Tunnel Cups

"“I could smell the Viet Cong, really, I could smell Charlie. It wasn’t just his body sweat or the urine. There were times when I could hear the breathing, real quiet; you could hear a person breathe, and I’d know he was in there, and I didn’t go any farther. I just said to myself: In this dark corner of a tunnel is where the animal belongs, a rodent belongs. I’m becoming like a rodent, but still I don’t belong. Yes, I could smell Charlie. And he knew me. The type of cologne I used, the aftershave—that’s when we stopped using it altogether. But there was more than that. There was the scent that told you there was somebody in the tunnels. We became so tuned up after a while that when the other person would flick an eyelid up or down, you really knew he was there, in the corner, not even hiding anymore. Just sitting and waiting. They were the ones you never killed. You just backed out and told them up above the tunnel was cold."

--Tom Mangold, The Tunnels of Cu Chi

Tunnel Cups is a chapter in When the Cold Breeze Blows Away. In this chapter, Cuphead, Mugman, Su Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls arrive in a countryside area located in Inkwell Isle so they are in need from the help of General Chén (known as Mr. Chen or General Chen), a general of both the People's Army of Vietnam (PAV) and National Liberation Front for South Vietnam after Ms. Chalice needs General Chén's guerrilla tactics, and then Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls found a 19th century Vietnamese house, which turned out that it is indeed to be the home of General Chén, and then they entered this house and and found out that General Chén is planting rice on a paddy as he is a civilian rice farmer. He meets Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls as his friendly comrades, and then Cuphead introduce himself, Mugman, Ji-Hoon, the Preschool Girls and General Chén too, but it also turned out that he isn't only a rice farmer, but he is also a general serving for the Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAV).

After introducing themselves, Ji-Hoon, Cuphead, Mugman, General Chen and the Preschool Girls sit down on bamboo chairs. General Chén takes cups of tea to Ji-Hoon, Cuphead, Mugman and the Preschool Girls as they drink tea. General Chén asks Ji-Hoon Cuphead, Mugman and the Preschool girls about his request while he is still wearing his Vietnamese conical hat and his rice farmer clothes, but then, Cuphead said that Inkwell Isle is being under attack by the Coalition of the Red Star. Sunny Day also learns that the Unified Soviet Red Assault Command is behind this evil plan, and General Chén will say that Cuphead and Mugman aren't Rubyists, but despite that Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls are Rubyists, he will also join them to save Inkwell Isle and everyone else in Inkwell Isle (which are all NPC Cuphead characters and Cuphead bosses from Inkwell Isle One, Inkwell Isle Two and Inkwell Isle Three). After, General Chén entered a secret door to his newly-dug tunnel from the inside of his house so that Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls are looking at General Chén's secret door.

Soon, they all entered together to go inside of General Chén's very own newly-dug tunnel, and Ruby Ramirez said that since she's a kid like Rusty Rivets and the late Liam McLoud, who died earlier in the Battle of Puerto Princesa, then she looks at a picture of Liam McLoud lying in his coffin, wearing his normal clothes. She had buried Liam in the Manila Memorial Park and said that she has to pray for him to go to Heaven. She said that she's now with his big sister, who also died on a heart attack at age 12 (twelve).

Later, they found many weapons and many rooms, and then Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls admitted that the tunnel is a safe place to hide, so they also like General Chén's tunnel, so in order to find a way to look around at General Chén's tunnel. He said that he would change his rice farming clothes into a green People's Army of Vietnam military uniform (because he loves to wear the North Vietnamese military uniform in the Vietnam War from the history of Vietnam; and he also loves to wear a green People's Army of Vietnam military uniform from the postwar era of Vietnam or modern era of Vietnam when he joined the People's Army of Vietnam),a pair of Ho Chi Minh sandals (because he is following the Ho Chi Minh Thought and is loving Ho Chi Minh, or Uncle Ho as he calls him that he study Ho Chi Minh Thought) and a Vietnamese pith helmet (because he loved his country), along with a military bag and many weapons so that Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls would like him after he is wearing his new clothes.

Soon, General Chen, Cuphead, Mugman, Ji-Hoon and the Preschool Girls are moving out of General Chén's tunnel and left Mr. Chén's home for his patriotism to save Inkwell Isle.

At the end of this chapter, General Chén, Ji-Hoon, Cuphead, Mugman and the Preschool Girls meet Baroness Von Bon Bon, troops from the Grand Alliance and everyone from Inkwell Isle (which are NPC Cuphead characters and Cuphead bosses from Inkwell Isle One, Inkwell Isle Two and Inkwell Isle Three) after they arrived in Sugarland, learning that they would start to defend many places of Inkwell Isle, including Sugarland, to prepare to fight enemies during both the Second Inkwell Isle War and the Third Inkwell Isle War, just as the First Inkwell Isle War is finished.

The chapter ends when Team Magic School Bus, in military uniforms, were talking to Cuphead and Mugman about General Chén, and later on, they told the twins to get moving.