Chapter 37
"Phew..." Hat Kid let out an exhausted sigh, wiping her forehead with her arm, as she exited the Windmill with the Time Piece in hand.
Getting to the top of that building was quite the climb. She had so many pecking floors to climb up, and like Makhir said, the stairs were destroyed due to the lack of maintenance and were unusable. Therefore she had to climb all the way up using wooden platforms, grain-filled conveyors, gears and anything else she could stand on.
Not to mention that the Windmill was still active, and therefore, the conveyors and gears were moving and rotating, making her ascension more difficult as she had to time her jumps right to avoid falling off. She also had to deal with a couple of enemies such as crows, raccoons, giant spiders and some... human-sized eggs that exploded and splashed yolk everywhere? Yikes!
Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to build a windmill that high? It had to be 165 feet tall, and maybe more! Why would you need to build something so big?
On the bright sight, she found a yarn which makes a total of 31 yarns in her possession. Just one more and the Time Stop Hat will be hers! And finally, she found a red crayon on a pile of grain; probably a relic.
But most importantly, she got the Time Piece! Now she had to meet up with Arthur to take stock before going to the Lava Cake. Smiling, Hat Kid put the Time Piece in her pocket and began making her way back to Goat Village.
On the way, she came across the purple flowers she saw earlier and was surprised to see that they had bloomed. Weird. The last time she saw them they were still in their bud form. How were they able to bloom so fast? And they looked weird too. They were pulsating and emenating a dark purple smoke. It was intimidating...
Intrigued, she took a step closer to them. Then, some pollen escaped from one of the flowers and flew inside Hat Kid's nose, making her cough and immediately step back.
"Ack! Eww, yuck!" Hat Kid gagged, waving her hands in front of her face.
It smelled horrible! Probably even worse than the Mafia's cooking. No wonder the big goat from earlier told her to stay away from these flowers. She should've listened because... ew, they smelled gross! And maybe they're even poisonous! Good thing her species was resistant to poisonous substances, because if these flowers were really poisonous, it would be bad for her. She grimaced at the smelly purple flowers before walking away.
She took the zipline and made it back to Goat Village. She found Arthur sitting on a bench and staring off in the distance, his arms crossed and his crowbar resting on his knees. He seemed to be deep in thoughts. She sat on the bench next to him, causing the young boy to snap out of his trance and look at her.
"Oh hey," Arthur smiled upon recognizing her. However, his smile dropped when he noticed the scratch holes on her purple shirt. "Holy crap! What the hell happened to you?!" His tone was filled with worry and concern.
Hat Kid looked down at her chest, then back at Arthur. "Lazy Paw Gang," she said.
"Damn..." Hearing that made Arthur regret his idea of splitting up. "Are you okay? Do you need to get back to the spaceship? I can fix you up if you want."
The purple-hatted girl shook her head with a reassuring smile and lifted her shirt up to show the bandages around her chest.
"Oh, you already patched yourself up?"
Hat Kid nodded, letting go of her shirt. Then she pulled out her pen and a paper, and wrote on it before showing it to her friend. 'A doctor patched me up. I helped his friend get something back from those mean cats and he patched me up to thank me.'
"Ah, good," Arthur sighed in relief. "You sure you can still go on with that wound, though?" Hat Kid nodded. Her wound didn't hurt so much, so she was certain she could fight and jump. "Alright, if you say so."
The twelve-year-old boy then went back to staring off in the distance, making Hat Kid look at him questioningly. "Ah, I was just thinking..." He paused as he looked around Alpine Skyline. "You know... this place is actually a blast if you don't count the obvious fact that it's a hell-of-a-distance high up in the sky, this gang of troublemaker cats, and that... huge, deadly pile of lava that somehow stands still and looks like a giant wedding cake. Other than that, it's... really nice." He looked down. "Folks are nice too... The complete opposite from where I live."
Hat Kid nodded understandingly. Indeed, people have always been mean to Arthur back where he came from. So seeing the nomads act nice and welcoming might be a whole different level for him.
"Anyway," Arthur pulled out the Time Piece he found at the Birdhouse and handed it to Hat Kid who gladly took it. "Here you go. And I also found this at the Birdhouse." He gave her the empty crayon box he found. "And also... this..." The young boy cringed as he took out the yarn wrapped in the yolk-covered tissue. The sight of it also made Hat Kid grimace in disgust.
"Call me crazy but... long story short, I encountered some exploding eggs that wanted to turn me into an omelet," Arthur explained. "Didn't get me, but I tricked one of them to blow up into a haystack and I found this yarn inside. Figured you'd want it."
He unwrapped said yarn to show it to Hat Kid. The young alien gasped excitedly and eagerly took it, completely ignoring the yolk and straws on it. YES! FINALLY! Now she got the required number of yarns to make the Time Stop Hat!
She got up from the bench and pulled out a large bag filled with the other 31 yarns. She placed the bag on the floor and added the yarn that Arthur found in it. Using her umbrella, she made some quick motions inside the bag, creating smoke. And once she was done, she pulled out a brand new hat from the bag. It looked like green shades with a black and green clock strapped onto the top.
There it was! The Time Stop Hat! Hat Kid had a hard time containing her excitement as she jumped up and down. She couldn't imagine all the incredible stuff she'll be able to do with it.
"Well, you just look like a student who got an S at their final exam," Arthur joked as he watched his excited friend pick up the new hat and put it on her head in place of her top hat. "What does this hat do?"
Recalling her superior's explanation on how to use the hat, Hat Kid closed her eyes and focused. When she opened them again, she noticed Arthur's movements were drastically slow. She looked around her and everything else had slowed down as well. The nomads and the goats' movements, the motion of fire on the torches around the village, even the flying of birds. Everything was slow.
That's so amazing! This is gonna give her a massive advantage when fighting enemies or buy some time when she's in a hurry! She also recalled being told that its effect was temporary, but still! It was soooo cool!
Hat Kid looked at Arthur, who was still under the effects of the Time Stop Hat, and smirked mischievously. She took off the boy's cowboy hat and hid it behind her back. She waited a little bit before the effects of the hat wore off and everything went back to its normal speed.
Arthur, completely clueless, stared at the young alien as he waited for her to show her hat's ability. "What?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, confused as he heard Hat Kid giggle. That's when he went to scratch his head that he noticed something felt off. "What the- Hey, my hat! Where has it gone?!" he frantically looked around in panic.
His attention went back to Hat Kid as her giggle became uncontrollable. The small girl pulled the cowboy hat out of her back, waving it in full view before an astonished Arthur. If he was in a comic, there would be a thousand question marks floating around him.
"W-what? H-how did you-" Arthur's question was cut off midway as Hat Kid activated her hat's ability again, slowing down time, and placed his hat back on his head. She then let the effects wear off again. "-do that?"
Hat Kid only responded by pointing her finger at his head. When he found out his hat was back on his head, Arthur was completely lost in hole of confusion. "What the hell is going on?" It took him a few seconds before he eventually put two and two together. "Wait... Is that hat of yours doing what I think it does?"
