Hat Kid follows Oro back to his home.
Oro turns his head back to Hat Kid. "Why are you following me? I have nothing for you."
"Yes you do."
Oro looks at her hat and sees the nail art icons. "Oh, you're here for that." He sits down on the floor of his home.
Hat Kid sits down alongside him. "So, master Oro, how do you do such a technique as the dash slash?"
"You don't have to be so formal, uhh..."
"Hat Kid, or kid if you will."
"Well, Hat Kid; It is the law of the Great Nailsage that I must pass down my teachings to those who are worthy. But no law forbids me from exacting a payment for my time."
"You're just as scammy as Sly."
"S-sly!"
"Yeah, Sly, you know him?"
"Hm, yeah... 800 geo and I'll teach you."
"I'm going bankrupt here." She hands him the geo and they both get up.
Oro equips his nail. "The dash slash takes great accelerated bursts of speed, do you possess such ability?"
"I believe I do."
"Then this will be much more pleasant to learn."
Oro has Hat Kid practice dashing with her mothwing cloak over pools of acid while swinging at precise moments. "You seem to adapt very well to any situation kid."
"That may be so; since I've explored many different worlds in my time, but I've still been super close to death while in this kingdom, I'm only not dead because others have saved me or spared my life."
"So you're just lucky?"
"Not entirely, I do have some survivability skills from my youth at the TTA."
"What's the TTA?"
"Not important."
Oro looks disappointed but that's how he always looks. "This time focus your energy when you swing sideways but you must do it with ferocity. Try it on that little hopper over there."
Hat Kid charges without hesitation, leaping with ferocity; dash slashing the hoppers legs off with a large swing. "You people are too good at coming up with clever ways to kill aren't you?"
"We do it to defend ourselves and others."
Oro looks up to where the bodies are falling from and hears the cheering of death. "They fight to the death for glory... what wasted potential."
"What exactly is up there?"
"A colosseum of fools that's what."
"Ha, that was funny."
"No, It's literally called the colosseum of fools, I don't know why they chose that name for it."
Hat Kid puts her parasol on her back and takes out her mantis claws. "See you in another time Oro." She begins parkour and climb up.
"Don't you just mean; another time?" Oro asks.
"I know what I said." Hat says with a smile, tilting her head.
A red blob appears from red mist with a torch. "Another one of you?" She jumps off and pierces her nail though it's body, riding it back down to the bottom of the kingdom's edge. It explodes into more red mist and drops it's torch. Snappy instantly starts absorbing the flames. "What is it with you and eating these guys's fire?"
"Scyaaaa."
"Whatever, let's head back up."
Hat Kid reaches the top area with the entrance to the colosseum of fools. "Time to check out... Timepiece, I can sense a timepiece."
She marks the rookie board with her signature and waits to be thrown into combat.
Soon after, a little bug comes with a stone tablet. "Is this your signature with the face and hat? I'm sorry but I can't possibly understand the name."
"Yes, that's me."
"Ok, Lord Fool is ready to see you perform in the arena."
Hat Kid dusts herself off and adjusts her hat. Entering the arena, the gates shutting, she see's Lord Fool on his throne with the timepiece in hand. She rushes towards him in the audience but a cage lowers, blocking her easy acquiring of a timepiece. "Peck!"
Lord Fool stands up. "Lady's and fools! Our grand prize for the vanquishing of our champion is this shiny floating object. So do or die, combatants. Our first fight is between our rookie; the lady with a hat and the gray prince!" Hat Kid forms up for her battle to the death. "No backing out now, Snappy."
The crowd is silent. "Let's do some theatrics, shall we, Snappy?" She clears her throat. "Ahahahah! fooooools!" The crowd stays silent. Hat Kid laughs nervously. The crowd erupts with bloodlust cheering.
The combatant cage rises from below with the gray prince inside.
"We must be ferocious if we're going to win that timepiece, perhaps we'll die here and our bodies will be dumped below like the others... we're so dead."
