Homeward Bound Chapter 4: invasion (part 2) - Operation (Mafia) Boss Eater

Mu did not return during the night, or day for that matter. A quick check on the ship's logs revealed there wasn't any other records of the teleport being used other than her own for the past few hours as well.

So it seems that Mu was indeed camping at the mafia headquarters location for the day.

Making what would be their final preparations for the plan, Hat kid warped down to mafia town.

Either the mud spots were synonymous with the rain, or despite all appearances to the contrary, the goons were expert cleaners; what with the town being clean of all traces of the mud from yesterday night. Every last known spot of them. Even the laziest of goons were clean of mud! Like there wasn't any mud around in the first place… weird.

Glad to be able to walk around without too much fear of tripping, Hat kid went about her usual hunt for items, keeping a special eye out for Mustache girl now. No sign of her. Not even a hint of her presence beyond the usual graffiti trademarks of her presence. Maybe she went inside the headquarters without telling her? Nah, can't be. Mu's eager to get back at the mafia, sure. But even she wouldn't rush in without a plan, she said so herself. Proved that with her cooking too, at that. She'll call. Someday.

Lunch time came and Hat kid went back to the spaceship for lunch. No Mustache girl to greet her, or surprise her, for that matter.

"Guess she was serious about that huh? I'll give it a week, then. If there's no reply, I'll come down to the headquarters area to investigate," Hat Kid told herself. With that in mind, Hat kid began preparing a meal.

It took a while to cook it all, what with the mainly seafood ingredients Mu had raided for her; but Our dear in the top hat was determined to make sure it all cooked well, considering the effort it took to get them...

After some time, it was all done. Just when Hat Kid was done with her meal, the navigation Computer pinged an alert: A timepiece was found and headed to the Mafia headquarters. Not long after came the notification from Mustache girl; they've primed the observatory cannon for launch. She'll go on ahead and wait at the headquarters entrance.

A last check at the computer revealed that the sky was perspiring again. Better make sure she had her raincoat on then. Once she was confident that everything was in place, Hat kid set off for the observatory building and its cannon.

Over at Mafia HQ:

"Sir, the men have spotted the mustached girl on top of hq entrance. Men dealing with her now."

"Excellent. Now we wait for them to get into position, then it's Showtime!" the boss replied.

"Doctor, take your seat at the theatre. Watch the slimy alien go down and be full once more. No more shall anything pester mafia town again!"

"Yes boss."

"The techniques are up to snuff. The mafia ball and the equipment are ready. Now, girls, i've heard of your exploits and I'm intrigued. It's time you gave me one peck of a show!"

Mission start!

Hat kid managed to reach mafia headquarters with no incident. A short sweep of the goons pestering mu, and a relieving of a rift token from it's treasure chest later, the two girls were inside the mafia base.

The interior of the base was not what Hat kid had expected from them, Just a little. It was a casino or at least it looks like a casino, one that was low lid and a shadow of its former glory, if it even had glory in the first place. Directly in her view, a mafia goon took one of the timepieces into a room marked to be a theatre. She would race ahead into the theatre, except the guard goons swiftly made to intercept.

So it seems she had to find another way in… where's Mu?

A look around didn't yield results. The goons who were alert didn't say anything helpful. Only requests for her to leave. If they were even polite enough to give her that. Most of them were outright throwing cans at her. Sure, it didn't inflict more than a bump on her, but it did hurt. She did retaliate though, jumping on the offending mafia heads, but the joy it produced didn't last long. She went off to find someone who could supply answers.

Before long, Hat Kid found that someone; the bartender of the casino. On the surface, he looked just like any other mafia goon she'd met and occasionally, pounded. However, unlike the others, the bartender had the aura of a kindly soul, a councillor perhaps. Whatever the specific vibe was, Hat Kid had a strong feeling she could trust him.

Crossing over to the mafia bartender, Hat Kid sat on the stool in front of the man.

"What's troubling you, little girl? Mafia not know what child drink." the bartender asked her, concerned.

"Hmm, a nice mafia goon inside the headquarters. That's a pleasant surprise. Hopefully that'll last." Hat Kid thought.

"Whatever problem is, Mafia sure you can deal with it. You look like tenacious type, not leave problem alone. Other little girl ran into kitchen, if you are looking for her."

