Shadow Rift (A Hat in Time)

Burns and Bells

Fun fact: I was originally going to dump a lot more Alpine lore into this chapter- Snatcher was originally going to have a conversation with the Twilight Goat itself!

But I decided that it would be pointless, since I don't have any in-depth unique Alpine lore for Shadow Rift, nor chances later on to come back to it.

As much as I'd love to show off my Alpine ideas, guess we'll save that for the Masked oneshots.

Whatever. Something something Snatcher character development. Woagh being in awe of the complexity of magic. Something like that.

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Once they reached the Lava Cake, Hat Kid wasted no time diving into it. She checked her watch once, examined the towering lava formation above her, and charged through a pool toward it.

Snatcher, however, was more hesitant. He eyed the pools of water distastefully. Hat Kid almost entered the first layer of the Lava Cake before she noticed he wasn't moving.

"Come on!" Snatcher looked up at her urging but still didn't budge. She was standing on a high rocky platform with her hands on her hips. "I don't have all day!"

He glared back at her. "So? I can just stay behind like I did at the Windmill!" he yelled.

"What if Karmin comes back?" she retorted. "Do you really want to have an awkward conversation with her again?"

Snatcher shuddered at the thought but stood firm. "I'd take that over burning to death!"

The kid groaned and checked her watch again. "Okay, you know what? Fine! You've forced my hand!" Hat Kid drew her umbrella.

"Oh? What are you gonna do, kiddo?" Snatcher asked, lifting an eyebrow and smirking. "Come down here and hit me?" If she came towards him, it was essentially a forfeit. She'd be the one to move first.

She swung the umbrella and a rope extended from it. Snatcher squinted as it blurred closer to him. "What is thaaAAAAAAAUGH!?!"

Whatever it was had grabbed Snatcher, pulled him towards the kid, and then deposited him less-than-gracefully at her feet. One second he'd been standing, and the next, he was forcefully grinding his face into the stones.

"Shouldn't have been so stubborn," Hat Kid said above him, replacing the umbrella with her watch. "I lost a minute because of you."

Snatcher glared up at her, cringing from the sting of the scrapes, but intrigue won over his annoyance. He'd seen her pull out that watch countless times. She was obsessed with that thing. "What's the watch for?"

She gave him a dark look. "Long story," she mumbled. "But it's your fault it's ticking."

"What?" Snatcher pushed himself to his feet, giving her a confused look. "Look, kid, I may have hurt you, but everything in the world can't be my fault?"

"A lot more than you'd expect is your fault," she replied, shoving the watch back into her pocket.

"And isn't a watch ticking a good thing? What, did I inadvertently fix it or something? I didn't even know you had a watch."

The girl cringed and turned away. A spike of unease went through Snatcher. Why is her watch so important? "It's a long story," she repeated. Without another word, she grabbed his hand, and they continued.

The path through the Lava Cake was perilous. They were surrounded by lava on all sides- even from above. It was full of cannons, gaps they had to swing across, platforms dipping into the molten rock, and machines spitting flames. And somehow, the kid was getting through it perfectly well, even with the handicap of dragging Snatcher along.