Chapter 27

Upon returning on the spaceship, the two children were greeted by Rumbi. The cleaner robot jumped and down happily after seeing Arthur alive and well. It seems like it was starting to like the boy's presence on the spaceship, compared to the beginning where it treated him as an intruder. After it went back to cleaning the room, Hat Kid made her way to the vault and put the Time Piece she used back in it, before going back to Arthur's side.

"There you are. Alive and well, I see," a familiar voice said. Arthur and Hat Kid both groaned in annoyance. The Mafia Boss, again...

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, jar-stache," Arthur said sarcastically.

"Hey! I'm the one who told your friend where you were going! You're alive thanks to me! So I require you show me some respect, boy!" the Mafia Boss shouted angrily.

"Oh I'm sorry, sir. Do you want me to build a golden statue in your honor?" Arthur asked snarkily, making Hat Kid giggle. The jarred crime lord growled furiously, hopping up and down.

"Whatever!" he said, before turning away from the duo.

"More seriously, why did you tell Hat Kid where I went? I thought you wanted me dead," Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

The Mafia Boss looked back at Arthur and said, "I do! But like I told your friend, it was a thank you for saving my town. And the ONLY one too! Now if you'll excuse, I'm gonna sulk in a corner and plan out my revenge on you hat brats!" And with that, he hopped away from the two children to get some space.

Arthur sighed in annoyance and looked at Hat Kid, before asking, "Can't we just toss him out of the ship already? I'm tired of listening to his complains day and night."

"But he's funny!" the purple-hatted girl said with a giggle.

"And annoying, for that matter..." Arthur muttered with an unamused look. "Though, I gotta give it to him, I'd be dead if he didn't tell you where I was," he admitted. He then sighed and said, "I'm really sorry for going off alone that night. It's just... when I was told the Conductor still had one of your Time Pieces... I wasn't sure how dangerous he would be if he wanted to keep it. Turns out he was really dangerous... But I just..." He remained silent for a second, then he said, "I didn't want to see you get hurt... not ever since The Big Parade..." Hat Kid gave him a surprised look upon hearing this.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I... I just couldn't..." he finished as he put his hands on his hips and looked down, his hat shadowing his eyes.

Hat Kid's surprised expression turned into a warm smile. She placed her hand on Arthur's shoulder, making him look back at her, and nodded at him to say 'it's okay' and 'thank you' at the same time. Then, she pulled out a pen and paper and wrote something on it, before showing it to Arthur. It said 'Don't worry about me! I'm a tough cookie!', followed by a drawing of the girl's face – including the hat – smiling and sticking her tongue out, with a flexed muscular arm next to it.

Arthur chuckled and said, "That you are." Hat Kid giggled in response, before putting the paper away. The young boy looked at the monitor that currently showed 19/56 Time Pieces. "We still got a lot of Time Pieces to find, it's best if we get to it immediately. I guess we should check out that forest DJ Grooves told us about," he suggested. Hat Kid nodded in agreement.

The two children walked over to the window and looked down at the planet to see where Subcon Forest was... and they spotted it. Like DJ Grooves explained, it was south of Dead Bird Studio, past the desert area. From up here, the forest appeared to be dark purple and a mansion could be seen in a secluded area.

"He also said that people never come back from it. That doesn't sound good..." Arthur said with a worried expression. Now that he thinks about it, the forest itself doesn't seem very welcoming from up here.

Hat Kid simply shrugged. If her Time Pieces were down there, then it was worth checking the place out. Plus, she was excited at the idea of exploring a new area. And come on, it's just a forest! Surely, there's nothing dangerous down there, right?

"Well, that's all we got for now, so... let's just go there," Arthur said with a shrug.

Before leaving, the duo made sure to take the sandwiches that Cooking Cat left in the fridge for them, before making their way to the hatch and opening it. They then jumped off, aiming for Subcon Forest.

Upon landing in the forest, the two children found themselves in a very unsettling atmosphere. The place was dark, all of the trees were leafless, lanterns were hanging around the area, and a dark purple fog was covering the whole forest. The cawing of crows and the howling of wolves in the distance matched the ominous atmosphere, sending a chill down the duo's spines.

