204Chapter 39: Duelling Duos
(Chapter Theme: You're All Bad Guys, 2nd Phase)
"You two were reaaaaaally busy weren't you?" Moustache mused as she rocked on her throne. "Going around collecting Time Pieces. Well so were we!"
"Moustache, why are you doing this!?" Hat yelled at her.
"Really? I thought you two would know about that by this point." Moustache sighed. "Don't you see? This planet is completely filled with bad guys! They rule everything! From the islands, to the forests, to the sky, to the underground! I was originally only concerned with my own island, but once I left, I found everything else to be just as bad!"
"But the Nomads, Goats and Seals haven't done anything wrong!" Hat cried.
"Maybe not, but they still support them. The Nomads and Goats allowed those purple flowers to grow, and those Seals took all of those rotten people on a boat ride!" She yelled. "They went along with it, like it was okay to be nice to those people! The ones who bully and enslave everybody!"
"Sounding really hypocritical right now." I mumbled.
She actually flinched at that, which we both took notice of. "Oh, think you know everything do you? I tried getting rid of the Mafia, one teeny tiny bit of evil on this world, for months! With no success! So how was I supposed to stand up to the likes of Snatcher and Empress, who were kingpins!?"
"I knew it! You two are the ones who got rid of Empress!" Hat pointed. "So you must know that you CAN beat them!"
"Maybe once. But what about the next time? And the next?" Moustache questioned. "The only way to get rid of bad guys, is to crush their spirit, otherwise new ones will just come take their place. Which is why me and Voice rewrote time to put us on top! To stand above everybody and make them powerless! Once they realise there's no fighting back, they'll give up completely!"
She leaned against her armrest. "It's the only way. Heroes in TV shows keep fighting the same bad guys over and over and over again. That's pointless in the end. Something like this is the only way to stop them completely! I'm actually using the Time Pieces to do something at least! You two just throw them in a vault!"
"There's a reason they stay in a vault!" Hat's expression then softened. "I actually feel a little bad for you."
"Don't think a sob story's gonna change my mind." Moustache rebutted.
Hat rolled her eyes. "I know that at this point. But you felt like the whole planet was against you, that you were alone and unloved. But instead of trying to save yourself from it, you're just stepping on everyone!"
"So what am I supposed to do!? Sit back, feel miserable, and watch as all these...MONSTERS abuse people!? You two should know that most of all!" Moustache yelled.
"No! You're supposed to look at yourself, and find what makes you, you! And if help appears, you take it." We looked at each other knowingly. "We tried to help by fighting the Mafia! But you turned away from us just because we didn't want to use OUR DELICATE property to help you!"
"Well I certainly don't need you two now!" Moustache seemed to deny Hat's entire argument. "I have Voice!"
"Yeah, you're just as bad!" I pointed at them. "What in space is your goal, Voice? Why allow Moustache to go through with all of this!?"
"Because, as I'm sure Badge Seller told you, this is destined to happen." Voice said. "Moustache was destined to reach this point, the moment the two of you would walk right up to the two of us. The perfect moment to face you, Tie." I narrowed my eyes.
"More then that, though...along the way, we truly became partners." The two of them shared their own look. "We began questioning each others goals, considering who we were and what we wanted more. We both developed because of the other. So now, I truly believe, that Moustache will make the right choices."
"THIS is a right choice!?" Hat gestured around the entire room.
"You're just too short-sighted." Moustache argued. "Once all of them know their place, they're free to live their own lives again. This presence will be enough to stop any more evil appearing."
"But it's damaging the timeline!" Hat shouted. "All of your actions will harm it!"
"What you call 'damaging' is actually the timelines clashing." Voice explained. "The two timelines are fighting for control, over which is the 'true' timeline. Once either one succeeds, that will become our 'true timeline'. Believe me, this is far better then what you could have gotten otherwise."
"Why do you two even care, anyway?" Moustache said. "This isn't your planet. You two stopped here because of an accident. Once you two grabbed all your Time Pieces you would have just left! It's no consequence to you!"
We both looked at each other.
"Pretty much." Hat nodded.
"Yeah, you got us at that one." I admitted.
"...Really?" She was actually taken aback.
"But it's still our concern." I shot back.
"Because you stole our property! And it's a bit too late for us to just accept forgiveness and you hand them back!" Hat added. "Not that you'd want to, anyway!"
"So it really was just because of the Time Pieces all this time." Moustache groaned. "You two really are selfish. You couldn't let ANYBODY have ONE! One out of, like, a thousand!"
"120." Voice pointed out.
