Chapter 1: Chapter 1

The sky was clear in Mafia Town, the sun was shining, the weather was fresh enough and there was a bit of chilly wind in Hatkid’s face to combat the heat. At the moment, she felt she was ready for her most important mission yet, find Cooking Cat and buy some of her delicious food!

After her work with the Nyakuza a few weeks ago, Hatkid had gotten a lot of that “earth money” and she had finally found a way to put it to use. She would go and buy one of Cooking Cat’s famous dishes he had seen on TV, like a tuna sandwich! Or perhaps that fried fish she didn’t get to try when she was at the cruise, the possibilities were endless!

Or perhaps she could try some of that delicious fruit in one of the Mafia stalls?

“That one!” She pointed at the one with the rounded orange one. When the storekeeper was going to pick it up for her she looked above and saw a long, yellow fruit. While she didn’t know what it was, it sure looked appetizing!

“That one!” She pointed out.

The shopkeeper turned around and looked at the bananas and then looked back at Hatkid, as if trying to confirm her new choice.

Hatkid stood on tiptoe to point at the bananas again, when she saw some other fruits at the back of the stall. They were small, red, with little dots and green hair at the top. Those fruits looked actually quite funny!

“Uh… that one?” She pointed again, undecided.

“Child! You must pick fruit if you are going to buy in Mafia Stall! Mafia has no time for games!” The shopkeeper scolded her. Hatkid just pouted, still unsure what to buy.

“You also need money to pay for fruit! How is child even going to pay for fruit?! Pons alone won’t do!”

Hatkid got several bills from her pockets and put them on the table. The shopkeeper looked at it surprised.

“What? This is more money than what Mafia had seen here in store!” Hatkid grinned at him in victory.

“Oh come on! You can’t be serious!” A voice was heard close by, Hatkid turned around to find the source.

“We don’t want to sell to girl after girl tried to destroy the world! Go away or Mafia will teach you lesson!”

“What? But I have money! I am trying to buy that fish from you!” That voice… It belonged to Mustache Girl, who seemed to be arguing with other shopkeepers of the food stalls. The man just crossed his arms and stopped talking to her.

“Ugh! Fine!” She said while walking over to the next stall. “I came to buy some of that… uh… that cheese you have there.” She looked over the cheese, some of it seemed to be kept out there in the open without any refrigeration.

“Go away! Mafia does not want to talk to evil girl!” The man crossed his arms as well.

“Oh come on, are you serious?!” Mustache Girl raised her hands in the air out of frustration and then she tried with some of the other stalls.

“Oh… excuse me?” She asked.

“No!” The man said.

“Sir?” She tried again with the next one.”

“Go away!”

“Hello, I will buy one of your Mafia shirts if you give me that… ugh, that unopened lollipop you have on your counter.” Just as she finished talking the Mafia crook took the lollipop and put it in his mouth.

“Whatever! I didn’t even want your stupid products anyway!” She walked along until finally ending up in the stall Hatkid was in. She looked at the girl and took a step back.

“You!” She pointed out at her. “What are you doing here?!”

Hatkid just took an orange from the counter and started peeling it while looking at Mustache Girl at all times. She took a bite and smiled at her until the acid flavor got to her mouth, she grimaced.

“Why are you selling to her and not to me?!” She turned to the shopkeeper of the fruit stall.

“Child saved the world and has money to pay to Mafia. Unlike evil girl that almost destroyed the world that one time.”

Hatkid just kept trying to smile while she kept her orange, despite being too acidic and weird for her.

“Uh… kid… I suppose you wouldn’t mind if…” Mustache Girl turned her face around. “No, wait. This is all your fault after all. You know what? Just move away, I have things to do.” She said while walking away.

Even after she was already very far away, Hatkid just looked at her from her point in the food stall, until she noticed she had finished her orange.

“Huh?” She thought and looked down. She looked back to the fruit stall and then back to Mustache Girl, so seemed to be getting further and further away.

Hatkid took a couple of the fruit from the stall and left the money bills in the counter without really counting how many they were (she had a lot of them anyway), and left running towards the hooded girl.

She jumped through the buildings making sure the girl was close enough but not so close that Mustache Girl could see her. The girl with the hood kept going from store to store, and stall to stall asking to buy something, only to get rejected every time.

“Please leave madam, I would rather not do business with you.” A small shopkeeper told her.

