Greetings! I am HopesTweet, here to present to you a...experiment of sorts, a specific genre of fanfiction that has been unfamiliar to the Shantae archive. This whole thing started out as an idea which escalated into...This.
This is a self-insert, I'm just gonna warn you in case if you're not a fan of those.
Disclamer: I don't own the Shantae series, and if I did, that would suck for everyone.
So when I was younger, I had always feared the "Unknown."
I was always that kid who saw things that weren't there, but that could be said for a lot of kids. But I was also the one that most people overlooked, and didn't really care about.
That hasn't really changed all that much nowadays, so because of that, I became what some people call... A social outcast at school and such. I never really interacted with anyone unless it was for a project or if it was necessary for a passing grade.
I was always that kid who kept to himself, so I started to steer towards media for comfort. Video games, and comic books, novels, manga, movies, anime. Those were the things that I was attracted to. I wasn't athletic enough for sports, and I'm not smart enough to be an honours student.
I was basically a nerd who kept to himself, and would've probably been a waste to society after high school. But fortunately, and also unfortunately, I wasn't able to pass high school after grade nine, because...I'm dead.
Yup, kicked the bucket, bit the dust, and some other term that means that I'm dead. And how did I die, you nonexistent people may ask? Well, you see, I was murdered.
I lost my life, because I tried to play hero one time, it was a robbery, at the local comic shop at my town that I go to every Saturday.
Why did I do it? Why pretend that I'm something that I'm not? Well, I can think of an answer.
Because I wanted to be remembered. I craved for the attention of others. I wanted to have stories told about me for countless ages by those of tomorrow. I still remember what happened...
"What are you doing here?! You need to run! Quickly Run!". I still remember the way she had yelled at me, her face a contortion of emotions. There was pain, suffering, determination and downright horror at the fact that she had a gun near her head. But...I couldn't just leave her there, and soon my legs began to run towards the man with the gun. She was right, I shouldn't have been there. It was too late, as the man shot me point blank. I was losing my vision, as all I saw was red. And I felt a massive headache. Everything was swirling, it looked wrong, it FELT wrong.
Someone help me... Someone help me... I don't want to die... Mommy...
The pain was unbearable, my body just went numb except for my head, it felt like it was splitting in half. I couldn't handle it, I couldn't live anymore.
Then it all...Faded...To black.
Yeah, dying sucks.
It sucks in varying degrees for different people and for me...it really sucked.
When some people die they do it peacefully with smiles on their faces seeing an end to their pain, others are gone like the light of their lives have been flicked off by a switch and some teeter on the brink for a time to watch and wonder if they'll come back from the edge of the precipice or slip away with a hellish inevitability.
In case you can't tell yet I fell into the last category.
I don't remember how it happened but I found myself drifting (floating? suspended?) within a void lit only by the guttering flame of my life-force. Vague sounds and a distant pain filtered down from the light and I grasped at both with equal desperation, these sensations were my only path back to the world of light and life.
'Was this...Heaven? Or...Purgatory, perhaps?'
As soon as I thought that, the void began to burst with colour. So much, that I had to forcefully close my eyes for a while, but then, I heard a voice. A woman's voice...
"How strange, a human? How can a mere human be in the Genie realm? Especially a male?"
Genie Realm? Is that what this...Place, is? And apparently, the person that was speaking to me was sexist towards men.
I think, can't judge her so quickly, I mean...Wait, is this a dream or something? And if this is, then everything makes SO MUCH SENSE!
"Um, excuse me." I said, trying to be polite to the voice that I was speaking to. "I have NO idea how I got here, and I was wondering if you can help me."
"Hmm...It seems that you have somehow arrived here with no idea how." Yeah, that's what I just said. She then continued."Human, I will send you back to your world."
And after that, my legs began to feel numb, but then I couldn't feel anything. Soon, it was happening to my arms, and then the rest of my body.
I was fading, or what I thought, was that it was finally time to wake up.
From this weird as heck, dream...Oh I wished, but when I woke up, it wasn't what I was expecting. I felt...fine, not hurt, but...Ok.
I laid on my stomach for who knows how long, taking in oxygen by the pint. I was very still though, and kept my eyelids opened. I didn't know if was safe yet. But after being still a bit longer, fear soon dissolved into confusion. Is there a hole in my head still...? Minutes ticked away and soon the fear and danger of death blew away too. but how did I know? What if it was a trick?
On the count of three, I'll get up. That sounded reasonable, I could go with that.
So I waited.
One... Please God, don't dick with me! —Two...— I really don't want to that to happen! —Three!
Open eyes, roll off my front, sit up! I did this all in a second. I wasn't dead. That's a good sign! I felt my face. Nothing on it! Felt my heart. It was beating! I felt my arms, legs, chest, stomach, back, and feet! Nothing was missing! I was ok!
I hopped to my feet and slowly began to laugh. It came out small at first, as a soft chuckle, but like a reservoir of water chuckles became laughs that turned into full-on hysteria of tears and guffaws. I was jumping and sprinting in circles like some crack head that had just gone through his favorite pastime.
I'm alive! I'm alive! Oh thank you God! Thank you Jesus! Thank you God! Thank you—Thank You—thank you!
But then, after the adrenaline wore off, I started noticing my surroundings and I startled on a terrifying discovery.
"THIS ISN'T A HOSPITAL, IT'S A FOREST!"
Breath in… Breath out.
Breath in… breath out.
Breath in… Breathe in… Breathing wasn't helping!
My mouth opened and I gaped like a fish before shutting it. It opened again before closing. Lather, rinse, repeat, and I did this ten more times.
I-I-I-I couldn't handle this! I've sure no one could handle this! At this point I could not comprehend what was going on! My brain was completely fried I'll have you know! So I did the only thing that I could do to help voice my feelings.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
Morning over Sequin dawning sun shone on an old lighthouse not far from Scuttle town. Inside the lighthouse, a young girl who had purple hair styled in a long mane was a half genie, her name was Shantae who was the daughter of a mortal man and a long gone Genie guardian.
You see, long ago, guardian genies protected Sequin Land from all kinds of monsters and enemies.
During those peaceful times, many of these genies fell in love with mortal men. The resulting offspring were all girls, seemingly human but with a trace of magical power, often lying dormant or manifesting in unusual ways. Thus Half-genies came into the world. One such genie wound up being Shantae's mother. However, the genies vanished to the Genie Realm. The place where Genies reside and where they originate.
So half-genies organized to take on the responsibilities of their mothers, often calling themselves Guardian Genies.
And that's what Shantae is, she is the current guardian of Scuttle town. As she was currently resting, a pirate ship, sailing on the sea. Which decided to fire a cannonball into the Lighthouse's roof. Shantae peeked outside of her window, around her was her roof. Unfortunately her little house, was not cannonball proof. The cannonball destroyed most of the roof and landed on her bedroom. In her shock, she yelled to no one but herself. "What? Another pirate attack? I better warn the town about this!"
And with that, she ran to the town she swore to protect, Ret-2-Go...
And that concludes the first chapter of my Shantae Self insert fanfic, which I will name... "Mortals, and the unnatural!"
By the way, this takes place during the events of the first game, just so you know.