"Get out of here!" He pushed her away, while Cloak Kid ran ahead.

"No, Cloak! Don't go! If you do, you'll-"

BOOM!

***...

Cloak Kid's eyes shot open as he gasped, recalling that horrible memory. The inhaling of that putrid air however, sent the boy into a painful coughing fit. He rolled onto his side, hacking air until it stopped.

When it was over, tears were racing down from the boy's eyes and he wiped the saliva that had dripped from his mouth. His chest ached, each breath painful on his ribcage.

Still, the boy slowly stood, his body trembling with weariness from his fit, and saw the sight before him.

Cloak Kid was standing atop of a cliff, a distance away from the Windmill. The skies above him were dark and stormy, the wind was howling and wherever he looked, he could see those purple flowers in full bloom, spilling spores everywhere.

He caught sight of the Windmill, seeing the roof of it completely destroyed.

Then, it came back to him: Climbing to the top, finding the Time Piece, looking down and… remembering what happened. Then, Hat Kid showed up, and then…

"HATTIE!"

Cloak Kid looked around, but saw no sign of his partner. His breathing was getting fast, and the spores in the air made it feel like his lungs were on fire. He fell onto his knees, erupting in another coughing fit, but it wasn't as severe.

He was alone. No Hattie. No grandfather to tell him what to do.

The tears escaped his eyes, as he held himself. At this rate, it would affect the whole planet… And then…

His eyes looked around one more time, trying desperately to locate his shipmate. He didn't see her, but among the many flowers, he saw a giant one sitting across the gaps.

"...we can fix it."

He remembered Hat Kid saying that. There was one way to deal with them: Like the Time Rifts, he had to find the source and destroy them. He couldn't give up, despite the odds, and despite his state. All he could do right now was pray that Hat Kid was okay.

They boy used his staff's grappling hook, taking care to descend from where he had woken up. There was a small neighborhood of houses that he had to pass through and there were goats, but their eyes were red as they stomped around. They caught sight of the child, and suddenly were charging at him.

Cloak Kid squeaked and climbed onto one of the houses, as the goats barrelled through hay bales, crates, and canisters trying to get to the child. The houses were structurally sound, so pounding their fists into the side didn't do much damage. Wobbling around, Cloak Kid jumped to another house and approached the end of the neighborhood. He jumped across another gap and landed on his feet.

The giant purple plant smelled horrible. Cloak Kid gagged as he approached it, but he had to destroy it. He pulled on his Cloak of Flames, and from a distance, shot a flame to it and all the smaller ones around it. There was a fire, and more spores rose up and Cloak Kid had to make a get away immediately, as he coughed and gasped for air.

He ran back into the neighborhood, and fell on his knees. When his fit subsided, he saw the goats out cold on the floor. Covering his mouth and stifling more coughs, Cloak Kid stumbled upon them, and petted the top of their head gently. They were still breathing, and with any luck, they should wake up okay.

Cloak Kid wiped the sweat off his brow. He felt kinda sick. Surely, being around those flowers wasn't good for him, but he couldn't beam back to ship, without the threat of being struck by lightning. He had to stop this as soon as he could.

With the grappling hook, he made his way back towards Goat Village. The Nomads had locked themselves in their houses. More of those plants were littering the streets, some raining down from the sky from the other giant flowers that were scattered throughout the Alpine Skyline. Cloak Kid covered his mouth, running through the village and setting the bad flowers ablaze.

When he made it to another line of bunting he felt a bit dizzy, but decided to trudge onwards. He used his hookshot to make his way towards the Birdhouse. He only got halfway there, because the rest of the way had been burned by lightning.

It was getting worse. With the plants' roots spreading, they began to rise up from the ground. Some did so below Cloak Kid's feet, and he jumped to get out of the way before he found himself caught in their dreadful vines. He stood up, just in time to be pursued by more of those goats who had gone mad from the spores. At least the adrenaline made him forget about how horrible it smelled to be out and about. Soon the flower was ablaze, along with the smaller ones, dissolving into ash.

Cloak Kid made it back before he inhaled too much of the fumes, but had to lean on a tree for a minute and catch his breath. They were heavy and it made him go into another coughing fit from the spores everywhere.

