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!

17. A Mazing Grace

Chapter 10, Pt. 2: A Mazing Grace

...How sweet the sound... Umm... Oh! Why, hello there! Sorry, did I keep you waiting? Don't answer that. That was a rhetorical question. I know I kept you on your toes, and for that, I humbly apologize. So does my bladder. In any case, we left off with Shantae, Tayshan, and their unexpected travel companion Aashiq preparing to traverse the daunting, cavernous halls of the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth. And let me tell you; this place was a force to be reckoned with. To nutshell some of what we missed, it started off simple enough. It was hardly any different from any normal quest, with our heroes navigating absurdly dark corridors rife with previously undiscovered sea-dwelling monsters. One of the big differences, however, was their difficulty with the menacing chimeras that could use their voices as weapons to paralyze Shantae's partners, which often left her to deal with them on her own. Adding to that massive headache was the cornucopia of environmental hazards, such as trapdoors, expansive algae vine pits, flame-spewing statues, the occasional Tinkerbat brigade, and the like. Note that I use the term 'simple' VERY loosely in this context. Need I mention the other reasons this underwater tomb was such a massive nightmare to traverse? Ah… I probably shouldn't. You'll be better off getting that answer by seeing it through the experiences of our heroes as they traversed through the deep-sea deathtrap. So, without further ado…

LOCATION: SIREN'S REQUIEM LABYRINTH, UNDER THE SEA, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: SEPTEMBER 25TH, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 1756 HOURS

"Y'all wanna eat somethin'? Then have a mouthful o' THIS!" Tay challenged, firing off a volley of rounds from his handgun as he and his teammates swung from a series of gross, sticky algae vines hanging from the ceiling of the room they'd found themselves in. As he sporadically struck his targets, the apparently carnivorous brown-and-green barnacle/sea turtle hybrids screeched at him as they clung to the walls and ceiling and spat balls of mucus-colored, highly corrosive gunk at him. Tay, finding himself on something of a defensive, was forced to multitask between swinging from vine to vine and returning fire at the ravenous beasts.

"Take this!" Shantae, already in Harpy form, also challenged as she fired off weaponized talons at the siren she'd been locked in aerial combat with. As Harpy-Shantae fired her talons off at the malicious chimera, she dashed in and swiped at the creature with the claws on her feet. She narrowly missed, however, as the *SCHWING* of her claws against the unusually thick, humid air notified her of her failure to land her attack. Taking this as an opportunity to counter, the siren swiped at Shantae and landed a *SMACK* of an impact on the heroine's face. "Gagh! You…! You won't get away with that!" Just as Harpy-Shantae made her threat, however, the siren stuck her tongue out at her and pulled an eyelid down to tease her before turning to retreat to a safe distance. "Oh, no you don't! After what your friends put us through, I won't allow you to utter a single note!" Harpy-Shantae further threatened, giving swift chase and firing a barrage of talons at her as they soared through the vines and around the open space of the trap room.

"Shantae!" Aashiq called as he levitated in midair, bathed head to toe in a cyan magic glow. "Is it alright to suggest that you try leading her over here?" he suggested as he charged a crackling current of energy into the index finger of one hand while using the other hand, coated in orange, to telekinetically banish two of the gigantic, ferocious, acid-spitting snapping turtles to the pitch-black abyss below.

"I'll see what I can do!" she called out as she continued to give chase to her target, also making sure to defend herself by shooting talons at the snarling, flying alligator hybrids that attempted to interfere. Luckily for the heroine, the alligators were relatively weak compared to the siren she'd been doggedly pursuing. "Why bring her to you, though? You know if she sings, you'll be stuck!"

"Fret not, for I have an idea!" he assured, telekinetically trapping another giant turtle and one more winged gator and flinging them toward a nearby wall with two forceful *SLAMs* that dispatched them simultaneously. "Stay on her tail and make sure she does not sing!"

"Alright, you can count on me! In that case, I can't wait to see what you're planning…" Harpy-Shantae proclaimed, not-so-secretly eager to learn more about her newest teammate's intended course of action as she continued hounding the siren that continued trying to escape the half-genie's hawk-like pursuit.

"Tayshan!" Aash called, hovering slowly toward the soldier as he magically flung a trio of opposing centipede monsters from the ceiling near him just before they attempted to gnaw on the vines Tay was hanging from.

