Shantae: Clash of Arms

by IllusoryNomad

Following her latest defeat, the notorious Risky Boots hatches yet another dastardly scheme to annihilate Sequin Land as we know it. Only this time, she's managed to pilfer an extensive collection of military-grade weapons from another world! With the threat of Risky's conquest more perilous than ever, Half-Genie Hero Shantae and an unlikely ally must join forces to stop her!

2. Consult & Camaraderie

Chapter 2: Consult and Camaraderie

LOCATION: SCUTTLE TOWN LIGHTHOUSE, SCUTTLE TOWN, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: SEPTEMBER 13TH, [UNDISCLOSED]

TIME: 2047 HOURS

It was past dusk in Sequin Land when the enigmatic lavender-haired young woman and her tired, injured refugee reached their destination. The two made landfall near a dilapidated lighthouse on a peninsula a great distance away from the desert in which they found one another. The sun had long since set over the horizon, welcoming the tranquil ambiance of the night. The purple, blue, and yellow color-splashed behemoth the girl previously summoned had dropped them off and soared into the starry evening sky the minute the two strangers climbed from the passenger saddle on its back, though the soldier immediately fell to one knee. The lavender-haired girl quickly moved to assist him, as he appeared to be too weary to walk on his own.

"Take it easy," the girl advised in a nurturing tone. "Looks like you've had a pretty rough encounter with those Tinkerbats."

"Rough… would be an understatement," the exhausted man remarked as he allowed her to help him up. "Those Tinkerbat things ain't what I'm worried about, even though they had me in a tight spot. It's their leader that was mostly responsible for my condition…" At this, her expression immediately changed to one of shock.

"Risky Boots is still out there!?" the mysterious maiden asked in utter surprise, evidently familiar with the Pirate Queen.

"If you mean that crazy pirate woman… then yes," the soldier replied, unaware of Risky's name as he only knew her by her occupation. "You wouldn't believe what she put me through."

"Please, share everything you know. She's very dangerous. To hear she's hatching another scheme so soon isn't good… She usually takes two to eight months before she comes up with a new way to try and take over Sequin Land, though it always feels like two to eight years…" the young woman warned as she and the thoroughly worn out man stepped into her home, which bore an appearance similar to a small wood cabin with stone walls and neatly-organized fixtures lining the perimeter of the circular living room. She invited him to sit down in a wooden chair as she took a seat directly across from him on a wooden stool before beginning their discussion. "What happened between you and her, mister?"

"Before I go on," the man began. "Thanks for savin' me. I probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you."

"No sweat! It's part of what I do as guardian genie!" Her acceptance of his gratitude struck him as odd. 'Guardian genie?' What the heck was that? The man eyed her incredulously. It was one thing that the whole scenario with that marauding pirate woman and her pirate minions happened. It was another thing that the instant this admittedly-cute lavender-haired girl appeared in that tower, explosions mysteriously happened and wiped out those Tinkerbats. It was yet another thing when she summoned that humungous sherbet-colored eagle thing with just a whistle to fly them out to their current location. And then she just referred to herself as a mythological creature that supposedly only existed in fairytales and kids' movies. The soldier found himself more discombobulated than he'd ever been, and he'd only been in this world a few hours.

"Guardian… genie?" he dared to ask, puzzled by her terminology.

"You seem surprised," she observed, though she appeared to understand his confusion. "Do you know what a genie is?"

"I… uh, I think I do. I mean, I ain't ever meet one in person. Till now, I guess," he confessed, suspending his disbelief as he considered just what happened to him in the last couple of hours. "They're some kind o'… magic spirit people who live in lamps an' come out when someone rubs 'em. Then they grant the finder o' the lamp three wishes… or something, right?"

"Hmm, not quite. I mean, you're right to some degree about granting wishes, but no. Genies were once the protectors of the world until they all disappeared to the Genie Realm save for their half-genie, half-human descendants many years ago. I'm one of those descendants. There's a longer story behind it, but it'll have to wait until after we discuss Risky Boots."

"Noted," the man acknowledged, though he wasn't willing to admit that this woman's nut-shelled tale of genies and half-genie offspring only confused him further. He was at least somewhat relieved to learn that his host was at least part human. "So… you're a half-human, half-genie guardian of… of Sequin Land?" he asked, utilizing what little knowledge he had of his surroundings that he gathered from the Pirate Queen.

"Well, I'm only guardian genie of Scuttle Town, the city near this lighthouse. But sometimes, I find myself guarding a whole lot more ground… Actually, I ALWAYS find myself guarding more than just Scuttle Town, now that I mention it…" The girl pondered just how big her job was and if there really were any other half-genies out there doing the same. "Anyway, I'm usually the one who's tasked with putting a stop to Risky Boots's plots of world domination," the gracious house host confessed, causing her guest to realize something as he ruminated on her words. "She's Sequin Land's most dangerous enemy, a ruthless swashbuckling pirate captain with a seemingly-endless army of Tinkerbats and an undying lust for power, money, and all things shiny. She's been at it for longer than I can remember and, as she's proven, each scheme she hatches is more hazardous and convoluted than the last. Usually, she launches an attack before anyone knows it."

"Wait a second… So YOU'RE the one she got all riled up about…!" The soldier deciphered, harkening back to Risky's temperamental tirade about a certain 'brat' who always meddled with her plans.

"Hm? What do you mean, sir?" she asked, not understanding right away what he meant.

"I was in the middle of a fistfight with her an' she compared me t' somebody… She said somethin' about a… a 'goody-two-shoes little half-breed twerp' who always got in her way an' messed everything up for her…" At that, the woman frowned. "That's you?"

"That sounds EXACTLY like something she would call me… You've certainly met her, alright," she affirmed with a sigh, of course finding Risky's name-calling as distasteful as ever. "And yes, that's me."

"If it's any consolation…" the soldier began, acknowledging his savior's dissonance at the Pirate Queen's harsh words. "…After what I saw an' experienced of her, I can tell she definitely needs t' be kept in check. She is one incredibly cutthroat woman. I don't know how often you've fought her, but kudos t' you for doin' so. Don't sweat the name-callin', either," he reassured his host. "Whatever you did t' get her that mad at you, it's what she gets for bein' such a grouchy stick-in-the-mud. I don't even know you, but I like you already, miss," he admitted with a thumbs-up, eliciting a modest giggle out of the generous young woman.

"Aw, thanks, mister! I aim to please… I-I guess."

"No sweat. So… what's your name?"

"Oh! Right," the half-genie laughed in realization. "We never did properly introduce ourselves. My name is Shantae. And yours?"

"…Tayshan," the man uttered with a cocked eyebrow, seeming to be taken by surprise at her name.

"Wow, neat!" the heroine beamed with humorous delight. "We pretty much have the same name! Just switch the syllables around and voila!" The two laughed together at the one-in-a-million coincidence… or maybe one in a trillion. Or quintillion. Or googol. Seriously, what ARE the odds of that happening!? "How do you spell your name? It'd be a real wonder if we had the same spelling, too!"

"T-A-Y-S-H-A-N."

"Ohh, so close!" Shantae remarked with a snap of her fingers.

"What, am I off by a letter?"

"Yeah, just one. Mine is spelled S-H-A-N-T-A-E. Same number of letters, same pronunciation… The only difference is the 'Y' in your name and the 'E' in mine. Well, that and the syllables. Still, that's so crazy how much our names are alike!"

"Heh, well I guess the coincidence had t' end somewhere there. I only hope we don't wind up confusin' each other. Still, add that to the long list o' things that are buggin' me out about this place…"

"This place?" Shantae inquired, tilting her head as she eyed her guest. "You mean you're not from around here?"

"Yeah… I'm not familiar with this place in the slightest. I didn't even know it existed."

"Didn't know it EXISTED?" Shantae queried with utmost surprise. How could anyone not know that Sequin Land existed? Sure, it wasn't the most famous country in the world, but it had enough of a reputation that everyone had some idea of what it was… or at least, she presumed; unless he meant that he didn't know Scuttle Town existed, in which case, she could understand.

"Yeah, I know. Sounds crazy, but that's what I'm tryin' t' figure out. I'm honestly surprised that we speak the same language," he explained, giving Shantae the slightest clue that her guest might not have just been unfamiliar with Scuttle Town; he may very well not have been a Sequin Land native at all.

"Hmm… You're not from around here and you didn't know what a genie is… It's safe to say you don't live in Scuttle Town… Yet, you speak the same language as me…" the half-genie wondered, attempting to figure out her guest's origins. "Where are you from? Oasis Town? Water Town? Bandit Town?" She guessed, presuming that he may have been from a different municipality within Sequin Land to rule it out as a possibility.

"I have no idea what any o' those places are," he answered, confirming her hunch.

"I thought not. Actually, your clothes don't look at all like those of any citizen of Sequin Land…" she realized, studying him up and down. "Are you maybe from a different country? Like, say, the Nation of United Seams? Or maybe the Great Button Province of the Deep Pocket Sea?"

"A different country is a gross understatement…" the soldier remarked, catching the young lady's attention. "Would you believe me if I said I came from a whole different world?" At that, Shantae's vibrant light blue eyes widened in wonder.

"Are… are you maybe a genie who lost his powers and/or memories?" she inquisitively assumed, sounding hopeful that maybe Tayshan was either from the Genie Realm, the only other dimension of existence she was aware of, or a half-genie who'd suffered from amnesia. "I've never heard of a male genie before!" she exclaimed, getting excited about the prospect of meeting one of her own kind. "So far as I've heard, all genies and half-genies were girls! Unless… No, you don't look very girly to me…" she further observed.

"Wha? No, no… I'm full-blown human," Tayshan confessed, dashing her hopes. "I'm also definitely a man. No doubt about that. Anyway, I think I'm from… an alternate timeline, separate planet, or parallel universe or somethin' t' that effect," he continued, causing Shantae's eyes to widen even more as her mouth hung slightly agape, her previous disappointment in his not being a genie immediately gone. "That's the best way I can explain it, all things considered about how I got here."

"What? But… how? Where did you come from? How did you get here?" Shantae rapidly shot questions at him, believing him without a doubt where others may have had reasons to doubt him… or commit him to a psych ward. "Actually, since we have the same name… are… are you maybe a human male version of me?" At her last question, Tayshan let out a healthy chuckle.

"You're askin' the wrong guy, Shantae. I wouldn't have the slightest clue if we were the same person from different timelines or parallel universes. If that was the case, then we certainly turned out WAY different from each other in terms of appearance, amongst other things."

