Chapter 40
When the storm stopped and the flowers disappeared for good, the nomads let out cries of joy and relief. The apocalypse was over and their village was saved.
"She did it... The kid saved Alpine Skyline," Makhir said with a smile.
"Ahh, it feels good to breathe fresh air again," Seth added, taking a deep breath.
"You said it."
Makhir was relieved. At one point, all hope seemed lost and he had really thought he would have to reluctantly move his tribe again. But thanks to that girl in the top hat, everything was back to normal.
Just then, Dr. Alkhar came running, visibly panicked. He stopped in front of the village chief, out of breath after running all over Goat Village looking for Arthur without success.
"I couldn't... find the boy... anywhere," he said, trying to catch his breath. "I don't know where he went..."
"Wait what? Wasn't he at your house?" Makhir asked him, surprised.
"He was supposed to be there, but he's not!"
Seth scratched his chin, looking thoughtful. "Hmm, do you guys think he went to help the kid?" he suggested.
"I hope not for him because he wasn't done recovering when I left him. With the intense movements, his bruises are going to hurt again; and besides with all the dangers there was outside, he might have new wounds or even be killed considering his condition!" the doctor explained, concerned.
As the trio exchanged worried glances, one of the nomads in the crowd shouted, "Look!" while pointing at something.
Everyone's attention was drawn to two goats advancing toward them. At first, the nomads got a little scared and backed away as a precaution. However, the goats demonstrated their non-aggressiveness by bowing to them to show them that they were back to their normal state, which was enough to reassure the crowd.
One of the two goats knelt down and exposed its arm for all to see, revealing two children sitting on it. It was Arthur and Hat Kid.
When they saw that they were injured, there was a general gasp and the whole crowd gathered around them. The nomads began to bombard them with questions, asking what had happened to them, how badly they were injured, and about Hat Kid's bloody ankle. The two kids found themselves overwhelmed with questions and unable to answer.
"Calm down, everyone! Step aside! Let Dr. Alkhar do his thing!" Makhir quickly intervened. Although reluctant because of their concern, the crowd moved aside and gave space for the two children to their relief.
"Let's see it all," Dr. Alkhar said as he walked over to the duo.
"Them flowers put holes in her ankle like a sieve with thorn-covered vines," Arthur explained. "As for me, I've got pain all over my body again."
The nomad doctor nodded and went to check on Hat Kid's ankle first. He gently lifted the hem of her pants to look at the wound and saw how serious it was.
"Hmm, I'll have to take a closer look at home. You need serious medical attention, kid," he explained to the young Xerian. Hat Kid, who was gritting her teeth in pain, nodded without hesitation. He then turned to Arthur. "And you too, since you left in a hurry and had to make a lot of sudden movements without having finished recovering completely. So it's normal you're sore all over, kid. I also need to see if your cuts have reopened."
"That works," the boy nodded.
"What on earth is all this fuss about?" Mrs. Helmy's voice was heard as she made her way through the crowd, confused by the gathering. "What's going on here? I was gone for a few minutes to go pull the ears of this goat that tried to pick on my son-"
She let out a sudden gasp of horror at the state Arthur and Hat Kid were in. Instinctively, she approached them with her overprotective mom look.
"Oh my God, poor little children! Look at the state of you two! You're both covered in bruises and dirt, and- oh, little hat girl, your ankle and your clothes! What a disaster!" she exclaimed, making the two children uncomfortable as they looked at each other nervously. Suddenly, the nomad's worried look turned dark and she slowly turned her head towards Dr. Alkhar with a glare. "Say, didn't I tell you to make sure nothing happens to the two of them?"
"Uh oh..." Seth said nervously, knowing exactly what was going to happen next.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alkhar had sweat dripping down his forehead and raised his hands in defense. "M-Mrs. Helmy, l-let me explain-" The nomad woman didn't let him finish and suddenly grabbed him by the ear through his hat. "Ow, ow, ow!"
"Come over here, you! I got two words for you." Mrs. Helmy began dragging the poor doctor by the ear out of sight to give him the beating of his life, while everyone watched them go nervously.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the crowd, which was broken by Seth who said with a nervous chuckle, "Well, it was nice knowing him. Hehe..."
While Dr. Alkhar was getting a beating from Mrs. Helmy, Makhir took charge of taking Arthur and Hat Kid to the doctor's house to rest until the doctor returned.
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Alkhar arrived, rubbing his buttocks and with the nomad woman's hand mark on his cheek. He got the full treatment: a big spanking and a slap on the cheek; and Mrs. Helmy was not shy about it. Despite the punishment he received, the nomad doctor quickly got to work treating the wounds of both children who were lying on their respective beds.
Since Hat Kid was the one who needed the most care at the moment, Dr. Alkhar started with her. He applied disinfectant to the wound on her ankle, which made the young Xerian wince in pain, and put a cast around her right foot.
"There, that should do it," Dr. Alkhar said as he finished putting the bandages around the girl's foot.
"What's the verdict, doc?" Arthur asked with a worried look on his face, as Makhir stood beside his bed with his arms crossed.
"It's not pretty," the doctor replied. "Her ankle has some punctures around it and it's swollen up quite a bit. Quite an injury." He took out his notebook and wrote his report in it. "It could've been a lot worse, but fortunately it's not."
"Meaning?"
"Well, those purple flowers had harmful properties. As you saw, some of our people got sick after being exposed to them. And in the thorns of those vines was the same substance I also found in your ankle, kid," he explained, looking at Hat Kid with a serious expression.
"What do you mean?" Arthur panicked a little at hearing this. However, Dr. Alkhar reassured him.
"Don't worry, she's in no danger. That's what surprises me..."
"Huh?" the boy asked, as he and Makhir glanced in surprise at Hat Kid, who on the other hand didn't seem surprised at all and even smiled at them.
"All right, I'll give it to you straight," Dr. Alkhar said. "Normally, a normal human being would've never been able to withstand such a dose of poison those vines have injected into her, and even less so a little kid. Those exposed to the pollen already had some serious symptoms, but this is twice, even three times worse..."
"So that means..." Makhir began.
"Yep, that means the kid should've been in critical condition after that. And worst case scenario, it was death." The nomad doctor smiled at the young Xerian before saying, "But you're not human. Right, kid?"
Hat Kid shook her head proudly with a big grin on her face. Dr. Alkhar nodded and turned to Arthur and Makhir to explain.
"It appears that her metabolism functions differently than that of a human. It has a natural resistance to poison effects of any type, which saved her from almost certain death. Never before seen." He looked at Arthur and asked, "Tell me, kid, are you the same species as her?"
"Um no, I'm just a regular human being," the boy confessed.
"Then you're lucky you didn't get hit by those vines, because otherwise... you wouldn't have survived."
The nomad doctor's words made Hat Kid and Makhir shudder at the thought that Arthur might have died if he had been in the same position as the girl. As for Arthur, he had only one word to say, "Damn." He was lucky indeed...
Dr. Alkhar finished filling out his report and put his notebook back in his pocket. "The injury is nevertheless serious. It'll be a few days before you can walk again. That's why I'm gonna keep you at home for a while so I can take care of your ankle, kid. A week at least."
Hat Kid stared at the doctor with wide eyes as she heard the news. One week?! No way! She must get the rest of the Time Pieces back as soon as possible! Every single day that passed without doing anything was time lost for her and more time for Mustache Girl to continue her search with her hands behind her head.
Not to mention the Time Rifts! Who will be there to deal with them if they show up? Because if it lingers, the Time Rifts will be able to grow and it could put the whole timeline in danger! She couldn't afford to wait with her arms crossed because of a pecking ankle injury!
