"The act of losing not one, not two, but ALL your Time Pieces is a SERIOUS crime. Not only did you manage to lose them under your watch, fourteen broken from the fall creating Time Rifts, countless numbers of time abuse, but also the account that one individual you claim as 'Mustache Girl' had used the Time Pieces to alter the time stream of the planet and misused the power so greatly that the WHOLE planet was altered."
Hat Kid winced.
"Is this all true to what you have reported?"
"Yes." Hat Kid spoke quietly, gripping her hands tightly behind her back hidden beneath her cape.
"There is also the fact that you hat was stolen. Though not as serious as a crime with the Time Pieces, it can be stated that this item is just as important."
"I got it back!"
"That you did. But it is still the matter that you lost it in the first place."
"I didn't lose it! It was stolen for me by Snatcher and—"
"Silence!"
Hat Kid winced again, covering her mouth.
"We do not care who had stolen your hat, it is the matter that it was STOLEN. Do you realizes how important of an item can be in the wrong hands? For all your crimes, you shall be stripped of your privilege as a Space Cadet, your spaceship revoked, and your hat confiscated."
Hat Kid felt her stomach drop. She knew she would be in trouble for losing the Time Pieces, but she didn't think it would be this bad!
"However."
She blinked. Was there more?
"Since you had a clean record in previous adventures of time collecting and being the youngest space traveler in history, added with the fact that the loss of the Time Pieces had been due to an unforeseen event and a faulty vault, the council has decided that only your hat and free roam of space traveling shall be taken for the time being. Added with the how the CEO of Time himself has put in a few good words for you and the number of Time Pieces you have managed to reclaim, it has also been decided that if you prove that you are capable of doing a very important task, you will be given free abilities with your spaceship and have your hat returned. Fail however, and you will be stripped of your items with the possibility of banishment and never be a Space Cadet ever again."
Eyes were all focused on her.
"Do you agree with these terms?"
Hat Kid felt nervous. She knew she needed to say something soon. But it was a heavy choice. Lose all her space adventures and get banished if she failed the mission if she said yes, or decline and just never be able to space travel again but still remain home?
Looking back at it now, it was painfully obvious.
She had to take the mission. She had too! She didn't want to lose her spaceship and never have space adventures!
And her hat.
It felt weird without her hat. Her hat was basically her main identity! But now it was gone.
She munched on her cookie sadly. Cookies couldn't make this better, and they always made things better! But no yummy goodness was going to fix this.
Her mission was an important one. It was a simple Time Piece pick up from one of the far off Time Check buildings on a distant moon. She had to pick up a very special Time Piece and bring it back without damage or any incidents.
She glanced behind her chair.
In the center of the living room was a podium, just like one of the relic podiums, only more high tech and had a glass dome surrounding it. Inside the dome on top podium was a Time Piece. A red one with complex glass bulbs and a rotatable metal stand.
She read about how dangerous different colored Time Pieces can be, but this was actually her first time seeing it in person. She could feel he power coming off of it, even through the thick dome glass that was supposed to keep the power in and not effect anything.
She was warned that any damage done to this Time Piece would be dangerous, so she made sure to keep her distance from it once she pick it up. Now all that was left was to bring it back to her home planet without stopping.
Or that was what should have happened, if it weren't for the fact that her engines had been acting up.
It started with a noise that began after she had picked up the Time Piece. It started off soft but got louder and louder as time went on. So, now she had to stop on her travel back home and wait of the ship's scanning system to finish finding the problem. Normally she would do it manually but all the doors that led to her engines and lower rooms were sealed off.
The only rooms that she could go to were her bedroom and the kitchen. It wasn't so bad, if they hadn't taken her pillow pool away that is.
"Who knew losing Time Pieces would lead to such a big punishment?" She mumbled to herself, finishing off her cookie. It was then that the scanning system beeped, alerting her that the scan was done. Pushing a few buttons on the control system, icons flashed on the screen, showing the ship's system.
"Huh?" Hat Kid tilted her head in confusion. None of the systems scan showed anything wrong with the ship. Everything was in check and running functionally. That couldn't be right! She knew she heard a noise coming from the engine room! Something was wrong down there!
With a huff, she jumped down from her captain's seat and marched over to the engine room door. Normally it would slide open once she was in front of it, yet it remained closed, locking her out of the room. She gave the door a swift kick, but quickly regretted it and started hopping on one foot in pain.
Okay, not a smart idea.
"I don't get it rumbi! I know I heard something in the engine room but the scans says that there's nothing there!" She huffed, sitting on the floor as her fellow companion rumbi rolled up beside her. "Something is going on down there. But I'm not allowed down there!"
The small rumbi made a few quick beeps and sounds.
