Here's another short chapter! Next one will hopefully be a little bit longer, and who know what might happen. It'll definitely be the award ceremony though!

(Chapter eleven: Training 101, learning to dodge)

"It was nice of DJ to try and get someone to fix up my clothing.." Fedora stated, walking out of the bedroom, "but.. Uh- I wish I had a different set of other clothing and not.. This." Hat kid was sitting in front of her tv playing one of her favorite games when Fedora walked out adjusting her current attire. The older girl was stuck wearing her Parade outfit that she had gotten, until the penguin who had her normal clothing gets them patched up.

They were all going to meet back up when the award ceremony happens, at least right before it starts on that day. But that's four days way-

"Hey! At least you look good!" The child paused her game, looking up at her friend in thought "might want to lose the hat though." Turning back to her game, Fedora took off the hat and looked at it. She kinda liked it though..

"I agree with the child- that hat looks stupid on you, girl!" Mafia boss said, bluntly, making Fedora look at him rather menacing. Though, he had gotten use to the death glares, he'd wouldn't want to call bluffs on her threats as he is, so away he went. Earlier in the day, Cooking cat had left and said she'd be back soon, but none of them knew when that would be.

On another note, Fedora was actually surprised to hear Hat kid say she'd wait for the movie awards to happen, in the kid's words, if they went off on another adventure- they might forget and miss it. It would be incredibly rude to just walk out on Grooves, and maybe the Conductor- but they promised to not talk about him until they both felt better about what had happened. So ether they wait on the ship for four days, or go to Mafia Town. They can't go to the studio, Hat kid had stressed about not going- as much as she wanted to herself.

She just.. She was scared of what the Conductor might do.

That crazy laugh of his back then, it really scared her. And how he said 'he didn't care for ether of them'? It was like a complete one eighty from the day before that. It was strange, yet.. Familiar? Hat kid tried to remember something her mentor had told her a long while back.. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't seem remember it fully because it had been so long since she had heard from him. Something to do about the time pieces.. And over exposure. The child then wondered of her mentor was okay..

"So kid, what are you going to do on break day one?" Fedora asked, putting her parade hat away- it was strange to Fedora to not have her signature hat.

"Oh, you know- sit around and play video games, maybe build a pillow fort." Kid said, focusing on the level she was on. She seemed rather calm today, and it was strange to Fedora- but hey,

"Spoken like a true kid." Fedora shook her head with a smile.

"What are you going to do, Fedora?" Hat kid asked her

Fedora stopped in her tracks, she wasn't really thinking of going anywhere, but when the kid had brought the question up- what was she going to do today? There was actually no point to going back to the studio, and Fedora highly doubt Hat kid would let her go on her own. She can't go to the moon, or face getting moved by fans- she could go to Mafia Town and see what Cooking cat is up to..

Looking up from her thoughts, Fedora heard a noise of frustration from the kid-

Or maybe she could stay and listen to the child rage about her game?

Fedora doesn't understand how she ended up playing a Co-op game with the kid, but here they were, yelling at the tv screen, trying to solve a puzzle for the last hour. The little mechanical beings they played as kept getting knocked into the fire void below by accident, and maybe sometimes on purpose on Hat kid's side- in which Fedora would retaliate. That only got her pushed off the platform again. The older girl was not that good at fighting in video games as in real life, it also don't help that her hands still hurt from her burn.

Which brought back up the thought, how did this all happen?

"Maybe we should take a break from games?" Fedora sighed, slowly putting down the controller, fearing she might hurt herself more. Looking over to her side, she realized Hat kid had disappeared somewhere. Getting up to her feet, she quickly looked around, where did the kid go? And how did she not hear her leave? "...Kid..?"

"Fedora!"

Fedora turned around quickly after her name was yelled, and as she turned, her face was greeted by multiple pillows! The impact and the surprise made the older girl fall over with a Yelp. The child stood proudly, and pointed at her friend,

"We need to work on your dodging skills!" Hat kid yelled.

Baffled, Fedora stood up once more "where the heck did this come from all of a sudden?!"

This was a sudden outburst, though not unseen. The kid was going to go back to hitting her with pillows at some point- but never had she thought that there would be some sort of purpose in it.

"I feel like a bad person for saying this-" Hat kid said, putting her hands to her hips "but you suck at getting out of the way!" The kid walked up to her, a determined look on her face "don't think I haven't notice what you do when I'm scared, you can't just be a wall and protect me all the time!"

Fedora has been doing that a lot hasn't she? Subconsciously or intentionally, Fedora had always tried putting herself in front of the kid. Even when they officially had first met fighting the Mafia Boss.

"You may be tall, but your not big!" The child stated. "Stop trying to be a barrier when you can barely protect yourself.."

