Chapter 28: Daddy's Daughter

(Chapter Theme: 'Cursed Leorina' from 'Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil')

We quickly rushed Bow to bed so we could examine her. After CC popped in a thermometer she turned to us.

"It's alright, everyone. It's just a fever." She assured us. "Must be from getting all cold. But a couple of days in bed and she'll be fine, promise."

"That's a relief...not that I was worried or anything." Boss denied, with Roombi beeping.

"It's my fault." Hat whispered. "It's my fault Bow fell in the water and got wet and cold..."

"Hey, she's going to get better." I told her. "Things could have been a lot worse." That didn't seem to cheer her up.

"I'll go make her some soup for her. Soup for all, in fact." CC nodded to herself as she set off for the kitchen.

'Hope she's not too upset her vacation got cut short...' I thought as I watched her leave. 'Wonder what she did on the cruise? In fact, what did BOSS do? Not like he can do anything, can't even work the slots in the casino.'

We left Bow to rest and wait for lunch. Hat melted into her chair with a concerned look as Boss and Roombi moved all over the place doing...something. Amusing themselves?

'Alright, what now?' I began to think as I leaned against the wall. 'We're still missing Time Pieces, but I don't think Moustache and Voice have all the remaining ones, otherwise they would've made a move whilst we were at the Arctic Cruise. So where would the rest of them be?...More importantly though, Conductor said that Snatcher flew away with Knit. Obviously he'd go back to Subcon. I have to help her, like Moonjumper said, being kind...well, I'm not as good as Hat, but I've got to try, for Knit's sake.'

"Soups up, everybody!" CC eventually called. "We've got tomato, chicken, and cream of corn!"

"Oooh cream of corn! Onward, comrade!" Boss made Roombi charge into the kitchen.

"Chicken, please." Hat said as she made her way over, still missing some enthusiasm.

As we all sat around the table eating/drinking, I spoke up; "Listen, I'm gonna go down to Subcon after this." I took a long sip as everybody stared at me.

"You're going back THERE?" CC said. "Tie, that place is nothing but trouble! Why do you want to go back there?"

"Snatcher took Knit there. I have to get her back." I stated.

"Wouldn't it just be better to wait until they come here?" Boss suggested.

"There's no guarantee of that happening." Plus, I didn't trust Snatcher. "I need to get her back myself."

"The last time you came back from that shadows place you were beaten up and unconscious." CC said.

"I'm not under his thumb anymore. And I'll keep a tight grip on my Neckwear." I reassured them. "This is something I have to do."

"I'll go too." Hat said. "Knit's part of our crew, and no crew left behind!" It seemed she was throwing herself into this to distract herself from Bow. Not that I was complaining.

CC didn't look convinced.

"Cooking Cat, if the children can save the passengers of a sinking ship and topple a mafia empire-" Oh my space he was never letting that go. "They can rescue an alive doll from a ghost.

"When you put it like that we sound awesome." Hat nodded approvingly.

The feline sighed in defeat. "Not like I could stop you kids anyway."

After lunch we went to the window in Hat's room, being careful not to disturb Bow, as CC and Boss saw us off.

"Be quick okay? Straight there then straight back." CC told us.

Roombi beeped encouragingly.

"We'll be careful." Hat told them as we jumped out of the window, and landed in Subcon.

"There's Snatcher's place." I pointed to the home inside a tree as we walked over.

"Doesn't look like he's around." Hat said as she looked over the place. "Pretty simple for him. I thought he'd live in a mansion like Vanessa."

"A suitcase is here." I pointed at the open case on his chair. "He's definitely in Subcon. He must've gone somewhere else after returning."

"Hey...do you hear that?" Hat said.

We both stopped and listened to hear...heavy breathing?

"It's coming from around here." We both circled around the side of the tree.

"Oh for the love of-urk…! You two...!"

There was Snatcher, leaning against the side of the trunk. He was completely covered in slash and stab wounds, as well as what looked like friction burns from being bound.

"Snatcher!" Hat gasped as she rushed to his aide ironically. "Are you okay!?"

"Does it...LOOK like I'm okay...!?" He wheezed.

"Less of the lip, lich." I quipped. "Where's Knit?"

"The doll..." He seemed to curse.

"Knit!" I snapped.

"Hah...hah..." He was breathing heavily.

"Stop stalling!" I demanded.

