Chapter 10
Hat Kid stretched her arms as she let out a yawn. She was waking up after a night of sleep following the battle against the Mafia Boss. After all of this fighting and dodging around had tired her out, but she was feeling better after sleeping for the night. She hadn't been able to go in her bedroom though, since the door was still locked. She needed seven Time Pieces to unlock it, and she had only found four so far. So for now, she had to use a few pillows she found laying around in the main room as a temporary bed until she gets enough Time Pieces to access her bedroom.
Speaking of which, now Hat Kid had enough Time Pieces to unlock the access to the machine room. She remembered she still needed to check if the machines haven't suffered any damage from the vaccuum of space just in case. If she hadn't been so tired the night before, she would have done it as soon as she had returned.
Getting up to her feet, she made her way to the panel next to the machine room's door and pressed it to restore the power in the room. After that, she headed inside and proceeded to check the machines. Thankfully, nothing seemed wrong with them. They will perfectly be able to function once she finds all of her Time Pieces.
Satisfied, she made her way back in the main room. Her eyes landed on the pile of pillow where Arthur was still sleeping on it, his cowboy hat off to the side. Last night, after eating his slices of pizza, the twelve-year-old boy had used some of the pillows that Hat Kid found to make himself a bed at the corner of the room. After that, he had immediately faceplanted on the pillows and passed out of exhaustion. It was needless to say that everything he went through the day before had been really tiring for him. Hat Kid couldn't help but giggle at the thought.
As much as she wanted to let him sleep a little more, he had to wake up so they could start looking for Time Pieces together. A mischevious smile appeared on Hat Kid's face as an idea came through her mind. She picked up one of her pillows and discreetly made her way to Arthur's side. She then hit the boy's face with the pillow, letting out a giggle after doing that. Arthur let out a tired groan as he was pulled out of his slumber. Slightly opening his eyes, he looked up and saw Hat Kid looking at him with a smug face and a pillow in her hand.
"Go away..." he mumbled in a tired and annoyed voice, grabbing a nearby pillow and covering his head with it. Hat Kid wasn't going to have it though. She had to start looking for Time Pieces now before Mustache Girl collect them first, and she really needed Arthur's help to find them faster.
The purple-hatted girl began to repeatedly whack him with her pillow to make him get up. After a few seconds, Arthur grew irritated and he threw his pillow at Hat Kid's face in retaliation, causing her to stop. He sat up and gave her an annoyed look.
"I don't remember asking you for a waking-up commitee, miss," Arthur said unamused. Hat Kid pouted at him in response.
"But whatever, I'm awake now so..." Arthur said as he put his hat back on his head and got up. "I suppose we're heading out to find your Time Pieces?" he asked. Hat Kid nodded, then pointed at the kitchen. Arthur gave her a confused look.
"The kitchen? Why are you... Oh... You mean you wanna have some breakfast first?" Arthur asked. Hat Kid nodded with a smile.
"Alright, fine by me," Arthur said with a shrug. He had to admit, he was still a little hungry. The pizza from last night had helped him a bit, but not enough. A little breakfast might do the trick before going back on the planet.
The two children headed in the kitchen. As they headed to the fridge, Arthur noticed that there was some burnt food in the microwave. The young boy asked Hat Kid why it was in there, and the small girl responded that she put the food in there to punish it because it had been 'bad'. Arthur was confused by that, but he decided to not question it. Looking in the fridge, the boy could see some weird-looking food with strange colors and... eyes? Well, Hat Kid was an alien so it made sense she would have some alien food as well. Thankfully, she still had some food that seemed edible for a human.
After eating some breakfast, the duo went back in the main room. Now was the time to go look for Time Pieces. Suddenly, Hat Kid snapped her fingers as she remembered something, before turning around to look at Arthur. She pointed at herself, then at him to tell him she had something to show him. The twelve-year-old boy nodded, giving her his full attention. Hat Kid pulled out her umbrella and four yarns. She then threw the yarns in the air and made quick movements on them, just like she did for her Sprint Hat. After a few seconds, she stopped and a brand new hat appeared.