"That's true," the half-genie smilingly agreed. "Maybe our names being similar is just a coincidence, then. So… how did you find your way to this world? What's your world like?"

"It has t' do with that pirate witch. Y'see, I'm from a place where, believe it or not, genies an' magic... don't exist outside o' storybooks," he explained with utmost uncertainty as he found it difficult to believe what Shantae had told him about herself and her abilities, even after having caught a glimpse of her powers when she saved him. "I come from a place where pirates like the one who basically kidnapped me used to exist… but they went out of practice hundreds o' years ago due to their lifestyle not bein' worthwhile for survival over time. Plus, none of 'em had blue skin… or legions of little scarf-wearin', sword-swingin' bat people obeyin' their every command. I don't know much about this place t' make a comparison, but I'm guessin' there are a lot of differences between our worlds, not the least of which bein' that yours has magic an' pirates."

"No genies in your world? No magic? No evil pirates? No way!" Shantae was thoroughly curious about her houseguest. "I've got so many questions! So… how does your world function with no magic or genies of any kind? Who protects the citizens of your world's nations when there's danger?"

"Uhh… I really don't know how t' answer that without goin' on a massive tangent, t' be honest. I'd ask you the same about what it's like t' actually have those things here… or even what it's like bein' the sole protector of an entire country. We'll figure that out as we go along, I hope. For now, I should prolly tell you about how I got here."

"Right. Yes, please," Shantae nodded in agreement, her attention fixed on the man. "How did you wind up here?"

"Well, it starts off like this…" Tayshan filled Shantae in on the recent events of his encounter with Risky Boots. Her portal to his world, her hijacking of incredibly advanced, now-contraband artillery, his attempt to stop her, the current state of her interdimensional travel device, and his banishment to the caverns of Tassel Tower, where she arranged for her Tinkerbats to dispose of him.

"Darn that Risky Boots…!" Shantae cursed. "She's always got something up her sleeve. I thought I completely destroyed that Dynamo she stole from my Uncle Mimic when she tried to enslave the Genie Realm. The volcano she stored it in and used as her hideout even erupted after I blew it up!"

"A… volcano? She chose a volcano as a hideout? An active one, at that?"

"Mm-hmm," Shantae affirmed with a simple nod. "Very poor choice of base of operations, I know."

"Right…" Tayshan dismissed, bewildered once again by how little sense this situation made. "Anyway, maybe she found some spare parts or somethin' after you beat her last time?"

"Possibly… I really thought she'd have learned her lesson this time. From what you tell me, she's still just as conniving and motivated to take over Sequin Land as ever… and now, who knows what she'll do with the weapons she stole from your dimension if they're as powerful as you say they are. I have to do something fast."

"We don't even know where she is, though…" Tayshan lamented in regret.

"Didn't you see her new base?" Shantae questioned, confused that her new acquaintance was unaware of Risky's location despite having been the one who last encountered her.

"Yeah, but I don't know where it is… After she beat me, she had her goons tie me up, throw me in the darkest part o' that ship, an' try t' finish me off in that desert. It felt like I was on that ship for days. Only way I could tell it all happened at once was by the barely-visible rays of sunlight shinin' through the windows. It had t' be at least a couple hours between them puttin' me on the ship and takin' me off. By the time I got there, I had just cut the ropes off me, but the sword I used was too dull an' brittle t' fight with. It cracked t' pieces after a couple swings at those Tinkerbats, leavin' me with just the tatters o' rope. I was in there for a hot minute. Once I busted out, they chased me int' the tower you found me in."

"Hmm…" Shantae groaned in worry.

"Plus, I don't know if there's anything we can do right now if we don't even know where t' start searchin'. That and I'm too injured t' move."

"That's okay," the determined young girl assured. "I can handle her by myself. You just rest up and recover your strength. By that time, I'll have stopped her again and made her give your weapons back."

"That don't sound like a good idea, goin' alone," Tayshan disagreed, painstakingly propping himself into a more comfortable position. "At least, from my experience. She thrashed me good without help from her cronies, an' I've got at least three years of martial arts trainin' plus one year o' military-grade combat trainin' an' a ton of athletic experience under my belt. Unless you're sayin' you're stronger than her…?"

"Well… to be fair, just about every time we've fought, I've had my magic, my hair, and a ton of equipment on my side against her Tinkerbats, pirate ship, super strength, super jump, scimitar, cannonballs, gun, parachute hat, and knack for sneaky tricks. Even then, every battle has been a beating-to-the-bones, all-out challenge of endurance and willpower. I… can't exactly say I ever walked away from each battle unscathed, despite having defeated her each time. Plus, I've never fought her hand-to-hand like you did. Sounds like she's a real tough cookie there, too. Still, I have to give you credit for fighting her without weapons and surviving the encounter. That takes a lot of bravery and I imagine a lot of quick thinking; especially if you managed to pry a scimitar out of her hands while she was swinging it at you."

"Thanks… I guess. I mean, I probably would've been far less likely to have 'survived the encounter' if it wasn't for you. Still, it's definitely assurin' that you have the power t' beat her," Tayshan began, suspending his disbelief once more. "But this time, she has all my guns an' explosives, too. Those weapons are high-quality an' are NOT t' be trifled with."

"How so?" she asked, her curiosity piqued. "I know you said they're really strong, but exactly HOW strong?"

"We're talkin' heavy-duty artillery here, Shantae," he reasoned, the urgency in his tone evident.

"Like what? She's already got access to a ton of weapons. All of her Tinkerbats usually carry flintlock pistols, fire bombs, and scimitars. She herself is usually armed with a scimitar, a portable cannon, steel-toed running boots, a hat that can double as a parachute like I mentioned earlier, and a special variety of flintlock that can fire bullets, spread shots, and even small, slow-moving homing rockets. Plus, she's got a knack for inventing some unique larger-scale weapons like cannons and a partially-mechanized pirate ship. That's just scratching the surface, though."

"Wow… even without havin' invaded my world, she's armed to the teeth. Still, she got her hands on some SERIOUS stuff. Stuff that could do some unspeakable damage," the serviceman commented, as astounded as he was confused by the specs of Risky's weapons.

"You mean to tell me she's got something MORE dangerous than what I just mentioned?" Shantae asked, her heart sinking slightly at her guest's implication.

"Yes! All sorts of things… Off the top o' my head, I know she took a ton of assault rifles, frag grenades, flashbang grenades, grenade launchers, pistols, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, land mines, tear gas cans, C-4, an' submachine guns, t' name a few…"

"…Oh boy…" Shantae groaned with a worried rub of her forehead, grasping the severity of the situation. "I don't even know what half those things are, but this sounds REALLY bad…"

"I know. I was tryin' t' stop her from even bringin' those things here. In the wrong hands, those weapons can put a LOT o' people's lives at risk. Right now, she has the destructive power to annihilate an entire city in under an hour. Heck, she could wipe a small town out in as little as fifteen MINUTES with just a couple rocket launchers an' MAYBE some grenades."

"Oh, no…!"

"An' she took enough weapons to arm entire squads o' those Tinkerbats with 'em."

"That isn't good at all…" she bemoaned, scratching her head in concern. "Out of curiosity, could you maybe give me an example of what we're dealing with here?"

"Well… How about a comparative analysis?" Tayshan offered, uncertain of what parallels to draw between Sequin Land and his own realm.

"Yeah, that might help," the young heroine agreed, eager to understand the severity of the threat Risky Boots posed this time around.

"Okay. So first thing, what city here is the smallest an' most vulnerable?"

"Hmm… If it weren't for me being here, I'd have to say Scuttle Town. It's the one city Risky Boots ALWAYS attacks first. Usually, she'll fire off barrages of cannonballs and Tinkerbat attack pods into the city from her ship once she gets close enough. From there, any Tinkerbats that make landfall by attack pod will go running amok, pillaging, terrorizing, and vandalizing away until the Sequin Land guards or my friends and I put a stop to it."

"Yikes… How often has that happened?"

"Almost every time, Tayshan. There's only one time where she wasn't responsible for staging a full-frontal assault on Scuttle Town. That one time, it was a warmongering army general named Ammo Baron, who'd managed to sneak into Scuttle Town and take Mayor Scuttlebutt's job as mayor of the city."

"Ammo Baron? That doesn't sound good, either…"

"He's one of the Barons of Sequin Land, and the one with a massive army and weapons arsenal of his own. Granted, he has actual men—and two girls—as his followers instead of Tinkerbats, but he's generally pretty unlikely to attack Scuttle Town head-on unless for a very specific purpose."

"I see…" The soldier acknowledged, wondering about the possibility of crossing paths with such a foreboding figure as this Ammo Baron during his search for the Pirate Queen.

"Plus, despite his army and access to all sorts of destructive weaponry, he's nowhere near as well-equipped as Risky Boots is… That or he's generally not quite as cunning. I'm not sure how, now that I think of it, though. Anyway, we shouldn't have to worry as much about him."

"Maybe you can tell me more about him later," Tayshan dismissed, wanting to forego distractions in favor of focusing on getting his point across. "We're gettin' off-track. Anyway, pirate girl. How long would you say it usually takes between her launchin' an attack on Scuttle Town an' you stoppin' her?"

"I never measured or thought about it, but if I had to guess… I'd say that last time, it took me about an hour or two to fight my way through Scuttle Town while it was under siege to stop her. I managed to bring things under control before she did TOO much damage to the town, though. Even so, Scuttle Town is still in a rebuilding phase from the last assault."

"Okay, so we definitely have a problem," Tayshan concluded with a sigh, his tone grim.

"Uh-oh…"

"Uh-oh is right. If one attack lasted two hours with cannons an' attack pods an' she STILL didn't completely demolish the city, I'm afraid I have some VERY bad news for ya…" At that, Shantae gulped in anticipatory fear. "T' give you some perspective, a single round from a single rocket launcher—at least, of the kind she stole—has enough power t' theoretically wipe out a house an' a half on impact, not even countin' the aftereffects like shockwaves, fire, or even shrapnel. As in, rocket makes contact, EXPLODES, an' takes EVERYTHING with it. The rockets in particular are anti-tank. Their purpose is to immobilize or destroy enemy tanks…" he rambled before he paused to realize something. "Here I am, assumin' you know what a tank is… Allow me t' backtrack a bit. Do they have tanks here? Y'know, giant armored war vehicles on treads with long, tube-like mounted guns?"

