Chapter 39
The front door of Dr. Alkhar's house burst open with a loud WHAM! Hat Kid rushed out, umbrella in hand, and looked around to see the situation. It was chaos all around! The nomads were panic-stricken and were running around to find a safe shelter, the roofs of some houses were on fire because of the lightning that struck them, the wind was blowing hard and a smell of-
Hat Kid gagged and plugged her nose in disgust. That vile smell of purple flowers again! But this time it was omnipresent in the air. It was awful!
"Hey kid! Over here!"
The young Xerian turned in the direction of the voice and saw Makhir waving to her from behind a house. She hurried to join him. Beside the village chief was Dr. Alkhar, who was attending to some nomads who appeared to be injured.
"Glad to see you're okay!" Makhir said in a relieved tone. "This is a complete mess! I don't know what's happening, but this storm came out of nowhere! It's much more intense and devastating than anything we've experienced before! That's not normal!" A bolt of lightning struck a nearby flag, startling Hat Kid and Makhir and causing the surrounding nomads to scream in panic. The flag caught on fire, but fortunately, no one was hurt.
"Yikis! That was close!" the village chief exclaimed, nervously staring at the flag as it went up in smoke. "There are also these sorts of purple flowers that have appeared all over Alpine Skyline. Their pollen seems to be harmful: several of us have been poisoned." Makhir turned to the other nomads to show Hat Kid the gravity of the situation. Some of them looked very sick. They were sitting against the wall or lying on the ground, coughing heavily. Even Dr. Alkhar looked helpless against such a situation from the worried expression on his face. "And that's not all... Something is wrong with the goats. They've gone completely berserk and started attacking us without provocation, even though they're supposed to be protecting us!"
Hearing this, Hat Kid decided to peek out from behind the corner of the house and spotted a goat aggressively pursuing a group of nomads in the distance. ...Well, peck. If even these massive goats get involved, it's going to be a problem. The situation seemed more serious than she thought...
Meanwhile, Makhir realized that Arthur was not around. "Hey, where's your friend with the cowboy hat?" he asked. Hat Kid pointed to Dr. Alkhar's house. Makhir frowned in concern and said, "He shouldn't stay in there, it's not safe. Some of our houses have caught fire because of the lightning. He might die in there!"
Hat Kid gasped when she heard this. The nomad chief was right, Arthur could burn alive if lightning struck the house by misfortune. She hadn't thought of that...
"I'll handle getting him out of there and back with us, don't worry!" Dr. Alkhar offered, which reassured the young Xerian. "But I have something to tell you. Apparently, some people have spotted much larger flowers from afar. They started shooting explosive seeds at anyone who started to get anywhere near them."
"Hmmm..." Hat Kid mused, frowning and rubbing her chin. Bigger flowers, huh? If there was one thing the young alien had learned on her adventures, it was that enemies always try to protect their weak spots no matter what. Could it be that these flowers are the source of the problem at hand... besides being smellier than a skunk?
"But now what do we do?" one of the nomads asked in panic.
"Yeah! Our village is being destroyed and we can't go anywhere without getting attacked from all sides!" another replied.
"...I'll admit, with all that's going on here, Alpine Skyline isn't safe anymore," Dr. Alkhar sighed. "The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to suffer losses."
Hat Kid looked at Makhir. The poor nomad chief looked out of his depth. He rubbed his eyes and let out a long, distraught sigh. "Then there's no other choice... We must leave Alpine Skyline at once," he announced sadly with an air of déjà vu.
"WHAT?!" the nomads cried out, shocked by their leader's announcement.
"Leave?! But where to?"
"I don't know yet, but we'll find someplace else just like we did when we had to leave Sand n' Sails," Makhir tried to reassure them in vain.
"Where then? There's nothing in the desert! Without the river, it's unlivable there!"
"And Subcon Forest is out of the question! That place is haunted!"
"It took us years to rebuild everything only to lose it all again?"
More and more protests were coming from within the group, driven by panic, worry, fear, and anger. However, Makhir quickly lost his patience and soon resumed his role as leader.
"Enough! ENOUGH!" he shouted, silencing the rest of the nomads. "I don't want to leave either, but it's either that or we all die here!" He paused and took a deep breath before continuing his speech. "I admit it, I don't know where we'll go from here. This kind of situation, we've been through it before. Yes, we've been through hell before we moved up here in Alpine Skyline. And sure, we spent years putting energy into rebuilding everything. And to have to give it all up, it pains me to even think about it! But today, what matters is the survival of our tribe!"
The nomads looked at each other in silence, taking in the words of their leader. Even Hat Kid was stunned by Makhir's speech.
"Even if we lose everything again today... even if we don't know where to go next... it doesn't matter as long as we manage to survive! And as long as we live... we'll get back up and we'll rebuild everything! Because in life there is hope, and as long as there is still hope... then we'll bounce back! And we'll keep living! That's all that matters!"
Everyone remained silent for a few moments until Dr. Alkhar spoke up, "I agree." He turned to the rest of the group. "If leaving here ensures our survival, then I'll be the first to follow suit. Together, we can start over somewhere else and rebuild everything. And if we have to spend our whole lives doing it, so be it! Because the most important thing is to keep living no matter what."
The nomads whispered among themselves and nodded, convinced by the speech. Meanwhile, Hat Kid couldn't help but admire Makhir and Dr. Alkhar's words. They reminded her of Tim's motivational speeches. He too had the words to motivate the Timekeepers, including her. He was her inspiration.
Nevertheless, for the young alien, letting the nomads abandon Alpine Skyline without doing anything was out of the question. She was convinced that these purple flowers were somehow responsible for all this mess here. According to Dr. Alkhar, three flowers larger than the others were seen, and from the description, they seemed particularly defensive. If her own hypothesis holds true, they could be the 'alpha' flowers, and uprooting them could solve the situation or at the very least improve it.
