Chapter 33: Belief In Yourself

"Tie? Tiiiiiie?"

"Mmm." I rubbed my eyes and looked to see Hat standing over me.

"Morning!" She greeted. "Never thought you'd sleep longer then me!"

"Oh, sorry, Hat." I said as I stood up.

"No need to say sorry! Here's your blanket back by the way." She handed it to me and I put it in my Hammerspace. "We'd better start nice and early looking for Time Pieces. I'm pretty sure there will be one here in Bluefin Tunnel."

"Knowing this planets penchant for Time Pieces landing anywhere, most likely." I agreed.

"Alright, then! Let's go!" She cheered.

"Hold up." I grabbed her hood to stop her. "Breakfast first. Let's go find a food stall somewhere down here."

Sure enough, didn't take long to find one. Problem was they didn't really have anything that screamed 'breakfast'. Hat as usual suggested something sweet, so in the end she got a slice of chocolate cake with a strawberry juice box, and I got a cup of coffee with some adorable cat-shaped biscuits.

"Cake is not breakfast." I argued as I hesitantly ate one of the cat cookies and honest to space felt a pang of guilt at devouring the cute food.

"Anything is breakfast if you believe hard enough." Hat argued back as she shovelled a forkful of cake into her mouth.

"Not something that can cause you to crash before you reach lunch..." I mumbled as I drank my coffee and felt better from the bitter.

"You never complained when you made pancakes." Hat argued as she stabbed the chocolate ball on top of her cake and ate it.

"Pancakes are at least breakfast food." I sighed.

"Right then! Let's go see what we can grab from this area!" Hat declared as she carried her juice box with her.

"Let's just hope it's manageable." I said before drinking more of my coffee.


CC paced around the main room of the ship in a state of worry, constantly scratching at herself.

"Will you calm down?" Boss spoke up. "They're fine! You know them!"

"But they always come back for dinner and to sleep! Always!" CC yelled worriedly. "Something is wrong. What if they got captured? What if they're injured? What if they're DEAD!?"

"Nothing's going to happen! They're more then capable of taking care of themselves!" Boss argued. "Knit, will you back me up here?...Knit?"

The yarn girl had literally turned herself into a ball of yarn and was rolling around, a pile of costumes she had knitted both absentmindedly and in fear was piled up in the corner.

"Tiiiiiiie…" She whined.

"...Roombi?" Boss turned to see the Roomba banging itself into the side of a wall in depression. "Oh, will you three get over yourselves!? They didn't come back for one night! So what? Nyakuza is deep underground, they're probably staying to collect all Time Pieces at once, that's all!"

"That's even worse! They should come home and rest!" CC cried.

"Fishsticks, it's like ordering the Goons all over again..." Boss grumbled.

Just then, the door to the Bedroom opened up, and Bow came walking out with a yawn. "Morning, everybody. I'm feeling a lot better now!"

"Bow!" CC ran over to her and hugged her desperately. "You're alright! Oh, thank goodness!"

"Thanks, CC!" Bow seemed happy that she was greeted so joyfully. "Man, that cold really stuck around. Glad it's over now!"

'She was sick for two days and THAT was a long time for her?" Boss thought.

"Hey, where are Hat and Tie?" She then asked.

"Eeeeeeheeeeeh…!" Knit sobbed in response whilst Roombi beeped loudly.

"Oh, Bow dear, they went down to the final area of the planet, but they haven't come back yet, and it's been a whole day!" CC said.

"Bow, can you talk sense into them?" Boss was desperate.

"Oh, sure! Relax! We're really tough! But if they've been gone a bit, then I guess..." She wriggled her way out of CC's grip and climbed up the slide into the Mailroom.

"What's she doing?" CC wondered.

"Oh!" Knit perked up. "Maybe they did that!"

"'That'?" Boss raised a thankfully still present eyebrow.

"Here we go!" Bow said as she slid back down. "It's a letter addressed to us from them!"

"Really!?" Everybody cried joyously before crowding around her.

"Mm-hm! Letters sure are convenient! At least, when you don't have email or connection." She ripped open the envelope and took the card out. "Here we are! A letter from Hat saying they're fine! And there's even a picture-"

"WHAT ARE THEY WEARING!?" CC suddenly shrieked at the enclosed picture.