"That's the best I can do, kid," Dr. Alkhar told her sadly, seeing the girl's panicked reaction. "Your ankle has several punctures all around it and it'll take several days to heal. Therefore, it's strictly not recommended to walk on your right foot. Either way, the pain will be a reminder to you. It's inevitable."
Hat Kid looked at the doctor for a few seconds, then glanced at her plastered foot before letting out a sigh of resignation. He's right... She can't go anywhere with a wound like that. So she had no choice but to stay in bed until it healed. All because of these vines. Stupid flowers, it's all their fault! She hates them!
Now that he was done with Hat Kid, Dr. Alkhar approached Arthur. "Your turn now, kid. If I understand correctly, you moved and fought despite your bruises, and now you're sore all over?"
"Yeah," the boy nodded.
"Let's see about that." The nomad doctor examined Arthur's bruises, palpating them a bit to see the child's reactions and gauge the degree of pain from them. Arthur flinched and hissed in pain at the touch. Then the doctor lifted the bandages to see the condition of the cuts.
"Okay," he said, pulling out his notebook and writing notes in it. "Well, at first glance, nothing too serious except that the bruises are sore again and potentially some muscle soreness from straining to move. Some cuts have reopened, but not to the point of being catastrophic. I just need to disinfect them again, change the bandages, and that should do it!"
"Good," Arthur replied with a sigh of relief.
"On the other hand, you're gonna have to rest after this. Since you've worked your muscles so hard, I recommend resting until the next morning and that's non-negotiable. I'm gonna emphasize this, kid: no heroics like you just did," Dr. Alkhar informed with a serious look, while pointing the tip of his pencil at the twelve-year-old boy. "Your body needs to rest. And while the cuts remain benign, they could get worse from too much movement and then we'll have a problem."
"Well, there's no threat anymore, so there's no risk."
"Even if there was a new one, it's a big no-no to move until tomorrow. Your health is paramount and I don't want Mrs. Helmy to kick my butt again. I can tell you this, when she gives you hell once, you make sure she doesn't do it twice."
"I admit I wouldn't have liked being in your shoes at the time, Alkhar," Makhir said with a nervous laugh. "God knows she has strength."
"Don't remind me, please..." Dr. Alkhar sighed, shaking a little. He brought his head close to Arthur's to look him straight in the eye and said in a serious and frightened tone, "A word of advice, kid... Don't ever get on Mrs. Helmy's bad side. Ever."
Arthur gulped nervously as he heard the doctor's words. "...Okay, I'll remember that."
After this bit of advice, Dr. Alkhar nodded and returned to his notes. "Anyway, back to the matter at hand. So yeah, I'm gonna change your bandages and stuff, then you have to rest until tomorrow morning. I'll do that now."
No sooner said than done, the nomad doctor took care of changing the bandages on the cuts, disinfecting them in the process, then he applied aloe vera on the boy's bruises to relieve some of the pain.
"There you go, kid!" he said as he stowed his gear in his first aid kit. "Alright, like I said, some rest for both of you and, as usual, I'll check back every hour to see how your recovery is going. Deal?"
"Yeah, deal," Arthur replied, nodding.
"Good," Dr. Alkhar nodded before heading for the door. He stopped on the way and asked Makhir, "You coming, Makhir?"
"Uh yeah, I'll catch up with you later. I gotta talk to them first," the village chief replied.
"Okay, sounds good. See you later, kids!" the doctor said before exiting the room, leaving the three occupants between themselves inside.
With that, Makhir took a chair and placed it opposite the beds of the two children. "So..." he said as he sat down. He addressed Hat Kid first. "You're an alien, right?" The girl nodded with a slight annoyed sigh, still not liking the term. "Huh, that's funny. People often say aliens look like green creatures with extra arms or tentacles, but you still look very human."
Upon hearing this, Hat Kid crossed her arms and scowled.
"For the record, she doesn't really like it when people make those kinds of remarks. So don't," Arthur warned him.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to sound insulting. I apologize for offending you, kid," Makhir apologized, waving his hands with an embarrassed look. Hat Kid let out a sigh to vent her frustration, then nodded to tell the nomad that she accepted his apology. Scratching his head awkwardly, the village chief decided to make up for it with a little joke, "At least it's convenient, you can blend in just fine amongst the earthlings."
"Heh, can't deny that," Arthur chuckled. Hat Kid ended up giggling along with him, forgetting her frustration.
Now that the atmosphere had eased, Makhir turned to Arthur. "And you, if I understand correctly, are a human. A common one?" he asked.
"That's right."
"A human and an alien teaming up together? That's amazing! So how did you two meet?"
"It's a long story..." the twelve-year-old boy scratched his head, exchanging a look with Hat Kid. "Tell you the truth, we didn't exactly give each other bouquets when we first met. We were even feuding, she and I."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Let's just say I ended up on her spaceship by accident and she thought I came to rob her. A dumb misunderstanding. She gave me a beating and I ended up tied to a chair, then she questioned me a thousand times to find out who I was and everything. Then some crazy stuff happened, we said things we didn't like, and so after that we started giving each other the stink eye for a while."
"Really? I can't imagine you two having a feud. You kids look like two peas in a pod..." Makhir said with surprised eyes. "And how did you end up in her ship 'by accident'?"
"...That's also a long story. I'd rather not talk about it..." Arthur informed, preferring to keep his past and the fact that he came from a completely different universe to himself.
"Okay, I respect that," the village chief nodded. "And... sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, but... how did you settle your differences?"
"Well, let's just say we didn't have much choice in the moment. We met another kid with a mustache and a red cloak, named Mustache Girl. She wanted us to help her take down an organization on her island: the Mafia of Cooks. I guess that doesn't ring a bell."
"The Mafia of... Cooks? But like..."
"Criminal cooks? Yeah. A real joke those guys... Dumb as rocks. And their 'food'? Don't even get me started... Not even a dog would eat it."
"Sounds a little harsh to me, kid... It can't be that bad. Right?"
"Well, feel free to pop into their kitchen," Arthur deadpanned. "Trust me, you'll only make one step in before you turn around with a pin on your nose." Hat Kid confirmed his words with a nod, accompanied by a grimace of disgust as she remembered the stench she smelled when she had to pass through the kitchen of the Mafia HQ.
"Oh..."
"Yep. Anyway, back to the point. So this girl forced Hat Kid and I to be buddy-buddy for her plan. With her, we infiltrated the Mafia headquarters together and I might as well tell you we bickered a bit from time to time," the young boy narrated while looking at Hat Kid with a smile that was both embarrassed and amused. The young Xerian let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head. Might as well say that this argument they had at the very beginning was a bit silly in retrospect.
"You kids had gone inside their HQ outright?" Makhir asked with astonished eyes.
"Yeah. I mean, if you can really call it a HQ... It's more of a casino where they go to fool around than anything else. Anyway, we walked through the building and met the Mafia Boss. We confronted and defeated him inside his theater. After that, all his henchmen scurried out of the room like ants." A snort of laughter escaped from Arthur's nose as he finished his sentence. "That was a pretty funny sight."
"Impressive!" Makhir exclaimed. Normally, he wouldn't have believed a bunch of kids could beat a crime boss inside his own HQ, but Arthur and Hat Kid had already proven their worth by defeating Askar and his gang of Lazy Paw cats and stopping the purple flower invasion on Alpine Skyline. "It couldn't have been easy to defeat him."
"Ah, it wasn't a cakewalk, but we somehow pulled it off." Arthur's face then darkened, then he took a breath before continuing his story. "But that's where it went wrong... Remember the hourglasses that fell on your land?"
"Uh yeah...? You told me they were yours, right?"
"That's right. In fact, the Mafia Boss had one. Earlier before that, one of them Mafia goons blew a hole in my friend's spaceship, and her entire hourglass collection flew off and ended up scattered all over the planet."
