Chapter 11
Mustard POV:
When I finished with getting the toilet taken care of (it wasn't even that bad of a stench, just the fact that it spat out junk at me) I then gasped as something happened from nearby. I saw something that made my eyes glow in amazement. I don't know what it was, but a huge explosion of light happened from the valley in the northeast! It was so bright, I had to close my eyes and cover them with my hands to prevent from being blinded by the spectacle! And when it finally ended, I looked around and I gasped. The place... wasn't dark anymore! The clouds had parted from the sky and the sun shined down on the landscape to show the green grass and the glowing flowers added to the flair! I then looked at the Snatcher's followers that watched me fight the toilet and I saw that... well, they were turned into humanoid creatures!
"Oh my god... O-Our queen is freed! Freed from her curse!" one of them exclaimed, me seeing that almost every single one of them were children. Needless to say, my emotion at that point was just one single emotion.
"Whoa..." I gawked.
"Huh? Who are you? I don't think we've seen you around before," one of the little girls asked me.
"Um... do you remember anything that just happened? I literally just defeated a giant soul-eating toilet?" I frowned at them, the kids looking at me in confusion.
"Huh? I don't remember that... and soul-eating toilet? You sure are weird, miss," one of the boys said, me smirking at the tykes. They must not have been aware of anything that had happened to them lately.
I then looked at my contracts and saw that I still had to go through the two rifts that had appeared, me deciding that now would be a good time. I just had to wonder what the rest of the place looked like if the area around me was looking beautiful. And when I went through the previously creepy woods, I saw they were no longer evil or depressed-looking. Rather, the trees were full of life, there were small animals hopping around, and there were some more children around that were having fun as well as a few adults. "What in the heck did she do?... To make this place do a complete 180?" I asked, utterly dumbfounded at what I was seeing.
I eventually saw Ketchup appear from an area to the east with a very kind looking woman with her... that literally glowed a golden hue! "Hey, Mustard! How're you doing?" Hat Kid smiled at me as I simply walked up to her in shock.
"Hat Kid... what did you do to make this place look completely opposite as what we saw when we first got here?" I asked her with a gulp.
"She helped me out... my hatred and anger turned this land into a horrid atrocity... my name is Vanessa," the glowing woman smiled kindly.
"Wait... so you're that Queen Vanessa that was mentioned in the contract that Hat Kid signed?" I asked her in surprise, that making Vanessa's eyebrows get raised.
"Contract? What do you mean?" Vanessa asked. We simply showed the contracts in question created by the Snatcher and explained what was happening.
"See, we needed to find the Time Pieces that fell into Subcon Forest. But the Snatcher caught us in one of his traps and we had to sign these contracts in order to obtain the Time Pieces that he had collected. One of them was to go and visit you, one was to clean out the well, and one of them was to deliver mail to his 'minions'... which, now I can see are all these children running around... they seem to have no memories of anything that happened either," Hat Kid frowned.
"Right on the money with that one, Ketchup," I frowned at her. "I fought a soul-eating toilet, no thanks to you, and when that explosion of light happened, the creatures that watched me fight it returned to being normal kids and they had no memories of anything while they were in that previous state. They didn't even know I took out the soul-eating toilet, which was a real bummer," I frowned.
"Ahem... Pardon?" Vanessa asked, me looking at her with a smile. "I feel I must ask, but we cannot leave the Subcon Forest until we have found and returned my beloved Prince back to normal. The Snatcher, as you call him, is my Prince turned into what he is because of my transformed state... but it appears that his spirit is more powerful than mine in its current state, as it is unaffected by the sunlight. I can feel it... he's nearby," Vanessa frowned.
"Then we'll need to find him... hmm..." Hat Kid frowned as she took out a Time Piece and concentrated, me wondering what she was doing before she gasped audibly. "Aha! The Snatcher is in a small garden-like village to the north! That's also where a Time Rift is! Mustard, you and Vanessa go there and confront Snatcher. The only reason I know he's in that area is because that's where I sensed your soul is being kept," Hat Kid said, Vanessa sighing at that.
"Soul manipulation... oh, my poor Prince... I am deeply sorry to have turned you into what you are now," Vanessa said with a sigh.
"Let's get goin', Vanessa!" I smirked, leading the girl by the hands to the area in question, seeing that the creepy statues in the place were gone. Why were the statues creepy? I was looking at one from far away and then it started to move on its own! And now they were all gone, the only things remaining in the small garden being the Time Rift on the roof of a tower and me seeing a strange darkness over the place still.
"Sanatch... Prince Sanatch... where are you?" Vanessa asked as we entered the garden and I saw something appear from the Rift. It was a duo of Time Pieces! I couldn't believe my luck! I tried to go up and get them, but then I gasped as something happened just as I saw someone appear from the west of the garden. Hat Kid.
"Hold it, Mustard, hon," I heard the voice of the Snatcher say, him literally appearing in the center of the garden and demolishing the central pagoda in the middle! "Listen, I know we've had our differences, but I don't want you to have those last two Time Pieces just yet," the Snatcher said, me wondering what in the world he meant by that. "At least, not until you and your Ketchup friend can earn them. What do you say, Vanessa, darling? A test of strength. You can do battle with Mustard, and I'll fight the Hat Kid," Snatcher said, Vanessa smiling at him with a twitch in her eye.