Hat Kid decided to take matters into her own hands and tugged on the nomad chief's sleeve to get his attention.
"What's the matter, kid?" Makhir asked her, tilting his head slightly to the side. Hat Kid pointed her finger at herself, then at the rest of Alpine Skyline with a look of determination to tell him she was going to handle the situation here. Makhir's eyes widened in concern once he got the message. "What do you mean? Y-You want to try to save Alpine Skyline all by yourself?" The young Xerian replied with a firm nod.
"By herself?" one of the nomads asked, shocked.
"But she's just a kid!" another protested.
"Yeah, what can she do about it all? Even we wouldn't be able to handle such chaos!"
Hat Kid was used to this kind of talk, but it didn't stop her from being offended, and pointed it out by putting her fists on her hips and glaring at the nomads.
"Hold on, everyone, hold on!" Dr. Alkhar spoke up with his hands raised in defense of the small girl. "Don't be so quick to underestimate her! She's not just any kid. She took on the Lazy Paw Gang head on and kicked their butts hard. She's the one who got back the pendant they stole from Mrs. Helmy, by the way."
Hat Kid nodded with a big grin to confirm the facts. Expressions of surprise appeared on the faces of the nomads at this revelation.
"Really?"
"I never thought anyone would ever be able to stand up to those rogue cats, let alone a little girl."
"It's true Edna told us that her son brought her pendant back and it was a little girl with a hat who got it back."
"That kid must really be a tough cookie."
Dr. Alkhar winked at Hat Kid and she gave him a thumbs up in appreciation. Makhir remained silent for a few seconds, pondering the young Xerian's heroic offer and weighing the pros and cons. He glanced at his village, which had been hard built by his people and was now in the process of being destroyed, and then at the other nomads who seemed to have found a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
He bit his lip. He wasn't sure he wanted to let Hat Kid take the risk of putting herself in danger for them, but at the same time if she was as tenacious as Dr. Alkhar made her out to be and if there was still a way to save what was left of their homes... Then he was ready to put the fate of Alpine Skyline in the hands of the purple-hatted girl.
He let out a sigh and turned to Hat Kid before saying, "All right, kid. You got any ideas on how to stop this?" The latter nodded and wrote on a paper she pulled out of her pocket before showing it to Makhir. It said 'The three big flowers! I got the feeling that getting rid of them would fix everything!', followed by a quick drawing of a flower. Makhir then turned to Dr. Alkhar and asked, "Do you know where the big flowers that the guys told us about are?"
The nomad doctor shook his head, "No idea... Hmm, wait a sec." He began to question the wounded involved. They answered weakly, their voices too low for Hat Kid or Makhir to hear. When he was done, he turned back to the two with the new information he was able to get. "According to the others, three of them have been sighted. One near the Windmill, one on the path to the Birdhouse, and one not far from the Lava Cake. That's all we got."
Hat Kid looked toward one of the peaks, specifically the Windmill, and noticed that a cliff near it had a thicker fog and more lightning strikes around it. She finally deduced that this is where one of the big flowers must be and decided to go there first. But before that, she wrote something else on the sheet and showed it to the village chief.
I'll deal with those nasty stinking flowers! You take care of getting your people out of harm's way! And don't forget my friend, please! Thank you! ^_^
"Got it! We'll go get your friend and all get to safety!" Makhir affirmed with a nod.
"Oh, and kid!" Dr. Alkhar said to get the young Xerian's attention. "If you see any nomads in danger, help them if you can and tell them to meet us here. Besides, I haven't run into Seth or his mother since the apocalypse began. Please make sure they're okay! Their house is on the Windy Passage. You can't miss it."
In response, Hat Kid smiled and gave them a thumbs up to let them know she was on it.
"Be careful out there, kid," Makhir told her. Hat Kid nodded. She was about to leave when she got stopped in her tracks by the village chief who said, "Oh, one more thing! Try not to hurt the goats. They're clearly not themselves right now, and besides, they're far too tough to face head on. Chances are you'll end up flattened to the ground like a pancake if you try anything against them."
The purple-hatted girl gulped nervously and nodded twice. The idea of being beaten to a pulp by massive, ten-foot tall goats did not appeal to her. If she could avoid them, that would be fine by her!
"Thank you. And good luck! You'll need it," Makhir said with a grateful smile, receiving a nod and a grin from the girl in return.
With that, Hat Kid switched from her trusty Top Hat to her Sprint Hat and ran full speed ahead toward the zip line leading to the Windmill. Arriving at the foot of it, she took out her umbrella and used her grappling hook on the zip line. She took the left lane, landing at the Windy Passage.
Glancing to the right, she spotted the cliff on which the flower was located. The height of the cliff looked too high to be accessible under normal circumstances... Luckily, Hat Kid spotted three flowers floating above the air that surely appeared when the storm started. These seemed to have a corkscrew root on which the girl could probably use her grappling hook and reach the top of the cliff with them. Perfect!
But first, she must get to the rooftop of the house at the top of the Windy Passage in order to reach the flying flowers. Time to do some climbing... Hat Kid started to move forward-
BRAOOM!
"Yikes!" she cried out as she fell flat on her back after a bolt of lightning suddenly fell near her. Holy peck! She almost got fried by lightning! Fortunately, she wasn't hit directly, but she still got a big scare from it. The young Xerian came to her senses rather quickly and made sure she didn't get a burn or something. Nothing. Phew, all good! She didn't waste any more time and set off again.
She stopped in front of the cliff with the windmill in the wall and the bed of pulsing purple flowers below. Ugh...
"Help! Somebody, help!"