"Okay, this place gives me the creeps already..." Arthur remarked nervously as he looked around the area. Hat Kid nodded in agreement, also feeling unnerved.

They had landed in some sort of clearing surrounded by big colored mushrooms, wooden fences, and warning signs saying 'BEWARE' and 'KEEP OUT!'. At the center of the clearing was a small pond with a very tall tree in the middle of it. The interior of the tree was hollow, the entrance was carved into a creepy face with a mailbox at the front of it, and a thick and thorny vine with wooden planks conveniently placed on it provided a way inside. Surprisingly, there appeared to be furnitures inside of the tree, meaning someone was living in it.

"I wonder who lives here," Arthur said, staring at the tall tree.

Out of curiosity, Hat Kid cautiously walked up the vine to take a look inside the tree, with Arthur following close behind.

"Hello?" the small girl said as she took a peek inside. The place was very small; there was a yellow and red carpet on the floor, a red armchair with a footrest, a bookshelf filled with books, a round table covered by a red tablecloth, and a grandfather clock. Glowing mushrooms on the ceiling were the only way providing a light source inside the tree. There was no bed though. Hat Kid wondered how the person who lived here could sleep without a bed.

"Doesn't seem like anyone's here right now," Arthur said, earning a nod from Hat Kid.

The two children decided not to intrude and backed away from the tree. As they did, they noticed some sort of small colored fire wall surrounding the clearing, past the fences. When they got near it, the fire wall suddenly grew higher, stopping the duo from crossing it.

"That's weird... Let's try to stay clear of it. I don't wanna get cooked," Arthur remarked, taking a step back alongside Hat Kid who nodded in agreement.

"Greetings, young ones."

Arthur and Hat Kid both yelped in surprise and jumped around at the sudden voice. However, they quickly relaxed when they saw it was just the Badge Seller.

"Oh, Badge Seller. Hey..." Arthur greeted them as he sighed in relief. "Listen, I know you like greeting people from behind, but can you not do that here please? This forest is freaky enough as it is."

"My apologies, young man. Old habits die hard as we say," the Badge Seller said with an apologetic chuckle.

"They sure do. Anyway, how have you been? We haven't seen you since... well... the intense recording for the Conductor's movie," Arthur said, shuddering at the memory of Train Rush.

"Well... After selling you both the Hookshot Badge and leaving the train, I travelled around some more, looking for a new place to sell my merchandise," the glitchy vendor explained.

"And you came here to do that? I don't know, this place seems kinda... deserted," the young boy remarked, glancing around the forest. There was no one else around besides them. To be honest, 'dead' and 'spooky' fitted more the feeling that this forest gives off.

"You never know where you will find customers," the Bagde Seller simply said with a smile. They then looked at the scar on Arthur's cheek and said, "I see you ran into some... complications, young man," while giving him a concerned look. The young boy gave them a confused look, before he understood what they meant.

"Oh, that... Yeah... The Conductor did this to me. We got in a bit of a scuffle over a Time Piece... but it's okay, we made up," Arthur said, gently touching the scar on his cheek. It was clearly an understatement, but he didn't really want to tell the glitchy vendor that he ended up in an hospital bed after the fight. The Badge Seller gave them a sympathetic look. They knew he wasn't telling the whole truth, but they decided not to push it.

"Anyway, I might have something to sell you, young man; and I know you will need it around this area," they added as they pulled out a badge. It was dark green with some kind of fox's face or mask – which eyes were glowing green – drawn on it. "It is called the Dweller Badge."

"Dweller Badge, huh? What does it do?" Arthur asked, looking at the badge curiously.

"You might find some objects and platforms from other dimensions along your path. They are green and holographic in appearance. Unfortunately, you can not stand on them as you will pass right through. When wearing this badge on your hat, focus and you will create a temporary sphere around you that will materialize any green objects entering it, which will allow you to stand on them," the Badge Seller explained. Green holographic objects? This sounded familiar to Hat Kid. Indeed, she saw a green holographic platform leading to a rift pon when she went to fix the purple time rift that appeared in Dead Bird Studio. She also remembered that she couldn't stand on it since she didn't have any ability allowing her to materialize this platform.

