Chapter 38: Finale Time

"...Mmm."

I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I was in bed? Why was I-

"Oh peck!" I cursed as I leapt out of bed and rode the elevator downstairs. "Hat!"

"I'm here!" Hat scrambled out of her own room. "The Time Pieces!"

We both ran over to the vault. It was completely empty. The screens around the ship showing a very definitive '0'.

"They really did it." Hat gasped. "They used all of our Time Pieces to rewrite time!"

"How bad is this?" I questioned.

"Really, really, super bad!" Hat gasped. "If they used ALL of them, they could have messed up so much of history!"

"To think they'd catch us off guard like that...it must've been Voice's doing." I figured.

"There's no telling what could have changed and been erased because...of...this..." She slowed down. "Tie, it's awfully quiet."

We both turned around. It was.

"Knit?" I called.

"Bow?" Hat cried.

"CC?"

"Boss?"

No answer.

"This isn't a good sign." I admitted.

"The people on this planet are one thing, but where is Bow?" Hat questioned.

As if to answer, one of the screens began beeping, and Hat tapped on it to make Bow's distraught face appear.

"Guys! I'm here!" Bow gasped.

"No, you're not!" Hat wailed. "Where are you!?"

"I'm back in my ship, where I was before I followed you guys!" She cried.

"They must've altered time so that we never sent out the SOS, thus Bow didn't come here." I figured. "But if so, why not just get rid of us?"

"The Time Pieces are our property. So maybe by using them, they couldn't alter the fact that we stopped here, or put us in any harm." Hat theorised. "But the big question is; what did they do with all of them?"

"Um, guys?" We turned back to Bow, who pointed past us. "What's that red glow?"

We both turned around and stared out the main window. Sure enough, there was a red glow coming from the other side of the planet.

"Nothing good." I answered.

"We're gonna have to check it out." Hat nodded.

"I'm travelling back to you two as fast as I can." Bow told us. "I'll join you as soon as I'm there!"

"Gotcha, Bow. But we can't afford to stand around, time itself could be in danger." Hat told her.

"I know. Good luck, you two!" Bow waved before she signed off.

"Right, let's get down there." Hat nodded to herself, straightening her namesake with a serious look. "Which window could we jump out of to make it to the other side of the planet?"

"My room." I answered. "It's at the top of and far end of the ship."

We both went up to my room and looked through the telescope.

"Oh..." I began.

"Sugar." Hat finished.

We could see it on the apex of the planet. A giant castle surrounded by lava, dangerously close to Mafia Town, radiating heat as bridges of black iron connected to all other areas of the planet.

"That's not good." I groaned.

"Well...at least they didn't burn up the whole planet?" Hat mumbled, making us look at each other. "Let's do this, Tie."

"Right." I nodded, as we opened the window and jumped out.

The heat hit us like a wave as we landed down on the charcoal black rocky path and looked up. The castle was huge, surrounded by a lava sea and an angry red sky, as a long queue lead up and into the open giant double doors.

"They certainly don't do subtle." I mumbled.

"I think everybody on the planet is here." Hat said as we surveyed the line. "There are Mafia, Nomads, Minions, Cats, Owls, Penguins...even Seals!"

"Little girl! Little boy!" A nearby Mafia waved at us. "Oh, is terrible! Mafia one moment walking around, minding own business, when suddenly waiting in this line! And strange thing is, Mafia remembers coming here, even though it never happen!"

"What he means is, everything suddenly changed, now we've got two sets of memories!" A Nomad beside him explained. "And these new ones are that apparently Moustache and Voice are the toughest two on our planet and we're in this line to be judged by them! How crazy is that!?"

"It's vewy hot." The Seal next to him commented.

"Moustache and Voice have messed with the timeline." Hat explained. "But don't worry! We'll beat them up, get back our Time Pieces, and set everything back to normal!"

"Could you hurry up with that? Having fur here is NOT fun." A Metro Cat grumbled.

"What he means is; please, please help us!" An owl begged.

"Gonna have to cut in line to do so." I said.

"By all means!" A Moon Penguin said. "Trust me, nobody is gonna stop ya."

"Thanks. Come on, Tie." She said as we both ran alongside the line.

"They must've messed with a lot of time to be able to do this." I thought aloud as we ran up a flight of stairs.