"Looks like punk clothing." Boss observed.

"Not as good as my stuff..." Knit grumbled.

CC promptly fainted.

"CC!?" Bow gasped.

"Oy-vey..." Boss sighed.


"Hey, Tie! We're going to flavour town!"

"Ha, ha." I spoke dryly as Hat was wearing a flame style Colours. I myself was currently sporting the 'Checkmate Ace' Colours, which basically turned all my clothes, and my hair, white, but had suit emblems on it, such as red hearts on my chest and back, black spades on my arms, red diamonds on my knees and black clovers on my stomach and shoulders.

"And here are your Flairs each." The cat vendor handed us our other purchase which we opened up.

"Okay, which one?" I cycled through my Neckwear until I pulled something out of my Hammerspace. "...Is this it?"

"Yep." The cat nodded.

"...You turned my Paradox Pendant into a stick of gum!?" I cried holding out the gum, which had cat advertisement on it.

"Hey, it still works." He shrugs.

I rolled my eyes, but unwrapped it and put it in my mouth. Strawberry. Experimentally I blew a bubble, and when it popped it shot off a portal into the distance. "Huh. I guess it works." And I found myself chewing the gum.

"Thanks very much!" Hat waved as her Sprint Hat had now become a delivery girl hat judging from the fact it looked like a burger.

"Okay, we have those, and the Bluefin Passes." I ticked off my thoughts aloud. "NOW can we get the Time Piece down here?"

"We always could, but everything else was worth it!" Hat beamed.

'Seriously, why does Empress even want us to do this when she has plenty of these cats to do it for her?' I couldn't help but think as we wandered on.

We didn't get very far. Literally. We turned a corner and Hat bounced up and down saying: "Hey, look! It's Felin! Heeeey!"

"Oh, it's you two." The cat seemed to stop whatever it was he was doing.

"Thanks for helping us out yesterday!" Hat said as we ran up to see him.

"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. The other cats will think I'm weak or something." Felin muttered.

"This is pretty far down. What are you doing here?" I looked at the wall he was previously turned towards to see a giant spray painted mural of little kawaii cat faces. And I noticed a spray can was wrapped in his tail.

"Well...bit obvious now, ain't it?" Felin said as he shook the can and used the end of his tail to press the nozzle, putting some finishing neon green touches on it.

"Did you make all the art all over the place?" Hat questioned.

"Nyeah..." He took of his large bag and opened it to reveal various spray cans, paint buckets and brushes. "Just a hobby of mine ever since I was a kitten."

"Seems a bit more then a hobby." I said, recalling all the various art forms all over the walls we'd seen.

"I try to keep it a secret. Do it when nobody's around or where few cats tread. Of course though, you two have got just as much, if not more jump then any feline. And a lot keener eyes." He shrugged. "Plus...er, it's kinda embarrassing that I draw cute things so well."

"If you're this good at art, why do you work for Empress?" Hat questioned innocently.

"Wh-? Kitten, did you not hear what I just said?" Felin sighed. "Look, this place'll eat me alive if I don't work for her. If I do make a business, she'll either buy it out from under me or crush it. And that's a big IF. It's better that it's just...this."

"Well at the very least you shouldn't hide it." She frowned sadly. "If all of it is yours, you did a really amazing job!"

"R-Really?" He instantly became shy, wrapping his head up with his own tail. "You think so?"

"Yeah! You gotta let everyone know how great you are! Then things will get rolling!" She nodded.

"I don't think..." He practically whispered.

'You poor fool, there's no escaping her joyousness.' I thought.

"We believe in you!" Hat said with a raised fist, so I just copied her.

"Uh...th-thanks..." He mumbled, before he picked up his bag. "L-Listen. You two have work to do, so you'd better be getting on that, alright? Bye!" He then scurried off.

"Aw, he's shy!" Hat giggled.

"Poor guys realism crumbled under your optimism." I sighed.

"He just needs a little bit of faith." Hat said. "I hope we can help him out in some way. Maybe if we have some Pons left over after all this Flair and Colour spree."

"It's a matter of self-confidence and an oppressive environment." I said. Not my own experience, but it was easy to see.

"Life is only as limited as your vision." She spoke wisely, which worried me, but then she smiled. "Just some words of praise can help you see a little further, right? Besides, haven't we done a great job for everybody on this planet so far?"