"Ohhh, so that's why there were four of those hourglasses that fell on our land," Makhir realized, his eyes wide.
"That's it," Arthur nodded. "And Hat Kid wanted them back. But here's the thing... Mustache Girl believed they were some kind of super-powered objects capable of going back in time or whatever crap she came up with..."
Upon hearing this, Hat Kid suddenly swung her head towards Arthur, surprised and stressed at the same time. Why did he tell him that? He who normally tended to keep everything secret, why did he tell the nomad this?! Was he out of his mind?! Despite this, Arthur didn't look worried at all.
"Capable... of going back in time?" Makhir raised an eyebrow, looking both confused and incredulous. "But that's..."
"Far-fetched? Yep," Arthur replied with surprising ease. "Especially since, on top of that, she wanted to go further, even WAY too far. She wanted to beat all the Mafia men into a pulp and put them in a jar... Whatever, she went nuts. She started getting all riled up, calling us 'bad guys' just because we refused to help her after that, and she ran off vowing to get the hourglasses for herself... but she's wasting her time. Like I said... they're just collectibles. Nothing more."
"...Yeah, I guess she really had it in for those guys to the point of going to extremes and losing her mind," the village chief scratched his head nervously, buying the lie.
Hat Kid exhaled a sigh of relief. Makhir saw nothing but fire... To be honest, she was incredibly surprised by the audacity and credibility of Arthur's lie. By using the truth, he managed to twist it in such a way that the Time Pieces' true power came across as Mustache Girl's wacky beliefs caused by her desire to overthrow the Mafia and all the 'bad guys' on the planet. The purple-hatted girl herself would have fallen for it if she didn't already know about it.
Very clever of the boy! But it was especially the ease and calmness with which Arthur had managed to unpack his lie that had surprised her. There's no denying it, he really got a confidence boost since the fight against the stinking purple flowers. Hat Kid was very proud of him and couldn't help but smile warmly at seeing that he took her advice to heart.
"As I always say, revenge is a fool's game," Arthur shook his head. "But at least her little stab in the back allowed me and Hat Kid to make peace, because she realized that I didn't give a damn about her hourglasses from the fact that I refused to help Mustache Girl after that and that the whole thing in the spaceship was just a misunderstanding. And since she had some competition now, she wanted me to help her find her entire collection as soon as possible. At first I said no, but... well, when Hat Kid has a mind of her own, it's hard to get her to let go. She's a reaaal stubborn one sometimes," he added, looking at Hat Kid with a teasing smirk.
"Nah, nah, nah!" the young alien stuck her tongue out at him in return.
Arthur shook his head with a little chuckle before concluding, "Anyway, I ended up saying yes and since then I've been accompanying her to help her find all the hourglasses scattered around the planet. That's how we resolved our differences."
"Wow, quite the story!" Makhir whistled, clapping a little. "And what about the girl with the mustache, you kids seen her since?"
"For having seen her, yeah I did... She's the reason I ended up at the doc's before all those flowers went wild."
"Wait, what?!" The village chief almost toppled backwards with his chair when he heard this.
"Yeah... Alkhar didn't fill you in?"
"No, not really," Makhir rubbed the back of his head. "I was pretty busy today, so I didn't get a chance to run into him before. Then there was the whole thing with the flowers and stuff..."
Arthur nodded. "Okay, I'll keep it short then. I went to get the hourglass from the Twilight Bell, and that's where we bumped into each other. We had a fight and she messed me up pretty bad." He tugged lightly at the collar of his t-shirt with his index finger, exposing the strangulation mark on his neck for the nomad to see. "Look what she did to me."
"Is that..." Makhir's eyes widened in shock.
"Yeah... she didn't hold back," the boy said, letting go of his collar. "Like I said, she lost it. By the way, she took the hourglass and ran with it. If you guys saw her, that'd be good 'cause we'd like her to give us back what's ours."
"Hmm, she has a mustache and wears a red cape, you say?" the nomad asked. Arthur nodded. "Alas, I don't think I've ever seen her around here. I'll ask the others if they've come across her by chance."
"Works for us. Thanks."
"No problem, kid! Anyway, quite a story! All that effort for hourglasses. They must really mean a lot to you."
"...Yeah. They're... very important to Hat Kid," Arthur said, exchanging a look with the young Xerian.
"I totally understand! Speaking of which..." Makhir rummaged in his pockets and took out... a Time Piece to the two children's surprise. "One of us found this in the middle of a cluster of purple flowers after they wilted. Since it belongs to you kids, I wanted to hand it to you as a token of appreciation for saving our home."
Rising from his chair, the village chief walked over to Hat Kid to personally give her the Time Piece. With a big smile on her face, the girl accepted the nomad's gift without hesitation, then thanked him with a thumbs up.
"Thanks a lot, Makhir. Really," Arthur also thanked him with a smile.
"This is me thanking you kids! Without you two, Alpine Skyline would've been lost forever and we would've been forced to resettle once again," Makhir smiled gratefully, placing his hands behind his back. "On behalf of the nomad people and as their leader, I present you both with our deepest gratitude for your heroic actions. I can tell you that your exploits will be spoken of for generations to come!"
"Well, it's an honor to hear that. Glad we could help," Arthur nodded, as Hat Kid gave a cheerful thumbs up.
Once all this was said, the village chief looked towards the window and noticed that the sun was beginning to set. "Well, on that note, I won't bother you any longer. It's getting late. Take the opportunity to rest, kids. You two earned it!"
"Alright, sounds good. Good night, Makhir."
"Nighty-night!" Hat Kid waved goodnight to the nomad.
"Likewise! See you two tomorrow!" Makhir waved to them before walking out of the room, leaving the two children alone.
As a silence settled in the room, Arthur glanced at Hat Kid. The young alien was staring at the Time Piece in her hands with no particular expression. Something seemed to be bothering her.
"Something on your mind?" he asked.
Hat Kid came out of her thoughts to look at him. She bit her lower lip, then nodded slowly. To answer him, she took out a sheet of paper and wrote on it, making sure it was big enough for him to read from this distance, before showing him.
I'm just annoyed I have to stay in bed doing nothing for a whole week... Not only can't I move, but it's gonna give stupid Mustache Girl time to collect more Time Pieces. :-(
Especially since my spaceship is going to be left unattended the entire time! Anybody could just waltz in and either make a mess or steal the Time Pieces from the vault! And what about the Time Rifts? Who's gonna deal with them if they show up during this time? We can't just leave them lying around, it's gonna be a disaster otherwise! :-((
Ughhh... Peck! Why did I have to let my guard down like a dummy and get hurt so badly?! It's SO frustrating! :-((
"Ah, I see," Arthur nodded with understanding.
Hat Kid wasn't wrong; a week without being able to do anything was a week without being able to do any searching for Time Pieces, leaving Mustache Girl free to find more. He could try to go looking for some on his own but... he had no idea where to look next. He felt like he had already been all over the planet. There were probably still areas they haven't explored yet, but which ones? That was the question.
Besides, it was true that the spaceship needed to be defended in case of intrusion... Perhaps it would be wiser to wait until Hat Kid recovers from her injury.
As concern flashed across Hat Kid's face as she stared at her cast, longing for her ankle to heal with a miracle, she heard Arthur say, "I'll take care of it." The young Xerian turned her head toward the boy, confused.
"I'll keep an eye on your ship while you're here. The doc said I should be up and about tomorrow after all," Arthur continued, giving her a reassuring smile. "And the Time Rifts I'll make 'em my business, don't worry." Hat Kid blinked a few times, so the twelve-year-old boy added, "Like I said, it's my turn to help ya. I'll do whatever's necessary while you're away, and as for the remaining Time Pieces, we'll see once you're back on your feet. Deal?"