"Thanks, Voice." She said. "But that's fine! Voice wanted to fight you guys anyway, and I'm all for that!"
"Tie, you are the only factor left." Voice spoke ominously. "When you die, there is a chance all of them, the ones in that corridor right behind you, will return. Many other lives, existences, that are worth more then you."
I frowned, but Hat stood in front of me protectively. "Who are you to judge who someone is worth!? Tie doesn't deserve that! Even IF all of them came back because of it!"
"Hat, you truly are selfish." Voice actually gained a bit of venom to their voice. "You cannot understand HOW MUCH has been lost. His life does not compare!"
"I don't care!" Hat shouted in a tantrum-like fashion. "Yeah, I'm selfish! But I deserve it, if it's about my best friends life! Even if it brings back so much, even if it's incredibly disrespectful to them, I don't want Tie to die! Especially if there's only a chance it will work!"
"So you really have made that much of an impact, Tie." Voice mumbled.
"You called me your best friend." I smiled as I walked out from behind Hat and stood next to her. "That's all I need in order to keep fighting."
"Together." Hat nodded.
"Seems we really are opposites." Moustache huffed. "But we anticipated, and wanted this. Right, Voice?"
"Right." Voice said as they stood up, picking up their Time Tuning Fork.
Me and Hat jumped back as the two of them leapt from their thrones and landed in front of us.
"Tie, I will fulfil my purpose, no matter what!" Voice yelled. "And the only option left, is for me to end you! I will fight alongside Moustache for both our dreams!"
"Just try it!" I countered. "Because of Hat, as well as Knit, Bow, and everybody else, I'm more then willing to fight the two of you for our own timeline!"
"I'm not gonna let you two erase all our hard work!" Moustache shouted. "Because of Voice, I've made it all the way here! And I'm not giving it up!"
"We're not gonna lose to you two!" Hat declared. "I'll protect Tie, get back our Time Pieces, and save our timeline! So It's time to end this!"
We all looked at her.
"Really?" I asked.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." She shrugged unapologetically.
"Let's do this!" All four of us declared.
Immediately Hat shot a laser from her umbrella and I swung with my yo-yo transformed into a hammer. Voice stabbed their tuning fork into the ground and created a sound barrier that blocked both of our attacks and created a flash of energy from the laser which pushed us all back.
"Where's Moustache!?" Hat gasped. In that flash, she had seemingly vanished.
"I'm not telling." Voice coyly said as they aimed their weapon at us and fired a soundwave, making us both dodge in different directions. Hat instantly charged at them, but Voice blocked them with their fork, driving the both of them to a stalemate, locked as they struggled against each other.
"Now!" Hat cried.
"I've got it!" I confirmed as I prepared to throw my yo-yo at Voice's defenceless back.
"Surprise!" Suddenly, Moustache burst out of the ground and uppercut me in the chin, sending me flying back.
"Tie!" Hat gasped, and her moment of distraction was enough for Voice to lean away and make her fumble as they slammed their weapon into her midsection, sending her tumbling back across the room.
"What was that?" I wondered as I jumped back to my feet, when suddenly something white wrapped around me, and lifted both me and Hat into the air. Our arms were bound, so we couldn't even switch our accessories.
"What's this!?" Hat yelled, her hands bound into holding onto her namesake as she was being held upside down.
"Caught off guard, are we?" Moustache boasted. "You two got accessories to control time and space since we last fought, so we got some upgrades too!"
"She told you we were prepared to fight you." Voice said, as I realised the white things were coming from their arms. "My Bandage Badge allows me to manipulate and lengthen the bandages on my body, like extra limbs."
Moustache then giggled, as she clapped her hands together, and spheres made out of stone suddenly emerged from the ground like bubbles from water, complete with the ground itself stretching and rippling as they emerged. "And Voice made me this handy Earth Badge, which lets me control stone and rocks like putty!"
"So she swam under the earth, then rose up out of it to attack me!" I realised.
"You get it? We've been building up for this one moment to beat you both!" With that, Moustache swung her arms forward, and the stones flew at us. We were helpless as the stones crashed into us and smashed us into the opposite wall, Voice's bandages returning to them as we collapsed to the ground.
"Ugh..." I groaned as I picked myself up and dusted myself down. "They're tough."
"Yeah." Hat admitted as she stood up and adjusted her Hat. "Looks like we're going to have to use our full power, Tie!"
"You've always wanted to say that, haven't you?"
"Yep!"
"Of course you two aren't gonna go down that easily." Moustache commented.
"We've only just begun though. Same as you." Voice threatened as they brandished their weapon.
