Hat Kid stretches her arms out yawning. She makes her way over to her ship's pilot seat and looks over the immense control panel.
"So many different functions I've forgotten what they do. Reading the ship's manual would take at least a year, my memory has been so faded since I got here."
"Scyaaaa."
"No, Snappy, I was talking to the voices in my head."
"Going back to Earth would be kinda nice, I could see Snatcher and the minions again, though... everyone else would be dead. Mustache Girl would be really old considering if she hasn't gotten herself killed already. It's been 70 years since I met them and had a crazy journey to recover timepieces. They were all such obstacles wanting the timepieces... hm... greed, what can you do?"
"Scyaaaa."
"Yeah... I'm talking to you this time, Snappy." She pets his head to which she receives a happy expression; which pressures her to give one back to him.
Hat Kid gets up and goes to her room and stands over her diving board that leads to a pool of pillows. She gets a bouncing start but stops and just falls over into the pool pile softly.
"You know Snappy, I really only wear one outfit, always have. But I think it's time for a change of clothes." Hat Kid perks up out of the pillows and strolls over to her closet. After removing the skeletons from her closet; she ponders over the few choices she has. Hat Kid decides to go with a beige undershirt, yellow vest, and a purple tailcoat with a yellow bowtie. "Now I feel more grown up.... I guess."
"Now don't tell anyone this, Snappy, but all of my clothes are made out of state-of-the-art fiber that gives me more than enough protection on my body." She turns to look at herself in the mirror and pats around the scar below her right eye. "My face however is VERY vulnerable."
Hat Kid picks up Snappy and puts him into the hole in her hat. "You know you can fly right? You don't gotta be so lazy and sit in my hat."
"Scyaaaa." Hat Kid's ship alarm goes off and she overhears the ship shooting at something outside. She sprints to the main room and sees Grimm outside flying around trying to not get shot by the ship.
She panics, putting her hands on her head. "Ship! Stop firing and mark the creature as friendly."
"Copy." The ship responds.
Hat Kid opens the window and Grimm swoops right in. He looks over at Hat Kid with annoyance. "Nice new outfit"
"Oh why thank-" before Hat Kid can finish; Grimm grabs her sleeve. "Heyy, let go!" He lights it on fire and stops holding on. "Ahhh, why do these things keep happening to me!?" Hat Kid flails her arm, desperate to put the flame out. By the time she does; her sleeve is charred just like it was on her original outfit.
"That's for your ship shooting at me."
"Why!? I just put on this new outfit."
"I'm here to check on the child... and he seems verryy happy."
"I'd like to also think I'm more happy because of him."
"I care not for your happiness, child."
"Harsh."
Grimm dashes out the window; closing it. "Your dad can be a real jerk, Snappy."
"Scyaaaa." Hat Kid goes over to her main teleporter and pulls out a piece of paper and writes something on it in the language of Hallownest. She tapes it to a stack of 3 cookies she wrapped and places the package on the teleporter platform. She inputs some coordinates into the control panel. "Very complicated stuff, Snappy." With a zap; the items disappear from the platform.
Back in the quiet scenery of Dirtmouth, Elderbug gets the ever-loving geo scared out of him as Hat Kid's cookie appears from thin air. "Am I seeing things?" He picks it up and looks upon the note.
Sly come's dashing out of his shop with a giant nail in hand. "You screamed, are you in danger?"
"N-no... how are you carrying that massive thing?"
"Errr, adrenaline?" He drops the nail without another thought. "I'll drag that back inside later. What's happening?"
"Apparently, Hat Kid has left us a treat. It says "Please enjoy these delectable foods called cookies. They are for Elderbug, Sly, and Myla who is in one of the houses in Dirtmouth."
Sly walks over to look at the note. "What a thoughtful Kid. It even has her signature... at least I think it's a signature." You know how Hat Kid's signature looks right?
Back on the ship, the glowing nail starts to glow even brighter. "Alright! I know I've avoided you long enough, I'll go see Seer. It's our turn to teleport out of here, you ready, Snappy?"
"Scyaaaa." Snappy jumps to the teleportation platform, accidentally hitting some coordinates and other buttons on the way with his tail. The teleporter begins charging up rapidly. "Snappy, no!" Hat Kid dash cloaks to Snappy and grabs him.
They get zapped though the teleporter and appear in a distinctly dark area.
