Chapter 18: Fine Time in Alpine Skylines
"And this is the Captain's quarters. A.k.a Hat's bedroom."
"She has a lot of pillows!"
"She sure does."
After our pizza party for lack of better terms, I'd elected to give Knit a tour around the ship, seeing as how she was so interested. She was sitting on top of my head since she said it 'felt like a fluffy bed' as I walked around and showed her everything.
"This is where you jumped down into Subcon, right?" Knit asked.
"Uh-huh." I nodded. "So, hopefully, we won't ever have to jump from here again."
"Heeeeey." Knit muttered. "I still can't believe you JUMP down to the planet."
"Resilient little things, we are." I confirmed as we walked back into the main room. "So then, I think that there's one room left...that has power at least. The Mailroom."
"Where's that?"
"The top of the slide." I walked past Hat and Bow who were watching anime.
"Why is it at the TOP of a slide?"
"Ask Hat." I shrugged as I put on my Spider Tie Badge, and used it to climb up the slide into the Mailroom.
"Everything's flying!" Knit cried over the tornado of letters.
"My headcanon is the fans broken." I tried to explain.
"You sure have a lot of letters!" Knit exclaimed.
"Well, we pick up a lot." I said. "There's a reason we have one room specifically for letters."
She pulled herself into my field of view. "And why is that?"
I picked her up and spun her around to face her. "Letters have a special power. They can travel across timelines and dimensions."
"Really!?" Her eyes sparkled with amazement.
"Yeah. When you write a letter, you put your hopes and feelings and emotions into it, and that power is enough for that letter to travel through boundaries if you release it to the wind." I recited, then added: "At least, that's what Hat told me."
"I want to write a letter!" She cried happily. "I want to write a letter to my dad in an alternate dimension!"
"You sure?" I questioned.
"Yeah. I know that Moonjumper isn't MY dad, but it would make me feel happy, you know?"
"If that's what you want. C'mon, let's get you some paper and pencils." We slid back down the slide and up into my room, where I pulled out some paper for her to write on and a pencil. "Make sure to address it to 'Moonjumper', and once you're done, just let it go in the Mailroom."
"Will it make it to a Moonjumper?" Knit asked too innocently.
"You can only believe. Like I did." I told her.
"Okay then." Knit nodded, as she began writing, and I left her to it.
"Tie!" Hat jumped up as I came down. "What's our next destination?"
"Well, Hat, the room that regained power after your bedroom was the Engine Room." I explained. "So that's our best bet."
"Awesome!" She jumped up and made a break for it. "Wait!" She stopped on one heel and slowly spun around. "We need to get more capsules first!"
"You nearly forgot!" Bow gasped.
"C'mon, Tie!" Hat pulled on my sleeve over to the roulette. "You go first!"
"Okay, okay." I sighed with a smile as I pulled out six rift tokens and popped them in. Spinning it, I got a flair. "Okay, let's see what changes." I popped it open and got enveloped by smoke before looking down.
"Not my tie, not the Bat Bow..." I cycled through them. "Not the Spark Scarf, ah! Necro Necklace!" Instead of little skull pearls, the necklace now consisted of black orbs with dark orange spirals in them. I think they were supposed to be orbs or something. Looked pretty cool though.
"Once more!" Hat clapped.
"I know." I spun again and got a colour this time, switching to my tie before popping it open. "Alright, let's see what we've got colour wise." Well, I certainly didn't expect dark blue hair, light blue shirt, dark blue trousers and red shoes with a gold and green tie.
"You look...hm..." Bow tried to comment.
"You look like Klonoa!" Hat commented.
"Huh, guess you're right." Why does a capsule machine have a colour from an obscure series I loved?
"By that logic, maybe I'll get a Wakfu colour!" Hat giddily gasped as she put in her own coins.
I returned back to my own colours and watched them, honestly happy that things were returning to normal. Hat being her annoyingly happy self, me being comfortable where I am. We just had some others around now, that was all.
"Tie!" I looked up as Knit came down, holding up her letter. "I finished it."
"Great! Wanna go throw it into the Mailroom?" I asked.
"Gotcha." She nodded as she ran towards the slide.