Hat Kid nodded with a smile. Deciding to make another example, she slowed down time again and moved a bit further away from Arthur. And after letting the ability wear off, she activated it again and ran to sit next to Arthur on the bench before letting time go back to normal speed.
To Hat Kid, all she did was walk to one spot and run back to the other while everything around her was slow. But to Arthur, she went at the speed of light and could hardly keep track of her movements. The expression on the boy's face clearly summed up how dumbfounded and impressed he was.
"That's, wow... that's really impressive! It's gotta be the best hat you've got so far," he said in awe. Hat Kid nodded happily as she switched back to her top hat. "Just don't use it to draw something funny on my face in the middle of a conversation with someone else," he added jokingly, making Hat Kid giggle at the thought. Well, maybe he shouldn't have made that joke, because that's clearly something added to the young alien's list of possible pranks in the future.
"Anyway, I think we should get back to business. Still got two Time Pieces to recover from them mountains," Arthur suggested. "So we still gotta visit the Twilight Bell and... the Lava Cake."
The two children looked in the direction of the Lava Cake and both grimaced. Strangely, they felt like it was getting hot just by looking at the giant multileveled pile of lava.
"It's gotta be cookin' on this thing. Still feel like going there?" Arthur asked. Hat Kid glanced at the Lava Cake again and nodded with determination in her eyes. A little lava won't stop her from getting her Time Piece back. "You be careful, okay? I'd hate to find you roasted like a chicken on a silver plate." This little joke made Hat Kid giggle. She then patted the boy's shoulder to tell him she'll be fine.
"Okay then," Arthur nodded as he picked up his crowbar and got up from the bench. Hat Kid followed suit. "I'll go to the Dwilight Bell then. Meet you back at the village later?" The purple-hatted girl nodded.
As Arthur turned around, something caught his attention. "Huh?" There was a young man standing in the distance, looking directly at him. He was probably around twenty years old, and he was wearing a dark grey sweater.
Arthur stared at him skeptically. Who is this guy? Why is he staring at him? What does he want? Before he could call him out, the stranger mysteriously faded away and disappeared out of sight.
"The hell?" Arthur raised an eyebrow in total confusion. Where did he go? The twelve-year-old boy then felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked behind to see Hat Kid staring at him questioningly. Did she not see the hooded stranger? "There was a guy watching us over there but..." He looked back at the empty spot where the guy was, completely confused.
Hat Kid looked in the direction where her friend was looking. She was also confused but not for the same reason. She had actually been staring at the same spot a second ago but she hadn't seen anyone. Was Arthur seeing things or was she completely blind?
"Ah, nevermind. I must be seeing things," Arthur shook his head, before turning back to his friend. "Anyway, see you later, Hat Kid. Be careful over there." The small girl nodded, giving him a thumbs up, then made her way to the zipline leading to the Lava Cake.
Arthur took one last glance at the spot where he spotted the hooded stranger. It was really weird... First the boy with the tie, then the woman in the falling elevator, and now this guy? Was it his imagination or something? Was he losing his mind?
He shook his head. It didn't matter, the Time Piece was his priority at the moment. Shaking off the thought, he walked towards the zipline leading to the Twilight Bell. However, unknown to him, a certain red-hooded figure was watching him from around the corner of a wall and decided to discreetly follow him.
After taking the zipline, Hat Kid could already feel the temperature going up. Indeed, lava flowed from the dark volcanic cliffs, and some of the few houses around were on fire and abandoned.
Along the way, she came across two different paths. A nearby nomad told her she was currently at the Sizzling Lava Split. He informed her that the right path led to the Ember Summit, which is the way she needed to take to get to the Lava Cake, and the left path led to the Mystifying Time Mesa. The nomad also said that there was apparently a relic at the Mystifying Time Mesa, but it was kept by a button system set on a short timer and no one were ever able to solve it fast enough.
Hat Kid was immediately interested; she would like to get that relic. Good thing she was able to craft the Time Stop Hat before coming here. With it, she'll probably be able to deal with the button system without having to worry about the timer.
She took the left path and took the zipline leading to the Mystifying Time Mesa. When she arrived, she saw a raised wooden bridge and at the bottom of the cliff was a red button. She figured she had to press the button to lower the bridge and be able to continue.
The small girl made her way down the cliff and stepped on the button. As soon as she did, she looked up and saw the bridge lowering. Then, a tick-tock sound was heard coming from an ancient clock standing on the left.
When Hat Kid read it, it showed nine seconds, and she figured she had as much time to go back up and cross the bridge before it raises again. However, she would never be able to make it back up in nine seconds... And that's when her Time Stop Hat comes in play.
Hat Kid quickly switched her top hat with her Time Stop Hat and focused to trigger its power. The hand of the clock was visibly slowed down, meaning that the power was active. Using that to her advantage, she quickly climbed back up to the top of the cliff.
The hat's power didn't last long however; time went back to its normal speed and there was two seconds left before the timer ends. The young alien quickly rushed through the bridge and managed to make it to the other side just as the timer ended and the bridge raised up.
Hat Kid wiped the sweat off her forehead, then she proudly patted her new hat with a smile. The Time Stop Hat was really awesome! Glad she finally got to make it!
After that, she moved forward and found the second test. There were two blue buttons that were on opposite sides of the cliff that she had to step on within four seconds to lower a flying hook and reach the upper cliff. Once again, her Time Stop Hat did the trick and she managed to activate both buttons before the end of the timer.
And finally, in the last test, she had to activate three green buttons within six seconds. And once again, the Time Stop Hat was able to help her complete the test. A wooden platform with a red horn rised from below the clouds. Hat Kid walked up to it and blew in it. A blue zipline shot out from the tree behind her and linked up to another tree on a secluded cliff nearby.
Without hesitation, she used the zipline and landed on the cliff. She found a chest and walked up to it, before opening it. She took out a blue crayon from the chest and the small girl could tell it was the relic the nomad from earlier told her about. Great!
Hat Kid pulled out the crayon box that Arthur gave her and put the newfound crayon in it. There was still one empty spot left in the box, which meant there was one crayon left to find.
After putting the crayon box in her pocket, Hat Kid retraced her steps, returning to the Sizzling Lava Split, and took the path leading to the Ember Summit in order to reach the Lava Cake.
After using the zipline, Arthur found himself on a path with white glowing symbols covering the walls and even the ground of the cliff. The leaves from trees and bushes were pale green, unlike the normal leaves from the rest of Alpine Skyline. Very strange...
Some of the wooden platforms were transparent green and the young boy had to use his Dweller Badge to jump on them. There was also a set of holographic platforms where Arthur had to rely on a floating bell, similar to the one at the well from Subcon Forest, to make progress. It required a lot of good timing, but at least Arthur didn't have to get very far to reach his destination.
And after using another zipline, he was here... right under the Twilight Bell. The gigantic bell was held up in the air by an abnormally huge and solid rope between two horn-like cliffs. The twelve-year-old boy was surprised to see a star-filled void inside the bell.
"Wow..." Arthur said in awe as he stared at it with widened eyes.
"Very impressive bell, is it not?"
