Chapter 1: New Day, New Life

A/N: I have returned... faster than I expected. I was gonna take like a two week break or longer, but... frankly, I got bored. I don't ever feel like playing anything, or when I do, not for very long.

So I thought, eh, might as well get started early. Also, I'm going to be trying something special for this story, but I'll explain more at the end of the chapter.

This starting chapter is a bit talking-heavy, but we get to learn a tiny bit more about our favourite hatted child's past. But she remains secretive, as usual.

So without further ado, let's get this party started.

That day, the day we defeated Moustache Girl and reclaimed every last one of our Time Pieces, is a day I'll never forget.

Now, there were many days along our journey that were unforgettable, but this was something else.

I discovered new power, the power to manipulate shadows, like some dark sorceror. My memories came back, and with them my real name.

But the biggest thing...

We decided to stay.

The one thing that had been worrying me for the longest, finally it was off my shoulders.

After we had our talk, we returned to the main hub, where everyone was waiting. Conductor asked us what we talked about.

I looked at the kid, who looked back at me.

"You wanna tell them, kid?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Tell us what, darling?" DJ Grooves asked.

She grinned from ear to ear.

"We're staying!" She beamed.

It was like a mood bomb was dropped in the room. One moment, nothing; the next, everyone was overjoyed. Well... everyone except Snatcher, but his grin was wider.

They all rushed at us, shaking our hands, hugging us, what have you, and talking all at once, too, but... would you really expect us to make anything out of it in that pandemonium?

"Everyone can it!" Snatcher suddenly shouted, "They've done a lot today. Let's give 'em a well-deserved break and you can talk about plans later. Individually."

They stopped.

Cooking Cat giggled.

"Sorry about that, dears, we got kinda carried away, didn't we?" She chuckled, "But the ghost is right, you two need rest. If you want, I can stay for the night and prepare you both a lovely meal."

"Thank you, but we'd rather just have some peace and quiet around here," I said, "If that's alright."

She nodded in understanding.

"Aye, ye've done plenty enough today," Conductor agreed, "There's always tomorrow to begin makin' plans, eh? Perhaps another movie? Heh heh!"

I chuckled at that.

"Either way, whatever you darlings want to do, we'll always be open to you," DJ Grooves promised, "If you need to talk, we can listen. If you need any help, we can provide to the best of our ability. Or if you just want to say hello, that's great too. We'll always be happy to have you here."

Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement.

"And I have my own things planned for you two! You thought you enjoyed pestering me? Well, we'll be seeing how you like it when the tables are turned!" Snatcher laughed.

I nodded.

"Thanks, you guys," I said, "It really means a lot to us. I've never had anything quite like this back home."

"I thought you said you had amnesia," Snatcher pointed out.

"I did. But today, I finally got all my memories back. Including my name," I explained.

Everyone began murmuring in intrigue at that.

"Well? Don't keep us waitin', lad!" Conductor said impatiently.

"My name is Markus."

"Markus...?" DJ Grooves asked, "Do you have a last name?"

"It's just... Markus."

They seemed interested by that response.

"Well, we should get going," Cooking Cat said, "Have a good night, you two."

Everyone piled toward the hatch.

"Good night," We both said, and waved them goodbye as they filed out.

Snatcher was the last to leave, but before he left, he turned to us and gave us a sly wink... odd.

I took a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was certainly one peck of a day, eh, kid?" I asked jovially.

She giggled.

"Yeah..." She said, then yawned, "I think I need to lie down after the rollercoaster we just went through."

"Yeah," I agreed, "It's a little bit early, but it doesn't really matter, now does it?"

She shook her head no.

"Exactly," I said, "Let's get you into bed."

So, she got ready for bed, and I tucked her in. Before I left, though...

"Do you really think we'll be happy here?"

It was a simple question. It wasn't in a doubtful tone... more... hopeful.

I smiled and sat down next to her.

"No..." I said, "I know we will. Now get some rest... we've got a big day tomorrow."

She was already about to fall asleep.

I got up and walked away, and heard her say:

"Thanks,-"

She said another word afterward, but I couldn't make it out. I turned around, and she was already sleep.

I smiled and exited the bedroom, making my way up to the attic.

I took off my sweater and placed it neatly on the nightstand, then hopped in the bed, taking a nice, deep breath.

Hopefully, I'd get a good night's sleep as well.

"WAKE UP!"

I immediately jolted up to see the kid sat on the edge of my bed, excitedly bobbing up and down.

"Wha-" I said.

"It's morning!" She said, then grabbed my arm and pulled me right out of bed. "Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon-"

"Okay, okay, okay!" I shouted, "I'm up! Good lord, kid! It's not the end of the world!"

"But we have things to do today!" She pouted.

"And we have all the time in the world to do them," I said, "So let's take it nice and easy before you exhaust both of us."

"Fiiiiiiine," She said, "I'm gonna go get ready for the day! You do, too!"

She then ran over to the elevator and took it down.

I sighed deeply.

Man... I'd never seen her this excited!

Anyway... I did as she said, and got ready for the day.

We met up in the main hub.

"So? Are we ready for the day?!" She beamed.

"Yep," I confirmed.

"Then let's go!" She shouted.

"Hold on," I said, "We should make a plan of action here."

"A plan of action?" She asked, "For what?"