His face darkened at the mention.

"She look like unruly type. Keep eye on her."

"Thanks, mr bartender!" Hat Kid told him, leaping from the stool.

The badge seller was also there, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the other mafia goons around. He's also probably invisible to the mafia goons, or the goons had gotten used to him? Whatever the case, Hat Kid was glad to see him.

The badge seller noticed her approaching, and greeted her;

"Not everything I sell is of value. I also sell terrible badges… Yet people buy them anyway."

All that he did have to sell though, was a mumble badge, 800 pons. Shame, really.

Taking a moment to blow a raspberry at a pair of mafia goons, Hat Kid proceeded to go for the door behind the bar when she saw the trapdoor. Looking around to ensure no one was watching, Hat Kid put on the ice beanie and slammed through the door.

Below the bar counter area was a small gambling den with four golden mafia statues standing opposite one another, two on each side. The single table in the room was filled with gambling tokens and the like. Seems like the goons were in the middle of a game. Pity Mu and her had to interrupt them, but Hat kid had a timepiece or two to retrieve.

The next room in the den had a present box. When she inspected it, she found a cow with sunglasses. Whoever was placing these "relics" around the planet, seems to like placing them in random, if not uninspired, places. Hmm...

Taking a last look around the den for any remaining stray items, Hat Kid left the spot to look for Mu.

She found Mustache Girl in the kitchen, just as the bartender said she would, standing guard next to the freezer door. A door that happened to have a padlock on it. Meaning that there should be a key around somewhere… Stepping on some of the cockroaches along the way, Hat Kid left the kitchen.

Jumping to the top of the bar, Hat Kid found that the rafters were easily jumpable from there. So up she went. There, she saw the pinnacle of Mafia incompetence in terms of cleanliness: Rats running around, mostly minding their own businesses. Putting on her brewing Hat, Hat Kid moved on. It seems that those rats don't take kindly to intruders either, making it a point to attack Hat Kid when they can. She struck back, making some of them victims of her homemade explosives. Despite the ruckus caused, none of the goons paid any attention to what's on top of them.

Reaching one end of the rafters, Hat Kid was surprised to find a cat, in chef's attire? Near a frying station? What's up with that? Noticing the attention given to her, the cat spoke up;

"The Mafia are terrible cooks. But fear not, Cooking Cat is here! I prepare the actual dinner up here, and swap the food before anyone takes the Mafia's cooking. I'm fairly certain someone would die if they took the mafia-prepared food!"

"It's alright, take the bucket of crabs if you like! I can always get some more!", Cooking cat told her, noticing the girl eyeing one of the buckets.

With a thank you, Hat Kid took the bucket down to the grounds bellow, following the feeling that she might need it later. Following a trail of pons through an open doorway, Hat Kid found a key locked behind a gate, an extremely sensitive button the only way to lift the gate. Taking the bucket, Hat Kid gently placed it down on the button. It lowered the gate, only to immediately raise it back up again. Feeling frustrated for the first time in a long while, Hat Kid grabbed the bucket and threw it down onto the button. Now it stayed down.

Leaving the bucket as it was, Hat Kid noticed the room marked with a mafia sign. Curious, she went in. Turned out that it was a mafia restroom/Toilet area. A goon was inside, but he was preoccupied with fixing his tie or something. Looking through the area and picking up the stray pons around, Hat Kid found a chest in what would have been the toilet supplies area. Inside was a rift token. Feeling another urge to blow a raspberry, Hat Kid blew it out to… someone. Stepping back to the hallway, Hat kid noted the cheers coming from the theatre. What kind of show was going on? Despite herself, Hat kid wanted to take a look at what qualified as Mafia entertainment. Get an insight into mafia psyche… Great. Now they've gotten her doing it too.

Retrieving the key from it's spot, Hat Kid now left for the kitchen. With an assurance that Mu has her back covered, Hat kid unlocked the door to the freezer. The cold struck her from the moment she went in, telling the girl she should retrieve whatever she needed and get out, the vent that she spotted when going in being the alternate exit.

