Chapter 19: Fat Birds, Lava Burns

"You are idiots."

"Tie!"

"Well they are!"

We were on our way to the Birdhouse, as the Nomad's called it, but it turns out getting there was a step-by-step basis, jumping from mini-mountain to mini-mountain, and it had been going fine until we hit a dead end, where we learned this nugget of knowledge.

"WHY would you use giant horns to extend out your wires that you NEED to travel around, when you can't even blow them!?" I cried.

"The thin air means we have trouble blowing." The Nomad we were talking to replied meekly.

"...Then don't use horns which require vast amounts of aiiiiiiiiir!" I yelled in exasperation.

"Usually the Goats are the ones who blow them." The Nomad said. "But they've been acting odd lately."

"Odd how?" Hat asked.

"Just...wandering around, aimlessly."

'Sounds like most of the things on this planet.' I thought.

"I think they're afraid of something...inevitable." He mumbled.

"Like what?" Bow wanted to elaborate.

"No idea." The Nomad said.

"Um...can we blow the horn to make the wire, so we can keep going?" I asked.

"Well, if you can." The Nomad shrugged.

"Can I blow it, Tie?" Hat requested.

"Sure, Hat." I pat her on the shoulder, as she blowed into the horn, causing a giant...horn sound, to erupt out, as a wire filled with flags extended out towards the giant birdcage.

"Wow, you've got really strong lungs." The Nomad praised.

"We're just adaptable." I shrugged.

"Onwards!" Hat declared as we jumped down.

We rode the next wire to the cliffs closest to the Birdhouse. The areas around each named mountain seemed to be related to it in some way, for example, all of these cliffs were filled with nests of eggs, and egg murals, and egg statues. Lots of egg stuff.

"Wonder what are in these?" Hat wondered as she stared at one such nest.

"No, we're not bringing one back to hatch as a pet." I prematurely said. "And no, not an omelette either."

"Awwwww." Hat and Bow pouted.

"I actually think these may be the eggs of all those pesky birds that have been giving us trouble." I hypothesized.

"The round ones that try to peck us?" Hat questioned.

"Well, there certainly are a lot around here, aren't there?" I gestured.

"...Should we break them then?" Bow suggested.

"No." Both me and Hat denied. Sure they were pains to deal with, but smashing their eggs was just wrong.

We rode off on one more wire, putting us inside the giant birdcage itself, and surprise surprise, it was filled with giant birdhouses.

"Don't know why I was expecting anything else, honestly." I admitted.

Admittedly, with three of us, collecting things was much easier, no stone was left unturned, but that didn't mean things were easy, thanks to all of the darn birds jumping around this place, and the-

"Exploding egg!" I screamed as I cannonball jumped away from the explosion.

"Wow, that's weird.!" Hat commented.

"That's not right!" I exclaimed as I dusted myself down. I actually noticed that I had landed next to some weird looking purple plants. Their buds were closed, but it looked like they were about to bloom soon...

"Tie!" Hat distracted me from above. "I can see a chest in the house you're on top of!"

"I got it." I assured her as I put on the Bat Bow and used it to fly into the house and pop open the chest. "Ooh, yarn. Actually, I think that makes enough..." I got out my other yarn balls and wove them all together, before throwing it around my neck.

It was a cape. Neon green in colour, with tassles at the end of it that made it look like a mop or something. It was also sparkly, with yellow twinkling stars coming off of it, as it was fastened around my neck by what looked like two metal magnetic bubbles instead of a clasp. Thank you The Incredibles. Finally, there was a golden symbol on it that looked like a tornado.

"Never thought I'd be wearing a cape." I thought aloud as I looked at it, before platforming out.

"Oooh! Is that a cape!?" Hat was on me instantly. "You look like a superhero!"

"What does it do?" Bow inquired.

"Not sure." I admitted. "Hold on, I'll use some magic and we'll know."

Instantly, my arms turned into plastic tubes with black cones on the end of them.

"...Okay then." I said.

"Are you gonna shoot a laser like my umbrella?" Hat enquired.