"A lot doesn't begin to cover it." Hat worriedly said. "We've gotta fix this as soon as possible."

"Oi, there they are! Lass! Laddie! Over here!"

"Conductor! DJ Grooves!" Hat gasped as we walked over to them.

"Hey, Felin. Walrus." I greeted them, who were also in line.

"That's Captain to you, pup." He grumbled, then sighed. "Aw, who am I kidding. There's not even a proper ocean around here."

"Things have really gone to peck, young 'uns." Conductor grumbled. "I see what ya meant about messin' with time now, lass."

"This is quite the experience darlings, might even make a good movie, but it sure doesn't feel good living it." DJ Grooves cried.

"From what these new memories are sayin', apparently these bad pups took over everythin'." Walrus moaned. "Now we're goin in for some kind of test, and it's not good from the sounds of it."

"This whole thing is just a giant hairball." Felin hissed. "We were just fine! About to find a way to go about things peacefully without Empress, then they mess up the whole timeline!"

"Wait, you actually got rid of Empress?" I questioned.

"Somebody did. She just vanished and nobody could find her. None of us are complainin'." Felin nodded, which made me and Hat look at each other. "But all that relief is gone now, thanks to these two."

"We're gonna sort it." Hat assured them. "So sit tight, everybody."

"Not much else we can do." Felin admitted.

"Ah, if anybody can do it, it's you two." Conductor nodded.

"Naturally! You darlings are the main characters after all! Not those two hacks." DJ Grooves agreed.

"Welp, if I'm gonna choose between this life and you pups, it's a no-brainer." Walrus said. "Go whup that pair good."

We continued on and finally made it into the main hall off the castle, and-

"Oh..." We both said.

There were golden statues and large portraits along the carpet and walls, all depicting various figures removed from time. The CEO of TIme, Timmy, Shapeshifter, Rough Patches, Thor, Oldster, Tim's Friend, Sandworm, Moonjumper. Everyone.

"I think Voice designed this part." I mumbled as I looked around. It was almost creepy how daunting they felt, like they were looking down on me with indignation.

"Finally you two show up." We both looked forward to see Snatcher of all people move over to us. "I believe this is yours." He dangled someone in front of us.

"Knit!" I gasped.

"Hello..." She waved as Snatcher dropped her into my arms.

"She was wrapped around a statue when we got here." Snatcher explained. "Don't get the wrong idea, I was annoyed at the fact those brats were flaunting their power, not the fact she was in trouble."

"Yeah, sure." Hat waved it off, bored of his hot-cold attitude at this point. "What are you doing here, Snatcher?"

"By messing around with time they somehow found a way to strip me of all my magic." Snatcher grumbled. "Which is why I'm stuck in line and not strangling the life outta them." He pointed towards another set of double doors, ones that were closed, then opened a crack to let someone in before closing again. "They're behind there. The noises coming from in there are...unpleasant. Something I would do, y'know?"

"Those two are jerks!" Knit recovered. "But, why make all of these things? Including..."

We all looked up at the gold statue of Moonjumper.

"Yeah, that's the one she was wrapped around." Snatcher confirmed. "And my feelings of disdain towards it all but confirm this is him."

"Moonjumper…" I mumbled.

"At least I finally have a face to the name." Snatcher mumbled as he pulled at his...collar? Whatever that was. "And having to wait around here, has made me think about things."

"What things?" I questioned.

"I get this feeling...that he was supposed to be the prince." He admitted, which made me remember the picture book. "And when he vanished, I filled in that void he left behind. And that makes me think about uncomfortable things, like what my life was like before that, was it all erased along with him...and, did I even have a life before becoming Snatcher...at all?"

I looked at him, and he glared at me. "Hey, don't feel sorry for me. He left me with a torture of a life! If he was here, I'd still kill him!"

"Maybe in another timeline, you two would have been good friends." Knit spoke absentmindedly.

"What was that, doll?" Snatcher growled.

"You two were similar in a lot of ways." Knit continued. "I just think maybe, if things were different, everything would have turned out much better. For all three of you."

Snatcher frowned, then positioned himself at his full height. "No point trying to change the past, doll. What I was before who I am now; that doesn't matter anymore. You got to go with life gives you, and if life gave me a different past, then hey, certainly hasn't changed my future, so doesn't matter, does it?" He clenched his claws. "Which is why those two going and changing time really makes me mad! Go with what you got and be grateful you got it you little-!" He began mumbling some very bad words.