"Yo! Thanks for that save there," Tay thanked, jumping from one vine to another before firing another shot that took out another turtle clinging to a nearby wall.

"No need to thank me. However, Shantae and I require your marksmanship!"

"What's up?" he asked, instinctively peering over to see the half-genie as she managed to land a talon shot on her fleeing enemy. The resulting *plink* of the projectile as it uselessly bounced off of the chimeras's back was anything but relieving for Shantae as she groaned in frustration.

"Darn it, talons don't work on her!" Harpy-Shantae complained, bringing a sense of urgency to the situation as she made sure to at least remain hot on the siren's tail. "I have to find a way to bring her down, but what else can I do…?"

"We will need you to distract that siren with your gunfire to deliver us an opening to take her down before she is able to sing! Shantae has been working diligently to keep her under enough pressure, but we need to get rid of that creature now!"

"Ain't gotta tell me twice," Tay fully agreed, tightening his focus as he pointed his firearm toward the moving target. "Want me t' shoot the siren down?"

"No, for I would not like to risk Shantae being harmed. I merely need you to provide a diversion to deter the beast. I would suggest landing a decisive hit or two on it to assist with detaining it if possible, but we mainly require that you startle the beast enough for us to handle that. From there, Shantae and I can coordinate to eliminate her. Can we trust your accuracy to fulfill the task?"

"You better believe you can," the soldier confirmed, turning his full attention to the siren as she continued her unrelenting efforts to shake the half-genie off. "Gettin' a lock on her now…" he informed, prompting the Hypnotist affiliate to nod before levitating himself in the general direction of his Harpy-transformed ally as the siren began using the vines littered across the room to slow her assailant down.

"You got an idea on when you're gonna be ready, Aash? She's starting to get wise to my moves!" Harpy-Shantae alerted, zipping through the vines while trying to avoid becoming entangled in them while the trio's mutually-shared target seamlessly twirled and wafted through them. The crafty hybrid monster even went so far as to deliberately throw some of them back, forcing Harpy-Shantae to either weave to the side or duck under them to avoid being caught up. "Not to mention, she's starting to use the environment to her advantage!"

"We will take care of it posthaste, love! Tayshan, where are you at with-?" Aash tried to ask.

"Firin'!" Tay announced just as he pulled the trigger. With a raucous *BANG* from his pistol, the discharged round rocketed toward its intended target. In the time it took for Aashiq to flinch in a mix of fright and utter surprise at the sound of the gun, the pea-sized glowing marble of a round whizzed through a thicket of the greasy marine plants and directly struck the siren's wing with a definitive *THOCK*. The distracted creature winced, nearly losing her focus as she was brought to a screeching halt. As she attempted to regain control of her flight, she soon found her arms enveloped in the clutches of the heroine's claws.

"Gotcha!" Harpy-Shantae announced, keeping her grip tight as she flapped her wings to keep herself airborne. Without warning, the siren began violently thrashing and wriggling about, attempting to free herself, nearly knocking both herself and the half-genie off-kilter. "Whoa! Wow, you're stronger than you look!"

"This is perfect! Now then!" Aash cheered, hovering as swiftly as he could toward the ornery siren caught in his comrade's grasp. His hand crackling and enshrouded in a most intimidating lightning blue energy, he extended it toward the siren, who'd begun struggling harder to escape as she experienced a rush of dread wash over her. "Forgive me, creature, but we cannot allow you to endanger our lives," he gently spoke to her as she continued struggling.

"Gragh! You won't get away with this, you despicable home invaders!" she fervently threatened, still trying to break free. "You and your filthy horde of mutant bat bandits will suffer the wrath of the resurrected Lady Radiyah! You may strike me down if you so please, but you do it at your own peril! My comrades will avenge me, and they will rip you limb from limb before devouring your wretched hides!"