"Let me see..." I aimed it specifically away from them and concentrated.

Instantly, my arm created a large vacuuming tornado that began sucking up all the Pons in the direction I pointed, as well as all the hay laying around.

"You're a vacuum!" Hat clapped.

"Huh." I stated as I held both arms up and began vacuuming up all of the capsules I aimed at.

"Unlimited power!" Hat declared in her best raspy voice.

"Alright then..." I changed my arms back to normal and thought for a moment, before snapping my fingers. "Cleaner Cape!"

My newly named neckwear was quite helpful. I could vacuum up any stray Pons we couldn't reach, pull objects we couldn't grab onto, and even vacuum up haystacks in our way since they could be broken down into bits. Turns out I could also vacuum up smaller enemies like the birds and shoot them back out, though the exploding eggs were a bit too big.

"You're having fun with that, aren't you, Tie?" Bow said.

"Let me have this." I told her as I vacuumed up a bird then shot it at another bird.

"Don't think you can vacuum up that one though." Hat said as she looked out a birdhole.

"Why, what's-sweet space!" I gasped.

That was one fat bird! That was a pudgy chunky rolling fat peck bird! Big as one of these houses! And the Time Piece was on a platform right above it!

"It's so cute!" Bow cooed.

"Cute wouldn't be my first thought." I admitted. "Wonder how it got so big?"

"It's sleeping. Would be a shame if we disturbed it." Hat mumbled.

"Would it?" I asked.

"Nope." She smiled cheerfully.

That led to her blowing another horn to create a wire to said bird (who flipped itself over in shock) allowing us to ride over, bounce on top of it, and retrieve our first Alpine Skylines Time Piece. Hat cradled it like a baby as if to shush it.

'Bit late for that.' I thought, staring at the pudgy bird we just bounced on...and it was right back asleep.

But looking at the blorb birb, I noticed something else. Those flowers I noticed earlier that bloomed into...something dark purple, and one of the spores floated out, right into the mouth of one of the Goats just standing there.

'Oh, that's nasty.' I thought. To be fair, it was that Goat's own fault for, oh I don't know, EATING the purple seed. Didn't even try to move out of the way or anything.

"Tie! Let's go put the Time Piece back!" Hat told me.

"Huh? Oh, sure." I agreed as we all teleported back.

"TIE!" I was immediately greeted by Boss, who came up to me, and his entire jar was covered by a pink knitted bobble hat. "Can you tell that Knit girl not to cover me with her cursed cotton creations!?"

"That's a good look for you, Boss." I snarked, but pulled it off of him nonetheless. "Sorry, but Knit's not my responsibility. Look after yourself."

"I am two eyeballs in a jar!" He cried.

"Plus Roombi." I argued, the Roomba beeping happily that I acknowledged it.

"Nice!" Speaking of which, there was Knit, right behind me, examining the Cleaner Cape. "You made this from my yarn didn't you?"

"Yep." I spun around to face her.

"YOU'RE yarn?" Bow gasped as Hat put the Time Piece away.

"Oh, we never told you." I realised. "Well, it's not HER yarn per say, but she's made out of the same stuff."

"Does that mean YOU'RE magical?" Hat gasped.

"Um...I guess?" Knit shrugged.

"You guess?" I repeated.

"I've never really had a chance to try using magic." She admitted. "Never really had a need to."

I folded my arms. Was Knit really capable of doing something extraordinary? If the yarn could make all of Hat's Hats and my Neckwear, I wonder if she was capable of anything? Or rather, what did Moonjumper make her capable of? My thoughts about Knit's father were still vague and unfounded, but this little twinge in the back of my head made me frown at his name.

"Let's go back to Goat Village now!" Hat bounced up and down excitedly. "I wanna go to another new place!"

"If you're actually enthusiastic about finding Time Pieces, Hat, which I'm SURE you are." She giggled nervously at that. "Then who am I to say no? To the Engine Room!"

"Let's aim to land IN the village this time." Bow agreed.


Voice and Moustache were gradually platforming up a mountain where a giant bell hung, taking it slowly.

