Hattie cautiously peeked into her room, looking around. No sign of Snatcher at the moment, but he could still pop up at any moment. She had a blue vial from her Brewing Hat in one hand and the completed contract in the other. She was prepared for two situations: either Snatcher will spare her once she shows the contract or she'll fight for her soul.
Her guard slowly lowered as she entered the room, looking around in all directions. So far, still no Snatcher. But going closer to the bed, she did spot something new. She went over and found a raincoat, much like the one she had on now, only brand new. On top of this raincoat was a folded sheet of paper.
Hattie kept the flask on hand while she set down her complete contract on the bed. She picked up the note and read it over.
"Hey, kiddo! Sorry 'bout the whole soul snatching incident. Guess I got a little greedy. Your soul should belong to me when you truly die, not when you fail to complete a contract's guidelines, after all. So to make up for it, I made you a new raincoat that looks just like your old one! I'm out preparing more challenges, so just leave the Time Piece and contract up where I usually am. Your next one is under the raincoat. Good luck! You're gonna need it. - Snatcher"
Huh. This is surprisingly considerate for a possibly Time Piece corrupted, soul stealing ghost. She took off her raincoat and looked it over. She frowned at the sight of the holes where Snatcher's talons got her. Thank the stars he didn't actually scratch her.
"Rest in pieces, raincoat. You've served me well up until now." She then went over to her little trash bin and tucked the torn raincoat in it. She then picked up her new one and looked it over. It looked exactly like her old one. She smiled a little and slipped it on for size. Fits just right.
She then picked up the new contract that was originally underneath the raincoat. But before she could read it...
"Hat Kiiiiiiid!" Hattie jolted, turning to her bedroom doors as Mu rushed through them, panting.
"Mu?" Hattie was glad Mu was looking better now after their last encounter, but she looked really worried. Did something bad happen?
"Kid, it's the Mafia Boss!"
"Oh? Is he saying more mean stuff to you again?" That was a small problem whenever Mu went to the Machine Room and encountered the Mafia Boss. Needless to say, he's been pretty hotheaded about Mu destroying his body and putting his remains in a jar. She hasn't been happy with him either, despite getting some vengeance against him.
"No! He's back!"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how it happened, but he got his body back!" Hattie's eyes were wide. How is that possible? Wait…
"Could Snatcher have…?" No, how could he have that kind of power to do so? Sure he can steal souls, set up traps, and do some dark magic stuff. But he surely couldn't bring a body back so easily, right? Unless those Deathwish Time Pieces have something to do with this.
"What's worse is that he reopened the HQ." She glanced to the bedside, where Hattie set the Deathwish Time Piece and contract down, and picked up said Time Piece. "He also had one of these on hand. ...What kind of Time Piece is this anyway?"
Hattie quickly grabbed the Time Piece out of Mu's hand and said, "Careful! These are made of dark magic. They're really dangerous." She then blinked, realizing what Mu said.
"Wait...the Mafia Boss has a Time Piece like this? A-are you sure?"
"Yeah. It looked like a Time Piece, but purple instead, like the one you're holding."
Oh no.
Tucking up her new raincoat, she bolted out of her room to the living room, leaving a startled Mu to run behind her. "Wait! Hat Kid!"
Hattie was about to jump out of the hatch to Mafia Town when Mu dashed in front of her and stopped her in her tracks. "Hold on a sec! Where are you going?"
"Mafia HQ. I need to get that Time Piece back."
"Why the rush though?"
Hattie paused, now questioning if she should tell Mu. She recalled back to when she had her talk with Mu about the power of the Time Pieces and how corrupting they can be. If she told her sooner, maybe it would have avoided the world's destruction. Cod only knows what would happen if she tried to get a hold of these Deathwish ones to try and stop the bad guys again.
She sighed and said, "These new Time Pieces are corrupting. More so than the ones I have. ...Will you let me explain?"
Mu quietly nodded, willing to listen.