"Tada!" Hat Kid said as she happily caught it in her hand. It looked like a purple and yellow witch hat with two small flasks – with bubbles escaping from them – attached to it.
"A witch hat? You trying to cast spells now?" Arthur asked jokingly. Hat Kid giggled in amusement, then shook her head. "Alright, so what does it do then?" Arthur asked more seriously, remembering that those hats she makes grant her abilities.
Hat Kid switched her top hat with the new one. She pulled out two bottles containing strange liquids and emptied one's content in the other one. She agitated the bottle to mix the liquids together, and proceeded to throw it at some crates at the corner of the room. The bottle exploded on the impact, destroying the crates. Hat Kid smiled as she knew what name to give the hat. She will call it the Brewing Hat! She switched back to her normal hat and looked back at Arthur. She grinned when she saw the look on his face. The young boy was impressed by her new ability.
"So you can make concoctions to blow stuff up? Interesting. Just make sure not to throw one near me, I don't wanna be accidentally turned into a frog," he joked, making Hat Kid laugh at the thought.
"Alert. Time Rift detected."
Both children jumped at the sudden alarm. While Arthur was confused by this, Hat Kid was starting to panic. A Time Rift? Oh, that didn't sound good...
"Time Rift? What is that?" Arthur asked curiously.
Without saying a word, Hat Kid ran back in the machine room. Curious, Arthur ran after her. When he entered the room, he looked around in awe as he saw all the machines and the gears present in this room. All of this was very impressive. He wondered how many time and resources it took to build the spaceship. Years, probably... Well, he had no time to think about that. He had to find Hat Kid and learn more about those 'Time Rifts'. From the way she reacted, it didn't sound good.
He walked a bit further and saw Hat Kid looking through a bookshelf. He watched her take a book and walk back towards him. She opened the book and searched for the right page. Once she found it, she handed the book to Arthur, and he took it. He began to read the section.
'Time Rifts are tears in reality that only appear when a Time Piece is damaged and/or broken. If a Time Rift is not sealed, time itself will be altered and corrupted. When a Time Rift is formed, the Time Piece that caused it will automatically be sent into the rift for repairs.
In order to seal the Time Rift, one needs to locate the repaired Time Piece and bring it back to reality. There are two types of Time Rifts: blue and purple. Blue time rifts only require one to gain the Time Piece. If a purple unstable Time Rift appears, follow these steps:
1. Locate the tear and enter it cautiously.
2. Navigate through the tear to the source.
3. Destroy the rift and grab the repaired Time Piece.
4. Exit before it fully seals.'
Arthur's eyes widened as he took the information in. Like he imagined, there were consequences to the usage of those hourglasses. It probably explained Hat Kid's hostility with him when they first met. In the end, she was just trying to protect her Time Pieces and prevent this kind of thing from happening. If Arthur was in her shoes, he would probably have done the same.
"I see. This is serious indeed... I guess we better take care of it before it becomes a real problem. But how do we know where to find it?" Arthur asked. Hat Kid motioned for him to follow her.
The duo made their way back in the main room. Hat Kid ran up to the main computer and pressed a few buttons. The computer searched for the rift's informations and came up with a result.
Rift Status: Blue.
Localization: Mafia Town.
A picture also appeared on the computer screen. It showed a blue glowing orb at the exit of a broken pipe in an alleyway. No doubt it was the Time Rift in question.
"Mafia Town, huh? Never thought we'd have to go back there, but it seems like we have no choice so... let's just get this over with," Arthur said with a shrug. Hat Kid nodded in agreement.
Without wasting any more time, the two children made their way to the hatch and hopped down to the planet, aiming for Mafia Town.
It was morning in Mafia Town. Despite the events that occured in the Mafia HQ last night, the Mafia men continued doing their business as if nothing happened. The stores were opened, the goons and the crows were still roaming in the streets. Some Mafia men were even taking naps.
Arthur and Hat Kid landed on the edge of the building where the geyser was coming out of. Their objective: find the blue Time Rift and seal it before it becomes worse. The-twelve-year-old boy nervously looked above the edge to see how high they were.
