Hat Kid's mind is seeing darkness in her dream, as some dreams are just that. She sees an orange mist start to form. She hears an echoed scream but not like the one from the black and red creature, this one is of pain and suffering. She jolts awake panting; eyes wide and full of fear.
Elder bug still standing where he was before looks over with concern. "Oh my! You scared the geo out of me." Hat Kid laughs and wonders to herself if that's possible. She takes a deep breath, gaining her composure back. "Y-you okay, Hat Kid?" Elder Bug stutters with fear and concern.
Hat Kid shutters. "Y-yeah, I think I'm good." She gets up off the metal bench. "I should go to Sly's shop, I'll be back." Hat kid enters Sly's front door.
She hears an eager voice. "Patabas geo." A bug behind a counter says with excitement.
"Guess my translator doesn't know everything, but I do know geo means currency." Hat Kid says nicely. "You must be Sly, I'm Hat Kid."
"I am Sly, what business of it is yours, do you come for trade or something more?"
"Um... I come for trade I guess."
"Ah, lovely, what do you need?"
"I need a new nail... that's what it's called right?"
"Yes, a nail; an ancient weapon of Hallownest, yet still used today. I can see your's there is very dull and rusted. I'll take your geo and get you a shiny one which is standard issue for only 1000 geo." Hat Kid hands Sly 6 geo. "Kid... your kidding right?" Hat Kid shakes her head. Sly sighs, "Well I can't let a Kid die because I'm greedy. Alright, I'll give you the new nail and when you have enough geo you come straight back here and pay me, understand, kid?"
"Wow! Really? Ok, thanks Sly." Hat Kid takes the new nail and runs out to Elder Bug to show him her new killing machine. "Look, Elder Bug, I got a new nail."
"Lovely, I think that will be much more useful than that old one."
"Goodbye Elder Bug, I hope I see you again soon." Hat Kid says as she runs down to the well. She sees Elder Bug wave as she opens her parasol and prepares to float down. Hat Kid gives a smile back before jumping down the well, back to the forgotten crossroads.
Hat Kid starts walking down the grey roads with her parasol in one hand and her new nail in the other. "I crave blood right now... and not the drinking kind." More infected Husks come her way and she begins to strike them down with ease. "YES! This is the adrenaline I need!" A husk with a nail and shell shield approaches. Hat Kid blocks it's strike with her new nail then quickly knocks it off balance with her parasol and jabs her nail into its side; leaving it to crawl as it bleeds out. "That might have been a biiiit brutal... oh well, it's not like it could have been saved hehehe... maybe I am a monster. It's not like I want to kill, okay... and now I'm talking to myself, great."
"I'm listing." Says a voice from above.
"Gah, who's there." Hat Kid says pointing her nail around in search of the voice.
"Me, Tiso, and who might you be?"
"Ahhhh, I'm Hat Kid."
"Well Hat Kid; I can tell you're a great warrior like me based on that blue scar of yours... that or you're a terrible fighter. Either way, you could use some improvements."
"Oh really, like what."
"Well that parasol of yours is a bit of a waste of space... it does no damage I mean."
"But this parasol saved me from falling to my death, I think it's good luck that I grabbed it."
"Well then maybe you can combine it with your nail." Tiso leans forward with his hand out. "May I?"
"Um, sure," Hat Kid says with a look of suspicion. She gives Tiso her nail and parasol. Tiso cuts the top of Hat Kids parasol off and attaches her nail's hilt and a bit of the blade though the middle with some web.
"Webs? Oh no, does that mean there's big spiders here?"
"Yes and no, the weavers have left Hallownest but what they created in this kingdom still remains I was told. The only spiders left are wild and infected." Tiso hands back the new weapon to Hat Kid. "Hat Kid, may I ask you to help me take down a thief."
Well I'm no crime fighting time traveler she thinks to herself, but... "Sure, maybe they have something of use."
Tiso leads the way while Hat Kid follows behind. Hat Kid uses her new nail to attack at a greater range, keeping herself safer. "Wow... Tiso this combination is great!"
"ngak sehleh mak."
"Whatever that means." Hat Kid whispers to herself. She sees Tiso using his only weapon which is a shield to bash infected bugs around. "Why don't you use something sharper like a nail because that shield doesn't seem to offer much offensively."
"Ah child..." He bashes a bug. "You underestimate my weapon, for it can do much more, but I like the challenge against these weak bugs." Hat Kid decides it's best to not question Tiso's weapon anymore. They reach a large room and Tiso gets on one knee. "Child, you must go to the center of the room to lure the thief out."
"Why can't you do it?"
"You look weak and feeble compared to me and that will make the thief want to flatten you."
"Fine." Hat Kid casually walks to the center of the room and looks back at Tiso who gives her a thumbs up. A large figure comes crashing through the ceiling. "Ahhh!" Hat Kid, expecting a small creature to be the thief, is met with a large grey armored beetle with a mace.
"Woh samah!" Tiso springs into action, bashing the big bug in it's helmet repeatedly trying to loosen it. Hat Kid dodges the bug's swings and strikes at it when it's safe as it fails to shake Tiso off. The false knight starts banging the ground back and forth, cracking the roof and causing debris to fall around. Hat Kid barley dodges the crumbling roof which sends her to the ground rolling. Tiso perks his head up distracted. "Kid!" He's grabbed by the False Knight and thrown to the hard floor. Tiso is forced to the defensive as the False knight leaps into the air preparing to come down with full force. Hat Kid picks her head up, her vision blurry as she reaches her hand out to Tiso who is about to be crushed. Tiso hurls his shield at the helmet of the False Knight, knocking it off. This puts an end to the False Knight from coming down with a powerful blow as it's now dazed, vulnerable and concerned. Tiso's shield returns to him at sonic speed. Tiso quickly holds his shield in front of him as the bug rapidly pummels it with it's mace. Hat Kid picks up her hat and weapon while watching Tiso run out of time before his shield breaks. She wobbles over and jumps on top of the False Knight. The bug unaware of Hat Kid, is stabbed in the neck a few different times; the bug now in shock; the armor falls over to which the bug inside falls out with it's stubby legs flailing as it dies.
Tiso stands up tall looking beat up and inspects his shield which has been cracked. "Child, this fight was definitely a worthy battle of my time, you can take whatever the armor may have because I'm just in it for the thrill."
"Is your shield still good?"
"Not to worry, kid, I can easily repair it; my species made them after all."
"I really should have asked what we were up against because I thought we would be taking down a small bug like the one that fell out of the armor."
"Yes, it appears it was a maggot that was using the armor that belonged to one of the Pale Kings champions."
"How do you know so much about Hallownest."
"I was told much about the history of Hallownest by a bug named Lemm in the capital city, but the way I got in and out has collapsed so you will need a new way in."
Hat Kid starts to loot the False Knight and finds lots of geo along with a fancy looking stone. "Your passion and pride for battle is going to get you killed one day Tiso."
"I can't say I like your choice of words, battling is my only passion, if I felt passionate doing something else, I would do it." Hat Kid gives him a worrying look but he doesn't notice it. "This was a great battle, hopefully we met again for another wonderful challenge, child." Tiso takes off and waves goodbye.
"Bye? Just like that?" Hat Kid continues her journey back to the well and goes in the opposite direction of which she came.
A new scenery creeps into her field of view. This land is full of life. She is very calmed by the greenery and plants which is a nice change of pace from the dark and dirty Forgotten Crossroads. The sound of little critters rustling in the grass is never ending here on this green path. She feels the presence of something magical and it's not magical engineering like her stuff.