"Here, I'll help you." I changed my yo-yo into its hammer form and hit the springboard with it, causing it to propel Knit up into the Mailroom.
Hat grabbed my attention as she pointed at her Dweller's Mask, which had changed into a different, creepier one with long horns. I complimented her on it and she went back to spinning. She was putting in effort to acknowledge me a lot at the minute, after what I told her. In all honesty though? I would be happiest when we were back to normal, her being happy and bouncing all over the place, making me sigh in exasperation. I truly loved that. Or maybe I would miss this attention when she-who was that?
There was a man standing right slap bang in the middle of the room. He was about as tall as Julia, and was wearing a dark hoodie that obscured most of his face, with jeans and trainers! This odd feeling from looking at him...was similar to-
"Who are YOU?" I hissed so that nobody else heard me as I approached him.
He flinched, then stared at me, before scratching the back of his head and shrugging his shoulders. He shrugged his shoulders when I asked him who he was! Who does that!? But more importantly...
'This guy's from another dimension.' I realised as I stared at him. 'What am I? A hotspot for this sorta thing now?'
He wasn't see-through like Julia was, but I could tell nobody else could see him. In fact, I could tell a lot of things about him...like how he seemed to have amnesia...and was from another world...wait...
'I think you've got the wrong person!' I practically screamed at him in my head. 'Try one dimension over for that sorta problem!'
Now I just felt awkward as he stood there.
"How...did you get here?" What else was I supposed to say!?
"I'm in a dream." Oh, so HE can speak, but me and Julia couldn't? Real biased, multiverse. "None of this is real."
"Seems pretty real to me. Because you just appeared out of nowhere." No way was my existence this guys dream! I didn't need to add an existential crisis on top of my issues! Obviously, this was similar to the situation me and Julia were in...so why did he get speech!?
We just stared at each other. I was beginning to get more and more of his feelings, that were hitting a little too close to home. Self-doubt, lack of confidence, uncertainty...
"You...you and I...we're alike, aren't we?" I chose my words carefully. Not the same, we each had different issues and reasons...but it was there.
"I believe so." He responded. "We both have something to protect. To care about."
Oh, so this was a two-way system, was it? "How do you know that?" He just shrugged again. SO reassuring.
"Something wrong?" He picked up on me.
"Oh, no, we always see strangers appear in our spaceship without the alarm going off that seem to be able to read my mind." I've still got the sarcasm it seems.
"Fair enough." He chuckled.
"Tiiiiie!"
"Huh?" I looked over at Hat.
"What are you doing over there?" She called.
"It's nothing." I told her.
"Come on! We're going to the Engine Room!" She declared.
"Look, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have things to do." I told him.
"I get it. You seem like you've got a lot on your plate." He replied.
I nodded, turned and took a few steps.
Then stopped. I could still feel his emotions. If we really were similar, he might end up in the same position I was in back in Subcon. Nobody should have to feel that. In this moment...I could be like the one who saved me.
"Good luck." I told him.
"...You too, kid." I heard him say.
When I looked back, he was gone.
'I've really gotta start getting peoples names.' I thought.
"Tie!" Knit slid down the slide. "I did it! The letters gone! It will make it to...one, Moonjumper...right?"
Smiled, knelt down, and rubbed her head. "Definitely, Knit." She smiled at me.
I may not be able to help myself...but maybe I could help others.
"Sorry for the wait!" I turned to Hat and Bow. "Let's see what we're dealing with now."
"Mountains?" Hat questioned.
"I think the correct term is alpines." I said as we took turns staring through the telescope.
The Engine Room was a fire engine if you believe it. We kept it cool with snow so that it didn't, y'know, burn the whole ship down. It also led into the Laundry Room, for some reason. Hat's ship, not mine.
"I can't believe they stretch above the clouds!" Hat marvelled.
"Should make for quick entry at least." I nodded.
"Get ready to jump, everybody!" Hat declared as she pushed open the window.
"Roger!" Bow saluted, before we all jumped out.
As expected, it didn't take long to land on top of one of them. I breathed in the fresh, crisp air up here...what there was of it. Air was pretty thin. Thankfully, our species are very adaptable, so it only took a few huffs for me to get used to it.