"Enough of this," Aash cut in, remaining unconvinced by the siren's desperate threats of retaliation as he prepared to eliminate her on the spot. "It is unfortunate that we encountered each other this way, but you have proven too dangerous an enemy to take lightly. May you find peace in defeat…" With that, Aashiq prepared to vanquish the struggling beast woman for the sake and safety of himself and his teammates. "Haaaah…!" he uttered, increasing the flow of energy into his hand. The siren, in one more last-ditch effort, opened her mouth to sing, though Aash read this and countered by channeling orange-hued magic into his other hand and extending it toward her mouth. "Today will not be the day you outwit us, monster!" he bravely declared as he cast a spell on her. The unfortunate creature found herself completely cornered from that point as her mouth remained open, yet unable to utter any sounds as it was highlighted in the same aura Aash's hand was. Essentially, Aash muted her by shoving a magic-borne plug down her throat. Try as she might, the siren found herself unable to even utter a sound, much less sing to subdue the young magician who was about to claim her life as he continued charging blue magic into his hand. The siren watched in horror and stopped struggling, resigning herself to her fate. Just as Aash was about to unleash his attack, however…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Tay called out, hurriedly swinging between vines to close the distance between himself and the rest of the group as he objected to the execution of the siren in question. Hearing this, Aashiq paused his attack, canceling out the energy that previously surged through his arms as he and Harpy-Shantae turned toward the soldier in joined surprise.

"Wait? Why must we wait?" he asked, confused as to why Tay would suddenly interfere.

"Somethin' she just said gives me a hunch," he explained before turning his attention to the siren still trapped in the young maiden's grasp.

"You dare mock me by delaying your malicious assault!? You vile, dishonorable fiends!" the siren spat, disgusted with the hesitation of the trio to finish her off. "You idiots…! You have just granted me the opportunity to take my revenge!" she further declared, taking in a deep breath to begin singing, which prompted Aash to prepare another magic plug to silence the siren with.

"Hey, wait! Don't sing! Just listen!" Tay called to her, though it only caused her to venomously glare at him as he addressed her. "Look, we didn't meet under very friendly circumstances, but somethin' you said has me wonderin' about what's goin' on down here."

"Wondering what's going on down here?" the disgruntled chimera asked as though she was offended by his statement. "You ignorant fool! You and your legion of repulsive land-dwelling mutants have besmirched and desecrated sacred grounds! And you mean to insult me further by holding me captive and pretending you-!?"

"Yo, chill!" he demanded, doing his best to brush past the brazen castigation hurled against him to get to the point. "We didn't come here t' pick a fight with you, even though this situation turned out like this. We're here tryin' t' hunt down those bat mutants you mentioned a second ago."

"Spin your web of lies elsewhere, surface-walker!" she spat back, furious that her foes continued to toy with her. "I will not be tortured here by being subjected to your pathetic attempts at deceiving me!"

"It's clear she's not gonna listen, Tay," Harpy-Shantae chimed in, feeling that there was no use in speaking to an enemy who continued to resist any attempts at negotiation. "We need to get going, so if there's—!"

"Just give me a second, please," he cut in with a sudden sense of irritation that shocked everyone present.

"Give you a second? For what!?" the half-genie yelled, none too appreciative of the bluntness of his request. "She doesn't want to hear what you're saying, and there's very little chance you're gonna get through to her after what we just went through to catch her!"

"She has a point, Tayshan," Aash agreed with Shantae. "We certainly did spend a lot of time and effort to prevent this siren from harming us, and we do not have reason to believe conversing with her would prevent her from attempting to harm us further."

"An' that line o' thought is how we lose chances t' make things easier on us or at least on the creatures whose home we're bustin' through," he argued, further shocking the siren as her expression changed in accordance to her curiosity. "Do we not remember that we're supposed t' be in here cleanin' this place up of Tinkerbats?"

"Yes, we remember, but Giga Mermaid said the monsters in here would be hostile to the point of attacking us on-sight, which they have been doing! We need to protect ourselves!" Harpy-Shantae reminded him.

"Protectin' ourselves doesn't always mean blow stuff up first an' ask questions second," Tay reasoned. "We spent more than enough time doin' that the entire way through this temple, an' since we got off that raft, we've done nothin' but fight horde after horde o' these monsters, in addition to Risky's fiendish Tinkerbats, whom we've been seein' less of than the monsters they're disturbin'. This is the first time we've gotten any direct insight int' why the monsters here have been attackin' us, an' it sounds like it's because they think we're with them!"

"…Tinkerbats, you say?" the siren perked up, seeming to understand the implications behind the name of the invasive species in question. "As in, loyal servants of the Pirate Master?"

"Uh, y-yeah, actually," Harpy-Shantae answered, surprised to hear that the siren was aware of them. "How did you…?"