Arthur looked to his side and the Badge Seller was here, staring up at the giant bell. "You can say that again," he said, turning his attention back to the bell.
"All right. Very impressive bell," the Badge Seller repeated jokingly.
"Shut up," Arthur snorted, earning a chuckle from the glitchy vendor in return. He stared into the star-filled void inside the bell. "Why is there a void inside this bell?"
"Believe it or not, this is the mark of a dimension that resides inside the bell itself."
"Another dimension, huh... Does it have a name?"
"Indeed, young man. This one is called the Dweller Dimension."
"Well, I guess that explains all these green platforms along the path and them symbols too..." Arthur remarked as he looked around. Symbols weren't the only thing covering up the ground. There were also white glowing flowers and stone totems around the place, including some purple flower buds like the ones he saw inside the Birdhouse. But no sign of the Time Piece around... "Is the Time Piece inside that dimension?"
"Yes," the Badge Seller nodded. "It got teleported inside after it hit the bell." Well, it made sense. Makhir did mention that the Time Piece sort of disappeared after it landed on the bell.
"So how do I get inside the Dweller Dimension?" Arthur asked. "I don't suppose you got a ladder for me to reach that void up there?"
"No need for a ladder." The Badge Seller looked at him. "All you need to do is ring the bell by using the clapper and you will be teleported inside the dimension."
"That easy, huh?" the twelve-year-old boy shrugged. He pulled out his crowbar and prepared himself to hook onto the clapper.
"One moment, young man," the glitchy vendor stopped him. "There is something you need to know before you go in."
"What is it?"
"Back in Subcon Forest, I talked about two different types of holographic objects coming from certain dimensions and being affected by your Dweller Badge..."
"Yeah?" Arthur raised an eyebrow at them.
"There's a third one: the red holographic objects. While the green objects only materialize under the effects of the Dweller Badge and the purple ones act the opposite, the red objects don't exist in either of the dimensions. Therefore, your Dweller Badge won't have any effect on them."
"So how do I marterialize them then?"
"You can't. You will faze right through no matter what, so be careful when you come across them," the Badge Seller explained.
"Okay," Arthur nodded. "Anything else?"
"No, that is all for now. Proceed with caution in there," the Badge Seller said.
"As always I guess," Arthur shrugged. "See you around, Badge Seller."
"Good luck, young man." And with that said, the Badge Seller walked away, leaving the boy on his own.
Arthur looked back at the Twilight Bell and took a deep breath. "Well, let's check that dimension out then." He aimed his crowbar up at the clapper and pressed the button, hooking onto it, then he swung back and forth.
DING! DONG! DING!
Each swing made the clapper hit the walls of the gigantic bell, creating loud ringing noise that echoed throughout the mountains. Suddenly, a green aura appeared, surrounding the whole platform.
"What the- Wahhh!"
This sudden appearance surprised Arthur, making him drop on the floor with a "ow". As he got up and rubbed his sore butt, the aura turned in a dark blue and green color and swirled all around him. He felt like it was going to swallow him whole.
After a few seconds, his vision turned white. When it returned to normal and the aura cleared...
"Holy moly..."
The boy's eyes widened at the sight before him. He was in a totally different place. Instead of a sky was a black star-filled abyss. Before him were large ancient structures and floating platforms with goat engravings on the walls standing above the endless void below; some of them were transparent green. White glowing flowers bloomed and waterfalls flowed around the place. In the distance, some goats could be seen walking aimlessly on top of isolated bridges. Although, there was something different about the goats as they were glowing white. Their appearance probably had something to do with this dimension...
Despite being here for only a few seconds, Arthur could sense something strange and unsettling about this place...
'I don't think I'm supposed to be here... Better find that Time Piece quick and then get out of this place,' Arthur thought as he rubbed his arm uncomfortably.
Squinting his eyes and placing a hand above them, he looked in the distance for any sign of the Time Piece. "Ah, there it is!" Indeed, at the top of the highest platform further ahead was a bright glowing light. No doubt, it was the Time Piece.
Now he needed to find a way to reach the platform. 'How' was the question though; from the boy's point of view, there didn't seem to be any ladder or stairs to get to it. He will have to figure it out on his own.
Without wasting any more time, Arthur began to make his way through the Dweller Dimension. Unknown to him, he wasn't alone here, as the one who had been following him since Goat Village made it to the dimension as well...
DING! DONG! DING!
The sound of the Twilight Bell rung out in the distance. Hat Kid turned her attention towards said bell and could spot some sort of aura swirling around it before it faded away. Whatever it was, it was probably Arthur's doing. Maybe he got teleported to someplace else after ringing the bell, which could explain the aura. The small girl hoped he will be okay wherever he went and that he will be able to bring back the Time Piece safely.
Anyway, Hat Kid had made it to the Ember Summit after using a zipline that took her straight to it. She began her ascent towards the Lava Cake, and the closest she got to it the hotter it felt. The young alien really wished she brought a bottle of water before coming up here. Sweat dripped from her forehead and she pulled on the collar of her shirt as she panted, her tongue sticking out of her mouth.
She didn't want to imagine how it would feel like once she gets on the Lava Cake. She'd probably cook alive... But she couldn't give up! One of her Time Pieces was on that bright, giant melting cake. No matter how unbearable the temperature was or how many enemies try to stop her, she WILL get it back!
Eventually, she reached the top of the summit where an abandoned and burning village was. She fought off a couple of crows and raccoons that stood on her path. And finally she made it to a zipline. From the looks of it, it will take her straight to the Lava Cake. Very convenient!
Suddenly, a rustling sound made Hat Kid turn around. Her eyes landed on a couple of haystacks which is where the noise came from. With a suspicious frown, she pulled out her umbrella and began to slowly walk towards said haystacks.
When she got close, a crow came out from behind the haystacks and rushed towards the girl to attack her. Hat Kid retaliated by swinging her umbrella at the bird, knocking it out in a single hit.
The young alien shrugged and turned back to the zipline, before hooking onto it and going off towards the Lava Cake. However, she didn't notice the orange felin with a familiar red headscarf peeking from behind one of the haystacks, spying on the girl.
Arthur continued his ascent inside the Dweller Dimension. Some of the platforms on his path were transparent green, and he had to use his Dweller Badge to materialize them and be able to walk on them. Same drill as inside Subcon Forest.
At some point however, Arthur came across something new. There was a red Dweller wrapped around a floating bell. It produced a large transparent red sphere that seemed to affect parts of the green platforms around that were inside the sphere. Said parts were holographic red instead of green.
That must be what the Badge Seller talked about earlier. And according to them, the Dweller Badge had no effect on the red holographic objects.
Deciding to do some tests, Arthur carefully attempted to touch the red part, but as expected his hand fazed right through it. He activated his Dweller ability, the green part of the platform materialized but not the red one. He tried touching it again but once again his hand fazed through.
'I guess the Badge Seller was right, I can't stand on these. Gotta be careful when going across them here,' Arthur thought to himself.
At least the red sphere didn't affect the entire platforms around. He will have to stand on the green parts and avoid the red ones if he wanted to proceed to the upper ground.
