Hattie was already dashing down the alleyways and collecting pons lying around. It was pretty easy currency to get. She almost questioned the challenging part of this challenge.
She got up to around 30 pons and smiled, feeling confident. But her smile soon vanished when she patted her pockets. Wait, did they feel lighter than she expected?
She shrugged and continued collecting. But if one was watching her, they would notice her shadow looked a little odd. As she ran around, it would pop out of the ground and take a pon out of her pocket every 3-4 seconds, then phase back into the ground.
Hattie was quietly counting to herself. She should have around 60 now. Why did her pockets feel so light though? Did she have a hole in them? As she checked, she saw a shadow engulfed hand take a pon out of her pocket.
"Wha?!" She turned to where it came from, but there was nothing there. Then, she felt another pon leave her pocket from behind her. She turned around once more. Nothing. She was questioning what was happening until she heard a dark chuckle and a familiar voice say, "I hope you're planning to claim these pons on your taxes."
That cheating shadow! He's pickpocketing her and making her lose her progress! Seems like it's time to step up her game if she is to complete this faster.
She quickly looked around and spotted a couple Mafioso bullying an elderly man near the docks. She usually gets rewarded for beating up those bullies. Perfect!
She dove down to those two bullies and jumped on their heads. With a few quick smacks from her umbrella, they were knocked unconscious. She got a couple pons from them too. The elderly man thanked her and gave her around 11 pons. That was a big boost!
She continued running around, gathering more pons. She was tempted to break a crate or two, but she was already around 63. Surely she can still do it without doing so.
She ran along tightropes, up a wall, and jumped from patio parasoul to patio parasoul, grabbing as many as she could. She then spotted a capsule filled with pons around the plaza where she rescued Mu from the Mafia, standing on those TNT barrels. She wasted no time popping open the capsule and grabbing all the pons.
That was just enough to complete her task. Once she grabbed the last pon she needed, her shadow appeared in front of her and held out a Deathwish Time Piece. Slightly surprised, she took it. The shadow then disappeared, but not before Hattie spotted a pair of yellow eyes appear, showing an annoyed expression. She smirked, feeling a little proud to have bested Snatcher once again.
She glanced back at her feet, seeing her true shadow where it's meant to be. Seems Snatcher pretended to play as her shadow with his shape-shifting ghost abilities. That explains how he was able to pickpocket her without her seeing.
"Snatcher never usually cheats like this though…" From all the contracts she had with him, they were usually fair and square. Find the village, defeat the gross toilet, deliver mail to ten of his minions, get the Time Piece from Vanessa's manor. In all of them, they were as the terms and conditions applied. Snatcher even helped her on the mail delivery one.
Opening up the contract she just completed, she looked it over. She then noticed a small smudged away part under the title. Using her cape, she wiped away the smudge and gasped. It stated that her progress would drain over time. How did she miss that? She could've been more prepared!
It's not like Snatcher to be so careless on his contract's conditions. She pulled out her BFF contract and compared the two. Her BFF one may have her handwriting, but it obviously was different than his normal contract fonts. His were usually detailed and left out no important condition. Its paper was clean and the writing was formal.
But for the latest contracts, the writing seemed a bit rushed and there was not enough detail to go off of. Just a couple bonus conditions that aren't even mandatory for her objective, which was brief. And if he kept his contracts in mint condition, how did that smudge get on one important condition? Could it have been on purpose?
Hattie hummed, definitely sensing something fishy. And she wasn't just saying that because she was standing near a barrel of fish. No, her suspicions of Snatcher were continuously growing. But she still can't know for sure what is wrong with him exactly.
For now, she decided to keep her head low and play along. If she is to find clear answers, patience and cooperation are important. Nodding, she put both contracts back into her hat and used her true Time Piece to get back to her ship. She also took note of the storm clouds beginning to form. It might rain today.
