Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story.
They belong to their representative owners, except for most of the OCs in the story.
BGM: Pirate's Grotto (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"Anyone else getting a creepy vibe?" Luigi wondered as they wandered in.
"Hmm, a little bit." Mario replied.
"Eh, I'm sure it's no big deal." Yang said as they walked up ahead.
"Ooooooo! Ooooooooo!"
"Creepy." Sharla said.
"Tell me about it." Luigi shuddered as they hopped off the ledges and then they went further in where they came across two Lava Bubble who had spotted them, but Ruby and Yang shot one and then Koops slammed into the other to get rid of it, then they walked up ahead to where they saw spikes rising up and down every few seconds.
"Hmm…" Weiss rubbed her chin in thought and froze the ground after stabbing the ground, but then they heard cracking and it broke through the ice. "Well, that didn't work."
"I know just the thing." Shulk said, pulling out the Monado and quickly going through the Arts before finding the one he needed. Speed. He quickly used the Monado to give the others a boost of speed as well. "Alright, on the count of three, we all run together to the other side of these spikes." He said.
"We what?!" Luigi exclaimed.
"One." Shulk said as everyone readied themselves, with the spikes rising up, and then going back down. "Two!" He yelled as the spikes rose up one more time… and just when they started to go back down. "THREE!" He yelled as they all ran ahead after the spikes lowered, and then they rose up right after they made it to the other side, then Shulk deactivated the Art.
"That was nothing." Reyn said.
"Well, it was better than having Vivian do it individually." Blake said as they went into the next area where they were being attacked by Bullet Bills from Bill Blasters.
"That's one way to keep people away." Ruby said.
"I don't know how anyone else would get past the spike trap." Yang said as she and Reyn punched the Bullet Bills away while Ruby went up ahead and slashed through the other Bullet Bills and then Yang and Reyn jumped ahead and both of them punched the Bill Blasters a few times before Reyn shoved the two into the water.
"That takes care of them." Reyn said, high fiving Ruby and Yang and then they went into the next room where there was a huge waterfall and a gate in front of the waterfall, with a machine missing a lever, with Shulk getting a mini vision of finding a lever a few rooms back and making a mental note to pick it up and then they walked up ahead where a Bulky Bob-omb ran over to them, but were taken care of by Koops and Goombella with Melia also assisting them and healing them up after one exploded in their faces, then they went into the next room which consisted of a climbing wall, and an Ember that rushed toward them, but Sharla, Dunban and Ruby knocked it and its friends out and then they climbed up the wall and two Parabuzzies went to attack them after they got to the top but Dunban, Weiss and Mario quickly took them out when they saw a switch on the top of a small ledge.
"Toss me up there, lad!" Bobbery requested as Mario threw him up while Riki turned toward the small waterfall.
"Hmm, Riki can't help but wonder if there's something behind this water." He said.
"Could be." Fiora said.
"One way to find out later." Blake said and then Bobbery exploded on the switch to activate the metal door to raise it up.
"Ooooooo! Turn baaaaaaack! Oooooooooo! Gooooo nooo fuuuuurther… or you will never leave…"
"Yipe!" Luigi paled.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it's just trying to scare us off." Sharla said. "It's not going to work."
"Yeah, and besides, I can kick its butt if it KO's my mama." Eira said proudly.
"Oh my gosh, you are so cute, I can't stand it." Weiss giggled and went into the upper level of the previous room where Dunban and Weiss nearly got blown up when Vivian thought it would've been a good idea to use Fiery Jinx on the Bulky Bob-omb to detonate it early, luckily Riki and Melia healed them up after the quick fight, and then they climbed some rocks and jumped over a small body of water and they went into the next room which seemed like a storage area of sorts where they easily got the key by Sharla shooting the ! Switch when she got on the platform and then they all walked back a few rooms, where they climbed down the rock wall and opened up the door, then encountered three Parabuzzies where Riki powered up Sharla and Blake to knock them out and went off into the next area.
"Spikes coming out of walls? That's a bit overkill." Mario said.
"I can understand the ground, but walls?" Yang asked.
"Aye, pirates were very overprotective over their treasure." Bobbery said. "So much so that it made them absolutely paranoid. So what we are seeing is perfectly normal for a pirate to make sure no one steals the treasure."
