Chapter 23: Leviathan's Illness
Yeah this was bad.
Alpine Skylines had been transformed from clear blue skies into dark purple storms with crashing lightning, booming thunder, and dark winds blowing everywhere. If Hat's namesake wasn't perfectly molded to her head it would have easily blown away.
"What's going on!?" Bow cried over the wind and thunder.
"I don't know!" Hat cried back. "Could we ask someone!?"
"Looks like everybody's taken cover!" I pointed out, as all the windows of Goat Village had been boarded up, and there wasn't a Nomad in sight.
"There are these weird spores blowing everywhere!" Hat gestured to the little bals of purple fluff flying in the wind.
"It's obviously those weird purple flowers!" I called.
"Ahhhh! There were some at every area!" Bow remembered. "What do we do!?"
"It's obvious isn't it!?" Hat cried over the wind. "We've got to get to each flower and pull them out! Tie, you go to the Windmill! Bow, you go to the Birdhouse! I'll go to the Lava Cake! Captain's orders, got it!?"
"Got it!" We shouted. If Hat was taking orders, there was no arguing.
"Once you've done that, head straight for the Twilight Bell!" She added. "Aaaaaand split!" We instantly broke off and ran in different directions.
'Darnit, darnit, darnit!' I thought as I dug my heels in against a particularly strong blast of wind. 'Why didn't I just pull out those stupid flowers when I had the chance!? This can't have been 'fated to happen' or whatever!'
I grabbed onto the line and shot off towards the Windmill as lightning flashed dangerously close to me. 'This is absolutely insane!' I clutched tightly onto the string as I got flung off on the end. The Wibndmill in the distance was spinning crazily in the wind.
'Okay, think. Where did I see those flowers over this way?' Before I could ponder that further, I noticed something approaching me. 'A Goat?' The other species of these mountains, but something was wrong, a dark aura seemed to hang over it, and it twitched erratically as it lumbered towards me, until it was right in front of me.
"Uhhhh, hi?" I waved.
It responded by punching me into a nearby wall.
"Fair enough..." I grumbled as I stood back up. "What's gotten into-wait...it's because you ate that seed didn't you!? Then...this is your own stupid fault!" It didn't take kindly to that, and I dodged another punch.
'So, those flowers cause some kind of sickness?' I thought as I jumped back to avoid more punches so strong it caused the ground to crack. 'That must be why all the Nomads are locking themselves in. Luckily our super immune system can handle this alien virus.' We rarely get sick y'know.
The Goat continued chasing after me, swinging its fists so clumsily it was clear it wasn't a fighter. 'It doesn't appear to be behaving erratically because of pain. It's moving out of desperation. Is the illness overcharging its defensive instincts?' I dodged again as it punched a wall so hard it crumbled. 'Then the storm is triggering them to go out of control. The seeds are the bombs and the storm is the trigger. What kind of plant is that?'
"I'm gonna need you to stop." I stated as I lengthened the string of my yo-yo and threw it, causing it to completely wrap around the Goat. Thankfully the string was strong enough to stop even a big hulking thing like that to break free, leaving me to pull it back and cause the creature to spin like a top and collapse to the ground from dizziness.
"Don't worry. If we get the storm to stop, theoretically the seeds will die off without you stimulating them." I hypothesized before running off. "At least I hope so..."
I climbed up another cliff and glanced around, finally laying my eyes on a small grove of the things, with a particularly nasty looking one right in the middle. "There you are." However, when I made to move closer to it, it suddenly fired seeds towards me like missiles!
"Seriously!?' I gasped as I avoided the attack, then put on the Necro Necklace and used it to run through the seeds until I was right in front of it. I was too close for it to fire at me now.
"So this is what you're like in full bloom." I muttered as I stared at it. The seed had blossomed into what could only be described as some kind of dark cherry blossom tree with a twisted black stalk.
I couldn't figure it out at all. The seeds being used as projectiles after used only for infection, generating a storm that was too chaotic to scatter spores...nothing this thing was doing was for reproductive purposes at all like a normal plant. But this wasn't a normal plant. No...the sole purpose of this THING was to create chaos and spread its disease. It wanted to harm more then it wanted to live. This plant was pure evil.
"I have no idea what you are..." I admitted. "But if all you want to do is hurt people, without remorse, then I can't allow you to live!"