"Yeah, but they're VERY rare," she answered, surprising her houseguest. "At this point, only Ammo Baron and his army have access to them. Even then, they don't always use them. They're too slow and clunky, and the last one I faced off against, I managed to destroy simply by whipping red cannonballs fired out of it back at it. It was incredibly easy, too."

"Really now? Wow… This world is somethin' else…" Tayshan remarked with a shake of his head, having some much-expected trouble imagining a single woman of Shantae's stature destroying a fully-operational tank all on her own without a rocket launcher. Granted, he also assumed that if she managed to destroy it so easily, it must not have been at all like the kind of tank he knew from his world. "The tanks in my world are resilient enough that you'd HAVE t' use a rocket launcher, bomb, or another tank t' take them out. We're talkin' reinforced steel mixed with uranium alloy. INCREDIBLY tough material. They don't shoot cannonballs, either. They shoot highly-explosive rounds that move at about five times the speed o' sound AND can annihilate anything within a nine-mile range. Or fifteen kilometers, if we're talkin' metric system…"

"…Oh… Well, we definitely DON'T have THOSE kinds of tanks here, thankfully. I… don't think I'd be able to beat that on my own. Did… Risky manage to get her hands on one of those?" she queried, understandably worried.

"I'd be surprised if you could, t' be honest. But thank goodness, no, she didn't take any tanks from my world," he answered, causing Shantae to sigh in relief. "Still, these rockets are loaded with anti-tank warheads, which basically means they're designed to tear through reinforced steel an' uranium alloy like tissue paper. Against an unsuspecting house made o' bricks, wood, or what have you? Forget about it… Oh, an' if I've got the right idea about how the cannons you mentioned work, then I can guarantee you that these rockets travel MUCH faster than cannonballs do. You can't even see 'em comin', they move so fast. The launchers themselves are much easier t' reload, too. You're also supposed t' hold the rocket launcher over your shoulder an' aim t' fire it. Think of it as a somewhat-lower scale, portable tank gun."

"Oh my gosh!" the young woman gasped in total shock. "Not even Ammo Baron has THAT kind of firepower!"

"Right… an' THIS is just scratchin' the surface of the kind o' firepower she's messin' with."

"Wh-what kind of world do you live in where the weapons are so lethal that you could blow up an entire town with just one or two of them?"

"One that, while mostly peaceful, still ironically keeps those weapons around in case things suddenly become not-so-peaceful. It sounds a bit backwards, I know."

"Jeez… I'm afraid to even imagine…"

"I don't blame you. So now, imagine pirate girl an' like… let's say six o' those Tinkerbats all sailed int' Scuttle Town, each armed with a rocket launcher an' a TON of extra ammo. Because she stole a LOT of it. A LOT. Enough t' arm herself an' a decent chunk of her army for weeks. Anyway, they sail t' where they're about the same distance away on their ship as they were last time they attacked. They start firin' rockets at everything indiscriminately, so long as they're aimin' at Scuttle Town. Just SEVEN rocket launchers. Each one fired just ONCE in Scuttle Town's general direction."

"Okay…"

"Now imagine this. In just five seconds, she has just turned an entire neighborhood into a smolderin' crater of fire an' carnage. By the time you are alerted t' what happened, she an' those six Tinkerbats have fired their launchers three times apiece. Let's say it takes you five, maybe ten minutes t' gear up an' fight her off. In the time it takes you t' arrive at the scene, you walk int' what's left of Scuttle Town t' see that it has been entirely obliterated. Not a single building standin' without some form o' heavy damage. What isn't already engulfed in flames or crumblin' like burnt cookies has been blasted all over the vicinity. Survivors are a pipe dream at best if they're totally unprepared."

"My goodness… It… It can get that bad?" Shantae queried, moderately unsettled about the example she'd just been given.

"Potentially. This is all speculation, so don't take that example as fact," he assured her. "However, I'd advise against disregardin' it, too. Like I said, she took a LOT of weapons big an' small from my base, an' right now, she has the potential t' destroy this place if we don't act fast."

"I see…" she began with a contemplative sigh to dispel some of her apprehension. "I can handle her, though. If I move first thing tomorrow morning, I know I can find her wherever she is, and take her down before she even thinks of using those weapons."

"I like your enthusiasm. But hey, why don't we team up? Seems we've got a common goal an' a common enemy. Together, we can definitely take her down."

"Thanks for the offer, but…" Shantae began, politely declining her guest's proposition. "…if anyone knows how to deal with Risky Boots and her schemes, it's me."

"No?" Tayshan remarked with a cocked eyebrow, surprised that his host would turn him down after all he'd warned her about. "Then, how do you expect t' stop her on your own with everything I just warned you about?"

"I'll find a way. Trust me. I always do."

"Hmm… Sorry t' say, but that ain't convincin' t' me. Do you have a plan o' some sort, or some form o' countermeasure for when she attacks?"

"No… but I assure you, I've got it covered, Tayshan," she confidently dismissed, though her words did nothing to persuade the ethereal serviceman into believing she had the situation under control.

"Shantae, I'm serious," the soldier remarked, still eager to lend a hand in the upcoming fight. "I urge you t' think about this an' reconsider. I'm tellin' you, she's got a lot more at her disposal than you might realize. That said, how can I help?"

"You've helped more than enough by warning me about her. I can handle the rest from here. And hey, since you warned me so early, I'll definitely stop her way sooner than usual."

"I can't speak for how soon you can get t' where she is, nor can I speak for how easy or hard it'll be for you t' battle her again, but I seriously don't think you should go alone this time. The threat she poses right now is catastrophic, to put it lightly. I should come with you for back-up."

"Tayshan, don't worry about me," the confident young woman insisted. "I'll be okay. I can adapt to whatever Risky has to throw at me. I can deal with her by myself. Besides, I don't want to put you in more danger than you've already been in when you fought her. Maybe you can just let me know some info about what other kinds of weapons she has and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for them while I'm out there searching for her."

"There's safety in numbers, Shantae," he shot back, determined to ascertain their success in confronting Sequin Land's public enemy #1. "I might not have had more than one encounter with her, but I can at least keep you informed about the weapons we might encounter as we go along. We don't have time for me t' teach you the ins an' outs of every weapon. There are way too many of 'em an' there's no way you'd remember everything I had t' tell you. Plus, if I can get my hands on a couple o' those guns, there's no doubt I'd be able to provide all kinds of support for you t' make things easier. I'm pretty versatile with most, if not all o' those firearms, believe it or not."

"That's fair…" she nodded in thought, curious about the capabilities of her potential ally.

"I'm also aware I don't have the kinds of experiences you do with goin' on crusades t' protect this place from criminals, but I can assure you that I'm trained t' handle a wide range o' combat situations where the most conventional approach might not work. If you want me t' prove that to you, just say the word."

"Hmm… No, I think you have a point… but she almost had you killed, Tayshan. That's what worries me most about bringing you along. I'd rather you be safe and resting than risking getting hurt while you're with me."

"I… I know," the soldier begrudgingly admitted. "Though, on the brighter side o' that, I did manage t' survive in that desert long enough for you t' find me. I fought off almost a whole brigade o' those Tinkerbats with nothin' but a tattered-up rope for at least an hour while tired out from fightin' pirate girl, if you wanna put that int' perspective. If I at least had a sword o' my own or had been at full strength, you'd better believe I'd have fared much better. On top o' that, I'd like t' think I gave pirate girl a fight she won't forget, even if she beat me. She's strong, yes, but I'm pretty tough myself. I'm also a quick thinker. I caught her off-guard a couple times an', if I knew more about her durin' that fight, I could've possibly got the drop on her. Trust me on this, Shantae. I can help you."

"I… I suppose…" the half-genie pensively acknowledged, weighing her options.

"Plus, we can't expect t' stop pirate girl if we don't know what she's plannin' or have a clue where she is right now… The only clues I have are that she said she wants t' rebuild that machine she used to bring me here an' use the portal to invade your Genie Realm again. That or stage a full-scale assault on this place t' take it over by force after possibly makin' another trip t' my world t' steal more weapons."

"True…" Shantae regretfully admitted, thinking back to a piece of advice Risky herself gave her after the two sworn rivals worked together to defeat the Pirate Master long ago. She recalled Risky stating that the most important aspect to beating the enemy is to first KNOW the enemy. Additionally, she contemplated letting this stranger join her. She had no idea who he was or what he was capable of. Sure, he fought Risky Boots and… well, survived, at least. However, how would she know he wouldn't be a liability should she bring him along?

She examined the injured young man up and down as she processed the information she'd been given. After a moment, the half-genie surmised that he came off as informative, intuitive, and intelligent. She could not deny that it did indeed take much resolve, instinct, and guts to go through the things he did with Risky Boots, Sequin Land's most dangerous criminal, as well as her legion of Tinkerbats. However, his professed skills had yet to be seen by her eyes. As far as she knew, he was unproven, which worried her. She had no conceivable way to put much faith in him. Nonetheless, if he could indeed provide her with the supports he said he could, why wouldn't she take him up on such an offer? It gave him a chance to prove himself, as well as giving her an opportunity to cooperate with someone who could make her upcoming perilous journey more bearable. This alien soldier presented as confident in his knowledge and capabilities, which served to be a key point in her decision. Eventually, she spoke after a moment of total silence. "I… I see your point in us working together to stop her. You're right."

"I promise I won't let you down or get in the way," he replied with an enthusiastic nod and a fist raised close to his chest. "I'll do everything in my power t' help you shut that pirate thief down."

"Right," she acknowledged with a smile and nod. "Still, what do you think we should do about preparing to battle her again?"

"That, I'm not so sure of… Hmm…" the soldier droned as he and his host began thinking about the situation at hand. The lighthouse went quiet save for the crashing waves of the ocean outside as both Shantae and Tayshan contemplated their next move. Within a few moments, the extraterrestrial soldier spoke. "We can start by alertin' some people who can help us, but we gotta be discreet. Don't stir up too much of a fuss for right now until we know for certain what she's plannin'. For all she knows, I'm dead an' you're totally unaware of her resurgence."

"I… don't see how that would be effective to only let a few people know what's happening," Shantae disagreed, one of her eyebrows raising with curiosity.

"Crowd control, for one thing. As I was taught, lettin' the general public know about a big problem before it's under control causes panic an' confusion that we'd have t' spend time gettin' cleared up. Time that we could be usin' t' bring the situation to a swift an' early end. We want people t' be peaceful unless she attacks head-on right away."