I changed to the Bat Bow and flew up as Hat changed to her Brewing Hat and ran forward. Voice created a blue Pause Tune and tossed it at Hat, who dove to avoid it whilst Moustache threw more stones at me, which I avoided with my flying. I fired my missiles at her but she was swallowed up by the ground before they exploded into where she once was, whilst Hat threw a bomb at Voice who deflected it with a swing of their weapon.
"Up!" Hat said as she jumped up.
"Got it!" I grabbed her hands and flew both of us upward using the boosters.
Moustache emerged from the ground next to Voice with an annoyed look. "I can't sneak attack them all the way up there!"
"Then we'll attack from a distance." Voice said as they shot another soundwave at us whilst Moustache threw more stones.
"I've got this!" Hat told me, before she flipped around and I grabbed her legs as she tossed a bomb with a hand each, cancelling out the attacks in a blast that covered us in smoke.
"A sneak attack using smoke? That won't work!" Voice raised the tuning fork and created a soundwave barrier around both them and Moustache.
"Sorry." Voice gasped as a star-shaped pink portal emerged beside them. "More like THAT won't work anymore!" My yo-yo shot out of it and smacked Voice square in their non-existent jaw, throwing them back.
"Voice!" Moustache gasped, but before she could do anything, Hat crashed right next to her in her ice sculpture form, just barely not crushing her, but pelting her with shards of ice as she was thrown back next to Voice.
"Nice combo." I complimented her as I fell out of the portal wearing my Paradox Pendant, whilst Hat returned to normal with her Ice Hat on her head.
"Knew it would work. But that's because I trusted you." She smiled.
"Getting confident, are we?" Voice asked as they stood up with Moustache.
"You're not the only one who can use combos." Moustache said, as two stone spikes suddenly erupted up next to her, which she grabbed and ripped out of the ground, creating two stone spears.
Voice created a red Forward Tune, but instead of using it on themselves they threw it, and it attached to Moustache's forehead, giving her a red aura.
"Dodge!" I yelled as we both leapt away.
Moustache threw the stone spears almost instantly, so fast that the speed turned them into giant stone bullets that completely tore through the opposite wall and would have stabbed us had we not avoided them. She still took advantage of the increased speed and shot towards Hat, who turned into an ice sculpture to endure a barrage of stones pelting her. At the same time, Voice used a soundwave aimed at their feet to propel themselves forward towards me and swing at me, but I dived underneath it, making them screech to a halt against the ground.
Moustache's Forward ended, and Hat took the chance to return to normal and swing her umbrella at the girl, when suddenly a giant stone wall erupted from the ground between them, blocking the attack, then the stone wall began falling towards Hat. In a flash she swapped to her Sprint Hat and conjured a scooter out of nowhere which she sped off on to avoid being crushed.
Meanwhile Voice had used their new Badge to create eight tendril-like bandages that lashed after me in an attempt to grab me, but I disappeared into a portal before they could. I emerged behind them and shot my yo-yo at them again, but this time they wrapped the bandages around their entire body, creating an armour of sorts that blocked a lot of the damage, but they still grunted and were pushed back. They shot another soundwave at me, but Hat grabbed me as she sped by, avoiding it.
"Thanks, Hat." I said as I stood on the back of her scooter. She did a U-turn and revved up to charge at the both of them. Moustache immediately sank into the ground.
"Got a plan?" Hat asked, knowing what the hooded girl was planning.
"Leave it to me." I assured her as I transformed my yo-yo into a hammer and slammed it into the ground, which as I hoped, created a shockwave that knocked her up and out into the open.
"No fair!" Moustache cried, just before Hat performed a drive-by in slamming her umbrella into her.
"Moustache!" Voice gasped as we rocketed towards them. They held their free hand open and shot a fireball from it using their other Badge. Hat swerved out of the way whilst I jumped up and raised my hammer in preparation to swing it down onto their head. Voice attempted to raise their own weapon in defence, but Hat once again swung their umbrella, knocking it out of Voice's grasp and leaving him wide open for me to strike.
But as I brought it down, Voice was encased in a block of stone that blocked my attack and made me stumble back. The rock instantly exploded out into stone shrapnel which battered against me painfully and made me fall to the ground as Voice used their bandages to reach out and retrieve their Time Tuning Fork.
"Don't hurt my partner." Moustache called to us from a distance, as she had her hands planted on the ground.
"Same goes to you!" Hat yelled as she raced towards Moustache with her umbrella ready, when suddenly a soundwave caught her of guard and blasted her into the wall, making the scooter disappear.
"Make that three." Voice huffed.