Staring at Arthur with a surprised look, Hat Kid thought about his suggestion. The idea was interesting and the initiative was very good! Now... this would be the first time she would leave the supervision of her spaceship and the responsibility of the Time Rifts in her friend's hands for so long. Even with Bow Kid, she usually didn't have to leave the ship in her charge or unattended for too long. She tended to be out and back in no time during her missions. This one would last a week though. That was a long time to go without being able to step in if necessary...
However, by looking at the cast covering her ankle, the young alien knew very well she couldn't really do anything in this state, even if it annoyed her a lot. Moreover, deep down, she had no doubt that she could trust Arthur. He was smart and capable, and he knew how to handle Time Rifts since he'd done them before. Plus, he had really built up his confidence since his fight with the filthy flowers. She'll just need to fill him in on a few things about using the main computer to get the Time Rifts info, but otherwise, yeah, it was definitely worth leaving him in charge for a week while she recovered from her ankle injury.
So, with an approving smile, Hat Kid gave a thumbs up and said, "Deal!"
"Great. And don't worry, if anyone's dumb enough to break in, they'll end up eating nothing but soup for the rest of their lives. Or maybe I'll unleash Rumbi on them to scare 'em off. I dunno yet," Arthur added jokingly, which made the girl laugh.
Knock, knock, knock!
The sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted the conversation between the two children. Arthur and Hat Kid exchanged a look, curious as to who was knocking, before the former called out, "Uhh, come in!"
The door opened softly with a slight creak, then someone poked his head out from behind shyly. It was Seth.
"H-hi, kids..." he waved at them with much hesitation. "Am I disturbing you?"
"Uh, no, not at all. Come on in," Arthur told him with a raised eyebrow.
Closing the door behind him, the blue-hooded nomad walked toward the children, rubbing his left arm. He stopped next to the chair left by Makhir but didn't dare sit down yet.
"I... I just came to check on you two... to make sure you didn't have anything too serious, heh..." he stammered nervously.
"Aside from the fact that I'm sore all over to the point of being a zombie in bed and my friend here has a cast on her ankle and will be stuck here till next week? All's well."
"...Sorry to hear that," Seth apologized with a sad look mixed with an air of guilt. "A-at least you're both alive... and you saved us! Th-that's great, isn't it?"
Finding the nomad's behavior more than strange, Arthur decided to dodge the question and asked him directly, "You got something to tell us, Seth, or you gonna keep beating around the bush much longer?"
The boy knew he was being harsh with his words, especially since Hat Kid's disapproving look reminded him of that, but he was getting tired of the lies. Especially since Seth was acting weird too when they told their story. So he wanted to force the answers, and so he remained firm, staring seriously into the nomad's eyes.
Sweat ran down Seth's forehead, while his eyes darted from right to left in a stressful manner. Eventually, he sighed in defeat and finally admitted, "Yes... I do indeed have something to tell you." He glanced around for a moment before looking at the duo with pleading eyes. "J-just... can this stay between us, kids? P-please?"
Arthur and Hat Kid exchanged a look for a moment before the young Xerian nodded. "Okay... Go ahead, say it," Arthur said.
Seth let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said as he sat down in the chair. The nomad stood for a few seconds twiddling his thumbs nervously, biting his lower lip. Eventually, he took a deep breath and finally spoke the words he had to say. "This storm... The purple flower invasion... It was my fault."
"WHAT?!" Arthur and Hat Kid both exclaimed at the same time with wide eyes.
"W-wait! Don't get me wrong, kids! I didn't plant those flowers! Honest!" Seth frantically explained, waving his arms. "But... I do have some responsibility for them being here..."
"What do you mean 'some responsibility'? Go ahead and tell us, Seth," Arthur insisted. He was as shocked as Hat Kid at this revelation.
Seth sighed and began to explain, "Earlier, I told you I was very adventurous and... I may have stumbled upon the Subcon Forest while venturing away from my village a few years earlier."
"So, you do know about Subcon Forest," Arthur said, having confirmation that Seth did know the place.
"...I wasn't very good at hiding it, was I?"
"We could see right through your lie like a fig leaf, buddy."
"Heh, figured as much. I've never been good at lying," the nomad admitted with a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm way too nervous, I crack easily under pressure."
"That, we saw."
"Anyway, when I came across this place, I thought 'Oh, a forest on the edge of the desert! Cool, one more place to explore! What could possibly go wrong?' ...I should have kept my mouth shut then and there."
"Let me guess, you ended up coming face to face with the Snatcher?"
"Yeah..." Seth nodded, "He said I trespassed in his forest and as a result, I had to sign a contract and work for him or I would die."
"Yeah, that's Snatcher all right..." Arthur shook his head. "He did the same to us: took our souls and all that."
"Heh, yeah. He also took mine on the spot. I felt very empty after that. I still get chills just thinking about it..."
"You betcha..."
"Anyway, after all that, he made me do a whole bunch of awful chores in the forest: cleaning the Subcon Well, doing errands for his minions, a whole bunch of exhausting stuff... not to mention there were a lot of scary and dangerous things out there. Ugh, it was really hell... But I was doing pretty good! I even managed to negotiate with the Snatcher to give me back my soul after completing some tasks for him. I had to... hehe... insist quite a bit, even beg him... then eventually he agreed to give it back to me so I'd stop bothering him with it. I was pretty close to freedom but..." Seth had a moment of silence, playing with his fingers nervously, before he sighed and admitted, "I ended up making a mistake... A mistake that cost me dearly."
"What happened?" Arthur asked him.
"I was cleaning up an old dilapidated arena and accidentally woke up some kind of old outhouse that was possessed or something..."
"Oh yeah... The Toilet of Doom. A filthy mess that thing was," Arthur recalled with a grimace.
"Ugh..." Hat Kid stuck out her tongue with a shudder. The dangerous aura of this possessed outhouse left as much of an impression on the two kids as its foul smell. Horrid.
"It started to attack me and I fled to Subcon Village, but then it started to run amok, attacking and destroying everything in its path. The minions and those sorts of... floating worms with weird masks... were in a panic and running around. It was a total mess!" the nomad continued nervously. "The Snatcher had to step in. He lured the outhouse back to the arena, gave it a beating, and isolated it there by destroying the bridge."
Arthur and Hat Kid exchanged a knowing look. They were familiar with the story: when they were at Subcon and the Toilet of Doom broke out again, one of the minions had told them about the damage that this outhouse had done several times a few years ago. And if Seth had woken it up again then... Oh boy, they didn't want to imagine the Snatcher's reaction afterwards...
"The problem was solved but the Snatcher... he was livid! It was the first time I'd ever seen a ghost that angry! His eyes and mouth had turned red... I think it was the scariest moment of my life..." Seth shuddered as he remembered the ghost's angry face as if it had just happened yesterday.
"Damn, I can only imagine..." Arthur said with a grimace. He and Hat Kid had a little idea of what he was describing. It sounded like the same face the Snatcher had when Hat Kid had turned him blue with a potion she had thrown at him during their fight against him.
"H-He wanted to take my soul back a-and make me suffer for causing all this mess in his forest he said! I feared for my life, so I ran away. He chased me all over the forest throwing magic balls at me and using beams to intercept me! I thought I was gonna die, but eventually I found my way out of Subcon Forest and back into the desert. He couldn't chase me beyond that since he was limited to his forest only, but he screamed that I had breached my contract with him, that he'd make me pay for all the damage I'd caused, and that he was gonna make my life and the ones of those who knew me a living hell!"
The two children remained silent as they listened to the blue-hooded nomad's story. As they listened to him, they gradually began to piece together where the rest of the story was going, but they let Seth continue.
