Okay so the Hookshot would've been even cooler if it could be used like a whip attack or it could just grab things instead of being used just for platforming. There's a lot of potential there!

What's great about being an author is that you can HARNESS that potential.

Not like that's a little bit important to the chapter or anything.

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Hat Kid was realizing just how much of her adventure involved falling.

First, she fell into space and crashed into the planet, along with all her timepieces. Every time she warped from the ship to the planet, she fell from the sky and dropped into the place. Even in rifts she would drop into the hatch and into a new room.

Now she was falling again, plummeting at a breakneck pace toward Alpine Skyline.

Fortunately for her, though, she stuck the landing every time.

Hat Kid neatly landed on her feet, and her cape settled around her properly. She adjusted her hat, finding not a hair out of place. An excellent entrance, as always.

Elliot didn't fare so well. At some point during the fall, his hand had slipped out of hers. Was he still falling?

Hat Kid looked up, saw the answer, and sidestepped. A second later, Elliot landed where she used to be. He stumbled awkwardly on his feet and pitched forward, hitting the ground with only one arm to protect him. The other was still dutifully keeping the crown on his head.

"How... how did that not kill us?" he asked, breathless. Shaking, he pushed himself to his feet with his free hand and dusted his clothes.

"Just because my teleportation is messy doesn't mean it's not safe," Hat Kid answered vaguely.

She let Elliot take a few deep breaths to calm himself down before moving again. "Alright. Follow me."

Elliot made a surprised noise behind her, but he caught up quickly enough. He lowered his hand from his crown as he surveyed their new surroundings. "What is this place?" he asked, eyes wide with astonishment.

"Some place called Alpine Skyline." Hat Kid glanced around the area. Her eyes widened slightly as well.

Besides Subcon, it was the most nature-filled, picturesque place on the planet. They were surrounded by sheer cliffs above and below them, riddled with bushes full of rich green leaves, ivy creeping down the walls, and snow dusting the ledges. They were surrounded by statues and totems with horns, massive and imposing.

The lack of any sign of living beings (Or non-living beings, she mused, reminding herself of Subcon) unsettled Hattie. Did other people live here? The idols had to come from somewhere, right? But who would wanna live in such a high-up, blustery place?

A burst of wind came out of nowhere, messed up Hattie's hair, and made her clothes flap around her awkwardly. It only proved her point. Sure, it was beautiful, but the weather was just a big no-no.

"Come on," she said, gesturing to Elliot before leading the way up the stones.

She could hop easily from one platform to the next, but some were too high for him to get over himself. Every so often, she had to turn around and help him up. And every so often, he smiled and thanked her, and every so often, it annoyed Hattie a little bit more.

She didn't know why it did. Wait, no, perhaps it was the missing soul and the fact that she couldn't get it back with him around.

Up the ridge, they came to a rickety wooden bridge with branches as the only rails. Hat Kid cringed as she carefully stepped over it. Wasn't this dangerous? Y'know, because of the wind?

At the end of the bridge stood wooden doors, preceded by a glossy golden bell. Hat Kid's eyes darted between the two. She could Hookshot over the doors, using the hammer of the bell, even if the maneuver was a little tricky. Or...

She whipped out her umbrella, extended her Hookshot, and rang the bell. Its deep toll thrummed through the earth and the sky. With a squeal of ancient hinges, the doors opened inwards.

Hat Kid retracted the Hookshot, staring at the bell. Huh.

Elliot's eyes widened, and he glanced at Hat Kid with light in his eyes. "How did you know that would work?" he asked.

She gave him her honest answer. "I had no idea. I just wanted to ring the bell." With her free hand, she imitated shaking a handbell. "Ding ding."

Elliot's expression changed to one of amusement. Hat Kid felt a slight pang. Is he laughing at me? She wondered. All enjoyment she'd gained from the bell's ring evaporated. She sighed heavily and headed through the gate.

Stone stairs curved from the spire. They were wide, and slick with moss and old rain. Hattie tested her weight on them before heading up. With such heavy wind, she wanted to be sure they were secure.