Ascending a pile of crates, Hat Kid found a chest containing a ball of brewing yarn for her troubles. What with the fish lying in the freezer, Hat Kid wanted to make a fish pun, halibut she managed to reel in the urge and carry on. The path to that vent was clear.

It was actually navigating through that was the harder part, but she managed it easily. Crawling through, Hat Kid found to her delight that the vent connected her to the theatre itself. Taking a moment to take in the sight of the wealth within, and busting open a barrel, a sprint yarn ball for her trouble, Hat Kid stepped out onto the red carpet.

There it was, a timepiece. In the hands of the one Mustache Girl called the Boss of the Mafia. He seemed free. Not to mention bored. Looks like the theatre would have to try harder to entertain him. In the meantime, she would try to get back her timepiece.

Before she could get any closer, gates slammed shut and from unseen chambers, two mafia goons stepped out, ready to do battle with the intruder. Unfortunately for the two brave mafia goons, they weren't the elite bodyguards they thought they were. Even if they were, they underestimated the determination of the young girl with the witch hat before them. Under the weight of hits from the umbrella, the occasional hit on the head and the damage from the explosive chemicals Hat kid brought along, the two goons were dealt with. Impressed with Hat Kid, the Mafia boss signalled for the gates to be opened again. Taking a deep breath, Hat Kid stepped forward. From an unknown set of speakers, a piece of music started playing *Sonic Mania's Danger on the Dance Floor*. Taking it as a cue, the mafia boss jumped down to greet her.

"So… It is you! The new troublemaker that I've been informed about!" the Mafia boss shouted.

"It's I. You know what I'm here for, So let's get it done with.", Hat Kid thought, looking back at him defiantly.

"Ever since you've landed in Mafia Town, it's been raining these magical Hourglasses.

You must be very lost, kid with the hat. You're in the heart of our town. Standing before the most powerful man you will ever witness.", the mafia boss continued in that same tone, every word dripping with anger at the troublemaker. "Everything you've ever owned belongs to me now, Including this magical hourglass piece." the mafia boss told her softly, before grinning evilly. "If you want it, we'll have to settle this in true Mafia Style!"

The lights and the music cut off. When it turned back on again, the Mafia Boss had drawn out his twin knives and brandished them in a cross guard position.

"So be it then," hat Kid thought, taking out her own umbrella.

"That's more like it. Lights, Camera! It is… Showtime!"

The curtains came up, revealing to Hat Kid that they were not in fact at the audience stand. They were on the stage, being watched by the mafia members. "It wasn't a show that the mafia goons were there for," Hat Kid realised. "It was to be a gladiator styled battle. Unfortunately for them," Hat Kid told herself grimly, "It would be the utter defeat of their boss." The music came on, (*Hi-Spec Robo Go!*) and the show began.

With a kiai, the mafia boss came charging at Hat Kid, knives swinging wildly.

The loudness and the speed of the boss caught Hat Kid off guard, leaving the girl open to the Mafia Boss' wild swings. She tried to dodge out of the way, but it was too late, a few of the slashes found their mark, drawing out blood from the kid. The crowds went wild, demanding more. The wound was but a nick at the flesh, but it was painful enough to elect a cry of pain from Hat Kid.

Fortunately, she'd handled far worst back home to not be rendered out from the fight. Hat Kid managed to get some distance away from the boss, hoping that would be the end of that assault. However, said boss wasn't done from his swinging slashes just yet, coming at Hat Kid again. Seeing the gap in the Boss' swings, Hat Kid took advantage of it to dive at the boss, clear of the swings and smacking his head.

Now it was his turn to yell in pain and drop off a health pon from his pocket. Yelling murder, the boss leaped to the end of his side of the stage. Spinning on the spot, the Mafia boss sent out electric waves along the floor of the stage. Jumping nimbly over them, Hat Kid then dived at the Mafia Boss. She managed to score a hit, sure, but overestimated her jump and bumped head first at the stage wall there for her trouble. By then, the Mafia Boss had gotten dizzy from the spinning, allowing Hat Kid to swing her umbrella at the man.

Leaping off the stage, the Mafia Boss whistled; his signal for the backstage Mafia to drop sandbags down on Hat Kid's head. Thanks to the shadows on the floor, that attempt failed. Once the attack was over, the boss jumped back onto the stage. It was at this point when Hat Kid discovered how heavy the Boss was despite his own height; what with the impact made and the dust clouds the man kicked up when he landed back on the stage and all.