"Make that four!" I yelled as I transformed my yo-yo into its flytrap form. Voice wasn't expecting a quick recovery so my yo-yo bit down on their entire upper half before flailing them around in the air.
"Voice!" Moustache caused a stalactite to fall from the ceiling and hit my weapon, causing it to release Voice who leapt back over to Moustache's side, as Hat joined me.
"You're both good." Hat admitted.
"We know." Moustache smirked.
I dove into a portal as Moustache dove into the ground. Hat switched to her Time-Stop Hat as Voice created a Forward Tune and stuck it to their hood. The two of them instantly zipped towards each other and met at lightning speed, their respective unorthodox instruments clashing so quickly it was hard to see, neither giving the other an inch until they both timed out and were blasted back from each other. At that moment I emerged behind Voice and shot two dark pink shurikens at them, which they blocked with their weapon, whilst Moustache attempted to uppercut Hat, who dodge out of the way. Hat then fired a laser beam at Voice, which they were forced to dodge.
"Wait-!" But Voice realised too late that Hat was actually aiming for me, as I created another portal in front of me that absorbed the laser, and another next to Moustache in which the laser emerged out of and struck her full on. "You both-!" That moment of distraction was all Hat needed to slow down time again and deliver a successful blow to Voice, sending them tumbling next to Moustache.
"Together now!" "Got it!" I created a large portal shuriken which Hat imbued with her time powers, causing it to glow both green and pink as it doubled in size. "Go!" We both tossed it together, and it tore through the ground. Voice created a soundwave barrier and Moustache a wall of stone that the shuriken shredded into, before exploding in a brilliant pink and green display.
"That...was so cool!" Hat approved.
"Be careful. It's not over yet." I warned her as the smoke cleared, and sure enough Moustache emerged from the smoke, looking completely unharmed.
"What!? You haven't got a scratch!" Hat accused.
"That's 'cause of Voice's Rewind Tune." Moustache boasted as Voice stepped out with the green symbol attached to their hood, making their injuries disappear. "It reverses all our damage."
"They can heal!? That's SO not fair!" Hat fumed. "Tie, we'll just have to hit them so hard they can't even get back up to heal!"
"I'm all for that." I agreed.
"Just try it." Voice challenged.
I charged forward and Voice sent more bandages snaking towards me, but I quickly switched to the Necro Necklace and used it to pass through the both of them, revealing Hat rocketing forward on her scooter, through the bandages, but Moustache created a giant hand of stone that pushed out of the ground and grabbed the floor, trapping Hat inbetween it's fingers and forcing her to screech to a halt. The hooded girl made a motion with her hands as if to crush Hat, but I swung at her with my hammer, which Voice intercepted by swinging their own weapon, but I phased right through it again, making them stumble past me as I once again swung, and this time hit Moustache, giving Hat the opportunity to burst out of the prison with a laser that conveniently hit Voice.
The both of them recovered almost immediately though, as Voice hit me in the back with a shockwave whilst Moustache kicked a sphere of rock like a football that hit Hat. We regrouped and changed accessories as Moustache fired more stones at us, but I vacuumed them up with the Cleaner Cape whilst Hat threw several vials from her Brewing Hat at Voice, who actually grabbed all of them with their bandages before tossing them back at us. We instantly switched opponents as I caught all of the vials in my vacuum tornado whilst Hat shot out her grappling hook and grabbed Moustache with it before she could make anymore stone do us harm. We both threw our respective catches into the air before throwing them down, causing Moustache to be engulfed in the multiple vials exploding around her and sending her crashing against the wall.
"How dare you!" Voice cursed us as they shot another Rewind Tune at Moustache which stuck itself to her cheek, healing her instantly, but that left them wide open for both Hat and me to attack them with our yo-yo and umbrella, a strike from each that sent them tumbling. The rejuvenated Moustache crafted two pillars of stone from the ground that were sent hurtling towards us. Hat destroyed one with a laser whilst I vacuumed the other one and smashed it into the ground, destroying it.
Voice leapt towards us, but Hat once again threw more vials, which Voice once again caught, but we were prepared this time. I quickly switched to the Spark Scarf and shot lightning into the vials, causing a chain reaction that made them explode, blasting Voice back.
"Stop ganging up on Voice!" Moustache complained as two stone palms rose up and threatened to slap us. We both dived out of the way in sync, avoiding the attack, before we both grabbed Moustache with our grappling hook and flytrap yo-yo.
"Awww no." She groaned as the two of us began spinning her around as she cried out in protest, and most likely nausea, before we lifted her high into the air.
"Going doooooooooown!" Hat cried as we threw her right into the carpet with a terrific smash.
