Hat Kid gasped, seeing a bright flash of white for a split moment. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the house, she ran to the window and looked outside at the storm that came in.
Dark purple clouds, strong wind, and thunder and lightning was all she could see. If this storm didn't let up, the village could very well be destroyed! But what kind of storm was this? It wasn't like any other storm she's seen before.
When lightning flashed, Hat Kid squinted her eyes. "Wait a minute. The wind…" She spotted something in it. Upon watching the wind closely, she spotted some sort of spiky, purple-gas emitting pollen blowing in the wind. Where has she seen those?
Then a memory came to mind. "Those weird purple plants that have been blooming!" "I knew they were trouble," she said to herself. Now that she knew the source, she's gotta try to stop it.
Bracing herself, she opens the door. The wind blew hard and whipped her face. She coughed, already smelling the horrible scent of the same plant from before. It made her feel a little woozy at first, but she shook her head. Now's not the time to go passing out.
Adjusting her top hat, she looked for the possible locations of the dangerous plants. Then she heard screaming to her right. It was a nomad, running from...one of the goats? No, something didn't seem right with them. Their eyes were red and they looked really violent.
As the nomad ran, pushing a barrel behind him to block the goat's path, he ran into Hat Kid. Almost literally. The nomad looked up at Hat Kid fearfully, "Please, help! I-I don't know what's wrong with him, but he's trying to hurt me!"
Hat Kid looked up at the goat, who smashed the barrel with his own hooves and growled. She's faced a lot of strong foes before, but those goats look like they can knock her right off the cliffside in one smack. Plus, as far as she's seen, they're not supposed to be this violent.
Hat Kid started running, holding the nomad's hand. She then jumped onto a spring platform and the two landed on a leafy rooftop, out of the goat's range.
"Why are they being jerks?" Hat Kid looked to the frightened nomad.
"I-I don't know. This storm came in a-and it's not just him! All the goats are getting angry. They're fighting, growling, destroying! I don't know what's come over them!"
Hat Kid hummed, looking around. Then one of those weird plant's pollen seeds blew past her face. Could it be…?
"What about those strange plants?"
"...S-strange plants?"
"Those weird purple flowers all around. What about those?"
"I-I don't know. All I know is a visitor brought 3 of its seeds and planted it around the area. Then they grew and spread their seeds all around. B-but they haven't caused us problems so far."
"I think they're causing problems now...maybe something in them is what is making the goats act angry," she said quietly to herself. She then turned to the nomad. "Where were those seeds planted?"
"U-um, around where the Old Windmill is, on the alternate route to the Birdhouse, and towards the Lava Cake."
"Then that's where I'm going." After adjusting her hat, she grabbed the nomad's hand and hopped down once the goat was gone. She then opened the door and nudged the nomad in. "Stay inside and safe."
The nomad nodded and closed the door. Hat Kid looked towards the Old Windmill. Just over on the cliffside on the right, she could faintly see a light purple tornado swirling in place. That must be where it is. Hat Kid jumped down to the zip-line and made her way there.
The small windmill she rode to get up the ledge now seemed more hazardous. Those strange purple plants have bloomed and they seemed to be pulsing all below the windmill. Hat Kid took a breath and hook-shot onto the windmill. She also tucked her legs in, not wanting the spiky pollen to hit her.
Soon as she reached the ledge, she received an unhappy welcome. It was another one of the goats. His eyes were red and he growled viciously.
"U-uh...hi there…" She nervously smiled and waved. He then charged at her, causing her to yelp and jump to the rooftop. He then crashed head-first into the house, putting a hole in it. Hat Kid didn't hesitate to keep going. But once she reached the zip-line where it would take her to the Old Windmill, she gasped.
It was coated in the strange plants' pollen and giving off its toxic fumes in her path. No way she can ride it without possibly suffocating or getting scratched up. She looked around, hoping for another path.
Then, she noticed to her right that the swirling light tornado was the other way. The ledges far ahead had large purple roots much like those strange plants below her. That's gotta be where it really is.
