Chapter 3: Acquaintances with Benefits

I slowly landed on the beach area, which was populated by a few Mafia members. They seemed harmless enough so there was no reason to engage in combat with the-

"It's the beach!" Aaaaaand the Captain beat them all to the side with her umbrella as she charged to the sea and began splashing around like a child.

Again, I would like to reiterate that this was my captain. She was higher rank then me. Splashing in the water, giggling childishly.

I coughed. "Um...Captain?"

She instantly turned to me with a pouty frown. "Hat."

I was not going on a first name basis with her. "Time Pieces, remember?"

"Right!" She instantly jumped up. "Time to get looking!"

"Leave this to me." I said.

"Oh, you mean your tie? I've got that too!" First I'd heard of it, so I was sceptical when she pushed her hat down over her head. "Okey-dokey, hat! Whereeeee's the closest Time Rift?" Suddenly, a pair of binoculars popped out of the top of her hat, that looked in a direction before popping back in as she pulled it up onto her hat again. "That way! Come on, Tie!"

I couldn't help but frown. 'Oh, okay, I'm just here then.'

I followed her as she nimbly jumped around the buildings, beating birds out of her way and collecting capsules as I followed. At least she was capable at something...

"Tie! Keep an eye out!" She suddenly called to me as we jumped on top of a building.

"For the Time Rift?" I replied.

"No! For yarn!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Pardon?"

She turned to face me. "Yeah! There's some really good yarn around this place! I found some and its super special, so I'm trying to find more to make a new hat!"

I just stared at her in disbelief. In the time it took me to find her, she'd managed to collect a sizeable capsule currency, a Time Piece, and yarn. Should I be impressed with her or disappointed in myself?

"R-Right...I'll keep an eye out...for yarn." I sighed. Seriously, was this planet just a junkyard!?

We managed to make it to a construction site where the captain jumped up on ahead as I collected more shiny balls, when I heard her exclaim: "Oh! Hi, Badge Seller!"

'Someone else she's become chummy with?' I thought as I began climbing up. 'It's gonna be a weirdo. It's totally gonna be a weirdo.' "Captain, who are you-HOLY CRUD WHAT IS THAT!?"

The Captain was standing in front of...of...what the hell was I supposed to say!? Well, they wore a red hood and a purple tunic, they carried a black mage oak staff...okay, no, I can't sugarcoat it Seller is creepy! He's CREEPY! His mask keeps shifting around and twisting like he's constantly breaking his neck!

"Oh! Tie!" Captain dragged me in front of him as I dragged my feet, trying in vain to make her stop. "This is Badge Seller!"

"Ah, so those are your names..." He leaned towards me and I was internally freaking out. "A pleasure to meet you."

"...Hi." I waved pathetically.

"So...have you brought Pons this time?" He asked.

"P-P-P-Pons?" I stammered as I straightened my tie in my nervousness.

"Oh, that's what these things are." Captain pulled a green capsule containing a gem out of her hat. "Seller says he can give us badges for Pons."

"Oh yes. And as you can tell, my wares are certainly not ordinary." Yeah, the purple, glitching pieces emanating off of you kinda gave that away. "Simply pin a badge on your person, and you gain extra abilities."

'Am I gonna break through the fabric of reality and suffer for all eternity?'

"I have 59 now! That's enough, right?" Hat asked.

"Ah, the Item Magnet Badge? Of course." Seller then proceeded to absorb 50 Pons before handing the badge to Hat, who pinned it on her namesake.

"How do I look, Tie?" She beamed.

"Like you, with a badge." I stated. "So, it has an effect?"

"Yep!" She then skipped around, and I watched as Pons began to literally be attracted to her like a magnet, meaning his badges actually did have an effect.

"Hmmm, yes." I prevented myself from screaming as Seller suddenly leaned in towards me. "I believe I have some badges that will suit you." Three badges then suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke, hovering in front of me.

"For you..." He mumbled. "I'd say the Rushing Badge, Cannonball Badge and Spider Tie Badge are best."