I gave her a look.

"Oh, right..." She mumbled shamefully whilst pushing her fingers together.

"Apart from that, yeah, we've done a pretty good job." I nodded, which perked her up, as expected. "Come on. Let's go get this Time Piece."

The Time Piece in Bluefin was another broken one, like on the Arctic Cruise, which didn't bode well for the state of things, but we fixed it up and was once again taken from us as we were escorted back to the jewellery store. Only...

"You were touching my jewels, weren't you!?" The Empress had one of the Metro Cats by their throat.

"No! Honest! I would never touch your jewels!" They begged.

"Then why did I find your cat hair on it!?" She demanded, holding up a single black strand, which made the cat wince, which was all she needed to throw the cat to the ground with such force he immediately disappeared into a Heart Pon, causing us both to flinch.

"Don't let that...be either of YOU." She hissed as she fixed her sharp gaze on us both, and I think the two of us turned very pale. If Vanessa was good at scaring us emotionally, then Empress was the master at threatening us with violence.

"But of course..." She instantly switched to a sickeningly sweet tone. "You seem to now understand how things work down here. Who's in charge. And what happens to those who try anything funny." Again, she spoke with just a bit too much knowing in her voice, and for a moment I became fearful for Felin. "With all four passes you now have complete range of my Metro. You've done good work, so feel free to explore. Just don't slack off, understand?" We both nodded. "Good."

"That doesn't get any easier..." I groaned as we walked into the main area. "So, with the passes from Bluefin, next should be Pink Paw Station, right?"

"Actually, let's go to Green Clean, first." Hat said.

"Hm?" I inquired.

"Green Clean leads up. Close to the ceiling." Hat pointed upwards. "To the surface."

"What are you saying?" I pressed for information.

"Tie, realistically, we're going to have to plan some kind of escape route." Hat told me. "We can't really on the teleporter fixing itself if we are going to get out of here. When THAT time comes."

"...Gotcha." I nodded.

"Let's climb as high as we can, and look for...something." She sounded unsure. That was better then worried.

So we went through Glean Clean again, this time aiming to climb as high as we could by hitching quick rides on the trains and climbing up the walls.

"I don't see how we could get any higher..." I admitted as I surveyed the metro below us.

"I know." Hat nodded, and I watched as she platformed across some passing trains to a set of neon semicircle neon banners which she then proceeded to climb up by alternating between jumping and wall climbing.

"Figures." I sighed as I followed after her.

From there, we managed to find a spot where Hat could bounce up using her Ice Hat, as well as a pipe I could fly into with the Paradox Pendant (Paradox Gum?) putting us both on top of a very tall platform.

"This...looks like the highest point we can go." I admitted, the ceiling still a ways above us, covered in darkness, and the entire main plaza below us.

"Yeah...and I can't see any ladders or anything." Hat admitted.

"We'll figure something out." I said.

"I hope so..." Hat...mumbled? Sadly?

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Huh? Nothing!" She shook her head hurriedly.

I frowned at her.

"Noooooo, don't do a faaaaaace…!" She wailed.

"Hat." I said simply.

She sighed. "That's cheating..." She then took a seat over the edge. "I'm a little scared."

"Uh-huh." I sat down next to her.

"And a little worried, a little sad, a little frustrated." She listed. "Because...my friends got hurt, and sick, and Empress scares me a bit, and I'm still hung up on the Arctic Cruise, and the fact we have to keep giving up OUR Time Pieces after we do all the work to find them...!"

She sighed. "It's all a bit much. But I'm the Captain and I'm supposed to be fine about everything and help..."

I blinked twice. Was this always her mindset? From the day we set out together? Until now, we had overcome every problem we'd faced quickly. A pit stop on every planet, nothing as long as this.

And...well...all of the things on this planet? Most members of our species would have broken down, cried and given up all hope ages ago. Hat was resilient. But maybe it's because I'd always seen her as so positive and cheerful and...strong, that I didn't consider that she too could be broken.

"You don't have to be invincible, and I don't want you to act like it if it hurts you." I told her. "If it's getting tough, it's more then okay to say so, to cry about it a bit if it helps. You're a good Captain just being you. Okay?"

