Cuphead and Mugman in "Fate Will Find You"

The Duel

"M-my boy!" Elder Kettle exclaimed as he took in the sight of the monstrous cup.

Not again...! Mug thought as he remembered just how powerful his brother was in that state. Both family members stared at the cup with fear and disbelief.

"You're coming over here to watch with me!" The Devil sneered as a single claw wrapped around the kettle's handle and yanked him over.

"Elder Kettle!" Mugman cried as he tried to follow his guardian. A mutated Cuphead stepped between the two with a loud snarl. The young mug stopped short, large sawblade-like teeth only a couple feet away from him. Mug began to back away from the very dangerous cup. Fear jabbed into his heart as he stared into the very same face that had beat him senseless without giving any thought to his actions. It gargled and began to follow the child.

"No, Cuphead! Don't do this!" He cried out, hoping his brother would somehow act different than last time. But it kept coming toward him. Mug realized that words didn't do much to sway the mutated cup. Perhaps it would take some solid evidence to reach Cuphead. Luckily for Mugman, he had just the thing. "Before you decide to thrash me, I want to show you something first!"

A small gloved hand went to reach into his pocket and pull out the black and white photo of he and Cuphead playing yo-yos. The monstrous cup saw this movement and just assumed that the child was reaching for a weapon. Mug almost had the picture out of his pocket when a large gloved hand slammed into him. It pinned him to the wall by his throat. The black and white photo fluttered out of Mugman's hand and to the ground. Little eyes shifted to the right and down to see the picture just a bit off to the side. Poor Mug attempted to reach for it as the hand pressed him hard against the wall. He groped for the photo for a few agonizing seconds and eventually caught its corner. Without another thought, the little mug whipped it up for the mutated cup to see. Cup snatched the picture from his hand and released the mug child while intently studying the piece of paper. The young mug took this moment to rub his throat and attempt to recover from the grip. For it had aggravated his previous wound that had not fully healed just yet. He coughed a bit before explaining the photo to the mutated cup.

"That's us, Cuphead. We're best friends, a loving family. Please come back to me." Mugman pleaded and extended out a friendly hand to the creature. Its glowing yellow eyes softened as it looked from the paper to the child. The young cup seemed to have enough influence over the demon at this point to show other emotions besides hate. For the demon had not explored its host's soul and memories deeply yet. The longer it stayed, the less the red cup would have influence over it. Cuphead let out a moan of understanding as he repeated the smaller cup's action. He gently took the mug's hand in his hold.

"Come on, let's take down the Devil together!" Mug said confidently to the monstrous cup. The oversized head nodded in agreement. Its teeth still hung out of the mouth that wouldn't close completely.

The Devil realized that the pesky little mug might actually be getting to his slave. But he would have none of that and, thus, proceeded to change this scenario.

"No!" The black creature hissed, summoning purple electricity to his fingers again. Two clawed fingers flexed as the electricity streams seemed to transfer over to Cuphead. Mugman saw purple streaks flash across the yellow eyes. The poor cup roared in pain and let go of the mug child's hand as well as the photo. It groped at its oversized head and hoped that the torturous bolts would cease. Eventually they did. But now he looked at Mug with pure hatred instead of understanding. It had just been reprimanded for being soft and now it was mad at the little mug for causing his master to hurt him. The young mug picked up the picture and held it out again. For he knew that was the best way to get through to Cuphead.