"Sounds useful," Arthur replied interested.

"There are also purple holographic objects that only exist in our current dimension and act the opposite of the green ones. Therefore, using the Dweller Badge on them will dematerialize those objects instead," the glitchy vendor added.

"I see. So how much it costs?" Arthur asked.

"I sell it for 250 pons," the Badge Seller answered.

"I think I have that. Hang on a sec..." the twelve-year-old boy said as he checked his pockets for pons. "Ah, there we go. Here," he said, pulling out two bags of 100 pons and another one of 50 pons and giving them to the glitchy vendor. The latter took the pons and handed the Dweller Badge over to Arthur. They also gave him a badge pin for free so he could equip his new badge, which the young boy proceeded to do.

The Badge Seller then looked at Hat Kid, who excitedly waited for them to sell her the same badge, and said, "Unfortunately, this was the only Dweller Badge I had in stock, miss. My apologies."

"Oh..." Hat Kid said with a disappointed expression.

"Do not worry though. You will be able to gain that ability thanks to a specific hat that you can make with a yarn present in this forest," the glitchy vendor reassured the small girl, making her grin in excitement. They then pulled out a blue badge with a brown winged boot drawn on it and said, "In the meantime, I have this badge for you here: the No Bonk Badge. After diving, it will quicken your reflexes when nearing a wall, allowing you to perform a wall run and preventing you from bonking your head against the surface. 150 pons."

Hat Kid thought for a second, before nodding. This might actually be useful to avoid some... possible accidents when diving near a wall. She pulled out a bag of 100 pons and another one of 50 pons, and gave them to the Badge Seller. In return, they gave her the No Bonk Badge, along with a free badge pin.

"Thank you!" the purple-hatted girl thanked them with a smile, putting the badge on her hat.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Badge Seller," Arthur said, earning a nod from the glitchy vendor. "So what's up with this big fire wall? Know anything about it?" he asked, looking back at the fire wall that was blocking their path.

"Yes. This is a magical barrier generated by some inhabitants of this forest; no one can cross it, except for those who summoned it. In order to remove it, you will have to seek them out and do them a favor. Then, the barrier will disappear," the Badge Seller explained.

"So there are people living here after all..." Arthur muttered. Strange place to live honestly... He hoped that the inhabitants of this forest will be friendly, but judging by how the place looks like and the fact that people don't return from it, it doesn't seem like it will be the case. "So... we just do their bidding and they'll remove the barrier for us? No fights needed or anything then?" he asked.

"Do not worry, the Fire Spirits are friendly," the Badge Seller said.

"Spirits?! Great... Seems like this place is truly haunted after all..." Arthur muttered nervously.

"Like I said, you do not need to fear the Fire Spirits. They are friendly, although you might find them a bit strange. Just do what they ask you to do, and they will remove the fire barrier for you," the glitchy vendor reassured them.

"Well, at least we don't have to knock their teeth out if they have some... I guess we'll go see these 'Fire Spirits', 'cause we need full access to the forest if we wanna find all of the Time Pieces that might have landed here," Arthur said to Hat Kid. The young alien nodded in agreement.

"There is a village where some of the Fire Spirits currently reside. The path over there shall lead you to it," the Badge Seller said, motioning to the only path that wasn't blocked by the fire barrier.

"Sounds like the only lead we have. Thanks, Badge Seller," Arthur said, nodding at the glitchy vendor appreciatively.

"Do not mention it," the Badge Seller said with a smile. "Although, be careful to not run into the Snatcher," they warned the duo.

"Who?" Arthur asked with a confused look.

"The Snatcher is a soul-stealing shadow and the self-proclaimed owner of Subcon Forest. If he catches you, your souls will be the next ones to go," the Badge Seller said with a serious and concerned expression. Arthur and Hat Kid looked at each other worriedly. A soul-stealing shadow? Fingers crossed that they won't run into him. "Just watch your step, avoid his traps, and you will be fine."