She noticed a few abnormally large pollen pieces floating her way and she quickly got to action. Once they got close, she used her hookshot to latch onto their stems and swing to the ledges. She looked ahead, seeing a really large purple flower surrounded by the pollinated plants. That's gotta be one of the main plants. She began running towards it, being careful of her footing due to the roots.
Then, something large blew out of the flower and landed beside her. One of those abnormally large pollen pieces. It then exploded, knocking Hat Kid back with a yelp and cough. Upon exploding, it let out its obnoxious fumes. Whether that plant is sentient or not, it must not want to get plucked.
But Hat Kid was not going to fall that easily. She put on her Sprint Hat and her Scooter badge. With a snap of her fingers, her scooter appears and she takes off. More of those large pollen pieces landed around her, exploding behind her. And what makes it worse was a couple goats were there as well, trying to attack her. Hat Kid zig-zagged and dodged the best she could.
Once she got close, she hopped off her scooter and onto the pedestal the flower was blooming on. With a few strong whacks, she unrooted the flower and knocked it right off. The flower then shriveled up and bursted out a large gust of purple wind. Hat Kid shielded her eyes and nose, then looked up once it passed. The roots started disappearing and the pollen-invested flowers have shriveled up and disappeared too.
That's one down, two to go. As she ran back the way she came, she stopped. The goats that attacked her...they were lying down on the ground. They looked weak and twitched a little. Hat Kid ran to one of them, checking them over. His eyes didn't look red, but he looked tired and weak. He let out a small groan, looking up to Hat Kid.
So those flowers really were affecting them. It was like some sort of disease went into their system. Now that the flower was gone though, the wind was dying down in the area. It'll help, but it could take time to recover.
Hat Kid gently rubbed his head. "Don't worry, big guy. I'll get the rest. You just take it easy." More determined than ever to stop this storm, Hat Kid stood back up and ran off back to the zip-line that leads to the main village.
Heading to the Birdhouse zip-line next, she yelped as lightning crashed beside her. Way to close to hitting her. The storm must be getting worse. Time to hurry.
Past the zip-line, she headed down to the tightrope path. She swung across then jumped from tightrope to the next. But when she jumped to the next tightrope, lightning crashed and destroyed it. She gasped and screamed as she free-fell for a short moment. She then landed on a convenient tree branch below her, causing her to let out a shaky exhale of relief.
Continuing forward, she climbed up the steep cliff sides, avoided lightning best as she could, and continued down the alternate path. Swinging across the abnormally large pollen, she landed on another ledge with large purple roots. Up ahead was another large purple flower surrounded by the spiky pollen plants.
As she ran forward, she was then stopped by a few rotting roots sprouting out of the ground around her. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of its range as large, tree trunk sized roots shot out and wrapped around itself.
Now the plant was trying to trap her? Is it really alive? She'd better be cautious from here on. Equipping her scooter once more, she began zipping through fast. Many more large roots continued shooting out of the ground, trying to encase her. On top of that, more dangerous goats were coming her way and exploding pollen was coming from the plant.
When one batch of roots came up from behind, one of the roots wrapped around the back wheel of her scooter, making her fly off and faceplant. She quickly got back up though, ignoring the pain in her left knee from skidding along the rocky platform. She jumped up to the ledge with the flower on its pedestal and knocked it off with her umbrella.
Strong wind blew for a moment once more and it, along with its pollinated flowers, disappeared. The goats collapsed once more, weak from the sudden change. One more left. Not wasting time, Hat Kid ran to the Lava Cake zip-line.
The routine was the same as the last, only a little less lightning and more lava. She followed the large pollen and swung her way to the purple-rooted platforms. Ahead was the final flower...and a whole lot more that came with it. Now there were rows of pollinated flowers, shooting roots, exploding pollen, and violent goats.
Hat Kid's eyes were wide and now she appeared real hesitant to step into this danger zone. But she knew she had to. If she didn't take down the final flower, the storm will never disappear. What if it spreads it pollen beyond Alpine Skyline? What if it gets to all the places she visited? Dead Bird Studio, Subcon Forest, and Mafia Town. They won't stand a chance.