"I went back to the village without telling anyone... not even my mom. I still remember not sleeping all night after that day. I was still scared of that scary ghost's retaliation... But a month had passed and nothing special had happened, so I thought at the moment that maybe he had forgotten about me and everything was fine." Seth sighed sadly as he shook his head. "Once again, I've jinxed it... Overnight, the river around Sand n' Sails had mysteriously dried up. Without it, life in the desert became impossible... Faced with this situation, our leader Makhir had decided that we had to move to another place where life was possible. So we had to leave Sand n' Sails... We packed our things and traveled north to the mountains. That's where we discovered Alpine Skyline where the goats you saw were living and let us cohabit with them."
"Damn... And so you think it was the Snatcher that caused the river to dry up?" Arthur asked.
"100% sure!" Seth replied without hesitation. "I know because on moving day, when I went to get my stuff, I found a letter in my room. Dark purple in color, with macabre gold-colored writing, and a distinctive creepy smile that looks like the one the Snatcher usually makes when he talks to you. It said... Er, hold on a sec." He paused to clear his throat, then raised his arms threateningly and adopted his best Snatcher voice impression as he repeated the message, "'HAHAHAHAHAAAA! FOOOOOL! I warned you! And this is just the beginning! Tick... tock... Hahaha! Toodles!'"
"...Yep, no doubt about it. It's definitely him. Damn noodle-shaped ghost..." Arthur muttered under his breath. A silence of a few seconds followed before a question came to the boy's mind. "But what does this have to do with the purple flowers?"
"Well, uhh..." Seth rubbed his arm, a little hesitant to continue, but eventually he explained the thing. "That's just the thing... A few months ago, I remember seeing a figure planting seeds all over Alpine Skyline. I didn't think much of it at the time, but thinking back, their clothes were dark purple and a bit battered, and although they had their back to me, I caught a quick glimpse of their face emanating a bright gold color... A description that matched that of the Snatcher's minions."
"Really? Didn't the other nomads see them do it? Did they know about it?"
"Uhhh... no?" the nomad replied, rubbing his hands together nervously. "I- I think I was the only one who saw it and... I didn't say anything... hehe..."
Upon hearing this, Arthur and Hat Kid were silent and both felt like facepalming.
"So, you're telling us that you saw one of them minions out gardening and planting killer flower seeds peacefully at your place, knowing full well their master was out to do you and your whole tribe in, and you didn't tell ANYONE?!" the twelve-year-old boy berated him, annoyed at the nomad's stupidity and carelessness. Even Hat Kid showed her disapproval by crossing her arms and glaring at Seth.
"I didn't think those darn flowers would cause such carnage!" Seth tried to defend himself.
"And yet they did!" Arthur gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry, but you were stupid not to tell the others. Especially since your people don't even know the actual reason why they were forced to move here! All they know is 'everything was fine, we were living our quiet and pleasant life in the desert, then the river mysteriously dried up without any particular explanation! The end!' Don't you think they deserve an explanation?"
"I- Of course they deserve an explanation! I know that!"
"Then what were you waiting for to tell em? For chickens to grow teeth or pigs to start salsa dancing? You sure can wait a loooong time for that."
"Okay, okay! FINE!" Seth snapped, throwing his arms in the air in frustration. "I was scared I was gonna get banned from the tribe for this! There! You kids happy now?!"
Realizing he had started talking a bit loudly, the nomad anxiously turned to the door, worried that someone might have heard his yelling and would come over to see what was going on. Fortunately, no one came in the next few seconds and he let out a sigh of relief, releasing all the frustration he had built up from the conversation in the process. Meanwhile, Arthur and Hat Kid were left speechless after he snapped at them.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Immediately, a feeling of guilt and shame came over Seth and he covered his face with both hands.
Under normal circumstances, Arthur would have gotten angry or upset or become a complete anxiety ball and hyperventilate after being snapped at like that. However, he remained surprisingly calm on the spot, even though his instincts were screaming 'Danger! Danger!'.
"...Tell us some more, Seth," he said calmly.
Removing his hands from his face, the blue-hooded nomad let out yet another sigh. After taking a minute or so to collect himself, Seth finally began to speak again.
"I never meant to cause so much harm to the others..." he admitted. "My mom never stopped over-mothering me and over-protecting me. Always just being like 'Don't do this, don't do that... blah blah blah...'. It's suffocating, especially since I have a hard time making friends because of her temper and the fact she's always all like 'if something happens to my Sethy I'll pull on your ears' and all that. I feel like I'll never grow up and remain like a kid forever with her..."
Another sigh before continuing. "That's why I like exploring and discovering things. It's a real breather and it takes my mind off of having my mom on my back 24 hours a day... But in my desire and selfishness, I went too far and walked into the worst place to explore and made a revenant not to be angered... mad. And now my whole tribe's paying for my mistakes... And the worst thing is I don't even have the guts to tell them, because I'm too afraid they'll hate me and banish me and my mother forever for causing them so much trouble. So I keep my mouth shut... and that only makes it worse for them..."
Seth then looked up at the kids, looking specifically at the cast on Hat Kid's foot with regret. "And on top of that, you kids got dragged into this against your will. You risked your lives to save us and you almost got killed. And now you're both stuck on a patient bed, unable to do anything until you get better. All because of me..."
Finally, Seth rubbed his arm, feeling all the shame and guilt that had built up inside him, and finished by saying, "I... I'm sorry, kids... I just don't know what to do."
Before the nomad's distress, Arthur and Hat Kid remained silent, while exchanging a glance. Now that they had all the explanations, they finally got the full picture of the situation.
While trying to explore the world to escape his overprotective mother for a while, Seth accidentally entered a place where he should never have gone and got himself into trouble with the wrong person (or rather ghost). And since then, he and his people have become prime targets for the Snatcher and his minions, having suffered the drying up of the river at their former village Sand n' Sails which resulted in a forced move to the mountains and the purple flower invasion at Alpine Skyline which nearly caused heavy casualties among the nomads and yet another forced move.
In view of Seth's behavior, he obviously felt guilty for all these events but said nothing for fear of potential repercussions from his own people on him and his mother. Nevertheless, he still decided to tell the duo about it now. The two children deduce that the fact they got mixed up in all this, ended up injured and forced to stay at the doctor's for a while to recover was the last straw and Seth decided to break his silence by coming to tell them about it.
Arthur and Hat Kid felt a little sorry for the nomad. Of course he never meant to cause so much trouble for his people. The way he told how his adventures tended to end, combined with the scratches he received while trying to retrieve his mother's pendant from the paws of the Lazy Paw gang, he was just... unlucky. A real black cat.
Just as Arthur was about to say something, a long creaking sound was heard, followed by a voice saying "Sethy?" Alarmed, the trio turned their heads towards the door which was now wide open and in front of it was...
"M-Mom... ?!" Seth exclaimed in shock. "Whoaaaa!" In his panic, his chair tipped backwards and the nomad fell to the floor comically. "...Ouch." ...Unlucky.
"M-Mrs. Helmy?!" Arthur and Hat Kid both cried out at the same time.
"Herself in person," the nomad woman replied in such a low, calm tone that sent shivers down the spine of everyone in the room.
"H-How long you been standing there?" Arthur asked nervously.
"Oh, for like...ten minutes? Fifteen? Well, from the moment my Sethy started telling his lil' story."
"W-What?! Y- Y-You- Y-You heard EVERYTHING?!" Seth asked, his eyes wide with panic.
"Yes. Everything." Mrs. Helmy clenched her fists so tightly that a vein became apparent on both, while her eyes and expression were hidden by the shadow of her sphynx hat.