"Why do you have one that has my nickname on it?" I asked sceptically.

"Quite the coincidence." Was his answer. I didn't like it. "How many Pons do you have?"

"Uh, 33, I reckon." I said.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but my cheapest badge for you is 50." Seller said.

"Okay...can I go now?" I mumbled.

"By all means. But since you are also an alien, I shall keep my eyes on you, and my wares open." Red flag, red flag! Stranger danger!

I hurried after the captain as we left the construction area. "Captain, can you think more about who you want to make friends with here?"

"It's Hat! And do you mean Seller? I mean, he looks really REALLY weird and creepy, but he's selling us magic badges!" She argued.

Yeah, I had already tried the 'we shouldn't interact with others whilst on a planet' speech the first time we stopped. I could quickly tell that that was pointless however as she proceeded to hug the closest citizens because they were fluffy.

"I'm just wary of the fact that nearly everything on this planet so far has wanted to...you know, kill us." I emphasised.

"But it's so cool! There's a beach, and a volcano, and Mustache!" Of course she was having fun. "And-oh! This!"

A Mafia member was holding up a hand, and obviously I assumed the worst, but as the Captain high-fived him, they started playing patty-cake.

'Oh, okay, that's a bit weird but harm-' My thoughts were interrupted as the Mafia member suddenly decked Captain in the face, making her fly away!

"Captain!" I cried out as she landed on a stone path.

Alright, I had a rule. The captain was a devil at times, but she was still my captain, so if someone hurt her, I hurt them. Which I then did. With a Charge Shot to the gut. And I may or may not have deliberately stomped on his head as I ran down.

"Captain, are you okay?" I asked as I reached her.

"Mmmph!" She huffed as she jumped up and adjusted her hat. "Call me Hat!"

I groaned. She was fine.

"Huh? Hey!" Suddenly she jumped up towards an opening in a sewer pipe. "Found it!"

"Found...oh." I joined her and peered in.

In the middle of the pipe was a swirling sphere of light blue temporal energy. This was a Time Rift alright.

"How did it get in here?" I thought aloud.

"Maybe it hit someone who was climbing out of the pipe." Hat suggested. "So! Remember what to do?"

"Go inside the Time Rift and find the Time Piece, which causes the Time Piece to fix itself." I remembered, recalling the 'test run' Hat made me go through. She chucked it right at my head.

"Right! This is gonna be fun!" Hat clapped as she jumped into the void, and I rolled my eyes before following.

The Time Rift is certainly a unique place. It's like a void of blue as giant blocks of ice form platforms, making a form of trial or challenge...my theory is because its a play on 'frozen in time'...and the ice...do you have a better idea?

Also sometimes there are cookies for some reason. Giant platform cookies. I can't explain the cookies, but I think Hat is to blame somehow.

"Onwards, Tie!" Hat declared as she rushed on ahead.

'Yeah, yeah.' I thought as I followed her.

The ice blocks were quite easy to traverse, and for some reason they weren't cold. Maybe because it was time ice or something. Hat seemed to be in her natural habitat as she jumped up between the platforms whilst I just followed, contributing jack all.

"Success!" Hat cheered as she hugged the Time Piece to her chubby cheek, before we were both literally instantly teleported out of the Time Rift and back into the pipe, fixed Time Piece still in hand. "Alright, let's head back to the ship and deposit it!"

"Right, right..." I nodded as we both pulled out our remotes and pressed them to teleport back to the ship. As Hat went to deposit the Time Piece I went into the kitchen and looked through the telescope down at Mafia Town, trying to see if I could see any more Time Pieces. No luck in that department, however, I did see that it was beginning to approach the darker side of the planet, and that dark clouds were beginning to gather over it.

'Looks like it's approaching night, with rain on the way too.' I thought. "Captain!...Captain!"

I huffed and walked back into the living room, where I found her making some kind of pedestal, on top of which she placed...I didn't even know what it was, a lump of something I guess.

"What is this?" I questioned skeptically.

