Right Hand Man (King Dice x Devil)

Chapter 32 : Confronting The Stranger

The Devil's POV

The Stranger smirked at us,"Greetings, dear friends."
"We are not friends," I hissed.
He ignored me, continuing,"I see you made it past round one. Good job. But, the game isn't over yet-"
"This isn't a game, either!" Mike spat.
"Patience, boys," The Stranger growled. "As I was saying, there are three levels. You've beaten the first, now let's see if you can beat the second."
"Second?" King Dice raised a brow as the Stranger disappeared. "What does he mean by that?"
"Not sure," I admitted. "But I think we're about to find out!"
The entrance we came through disappeared, as did our only exit. The floor began to shift and the walls deteriorated. The floor became a platform, and all around us were the villagers. Their eyes were glowing purple.
"Oh, crap," Cuphead gulped.
"Look! There's Elder Kettle!" Mugman pointed out.
In the front row, Elder Kettle glared at us. He too was hypnotized. Cup clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Mug placed a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.
"He's gonna pay..." Cup growled, speaking of the Stranger.
The Stranger smirked, floating above the rest, "All eyes are on you."
"Careful guys," I mumbled. "The Stranger can see through all of their eyes."
"Including yours, Cup," King Dice added. "Cup? Huh-What are you doing!?"
Cup head tied a piece of his pants fabric across his eyes,"He ain't seeing nothin' through my eyes."
"You sure you can fight with a blindfold, Cup?" Mug asked anxiously.
Cuphead only smirked,"I've got this."
Now might be my only chance. I tapped on Mike's shoulder. He turned and looked at me.
"Psst, Mike. There's something I have to tell you. It's about the connection you have with the Stranger," I whispered.
His eyes widened.
"There is a way to kill the Stranger without killing you. I read something in a book about soul connections at the library in town. If we kill him, it won't kill you. But, if you kill yourself, then both of you will die."
He stared at me.
The Stranger chuckled,"A brawl is surely brewing..."

"Now go!"

Third Person's POV

Just like that, the fight began.
The Devil summoned his triton and charged at Djimmi the Great. The genie summoned chests full of spectral ghost-swords. The Devil swatted them away like flies. Then, using his shape shifting abilities, turned into a dragon and chased down Djimmi.
Meanwhile, King Dice was tackling against Sally Stageplay, who swung her umbrella at him furiously. King Dice dodged attacks swiftly and-oddly-gracefully. When Sal was out of energy, he threw a barrage of sharp playing cards at the tired actress.
Mug was fighting against Cala Maria, narrowly avoiding her petrifying gaze. He shot a bullet at her other attacks, trying his best not to hurt her.
Cup, on the other hand, was firing bullets blindly left and right. Even with the blindfold on, though, he was surprisingly good at avoiding attacks from the Blind Specter, and the rest of the Phantom Express. He was laughing the whole time, enjoying the rush of adrenaline.
During this, Mike was trying to get to the Stranger. He was almost there when something tied around his ankle and pulled him down. Cagney Carnation threw him into one of his vines, ripping his shirt open (damn). Mike spat oil (since he's a robot) on the ground, and wiped his mouth with his forearm. He felt a hand grab his arm and pull him up. Mike prepared to beat them up but it turned out to be the Devil.
"This isn't working!" The Devil snarled. "There's too many of them and not enough of us!"
Mike agreed,"I know! We just need to somehow break the hypnotic connection the Stranger has on them."
"How do we do that?"
Mike looked around for an answer, and there was nothing in the area. Then, a thought came to him as he saw something on the Stranger. The Stranger's bow tie had a gem that was glowing purple.
Mike grinned,"Cuphead!"
"Cuphead?" The Devil raised a brow.
He ran to the two brothers, ducking an attack from Wally Warbles. He said,"Mug! Cup! I need to borrow the two of you for a second!"
"For what, exactly?" Cup asked, firing another bullet at an incoming enemy.
"A little run n' gun!" Mike smirked. "Cup, look through the Strangers eyes! It'll paralyze him!"
"Alrighty!" Cup said without hesitation. In seconds, the Stranger went from maniacally laughing to floating in mid-air, completely still.
"And Mug, get em' good! He's hypnotizing people from his bow tie, so aim for that!" Mike told him.
Mug nodded. Mike grabbed him by his hands, and spun him around as quickly as I could. Then, he let go, throwing him towards the Stranger. Mug was nearly a foot away from him when he used his super! A horizontal beam blasted from his head, breaking the Stranger from his trance, while also breaking the gem.
The 8-year-old landed next to them, earning a triumphant laugh from his 10-year-old brother.
The Stranger groaned in pain, then gasped, realizing the gem was broken. All at once, the citizens of Inkwell were released from the spell. They looked around confused.
Elder Kettle shook his head,"Ugh, what happened?"
Mug and Cup grinned,"Kettle!" and hugged their grandfather, who was still discordant.
The Stranger growled,"You maggots..."
The Devil and King Dice joined the others. Mike stood tall,"Stranger. You will not win this fight. Yield now."
"You and what army, dick!?" The Stranger snapped, loosing his sanity fast.
No one had to answer. Everyone from Inkwell gathered together behind the group. They glared at the Stranger, preparing weapons and attacks.
The Devil smirked,"That army."
The Stranger narrowed his eyes at thin air, "I-I can't see, you realize that right?"
"Oh, yeah," The Devil said, dumbly.
King Dice rolled his eyes,"Basically, everyone you hypnotized is gonna kick your ass."
"Oh, well. Fuck you," The Stranger replied.
The Stranger floated high into the air, dark electricity traveling across his arms. He smirked,

"Now, the final round."

(A/N)
O-Kay! We are getting closer to the end. Who will win? How will our heroes defeat the Stranger? You'll find out soon...
Also, I want to mention some of my Cuphead ships. I don't have many but here they are:

King Dice x The Devil
(no fricking kidding)

Baroness x Beppi x Djimmi
(despite the Mystery of Inkwell story I made)

Blind Specter x Cagney Carnation
(still can't beat snake eyes)

Other than these three, I don't really ship anything else (from the cannon game). Tell me your ships (other than devildice) in the comments. See ya soon!

2/11/18