Capítulo 19: (Balancers of Time and Space)
Hat Kid's ship continues traveling through space, set on the destination of The Time Travelers Association HQ.
Hat Kid sits in a spinny chair at her table in her room. She writes in her diary. "I made it. I pecking made it out of that mad kingdom. I was met with such pain and suffering and yet... I'm glad most of it happened. It was definitely a different experience than just manipulating time. I actually had to fend things off... and talk to the locals, ugh. It reminds me of that time I lost all those timepieces on that one planet and made enemies along the way which isn't unusual... but they became some of my greatest friends later on. They were still a little rude to me afterwards but I reciprocated it. I still have to go back to Hallownest because I promised the princess that I'd help her find a living vessel... whatever that really means. If she thinks there is even a slight chance that the infection can be eradicated then I have to try, for the good citizens that still survive and try. Hornet, Elder Bug, Myla, Sly, The nailmaster brothers, and a few others. For now I'm going to take a break at the TTA headquarters. The only thing I regret is the loss of my right eye which has taught me-"
"Hey, Hat Kid!"
"GAh." Hat Kid slams her diary shut. "Don't do that, Hornet!"
Hornet looks at her happily. "What were you writing?"
Hat Kid looks over at her diary and hesitates to speak. "I was... writing in my diary."
"Wow, really? That sounds cool. I've wondered for a while but never asked... were you always a time traveler?"
"No, I was not... it's a story I don't really share but... tell me this Hornet... do you consider me a friend?"
"Of course, Hat Kid, do you think I don't?"
"I don't know. It's just that I've been told by the TTA that I'm too smug whenever I'm on the job and that it's unprofessional, and so I'm quite emotionless now but I try to be things other than smug, can't help it if I'm better than most people."
Hornet looks at her with annoyance. "You said that on purpose right?"
"Say what on purpose?" Hat Kid says, giving Hornet her smug expression.
"You better hope it was on purpose, kid! So please tell me about your life before time traveling. Oh! And tell me how you became one."
Hat Kid gets comfortable and takes a cookie out of her hat, giving it to Hornet. "The TTA recruited me when I discovered a timerift and uh... some chaos happened."
Hornet gets jumpy in her seat.
"Ok ok relax. So back on my home planet when I was 154 years old, I ran away from home because my parents hated me... everyone hated me."
Hornet takes a bite of her cookie. "My mom really loved me but I could never tell with my dad."
"Right; so I ran out to the forest with my thoughts. On the way I discovered a long red string on the ground leading deeper into the immeasurable forest trees which was... weird obviously, a string in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, me being me; I followed it through the forest for some reason. I came to a cliff where the string floated off into the sky... and some freaky looking guy came up to me. His skin was pale blue and his eyes were shot red. He said, "Hello moo-… su-…"
"W-what?" I responded.
"Hmm, hello strange child, why do you cry?" He asked.
I told him, "My mom, s-she... What's your name?"
He told me, "There's no need for my name, there's no need for anything when you're in the horizon, won't you join me?"
I said, "I don't have time for that."
"Time! Time! Time is the enemy I say... I'd destroy time itself if I wasn't trapped here in the horizon. Now join me!"
"At that point he was able to maneuver some of his red stings and wrap them around my legs. He pulled me off the cliff and tried pulling me up to him in the sky but I managed to slip out. Was that the best idea while I was dangling above a cliff, no. Was it better then whatever was going to happen if he pulled me into the sky with him... maybe. So I fell screaming, the first time of many haha. Instead of hitting the ground and shattering all 46 bones in my body, I fell into a timerift. I woke up in a desert full of snails and there were 49 other me's. My memory during that time is so out of whack but I think all the me's started fighting to the death. That split in space and time alerted the TTA to my presence and they arrived in like an hour. There were a total of 50 Hat Kids, that's crazy! Can you imagine 49 other me's running around killing each other. I was the only sane me and I was terrified. The CEO of time, Tim, came to my aid. He said my soul was severely split so he injected me with something all time travelers were given. It was one of the weirdest feelings I tell yea. It put my soul back into one body. That's why my blood is bright cyan, it keeps me from splitting my soul and also meeting a younger me in the past. The rest of the Hat Kids disappeared into nothingness once that happened. Tim took me back to the main HQ and did a test on me to see if I had a sense for timepiece power or if it was just random that I found that rift. Turns out I did have a sense for them... I mean... it was an accident that I found that one rift but that's not the point. So they recruited me against my will, but it's something I would have chosen to do anyway, it gave me a purpose."
