Homeward Bound Chapter 2: Meeting a New friend
A full eight hours had elapsed since Hat kid went to sleep. Despite the lack of a proper bed, or her own state of undress, ie sleeping in just her undergarments, Hat kid had managed to sleep soundly.
Not long after, the radio/alarm clock sounded off again, signalling a brand new day, a brand new adventure. Having set her navigation computer to detect the timepieces, Hat kid set off to make breakfast. Having looked at the fridge, Hat Kid could not help but groan a little. She'd pack enough for her trip to retrieve that item and return back home again, plus some extras for emergency purposes, not including snacks. But at the rates she was going, the food supplies that she had brought along would run dry by the time she was barely more than a tenth of the way in retrieving her precious timepieces/fuel. Brilliant.
Still, she had to eat a proper breakfast, else she wouldn't have the energy to retrieve the timepieces. So she retrieved her desired breakfast, (pancakes (with maple syrup)), and set it in the toaster oven, wrapped with aluminium foil and all to be heated up. Once it was done, she took out her tableware, maple syrup and milk, proceeding then to have her breakfast. Sure, it felt odd for Hat kid to do all of her morning routines in just undergarments, but whatever it took to keep her pyjamas from being stained, amiright? Having cleared off her morning routines, Hat kid went back to her nav. computer.
During that time frame, the Computer had picked up five timepieces total in the area. One of those pieces was out in the main Mafia town area. The other four? Gathered inside or converging on the place the talk of the town called the Mafia HQ. IE a should be well guarded, not to mention, certainly dangerous place for Hat kid to venture into. So the isolated timepiece it is.
Having taken note of the time piece's location, (near the fountain plaza itself, So she didn't need to change much for teleportation settings, That's nice.), Hat kid now turned her attention to the contents of her pockets. (They're bigger on the inside.) Amongst them, she found, to her delight that she had enough to stitch the brewing (explosives) hat of her vision. So having now officially placed the rest of the non handkerchief, wallet & teleportation device remote into her bag, (which is also bigger on the inside, as most video game characters' bags in role-playing games were,) Hat kid proceeded with knitting together that hat. It didn't take long before she had the finished product added to her hat compartment. Taking a moment to tie up her hair with the ribbon & putting on her newest hair band, purple with a pair of teardrops attached to the side, hat kid double checked that the isolated timepiece hadn't move, the girl now headed to the teleporter and engaged the teleport.
After climbing up to the top of the left wall of the location she'd teleported to, a trash dump separated by a wire mesh wall opposite the fountain plaza, she found that the fountain was the same as she'd left it. Hat Kid wasn't surprised. Afterall, it was only a day since she'd retrieved that time piece. Clearing away from the smell of the trash, Hat Kid took a deep breath to recollect herself. She'd have to endure a lot of trainings prior to venturing off planet and taking on the quest for the items needed for her rite of passage, just like every other child on her home planet.
Besides the usual academics that a child had to go through, each child had some special training that was unique to which clan they belonged to. Her clan, clan Frihed , (Danish for "freedom",) were friends of the water dragons of Avalion (a lot of planets have an Avalion) and sent the young of the clan to train with them alongside their caretakers. During the training, she'd build up the physical endurance required, learn the gymnastics skills needed before going on to learning the skills of the water dragons; the dragon cyclone (360 degrees attack at the cost of range of the actual attack, since she's attacking without any actual weapons, also great for covering a good amount of distance), & the dragon boost (a high speed tackle, essentially) skills being part of that skill set. At the end of it, they were given two dragon scales to forge into something personal as a memento to that special clan training, as well as a "hard drive" from which to re-imprint the know how to activate the dragon skills that they've learnt. Her's was that headpiece, souvenir in particular, of sweat and tears shed in trying to impress a particularly distant father… It hadn't work out. She'd confront her father about that, but got an excuse about being busy at work for that, never mind that that ceremony was on a Friday night just for the parents to be able to attend it. He'd promise to attend the rite of passage though. So that's something to look forward to! With that in mind, Hat Kid set off to find that stray timepiece.