"Ah, just have them do yoga with Wii Fit Trainer, that'll soften 'em up a bit." Ruby said.
"Yoga is not relaxing when Wii Fit Trainer's involved." Luigi shuddered a bit as they started crawling with Shulk using the Speed art to give them a little boost before they made it to the other side where they wandered into a room that had debris from ship wrecks whee they traversed through carefully, while Sharla, Koops and Reyn took care of the Ember and Lava Bubble and then Yang punched through the boarded doorway and they went through where they saw two Bill Blasters firing at them.
"Let's take care of this!" Sharla said as she, Mario and Weiss went to take care of the first set, and then they ran up where Luigi, Ruby and Dunban took care of the other set.
"We're probably getting close to the treasure." Reyn said.
"Or we're going to hit a dead end." Sharla said.
"That could be the case." Bobbery said as they walked ahead, and were met with four Bulky Bob-ombs, but with the help of Riki powering up Sharla and Goombella, they took care of them no sweat, luckily they weren't blown up at the very end and then they saw a ship with a hole in it, then they walked in and saw a black chest.
"…I wondered what those strange platforms were all about." Blake said.
"Oh boy, here we go." Weiss sighed and then they walked over to the black chest.
"Whoa! I hear footsteps! Hey, could you let me out of here, that'd be swell!"
"You're going to curse us." Mario said.
"Wh-what? Don't be so silly! I wouldn't-"
"We encountered three of your friends and they "cursed" us." Weiss said. "Just get on with it already."
"Curse?! These are bad boxes! How dare they curse Riki's friends!" Riki exclaimed, and then Yang whispered in Riki's ear. "Oooh, it's not curse, but power-up? Why didn't bad box say so!"
"You mean, you encountered three of my friends and… and… Oh, I had this speech ready and everything! Well, unfortunately, there's a spirit in here that has the key."
"Please don't be a Darkrai, Please don't be a Darkrai, Please don't be a Darkrai." Luigi quickly said.
"Would a Giratina work better than a Darkrai in this scenario?" Melia wondered.
"I'd imagine so." Fiora rubbed her chin in thought.
"DON'T MAKE IT WORSE!" Luigi yelled.
"Darkrai? Giratina? Nonsense, it's just a simple mook. Nothing like end-game boss or anything." The chest reassured. "Anyway, it should pop up any second now." He said and right on cue, an Ember appeared near them.
Pause BGM
"Just an Ember? I got it!" Ruby grinned and walked over to it, and then Shulk had himself another vision, where he heard Ruby making a blood-curdling scream where a scythe had impaled right through her gut after picking up the key the Ember dropped, but the most confusing thing to Shulk was… he saw another Ruby impaling her.
Another Ruby? Shulk wondered and then remembered what Dark Pit had told him in the mansion.
"I was born from Pandora's Mirror to be a dark copy of Pit, but I wasn't fully completed unlike four individuals."
"And who were those individuals?" Shulk wondered.
"Dark versions of Team RWBY. Dark Ruby is the nastiest of the dark bunch and has a major crush on me who doesn't attempt to hide it. She's sick and twisted, they all are. Though, you don't have to worry about Dark Yang since she was thrown into the Rewind Spring while Dark Blake was thrown into lava. Last I heard from Pit, Dark Weiss was thrown in jail while Dark Ruby escaped. So that crazy broad is still out there."
"How twisted can she be?"
"Twisted enough to make Ruby's life miserable to the point where she takes pleasure of torturing her and has made several attempts to take Ruby's life. What makes it worse is that she can freeze time to have her way. This is done with her eyes glow. This is what makes her really dangerous. However, her one weakness is the fact she tends to get in way over her head and underestimates those when she's not fighting Ruby."
Shulk snapped out of his thoughts. So that was Dark Ruby in my vision. He said and then saw Ruby destroying the Ember.
"Alright, this key is mine!"
"RUBY! BEHIND YOU!" Shulk quickly yelled.
Ruby turned her head. "Huh?" She wondered, and then Dark Ruby appeared behind her as Ruby's eyes widened and quickly blocked the attack. "You!"
BGM: Shaded Truths (Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)
"Not her again!" Weiss exclaimed.