"It's another thing I found!" What didn't she find down there!? "I'm not exactly sure what it is...so I'm gonna call it a Relic!"

"Captain, relics are honoured pieces of history that are integral to telling someone the nature of lost civilisations and are worth a considerable-"

"Lalalala! Boring! I can't hear you!" She yelled. That was what I got for acting intelligent around her. "I think it looks important! There must be more of it!"

"Y'know, this might actually just be somebody's belongings that you're just stealing..."

My statement was outmatched by her suddenly growling stomach. "All that running and jumping made me hungry...Tiiiiiiiiie! Can we have lunch?"

I huffed. "Okay...but it's gonna be a quick one! It's turning night down there, and we need to get as many Time Pieces as quickly as possible." There was no use arguing with her the rare times she gave an 'order'.

"Yaaaay!" Now seemingly satisfied, she plopped herself down in front of the TV and turned on her PC, or Playing Console, and began playing SMS, or Super Meow Stars. And no, she didn't have a second controller.

So I headed into the kitchen and made one of the greatest inventions ever; sandwiches. Take two slices of bread, stick anything inbetween them and bingo, you're a chef.

'Seriously, going around so carelessly in this situation.' I thought, before taking a Pon out of my sleeve and rolling it around in my palm. 'At least we're getting something out of this. In fact, those Mafia inbreds practically owe us for this! Still, that Seller guy was weird...but the badges do seem to work. Wonder what else I can procure from this interruption.'

I was also hoping that Hat playing didn't interrupt the SOS signal. Somebody had to respond to that eventually, right? Hopefully someone with a bit more maturity...

I stopped my train of thought as I finished the sandwiches. Strawberry jelly with the crusts cut off for Hat, and a BLT for me. Not like she ate many vegetables anyway...

"Lunch is up." I stated as I walked into the living room. I knew she wasn't budging from that cushion. I placed her plate down in front of her.

"Thank you, Tie!" She beamed before blowing a kiss at me, causing a heart to float in front of me. I cringed away from it before the heart popped.

That was another thing unique to our species. A little, pointless thing called a Charm. It could be anything from making a star when you wink to making sparkles appear in your eyes when you're happy. They're honestly completely useless, and if we had a god, I reckon they threw it on us as an afterthought or something.

What's mine you don't ask? Well I'm not telling you then.

I sat cross-legged next to Hat as I ate whilst she both played and wolfed down her lunch, Roombi having to buzz around her at the amount of crumbs she was dropping.

"Captain, you're gonna choke again." I warned her.

"Haph!" She insisted through a full mouth.

"Just saying." I said, proceeding to eat at a moderate pace.

With the captains console, as well as a couple of other small things to entertain ourselves, like the slide to the mail room for some reason, and the aforementioned pillow fort, we at least kept ourselves occupied when travelling on the ship or waiting for another jump. It just all seemed so jumbled to me. Like, why the slide? There was no reason for the slide! I may have a problem with the slide. And...the colour scheme I guess. Just kind of clashed some times.

Saying that though, I was eternally grateful to the ship, for keeping me entertained in the vast nothingness of outer space. It was also why I was so thankful to Roombi for keeping it clean. Speaking of clean, I finished off my sandwich, before picking up both plates to wash them.

"Right! I'm full and ready!" Hat declared as she saved and leapt to her feet. "Time to go!"

"Hold it." I grabbed her by her pigtail whilst holding the plates in my other hand. "It's started raining down there. Go get the raincoats."

"Raining? Alright then!" She then started skipping towards her bedroom door, before smacking into it. "Ow! The door didn't open!"

"Power is low because of all the lost Time Pieces." I told her as I typed on one of the screens. "I'll divert all power to it." The door promptly opened.

"Thank you!" She waved as she hurried in.

Honestly...sometimes it felt like I was her babysitter! It was a miracle she functioned! How hard can it be to just look before you leap?

Of course, these were recurring thoughts, which I pushed to the back of my mind where they would fester with the others, as I washed up the plates.

"Raincoats acquired!" Hat cheered as she re-entered the living room and threw one at me, which I managed to catch. And then looked at.