"You know, you could've have picked a better place to land. Like, I don't know, in the street," Arthur said in a nervous tone. Hat Kid only shrugged as to say 'It's not so bad!'. The young boy sighed. Obviously she wasn't aware of his fear of heights. Either way, he had no plan on telling her anytime soon. He didn't want her to make fun of him for that.
Hat Kid looked to the side and her eyes widened as she spotted a golden vault next to her. She tugged on Arthur's arm to get his attention. The boy turned his head and saw what Hat Kid wanted to show him.
"A golden vault? What is it doing up here?" Arthur asked with a puzzled expression. Hat Kid only shrugged in response. The twelve-year-old boy went closer to inspect it.
"Huh... This seems important. It might have something valuable in it," he stated as he continued to inspect the vault. Hat Kid nodded in agreement.
The thing is they had no time to find out at the moment. They had to find the Time Rift as quickly as possible. And yet, Hat Kid couldn't resist the desire to open the vault and see what was inside. A smile appeared on her face as an idea came through her mind. She pointed at Arthur and tapped on the golden vault, before pointing at herself, then at the rest of Mafia Town.
"Oh, you want me to open this vault while you go take care of the rift?" Arthur asked, earning a nod from Hat Kid. He shrugged and said, "Alright then."
Arthur pulled out his crowbar and attempted to pry the vault open with it. He pulled as hard as he could but the vault remained shut tight, causing Arthur to curse under his breath.
"Swear!" Hat Kid teasingly called out on the boy's language.
"Shut up..." Arthur said as he rolled his eyes. He stopped and stated, "I can't force that thing open. I have to find another way to open it."
Arthur looked at Hat Kid to see her scribbling something on a piece of paper. Once she was done, she handed it over to the twelve-year-old boy who took it. 'Find vault code tickets!' was written on it, along with the drawing of a ticket with the words 'Mafia Vault Code' on it.
"Alright, and where am I supposed to find those codes?" Arthur asked. Hat Kid shrugged.
"So I have to search the whole town to find some pieces of paper then. Fantastic..." he said sarcastically. Hat Kid rolled her eyes in annoyance. Seriously, does he ever stop complaining all the time? She understands that he might not be happy with being involved into this, but he doesn't have to always act like that. It's annoying! Oh well... She will just have to get used to it.
"Well... I'm gonna get started then. You go and deal with that rift," Arthur said. Hat Kid nodded and walked away to search for the Time Rift.
Arthur looked at the whole town from his position. He let out a discouraged sigh as he imagined all the possible places the codes could be on this big island. This was going to take a while...
After finding a way down from the building, Arthur immediately started searching around town for the codes to open the golden vault. He had no idea how much time it would take to find them, and he wasn't going to ask the Mafia goons where they were keeping them. He knew they wouldn't appreciate him taking one of their treasures and they were probably still mad at him for his involvement in defeating the Mafia Boss.
He navigated through town for a while and was starting to get frustrated. How could he even find the codes on this Mafia-filled island? There were hundreds of places where they could be! Just when he thought about giving up, something suddenly caught his attention. There was a small golden-colored ticket on the ground. Arthur's eyes widened. He picked it up and read it to see if his eyes weren't fooling him, and they didn't. There was a number followed by three empty spaces on this ticket. No doubt, it was one of the vault codes that he was looking for! It must have been taken by the wind and landed here. Talk about luck.
The other ones must have scattered someplace else. Judging by the three empty spaces on the vault code, there was three tickets left to find. Well, he got one so far, so that was a good start. He just had to keep looking.
Arthur was about to leave when he looked up and caught sight of something familiar. Oh... It was the abandoned house that Mustache Girl showed him the day before. The young boy formed a sad look and lowered his head as he remembered the story she told him. The Mafia arriving on the island, trashing the whole town, launching people away with cannons, capturing Mustache Girl's family and launching them away to their doom.