There were several breaks in the stairs (and Hattie found herself suddenly doubting their stability), but nothing that couldn't be easily overcome with a Hookshot and swinging over. And then promptly realizing she'd forgotten about Elliot, needing to swing back, grab his arm, tell him to hold on to his crown, and swing over again with him that time.

A gust of wind slowed Hat Kid's progress. She groaned and raised her arms over her face, clutching at her hat as it threatened to be whisked away.

Behind her, she heard a soft clattering of metal. Hat Kid froze. What was that? She turned and looked over her shoulder.

Apparently, Elliot had acted too slowly to protect his own headwear from the gusts. He stood motionless, his eyes blank, as the crown rolled and bounced down the stone stairs behind him.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll get it for you!" she announced loudly, even though she wasn't sure if he could hear her in this state.

With the wind dangerously urging her, she trotted past the statue-prince and grasped the crown before it could roll away further. "Gotcha," she murmured and whipped around again.

He was moving again, coming back to his senses. He scanned the area and scrambled away from the edge of the stairs. "What the-!? HOW did I get here!?" Snatcher spluttered, staring around. "Weren't we just in your room?"

Hat Kid pursed her lips. Oh. Right. This was Snatcher, and he didn't have a sweet clue where he was. While the image brought a smirk to her face, she had to admit the whole switching-between-alter-egos thing was more confusing than funny.

Hattie realized that she would have a choice to make here. If she wanted things to be less conflicting, she should make sure they would stop switching back and forth.

The question was, who did she want to constantly deal with? She could carry the crown around and deal with grumpy, disagreeable Snatcher. Or she could have him wear the crown again and deal with the infuriatingly kind and anxious Elliot.

Well, that was easy.

"Put the crown on," Hat Kid ordered, heading back to Snatcher's side and holding the crown out to him.

Snatcher shot her an indignant glare. "I am not moving from this spot," he growled, flattening himself against the cliff wall. "Take me back to Subcon."

"Nah." Hat Kid stood on her tippy toes and raised the crown, reaching to put it back on his head.

Defensively, he slapped Hattie's arm and inched away. "I thought you said you weren't moving from that spot," she pointed out, annoyed.

"I'd rather die again than listen to you right now," he huffed.

What a spiteful peck neck. "You're not going to die again," Hat Kid assured him, tamping down on her frustration.

"Yeah, because I'm firmly pressed here, far away from the edge," Snatcher retorted. Despite his terror, he managed to give Hattie a smug look.

"Okay, that's it." Suddenly, speaking to Elliot sounded a lot more pleasant. "If you don't cooperate, then we'll have to do this the hard way." Hattie glared at him.

Snatcher looked her up and down and snorted. "Oh, please, kiddo." He smirked. "You're what, ten? Even when I'm handicapped like this, you can't take me."

Hattie gasped with outrage. "'Scuse me? I'm eight, peck neck. Which will just make your defeat all the more embarrassing!"

Before he could retort, Hattie charged at him and tackled him around the waist, drawing back as he toppled over. Before he could get back to his feet, she stomped over and sat on his chest.

"Urk-!" Snatcher tried to push her off, but she remained still as a rock. "What the- get off!"

"Nah." Hat Kid reached over with the crown, but Snatcher slapped her hand away again. This time the crown flew out of her hands.

They both froze and watched as it rolled away from them, bouncing on every separate step, aiming straight for the edge of the cliff.

Hat Kid immediately dove off Snatcher and reached for it, but it slipped right out of her fingers.

She cringed as it dropped right off the ledge.

Heart pounding, Hattie whipped out her umbrella and activated her Hookshot. She swung the rope and prayed that the claw would catch the crown.

The chain swung once and just fell short. Hat Kid cringed and swung the other way.

The hook opened, shot forward, and finally clasped around the crown. A massive sigh escaped Hattie. Without further hesitation, she pulled the hook back up, reeling it back in.

She sat back heavily, catching the crown in her free hand. That had almost been a disaster. What if the crown had dropped off the cliff...?