Using his Dweller ability, Arthur jumped from platform to platform, only stepping on the green parts and made it to the upper ground. He then crossed a bridge with water flowing on it. The current wasn't too strong, so the young boy was able to make it through without too much trouble.
After that, he arrived in an open area splitting in three paths: one on the left, one on the right, and one in front of him. The two paths on the sides were blocked off by purple galaxy-patterned walls, in front of him was a door, and in the middle was a green floating bell. Arthur walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Guess I gotta go find the key," he muttered to himself.
He walked back to the middle of the area where the floating bell was, before pulling out his crowbar and hitting the bell. The green sphere extended beyond the purple walls which dematerialized and opened both paths on the sides.
Arthur took the path on his right, where he had to jump from green platforms to purple platforms, using his Dweller Badge wisely to get to an upper level.
After reaching the top, the young boy came across sleeping raccoons. However, there was something off about them... They were translucent green, and when Arthur attempted to hit them, his crowbar fazed right through without hurting them. Looks like the Dweller Dimension affected the raccoons too... If so, then maybe he had to use his Dweller ability to be able to hit them. Taking the guess, Arthur activated his Dweller Badge after dodging one of the raccoons who fell on his spot, and this time he was able to whack them both and knock them out.
After taking care of the raccoons, the twelve-year-old boy arrived before a long green holographic path. At the end of it was a horn, probably one who opens a zipline somewhere around this place. There was a problem though. The path ahead was so long that Arthur will never be able to make it through fast enough, even with his Dweller Badge.
Thankfully, there was a green floating bell nearby. It should do the trick. Arthur hit the bell with his crowbar, extending its transparent sphere far enough for the whole path to be materialized. He then began running on the path. To his horror, however, the sphere's length wasn't as long as he hoped it would be and the end of the path already began to dematerialize. Crap! Thinking quickly, the young boy activated his Dweller Badge just as he reached the dematerialized part of the path, and was able to get to the horn before his ability ran out.
"Phew... Close one," he huffed, trying to catch his breath. "I'll be happy to get out of this hell of a dimension when I'm done here."
After recovering, he walked up to the horn and blew in it. A zipline shot out in the distance, linking up to the highest platform and giving access to the Time Piece. Great! Now he needed to reach that zipline. The door down there was still locked though, so he had to find the key next.
Using the floating bell next to the horn, Arthur went back to the middle area and took the left path this time. Along the way, he had to maneuver on a purple platform, while being careful about the two red floating bells moving around and dematerializing the spots under them to avoid falling into the endless void. After that, he crossed two narrow holographic bridges: the first one was green and the other one was purple; and again, he had to watch out for the red floating bells on each.
It was stressful, but he made it through and managed to find the key at the end of the parkour. He then returned to the middle area and used the key to unlock the door. After going through it, Arthur opened up an iron gate by using his Dweller ability to materialize a green wall phasing over the gate bars, raising it and keeping it on top of the wall in the process. Then after going through the iron bars, he used his ability again to dematerialize two purple galaxy-patterned blocks to open up another gate in front of him.
It wasn't over though, because there was another locked door behind the now-open gate. Fortunately, he found the key in an adjacent room where he had to use a red floating bell and his Dweller Badge to open the iron bars keeping the key. After getting it, he returned to the door and unlocked it.
In the next room, he had to methodically use three green bells to materialize his path up to two floating hooks before reaching the zipline he drew out earlier and using it. It took him straight to the top of the highest platform where he finally found what he was looking for.
"There it is," Arthur said with a smile.
Indeed, at the end of a short staircase was a pedestal with the Time Piece resting on it. Not a moment too soon! He was getting tired of always being forced to use his Dweller Badge to materialize hundreds of paths. Believe it or not, this ability usage required a lot of focus to the point Arthur began to feel a headache.
The young boy walked up the stairs and to the front of the pedestal. He picked up the Time Piece and admired it as its light glowed in his hands. Finally, he can get out of this place, meet up with Hat Kid in Goat Village, and move on to the next-
"Howdy again, Arthur! Long time no see," someone said from behind, making Arthur flinch.
That voice... He knew it... ohhhh yes, he knew it TOO well. A scowl formed on his face and his teeth gritted as hatred filled his mind. He turned around to face the figure with the all-too-familiar red hood and their signature blond mustache.
"You..." he spoke in a low and angry voice.
It was Mustache Girl. Seriously? Of all the people he could've met in this dimension, it had to be her?! Peck! Well, guess it was time for a little confrontation then...
"Sooo hot..." Hat Kid huffed, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she used her sleeve to wipe out the sweat on her forehead.
After using the zipline, the purple-hatted girl had found her way onto the Lava Cake by using a cannon. Each floor on the cake had volcanic platforms, along with unstable pillars, as the only way for Hat Kid to progress through them.
It goes without saying that she was cooking right now. The temperature felt even worse than Mafia Town during the lava incident caused by Mustache Girl. It was very unbearable; not only she had to deal with the intense heat and not falling in the lava, but she also had to dodge rotating flamethrowers and fight off crows that were on fire. Literally on FIRE! And somehow they couldn't even burn to death! How?! As if all this jumping and running in this place wasn't tiring enough! She couldn't even use her homing attack on them at the risk of burning herself up and only had to rely on her trusty umbrella to get these annoying birds out of the way. They even made her umbrella catch on fire a few times, forcing her to wave it quickly in the air or stomp her foot on it to put the flames out. Pecking peck!
She didn't want to imagine how Arthur would've felt here, considering he doesn't handle heat very well. He would probably be flat on the floor right now. Good thing he went to the Twilight Bell instead of here.
It took a lot of efforts and determination to make progress on the Lava Cake. Each floor was a challenge and the young alien wondered herself if she wasn't going to pass out of overheat any seconds. But she managed to get through all five floors and she was now at the very top of the cake, where her Time Piece was. It was here, resting on a volcanic plaform in the middle of the last floor.
Oh yes, FINALLY! She felt like she was starting to melt at this point, even her forehead was a cascade of sweat at the moment.
Without wasting any more time, Hat Kid made her way through the last platforms and reached the Time Piece. With a victorious smile, she crouched and picked it up. However, as she was about to put it in her pocket, someone suddenly shoved her from behind, causing her to yelp and drop the Time Piece on the ground.
She almost fell in the lava, but she was able to catch the edge of the platform thanks to her quick reflexes. Using her strength despite the unbearable heat, she pushed herself back on the plaform. The small girl was on her knees as she breathed heavily, attempting to recover from the near-death experience. When she looked up, she gasped as she noticed her Time Piece was gone.
That's when she heard a snicker. In front of her was a member of the Lazy Paw Gang... and he had the Time Piece in his hand. The thief cat then began running away. Hat Kid formed an angry scowl on her face, gritting her teeth. Ohhh no! She didn't get through all of that heat and lava just to let her Time Piece get stolen from her! She'll make him pay!
"HEY!" Hat Kid yelled angrily as she got up and ran after the cat.