Hat Kid gasped when she heard the cries for help. She recognized Seth's voice, which seemed to come from above. He must be in danger! No time to lose, she must climb the cliff immediately and never mind the smell! She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air, before sealing her lips to avoid the horrible smell of flowers. Then, while holding her breath, she used her grappling hook onto one of the mill's blades and let herself climb slowly up the cliff.
When she reached the top, Hat Kid jumped to the ground and exhaled all the air she had been holding in before breathing again. Looking up, she spotted Seth and Mrs. Helmy in front of their house. The two nomads were backed up against the wall by a goat standing menacingly in front of them.
"M-mom...!" Seth was shaking like a leaf, hiding behind his mother.
"Stay behind me, Sethy!" Mrs. Helmy shielded her son by putting her arm in front of him. She was as terrified as he was, but for her son's sake, she was willing to confront the large creature no matter the cost. Taking her courage in hand, she took a step towards the goat and pointed her finger at it, adopting her usual angry mom demeanor. "Ahem! Listen to me, you naughty goat! You leave my son alone before I get REALLY angry! And if you don't, it'll be a spanking for you!"
Naturally, the nomad's reprimands and threats weren't enough to make the goat back down. On the contrary, it seemed to make it even angrier, given its aggressive growl. The goat raised its fist in the air, ready to strike down the two defenseless nomads.
"Hey!" Hat Kid shouted to get the goat's attention. The latter turned to the child, revealing its red, glowing eyes. To divert its attention from the nomads to her, Hat Kid blew a raspberry at it while lowering her right eyelid with her finger and let out a "Stupiiiiiiid!" as an insult.
The response was immediate. The goat let out an aggressive huff from its nose and its head twitched with rage, then it charged toward Hat Kid. The heavy sounds of its hoovesteps were intimidating, but the young Xerian didn't let herself be thrown off so easily. Then when the large beast came within a short distance, Hat Kid rolled to the side.
This action caused the goat to narrowly miss the girl and end up balancing on the edge of the cliff, frantically waving its arms to keep from falling. Hat Kid took the opportunity to signal the nomads to run and take refuge in Goat Village.
"Thank you, brave little girl!" Mrs. Helmy thanked her with a grateful nod. "Come on Sethy!" She began to run toward the zip line.
"Thanks! Good luck!" Seth thanked the girl as well before joining his mother. The two went down the cliff and took the zip line back to the village.
Meanwhile, the goat managed to regain its balance and turned toward Hat Kid. It dragged its right hoof back and forth across the ground at least three times, ready to charge, while Hat Kid prepared herself to dodge again, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
After letting out a huff from its nose, the goat charged the young alien once again. Yet again, the latter dodged it by doing a huge front somersault over the goat's head with the help of her Sprint Hat. This time, the creature was smart enough to stop before the edge. However, Hat Kid had more than one trick up her sleeve. She swapped her Sprint Hat with her Brewing Hat and concocted a potion that she threw at the goat as it turned around.
The potion exploded on contact and the goat found itself once again having to keep its balance on the edge of the cliff. Hat Kid was about to run into it and knock it over, but she changed her mind when she remembered the promise she made to Makhir not to harm the goats since they weren't in their right mind.
Fighting was not an option, so Hat Kid looked for a way to escape. Then she looked up and spotted the flying flowers that could be accessed from the rooftop of the house. She nodded her head firmly with a determined look.
Without further ado, since the goat managed to catch itself and was about to attack again, she re-equipped her Sprint Hat and ran towards the house. Narrowly dodging a blow from the goat, Hat Kid jumped up and climbed onto the roof of the house. The goat, no longer able to catch the little girl because she was now out of range, stomped its hoof on the ground and made a frustrated noise that sounded like a roar.
Normally, Hat Kid would have taken the trouble to taunt it from above, but since the case of the goats was special, she decided to simply ignore it. She shot her grappling hook to the root of the first flower and pulled on her umbrella once it was attached to make sure it held, which it did. With a victorious grin, the young alien swung from flower to flower with her grappling hook and landed on the cliff on the other side.
She found herself at the beginning of a series of five closely spaced cliffs whose floors were covered with purple roots. The first three had only a few haystacks, shrubs, and wooden fences around the edges. On the fourth was built a small, half-destroyed village that looked deserted from afar for obvious reasons.
But what interested Hat Kid was what was on the fifth cliff. In the distance, she saw a very large purple flower rooted on a pedestal surrounded by other flowers. Jackpot! It was one of the flowers that the nomads talked about! All she had to do now was to reach it and uproot it, and with a bit of luck, that should fix things.
It sounded simple, but... that was where it got complicated. Hat Kid barely had time to take a step forward when the plant's defense mechanism triggered and it began to spit seeds in her direction. One of them landed next to the girl and radiated a purple glow before exploding.
"Wow!" Hat Kid had just enough time to leap back to avoid the blast. She looked up and saw a shower of explosive seeds falling on her. "Aaahh!"
Not wanting to be blown to bits, Hat Kid sprinted and jumped onto the next cliff. She had to deal with that flower as quickly as possible! She decided not to stop and jumped from cliff to cliff, avoiding as much as possible the explosive seeds, the eventual poisonous flowers, and the attacks of a goat on the way.
Eventually, Hat Kid managed to reach the fifth cliff and found herself facing the flower. She jumped over the short barrier of poisonous flowers and landed on the pedestal, ready to get rid of the nasty plant once and for all. She didn't want to touch it with her bare hands, though. So she decided to use brute force, holding up her umbrella. The girl dealt a few hits to the flower, severely damaging the stem. Then, with a strong swing, she successfully uprooted the plant from the pedestal. It fell to the ground a little further and exploded on impact.
Immediately afterward, a purple aura briefly manifested itself around the cliff. When it dissipated, the flowers around the pedestal withered and died within seconds. The fog around the cliff dissipated and the air became more breathable.