"So, let me get this straight. The Time Pieces you have that you fuel your ship with have a sort of effect that can make people go crazy when their desires are strong enough and if they want to use said Time Pieces to fill out said desires. And these purple ones were made by the creepy ghost that are more corrupting than yours?"
"That's kind of the long short of it."
Mu glanced down, then back up to her. "Well, I guess that explains why I don't remember much from our fight. I just remember being really angry, wanting to get rid of all the bad guys, yelling at you and...I don't know the rest."
"We basically fought through time and space and you had a literally visible dark aura showing when we fought. I guess that's part of the corruption. You forget your violent actions when the Time Piece's power overtakes you."
"Yikes...and if the Mafia Boss has one of those really bad ones...cod knows what he's going to do." Suddenly Mu seemed fearful. What if the Mafia Boss tries to destroy the town completely? What if enslaves the remaining non-Mafia townsfolk? What if he finally hunts her down and shoots her out of the cannons...just like what happened to her mum and papa?
Hattie noticed her fearful expression and trembling hands as these dark thoughts ran through Mu's mind. She carefully held her hands, having Mu look up at her. Hattie's heart almost twisted up from her expression. She looked so afraid.
"Hattie...I don't want to disappear…I don't wanna end up alone…"
Hattie then hugged her. "You won't. I'm gonna stop him before he does anything bad. No way am I gonna let him hurt my sister."
Mu blinked by the title. "...Sister?"
"You're my family now. Gotta have a title, right?" Hattie showed a tiny smirk while saying this.
Mu paused, taking this information in. Then she had tears lingering in her eyes as she hugged Hattie back. Sister...that's not a bad title. Made her feel a little tough if it meant she had someone to protect.
Hattie then unhugged her and said, "You just stay safe on the ship. I'll take care of the Mafia Boss."
As she walked up to the hatch and grabbed the handle, Mu then went to her side and said, "You mean we will take care of him."
"What?" Hattie turned around, eyes wide.
"I'm not gonna let you infiltrate the HQ alone. Especially not without a plan. Remember what I said about the importance of a plan?"
"That all assaults need a good plan or it'll be a flop. But don't you remember the last time you tried to help me with one of Snatcher's missions? If this is one of them, what if he tries to hurt you?"
Mu frowned and lifted up her hands, making fists. "I'm not scared of that dummy ghost! He's not gonna stop me that easily."
Come to think of it, was getting that Deathwish Time Piece part of her new contract? Hattie pulled it out of her top hat and looked it over. Mu went to her side and looked as well. The title was, "Encore, Encore!" And the condition was to basically defeat the Mafia Boss. Bonuses would include not missing a chance to him and doing it with the One-Hit Hero badge. Hattie never got the badge because that was a death wish without a contract.
Mu then snickered a little, a devious smile showing. That was unsettling to say the least. Hattie looked up to her, wondering what is going through her mind now.
"You basically just have to fight the Mafia Boss and I can't help with that. But does it say I can't help you get into the base so you can fight him?"
Hattie blinked in surprise. She looked back over the contract. No, this contract was straight to the point. She only had to fight the Mafia Boss. It didn't state that she had to infiltrate the base then fight him. Therefore…
"You really can help me!"
"Right! The fighting's gonna have to be on your own, but I know you're tough enough, corrupted Time Piece or no Time Piece. And I can at least get you into the base. I wouldn't be surprised if he hired more of his goons for security."
Hattie stuffed the contract back into her top hat and said, "We should check and see before we come up with our infiltration plan then."
Mu nodded with an eager smile as the two jumped out of the hatch. Mu held onto Hattie as she pulled out her umbrella to help them land safely. They floated past the storm clouds as the rain continued to pour down. Hattie was thankful Snatcher gave her a new raincoat.
"Head for the rooftops. No Mafia should be able to reach or see us there." Hattie nodded as she leaned towards the roof of Mafia HQ. Once they landed, Mu tucked up her hood as she looked down, over the ledge.
