“Are you sure this is the right way?”
Cuphead grumbled as the boys made their way through the thick foliage of the island
“Oh I'm sorry, are you the one reading the map?”
Bendy retorts with a huff, leading the way.
“I can see it…just can't read it”
Cuphead grumbled under his breath. Mugman, who was walking beside Cuphead, spoke up with a tired but slightly suspicious tone, still struggling to grasp the concept that they had the map to the Inkwell.
“So…that really shows you where the Inkwell is?”
“It doesn’t show me where it is exactly. More so shows me the way to where it should be.”
Bendy says, looking between the map and the path before them.
“Wherever it’s leading us, we should keep a low profile, people are always on high alert for known bounty hunters.”
Boris grumbled gruffly, keeping an out on their surroundings.
“You two are criminals too now. Mickey’s gotta have put a bounty on the boths of ya by now.” Cuphead retorted, bringing their new status as criminals to the wolf and devils attention.
Bendy stops in his tracks before turning to face Cuphead.
“…He doesn’t know who we are or what we’ve done. We’re not criminals…”
Eventually after some more walking the crew made it to a ledge, below was a view of the central city and the docks, citizens and traders filling the streets.
Bendy’s brows furrowed as he looked down at the map.
“I think this is gonna be harder than we thought…”
Bendy says with a slightly strained voice laced with annoyance.
Cuphead leans over bendy’s shoulder to look at the map, not that he could read it lol-
Golden shining arrows flow and point in the direction of the ocean, implying its beyond this very island.
“Looks like we might need to go through the city…and further.”
Bendy says, thinking as he looks down at the city below them.
“Are you kidding?! It's out at sea?! But we don’t even have a ship!!”
Mugman complains in frustration.
“Well looks like we’ll just have to get a hold of one, somehow”
Bendy says, putting the map into his coat.
“Anyone got ideas on how? Not like we can just waltz up and borrow one from some random crew.”
He says casually turning to face the other three.
“Well we could always just sneak onto a ship and steal it, me and mugs have done it plenty of times for jobs!”
Cuphead says with a shrug, smirking as he was already planning on how they could steal a ship.
“Are we sure that's a good idea? We’ve been on ships before but never for that long.”
Mugman questioned, looking hesitant about the idea of adventuring by ship, knowing it would be a longer journey then he and cuphead usually take.
“Eh, I'm sure we’ll be fine. I ain’t too worried about it.”
Cuphead said casually, placing a hand on Mugman's shoulder.
Bendy thought for a moment, thinking about cuphead’s suggestion before letting out a sigh.
“Seems like it’ll be our only choice considering we don’t very well have the funds to bribe our way onto a ship.””
He said, already starting to walk.
“Lets head down into the city and get to the docks. If we can find a vacant ship we’ll take it.”
“You sure about this Bendy?”
Boris asks his brother tentatively.
“If ridding our world from the Blot means we have to steal a boat, so be it.”
Bendy responds, attempting to convince his brother to trust his decision.
As they make their way down to the city, they sneak through alleyways and stick to the shadows, eventually reaching the docks as they hide behind stacks of barrels to stay out from view.”
Bendy peers his head out from the wall of barrels in search of a vacant ship, quickly ducking back behind them as heavy footsteps accompanied by voices come along. Peaking his head out slightly, Bendy eavesdrops on the conversation.
“Quite the successful journey if I do say so myself lads!!”
Said a deep gruff voice as a group of pirates walked by.
“I say we have earned ourselves a night of relaxation to soak in the spoils of our labor! How about a night at the tavern aye mates?!”
The voice said with triumph, the crewmates giving an enthusiastic “Aye aye captain!”
The crew walked away, their laughs and cheers echoing through the bustling streets.
“Well I think we found our ship-”
Bendy said with a grin before being pulled back by his brother.
“Bilge Boris, what’s gotten into you?!
Bendy exclaims.
Without a word from him, Boris points towards a nearby wall covered in wanted posters. The two visibly new ones bearing the brothers' faces. .
“Told ya you’d be criminals.”
Cuphead says, looking stupidly smug before Mugman wacks him in the back of the head.
“Not the time Cup.”
Bendy takes a deep breath to calm himself before speaking up again.
“We’ll have to wait til this place clears out, then we can make our move and take the ship. So for now we wait, savvy?”
Bendy asked, giving the cuphead a pointed look.
As night time fell upon the harbour and the docks emptied out, the only sound heard being the noise from the nearby tavern as citizens got wasted inside.
But outside on the docks, Bendy and his crew were putting their plan into action.
Keeping careful watch around them, the crew climbed up onto the ship.
“Alright lets get this thing sailing before anyone sees us!” Bendy orders, keeping his voice hushed to not alert any tavern goers to their nefarious deeds.
Boris heads to the capstan and begins to turn it, hoisting the anchor up from the depths below as Mugman climbs up the main mast to bring the sails down. Bendy looks around the ship, checking to ensure it was empty, stopping these checks as he hears Cuphead exclaim loudly..
“Well I think it's clear who the captain of this ship will be!”
He says with triumph, plopping the hat onto his head before it was swiftly swiped from atop of him.
“You? Captain? Are you bloody mad?!”
Bendy growled, glaring at Cuphead.
“If anyone should be captain it’s me!”
He says, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You?! Please, what makes you a suitable captain?”
Cuphead scoffed, rolling his eyes at bendy.