And that's not all. The frequency of lightning seemed to have decreased slightly and the wind blew less strongly than before. This was a good sign! Hat Kid went back and found the goat she had passed during her run. It was lying on the ground in the middle of the ruined village, looking weak and tired as if it had just woken up from a three-day nightmare, and its eyes were naturally white again.
She knew it! Those pesky flowers were the culprits behind the devastating storm and the goats' hostile behavior. It's perfect! So that means it's possible to save Alpine Skyline by destroying all the alpha flowers. So far, one down! Only two more to go!
With a determined smile and without further ado, Hat Kid ran back the way she came at full speed and headed for the next flower.
Meanwhile, in Goat Village, Makhir and Dr. Alkhar were gathering all the nomads at the present location. The group has since expanded as some have managed to escape the danger and find their way back.
"Is everyone here?" Makhir asked.
"Most of them at least," Dr. Alkhar replied, looking among those present. "Some of them must still be stuck in other places in Alpine Skyline. Hopefully, the kid can find them."
"Hey, is it me or does the storm seem to be subsiding?" Seth, who found the group with his mother a few moments ago, asked as he noticed the wind was blowing lighter and there was less lightning striking the mountains.
"Hmm... I also feel like there are fewer flowers too, right?" Makhir added as he glanced around the village. Indeed, a few flowers seemed to have vanished since before.
"The kid probably managed to find one of the big flowers the guys were talking about," Dr. Alkhar guessed. "Guess she was right! Getting rid of those flowers seems to solve the problem!"
Hearing this, Makhir looked down at the ground and a smile appeared on his face. "Then there's hope," he whispered. Maybe there will be no need to move his people a second time after all.
"Now listen here!" Makhir and Dr. Alkhar turned to the source of the voice, which was none other than Mrs. Helmy, who was ranting to other nomads much to their annoyance. "I don't know who planted these devil's flowers, but believe me, if I catch this one, they're in for a rough time!"
"Mom..." Seth sighed in shame with his hand over his face, which amused Makhir and Dr. Alkhar.
"Oh, I've gotta go get the kid with the cowboy hat!" the nomad doctor reminded himself, snapping his fingers. He had so many people to care for that he had almost forgotten about Arthur. "I'll be right back!"
"Okay," Makhir nodded.
Dr. Alkhar quickly ran to his house which was fortunately still intact and entered the room where all the beds were. "Hey kid! Come on, we need to-" However, Arthur was no longer in his bed. "Kid?! Kid!" The doctor panicked. No sign of the boy, the room was completely empty. "Where is he?!"
Hat Kid ran through Goat Village at full speed toward the zip line leading to the Birdhouse, avoiding the various hazards along the way. She decided to get rid of the flower on this one before going for the one near the Lava Cake. The high temperatures on the latter will make running and dodging projectiles complicated, so she might as well warm up.
She stood at the foot of the yellow and orange zip line, trying to spot the location of the flower in the distance. Eventually, she spotted the fog and lightning indicating its presence on a cliff to the left of the Birdhouse. She smiled and aimed her umbrella at the zip line.
But just as she was about to shoot her grappling hook, a distant sound from the cliff in question caught her attention. To her surprise, the same purple aura that manifested itself when she destroyed the previous flower appeared briefly in the distance before disappearing along with the surrounding mist. The storm became even lighter and more flowers around the village died, leaving only a few still active around.
Hat Kid was confused. What happened to the flower? Did a group of nomads on the scene decide to take action and uproot the plant? Strange... The young alien shrugged her shoulders. Well, so much the better then. That's another flower less to worry about. Only one left: the Lava Cake one. Ugh... She's going to be a sweaty mess again... Too bad. When you gotta go, you gotta go.
Without further ado, Hat Kid turned around and headed for the zip line leading to the Lava Cake. After roughly spotting the location of the flower from a distance, she hooked onto the zip line and landed at the Sizzling Lava Split. The sudden rise in temperature was immediately felt by the young Xerian, but that didn't stop her and she set off towards the cliff where the alpha flower is located.
She retraced the path she had taken to the Lava Cake earlier, taking the right path at the fork and climbing to the top of the Ember Summit. As she ran, lightning bolts rained down all around her, destroying many wooden platforms and nearly striking her alive. Nevertheless, she persisted, helping the few stray nomads along the way, and arrived at the burned-out village atop the Ember Summit.
From there, the alpha flower was not far away. It was at the end of another set of five cliffs, again only accessible via the flying flowers. Hat Kid hurriedly jumped onto the roof of one of the houses to reach the flowers and used her grappling hook on their roots to cross the gap.
Arriving on the first cliff, the girl couldn't help noticing that the way to the flower was more perilous than the previous one. Indeed, in addition to the fire hazard linked to the presence of small geysers of lava on the sides, barriers of toxic flowers were also on the way.
Hat Kid groaned with annoyance. As if she wasn't already exhausted and covered in sweat from head to toe, these pecking flowers still had to make her job harder. Of all the enemies she fought on this PECKING planet, these flowers are really the most annoying to face. It's official! Starting today, she hates anything that looks remotely like a flower, is purple, and smells just as bad!
Motivated by her newfound hatred of these flowers, Hat Kid resumed her run across the cliffs, leaping over the flowers blocking her path. Maneuvering from cliff to cliff became more complicated, however, because in addition to the explosive seeds thrown up by the alpha flower, thorn-covered roots suddenly sprang up from the ground, causing her to stumble from time to time and nearly skewer her like a chicken.
But the young alien wouldn't give up. For the sake of Alpine Skyline and the nomads, she had to eliminate this plant at all costs! Not without difficulty, she arrived on the fourth cliff, in the middle of a burning village overgrown with flowers. The alpha flower was one cliff away, she was almost there!
