Chapter 58: Time for a Vacation

A/N: Well, this took a little bit longer to get out. I had to write this chapter twice, because I didn't like the first version I had and had to delete it all. What fun.

With not much else to do, we decided to head to Mafia Town. However, we didn't really find anything there. The Mafia were grumpy and not bright, as per usual, no new faces, no events, no nothing. Boring.

So we stopped by Dead Bird Studio as well.

Well, it certainly wasn't boring there.

We walked in on an extremely heated argument between Conductor and DJ Grooves. Heh, it was almost like when we first came to this place, except this time DJ Grooves was actually yelling and Conductor seemed just about ready to kill someone in a blind rage.

It was hard to hear what they were arguing about over all the yelling, cursing, and threatening, but it seemed like they were arguing over the award ceremony incident...

Of course they were. What else would have them both riled up so much?

I turned to the kid.

"Uh... maybe we should come back later?" I suggested.

She scratched the back of her head, then nodded.

We returned to the ship, and I whistled out of awe.

"Don't think I've ever seen either of them that mad before. Conductor seemed ready to kill someone," I muttered, "And DJ Grooves actually yelled at him. Yikes. Probably for the best that we just wait for them to calm down."

"Yeah..." She said, "Let's go pay our BFF a visit!"

I tilted my head in thought. It had been a little while since we actually messed with him. Seemed like he was messing with us more. So a little surprise visit wouldn't hurt.

"Alright," I agreed.

So, we did. Into the telescope to Subcon Forest we looked, and poof, we were back at Snatcher's tree again.

This time, he was sat down in his chair, reading away at his book with his typical dopey smile.

I watched the kid creep around to the back of the tree, then sneak up right behind him and...

"BOO!"

Snatcher didn't so much as move, but his smile dropped instantly.

He looked over his shoulder and gave the kid a blank stare.

"Kid," He grumbled, "I thought you'd have realized by now, I DON'T SCARE EASILY. I might as well be the embodiment of fear itself! You think that pathetic little 'boo' is gonna get me?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"It was worth a try!" She countered.

Snatcher tilted his head.

"Eh, I guess so. Can't fault you for doing something I myself enjoy doing, after all," He muttered, "But a tiny little thing like you wouldn't even have a chance of giving this old spirit a spook, kiddo." He patted her head as he said that last part.

I walked inside of his tree, then crossed my arms and smirked.

"What about me?" I countered.

He turned around.

"Oh, there you are," He said, then stared at me with a thoughtful expression. "Eh, I could see you giving people a few good scares with practice. That weird badge you got earlier would probably help with that, too. But I don't think even you'd stand a chance of spooking me, punk."

I nodded with a smug smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night," I taunted.

"Speaking of that weird badge, though, I didn't get to talk to you about that," He said, "I have never seen anything like that before. What is it?"

"Talk to Badge Seller, he knows more about it than I do. All I know is that it's some special, super powerful badge that seems to really like me," I muttered, shrugging my shoulders.

"Badges don't like people, kid. They're badges," He retorted.

"Well this one does," I countered, "I said it's special for a reason. And why does it concern you anyway?"

"I want it," He answered, "If it likes you of all people, imagine what it'd do for me!"

"It wouldn't work on you anyway. You're a ghost. And frankly, it's not for sale," I grumbled.

His eye twitched comically.

Then he grinned.

"Gee, calm down! I was just answering your question!" He laughed, "But if you DIE, you know who's getting that badge!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, you really seem confident in my ability to survive," I grumbled.

"No problem!" He countered.

What a character.

I looked at the kid, who was sitting and watching in amusement.

"Well, kid? What now?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I know," Snatcher butted in, "Why don't you go... somewhere else? Preferably a bottomless pit?"

I rolled my eyes once again.

"Fine, we'll give you a break," I muttered, "Let's go, kid."

With that, we left. When we got back to the ship, Cooking Cat was there again. I asked her if there was any reason she was there, or if she was just visiting, and she said that she was going to help us prepare for the cruise, because she had a feeling neither of us had been on any sort of vacation and might not know what to bring or leave behind.

"You know," I responded to that, "If we needed something, we could just come back here, get it, then go back."

"Oh, hush!" She silenced me, "That would defeat the purpose of a vacation, dear!"

She had a point.

"Fair enough."

So, for the next couple of days, Cooking Cat helped us prepare our luggage and what have you.

Neither of us brought much, we didn't have much to bring anyway. And most of the items that we did have seemed to stow themselves away in some sort of pocket dimension inside our pockets... as redundant as that sounds.

So, we merely packed some spare clothes. Oh, and the kid packed a few of her things, like what seemed to be a strange book that I only caught a small glimpse of, as well as some toys or whatever.

The book did intrigue me though. Was she a reader? Then how come I'd never seen her do any reading?

I shook my head. It was her private stuff, it'd probably for the better if I didn't try to assume things or snoop.

But, after a few days, we had everything packed and were ready to set sail, pun intended. We had our suitcases hoisted across our backs as we both had a feeling that getting to the ship wouldn't be just a straight path.

No. This planet had an obsession with platforming.

However, we also knew where the ship was departing from: a dock in a city near the planet's north pole.

I wasn't exactly sure how we'd get there, though, but the kid seemed to read my thoughts and made me follow her into the engine room.

We stopped in front of a giant laundry machine that I hadn't noticed before, and it had a panel next to it that said it required 35 Time Pieces and that we were ready to open up the room again.

"Oh, I should probably go open up the Attic, too," She said, "I'm sure you'd like to have a bedroom to yourself."

"As long as it's not decrepit, dusty, and infested with insects like most attics are, yes, I would," I agreed.

