet crashed through Jerry’s shoulder, causing him to stumble into the shop. That grabbed Porkrind’s attention as he rushed to the back room and shut the back door. He locked it and helped Jerry up on his feet.

“Hey! Hey, Jerry! Are you okay?!” Porkrind shouted in a panicked tone.

“I…I think the bullet went through my shoulder,” Jerry said while losing some blood.

Porkrind glanced at Cassidy. “Grab the medkit.”

Cassidy hurried to grab the medkit out of the shelf as Porkrind carried Jerry to the front of the shop much to the horror of Elder Kettle and the cup trio.

“Looks like your maniac shot my friend,” Porkrind said while setting Jerry down on the counter, clearing anything on it.

Cassidy hurried and handed the medkit to her father.

Porkrind took Jerry’s green trench coat off and the red shirt underneath it to look at the wound better. Jerry was correct when he said that the bullet went through his shoulder.

Porkrind opened the medkit and cleaned the wound, causing the creature under him to wince and hiss in pain. “Stay still. The sooner we get you patched up, the better.”

They heard footsteps coming around the front door.

Elder Kettle glanced at the pig. “Don’t mean to rush you here, but hurry up.”

“I’m trying. I’m trying,” Porkrind groaned while cleaning up the wound. Then he stitched up his skin to close up the wound with the needle and thread.

Jerry only flinched for a moment at the stitching.

They heard someone pounding against the front door of the shop.

“Hurry!” Cuphead urged Porkrind.

“Give me a sec!” Porkrind barked at the cup before cutting the thread with the scissors from inside of the Med-kit. Finally, he wrapped Jerry’s arm with the roll of bandages. He was finally finished as he set the medical supplies back into the med-kit. The door was finally broken down, causing the group to turn around to find the familiar tiger raising his gun to the group. Before he could pull the trigger, Chalice acted quickly by turning into a ghost and attempting to possess the tiger once again. Hunter tried to fight against Chalice’s attempt at possession, but under her control, he was pulled back out of the shop.

Jerry tapped on Porkrind, gaining the pig’s attention. “C-Car…parked at…the front.”

Porkrind turned to see where Jerry was pointing at. In the woods and a couple of feet in front of the shop, the car was parked there. Porkrind narrowed his brows in determination and looked at Elder Kettle and the kids.

“C’mon! While that…uh…ghost child is distracting that maniac!” Porkrind urged the group while picking Jerry up from the desk.

Cassidy followed her father while Mugman trailed behind her. Cuphead hurried after his brother and Elder Kettle picked up the goat and ran after his kids. They all followed Porkrind out of the shop and towards the car ahead of them.

Porkrind placed Jerry on the passenger seat while Cassidy hopped over to the backseat. Mugman ended up sitting next to her with Cuphead beside him. Elder Kettle was next to Cassidy, holding the goat in his arms. Porkrind got into the driving seat to look for the keys.

Jerry handed him the keys from his pocket.

Porkrind took without hesitation and drove away as fast as he could away from the tiger.

Soon, Chalice phased out of Hunter and flew towards the car to catch up to the group. She changed back to her physical form, freaking the group out.

“So…where are we heading?” Chalice asked Porkrind.

“Somewhere far from the Night Stalkers,” Porkrind answered vaguely.

“I know where that is,” Cassidy said. “Take a left ahead.”

Porkrind nodded his head and took a left as instructed.

Meanwhile, Hunter recovered from fighting for control over his body with Chalice and looked to see the vehicle took off. He huffed in annoyance.

“Now, this is unfortunate,” Hunter said. He then looked at his arm that had the bite marks from Mugman. An idea slowly formed in his head. “What a little animal.”

Hunter shifted his gaze ahead of him and headed back into the city to report to the Devil of his new idea.

~.~

It had been quiet since they left Porkrind’s shop.

Jerry’s half-lidded eyes stared ahead, covering his bandaged arm. He tried to stay awake, but Jerry didn’t realize that losing so much blood already was going to keep him down for a while.

Cassidy and Mugman were squished between Cuphead and Elder Kettle. Mugman tensed up when her body was pressed against his, a blush growing across his porcelain face. He was both embarrassed at this predicament and being this close to Cassidy made his heart race and his palms sweaty.

Cuphead noticed his brother’s body tensing up, smirking at him uncontrollably. Elder Kettle saw Mugman’s reaction as well and couldn’t stop smiling at the thought that one of his boys might have a potential crush on someone next to him.