"I'm not sure how you managed to block that, but I'm going to make mince meat out of you!" Dark Ruby said as her eyes quickly glowed, and then Ruby noticed everyone gone, and seeing some items blocking the passageway.
"What?!"
"I kicked them all out so we could have this fight uninterrupted!" Dark Ruby said, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the side.
"Hey! What's going on?! I can't see!" The Chest exclaimed.
Ruby got back into position. "I'm not afraid of you…"
"Your words says one thing, but your eyes say another." Dark Ruby smirked. "If you think you're not afraid of me, give me everything you've got!"
End BGM
Outside…
"What the devil is going on?!" Dunban asked where WBY quickly gave them the rundown on Dark Ruby while Shulk noticed a small opening near them.
"Reyn, give me a boost!" Shulk requested as Reyn nodded and then gave Shulk a boost.
"Hope you know what you're doing, Shulk." Reyn said.
"I am." Shulk nodded and then crawled in.
Back inside…
Ruby was kicked to a wall. "Nngh!"
"Pfft, HA!" Dark Ruby laughed. "Is that the best you got!"
"I… I'm still… standing!" Ruby said, standing up but her legs were trembling and her eyes were begging Dark Ruby not to hurt her anymore, flashing back to their first battle. Of all the times for her to have a PTSD attack.
"Heh, I can tell your whole body is trembling. You really are afraid of me. Aww, what's the matter, is the little bitch wanting a blanky to cuddle with her mommy?"
"D-don't… talk about her… like that!"
"Pfft! I can call mom whatever I want! I don't know what she died from, but I bet she deserved it!" She said, turning her Crescent Rose into its gun form and shot Ruby in the knee.
"AGH!" Ruby winced. "I… I can keep… fighting…"
Dark Ruby walked over to her and grabbed her by the collar. "No, you cannot." She said, throwing her to the side. "Just think, when I'm finally done with you, I can do whatever I want and make you look bad." She said and then readied her scythe. "Now, let's make this fun. SCREAM FOR ME!"
"BACKSLASH!"
"Huh?" Dark Ruby wondered and then a Monado hit her in the back. "GAAAAH!" She yelled, slamming into a wall.
BGM: One Who Gets in Our Way (Xenoblade Chronicles)
"The only one that'll be screaming here is you!"
Ruby gasped. "Shulk!"
"Stay right there, Ruby. I'll take care of this." Shulk said, readying his Monado while Dark Ruby got back up.
"Why must someone always ruin my FUN?! That's it! You are going to be experience a lot of pain, blondie!" Dark Ruby yelled, readying her scythe.
Shulk quickly went for the Enchant art in his Monado to strengthen him up before quickly going to the Buster Art and ran toward Dark Ruby who quickly shot at him, but he deflected the shots with ease as he then slashed right through her to knock her back but she recovered and then slashed him repeatedly, before going for a sweep kick, but luckily Shulk foresaw this in a vision and jumped up where he slashed down at her.
"Rrgh!" Dark Ruby's eyes glowed and then stopped time before shooting him in the gut and then kicked him away, sending Shulk away but he recovered when time resumed as he went for the Speed Art and ran toward Dark Ruby to which she slashed at him, but he quickly went around to avoid the attack and then used another Backslash to send her flying, then he jumped in the air and swung down to knock her down to the ground before doing a Down Air to try and stab her, but she rolled out of the way and then got back up, then ran to him and slashed through him, but Shulk's eyes glowed for a second and Countered, sending her flying.
"I don't understand! How are you dodging my moves so easily?!" Dark Ruby yelled.
"A fighter never reveals his secrets." Shulk said and then had another vision where she would strike him from behind, and right on cue, Dark Ruby disappeared from his sight where Shulk proceeded to backhand her with the Monado, and then used an Air Slash to send her up in the air, and then used a Backslash for good measure.
"ARGH!" Dark Ruby yelled and then Dark Ruby disappeared from him, and thanks to a vision, he jumped back when Dark Ruby came to stab him from above and then Shulk activated the Buster Art again where the two of them clashed their blades, but then Shulk quickly disarmed Dark Ruby and then she jumped back to where she would attempt to transform into her Amazon form, but would Shulk let her? Nope! He activated his Speed art and then went around and backslashed Dark Ruby to send her flying through the barricade she created and went right into the water, where she launched out of the water and screamed when a Nibbles bit her on the butt as she landed near the gang.