"Y'know, I could just teleport us there." Voice suggested...again.

"No." Moustache spoke calmly for her. "I need to get more used to this thin air...urgh! Such a pain!"

"If you say so." Voice relented as they helped her up.

"You sure there's a Time Piece up here?" Moustache wondered aloud.

"Absolutely." Voice nodded. "Besides, this location is very important."

"Don't tell me you're gonna waste all our time making another grave or something." The girl grumbled.

"No promises." Voice shrugged, causing Moustache to bop them on the top of their hood.

"Honestly, I don't know why I put up with you sometimes!" She huffed.

"Because without me, you'd be all on your lonesome." Voice squeaked as they poked her in the cheek. "And because you wuv me~."

"Gross! No way!" Moustache cried as she waved them off, causing Voice to laugh. "...You've changed, Voice."

"In what way?" They asked as they used their tuning fork as a springboard to throw Moustache up to the next platform, before creating a portal for themselves to simply walk up their.

"For one, you're much less of a stick in the mud, two, you're actually nice to be around..." Moustache listed as they walk.

"When do we get to the compliments?" Voice wondered.

"And...you're just a good guy." Moustache said. "Not bad for my Rookie."

"Oh thank you, great teacher." Voice bowed mockingly.

"But even better for my friend." Moustache added.

"Was that...kindness?" Voice mused.

"Don't get used to it." Moustache muttered as she climbed up further.

"Fine by me." Voice responded as they continued to ascend.


"Wow, it's hot."

"Well done, Hat." I mumbled.

Our next destination after landing in Goat Village, as decided by our Captain, was what the Nomad's called The Lava Cake. As expected, the mountains surrounding it were all charcoal black, with lava pouring down out of them. Believe it or not, our species are no strangers to lava. Yep, we can even survive that. Still get burned, but the noxious fumes? No problem. Lungs of gods we have.

"The Nomads seem to like it." Bow pointed at several ones who were enjoying themselves.

"They're certainly dressed for it." I wasn't letting that go.

"Tie, can you use your vacuum to cool me down?" Hat requested.

"It doesn't work like that." I told her flat-out.

We eventually made our way over to the base of the Lava Cake itself, thanks to my Bat Bow and the spiders Hat and Bow could bounce off (now that I think about it what were those spiders attached to?) and were at the base of it. It wasn't exactly a cake, more like multiple latforms of lava stacked on top of each other.

'How is that even possible?' I mused, when I spotted something. 'More of those flowers...' The same ones from the Birdhouse, that that Goat stupidly swallowed..

"Water!" My attention was diverted to Hat, who was running over to a pool of water. "With this we can cool do-HOT!" As soon as she dived into the water, she jumped back out.

"It's a hot spring!" Bow stated.

"That's obvious, since its so close to all this lava." I said.

"No fair..." Hat blew on her hands.

"C'mon, Hat. We'll grab the Time Piece, then we can go back and have ice cream." I told her.

"Ice cream!?" She gasped. "Can we have double chocolate?"

"IF it motivates you to go." I nodded.

"Good enough for me!" Hat declared.

So that's how we set off up the Lava Cake. Travelling BETWEEN levels of lava was quite unnerving, of course, Hat and Bow were fearless about it and we made good time, until we came to a roadblock; a literall wall of lava falling down from the upper level.

"It's blocking us to the cannon." Hat pointed, since the cannons sent us up to the next level.

"Tie! Vacuum it up!" Bow declared.

"I'm not attempting to vacuum lava." I denied. "Besides, I don't think it would work on something that dense." I thought for a moment. "Hold on."

I put on the Necro Necklace and went Danny Phantom to jump through the wall of lava unscathed. Thankfully there was a giant socket that I could plug the Spark Scarf into, causing a platform to flip up, and the other two to cross.

"Great work, Tie!" Hat praised. "Y'know, we've gotten a lot of new abilities since we came to this planet."

"And compulsive hoarding. Don't forget compulsive hoarding." I stated.

"I know, but it's really cool, isn't it?" Hat beamed. "Despite all of the problems, this planets been really good to us, hasn't it?"