"Yep. There are at least 3 guys guarding the entrance. I'm gonna get a bit of a closer look." She then hopped down to the tarp on the left side. Keeping her hood up, she held onto the side of the giant Mafioso sign that stretched past the rooftops. She realized that the two buttons that were there to open the entrance were gone. Now there's a hefty lock for the entrance.
"Shoot." Using the tarp, she jumped back onto the rooftop before she was spotted. "They've got a lock on the entrance now. We're gonna need a key to get inside."
"You think one of the Mafia guys have it?"
"Not bad thinking, kid. So we beat them up, get the key and head inside. We can continue planning once we're in."
Hattie nodded. The two then hopped down from the rooftop, onto the tarp, and landed in front of the Mafia men guarding the entrance.
"Hey, you big brutes! Betcha can't get me!" Hattie had her umbrella ready as Mu taunted the Mafioso.
They growled a little, insulted, and approached the two girls. Hattie made her move, whacking them a few times with her umbrella and Mu landing the finishing blow, knocking them all unconscious.
"Nice job, kid." Mu then checked the unconscious Mafioso's pockets. Checking the back pocket of the second one, she pulled out a key.
"Bingo!" Hattie and Mu went to the door and unlocked it. Mu then turned to Hattie and said, "Brace yourself, Hat Kid. There are probably going to be lots of Mafia inside waiting to clock us."
Hattie nodded, tilting her top hat down. The two then marched inside.
Once in, the two girls hid behind one of the golden Mafia statues near the entrance. Mu kept her hood up as she surveyed the area. Surprisingly, there weren't too many Mafioso.
"Huh. I expected an ambush. Least we're gonna get the jump on them."
"We should probably keep a low profile as we head to the Mafia Boss though."
Mu frowned, but nodded. The two then faced each other. "Then let's go over the finishing part of our plan. We sneak through the kitchen again, but we take out the Mafia inside."
"Why take them out? What happened to keeping a low profile?"
"The chefs in there were how I got captured in the first place. If we knock 'em out, then I'll be fine and continue keeping guard as you head to the Boss."
Hattie supposed that would make sense. Mu continued, "Then you will fight the Mafia Boss, finishing that contract and getting that weird Time Piece back. Once he's knocked down, I'll smash the Mafia Boss into mush and put him back in a jar."
"Mu, no."
"Aw why not? It worked out fine last time."
"Don't you think it's a little too much though?"
Mu gave her a look that told Hattie that she already knew the answer to that question. As excessive as that punishment was, Hattie knew she had a solid reason as to why she wanted to do it. He was basically the reason Mu was homeless and parentless now.
Hattie sighed. "I'll only allow it if you don't really kill him and bring him back to my ship, just like how it was before."
Now it was Mu's turn to sigh. "Fine…"
Now with a plan in mind, the girls snuck out from behind the statue and crawled under the roulette gambling tables that were apparently not made for gambling. They then snuck behind the bar and entered the kitchen.
Four Mafia chefs all looked to Hattie and Mu. Mu immediately let out a small battle cry as she jumped on one of them, hitting them on the head. Hattie quickly went to her aid, whacking him with her umbrella. The other three Mafia immediately attacked.
From outside the kitchen, one could probably hear clattering and dishes breaking coming from within. Any Mafioso that heard thought that was the chefs working hard though. No one bothered to investigate as the two intruders finished the fight, having all four Mafia men unconscious.
"Nice. Now onto phase 3 of the plan." The two made their way to the freezer. Luckily, the freezer door was unlocked this time.
"Now, go on ahead. I'll stand guard, then meet you in the audience once you've defeated him." Hattie nodded and opened the door.
"Be careful, Mu." Mu blinked, then waved her hand dismissively.
"Psh, I don't need luck. I'm always careful." Her confident smirk faded though once she put down her hood and looked to Hattie seriously.
"You be careful though, okay?"