"Perhaps I'm being a bit too easy on her." Moonjumper kept a hand under his chin as he was thinking over his next move. That child was clearing those contracts a bit faster than he can come up with them. He already sent her on her next one, which was fetching some vault codes that were blowing in the incoming storm's wind. Even with those circumstances, she was doing fairly well in the challenge.
"You've clearly underestimated her, Moonboy. That kiddo's tougher than she looks." Moonjumper's expression turned sour. He didn't need to look at his captive puppet to see that smug grin.
"I'm willing to continue playing this game as long as it takes, my puppet. I still have a strong hold on you and these challenges do not have to be limited to Mafia Town alone." Still, he would need to up his game a little. Looking back on the completed contracts the hatted child gave him, he looked over his mistakes.
His red eyes then widen as he looked over the "Back From Outer Space" contract. He recalled that being challenging for her. But perhaps not challenging enough. A dark smile grew as he chuckled under his breath.
"Perhaps a modification is needed for this task."
Hattie entered her room, her hair slightly messy and tangled from the wind. Getting those vault codes was a little harder than it should have normally been, especially with the fact that she had to fight 10 Mafioso and not use her Time Stop Hat to give her more than 30 seconds to grab each ticket. Guess that was the purpose of the challenge. Thankfully, her new ribbon gave her a bit more speed in grabbing them and that laser badge she thought she wasted her pons on came in use.
"Wow, kiddo. Your hair looks like an angry bird's nest." Hattie pouted, clearly not amused by his joke. She held out the complete contract and Deathwish Time Piece she got from the vault.
"Am I even close to done?"
"Not even halfway, kiddo." A smirk was showing as he handed her the next contract. She huffed and took it, reading it over. Her pout slowly faded as her eyes widened with shock and disbelief.
"You're not serious about me doing this…"
"What's the matter, kiddo? I figured you would've liked this one, given it's one that you've done before that is similar."
She took a second look over the contract. The title was, "She Speedrun from Outer Space With Mafia Jumps." She needed to get a Deathwish Time Piece from that Scientist Mafioso again, but in less than one minute and 50 seconds and in less than 15 jumps?! There's no way this is fair!
"But...this one's impossible! How can I go across obstacles that are in the air in less than 15 jumps and do it in less than two minutes?!"
"I dunno, kiddo. I'm waiting to see if it is possible. And if not, oh well. Guess I get a soul out of it." He cannot be serious.
"Unless you just want to give up and give me your soul." Hattie's eyes widen. Oh, he is serious.
"No way!" She wasn't giving up that easy. She'll keep refusing to die, proving that Snatcher still can't take her down no matter what he throws at her.
"Then get to it, kid!" Hattie pouted and stormed out of her room.
Soon as she was gone, Moonjumper darkly chuckled and showed himself. "This should be fun to watch. Come, my puppet."
Snatcher frowned, now concerned. Under different circumstances, he would've called this a dinner and a show. Some poor schmuck could've done this unfair contract and he would get a soul to consume out of it after watching them fail. But what was worrying him was not the fact that this contract contradicts his own fair terms.
It was the fact that "the poor schmuck" enduring this contract was the kid.
Soon as Hattie landed at the observatory, the timer started. She had to mentally remind herself to not jump more than 15 times as she gets through this. She had to waste no time.
She immediately face-planted in the mud, which came from the rain that was currently pouring down, and went up to the Scientist Mafioso, who was holding a Deathwish Time Piece in confusion. He mumbled to himself, "Where have Mafia seen this before…?"
He then took one look at Hattie and let out a shriek. "AHH! The slimy space alien is back!" He immediately took off running. Hattie jumped and dashed over to the other platform. That's already one jump used up.
The Mafioso screamed once more and climbed on the stack of boxes. This gave Hattie a moment of deja-vu. But no time to reflect on the past! She tried to cheat and jump up to the higher platform, costing her one jump. Unfortunately, that caused her to fall down. She huffed and costed 3 jumps to just get up onto the platform, then another for her to get to the Mafioso. That's 6 jumps already used. She's not even halfway through this challenge.