"We really are super high up." Bow said as she stared over the edge.
"More importantly, look at all this." I gestured to the torches, statues and banners all strewn about the place. "Seems like these mountains are inhabited."
"I wonder what kind of crazy things live up here!?" Hat cried excitedly.
"Well so far we've had mafia cooks, Moon Penguins, Express Owls, ghosts..." I counted them off on one hand. "I'd say the sky's the limit."
"Flying whales!" Bow declared.
"Possibly." I shrugged as I put on the Spider Tie Badge.
We climbed up the mountain, which was filled with a surprising amount of greenery, until we reached a wooden bridge that led up to a big painted wooden double door.
"Someone's home." I stated as my namesake blew in the winds. It was snowing a bit as well, but not cold enough to warrant a change of clothing.
"We just gotta ring the bell!" Hat declared as she strolled up to a bell, and then proceeded to grapple onto it with her hookshot and swing from it to make it ring. "Hahahaha!"
'Oh, Hat.' I thought as I clutched my ears. 'Never change.'
That ringing was enough for the doors to open, apparently on their own, and we walked up a flight of stone spiral stairs...which were WAY more treacherous then they needed to be as we had to swing over huge gaps WHILST WINDS WERE BLOWING until we finally reached the top to find...
"What the heck are these?" Bow questioned as we looked upon what appeared to be miniature shrines indicated by the skulls on top.
"No idea." I admitted as I looked around, then at the sky. "Weather looks like its turning bad. Can't see anything else up here." Just the clouds below us indicating a very long drop.
"This one's different." Hat said as she walked up to the one at the front, with a hole in the middle. "It looks like there's something attached to it."
Me and Bow walked over and observed. It was a rope with various coloured flags on it, stretching up out into the sky.
"Where does it go?" Bow wondered.
"Let's find out!" Hat eagerly exclaimed.
"Whilst I've given up on persuading you not to, how exactly? We can't walk across that." I said.
"Hmmm...I know!" Hat beamed as she attached to it with her Hookshot...
...and shot off on it into the clouds.
"Hat!?" I gasped.
"Ohhh, gotcha!" Bow then grabbed it and shot off too!
'You've gotta be kidding me...' I sighed in my head. 'Alright then...' I changed my yo-yo into its flytrap form to have it grab onto the rope.
Then I too shot off.
"Holy space!" I cried out as I rocketed up into the clouds by the string of my toy. If I was any other species, I think my arm would've been torn right out of its socket! Dark clouds billowed around me as I rose higher and higher, until I broke through.
What lay before me were several mountains, each drastically different from the other. I was flying between pillars that had gigantic statues on them, and bells hanging above me that rang as I flew under them.
'Wow...' I couldn't help but marvel as I took in my surroundings, before I was thrown off at the end of the line and landed on grass, on top of a roof.
"Tie!" Hat waved at me from on the ground, and I jumped down to join her.
"This is a village?" I looked around at the houses, sculptures torches, and the citizens, who appeared to be people about our height wearing robes that obscured their appearances.
"Aw, it's a shame they aren't whales." Bow pouted.
"They seem kinda...out of place." I thought aloud as I stared at their Arabic attire.
"Those look kinda in place, though." Hat said as she pointed at some large figures wearing red and blue robes wandering around. They had big hairy faces and large horns too.
"What makes you say that?" I questioned.
"They're goats! Can't you tell by the horns?" Hat poked her fingers up for emphasis.
'Coulda fooled me.' These were some fat, upright goats.
"Let's explore!" Hat declared as she and Bow set off in random directions.
"Just don't wander too far!" I called as I glanced around. Plenty of Pons to pick up at least.
I wandered around the village for a bit, and from what I could gather, the little guys were called Nomads, whilst the big guys were called...Goats. Guess Hat was right on that one. But guess who I happened to bump into.
"Greetings, Tie." Badge Seller greeted me.
"Seller, hello." I waved back. "You know, I met someone recently who said I should buy a lot from you."
"They sound wise." Seller responded, with a hint of knowing. "Perhaps I could interest you in the elusive third badge pin?"
