Linkone1: Yeah, I don't really have much to do today, so I guess that makes you the lucky one!
Just so you know, once I had finished writing the White Trailer part, I realized that it would be unusually short. So this one will combine both the White Trailer and the Dust store robbery. Enjoy.
Chapter 4:
Hat Kid narrowly dodged the swing of the giant armored behemoth, landing flat on the floor. Why did almost everything attack her?
The monster charged again, sword ready to stab. Hat Kid changed to Brewing Hat, throwing a potion at it, which did relatively nothing to stop it. The monster punched Hat Kid, sending her flying, right into a girl in white who appeared to be singing. Hat Kid pointed her umbrella in the direction of the white girl and opened it, hoping to slow her down. She just narrowly avoided planting right into her, instead sliding on the floor until she was right beside her.
The girl in white looked over to her.
"Hmm? A child? How'd you get on stage? Where are your parents?" She questioned.
Hat Kid pointed her umbrella towards the giant monster, who was now charging at the girl in white.
Her eyes went wide. She pulled out a rapier, and jumped right at the monster. Their swords clashed, and the sound of steel on steel echoed in the theatre.
"Get out of here!" She yelled at Hat Kid. "This is no place for a kid!"
Hat Kid rolled her eyes. Where have I heard that a thousand times before? She switched to Sprint Hat, deciding that speed was the key. Dashing around the monster, her parasol made impact on its head, and it pulled back. The girl in white used this opportunity to unleash a fury of stabs and strikes onto the behemoth.
"I said, GET OUT!" The girl shouted louder with each strike.
Peck, she sounded just like Mustache Girl.
Hat Kid ignored her again, bouncing up in the air and hitting the behemoth again in the head. The armored monster reacted by grabbing a fistfull of her hair, to which Hat Kid winced in pain.
"Look what you've gone and done!" The girl commented. "Now I have to save both our skins!"
She summoned a strange, white, circular symbol that resembled a snowflake, lunging at the monster. The two continued to tussle, with Hat Kid struggling to get free. At one point, the monster threw a punch, sending the girl in white flying across the stage.
Hat Kid at this point had a plan. She reached into her hat, which was just barely about to fall off, and pulled out her camera. She then held it out to the monster's head as far as she could, insuring the flash was on "Epilepsy-Inducing" brightness. She didn't know what epilepsy was, but she had seen it used in Dead Bird Studios to blinding effect.
Pressing the "TAKE THE PECKIN' PICTURE ALREADY!" Button, the camera flashed extremely bright. The monster, taken aback by the brightness, dropped Hat Kid, stumbling as it clutched the opening in its visor.
Hat Kid took the chance to escape, rushing behind stage. What was she doing here again? Right, finding the Time Piece. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened her eyes with a look of annoyance. Of course the monster had it. She ran back onstage, umbrella in hand.
The girl in white was really kicking tail, even to the point of disarming the monster.
Hat Kid ran charged right at the behemoth, twirling around and swinging the umbrella.
It wasn't very effective, but it drew the monster's attention towards her, as the girl in white leaped up in the air, rapier pointed straight at the monster. She then dived back down, slicing the monster in the chest, making it disappear in a shroud of white.
She took a bow to the crowd as the curtains closed, then focused her attention to the small child.
"You!" She shouted. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"
Hat Kid folded her arms and rolled her eyes. She didn't take to scolding from people like these.
"But…" She began. "You did help to take its attention away. And I thank you for warning me in advance. Weiss Schnee, by the way."
Hat Kid's eyes lit up. Maybe she was going to be slightly lenient.
"You will be fined 10,000 Lien for disturbing the concert. That is all." She said, walking away.
Hat Kid rolled her eyes again. Yeah right, like she had a disposable source of income. She then looked back to where the monster had been. Where was the Time Piece? She looked back to Weiss, who she saw was holding it and looking at it curiously.
She tapped her shoulder.
"Hmm? What? You want an autograph?"
Her umbrella pointed at the hourglass.
"This? You want this? Well, I don't really know what it is, nor care." Weiss said, tossing it to the kid.
"Consider it a 'thank you' for the help."
Hat Kid took the hourglass and put it in her hat.
"Security will escort you outside." She said, pointing to two men in black suits.
Hat Kid's eyes widened. She didn't like the look of these two. They looked like the crows from C.A.W.
She immediately pulled out her keychain and tapped the spaceship button. In a bright flash of green light, the girl disappeared from the stage.
Wiess's eyes were wide as plates. "Wait, what?"
Back in the ship, Hat Kid pressed a button on the TV which allowed her to track those who had keychains, particularly Blake. She saw that Blake had taken residence in a bookshop, and was doing pretty well for herself.
Hat Kid thought about all the new people she had met. Yang, Blake, Weiss, and all those other people. What did this mean for her? Was she going to meet them again? She hoped so. They seemed like nice people. Well, most of them...Ehh, we'll just say Weiss counts for ½ of a nice person. She went back to the door. Well, no rest for the weary.