He didn't feel good, and his body felt cold, mostly on the tips of his fingers, they were going numb, and the edges of his eyes were turning purple from irritation. They were itching and watery. He covered his mouth with his sleeve, fought the dizziness and pressed forward. He took the line back to Goat Village, but when he got onto the ground, he lost his balance and fell fast first into the ground.

Cloak Kid felt so weak and tired, that standing up felt like too much of a hassle. Still he did, but upon taking a breath, he erupted into yet another coughing fit. His chest burned, and he fell to his knees again. More flowers fell around him and he would've sobbed if he weren't busy coughing his guts out.

"I can't…" He saw the final place to go and froze. It was the volcano. It was the trail that led to the lava cake.

Cloak Kid turned around, seeing the trail of fire he left behind him, and then suddenly collapsed onto his bottom. His breath was still heavy and his skin was turning pale. He gagged and coughed some more, before giving into how terrible he felt and laid on his back.

"I'm… sorry…" he rasped, his breath getting shallow from all the pollen. He couldn't even find the strength to move his limbs. His vision grew hazy and he heard something that sounded rumbling, but it was also steady. As everything went dark, he saw the great light at the top of the mountain of Goat Village, like he did in the Time Rift, and saw the glowing eyes of the Goats… "Hattie…" was the only word on his lips.

And he heard a voice…

"DARLING!"

***...

DJ Grooves approached the child lying on the ground, motionless. His face was flushed, but instead of red, it was purple and his skin was horrible pale.

"Darling!" The DJ didn't even think about running past the goats that were surrounding him, but for once, they didn't even have the feeling to knock him out of the way for getting too close. He tried shaking Cloak Kid, but he didn't even react. He was limp, but upon looking closer, he could still hear him breathing… barely.

"Come on, darling!" the Moon Penguin pleaded. "You've got to hang in there!"

Cloak Kid mumbled, but it was impossible to make out what he was saying, and his voice was raspy, barely a whisper.

The goats began to walk away, but one of them signaled him to follow. The DJ was appalled, but figured they knew what they were doing. He gathered the ill child in his arms, and scurried after them.

They went down that strange alley way again, but this time, however, the goat leading them simply pounded the side of the mountain and all of the purple flowers that were growing on the wall came off and disappeared into nothing. DJ Grooves covered the kid's face from the spores, fearing that his state would deteriorate further if he inhaled anymore of that stuff. It looked like with almost all of the giant poisonous flowers gone, the goats had some of their strength back.

DJ Grooves climbed the ladder with the unconscious Cloak Kid in tow. He was laid over his shoulder, arms hanging limply. He tried to climb up as fast as his super tall platinum shoes would let him, towards the shining light at the top of the mountain.

All while the words Cloak Kid told him rang through the Moon Penguin's head.

"…we can still do some kind of good, even if we've done so many bad things."

Because while Cloak Kid had known that bad omens happen with the manipulation of time itself, he forgot that good things can happen, as well…

***...

When Cloak Kid opened his eyes, he saw white. It was pretty, like a flower… like that white flower.

He gasped, taking a sharp inhale of fresh air. He gasped for it, like he was breathing for the first time, like he had come up from underwater. He was coughing up all the spores he inhaled, all of it coming out in puffs of purple.

A pair of hands were holding him still. No, they were a pair of flippers. That of a penguin.

Cloak Kid looked up to see the goats around him and DJ Grooves holding him still, while he caught his breath.

"Take deep breaths, darling," he said.

DJ Grooves had taken him hostage and didn't care about how ill he was getting, but now he was here, where they were, and he… helped him. Still, he couldn't help but cling to him like his life depended on it as tears streamed down from his eyes.

He finally caught sight of what he was inhaling. It was spores from the glowing white flower. They were on top of the peak of Goat Village. The DJ had that flower pressed up to the kid's face like an oxygen mask.

"The big guys saw me with you and showed me how to get up here," the DJ said. "You were…" He shuddered to recall the sight. "You were… I thought you were…"

Cloak Kid shivered. He could've died, huh? That was the price, he supposed. Still, where did he get this flower? Weren't they rare? Weren't the purple flowers killing them? Each breath he took from it, was like standing on top of a mountain, with the clear skies overhead. He saw the goats around him staring at him, but they seemed like they had come back to their senses.