"Well, since you insisted so nicely." I snarked as I handed the Pons to him, and could now put on my Venus Flytoy, Spider Tie and Cannonball Badges.
"Quite nice up here, isn't it?" Seller breathed...do they even breath?
"Once you get used to the thin air, then yes." I nodded.
"Full of such history these peaks are." They mumbled, watching as a Goat ambled past us, looking at us and giving a little wave. It was oddly adorable.
"You sound like you know something." I gave it a wave back as it passed.
"I know a lot." Seller figured. "My advice is...keep your eyes open."
"When do I not?" I responded.
"Badge Seller!" Hat bounded over to them.
"Ah, my favourite customer." Standing right next to them, remember.
"Sorry, I don't have enough Pons for something new right now." Hat admitted. "Anyway, Tie! Come on! This way!" She tugged at my sleeve.
"Alright, alright, my arm's had enough abuse so far today." I told her as she pulled me along. "See ya, Seller."
"Farewell, Tie." They waved to me.
Hat pulled me over to another line with flags on it, and a Nomad standing next to it. "This guy says we can use these wires to get to the other mountains!"
"If you can get rid of those annoying sparkles, we'll give you free travelling rights." The Nomad nodded.
'Time Pieces.' I nodded. "So, why this one?" I looked at the line and saw it led to...a giant birdcage?
"Because my adventure senses are tingling to go that way!" She declared.
"Sure that's not a sugar rush?" I guessed.
"Hush! It's adventure senses!" She exclaimed. "Onwards, team!"
"Onwards it is then." I submitted as we all latched onto the wire and launched off.
"So they're here..."
Voice looked down from the top of Goat Village as Hat, Tie and Bow explored. Hat was hugging one of the Goats, Bow was stealing Pons, and Tie was talking to a Nomad, approaching Badge Seller.
"Hah...hah..."
Voice stopped and looked over their shoulder at Moustache, who was clutching her chest and breathing heavily.
"This...sucks..." She wheezed.
"I told you, relax your breathing." Voice said as they walked over and made them sit down.
Moustache took slow breaths.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise how difficult it the thin air up here would be for you." Voice apologised. "Take some time to get used to it."
"N-No...!" Moustache stood up. "If they're...here already...we need to go and find more Time Pie-hah! Hah...!"
"Slow breaths! Slow breaths...!" Voice calmly told her.
"I'm...not...a hindrance...!" She coughed.
"That is the last thing you are." Voice assured her, turning her head so that she stared into the shadows underneath their hood. "You're someone who is fighting for what you believe in, against all the odds. You're not invincible like them. But your slow and steady steps will make sure you make it there in the end. Now though? You need to take it easy."
Moustache breathed slowly. "...Boss and Rookie, yeah...?"
"Boss and Rookie." They nodded.
"...I'm sorry..." She mumbled. "...for dragging...you into this..."
"Heheheh…" Voice chuckled. "Thank you for it."
When they were sure Moustache was resting, they went over to the edge and took out their tuning fork, holding it up, as it began to vibrate.
"More dimensional disturbance..." Voice whispered, as they stared down at the trio zipping off towards the Birdcage. "And as expected...he's right in the middle of it."
Dreamy Traveller: A colour that makes you feel obscure, happy, and a little bit sad...like a waking dream.
With this, the Skyline Alpine Arc has begun! This chapter will focus a bit more on Voice and Moustache, but also will have some more elements, and shocks thrown in for good measure!
The beginning of this chapter was in reference to the latest chapter of Mr. Mega1423's 'Megacharge', where Tie made a guest appearance. Even though I haven't read it at all...*awkward cough*...I felt I should honour the tribute at least. Go check it out if you have the time, it's got over 50 chapters for you! Thanks again, Mr. Mega!
In other news! I had a job interview today! And I realised...I'm really bad at tying a tie...even though I'm writing a story about a character who's main focus is a tie...*AWKWARD CHOKING!* Anyway, hope that goes well for me!
Special thanks to Konan720, saltythebear (I see what you did there) and Happiness studios for reviewing the previous chapter.
Next time: Tie gets a new Neckwear! See you then!