"Well, we made a pretty big choice in a pretty small amount of time," I said, "Before, we didn't have to worry about certain things because we were only planning on staying here temporarily. But now that we're permanent residents... we're gonna have to worry about things that weren't a problem before."

"Like?" She said.

"Do you have a pen and a notepad around here? It'd be nice to write this all down," I said.

She nodded and ran off. A few minutes later, she returned with, well, a pen and small notepad. Perfect.

"Thanks," I said, and began writing as I said: "Let's start off with the obvious: money."

"How's that important?" She asked.

"I'm pretty sure we picked this planet clean of all loose pons, we're gonna have to find some steady source of income to be able to buy food, clothing, you name it," I explained, "However, as you're a kid, I'll worry about finding a job to supply both of us."

"I'm not just a kid..." She muttered.

"Trust me, I know," I replied, "But I'm used to having a job, and it'd be a shame to see you with your energy stuck doing something boring like paperwork."

She cringed.

"Bleh... count me out!" She spat.

I smirked.

"Thought so," I said, "However, the next thing... uhh... this is a bit weird..."

"What?" She asked.

"Well, uh..." I said, "I have to ask you a question, and be honest, how much school have you been through so far?"

Her look turned to shock, then misery.

"You're joking... right?" She asked.

"Well, you're pretty smart, I'm sure you can do some great things," I explained, "I'm just trying to think for the future here."

She adopted a thoughtful look, then shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

"Okay then. I'm not sure what kind of school system this planet or your old planet use, but... Well, I'll put it this way, I really wanted to stand out among the other students, so I took a lot more work than my classmates and ended up reaching adult level schooling quickly," She explained nonchalantly.

"You make it seem like an everyday thing," I chuckled.

She shrugged.

"I'm not the only kid who's done it before," She said, "It's actually not super rare, you'll see other kids my age training hard for their dream jobs."

"Still quite an impressive feat," I said.

"Yeah, well, tell that to everyone else," She muttered, voice barely above a whisper.

I frowned. I guessed she didn't want me to hear that, so I didn't press about it.

"Well, what was your dream job?" I asked.

"I wanted to be an army commander!" She said happily, "I'd go across the cosmos with my team, defending my planet and taking back wrongfully taken Time Pieces! It's one of the most prestigious jobs there is!"

I put my hand to my chin thoughtfully.

"Quite a dangerous job choice," I said, "I can see you're quite adamant about it, though."

She nodded.

"The danger adds to the value, and it makes it so that I'd never get bored!" She beamed.

I smiled.

"Well, given all we've been through, if anyone could do it, it's you," I said, then chuckled. "The one-girl army."

She grinned from ear to ear.

I then remembered what we were doing.

"Oh, right..." I said, "Back to what we were doing, I had a small thought: was this spaceship designed to be a permanent residence?

She laughed.

"'Permanent residence'?" She chuckled, "This stupid thing is so dumb and old... if it wasn't restored by... someone, it would hardly get off the ground. And even then, it was rushed and it's amazing they made it this operational in the amount of time they had to do it."

"Sounds like they were in quite the hurry," I observed.

She laughed a... lost laugh.

"Yeah... they were," She said hauntingly.

I raised an eyebrow.

The more this kid told me about her planet, the more seriously concerned I got.

But she didn't want to talk, and I didn't want to pry.

"Well, that brings me to my question: should we save up for a house? On the planet?" I asked.

She got lost in thought for awhile, then shook her head.

"We can fix this place some more. Didn't you say you wanted to do that anyway?" She said, "And we could always buy some more furniture and decorations and things to make this place feel more homey! I would've done it myself, but again, I wasn't going to be staying here much longer anyway, until plans changed. And making furniture safe for space travel requires anchoring it to the ground and adding special supports and- it's a mess. But we have friends who can help!"

I nodded, scratching off a couple things I wrote.

"It honestly amazes me how much you know," I said, "You really are something, kiddo."

She giggled.

"Anything else?" She asked.

I put the pen to my chin and thought long and hard.

After a few minutes, I shook my head.

"Can't think of anything at the moment," I said, "So I reckon that's all."

She smiled and nodded, and I put the notepad away.

"Well, who do you wanna go meet up with first?" I asked.

She grinned.

"We have to go visit Dead Bird Studio!" She said, then grabbed my arm and dragged me all the way to the Machine Room, all while shouting "Let's go" so fast it sounded like a machine gun.

Simply amazing how much a single day can change your life.

A/N: Well, hope that wasn't a boring start for y'all. Don't think I need to tell you what the next chapter's gonna be about.

Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier... I'm trying something new for this story, something that I don't think has really been done before, at least not to this extent.

I want to involve the community in this story a bit more.

If you have an idea for a chapter that you'd like to see, PM me. I'll respond to each one, and if I like it, I'll do my own take on your idea, and credit you in an author's note for that chapter. If I'm not a big fan, I'll politely decline.

But of course, if you don't want to send anything, you don't have to.

You might be asking why I didn't do something like this in the first story. Well, there's two reasons. 1) Didn't think of it until it was too late. 2) The story was already PLENTY long enough without it.

This story, it's the other way around. I'm worried that this story will be too short without anything extra, as I don't have most of the story already planned in my head. I have certain key moments planned, but if it were just those key moments then this story would only be like 10-15 chapters long. I want it to be at LEAST 30 chapters long. And that's a baaaaare minimum.

So, please, if you have any ideas, lemme know. I'd love to hear what y'all think, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.