"The Pirate Master is part of the reason this labyrinth was sunken so deep into the Sequin Land sea," she explained. "His dastardly schemes for world domination cost Lady Radiyah her life, and nearly cost many of us our very existence. Legend has it that he and his minions besieged this temple and when we as its protectors refused to stand down, he laid waste to it and sunk it to these watery depths, stranding all survivors down here for eternity. To see that his minions have once again infiltrated the labyrinth's ancient grounds and continue to perpetrate the same atrocities they had been accounted as having committed so long ago…"

"Well, they're under new leadership at this point, but their current captain has all the same goals that the Pirate Master did," Harpy-Shantae clarified.

"What happened to the Pirate Master?"

"He was defeated by the combined power of all the world's full-fledged genies," the young maiden explained. "He came back a short while ago to try and continue his efforts for world domination, but with the help of some friends, I managed to stop him for good. But like I mentioned, his henchmen are still around, and they've been under someone else's rule for quite a while now."

"What…? How…? Who are you?" she questioned, her previous aggression gone and replaced with abundant curiosity. "And if your goal is to dispatch the Pirate Master's minions, then why are you attacking the inhabitants of the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth?"

"Clearly, we've got a lot of explainin' t' do," Tay suggested, relieved to see that the chimera had calmed herself down enough to hear them out. "Is it safe t' call a truce until we can clarify why we were sent down here?"

"…I suppose, though I remain incredibly wary of you," she conditionally agreed. "I'm aware of when I'm at a disadvantage, so I don't have much choice but to comply with your demands, lest I be destroyed here in a similar fashion to how you vanquished many of my allies and friends."

"…S-sorry about that," Tay apologized. "We should've known better, simply put. I get that such a statement won't bring anyone back, but we weren't exactly given a choice when your allies lashed out at us the minute they saw us."

"Hmph… That's… as understandable as it gets, though we acted out of protection of our home. Either way, fine," the siren bitterly acknowledged. "Release me, and we may speak further about what is happening down here." With that humble request, Harpy-Shantae reluctantly let go of the siren, though she and her friends remained on high alert as they collectively moved to safer ground (emphasis on 'ground') to receive a rundown on the events leading to the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth's Tinkerbat problem.

A few moments later…

"So, that's their game, huh?" Tay asked, a heavily concerned expression plastered onto his face.

"Yes," the yet-to-be-named siren confirmed. "We still don't know what their true goal is, but they have been wiping us out in droves with these foreign weapons and littering our home with traps. Try as my allies and I have, they have proven far more difficult to exterminate than we initially thought. We fear they may wipe us all out if they continue to go unchecked."

"Goodness, how low will these guys go?" Shantae asked, having since returned to her humanoid state as she rubbed her chin in wonder and a slight sense of dread. "It's one thing to invade someone's home when its this far out of the way, but to go as far as kicking out its inhabitants and claiming it as their own? I won't stand for it!" she further vowed, her determination to flush out Risky's minions bolstered.

"I trust that you will be able to rid our sacred labyrinth of the pirate menace," the siren agreed, though she sized Shantae up and down as she said so. "I won't lie, though; I expected far more from the fabled 'Half-Genie Hero.'"

"What? And what's that supposed to mean!?" Shantae demanded to know, taking offense to the statement while containing her surprise.

"Take this as you will, but I mean… You're just… your overall appearance is underwhelming," she dropped the bomb, stunning the half-genie and her teammates. "I've heard the legends and the stories from one of the very few of our allies that once dwelled on the surface, but I was seriously expecting someone much older… and taller… and more competent, and… dare I say, womanlier than…. this," she brazenly criticized, emphasizing her point by gesturing her hands toward the appalled young woman standing before her. "Need I even mention that you spent all this time fighting the wrong enemy? I dare question if your goal really was to eliminate the Tinkerbats, or if you planned on attacking everything with a pulse until you accomplished your goal. Not a great way to make a first impression; especially considering the already shoddy reputation of genies in general. Your kind are unappreciated by us as it is. Your boorish, ignorant actions do you very few favors…!" she further castigated, doing little to hide her anger and disappointment.