"Sounds simple enough, I guess... Anyway, we should get going. The sooner we find those Time Pieces, the faster we can get the hell out of here," Arthur said, earning a nod from Hat Kid.

"I will leave you to it then. Take care, young ones, and I will see you again soon hopefully," the Badge Seller said.

"See you," Arthur said with a nod.

"Bye!" Hat Kid said, waving her hand at the glitchy vendor.

And with that, the Badge Seller walked away and disappeared behind the tall hollow tree. After that, the two children began walking along the path in order to find the Fire Spirits so they can remove the fire wall.

"Wait, who's that over there?" Arthur asked as he suddenly spotted someone on the path, making him place his arm in front of Hat Kid to stop her.

Indeed, there was a shadow-like person standing a few feet away before them. They appeared to be about the children's height and were wearing a tattered purple cloak with a hood of the same color. The strangest thing about this person was the large golden-white luminescence replacing the face inside the hole of the hood. What kind of creature was that?

The figure spotted the two children and stared at them for a few seconds, before they took off running. Curious about where the creature was going, Hat Kid ran after them.

"Hat Kid, wait!" Arthur shouted to try stopping her, but the small girl continued chasing the figure. "There she goes again..." he muttered with an annoyed sigh, before running after his friend.

The shadowy person ran further down the path, before stopping and turning around to face the two children chasing them. When the duo got close to the figure, a snapping sound was suddenly heard coming from the ground.

"What the- AAHH!"

Arthur and Hat Kid both yelped in surprise as a large tarp that was hidden in the ground suddenly swept them off their feet and tied them up in the air. The figure they were chasing chuckled mischieviously and ran off, leaving the duo trapped inside the tarp. Arthur crossed his arms and sent an irritated glare to Hat Kid.

"Nice goddamn job, miss happy-go-lucky! We just got baited like a couple of rats trying to get a tiny piece of cheese on top of a pecking mousetrap!" the twelve-year-old boy rebuked her angrily, tapping his fingers on his arm in an annoyed manner.

"Heh..." Hat Kid chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Suddenly, a large stomp in the distance was heard outside of the tarp, startling both children.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur asked anxiously.

Then, another stomp was heard and this one was slightly louder. A flock of crows cawed and flew right past the tarp, before another stomp was heard a bit louder. Arthur and Hat Kid looked at each other anxiously. There was something out there and it was coming for them!

"On second thoughts, I don't wanna know. Let's get out of here quick!" Arthur suggested with a scared expression. Hat Kid nodded quickly.

The two children tried to work together by giving each other a boost to reach out of the tarp and untie themselves. Unfortunately, the ropes were too high up and therefore unreachable. More stomps were heard outside of the tarp, getting louder and closer every seconds. In a state of panic, the duo began to desperately punch the tarp and even use their weapons in an attempt to rip it open.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!" Arthur hissed angrily after he accidentally received a hit from Hat Kid's umbrella.

"Sorry!" the small girl apologized with a sheepish smile.

Suddenly, a clawed hand appeared above the tarp and cut the ropes with a single use of its claws. The tarp fell on the ground with the screams of the two children accompanying it. Arthur fell on the ground first, with Hat Kid landing on top of him. As the two of them got up, the sky became purple and dark clouds surrounded the area. Then, something slowly emerged from the ground and stared down at the duo menacingly. It was a very tall shadow with golden glowing eyes and a large golden grin with two sharp fangs. He had slim arms with two-fingered hands with claws, a tail instead of feet, and had what looked like to be hair on his neck. Arthur and Hat Kid both held each other and trembled in fear at the sight of the large and scary shadow.

"AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS!" the shadow shouted with an evil laugh. "You blew it! You've totally screwed yourselves! Nobody enters my home and leaves in one piece!"

"W-w-who a-are y-y-you?" Arthur stammered in intense fear, as he and Hat Kid held each other tighter. Seeing a giant intimidating shadow on a picture or a movie was one thing, but seeing one in real life... it was WAYYY more frightening than he imagined.