Hat Kid had to stop suddenly and gasped when she was confronted with a big obstacle, or rather two... Indeed, two corrupted and very angry goats blocked her way. Peck! Not now! She was so close to her goal!
...Then suddenly, as if just thinking about it jinxed her, an earthquake started to rumble, making the girl panic and even startling the goats.
CRACK!
"WHOA!" Hat Kid fell backward as something huge shot out of the ground where the two goats were standing, sending them crashing to the ground and knocking them unconscious. The Xerian girl grunted, straightening up on her elbows, and opened her eyes to a sight that terrified her. "AAHH!"
In front of her were two large thorn-covered vines, about thirty feet high, twisting in all directions like tentacles. Her jaw dropped in terror at the sight of these huge vines blocking her path. Where the peck did they come from?! Suddenly, one of them tried to come down on Hat Kid, but she dodged it with a dive to the side. The girl got to her feet and turned to the two vines with wide eyes, unsure if she could fight this.
Stupid flower! This one was definitely not going to let itself be uprooted so easily... But no matter! She didn't do all this to give up at the finish line! She's going to put an end to this plant and this damned storm at any cost!
Hat Kid focused her attention behind the two vines, glaring at her target: the last alpha flower. She got into a fighting stance, tightening her grip on her umbrella and clenching her other fist firmly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, while a flash of lightning in the distance added tension to the scene. After standing still for a few seconds, Hat Kid opened her eyes, showing nothing but determination and desire to save Alpine Skyline. She was ready!
Hat Kid moved forward, and the vines reacted immediately. One of them came down on the girl, who dodged it by leaping to the side, and the other attempted a sideways swing, but Hat Kid did a somersault over it to dodge it.
Very quickly, a vine came down in front of the young Xerian to block her, while the other one repositioned itself in front of her and tried to hit her to make her move back. With no dodging angle to get through, Hat Kid had no choice but to leap back to avoid being impaled by the vine, losing all the distance she had managed to gain.
Boy, those vines are tough! Hat Kid was going to have to double the effort to take out that flower. Okay, change of strategy!
Hat Kid equipped herself with her Brewing Hat and concocted a potion. When one of the vines tried to attack her, she threw her potion at it. The blast wasn't enough to damage the vine, but it did knock it back. Immediately switching to her Sprint Hat, she sprinted, then somersaulted sideways when the other vine tried to squash her and landed on the roof of a house.
The same vine swung at her in an attempt to throw her off the roof and over the cliff, but Hat Kid got down on her stomach to avoid it. The girl felt the tip of a thorn graze her back just barely. When she got up, she checked herself to see if she had been hit. Fortunately, not a single scratch and her cape remained intact.
Hat Kid watched the two vines rise above her and quickly realized their intention to strike at the same time. No worries, she can do the same! Again with her Brewing Hat, she concocted two potions in her hands, waiting for the right moment to cast them. And just as the vines moved to attack the young Xerian...
BOOM! BAM!
In two throws, both were hit. Wanting to take advantage of their daze, Hat Kid put her Sprint Hat back on and ran towards the alpha flower. But that was without counting on the said flower, which threw a well-placed explosive seed at the girl in retaliation.
"Ouch!" Hat Kid was thrown backward by the explosion and crashed to the ground in the middle of the village. Ow, ow, ow! Peck, failed again...! "Ughh..."
With a grimace on her face, she slowly sat up on her elbows, staring at the flower from afar. Although the plant could not speak or possess any facial features, the girl still felt as if it was silently taunting her.
Hat Kid glared at the flower, then began to stand up. She struggled to get back on her feet. Her teeth were clenched and her limbs trembling. She was getting tired from the fight and the intense heat wasn't helping. Nevertheless, she refused to give up. She had to destroy this flower! She had to!
Once on her feet, Hat Kid considered her options. The flower clearly had no intention of letting her get close, and the vines were blocking her way at all costs. At this rate, the young Xerian wasn't going to last very long. She would only exhaust herself even more. Her legs were still shaking from fatigue, and because of the heat, she was thirsty... Really thirsty.
She absolutely must find another way. The vines are much too fast for her. If only she had a way to slow down time- ...Wait a minute.
Hat Kid gasped and her eyes widened suddenly as an imaginary light bulb went on above her head. But of course! The Time Stop Hat! Why didn't she think of that sooner?! She can be so stupid sometimes. Hehe...
Without further ado, she switched her Sprint Hat with her Time Stop Hat and waited for the vines to attack. The effects are temporary, so she had to choose the right moment to activate the hat and be quick afterward. As one of the vines began to swing toward her, Hat Kid triggered the hat's effect, immediately slowing time. With the vines now moving in slow motion, the young alien hurriedly ran toward the alpha flower and passed safely between the two vines.
She just had time to reach the edge of the cliff when the effects of the Time Stop Hat faded. From then on, it was only a matter of seconds. Hat Kid double jumped, then dove over the edge and landed with a roll on the very last cliff where the flower was. She rushed towards it, brandishing her umbrella and ready to lash out at it. That's it! Bye bye, ugly flower-
"OOOWW!" Hat Kid let out a huge cry of pain as she felt something wrap around and pierce her right ankle, before stumbling forward at the foot of the pedestal and dropping her umbrella in the process. She turned her head back and saw one of the vines wrapped tightly around her ankle, its thorns digging into it and causing intense pain. Then the vine pulled the girl's ankle back and threw her into the center of the village. "AAAAAHH- OWW!"
Hat Kid crashed hard on her back, sliding backward a bit before coming to a dead stop on the ground, causing a cloud of dust to billow in the air. The young Xerian hissed in pain and gritted her teeth. She was covered in dust and her clothes were slightly torn from the impact. Ouch...
She weakly tried to stand up, but the moment she tried to lean on her right foot, she cried out in pain and sat up straight, holding her ankle. Removing her hand to see, Hat Kid noticed the bloody holes in her pants at the ankle. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, which she closed in pain, and she gritted her teeth.