"She's done that numerous times, though."

"No surprises there. She seems aggressive enough t' do that. I doubt she would this time, though."

"How do you know?"

"Neither she nor her men know how t' use those weapons, from what I saw. If she's as crafty as you say, there's a chance she'll be takin' the time t' teach herself an' them clumsy Tinkerbats o' hers how t' use 'em. She HAS t' know that just sendin' them out there with such destructive tools an' no idea how t' wield 'em would be a disaster waitin' t' happen. Right now, those weapons pose a huge threat even t' her until she figures 'em out. All things considered, she might be awhile with learnin' them if we're lucky. That alone buys us a lot o' time, even though it's in the worst way possible."

"Good point," Shantae lauded. "She is usually one to consider her moves very carefully before she makes them, as far as I've learned about her. Most times, we're totally unprepared for when she attacks, so it's good to be proactive for a change."

"Good t' know. Lettin' just the right people know about her plans first gives us more time t' build our defenses an' form a counterstrategy of our own."

"Ohh, I see."

"Yeah. Crazy as I might sound, I think we gotta approach this with cool minds and a lot o' patience. This situation is already an 8.5 on a scale o' 1 to 10 on how dangerous it is."

"Agreed. You sure know how to plan things out in a time of crisis."

"I kinda have to. It's a strength of mine," he confessed, referring to his military training.

"Good to know. Though, I can't promise you that the list of potential allies will be long or easy to fulfill. Most Sequin Land citizens are just that; citizens, with normal lives and normal jobs. None of them would be prepared to fight Risky Boots head-on like we're talking about. Of those who aren't just citizens, most of them also enemies of mine most of the time. That or they won't budge unless we really convince them that it's for their own good."

"That's no good… Well, how about the government? Surely, they know about her by now, no?"

"We could try alerting the guards or the Sultana at Sequin Land Palace, but there's little to no chance they'll hear us out until after Risky Boots attacks. I… don't necessarily have the best relationship with them, which is part of why I tend to work independently."

"Seriously?" Tayshan asked with moderate incredulity, though he grasped a clue as to why this was the case for her. "What, they don't like the idea of a superhero livin' in their midst or somethin'? How you don't 'follow their rules,' an' they see you as some kind o' lawless renegade vigilante who operates on her own wavelength, even though you're workin' for the greater good?"

"Actually… Yeah!" Shantae remarked with utter surprise, though the soldier could only sigh in expectant disappointment. "They don't believe Scuttle Town needs a guardian genie and they often tell me that a 'pretty little lady' like me should stay out of public affairs and leave the law enforcement to them; especially regarding Risky Boots. Granted, I have proven once and again that I can handle things if they let me, but… it's complicated. Plus, the Sultana's never available for some reason. Something about her always traveling…" The soldier took note of Shantae's terminology regarding the leading power of Sequin Land and began to draw comparisons to certain cultures in his world. He also contemplated her statement, gaining little more than a slight sense of dread from it. "Whatever the case, the guards aren't very likely to help us, no matter what we say."

"Hmm… Well, there IS strength in numbers regardless, but I guess we should also prepare for if we have to go about stoppin' pirate woman by ourselves. That said, I gotta know… Exactly how strong are you?"

"Plenty strong!" Shantae boasted as she raised an arm as if flexing a muscle, though she soon brought a finger to her chin and gazed upward in wonder. "Though I'm not sure if all the power-ups I picked up since my last video game are still there. Almost none of my power-ups carry over between games, for some reason…" At this, the military officer stared at her as though she were completely insane. He always did wonder why the cutest of girls always happened to be either taken or out of their minds. This was not helping that case; even in a parallel universe.

"…What?" he managed to ask, completely thrown off by her statement.

"Oh, never mind," Shantae nonchalantly dismissed, doing nothing to address her guest's confusion. "I'll just check…" With that, the guardian genie bowed her head and closed her eyes as though meditating with the occasional "Hmm…" After a couple of minutes, her eyes flew open. "Y'know what? I just remembered! I donated most of my inventory to needy street children in Cape Crustacean after the big carpet race cost their families their homes. I only have a Gator Steak and a potion left. Then I gave my Magic Tiara back to Mayor Scuttlebutt after he said he didn't have a birthday present for his niece from Saliva Island. And without that tiara, all the fire, lightning, and bubble spells I learned took too much of a toll on my magic, so I got rid of all but the basic fireball spell, which is pretty useless on its own, but I found it worth keeping just in case. I also recently ran out of the Mega Shampoo and Hair Cream I use to keep my hair in peak whipping shape," Shantae rapidly recalled.

"What are you even-?" Tayshan attempted to interject, raising his hands to emphasize his question.

"That stuff is super expensive too, so I had to resort back to the normal brand," Shantae continued, ignoring Tayshan as she explained her loss of power-ups to him. "It doesn't work as well, but it keeps the split ends and cowlicks in line. I couldn't stand wearing my metal bikini armor, either. It chafed something fierce, so I tossed it as soon as I was done with it. And as far as I'm aware, most of my Heart Holders just vanish after I finish an adventure. I'm back to two hearts of health again, though I still at least have most of my belly-dancing spells, according to my pause menu… Er, why are you looking at me like that?" Shantae questioned, noticing after her tangent about her lost power-ups that she completely discombobulated her house guest, who stared blankly at her with incredulous squinted eyes and his mouth ajar.

"I uh… Hm, uh—Mmh, O-okay…" Tayshan was at an utter loss for words at his Sequinean companion's explanation of her loss of equipment. Realizing that he was probably never going to fully understand anything the half-genie rambled to him, he simply shook his head before formulating his next statement. "Alright, so what you're basically sayin' is that you're maybe a LITTLE bit better equipped than I am when it comes t' takin' on this pirate woman… Risky Booty, was it?"

"Risky Boots," Shantae laughingly corrected, finding a great deal of amusement in the soldier's misnomer. "That's a good one, Tayshan… Buuuut… Yeah, I definitely need to prepare. You do have a point there. Which reminds me…" she trailed off as she reached into the breast piece of her outfit and pulled out a thoroughly-cooked slab of what seemed to be beef. "Here, eat this," she casually offered him the Gator Steak she previously stated she had. Again, the parallel-universe inhabitant stared blankly at Shantae. "What?"

"Yo, you just pulled a full, thoroughly-cooked cut o' steak out of your…" he trailed off, his face getting slightly hot. He coughed awkwardly, not wanting to finish his statement. "Uhh…"

"What about it? These pants don't have pockets and it isn't like I carry a huge bag full of stuff around all the time. That'd just be impractical, silly," Shantae naively confessed, none the wiser to Tayshan's lack of understanding of her admittedly-bizarre reasoning.

"Y'know what? I'mma just shut up an' take it… I'm too hungry t' care anymore anyway," he admitted with an exasperated sigh, fearing that asking just one more question about this weird planet and its weird inhabitants (of which he had only met two that spoke at this point), his head would burst like a party balloon. Tayshan got Gator Steak from Shantae and took a rather careless bite. He was immediately astounded by the rich, juicy flavors of the slab of meat. Its succulent extracts coursed all over his taste buds as the choice cut's tenderness provided it with an irresistible melt-in-your-mouth sensation.

The steak's flavor was accentuated by a uniquely charbroiled umami inflection. The soldier couldn't help but to devour every morsel of this steak in an instant. As he finished the last bite, he felt a sudden surge of energy as his old strength had returned to him. No more post-battle fatigue or residual injuries he picked up from his fight with Risky Boots. He felt good as new, though he did not understand how or why. Another question to which he knew he'd never find an answer that made sense.

"Sooo, how was it?" Shantae asked Tayshan, eagerly awaiting his reply.

"Hooooo-WOO, that was good!" the soldier sang in a mix of astonishment and savory satisfaction. "Wow, that was better than any steak I've ever had back home! Shoot, my taste buds gonna be dancin' for days off that!"

"Gator Steaks are the absolute best kind of choice cut Sequin Land has to offer! Glad you liked it! Looks like that did the trick, too!" Shantae proudly exclaimed with an adorable smile. "You look like a million monies!"

"You mean bucks?"

"No…?" Shantae tilted her head, unsure of Tayshan's meaning.

"Right, different world, different expressions. Forget it," the young man dismissed with a sigh that quickly turned into a yawn. "I'm still tired after today… I should probably get out o' your hair an' find somewhere t' camp out while I'm here," he added as he stood and stretched before turning for the door, though his host raised a curious eyebrow. "Got a lot t' think about… Again, thanks for the steak. An' especially thanks for savin' me. I owe you a huge favor."

"Well hold on!" She called, stopping him before he reached the door. "Camp out? Why don't you just stay here?" she suggested, concerned that he had nowhere else to go. "I might not have a ton of room in here, but I can at least offer you a roof over your head."

"Nah, I couldn't do that…" he modestly declined. "You did plenty by gettin' me out o' that horrible situation. I can't impose on you by just crashin' in your house, too. Don't sweat it, I'll be okay."

"Tayshan, I insist," Shantae contested. "There's nothing out there for you to camp out with. Do you have anything you can use to protect yourself or survive out there with? Especially if you just got here today by total accident? I doubt you even have any money to rent a room for a night."

"Nothin' but the clothes on my back, as well as my…" he admitted before realizing he didn't have even one component of the necessary equipment he needed to survive in the wilderness. "Oh, right… no gun or knives. On second thought, maybe you're right…" he acquiesced with a sigh of slight discomfort. "Are you sure, though? I could seriously find somewhere else t' sleep. I'm pretty resourceful. I don't wanna be a burden."

"Nonsense, Tayshan. If you're stranded on a totally different planet with no idea of how it works, the last thing I'd want you to do is wander off and get hurt. Plus, it's kinda nice having someone around for once. I don't usually have company."

"You raise a good point… Fine, you got me. I'll stay here… at least, for tonight."

"Awesome!" Shantae cheered. "Make yourself at home however you'd like."

"I can't express enough how thankful I am, Shantae. Thanks for your hospitality."

"Think nothing of it! I'm sure you'd do the same for me if I were in your shoes."

"Absolutely…" he nodded, looking downward to notice that his clothes were filthy from his previous predicament with Risky Boots. "There a bath or somethin' I could use t' clean myself up with? My clothes are caked in mud an' I feel like I ran a nonstop marathon for a day straight."

