Cuphead and Mugman in "Fate Will Find You"

New Goals

Mugman and Elder Kettle trudged high up into the mountains of Inkwell. The young mug warily eyed the dark clouds looming in the distance. He feared that they would be out past Hilda's suggested time for sure. The parasitic creature could feel the child's worry growing ever stronger. As soon as they reached the training grounds, the demon spoke up.

I can help you make this quick. It said. For Mugman's worry was also his worry. Sharing a body meant sharing emotions, too. Well, to some extent. They both had their own personality, but emotions from one were felt by the other.

"Thanks," Mug whispered to the creature. "Go ahead and change me." The demon was surprised at the sudden change of heart about his mutated appearance. Normally, the child would do anything and everything to avoid being sucked into that dark state. But a sense of trust was developing between host and demon. They started to understand one another, almost growing into what one might call friendship.

Elder Kettle unleashed the morphing spell from the bottle. As usual, it created the three purple mini devils. They hissed and inched toward the mug child. In an instant, Mugman changed into his alter ego. It roared and unleashed a small eruption of blue hellfire from the top of its mug. Kettle was certainly surprised at this sudden transformation. Why did he change without any provocation first? Was that something good or bad? Did his son approve of this? Or was the demon taking matters into its own hands? All of these questions raced through the elderly kettle's mind.

The devils changed their tactics once they saw the monstrous mug. Instead of going straight for the child, they stalked around on all fours, looking for a vulnerable spot. Fiery pupils watched their every move carefully. Then one of them leaped forward brazenly. Its claws were outstretched and ready to strike. Mug simply leaned out of the way as the claws came up to his head level. The purple creature quickly came speeding back down to the cavern floor. A brown boot was swiftly placed upon its arm to keep it down. The furry devil struggled under the mug's foot. Its body thrashed around wildly, trying to yank its arm away from its tormentor.

A second then jumped forward. This one snarled and bared its gleaming white fangs. Two clawed hands smashed the purple head as it came close. Mugman's enlarged hands nearly covered the whole devil's head as he held it aloft. He let it struggle for a few seconds before summoning dark blue magic to his already full hands. The end result was a massive explosion that threw the purple devil across the training ground. Its furry body bounced and flipped over itself multiple times before coming to a stop.

The third had snuck its way around the mug child and was approaching from behind. Mugman had fallen victim to this tactic a number of times during his training. By now he knew this trick and was prepared. Upon hearing the creature leap toward him, Mug simply held up a fist, letting the devil fall upon it. A furry chin collided with the gloved fist, shoving it closed. Its body went limp and dropped to the ground as its eyes spiraled in all directions.

The one still upon the ground finally stopped struggling and latched its fangs on the child's leg. Mug gave a small but uncomfortable groan. A clawed hand reached down for the remaining mini devil. The creature immediately let go when it was picked up by the scruff of its neck. It grinned sheepishly as it was brought mug level with the child. Despite its situation as prisoner of the mug's grip, the purple creature still tried to lash out at him. A small fist swiped across Mugman's face. A growl of rage grew in his cup as his glowing eyes stared into its prey's. His growl turned into a belch of hellfire right in the devil's face. The creature squealed and squirmed in agony as its head got singed. Mug then dropped the seizing body to the floor. The cup child let out a roar that said he was done playing games with them. All three of the mini devils tucked their tails between their legs as the crawled away from the seemingly dominate mutated mug. They huddled together as they fearfully looked back at the child. Their bodies knocked against one another as they shivered in fear.