"Tie, he's really hurt." Hat mumbled.

"Fine! Fine..." He managed to breath. "I was...working...on unlocking the magic that thing had inside it...!"

"Magic?" Hat echoed.

"Yeah...the one hidden in it...HIS magic..." I could instantly tell what he meant.

"So THAT's why you were manipulating her!" I growled with a clenched fist. "Just for your own selfish gains! Again!"

"I'm talking, brat...!" He heaved. "The moment it unlocked...she attacked me...viciously. Getting that power...made something happen to that pincushion...she ran off after leaving me for dead..."

"Knit did this?" Hat mumbled.

"Not Knit! The magic!" I emphasised.

"R-Right." Hat nodded in agreement.

"Snatcher! Where did Knit go?" I questioned.

"No clue..." He hissed. "Good riddance I say..."

"You...!" I was this close to punching him.

"Tie." Hat stopped me as she slung one of his arms over her shoulder. "I'm gonna take Snatcher back to the ship and patch him up."

"What!?" I gasped. "Hat! He manipulated Knit and did something terrible! Even if we help him, he's just gonna try and kill us again! This proves that! You know that, right!?"

"Yep." She confirmed with a nod. "But I still can't leave him here to die. Even if he is terrible. Besides, isn't he the kind of guy you love to hate?"

"No." I denied, but sighed. "But that's just you, Hat...I'm gonna go look for Knit."

"Right. I'll follow as soon as I can." She nodded.

"...I really...don't get you two..." Snatcher muttered before Hat teleported herself and him away.

'So Snatcher had Knit unlock Moonjumper's power. And if this dimensions Moonjumper really is like what the one from Julia's said he was like...that's bad.' I thought. 'Still...if Knit is Knit, there's only one place she would go...'


I made my way to Moonjumper's grave, using the Necro Necklace to phase through the tree as I walked up to the knitted grave.

'Is she not here?' I looked around. The area seemed untouched. 'Hmmm...'

I walked around for a bit, when I happened to spot a large tree at the far back, with a hole in its base. A hole similar to the ones Knit would pop out of in her butterfly form.

'Where DID Knit pop out of all those times?' I wondered as I walked over to the hole. It was too small for me to fit into, but that didn't mean I couldn't phase through it!

I turned into my ghost form and jumped through the tree, falling down a good bit before landing in...what was this?

I was expecting some kind of grove or cave, but this looked like a child's play area. It was dome-shaped, and everything was knitted yarn from the floor to the wall and ceiling. Overhead was a knitted blue sky with white clouds and a cartoony sun, whilst the ground was knitted green with little yarn flowers of all colour dotted about. Balls of yanr of different colours were tucked away at the sides, along with cute little dolls with button eyes of Moonjumper as well as Snatcher and Vanessa when they were a prince and princess.

And sitting there, at the other side facing the wall, her back turned to me and her hair let down, was Knit.

"Knit..." I spoke as I stepped towards her.

"Tie..." She stood up, but stayed facing away from me. "Why did you come here?"

"I thought that was obvious. To see you." I told her plain and simply.

"What do you want with me?" She asked.

I shook my head. "I just want you to come back to the ship with me. To everybody else. I'm not demanding anything."

"That's...no good at all." She turned to me, and I noticed a zigzagging smile like that you'd see on a jack-o-lantern was now on her face, the same colour as her eyes.

"I have found my purpose, Tie. The reason my father created me, the reason I exist." As she spoke, her little body writhed and bulged erratically, as if something was underneath her.

"You don't have to exist just for Moonjumper's sake!" I told her. "Do you even know what kind of person he is!?" I couldn't bring myself to tell her that myself.

"All that matters is what he wants of me. The reason he made me before he was gone." Her body continued to squirm. "And now that I have unlocked the magic he gave me...I understand it. I am...his greatest toy. His weapon. I was made to kill his enemies, and conquer Subcon in his name!"

"Don't say that!" I shouted. "That's not who you are Knit and you know it! You're more then Moonjumper's toy! Can't you see that!?"

"Oh, Tie..." Her body began to writhe more. "Doing what I was made for is all I need. I don't need to be anything more. I'll be perfectly happy."

"And just who is saying that!? You or Moonjumper!?" I yelled.

"Neither. Not this Knit at least." She practically whispered. "It's time for a new Knit to be born...for Moonjumper's perfect daughter to be born! Hahahaha...HAAAAAAAAAA!"