"Scyaaaa!"
"It's ok, fear leads to anger and anger can give you focus, making you stronger... er so I read somewhere."
The gray prince bursts out with nail in hand; ready to strike down the weakling before him.
"Z-Zote!" Hat Kid stutters in shock.
Zote is unfazed at seeing his former temporary companion. "Moodevar! Ah, you. I will strike you down with life ender for glory and nothing more."
Hat Kid rushes at Zote picking him up by his horn and grabs life ender right out of his hand.
Lord Fool laughs with excitement. "Stab him through the eye!"
Zote squirms around trying to free himself from Hat Kids grasp.
"Zote, listen carefully if you want to leave this place alive."
"Beg for mercy, cur."
"I suggest you play dead and I'll drag your body out of here with me and let you go."
"I will not surrender, cur, now face me!"
"You are so delusional." Hat Kid beats him in his shell till she knocks him out. "Alright! Who's next!" She yells out in frustration.
Lord Fool stands up. "We have a winner! Take a rest and do come back; lady with the hat."
Hat Kid walks out of the gates and sits down. She closes her eyes for a quick rest. "I'm pecking straining myself out here, I need to go back to my ship and have another good rest like before."
She can hear other combatants entering from the other side. "Fools."
She opens her eyes with anger and frustration. "I left Zote's body on the arena field, I am so not put together right now."
She hears an uncommon noise coming from the arena. "What could be spinning so fast to make such a sound in this primitive kingdom? A buzzsaw maybe?" She gets back up and heads for the gates to spectate.
Hearing more noise and bashings, Hat Kid looks out of the gates to see none other than Tiso.
Tiso is remotely controlling his razor shield to spin as fast as a saw blade; while he moves it around tele-magnetically. "Oh hey, kid, this guy just won't sit still will he? Even with my levitating razor shield; I can hit him but only for a split second, I can see the tiny marks it's made but it's just not enough to hurt him before he teleports." He says dodging an infected soul ball.
"I have just the solution, Tiso, lace your shield in the liquids of this thing, It counters the soul magic." She throws him one of her lifeseeds.
"Oh, alright." Tiso cuts open the lifeseed with his razor shield and rubs it's liquids around it. Tiso quickly moves his shield around in the air to block the infected soul balls. The soul warrior, mini dash slashes at Tiso who dives to the side and sends his razor shield at him. The razor shield, now laced with lifeblood, hits the soul warrior, not allowing him to teleport anymore; slicing his guts as it pins him to the wall. Tiso stops spinning the shield and moves in closer to the soul warrior. Tiso lifts his hand to the barley living bug. The bug accepts Tiso's mercy and goes to grab his hand. Before he can, Tiso's hand turns to a fist, prompting his shield to start spinning again, mauling the bug's guts even more, extinguishing his life without another thought.
Hat Kid's jaw drops. "Oh nooo... what have I unleashed onto this land." Hat Kid whispers in fear. "Tiso, you cold blooded psycho; do you enjoy killing!?" She yells from behind the gates.
"Whenasa, It's a thrill, don't you think so?!"
"No! I kill to survive, I never enjoy it... other than that time I pushed a mafia man off a roof but... I was young and dumb! I think you should sit the next fight out and rethink your choices. What would your partner in the ADT think if she knew you were committing genocide on fools?"
"I'm doing this for her!"
"What? How!?" Hat Kid questions immensely.
Tiso points to Lord Fool. "The timepiece, child."
"First of all, I thought we were past calling me child. Second, what do you know about timepieces?"
"You've been holding out, kid. It took a while but I translated some of the books in your library and read that they can reverse time. Kid, I can save her, I can save Tessa from her demise in Isma's Grove with such power."
"Timepieces don't work in Hallownest, Tiso, don't you think I would have tried to save this kingdom with them if I could?"
"Whatever, child, If there's even a chance, I have to try, so don't get in my way."