"I can take care of your clothes for you," she replied as she stood with a yawn. "As for baths… I don't own a bathtub, so I can only suggest that you wash up outside." At this point, the extraterrestrial man stopped expecting any convenient, sensible answers from Shantae. "I kinda need one too after today, so I'll join you."

"Oh, that's a real funny one," Tayshan sarcastically remarked, reading her suggestion to join him in bathing in the ocean as a joke. "I didn't take you as the flirty type, Shantae."

"Hm? What are you talking about?" she asked as she opened a nearby dresser drawer to fetch some towels, wash cloths, a bar of soap, two scrubbing brushes, and a bucket. Only then did he realize she was serious. His shock was of course tempered with restructured (read: lowered) expectations. Nonetheless, her suggestion begged the question of comfort level.

"Hold on… You're serious about takin' a bath with me?"

"Yeah. Is there a problem with that?" she asked, taking note of the apprehension in his tone.

"I mean, we barely know each other, an' if we gotta go outside, then that means-!"

"It's not that big a deal," Shantae assured her guest. "I mean, it IS a little unusual bathing with someone I just met, but it really shouldn't be too different from going to a bathhouse or the beach in… Oh, but you're not FROM here. Right… They DO have beaches and bathhouses where you're from, right?"

"Yeah. True, true…" The genie girl had a point. "I guess if we mind our manners an' such, we should be okay. But, if you say it's like goin' t' the beach or bathhouse, what does that imply?"

"That we won't be completely naked out there, if I'm… going to put it bluntly," she affirmed with a slight blush. "I definitely wouldn't have offered it if that were the case, if that's what you're nervous about."

"That's a relief. But… I… ain't that a bit weird for you, seein' a strange guy with nothin' but a pair o' boxers on?" At that, Shantae perked up.

"Trust me, Tayshan. I've seen worse than a guy in his underpants in my time. MUCH worse," she unabashedly confessed.

"I'll… take your word for it, then," he acknowledged with a nervous chuckle.

"That said, are… you uncomfortable? Y'know, with seeing… a girl in what'll basically be a bikini?" she dared to ask again, her own apprehension shining through once more.

"When you put it THAT way… No. I'd be completely fine in that case. If it's like a trip t' the beach, as you say, then there should be nothin' wrong at all. I-I think… I mean, especially if I imagine that we're wearin' beach clothes while we're out there."

"See, it's not so bad! Just think about it like us going to the beach. Besides, I wouldn't want you to have to wait until the next day to get cleaned up; especially not after what you went through. I understand if maybe you're a bit self-conscious about it, though. You can tell me if something's wrong. If so, we can… take turns, I suppose. But, I think it's faster and more convenient for us to go together. I've only got one bucket and only one way to keep it warm." At that, the young man sighed impatiently.

"You know what? You're right," Tayshan conceded in the same vein as he was reminded of how there was no such thing as privacy in the military when it came to showers. Granted, military showers were full of big, sweaty, naked men; hardly an ideal situation regarding bathing. Surely, taking a beach trip-styled bath with an attractive young woman wasn't all THAT different… he hoped. It was certainly a nice change of pace, though he wouldn't outwardly admit that. "Ain't nothin' t' worry about. We can bathe together. No sweat. I was just tryin' t' be considerate. Y'know, about gender stuff…" he sheepishly admitted, pushing his index fingers together and averting his gaze.

"You're so cute!" she proclaimed with a healthy laugh, much to Tayshan's chagrin. Men are not supposed to be 'cute.' Despite this, he pouted with embarrassment, bashfully darting his eyes away. "For an alien, you sure are shy."

"Hey, don't make fun o' me. I just… I-it's new t' me, takin' a bath with a girl… Gimme a break," he defended with an abashed mumble, crossing his arms and looking elsewhere.

"Aww, Tayshan… I appreciate that you're so considerate," she praised with a cheerful smile, still finding his bashfulness about the matter endearing. "We'll be okay, though. Promise. And don't worry, I'll try not to get my cooties all over you when we go."

"Haw haw haw," the soldier dryly remarked, though he was admittedly calmed by his host's nonchalance about the topic. "I might be from an alternate dimension, but like I said before, I'm still human. So are you, if what you told me about yourself is accurate. It's only natural t' be considerate in situations like this."

"Yeah, that's true," she realized. "I guess that's one thing our worlds have in common."

"Yeah… but, I can own up to it an' say you got me on that," he admitted with a slight chortle, lightening up a bit. "Anyway, a bathtub is a pretty big thing t' miss from your home, ain't it?"

"This lighthouse is missing quite a few essential home accessories, so I've kinda had to make do with what I've got."

"If that's the case, then why you livin' here?" he asked in genuine curiosity. "No disrespect, but if you're the hero of this world—or at least, this country—like you say you are, shouldn't you have a lot more resources at your disposal?"

"A common misconception," Shantae mused as she handed him a towel and wash cloth. "This job actually doesn't pay as well as people think. I get most of my money from the occasional scavenger hunts I embark on during my adventures or from my uncle. I also sometimes go treasure hunting if I'm low on funds and have time to spare. In fact, when I found you, I was in the middle of gathering the money necessary to pay this month's rent. I'm usually pretty good at finding money to pay my bills with…"

"But I guess SAVIN' said money is kinda the issue?"

"Yeah… Especially when I can only hold a maximum of 999 monies at any given point in time. REALLY kills my ability to save. It also doesn't help that the mayor keeps firing and rehiring me as Guardian Genie if I so much as blow my nose the wrong way or if he thinks he can replace me with someone who can do the job better than I can. Anyway, how'd you know about my difficulty saving money?"

"Wild guess," Tayshan answered, though he could relate in a twisted, otherworldly sense. "Still, that kinda gets tedious, don't it? Havin' t' dig up funds wherever you might find 'em, workin' a job that ain't payin' you what you deserve an' with no security whatsoever, livin' more-or-less paycheck to paycheck… Are you sure you're a bein' treated like a hero or more like a strugglin' restaurant waitress?"

"I won't lie, Tayshan… It's hard. Even when you have magic powers and a track record of saving the world multiple times like I do," Shantae lamented as she undid her gold hair tie and let her luxurious royal purple mane fall freely around her face before she pulled a two-piece night gown from the drawer. "I never ask for much, if anything in return for saving the world, though. I get enough satisfaction watching Scuttle Town's citizens peacefully enjoying their daily lives. I've grown accustomed to my lifestyle, though I'm aware that I could have a better living situation. I suppose I don't want to burden anyone by trying to live amongst humans as a half-genie; nor do I want to impose upon the citizens of Scuttle Town more than I already have. Plus, I actually like it here, believe it or not!" She smiled at him before turning her attention back to gathering her nighttime materials.

"I see your point, Shantae…" Tayshan nodded. He himself had aspirations of being a hero… It was why he joined the military, after all. He imagined a hero to be celebrated… adored… respected in the highest regard… immortalized as an idealized utopian image of himself by others. Admittedly, they were rather ambitious and unrealistic expectations, but it made him desire it no less. The thought perpetually enticed him like water would entice a dehydrated fish. Accordingly, as though it were a predestined encounter, he was talking directly to someone regarded as a hero in her native land. Yet here she was, living as though she did nothing more important than the average Joe. In that moment, the young soldier found a new, deep sense of respect for his newest ally.

"I don't think you're bein' a burden by livin' with and protectin' the people here," he spoke again, grasping the young woman's attention as she undid her earrings, headband, and bracelets. "I don't know exactly how often you save people here or the gravity of the situations you saved them from, Shantae… but I know you're doin' a very important job that only you can do, an' you do it without expectin' anything in return. You have my utmost respect," he confessed with a smile of his own. Shantae was moved by this stranger's words as she focused her gaze toward him. He was standing tall, his muscular frame contrasting with the cascading moonlight beaming through the window as he raised a hand toward his forehead, saluting her. He seemed to mean it as she noticed the solemn conviction in his eyes.

"Wow… Thanks, Tayshan… That means a lot. A lot more than you might know…" she modestly accepted his salutation, feeling appreciated.

"Call me Tay," he proffered as he motioned to take the bathing equipment and go outside. "It's… what my friends used to call me back home." At that, she smiled warmly.

"Aw, that's sweet…" Shantae admitted with a mirthful grin. Tayshan chuckled in amusement and a light tinge of shyness. "Sure… Tay. Say, you wouldn't mind telling me a bit about yourself, would you? We'll be working together to stop Risky Boots, so I think it's a good idea for us to get to know each other. Plus, it's always nice to meet a new friend."

"I don't see a problem with that," he agreed. "Maybe we can talk outside while we wash up? I'm sure you need your privacy," he added, taking note of Shantae's state of partial undress.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll get ready on the upper floor," with that, Shantae set her fabrics, scrubbing brush, and soap down and leapt toward a rope hanging down from the ceiling of the second floor. She climbed the rope and within a few seconds, jumped back down wearing what appeared to be a blue-and-white striped two-piece bathing suit. "Ready!"

"Huh… I uh… Hm…" the stunned young man cleared his throat as his eyes darted around the humble abode, his uncertainty about how to assess the situation evident. It was odd for him to be in the same room as a beautiful half-nude girl who seemed unfazed by the fact that she wasn't wearing conventional clothes. He also didn't want to come across as immoral by making prolonged eye contact with her as she was. As such, he was only able to glance at her for brief stints before averting his gaze elsewhere.

"Well, aren't you going to get ready, too?" She casually asked, grabbing her bathing equipment in addition to a bottle of shampoo.

"Oh! Uh, y-yeah. I'mma meet you outside," he excused himself. "This stuff is a little bit complicated t' take off…"

"Okey dokey!" Shantae unassumingly acknowledged as she grabbed her bucket and strolled out the front door, leaving her alien-ish acquaintance to wonder exactly how to process everything going on around him. He was stuck in a whole different world with no conceivable way of getting back home. He was now entangled in a life-or-death struggle against this different world's most dangerous criminal. He was hopelessly lost and confused about every circumstance he happened upon since his encounter with Risky Boots.

Yet, his only form of guidance through this tangled up yarn ball of a situation happened to be a nubile, young, beautiful purple-haired girl who herself made very little sense in her explanations of Sequin Land, its laws of physics, and her role as its protector; not to mention her personal boundaries were way different from any girl he'd ever met in his world. As the fledgling soldier disrobed down to just a pair of black boxer-briefs, he contemplated intensely on how he and Shantae would defeat Risky Boots and reclaim the stolen equipment, exactly what Shantae was capable of as a half-genie… and especially how he was going to find his way back home. He was stranded here in Sequin Land, as far as he was concerned.