She chased him on the Lava Cake all the way down, running past a few purple flower buds, and went back to the zipline that took her here. The Lazy Paw Cat used a hook of his own to latch onto the zipline, speeding off on it towards the Ember Summit. Hat Kid did the same with her Hookshot ability to go after him.
Meanwhile, after the two left, the flower buds that Hat Kid just ran past suddenly bloomed, and the wind took some of their pollen to a group of goats on another cliff. The latter accidentally inhaled the pollen, making them twitch and turning their eyes red, similar to the one who got affected near the Birdhouse.
"It's been a while, hasn't it? Like... a month or maybe more since we last saw each other?" Mustache Girl innocently asked with a smirk as she looked at the fingers of her left hand.
"Not long enough, you snake," Arthur hissed angrily as he put the Time Piece he found in his pocket for safety and prepared himself to pull out his crowbar in case she attacks him.
Mustache Girl didn't respond to that. Instead, she stared at the scar on Arthur's cheek. "Quite a scar you got there. Looks fresh too," she remarked, not exactly to make fun of him but simply out of curiosity.
Arthur touched the scar on his face, attempting to push away the moment the Conductor made a cut in his cheek from his mind, before glaring at his enemy hatefully.
"Conductor's doing... All thanks to you getting in his ear and lying to him," he said bitterly. If he wasn't so mad, he would've noticed the slight bit of guilt that briefly appeared on the red-hooded girl before it quickly vanished.
"Lying?" Mustache Girl huffed, rolling her eyes. "I told him the truth about the Time Pieces and you two hiding it from him for your own benefit. Because clearly, you were just using him to get the Time Pieces that he got."
"Tch!" Arthur scoffed at that. She was the one saying that when she lied to the Conductor about him and Hat Kid to get a single Time Piece outta him? What an hypocrite... "That's the pot calling the kettle black... and you're gonna tell me you didn't pull that trick on him to make him spit that Time Piece right in your hands?"
"I didn't 'trick' him!" Mustache Girl retorted, offended, as she pointed a judgemental finger at the boy. "I simply told him the facts: that you two were only trying to keep the Time Pieces for yourselves without a single care about his movies or this planet's sake! ...And I admit I also wanted to get you both outta my way. But most importantly, he had to know what kind of selfish little pests you two are!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Arthur spat furiously, clenching his fists.
"I sure do about the hat-wearing brat!" Mustache Girl stubbornly replied, referencing to Hat Kid. She calmed down and put her hands on her hips as she continued. "As for you though, I'm starting to have my doubts."
"What do you mean?" the twelve-year-old boy asked, placing his fists on his hips and raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"Well... I was on my way to these mountains here and I had time for a lot of thinking..." Mustache Girl kept going, looking at her hand with a slight smirk before looking back to Arthur in the eyes. "And maybe you're not as bad as I first thought you were."
This made Arthur's eyes widen in shock. "What?"
"Yeah totally!" Mustache Girl beamed, sounding proud and excited at the same time. "I remember how lost, grumpy and sad you were when we first met in Mafia Town. You must've been through some rough stuff, like I did. Then you and that hatted pest were at each other's throats for reasons I didn't know at the time. But now I finally figured why!"
"Really?" Arthur asked skeptically.
"Yeah, it was obvious! You must've known how selfish she was and that she was keeping the Time Pieces for herself instead of fighting evil! That's why you were hating on her!" Mustache Girl boasted, a bit too sure about herself. "Then once we parted ways and I started looking for the Time Pieces, Hat Kid knew she had to get an ally to try and beat me to it. So she took advantage of you being depressed and all that, told you lies and convinced you to join her. I finally got it, and I'm sorry I didn't think of that before."
She took a step forward, getting closer to Arthur. "You're not really bad, Arthur. Simply misunderstood. But we can work this out, then you and I can go find all the Time Pieces to rid this planet from evil!" She extended her hand out to Arthur with an excited grin, waiting for him to shake it. "So what do you say? Wanna fight alongside me, like the good old times?"
Arthur's shocked expression soon turned into a look of pure disgust. Not only Mustache Girl didn't understand a single thing about his problems, but now she was trying to manipulate him and turn him against Hat Kid? That's disgusting! Outrageous! He met a lot of liars and hypocrites in his life, but this girl?! She was the WORST!
The young boy sneered and said, "Tch... You disgust me," swatting Mustache Girl's hand away and causing her confident smile to drop.
"W-what...?"
"You don't get a damn thing, do you?" Arthur gritted his teeth, feeling his blood starting to boil in anger. "First off, the reason Hat Kid and I fought was because I accidentally got on her spaceship and she thought I was an intruder, so she attacked me to protect her Time Pieces. So in a way, she was justified in her actions, and me being a grade-A classified jerk, I didn't make the situation any easier. And secondly, she was one of the only people to understand my problems and help me through them. I was there, sitting and chewing on my own misery, pushing her away on every opportunity I got. And yet, she kept trying 'till the end, even if it meant annoying me or breaking my legs to make me stay and listen. That tells a lot, and not many people would do what she did for me."
He then took a step closer to Mustache Girl, staring daggers at her. "And you? What did you do? You dragged me into your little vendetta against the Mafia despite me not wanting any part of it. Then after telling me you'd help me out, you went back on your word and ran off on a Time Piece hunt." He shoved her with his right hand, causing her to take a step back in surprise. "You flooded Mafia Town in lava without giving a damn about the few innocent lives left in there. Then you tricked the Conductor into almost killing us!" He shoved her again with his left hand, making her take another step back. "And now, you're trying to mess up my mind and sabotage my friendship with the first person I've called a friend in pecking forever?! You goddamn BASTARD!"
And with that said, he violently pushed Mustache Girl away with both hands, almost making her stumble back on the floor but she caught herself quickly and managed to remain on her feet. The red-hooded girl stared at Arthur, shocked by his outburst. She felt hurt by his words... Hurt and betrayed once more. She really thought there was some good within him, that he was simply misguided and would listen to reason... but it turns out he was just like Hat Kid and the Mafia: a bad guy.
"You know what? I take back everything I said. You're just a selfish brat who doesn't care about anyone but himself!" she spat furiously, clenching her firsts.
"You even hear yourself talking? You only consider me a 'bad guy' because I don't give you what you want, but you're not even trying to understand why!" Arthur retorted, pointing his finger at her. "I've seen what happens when Time Pieces break. And trust me, rewinding time is not the only thing they do. There's much worse, and the Mafia living in your home town is the least of your worries!"
He approached Mustache Girl once more with a glare. "You're not trying to help people or 'save' the world, you're just doing all this for your own personal revenge on the Mafia," he told her seriously. "If you have the slight bit of common sense, drop your little vengeance run, give up on the Time Pieces, and leave us alone... I told you once and I'll say it again: revenge is a fool's game."
However, the red-hooded girl only glared back at him. How dares he question her good intentions?! Sure, part of it was to get back at the Mafia for everything they did to her, the people from her home town, and her family. But she also wanted to make a difference on this planet: to make sure there was no more bad people causing harm to others like the Mafia did. If that wasn't how Arthur saw it, then who cares? He was a bad guy anyway, she didn't have to care about what he thinks of her!