End BGM
"Nnngh…" Dark Ruby groaned and then realized that everyone gathered around her, with Yang, Reyn and Eira cracking their knuckles. "I'm not done… I'm still going to kill her!" She said, disappearing from all of them.
"Hey! Get back here, you coward!" Reyn yelled.
"Let her go, Reyn. She won't be bothering us for a long time." Blake said and then they walked into the room where Melia went right by Ruby's side and healed her up.
"You okay?" Yang asked, knowing full well that she isn't.
"Y-Yes." Ruby lied, nearly tearing up. "I'm fine…"
"Ruby, I think you'd feel a lot better if you just let it all out." Fiora advised.
"I was going to suggest the same thing." Mario said as Ruby said nothing, but hugged Yang.
"I hate this!" Ruby sobbed a bit. "I hate that I've been gutted by the Chaos Kin, I hate it that I'm constantly being hounded by my dark self, I HATE that I'm being bombarded by these bad memories, and I HATE everything about it!" She sobbed. "I just want it to end…"
"Ruby, it's going to be okay." Yang said. "When we're done collecting the Crystal Stars and tearing the X-Nauts a new one, we'll get you patched up real quick."
Ruby sniffed. "Promise?"
"Yeah! I'm sure Mario knows a good therapist or two."
Mario chuckled. "I might." He said.
"Thanks." Ruby said, wiping her tears away. "Let's just get this over with."
"Yeah." Yang nodded as they grabbed the key and unlocked the chest.
"Thank you! Now! WEHEHEHE! FOO-"
"Oh, just curse us already." Weiss said.
"Ugh, fine." He said and then trapped everyone in darkness. "Boogly woogly woo, you're cursed. Y'all can turn into paper boats."
"Oh, nice." Luigi said.
"Also, since all of you can turn into paper boats, you can combine into something good if you get on the platforms and transform at the same time. Have fun." He said and disappeared.
Resume Pirate's Grotto BGM
"Wonder what he meant by that." Dunban said.
"I dunno, but it might be interesting." Shulk said as they walked out and backtracked with their new boat abilities and made their way back, and also going behind the small waterfall where Bobbery got himself a Defend Plus P badge and made their way to the room with the rising spikes to grab a lever and made their way over to the machine and put it in, where they then turned the lever a few times to get the floodgates to rise.
"Ooooo! Oooooooo!"
"The ghosts must be close." Blake said.
"Greeeat." Luigi sighed as they went back to the boat panel above the waterfall and had the idea to bring out everyone to transform into a paper boat, which they had combined into a big paper speed boat as they went down the waterfall and into the passageway where they cleared through the rubble and went into the room where the spikes were popping out of the walls where they avoided the tidal waves before they went into the final room.
"Hey! Hey! I hear something!" A voice called out where there a bunch of shipwrecked Toads on one ship.
"Hey, it's a boat!"
"YES! WE'RE SAVED! OVER HEEEERE!" Another Toad yelled as the speed boat made its way over to them. "Aww, it's made out of paper."
"Who cares! I'd rather be in a speed boat then on this thing!" Another said as one by one they all hopped onto the Speed Boat, along with two certain Piantas jumping on board as they made their way over to the other side where they all hopped off and then they deformed back to their regular boat selves and got out of the water.
"Dude! That was incredible!" A Toad yelled.
"Wish I could turn into a Speed Boat!" Another said.
"No problem!" Mario said. "You all shipwrecked too?"
"Unfortunately!" A Toad groaned.
"Wait a second, Mario!" A voice exclaimed as they saw Frankie and Francesca walking up to them. "You all got shipwrecked too?"
"Yup." Luigi nodded as they got talking where Shulk noticed a wedding ring off of Frankie's hand.
Aha! Shulk thought.
"Oh, so we all got shipwrecked together." Another voice said, this time coming from a female as they saw a ponytail making its way through the Toad crowd and made herself known when she got through. "Never imagined It'd be you guys."
"Shantae? You too?" Luigi asked.
"You guys know her?" Yang asked.