Elliot would've been gone forever. While that was just one problem she could check off her list, she suspected it could make things worse. If Elliot was here because of a time anomaly, she needed to find a way to reverse that instead of just... getting rid of the crown.

No matter how tempting it was to watch it plummet off the cliff.

Whatever. Elliot was easier to deal with than Snatcher. At least she didn't have to fight him. (Yet. Who knew when he would stab Hattie in the back? Everyone did at one point or another.)

Hattie managed to pull herself out of her thoughts. She stood, pivoted, and glared at Snatcher. "You're not being very nice, mister," she huffed.

"You tackled me!" he shot back.

Hattie was about to reply with something witty and clever but paused and pursed her lips. Something was building up; a deep rumble in her ears. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

Snatcher started to shake his head but paused. "What's that noise?" he wondered.

Hat Kid did her best to trace where the sound was coming from, but the rumbling only crescendoed. The ground started shaking. Hat Kid cringed and glanced all around, searching desperately for the source of it all.

And then she saw what it was: the stone stairs behind them were collapsing.

"RUN!" Hat Kid screamed. She started sprinting, dashing up the stairs and grabbing Snatcher's hand. He was jerked along with a shocked yelp. His foot caught a ledge, and he tripped, only held up by Hat Kid's grip.

She waited impatiently for him to push himself up, shooting looks at the approaching destruction. They didn't have time to deal with Snatcher's clumsiness! If they didn't get out of there, they'd die.

And Hattie would lose another five minutes.

So she sighed and scooped Snatcher into her arms before continuing at full speed up the staircase. He yelled again in shock and squirmed. "HOW are you so strong!?"

"Do you want me to drop you right now!?" she yelled back.

Snatcher glared at her, but he got the message. He stopped wriggling.

Hat Kid made it to the top of the staircase and froze, dropping Snatcher in her shock.

She found herself in a small graveyard. At least, she assumed that's what it was. She was surrounded by totems and podiums donned with stone skulls.

"Well, that's welcoming," she muttered.

Snatcher pushed himself to his feet and scowled when he saw where they were. "Oh, wonderful," he hissed, in exactly the same tone Hattie had used.

They'd managed to escape the breaking stairs, but Hat Kid could still feel the ground rumbling beneath her. They needed to find a way out of there and fast. She couldn't afford to lose any five minutes.

Hat Kid darted around the graveyard, searching for anything out of place. Three wooden poles were sticking out of the ground. The four-way cross-section made from the branches could spin well if she whacked it.

So Hattie resorted to the solution that, on this planet, never failed her: Hitting something and hoping it worked.

The post spun and dug into the earth until only the cross-section jutted out of the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, movement blurred. She looked over and saw that the tall podium at the forefront of the graveyard spun. Hitting it worked. Just like always.

But when nothing happened, she ran over to the second post and gave it a good hit, watching it spiral. The tall idol mimicked the movement. "What the heck are you doing?!" Snatcher yelled over the wind, watching her with growing confusion.

"Something!" she yelled in reply. "It's a lot more than just standing around and doing diddly squat!" Despite the urgency of the situation, she gave him a pointed look.

The ground was shaking now. Pieces of the graveyard were falling. The dirt was trembling. Hat Kid raced over to the last post and spun it with her umbrella, pounding it down.

With stone scraping against stone, the podium spun again, and a line extended from it.

The sky crashed with lightning. Hat Kid looked up and realized that the gusts had brought storm clouds. The earth was shaking harder than ever, and she could hear the noise of stones splitting apart.

Flags dropped from the line, a pattern of colors extending into the gray of angry clouds. She watched as the line with the flags unfurled... and unfurled... and unfurled... curving farther into the distance, through the storm and the sky beyond.

There was no time to enjoy the view. Hat Kid grabbed Snatcher's hand, yelling, "HOLD ON TO YOUR CROWN!" She shot her Hookshot out, and she and Snatcher were both pulled down the line. The graveyard cracked in two behind them.

Snatcher fumbled with the crown in one arm but secured a hold around it. His other hand, the one Hattie was holding, was hanging on for dear life.

They sped through the sky, accelerating toward the unknown with every second.