She can't let that happen. Tilting her hat down, she braced herself and ran in. She decided to go by foot to hop over the pollinated flowers while dodging the large roots that plan to wrap her up. Once she reached the village, she climbed to the rooftops to avoid the goats and many more pollinated flowers. She had to be quick though from the exploding pollen that landed close by.
Hat Kid took a leap to the pedestalled plant and landed right in front of it. A strong wind was already picking up and Hat Kid was having a hard time seeing through it. Plus the fumes...they were so toxic. She coughed, but got close, umbrella ready and gripped tightly.
Her vision started fading to black, but with a battle cry, she gave the flower a few good hard hits. It then popped off its pedestal and vanished, rotting away. The pollinated flowers from all over the Skyline then started wilting and disappearing. As they did, the storm began to die down and disappear. The purple clouds began to vanish while the wind became more gentle and less invested with the spiky pollen.
As the storm began to vanish, Hat Kid coughed, taking in the returning fresh air. Once her vision returned and she was able to breathe, she headed back to the main village to check on the nomads.
What she didn't expect coming in was a crowd gathering close to the zip-line she was coming from. A large group of the goats was there and they no longer looked violent and a couple nomads were beside them.
Hat Kid landed in the village and was greeted by one of the nomads. He looked around and asked, "Is it...over? The air is clear again!"
He then looked to Hat Kid. "And the goats seemed to have come to their senses again! I don't really understand it, but I assume we have you to thank." Hat Kid smiled warmly.
Then the nomad said, "We found this in a cluster of those flowers after they wilted away. You were pretty insistent on going after the others, so I guess it belongs to you?" He then held out a Time Piece.
Hat Kid's eyes sparkled and she nodded. Taking it, she replied, "Thank you." The goats seemed to be celebrating and thanking her as they stomped their hooves in sync.
"Well thank you for helping us." Hat Kid smiled brightly and held up the Time Piece, having the nomads cheer. Only one left now and her journey will finally come to an end.
Cooking Cat grabbed a sort of satchel and headed to the door of Hat Kid's ship. "I'm gonna need more supplies if I am to cook dinner tonight. I just hope the little one will be here once I'm back." She opened up the door and hopped down to Mafia Town.
As she exited and the door was closing behind her, a hand reached up and pushed the door open. The intruder climbed inside and pocketed a Time Piece. Her golden-orange eyes looked around as a smirk showed under her mustache.
"Alright, I'm in! I made it. I infiltrated that kid's spaceship without the alarms going off." But the one security system she didn't count on was Rumbi. He beeped, shouting in its little voice, "INTRUDER! INTRUDER!"
Mustache Girl scoffed the little Rumbi and kicked him away. "Shut up, you piece of garbage!" Rumbi whined and quietly went back to vacuuming.
MG then looked around. "I bet that kid collected more Time Pieces than I have...now where does she keep them?"
She walked around the main room, then her eyes locked onto the large safe. With a mischievous smirk, she climbed up the stairs to it.
"Jackpot! This must be where she stores them all." Turning the dials, she opened the safe. Just as she hoped, there was a large pile of Time Pieces safely sitting inside.
She rubbed her hands together and said, "Time to mess with time a little." She then took a few and started smashing them. She continued smashing and breaking until she spotted a bright flash of light surrounding the planet. It then spread to her and everything went white.
Hat Kid blinked with a gasp. Wait, how did she get back on her ship? What was that flash of light? Why was her safe open?
She ran up to the safe and looked inside. Her heart dropped in fear. All her Time Pieces were gone! All that remained were chipped-off pieces.
And if everything didn't seem like they already turned for the worst, she then looked out the window. A soft slow gasp of pure horror came out as she slowly climbed down the ladder and walked to the window.
The once, blue-ocean, beautiful planet she came to know for the past few weeks. It was gone. All that was there now was...a planet in ruin. The ocean was lava, there were volcanoes in every part of it except one section. In this section, she could see a large stone castle with two paths leading into it and a stone mustache for decoration.
"Oh no…"
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Coming up to the finale of the story, let's go! I also got the DLC and plan to try it out so I can think of how the possible short stories will go. But for now, tune in next time to see how Hat Kid's planning to put an end to this madness.