Hattie offered a warm reassuring smile and nodded. She then entered, making her way to the vent that will lead to the Mafia Boss' room. Mu put her hood back up and leaned against the wall next to the door.
Two Mafioso then marched into the kitchen and looked straight at Mu. Mu gasped, startled by their presence.
Their suits were different. Instead of blue, they were black with thin red stripes. Aren't they two of Mafia Boss' higher-ups? Why the sudden entrance? How did they know to check in here?
Without a word, the two marched up to Mu to grab her. Mu took a fighting stance and punched one in the face. But two against one is an unfair game. Soon as Mu took a swing at the first Mafioso, the second one grabbed her, holding her arms behind her back.
"Let me go, you big brutes!" She struggled, but it was of no avail. The two men remained quiet as they marched to where the Mafia Boss was.
Once Hattie finished off the two Mafioso that stood in her way of the Boss, she marched right up to him, umbrella ready. The Mafia Boss hopped down from his throne. Mu wasn't lying; he had his body back.
"So...it is you!"
"You got something that doesn't belong to you."
The Mafia Boss crossed his arms and showed a small dark grin. He then dug through his front pocket of his red coat, pulling out the Deathwish Time Piece. "You mean this, kid with the hat?"
Hattie nodded. "Those are really dangerous, Mafia Boss. We don't have to fight for it."
"But I do not plan to fight for it. I only plan to fight you." Keeping the Time Piece in his grasp, he marched to the left and right as he elaborately explained to Hattie what his scheming entails.
"Ever since you and that red-hooded brat defeated me, I've been plotting my vengeance against you both. But being encased in a jar, I could see how it could not be done. My liquid boiling with hatred and anger. ...That is, until your ghostly friend gave me an offer I could not refuse."
He held the Deathwish Time Piece in the palm of his hand as he looked at it with a greedy expression. "With this, the ghost brought my body back and helped me regain control over Mafia Town once more. And I had one to keep for myself to do whatever I desired as long as I got rid of you. Fortunately, that is all I wanted."
He turned to Hattie with a dark grin as he said, "Now, I can use this powerful hourglass to achieve greater things than before! And I will start by getting rid of you. Then, I will finally take care of that red-hooded girl once and for all!"
Hattie now took a fighting stance. He can threaten Hattie, but nobody's hurting Mu on her watch! "I'm not gonna let you do that."
"Then we shall settle this true Mafia style." Hattie was then grabbed from behind and thrown out on stage. The same stage where she fought the Mafia Boss the first time. Mafia men were in the audience as well.
The Mafia Boss then came on stage and looked at the Deathwish Time Piece. "Let us put this to proper use." He then crushed it in his hand, having Hattie gasp as the dark magic contents surround his body.
He then had a sort of rainbow hue glowing on his body as a dark purple aura surrounded him. A wicked grin showed as he pulled out his machetes. "Ready for an encore, little hat-wearing girl?"
Hattie had no choice. She had to stop him. She took a defensive stance. It was hard to admit, but she was afraid of what he was going to do now.
"Then it is...SHOWTIME!"
He immediately did his spin attack, but he was much faster this time. Hattie had to be on her toes for this one. As he was spinning, she was quietly questioning why she couldn't spot the blue outline as he was. No way for her to jump on his head without getting thrown off or hurt it seems.
It wasn't until he got dizzy and stopped when she finally spotted the blue outline for a quick second. She wasted no time and whacked him with her umbrella.
Recovering, he pushed her away and charged up. "Supercharge!" Hattie almost yelped, seeing extra sparks, much like his old ultracharge attack. She avoided them well though. Once the Mafia Boss was dizzy again, Hattie whacked him.
The Mafia Boss then hopped off stage, whistled, and sent down stage sandbags. While Hattie avoided them, she yelped, seeing a Mafioso charge at her. She avoided him, but landed against a sandbag. It's not as soft as she hoped it was.
Mafia Boss then hopped back on stage, throwing another supercharge at her. But now she had to avoid that and falling sandbags! She watched her footing on this one.