The process in trying to get to the timepiece was… slow, to say the least. It didn't help matters any that this time, there was no hearsay around the town to lead Hat kid to said piece. Maybe they were deliberately trying to get her off their island, or maybe they genuinely haven't seen it around. Point is, there was no help to be given to the little girl in the Top Hat. Undeterred, Hat Kid continued wandering around the town. During the process, Hat Kid couldn't help but notice the overall lack of true security in town, heck, the world in general. Items just lying around, ripe for the takings. From the common items like yarn balls, to even the so called "valuable" relics that, as she would later be claimed to, would make her rich, and outright money. All those, exposed for all to take. Sure, there were the mafia goons, who are just tough enough to withstand an assault till reinforcements came, if they could be bothered to arrive... On the other hand, some of the items were lying around in odd enough places to weird out any potential thieves from getting them anyway. For instance, on that particular trip of the day, she saw a ball of sprint yarn floating in midair. Another yarn was just lying on top of an air balloon! Well, she wouldn't complain too much, since it just simply made it easier for her in her mission to get back home.
After getting a camera for free, kind of, since she still needed to belly dive over to and then climb up a rock formation to a seagull nest in order to retrieve said camera, only to find out the owner of said camera had a lot of reserves and was just looking for an excuse to yell at seagulls. As Hat kid was walking by a fair that had a pile of TNT barrels lying in the middle for some reason, when she heard a yell;
"Dude, get off me!"
It came from the fair. When Hat Kid moved in to investigate, she found, to her horror, that the mafia goons had taken a red hooded girl with… a mustache? Where did she get that?, hostage. One goon holding the mustached girl, three others just dancing around.
Hat Kid rolled her eyes. "For a bunch of so-called mafia members, they all seem to be weirdos when not being threatening…" Taking a moment to swap to her brewing hat, Hat Kid moved in closer.
Just then, one of said goons sensed her presence.
"Hey! Child! Shoo! Mafia can't have child witness when Mafia teaching lesson." The mafia goon told her.
Aren't you teaching a lesson to a child? Hat kid asked to herself, keeping her face straight.
Minutes went by, neither goon nor kid giving ground. To break the stalemate, Hat kid proceeded to stick her tongue out. That got a response & a look of shock at the blatant act of defiance, not to mention causing the goon to blush.
"Nani?"
"This awkward for Mafia." the mafia goon said, scratching his head.. "Mafia not sure what to do."
The mafia goon now turned to the goon at the top of the TNT 'fort';
"Hey, Boss! What shall we do with eyewitness?"
"Teach her a lesson, Boys!" The leader told them.
With that, the battle began. The first part was just like any other time she decided to fight any of the goons; the goons who descended to deal with her being little more than just the average goons she had dealt with before. After the last of those goons bit the dust, ie exploded into pons, the leader now declared: "Enough! Mafia won't bow to little girl! Prepare to feel Mafia's wrath!" With that, he threw the mustached girl into a wall, knocking her unconscious. He then proceeded to rig spikes onto the barrels before pelting Hat Kid with them. First aiming directly at the girl. Later, once it was clear that was not going to work, the goon, demonstrating a greater smartness than the average henchman now aimed in a way to ensure the barrels bounced around the arena before exploding. It certainly worked out fine for the goon, with some barrels succeeding in drawing blood. Hat Kid started panting. Any more, and she would have been done for. Fortunately for her, the goon decided that he wasn't getting anywhere with his current tactic and had decided he needs to settle it in 'mafia style', ie beat her up personally. With careful dodging of the goon's easily telegraphed attacks, wacking at the goon with her umbrella and pelting him with explosives, Hat kid defeated the goon. Though she hadn't plan it it that way, the blow that defeated the goon and sent him blasting off was a tube of the explosive purple chemical.
As though it sensed that it was safe, the timepiece that Hat kid was looking for this whole time emerged from the pile of TNT barrels. Glad that this venture was not in vain, Hat kid happily grabbed the timepiece and twirled, holding the timepiece aloft.