“What? Why? You are not even from the mafia!”

“Even so… Miss, some things have been said about you here and in the other towns I have been… I don’t remember much myself, but I don’t think I should sell you at all.”

“What! But they are the bad guys! Not me! I was just trying to help!”

The shopkeeper didn't answer.

“This is absurd!” She left and kept going from place to place, looking for someone that would sell her something at all, without any success.

At the end, she sorted out a way to sneak behind a Mafia goon that was enjoying the view to the sea absorbed in his thoughts, and stole a sandwich he had in a small table behind him. Then she ran towards the small clock tower of the town. Hatkid decided to follow her again.

Hatkid got to the top of the tower and found Mustache Girl sitting down eating the sandwich looking away at the sea. Was she… crying?

“Oh… it's you.” Mustache Girl looked back at Hatkid, noticing her coming in. “Just go away. I don’t wanna be talking with you, or anybody for that matter.

Hatkid smiled gently, and offered some of the fruit she had in the bag with her.

“Oh, come on, really?” The girl looked at the fruit. “I don’t need… alright fine. Just give me that.” She took a couple of bananas and an orange, Hatkid did the same with the banana and the both started eating together in silence.

After a while, Mustache Girl spoke.

“I don’t even know anymore kid.” She said, “Anywhere I go, people just look at me and think I am just going to refuse to talk to me, or sell me anything. I thought I would have more luck here in this… this town. I know at least some of the locals, but they won’t even back me up!” Hatkid just smiled, trying to offer her a hearing ear.

“It’s just all your fault! If you hadn’t interfered maybe I could have…” She stopped, looking down at herself. “Look… who am I kidding? I ruined everything, I was so close and…” Hatkid took her by the hand. “What?” Mustache Girl asked. Hatkid looked above towards the sky and then back to Mustache Girl.

“Do you want me to take you to your ship? For what?” She asked, Hatkid took a banana and waved it in front of the girl.

“Do you want to… eat there or something?”

Hat kid grinned, and teleported them over to her kitchen.

“Hey, tell me beforehand if you are going to do that.” Mustache Girl said slowly getting up after being transported to the kitchen floor of the spaceship. “Okay so what are we going to do here?

Hatkid opened up the fridge and showed Mustache Girl some of the food she had stored.

It consisted of a bunch of alien food, a burger with tentacles, a mutant fish steak, a few funny looking drinks and the most alien thing of all… pineapple pizza.

“Oh God.” Mustache Girl covered her nose. “I guess there must be something here that… doesn’t kill me.”

Hatkid jumped over and started pulling some plates from the top shelves, while Mustache Girl tried to pick something from the fridge that looked at least edible, when somebody touched over her shoulder.

“Huh?” Mustache Girl turned around, it was Hatkid, but with a different attire this time, she had a violet cape and a patterned sweater. “Wait, how did you change so fast? Just a moment ago you were…” She turned around towards the shelves and saw… Hatkid, another Hatkid, or more accurately, the Hatkid she was just hanging up with the dark blue and yellow clothes. She looked back at the Hatkid in front of her, who was wearing violet clothes instead.

“Boop!” The violet Hatkid touched her nose and left the kitchen running. “What the…” Mustache Girl exclaimed, she followed her around towards the main living room of the spaceship and what she saw left her flabbergasted!

The room was full of several Hatkids, all with different clothes, hats, and even costumes, some of them dancing, some riding the vacuum, others even fighting each other, and one of them was jumping over the hamburger cushion that was on display. Even when Hatkid didn’t talk that much, it seemed like there was a lot of chatter between the different versions of the alien girl.

“This way!” One of them with a purple jacket and a face mask said while running towards the lab.

“Peck!” The one with the witch costume said while throwing potions at the Hatkid who seemed to be made of gold.

“What on earth was simply going on here?

The Hatkid that came along with her to the spaceship left the kitchen, Mustache Girl looked at her, confused.

“Umm… care to explain what this is all about?” Mustache Girl asked.

Mustache Girl pointed to a machine at her side, it looked like some sort of teleporter with a huge antenna on top of it and a blue screen. The girl got closer to the device, the screen said “Link” all in blue letters.

They both walked towards the mysterious device, Hatkid pressed over it and then a message appeared.