It hurts so bad! She felt like her ankle was on fire! Hat Kid started to panic inside. How was she going to fight now? She couldn't run or even walk with this injury! Maybe hobble? No, that's a stupid idea. Welp... she's pecked.
The girl opened her eyes and gasped as she saw one of the vines about to attack her again. But this time she wouldn't be able to dodge it... As the vine began to come down on her to finish her off, Hat Kid reflexively put her hands in front of her even though it would not protect her and closed her eyes. This is it... It's over for her. She's going to die by a stupid flower. How humiliating... Goodbye, cruel world. Goodbye, Xerius. Goodbye, Bow Kid. Goodbye, Tim. ...Goodbye, Arthur.
Suddenly, against all odds, a figure arrived at high speed, grabbed Hat Kid, then pushed her out of range of the attack right before the vine could crush her. The girl shook her head and opened her eyes to see her savior who was crouched over her.
Wait a minute, is that... Arthur?
"Phew, gotcha!" he said with a sigh of relief, getting off of her.
Hat Kid was looking at him with wide, astonished eyes. She was both happy and confused to see him here. Wasn't he supposed to be with the nomads in Goat Village? Her train of thought was interrupted when she saw the vines trying to attack her and Arthur.
The boy realized this and shouted "Damn!" before grabbing Hat Kid in his arms and running to dodge the vines. He managed to carry his friend behind one of the houses, away from the vines and explosive seeds.
"That was close..." Arthur muttered with a sigh of relief, then gently sat Hat Kid against the wall. "You okay, Hat Kid?" The young Xerian shook her head, holding tightly to her ankle that was hurting terribly. "Wait, let me see." Arthur lifted the girl's fingers to see the wound and winced. It wasn't a pretty sight. "Damn, they got you good. Good thing I got here in time."
Speaking of which, Hat Kid raised an eyebrow as she looked at the boy questioningly. She had told him to stay in the village and let her handle the problem. What was he doing there? Although she was grateful to him for saving her life, he still did the opposite of what she told him to.
Feeling the disappointment in his friend's eyes, Arthur sighed, then replied, "Yeah, I know what you're gonna say..." So he began to imitate Hat Kid's voice in exaggeration. "'But Arthur, what are you doing here? Look at you, you've taken punches and you're covered in bandages. You look like you've been to a boxing tournament. You need to rest or you'll end up six feet under.'"
Not appreciating the tone and imitation, Hat Kid crossed her arms and pouted at him.
"...Sorry," the boy apologized. He let out a sigh and began his explanation of why he was here, "Look, I had a bad feeling and I was worried about you. So when you went out, I got up and walked out of the doctor's house. I saw these flowers everywhere and I quickly realized they had something to do with whatever the hell was going on. To be sure, I listened to your conversation with the nomads from afar and it confirmed my suspicions. So, to make it easier for you, I went to deal with the big flower on the Birdhouse side."
Hat Kid's eyes widened upon hearing this. So he was the one who had taken out the alpha flower on the Birdhouse? All alone and wounded, despite the danger, his anxiety, and his fear of heights? Wow...
"That was a tough one. Had to work my butt off to get rid of that hell plant," Arthur recounted with a slight grimace, making a few slight movements of his shoulders to relieve some of the strain on his muscles. Although he had been able to recover a bit at the doctor's house, his bruises were not yet fully healed and he could still feel pain in his movements. But to be honest, he didn't care at the moment. "Anyway, whatever, it's not important. Afterward, I saw there was still one left, so I came here and saw you on the ground, about to be crushed into fertilizer by those vines. I didn't question it, I just ran in to save you. Hell, two seconds late, you would've..."
Arthur didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. Hat Kid knew exactly what he meant and she knew he was right. If he hadn't intervened in time, she wouldn't be here having this conversation with him right now. Simply put, if Arthur had listened to her... she would be dead. So could she blame him for not staying in bed like she had asked and putting himself in danger for her? No... clearly not. She would have done the same in his place.
"Anyway, my point is I wanted to help you and not only that..." Arthur looked his friend straight in the eye in a way Hat Kid had never seen before. "I wanna change, Hat Kid. I'm sick of letting my anxiety get the better of me over everything and anything. I'm sick of being jaded about life, even though it's been spitting in my face since the beginning. And most of all, I'm tired of putting the burden of my problems on your back."
He stood up and glanced toward the vines and alpha flower from behind the corner of the house, then continued his speech.
"You made it clear that I could count on you to talk about my worries and emotions if I needed to and that you would always listen, and I thank you for that. But I can't just do that all the time... I have to do my part too. That I grow. It's the only way I'll get better. There was a time when I would've told you I didn't care and I'd rather die than keep suffering." He turned his head toward Hat Kid and smiled warmly. "But not anymore. Ever since we've teamed up, you've always done everything to help me, even if it meant ending up six feet under. You've given me something to live for. And now... I'm gonna return the favor."
Hat Kid blinked at the boy's words. She had never seen him so determined and confident. Arthur had always had self-doubt and never liked confrontation. To see him here ready to face danger head on despite his anxiety, but especially to hear him confess his desire to evolve and mature, surprised the young Xerian but gave her a feeling of admiration and pride towards him.
Even though she was worried about the boy because of his injuries, she realized that he was capable of handling himself and that she shouldn't have left him out of this fight. Besides... with that ankle injury, it was impossible for her to continue the fight. This meant that she would have to trust Arthur and let him take over. But deep down, she knew he was capable of finishing the job and saving Alpine Skyline from those pesky flowers.
Hat Kid smiled and gave him a thumbs up, agreeing to let him take over for the fight and wishing him good luck. Arthur nodded in return, then took out his crowbar and made movements with his head and shoulders to crack his neck.