I left Snatcher to growl as I realised Hat had moved away from us. She was looking at all the statues and the paintings.

"I know all these people...at least I did." Hat admitted. "The CEO. Timmy. Thor. I knew them at one point."

"Feeling reminiscent for something you don't remember?" I asked as I walked over to her, carrying Knit.

"It sure is weird." She admitted, scratching underneath her hat. "It makes me feel sad that I know them, but they no longer exist."

"It's okay to feel like that." I nodded.

"Hold up." She spun on her heel and poked me in the nose. "Don't try to turn this around and make it all sad! I meant what I said in the desert. I wouldn't trade you for anything! In fact..."

We turned towards the statue of Timmy. "Looking at Timmy...yeah, we definitely worked together. We had adventures, yep. We were friends, uh-huh. And it does make me a little sad that all of that has been erased."

She looked at me. "But I still wouldn't trade you for anything. Not Timmy. Not the CEO. Nobody."

I couldn't help but ask: "...Why?"

She smiled lightly. "Do you remember the day we met?"

"I could never forget it. The day you invited me to join you on your ship." I nodded.

"Truth is, I knew about you all along. Hard not to." She admitted. "I was actually planning to go into space alone, but I decided you had to be with me! I was going out into unexplored territories, excited about what I would discover!"

"So I knew you had to be by my side during that. Because you were so different from the rest of us." She smiled. "I knew, because you were so different, that we would do the same things together, but we would experience them so differently. That our views would bounce off of each other and help us appreciate everything we did even more. All the times I dove into something and you were cautious the whole time, whenever we fought or tried diplomacy, we always had unique tactics and ways of going about it. And because of that, this journey was twice as fun, wasn't it?"

I blinked at her. "...To be honest Hat, the only reason I came with you, was because you were the first person who was ever kind to me." I sniffled. "S-So, it makes me...really, really happy that you say that. I'm just glad, that I was of use to you."

"You were more then that. You were my partner and friend. My irreplaceable friend." She told me.

"Mm-hm." I could only nod pathetically so that I didn't start crying.

We were interrupted by a screeching sound, which gave me time to compose myself as we saw the Leviathan wrapped around a statue of Thor, looking at a picture of Sand N' Sails.

"Ohhhhhh, now it makes sense." Hat said as we walked over to it. "You must've been from Sand N' Sails like the Nomads, huh?"

It wasn't quite the mark but close enough for the Leviathan to nod and stare at the art pieces wistfully.

"All these things are giving me a sense of deja vu." I heard people talking amongst themselves.

"Yeah, the name Thor definitely rings a bell." A Nomad nodded.

"This Shapeshifter...thing, too." A Minion agreed.

"It's a little saddening, but strangely uplifting." An Owl pondered. "Like recalling an old friend."

"People are beginning to remember some pieces." I noted.

"They'll never truly remember." Knit mumbled sadly. "But they're recalling feelings. Joy, sadness, anger, what they may have experienced with them, like Snatcher with Moonjumper."

'So Voice will never truly be satisfied until they're revived completely.' I thought. 'And they think that in order to do that...'

"Tie." Hat called to me. "They're through that door. Let's go."

"Okay." I nodded as we walked towards the giant doors.

But there was a loud ker-chunk as they seemingly locked.

"'Bout time you two got here!" Moustache's voice blared through a loudspeaker. "Sorry, but you're gonna have to go the long way around!" A door opened up at the side, and looking through were several long, lava filled corridors.

"Seriously?" I groaned. "I'm almost flattered they made an entire separate path just for us."

"Can't you use the Necro Necklace to get us through? Or the Paradox Pendant?" Knit suggested.

"I need to see where I'm going to teleport there with the Paradox Pendant. And only I am affected by the Necro Necklace, and I'm not leaving Hat or you behind." I explained.

"Long way it is, then. Just how we're used to." Hat said. "Let's go, Tie!"

"Right." I nodded.


"Gahack!"

The Mafia was tossed across the ground like a ragdoll, beaten to a pulp.