She whacked him when the opportunity arose, then he charged at her with a spin attack without even a warning. She was knocked off her feet, but quickly got back up as he was coming back her way.
"He's gotten so much stronger…" Hattie thought with worry. When she fought him the first time, he barely got a hit on her. Now she was getting knocked left and right.
The battle continued on, with Hattie dodging attacks left and right. It wasn't until he stomped in anger when he changed his attack pattern. Now he threw his machetes like boomerangs and tried to body slam her. Hattie dodge and tried to whack him before the machetes came back, but he practically brushed it off. Was he really not vulnerable at this given moment?
It wasn't until his third attempt when she saw the blue outline, giving her a chance. With a solid whack, he jumped down and whistled for more sandbags. But as Hattie was dodging them, she now had to watch out for three Mafioso. She dodged the sandbags, but landed against one of Mafia men. She knocked him off stage, but that landing for Hattie wasn't a soft one either.
The Mafia Boss then jumped back on stage, doing another spin attack. Hattie got back on her feet, feeling sore now, and dodged, getting better at dodging this attack. She gave him another whack with her umbrella.
He stomped his foot, growling angrily. But then stopped and let out a dark chuckle. "Don't think you're winning now, child." He then pointed backstage. Hattie looked up and gasped.
Mu was tied up, dangling in the air, just like last time. She struggling to break free, but that was of no avail. "Rrgh! You leave Hat Kid alone, you psycho!"
The Mafia Boss seemed to ignore her as he said to Hattie, "I've got your friend captured. Once I'm through with you, she will be next to go. IN THE TOWN CANNONS!"
Now Mu's eyes were wide with terror. She began struggling even harder. Hattie's eyes were wide too. She knew the Mafia Boss was ruthless, but surely not this ruthless.
That's when she noticed a Deathwish Time Piece peeking out of his front coat pocket. Did he have an extra one on hand? There was no way he was going to keep that corrupting artifact. Not if he was going to put his sister in danger like this.
"I will give you one chance though. Give yourself up and perish. If you do, I may spare the red-hooded girl."
Hattie blinked, then glared. She then took a fighting stance.
"So be it."
He hopped stage left and shouted, "Mafiaaaaaaa ball!" Mafioso from the crowd gathered up and formed the Mafia Ball, with a small gap. It started rolling towards Hattie a bit faster than she remembered.
"You got this, Hat Kid! Show that baddie who's the real boss here!" Hattie glanced to Mu, smiling at her encouragement, and readied herself to climb up and attack.
Meanwhile, Snatcher was watching from one of the theatre balcony seats. He had a small bucket of popcorn on hand as he said, "Ooh, this is getting good."
"Enjoying the show, my little puppet?"
"Only cause the kid's winning." Moonjumper frowned. Yes, the child was doing better than he expected. As he watched her knock down the Mafia Boss from his Mafia Ball, he then smiled mischievously.
"Perhaps it's time to even the playing field then." While keeping Snatcher under his control, they flew to the stage, floating behind the curtains above, out of everyone's sight. Snatcher then had red strings appear on his fingertips as they looped around the Mafia Boss' arms.
"What the–" They then flashed blue, giving the Mafia Boss a bit of a magic boost. Hattie stopped. Wait, what's happening? Where are those coming from?
She looked up to see the source of the strings, but it was hard to tell from the shadows above. The Mafia Boss then began to laugh evilly as he started his next move.
"Ultra charge!" Hattie gasped, bracing herself and dodging. As she was, Mu shouted for her to look out as more sandbags came down. Mu was pointing them out, helping Hattie dodge.
"Above you! Wait, there goes another one close by! Watch out f–" She was then muffled as thick band of red strings covered her mouth, silencing her.
"Ah ah ah. Can't have you helping her fight." Mu looked up and let out a stifled gasp. Red eyes seemed to look straight at her from the shadows. She tried screaming to Hattie, but her screams remained muffled.