"Timepieces are unpredictable Tiso, I can't risk you messing with unpredictable time. Please come with me and calm down, understand why you are unable to change the past in this kingdom."
"Send her in Lord Fool."
Lord Fool stands up. "At the request of Tiso for such entertaining carnage portrayed; I'll allow it. Send in the lady with the hat!"
The gates open and a wall falls and moves toward Hat Kid, forcing her into the arena.
Hat Kid approaches Tiso, both ready for a duel to the death. Hat Kid gives him a look of worry... for the both of them.
Tiso starts up his razor shield, which makes a humming sound in the silent crowd. "I'm going to lacerate you, child!"
They start circling each other slowly, Hat Kid watching for where he might send his shield. "Don't hurt him Snappy, pacifying him didn't work so I'm going to try to subdue him. If that doesn't work, I cut his hand off from his wrist so he no longer has the band to control the shield. Worst case scenario... I kill him quickly and swiftly without hesitation."
Tiso spins his shield in a cyclone slash like fashion causing Hat Kid to dive for cover. Tiso quickly throws his shield sideways through the cage towards Lord Fool. He quickly stops spinning his shield and scoops up the timepiece.
Lord Fool gets angry but makes no effort to move. "What are you doing, Tiso?! You didn't earn that!"
Tiso carefully brings his shield back to him. He turns his head to see Hat Kid diving for the timepiece. "Sedemach, child!"
He moves his shield too late and Hat Kid tips the shield causing the timepiece to launch a little. "Noo!" Hat Kid yells.
The timepiece shatters open on Zote's head. "By my hat... gray!... on Zote!" Hat Kid says. The timepiece is shattered near Zote and a gray rift hovers over him. "Getting that timepiece is a suicide mission, all you, Tiso."
"Hm, why? What does gray mean?"
"I ain't telling you." She says angry with her arms crossed.
"Fine, I'll go, it can't be that bad." Tiso jumps into the rift.
Hat Kid uncrosses her arms. "Ahhhggg, I can't let him die in there. Gray goes into the conscience of whoever it hits in the head... and brings to life how they truly see themselves."
"Scyaaaa."
She shutters and goes after Tiso and the timepiece in the gray rift.
Once inside, she see's Tiso searching around in darkness. Purple flames light up the darkness and a large figure falls from above. Gray Prince Zote emerges with vigor; ready to crush it's foes.
"Of course, of course this is how he seems himself." Hat Kid says.
Tiso starts attacking with his shield; barely making a mark. "Not even I think of myself this highley."
Zote starts summoning flying, jumping, and exploding zoteling minions.
"What even manifested these abominations?" Hat Kid says as she fights off a flying one. Zote starts flailing his large wood nail which only sends Tiso flying. Hat Kid tries stabbing at the gray prince but it's as if he's a hard liquid. Tiso sends his razor shield at Zote's wood nail and starts tearing it to splinters.
"Sutar!" Zote bellows. He starts jumping around creating shockwaves. Hat Kid falls over on the ground and Zote comes in from above to crush her. She shrieks with fear as she's about to die. As she shrieks, howling wraiths emerge from Hat Kid and the spirits stagger and knock Zote on his back.
Hat Kid starts laughing anxiously, "Get out of my head you witchcraft!"
While Tiso is busy killing zotelings, Hat Kid jumps on Zote and grabs him by the horns. He trashes around carelessly and crashes into one of his exploding minions. His shell cracks open and his body turns to a black vapor, disappearing into the endless darkness.
Hat Kid lies with her face on the mysterious black surface. Snappy floats over to her head and nudges her to get up. She looks up as blood rolls down the side of her head to see it. The timepiece's glistening glow just a bit in the far distance. She rises to her feet and starts limping to it.
Tiso comes from behind and punches her in the head, knocking her back down. "Don't make this hard, kid, stay down and in the end you'll be fine." Tiso proceeds to head toward the timepiece.