"If you're not gonna let me have the Time Piece, then I'll have to take it by force!" Mustache Girl hissed.
And without a warning, she lunged at Arthur before he could react, tackling him off the platform and making the both of them land on the bridge below. The red-hooded girl was on top of Arthur and began punching him repeatedly in the face. However, the latter blocked her next hit with his arm, then retaliated by punching her in the face and kicking her off of him, making her stumble backward on the floor.
The two children both got up before facing each other and getting into a battle stance, ready to solve it in a fist fight.
"I'm gonna show you what happens to bad guys who stand in my way!" Mustache Girl angrily said.
"Alright... Guess I'll have to knock your teeth outta your mouth then, you pecking rat!" Arthur snarled.
Hat Kid had been chasing the thief cat all the way through the Ember Summit and the Sizzling Lava Split. Eventually, they had reached Goat Village. As the young alien kept following him, the Lazy Paw Cat ran through the village and pushed any nomads out of the way, pickpocketing them in the process and earning swear words from them, and dodged a goat who attempted to punch him.
He reached the zipline leading to the Birdhouse and took it, with Hat Kid still on his trail. He went on the right path, jumping on tightropes to make it to the other side and ran up the cliff. Hat Kid didn't give up, despite the exhaustion from her time on the Lava Cake. She jumped on the tightropes, reached the cliff and continued to follow the cat.
Upon making it to the top, she saw the Lazy Paw Cat at the foot of a red burnt-looking zipline. He tauntingly waved the Time Piece in his hand and blew a raspberry at the girl, making her even more angry than she was already. As Hat Kid charged at him, the thief cat quickly used his hook to go off on the zipline.
The purple-hatted girl stared in the distance to see where the zipline took him. It seemed to be leading to a village with familiar paw engravings on the walls and big rocks shaped into cat heads on top of tall pillars, similar to the ones she saw at the Curly Tail Peak.
It must be Purrloined Village, the Lazy Paw Gang's main base. If that's so, there's bound to be a lot of thief cats there who will mercilessly attack her on sight. But it didn't matter! She couldn't let one of her Time Pieces in these mean cats' dirty paws! Who knows what they'll do with it? She had to get it back at once!
With a look of determination, Hat Kid latched onto the zipline with her Hookshot ability and sped off towards the village. When she arrived, she got immediately assaulted by the surrounding members of the Lazy Paw Gang. However, she put a heck of a fight and managed to knock her assailants out.
After she was done with the cats, she looked up to see the one who stole her Time Piece running up the ramps to the higher grounds, and she didn't waste any time to go after him. She kept running up, fighting off any Lazy Paw Cats standing in her way, until she finally caught up with the thief at the top of the village. The cat stood in front of a large wooden house with a wooden sign carved and painted into a cat head wearing the colors of the Lazy Paw Gang above the red door. He grinned evilly at the girl as she glared at him.
"Hah! Stupid girl! You fell right into our trap!" he informed her tauntingly.
Hat Kid formed a confused look. A trap? Wait, did that mean he wanted her to follow him all the way here? As if on cue, a large crowd of Lazy Paw Cats surrounded her, preventing her from escaping. There were too many of them; no way she could fight them all off. She was trapped...
The thief cat tossed the Time Piece through a small hole in the door before looking back at the young alien. "The boss's gonna teach ya a lesson, lil' mouse. Enjoy getting slaughtered!" he taunted before joining the crowd.
Suddenly, loud footsteps could be heard inside the house... so loud that the ground was almost shaking. A worried expression crossed Hat Kid's face as she stared at the large red door. Eventually, the sound of footsteps stopped and the door slowly opened.
Hat Kid's jaw dropped as she watched a tall, large and muscular orange-furred cat walking out of the house. He was wearing a red headscarf, a large, sleeveless and opened brown leather jacket with an orange cat head drawn in the back which symbolized the Lazy Paw Gang, a red scarf tied around his forearm, brown fingerless gloves, a brown short supported by a black belt, and massive brown boots. He had a scar on his left eye, making him look more intimidating.
The imposing cat stared down at the small girl with a menacing glare, holding the Time Piece he picked up at the door in his hand.
"My name is Askar, and I'm the leader of this gang," he introduced himself. His voice was deep and intimidating, which made Hat Kid gulp nervously. He pointed his finger at her. "You. You're the little pipsqueak that's been causing trouble at Curly Tail Peak and messed up my right-hand cat."
He motioned his hand towards a member of the Lazy Paw Gang among the crowd. The cat in question had a bandage on his head and was giving Hat Kid a dirty look. She could tell he was the one she fought at Curly Tail Peak for her hat and the pendant that belonged to Seth's mother.
"Normally, when some of my cats run all the way back here to tell me they got beaten up by a little girl, I'd laugh my tail off and dispose of them for their unworthiness to the Lazy Paw Gang," Askar continued, sending a chill down his gang's spines at the last statement. "But it appears to me... that you're no ordinary kid. It's several of my cats you managed to deal with, and you even managed to come back alive from the Old Windmill that's been abandoned and crawling with crows and giant spiders for years."
"That's right, boss!" the Lazy Paw Cat who stole Hat Kid's Time Piece spoke up. "She even made it to the top of the Lava Cake. Not many would've survived that."
"Is that so? Very impressive... and bold for a child," Askar smirked at Hat Kid. "As you can see, word comes around fast here. So when I heard of how much of a troublemaker you've been to my gang, I sent my henchcat to bring you here. Then I watched you fight your way all the way up to my house. To be able to defeat some of my strongest cats like that, and at such young age... I was really impressed. But playtime is over, you gotta pay for all the mess you caused at Curly Tail Peak, so now..." A malicious grin formed on his face, sending a chill down the girl's spine. "I'm gonna squash you like a little mouse." He then looked at the Time Piece in his hand, admiring it as if it was a golden trophy. "And as a bonus, we'll be keeping that hourglass of yours. I dunno how much it's worth, but it's shiny, therefore it must be valuable somehow."
He put the Time Piece in his pocket, then pulled out two large and sharp axes. They looked heavy but it didn't seem to bother the muscular cat.
Hat Kid took a step back, feeling intimidated by her foe. However, she couldn't flee as the crowd of thief cats around her was keeping her stuck with their leader. Therefore, she had no choice but to fight this massive cat. Eventually, she managed to push aside her nervousness and glared in determination, readying her umbrella and getting into a battle stance. No matter how strong the leader of the Lazy Paw Gang was, she will knock his lights out and get her Time Piece back!
Askar chuckled menacingly and got in a battle stance as he said, "Come on, squishy! I'll show you what happens to those who mess with the supreme leader of the Lazy Paw Gang!".
And with that, the battle began...
The fight was still ongoing inside the Dweller Dimension between Arthur and Mustache Girl. The two children were punching and kicking each other, trying to take the upper hand on the other. During the fight, they knocked each other off the bridge and they ended up in the starting area of the dimension, right under the Twilight Bell.
The two of them stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Both were covered in bruises and their noses were bleeding. They glared at each other, showing intense hatred to one another.