I lashed my yo-yo at it, completely severing it. In almost an instant, the other plants around it began to wilt and die. "That's that. Now the one at the Twilight Bell." I turned around, but looked back for a moment at the wilting thing.
"You're what they saw in me." I said. "I'm sorry you aren't better." I turned and hurried off as it died.
I got back to Goat Village relatively quickly, where I met up with Hat and Bow at the line to the Twilight Bell.
"Looks like you did it! Good job team!" Hat yelled over the wind, giving us a thumbs-up. "One more left!"
"Let's go get it together!" Bow said as we all latched onto the wire and shot off.
We landed on a large platform and began running, when suddenly we were stopped by the ground beneath us moving.
"An earthquake!?" Bow gasped as the ground beneath us rumbled so violently we had to stand our ground.
"In the sky!?" I gasped, when I saw something swimming in the dark clouds beneath us. "Look out!" We all backed away from the edge as something burst out of the clouds.
It was incredibly long, the length of our ship, and had a serpentine appearance of scales, all being golden in colour that made it look like it was lightning swimming through the sky. At the end of its tail was a silver spear, and at the top of its head were two curving red horns that formed a crown of sorts, as well as two more red horns which curved ahead of it, making them look like tusks or mandibles. It had a sky blue sash wrapped around just below its head that trailed off behind it, and pointed mouth that had no visible teeth. It's eyes were glowing an angry red, as dark smoke poured out of the sides of its mouth with a dark aura wrapped around it. It gave off a loud, piercing shriek towards the black sky.
"It's the Leviathan!" Hat cried. "It's infected too!"
The creature set its angry gaze on us immediately, and readied its spear on the end of its tail.
"Everybody run!" We all scattered as it thrust its spear right where we were previously with such force the entire platform cracked from the top to the bottom beneath the clouds and crumbled to pieces. I used the Bat Bow to fly to a different rocky platform, whsilt the other two managed to land on their own. The creature now floated between us and the Twilight Bell.
"It's blocking us!" Bow called to us over the wind and distance.
"Hat! What do we do!?" I called to her.
Hat seemed like she was thinking for a moment, that meant the matter was serious. "Let's just rough it up a bit, until we can get past!"
"Got it!" I confirmed as we all faced it, ready.
"Let's go!" Hat declared as she and Bow fired a laser from each of their umbrellas, but the Leviathan simply swerved in the air with its thin body to avoid them, the same with my yo-yo lash.
"It's fast!" I yelled, as the creature turned its attention to bow and raised its spear.
"Look out, Bow!" Hat called as the creature destroyed her platform with its tail. Bow had leapt towards another mountain to land on, but the Leviathan was faster and wrapped around her, squeezing her tightly and making her cry out.
"You let go of her!" Hat switched to her Brewing Hat and threw a potion that exploded on the back of the Leviathan's head, causing its grip to loosen and Bow to fall.
"I've got you!" I threw my yo-yo and turned it into its trap form to grab her by the shirt and pull her onto my platform,
"Thank you, Tie...!" She breathed.
The serpent obviously turned its attention to Hat. It screeched loudly before blowing a wave of purple infection smoke at her, forcing her to jump to a cliff and put on her Sprint Hat to run away as the creature continued spewing smoke after her.
"No you don't!" I switched to the Spark Scarf and zapped it whilst its back was turned to me, causing it to immediately focus on me and take a breath.
"Now we've gotta run!" Bow gasped.
"I've got this!" I reassured her as I put on the Cleaner Cape. As it fired at me, I vacuumed up all of the black smoke.
"Are you okay vacuuming that up!?" Bow gasped.
"Relax. It just goes to my Hammerspace." I assured her. "The virus will die off instantly there."
At that moment, the Leviathan raised its spear-tipped tail.
"Can we run now?" Bow asked.
"Yep." I confirmed as we each jumped different directions, thankfully I landed on a lower platform.
"Take that!" Hat fired another beam, but it dodged once again, it seemed to focus fully on me now as it raised its tail again.
"Not good...!" With nowhere else to jump to, I took a page from my fight with Snatcher and Cannonball Jumped right into it as it destroyed my previous footing. With the Spider Tie Badge already on, I scurried up its body and grabbed onto its scarf, causing it to shriek and thrash around in the sky.
"Got you now!" I switched to the Spark Scarf. "Take this!" Wrapping the ends of it around the creature, I electrocuted it...and myself since I was touching it. A price to pay. But it was quick to counter, and stopped thrashing to instead lash at me with its tail, forcing me to jump off into nothing.