“Alternative Timeline Synchronizer! Online Connection Required. Pros: I can help do the ship chores. Maintenance. Security. Fun! Cons. I can be quite annoying sometimes.”

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“Oh! Is this what I think this is?” Mustache Girl looked back at Hatkid, who was smiling proudly while pretending to caress a beard. “Does this mean we can go to other timelines as well?”

Hatkid took away a small hair clip she had in her ponytail and suddenly everybody disappeared, she pointed to the bottom of the screen.

“State of the Synchronization capabilities. Sync with myself only. Requires wearing a synchronization device. Ship range only. Hyper fast internet speed!”

“Oh, I see.” Mustache Girl looked down. “Do you know any time lines where… you know.. where did I win?”

Hatkid grinned mischievously. “Nope!” She said and ran towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…” Mustache Girl muttered, following her along.

After what was a bit of an unfamiliar meal for the with the Mustache, they both ended up quite full, and Hatkid decided to go to her room.

“I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I decide to stay here for a bit? People down there don’t seem to like me that much yet, supposing you are not going back to your planet or whatever–”

“HEY KIDDO!” A voice interrupted her as they both entered the room. “Ready to die? We are doing some contracts!”

It was Snatcher.

“Is that a g-ghost?” Mustache Girl stood back. Despite dealing with a lot of enemies back in her Mayhem days, she barely remembered the spirit itself, despite, she didn’t have any of the power she had back then anymore.

The ghost was reading a book by the window of the room, above the pillow pool. Hatkid walked towards him. “No way!” She replied, and tried to him with her umbrella.

“Ha, wait up kiddo. Let me finish first. We are going to change the rules a bit this time. This time, you aren’t going to get hired as my contractor, but I will give you a challenge instead. You see, I do have the power to create scenarios based on your memories alone here, where your energy is plentiful! You are going to complete some challenges for me based on those memories of yours and if you lose, I finally get your soul! It is all based on the places you have been before, so it should be incredibly easy for you!”

Hatkid just pouted, crossing her arms.

“Complete my new contracts, and I will reward you.” Snatcher showed her some of the clothes and costumes Hatkid had seen in her alternative counterparts, some of them looked so cute!

“Okay!” She took the map from Snatcher and started to look to check what challenge to start with.

“What? Hatkid… do you know this thing?” Mustache Girl finally spoke, walking slowly towards them.

Snatcher, who was grinning at seeing Hatkid choosing a way into her doom, finally noticed her.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said, frowning.

“It is me what?” Mustache Girl asked.

“You are that pest that almost destroyed this forsaken planet! Don’t think I have forgotten about you!”

“What? I don’t even know who you are!” She replied defensively.

“Well, I know quite well who you are.”

“If you do, that must mean you are a bad guy! Because I only judge bad guys! What are you even doing here anyway? How do you know Hatkid?”

“This kid?” He pointed to the hatted girl. “She has worked for me a while back, but I can’t say she is no less of a bother than you are!”

Hatkid looked towards them and stuck out her tongue.

“She barely speaks at all!”

“Oh trust me, that doesn’t make her any less annoying.” He raised his yellow eyes over as if expressing frustration.

“Then, why are you doing contracts with her?” Mustache Girl asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Because we have some unfinished business and I want to get her soul! Stop being an annoying brat and go away.”

Mustache Girl looked at him incredulously, how was Hatkid on good terms with so many bad guys and still being treated as the good person and not her?

“Or wait…” Snatcher said, now grinning, and now that I think about it, I think I have some plans for you too now that you are in my reach.”

“What, plans like what?”

“I think I am going to get to use your soul as a spare in the meantime while this brat finally!” Snatched, extending her arms towards her.

“AAH! Just leave me alone!” Mustache Girl ran away from the room, scared

“That’s what I thought.” Snatcher said.

“This one!” Hatkid finally pointed out.

“Oh? Want to reopen some old wounds? That’s fine by me!” He laughed off and kicked over to the floor, while opening a gate to one of Hatkid’s memories. She was going to fight the two directors of Dead Bird Studio, at the same time.

This would surely make her kick the bucket! He could feel it so close, and he would finally get her soul. It would be soon, he knew it.

To his surprise though, the girl ended up defeating both birds on her first try. She came back from the gate into her room, and extended her hard looking for her reward.