The battle was doing damage to the throne room, with all the walls cracked, with some having holes in them, and the drapes and carpet being torn up. Miraculously, the Time Pieces were unharmed.
"Yeah...yeah, you're tough..." Moustache groaned as she stood up, Voice needing to lean on their weapon for support.
"Sorry, but we're an unbeatable team." Hat boasted. "So stop all this, and return the timeline to the way it was!"
"No! I'm not going back on my word-!" She winced in pain, but continued. "I'm gonna follow through with this...I will! If you both just...fix it...it means everything we did was pointless! I won't allow that!"
She straightened herself up. "Maybe all of this is wrong...but if you take it all back...then that means all the time me and Voice spent gathering Time Pieces together...was worthless! And I'm not gonna let that happen!"
"Moustache..." Voice panted.
"Are you scared of that?" Hat sighed sadly. "Moustache...that time won't be gone, or meaningless. Because you did all those things together in THAT timeline. Not this one. Those experiences aren't worthless if they mean something to you, even if the end result is erased."
"But Hat...you don't know it, but experiences of yours WERE erased." Voice said. "Along with them..."
"I've actually got to thank you for that Voice. I've gotten a bit of understanding about my lost time with them, thanks to you." Hat admitted, which made Voice go weak in the knees. "The time I've lost with them is a little sad. But the time I've spent with Tie, that's much more precious to me. Just like your memories are precious. I'm super duper positive our times together will never be erased. No matter what."
"You can't say that knowing it's true...!" Voice gasped.
"Maybe not." I said. "But we can have faith."
"Tiiiiiiiiiie!" "Haaaaaaaaaaaat!" We were interrupted as everybody came in, looking a little bit battered and bruised.
"Tie! Hat! Are you winning!?" Tie and Bow exclaimed.
"You two look all bruised!" CC gasped.
"You guys are one to talk!" I pointed out.
"Ha! Those things were no match for the might of the Mafia!" Boss boasted.
"Darlings, I have to agree, this is too much for a star like me." Grooves rhymed.
"Aye...I think I'm getting old..." Conductor groaned.
"Soooo we almost done here?" Snatcher muttered. "I'd like to get back to my own timeline please!"
The Leviathan screeched in agreement.
"Pups, if there's something that fight taught me, it's that we can handle ourselves just fine." Walrus nodded.
"We don't need any heroes, nyeah? We certainly don't need these two!" Felin nodded.
"Why are you working with them?" Moustache asked us. "Don't you see...how horrible they are!?"
"Yep." I nodded.
"Oh yeah, they're horrible." Hat agreed.
"HEY!" All of them cried.
"Guys most of you made us work for you. YOU stole our souls and tried to kill us, Snatcher." I pointed out.
"Yes, it's the latest tale for my therapist." He said that a bit too cheerfully.
"But they helped us, so we returned the favour." Hat said. "They can be good too."
"Because, surprise, people are like that. Good and bad." I said. "It's a bit more grey then you think."
Moustache looked upon all of us, then lowered her head.
"Voice...I'm gonna try something a bit risky."
"Right behind you."
She stood up. "If all of you will fight against me, fine. Maybe it's even a little justified. That just means I'll fight against all of you. Even if it's wrong...even if you all hate me...I'm not going back on it." She began taking steps back, towards the Time Pieces. "Not on my dream. Not on Voice's help. None of it."
"Wait, is she-!?" I gasped.
"Get away from the Time Pieces!" Hat yelled as we ran at her.
"I'm not giving up on my time!" Moustache declared as she smashed a Time Piece into the pile, causing the sound of shattering to fill the room as everything turned completely white.
"Tie?"
"I'm here, Hat." I reassured her as we both began blinking against the light.
"All of the Time Pieces broke at once. Even I don't know what has happened." Hat admitted.
"I think we're about to find out." I said, as the harsh light faded.
We were standing on a circular glass platform glowing rainbow colours as a sparkling aura surrounded it, all of our allies were wrapped around it, staring at us from the outside. The scenery beyond that was beams of different coloured lights all mixing together into an epilepsy inducing mix, as Moustache and Voice stood against us at the other end of the platform.
"You really did it..." Hat breathed.
"So this is-?" I began.
"No!" We both jumped. Sweetie was here too! "This is also predestined to happen!"
"THIS is predestined!?" I cried, waving at our surroundings.
"The worst is still yet to come! Be careful!" She yelled at us.
"No kidding." I mumbled as we turned to face our opponents.
"If beating you on our own isn't enough, I'll beat you with the Time Pieces, and prove it's right to wield them!" Moustache declared.