She screamed as he body opened up as thousands of strings of different colours twisted around and lashed at the air, before beginning to spin around her body. She quickly began growing taller, going from her small frame to three times my height! She gained a more womanly figure as her hair lengthened out into eight long strands of different colours: red, dark blue, green, yellow, orange, light blue, purple and pink, each of them having a black iron nail on the end of them.

Whilst the red string that comprised her body remained the same, black string pooled over her chest and made the symbol of a crescent moon as more black string twirled around her arms, making helix symbols. Her lower half then completely unravelled into the same eight coloured strands as her hair, forming spools around eight golden needles that held her up, forming spider legs, as scissor blades formed on her hands as fingers.

"I am Knit! Moonjumper's perfect daughter and weapon!" She screeched. "My purpose, is to kill!"

She began moving forward, her needles lifting up and stabbing the ground in a coordinated fashion so that she pulled her new body forward.

"Move aside, Tie." She warned me as she drew closer. "I must go fulfil my destiny."

"I won't." I stated. "I'm not letting you do anything like this!"

"That wasn't a request!" Her hands lunged at me like whips, and I dodged to the side as they stabbed where I previously was. I quickly Cannonball jumped towards her and grabbed her midsection, tackling us both to the ground.

"Think about this, Knit!" I cried as I held on. "What good will taking over Subcon do!? That's what Moonjumper wanted! And even if you do, what are you going to get out of it!? You'll just be alone!"

"I will be content as long as I am obeying my father!" She hissed as two of her legs suddenly raised up and fell towards me like giant needles, forcing me to let go and jump away as the limbs halted before they could stab their owner, and she clambered back up. "It appears I must get rid of you, Tie. You're standing in my way."

"Do you really, truly mean that?" I questioned. "Is the only way you'll be happy following the words of a man you'll never get back? Until everything he's asking you to do is done!? Until you die!?"

"Definitely!" She said as she whipped both her arms at me, but I put on the Necro Necklace and phased right through the attack.

"You're not thinking clearly!" I said. "Think about everything after Moonjumper passed away! How lonely did he make you feel!? How was it when you met me!? When you met all of us!?"

"I...do not need that." She said as her hair strands lifted up like tendrils, each pointing a nail at me. "Nothing but my fathers praise from the afterlife will suffice!" All eight shot at me, but I phased through them once again as they stabbed the ground, tearing apart the knitting and revealing the hard dark rock underneath.

'Is nothing getting through to her?' I winced as I stared at her form. 'She's giving off a dangerous amount of magic...this is definitely wrong!' I switched to the Bat Bow as she took a deep breath, and I flew up as she spat a stream of nails at me as I flew around the room.

"Knit! Please! Don't make me have to fight you!" I pleaded.

She stopped firing nails. "If you don't, I will kill you. Simple as that."

'This isn't working...' I thought as I hovered. 'I have no choice! If I want to get the real Knit back, I need to fight this monster!'

"Okay...but don't say I didn't warn you!" I wrapped the wings of the Bat Bow around the new rockets under them, then tossed them forward, turning them into missiles.

Knit made no attempt to dodge as the missiles exploded into her face, causing her entire upper body to come apart.

"Knit!" I shrieked in horror as I ran towards her. "Are you-!?"

Instincts kicked in and I barely dodged one of Knit's legs that tried to stab me. I watched as the string began weaving back together to reform her, as her eyes and mouth glowed back into existence.

"Tie, did you really think it was that easy?" She cackled as she turned to me.

'So she can regenerate and heal damage.' I realised. 'But that's definitely using up magic! If I can make her burn out...!'

"Come closer, Tie!" Suddenly she threw both her arms forward, as her hands formed into a giant net with the scissor blades linded up along it, ready to capture and impale me! Thinking quickly, I switched back to the Necro Necklace and fazed through the net, jumping up before returning to normal and throwing my yo-yo at her, but she leaned out of the way with her flexible string body.

Her hair lashed at me again, and I had to roll midair to avoid them before landing safely. She immediately wnet on the offensive by slashing at where I was standing, causing me to backpeddle until I was against the wall. She raised her scissor claws to slash me again, but I phased right through her and tried to attack her with my yo-yo from behind, but she impressively jumped over the attack thanks to her new legs and landed behind me, making me spin on my heels to face her.

"That necklace is annoying." She growled.