"I got you, Tie!" Hat cried as she jumped over and caught me mid-fall, her momentum propelling both of us onto a larger platform.
"Thank you, Hat!" I gasped as she put me down and the three of us regrouped. "It's tough, and we're at a disadvantage since it can fly."
"But it doesn't seem to have many moves." Hat pointed out. "Whilst we haven't shown off everything we can do, yet!"
I noticed the creatures eyes narrow. "I think it took that as a challenge."
It raised its head before shooting out a giant ball of smoke from its mouth, and as it slowed down, it exploded and sent black meteors of smoke hurtling towards us!
"I regret everything!" Hat cried as we ran away from the exploding projectiles until they ceased.
The creature then growled, before...biting the spear on the end of its tail?
"Now what?" Bow gasped.
The Leviathan began slowly spinning around in the air like a wheel as the shadowy aura surrounded it, transforming it into a dark wheel that crashed on the platform and hurtled towards us!
"Nothing good!" I yelled as we all jumped away, the wheel turning on a dime and throttling after us.
"I'll stop it!" Bow fired a beam from her umbrella, that had absolutely no effect as it turned and ran after her. "Or maybe not! Aaaaaaah!"
"My go!" Hat threw several more bomb vials at it, that did nothing, causing it to change direction once again. "Oh come on!"
"We can't damage it whilst it's spinning like that!" I cried as it then charged at me. "...Mm." I put on the Necro Necklace and turned into a ghost, causing the creature to run past me and off the edge of the cliff. "Though it doesn't have much room to move."
"But now it's back in the clouds!" Bow pointed out as we all stared over the edge.
"Quick! Let's go get rid of the last flower whilst its down there!" Hat advised as we took off.
We didn't get far though before another earthquake in the sky shook us, and the location in the clouds where it had dived was now swirling around.
"Uh-oh." Me and Hat said.
A giant infection tornado burst forth from the clouds and hurtled towards us, the occasional flash of gold telling us it was the Leviathan spinning around to create it.
"Run!" Hat cried.
We tried to out run it, but the tornado had its own vacuum effect and pulled us all in. For some very painful and nauseous moment it was nothing but purple winds and a horrible, horrible spinning sensation before I was tossed out and painfully crashed into a mountain.
"Oww…" I groaned. I'd left quite a dent, apparently. Did that mean I was sturdy or the mountain was weak?
The tornado slowed down, causing the Leviathan to return off to normal and give off a victorious screech.
Just before it got blasted in the face with two laser beams from opposite sides.
"You got cockyyyy!" Hat taunted from one mountain.
"That's what you get!" Bow yelled from the other one.
Seizing the moment, I hit it by throwing my yo-yo. "Oh, and you two aren't?"
The Leviathan quickly turned on Bow and prepared to blast her with smoke, but Hat jumped over it and crushed its head by turning into an ice sculpture via the Ice Hat, allowing me and Bow to hit it with our respective weapons.
"I think we're wearing it down!" Bow commented over the injuries it had sustained.
The Leviathan hissed for a moment, before it suddenly rocketed up into the sky.
"Me and my big mouth." She added.
The dark smoke coming from the two ends of its mouth began stretching out, forming what appeared to be a bow, as the creature straightened itself, like an arrow.
"Take cover!" Hat cried.
The Leviathan fired itself with such force the aura completely covered it as it smashed into the clouds, releasing a dark shockwave that enveloped everything in the area, before fading away.
"Hat! Bow!" I called out, having avoided the practically unavoidable attack with the Necro Necklace. "Are you two okay!?"
Hat had turned herself and Bow into an invincible ice statue, as they returned to normal. "We're okay!"
I stared into the clouds where it had landed. "It's not coming up. I think that attack weakened it."
"But we're too far away from the Twilight Bell to sprint now!" Bow pointed out.
"Leave it to me!" I lengthened the string on my yo-yo as far as I could, before I tossed it into the clouds like casting a fishing line. "Come on you-" I immediately felt a tug and tapped into some species super strength to pull the Leviathan out of the clouds like a fish. "I got it! Go, now!"
"Bow, you go get the flower, I'll help Tie." Hat told her as she jumped over to me and helped me pull on the string. The creature instantly spotted Bow going for the flower and tried to go after her, but my trap had clamped onto it like a hook in a fish, and our pull was strong enough to hold it back.