She giggled.

"I try to keep it clean, but you don't see much bugs in space anyway, for obvious reasons," She explained.

I nodded. Made sense.

"But we can worry about the Attic later, we have a ship to catch," I said, "Got your ticket?"

She nodded.

I checked for mine, and I had it as well.

She tapped the panel, opening the front of the laundry machine.

She then stepped inside and motioned for me to do the same.

I reluctantly did so.

"I hope this stupid thing won't soak us," I grumbled.

"It's just an elevator," She said.

Sure enough, it dropped us to a special room. The laundry room.

"Having access to an entire room dedicated to laundry should make our lives easier," I said, "When was the last time we did laundry?"

She shook her head with a frown.

"I haven't done any since I lost the Time Pieces. I'm not doing laundry by hand!" She pouted.

"Yikes," I said, "Good thing you're a kid, though. But I guess we know what we're doing once we're back from our cruise."

She nodded and walked towards a telescope.

"Finally, it's time for a vacation!" She shouted, then peered through the telescope and vanished. I did the same.

I landed at a very well decorated dock. Flowers and grass everywhere, the ship looming in the back, lots of people and luggage, just what I was expecting.

I also saw some Moon Penguins and Express Owls there, even the crows were coming along.

The kid talked to an Express Owl, who said that they were looking forward to something reliable after riding on Conductor's train for so long.

Good thing Conductor wasn't there to hear that, heh. He'd not be happy.

We also talked to some strange tourist guy, who was grumbling about not being able to get to the Sun. I would've told him that it's obvious he couldn't get to the Sun cause he'd burn up before he got anywhere close, but it didn't seem worth the effort.

We also talked to some Moon Penguins. One talked about a 'one flipper discount' to get tickets for the ship, which I didn't ask to elaborate.

Also, fun fact: apparently there's a bit of a role reversal with how owls and penguins treat water.

The Moon Penguins hate water. The Express Owls love it.

Weird, huh?

But lastly, we walked up to the dock and saw a certain yellow bird waiting there.

Conductor! Quite surprising, given how dedicated he seemed to his movies. He was accompanied by some smaller birds that looked just like him. Grandchildren, maybe?

We approached him.

"Well it isn't the little lass, and her knight in shinin' armour. How's stardom treatin ye?" He greeted.

I merely shrugged my shoulders, and the kid did the same.

"Quite a surprise to see you here, though," I said, "Thought you'd be busying yourself with recording as you usually do. Just taking a break?"

"I could ask ye both the same, lad," He countered.

I scratched my head.

"But... yea. Tell you the truth, I'm taking some time off after that DJ PECK NECK tried to... y'know!" He grumbled.

"Yeah..." I muttered, "We saw you two arguing earlier, did something happen?"

"Did somethin' happen? DID SOMETHIN''-ah, I should keep me voice down..." He responded, "He just walked back into the studio like nothing happened! And expected us all to forget it did! He said that ye forgave him, so that we should just act as if nothin' ever happened! Can you believe him?!"

"Well that does sound like worthy reason to get upset. Forgiving isn't forgetting," I agreed, "We'll have to talk to him later."

"Wait a minute, he was tellin' the truth?" He asked.

"Yep!" The kid exclaimed. I heard her giggle then saw that the smaller birds were all over her.

It brought a smile to my face.

"Ye shouldn't have forgiven him so easily..." He grumbled.

"Well, we did, and we had good reason to," I replied.

"But I won't!" He stated, "He doesn't deserve forgiveness!"

I sighed. Just as stubborn as ever.

"I don't think that's your decision to make," I mumbled.

"You don't have to forgive him," The kid said, "Just please, don't give him a hard time. He really does regret what he did. So if you can't forgive him, at least don't bother him about it. Please."

He took a deep breath.

"Alright, lass. If ye say so," He muttered, "But anyway... I'd better go ask about the childcare on board. I love these lil' blighters, but I cannae bring them to the bar with me, can I?"

"Yeah, I'd say so," I agreed jokingly, "We should probably get going as well. Right, kid?"

She nodded.

"I wanna see what it's like on the ship!" She shouted.

"Then why wait?" I asked, but she was already skipping ahead. I slowly walked up ahead but kept my distance. I thought I'd let her do some interacting by herself. I mean, I was always the one doing the talking.

We both stopped when a deep, grumpy voice spoke next to us.

"Are we ready to set sail?"

I looked to the left and saw a large walrus in a captain's outfit, with two cigarettes in his mouth. Seemed pretty obvious who he was.

He was holding a walkie talkie, and was responded with an unholy noise on the other end.

He promptly turned off the walkie talkie with a sigh.

The kid giggled.

The , meanwhile, had approached what seemed to be a small seal in a uniform.

"We hope you have a great time!" It greeted with a toddler's voice.

The kid seemed to have a heart attack.

I guess she must've found the seal super cute...?

Only logical explanation for that reaction. I didn't really see what the fuss was about though. Sure, they seemed adorable, but nothing could compare to the kid.

She then walked up to the captain and waved.

"Uh... you look a little young to be sailing alone, pup," He muttered.

I smirked and walked up to the Captain.

"She isn't alone, Captain," I stated.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you her-actually, whatever. I have bigger problems to deal with," He grumbled, "Tickets are being accepted up ahead."

"Thank you!" The kid shouted, then ran ahead.

I proceeded to run after her, but...

"Wait," The Captain muttered.

I turned around.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I don't know who you are to her, but try to keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't get in anyone's way. The crew already does enough of that, and I'm already under enough stress," He requested.

I smirked and saluted him.

"Aye aye, Captain."

I then ran ahead to catch up with the kid.