That was true though, Fedora looked down on herself, she was pretty normal looking, no curves or major muscle- she was just an average everyday human. Fedora started thinking even more on the matter, they were just playing video games just a second ago, right? When did this become a lecture of not being able to dodge correctly?! Unless-

"Playing video games was a ploy to make me lose my guard, wasn't it?!" Fedora suddenly yelled. A devilish smirk, and a glint in the child's eye confirmed this. Another pillow came speeding at her, hitting her in the face.

"Did you really think I was going to just sit around for four days?" Hat kid said with a smirk, making a run for more pillows from her room.

Something tells Fedora that Cooking cat is going to come back to a mess. However, maybe the kid is right, maybe she should train a bit- getting hit with those explosive obviously didn't feel all to great. With pillows, she'll be able to dodge without any consequences if she were to get hit.

So, she'll do her best to not get hit.

"Are you really going to take that from the child?" The Mafia boss asked, as he and Rumbi watched from the rails "you could easily take her on! You are bigger then her!"

Fedora laughed a bit in his direction "I'm sorry, have you looked in a mirror?" She cocked her head to the side "she beat you up with an umbrella and turned you into mush. I could maybe fight somebody else- but definitely not the kid."

Fedora quickly reared her head back and watched a pillow fly past her face. Then made eye contact with Hat kid, "that's more like it!" She yelled with a smile. "If we can make your head remember the felling of fear of getting hit by something, you should have a better time moving out of the way quicker!"

Something about this seemed oddly familiar to Fedora, and at a time like this another fragmented memory played.

'Mom, Dad! Please! Stop fighting!' An older figure of her younger self, but not as old as she is, yelled, but was drowned out by two blurred out older people. Everything seemed like massive fuzz when things started being thrown, loud shattering of glass, wooden chairs falling over. Something almost hit her and she ran.

Locking her room, she cried. She was scared.

Everything seemed so much more slower, Hat kid throwing pillows at Fedora, now that she new what was going on- she seemed to be doing great! However, the child noticed the older girl wasn't.. Completely.. There. That look on her face- not pure fear, but she was scared. Next thing she knew, Fedora ran some ways back.

Rubbing her face, Fedora looked back blinking. Stance wide, and low- she was ready to move if necessary. Hat kid smiled at this, Fedora wanted to learn, and she was ready.

Two days- Hat kid and Fedora had been at this for two days already. Not straight- of course they needed rest! For these days, they ended up falling a sleep on the mound of pillows that now accumulated in the main hub. It was a straight up mess if anyone else looked at it- but to them? Progress. Ones that had hit the wall showed successful dodges, Which was the majority but that didn't mean it was perfect. Some littered the center, that meant they had hit Fedora during her training.

Cooking cat was surprised of the mess when she had came back, but understood why they were doing it. As long as they cleaned up their mess afterwords, she was okay. It was like a one sided pillow war.

Fedora slowly started waking up, that strange melody was being sung again. She looked around, who is singing?

"What is the matter girl?" Fedora jumped slightly, looking at the Jar and Rumbi as they skirted around the obstacles that were now everywhere. The singing was still going even when the Mafia boss was talking.

It wasn't him.

There was no other guy on the ship but him though, right?

"Yo- you don't... hear that?" The older girl looked pale, looking around. A soft chuckle, and a cold wind circled her- then vanished.

"I do not hear anything." He and Rumbi stopped to listen. Not even the robot seemed to have picked it up. "Are you feeling alright?" The boss oddly sounded concerned.

"Yeah.. Just fine." She scratched her head.

"What's going on?" Hat kid rubbed her eyes, Rolling off of her pile, then looked at them.

"Your friend seems to be hallucinating," The Mafia boss said, while Rumbi scooted of again "I think she had taken to many hits to the head!"

Fedora glared at him "now, you listen here Jar Face! I was not hallucinating!" She walked over and picked him up from the lid top "I know for a fact I'm not! That was the second time I heard it!"

Hat kid now interested, walked up to her "what did you hear?" The older girl paused, remembering the melody.

"Singing.." Fedora stated, putting back down the Jar- though, she puts him on his side and watched him roll, Mafia boss angrily shouting at the two girls to help him. Fedora looks away from the angry jar and smiles contently, but Hat kid gives her an unimpressed face. Going back to the matter at hand, once Hat kid walked over and helped the poor jar man back up, she looked over to Fedora with a quizzical look.

"What kind of singing?" She sat back down on a pile of pillows, looking up at the older girl.

Fedora leaned on the wall, next to the ladder "it's strange.. It sounds like someone is humming, it's definitely a melody that sounds sad, yet.. Hopeful." Fedora pointed into the air "I heard it the same time I had received that that hook shot badge I showed you.." The amnesic looked to the ground, thinking about the song one more time "this bothers me however, because I feel like I've heard it somewhere else before; it makes me.. Feel at ease- but it also gives me a hunting feeling." She also can't forget the feeling of cold air.

She looked up to the kid, only thinking of one answer "hey, kid..."

Hat kid perked her head, and tilted it to the side.

"Do you... Believe in ghosts?"