"Here, fishie, fishie!" Hat cooed as we tugged it so hard we slammed it into a mountain as it could only flail.
"I've got it!" Bow called from a distance as she destroyed the final flower.
"That's the last one! Right?" Hat asked me.
"I think so." I said. "So...uh...what now?"
As soon as I said that, the Leviathan gave off a mighty shriek, causing my yo-yo to let go as it began thrashing around violently in the air. The lightning and thunder was gone, but all the clouds were still black and the winds were still blowing.
"I think it's gone haywire!" Hat cried as the creature swam in the air, randomly attacking with the spear on its tail.
"It's still infected!" I said.
The Leviathan spat out another ball of black smoke that exploded into smoke meteors that headed right for Goat Village, but Hat blocked one by using her umbrella as a shield, whilst I vacuumed the rest up.
"It must have swallowed a lot of bad smoke!" Bow said as she ran over to us.
"Hmm...well, if it's swallowed too much...we'll get it to spit it out!"
"Huh?"
"You get your Cleaner Cape ready, Tie!" Hat told me as she ran off, dragging Bow.
"Hat!?" I gasped, before sighing. "Honestly...you really are a handful."
"Hah!" Hat jumped up and hit the end of its body, before Bow hit it on the next part of its body, the two alternating between each other, all the way up to the head. Each hit caused a bulge to rise up in the creatures throat, until it was right at its head.
"Hyah!" The two of them hit the back of its head, cauing the creature to cough up smoke as big as Goat Village itself, before it coughed, then fell down into the clouds.
"Ah!" I gasped as it fell down, but I couldn't be distracted, the cloud was writhing. It slowly formed into what looked like a giant purple smoke amaryllis, and I began vacuuming it.
However, this thing was much larger and denser, and actually resisted as if it had a consciousness. Its 'petals' lashed out like whips and narrowly missed me.
"We've got your back, Tie!" Hat declared as she and Bow unfurled their umbrellas and spun them around from the other side, creating two powerful fans that pushed it forward as well.
Despite that, the smoke still resisted, and lashed out wildly with its appendages. It was not going down without a fight, and we were at a standstill.
'This is bad! At this rate, it will escape!' I thought as I gave it my all. But the wind was stronger then ever, and it looked like it was about to scatter to the winds. 'Come on!"'
Suddenly, the Leviathan rose up out of the clouds with an angry roar. The dark aura and purple smoke had gone, and its eyes were now a sky blue. It opened its mouth and unleashed a twister of brilliantly white air that tore through the smoke, causing it to be torn to shreds as the smoke broke apart, and faded into nothing. The illness was gone.
"...Phew..." I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. Only for the platform under me to crumble and cause me to fall. "Woah-oh-o-oof! Huh?"
I looked up as the Leviathan carried me, Hat and Bow on its back, looking back at us with its clear eyes and screeching softly.
"You're welcome!" Hat smiled happily.
Slowly, the clouds turned clear again. The Goats stood up and shook their heads, like waking from a bad dream, and the Nomads stepped out of their houses.
"Is it over?" One asked.
"I think so." Another responded.
"Look! It's the Leviathan!" Another pointed.
All of the Nomads and Goats crowded around us as the Leviathan let us jump off of its back.
"YOu saved us, didn't you?" A Nomad said as he shook Hat's hand. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome!" Hat beamed.
I smiled, but then stopped as the Leviathan nuzzled against me. "Hey, you helped too, so thanks." It almost seemed to purr as I pet it on its head. "You're quite friendly, aren't you?"
As I pet it, I stared into its eyes, as it stared back at me, and I looked it over, and thought. Its golden scales reminded me of golden sand...those red horns reminded me of mandibles, and that sash looked faded...as if it once had 'SALE! SALE! SALE!' written on it. That silver spear on the end looks like it could have been part of a machine at one point.
"Are you...?" I breathed.
"Yay, Leviathan!" The Nomads and Goats suddenly hugged its long body. "It's so shiny!"
The creature warbled happily before it stretched out its body and wrapped the Alpine Skyline citizens in a soft hug.
"...Guess you're happy, huh?" I asked it.
The Leviathan looked at me again, before it used its tail to pull a Relic Piece out of its sash and onto the ground, which I picked up.
"Thanks." I nodded as I picked it up, and it screeched at me happily.
"Time Piece get!" Hat cried as she held up one gifted to her by the Nomads. "A success all around! I'm happy everyone here is safe!"