"I am... THE SNATCHER! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the shadow introduced himself, cackling evilly. Oh perfect... Just the one the Badge Seller told them not to run into. They were really screwed this time... "And like I said before, neither of you will leave my forest in one piece!" He raised his clawed hand, ready to strike the two children as they braced themselves for the incoming blow. However, right before he could do it, an idea popped in his head and his grin grew wider.

"Tell you what though! Hang on a minute! You both get to live!" he said excitedly.

"W-w-what?" Arthur stuttered in a mix of confusion and fear.

"That's right! Aren't you two lucky?! Normally I'd eat your souls and toss your bodies, but you're lucky ones! You won the lottery, because I just happened to be missing a couple of braindead servants!" the Snatcher explained ecstatically. Arthur and Hat Kid slowly let go of each other and listened attentively. "That's right! The old one got himself killed, his head popped off, and now I need new towel boys!" he continued, before snapping his clawed fingers. Suddenly, a paper and a quill pen appeared in front of the duo, floating in the air.

"So tell you what, I've got a piece of paper here! Don't worry about the details! I just need you both to sign right here at the bottom!" the soul-stealing shadow said expectantly. Arthur and Hat Kid hesitantly approached the floating paper to read it.

The title said 'CONTRACT: CLEAN OUT THE SUBCON WELL', three objective were written below saying 'Find Subcon Village, Murder the Spirits, Clean the Subcon Well.' Next, the paper stated: 'The following parts of the forest will be available: Subcon Village, and Subcon Swamp,' with two pictures representing both places. Then, Arthur and Hat Kid's faces grew pale when they read the following message: 'I'll be keeping the following hostage: your souls... but keep anything you find on the way!' And finally, the word 'Signed' was written at the bottom of the paper, followed by an empty space waiting for the two children's names to be signed on it.

So... in exchange for their lives, they have to give their souls to the shadow and do his bidding? Hat Kid looked at the Snatcher and shook her head firmly. No way she'll be signing some shady contract with a big meanie who wants to take her soul away and force her and Arthur to do his dirty work. Plus, she didn't have time for this, she had to find the Time Pieces that fell in the forest. The Snatcher seemed displeased by the answer.

"C'mon now, don't make this difficult! You don't really have a say in this! Sign the paper!" the soul-stealing shadow insisted. Hat Kid shook her head once again. At this point, the Snatcher began to grow annoyed and impatient. He leaned over Arthur and Hat Kid, and said in a threatening voice, "I don't think I made this clear enough: YOUR OPINION DOESN'T MATTER TO ME. Put your names on the contract or I'll make your dead, hollow bodies sign it for you!".

The threat caused the two children to jolt in fear. Hat Kid glanced at Arthur who frantically nodded at her to tell her to stop questioning it and sign the paper. The purple-hatted girl sighed in defeat and took the quill pen, before relucantly signing her name in her native language. She finished her signature by adding an emote wearing her top hat, winking and sticking its tongue out, and doing a V-sign with its hand. She then gave the quill pen to Arthur.

'Guess I can kiss my soul goodbye then, if I ever had one...' the young boy thought depressingly and hopelessly, as he signed his name on the paper.

The Snatcher grinned widely, then he stamped the contract with a purple wax seal that looked like his face. He then snapped his fingers and the contract vanished.

"AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed evilly, sending a chill down the duo's spines. "That seals the deal! We're in business! Let me just grab these real quick..." He then summoned a purple lightning with his hand and struck the two children with it. Arthur and Hat Kid both screamed and jolted in pain as the electricity went through their bodies. After that, they weakly fell on their elbows and knees. Two ghost forms, representing the souls of each of them, left their bodies and flew up in the air. The Snatcher grabbed the souls with one hand and clutched them in it with an evil smile.

Arthur and Hat Kid slowly and weakly got up to their feet, their legs trembling as they did. Their heads were spinning and they felt exceedingly empty inside. If Arthur wasn't feeling empty enough before, he sure did now.