"Well your string helped me make it." I said.

"My fathers." She firmly corrected me.

"Why do you care about him so much!? Apart from making you, what has he ever done for you!? He abandoned you too early in your life!" I was venting some personal issues there, admittedly. "You're trying to abandon people who actually care about you for the selfishness of someone who never even gave a darn about your life!"

"How dare you insult Moonjumper!" She shrieked as she scuttled towards me and made all of her hair and four of her legs lunge at me.

I predicted the move though, and used her own momentum to swing my hammer into her so hard she flew back and hit the opposite wall.

"That's what you get for being riled up." I told her. Her body had caved inward due to the blow, but it unravelled itself and weaved back to normal.

"Moonjumper is my everything." She said. "I will fulfil his wishes! I WILL!" Two of her strands of hair flew forward and hardened into metal, turning them into a giant pair of scissors.

"You keep saying the same thing." I mumbled sadly as she lunged at me. I jumped up to dodge the scissors cut, before putting on the Spark Scarf and throwing the two ends into it, sending an electrical charge directly into Knit. She stumbled back and retracted her hair as it returned to normal, as her burned string turned into dust for new strings to replace them. "Those aren't your words!"

"How dare you!" Her magic flared up, giving her a dangerous aura as her scissor arms whipped at me again. I dodged barely and threw my yo-yo at her, but one of her hairs slapped it away, as the rest of them flew towards my heart. I used the Necro Necklace to dodge again, and went to strike her with the hammer, but she completely unravelled into nothing but string, needles and nails that slithered away!

I jumped away from them as she reformed in front of me. "You are competent, Tie. But even you have a limit."

I suddenly became aware of a pain in my shoulder, and I looked to see a nail stabbed into it.

"You didn't notice that I fired a nail at you." She said. "Do you understand! I have many ways to harm you. It's what I was made for after all. The strings, the nails, the needles...all meant to harm. I am a killer. It is what I was born for."

"...Yeah, all those things can hurt a lot." I admitted, and winced as I pulled out the nail. "But they can also be used to make and repair things too. Moonjumper may not have considered that...but you, did, Knit. We both know you can do so much more with this." I looked her in the eyes. "That's why I know. This isn't the real you. You're not Moonjumper's monster. You're someone who helps people! That's who Knit is!"

"That Knit is dead." She said as he hair flailed wildly and her legs stabbed the ground repeatedly. "This is far more fitting."

"In that case, whoever's left standing has the right idea." I figured.

"I agree." She cackled.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!"

"That's okay, Hat. HAT!?"

"Hat?"

Hat casually strolled over to my side. "Hey, Tie. I managed to get Snatcher back to the ship to rest up, and I came looking for you! Lucky I had my hat tell me where you were, otherwise I'd never find you!"

"Well...I'm glad you're here." I admitted a bit sheepishly at her interrupting us.

"Hat...so you're here as well. I suppose I would have to face you eventually anyway." Knit figured.

"So that's really Knit?" Hat asked me.

"Yeah. She's not herself." I told her. "We've got to snap her out of it."

"With violence?"

"When you put it like that it sounds terrible...but yes."

"That I can do." She nodded as she produced her umbrella.

"Very well. I'll kill you both here!" Knit roared as she spat needles at us again. I put on the Cleaner Cape and vacuumed up the nails, as Hat sat on my shoulders and fired a laser from her umbrella that Knit split herself in half to avoid, before she sent her scissor hands lashing after us. We both ran in different directions, forcing a hand to chase after us each, which made it easy to knock them back with our respective weapons. Instantly, she reared her head back to launch her hair at us.

"No you don't!" I threw my yo-yo in a curveball at her as the string wrapped her up, binding her as I turned it into its trap form to bite on her hair and lock it in place. "Go, Hat!"

"I've got it!" She assured me as she leapt up and hit Knit square between the eyes with her umbrella, making her topple.

"Graaaaah!" Knit roared as she threw my yo-yo off with sheer force, making me retract it to my hand. "I have more then enough ways to kill you both!" Suddenly, she jumped uowards towards the ceiling, and her body unravelled into a multicoloured spiderweb that attached itself to the top with her head in the middle, as nails emerged all over her body, ready to drop!

"Tie, over here!" Hat beckoned me, and I leapt beside her as she put her umbrella up and activated her Ice Hat, transforming it into an overhead ice shield that protected us as a hail of nails rained down. "Huh...y'know this is the first time I've used this umbrella as...well, an umbrella!"