"Okay then, time to do some gardening," he said before stepping out from behind the house and walking up to face the two vines. "Hey, weed!" he shouted in a defiant tone. The vines leaned in his direction as if they were listening. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, ugly! You just put your roots in the wrong garden, buddy! You've done enough damage as it is, plus you almost killed someone I care about. So I'm gonna peck you up, even if it means turning the soil over fifty times to pull out your roots with my own teeth!"
The taunt seemed to have worked because the vines became more agitated and twisted in all directions as if in anger. If there was one thing Arthur knew, it was that anger makes people do irrational things, and even though they are flowers in this case, they are still sentient. He was aware that he was taking a big risk by making the vines more aggressive, but he also knew that they would let their guard down more easily. So he will use that against them. It was up to him not to screw it up and to be attentive to the vines' movements until he managed to uproot the alpha flower.
Arthur got into a fighting stance and let out a sigh. "Okay..." He closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm himself and keep his growing anxiety from taking over his actions. He was out of the vines' reach, so he could take his time. It took him a few seconds of effort and focus, but he eventually suppressed his anxiety and it eventually turned to courage when the boy reopened his eyes with a look of determination. "Time to get the weed out."
Ready to fight, Arthur began to advance. The two vines wasted no time in trying to stop him. One of them came down in front of him to block his way, while the other one swung towards him. The boy reacted immediately by rolling to the side to dodge the blow. The blocking vine tried to sweep the ground towards Arthur, but the latter had anticipated it and jumped over it as it passed.
The two vines then placed themselves on either side of the boy and swung towards each other to crush him. However, once again, Arthur dodged them by jumping over them and landed on one of the vines with his feet between the thorns. He began to move along the vine, being careful not to step on said thorns. The vine immediately straightened to throw him off, but the boy took advantage of the lift to jump and dive onto the roof of a nearby house.
Arthur turned towards the vines, crowbar still in hand and with a focused look. His goal was to anticipate the vines' moves and take the time needed to reach the flower without rushing to avoid being struck like Hat Kid. He knew that if he made a single mistake, it could be fatal. It was better to be clever on the next actions and to concentrate to avoid the hits of the vines.
In fact, he had an idea to get rid of these cursed vines and leave him free to reach the flower without too much trouble. He was ready.
The young boy remained still, preferring to wait for the right moment to carry out his plan. Eventually, the vines became impatient and tried to come down on him simultaneously, but without success, because Arthur took the opportunity to jump on one of the vines again and the only result of their actions was the destruction of the already burned house.
Perfect! First part of the plan in place! Now the hardest part is to be done, but if it goes as he imagined in his head, then it will be checkmate. Once he managed to stabilize himself on the vine when it straightened up, Arthur decided to make the alpha flower a little more angry so he could trigger the second phase of his plan. Here goes nothing.
"Heh... well then, old plant! Am I too fast for you? Can't you catch a twelve-year-old kid when you're ten times my size?" he mocked with a smirk. "You been rooted here for a thousand years or what?"
Oof... considering the vines' reaction, the flower didn't like that at all. The two vines swung towards each other to try to crush the boy between them as fast as possible. However, that was exactly what Arthur wanted, because as the one he was standing on began to rise upward, he jumped off of it, and the two vines ended up accidentally wrapping around each other and getting stuck.
Arthur broke his fall to the ground with a roll and turned to see if his trick worked. As expected, the vines became entangled and, despite their best efforts, seemed unable to untangle themselves from each other. He almost didn't believe it but it worked like a charm.
"Heh, morons," he muttered with a satisfied smirk, lowering the tip of his cowboy hat slightly, before running toward the flower.
Meanwhile, Hat Kid, who was watching the scene from her hiding spot, was wide-eyed with wonder at Arthur's move. It was truly a stroke of genius! Why hadn't she thought of it before? It goes without saying that Arthur had really stepped up his fighting game. The young alien was proud of him and raised her fist victoriously in the air, shouting "Yay! Go Arthur!"
The young boy arrived at the edge of the cliff. He jumped and dived forward to cross the precipice and landed on the other side with a roll. Looking up, he saw the alpha flower on the pedestal in front of him, surrounded by a cluster of poisonous flowers.
As the two vines were out of the picture, the flower in question began to bombard Arthur with explosive seeds in a desperate attempt to defend itself, forcing him to dodge them one by one as best he could.
After a while, Arthur decided to end it all and positioned his crowbar in the air like a baseball bat. When the flower spat a seed in his direction, he swung at it and sent it flying back toward the base of the pedestal. The blast destroyed some of the flowers in front and destabilized the alpha flower, which stopped throwing seeds.
'Now or never!' Arthur thought before rushing to the pedestal. He climbed to the top and found himself face to face with the flower. He inserted the tip of his crowbar under the root and put pressure on it with his right foot to uproot it. "Annnnd... good night, weed!" he said before putting a big push that was enough to uproot the flower and send it to the ground. And as with the other flowers, this one disintegrated and the purple aura appeared briefly around the cliff before disappearing.
With the destruction of the very last alpha flower, the two giant vines crumbled to the ground before decomposing until there was nothing left, while the remaining purple flowers withered and died for good. The sound of thunder ceased, the explosions stopped, and the wind died down. The sky returned to its natural blue color and the fog dissipated, giving way to a clear view of the mountains. The air became pure and breathable again, finally free of the stench of poisonous flowers.
Everything seemed to be back to normal. Alpine Skyline was saved.
"Oh, thank God..." Arthur sighed in relief as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Man, what a living hell those flowers were, and especially this one... But he did it. He was able to get rid of them. However, he had no time to celebrate. Hat Kid was injured and he had to make sure she was okay.