"Yeah." I nodded in agreement, looking across the sky, with an aurora in the heavens above.
The Relic we made from Alpine Skylines' pieces seemed to be some kind of vandalism toolkit. It was a shame it was opened, otherwise we could have sold it for a really high price. Anyway, the world it created was a mix of all of the areas mountains, and as expected, we got a Time Piece and pictures out of it. I was disappointed to see the pictures only depicted a Goat achieving ascendance. This lore was meaningless!
"That was scary for a moment, but we did it in the end!" Hat puffed her chest out proudly as she tossed in the latest Time Piece. "We deserve SO many snacks for our victory! Ooh! Ooh! Let's have a Splatoon 2 match to celebrate!"
"Not Ranked! Never Ranked!" I reminded her.
"What's Splatoontoo?" Knit asked.
"You're gonna love it, Knit!" Hat beamed.
"It's fun, childishly gory violence!" Boss vouched. "Me and Roombi have played it whilst you were away!"
"How? You have no arms!" Bow commented.
I watched as they all started setting up whilst CC went to grab crisps and fizzy drinks, whilst I stared at the pictures. 'Wonder why these were so important?'
Just then, the pictures seemed to glitch for a second, as they all copied themselves, revealing a whole new set, which I looked through instantly.
The first showed the desert planet, with a title called 'Legacy of Sand and Sails'. The second showed the planet being erased, in a blinding light, wiped from existence.
The third...it showed small pieces of the planet that were left behind, all combining together, to form the Leviathan. The fourth showed it carrying some Nomads, presumably ones who survived, through space. The fifth showed them arriving at Alpine Skylines, and the sixth and final one showed the Nomads setting up camp, whilst the Leviathan swam in the clouds.
'I get it...' I nodded to myself. 'That's what you wanted me to see.' I pocketed the storybook.
"Hey! Look!" Hat pointed out the window, as the Leviathan floated up to the big glass wall. "It's come to visit! Heyyyyy, Leviathan!"
"What in blazes is that!?" Boss gasped.
"It's pretty!" Knit beamed.
The Leviathan stared at me expectantly. Maybe the reason it faded into obscurity...was because it wanted to leave its destroyed life behind, and find a new one. For the Nomads and itself.
"You're amazing." I smiled at it.
It gave off a happy cry, as it looped around our ship. Happy to be praised for a job well done.
Voice sat in a dark, empty room. It wouldn't be active until tomorrow after all.
They held up the Time Tuning Fork, as it began to ring. This frequency needed to be precise...
There was a cracking sound as they broke through the barrier, and suddenly the room was lit, working, alive.
'Still imperfect. I am only a ghost.' They thought to themselves. 'But this will do for now.'
They watched as she walked in. She sat down, adjusted her eyepatch.
'There you are.' They thought as they stared at her. 'What is it? What does he see in you? Why you?' They continued to watch as she took her eyepatch off, revealing a damaged green eye underneath it. 'How did just the instinct that you existed prevent it?'
She then turned to look at them. She could see them. Instinctively they gripped their weapon. But it was pointless, they could not even tough. But they gripped it nonetheless.
'If by some miracle I could kill you...how much would it hurt him?' They couldn't help but ponder. 'Could I? Would it be worth it? How badly would it break his heart?...Is it right of me to harm you to get to him?'
"Well...that's disconcerting." She commented.
They couldn't help but frown under their hood. 'Who are you?'
"Hey, Julia! You down there!?" A familiar voice called as a girl ran down the stairs.
'Moustache...' Voice spoke wordlessly.
That was all it took to break their concentration, and they were in the dark once again.
"...Geez...interrupting me as always..." They couldn't help but chuckle as they stood up. "It seems I'll have to work on it..."
They slung the tuning fork over their shoulder. "The time is fast approaching."
And that concludes the Alpine Skylines Arc! Quite a ride at the end there, huh?
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!: Big thank you to winttiagloam on Tumblr for making fanart of the moment between Knit and Snatcher in Chapter 16! I loved it, and I'm so happy you're enjoying AHaTiT! If you are...EVERYBODY! GO CHECK IT OUT! IT'S FUNNY AND AWESOME!
Thank you to Konan720 and Tbone8454 for reviewing! And to Guest...no. I cancelled it, remember? Read the last chapter.
Next Time: It's Time to Seal the Deal!