We didn't have time to exchange quips as Knit fell towards us ready to bite us of all tjings, swooping in from the side. We had to jump back to avoid it, only-

"Ouch!" I gasped as I stood on a nail, Hat was lucky and didn't.

"I wasn't just firing those as an attack." Knit said, as I realised the nails had become cantrips all around us. "You're movement is your strength, but what happens when it's limited!?" One of her arms began twisting like a spinning spear which she launched at me. I managed to dodge, but I lost my balance, and I screamed in pain as I fell on nails.

"Ti-yeowchie!" Hat cried as she also stepped on a nail.

"Darnit…!" I turned intob a ghost to make the nails fall out of me, then leapt to the edge of the room as I put on the Cleaner Cape, ready to vacuum them all up.

"No you don't!" Knit hissed as she scuttled towards me.

"Yes he does!" Hat used her Brewing Hat to toss a vial at Knit that exploded into her, knocking her away and leaving me free to vacuum up all the nails.

"You two really are powerful together." Knit admitted as her face fixed itself. "I'll just have to outnumber you." She then scurried up the wall like a spider before having different coloured strings extend from her scissor fingertips and attach to the dolls of Moonjumper, Snatcher and Vanessa, causing them to stand up like puppets, as scissors burst out of them to form claws and scythes.

"That's just creepy!" Hat pointed as the puppets leapt towards us. I tried to strike the Snatcher one with my yo-yo, but it flew out of the way due to its nature as a puppet and behind me where it slashed the air thanks to me ducking just in time. Hat kept the Vanessa one at bay with a couple of swings, but the Moonjumper and Snatcher dolls were both coming up at me, swiping in a furious frenzy.

I backed up intensely as both of them flew up and dived towards me. I shot a lightning bolt at them with the Spark Scarf, but they swerved around me as The Moonjumper one came at me from behind whilst the Snatcher one charged from the front. They were too fast for me to switch Neckwear, so I threw my yo-yo at the Snatcehr doll and jumped away to try and avoid the one from behind.

"Gyah!" But the Moonjumper doll anticipated that and slashed me in the side, cutting my shirt. "Ngh...got you!" I took advantage of the opportunity and wrapped them both up in the arms of my Spark Scarf, before zapping them with as much electricity I could muster, causing them to fall apart into smoking piles of string and metal. At the same time Hat blew up the Vanessa one with a bomb.

"Are you alright, Tie?" Hat asked.

"Nothing a Heart Pon won't fix." I assured her as I shook off the pain in my side.

"I dare say you both are better battlers then me." Knit commented as she returned to ground level. "Only when together though."

"That's what friends do. We help each other." Hat nodded. "Just like we're trying to help you!"

"My father didn't need friends, so neither do I." Knit commented.

"Wrong!" I said. "Everybody needs somebody to be a better person! If Moonjumper didn't want others' help, and just wanted to rule, then he couldn't grow at all! And Knit, you're throwing that chance away! For what!? To be like a man who no longer exists because of his own greed!?"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" She roared as all of her hair, her amrs, and four of her legs coiled up like springs. "Moonjumper was a GOD! Compared to him, you are NOTHING!" All of her limbs shot at us at once like drills.

"Shoot!" I cried, it was too fast to switch to the Necro Necklace for!

Hat dived out of the way, and I tried to Cannonball Jump, but one of her legs hit me directly in the stomach, sending me flying back into the wall as I collapsed and clutched my midsection.

"Oh, space...!" I tried to steady my breathing. By some miracle it hadn't pierced me, but it still hurt a lot!

"Tie! I will sever things with you right now!" Knit screeched as she shot a claw at me.

"Stop it, Knit!" Hat jumped in and blocked it with her umbrella unfurled.

"Ah, but I expected you to do that, Hat. Because that is what a friend would do!" Her claws suddenly grabbed onto Hat and pulled her away.

"Hat!" I gasped as Knit held my Captain at eye level.

"Indeed, Hat. Your strength is how people are made better by you." Knit spoke as Hat struggled in her iron grip.

"Let her go!" I leapt at her, but she simply backhanded me in the face, causing me to tumble to the ground.

"It's quite dangerous." Knit continued, as she held her bladed thumb out, and pointed it at one of Hat's eyes. "I can't let it live."