"Well, that's rude!" she shouted, though she felt the sting of the siren's ridicule. "We said we're sorry for the mix-up, but it shouldn't even matter how I look or what your impression of me is; especially if you're just going to assume all genies are bad! Because we're not! That aside, my friends and I are here to do a job!"

"That actually brings me to my next issue, which is the fact that you have these two following you around; especially the male. I was told the almighty Half-Genie Hero worked alone without a problem. Why would she need the assistance of anyone, especially a man, to complete any task? That certainly hurts your image further, doesn't it?"

"Hey!" Aashiq complained, unappreciative of the criticism of the creature. "We are not damaging her image! We are her allies!"

"I wasn't speaking to you," she bluntly shot back, cutting her eyes at him. "I don't see why you're even getting that upset, little girl."

"I am male," Aash further protested. "And, if you must know, I am 17-and-a-half years of age, so I am far from 'little,' as you assume." Caught by surprise for some odd reason, the incredulous siren looked Aashiq up and down to see if he was possibly lying about being male. Unable to figure it out just by looking at him, she hummed a quiet note in his direction, which caused his every limb to lock up for a literal second. Flinching in pain, he covered his ears as he gingerly recovered from the sneak gender test he was subjected to. "Agh…! Vile, underhanded creature…!"

"Ergh…! Even at a whisper, that singin' really messes with you…!" Tay complained, also having felt the jolt of temporary paralysis from the siren's investigative musical note as he stretched to rid his body of the lingering discomfort.

"Hey!" Shantae called out in protest. "I thought we had a truce! What'd you go and do that for!?"

"…So you really are a male. Hmph. Despicable," the siren spat, turning away from the young magician she'd just victimized. "That was merely a test to see if this boy was serious about what he'd just revealed to me. I mean no further harm for now."

"What does it matter to you that he's a boy?"

"Hardly a thing, though what matters more is that you brought not one, but TWO males with you down here. And you call yourself a hero? Hah! I find myself growing more disappointed in you by the minute."

"Judge me however you want, lady, but if you know what I've accomplished, then you know I'm no pushover! I'm a lot stronger than I look," Shantae argued in her own defense. "And why does it matter how I look or who I bring with me? If it makes any difference, I'll have you know I'm actually training the both of them to be my partners, so it makes sense that I'd bring them along," she further stated, though the phrasing of the statement didn't sit very well with either of her allies, who went silent as they watched the exchange between their leader and their enemy-turned-critic.

"…Umm… Okay…?" Tay murmured, Shantae's defensive stance leaving a sour taste in his mouth as he and Aash observed the two girls going back and forth.

"Oh, so they're your escorts? Got it, got it…" the siren seemed to interpret. "I suppose that would be understandable that you'd be domesticating these boys as you saw fit. I'd never imagine that even heroes could have harems, though…"

"What!?" Shantae shrieked in a mix of revulsion and panic, her cheeks suddenly glowing pinker than flamingo feathers as a result of the accusation. "No, no, no, ew! That's disgusting! I'd never do anything like that with either of them!" she fervently denied, further inadvertently insulting her male comrades. "Gross! We're a team! Nothing else!"

"Hmph. I suspected as much, though you lower the bar further as you confirm my doubts. You seem much too innocent and… dare I say, 'unripe' for that sort of thing, anyway." That inflammatory remark made Shantae's embarrassed blush deepen as she was utterly blindsided by the quick and unexpected degradation of this conversation.

"Yo, come on," Tay intervened, having heard enough. "How much does she gotta say t' explain t' you that we're workin' together t' eliminate a problem in here?"

"Evidently, not much," the siren shot back, glaring at the interfering serviceman. "If a lowly servant of hers has to step in and protect her from a simple discussion, then maybe the rumors I'd heard about her accomplishments and status were little more than embellished tall tales. What a shame, since I thought a woman of your stature would be more confident and independent, Shantae."

"You can believe whatever you want, but regardless, we're tryin' t' help you out. We don't really gotta get into your personal tastes about what a hero should look like t' do that," Tay argued, trying once more to bring the conversation back into focus.

"Smart statement for a domesticated male," she remarked in condescension, quickly irritating the young man as he shot her a glare of his own. "I see she's trained you better than her other pet. However, you'd do best to stay quiet and let your leader explain herself."

"Excuse you!? After I kept you from gettin'-!" he was about to argue.

