[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/MKK5m0sX/Kid-s-Hat-2.png[/img]

[b]Level:[/b] [color=8258fa]4 (22 -> 24/40)[/color]
[b]Location:[/b] [color=8258fa]Ancestral Farmstead[/color]
[b]Word Count:[/b] [color=8258fa]1036 (+2 EXP)[/color]

[color=8258fa]Stress Level:[/color] 30 -> 70 -> 95
[/center]

Between Linkle’s bombardment, thunderous sniper fire from Michael, miniature earthquakes, the rampaging of [i]two[/i] enormous drakes (which now included Bowser), some of her teammates’ conditions, the hits she had taken herself, explosions of ‘color’, and the persistence of their opposition, things were starting to get a little too stressful for Hat Kid. The ‘husks’, the dead people… they just kept coming! Bowser and the warrior hacked and mauled the Thing to death, and yet, they wouldn’t relent. The child was to join the others in whittling down the back line after diving out of the Koopa King’s way, but the rapid, successive pileup of stress over such a short period left her young, relatively delicate psyche addled. With a helping of sensory overload to compliment the situation, she couldn’t focus on anything long enough to decide where to direct her attention. She pressed her palms to her ears, hoping to block out the horrific and chaotic noises around her, pinched her eyelids shut to avert her sight from the maddening color and its lesser heralds, and tried to shake the onsetting insanity from her head until, eventually, she just… stopped thinking about it.

When she opened her eyes, all she could see was the otherworldly color that filled them in random, abstract patterns like lingering hypnagogia. It was kinda pretty, actually. She didn’t see what the big deal was; why anyone would go insane just from looking at it for a prolonged period. [i]It’s just color.[/i] Was it considered unnerving simply because it and its emissary were from space, and that frightened people by virtue of being incomprehensibly foreign (i.e. [i]alien[/i])? She’s been to space. This wasn’t the worst, or weirdest thing out there. Besides, it simply isn’t worth worrying about; none of it is. Life is hard enough, stressful enough already. Who needed more hardship; more stress? She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone. Whoops… there she goes thinking again. Probably best she didn’t do that. Too much of that can be dangerous...

Fortunately for her, someone (plural) was around to help. In her hypnotic daze, she hadn’t noticed anything going on around her, that the horde of farmhands had been cleared out or that she had been picked up and safeguarded from the conflict while she sat entranced. Strangely enough, what had finally roused her from her stupor was the decline in stimulus that had become white noise for her during the past minute or so, followed shortly by the Brachydios' roar. No more screaming scarecrows, no whip cracks from the foremen, less gunfire and explosions than before, and the [color=gold]splendorous[/color] dawnlight to overtake the Borealic night, the horizon goldening on the other side of the hill where her allies could be seen doing good work on the draconic beast. She poked her head out of the confines of Bowser's cradled top hat to see all of this for herself, and suddenly, she felt… [i]inspired[/i].

The swordsmen and the cowboy had worn down the monster considerably, managing even to sever its tail, and they did it all while facing half of the same horde her and the others contended with. They only just received reinforcement from Peach and Poppi after their own dragon (NOT Bowser) pinned it down. Kid decided that she was feeling good enough to want in on the action herself, and considering the now favorable odds, what better time to tackle their actual objective; the thing they had come for in the first place, in the name of somehow forwarding their journey. Just as she was about to urge the Koopa King on toward the battle, believing that he would be all the more useful there, he started to go… the other way. Perplexed as to his intentions, but not all that curious about them, she decided she would make her own way over… with a little [b]borrowed[/b] help from Bowser anyways.

Looking down at the rim of the King's hat she lay in, a devious, half-lidded cat-grin crept onto her face, an idea having formed in her head as she receded back into the confines of the giant headpiece. Having been in it for as long as she had (which wasn't much, but didn't need to be for her), she had ample time to get a good look at what she was working with. Besides, [i]it was a [b]hat[/b]; of course[/i] she knew how to use it. After another second of silence from her, the hat's mechanical boxing arms sprang forth unexpectedly to loose itself from Bowser's grasp, and its new wearer's tiny feet popped out through the opening to gently meet the top of the koopa's head following a rising flip.

Just as soon as she landed, she lept spiraling into the air toward the battle, with the hat’s arm outstretched to act as a propeller to carry her further. She wasn’t so much wearing it as it was simply encasing her entire form, and either ceased to be the case when she used the diminishing momentum from her spin to hurl it at the Brachydios like a frisbee to clobber the monster in the head with one of the mechanical gloves. With still a little more distance left to cover, the child dove for the hat on its return flight to bounce off and send it reeling back for a second hit. Expecting she could probably get no more hits out of it than that, she elected this time to merely springboard off of the rebounding top hat, still wearing Terry’s Cap.

[color=8258fa]“PAWAA-”[/color] she broadcasted excitedly, rising at an angle with a small, flaming fist raised. Time dilated for a split second, her burning hand above her shining vividly even in the daylight, as she smiled widely and winked at no one in particular. [color=8258fa]“DANKU!”[/color] She came crashing the rest of the way down onto the drake’s head with, of course, a Power Dunk--another borrowed technique that she this time called out in convincingly accented Engrish (despite being an actual English speaker). Though her hands and power were [s]wittle[/s] little, the monster was considerably weak, so it was worth seeing if she could make something of it (and if the flair was worth it).