"I can't believe... I ever allowed you... to join me in my fight... against the Mafia..." Mustache Girl huffed in between breaths. She straightened herself, then pointed her finger at her foe. "You and that girl turned out to be villains all along! But I, the hero, will defeat you, get all the Time Pieces, and make things better for this planet!"
"Shut your mouth..." Arthur growled. "I ain't no angel, that's for sure. Never claimed to be. But you... you ain't no hero. You flooded your own home town in lava and manipulated a movie director to get what you wanted." He straightened himself, wiping the blood off his nose with his arm. "No real hero would've done that." That was enough to set the red-hooded girl off.
"SHUT. UP!" Mustache Girl shouted angrily, before charging at Arthur in a fit of rage.
She threw two punches at the boy. However, the latter blocked them both with his arms, then he punched her once in the guts and threw another punch at her face, knocking her back on the floor. Arthur then grabbed her by the collar of her hood, before forcing her up on her feet and punching her thrice in the face.
As he tried to land another hit, Mustache Girl quickly moved her head to the side to avoid it, then she grabbed his wrist and bit his hand, causing Arthur to scream in pain and forcing him to let go of her. She then punched him hard in the face, knocking him back on the ground. She approached him and began kicking him repeatedly. Arthur got in a fetal position and attempted to protect his sides by wrapping his arms around himself, to no avail. Deciding to take action, he used his foot to trip her up. He then attempted to get on top of her, but the red-hooded girl kicked him away from her.
Wanting to end the fight quickly, the twelve-year-old boy pulled out his crowbar and got up to his feet, while Mustache Girl also got up. He swung his weapon at her but she managed to dodge it and kicked him in the guts, making him cough and drop his crowbar, before punching him hard in the face and causing him to fall on his back as his cowboy hat fell to his side.
Arthur tried to get back up but he was struggling to do so. The exhaustion from the fight began to take its toll on him, not to mention that his whole body hurt like hell. Believe it or not, this girl sure could hit hard when she wanted to. And unfortunately, Mustache Girl didn't give him a second to rest as she kneeled on top of him and began to mercilessly punch his face multiple times.
"I'm so sick. Of you. Getting. In my. WAY!" she yelled furiously between each punch.
"Yikes!" Hat Kid yelped as she barely dodged a swing from one of Askar's axes.
Since the fight began, the small girl had been focused on trying to avoid getting hit by the sharp blades of the massive cat's axes. She had been trying to whack him a few times with her umbrella, but Askar managed to block every single hit, as if he was always able to predict her moves.
She should've expected such quick reflexes from a cat to be honest, and especially a tough one. She will have to play it smart and wait for an opportunity to hit him. In the meantime, she was stuck trying to dodge his attacks.
At some point, Askar kicked Hat Kid in the chest, causing her to wheeze and fall on her back. The young girl gasped as she saw the massive cat raise one of his axes in the air. As he brought it down on her, Hat Kid quickly crawled back-
THUD!
Askar chuckled evilly, thinking he finally got her. "Huh?" However, when he looked up, he was shocked to see she was still fine. The blade was between her legs and it was inches away from her body. He just barely missed her. Hat Kid sighed in relief. That was close...
The leader of the Lazy Paw Gang growled and attempted to pull his axe out of the ground. However, the blade appeared to be stuck and he was struggling to get it out. He let out a few swear words as he pulled on his axe as hard as he could. That was the opportunity that Hat Kid had been waiting for. Bouncing back up to her feet, she jumped forward and hit the cat hard in the face.
Askar hissed and took a few steps back, rubbing his sore face. After he recovered, he eyed the girl with murder in his eyes. "So you wanna play tough, huh? Alright, time for the real fun then!". He then sheathed his remaining axe in his back and got on all fours, growling. He then charged at Hat Kid like a lion pouncing on its prey.
"WOW!" the purple-hatted girl yelped as she dove to the side to avoid the pouncing cat. The other members of the Lazy Paw Gang also quickly ran out of the way to avoid being the unwanted victims of their leader's pounce.
Askar eventually stopped and turned around to face Hat Kid, ready to charge at her again. The small girl stepped back until she was against the wall of the house. She glanced between said wall and the massive cat, and that gave her an idea. She waited for her foe to pounce at her, and when he did, she jumped out of the way, causing the thief cat to hit the wall with his head instead.
"Ow!" Askar hissed in pain. He pulled his head away from the wall, leaving a crack in it. And right after that, the sign above the door comically fell on his head after the impact made it drop from the wall. Somehow, it wasn't enough to knock him out, but it goes without saying that it hurt a lot.
Suddenly, the thief cat felt slightly heavier than usual. Looking back, he saw Hat Kid sitting on his shoulders, grinning mischievously and waving her hand tauntingly.
"Hey! Get off me!" Askar shouted angrily as he began running and jumping around in an attempt to kick the young alien off his shoulders like a horse would try to eject a horseman in a rodeo.
"Yeehaw!" Hat Kid beamed, laughing at the cat's misfortune as she held onto his shoulders tightly. She was enjoying the humiliation she was giving to the leader of these mean cats and she was not intending on letting go anytime soon.
Even the crowd of Lazy Paw Cats were baffled and shocked to see the small child gaining the upper hand on their boss. One of them even comically shouted "Olé!", which of course earned him a smack on the back of his head from one of his fellow cats.
Eventually, Hat Kid decided she had enough fun and hit Askar on his head with her umbrella. The latter growled and, out of frustration, managed to grab the girl from his shoulders and threw her away, making her land on the ground with a small "oof!".
"You lil' maggot! You'll pay for that!" Askar hissed angrily. If he wasn't enraged before, he sure was now. This girl just humiliated him in front of his whole gang, and he will make sure she suffers for it.
The muscular cat stood up and ran at Hat Kid, attempting to strike her down with his sharp claws. The small girl bounced back, dodging his attack, then she jumped and performed a homing attack on his head. Then she climbed on top of Askar's house to get the higher ground on her opponent.
The leader of the Lazy Paw Gang snarled at her and began running towards her. However, he was doing exactly what Hat Kid wanted him to do. When he got close enough, she jumped off the roof, positioned herself above him and raised her umbrella in the air with both hands as fell in the cat's direction.
"HAAAAAYAH!" Hat Kid let out a battle cry as she brought the umbrella down on Askar's head with all her might.
"OUCH!" the massive cat let out a pained scream after the hit. He took a few steps back as he started to lose his balance. He placed his paw on the top of his head and felt a bump growing. He felt a bit funny and his vision became all blurry. "Oh... golly..." And then he fell backwards, passing out on the ground.
Every cats from the Lazy Paw Gang stared at their unconscious leader in shock. They couldn't believe it; Askar, who always prevailed on every single duel, got defeated by a little girl with an umbrella? That almost seemed unrealistic.
They all glanced nervously at Hat Kid who was looking down, her hat shadowing her eyes. Then suddenly, she looked up at the crowd, giving them all a menacing glare. At that moment, the whole gang screamed in terror and quickly ran away, not wanting to suffer the same fate as their leader.