The Mafioso then yelped, dashing onto the Mafia banner. Hattie managed to dive from the platform she was at to get to him without using a jump. But now, the real struggle. He then went up the wall to the next few hanging platforms and to the last platform, leading to a dead end.
Hattie tried to be conservative with her jumps. Oh how she tried. But after taking another glance at the timer, showing she had less than 30 seconds to get to the Mafioso and grab the Time Piece, she panicked and overused her jumps, trying to do it how she did it before.
Soon as she hit her 15 jump mark, she was grabbed by her cape while she was in the air. He must've had a good grip if the mud wasn't even making it hard for him. "Whoops! Sorry, kiddo. You're out of jumps."
Hattie's face went pale. She lost…? No, this wasn't fair! He made it unfair! How was she supposed to do it in such a short time and practically without jumping?
Snatcher held Hattie up to his face as he showed a dark, sinister grin. A dark chuckle escaped as he watched her wiggle, trying to get loose from his grip on her cape. "Now, I believe you owe me one soul."
Hattie looked up at Snatcher, showing a nervous smile. "W-well, will I get it back when I eventually complete this…?"
Snatcher looked up, pretending to be in thought. "Mmmmmm no. Sorry, kid." Purple lightning then formed in his free hand as it hovered dangerously close to Hattie's chest.
"But we all gotta eat sometime." Hattie whimpered, eyes wide with fear. Was this really it for her?
"NO!" Snatcher, from within the subconscious, started to fight for control again. He reared his free hand back, trying to have the lightning disappear. Moon fought with him, trying to push his hand forward.
To Hattie, Snatcher looked like he was struggling as his whole arm was trembling. He was twitching more as well. The purple lightning soon vanished as his arm pulled away from her, much to her relief.
The relief was short-lived though as his hand tried to lunge at her once more. She let out a scream as he slashed his talons, tearing open her raincoat. Thankfully, he didn't scratch her.
But then, he literally threw her away from him, gripping his head. Seems he managed to regain enough control to get Hattie away from him.
She screamed as she fell from the high height and towards the ocean. She quickly adjusted herself and fell in, feet first. She kept her legs straight and firm as she broke through the surface of the ocean. It stung her feet, but at least nothing was broken. All the mud was washed away as well.
She quickly surfaced, gasping for air. She was right by the docking area where the ship was and where she saved another elder man from some bullying Mafioso. She quickly looked back up to see if Snatcher was going to come back down to finish the job. To her relief, he wasn't. But now she was anxious because he was gone. He could pop up at any second to get her soul.
She swam to shore, climbing up onto the rocks, panting. She then climbed up to the stone path and ran. She searched for shelter from the rain and a place to hide in case Snatcher comes looking for her. She can't go back to the ship for now. He might look for her there.
She then found herself in the alleyway, near the spot where she first fell to Earth. She dashed to the right, where there was the sheltered section filled with empty barrels. This was where she had her talk with Mu.
She shivered, cold from the rain and ocean water. Her raincoat was ruined and she was soaking wet. She sat down against the back wall, hugging herself and tucking her legs up. A couple tears showed in her eyes as she finally began processing all that has happened.
Her BFF signed her up for a nearly impossible contract and almost stole her soul. Now she is hiding from her said BFF, freezing cold.
...What was she supposed to do now?
"Hat child?" Hattie gasped as she looked up. She was relieved to see it wasn't an angry Snatcher, but surprised to see who it was.
"B...Badge S-S-Seller…?"
He was wet from the rain as well, but his focus was set on Hattie. He walked in and knelt down in front of her. "What are you doing here at this hour in this weather?"
Hattie sniffled, her nose now running a little. "I-I…"
Badge Seller then set down his satchel and said, "Wait here. And do try not to take any of my badges without paying." Hattie couldn't see because of the mask, but something tells her that he smirked while stating that. She managed a tiny broken chuckle as he then left her.