"She frequently visits the Smash Mansion at times." Mario explained. "She's not a Smasher, but she does come to visit."
"Yeah, I got shipwrecked. Uncle Mimic thought I should go out and explore the world since I wasn't doing anything in Scuttle Town. So I took a ship and went off to sea for a few days… and then I see this island thinking I could find something neat here and, well, the rest is history." Shantae sighed. "I knew I should've taken Wrench instead."
"She told us that she's a belly dancer and a half-genie… but I'm not believing her one bit." Another Toad said.
"Well, since you guys are here, I think I might join ya for a bit. I have a feeling things are about to get interesting!" Shantae said to which the party nodded, and then Shulk handed Frankie his wedding ring.
"I believe this is yours." He whispered.
"My weddin' ring! Thank you." Frankie whispered back and put it back on, this time putting it farther down his hand just in case where the rest walked into the final area.
"Whoa, hold up a second!" A voice said as they turned to see Four-Eyes approaching them.
"Four-Eyes? What are you doing here?" Luigi asked suspiciously.
"Oh, you know, thought I'd cheer you on from here." He said. "We're all rooting for you… and so is Grodus." He quietly added that last part as they all turned away and walked into the ship.
"Why did he smell like perfume?" Shantae wondered.
"No one knows." Mario shrugged as they walked through the ship.
End BGM
"Ooooo! Oooooooo! You've ignored my WARNINGS! Now you will suffer the consequences… come into the next room to suffer your fate!" The voice said as they walked in with their heads held high… while Luigi was shaking in his boots and went into the captain's room.
"Ooooooooo! Oooooo- hack, plepth! What am I doing, pirates don't moan!" A voice said and then Cortez the Pirate appeared before them. "You DARE come in here, amigos?!" He asked, and then Luigi fainted at the sight of the pirate.
"Huh, why does he remind me so much of the Pirate Master?" Shantae wondered to herself.
"We're just here for the-"
"SILENCE! You are after my TREASURE! To that… I will make sure none of you make it out of here alive!"
"Oh boy, here we go." Yang said.
"Saw that one coming." Blake admitted where they got ready for battle.
BGM: Cortez (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
Shantae, Shulk and Bobbery made their way onto the stage with Cortez on the other side. "Cortez has 20 health with an attack of four and a defense of one. He'll come back to life when his health reaches zero! Eventually, he'll go down for good!"
"Got it!" Shulk said.
Shantae walked over to the pile of bones and whipped her hair four times on the pile before letting Shulk have a turn, where he went into the Buster Art and jumped up in the air and did an Air Slash on his head and then he returned while Bobbery ran over to the pile of bones and exploded, and then Cortez struck Shantae with his sword. "Mmph!" Shantae winced before snapping out of it, and then did her signature belly dance before transforming into an elephant where she charged straight into the pile of bones.
"Yeah! You go, girl!" A voice yelled from the audience.
"Thanks, Rotty!" Shantae grinned after she had transformed back, where Shulk ran forward and then did a backslash on the pile of bones.
"Urgh… I'm gonna have to change real quick here!" Cortez said and then did a quick change with the curtain change, before going into a serpentine like body and then headbutting Shulk.
"Gah!" Shulk winced, before Bobbery ran over and blew up the pile of bones, having him shrink down, then Shantae walked over and hair whipped the pile of bones, and then Shulk slashed the pile of bones a few times, then Bobbery exploded again, and then Cortez's ribcage opened up to reveal his gem, but not before Cortez headbutted Bobbery, then Shantae pulled out a Super Pike Ball and then aimed at Cortez's gem and then threw it right at Cortez's gem, dealing massive damage to him.
"ARGH!" Cortez yelled before his skeletal body crumbled and he fell to the ground, but his weapons rose from the ground and aimed themselves at the trio, and then the curtains closed and then reopened where all that remained was just his head.
Shulk immediately had a vision where all the weapons were being blown away off-stage and were never seen again, to which his eyes went back to normal. "Flurrie! I need your assistance!" He said as Flurrie floated onto the stage.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Could you blow away those weapons?"
"Certainly." She said and then blew the weapons away off-stage successfully before going back to her seat, then Bobbery threw three mini-bombs toward Cortez, while Cortez flew over and chomped down on Shulk before he returned to his original position.