Chalice had been observing her group from behind them, smirking at Mugman. Oh, she knew what she’ll tease Mugman with if they ever found a hiding spot.

Porkrind looked over his shoulder from the driver seat to check on his passengers. “Everyone doing okay back there?”

“Never better,” Chalice responded positively.

The rest of the group nodded their heads, even the goat in Elder Kettle’s arm nodded his head.

Porkrind looked over at Jerry. “How about you? You doing okay?”

“Yeah…I didn’t think the Night Stalkers are comin’ out tonight after fifteen years ago,” Jerry said while sitting up more.

“What happened fifteen years ago?” Cuphead asked with a brow raised.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. We’ll talk more about it once we find a hiding spot,” Elder Kettle said. “Which…I don’t know where we’re going.”

The car arrived at the lone one-story mansion, hidden deep into the woods and far from the city.

“Wait, Cassi, is this your friend’s mansion?” Porkrind asked his daughter.

Cassidy nodded her head. “Yeah.”

“What is this place?” Elder Kettle asked both Cassidy and Porkrind.

“Ruth Mansion,” Porkrind responded. “I’m not sure if that’s the best hiding place for us.”

“But it’s far from the Night Stalkers,” Jerry said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Porkrind said while parking the car in front of the mansion. “There’s a shoreline nearby. I’m going to dump the evidence there.”

“Wait, what evidence?” Jerry asked.

Porkrind arched a brow. “Evidence that we’re here…which you’re sitting in right now.”

Jerry looked down to realize Porkrind was talking about the car. “You know, the Night Stalkers are going to bust through this house whether the car was there or not.”

“Then we need to get good at hiding,” Porkrind determined while gesturing everyone to get out of the car.

Elder Kettle led the kids out of the car and looked over at Jerry. “Can you walk?”

Jerry stumbled out the car and walked around the front of the car. “Yeah, I can. Thanks, anyway.”

Porkrind drove off to dump the car into the ocean, leaving the group in front of the Ruth Mansion.

Cassidy led the group towards the front door of the mansion and knocked. They heard someone stumbling from the other side of the door. The door swung open and, in quick reaction, Mugman pulled Cassidy back from the sudden sharp sword swiping at her.

“Whoa! Whoa! We ain’t the Night Stalkers!” Cuphead shouted and then widened his eyes to realize Natalie was the one answering the door with the sword in her two hands.

Natalie gasped to finally recognize her feline friend with a bright smile. “Cassi!” She dropped the sword and zoomed over to hug Cassidy. Cassidy gasped in surprise that Natalie was hugging her.

“I heard about the Night Stalkers on the radio. I didn’t know if they got to you or not,” Natalie said. She broke away from Cassidy with a bright grin. “Come in! Come in!” Natalie rushed and picked the sword, dragging the sharp edge on the floor. The group seemed surprise that they didn’t have to ask to take cover in Natalie’s house, but they entered into it anyway.

Jerry shut the door behind him, but didn’t lock it yet. He picked up the sword Natalie dropped and placed it on the counter against the wall in the living room.

“Welcome to the Ruth Mansion. Mom’s overworking again over at Isle 4. So, I’m in charge,” Natalie said excitedly. “Oh yeah! There’s food in the kitchen! Beds to sleep on! Rooms to play in until this whole Night Stalkers thing will pass.”

“Wait…are you here by yourself?” Elder Kettle asked with a brow raised.

“Oh no, just me and my sister,” Natalie said before hearing tiny footsteps waddling out to the living room where the group was.

They looked and saw a toddler cup with dark brown liquid hair in between her small innocent eyes. She was wearing a blue gown and had a pink string shaped like a heart above her head, holding a teddy bear in her arms.

“Awe dhe bad people gone, sissy?” the toddler cup girl asked shyly.

Natalie smiled warmly. “No, there are no bad people here, Aurora. Look who showed up!” She referred to Cassidy, who gave a friendly wave to Aurora.

Aurora gasped and ran towards Cassidy. “Cassi!”

Cassidy enveloped Aurora into a hug with a giggle and a purr. “Hey, Rori, how are you doing?”

“Good! Good!” Aurora replied with a smile. “I didn’d dhink you would come ovew. Mommy says dhad you’we a buwden.”

Cassidy lost her smile and went. “Oh…”

“Bud I don’d dhink you’we a buwden,” Aurora said with a smile.