Suddenly, he didn't feel so drained anymore. Actually, he felt way better than normal. He was full of energy. Alive!

Was this their way of saying thanks?

Then Cloak Kid stood, his body shining with an otherworldly light, his eyes glowing white like the goats. DJ Grooves stepped back.

"D-Darling?" he said. "Are you-"

"Yes…" Cloak Kid said. "I'm fine." With determination, he looked up at the stormy skies. "I need to finish this!"

Drawing aside his cloak, he put on a new one that he had finished using all of those colorful feathers he found in the Bird House. He shared eye-contact with the DJ, who could do nothing but stand there, with his mouth agape at Cloak Kid's glowing eyes. The child nodded at him, almost unable to express his thanks, but he supposed he should save it until it was over.

Cloak Kid jumped off the cliff and his cloak spread out like a pair of wings, while he glided towards his final destination: the volcano. The peak itself was erupting, but among the lava flow were more of those dreaded flowers. The lightning struck on the wooden platforms that were built to help the Nomads traverse. On that note, it probably wasn't a good idea to build wooden things in places where they were more susceptible to catching on fire.

The heat was bad, but oddly, enough the spores weren't bothering Cloak Kid. It was like his reaction to that had been numbed, or shoved the wayside. His fear of fire and lava, the things that had scared him beyond anything, were just… nothing now. He didn't get it, but like before, he remembered his objective: The last flower.

Donning his Cloak of Flames, he raced through the flowers that were raining down, as white sparkes of fire set the flowers and the creeping vines ablaze, the spores disintegrating upon getting near the smoke of the pure white flames.

The last flower attacked with everything it had. The spores from the flowers around it became stronger and stronger. With every step Cloak Kid took towards the giant flower, the pure white ones were sprouting anew at his feet, the spores so strong that any of the purple ones around it withered and waned.

Cloak Kid set the last of the purple flowers ablaze, and with his staff glowing in his hands, he wasn't sure what that white flower did, but he was thankful. He struck the last flower with all of his might.

***...

"Cloak? CLOAK!"

Hat Kid ran through Goat Village, looking around frantically for her friend. She was surprised to see the skies clearing and the air fresh once again, but then many Nomads and Goats gathered around outside. They were all around someone who was glowing white.

The girl made her way through the crowd and saw that the one who was hogging all the attention was Cloak Kid.

"The air is clear again!" one of the Nomads exclaimed. "And the goats seem to have come to their senses again. I don't really understand it, but I assume we have you to thank!"

Cloak Kid opened his mouth to speak, then the light faded away from his body. Guess the power he had was only temporary. Even so, he didn't go back to feeling like death again.

"Cloak!" Hat Kid ran up to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" he said, looking at his hands and then himself. "I think so. I… I would've been in real trouble, but… DJ Grooves and those Goats helped me."

Hat Kid gasped. "Grooves?" She looked and saw the DJ in the crowd, who smiled sheepishly. She couldn't tell whether or not he was looking at them. She realized those Goats had the same glow in their eyes that her shipmate had before it vanished.

"Excuse me," said a Nomad. "We couldn't help but notice this in a cluster of those flowers after they were destroyed. We noticed how you seem to be going after them, so I guess they belong to you?"

The Nomad held out the last Time Piece. Hat Kid beamed and took it. Then, Cloak Kid fell to his knees.

"Cloak!" Hat Kid was there to catch him on his way down. She felt his head, but found no fever. The boy was leaning all his weight on her, like he was just really tired.

"Hattie…" he whispered, a content smile on his face. "Whatever… The thing I had… It feels… far away… I feel better."

"Huh?" When Hat Kid didn't get an answer, she looked at him and saw that he had fallen asleep in his arms. He didn't look like he was distressed, sick, or in any pain at all. Hopefully, it would stay that way when he woke up. She tucked away the Time Piece, picked up his staff and him as well. "Thank-you," she said to everyone. And with that, she beamed herself and Cloak Kid back to the ship…

…not knowing that the worst was yet to come.