He tried the slashing charge at Hat Kid again, but Hat Kid was ready for it this time, meeting it with a gravity defying "Homing attack" to the man's head just like the previous time. The progress Hat Kid made on dealing with the boss infuriated him. Normally, his kiai and swinging slashes would have disorientated opponents long enough for several passes with that maneuver to completely deal with them. This girl, however, she was a whole different level all together. Not only did she snap out of her disorientation from his kiai quickly enough to avoid certain death from his wild slashes, she also defied gravity itself to dive past his swings to actually hurt him. Oddly enough, this pleased him. Finally, a challenge that required him to have to use the full range of his authority as Mafia Boss. Fortunately, as he'd been told earlier, he's got at least another short trump card to use…

Leaping onto a higher platform, the boss threw his knives towards the edges of the stage. Hat Kid looked back at him smugly. Is that all he's got? Seems like this next move would be easier to deal with…

The smirk was wiped clean off when the Boss jumped onto her current position, clearly attempting to squash her. Hat Kid barely managed to get out of there in time. With his hands outstretched, the boss summoned back his knives, the left one first. Taking advantage of his vulnerable position, Hat Kid attacked him right there.

"So… How would you like a two-pronged attack then?", the Mafia boss thought. Leaping back into the seating gallery, the boss whistled out the change in tactics.

The Sandbags were set into position and Hat Kid was feeling confident. Then came the mafia goon from her right hand side backstage entrance. The goon charged at her and shortly after, the bags came falling. Hat Kid panicked at this juncture before remembering that she did have a means of countering this tactic, her ice beanie. Putting it on and manipulating the moisture into being ice, she saw that she was just in time. The goon was too quick to notice the sudden change and collided head-on with the ice, fall onto his bum. He did managed to recover quickly enough to dodge the sandbags by jumping off the stage.

During the distraction caused by the two way attack, The boss tried to smash open Hat Kid's ice armour via a stomp, but it too, failed.

Furious that his attempt at tactics failed, the Mafia Boss decided that it's time to reveal his triumph card. Jumping onto the upper platform, Mafia Boss gave his signal. Given the go ahead, the backstage crew dropped down for Hat Kid's 'viewing pleasure,' and horror, a tied up Mustache Girl.

"I've got your friend captured. And soon you'll both perish!", the Mafia Boss declared.

"Let go of me, you psycho!", Mu screamed.

The sight was too much to bear for Hat Kid, and she trembled.

"I've… I've come so far. Been on a journey from my home planet to a place to get what I need for a rite of passage from childhood to teenage years. Seen many things and on my way home, happened to drop by your planet. Then I get held up by your men, stranded here and now I have to gather the fuel for the ship again! All I wanted was to collect them all up in piece and now you spring this on me! You said you wanted to settle this in true mafia style?" She gripped her umbrella in a two handed position. "You'll get true mafia style."

From that point, the battle truly began. Every attack from the boss was met with the counterattack. The newest tactic to the mix, the mafia ball maneuver (a legion of mafia members all together to form a giant ball), was met with a Fludd water rocket boost up to where the boss was, to his shock, and hit him hard with the umbrella.

After three more blows to the Mafia Boss, he once again tried to launch his 'ultra charge' attack, (the electric shockwaves and electric ball technique) at Hat Kid. She tried to bounce off his head during the attack. While she was successful in inflicting damage, she did drop off into the path of an electric shockwave and got hit for it. After the last electric ball swept past, Hat Kid jumped at the boss again and landed the blow that brought the mafia boss down.

"It can't be!" he shouted as he collapsed. Unfortunately for the mafia boss; the impact triggered some explosive snuck on him, splattering Hat Kid and some of the audience in "paint". As the curtains went down on the show, the hourglass that was nearby flew to the middle of the stage.

Taking in the cheers of some of the folks in the audience, Hat Kid blew some kisses at them before retrieving the timepiece.

Looking back up at the stage after that loud explosion; the remaining mafia goons were greeted by the sight of Hat Kid and the freed Mustached Girl staring back at them.