Eventually, with a deep and heavy sigh, he set his clothing neatly on the floor, grabbed the towel and scrubbing brush given to him by his impromptu tour guide, and stepped outside. Immediately, he noticed her sitting at the edge of a wooden structure extending from the grassy hill the lighthouse stood on, using her magic to heat up the bucket, filled with water, by way of casting minuscule embers from her fingertips to make light contact with the base of the bucket.

"So THIS is how you do it, huh?" Tay observed in wonder, already astounded by Shantae's method of bathing.

"Yep. I fill the bucket, heat it up to purify the water, dip my wash cloth in it, and the rest should be pretty obvious," Shantae explained as she soaked her wash cloth before rubbing the bar of soap on it. "It's quite refreshing."

"Hm," he nodded in understanding as he took a seat next to her, on the opposite side of the bucket and began employing her method of bathing. "This is a pretty simple way of washin' up."

"That's the best part about it. Sure, I'd like to sit in a nice, hot bathtub or stand in the endless flow of a shower and let the warmth of the water swallow me up as I relaxed, but it's like I said… you make do with what you have. I hope this isn't too inconvenient for you."

"Nah, you're good! I understand completely," the soldier modestly assured. "Believe me, I'm the last person you need t' explain yourself to."

"What do you mean?" Shantae asked, her curiosity piqued as she scrubbed herself with her wash cloth. Tayshan began to do the same with his own cloth.

"Well… I never had the most… comfortable upbringin'. I mostly grew up on the streets where I'm from. I was lucky if the faucets in my bathroom worked well enough for me t' take a bath or shower. This is a comparative luxury."

"Ohh…" she remarked in wonder, recognizing the soldier's statement as the beginning of him opening up to her. "You grew up poor?"

"Yeah. My parents tried their best, but we were definitely livin' in poverty."

"Wow… I hope it wasn't too bad…"

"Well, it's about as bad as it gets. We barely ever had any food, we was livin' in the slums, our water was almost always brown, so we couldn't even drink it, much less bathe in it, an' if there wasn't rats or the sounds of people fightin' outside that kept us up at night, it was the landlord of our apartment bangin' on the door demandin' rent money first thing just about every mornin' if we missed rent, to name a few things… It was rough."

"Oh, my…" Shantae acknowledged, lending him an ear as she washed up. "Were your parents at least able to provide for you?"

"Yeah, as best as they could. Dad was a firefighter, but so many years savin' people from burnin' buildings an' breathin' in toxic fumes took its toll on him, amongst other things. Plus, he never got paid as much as I thought he deserved. Mom jumped from job to job, strugglin' along with my dad t' make ends meet while they tried figurin' out how t' keep me outta trouble. Of course, trouble has ways o' findin' you if you don't go lookin' for it," he confessed.

"Sounds like this won't be a very happy story… Are you okay telling me about your life? I don't want you to remember things you don't want to for the sake of telling me."

"Nah, I'm good. It's my life, so I been livin' it for better or for worse. Tellin' you the story won't destroy me."

"Okay… then please, continue."

"You got it. Where was I…? Oh, yeah. Trouble. As my parents were tryin' t' make ends meet, I wound up gettin' involved with the wrong crowd as a kid… I let older kids trick or bully me int' doin' things I ain't wanna do… I skipped school, got int' fights for no good reason, stole from people so I knew when I could get my next meal… that whole shebang."

"Yikes…" she remarked, slightly unsettled by her acquaintance's confession. Her impression of him was one where she'd never expected him to have done such things as steal or fight for no reason. She was aware, however, that she knew next to nothing about him, only having met him mere hours ago. At this point, it was impossible to grasp a comprehensive image of her guest. As such, she continued to listen intently.

"My parents knew about the kinds o' ruckus I was causin', an' they told me again an' again t' stop walkin' down the hoodlum's path or else I'd end up locked up or… or dead. I didn't see what I was doin' as 'bad' at the time, though. I thought I was doin' myself, my family, and my so-called friends favors."

"How so?"

"I'd bring food home when mom an' pop couldn't, I'd share what I… 'confiscated' with the younger kids on the block who were in worse situations, an' I did everything I thought I could at the time t' earn the respect o' my peers. But it was either never enough or it was ill-gotten to the point where my parents would make me give back anything I swiped for them an' force me to apologize t' the people I took from. As for everyone else, they'd take what I had t' give an' demand more, jump me t' take more than I had t' offer, or basically spit in my face. Figuratively speakin', of course."

"Oh… That sounds awful…" she commented, beginning to grasp an understanding of the soldier and his background. It relieved her to hear that his intentions for his past actions were not malicious in nature. However, it saddened her to hear that his efforts were basically for naught in relation to his goals at the time.

"Yeah… Simply put, I tried t' play the hero in the sad, sad tale o' the rose that grew from concrete, but I never found the satisfaction I thought I would for even makin' the effort," he lamented as he wrung his wash cloth dry before dipping it in the bath bucket. "I wanted t' be like my dad, y'know? The man o' the house, the firefighter who always saved people an' asked for no kind o' help in return, no matter how tough the situation… the hero I always wanted t' be. He was my role model."

"Mm, I know that feeling… Having someone to look up to, being inspired by everything that person does, wanting to become something great like them…" the young woman attested, having an idea of his struggle and his aspirations. "It's great that you had someone there to motivate you to do the right thing, even though your situation wasn't the best."

"Absolutely…" he affirmed with a nod. "Of course, the difference between me an' him was that he actually did productive things t' make people's lives better. Actually savin' people from life-or-death situations an' protectin' them from harm. I only ever tricked myself into believing I did the same things he did."

"Aw, don't beat yourself up about it, Tayshan," the young lady consoled, reaching out to pat her new friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure your heart was in the right place. I mean, I can't speak for what happened, but… It seems like you really cared to make things easier for the people around you; especially your family."

"Yeah, I guess…" the young man nodded, contemplating her words. "Y'know, my dad once told me somethin' that you sorta reminded me about."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"He told me that… 'The best heroes are those who make sacrifices for others and continue living as normal people.'" He fell silent for a moment as he sat, thinking about his father's insightful words and how they related to his host. Shantae, hearing this loud and clear, raised her eyebrows in intrigue, reading his quote as a vote of praise toward her.

"Wow… I… I don't know what to say. I'm… flattered. Really, I am. Your father… he sounds like he's a really kind, heroic, selfless guy."

"Yeah, he was…"

"W… was?" the half-genie echoed in worry as she recoiled her hand, afraid of what he might follow up with.

"Mm-hmm. Almost like a cruel twist o' fate, the unthinkable happened. It happened so suddenly that it still haunts me because I couldn't get over how I felt at the time…"

"Oh no…" Shantae stopped and turned to her friend, further concerned about what he would tell her next.

"Yea… My father… I was out hangin' with friends on the streets one day when I was told by a neighbor that the police were at my house. I thought they might've been lookin' for me t' get me for somethin' I did, but the neighbor said it was somethin' serious… Well, more serious than anything I could've been in trouble for. Takin' that t' heart, I took off home as fast as I could, wonderin' if my parents were okay… sprintin' down the road until my legs an' lungs nearly gave out on me… hopin' that what I was told was some kind o' sick joke, but… when I got home, my mom was on her knees in a fit o' tears with one o' the cops tryin' to console her. When I approached one o' the other cops an' asked what happened, he knelt down and he told me… 'Your father… he's gone now. I'm sorry, my boy, but he's gone…' I was heartbroken…" he lamented, squeezing his eyes shut and sniffling as the memory of the tragic event resurfaced in his mind.

"My gosh… I… I'm so sorry…" the saddened young woman apologized, reaching a hand out and laying it upon his back to console him.

"Don't be… There was a housefire a couple towns away an' he was called int' action," he continued, wiping his eyes. "I was told he saved a couple o' kids, but then when he went back in t' save one more, he collapsed because his lungs an' heart gave out on him. In hindsight, I at least take pride in the fact that he sacrificed his life t' give those kids a chance t' keep livin' theirs. Even in death, my dad was the hero I aspire t' be," the soldier confessed, trying to hold back his tears. "I just wish my mom was still here t' see how I'm makin' that aspiration come true."

"You… lost her, too?" Shantae asked, choking up with empathetic sadness.

"Yeah… With my father gone, all the stress fell on her. She worked harder, was gone for longer hours because she had multiple jobs, an' saw less time for herself. Meanwhile, I was still cuttin' up on the streets, doin' the same thing I always did, except with more anger in my heart than ever. It wasn't fair that my dad was gone. It wasn't fair that my mom had t' work so hard t' pick up his weight in responsibility… but it also wasn't fair that I didn't take responsibility like my dad would've. Eventually, my mom wound up in a hospital from stress-related illnesses, where she saw her final days. I lost her just a year after I lost my dad… just a year," he somberly ruminated, shaking his head as he stared into the deep, effervescent blue waters of the ocean. "I still blame myself…" he admitted, shining streaks of moonlit tears running down his cheeks as he struggled to keep himself together. "Maybe if I'd have shaped up, started actually helpin' out around the house, got a job, done SOMETHING actually beneficial t' take a load off her rather than run the streets like some two-bit thug with a misplaced grudge… I could've at least kept her alive…"

"…You've had a very rough life, huh?" Shantae found the courage to ask, unsure of how to address the man's grief as she tried unsuccessfully to choke back her own tears. "If it means anything, I… I don't think you should feel like you're to blame… for what happened. I don't quite know how to say it, so I guess I'll just say it; your situation was out of your control. At least, with your parents. I'm sure they gave it all they had… and that even with what you were going through when you lost them… they knew… and you knew… that you were sticking together like a family should."

"Yeah…" he nodded, appreciating her observation as he wiped his face clean of his overwhelming grief. "You're right… but hey, it ain't all bad," he perked up slightly as his newly-acquainted friend removed her hand from his back. "I learned somethin' after that. I learned that I couldn't rely on selfish, short-sighted ways of copin' with my situation. I also learned that if I was gonna be the hero my parents motivated me t' be, then I would have t' clean up my act and strive for somethin' better. I was an orphan just about as soon as I became a teenager, but I at least had good neighbors who took the mantle as my guardians. I made absolutely sure not t' repeat the same mistakes again."

