Work Text:
They woke up at the crashing of waves against the boat, the S.S. Hauzer.
again.
they stood there unimpressed as Cap'n Hauzer said the same thing they've heard hundreds of times before.
wait, let's start from the beginning.
Godpoke was from earth who had heard about the overall accepting nature of the Grove, so they had scrounged up enough money to get to the grove, leaving their previous life behind.
while on the ship, a megaphone— Megapon, they called it— fell from the sky, which had unintentionally given them the task to find King, and help the Grove. And then they found out that Inspekta was evil, but here's the thing.. they've never figured out how to save the Grove before it's too late, the rift opening just mere seconds before they got up to the spire.
So that's what they assume the current time loop they're in is supposed to be for, but no one tells you how annoying it is to go through the same 7 hours over and over again with no skips in life.
now that you understand, I've finally reached the grove.
the good thing about this is knowing how to get through as fast as possible, and, the gods —at least Miss Mitternacht— believes in this being a time loop.
"sorry moonbeam, I didn't see ya there, do you need something?" Mitternacht leans close, watching as Godpoke signs
'in timeloop, help?'
"oh? you're in a time loop?" They nod frantically "well I could offer some help, what d'ya need?"
they pause, what did they need?
'not have much time, time sensitive issue'
"and what would the issue be?"
'it has to do with King, spire.'
She wipes Her eye as it tears up again at the mention of Her lover. "Dear, you mean to tell me King's at the spire?" a nod "and you need to get up there soon I presume?" another nod.
Godpoke fidgets as She thinks, signing when She looks at them.
'stop crying? grove flooded, can't progress..'
"oh my dear, I'm sorry, I'll calm down now. please make sure King's safe when you see 'er. bye, my starbeam"
They turn to leave, tipping their hat right before fully turning around.
okay. that was easy, Mildread will be harder to finish quickly. A lot of areas seemed to be closed until later.. maybe.. nope, yea need Cobi for that..
While trying to figure out a way to speed through this, they start by going up to Rodney, taking his barks and petting him for a second. easily getting Saul to move.
they're just going to have to go through the entire town again.
hobbyhoo was a bit easier, already knowing what to do, and having ready access to a god's domain.
"Hey! you're Godpoke, right? cobi told me to expect you!" Thespius looks over their outfit, watching their signing
'in a timeloop, help me?'
"oh? for real, little dude? sure! how do you need help?"
they think, 'words, mainly'
"alright, will do! Sunflower Dreamboat is a groovy band, but they're not too keen on playing right now, could you tell them that Heartfelt art starts with US!! ? We gotta keep creating!" He holds Tony out towards Godpoke as they suck up his words
"should I repeat that?" they shake their head "alright! I'll see you later, cat!"
—
they manage to finish hobbyhoo, trying to think about how to get past the next area as fast as they could, it had been an hour and a half but they knew that buzzhuzz would take so much longer to get through, even with the help of the gods..
Instead of the usual bizzyboy battle, Capochin stands alone, van nowhere to be seen.
a half-grunt sounds from Godpoke, grabbing at their throat soon after. Capochin jolts at the sound, staring at the creature in front of him.
"Godpoke.." a far away look takes over for a second, just long enough for them to notice.
they tilt their head in a 'what?', looking over his body language. he seemed tense, this isn't supposed to happen.. this didn't happen in the other loops, why now?
"Inspekta knows.." he trails off, looking away "I know... you've been looping."
He sighs, moving closer to Godpoke until they're properly face to face.
"I won't give you any troubles, go ahead,"
hesitantly, they take a step, continuing when he doesn't stop them. That was weird.. but.. Inspekta knows?
BuzzHuzz looks the same as all the other loops, boarded off and what-not. They run straight to Bauhauzzo's building, slipping inside and sighing.
Bauhauzzo greeted them when they floated in, allowing them time to breathe before asking that question.
"you are in a timeloop, yes. what do you need from me? I can give it to you, yes, I can."
They jump straight into signing. 'Alley, open. order.'
"ah yes, the alley, that's where they're holding my sibling, holding it, yes. if that's so then, I order you to open this alley! of course, help my sibling, save it." He sent them off without hesitation.
—
BuzzHuzz felt like it went slower, but, they'd finally managed to go the route of the spire. Preparing for the next battle, they instead found nothing, just the van alone, open and awaiting a visitor to enter. .