The goons, realizing the implications of the two still alive girls, fled the theatre as fast as their legs could carry them, some of them crying in fear. Glad that at long last, she could check off the timepieces that the mafia held, Hat Kid was about to pocket the fruit of this endeavour when something sped past her. Shrugging off the dizziness from that moment, Hat Kid made to look at the timepiece again, only to find it missing.

Turning around, she saw it being juggled by Mustache Girl.

"Wha?"

"So, what do these things do anyway? Are they some sort of rare collectors' items for… nerds?"

The girl tried to do a fancy juggle move, only to accidently knock it forward. That snapped Hat Kid's attention back to the present. She had to get it before it broke and… Too late.

The timepiece broke, rewinding time back to when Mustache Girl was wondering about the timepiece's purpose. She began along that chain of thought, only to realise what happened.

"Whoa? What?" Mustache Girl could only stutter out, staring at the now repaired timepiece on the floor. Throughout all this, Hat Kid stood there, scratching her head. Great. Now Mu knows what the timepieces can do. Hopefully she could keep calm and sane about this revelation, otherwise…

"Wha… did, uhm… did you know about this?" Mu questioned.

Taking this opportunity, Hat Kid firmly stepped forward and took back the timepiece.

Once the timepiece was back in her hands, Hat Kid's face softened and nodded.

Mu pondered through all that she had seen before grinning widely.

"Oh no, surely she's not thinking what I think she's thinking about…" Hat Kid thought as she looked between the timepiece and Mu's face.

"This is amazing!" Mu said, waving her hands about.

"Do you even realize what could be done with these?"

"Yep. Definitely thinking about those." Hat Kid told herself.

Now eager about the possibilities, Mu continued on about her new plans; on how they could rewind time to avoid her falling for the goon who tricked her into playing pattycake before punching her while her guard was down. How they could defeat the mafia, then rewind time and beat them all over again. How they could ensure the mafia never arrive on the island in the first place. Or even better, use the timepiece to be time travelling crime fighters!

Mustache Girl had said enough. Now she was waiting for Hat Kid's agreement on the matter. But it never came. All Hat Kid wanted from that alliance was just to grab the timepieces and get back home, plain and simple. To symbolise that, she turned the timepiece to the side and pocketed it.

That did not sit well with Mustache Girl, who tried to call her out on her decision. To have the ability to turn back time and right all the wrongs with the world? On the surface, it all sounded good. But Hat Kid had paid attention to her teachers on the matter. Sure, there was seemingly no harm in doing that, but what of the repercussions? All the things that could be displaced or gone wrong because of that fixing? Not to mention what using the timepieces could do to the person who wasn't ready for that power?

She couldn't let that happen. Not under her watch. Especially not to a friend. Hat Kid would have tried to explain matters to Mu, but it was clear that the girl had made up her mind. So must Hat Kid. Firmly, Hat Kid shook her head.

Mustache Girl was clearly saddened by this decision, but instead of taking it calmly and trying to weasel out an explanation like she deeply hoped she would, Mu's sadness turned to anger.

"If you won't use them to fight evil, then I will." Mustache Girl told her darkly.

Suddenly, she came up close and personal at Hat Kid. Both girls stared at each other evenly as Mu declares; "I'm not gonna let this island remain as Mafia Town! I'll gather all the timepieces by myself!

You have my word for it!" With that, Mustache Girl ran off.

Hat Kid watched her go sadly. Now she's once again a stranger alone on this planet. How was she going to hold herself together to grab all the timepieces and save Mu from herself once the power corruption began? Leaving that chain of thought aside, Hat Kid went to her pockets, only to find them feeling lighter. Frantically searching through her pockets, Hat Kid found that Mu had pickpocketed half of her pons. Her friendship bond with Mu was broken because of this. Now, they were enemies on this quest.

The Mafia bartender was one of the most alert of the goons of the Mafia of the Cook. A drinks master in training, given counselling training to ensure that the goons and all visitors to his bar did not intoxicate themselves when drowning down their sorrows, as well as to try to talk them through their issues. Once he saw the mafia goons bursting through the theatre doors crying, he already guessed what had happened. When Mu came by, the bartender's suspicions were confirmed. Though, when the girl in the Hat came by, dragging her feet along the way, the bartender could not help but feel some sympathy for her. He'd already guessed that Hat Kid was on some mission, given that the girl would not leave the base when the goons tried to shoo her out. But when the other goons ran out, he suspected that mission was accomplished. Yet the girl was dragging her feet when passing by. Mission failure? Or, yes, mission success but something else happened that made the kid feel unhappy?