"Did you have to give me the pink one with the brown cat faces on it?" I asked as she slipped on the yellow one.

"It suits you! Besides, I thought you liked pink!" She said.

I said nothing as I put it on and threw the hood up. The hood had cat ears. Because of course it did.

"You look adorable." She giggled as she poked my cheek.

"Let's just jump." I said as we leapt out the window.

We descended down through the dark clouds and into the dark Mafia Town being drowned in rain. We landed on a balcony of some kind and looked around. The Mafia still seemed to be around.

"Alright! Let's go!" She yelled.

"Hold on." I stopped her again. "I think we should split up this time."

"What!?" She suddenly and overdramatically dove and latched onto my leg. "Noooo Tie! Don't leave me!" She looked up at me with her puppy eyes. I had grown an immunity to them.

"Captain-"

"Hat."

"We'll find more Time Pieces quicker if we do split up, then our job will be done faster."

"But it's not a proper adventure without you by my side." She said.

'You mean tailing you?' "C'mon, just for one Time Piece each?"

"Well...I suppose if its just one..." She pouted. "But right back to the ship as soon as you get one, got it?"

"You're the boss." I half-said, half-reminded myself.

"See you soon, Tie!" Hat waved as she hurried off.

"Tie, find a Time Piece. Any Time Piece." I sighed as I gave it a tug, before it pointed towards the port. "Where I landed second? Why didn't you point there first then?"

I came to where my tie was pointing to find a bunch of Mafia goons...cowering? They seemed to be near a pipe leading out from the giant geyser, however, it was completely spewing out water at a tremendous rate. It must've been because of the rain.

"Uhhh..." I coughed awkwardly. "Are you lot...okay?"

"Mafia scared!" Mystery solved. "Mafia saw scary thing jump out from geyser pipe!"

"These things, huh?" I stared at the water as it flowed down. In fact...water was flowing from everywhere! All the pipes had created streams flowing down throughout all parts of the town! This was some seriously heavy rain! Or maybe just a very greedy geyser.

"Mafia saw it also!" Another one said. "Scary, soggy monster jumped out and ran away! Look like it was carrying something shiny..."

"Wait, what?" I gave a tug on my tie, and sure enough, the Time Piece was on the move! "Okay, well, you've been helpful, bye!" I scurried off past them.

With the water washing literally everywhere, Mafia Town was a bit...different to traverse. If I let myself get caught in a strong stream, I'd be sent slipping and sliding straight to the ocean. However, at the same time, since everything was wet, my sliding was super fast, which helped me to get around quicker, and it seemed that puddles had formed in certain places which had somehow acquired inflatables in them, providing a nice bounce pad of sorts.

"Hyup!" I bounced up to the top of the bell tower, which practically had mini waterfalls falling from it. "Alright, where are you going?" My tie kept pointing towards the town area. It seemed to be giving me a run around. "Well, I've really got no choi-ack!"

I suddenly tripped and landed on my face. Peeling myself off the ground I seized what had caught me to fall. It was a ball of black and purple yarn with a single thread sticking out.

"Huh...this must be more of that yarn she mentioned..." I squeezed it in my hands and bounced it on the ground. "Doesn't seem very special. Although, it's kind of funny how it's not wet...welp, if it's also free..." I stuck it in my sleeve.

I hovered my way down to the town to find more cowering Mafia men. Seemed like this Time Piece pilfering thing had come through here, and according to my tie, I was close.

"The clues are all coming together..." I rubbed my hands together. I was allowed to have a little fun whilst the captain wasn't around!

I turned a corner and saw a figure slip into a passageway. "Hey!" I gave chase and managed to find something...unexpected. I was suddenly in a cavern surrounded by gemstones, heading slowly downwards.

"What's a cavern doing down here?" I thought aloud as I descended. I had to admit, the gems were really beautiful, so as I came down to an entrance into a further cavern I stopped and marvelled at my surroundings.