It did not take long for him to return with a few small logs. He knelt down in front of Hattie and set them up like a campfire. He dug through his satchel and pulled out a sort of flint. He lit the logs on fire, creating a small campfire. Hattie immediately sat up and propped her hands out, warming herself up.
Badge Seller sat across from the campfire, in front of Hattie. "I recall a certain child warning me to not stay in the rain for too long if I do not wish to get sick. Now I find said child in risk of doing the same."
Hattie managed a tiny sheepish smile, then looked down, smile fading. Badge Seller continued, "Now that you are getting warmed up, young one, will you answer my previous question?"
Hattie sighed, lowering her hands. She then dug through her top hat and pulled out the contract she failed. Handing it to him, she said, "Snatcher's been making me do these challenges, trying to get my soul. And I didn't finish this one."
Badge Seller took the contract and looked it over as Hattie continued talking. "But it wasn't fair! Usually Snatcher has a small challenge in his contracts, like I would just need to do some errands or something. But now he's suddenly giving me these weird dangerous challenges. I know he told me they were hard, but this one's impossible."
Badge Seller gave her the contract back and replied, "Not impossible...but indeed unfair. This task is decisively made to make you lose." Hattie's eyes were wide with mild shock. So it wasn't just her thinking this?
"But why? Why would he want to do this? He never makes his contracts unfair like that."
"I can only tell so much from what I know, but I can tell you this: you are correct about the ghost not acting like himself."
Hattie looked up at Badge Seller, putting away the contract. "I knew something was off about him! ...But I just couldn't figure out what. If he's not acting like himself, what made him like this?"
"I, again, cannot tell more than that. If I were to, with his current power, he will not hesitate to steal your soul when he figures out you know more than you should." Hattie's hand found itself gripping through one of the claw-marked holes and onto the fabric of her purple dress, near where her heart was.
She then looked down in thought, processing all this and trying to figure out answers. From what she has learned, it's not just her that believes Snatcher isn't himself. The twitching, the evil smiling, and the contracts. Not to mention how eager he seemed to take her soul. Thinking back, he wasn't even like this when they first met. Sure, he was scary and he did take her soul, but he only asked her to do some contracts that weren't too difficult or even close to impossible. She even enjoyed a couple of them. He may have also fought her instead of just letting her go at the start, but he did let her go once she showed how strong she was against him.
Then after all that, he always got annoyed whenever she came, but she could quietly tell that he did care. Surely he would have. If he didn't, then why would he help her on the Arctic Cruise? Why would he just let her come to the forest so easily? Surely with all the magic he has, he could make his own magical barriers to keep her out.
If he did care, what made him change?
She then sharply gasped, getting an idea. "Those purple Time Pieces…they're like Time Pieces, but they're made of dark magic. They've gotta be more corrupting than the actual Time Pieces. Maybe that's what changed him!"
Badge Seller then questioned, "Purple Time Pieces?"
"Oh, they're these ones Snatcher made himself. They're like my…'end goal' items? I don't have one on me now but…" She pulled out her own Time Piece and showed it to the Badge Seller. "They look just like these, but with purple sand instead and a sort of...darker feeling to them."
"That may be the case then. If the normal ones can corrupt a person, then a darker one would worsen the corruption, wouldn't it?" Hattie put the Time Piece back in her pocket.
Why didn't she assume this sooner? With Snatcher's strange attitude and those weird dark magic Time Pieces, this whole scenario just screams "Time Piece Corruption." The Conductor and Mu fell under a similar case, but that was with regular Time Pieces. ...Who knows what Snatcher will be capable of with loads of corrupted ones?
Truth be told, the Badge Seller, being the prophetic figure of this realm, knew much more about Snatcher's case. It is true that those Deathwish Time Pieces are a major factor in Snatcher's sudden shift in character, but he is aware of the true dark presence possessing him. But as he informed Hat Kid, he cannot tell her.