"No. The scans should be working. They had my ship checked over ever since they fixed the vault." She pointed at the large vault, now with more locks on it and installed tech that was far more advanced than she had ever seen.
"What I'm I going to do? I can't call for help! They'll think I'm not capable and take everything away! And BANISH me!"
The small robot beeped with concern.
"I can't go down there and check out the problem since I'm locked out, and I can't call on anybody for help." She sighed, leaning her head against her hands. "… what am I gonna do?"
Rumbi beeped sadly, nudging against the small girl.
They sat there for what seemed like hours when it was only minutes, contemplating on what to do.
Until the alarms went off.
Hat Kid jumped, whirling around to the large window. Her blue eyes met golden, and held an awkwardly long staring contest.
"MU?!"
"I KNEW IT! It really is you! You did come back!" Mustache Girl pointed an accusing finger at Hat Kid, falling in the rest of the way inside the spaceship and landing face first on the carpet. She picked herself up quickly, dusting herself and then pointed a finger at Hat Kid again. "What are you doing back at this planet? I thought you collected all the Time Pieces and left!"
"I did!"
"Then what are you doing here?!"
"What am I doing here? What are you doing on my spaceship?!"
"I was curious! It's not every day that a spaceship comes in orbit around your planet!"
Hat Kid perked up. Running over to the window, she peered out and gasped. It was the same planet she came across before! "It's the planet!"
"Uh, DUH! You've been gone over a month and yet you didn't recognize this place? What did you do, forget about everything that happened?"
Hat Kid cringed. "… I've been too busy to notice…"
Mu looked at Hat Kid questionably, before suddenly realizing something. "Hey, where's your hat? Didn't you usually wear a big top hat on your head?"
At the mention of her top hat, Hat Kid started tearing up.
"Whoa! Hey I didn't mean anything mean or anything! I was just curious! You don't need to cry like a baby!"
Hat Kid sniffled, rubbing her eyes with her sleeves. Mu was right. She didn't need to cry. She was a big kid. And big kids never cried!
"So…" Mu started, tapping her arms and looking around the ship. "What's new with you?"
Hat Kid frowned, turning away from the window to the mustached girl. "I'm in trouble."
"What? What for?"
"Oh, you know. Losing Time Pieces, letting them fall into the wrong hands, time alterations, having my hat stolen, not even having adult supervision… just to name a few." Hat Kid shrugged, walking past Mu. "You want a cookie?"
"Uh no thanks I—wait. What?" Hat Kid stopped, turning to face Mu who was looking at her funny. "Why are you being so oddly nice to me?"
"What'd ya mean?"
"I mean. Aren't we enemies? You know, considering what happened last time?"
Hat Kid looked at her questionably before she remembered the whole incident with the Time Pieces and Mu. She gasped.
"Seriously?! Did everything just leave your mind when you left?!"
"I—"
*BANG!*
Hat Kid was interrupted as something slammed into the window, catching both young girls off guard.
"PECK! Who was aimin' that thin'?! Ah could have broken me beak!"
"Conductor?" Hat Kid blinked in surprise as the old owl… thing, rubbed his face coming through the small door.
"Why are owls so darn useless?!" He grumbled before looking at Hat Kid with a smile. "AH! There she is! Me old star! Finally decided tae come crawlin' back eh?"
"What are you doing up here Conductor?"
"Well, Ah jus' happen tae be needin' ya fer me next movie! N' it's lucky that ya came back. This one is guaranteed tae top all other movies!"
Before Hat Kid could say anything, there was another BANG on the window. Soon after, DJ Grooves came through the small door, rubbing his head.
"I need to have a talk with someone about the aim when I get down—"
"Wha-?! GROOVES?! What are ya doin' here peck neck?!"
"Well well well. Isn't this a surprise? I didn't expect to see you here Conductor darling. I was only here to see my little start."
"She's my start too peck neck!"
At this point, the two birds started arguing. Hat Kid stood shocked. This was… well, on one hand, nice. She didn't expect to get a visit from anyone, even before she planned on ever going back. On the other? Not so great. She nervously glanced at the hourglass in the center of the room.
"That's a new hourglass." Hat Kid jumped, suddenly remembering that Mu was also there. "Why is it red?"
Hat Kid gave her a pointed glare. "Don't touch."
"I'm not going to! I didn't come here to steal any Time Pieces or anything!"
At that point, the other two occupants finally took notice of Mu.
"HEY! What are you doin' here peck neck?! Tryin' tae get yer power back?!"
"I just said that I wasn't here to steal anything!"
"Likely story! No one's forgiven ya with that stunt ya pulled last time!"
Hat Kid looked at Mu in shock. They were still mad about that?