"Look around you! We're trapped in a crack in time!" Hat waved. "How is this right!?"
"I'll fix it! I'll fix everything! Once we've beaten you two!" She argued, as some stray stones around her formed into a pair of rock gauntlets on her arms, which gave her a green aura.
"Guess she really won't listen to reason. We've got no other choice now." My Spark Scarf began crackling with yellow lightning.
"The time is finally at hand..." Voice spoke as red flames flared up around them.
"If you really won't give up, then neither will we." Hat put on her Ice Hat and gained an icy blue aura.
Our four colours, our four elements, instantly clashed in a pillar of power and light, shooting across the crack in time as energy crackled around us, sparking at the flow of time itself as everyone around us took cover, until it broke, and we were all blown away from each other.
"There's some kind of barrier! We can't get in!" Knit cried helplessly.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" I reassured her as we all got back up.
"We'll definitely save our timeline!" Hat declared as the four of us charged each other.
The new crowd around us did what they could, and erupted into cheer as we clashed, Time Pieces falling and shattering around as everyone shouted as loud as they could in encouragement at every dodge and blow.
"It's practically upon us..." Sweetie whispered to herself. "Please...please be safe, everybody...!"
Me and Voice charged at each other. I created a portal and threw my yo-yo into it, whilst creating another portal that appeared over Voice's head which the head of my hammer appeared out of and swung down towards them. Voice in retaliation made their weapon vibrate with sound, before clashing with it, creating a powerful shockwave.
And something immediately went wrong. Everything began to ripple and reverberate as a high-pitched whine overtook everything. I could see echoes of myself and everybody stretching further and further out into the ubnknown, until, for a moment, it all stopped, and there was silence.
Then there was a giant bursting sound as me and Voice were flung onto an identical platform whilst everybody else, including the spectators, were thrown away from us.
"Tie!" "Voice!" Hat and Moustache immediately got up and ran over to the other end of the platform, closest to us.
"Ow...what the-?" I couldn't even finish, as suddenly, an angry red aura erupted from underneath our platform, as it began falling.
"This is...?" Voice looked around us.
"This is it!" Sweetie gasped. "It's torn a hole in the dimensional rift! That platform is collapsing into dimensions!"
"Voice! VOICE!" Moustache cried desperately as she banged against the invisible wall.
"...I'm sorry, Moustache. It appears I cannot keep my promise." Voice called up to her as we lowered more and more. "I truly wanted to stay beside you all this time."
"You can't leave me, Voice! Not now! Please!" Moustache begged.
"I truly treasure the time we spent together." Voice told her. "You will always be my best friend! And I will always be yours! I know that you can become a hero! I also know, that you can figure out what kind of hero you can be!"
They seemed to smile under their hood. "Thank you..." And they said a name unfamiliar to me.
"Hat!" I called up to her.
"Tie..." She looked like she was struggling for a moment, but then sniffed back tears, cupped her hands, and yelled out:
"BEAT THAT GUY! AND COME RIGHT BACK! CAPTAIN'S ORDERS!"
"...Roger!" I shouted up to her.
The platform we were on shuddered violently, before it fell down, smashing through the colourful void into the unknown, away from all else.
"Voice..." Moustache trembled.
"Tie!" Knit cried sadly.
"It'll be okay, Knit." Bow comforted her, even though she was unsure herself.
"'Course the lad'll be fine. Tough as nails that one." Conductor nodded.
"I'll be mad if he dies from THAT after everything with me and the doll!" Snatcher complained.
Hat nodded to herself. "Let's keep fighting, Moustache."
She turned to her opponent looking distraught, with tears welling in her eyes. "What? You're not worried at all?"
"I believe in Tie, that's all." Hat answered.
Moustache sniffled, then wiped away her tears on her sleeve. "Right...I'm not gonna let Voice down! Come on then! Let's settle this between you and me!"
The two of them instantly screamed as they dove out of each other, literally knocking heads and collapsing to the ground.
"That hurt!" Moustache cried as she clutched her head.
"Really? I'm just warming up!" Hat boasted.
"Oh, really!? Well so am I!" Moustache cried as they charged again.
The two bashed into each other again and again with the same results, but increasing damage, as more Time Pieces crashed down around them, and the spectators had to try their best to avoid any broken glass.
"You can do it, Hat!" CC yelled.
"Knock her into another time, darling!" Grooves cheered.
"Ha...Had enough yet?" Hat panted.
"Quit messing with me!" Moustache snarled. "All you're doing is diving at me! Fight me with everything you've got!"