Hornet stares at Hat Kid in silence and Hat Kid stares back.
"Oh... that was wild! Thank you for sharing that with me. Um... what kinds of places have you been to since you became a time traveler?"
"I've been to plenty of worlds but never really had to converse with anyone expect the bugs of Hallownest of course, and this one planet in which I lost all my timepiece fuel and took down a mafia boss, got into show biz, had my soul stolen, which was an obvious problem. I caused a plague, and took down an insane mustached girl... I never did learn her name. To be fair I never asked since I never talked much back then. I was only 168 years old, I was just trying to get home but nooooo; taxes are in every galaxy!"
Hornet slides over and pats Hat Kid on the back. "Alright, relax yourself please, I don't wanna have to restrain you again."
Hat Kid sighs, "Time travelers are a team crew but I'm very independent since... people don't really like me, except a select few. I did also have a penguin fanbase... why did you come to my room in the first place?"
"Oh, Snappys', hungry."
Hat Kid and Hornet leave the room and enter the kitchen where Snappy is waiting.
"Scyaaaa." Snappy hisses, showing some fire in his mouth.
"Hey, boy." Hat Kid says petting his head. "Sorry to make you wait. Let's get you something to eat."
Hat Kid looks over some leftovers. "I really wish Cooking Cat was here to make something delicious."
Hat Kid takes some ingredients out and begins cooking them in a pot while stirring it. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Hat Kid opens a cabinet and takes out a chef's hat and puts it on. After accidentally setting the food on fire, Hat Kid serves up some slightly burnt subsistence. Hornet and Snappy eat it with a smile. Snappy burns his a little more to get a better crunch.
Hat Kid's timewatch beeps as she's about to take a bite of her food. "Oh, we're arriving." She says putting her void hat back on.
The ship docks at the floating space utopia known as the TTA HQ.
"Snappy, you wait here okay? Hornet, you're with me."
Hat Kid rips off the wood from the broken part of her ship's windshield and dives through the hole to hit the ground with a flip in style. A ship mechanic looks at her with confusion. "You got some identification?" They ask Hat Kid.
"Yeah, here you go." Hat Kid pulls up her id on her timewatch.
"Welcome back Hai-"
"Bap!" Hat Kid cries out.
"Oh sorry... Hat Kid..." The mechanic says cautiously.
"Thank you... oh and can you infuse a new glass window door for me and also stock me up on timepiece fuel, thanks."
"Hold on a minute, where have you been? Your tracker went offline and you've been considered M I A. I mean, I can see why but I'm still curious."
"Not important but don't worry, I'm going to see the council now."
Hat Kid and Hornet continue walking through the mildly futuristic city headquarters. "Hey, Hat Kid, why did they not seem concerned with how beat up you look?" Hornet asks.
"Things happen to us on the job all the time, so my appearance really shouldn't surprise anyone."
"Can I also ask how timepieces work?"
"Yes please, ask away, we time travelers love to educate others on how we do things. Only our CEO, Tim; is able to travel to another dimension with the use of his friend; who might I now say looks like their considerably made out of void. Anyway, Tim brings the glowing sands of time back with him and we use them inside our special hourglasses we created for many things such as our ship fuel, traveling through time, stopping time, and a few other things. In the wrong hands they're more dangerous than time itself."