"Leave him alone," Shantae demanded in defense of Tayshan, frustrated with the siren's continued disrespect. "We came here to complete a task, and we're supposed to be clearing up a misunderstanding by talking to each other. Do you want our help or not?"

"I understand by now that you'd like to lend a hand in expelling those awful bandits from our lair, but you must understand the implications of relying on the help of males to do so. I don't mean to insult you, but you're a woman; an established heroine with a storied reputation to improve and protect. It's just odd to see you in the company of these men as your minions after all I'd heard about you managing to defend your home under your own power previously. Any woman that needs the help of a man is considered weak around these parts; hence, why there are no males to be seen here. Yet, here you are, with two of them ready to jump the minute you find yourself in even a little bit of hot water. Your reliance on them is pitiful."

"Gah, I don't need their help! I'm helping them!" she impulsively shouted as she lost her temper, though the implications of the statement shook Aashiq and especially Tayshan to their cores. "If it was the case that I was dependent on them, then I wouldn't have accomplished half the things I did over my career without them! No matter what you say or think, I earned my status as a guardian genie!" she ranted, figuring that she had a point to prove.

"If that's true, then why did you even bring these two with you? Their being here will certainly not 'help' them, as you so boldly claim. You are aware that, with a series of the right vocal notes, I, or any siren, and especially Lady Radiyah, could easily immobilize and do away with them, aren't you? I just demonstrated that a moment ago with your more feminine-looking pet."

"Such impertinence…!" Aash grumbled, suddenly self-conscious as he crossed his arms and turned his flustered gaze toward a wall adjacent to him.

"Granted, the other servant seems to actually be able to use his brain, but if you were wiser and still felt as though you needed help, you should have brought another woman or two with you instead," the siren finished.

"We know about a siren's abilities now, but we're still going to get the job done. Besides, we were more prepared for that than you think," she assured, though her anger had gotten the better of her during the argument. "And they're here with me because they're my friends, and, like I said, I'm training them on how to navigate on adventures as we work on saving Sequin Land from total destruction. And since they're here, it's better for us if you understood that we want to help you. So, how can we help?"

"I see," the siren nodded as she processed the half-genie's statement. After a moment, she continued. "Well, if you insist on bringing your manservants, and you're serious about sweeping the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth clean of the Tinkerbat infestation, then I will go and alert my remaining allies that you pose no further threat. That way, there'd at least be no more risk of other sirens potentially victimizing your pets, or of the other creatures here being subjected to your foolish antics. I can't promise that my word will ring in Lady Radiyah's ears in the event that she has awakened, but I'll try. You'd better hold up your end of this bargain by destroying every single one of that Pirate Master's creeps that dared to set foot in here."

"You have our word," Shantae vowed with a confident nod. Acknowledging this, the unnamed chimera prepared to take off deeper into the maze, but not before she turned toward the irritated soldier, who'd stood with his arms folded as he bored holes into the ground with his eyes.

"Uh… Hey," the siren called to Tay, causing him to cut his gaze toward her.

"What?" he flatly replied, figuring she would only spit more venomous remarks at him.

"Um… It's not like me to say this, but… Th-thank you for… what you did earlier. With… sticking up for me and protecting me from your colleague and your headmistress, despite our initial encounter being nothing but hostile. What is your name?"

"Hm. My name is Tayshan, an' I only stepped in, so we could hear you out," he rebutted, though his eyes remained locked on her. "In your case, I wouldn't read into it."

"Fair, but for a man, you have a surprisingly keen sense of reason. That much must be commended, and it's that type of discernment that more men need. You will serve Shantae well. I can see that much, at the very least. If she continues to need a male as a pet, I have faith that you would fulfill your duties excellently." Despite her meaning this as some form of arbitrary compliment, it served the opposite effect of making Tayshan feel better. His expression contorted into an agitated frown as he heard her.

"Right. Well, we'd better get movin'. We won't get rid o' those Tinkerbats by standin' around here."

"True," the siren acknowledged, taking flight and levitating toward a wide-open doorway. "I will make haste persuading my allies to either stand down or help you if possible. And, for future reference, my name is Melody. May you three make a swift effort in exterminating these pests, travelers!" And with that, Melody (who had FINALLY been named), took off into the deep, dark reaches of the cavernous path to fulfill her task, leaving Shantae, Aashiq, and Tayshan to continue progressing on their adventure.