"Looks like you've taken a good enough beating." Moustache sneered as she walked back over to her throne, atop a mountain of Time Pieces, as a door at the back of the grand, hourglass stuffed room opened. "Alright, get out. And if I catch you doing anything bad again, you're gonnba lose a limb next time."

"O..kay...Mafia...know..." The big burly man whimpered in pain as he limped out of the room.

"You're taking a very direct approach to this." Voice noted, sitting on their own little throne next to them, their Time Tuning Fork resting on its side.

"What did other me's do?" She asked as she sat down.

"Trapdoor." Voice stated simply.

"Wow, that's lame." She huffed. "Then again, they don't have a cool Badge helping them."

"You're welcome." Voice nodded. Then there was a pause. "Aren't you gonna let the next one in?"

"Hey, Voice?" Moustache spoke. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing? What a hero would do?"

Another silence.

"If you have to ask me that, I think you already know the answer." Voice said.

"Okay." Was all Moustache said in response. "Those two are gonna be here soon."

"Yeah." Voice nodded, looking at her.

"I'm...not gonna lose." She nodded with a sense of determination. "I'm gonna beat them. I'm not gonna have them fix this."

"Like I said, I'll stick by your side, no matter what." Voice said.

Moustache nodded, then looked up and called out:

"NEXT!"


"Whew, these halls are hot!" Hat panted as we walked through, lava underneath the platforms that were out footing.

"Hopefully we're almost at the end." I sighed.

"In more ways then you think."

"Oh geez!" I gasped. "You got me that time!"

"Badge Seller!" Hat gasped. "You're here too?"

"Yes." The being nodded. "But not because of time being altered, I exist outside of its influence, but I am staying to witness the inevitable."

"You mean the big dimensional inbstability?" Hat questioned.

"You might be a little late, timeline has already been split in two." I commented.

"If only." A new voice spoke.

"Sweetie?" I questioned as she stepped out from behind Seller.

"Hi!" She couldn't wave. "I'm here too!"

"Yes, the two of us have some...familiarity, with each other. Technically." Seller explained.

"What do you mean by 'if only'?" Hat asked.

"The timeline being split in two is practically destined to happen, across most dimensions." She explained. "It's nothing new, and it certainly wouldn't cause the big dimension shattering event we're waiting for."

"Which means the worst is yet to come." Seller simplified. "At this point, we have no doubt that it is to do with Voice. Their influence, and actions across other dimensions, has become more and more prevelant."

"Do either of you two know who, or what, Voice is?" I asked.

"Even we cannot say." Seller admitted. "They are...truly an oddity."

"One moment they didn't exist, the next they do." Sweetie said. "And they choose to settle down in this dimension, with Moustache of all people. My theory is that they knew this moment, the timeline splitting, would come about because of Moustache. But the only things that are different are the art pieces, and the fact that the entire planet isn't covered in lava."

"Wait, that could actually happen!?" I gasped.

"In other dimensions, yes. Voice actually had a nice effect on her." Sweetie nodded.

"But it is still practically assured that they are the cause of this looming disaster." Seller admitted. "We fear it is something even you, Hat, cannot handle alone."

"It's a good thing we have Tie here as well, then." Sweetie smiled.

"Right. Stop a multiverse shattering cataclysm. No pressure." I mumbled.

"No problem! We got this!" Knit exclaimed, even though she was looking incredibly nervous.

"We won't know how we'll do until we get there, though." Hat said. "But when it comes around, we'll definitely deal with it. Tie!"

"Roger!" I nodded as we both set off again.

"Be careful you two!" Sweetie cried.

"Our fates are in your hands." Seller nodded.

We turned the corner into yet another corridor, only at the end of it was a small metal door.

"That must be the end." Hat nodded.

"So why does this corridor look so...bare?" I questioned. It was just a simple stretch. No statues, enemies or anything. Not even lava.

"Hmmm...well I've played enough video games to know this is some kind of trap." Hat nodded to herself. "Tie, you wanna go first?"

"Nope." I stated.

"Darn." She snapped her fingers in frustration. "We might as well walk right into it then."

"Big leap in strategy there." I said.

"But it's our best strategy." She argued, as we both took a step forward.

Almost immediately there was a loud KER-THUNK! As the ceiling opened up, and countless enemies began descending down. All manner of Crows, Lazy Paw Gang members, Sleepy Raccoon's, Spiders, Rats, Shromb Eggs, UFO's and even invincible Headless Statues, enough so that there was a small army between us and the door.