In that moment, I saw a horrible aura envelope Knit, depicting a familiar figure with a crescent moon shaped head and chains at their arms. It was Moonjumper, through and through.

'Peck! PECK!' I cursed in my head. I couldn't attack or Hat could get hurt too, the Cleaner Cape wasn't strong enough, I was too outmatched so...'What do I do!?'

Thinking desperately, I only had one option left. I pulled all of my yarn balls out of my Hammerspace and clutched them tightly.

"Please, if I do have some kind of power, then PLEASE...!" I begged. "Give me the power to save them...!"

For a moment, nothing.

Then, all of the yarn began twisting together, with the yarn in the room doing the same, all twisting together.

"What?" Knit with Moonjumper's aura took notice.

Slowly, the yarn all waved together, until in a flash of light, it created a pendant, silver twisting string holding a dark pink crystal in the shape of a star, inside of which a myriad of colours swirled like space dust, as if an entire galaxy was inside of it.

"You...what did you just make?" 'Moonjumper' demanded.

I took off the Spark Scarf and put it on, instantly knowing what it could do, and nodded to myself.

A dark pink portal in the shape of s star opened beside me, as another one appeared above Hat, that fell down and swallowed her, along with severing Knit's arm.

"Gah!" The creature gasped as it regrew its arm, whilst Hat popped out of the portal next to me before they both vanished.

"Phew...thanks, Tie." Hat said as she brushed herself down.

"No problem." I said.

"What did you do!?" 'Moonjumper' screamed.

"This is my Paradox Pendant." I explained. "It allows me to manipulate space by creating portals. Like so." I disappeared in a flash of pink light shaped like star and reappeared behind them, before hitting them with my hammer before vanishing again where I was. "The range is only 10 feet, but I can make 'em as long as I have magic." I threw my yo-yo into a portal, as it came out of another portal and hit them in the side before zipping back in then, rebounding out of another one and hitting it again in the face, then again, then again, then again.

"Agh...argh...!" It stumbled around from the repetitive hits. "You...little...!" After a moment, Moonjumper's aura began to waver, and slowly began to disappear. "How dare you...to me..." He was then gone.

"Is that it?" Hat asked.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Knit! Can you hear me!?"

"...Yes...I can hear you." She stood back up, her form remained the same as it slowly fixed itself.

"Knit...stop this." I said. "You can be so much more then just 'Moonjumper's daughter'."

"Come on back to the ship with us. To your friends." Hat added.

"More...? No..." She said as she stared at me, the zigzagging mouth changed from a smile to a frown. "I cannot be that..."

"Knit..." I mumbled.

"If I am not my fathers creation, not doing what he intended for me to do...then I am worthless." She spoke softly. "Nothing more then a broken doll. I'd rather be a puppet with strings, to be depended on...then be worthless."

'She...she wants to feel like she's worth something.' I realised. 'Even if it's being a monster for a madman. All that time alone after Moonjumper vanished...clinging to that need has made her desperate. Like it's the only thing of value to her.'

"I'll gladly be a monster!" She declared, as iron nails suddenly exploded all over her body like armour. "If it means I am of importance!"

"Tie!" Hat gasped at me.

"Yeah, it's not over yet." I agreed, as she put on her Time Stop Hat.

"I'll go first!" Hat declared as she and Knit charged at each other. Using the Hat she instantly zipped past Knit, and the latter was now disfigured after being hit ten times in the span of a second.

"Here I go!" I created two portals and tossed them like shurikens at her, cutting her legs and one of her arms off and making her collapse. She quickly reformed them and leapt at me, but I created a larger star portal above her, as countless small white stars bombarded her from above. At the same time, Hat charged at her from behind and used her time stop to create a blow as powerful as ten, with enough force to completely slice Knit in half, though string soon began connecting the two halves together again.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Hat asked.

"Probably not. Let's do it." I said.

Hat fired a laser at me and I created a portal, before making five more portals all around Knit as five identical lasers all shot out and exploded into her in a flash of bright light.

When the light faded, Knit was struggling to reform. One of her arms and all of her legs were unravelled, and struggling to pull themselves back together.

"I...have to..." She groaned in effort. "I...need to...!"

"Oh, Knit..." Hat sighed sadly.

Slowly, I began walking towards her, until I was in front of her, face to face.

"...Tie..." She heaved.