Just then, Dr Mafiaso came by the bar.

"So, it happened, Dr Mafiaso?"

"Yes, boss was defeated. The alien girl defeated him. But, something came up between girl and mustached menace. Now, they split up."

"Hmm, I see. I would have liked to counsel her myself, but I have a feeling she might not take well to having mafia by her side… Hold on, I believe I know who might be able to help."

"Her?"

"Yes! Who else do we both know who can be trusted with looking after the girl?"

"Good point."

The two mafia men went up to the rafters, where the cooking cat was.

"Good to see you two again! It's been a long time since I've talked to you face to face, my good sir! What can I do for you, Bartender, Dr Mafiaso?"

"Good to see you too, Cooking Cat. You see…"

Back at the spaceship:

Once Hat kid had returned to the spaceship, the tired girl placed the retrieved timepiece into its proper place and went off to shower in the kitchen side bathroom. Once she was satisfied with the temperature of the water flowing down her body, Hat Kid turned her attention to the events of the day. Could she have prevented this breakup from happening? If she'd joined the girl, would that have toned down what she'd planned to do, or would it have not done a thing to change her course? Breaking the friendship chain later rather than sooner? Or…

Just then, a knocking sound was heard.

Taking a moment to dry and dress herself enough to greet visitors without making the meeting awkward, (a t-shirt and trousers,) Hat Kid went to see who's knocking.

It was a group of humanoid owls in suits.

"Hey there," the lead owl said, raising his hat to her.

"We're the Express Band. Just a bunch of owls that got together to play music while riding the Conductor's Owl Express. Is it ok if we practised here? In exchange, if you have any song requests, we'll be happy to play whatever song you have in mind!"

The possibilities raised was pleasing to Hat Kid. She longed for her own personal band before, and now one had come to her. Plus, if need be, she could ask for intel from those owls to blend in while collecting timepieces from their home turfs…

Agreeing, Hat Kid fully opened the door and invited the owls in.

Once the owls had finished shifting their equipment in, Hat Kid told the owls to wait in the bridge while she sorted out the only suitable room she had available. Having been given the nods of acknowledgement, Hat Kid went to restore power to, then inspect and clean up the machine room for any potential damage. It did not take too long to do and while the Bridge monitors told her that there was no damage done to the ship, there's no harm in double checking, right?

So having done so, Hat Kid invited the Express band to the Machine room to inspect their future living and practise place.

After a brief look at the machine room, the owls voiced their satisfaction on the place they've been given to practise in. With the location solidified, girl and owls confirmed the terms of the band's stay in the ship and with that, the teleport codes to access the ship.

Pleased with the deal done, Hat Kid went off to finish her bath before planning the rest of the night.

Author's notes: Greetings readers. Thank you for waiting so long for this new chapter. I hope that you've enjoyed it! It had been draining for me in thinking up the details to fill in the gaps in the gameplay that I've recorded, hence part of the reason why this one took so long. That, and life in general…

Either way, now that there is a trailer for the first dlc, I feel it appropriate to comment on it's effects on this story: For now, I don't think the DLC chapters will be part of this fanfic specifically. Maybe some tidbits (& backstory) will slip through, but the storyline of the dlc chapters will not be in this story.

Regarding the new time rifts, If I can figure out how to incorporate those rifts into the story that I'm telling, (considering that we still don't know where the entrance to said rifts will be), I'll do my best to put them in.

For the deathwish mode, I'll most likely just put some of the rewards in, again, if I can incorporate them into the story, or just as a running gag, similar to the giftboxes in the post-game quest for the secret reports in TWEWY.

With that, this is the end of the author's notes for this Fanfic chapter. Chapters will come in at irregular intervals. If you have any fanart for the story, be sure to tag me with Maxieprodmoore on twitter. Thanks & stay tuned for the next chapter! Till next time! Maxieprodmoore out.