"Oh, Sanatch. Why not just give the kids the Time Pieces and be done with it? They've already done so much for us," Vanessa smiled kindly.
"Vanessa..." Snatcher said, his smile looking a bit out of place. "I still have a contract with this little girl in the mustache. She was supposed to go into the Time Spheres and take the two Time Pieces within. But she only got one. I have the other one in hand," Snatcher said, me gasping at that.
"Oh, okay, so that's how we're going to play this, then?" I smiled as Hat Kid entered the arena with the Snatcher and I looked at Vanessa. "Vanessa, I know you don't want to, but this is probably our only shot at returning your Prince to normal. And if I can beat you in a fight, I'd say I accomplished something great," I smiled at her.
"Very well. Fine. You and I shall do battle, but the rule is this. No killing, just unconsciousness," Vanessa smiled at me.
"Deal," I smiled at her.
"Hold it! You'll need to sign first... oh, wait, I'll make it easier for you," Snatcher said as he produced a contract out of thin air and then, out of nowhere, he stamped it. And I then knew I was golden. I knew exactly how contracts worked. If someone stamped it before the person could sign it, the one who signed it could put down anything added or removed they desired!
"Oh, Ketchup! I do believe that I'm still too young to sign a contract, can you be a sweetie and come over here?" I smiled, Hat Kid coming up to me and me whispering the stuff in her ear. "This is the ticket we got to getting my soul back and those Time Pieces. He stamped it so we can edit it however we please," I smiled at her in quietness, the Snatcher confused at what was going on.
"Uh... hello? What are you doing?" the Snatcher asked. Hat Kid then started to do her little editing spree. In the top where it said 'Defeat Vanessa', she crossed out Defeat and wrote 'Befriend' on it. Where it stated the secondary listing, where it said 'Defeat Snatcher', Hat Kid wrote down 'Be BFFs with Snatcher'. Then where it said the reward would be us getting out of the Forest, she scribbled all of it out and wrote in its place 'Give back everything, including souls'. And where it said that the penalty would be death, she crossed it out and wrote that the penalty would be '1 Hour of Snatcher Chicken Dancing'. And only then did she sign it in my name, the Snatcher looking at the contract afterwards in pure shock.
"Uh... you do know that's not how contracts work, right?... Right?" he asked, me smiling at him.
"Actually, Prince Sanatch, that is EXACTLY how contracts work! You stamped it before we signed, therefore, we legally have the right to edit it however we see fit," I smiled proudly at him, Snatcher looking at us with a smile at that.
"Hehe, impressive, for a 12 year old with a mustache. Gotta hand it to ya, girls. You're quite the characters... and tough negotiators. Here, a contract is a contract after all," Snatcher said as he then gave us back the Time Pieces he had and I gasped as I felt something enter my body... and I suddenly felt alive! Like I could scream at the top of the tallest mountains! "There... now I'm all out of contracts... now I want nothing more than to leave this place... with you, my love," Snatcher smiled as, out of nowhere, his body started to shine, almost like he were undergoing some sort of transformation. And when the shimmering finally subsided, I looked at him and I saw that he looked like Vanessa did, only he looked... well... he looked handsome as hell! But I knew not to butt into love life, especially since these two were WAY older than I was!
"My beloved Vanessa..." Sanatch smiled with tears in his eyes.
"My perfect Prince Sanatch..." Vanessa cried as they then hovered over to each other and began to twirl each other around in glee and happiness. It honestly made a tear come to my eyes upon seeing it.
"Come on, guys. It's time we get back to my ship. Because, in only... 2 minutes, it will be my birthday!" Hat Kid smiled widely.
"Really? And how old will you be, hon?" Vanessa smiled, Hat Kid smirking at him.
"170 years old," Hat Kid smirked smugly, the queen looking at her with a smile.
"Is she being truthful?" Vanessa laughed.
"She's truthful. Though, she's actually technically 95 for all of our timelines. Her planet's rotation is twice as fast as us, so she goes through a year in half the time," I smiled.
"Correct, now let's go back to my ship," Hat Kid smiled as she activated her powers and our quartet zoomed back to her ship, right in the bedroom. And it was then that we saw that someone else had taken residence. "Huh? The Badge Seller? What are you doing on my ship?" Hat Kid asked him.
"I have come with a grave warning, young Hattian. I have foreseen the future and I can say that, in the course of the next 24 hours in Hattian times, an intruder will appear on this ship that will threaten the very space-time continuum itself. I suggest that you up security around your vault and stay here until the hours are up," Badge Seller said, me already knowing what that meant.
"Paprika..." I sighed.
"We can't let that get us down, but we do need some kind of security around the vault until the 24 hours are up... um, hate to be a bother, but could you and Sanatch do that, Vanessa?" Hat Kid asked politely.
"We'd be more than happy to help guard the vault of Time Pieces. We owe you our entire existence after all," Vanessa smiled as Sanatch smiled and nodded with a polite bow.
"You just go and have yourself a happy birthday. We'll keep the vault safe, I promise," Sanatch smiled kindly.
"Thanks," Hat Kid smiled as we then went to the main living area of the ship and, out of nowhere, we were gobsmacked by what we'd be walking into.