"Oh..." I began.

"Peck." Hat finished.

The enemies all turned to us and began advancing.

"We can't take all of these guys THEN those two!" I gasped.

"You're right. We could take one or the other definitely." Hat boasted.

"I'll deal with these guys!" Knit declared as she jumped in front of us, taking all our spare yarn balls with her, before twisting around and transforming into her Woven form. "I'll cut a path through for you both!"

"Wait, Knit-!" I tried to stop her, but she was already in the fray, and began cutting a path...but then stopped.

"Guys! There's actually a lot of them!" She panicked as she was getting overwhelmed.

"We know!" I called as more began advancing on us. "Sugar, we can't just leave her here."

"We'll just have to try our best." Hat said as she readied her umbrella at the closest Crow.

But there was a metallic clang as a frying pan hit it in the face.

"Don't you dare hurt these kids!"

"CC!" We both gasped as we turned to her.

"I am so glad you two are alright!" She cried. "Well, not right now, but-"

"What are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I was in line too, y'know! Saw you both run off!" She said as she smacked another crow away. "'Course I'm gonna help ya! Besides, I had a little help getting here."

"Guys! I made it!" A voice cried.

"Bow! You made it!" Hat cheered.

"Just in time, too!" She giggled. "And I brought friends!"

"Friends is a loose term." A third voice said, as Bow pulled him out from behind her back.

"Boss you big softie." I smirked at him. "What are you going to do? Blink at them angrily?"

"Actually, I brought some extra muscle. Or did you forget who I'm the boss of?" He questioned.

Behind him was several Mafia members, as well as-

"You always know how to put on a show, darlings." DJ Grooves said.

"But ya know the real favourites are the supporting cast, eh?" Conductor laughed.

"I may hate you both, but I hate THAT pair more. For now at least." Snatcher shrugged.

The Leviathan screeched a battle cry.

"If I can handle a ship of Seals I can handle these guys." Walrus muttered.

"Nyeah, I called in a couple of favours to help us get our timeline back on track." Felin said with several Metro Cats behind him.

"All of you..." Hat beamed.

"Huh. You guys really aren't all that bad." I admitted.

"Alright, you 'orrible lot!" Conductor yelled. "Let's show 'em who runs this planet! CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

"That's my line!" Boss argued. "Men! ATTACK!"

There was a battle cry as the two armies clashed in a cartoonish smoke cloud of wacky noises and limbs.

"We'll hold these guys off, so you two go on ahead." Bow told us as she leapt into the cloud.

"Thank you everyone!" Hat called to them. Then we both heard a screech as the Leviathan rested next to us. "You'll lift us over? Got it!"

We both hopped on as the Leviathan flew around the chaos and to the front of the door.

"Thanks." I nodded to it, and it screeched happily before it did a U-turn and dived into the madness itself.

"I'm kinda jealous. That looks pretty fun." Hat said.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you." I admitted as I placed a hand on the door. "Here we go."

"You mean lets-a-go!" Hat cheered as we pushed open the door together and went through, before it quickly closed behind us.

The noise from the prior room vanished instantly, and was replaced with an eerie silence. We were in another corridor, leading into a large room. We walked slowly down the red carpet path into the room, which was filled with mountains of our Time Pieces. And at the top of the biggest one, sitting on a throne each, was them.

"So...you finally made it." Moustache spoke.

"Hat and Tie." Voice nodded.

"Moustache." Hat pointed.

"Voice." I glared.


The final battle is upon us ladies and gentlemen. What will happen? How will it go? I know, but you'll have to read to find out.

And with this, I can say the countdown has begun. After this, there are only four more chapters left. So, in the spirit of things, I'm going to ask you, the viewers, some of your favourite aspects of this story, which you can answer, or not, just a little talking point now that we're close to the end. So for this chapter, the question is:

What is your favourite Neckwear out of the Tip-Top Tie, Bat Bow, Spark Scarf, Necro Necklace, Cleaner Cape and Paradox Pendant?

Also, sorry for the wait on this one. England going back into lockdown on top of uni work ate up a lot of my motivation as well as time. And maybe the fact that the end is in sight. In any case, doing good now.

Next Time: Hat and Tie vs. Moustache and Voice!