"It felt as good as it did the first time," Hat Kid thought to herself. "I shall keep doing this for every timepiece I collect. Right, back to the ship I go then…"
"Prfff. Can you believe them? What a bunch of losers." a voice behind her said.
Hat kid turned around. It was the girl the mafia goon slammed at the wall. She looked bruised from that attack, but otherwise, looked fine enough to her.
"Hey. You're alright, new kid? You were bleeding just now, you know." the mustached girl asked her, concerned.
Hat Kid nodded. She'd been through worst. That was simply just a bad day for her.
"Oh, that's good." the girl said, relieved. "Do you have a name?"
Hat Kid hesitated. Is it really ok for her to give her real name to this mustached girl whom she'd only just met? Or would her alias satisfy the other girl for now?
Fortunately, the girl took the moment of silence as shyness, labelling her, correctly, as a less talking, more fighting kind of girl. The girl now turned her attention to the timepiece.
"That thing you have there... are you collecting them? Because I know where there's more of them."
She then turned her eyes towards the view of the Mafia HQ.
"They've been raining from the sky ever since you arrived. I've seen the goons bring them to their headquarters waay up there," now indicating the headquarters.
Now back to facing Hat Kid herself, the mustached girl now had a face of excitement. "We should get up there and get your junk! I'll take any opportunity that involves messing up the Mafia. You with me, buddy?", offering a hand for a hi-five. Glad for a buddy in this new world, Hat Kid accepted. Taking a moment just to brace her new buddy about any teleportation sickness, Hat kid stored the timepiece in her pocket, grabbed the buddy's hand and engaged the teleport.
As soon as the two girls step out of the teleportation pad, they were greeted by an intruder alert alarm.
"I'm sorry!" Hat kid cried out as she ran to the control panel and silenced the alarm, taking time out to add mustache girl to the list of guests.
"Now, first order of business; time to patch you up! Do you require help with that, buddy?" queried Mustache Girl.
After indicating that she doesn't mind the assistance, Hat kid ate some health pons, took off her pyjamas top and allowed Mustache girl to inspect her back for damage while she dealt with the wounds in front.
The entire process didn't take long to finish and the damage done, while enough to draw blood, wasn't too serious.
With a promise to not over-strain herself and to rest afterwards, She'll call once she was herself ready, Mustache girl let Hat kid patch up her own clothes while she drew up her action plan.
Once both girls were satisfied with their care, They both headed down to Hat kid's briefing room. Over the next couple of minutes, Hat kid's opinion of Mustache girl turned from impressed at her determination to outright horror at the lengths that she would go to deal with the mafia. Despite that, Hat kid was willing to put it aside if it allowed her to achieve her goals. "whatever was enough to get her back home… right?"
During that time, Mustache girl had gone on to talk about yarn, how it could be used to stitch hats that grant her different abilities, how they require different amounts of yarn to stitch. Stuff that was basically a refresher for her. Slightly unhinged or otherwise, Hat kid was glad to have an ally around for her stay. Plus she also got an additional yarn ball from the talk, so that's a plus!
"Now you're a killing machine! Let's get them!" Mustache Girl told her eagerly.
Hat kid's stomach took this moment to grumble.
"Are you hungry, rebel squad?" mustache girl asked her. Hat kid's face flushed a bright pink at this, and the only words she managed to utter out was a soft "I'm sorry."
"It's alright, buddy. Stay here," she told Hat kid, as the girl rose to join her. "I'll take care of this."
Having pointed Moustache girl to the ship's kitchen, Hat kid went off to chronicle the day's events in her notebook. She tried, oh yes, she tried. But all she could think of to note as the day's events was the bizarreness that was the barrel battle. So that's what she placed as the day's entry, with a note of apologies to her future self.
Even with the time spent pondering then writing the day's entry, Mustache Girl wasn't done yet. Worried for the buddy, but wishing to trust that her new friend had everything under control, Hat Kid opted to take a short nap.