“What makes me suitable! Oh I don't know. Maybe it’s the fact I've been a captain before, unlike you, you damn landlubber!”
Cuphead says with a snarl, leading the two into an argument as Boris and Mugman continued to prepare the ship.
But suddenly the door to the living quarters opened and a voice spoke up groggily.
“Captain, is that you? I thought you were gonna be staying in the…”
The voice trailed off, there stood an eel Toon, having been awoken from her slumber by the noise of the argument. Her face a look of confusion, quickly morphing into surprise and realisation as she became fully aware of what was going on.
The whole ship went quiet, the boys staring at the new face as she stared back.
And then the shock finally reached her head as he quickly pulled out a long, slender sword.
“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS?!”
She yelled, pointing her rapier at Cuphead and Bendy.
Bendy quickly stepped forward, holding up his hands to show he meant no harm.
“Wait, don't attack! We can explain!”
“You better! Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?!”
Elissa demanded, holding the sword steady.
Cuphead raised an eyebrow as he looked at Elissa, taking in her appearance.
“Your ship? You don’t look like a captain to me,”
He said with a shrug, smug smile egging her on.
Elissa looked slightly offended by the cups words, putting her free hand on her hip, lowering her sword slightly.
“Well that’s a bit judgemental don’t ya think?”
“But you haven’t answered my question. What. are. You. doing here?”
She asked, her tone going serious as she watched them as she raised her sword back up at them.
Bendy hesitates, unsure whether to tell the truth or not.
“We just uh…need to borrow this ship for a quick trip! That’s all!”
He said, hoping that was enough to convince her.
Elissa raised an eyebrow, not convinced one bit.
“Uh huh, and lemme guess yer too broke to hire one.”
Bendy nodded, admitting to his broke-ness.
Elissa sighed, already looking tired of this.
“Well I hate to break it to you but you’re not stealing this ship, my captain and his crew need it. And where exactly do you need to go with a ship like this?”
Bendy let out a nervous chuckle, not knowing how to put it lightly.
“Well we may or may not be needing this ship to uh…possibly find the…”
He hesitates, nervous about how Elissa will react.
Elissa stood frozen for a moment as if processing Bendy's confession.
“You need this ship…to find…the Inkwell? The MYTHICAL inkwell?”
She was silent for a moment before she started snickering, and then just burst out laughing.
“BAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAHAHAH NO FUCKING WAY!! YOU’RE- YOU’RE KIDDING!! EHEHEHEHEH THE INKWELL! THE ONE NO TOON HAS SEEN IN DECADES! YOU’RE GOING AFTER IT?!”
Elissa wheezes, hands on her knees as she keeps laughing her ass off.
“I mean that's just fucking hilarious!”
She said between giggles, trying to catch her breath.
Bendy stood there looking annoyed now as he stood there watching Elissa lose it.
Eventually Elissa settled down, her laughing fit finally dying down.
“Right, sorry about that. It’s just that’s not something I hear everyday ya know. Talk about a buncha’ crazy people!”
Bendy snapped, pulling out the map and shoving it in her face. In that moment he forgot that only he could see it.
Elissa squinted at the map, of course seeing nothing. She let out a sigh pointing her gun at bendy again.
“Alright I think that’s enough. If you think some blank map is gonna convince me, then you’re more crazy than I thought.”
“Last chance to leave before things have to get violent.”
She said, her voice turning serious.
Cuphead scoffed, rolling his eyes at the way Elissa pointed her rapier at them.
“Oh we’re soooo scared of such a flimsy weapon.”
He said with absolute sarcasm.
“Oh please, it’s more than you morons have clearly-”
Before she could finish her sentence cuphead and Mugman pulled out their straws, said straws turning into guns.
Mugman wielded a musket gun while cuphead wielded a flintlock pistol, Boris lurking above in the crows nest with his own sword attached at his hip.
Elissa stood there, caught off guard by their weapons. She looked down at her own sword, knowing full well she had no advantage here.
“Oh…well there goes that leverage then…”
“But look, I can’t let you take this ship, the rest of my crew are away for the night and I sure as hell ain’t letting them wake up with no ship in sight!”
“Not if we hold you hostage”
Bendy interjects, looking serious as he takes a step closer to Elissa.
Elissa, taking a small step back instinctively, keeping her eyes on Bendy becoming nervous at his threat of violence.
“Wait…you wouldn’t! You wouldn't actually hold me captive on my own ship…right?”
Bendy takes another step closer, cracking his neck and knuckles.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but we need this ship”
Before he can fully pull back his fist and aim for Ellisa, Boris swings down from the crows nest and decks Ellisa, knocking her down and out.
The crew all then look down at the now unconscious Elissa.
Boris says towards Bendy, who is still standing with his fist drawn back before his hand drops to his side.
“So what do we do now? We can’t exactly leave her on the docks.”
Boris says, looking slightly uneasy at the idea of just leaving her there.
Mugman interjects, grabbing a bundle of rope before reaching down to drag Elissa by the back of her shirt to a mast.
“We’ll do just as we said, hold her hostage. Not like she can really stop us now.”
He pointed out as he finished tying the knot on Elissa’s restraints.
Bendy watched, thinking about the whole situation before letting out a long sigh.
“Well looks like we’ll have to make do then. Let’s get this ship sailing. We can deal with her when she wakes up”
And with that everyone got to work on getting the ship ready to sail.
And eventually it was ready, the wind catching onto the sails, guiding the ship forward in the water.
And with that the journey had started.