The twelve-year-old boy couldn't help but feel bad for the red-hooded girl. Sure, she may have broken her promise and betrayed him and Hat Kid, but she still went through a lot in the past. Her anger and hatred towards the Mafia just kept building up until it turned into a desire for revenge. She had lost everything that ever mattered to her... just like he did.
"It is tragic what happened to this girl, is it not?" a familiar voice asked sadly. Arthur quickly looked on his right side and saw the Badge Seller staring at the abandoned house with a sad look. The young boy sighed. At this point, he should start expecting them to appear out of nowhere to start a conversation with him.
"Yeah, it is..." Arthur answered sadly.
"She has lost so much. The pain she went through is understandable... but she is lost and misguided. There is no doubt she will do some... irrational actions..." the Badge Seller continued.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking..." Arthur said as he shook his head. From the moment Mustache Girl said she wanted to get revenge on the Mafia, he knew that it only meant trouble. And the fact that the red-hooded girl swore to find all of the Time Pieces and use them for such purpose only seemed to confirm his worries.
"And I fear it has already started... She said she would collect all of the hourglasses for herself and use them to fight evil. I mean, I understand her hatred for the Mafia, but 'revenge'? This is just gonna cause trouble, I know that well," he added. Too well even...
The Badge Seller nodded and said, "So now you know what the Time Pieces are and the power they contain." Arthur sighed sadly.
"Yeah, I do. They rewind time. It sounds crazy but... you have to see it to believe it," the twelve-year-old boy said, before looking at the Badge Seller curiously. "By the way, how did you know what the hourglasses are and the power they have?"
"Like I said, I have my ways to know," the glitchy vendor only responded with a smile. Arthur sighed. Of course they would say that. "I saw that you were with the little girl with the hat now."
"Yeah, I'm helping her retrieve her Time Pieces. She actually begged me to help her, which is surprising since... well... she and I didn't get along before," Arthur explained.
"She must have seen that you have some potential and were worth befriending, even after everything that happened between the two of you," the Badge Seller said with a smile. Arthur chuckled dryly.
"Me? I'm a mess. And a jerk..." Arthur said with a depressed tone. He was aware that he acted rude towards everyone he met and was undoubtly seen a jerk. Heck, he knew he was a jerk. He had just come to accept it over the time. Besides, this is how others have treated him for a long time. So why bother trying to be nice?
"I am sure you have your reasons to act the way you do. She certainly thinks so too," the Badge Seller reassured him.
"Maybe... But I don't want to be friends with her or anyone else. I just don't trust people anymore. I just can't..." Arthur said sadly.
"It is understable. Trusting people is not easy when most have put you through a lot, but not everyone is the same, Arthur. You should try to give your new friend a chance," the Badge Seller suggested.
"Maybe... We'll see," Arthur said with doubt clearly present in his tone.
Seeing that the young boy was still unconvinced by their words, the Badge Seller decided to change the topic.
"I may have something that might interest you, and I believe you will need it in your quest to find the Time Pieces, young man," the Badge Seller said as they pulled something out of their pocket. It was a yellow badge with a purple hat drawn on it. Strangely enough, the drawing exactly looked like Hat Kid's top hat.
"You might encounter a lot of danger in your way. More dangerous than the Mafia. This badge will allow you to use the same fighting abilities as your friend. With it, you will be able to double jump, dive, do homing attacks, and keep your balance on tightropes," they explained. "I would normally sell it for 1000 pons, but for you, I will only sell it for 50 pons."
"For me? Why?" Arthur asked with a puzzled expression. Why would this guy just considerably lower the price of an expensive and powerful item for him? The Badge Seller only smiled at him in response.
"Because I know you will need it and you probably do not have a lot of pons at the moment, so I am making an exception," they answered.
Arthur raised an eyebrow at them, then shrugged. Well, it was true that he didn't have a lot of pons right now. Besides, if he was going to help Hat Kid retrieve her Time Pieces, some new abilities would come in handy. He pulled out a bag of 50 pons that Hat Kid had given him the night before and gave it to the Badge Seller. They took it and handed the badge to the young boy.