This time, she found herself inside a garbage can. Yuck! She climbed back out, shaking apple cores and cans off her shirt. She appeared to be in the same city as when she met Yang, making her hopeful she could meet her friend again.
She tapped into the power of her hat, the hat telling her a Time Piece was inside a random shop. Walking over to the store, called "From Dust Till Dawn", she opened the door, looking inside.
"Why hello there, little girl. What can I do for you?" An old man at the counter asked.
Hat Kid took a look around. Was this a candy shop? What were those weird containers of crystals? They looked similar to the ones she found on the train.
She pulled out her camera and showed him the picture of the Time Piece.
The old man put a hand to his chin in thought.
"Hmmm, I might have acquired something like that. Let me search the storage closet. You go ahead and take a look around, see if you might want anything else." He said.
Hat Kid decided to take the old man's words, walking around. There were bags with colors on them, she assumed they were code for something. She noticed a magazine rack, and a girl in red wearing a hood, younger than Yang, but definitely older than her, standing there reading one.
She walked over to the girl, taking a magazine from the rack and looking at it. The girl noticed her and took off her headphones.
"Hey there." She said.
Hat Kid waved.
The two went back to reading their magazines. Hat Kid's was about stuff she didn't understand. The nonsensical drivel was so boring, she put back the magazine and reached into her hat to grab her own.
The girl in red looked at the magazine.
"Mafia Cooking for Annoying Little Girls, 10th Edition?" The girl asked, reading the title.
Hat Kid nodded, and held it out for her to see.
The girl opened the first page.
"Recipe for Cooking Mafia Spaghetti. Step 1: Put spaghetti on stove. Step 2: Let spaghetti cook on stove. Step 3: If spaghetti burns, punch stove, then repeat step 1-2." She read.
She was about to show her the second page, "Recipe for Cooking Mafia Stew," when the old man came back from the storage closet.
"Sorry, Kiddo. Looks like I don't have anything like that." He said.
Hat Kid looked disappointed. The hat didn't always tell her where the Time Piece was. Sometimes, it just told her where it would be. This meant she would have to wait until the Time Piece showed up.
She walked back over to the girl in red, continuing to look at her "Mafia Cooking" magazine.
"Step 1. Put in meat. Step 2. Put in spaghetti. Step 3. Cook food. These guys really like spaghetti."
Hat Kid shrugged. It was probably the only dish those bozos knew how to cook somewhat decently.
The doorbell rang, and Hat Kid looked behind her. There stood a man in a bowler hat, along with some familiar men in red ties. Her eyes widened as one of them looked at her.
The man with a bowler had approached the old man at the counter. "Do you know how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" He asked as one of the men pulled a gun on him.
"Please! Just take my Lien and leave!" The old man pleaded.
"Shhh!" The man with the bowler shushed. "We're not here for your money." He turned to the men. "Grab the dust."
The man that spotted her walked over to the man with the bowler and whispered something in his ear.
"Uh huh? I see." He said. "Bag the kid, too. Those who cross with Roman Torchwick's gang will pay."
Hat Kid's eyes widened, as one of the henchmen pounced on her, tying her hands behind her back, and carrying her football-style to the front of the store.
"You caused me a lot of trouble back at the bar, my dear." The man, now known as Roman, told her in a sing-song voice. "I'll make sure you pay it back full, in advance!"
He returned to study a red crystal, until one of the henchmen flew through the window. Everyone including Hat Kid turned towards the back. Another henchman went to the back where the girl was, holding a gun out. There was a flash, as the girl pounced on the man and flew with him out of the store. Hat Kid looked towards the girl in red, as she produced a huge red scythe.
Hat Kid used this as her opportunity to escape for the second time today, kicking the man holding her and running as fast as she could out the window toward the girl in red.
She smiled at Hat Kid. "You alright there?" She asked.
Hat Kid nodded.
"Good. Stay behind me." She instructed, as she swung her scythe. Hat Kid decided this was a good idea to equip new Badges. She put the Scooter Badge back in her hat, then took out the Projectile Badge. A blue tip of energy seared on her umbrella before dissipating.
The girl in red noticed this. "Or you can fight. Either one is fine."
"Okaay…" Roman said, looking at his henchmen. "Get them!"
The henchmen ran right at the duo. Hat Kid equipped the Sprint Hat, dashing around and hitting them with her umbrella. Every so often she would swap out for the Brewing Hat and hit them with a potion. The girl in red moved like a human wrecking ball, swinging her body in-tune with her scythe, hitting henchmen left and right. She and Hat Kid landed back to back, with Hat Kid sending one back with a Projectile Blast, the girl knocking a man down with her scythe.