"Wow… She wasn't very nice, but we definitely did a good thing sparing her," Shantae acknowledged after a deep, heavy sigh. "Good call, Tay," she congratulated him as she approached him with a hand extended upward toward him for a high-five. However, he didn't respond the way she'd expected him to. Instead of high-fiving her, he shot her a disappointed glance that she read immediately as she lowered her hand. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"…Let's just get goin', alright?" he requested with a small shake of his head, turning toward the entrance to the next section of the maze as his breathing grew deeper and slightly labored. He appeared to be holding onto a sense of frustration with the situation as it unfolded.

"I can tell you're irritated. Don't let that siren's words get to you, Tay," she encouraged. "She doesn't know any of us or what we've done, so her insults shouldn't mean anything to you."

"…It ain't what she said… ah, never mind," he deflected, further confusing the half-genie as she studied him up and down, noticing the involuntary radiation of aura from his form. Upon further inspection, she also noted something was… off about its color, though she couldn't be certain if what she'd seen was worth mentioning or otherwise concerning. Before she could say anything else to him, however, he proceeded toward the entrance, gun drawn, and inspected the perimeter of the entrance for traps. Shantae continued to watch him, uncertain of how to approach him as she acknowledged the general rockiness of their recent interactions. As she pondered how to address the tension between them, however…

"…Shantae?" Aashiq called, snapping her out of her train of thought as she turned to the young Hypnotist apprentice.

"Yeah, Aash?"

"…Are we… Are we burdening you by accompanying you?" he asked, a dejected expression on his face as he wrung his hands.

"What? No, of course not! Why would you ask that?"

"Based on our discussion with the siren called Melody, it appeared to be the case that you… or rather, that mine and Tayshan's company is not as welcome as I had thought…"

"Not welcome? Aash, no way!" she denied, shooting him a worried, yet comforting grin as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "If I said something to her that sounded hurtful to you, then I'm sorry. I was only trying to explain myself to her so she'd stop being so mean, even though she still made her assumptions anyway."

"That is fair, and I accept your apology," he responded, perking up a bit as he moved his eyes to meet hers. "I still wonder, however, if we are truly of assistance to you or if we are really hindering you and, as that arrogant siren put it, 'damaging your image.'"

"Of course, you guys are helpful, Aash! Don't be silly!" she cheered again, laying her other hand on his other shoulder and gently rocking him back and forth. "After all the neat tricks you pulled off and all the spells you used to protect us from certain doom? I'd be crazy to think you weren't a valuable teammate!"

"Then, why did you say you did not need our help?"

"I said that?" she asked, her smile dropping as she reeled back before she flashed back to the point at which Aash was referring. "Oh, I did say that…" she realized, taking a moment to ponder as she let go of her teammate. "I didn't mean it like I didn't want you here with me. I meant it as in, if I came down here by myself, it would still be possible for me to get through this maze. But of course, I never got to mention that if I didn't have you here, it would've been way, WAY harder to do it; sirens or no sirens. I didn't say the right thing when Melody brought that up, and I apologize for not getting that point across."

"I see your point now, kanafeh. You need not apologize for that," he forgave once again as he brought it in himself to smile at her. "As long as we are at an understanding, I would be happy to continue to assist you."

"Awesome! I'm happy to have you here, too!" she exclaimed with joy (and some relief), as she moved to hug him, only for him to hold out a hand to halt her. "Hm? What's wrong?"

"Much as I would like to fully and warmly embrace your gorgeous form, I… still have one more concern to clear up with you," he warned as he gazed directly into her eyes, making her heart jump as her breath caught in her throat.

"Uh… Sure. W-what's up?" she nervously asked, hit with an almost overwhelming sense of apprehension as she patiently awaited her friend's confession of his concern.

"Excuse me for bringing this up at an inappropriate time, but… What you said earlier, about it… being… 'gross…' for us to be… well…"

"Oh, that?" she asked in a mild panic, knowing what he was referring to as her face heated up. She had expected this to become a topic, but she still couldn't have mentally prepared herself to address it so soon. "I-I just meant that it was weird for her to assume that you two were my uh… my servants. I don't know why she even said that, but trust me, it was as weird for me to have to shut that idea down as it must've been weird for you to even hear her assume it."