"Just put it on your hat and you will be able to use it," the Badge Seller explained. Arthur removed his hat and pinned the badge on it. He placed the hat back on his head and somehow felt like he could do much more in terms of fights and movements now.
"Thank you-" Arthur tried to thank the Badge Seller, but once again they were gone without a trace. The twelve-year-old boy sighed. This guy just kept coming and going without a warning. He will really need to get used to it.
Well, perhaps he should get back on track now. Arthur took one last glance at Mustache Girl's former house before he sighed and walked away to continue searching for the other vault codes.
Hat Kid had been navigating through town for a while in search for the Time Rift. And finally, she was able to locate it. It was at the exit of the sewer pipe near the construction site. The small girl was nervous as she stared at the blue glowing orb. She had never been in a Time Rift before. All of her missions so far have always been about retrieving lost Time Pieces on different planets, but fixing Time Rifts was something new to her. She had no idea what to expect. Hat Kid shook her head and formed a determined expression on her face. Now was not the time to chicken out, she had to fix this rift or it was going to get worse and put time itself in danger.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped forward and touched the rift with her hand. Time suddenly froze for her and light beams emanated from the orb, then Hat Kid's vision turned white.
Her vision slowly returned to normal after a few seconds. Her eyes widened as she took a look at her surroundings. She wasn't in Mafia Town anymore. Instead, she was standing on a white and blue-jeweled platform with a lamppost. Ahead of her were more of these platforms. Some rotated and looked like gears while others opened like drawers from inside a large wall. All around her was the blue vast time-space itself and an underwater sort of atmosphere as bubbles floated around her. In the distance, she could spot large clock towers and some flying whales. Everything in this place looked so peaceful, despite being part of a Time Rift.
"Whoaaaa..." Hat Kid said in awe.
As she spoke, some bubbles came out of her mouth. The small girl was surprised to see that. It was like she was underwater, except she could breathe and gravity worked the same as in the real world. She blew a few more bubbles with her mouth and giggled. This was really fun!
Hat Kid then shook her head, remembering why she was here in the first place. From a distance, she spotted a glowing light just far ahead, which she concluded was the repaired Time Piece. With a nod, she immediately started to make her way through the platforms. She climbed all the obstacles and jumped from platforms to platforms, until she reached the top where the Time Piece was.
With a smile, she grabbed it and held it in the air. It glew brighter and Hat Kid's vision became white once again. When it cleared, the purple-hatted girl found herself in Mafia Town near the broken pipe again. She looked at the spot where the Time Rift was and noticed that it was gone. She grinned and proudly put her hands on her hips, knowing that the rift was fixed and was no longer a problem.
Now that it was dealt with, she had to find Arthur and see how he was doing with the vault codes.
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed this new chapter! So I've decided to write 'The Golden Vault' act before 'Heating Up Mafia Town' as it would go along much better with the Time Rift's appearance. So while Arthur is trying to find all vault codes, Hat Kid went to fix the Time Rift.
Also, Arthur now has his first badge and the same abilities as Hat Kid, which he will definitely need for the rest of this adventure. I don't know what you guys think about it, but I figured it would be a good addition for Arthur. Especially since he isn't used to fighting and jumping around. I mean, he almost died at some point.
Anyway, time to answer reviews!
To PatoMayo: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! ^^ I already know what director I will choose to win and how to put it all together. However, it won't happen until I start the 'Battle of the Birds' chapter. And before I start that, I'd like to write the rest of the 'Mafia Town' chapter (except for 'Cheating the Race' as Hat Kid will need the Time Stop Hat for this one, and she will only be able to unlock it later in the story). And no, I'm not gonna include Death Wish in this story, it would be too long to include in the story (it will already be long enough with the DLCs in it. ^^;). But if I end up writing a sequel for this story (not confirmed yet), I'll make sure to mention it in this one.
To Katoptris12, Maoshin, Mad King C and Mr. Mega1423: Thank you all! I'm glad to be back! ^^
Alright, that's it for today, folks! See you in the next chapter!