Hat Kid lifts her head again to see Snappy looking at her with sadness. "Snappy... get it, and when we exit from this rift, get behind me, if you become the last line of defense, make sure no one gets that timepiece." She whispers to Snappy before putting her head back down.
Snappy looks over at the timepiece and then back at Hat Kid who isn't moving, just breathing lightly. Snappy dashes towards the timepieces; hitting Tiso in the head on the way. "Nooo!" Tiso yells, sending his shield after Snappy who starts dodging for his life. Snappy manages to grab the floating timepiece and the realm lights up with blinding light.
All three of them are back in the Colosseum Of Fools on the floor. Snappy takes the recovered timepiece in his mouth and flaps to cover behind Hat Kid who's still on the floor. Tiso starts up his razor shield for execution of the lady with the hat.
She opens her eyes and arises with her nail to Tiso weakly.
Tiso stops in his tracks, "Out of the way, kid, I'm taking that timepiece."
"Don't make me severely hurt you, Tiso. If you want it, you're going to have to kill me."
Lord Fool yells to Tiso, "Kill her, kill her now!"
Tiso looks at the desperate and wounded Hat Kid. "So be it... time traveler."
Hat Kid tightens her grip with haste.
Tiso spreads his arm out and drops his shield to the ground, looking down with regret. Hat Kid slowly lowers her nail with her wobbling hand, her face smeared with her blood.
"I'm so sorry, kid..."
"I-It's ok, Tiso, we all lose ourselves sometimes."
The crowd boos with disappointment.
Tiso looks into Hat Kid's solace eyes... and then into just her right eye... within microseconds, Tiso rips Hat Kid's right eye straight out of its socket.
She falls flat on her back, screaming in agony; squirming in pain as the blood from her eye socket gushes out and down her face along with tears in the available eye.
The crowd gasps to silence for a moment, then erupts into thunderous cheer.
Tiso crushes her eyeball in his hand gently. As Tiso watches Hat Kid in torment, he sends his shield at Snappy who's trying to avoid him with the timepiece in his mouth.
Hat Kid tries to stable her mind while she's in excruciating pain. Hat Kid feels her body surge with aggressive energy and her functional eye turns from bright cyan to bright crimson. The fury of the fallen charm's magic has consumed her in her time of agonizing distress.
Hat Kid sweeps Tiso's leg, knocking him over.
Tiso picks himself up a little. "You just don't know when to die do you, child!?" He calls his shield back to him.
Hat Kid's ferocity comes out as she picks up her nail and starts ruthlessly striking his shield with all the new found raging strength. Tiso's shield stands no chance against Hat Kid's fury as the tele-magnets inside begin to spark. The crystal fuel inside explodes in Tiso's face with a pink and orange light, pushing both of them back.
Tiso stands up with his exhausted body and burnt face. He sees Hat Kid pointing her nail behind her. "W-what are you doing?" He says breathless.
Hat Kid dash slashes forward, cutting off Tiso's left leg with ease.
He falls over yelling in pain. "You insufferable, child!"
She turns around to see him crawling towards her and his shield. The bright crimson in her eye fades back to her natural cyan as she calms down and realizes the brutality she has committed. "You were my friend, Tiso... and now you're just another mindless husk."
"Help me, Hat Kid..." He says softly as his leg blood leaves a trail from him crawling.
With little to no remorse left in her, Hat Kid considers whether she should finish him off.
"I hate you, child!" He yells with rage.
Hat Kid takes the timepiece from Snappy.
Lord Fool throws a bag of geo into the arena. "Wonderful performance, lady with the hat."
Hat Kid picks it up and puts it in her hat. "Bring Zote's body; will you, Snappy?" Snappy starts dragging Zote to the exit.
The fighter gates on both sides of the arena open and more combatants enter, surrounding Tiso in a frenzy as he crawls for his life. Hat Kid limps out of the colosseum entrance with a fresh tear going down her cheek, not being able to watch the horror that would come to her former friend.