"Wow. Quite the lessons to learn from such a tragic experience…"

"Yeah… I still got bullied a bunch for various reasons over the next few years an' I still found ways t' get in trouble, but all that did was motivate me t' be stronger… smarter… more independent an' reliable. I took up martial arts an' worked harder than ever in school t' make up for lost time. I also did a ton of sports an' volunteer work t' build a useful career path an' give me both physical and mental strength. I gave up hangin' around the streets in the wake o' takin' my situation seriously. I had t' give up all the 'friends' I made while I made the transition, of course. I can only hope they understood why…"

"What a turnaround…"

"You got that right. Eventually, I enlisted in my country's military as soon as I was old enough. It was my ultimate opportunity t' be a hero; if not for the world, then at least for the community where I grew up. I was pumped. I was motivated. I still am," he trailed off with a chuckle. "Buuuut then this situation happened, an' now I'm in a whole different world with nothin' but the clothes in your house an' no idea where I am, talkin' to an' sharin' a bath with a genie, and wonderin' just how an' why my life led me here."

"Well if it's any consolation, Tay, then I have an idea of what you've been struggling with… Finding your place in the world when you're just about the only person of your kind that you know of, having to lose both your parents at a young age with little idea of how or why it happened, dealing with other people giving you the wrong idea about yourself… and through it all, still trying to be the one everyone looks up to despite your own personal doubts… It's hard."

"You got that right, Shantae… If it's okay, mind if I ask—?"

"How I came to be? I don't have that many answers myself, to be honest" she admitted as she set her wash cloth down and reached for her brush. "In a way, I feel like I'm still figuring myself out. Buuut, if I had to start somewhere… then I guess I'll start with this: My father was human and my mother is a genie. I don't know what happened to my dad. I don't even know if he's alive or gone, though I have reason to believe the latter... My mother, so far as I'm aware, is in the Genie Realm helping protect us from much bigger threats than the ones my friends and I deal with here. She's been there since a short time after I was born. I've never laid eyes on her at any point that I could remember… I only know she's alive because she checks on me occasionally. Other than that… sometimes, it almost feels like she isn't alive when I haven't gotten a chance to meet her in person, but have other people simply tell me about her without the means of introducing me to her…" the young lady frowned in contemplative sadness.

"Hey now, at least she's still watchin' you, wherever she is. I'm sure she'll come here an' you'll meet her someday," Tay consoled, hoping she understood what it meant to still have a mother. "Havin' an absent, but livin', lovin' mom is better than… well, you know…" the soldier trailed off, momentarily diverting his gaze to the water below.

"You're right. It's selfish to say things like that… especially after what you told me. I'm sorry…" Shantae acknowledged, feeling guilty for her previous statement.

"Nah, I understand what you mean… But if you ain't grow up around your parents, who did you grow up under?"

"I spent my whole life in the care of my Uncle Mimic, a scientist and retired Relic Hunter who's just as lovable as he is goofy. I also grew up alongside my friends Sky and Bolo, who helped me become the person I am today. Without them, I'd be totally lost…"

"Are they still around, at least?"

"Yeah! When we visit Scuttle Town tomorrow, I'll introduce you!"

"Sounds like a plan. How did you find out you was part genie, anyway?"

"Good question. I can't even remember the year it happened, I was so young. All I remember was that pretty soon, maybe a year or two after I learned to walk, I learned to dance. One day, I was in the jungle with Uncle Mimic, dancing freely to a tune in my head that I always heard when I felt inspired by something, and as I was really getting into it, I saw a monkey climbing a tree. It filled me with wonder seeing the furry little thing minding its own business, swinging and leaping from tree branch to tree branch… As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I transformed," Shantae giggled with reminiscent amusement. "I scared my uncle half to death when he saw the little girl he brought with him replaced by a black-furred, brown-eyed baby monkey wearing his niece's jewelry."

"Heheh, I'd probably panic, too," Tay admitted, sharing the humor, though he became curious.

"Yeah… Since then, I discovered that belly dancing is the key to harnessing my magic. Here, I'll even show you…" the young maiden offered as she stood up, faced her guest, raised her arms to stretch out from her sides, and began rhythmically wiggling her hips. Tayshan immediately found himself mesmerized as he felt the atmosphere envelop with an arcane, yet calming aura. He swore he could hear a disembodied rhythm that sounded like someone's heartbeat.

He watched as Shantae danced, her skin glistening in the moonlight, her long silky locks swinging almost in tandem with her hips as she focused. She closed her eyes and smiled warmly as she continued her hypnotic belly dance, clasping her hands together as she continued sashaying her hips like a pendulum. She seemed to find a sense of comfort in her dance, so far as the energy in the air was to be considered. To Tayshan, there had hardly been a more enchanting sight than a gorgeous young woman dancing in the night, emanating vibes of lighthearted, carefree purity in letting her own internal rhythm carry her away. Of course, he was aware she was only doing it to demonstrate her magic ability, so he avoided getting the wrong idea. Before he was entirely hypnotized by Shantae's dance, however…

"Transform!" she announced. In an instant and a puff of pink smoke, Shantae's slender humanoid form was replaced by that of a tiny purple, blue-eyed monkey. To say the young man was flabbergasted would have been an understatement. He stared in total awe, his mouth so wide open, one might have been able to fit a beach ball inside.

"Get outta here…!"

"Pretty cool, right?" the miniature monkey beamed with delight before poofing back into her human form. "I can transform into a variety of other animals too, such as an elephant, spider, crab, bat, and even a mermaid. These transformations have helped me on most of my adventures since I became guardian genie."

"Wow… Uh, I… I-I don't have words for… Just… wow." The astonished young man could hardly formulate a coherent sentence, he was so astounded. Shantae smiled cutely at his speechlessness.

"Yeah, it's neat as it is useful for a variety of things."

"I'd bet it is… Though… didn't you say when you first turned into a monkey, your fur an' eyes were different colors? I saw purple fur an' blue eyes."

"Yes. Oh, right!" She exclaimed, having remembered something. "My hair used to be black and my eyes used to be brown. My monkey transformation is the one that best reflects my hair and eye traits."

"Really now?" Tay remarked in wonder yet again, though he had an idea of how such a drastic pigment alteration in hair and eye color could be achieved. "What, did you dye your hair an' start wearin' blue contact lenses?"

"Nope," she denied with a smiling shake of her head. "My hair is naturally royal purple now. All the way down to the roots. I… don't know what a 'contact lens' is, but I'm guessing that has to do with my eyes. My eyes are naturally blue now, too."

"Seriously? But… How?"

"I'm not sure…" Shantae pondered as she cupped her chin with her hand and looked upward in thought before turning her attention back to Tay. "Come to think of it, it happened pretty suddenly. Pretty soon after I discovered my Monkey transformation dance, I started finding out all sorts of other powers I had. Almost like it happened overnight, I looked in a mirror one day and boom! My hair turned purple and my eyes turned blue."

"Wow…"

"If you think you're surprised, try imagining how I felt," she laughingly suggested. "I totally panicked because I thought I was turning into a monster at first. Uncle Mimic thought the same and almost jumped out of his boots again when he saw me. You can probably guess I've thrown him for a lot of loops when I was younger."

"Heh, I wouldn't doubt it. As many changes as you went through, I probably wouldn't recognize you after a certain point. I gotta admit though, you'd make for one cute monster. The purple hair an' blue eyes look good on ya," he complimented with a much-needed chuckle.

"Aw, thanks, Tay! I appreciate that! But it wasn't always fun in the sun… or the moon, in this case," Shantae's smile faded as she sat back down and cast her gaze upon the crashing waves. "I was made fun of quite a lot for my appearance and powers when I was little…" Her companion couldn't believe it. Who would be anything but amazed at such unique and marvelous talent? What's more, who would possibly make fun of someone so beautiful? He felt all but compelled to ask her about it.

"People made fun of you? I can't imagine… That transformation was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."

"Glad you think so," she acknowledged, though she was still staring intently at the rushing waters below, contemplating her comfort with opening up to someone she barely knew about her own insecurities.

"And what's wrong with your appearance that people would have a problem with you?"

"My ears, for one thing… If you didn't notice, they're quite pointy. Other kids didn't know at the time what a genie was, so they didn't really understand that genies were born with pointed ears. They called me names, didn't let me play with them, and generally didn't want much to do with me. Even after they heard about what I was, they found new reasons to not include me, which leads into the other reason other people didn't like me."

"They… they didn't like you because you're half genie?"

"Yeah… They said I'd use magic to cheat at games or scare them away with curses and spells that would turn them into slugs…" the half-genie maiden's face echoed her sadness to her friend. "I used to get pushed around a bunch too, being asked to use my magic to pull pranks or to give someone an advantage. They'd hurt me if I said no, and it didn't help that I really wanted to fit in…"

"Shantae…"

"They made me hate myself for being different… For having my powers at all… for… for existing as anything other than human…" she lamented, her eyes watering up as she recalled her painful memories. "I still don't know why… For some reason, even adults here didn't like genies at all. They'd just stare at me or walk away from me in a hurry like I was planning to hurt them… I couldn't understand…" she further admitted, her tears beginning to streak down her face as she turned toward Tay, the reminiscent hurt in her eyes clear as the night sky.

"How… unbelievably disgusting…!" the appalled soldier uttered through clenched teeth and fists as he imagined the sort of discrimination his friend had endured in her childhood. He felt his own eyes welling up again in empathetic sadness. He felt bad for her. However, he tempered himself with a deep breath before he offered a reply. "I… know where you're comin' from, though… The sort o' prejudice you dealt with is somethin' nobody deserves to go through. It's horrible… It makes you feel like so much less than a person that you wonder why you were given the life you have… One where no one likes you, but when you ask why, they can't give you a reason that makes any sense at all, but still choose t' treat you worse than the dirt under their shoes."

"You know what it's like? For people to dislike you for seemingly no reason?"

"Absolutely, I do," he nodded. "To most o' the world I'm from, I was nothin' but an impoverished street thug with dark ambitions, an even darker future, and a tombstone with my name on it before I enlisted. One glimpse at me back then, an' anybody outside my neighborhood instantly thought I was out t' cause some kind o' harm to 'em or stir up trouble."

"Wow…"

"Yeah… they called me all sorts o' names too," he admitted. "'Ragamuffin' this, 'hood rat' that, 'street urchin' the third… But the worst thing anyone has ever called me… was a 'lost cause.'"

"Lost cause?" Shantae repeated, feeling a vicarious sting in her heart.