We were silent for a moment.

Then I hugged her, allowing the nails to pierce my non-vital areas.

"Knit...I can kind of understand how you feel. The want to be useful, to be loved..." I told her. "But you don't need to be like this to feel like that. Just by living, by being you, you are so important. Because you're someone we can turn to, to be happy with, and share our sorrows with. I want you to feel like you can do that with us too. Of course you're valued. WE value you, for who you are. Even if you get scared, or feel alone, or hurt us."

I smiled weakly. "And for me...you will always be...the little yarn butterfly I met on this planet. My first friend here, my second friend EVER, who I can trust in. Who I care about. You're important to me Knit. No matter what."

After a second, there was an echoing clanging of metal as the scissors, nails and needles all fell from her body, and she slowly began curling into herself, until she was her former self again with her hair let down, face buried in my chest as I held her.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." She sobbed over and over again.

"There, there, it's okay..." I hugged her as I picked her up and stroked her head.

"Are you both alright?" Hat said as she walked over.

"We'll be fine." I told her, even though I was stabbed all over.

She smiled. "Let's go back. Together."

"Mm-hm." I nodded as I carried Knit away from the torn room.


We made our way back up to Moonjumper's grave. Couldn't teleport when underground. But that's when something happened.

The air seemed to ripple for a moment, as a figure passed through.

"Moonjumper!?" Hat gasped.

'That's...the Moonjumper from Julia's dimension!' I could instantly tell. Must've been the Paradox Pendant. 'What's he doing here?'

At that, Knit looked over her shoulder at the figure there.

"...D...Dad...DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" She burst into fresh tears as she leapt from my arms and ran over to him, causing them to hug each other.

'Guess she's never going to let go of him, not fully at least.' I admitted to myself, then stopped Hat as she reached for her Time Stop Hat. "It's okay, Hat. This one's good."

"Huh?" She stared at me in confusion.

"I-I know you're n-not MY d-dad..." Knit blubbered at him. "B-But...waaaaaahhhhhh!"

"There, there, it's okay, it's okay..." Moonjumper held her with the experience of a proper father, not someone who made their daughter to be a killing machine. "It's been very hard for you for so long, Knit."

'Maybe it wasn't that she didn't need Moonjumper.' I pondered. 'She just needed the RIGHT Moonjumper. Still though, what's he doing here? I thought he had his own family to worry about.'

"I almost did a lot of terrible things...!" Knit sniffled. "I j-just wanted to make you proud of m-me...!"

"Knit, from what I've heard, I'm already very proud of you." Moonjumper told her. "By being someone who is very much NOT like how I was. By being thoughtful, and expressive, and kind."

She looked down in shame at that.

"That's a look I'm familiar with." Moonjumper told her with a sad look in his eyes as he rubbed her head. "But by the looks of things, you were stopped before you did something you would regret."

"I don't know what I am. Why I was made." She admitted. "I just wanted you to tell me."

"I don't think anybody with a heart has an answer to that question." Moonjumper replied. "But if it will give you piece of mind; it's to live. There's plenty in life to justify that."

He placed his hands on her shoulder. "Knit. ANY Moonjumper would be proud to call you their daughter. Myself included. Just for being you. But..." He turned her around to face us. "I wouldn't be here, or know about you, if it wasn't for Tie. It's clear he cares a lot about you."

I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly as Hat smiled and pet me on the back.

Slowly, Knit walked back over to us, and looked up at me.

"Tie..." Knit's eyes welled up again. "I want to stay with you...and everybody else too...on the ship...please...!"

"Obviously." I picked her up and gave her a smile. "That was the plan after all."

"...Mm!" Her eyes smiled.

"Hat, can you teleport Knit back with you?" I asked her. "I'm gonna talk to Moonjumper."

"Alrighty." Hat said as I put Knit down and she walked up to Hat.

"Bye-bye, dad!" Knit waved.

"Bye, Knit." He waved back as they teleported away.

"So..." I turned to him. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

"It was a long trip." He shrugged. "There was a time-space imbalance."

"That's not what I meant."

"I did some thinking." He responded. "Even if it was another version of me, it's still...ME, if that makes sense. It was still a problem I caused."

"So you felt guilty."

"And, well...she's a good kid." He looked away sheepishly. "I meant what I said."

"Well, well, well, didn't realise Moonjumper was such a big softie!" I smirked.