"Snappy!" Hat Kid holds Snappy with terror on her face in the dark with only the glowing nail for a minimal amount of light. "Do you know how lucky we are to not have been teleported into a wall and exploded?"
"Scyaaaa." Snappy whimpers with a sad tone.
"Well I can say with certainty that we haven't exploded. The present time is what significantly matters the most, and in the present you're ok; and that's what matters."
"Our best choice is to go towards the surface." They start ascending through the remote darkness. Hat Kid rests, putting her hand on a nearby wall. "I'm hearing creepy noises and I don't want to know what they are." Her hand is met with resistance as she tries to take it off the wall. "Uhh, excuse me." She tugs violently and falls backwards. She looks at her hand to see it full of torn webs. "Why oh why does it have to be spiders?!" Infected weaver spiders start creeping out of the darkness towards Hat Kid and Snappy. "Nope!" Hat Kid grabs Snappy and starts nimbly climbing till she reaches a dead end. "Peck, we're dead." She looks around desperately as she hears weavers getting closer. She spots a dim light over to her side and heads towards it. She scans the creatures and pulls up their info as she runs by them.
The timewatch says, "Nimble spider that traverses its domain on thin strands of web. Often waits in ambush..."
"Yeah that makes sense." Hat Kid says as she slaps some weavers out of the way to reach the entrance to the room.
She hears something as if someone is chipping away at bone.
"Calamatooo teleseneee." The creature beyond speaks.
Hat Kid sees the lumbering creature shaping masks and tossing them to a pile. "Hello there, sir."
"A mask, a mask, I provide to those who have not a face and those whose face they wish not to have."
"Ooh, a riddle?" Hat Kid smiles.
"Then riddle me this, kid, what is a dream piercer and a nightmare collector doing way down here?"
Hat Kid and Snappy look at each other with confusion. "You're talking about us right?"
"I believe I am, kid."
"What did you mean by dream piercer?"
"Do you know not the power you possess?" The Mask Maker say's rushedly as he chips away at masks.
Hat Kid takes notice to the gleaming nail on her side. "This... pierces dreams?"
"Indeed; indeed. Tell me, do you know the power masks hold."
"Yes, actually I do. I don't have my fox mask with me but believe me, I know the power of hats and masks."
"Very well then, fake trouper." The Mask Maker takes out 2 jars, one with bright blue orbs and one with bright orange orbs. Hat Kid feels a bit disturbed seeing that the orbs appear to be moving around inside the jar. The Mask Maker crawls over to Hat Kid and stares into her eyes.
"Ok, that's too close, man." The Mask Maker slowly removes his mask to reveal his leaking black eyes. Hat Kid keeps staring and gets an uneasy feeling inside.
"Hahahaha!" The Mask Maker cackles and crawls back to his jars. He puts the orange orb jar away and opens the one with blue orbs; plucking one out quickly. He puts it up to Hat Kid's face as it scampers around in his large claw. "A life seed." He crushes it in his hand; splattering some of the blue liquid in Hat Kid's face.
"Blegh!" Hat Kids wipes it off her face.
"Hahaha!" The Mask Maker picks up a mask from the pile of inventory and proceeds to smear his liquid-covered claw over the eye holes, creating the grimm troupe pattern. "The mask itself holds no power, it is merely a vessel to hold another power, what that power is; is up to you kid. Although I recommend you look into the power of that gleaming blade of yours. The nearest stag station is deep down in the distant village so samu whe na la."
Hat Kid and Snappy leave, continuing back down where they came from to look for the distant village. They go through some narrow paths in the dark fending off weavers. She strikes down a husk; collecting it's geo and continuing without another thought. Hat Kid hears rustling behind her and turns her head slowly out of fear of what she'll see. She holds the point of her nail out at the rustling corpse as it shakes, filling Hat Kid with anxiety.
"Don't do it, don't do ih heh it." She whines with fear.
Multiple long legs sprout from the corpse and teeth rip out of the chest as it scuttles at Hat Kid.
"Back you filthy beast!" She keeps it at bay as Snappy shoots flames at it. The creature weakens from the flames and Hat Kid finishes it off.
They continue till Hat Kid hears some grumbling in the distance. "We should investigate, right?" They strike down another husk and Hat Kid stares at the corpse. "Is it truly dead now? You know I didn't used to have to ask that question, Snappy."
"Scyaaaa."