"Guess it has." I admitted, as we stared out across the Alpine Skylines.

"We could stay here." Hat suddenly said. "We don't have to go home."

"Hey..." I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Hat. I know you want to go home. And I do too, promise."

"But Tie...back home, you..." She began.

"It's okay." I told her. "Whatever happens back home...I'll accept it."

Bow was quiet during this, leaving us a moment of silence.

"...Can we get going? It's really hot." Hat complained.

"Sure." I agreed, thankful our species doesn't get sweaty.

As expected of platforming pros like us, we made it to the top and secured the Time Piece.

"We're blazing through these! Heh, get it? Blazing?" Hat giggled.

"Please no puns, Hat." I sighed. I was looking over the edge of the Lava Cake, heights were no problem for us, trying to see if I could see those flowers, but we were so high up not even their spot of purple was visible to me.

"Whatcha looking at, Tie?" Hat wondered.

"Those purple flowers...there were some down there and some at the Bierdhouse. Did you two see them?" I asked.

"Those weird ones? Yeah." Hat nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Bow wondered.

"Another bad feeling I get from them." I responded.

"Bad like...?"

"Subcon bad."

"Well..." Hat sat next to me. "If those flowers create a problem, we'll fix it, right?"

"I'd prefer to prevent the problem rather then fix it." I admitted. "But the locals aren't making this easy."

"How about this? It's there problem." Hat shrugged. "We'll only fix it if WE want to fix it. I mean, what have they done for us, huh?"

I smirked. "Careful, you're beginning to sound like me."

"No, you're more like...'Captain! Let go of the cookie jar!'" She cried in a gruff voice.

"Nothing like me." I denied.

"I thought it was accurate." Bow chimed in.

"Thanks." I said, looking towards the sea of clouds. "Nice to know I'm...hm?"

"What is it?" Both asked.

"That." I pointed down. "Do you see that?"

There was something in the clouds. Flying through it? Swimming? It was something long, like a serpent. Nothing more then a shadow, and like that it was gone.

"I saw it." Hat gasped. "Wonder what it was?"

"Maybe the Nomads will know." Bow suggested.

"Not a bad idea actually. Let's pop down and ask before we go back to the ship." I said.

The two girls used their umbrellas to float down whilst I flowed my descent with the Bat Bow, talking to the Nomad at the base of the mountain about what we saw.

"Ohhhh! You must've seen the Leviathan!" The Nomad nodded.

"Leviathan?" I echoed.

"It's a giant creature that lives in the clouds." The Nomad raised its arms as if to appear intimidating. "The guardian of Alpine Skylines! We tell naughty children the Leviathan would gobble them up if they were naughty-" Hat and Bow actually cowered at that. "But it's really just a big old softie!"

"So you've seen it, then?" Bow marvelled.

"Uh...no." He admitted. "It's pretty rare...doesn't show itself to many people. Others have been reporting sightings though. A lot more then usual. I'm telling you, it's part of the omen!"

"That something bad's gonna happen soon?" Hat asked.

"Exactly!" The Nomad nodded. "It is inevitable!"

'Inevitable, huh?' I stared at the clouds where I first saw it, then at the flowers, which had bloomed. 'Time is cruel, I guess.'


Cleaner Cape: Allows Tie to create vacuums that suck up small objects, small enemies, liquids and powders! It can even pull objects you can't grab onto! This definitely sucks!


This was another little tidbit chapter that focuses on setting things up for the future, can you guess what's been hinted at here?

Yeeeeeah Skylines is a bit slower after the rollercoaster that was Subcon, so we're focusing a bit more on Moustache and Voice now, the latter of whom was surprisingly absent for most of AHiT considering she's 'the main villain'. At least Bowser has the decency to show his face once in a while! Also, Tie's next Neckwear has been revealed, one more left to create!

Thank you to saltythebear, Konan720, Guest, Tbone8454, Mr. Mega1423, HunterHQ, and One day I'll log for reviewing!

Next time: The two groups meet up in the Twilight Bell, and Voice confronts Tie. Look forward to it!