"Don't worry, I'll heal ya back up!" Shantae said, doing a belly dance for the three of them, healing themselves back up.
"Thank you." Shulk said, as he went for the Buster Art again and then ran to Cortez before sliding under him and then doing a backslash behind him for maximum damage and then returned to the trio, and then Bobbery pressed a button and had the mini bombs explode.
"Grrr, Impressive!" Cortez said. "…I may need to heal myself up real quick." He said, and then Shulk had a vision where he sucked up the souls of half of the audience, and then Shulk's eyes returned to normal.
"No!" Shulk exclaimed as he quickly ran to Cortez and did a backslash on him before he could suck up their souls.
"AAAAAAAAARGH!" He yelled before he fell to the ground in defeat.
End BGM
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Cortez yelled after they went back to the normal setting and shrunk down. "…I am done for…" He said… before returning back to normal size. "What am I saying! I can't die, I'm already dead!" Cortez laughed while they all sweatdropped. "So, you beat me fair and square, just take my treasure and get out of here."
"Actually, we just came for that." Mario said, pointing to the Sapphire Star. "We had no intentions of fighting you."
"Wait. What." Cortez said and floated over to the Crystal Star. "This one?"
"Yup." Ruby nodded.
"Are you serious? You JUST came for THIS?"
"Yeah." Eira said.
"Huh, color me surprised. I'll admit, I was never a fan of this, so here you go!" Cortez said, handing them the Crystal Star.
BGM: Chapter Ending (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
With Cortez the Pirate handing over the Crystal Star, the heroes celebrate their victory. They were on their way to collect the next Crystal Star!
…There was just one tiny problem, however…
End BGM
"Alright, get out!" Cortez said, sending them out the back way and they all landed in a pile on a rock, but they got themselves situated and worked their way back to where they met up.
"You survived Cortez?! I'm impressed!" A Toad exclaimed. "So how do we get out of here?"
"Hey, guys? That rumbling caused a crack in the wall… and I can smell the ocean!" Another Toad exclaimed.
"Allow me!" Shantae said and then walked up to the crack, doing a dance when she got up there. "TRANSFORM!" She yelled, going into her elephant form and ramming into the crack to break it.
"What do you know, she is a genie!" A Toad exclaimed as they all ran outside.
BGM: Keelhaul Key (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"Ah, smell that ocean again!" Shantae grinned as they walked out.
"Captain 'Stache!" Flavio ran over to them. "So great to see you again in one piece after fighting Cortez! Oh, and you brought friends… huh, not sure if we have enough Chuckola Cola to go around."
"Will you stop that nonsense for one second!" Pa-Patch exclaimed… and then there was a loud explosion that caught their attention, and then something landed on the water, making a huge splash.
End BGM
"Buh… Buh huh huh huh huh!"
BGM: Danger! (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"Is that a pirate ship?!" A Toad yelled.
"Oh, please don't tell me Risky Boots is attacking…" Shantae groaned, but then noticed Four-Eyes appearing on the top of the ship. "Oh, it's not her."
"Four-Eyes! What are you doing on that pirate ship?!" Pa-Patch yelled.
"Buh huh huh huh huh! You may think of me as Four-Eyes, but I am actually…" He took off his disguise. "LORD CRUMP! BUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!"
"Sharla." Shulk cued as Sharla nodded and pulled out a detonator.
"Now! Mario and Crew! Hand me that Crystal Star nice and easy… and I'll still blow you up anyway!" Crump yelled, and then he exploded. "YAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Beautiful!" Sharla grinned.
"Quick! We need to stop that ship from blowing us all up!" Luigi exclaimed.
"You said you fought Cortez right? Take me to him." Flavio said as the party nodded and ran off.
"Alright, who's the wise guy!" Crump yelled, turning to his men. "WHO BLEW ME UP! HUH?! HEADS WILL ROLL!"
End BGM
At Cortez's ship…
"Ooooh… Ooo- oh, it's just you." Cortez said as they came back. "What do you need, did you forget something?"
"G-g-g-g-good gravy! C-C-C-C-C-Cortez the pirate!" Flavio exclaimed.
"Hmm? And who are you?" Cortez asked.