"Yeah. As in, I was expected t' be a failure with nothin' in my future but an early grave or a jail cell specially reserved for me t' stay in for the rest o' my life. Even after I committed t' changin' for the better, people had zero faith in my ability t' do so. They were too caught up in their opinions of me t' ever really change their minds. If I was up, I was 'just lucky.' If I was down, almost nobody would lend a hand. Instead, they either watched me struggle or they'd tell me it was no one's fault but my own."

"Tayshan… I'm… I'm so sorry that happened to you…"

"Don't be. It might've made me upset at first, but… in the long run, all it really did was motivate me t' prove them wrong; t' show them that I COULD accomplish great things. I wanted t' be a shinin' example o' the possibility t' evolve past all obstacles. That said, how'd you manage t' push through all the negativity?"

"Well… I almost didn't. For a while, I believed what people were saying about me. I didn't understand what their issues with me were, but I figured back then that, if this many people had a problem with me, then I must've been bad… What's worse, I was all alone…"

"Darn… That's really rough, Shantae… I kinda wish we knew each other as kids now… I would've had your back no matter what."

"I'd bet," she agreed, perking up a bit as she cast her gaze upon the starry night sky. "I feel like I'd be able to trust you as my friend. Speaking of which, I thankfully became friends with Sky and Bolo. At the time, they were the only two aside from my uncle that accepted me for who I was, in addition to what I am. They stood up for me when I was being picked on and took a genuine interest in me as a person. I couldn't have been more grateful to find friends like them."

"Glad t' hear you had people who cared about you."

"Yeah! I'm thankful for having them. They've been there for me basically my whole life. Once I made friends with them, I gained a sense of hope that things would get better. But then one day, I had a dream… A dream where I was in a whole different world all on my own… I couldn't describe what my surroundings looked like, but I heard a strangely-familiar voice call out to me. I can't remember much of what the voice said, but it was along the lines of… 'You are special… You are wonderful… You are loved… You are destined to be great…' I had that dream every once in a blue moon, but every time I did, I always woke up with the brightest smile on my face," she confessed as she turned her attention back to her companion, her eyes wavering like the ocean beneath them, but with a wan smile on her face.

"Goodness… How profound…"

"The dreams and the support I got from my friends and uncle helped me carry on through every day with my head up high. Eventually, I accepted myself as a half-genie... well, sort of. I was at least no longer afraid or ashamed to use my powers, so long as I used them to help people. One day, I decided to help people in the best way I could with these unique abilities of mine. As though I was drawn to it, I set up camp here in this lighthouse and told Mayor Scuttlebutt that I would protect this town with my life. That's how I became guardian genie of Scuttle Town and so much more as a result… Though even to this day, I kinda struggle with how worthy I feel I am for the job. I'm still… a little bit unsure of myself, if I'm gonna just put it out there…" Tay was struck with a mix of secondhand despondency and amazement.

"Wow… You've had it pretty hard too, huh?"

"Yeah, but I'd like to think I'm pulling through," she responded, drawing closer to him as she turned her gaze toward the lunar crescent hovering above. His stare followed hers as the two glued their eyes to the luminescent shape that graced the atmosphere with a somber, yet soothing glow.

"Absolutely, you are. You came so far an' accomplished so much. It's good t' see that you grew up in good company, discovered your powers, pushed past all the naysayers, an' become protector to at LEAST an entire town that you saved from disaster more than once. It's amazin'. Don't sell yourself short."

"Sell myself short?" she asked, wanting him to elaborate.

"I understand where you're comin' from, strugglin' with your self-confidence, and to that, I say keep your head up high, even when there's doubts in your mind. The more determined you are t' do good in the world, the deeper that people—yourself included—will feel the impact. And y'know what? For what it's worth, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met in… well, both the worlds I've existed in," he complimented, though unaware of the impact of his words. He was indeed aware that the only women he'd met in this world to this point were Risky Boots and Shantae, in that order. However, he had a hunch that, based on the half-genie's words about her species being scarce in population, he may not have been wrong. He also acknowledged that Shantae bore a much more… welcoming and approachable appearance and outlook on life than Risky Boots did.

As though she'd been given a special surprise birthday gift, Shantae's heart skipped a beat as she found herself sitting directly beside him, a luminous blushing grin on her face as she locked her eyes on him. She was entirely grateful for his kind statement, but was simultaneously at a loss for words. No one had ever said anything quite so nice to her before and been so forward and certain with it. This new friend of hers certainly had a powerful way with words. She gained a deep sense of an inexplicable appreciation for Tay in that moment.

"You… you sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself, Tay… Th-thank you so much…" she lauded, causing him to direct his full attention to her to finally notice she had scooted right next to him. He was alarmed, but understood that Shantae was expressing her gratitude for him listening to her. Inexperienced and uncertain of what to do, however, he merely patted Shantae on the back; a gesture that she appreciated greatly despite its awkwardness. She returned the favor by patting him on the back while his hand remained gently pressed to hers. "…And you know, just like how I'm pulling through, I can tell you are, too."

"You think so?"

"Yeah," she assured, scooting slightly closer so there was minimal space between them. "It takes a really strong person to still want to do the right thing after going through as much as you did. It's a tough situation to deal with, no matter how you look at it. For what it's worth… I'm glad to see you're aiming to do the right thing, Tayshan. I know we still barely know each other and all, but I already respect you deeply…" the now-contented young girl admitted, shooting the interdimensional traveler a most pleasant, disarming smile he couldn't help but return.

"Heh, I appreciate that," he voiced his gratitude with a nod, allowing the sound of the soft, whispery winds of the night to fill the air as they gazed at one another for a few emotionally-bonding seconds before he spoke again. "This was a good talk," he stated as he gathered his bathing equipment, having long since finished his bath, though he hadn't yet moved from his seated position. He almost didn't want to after having his companion sitting so close to him. The nippiness of the cool midnight breeze was making him shiver slightly. Though cold, he also felt an unexplainably-comforting warmth coming from his companion that made him scoot ever-so-slightly toward her, to the point where their legs made contact.

"Absolutely…" Shantae agreed as she began washing suds out of her hair by running her damp cloth through it, being careful not to wet her friend. "Thanks for sharing your experiences with me. And thanks again for listening to mine. It's not often I get to talk to someone who understands me."

"Likewise. Plus, it helps ease my nerves t' get t' know someone in this world. I'm especially glad it's you," he confessed, though he found himself curious about his mysterious interstellar friend. "Say, you sound like you got a lot of experience under your belt. How old are you, if you don't mind me askin'?"

"I'm sixteen," she casually shared, blowing him away.

"Sixteen!? Wow…! The kind o' stuff you shared with me, I thought you was at least twenty."

"No, no!" she laughingly denied. "Really, I'm sixteen. As a matter of fact, the year I was born was the year all the genies left for the Genie Realm, or what we in this world call the Genie Flight… if that gives you any clues."

"Heh, would you be surprised if it didn't?"

"I guess not," the half-genie acknowledged with another small giggle. "Is it safe to say that time is measured differently in your world, too?"

"Depends… We measure by seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Not that it would make sense t' you, but to give you an example, today was supposed to be September 13th. I was probably dragged here at about… a little bit past 5:00 PM if I remember right. Anything different about how you measure time here?"

"No, actually!" she uttered in surprise as she turned her attention to him, coming to a sudden halt on washing her soapy hair. "Your measurements are exactly the same! It's even September 13th today! Of course, it's way past 11:00 PM at this point, but from the sound of it, time passed by exactly the same for both our worlds! Although… What year was it in your world?"

"Oh! Right, I forgot t' mention. It was 1564 I.M.E."

"I.M.E.?"

"In the Modern Era, is what that stands for," Tay explained, revealing his measurement of the time at which he'd encountered Risky Boots. "There was some event some time before I.M.E. started, so far as the history books on my planet said, that was so cataclysmic that it wiped out most of the planet's population. Those who survived, for some reason, had no memory of what year it was, though they could remember the day, time, and month. With not another clue on how to figure out what year it was in the aftermath of the mysterious event, that very day was marked as the beginnin' o' the modern era… even though it wasn't January 1st when they marked it, so they had to kinda play around with the national holiday. Suffice to say, New Year's Day in my world can vary, depending on what you grew up learnin', though January 1st is still observed as the start of a new year."

"Whoa… Do you know what happened?" Shantae queried with utmost intrigue in Tayshan's tale.

"No. No one does, really. Most, if not all traces of life before that period are just speculation. Many different signs of life before the Modern Era began in my world were lost to the sands o' time in one way or another. I'm no history buff myself, either, so that's just about all the info I have…"

"Wow, Tay… I'm just so curious about the world you came from. How could it be so similar in some ways, but so different in others?"

"If only, if only I had an answer… By the way, what year is it here?"

"The year here is 16 P.G.F." she answered with certainty.

"P.G.F.?"

"Post-Genie Flight," Shantae filled in the blank, finally unveiling the measurement of years in Sequin Land. "It's been a whopping sixteen years since I was born and the same whopping sixteen years since all the genies disappeared to the Genie Realm to protect this world from outside threats."

"Wow…"

"Yeah… I don't know all the details myself, so I'm right there with you in not having all the answers. Anyway, how about you, Tay? How old are you?"

"I just turned nineteen a couple months ago, believe it or not," he answered. Shantae eyed him up and down to examine him, taking note of his almost child-like facial features save for the stubble around his lips and chin that formed a very light, fuzzy goatee. She took note of the young man's lean, yet chiseled bodily frame. From what she saw, she surmised that Tay was indeed young, but not quite as young as she'd thought. Her extensive stare-down of an observation, of course caused him to raise an eyebrow in perplexity. "…What?"

"Hmm, I can see that. I will admit, though, I thought you were younger. Maybe closer to my age," she assessed as she finished up washing her hair. "You've got a young face, despite your goatee."

"Hm. Fair enough," he simply replied, wrapping himself in the towel as he waited for Shantae to rinse her hair and wring it dry. "So… how do you suppose we go about startin' the search for Risky Boots?"

"We'll have to see about that tomorrow," she answered as she gathered up her equipment and wrapped herself in her own towel. "For now, let's rest. As soon as morning hits, we'll figure it out. I at least have an idea or two of who might be able to help us."

"Duly noted," he agreed as the two intergalactic allies made their way back to the lighthouse to rest and prepare for the coming trials headed their way. This marked the beginning of the next adventure of the half-genie hero and the first Sequinean expedition of the alien-ish soldier from another world… As they say, folks, let the games begin.