I wrote this within a day to celebrate the announcement of Shantae 5! Enjoy!
Shantae belongs to Wayforward and Matt Bozon
"Rottytops!"
Shantae stared in disbelief at the mess the zombie had made of her kitchen, various food and ingredients scattered all over the bench, floor, and somehow, the ceiling.
How badly do you have to mess up to get a spatula embedded in the ceiling?
"Hey, Snack Cakes!" Rotty rounded the corner with a tray of freshly baked cupcakes, holding it with her bare hands. Either she lacked the nerves to feel the true heat of the tray, or she had an extremely high heat threshold.
"You've set off a bomb in my kitchen to make one tray of cupcakes?!" Shantae yelled in annoyance, ignoring her hated pet name. "I just cleaned up your last mess on Thursday! Could you at least try to respect my home?"
Rottytops grinned, offering the tray to the half-genie. Shantae glanced at the sweet snacks, the smell piquing her curiosity. As braindead as she seemed, Rottytops was quite talented in the kitchen, provided she was given a reason to put those skills into use. Sky's teaching had gotten through to her, which also managed to break their distrust of each other. Shantae was happy to see the two get along well, and secretly, she thought they would be cute together.
The cupcakes themselves were light and fluffy, with pink or red frosting and large, purple letters, akin to the shade of her hair. Little star and squid decorations dotted each one, the light shining off the—wait.
Letters?
Shantae looked again, realizing there was a message written across the tops of the cupcakes. There were twelve of them, with the letters on the most centered snacks on both rows.
"Thank… you?" she read out slowly, her eyes darting to Rottytops in questioning. The frustrated tone in her voice had been replaced by confusion.
"Yeah. Thank you," Rotty parroted, setting the tray down on the table to cool off now that Shantae had read the message. She spun on her heel, heading towards the kitchen, seeming to clean up and… avoid something.
"Rotty, thank you for what?" Shantae asked, following the zombie back into the kitchen. "What have I done that you need to thank me for?"
"Things," Rotty answered, turning on the sink tap and dumping a load of washing liquid in it. As bubbles began to form, she collected all the utensils and bowls she had used, placing them next to the sink. There was a distant look in her crimson eyes, as if she was lost in thought.
"Rotty, what is it? If it's for saving the town, I told you I don't need any thanks besides your friendship." Shantae didn't miss how Rottytops froze at the word 'friendship.' That little motion gave her an indication of why her friend was being so vague. "You don't have to bake things for me to consider you a friend, Rotty," she said in a soothing voice.
"It's not that…" Rotty's voice had become uncharacteristically quiet. "I know I'm your friend."
"Then what is it, Rottytops? Why are you thanking me? What for?"
Rotty turned around sharply, gazing at Shantae with such high intensity that the purplette half expected lasers to come out of her eyes and reduce her to ash. Rotty took a step forward, then took another step and crashed into Shantae with a hug before she could dodge out of the way.
Rotty held on tight, crushing Shantae, who slowly returned the gesture. She could feel ingredients on Rotty's arms and top rubbing off onto her, but she could deal with that later, as icky feeling as it was. Her friend needed comfort. But, before she could ask what was wrong, the zombie spoke up first.
"Thank you… thank you for giving me a chance. Even after everything I did to you, you still gave me a chance."
"Rotty, I—"
"You don't know what it's like to have everybody run away from you. I know I'm a zombie, and it should be expected, but it still hurts. And then you came, and the first thing I thought of was wanting to eat your brains."
"Like that's changed at all…" Shantae muttered in jest, earning a chuckle from the zombie.
"There was the race. Then me allying with Risky, and then me tricking you because I wanted to eat your brains over everyone else's. After all that, you still wanted to be friends a-and I don't know how to say this without sounding sappy b-but… you're my best friend Shantae. Even if I'm not yours, you're mine. I don't know what I would do without you."
It was the most heartwarming thing Shantae had heard Rottytops ever say. She knew the zombie had trouble communicating her feelings to people, especially since she had been shunned for most of her zombie life. She had witnessed such prejudice from her own best friend, Sky, who had been extremely ill-thinking of Rotty until they were forced to work together to save Shantae from her dark self. Once Rotty had shown her true values, she was accepted by Sky wholeheartedly.