She follows the sound to find Zote tangled in webs.
"Look what the weaver dragged in, if it isn't Zote the Mighty." Hat Kid says smugly.
"Spare me the theatrics, cur, I will not beg you for assistance."
"Suit yourself." She says walking away.
"B-but I would be willing to pay you for your service."
"I would have helped you for free if you just asked... but it's a start." She cuts him loose and spots something watching them. Zote hands her some geo. "Hey, Zote, you see that? It looks like... Bow Kid!"
She starts chasing after Bow and Zote follows behind. "Um, who is this Bow Kid you speak of, cur."
"She's my friend, she must've come looking for me."
"Ha, come to this fallen kingdom for you? I laugh."
"Ugh, just go away then."
"No no, I must see how this plays out."
They eventually come to a narrow entrance. "She's just beyond here, Zote."
"I don't believe it but I seek truth in darkness; so I'll get to the bottom of this."
They reach a large room and Hat Kid spots Bow Kid standing with her back facing her. "Bow!"
"Uh, kid, wait-" She's already running and grabs Bow Kid. "Is it really you?" She starts tearing up. "Bow?" Bow turns her head, her eyes blink but her body seems lifeless.
"Hey, kid, I really don't think that's your friend!" Zote yells from afar.
Long sharp legs start spouting out of Bow Kid's hands and legs. Hat Kid and the parasite start screaming and screeching loudly over each other. Hat Kid's is of terror and the parasite's is of a warning terror.
Zote grabs Hat Kid and pulls her away, running to the exit. "Time to go, kid, even I can't fight something like that." The entrance gets shut off by dark webs that jerk out of the ground.
Hat Kid scans the creature with her timewatch as it slowly circles them. "What is this psychological terror?"
The timewatch speaks, "Nosk: In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong."
"Whoever made that journal sure knew what they were talking about."
"Alright, cur, now's our time to do or die."
"I-I can't attack my friend."
Zote jumps up and grabs her face. "That is not your friend, kid-ahhh" The creature snatches up Zote in it's clawed mouth and starts trying to crack his head shell open.
Hat Kid is shaking and reminds herself of what the journal said. "Know yourself and stay strong." She takes a moment to prepare herself as Zote squirms helplessly. "Ok, Snappy, you need to distract it."
"Scyaaaa." Snappy starts flying around spitting fire; drawing the creature's attention. It starts swinging at Snappy with it's piercing legs.
Hat Kid prepares a great slash as she walks up to the distracted Nosk stealthy. It turns it's mimicked Bow Kid head towards Hat Kid and drops Zote from its mouth. Hat Kid hesitates to attack her mimicked friend as it stares into her soul. It screams and Hat kid releases her arm swiftly, screaming back; closing her eyes and slicing the mimicked Bow Kid's head clean off, splattering infected orange blood across her face.
"Oh the horror, the psychological horror." She says traumatized as Bow's head is at her feet in the dark. But that just made Nosk reveal it's longer legs and large infected stomach. She starts stabbing at it till she punctures it and it starts leaking. It slams Hat Kid to the ground and she holds her nail sideways, blocking Nosk from stabbing her. She pushes against Nosk preparing a cyclone slash. Zote starts poking at the open wound Nosk has with "Life Ender", urging it to focus on Zote. This prompts Hat Kid to get up and release her cyclone slash, tearing the already wounded stomach to pieces. Nosk gradually falls to the ground struggling to stay up as it's stomach leaks bright infected blood on the dark floor.
"Whether you asked for this life or not, Nosk, your terror ends here." As Nosk's body goes lifeless; Hat Kid looks around to see shadows of strung up bodies that fell victim to the lure of hope like she did, but only she managed to survive; thankfully to her companion and temporary companion.
Zote scoots over to a worn out Hat Kid. "Haha, you were so terrified of that creature."
"Yes, I was." She rolls her eyes at him.
"Well I wasn't, because I win my battles, otherwise I do not engage in them."
"You know you didn't have a choice to fight, right? Otherwise once I was dead you were next to fall victim."
"Not a scratch on me though."
She looks over at Zote to see his shell head full of scrapes and scratches. "Right." she says sarcastically, rubbing some of the orange blood from her hand onto his face. "Hahahahahahaha" Hat Kid starts maniacally laughing like The Snatcher until she slowly calms down and passes out on the dirty ground next to Snappy and Zote.