"I-I-I-I am Fl-Fl-Flavio… and I am in need of your ship."
"WHAT! You come all this way and ask me for MY ship! You have some nerve, peacock! I'd rather skin ya alive!"
"But, we need to go out there and stop that guy from blowing us all up with his ship!"
"Hmph! And even if I did, I lack the red skull jewel that powers up my ship."
Flavio's eyes widened. "Oh, you mean this jewel?" He asked, pulling it out.
"YOUUUUUU! YOU STOLE IT FROM ME!"
"Actually, it was my ancestors."
"Why you sniveling little… give it to me right this second!"
"How about a deal? I give you this and you will give us your ship."
"And if I say no?"
"Then I will throw it into Davy Jones' Locker and you will never see it again."
"AAAARGH! You drive a hard bargain. Fine! But bring it to me carefully."
"Ha! Carefully? I've been handling this jewel since I was born!" Flavio said and handed it to Cortez.
"At last! The Black Skull lives again! Hang tight, amigos! I'll get this ready in a jiffy!" He said as they all nodded and walked out, where they saw all the Toads, Pa-Patch and the two Piantas on deck.
"We want to fight too!" Francesca exclaimed, and then Cortez appeared in front of them.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" Cortez exclaimed.
Outside…
"Alright, ready all cannons! We are tearing this island down!" Crump yelled.
"You dare come to my island and attempt to blow it up? You have some nerve, mortal!" Cortez said, and then the Black Skull tore through the rocks.
BGM: We Love Burning Town (Shantae and the Pirate's Curse)
"WHAT THE?!" Crump yelled as the two ships circled around before Cortez rammed into Crump's ship. "Argh! Alright, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" He exclaimed. "ATTAAAAAACK!" He yelled as the X-Nauts jumped ship to the Black Skull, where the Toads and Embers did the same.
"We'll hold them off! You guys go to Crump!" Yang said.
"Right!" Ruby nodded as she, Fiora and Shantae went to Crump to take care of him, and cue the stage transition.
"HA! You think you can take me on! Don't make me laugh!" Crump laughed as Shantae ran over to Crump and whipped him up four times before walking back, then Ruby jumped over to him and slashed him to ribbons before running back, and then Fiora went into her Mechon Form and then slashed through the X-Nauts and Crump, and then the X-Nauts went over and body slammed Ruby, and then Crump went over and body slammed Shantae.
"Nngh!" Shantae winced before pulling out a Scimitar. "YAAAAAAAH!" She yelled, charing right through the X-Nauts like bowling pins and striking Crump.
"Yow!" Crump yelled as Ruby used her semblance and slashed Crump several times while Fiora shot Crump in the head, then Crump whistled and brought in more X-Nauts where they lowered a girder.
"I got this!" Shantae said as she jumped into the air before transforming into an Elephant, and then slammed into the ground, knocking the X-Nauts off of the girder… while said girder fell and landed on Crump's head.
"YOOOOOW! THAT SMARTS!" Crump yelled as Ruby and Fiora slashed through Crump. "Nnngh! I need to heal up real quick!" He said and went off-stage, but Shantae wasn't having it and transformed into her monkey form and charged right at him, and then pounded on him off-stage. "OW! OW OW OW OW OW! WHY AM I GETTING BEAT UP BY A MONKEY!" He yelled as he was launched back on-stage with Shantae still pounding on him before jumping back to the girls, and transformed back. "Nnngh, I can still win this!" He said. "I don't need my X-Nauts!" He declared… and then Fiora fired a missile at him to knock him out. "YAAAAAAAAAGH!" He yelled while being launched off-stage by the missile.
End BGM
And back in the real world, Crump was beaten up. "Crud! I lost again! Retreat! RETREEEEEAT!" He yelled as the girls jumped back to the Black Skull and then the ship bolted.
"YEAH, GOOD RIDDANCE!" Yang yelled as they all cheered, while up above, Dark Ruby was watching from up her Nevermore.
"Tch. Disgusting." She said and then flew off while the party was still celebrating.
Man, I had a lot of fun writing Shantae. She was such a blast to write!
I have to be honest though, I had a feeling the poll was going to be nasty between her and Shovel Knight and I was afraid I was going to have to do a tie-breaker. Luckily, it never happened!