"But you haven't got any rocks left." Hat pointed out. "So you can't use your Earth Badge, and you're at a disadvantage."
"Bit late to be taking pity on me." Moustache spat. "And if you think I don't have anything, you're very wrong!"
Suddenly, a wind picked up, and Hat gasped as all of the glowing, shimmering sand from the shattered Time Pieces began swirling around her like a sandstorm.
"Ooooooh that's goooooood." Snatcher practically complimented her.
"Eh, sand's just teeny tiny earth anyway." Moustache boasted, before the sand formed around her into multiple blades of sand.
Hat quickly switched to her Time-Stop Hat and used it to dodge as suddenly the sand tore through the platform in an instant, erupting into black temporal energy that would have sliced Hat in half had she not dodged by slowing time, before she had to dodge two more sand slashes.
"All out it is, then." Hat determined as she fired a laser at Moustache, who suddenly vanished in a burst of Time Piece sands, then reappeared on the other side of the field and sent more slashes at Hat which she dodged. As more Time Pieces fell and broke, Moustache collected more and more sand to add to her weaponry.
"This ain't fair! And I should know!" Felin complained. "The longer they fight, the stronger Moustache becomes!"
"Not much we can do with a barrier in the way, cat." Walrus grumbled.
"Nyeah...wait! Kid!" Felin knocked on the barrier. "Do you still have the baseball bat we gave you!?"
"Huh!?" Hat couldn't look his way, but reached into her Hammerspace in her hat. "Ah! Here it is!" She pulled out the bat, now wielding her umbrella in one hand and the bat in the other. "Alright! This could work!"
"It won't help you from this!" Moustache declared as she formed the sand into several cutlass'. She grabbed two of them before throwing the rest at Hat, which she dodged with her Time-Stop Hat before the two of them clashed with their dual weapons, swiping and parrying each other, bouncing around and off of the invisible walls to swipe at each other and knock them in the other direction.
"Yeowch!" A Nomad suddenly gasped. "Something bit me!"
"Aaaaah! Mafia is disappearing!" A Mafia screamed as they suddenly vanished into light.
"What's happening!?" Bow cried.
"The crack in time is beginning to try and close itself!" Sweetie shouted. "And its erasing everything inside it in the process!"
"Oh peck!" Owls, Crows and Penguins began disappearing.
"Owchies!" Even Seals.
"Everyone is-!" Hat gasped.
"I'll fix it!" Moustache reaffirmed. "But right now, I'm finishing this!"
She raised her hands as all of the sands formed into a thunderous twister of time sand around her that tore through time, before it began twisting around and shooting itself at Hat. She attempted to activate her Time-Stop Hat, but she was instantly swallowed up by the twister and was flung through the air, battered by temporal needles before it collapsed back down and shot her into the ground, leaving her battered and bruised.
"Hat!" CC desperately cried.
"Fishsticks, I can't hold on..." Felin panted. "Kid! I definitely believe in you this time! So I know you'll bring us all back!" With a flash, he was gone.
"In all honesty, I wouldn't mind ending it here, not the worst way to go." Walrus sighed. "But that doesn't mean you should give up, pup. You got this." He vanished too.
"I'm scared..." A Nomad mumbled as they huddled up with a Goat. There was a soft cry as the Leviathan wrapped them all up in its serpentine body with a firm but caring hug. "This is better..." All of them went at once.
"You better win and bring me back, brat!" Snatcher complained. "Hate to admit it, but I trust you with this. After all, you were my best employee!" He cackled as he disappeared.
"This very well might be it, Conductor." Groove admitted.
"Don't get all sappy with me, Grooves." Conductor grumbled. "If we're gonna go together, we'll go as rivals till the bitter end!"
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Conductor." Grooves seemed to smile. "Darling! The star shouldn't be on the floor!"
"You show that peckneck what yer made of, lassie!" Conductor yelled, as they both disappeared.
"I can't hold on for too long either. I've got to bale out into another time." Sweetie strained. "Hat, Tie, I'm leaving everything to you both. I know you can save us all!" With that, she dove backwards into a portal.
"Ev...ryone…" Hat struggled to stand.
"Hold on! I'm sure I can fix this!" Moustache panicked a bit as she began using her sand to build a swirling tower into the expanse of time above them.
"She's not getting back up!" Knit panicked.
"Not much I'd be able to add anyway." Boss mumbled. "But I know this. She certainly doesn't need OUR encouragement." He suddenly exploded into light.
"Dears, it's up to you two." CC told Bow and Knit. "The ones who can truly save her, are the people she cares about most. The closest thing to family." With that, she also went.