"...Mm-hm." She nodded very delicately.

"Do you want to stay here for a bit?"

"Mm-hm."

So we sat there, staring down at Nyakuza Metro for a bit. She would occasionally give off a sniffle, but eventually she looked at me with a smile behind her mask.

"I feel better now." She told me. "I guess that's another perk of being sad, huh? It helps get a lot of things off your chest."

"Yeah. Guess so." I agreed.

"We'll find a way." She stood up. "Come on, let's go get more Time Pieces."

"Right." I stood up with her and we walked towards the manhole.

Only for someone to pop out of it.

"What!?" I gasped as a Metro Cat with an eyepatch appeared.

"Hat Kid-chan! Tie Brat-chan!" The cat declared. "You've grown soft! Time to bring out your fighting spirit!"

"...What?!" I stated dumbly, before he socked me in the face.

"Tie!" Hat gasped.

"Ouch!" I gasped as I fell flat on my back. "What the heck!?"

The cat was now bouncing all over the place and taking random swipes like some kind of manic grasshopper. And why did I think this was a reference of some kind?

"Hold still!" I cried as I swung the nunchuks at him, but missed. I couldn't use the Spark Scarf in case I hit Hat accidentally. All the while it was taking cheap shots at me.

"I've got it, Ti-ow!" Hat tried to reassure me, but she got hit in the back.

'Argh!' I complained in my head. 'Okay, I'll use the Necro Necklace to dodge his attacks and counterattack.' So I put the Necro Necklace on and groaned when I remembered what it had turned into, so I had to ring the bell...

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

And because I wasn't standing on solid ground I fell right through.

"Oh no!" I heard Hat yell as I fell.

Thinking quickly I changed to the Bat Bow as the spikes turned into funnels and spewed out flames, slowing my descent until I landed safely in Yellow Overpass.

"Well...not my brightest moment." I admitted. to myself. I would have to keep that in mind from now on. In other news, I stared directly up to see I had indeed fallen quite far. "I'm sure Hat can handle that cat on her own. Still, I don't think I'm gonna hear the end of this...'

Just then there was a crackling noise. I turned around as a green portal opened up and a familiar little Minion walked out.

"Sweetie?" I questioned.

"Oh! We meet again, Tie!" She beamed as she skipped over to me. "How've you been?"

"Alright, I guess..." Ignoring the fact I just fell through a thin floor like a moron.

"That's good! Especially with how wacky you're dimensional walls are getting." She nodded.

"You know about that, too huh?"

"I know a bunch of things!"

Just then there was the sound of shattering, and we both turned to see a giant crack in the air where Sweetie had emerged.

"Oh dear..." Sweetie sweated. "That's not a good sign..."

There was a smashing sound a METAL CLAW burst through it, grabbing at the air, attached to what looked like silver spring for an arm, promptly followed by another one. The cracks in the air grew like a spiderweb until with a resounding shatter, a large robot pulled itself through. It had a copper, orb shaped body with two headlamps almost acting as eyes, as the square pattern separating its top and lower half looked like clenched teeth, as it's two large black wheels pulled through on piston-like legs, and of all things it had a mechanical tail behind it that had a rotary fan on it.

As soon as it was through, the hole it had made to enter sealed itself up, as with a creaking sound it set each of its headlamp eyes on the two of us.

"That...wasn't supposed to happen." Sweetie squeaked.


Checkmate Ace: You're the ace up the sleeve with this ramblin' gamblin' colour set! But really, please, don't gamble.


Another chapter of Nyakuza done! This time we leave off on a Boss Battle next chapter!

And yes, the Necro Necklace allows you to pass through thin surfaces but prevents thick ones to prevent out-of-bounds shenanigans. So when Tie used it on the very thin metal platform, it registered it as thin enough for him to fall right through.

On another note; Mr. Mega1423's AHiT story, 'Megacharge' just had its final chapter today. Even though he himself has said there's another one in the works, it's still sad to see it end. Tie, Voice and Sweetie all wish Mega the best in his future life! Thank you for the shoutout, Mr. Mega1423!

And as always, thank you to ScalchopWarrior, Konan720, Mr. Mega1423, Sinful Snackbag and the Guest for reviewing!

Thank you all! I wish you all the best with your own projects, be it writing or art! Until next time!