He put away his crowbar and retrieved the umbrella from the ground that Hat Kid dropped earlier, before running back to where he left his friend. Once there, he found Hat Kid sitting in the same place, still holding her ankle. The latter noticed his return and forced herself to smile at him despite the intense pain.
"You okay, Hat Kid?" Arthur asked, crouching down next to her. The young Xerian wrote him a reply on paper saying:
My ankle hurts like crazy, and I feel like I'm roasting in this heat! I'm all covered in sweat! Gross! But other than that, I'm fine! ^_^;
"Okay," the young boy nodded after finishing the reading. He gave Hat Kid back her umbrella, which she promptly put away with a grateful smile. "Well, let's not hang around here any longer then. Come on, I'll take you to the doc." He moved closer to Hat Kid to let her lean against him. Once her arm was behind his neck, he began to help her up... until he suddenly hissed in pain. "Ow, wait wait wait!" He made her sit back down immediately and also sat next to her under the confused and worried look of the girl. "Ah hell! I'm hurting all over again... Damn!"
Indeed, now that the adrenaline had subsided, the bruises and cuts on Arthur's body flared up violently from the intensive movement and shifting he did during the fight. As a result, he was now in too much pain to do anything. Hat Kid couldn't move either for obvious reasons. In conclusion...
"Well... we're stuck here for now," he stated the obvious, a grimace on his face.
"Peck," Hat Kid swore, gritting her teeth in frustration.
Arthur chuckled slightly. "Heh... You said it." He opened and closed his mouth, noticing that his throat had become dry. With the heat emanating from the nearby Lava Cake, he was really thirsty. "Got anything to drink by any chance?" Hat Kid shook her head sadly. "Great. Time for an express barbecue then..." he added with a dejected look.
While the two children thought they were doomed to roast on this cliff for eternity, they heard heavy footsteps approaching them and a large shadow suddenly veiled their faces. They both turned their heads and yelped in surprise when they saw the two goats that had been knocked unconscious by the vines earlier standing before them, staring at them. However, unlike before, their eyes were white again and they seemed to have regained a calm attitude.
The goats bowed to the duo to thank them for freeing them from the purple flowers' mental influence. The two children looked at them confused for a few seconds before understanding the gesture.
"Oh uh... n-no problem," Arthur replied, a little intimidated by their gigantic appearance. Boy, those goats sure were big; they could probably lift them up in the air with no problem. ...The boy's eyes widened as he realized what he had just thought. But of course! Surely they could carry both of them to the village! Maybe it would be worth asking. It was that or nothing, anyway. "Uhh, say, would it be possible for you to take us back to Goat Village, please? My friend and I are hurt and... I'm not gonna lie, we're literally baking here." Hat Kid frantically nodded her head, sticking out her tongue to show she was thirsty.
The two goats looked at each other for a moment, then nodded, agreeing to carry the two children back to the village.
"Thanks..." the twelve-year-old boy thanked them with a sigh of relief. He and Hat Kid clearly couldn't take the heat anymore. "Just so you know, we've been sweating like crazy. Don't mind that. And... take it easy, we're a little sore all over."
One of the two goats silently walked over to the duo and crouched down to pick them up, carrying them both carefully in its big arm. Once Arthur and Hat Kid were comfortably seated, the two goats set off for Goat Village.
A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, as well as the little boss fight I concocted. Indeed, I didn't want to end with the simple objective of going to a point A, then B, then C to eliminate three big flowers in order to stop the purple flowers invasion. So I decided to make Hat Kid face two big thorny vines to make things more interesting. Well, in the end, our young heroine couldn't finish the fight because she ended up with an injured ankle, so Arthur had to finish the job for her. Hehe... ^^;
Speaking of Arthur... a bit of a turnaround because, as you've seen, he decided to put aside his health, his safety, and his fears to help Hat Kid, despite the fact that she told him to stay put. Not least because he trusted his instincts that told him he had to step in (or else RIP Hat Kid ^^;), but also because I wanted to use this chapter to once again make Arthur's character grow and give him some confidence after his defeat by Mustache Girl in the Twilight Bell. So from now on you will see a more confident and courageous Arthur, but still as down-to-earth and sarcastic as we like him! Don't worry, I'm gonna make sure I don't distort the character's personality. My goal is just to make him evolve in the right way because he can't stay as cold, angry, and anxious as when we knew him at the beginning of the story. He has to evolve after being with Hat Kid all this time. ^^
Anyway, let's get to the reviews!
To EmacSans: Back and in shape! ...Well, not completely for the latter, they got a few scratches on them. Hehe... ^^;
To XelaZagity: It's true that it's been a year and a half since I updated this story, so yes, it may surprise many. But like I said, I needed a break and now that it's done, I'm back and we're back on track!
To JakeDragon: Thank you very much! You mean brother and sister as if they have the same mother? If so, that's not possible because they come from two different worlds, so they can't really be brother and sister of the same blood. However, I have a little something planned for the evolution of their relationship towards the end of the story. I won't say more, it will be a surprise. ;)
To HexoSpikeZ: Thanks a lot! I'm very happy to hear that! ^^
There will be an explanation of Seth's suspicious reaction to Subcon Forest in the next chapter. Don't worry about it ;)
No problem, I understand that it's been a while since I updated this story and that a lot of information has been forgotten. Even me, there are some infos in my previous chapters that I forgot over time, but it will come back. ^^; But anyway, I'm glad to hear your joy about the return of this series. (And don't worry, I don't plan to burnout anytime soon ;))
Nope, Arthur couldn't help but want to help as you saw. On the one hand, it's a good thing he did, otherwise Hat Kid would have ended up flattened on the ground like a pancake. Hehe ^^;
All right, then! That's all for today, folks! The next chapter will be the conclusion for this Alpine Skyline arc (finally!). See you all in the next chapter! :D