"Heh...wow." This was nice. Really nice in fact. It reminded me of how I felt when I looked up at the stars when I was younger...

But that memory only made me sigh sadly.

"Hello."

I screamed like a little girl as I whipped around and looked side to side expecting an attack.

But all there was...was a little rainbow butterfly made out of wool. It seemed to have a golden light glowing in the middle of its stitching. It also had a long red thread trailing out behind it, which lead to a small crack in the wall.

"Oh, sorry, did I scare you?" The butterfly asked, it sounded feminine, so maybe it was a gir-the golden light just blinked! Was that her eye!?

"Ahem!" I coughed quickly. "...Yes."

"I like your raincoat." The butterfly said.

"Oh, this isn't mine, it's my friends." It was strange...the voice seemed to be coming from that golden light, but it had a slight echo to it.

"It looks very nice." The butterfly said. "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm...Tie." Hey, have a nickname, use it.

"Tie? Tie..." She seemed to be processing the name. "I don't remember that name."

"I...suppose not. I am an alien." I stated rather flatly...Hat's influence I believe.

"Wow, an alien!?" She fluttered in front of me, but thankfully not around, otherwise that thread would have tripped me up. "So, you're a visitor here? That's so exciting!"

She fluttered in front of me. "My name is Knit! So, welcome! Ah, this is so embarrassing, I've never had a visitor before."

"Do you live down here?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Here? Well, kinda...I live everywhere here!" She said. "It has been a while so-oh!"

Suddenly, she fluttered over to another ball of black and purple yarn. "Hey! It's some of my yarn!"

"This is yours?" I asked as I picked it up.

"Yep. Looks like I dropped a couple, or, maybe I dropped a lot..." She admitted.

"I actually found another one. Do you want them back?" I offered.

"Oh, no, I don't need them anymore." She said. "But its very special yarn! If you want it, you can have it, because you're my friend now!"

"Th-thanks." I pocketed the yarn. Hat made friends with a creepy badge seller, I made friends with a talking wool butterfly. Practically even.

"Ohhh, this is so exciting! A new visitor here, I can't wait to...ah..." She then seemed to droop a bit.

"Are you okay?" Exemplary gentleman, me.

"Seems I'm a bit tired still...I'm gonna have to rest for a bit." Knit said. "But it was very nice meeting you, Tie! Talk to you later!" She then zipped back into the crack by a thread.

"Hey!" I peered into the crack, but all I could see was darkness. 'That was...seriously, what's with the population of this planet? And this is one island!'

I then realised something. "Wait...fudgsicals the Time Piece! Tie!" It choked me as it pointed upwards. 'I have time to worry about Knit the magic yarn butterfly later!'

I hurried into a wide, tall cavern, the bottom of which was filled with water. I looked up to where my tie was pointing to see a shadowed figure, Time Piece in hand!

'Good! They're there! So...' I looked up and noticed a hook-like protrusion from a jutting out gem. 'How awfully convenient.'

Throwing my yo-yo up it wrapped around the hook, allowing me to swing up and land on the rocky outcrop, facing the resting assailant. "Ah-ha! Gotcha!"

"Aaaaahhhh!" They cried in a...girly voice?

"You...Mustache!" I pointed.

"Gah!" She threw her sopping wet hood over her hair and wringed out her namesake. "It's you, Tie. Nice raincoat."

"I know, glorious isn't it? Give me that." I took the Time Piece from her grasp.

"Oh sure, you chase me down and take what I found, and you're the victim." She muttered.

"Practically!" I checked the Time Piece for damage. "What were you doing running around with this!?"

"I'll have you know, you ungrateful alien, that I found that Time Piece and was going to give it to you." I glared at her. "...But then it gave me this kinda cool glow that helped me scare the Mafia. That was funny."

"So that was your master plan? Drench yourself to become scary? Should've worn makeup." I commented.

"I didn't get drenched on purpose!" She argued. "I went exploring for a bit and I...got washed out by the rainfall. The Mafia were scared of me, so I ran with it."

"All over town, hence giving me the run around." I muttered.