"CC...Boss..." Knit mumbled.
Bow bit her lip. 'Everybody else is gone. What else can we do, just the two of us?' Then, she blinked, and turned back to the battle.
"Hat!" She called. "It doesn't matter how many people are cheering for you, does it!? If you cared about that, you would have set off into space with a full crew, wouldn't you!?"
"Bow...?" Hat mumbled, as Moustache continued to try and reverse time with her sand.
"It's the things you experience!" Bow called to her. "So, remember! Everything we've done together on this planet! Collecting Time Pieces! Adventuring! Eating food! Playing around!"
"Everything...we've done..." Hat began pushing herself to her knees.
"Right!" Knit joined in. "It's because of everything you've done that Bow, and CC, and Boss, and even Tie have experienced so much here! And it's because of Tie that I've experienced so much, because of what he's learned with you! You can't give up on our time together!"
"Our time...!" Hat began standing up.
"Don't give up on our time, Hat." Bow smiled. "How much we've grown because of our time here."
"Even if we're gone, our time together will be with you." Knit nodded.
The two of them then vanished into light.
"I can...fix this!" Moustache told herself.
"Moustache!" She froze and turned around as Hat faced her, looking battered, but determined. "I think I understand now."
"What?" Moustache gasped.
"You know that what you're doing is wrong. But you feel that if you lose, all of your time with Voice would have meant nothing." Hat said. "But that's not true! It's not the result of what you did that matters! It's everything you enjoyed! Got frustrated at! Cried from! Just being together is your true accomplishments! Not this!"
"Shut up! This is OUR timeline! It HAS to work!" Moustache screamed.
"I understand now...that even if all of those people are gone, we still feel them, because of everything we've done together. And my time on this planet with Bow, and Knit, everybody else, and Tie...THAT is why time is important. And not to mess with it." She took her Time-Stop Hat off, and put on her standard, favourite hat. "I'll save all those times I love!"
"Fine then! I'll end it right now! And save you your precious time!" With that, Moustache called the sandstorm to surround her, before she sent all of the time sand towards her.
'All the memories in this hat, will be more then enough.' She told herself, as she spun both her umbrella and bat around, then fired a beam from each which combined into a spiralling beam that collided with the spiralling mound of sand. Everything around them seemed to quake as the two forces pushed against each other, fighting for supremacy over the timeline itself.
"Sorry, Moustache." Hat said, as she flipped her hat off her head and it released a third laser from within itself, the three lasers combining together and overpowering the sand.
"NononononononononoNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Moustache screamed as she was engulfed, and light enveloped both of them.
'Am I...floating?' Hat felt awfully calm, as she hung suspended...somewhere. She was so tranquil, she dare not open her eyes.
'It's like I'm in a lazy river...floating away...' She thought as she went with the flow. 'Is this...time? Am I feeling time itself pass me by? Feels weird.'
She still sighed contently. 'Our time, it all goes by so fast. But even if it passes us by, it becomes more precious once its gone. So my time together, with everyone here, I won't let it go.'
There was an odd sound, like that of shattering glass, but reversed, as she suddenly opened her eyes, and she was back in the throne room. Sitting up, she saw Moustache unconscious in front of her, and beyond that were all her Time Pieces. Fixed. And all together into a handy little ball. She looked down to see her handy umbrella on the ground, but the baseball bat was shattered into splinters.
"We're back." Hat said to herself as she stood up and brushed herself down. "I won."
She then turned her eyes upwards. "But...where is Tie?"
Bandage Badge: Allows the wearer to control and lengthen bandages on their body like extra limbs.
Earth Badge: Allows the wearer to manipulate stone and sand however they wish. Made by Voice for Moustache.
With that, Hat has defeated Moustache and fixed time itself, now it's all down to Tie and Voice as their battle breaks through the walls of dimensions themselves.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter everyone! The final fight started, and has finished on Hat's side. Now obviously there's a bit more involvement from the onlookers in the games, but I couldn't find a way to justify them helping without them all just swarming the field and dogpiling Moustache. Plus, I didn't really establish the fact that enemies drop Heart Pons when defeated earlier in the story, so I don't wanna pull something right at the end. Besides, the motivating speech has, in my opinion, ultimately proved why Hat is the Being of Time, and why you shouldn't mess with it.
I forgot to do this last chapter, but thank you to sonicflash78, Max waspace and Phantaum for reviewing!
Next chapter: It's the final fight between Tie and Voice, so he's going to need all the help he can get.
Everybody! It's time to cheer for Tie! So this chapters question is:
What is your favourite aspect of Tie's character, and/or his best moment in the story?