Hattie looked to Mu and gasped, seeing the strings. Whoever was controlling those strings was trying to make it harder for her to fight. Like a puppet setting up the stage for his show.
"MEGA CHAAAAARGE!" Hattie gasped, focusing back on the fight. Now there came red sparks. They were coming fast too! Hattie tried dodging, but got knocked back by a sandbag and hit by one of the sparks. Her whole body stung in pain and it took her a moment to push herself back up.
Back on her feet, she quickly whacked the Mafia Boss before he recovered. The fight continued as he used his boomerang machetes, Mafia Ball, and the charges. Hattie did better against the Mega Charge, managing to dodge the sparks.
Until, with one final whack, she knocked the Mafia Boss back against the left stage wall. The blue strings stopped glowing, going back to red, and disappeared. The red strings around Mu's mouth vanished as well.
"How...how could I have...l-lost…?" The Mafia Boss felt extremely weak. He could barely move. His limbs felt heavy. Hattie began approaching him, umbrella in hand.
With a cold serious glare, she pointed the tip of her umbrella at him. Using the tip of the umbrella, she opened his coat up a little so she could grab the Deathwish Time Piece.
"Well done, kid! Now uh...do you mind getting me down?" Hattie looked up to her with a nod and a small smile. Going backstage, she flipped a switch, lowering Mu to the ground. Once Hattie untied her, the two hugged.
"Always careful, huh?" Mu blinked and unhugged, crossing her arms. Hattie was smirking now.
"Well you weren't doing any better than me. And those brutes caught me off guard."
"Uh-huh." The two girls then turned to the crowd of Mafia, who then screamed and fled, fearing the girls were planning to go after them next. Mu smirked, then looked to the Mafia Boss.
"I'll take care of him. You just head back and rest." Mu patted Hattie's shoulder and began marching towards the Mafioso, cracking her knuckles.
Hattie frowned a little, but nodded. In case Snatcher decided to use him again, he would be less of a threat if he was in his jar form. She didn't want to stick around for the carnage though. So she headed out of the base, pulled out her regular Time Piece and flew back to her ship.
Just as Mu was ready to start pounding him to a pulp, some red strings appeared from above stage once more and coiled around the Mafia Boss. It then quickly pulled him up and out of sight.
"Whoa, WHAT?!" Mu looked up, wondering what just happened. Where did he go? Either way, if someone helped him escape, she's in big trouble. He may come looking for her. Tucking her hood up, she quickly took off.
Once Mu left and the theatre was empty, Moonjumper turned to the captive Mafia Boss. Snatcher was behind Moonjumper, still tied up.
"Shame. You disappointed me. But I am a man of second chances. And you'll get yours eventually." The Mafia Boss' eyes were wide. This wasn't the same spooky shadow that gave him the chance to fight Hat Kid again. This one looked more...menacing.
"For now, I will need to put you away until you can be of use again, little puppet." With a wide dark smile, the strings around the Mafia Boss turned blue and flashed. The Mafia Boss began screaming in terror and in pain. Then with a quick flash of light, he turned into a button-eyed doll. His soul was still contained within it, but it was as lifeless as any regular doll. Its appearance was just like his, including little plush machetes in each hand.
Moonjumper giggled with twisted glee as he gently coiled red strings around its arms and made it look like it was dancing. He truly is insane. Snatcher felt intimidated, to say the least. For now though, he had to keep his composure. Someone needs to be the sane one in this mess.
"The kid finished her contract. You're not serious on letting him back in the ring after she's beaten him already." Moonjumper's twisted smile became a dark smirk as he turned to his true captive puppet.
"If the child continues completing these contracts, then I may have a large plan set in place. After all, we're only getting started. She's only finished one region out of the entire planet. There is still much more to do."
Pocketing the Mafia Boss doll, he phased back into his captive puppet, taking control.
"With that said, let's make a quick stop at Dead Bird Studios."