Souls (Cuphead)

Chapter 3 (Forest Follies)

 They both looked at each other, leaned over the edge, and began shooting at the enemies below. They all fell with one hit, and by the time more came along, Cuphead and Mugman were gone, and had taken a gold coin with them.

 Further in the forest there seemed to be more Forest creatures. They even found a mushroom, with a red cap with yellow spots. Cuphead stroked the top for no reason, and then it popped up, and shot a horrible purple mist at him. He coughed, and fell to the ground, screaming. The mushroom blinked cheekily and ducked under the ground again.

 Cuphead flopped from side to side, batting away imaginary creatures. "THEY'RE ALL OVER ME!" he screamed. "MUGMAN! HELP!"

 Mugman kneeled down, and took his brother's arm. Instantly he stopped convulsing. The mushroom popped up again, and it didn't see the sky again. "What did you see, brother?" he asked.

 "S-s-spiders," Cuphead stammered, shivering. "S-so m-m-many."

 "They aren't real," Mugman said, hauling him up. "Hallucinations."

 Mugman remembered studying types of puff clouds that some mushrooms emitted. Pink was good. Pink gave you strength, if you could hit it at the right time. If not, it would leave a few cracks on Mughead skin. Purple was bad. Purple gave you either hallucinations, short breath, burning sensations on the skin or stomach ache, depending on the person.

 "Don't you remember the book A Guide to Forest Life?" Mugman said.

 "Stop that," Cuphead said.

 "Stop what?"

 "Using that tone. You may be interested in the schooling Elder Kettle gives, but I'm not, so don't use that 'See, you should have studied more', tone." He turned away. "You know I'm not good at that."

 Mugman frowned slightly. It was true Cuphead wasn't a very good learner; in fact, he preferred drawing over the home schooling Elder Kettle did. But he never realised he had a tone. Or that Cuphead hated it so much.

 Cuphead had been born dyslexic, so obviously he struggled to learn, and Mugman thought that if he was hard on him, he might learn faster. It was doing the opposite, it seemed.

 "Let's go," he said, standing and marching away. Mugman trailed after him.

 "The book said that purple mist from Murderous Mushrooms usually causes hallucinations," he said cautiously, and Cuphead didn't say anything, so he continued. "And pink mist can heal and strengthen a person, if hit properly."

 "Glad you have all that information, bro," Cuphead said, a little sarcastically and a little sourly. His eyes suddenly widened, and he pushed Mugman to one side, just as a small purple seed-bulb landed between them and made a small explosion in a burst of flames.

 Cuphead whirled around, and hit a purple tulip in the eye, killing it. "What are those things again?" he asked.

 "Terrible Tulips," Mugman said. "They usually stay passive towards strangers, unless they feel threatened, in which case they release little seed pods or bulbs into the air, which cause miniature explosions which damage some people. The pods can pass through the ground in some cases. Farmers can sometimes uproot dead moles that were attacked by a Terrible Tulip's pod."

 Cuphead nodded and started forward, finger at the ready. There was a log in front of them. And on it, a tiny blue circle with legs, arms and a face ran across it. A spiky pink ball floated above it. "Bothersome Blueberries," Mugman said, pointing to the blobby creature. "They have such a small amount of endurance that they turn into puddles when attacked. The puddles can't be eaten, or drunk, so predators can't get them. They aren't very smart, and once they come to the edge of something, they run the other way, and so on."

 Cuphead shrugged, and shot it. As Mugman suspected, it turned into a puddle of blue slime with a cute little pop. Mugman darted across the other side, but Cuphead stayed on the log, looking at the spiky pink ball. He tilted his head, then jumped and hit it. It disappeared, and Cuphead flexed his fingers.

 Just as the Blueberry got up and bit his ankle. He kicked it away and jumped down to Mugman's side. "Ow," he groaned.

 The two continued, dodging another pod attack from a Terrible Tulip and another Flower Person running at them. "What...did you...say...about...Flower...people?" Cuphead panted.

 "Deadly Daises," Mugman said. "They're really territorial, and aren't afraid of anything. Lots of woodcutters get attacked by them. They can use their petals to float, and their long legs to jump from platform to platform. They're usually found in meadows."

 "Well they're in the forest now," Cuphead snapped.

 The two carried on. At one point, Cuphead spotted a coin mid-air and leaped, catching it. 

 The next log they came to seemed safe. Until Mugman put one foot on it and a massive, eye-less plant with a black shell with yellow spots and a green tendril at the bottom bit at it, missing. "Woah, a Toothy Terror!" Mugman exclaimed, forgetting he almost had his foot bitten off. "Those are so rare! They're like Venus Flytraps, and Piranha Plants! They eat anything that passes overhead."

 "Can we kill it?" Cuphead asked, raising his finger. 

 "NO!" Mugman cried. "You can't kill it! They're an endangered species!"

 Cuphead shrugged, jumped up and darted across before the Terror could even think to grab him. "Easy," he said, carrying on.

 "Wait for me!" Mugman cried, racing after him, barely missing the Terror's jaws again.

 Their third log they reached had another coin. And a horrible guest. A flying acorn creature with sharp teeth and a whirling chopper on his head dropped down, almost crushing the both of them. And there were more coming. "RUN!" Cuphead yelled, tugging his brother along.

 He saw a gap coming up, and leaped, making it. Mugman missed, though, and grabbed hold of the side. "Help me!" he cried. Cuphead kneeled down, and grabbed his wrist, tugging him up. Just as a Terrible Tulip shot a pod at his back.

 It hit.

 Cuphead started screaming. It felt like something was eating his skin, chewing it away greedily. He could hear Mugman shooting, and things around him but he couldn't react; he was in too much pain.

 Until he heard Mugman yelp. Mugman was hurt!

 He sprung to his feet, shooting everything he could see in his pain-blurred vision. Nobody hurt his brother and got away with it.

 "Cuphead, they're gone!" Mugman said, hugging him. "Thanks."

 Cuphead looked at him. He had a nasty crack on his shoulder, but nothing too bad. They took another coin, and jumped over an overhang to come face-to-face with a machine that was shooting out the annoying acorn cannons.

 Cuphead drew in a breath, pulling his arms back, and thrust them forwards. A massive blue ball hit the machine. "How did you do that?!" Mugman cried.

 "I don't know!" he answered. Must've been the pink spike thing, he thought. The two grabbed the other's hand, and kept shooting, hitting it over and over again until it powered down, defeated.

 They darted past, jumping to platform to platform, avoiding Terrors and Blueberries, nicking two coins, and efficiently killing a Murderous Mushroom. Finally they saw a red sign pointing out. They ran for it, and collapsed to the soft dirt outside the forest.

 "Ow," Mugman said.