Hat Kid smirked in satisfaction, then blew a raspberry at the fleeing cats. As she took a step forward, her foot bumped into something, prompting her to look down. It was her Time Piece! It probably fell from Askar's pocket after he got knocked out.
She picked it up, and this time, she looked all around her to make sure no one was here to try and steal it from her again while she let her guard down. Thankfully, she managed to scare everyone off, so she figured she was fine.
With a smile, she pocketed the Time Piece and headed back to Goat Village to wait for Arthur to return with the Time Piece from Twilight Bell.
"Argh...! Ack...!"
"Ugh, such a waste... Why did you have to turn out to be rotten to the bone?"
Mustache Girl had both of her hands wrapped tightly around Arthur's neck, strangling him. She was so blinded by rage that she was now dedicated to killing Arthur for insulting her and doubting her potential as a hero.
The young boy – who now got a black eye from all the punching – was pulling on the red-hooded girl's wrists, attempting to pry her hands off. However, it was all in vain as she kept a firm grip on his neck.
"That's rich... argh... coming from you...!" Arthur snarked in a strangled voice. Mustache Girl growled angrily in response and squeezed the boy's neck tighter.
While trying to look for something to help him get the girl off of him, Arthur spotted his crowbar nearby. He extended his arm towards it, wriggling his fingers in an attempt to grab it. He could almost touch it... Damn, it was an inch too far, and Mustache Girl's weight was keeping him pinned at the same spot. He couldn't reach his crowbar.
Arthur didn't know what to do anymore... His vision was starting to get blurry from lack of air. He almost felt ready to give up and just let Mustache Girl choke him to death. However, his eyes stopped at one of the girl's pigtails, and that gave him an idea.
Without hesitation, he grasped her pigtail with his left hand and pulled hard on it, making Mustache Girl yelp in pain and bringing her closer. Using that momentum, Arthur punched the red-hooded girl in the left eye with his other hand. That was enough to knock her off of him and make her fall on her back.
Both children took a moment to recover: Arthur held his neck as he coughed and gasped for air, while Mustache Girl covered her left eye with her hand to try and ease the pain.
The latter rolled on her belly, still covering her eye, and that's when she saw something of interest on the floor. The Time Piece that Arthur got from this dimenion! It probably fell from his pocket during the fight. At this point, she remembered what she came for in the first place, and took it as her cue to grab the powerful hourglass and get out of here.
After recovering, Arthur looked at Mustache Girl and saw her standing up. When she turned around to face him, he noticed she had gotten a black eye from the hit he gave her. And that's when he saw the Time Piece. What? How?! Realization hit him like a slap across the face as he checked his pocket and realized it was empty. Oh crap, no!
"Once again, the hero always prevails!" Mustache Girl gloated with a smirk. She then pulled out some sort of gadget before glaring at the young boy. "Watch! I'm gonna find the rest of the Time Pieces and rid the world from evil once and for all. And you'll never stop me, Arthur!" She aimed her gadget up at the clapper of the Twlight Bell, not before sticking her tongue out at the boy tauntingly. "See ya, nerd!"
"No!" Arthur screamed, trying to get up quickly and stop her. However, Mustache Girl pressed the button on her gadget and a chained hook shot out from it, latching onto the clapper.
DING! DONG! DING!
The red-hooded girl swung back and forth on the clapper, making the giant bell ring. The same aura that formed when Arthur first entered the dimension appeared and swirled all around the place.
Arthur's vision became white and when it cleared, he found himself back in Alpine Skyline, under the Twilight Bell. He looked around frantically to see where Mustache Girl went. He found his cowboy hat and crowbar on the floor, but no trace of the red-hooded girl anywhere. Where the hell did she go?
"Mustache Girl! You goddamn coward! Get back here!" he shouted furiously, his voice echoing through the air of the mountain. ...No answer. God pecking dammit! How he could be so damn careless?! Not only did he lose the Time Piece he was supposed to retrieve but he also allowed Mustache Girl to get another Time Piece. What is Hat Kid going to say now?
"DAMMIT!"
In his frustration, Arthur kicked a rock on the ground, causing it to roll away until it was next to one of the purple flower buds in the area. Then something happened that caught his attention. The flower suddenly bloomed. Just like that. Then another one bloomed as well. Then another... And another...
"The hell?" Arthur formed a confused look. How did these flowers bloom so fast?
He then watched as the wind took some of its pollen away. It flew in the air for a moment until it reached a group of goats on a nearby cliff. They accidentally inhaled the seeds, making them sneeze and twitch uncontrollably until their eyes turned red.
Something bad was about to happen very soon...
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope y'all liked this new chapter! And it looks like I took two months before being able to release it. The reason for that was because I was still onto Dead By Daylight, which took away my motivation to write once more and put my chapter on hold for a moment. My apologies for the delay.
On the bright sight, I'm currently taking a break from Dead By Daylight, as the current behavior from players has gotten me frustrated over the game and as a result I had very unfun experiences while playing it. Plus, there was a new update that came to one of my favorite games of all time: Left 4 Dead 2. Another reason for me to take a break from DbD. And as a result, I got my motivation to write again, allowing me to present this chapter to you today! Awesome!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed these two boss fights on Arthur's and Hat Kid's sides. Considering Mustache Girl is the main antagonist of A Hat in Time (and in my story as well), I figured I'd make her have an appearance in the Alpine Skyline section. I'm also planning to have her appear once in both DLCs to influence the story's events or at least some non-important side events, which I'll let y'all discover on your own when the respective chapters come out.
Also, the hooded guy that Arthur saw at the beginning is none other than Markus (previously known as Mega), which is Mr. Mega1423's OC and the main protagonist of his AHiT stories, 'Megacharge' and 'Identity & Meaning'. For those who don't know, Mr. Mega1423 is also the creator of the Tale of Two Children trilogy, which are also AHiT related stories. He's been one of my many inspirations that encouraged to start this fanfiction, and I highly recommend you go check his stories out.
So yeah, his OC's appearance in this chapter is a direct reference to a scene that he wrote in Chapter 61 of 'Megacharge'. So if you're reading this, Mega, I wanted to thank you for giving me inspiration to start this story for I have met great people over the course of this story, and also for encouraging me to continue. So thank you, my friend! ^^
All right! Time to answer some reviews!
To Mr. Mega1423: Thank you! Glad to be back... again. Heh. ^^;
To Rub37: Thank you! I'm also glad to be back! ^^ I know the previous chapter was long, but I still wanted to include all the stuff I wanted it. This one was also long as well, but I hope you still enjoyed it. ^^
To Konan720: Thank you! I wanted to make sure these parts were different and interesting enough for people to read, because the events of Alpine Skyline are... not really the most interesting things to write about and read. So I made sure to make things spicy here. ^^; Eheh, and yeah, I can kinda imagine your reaction when you read that part. XD
To HexoSpikeZ: Thank you very much! I'm glad the chapter came out as good as I hoped it would be. Thank you for your patience! ^^ And yeah, Julia's cameo appearance was a pretty nice addition and I figured I would write it since she did the same with Arthur in her story. ^^
That's all for today, folks! See y'all in the next chapter!