If she were to know while Moonjumper possesses one of the strongest beings on Earth and multiple corrupting time-altering mechanisms, the Badge Seller knew she would try to stop him immediately. If she tries, she will fail at her current status. If she fails, then all hope in saving Snatcher, Earth, and perhaps time itself will be lost. Hat Kid is strong, but not strong enough to face him.
Hattie then stood up. "I gotta find Snatcher and snap him out of it."
"No. If he holds that many corrupting Time Pieces, you do not stand much of a chance against him."
"He's my BFF though! I gotta help him. Besides, I stopped Mu when she had all my Time Pieces. What will be different this time?"
"Perhaps you have forgotten that he wields more magic than the red-hooded child and has far more corrupted Time Pieces than however many you possess. You must pause and think clearly. At his current strength, you will lose your soul if you challenge him."
Hattie did actually pause and look down in thought. As much as she hated to admit, Snatcher truly is a real challenge at his current state. She doubted that he would even let her use her hats to fight him off too, given that he didn't when they first fought.
"...Then...what am I supposed to do to help him?"
"Patience will have to be the key. You must think; if you are trying to save him from corruption…"
He allowed her to think and finish the thought. It took a moment, but she then snapped her fingers. "Then I gotta keep doing those challenges! I get one of those Deathwish Time Pieces and he just makes them disappear whenever I get one. He also said that he has all sorts of challenges set for me. If I finish them all, then he's gotta give up and let me help him."
She looked to Badge Seller with a confident smile. "Thanks, Badge Seller."
He then stood and said, "Do not thank me just yet. I have one more thing that will aid you in accomplishing your current contract."
As he began digging through his satchel, Hattie's confident smile faded as she said, "Wait...do I really have to do that one again?"
"As I stated, young one: unfair, but not impossible. Especially with this." He then held up a new badge for her. "This is the Fast Hatter badge. With it, your cooldown time for certain hats will decrease, allowing you to use your hats' abilities much faster than before."
Hattie's eyes widen with mild awe. This could be really helpful! She then blinked, realizing why he was granting her this badge. He was practically referring to the one hat she could've used to get through the challenge without worrying about the time.
She facepalmed. "I should've used the Time Stop Hat…"
"It is not too late to give it another try. With this, it will be a little easier for you as well." Hattie lowered her hand and looked up at Badge Seller.
"And how much is it?"
"250 pons."
Well, it's cheaper than the scooter badge. And after taking a lot of time to collect pons before the whole Deathwish ordeal, she had plenty to spare. She handed him the requested amount of pons and he gave her the badge. She took off her magnet badge to equip it. She can survive not getting every single pon along her obstacle course.
"A couple small tips as well: you could skip the wall climbing part if you take a leap towards one of the hanging platforms. On top of that, your ice hat can allow you to be a few inches in the air when activated before hitting the ground, allowing you to dash to a platform without jumping."
Hattie's eyes widened. These tips could've saved her the first time she did this. It made her really wish she knew these tips sooner. Nonetheless, she showed a warm appreciative smile to the Badge Seller.
With a quick "thank you," she opened her umbrella and ran back to the observatory to start over her task. The Badge Seller watched her leave with a new spark of confidence in her appearance.
"Good luck, Hat Kid."
"I finally had her in our grasp and you threw away the chance of earning a free soul and your possible freedom?" Moonjumper was searching all around the area for the hatted child. How could he have lost sight of her so easily? Couldn't he at least see her drowned corpse or something?
"Like hell I was going to let you hurt the kid!" If Moonjumper wasn't so caught up in his frustrated emotions, he probably would've used Snatcher's magic to sense Hattie's soul or aura amongst the sea of gruff Mafioso souls. He was quietly thankful he wasn't though. He threw the kid away from him for a reason. Surely she would've survived the fall. He aimed for the ocean to make it a bit easier for her in case she couldn't pull out her umbrella on time.