Snatcher brought the costume from deep into a small dimensional space he had access as a ghost. “You know kid, I saw one of your movies once. It was in the bargain bin, and I didn’t buy it!” He laughed while handing over the clothes, hiding his frustration.

Hatkid put the costume on her closet and then checked the map back again. Eh, whatever, he would get her sooner or later.

But that didn’t end up being any time soon either. Hatkid went through challenge to challenge, getting her rewards to a frustrating speed. She ended up getting hurt a couple of times at what Snatcher ended up laughing at, but at the end, she always came up victorious.

“I hope you enjoyed that one kiddo, because there is a lot more from what it came from!” Snatcher said between his teeth, giving her some clothes he had stitched on the go, at least the girl seemed to be enjoying the silly rewards he came up with, which gave him lots of opportunities to finally kill her for good.

Hatkid went back to the closet to put on the costume again, but she noticed that after collecting so many, she had run out of space. Well, it seemed she was going to have to save that one in the attic.

Snatcher saw this and decided to wait for her.

In the attic, Hatkid was looking for a trunk she used for safekeeping, when she found herself again with Mustache Girl who was sitting down with her back on the wall.

“Look kid.” She said while she saw her coming in. “Just leave alone here, it is over for me, really,”

Hatkid just opened up the trunk and left the clothes she just had gotten from Snatcher. Surely she wasn’t planning on staying in her ship, right?

“Isn’t there a way to turn back time with your pieces and… I don’t know, make everybody forget?” Hatkid shook her head.

“I mean, I am not even asking you to give them to me to fight bad guys! I just want people to forget what I did! Don’t you see?”

The girl with the hat thought about it for a second. She got some markers from her trunk and brought over a small whiteboard close to them, and started to write some illustrations and text over it.

“What are you doing?” Mustache Girl asked.

After a few minutes Hatkid finished writing on the board and pointed it out to Mustache Girl. It had a diagram of the Mustache Girl and some complicated math equations, as well some illustrations of what seemed to be timepieces and cone shaped drawings. There were some words that stuck out to Mustache Girl in particular, like “HORIZON OF EVENTS”, “TIMEPIECES”, “REWIND LIMITS” and a sentences that read “ANY MORE ALTERATION IN TIME RELATED TO THE JUSTICE WILL NOT WORK AGAIN DUE TO CORRECTION MEASURES USED TO SAVE THE WORLD!”

“So basically, are you saying that we can’t go back and alter anything in the past related to me, because you did to erase the things I did when I was trying to save the world?”

Hatkid frowned at that last sentence, but nodded as well at the rest.

“So basically, no matter what we do with the pieces, people will always… remember?” Mustache Girl sat down again leaning against the wall.

Hatkid sat down alone with her out of sympathy. She didn’t say anything to her, but she was hoping that perhaps she could find a way to cheer her up with her company alone.

“It couldn’t get worse than this. It just can’t.” She muttered. Was she crying again?

“HEY! KID!” Snatcher came in through the floor of the attic, his shadow creeping out until he was finally back to full height. “You were taking a while so I thought I would check you weren’t chicken out on me, are you?”

Hatkid just smiled at her and went back to pat Mustache Girl’s back, trying to comfort her.

“So… I guess we are not doing anything more today are we?” Snatcher asked, still not waiting for an answer from the quiet kid. “What’s wrong with her?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Mustache Girl looked back at him. “Why don’t you just go away before I kick your butt?” She said between tears. Damn, the girl seemed to be quite upset, but why? Oh well, who cared, what did Snatcher know about kids anyway? She was just an annoying brat, but… if anything, the events of a few months ago had shown him that the girl was as capable as Hatkid, perhaps sometimes more. Maybe…

“Okay, I’m done with this brat, but you are coming with me now!” Snatcher grabbed Mustache Girl over with his phantom arms.

“Ugh! What! No! Wait! Let me go!”

“Come on kid! There is work to do!” He laughed off and sent both of them to Subcon Forest.

To Hatkid everything happened so quickly that she almost didn’t have time to react. Did Snatcher just take Mustache Girl? Oh well, she would probably manage by herself… Although maybe she could go and check on her, out of curiosity.

She ran towards her bedroom and looked through the telescope, trying to calculate the location for the forest. It took a bit of time looking at the little planet, rotation, position in relation to the sun, and at the end she was able to find the place of those haunted woods. She set up the coordinates in her alien watch and teleported over.

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