"Whoops! Guess these souls belong to me now!" the soul-stealing shadow said tauntingly. "Don't worry, though! If you finish your chores quickly, you'll both have your souls back real soon!" He looked at Hat Kid and said, "And don't you dare forget our little contract! I've put in your hat so that it'll never leave your sight!" Hat Kid's eyes widened and removed her hat to check the content. And sure enough, the contract was in there, neatly rolled up to fit inside. The young alien sighed and put her hat back on her head.

"Anyway, I'm off! Smell you later, kiddos! AHHHHAHAHAHAHA!" the Snatcher said with a final evil laugh. And then, he vanished into the ground, his laugh echoing as he did.

The dark clouds surrounding the area disappeared and the duo were back in the forest, right where they were before. They remained quiet for a moment, trying to process what just happened.

"... I feel like jumping off a cliff," Arthur blurted out with a blank expression. Hat Kid looked at him, but instead of showing concern, she simply kept a neutral face. Normally, whenever the boy said something like that, Hat Kid would feel concerned and try to comfort him, but right now she just... didn't care? Must be a side effect of having no soul.

What a mess... Now they were soulless and were forced to do everything the Snatcher wants them to do in order to get their souls back. Looks like it'll be a while before they can retrieve the Time Pieces and leave this forest for good...

A/N: Hey everyone! There it is! Subcon Forest! Arthur and Hat Kid finally meet the Snatcher, and as you all expected, their souls were taken and they now have to work for the shadow to try and get them back. This is gonna be... interesting to say the least.

Also, exciting news! You may have noticed it, but I've made a cover for the story and drew Arthur! I wanted to draw him for a while now, so you guys can see how he looks like in the story instead of having a simple description of his appearance in the prologue. And finally, I did it! If you wanna have a better look of the cover, I'll put a link below to the full size of the cover, and also another one with four drawings of Arthur (Normal, Hatless, Post-Conductor Fight (With and Without the Hat)). Tell me all what you think of them. I'm honestly happy with the result.

Cover's Full Size: sta. sh/0oeg1bheg1x

Arthur Jones's Design: sta. sh/027pvphqrqxb

(Make sure to remove the space between 'sta.' and 'sh'. I put it there, otherwise Fanfiction would remove half of the link.)

Anyway, time to answer a few reviews!

To nico2411: Yup. Well, as you can see, Arthur was frightened as heck, alongside Hat Kid. Now let's see how they will handle the rest... Anyway, thank you! Glad you're enjoying my story!

To Katoptris12: Thank you! Indeed, he is. XD

To Rub37: Indeed. The Snatcher already gave them a first little taste of his... joyful hospitality. XD

To pokemonsora01: Yup, the "soon-deh-ray" made his fabulous entrance! XD Hmm, I don't know if I will make them appear before these events. It's not planned at least. But who knows? Maybe some ideas can come through my mind at any moments and change some things. You'll just have to wait and see. Hmm, maybe I'll include the Captain. It's true that I will write the DLCs before the Finale, so it'll make sense to have him in. We'll see. Anyway, thank you!

To Snowballs FF: I can kinda imagine that moment. XD The Subcon Forest acts have now started. And yeah, soon there'll be the Seals one. ;) But first, there'll be Alpine Skyline and the final act of Mafia Town 'Cheating the Race', before Arctic Cruise.

To Mad King C: It's okay, take your time. I understand if you have important stuff to do in real life.

To HexoSpikeZ: Hmm, well, it's true that Arthur and Hat Kid are bonding. Though, I'll say it now: it's not gonna be a romantic relationship. It'll be more like a brother-sister bond.

To E: Welp, I managed to fit in two braindead servants. XD

To Jolteron: Thank you! Indeed, despite being not as skilled as Hat Kid when it comes to fighting, Arthur can still hold his own, even against an adult bird holding a knife. Because of his past, he learned to be cautious and have quick reflexes during a fight, so it helps him quite a lot. And yeah, the Conductor did care about the kids, especially Arthur, which is why he apologized to them. And yeah, Subcon Forest already gave the duo a little taste of what's happening there. Now, let's see how things will go. *smug face*

Anyway, that's all for today, folks! See you all in the next chapter!