"We're here, Shantae!"
Shantae, a little half-genie, was playing with her toys in the cabin of a riverboat she and her uncle Mimic were on when she heard her uncle call out. They were going to spend a Majority of the summer in Pridemoor, because they had recently found a brochure talking about it AND a majority of Mimic's side of the family had lived here at one point.
Shantae, who was only 8 at the time, was ecstatic. She had wanted to visit Pridemoor and even meet one of it's Knights for quite some time, and it was finally happening.
"Uncle, I'm so excited I could just explode!" cried Shantae.
Mimic chuckled.
"Calm yourself, Shantae. If you're too hyper, you'll scare all the knights away."
"Oh... Sorry, Uncle." Shantae said Sheepishly.
The riverboat docked at the pier.
"Everybody off!" cried the captain.
Everyone, including Shantae and Mimic, exited the boat.
Shantae looked around. Mimic was currently busy enjoying his surroundings.
Shantae grabbed her favorite toy, A monkey plush which she named Sir Swings-a-lot, and wandered around the area.
"Don't wander too far, Shantae." called Mimic.
"I won't!" Shantae called.
She began looking around in the tall grass.
"Maybe I'll see an honest-to-goodness Knight if I'm lucky!" She said to herself.
Shantae was about to go to see her uncle when she felt something tugging on Sir Swings-a-lot.
Shantae looked back to see who it was.
It appeared to be some sort of spider that looked like a somewhat larger version of a female black widow. About the size of a table, at least.
"Let go of Sir Swings-a-lot!" cried Shantae.
Suddenly, the spider let go of Sir Swings-a-lot, but it swung it's front legs at Shantae's, causing her to fall and land on her knees.
"AAaah!" cried Shantae as she managed to pull her toy back.
Shantae then looked in terror as the spider was slowly looming over her.
It was looking at Shantae with a hungry expression.
Before Shantae had a chance to react, it spat silk onto her legs, preventing escape.
"Uncle Mimic! Help!" Shantae cried, in hopes of getting her Uncle's attention.
But she didn't scream loud enough, because no one heard.
The Spider prepared to bite Shantae.
Shantae gulped and screamed again.
"SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEEE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
And just in the nick of time...
"Steel thy shovel!"
Shantae closed her eyes, expecting to die young when she heard someone cry out.
She quickly looked back to see a knight in blue armor holding a shovel standing between her and the spider.
Who are you?! The spider asked the knight in a shrill voice.
"I am Shovel Knight!" said the Blue Knight. "How dare you threaten an innocent child!" he said as he pointed his shovel toward the spider.
Shantae was feeling a mixture of fluster and amazement. A random knight wielding a shovel had just come out of nowhere to save her life. She was so surprised.
And then a fight broke out between the knight and the spider. They battled for a while, Until finally, the knight impaled the spider with his shovel, dealing the final blow.
The Knight and Shantae watched as the spider, including the spider blood left on the shovel, turned to dust and blew into the wind.
Once that was over, the Knight quickly used his shovel and removed the silk that kept Shantae from getting up.
"Are you alright, child?" he asked her.
Shantae slowly got to her feet.
"Yes. Thank you so much, Mister." Shantae smiled at him.
Then Mimic ran over.
"Are you alright, Shantae?" he asked Shantae. "I heard you scream earlier."
"I'm fine, Uncle Mimic. This knight saved me." Shantae responded.
"Your name is Shantae?" the knight asked the young half-genie.
Shantae nodded.
"What a wonderful name." The knight spoke.
Although she could not see his face beneath that helmet, Shantae could tell he was smiling.
Mimic smiled at the knight. "Thank you so much for saving my niece." He spoke.
"You're welcome, sir." said the knight.
Mimic then adjusted his glasses. "Oh, where are my manners?" he said. "I'm Mimic, relic hunter extraordinaire."
The Knight sheathed his shovel blade. "I am Shovel Knight, one of the many protectors of Pridemoor."
"Shovel Knight... You're my hero." Shantae whispered to herself.
—-
...
...
...
"Urk...Huh?"
Shantae, now 16, woke up in her bed. It had been eight years since she had met Shovel Knight, and that memory kept on popping up every time ever since her sixteenth birthday. Shovel Knight had saved her life so many years ago, so it was only natural she kept on remembering that one time.
"Why is it that ever since my birthday, I've constantly been dreaming about that one time I met shovel knight?" she asked herself.
"Maybe those dreams are trying to tell you something."
Shantae looked up.
Her pet Warp squid, Warpy, was in his tank, looking at her.
"It could be trying to tell you something, Shantae. I mean, you were talking about that Knight in your sleep." Warpy explained.
Shantae began to think about it when she heard the Harbor bell ring.
The bell only rang every hour.
"When was the last time the bell rang?" Shantae asked.
"An hour ago, at 10:00." he explained.
Shantae slapped her forehead.
"Oh my god, I overslept." she groaned.
She quickly jumped out of bed, fixed her hair, put on her clothes, and washed her face, brushed her teeth, and got ready in an instant.
"I wonder what's going on in town today." she said to herself.
She was about to open the door when she heard something BANG on her bedroom window.
"Shantae!" Warpy called. "The Mail bird hit the window again!"
Shantae groaned and dashed back upstairs. "Stupid bird... I wish he knew what the difference between an open window and a closed one is!" she said to herself.
After dashing up the stairs, she saw that Warpy had already opened the Window... and a now-unconscious Mail Bird was stuck to it.
It was holding a letter in its beak.
Shantae removed the letter and Warpy unstuck the Mail bird, then chucked it out the window.
Shantae opened the letter and read it aloud, despite the somewhat sloppy handwriting.
Dearest Shantae,
How are you doing? I hope you are fine.
I was wondering if you could visit me in Pridemoor. Perhaps we could catch up on some things.
-Shovel knight.
Upon seeing who the letter was from, Shantae felt her heart light up.
She hadn't seen him in 8 years. She missed him so much.
And now, she was going to see him again after so long.
"What's going on, Shantae?" asked Warpy.
Shantae turned to her warp squid pet.
"Warpy, pack your bags."
"Why?" Warpy asked.
"We're going to Pridemoor. You interested?" Shantae asked.
Warpy smiled. "OMG, Heck yeah!"
He grabbed a little suitcase on the dresser and began looking around for stuff to pack.
Shantae pulled a purple and red suitcase out of her closet and also looked for things to pack.
This was going to be the best day of her and Warpy's lives. Period.