"You people make my home civilization look so primitive."
"Haha, of course we do. I act nice because I have to, but I hate just about everyone here."
Without another word, Hat Kid covers her lifeblood eye and face scar with the brim of her hat. "Hey Timmy!" Hat Kid shouts with a shy smile.
"Hi Hailey, love the new outfit." Timmy says and continues walking.
"T-thanks..." Hat Kid mumbles.
Hornet looks over to Hat Kid. "Who's Hailey?"
Hat Kid continues to be staring into space. "Ugh, I'm a pecking idiot."
"What...? Oh I get it!"
"Yeah yeah keep it to yourself, Hornet... The blue markings on his face glow sometimes due to his modified blood, he's pretty cool... He's around my age, about 238 or something."
"Alright alright stop obsessing and let's get a move on; I want to get back to Hallownest and-"
Hat Kid grabs Hornets shoulders with a tight grip. "Listen here, spider! I was trapped in your insane kingdom for who knows how long. I lost so much of myself physically; and mentally. I'm lucky to be able to feel such emotion at this point. So don't rush me, I'm in no state to feel sympathy." Hat Kid explains with a calm but angry tone.
"Y-yeah ok, Hat Kid. You take your time, girl."
Hat Kid takes a deep breath and loosens her grip. They make their way to the archives and Hat Kid begins uploading the data she collected. Hat Kid scrolls through the console for the correct system. "Outcasts and prisoners... The Shapeshifter. The Moonjumper... That name gives me an eerie feeling like I know who that is from before I was a time traveler, files locked; why?! Oh forget it."
After more scrolling and searching, Hat Kid begins uploading. "Planet history's, that's the one. I'm sure someone will decipher the stuff Monomon wanted me to take. I'm also uploading my conversation with Lemm about the history of Hallownest which the machine will transcript. Now that that's done, we can enjoy some luxuries after one more little check up."
Hat Kid and Hornet make their way to the council chambers. They enter to find Tim alone, floating with relaxation. He notices Hat Kid instantly and stands up. "Hailey, you're alive!"
"Pfft, like you ever cared." Hat Kid mutters.
"Your friend Beatrice went looking for you once your tracker went offline. I can see now why that happened. We can talk about a replacement eye for you later. Why have you come to the counsel?"
"Just to check up. Where's the rest of the counsel?" Hat Kid asks.
"They're off doing business. I'd ask where you've been but we have an emergency and you're the perfect person for the job."
"Ahhh... I was really hoping I'd get to rest right now."
"No time for that. An anomaly has been detected on planet 10 dash 5 dash 2017. A time barrier was created around the planet so there's no way to manipulate it. You are very familiar with this planet since you had to collect all the timepieces from it... serves you right after losing so many there in the first place."
"You did not just-"
Hornet puts her arm calmly on Hat Kid's shoulder. "It's fine, I'll help you in any way I can, kid."
Hat Kid smiles at her and turns back to Tim. "Alright, I'm going and I'll solve whatever's happened there, and not for your sake ,Tim."
Hat Kid and Hornet head back to the ship. "That guys' always screwing up. He allowed millions of our timepieces to scatter across the universe. Like I said, we time travelers are a team crew. We specialize in different things. Some of us are better at finding and collecting timepieces while others are better at changing fate in the past, or even creating new technologies to help us."
"So you guys stop major terrible events from happening?"
"Yes, but we can't just go take down some tyrannical leader whenever we feel like it; there's rules. We have to think about the consequences that might come with it, and there have been... a few screw ups."
"I suppose that makes sense." Hornet says.
They make it back and enter the freshly fueled and repaired ship. Hat Kid says hi to Snappy and prepares for take off. "Next stop... planet 10 dash 5 dash 2017. A planet that I actually don't hate." Hat Kid's ship un-docks from the HQ and zips into space through time.
Status de energia semanal
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