"B-but... I-I thought no one followed me here!" the blue-hooded nomad said in a shaky voice as he pulled up the chair to hide behind it as if it would protect him from his mother's fury.
"As a matter of fact, young man, I was having a nice chat with Dr. Alkhar to make sure he was doing the STRICT things necessary to make sure these young children recover from their injuries and nothing happens to them this time when I saw you sneaking into his house out of the corner of my eye. Discretion isn't your strong suit, Sethy..."
'Yeah, this guy's really down on his luck,' Arthur thought.
"Of course, I got suspicious, so I decided to listen at the door," the nomad woman continued. Then her fists clenched even tighter and her tone became more and more low and dark. "And now I hear what? My son... MY Sethy... admits to not only deciding to play adventurer behind my back on several occasions, but ALSO to angering a nasty ghost who dried up our old home and planted all those pesky flowers! Not only did you disobey me... you hid the truth from everyone! From your own mother?!"
"I-I- um- I- Ah- um-" Seth stammered, trembling. Sweat ran down his forehead, his hands gripped the back of the chair in a firm grasp, causing it to shake to the point where the sound of the chair's legs could be heard echoing in the room.
"W-wait, Mrs. Helmy! M-Maybe you should listen to what he has to say-" Arthur tried to defend the poor nomad, but Mrs. Helmy immediately gave him a glare that made him shut his trap on the spot; Hat Kid included. "...Never mind."
With that, the nomad woman turned her attention back to her son who was literally crouching behind the chair, desperately trying to find the words to explain himself to his mother. "I-I-I'm-I'm sorry, m-mom. I didn't mean to... I-I got too scared... I'm sorry," he apologized as best he could, despite all his stuttering.
Ms. Helmy remained silent for a moment, her expression unchanged, before she said firmly, "Seth."
The nomad in question gulped nervously. It was very rare for his mother to call him by his name as it was. Usually, she always called him 'her Sethy' or just 'Sethy'. The only time she called him 'Seth' was when she was angry... Really angry. Yep... he was in for a rough time. But then again, maybe that's what he deserved.
"It's time for you to listen to me, young man!" she added as she grabbed the chair that stood between her and her son with one hand and pulled it to the side.
"Eek!" Seth let out a small, squeaky yelp, now deprived of the 'safety' of his chair and exposed to his angry mother.
Within a minute, the atmosphere in the room became tense and uncomfortably quiet. Mrs. Helmy stood before her son, her expression hidden by her hat's shadow and her fists still clenched, saying nothing. Seth was shaking like a leaf, his eyes closed, his arms protectively in front of himself, and sweat running down his forehead like a waterfall, mentally preparing himself for the scolding of a lifetime. Arthur and Hat Kid nervously watched the scene, not daring to say a word at the risk of aggravating the situation and angering the overprotective nomad woman even more.
...
But against all odds and to everyone's astonished surprise, Mrs. Helmy hugged Seth tightly and said in a tone of guilt and half-sobbing, "Ohh, sonny! I'm so SOOO sorry! I never thought my actions would cause you to do all these things! Forgive me, my Sethyyy!"
Arthur and Hat Kid were both slack-jawed in the greatest of confusion when they saw the nomad woman's sudden change of behavior. One minute she looked ready to give her son a monumental dressing down and the next she was hugging him and apologizing a thousand times? Seth himself was the first to be surprised. That said, she was holding him a little too tightly for his liking...
"M-Mom, I can't breathe!" he warned her in a muffled voice, trying to break free of the embrace.
"Oh, sorry!" Mrs. Helmy immediately let go of him in a panic, before rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I went a little too hard again. Silly me, hehe..."
"It's okay, Mom. I'm used to it," Seth replied as he caught his breath and rubbed his sore back, triggering a nervous laugh from his mother.
As her son and the children looked on in bewilderment at her sudden change in behavior, Mrs. Helmy sighed sadly.
"I guess I bear some responsibility for this whole thing..." she admitted, looking at Seth with a guilt-ridden look. "Sethy... I never realized how suffocating I was with you. I never thought... I never thought I was so overbearing that you'd purposely try to avoid me and run away from home and go off to distant and dangerous places. That should've occurred to me and - I guess on one hand - it did. But... I was just scared for you... Scared that the same thing would happen to you just like-" She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh of regret. "Just like your father."
Upon hearing this, a look of confusion appeared on Seth's face. "Huh? What do you mean 'just like my father'?" he asked.
Mrs. Helmy rubbed her arm shamefully. She sighed heavily and explained, "He too was an adventurer at heart. He loved exploring different places and bringing home his findings as a souvenir of his travels. At the end of his escapades, he'd tell me all about his experiences with a huge, goofy smile... Although his trips were risky and I worried about him constantly, he was happy and... to me that was all that mattered, so I let him."
While Seth's confusion grew, Arthur and Hat Kid already had a sense of where this was going. Not least because the nomad woman lowered her head but they could already imagine tears forming in her eyes.
"But one day..." she continued with a shaky voice. "He wanted to explore an abandoned mine west of the desert. It was old and dilapidated, not to mention the creatures that settled there... but he wanted to go anyway. He was so excited to explore this place, so...I let him go there."
She clutched her arm tightly, her teeth clenching as she tried to hold back her tears.
"But he never came back... Worried, I asked Makhir to lead an expedition there to find him. He agreed and of course I insisted to be part of it. So we crossed a part of the desert to get there. When we got there..." Mrs. Helmy paused for a moment to regain her composure to tell the tragic aftermath. "The entrance to the mine was blocked by debris... but no sign of your father anywhere. So we cleared the way and..." The nomad woman began to shake, swallowing her saliva before continuing with teary eyes. "W-we found him there... under the debris... He was..."
She was unable to finish her sentence... The image of her husband found lifeless under the debris haunted her like a revenant seeking vengeance from beyond.
"Dear Lord..." Arthur murmured, exchanging a sad look with Hat Kid. To lose her husband like that... it must have been horrible for the poor woman. It was hard to imagine the pain she must have endured. Arthur knew what it felt like, and Hat Kid had enough empathy and awareness about loss to guess what it felt like.
As for Seth... his face looked as if he had just been hit with a large sledgehammer to the head. "W-What? B-but... that's impossible!" he cried in denial. "You told me he left the tribe to follow a career as an archaeologist abroad shortly after I was born! I-I even get his letters every few months! H-He told me in the last one he had recently discovered a HUGE dinosaur skeleton on some desert island!"
Mrs. Helmy remained silent for a few seconds, lowering her head in shame. "That's what I wanted you to think..."
"...H-Huh?"
"I made up that whole archaeology career thing because... I didn't want you to suffer from the truth," she admitted sadly. "The letters you got from your 'father' during all this time... I wrote them. All of 'em..."
"W-What?" Seth felt like his legs were going to give way under his weight at any moment. "But... But why did the others tell me the exact same thing you did before? Makhir... Alkhar... Everyone else... They all told me that dad was an archaeologist abroad and everything!"
"...I asked them to keep the truth to themselves. Under no circumstances did I want you to find out...either from me...or a third party. They all agreed not to say anything..."
Faced with these revelations, Seth couldn't believe it. His father was dead and all this time he had been kept in the dark...? His mother... Makhir... Everyone... And even his best friend Alkhar? They all lied to him?
The blue-hooded nomad clenched his fists and his legs began to tremble as tears began to roll down his cheeks. He felt as if his whole world had been turned upside down in an instant.
He didn't know if he should get angry and scream at the top of his lungs or just curl up on the floor and cry. The only thing he managed to do was look his mother in the eye and ask only one question...
"Mom... Why?" he asked with a quivering lip.