"Watch it." He half-heartedly warned. "...It's nice."

"Huh?" I noticed he was looking at the grave Knit made. "Oh, yeah, she made that for other you."

"I can tell."

"Yeah...this dimensions you? You were right; he was a real pecking basketcase."

"A lot are." He shrugged. "But I think this is the only one who actually MADE something...good. Not just mold it like I did."

"Yeah, that reminds me; you have a LOT to explain about your family."

"Heh. I think you should ask her about that yourself. You seem to have the ability to do so now." He pointed at the Paradox Pendant. "Quite a powerful ability as well...your magic is a lot stronger then before."

"Hey, you're avoiding the question."

"I gave you my answer."

"Well...when will I know it's a good time!? And how do I even travel perfectly?"

"Figure it out yourself." He smirked. "Now then, I'd best be off."

"You're leaving already?" I gasped.

"I've freed Knit from the shackle of my name that was bound around her heart. That's what I came to do." He said simply.

"Hold it right there!" I grabbed him by the sleeve. "If you're not gonna answer my questions, you're at least going to stay for dinner with your other dimension daughter!"

"Oh, think you can keep me here?"

"I control space in this dimension, biscuit!" I dangled the Paradox Pendant around. "You're staying for dinner! End of!"

"I suppose you've twisted my arm." Moonjumper sighed.

"Good. Shower your daughter with love and attention!"

"The reason I came here was to make her let go of me."

"She hasn't seen you for years. A day will be enough." I said as I grabbed his sleeve and teleported back.


And that's how we had a puppeteer around for spaghetti and meatballs. The evening was spent using Heart Pons, checking on Bow (and a now resting Snatcher of all things), and Knit asking Moonjumper a lot of questions. Eventually, it wound down, and Moonjumper ended up returning to his world, leaving me and Knit together staring out the control room window as I tried to tie her hair into some pigtails...and failing miserably.

"You're not good at this." Knit giggled.

"Why don't you do it then?" I asked.

"Because I want you to be here with me." She responded, before pausing. "...I really am sorry."

"How many times now? It's okay." I assured her.

"I just...wanted so much to know that I was making him happy...to be as good as he was..." She sighed.

"...Hey." I sat down behind her. "I have someone who I admire a lot too. Someone important to me like Moonjumper is to you. Someone I wanted to aspire towards."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes. But I realised something." We both stared out at the planet. "We shouldn't try to admire people close to us, or aspire to be like them, to try and make them happy. We should just live happy lives. Because if they truly are important to us; they'll be happy, simply because we are happy."

She seemed to think about that. "I'm happy here with you, Tie."

"Good." I said.

"What are we talking about?" Hat asked as she joined us with CC, Roombi and Boss.

"Just about being happy." I said. "Y'know, you could write a book on that, Hat."

"Heehee." She laughed. "C'mon, let's check on Bow and Snatcher. If we're lucky, Knit can jumpscare him when he wakes up!"

"You can be quiet cruel, child...I like it." Boss would nod if he could.

"Come on you all, space family gathering." CC told us as we began moving towards the bedroom.

Hat took my hand, and I took Knit's hand, and we all walked together.


Knit's Room: Knit's own little room in the earth of the planet.

Marionette Knit: Knit's monstrous form when overwhelmed by Moonjumper's power. She can use nails, needles and scissors as well as create puppets and morph her body however she likes. She is little more then Moonjumper's doll in this state...

Paradox Pendant: Allows Tie to manipulate space by creating star-shaped portals that allow him to teleport and fire projectiles. He can also use it to cross dimensions under certain conditions.


And with that, the Arctic Cruise Arc has come to a close. There, now the two chapters which don't have Bosses do! And that was the plan from the beginning! And to show you how dark I can write.

This chapter concludes Knit's character arc, with her finally letting go of her desperate need for her father and accepting the kindness and compassion of everybody else around her. With a little help of course.

This chapter is one I've been waiting to write for a while now, just below the finale, and I hope you all enjoyed it! This chapter is also a shoutout to Konan720 as thanks for letting me use Julia's Moonjumper. Sorry to read you've been going through a depression, hopefully this chapter helps in some way, and know you have people here for you!

Thank you to Konan720, Pmoneygreen, Guest TimeBlade and Fighter33000 for reviewing!

Next Time: A break, and testing out the Paradox Pendant! See you then!