Just before Moonjumper could argue with Snatcher once more, he glanced back to the observatory. He then spotted something that made him turn around completely and lock his vision on it.
A sort of mud-coated monster rushing back up the obstacle course, but using an ice hat to give it a bit of a boost and save a couple jumps.
Moonjumper's dark smile returned, showing itself through Snatcher as he remained possessing him. "Seems she came back to try again. Why don't we go say hello?"
Snatcher, within his subconscious, watched the kid with a worrisome expression. He even managed to say under his breath, "Kid...why did you come back?" She could've hidden away or warned somebody about what happened to her and/or what was happening to him. She could've gotten help. She could've gotten to safety.
But instead, she came back.
She refused to give up.
Once she got to the banner, she used her Time Stop Hat to slow down time and look around for the shortcut the Badge Seller hinted. Looking to the hanging platform, she realized that even though it may cost her 2 jumps to make it along with a dash, she could save at least 3 jumps by taking the leap.
Once her Time Stop Hat turned off and began to cool down, she clapped her hands together and took the leap. Two jumps in the air and a quick dash. She managed to grab the ledge and pull herself up.
Running along the ledge, she dashed without needing to jump to the final platform, where the Scientist Mafioso was.
At first, when Hattie didn't show up for a short while, he assumed that she lost him, allowing him to examine the strange purple hourglass. But now, when she did land in front of him, he let out a scream and scrambled back.
"Please don't hurt me, you monster! H-here, do you want this? Will you go away if you take it?" He held out the Deathwish Time Piece in his trembling hands. Hattie took it, ending her timer at around a minute and 10 seconds. That leap saved her a lot of time just as it saved her quite a few jumps.
"Yes, thank you!" She then jumped back down to the ocean, using her umbrella for a safer splashdown. She had a bright smile on the way down as well. Seems the Badge Seller was right; the contract was unfair, but not as impossible as she first thought.
Moonjumper was gobsmacked. The child actually did it? Snatcher, on the other hand, was proudly grinning. The kiddo has surprised them once again.
"What's wrong, Moonboy? Sad your plan didn't work?" That proud grin changed to a smug smirk as he looked up to Moonjumper, who phased out of Snatcher to see the results for himself. Snatcher may be held captive, but apparently, that wasn't going to stop him from mocking Moonjumper.
"How can that be though? I set that contract up so she could fail it! How could she have passed?"
"Don't think these little challenges are gonna stop the kiddo that easily. She's faced tougher challenges and fought tougher foes than this." That's when Moonjumper head shot up upon hearing that statement. He then turned to Snatcher, a dark grin reappearing on his face.
"Tougher foes, you say?" Snatcher's grin faded. Wait, what was he planning now?
Moonjumper phased back into Snatcher and flew back up to Hattie's ship. That chef cat and red-hooded brat should be gone by now, giving him a chance to search for the one he was looking for.
Once he entered the Machine Room, he spotted the Mafia Boss jar. He was sitting in his usual spot, contemplating. He then looked up, seeing Snatcher.
"Shadow ghost? What do you want now? Can't you see I'm plotting my vengeance?"
"Snatcher" had a wide dark grin as he said, "Vengeance against the hat-wearing kid, eh?" He picked up the jar, having the Mafia Boss yelp, startled.
"What if I were to say I can get your body back?" The Mafia Boss jar's eyes shot up, giving Snatcher his undivided attention.
Snatcher's dark grin widened, seeing that he caught his interest.
"I just need you to fight a certain child for me."
.
.
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Ack, sorry if this took a while. I feel like my writing has been a little choppy lately and I've been a little busy. I hope this one turned out alright. Meanwhile, coming up next, Down with the Mafia's Encore, featuring Mafia Boss EX. Let's hope Hattie's ready.