With a heart full of guilt, Mrs. Helmy replied with a weak, trembling voice, "The day your father died... I was at the lowest point in my life. I suffered tremendously... but most of all, I blamed myself and I still do to this day. If only I had held him back... if only I had talked him out of going to that stupid mine... he'd still be there today. But I let him and now..."
The nomad woman had to pause to not let her distress get the better of her before carrying on.
"You were all I had left... Therefore I swore to myself that day I'd never let anything happen to you. Be it rain, wind, sickness, bullies, the outside world, let alone the painful truth... Nothing! I promised myself and my late husband that I'd protect you no matter what it took."
"Mom..." Seth whispered, teary eyes glued to the floor.
"And so... when you grew up and expressed the need to explore the area... I saw it in your eyes... That thirst for discovery and adventure... the same as your father." Mrs. Helmy closed her eyes. "I saw it again... that horrible image of your father lying dead at the mine entrance. Then... I saw you... in his place... and..." Again, she couldn't finish her sentence. It was already painful for her to imagine it, so to talk about it...
Seth, who was listening more and more to his mother's words, began to shudder at the thought of meeting the same fate as his father. Although he had always loved adventure, danger had always hung over his head. How many times had he been injured on the expeditions he made behind his mother's back? How many times did he come close to death during his travels? And how many times... did he have his mother worried sick about him every time she found him lying on a patient's bed at Dr. Alkhar's because of his carelessness?
It was blatant like a picture hanging in the middle of a pure white wall, and yet he never considered how much harm he caused his mother without realizing it. There was no denying that the blue-hooded nomad felt awful about causing his mother so much harm, not just about keeping his Subcon nonsense from her and everyone else, but emotionally too. He was selfish and always thought of his mother as just a control freak, but now... he'd come to regret his pre-judgmental thoughts.
"That's why I did everything I could to dissuade you from leaving the village to explore the outside world," the nomad woman continued. "I hardened myself to make sure you obeyed me without question and that others stayed in their place if they ever tried to calm me down or stand up for you. I refused to let what happened to your father happen to you."
Mrs. Helmy let out another sad sigh. "However, it didn't change anything, quite the opposite... You always seemed more eager to go on adventures, and you even managed to do it on the sly. I was desperate... so I persisted in tightening the rules on you, even if it meant arguing with you and sacrificing your happiness. It hurt me to do this to you, my Sethy... but I was doing what was best for you." She paused, rubbing her arm shamefully. "Or at least... what I thought was best for you. But all I did was push you further and further away from me and the house and... all of this happened: the river drying up, the move here, and then this invasion of flowers... The fact that I heard that it was as a result of one of your adventures and you didn't say anything because you're afraid of the consequences and... and me..."
"Mom... I..." Seth began softly, but his mother didn't let him finish.
"I'm... I'm so sorry, sonny..." she apologized, finally showing her tearful eyes. "I've been really horrible to you. I-if you've caused all this, it's because my actions pushed you to do it without me realizing it and... and... and..." This was too much. The poor nomad woman covered her face as she began to sob all her sorrow and regret. "I... I was... a very bad mother, Sethy... Please forgive me..."
"Mom..." Teary-eyed and sniffling, Seth moved closer to his mother and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace, surprising her but also receiving a hug in return. "T-Thanks for...telling me everything, I...I'm the one who should be sorry. I-I made a big mistake and... I kept it from everyone... and you. I put you all in danger and I... I hurt you. I'm... I'm sorry, Mom!"
Faced with the sad but moving scene and all those dark stories, Hat Kid sniffed and wiped her own tears with her left sleeve, while Arthur let out a saddened sigh along with a "Man...".
Mrs. Helmy sniffed as she wiped her tears with her sleeve and sighed, "We all lied to you, Sethy... I lied to you. I... I guess we all have something to be ashamed of."
"Then... let's forgive each other," Seth suggested with a smile, breaking away from the embrace. "I-it's only fair, right?"
Mrs. Helmy smiled and said, "Yeah... you're probably right." She sniffed before wiping her tears with her sleeve. "I love you, Seth."
"Me too, Mom."
At the heartfelt mother-son reconciliation, Arthur and Hat Kid smiled, both happy that the two nomads were finally able to talk to each other and get everything out on the table. However, the reality of the situation quickly came back to Seth's mind and he lost his smile.
"I'm gonna have to tell the tribe everything I did. I just can't keep hiding it from them forever..." he said with a sigh. Mrs. Helmy agreed with him. "But... I'm still afraid of what they're gonna say... what they're gonna do to us, Mom..."
"Then let's tell them together, Sethy," the nomad woman suggested. "Makhir should understand. The same goes for Dr. Alkhar. Besides, if any of them dare to pick on MY Sethy, I'll show 'em what it's like to alienate Edna Helmy!"
"Mom..." Seth sighed, shaking his head but with a smile nonetheless.
'Well, looks like Mrs. Helmy is back to being herself,' Arthur thought as he and Hat Kid chuckled in amusement.
"By the way, speaking of alienating me..." Edna continued, her face turning dark again and raising one of her fists, shaking it very hard. "I'll go find that pesky ghost and teach him some manners! No one, and I say NO ONE, messes with MY Sethy and gets away with it so easily!"
"B-but mom! H-He's a ghost!" Seth tried to dissuade her. "You can't do anything to him! And besides, he's got plenty of minions to protect him!"
"Ha! I don't give a damn! He's picking on my son, he's gonna be picking on the dandelion roots!" the nomad woman replied stubbornly, crossing her arms firmly. "It's certainly not a semblance of black smoke with an ugly face or his little wooden soldiers that'll stop me!"
Oof! The Snatcher wouldn't have liked that insult, the two kids thought. Speaking of them, Arthur and Hat Kid were exchanging a communicative look. They had no idea how dangerous Mrs. Helmy could be when she was angry, although they had a little idea, but even so, she couldn't do anything to the Snatcher himself without knowing his weakness.
They did, however, know his weakness, since they had fought him the other day. Arthur would be tempted to just rat him out to Edna, since he hated the Snatcher and would get a good laugh out of seeing him get his butt kicked by an angry nomad mom. Hat Kid, however, was less sure since she considered the ghost to be her BFF, even though she contractually obligated him to be.
Nevertheless, both agree that Snatcher was a problem for the nomads given Seth's history with him and would have to be dealt with to ensure that he left the nomads alone for good.
The duo nodded to each other. They had a plan for this.
"Say, about the Snatcher..." Arthur spoke up, gaining both nomads' attention in the room. "You should let us handle it. We've been around him before and we know how to get him to leave you guys alone for good."
"Why you kids are so sweet, but you've already done enough for us," Edna replied, shaking her head. "We're not gonna drag you into our problems any more."
"We don't mind, Mrs. Helmy. If we can help you get him to stop his nonsense, we'll give it a whirl," Arthur insisted. Hat Kid nodded in support of his words. "Plus, I've been dreaming of getting that flying noodle to swallow his stupid smile for a while now."
"Y-You sure, kids?" Seth asked with great hesitation. "I wouldn't want to put you two in danger again..."
"Don't worry about us. We've already kicked his sorry butt and a few others before, and we've got a little leverage on him. He won't be able to say no or else... heh."
"And may I ask what this famous 'leverage' you got on him would be?" Edna asked maliciously, cracking her knuckles.
"Don't worry about it, we got it covered," the young boy assured with a smirk. "But just know if he decides to play dumb and keep up his malarkey... you'll be the first to know."
Edna sighed in frustration, a little disappointed that she didn't have the key to kicking the Snatcher's butt, but she decided to resign herself and trust the duo to solve the problem.
"So be it," she said. "And please don't hesitate to come and see me if he continues to act like a bully. I'm ALL ears!"
"Will do," Arthur nodded, as Hat Kid gave a thumbs up. "You just worry about telling the full extent of the situation to the rest. We'll take care of the Snatcher problem for you."