Shantae had to say her next words carefully. She knew it was hard for Rotty to open up, and she didn't want to shut her off from doing so again. Thinking for a moment, Shantae knew what to say.
"Do you remember what I said before I fought the Pirate Master?" She asked. Pulling away, Rotty shook her head with a smile.
"Nope!"
"Of course you don't," Shantae sighed, rolling her eyes. "I said that I would always be your friend, no matter what. I meant it, Rottytops. Even though sometimes you can be annoying, or trick me, or make me have to spend hours cleaning my own kitchen after one of your cooking sprees, I'll always be your friend. I promised you that. And I don't back down on my promises." The genie reached behind the zombie to shut off the tap before she had to add flood damage to the list, while keeping her eyes trained on the undead girl to see her reaction.
To her surprise, it wasn't a loud shout of glee, or even a flirty comment, which would be typical of Rottytops. Instead, it was a smile of thanks with a sparkle in her eyes, signifying it was much more than just 'thanks for the confidence-boost.'
"There's no way I could possibly thank you for real, Snack Cakes," Rotty said, still in enough of a mood to remain 'sappy,' according to her.
"For one, you can stop calling me that. Two, don't think you have to. Your loyalty is enough, and you've proven that you are," Shantae replied. "You're a friend who put her life on the line alongside two of my other friends, and that's worth more than anything to me." She smiled as Rotty grinned wider, starting to sway to an unheard rhythm, no doubt inspired by the genie dancer.
"And if the time comes again, I'll fight for you and with you. It's the only way I can ever come close to repaying you. Unless you want loads of cupcakes every week. No guarantee your house won't explode," Rotty finished with a giggle. Shantae was happy that her friend was beginning to feel herself again, even if it meant that she would hide her emotional side until someone opted to check up on her. "But you won't die, right?"
The question pulled Shantae back into grim reality. Every time she went out to stop Risky or the Barons, there was a chance she wouldn't come back. She had been lucky to survive so far and was proud of her magic and skills she could use against her enemies (or complete luck and nothing else, according to Risky), but knew that one day she would make a mistake that could possibly cost her her life, and those around her. Still, she remained optimistic that that would never happen, and that she could possibly convince the barons and Risky to lay down their arms, with the sort of friendly relationship she had with them all.
"I'll do what I have to," she said vaguely, finally answering Rotty's question. If she had to sacrifice herself for the safety of Scuttle Town, like the genies before her, then so be it. She had wills written to give to each of her friends, so she was prepared for the inevitable at least.
She was jolted out of her dark thoughts by Rotty gripping her arm.
"That was a trick question, Shantae," she said seriously, "you're meant to answer 'no, I won't.'" Then she cracked a grin, patting the genie on the head, another thing that Shantae disliked people doing. "But, if you do die, I still call dibs on your brains."
Shantae laughed, the joke (she hoped) catching her off guard. Only Rotty could make a joke out of it and leave her feeling better than just before. Now in a less gloomy mindset, Shantae vowed to never think like that again, and instead focus on her future with all her friends, absolutely including Rotty.
"Thanks, Rotty, I needed that," she smiled, grabbing a brush and dustpan.
"No, thank you. For everything. Really. Words cannot express how grateful I am," Rotty replied with a wink as she started to wash utensils. "Now let's both hurry up and clean this mess up so I can eat cupcakes with my favourite Snack Cake."
And as she helped Rotty clean up her own kitchen for the third time that month, Shantae found that, for once, she didn't mind the nickname.
Yes! Shantae 5! Super excited for it! As stated at the top, this was written to celebrate the announcement.
However, it was also written as a challenge for me to write up a short story within a certain time constraint, which means I didn't have time to pre-plan this like I usually do. (Well, pre-plan it to a super high quality that I'm sure is just average to everyone else.)
So it might be a little bit rushed, because it sort of is, but if it's liked enough I can come back and polish it up after all my actual work.
That's all from me for now! And yes, I'm still working on another fanfic, it's about 1/3 done. Uni eats a lot of time.
Feedback, typo pointers, all that cool stuff is welcome!
Till next time,
-Tommycats