Cassidy’s smile returned to her face. “I’m glad you don’t.”

Mugman watched this interaction with a soft grin on his face.

Aurora noticed Cuphead and brightly smiled. “Cuppy!”

“Huh?” Cuphead uttered in confusion.

“Sissy dalks aboud you all dhe dime,” Aurora blurted out with a giggle.

Natalie blushed and shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

Cuphead smirked at Natalie. “Oh, you talked about me all the time?”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “If I were to be talking about you all the time, it would be how annoying and disgusting you are.”

“She says you’we cute when you get mad,” Aurora said.

Natalie blushed and walked over to pick her sister up. “Okay. It’s time for bed.” Natalie hurried back to Aurora’s bedroom to put her sister to sleep.

Cuphead blushed after Aurora’s statement and looked at Chalice. “Uh…is that a compliment or an insult?”

Chalice smirked at Natalie. Now, she knew who to tease along with Mugman.

Porkrind came in through the front door and stretched his arms. “I think we should all get some shut-eye.”

The group nodded their heads in agreement.

Natalie came back after putting Aurora to bed and wishing her goodnight. “Uh, I can show you guys the rooms you can sleep in.”

“That would be wonderful,” Elder Kettle answered.

~.~

Elder Kettle had a room by himself while Porkrind and Jerry shared a room together…mostly so that Jerry could sleep on the bed and Porkrind could keep watch to make sure no Night Stalkers come into the Ruth Mansion.

Meanwhile, Natalie showed Cassidy, Mugman, Cuphead, and Chalice to the bedroom with two bunk beds. One on the right side of the room and the other on the left side.

Natalie put her fists on her hips with a smile in pride. “This is where I usually have sleepovers.”

“If you have any friends,” Cuphead muttered to himself.

However, Natalie heard that and rolled her eyes. “At least that’s more than you.”

“Okay, okay,” Chalice said. “If we’re going to hide from the Night Stalkers, we all need to get along. That includes you both.”

Natalie and Cuphead glared at each other while Cuphead stuck his tongue out to her. Natalie stuck her tongue out in response.

Chalice sighed. “Okay. How about you both shake hands and call it a truce between you two for tonight?”

Cuphead groaned and looked at Natalie. He extended his hand out to shake Natalie’s hand.

Natalie squinted Cuphead’s hand. “Did you wash your hands?”

“Are you serious?” Cuphead growled.

“What?! You could be touching something gross and I’ll end up sick because of you. I can’t have that,” Natalie said with her arms crossed.

“Just shake his hand, Natalie,” Chalice said with a groan.

Natalie rolled her eyes and looked at Cuphead. “If I end up sick, I blame you.” She shook his hand.

Chalice smiled grandly. “Great! Now let’s get some sleep.” She transformed into a ghost and flew up to the top bunk on the left side of the room.

Natalie blinked in surprise at Chalice’s sudden transformation.

“You get used to it,” Cuphead stated while going over to the bottom bunk bed below Chalice and laid there.

Natalie turned to Mugman and Cassidy. “Have a good night you two.” She climbed up to the top bunk bed on the right side of the room. That only left one bottom bunk bed. It was big enough to fit both Cassidy and Mugman, but they weren’t sure if they should sleep on the same bunk together.

Mugman glanced over at Cassidy. “I’ll take the floor.”

Cassidy perked her head up and shook her head. “No, you can go ahead and take the bed. I’ll take the floor.”

“No, I insist. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“No, no, I insist that you sleep on the bed.”

“Just share the bed,” Natalie said with a groan in annoyance.

Cassidy and Mugman looked at each other, blushing.

“U-Uh, it’s only for one night…right?” Mugman replied mostly to himself.

An idea struck the red feline’s head. She crawled onto the bed and used the pillows to separate both him and her. “There. That way we won’t roll on top of each other by accident.”

Mugman got onto the bed and laid there next to the pillow wall Cassidy created between them.

“Well, goodnight, Mugman. I’ll see you in the morning,” Cassidy said while turning over to face the wall, hiding her blush.

Mugman turned over with his back to her, blushing as well. “Uh…goodnight.”

After a tense moment, they both fell asleep on the bottom bunk.

To Be Continued...

#cuphead #cuphead: isle of shadows rewrite #elder kettle #henchman #king dice #mugman #stickler #the devil cuphead #oc villian #ocs x canons #cuphead porkrind

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