"Hey! I was—"
*BANG!*
Hat Kid barely jumped this time. Glancing at the door, a Mafia slid in, falling on the ground with a groan. "Mafia's face hurt." He groaned, picking himself up. Once he spotted Mu however, he grew angry. "Hey! What is mustached menace doing on flying boat?!"
"Will you brutes stop calling me that already?!"
"Mafia no care if mustached menace doesn't like what Mafia call her! Mafia will take mustached menace down!"
"Oh yeah? You and what army?"
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BONK!*
Everyone stared at the Mafia covered window.
"I TOLD THOSE IDIOTS TO BE CAREFUL!" The purple jar with eyes screamed in the middle of the Mafia.
Mu's eyes widened. "… oh… that army."
"Wha-YOU?! Mafia! Get the mustached girl!"
Mu let out a squeak in alarm, dashing off as Mafia after Mafia started coming in and chasing the young blond around.
"Quite the lively place ya got here lass." The Conductor chuckled as he watched Mu get chased around by the Mafia.
"You shouldn't be here."
"What?" He looked at the child confused. "What do ya mean lassie? N' where's yer hat?"
A ting of pain shot through Hat Kid's heart, but she shook her head. "You guys shouldn't be up here. I shouldn't be here." Her tiny body shook, trying her hardest not to cry.
"Darling, what do you me—" Grooves started, but Jar Mafia came bouncing towards them.
"You! I demand that you return me my body at once!"
Hat Kid blinked at him. "W-what?"
"You have Time Pieces do you not? Use one to fix my body!"
"I can't. I'm not allowed to open the vault." Hat Kid glanced at the vault, which Mu was currently taking shelter to get away from the Mafia.
"Just get her already you buffoons! And you. You did this to me. So now, YOU MUST FIX YOUR MISTAKE AT ONCE!"
"I can't! The vault won't open and I can't get to any of the Time Pieces."
The former Boss of the Mafia fumed, but quickly spotted something. "What about THAT one?"
Hat Kid looked at him confused before realizing what he was looking at. "NO!" She dashed over to the important Time Piece, standing between it and the jar. "Not this one! You can't use it!"
"You owe me a new body! And I WILL be taking that hourglass as payment! MAFIA!"
All at once chaos broke out. A Mafia grabbed Hat Kid's cape so she wouldn't interfere as two other Mafia members smashed the dome and took out the Time Piece. They didn't get far however as the Conductor sprung into action, taking out one of his knives that he always carried around and started throwing them at the Mafia.
Now, Mafia were known for their strength and small minds, but when it came to weapons that weren't barrels of TNT, that was when they were on the more venerable side. Which led to a many Mafia running away crying with deep cuts with an angry bird… thing… chasing them with sharp utensils while laughing madly like a crazed drunk.
While the Conductor was busy trying to put a few holes in some Mafia, Grooves was dealing with his own set of Mafia, namely the one that had Hat Kid in his grip and two others blocking his path. Seeing what was going on from her view, Mu, taking a brave leap, jumped from the top of the vault and landed on the Mafia holding Hat Kid, knocking him down while simultaneously freeing Hat Kid.
The two young girls stared at one another a moment before nodding, going after different Mafia members and beating them up. While everyone focused one battling their own Mafia, Hat Kid tried to focus on chasing down the Mafia that had the very important Time Piece. Yet every time she managed to get close to them, the Mafia gave the Time Piece to another Mafia, throwing Hat Kid off for a bit and start the chase again as the jar leader only shouted insults and commands that was going over nearly everyone's heads.
This madness went on for nearly ten minutes. Everyone was unaware of their surroundings, so it was impossible for them to notice or even look down to see the ground turn purple and two long shadowy arms reaching out before the rest of the Snatcher popped up.
"WHHHHHHHHY HELLO KI—" Snatcher started, spooking the Mafia that was holding the Time Piece so much that he accidentally tossed it behind him.
Time seemed to slow down as the Time Piece flew through the air, spinning around and around and around flying over people's heads.
It flew over Mafia.
It flew over the Conductor stabbing Mafia.
It flew over DJ Grooves giant afro.
It flew over the Mafia Boss who was being chased by Mu who had somehow gotten her hands on frying pan.
It flew over everyone until it landed on the uncovered hatless head of poor tired Hat Kid all the way from across the room.
And once it landed on her head.
It.
Broke.
There are many ways to say what it sounded like when that Time Piece broke. Some might say it made a sort of popping noise, others it was a bang, and few might say it sounded like nothing they ever heard of before that cannot be described or replicated ever again. Whatever that sound might have been, there was no denying that while the sound may or may not have existed, there certainly was a bright flash of light that filled the room corner to corner to the tiniest nooks and cracks to the large open area that was gone moments after it had appeared.
When he light disappeared, and everyone could see again, they looked to where the Time Piece had landed…
And found a pile of clothes with broken shards littered about.