"Well, if you're not gonna kill them, I'm gonna scare them." She stated.

"I don't remember accepting your offer." I said.

"I remember you kicking me out and onto a balloon." She retorted.

"I was aiming for the ocean." I defended myself.

"You're a jerk."

"Scathing."

"You're strong, I know you are." She practically pouted as I mockingly rolled my yo-yo. "So why won't you help me kill the Mafia!?"

"Because 'kill' is extreme. So is grinding them up and putting them in jars." I argued.

"It's for justice!" She yelled.

"What kind of justice is making them into jam!?"

"They deserve it!"

"Why!?"

"Because they're jerks and I hate them because they took over our town and stole everything and shoved me and bullied everyone and now I live in a cave!" She suddenly shouted out loud.

I stopped rolling my yo-yo. "...Oh."

She was trembling, trying to hold back tears. "Hate 'em...hate them so much..." She sniffed as the tears began to roll.

"...Look, Mustache." I sighed. "It's not my job to 'kill' a bunch of clones with less brain cells then muscles. I'm just here for these." I waggled the Time Piece in front of her. "If they're in the way, or I really don't like 'em. I'll knock them out. Maybe kick them into the ocean or down a hill. But I'm not a killer. And you definitely shouldn't be either. If you wanna be a hero, you don't kill the bad guys, despite what all the anime tells you."

I played with my yo-yo, rolling it along the ground. "First off, you be a good person...by remaining calm, collected, and thinking of others before yourself. No matter how much you hate them. To be a hero, you just gotta do that, plus a bit of bravery and maybe a spectacle or something." I might not have thought out the hero part.

She folded her arms and looked away, sniffing and shivering. If she was listening, I couldn't tell.

"Gimme that." I swiped her hood, making her flinch as I squeezed it out over the edge into the water below until it was as dry as I could get it, then handed it back to her. "See? Really not that hard."

She snatched it out of my grip and tied it back around her head.

"You're welcome." I sighed. "Do you need help getting out of here?"

"No, I can do it fine." She told me.

"Suit yourself." Hey, my work was done here, I was heading out. I teleported back to the ship and huffed. "Almost as dense as Capt-ack!"

Speaking of which, she tackle hugged me the moment my guard was down, our two Time Pieces landing next to us safely.

"...So how are you?" I asked after a while.

"Fine." She stated.

"...Why are you muddy?"

"No reason."

So endeth this thrilling chapter.

So endeth indeed. Hello! Here's chapter 3! Technically, we only did 1 Act this chapter, but a lot happened! Like the introduction of my other OC; Knit! She'll be important later, but for now this was just her intro, which was meant to be brief.

BUT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE! A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG thank you to Konan720 for drawing our new cover art of Tie! There it is! You can see it! Thanks so much again!

Also, we see Tie's first individual Act. Every chapter he'll get his own Act without Hat. This one had him exploring a water filled Mafia Town chasing down the mysterious 'monster'. If I had to name it, it would be 'Total Washout'...or 'Freak from the Shallow'...or 'Torrent Troubles'. One of those.

Also, three of Tie's badges were first seen here. I'll give their full details when he gets them. And we also got a hint of Tie's first new neckwear, like Hat's different hats with differing effects. Those will come...maybe next chapter. Maybe.

Now for something new. I'm gonna give certain 'unorthodox' info about Tie and Hat. Just for my own personal fun. The topic here is...Pokemon! Because whyyyy not? Here we go:

If Tie Brat was a Pokemon, he'd be a: Meowth/Mincinno/Elekid/Mimikyu/Aipom

If Hat Kid was a Pokemon, she'd be a: Eevee/Espurr/Happiny/Spinda/Skitty

Tie's Pokemon Team would be: Gliscor, Banette, Seismitoad, Dunsparce, Scizor, Gallade

Hat's Pokemon Team would be: Buneary, Teddiursa, Stufful, Whimsicott, Altaria, Pachirisu

The more useless things you know...or whatever.

That's it for this chapter though. Next time, it's the first boss! See you then!