"Fine by me," Edna nodded. She then turned her attention to Seth, "Come on, Sethy. It's time to go tell them everything."
The blue-hooded nomad sighed. "Yeah... When you gotta go, you gotta go." He then gave Arthur and Hat Kid a smile. "Once again, many thanks to you kids. You're taking a huge thorn out of our side here."
"That's not a problem," Arthur replied with a smile.
"Happy to help!" Hat Kid added enthusiastically.
"Oh before I forget!" Seth reached into his pocket and found two crayons: a blue one and a green one. "These two crayons are part of a set of relics from Alpine Skyline. I found them while venturing into the peaks. They're not much but... I wanted to give them to you to both thank you for saving us and apologize for dragging you into my troubles."
He approached Hat Kid to hand her the two pieces of relic in person. As she took them, the young alien had stars in her eyes. With these two crayons, the relic set was finally complete with the box Arthur found at the Birdhouse and the red crayon she found at the Windmill. Awesome!
"Unfortunately I didn't find the rest..."
"Don't worry, we did find them," Arthur reassured him. "Thanks a lot, Seth."
"You're welcome, kids!" Seth smiled. Once that was said and done, he took a deep breath to ease his stress a bit. "Well... time for me to go tell the tribe about my mistakes. Hopefully I won't end up lynched on the spot, hehe..." he added nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Let 'em try a little to see," Edna growled in a threatening tone, which brought a nervous laugh from everyone in the room.
"Ahem... Anyway, uhhh, thanks again for everything, kids! Have a good rest! See ya!" Seth waved to the two kids before heading for the door.
"Good luck, Seth!" Arthur greeted him.
"Byyyye!" Hat Kid waved goodbye.
Before Edna went to join her son, the nomad woman looked the duo strictly and intimidatingly in the eyes one last time and said, pointing at them, "Get some rest. And this time, don't go and play heroes to the point of hurting yourselves again, kids! Otherwise I'll pull your ears! Is that CLEAR?!"
"Y-yes, Mrs. Helmy," Arthur and Hat Kid both replied nervously.
"Perfect!" Edna returned to her cheerful mood once again. "Good night, kids!"
With that, she left the room and closed the door behind her, going outside to join Seth. There was a long silence in the room before Arthur broke it.
"Well... What a woman," he said, to which Hat Kid nodded slowly. The twelve-year-old boy sighed. "I hope the other nomads won't be too hard on Seth. He made a blunder but he didn't mean any harm. Now, to be honest, I wouldn't want to be the naysayer who gets the wrath of his mother." He then frowned. "On the other hand, we're gonna have to calm the Snatcher down a bit so he'll let them off the hook for good. They've been through enough, especially Seth and his mom."
Hat Kid nodded firmly with a serious expression. The Snatcher may be her contracted BFF, but if he wanted to be a meanie and continue picking on the poor nomad people, she wasn't about to let it slide. She agreed to go and convince him to stop his nonsense, even if it meant beating him up again.
The problem was that with her plastered leg she couldn't do anything at all for the moment. Ughhh! So frustrating!
"If all goes well, I'll be up and about tomorrow. I'll go talk to him myself and straighten things out," Arthur continued. Hat Kid let out a frustrated sigh when she heard this. Great, more salt in the wound... Nevertheless, the young boy tried to reassure her. "Don't worry, Hat Kid. I'll handle the Time Rifts and keep an eye on your spaceship while you recover here, that's all I'll do. I'm not gonna continue this adventure without you. After all, you're the captain here."
These words and especially the title of captain made Hat Kid smile. It was just a title, but being called 'captain' was like a sign of trust in her and the fact that Arthur called her that showed he trusted her. Even if she would just rather be his friend than his 'captain'. But in the end, it was already the case because of all they had been through together.
The young Xerian looked at the boy with a grin and gave him a thumbs up. Arthur smiled back and nodded, satisfied that he had cheered her up.
"Come on, let's try to get some shut-eye," the young boy said, looking toward the window and noticing that it was almost dark outside. Just as well, Hat Kid was beginning to feel tired and yawned.
Arthur made himself comfortable in bed, being careful not to trigger any pain in his body, then smiled at Hat Kid before saying, "Night, Hat Kid. See you tomorrow."
The young alien placed her top hat on the nightstand beside her and replied with tired eyes but a smile as well, "Night, Arthur." Slowly, she closed her eyes and fell asleep soon enough.
While the sky was getting darker, Arthur stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking about this rather hectic day. He couldn't help but notice his own progress: overcoming his fear of heights with the ziplines, crossing the Birdhouse and coming back in one piece, his fight with Mustache Girl in the Dweller Dimension that ended badly but he survived despite that, fighting thorny vines of invasive flowers and saving Hat Kid and the nomads...
But what he noticed most was his sudden change in personality and initiative. Strangely enough, that day gave him a lot to think about and it was like a trigger for him.
It was a strange feeling... but a good one nevertheless. With a smile, the twelve-year-old boy let the exhaustion get to him and he fell asleep. And for the first time in years, there were no nightmares that night.
A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, rich in revelations but also in emotions! And yes, I decided to make a little link about the reason why the nomads had to leave Sand n' Sails in the past to come here to Alpine Skyline, but also about the cause of the purple flowers presence and attack. I also decided to give a major role to the Snatcher on these events, as well as a little liability with Seth to explain his strange behavior and also the reason why his mother is so hard and overprotective with him. ... I guess I like tragic stories... hehe... Sorry not sorry. :P
I also hope you like the evolution in Arthur's personality. I try to do my best to make his character evolve with time but still keep some of his original personality traits. After all, Arthur wouldn't be Arthur without his sarcastic remarks and the jabs he sends to almost everyone. ;)
Anyway! On that note, the Alpine Skyline arc is almost complete! I'll just have to include the Time Rifts linked to this section and it'll be done! Don't worry, I'll put them in the form of a summary in the next chapter because there's nothing really interesting to tell about them. So, next chapter's program: the Time Rifts, the very last arc of Mafia Town (yes, we're not forgetting this one), and, depending on the length of the chapter, maybe the beginning of the Arctic Cruise arc! Hmmm, I can't wait to include the cuteness of the seals in my story, and I'm sure you can't wait to see them too! ;P
Anyway, let's move on to the reviews from the previous chapter!
To Guest: All I can say is 'wait and see' ;)
To pokemonsora01: Indeed, I wanted to give a little more to the Alpine Skyline arc, because let's be honest... there's nothing very exciting about that part in the base game. So I'm glad you like the story I added in this section. ^^ Yes, I did plan to write the Arctic Cruise and Nyakuza Metro arcs before the final battle, because after all Mustache Girl is the final boss and the main antagonist of the game, and thus of my story. So it makes more sense that Time's End is treated last. I've planned some differences in the presence of the DLC characters in the last act, but nothing majorly different.
To Rub37: And hello! Thanks a lot! I'm glad you like the added elements! ^^
To HexoSpikeZ: Wow! Honestly, thank you so much for your feedback! It makes me very happy! As said, I really wanted to give more history and milestones to Alpine Skyline to really make this part interesting and exciting to read. I admit that one of my regrets is that I wanted to stay too close to the canonical story in the beginning of the fic and didn't bring more elements in those moments. So, if I was able to get it right in this arc, then I'm glad. As they say, better late than never! In any case, thank you very much for your admittedly long but constructive review! :)
And that concludes this famous chapter for today! Anyway, thanks to all of you for supporting this story, despite the delays between chapters! Without you folks, I probably wouldn't have had the motivation to continue this story and make it better. Really, a big thank you to all of you!
On that note, I wish you a good day and see you all in the next chapter! ^^