"We make a pretty good team, Kid." She said. "I'm Ruby, by the way. Ruby Rose."
"Hat Kid." Was her reply.
"Hat Kid, huh? Think my sister might have said something about meeting a kid with a hat in the club." Ruby said, as she knocked someone down. "Says you're looking for shiny hourglasses?"
Hat Kid nodded as she pummelled a henchman with her umbrella. This must be Yang's sister.
"I think that guy in the bowler hat has one." She said, pointing at Roman.
Hat Kid looked at him. He definitely looked like someone who would be looking for those kinds of things.
Ruby knocked the last guy down with a blow to the gut, sending him flying towards Roman.
"You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." Roman muttered. "Well, ladies, I think we can all say this has been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this…"
He pointed his cane right at Hat Kid. A targeting sight appeared on the end of it.
"Is where we part ways."
Ruby dove in front of Hat Kid, attempting to block the shot. The round exploded at her feet, sending her in the air and Hat Kid back.
Ruby landed back on the ground, and ran over to Hat Kid.
"C'mon, sidekick!" She said, helping her up. "I can't have you quit on me that easily."
She turned to the top of a building nearby, seeing that Roman was making his way up the access ladder. She turned to the shopkeeper.
"You okay if we go after him?" She asked.
"Yes." The man replied.
She gently scooped up Hat Kid and leapt into the air, onto the building.
There was Roman, running towards the edge of the building. Ruby set Hat Kid on the ground, and pointed her scythe at him. Hat Kid pulled out her umbrella and charged her Projectile Blast.
"Hey!" She shouted.
Roman stopped and looked at the ground. "Persistent." He mumbled.
Just then, a huge airship-looking thing flew out from above the building. Hat Kid questioned how it was not made of wood yet still flying.
It shone a bright light at them, about as bright as the "Epilepsy-Inducing" setting on Hat Kid's camera. She covered her eyes. When she opened them, Roman had climbed onto the craft and held a red crystal in his hands.
"End of the line, ladies!" He shouted, before throwing it on the ground at their feet. Hat Kid had a bad feeling about this. Roman raised his cane once more, firing a round directly at the dust crystal. Hat Kid opened her umbrella, hoping to shield herself and Ruby from the blast.
The round went off and exploded the crystal. Roman laughed at the scene, before seeing that the two were perfectly intact. Standing in front of them was an old woman in a white shirt and purple cape. She had some sort of purple symbol, like the one Weiss had, which appeared to have shielded them from the blast.
The symbol disappeared, and the woman hummed. She then waved a wand in her hand, sending purple lines racing at the ship, damaging it.
Hat Kid decided to pitch in, charging her own Projectile Blast to red, unleashing a torrent of fire that made Ruby's eyes go wide as plates.
The blast missed unfortunately. The woman glanced at the child for a brief moment. "Work on your aim, maybe, hmm?"
Hat Kid shrugged. Her umbrella didn't exactly come with a sight.
The woman shot another purple line from her wand, this one going up to the sky and making the clouds darken. Out from the clouds came icicles, falling on the ship and stabbing right into it. The ship had started to falter, when a woman walked out in the ship's cabin. She let loose a blast of fire from her hand, the older woman deflected it with her wand abilities. She then did a move where the ground from under the older woman turned red-hot. The older woman leapt out of the way as a plume of rocks erupted from the building.
The older woman used her wand powers to stack the rocks into the shape of an arrow, then shot it at the woman on the plane, who retaliated by firing more fireblasts at it. The older woman's magic was stronger, however, and it managed to get to the plane. It split into several rock arrows, and grazed the ship as they circulated it.
The woman then released a circle of orange that melted all the rocks.
Ruby and Hat Kid joined in, Ruby firing rounds from her scythe, Hat Kid shooting Projectile Blasts. The woman managed to Ruby's shots, but the Projectile Blasts seemed to take her off guard, knocking her back.
The ground beneath them turned orange. Ruby immediately scooped up Hat Kid and jump-rolled to the side, away from the orange spots, which erupted more firey rocks.
This distraction allowed for the ship to escape, unfortunately.
The woman then turned to Ruby.
"You're a huntress?" Ruby asked. "Can I have your autograph?"
The woman gestured towards her and Hat Kid. "You two, come with me. Now." She ordered firmly.
Aw shucks. She was going to be a Weiss, wasn't she? Hat Kid thought. She pulled out her keychain, only for it to float away from her hands, a purple glow illuminating it.
"You won't be needing that, my dear. We'd like you to stay and chat for a while." The older woman said, taking the keychain.
Hat Kid's eye twitched, before glaring at the woman and pressing a button on her side. A backup teleport, in case she lost the keychain. A green glow illuminated her, and in a second, it was gone, Hat Kid with it.
Ruby's eyes were once again wide as plates. "Did you know that was going to happen?"
"We had our suspicions." The older woman replied. "Another time, then."