Soon, Mustache girl had finished cooking the lunch. One look at the meal prepared convinced Hat Kid to eat first bite convinced her that she was validated in her choice to trust in Mustache Girl's cooking.. Over the meal, the two engaged in idle talk. From there, Hat Kid learnt of the reason why Mustache Girl could cook in the first place; namely, the mafia of the cooks really suck at the cooks part of their name, ("and upped the mafia part to compensate," Hat Kid reckoned.) Thus, Mustache Girl couldn't steal those, oh no. She had to learn how to cook a proper meal just to survive. From there on, they went on to different topics before the inevitable talk about the state of Hat Kid's food supplies came up.
Since they might be in for the long haul waiting for any possible stray time pieces to the HQ, grab that, and should they have the time to do so, raid the storage for all the time pieces they know are inside and get back out again, Mustache Girl offered to grab enough food supplies for the ship, since she knew the town better than Hat Kid herself. In the meantime, Hat kid would continue sourcing around for any equipment she could use to her advantage, taking note of any means of actually reaching the mafia headquarters.
With a plan in mind for the rest of the day, the two parted ways via teleporter, Hat Kid handing Mustache Girl a remote control for the teleporter so she could return to the ship as soon as possible to store the newly acquired supplies. With a check to find an appropriate teleportation destination, Hat Kid sent Mustache Girl on her way. As for Hat Kid herself, after some consideration and a moment to dress up, she set her own destination to the fountain plaza.
"Alright, Showtime!" Hat kid told herself, engaging the teleport.
Author's notes: Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that the chapter ended nicely enough for you. As for why it ended the way it did, I was hoping to make each act it's own (Fanfic) chapter, filling it as nicely and appropriately as possible so that it would make up a convincing in-game day, (according to Hat Kid's Diary.)
In case anyone's wondering how I write the content for the chapters, I like to record a fresh play-through each act, ending the recording session around the time the act is finished and the timepiece is collected. (The recording program used is actually the windows 10 game bar's record function. It's great for recording anything that just uses the programme you start up the game bar and don't need the viewers to see the mouse for. Otherwise, you'll need a different screen recorder.) Then, I use Premiere Pro to edit together the raw footage, piecing together the story for the act, while also grabbing any interesting events that took place on the way to the goal. One could call the story a compilation of interesting moments in my Hat Kid journey as well. Then I render out a video and use that as a basis from which I make some notes of the points I wish to cover, then I type out the final story chapter in google Docs. Along the way, I also type in moments that I remember happened on my own actual first play-through of Hatty Time, since this was supposed to be Hat Kid's first journey through the planet after all.
Also, shout-outs to The Super Gaming Brothers (& Sister), the collective minds who spawned the Nani! moment prior to the Barrel Battle, & especially SomecallmeJohnny ( Somecallmejon on twitter), for the mod filled play through that ultimately convinced me to buy A Hat in Time in the first place, after that initial Hat in Time review & the BETA version Spotlight video that drew my attention to the game. Love your editing, Sabrina ( zeldalinklover1 on Twitter)! They made the entire let's play a fun time for me. Also a shout-out to Deviantart handle Natalya-Chan, from whose mind spawned the Mustache Girl knows how to cook scene. Hope you all don't mind those moments...
Mod(s) that debuted here: Lilac's headpiece - one of the officially made mods for the game. Functions the same way it's original counterpart does. Perform Lilac's cyclone maneuver and sequence break to your heart's content at the cost of no homing attacks!
Guest review answers:
GaoGod: the first reference made was to Spirited Away. Yep the Miyazaki film.
ConArtist Croc & Guest (no. 1): Hi, good sir/madam, thanks!
For Guest (no. 1) only: Thanks for voicing your support. I wanted to add them mods because it seemed like no one really included them into their stories yet, this game or otherwise, at the time of me writing the story. (Imagigamegirl, as of late, included the pyjamas mod in her Hat in Time story, Finding Home.)