"Yes, and I understand that much, but Shantae…"

"Yeah?"

"…I must be honest… My heart… it still… I-I mean… I… still long for y-!"

"I know…" she revealed to him, though he didn't let his surprise show. She also did her part in hiding her apprehension by taking a deep, shaky breath. "I… kinda got that hunch earlier…"

"I see… Then… I must be certain…" Aash pressed again, growing increasingly anxious as he worked up the courage to let Shantae know what was on his mind. "I have not forgotten our conversation from our time in Genie's Hem, but… even after you revealed to me that you had gotten over your feelings, it has left me wondering… if you had truly let go…" he attempted to elaborate, though his nerves got the better of him right away. "Uh, f-forget I said anything. It is rude of me to even bring this up; especially when you and Tayshan are…"

"He and I are not dating, Aash," she candidly answered, though the fact that she even had to address this rumor again sent an even stronger wave of uneasiness rushing through her abdomen as her eyes began to waver. "We never have, and we never will." Aashiq's eyes went wide with surprise as he read the somber look on the young woman's face as she spoke to him.

"Oh? You are serious…?" he asked, though it took him what felt like a solid minute to register her statement.

"Yes," she confirmed, though she momentarily cut her eyes away and grasped one arm with the other, seeming… visibly disappointed in the answer she gave. "And, I know you're probably going to ask about what we mentioned back when we ran into you, and I'll tell you right now that it was an emergency and that he saved me. Nothing… weird came up between us, even after that. We talked after it, and Tay and I agreed that we shouldn't make a big deal about it, because at the end of the day, we're partners and we should keep it… 'professional,' as he put it. I… agreed with him."

"…Wow," Aash gasped in shock, blown away to hear that, in factual actuality, the duo he thought was a romantic couple… were not at all involved in such a manner, despite how close they seemed to be. "Shantae, I had no idea…"

"…Yeah. So, there. He and I are just friends. Nothing more. Ever… Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask me?" she pressed, putting the ball back in his court.

"Oh! Y-you still wanted me to ask? In that case… um… I… er…" he stammered, frozen again as he grew nervous enough to begin trembling as he momentarily batted his eyes away and ran a finger through his lush, silky hair. "Are you… or, er… Were you absolutely certain about what you said…? No, wait, I-I mean, do you…? Erm… Oh my, I cannot seem to convey it…"

"…If you're about to ask what I think you're about to ask me, Aash, then…" Shantae awkwardly began with a deep breath to calm her fluttering heart as she also grew nervous enough to begin trembling. "Um… I-I think I-!"

"Are you two comin' or what?" Tay called back to them, scaring the both of them stiff as they turned their blushing gazes toward him as he shot them an impatient look.

"Y-yeah! On our way, Tay!" Shantae affirmed, secretly relieved that he cut in. "Looks like we'll have to wait till later to talk about this. Come on, let's get moving," she added, taking Aashiq by the hand and practically dragging him along so they could finally continue tackling the Tinkerbat infestation.

Moments later...

Shortly after such an emotional roller coaster of a discussion of the ethical and practical implications of our world-renowned belly dancing explorer keeping certain company with her, Shantae and company proceeded quietly down a dark, wide, dank, humid corridor, with the young maiden taking the lead while shining her gem to scout for danger. Tayshan and Aashiq followed closely behind, with Aashiq lighting up his hand to scan their surroundings while Tay kept his gun aimed and at the ready in case anything popped up. However, the aura around his body had grown dim as he struggled to keep it active. Additionally, the silence of the damp, leaky hallway was interrupted not only by the trio's footsteps, but also by Tayshan's labored breathing. Picking up on this after a few minutes of careful exploration, Aashiq spoke up.

"Habibi, are you okay?" the Hypnotist affiliate asked his friend as he turned to look at him to see the serviceman seeming to be at a loss for air. "You are breathing quite intensely, as though you had run a marathon."

"I'm good, homie," he assured with a nod, though his labored breathing saw no end. "The air's just a little bit thick down here, but I'm okay."

"Hmm…" Aash pondered, studying Tay further to notice the flickering glow of his aura as it began to noticeably fade. "You may want to cease using your magic until you are able to regain your energy," he advised. "Remember what we mentioned before about how overuse will drain you."

"If I knew how t' turn it off, I'd… probably consider it," he rebutted, acknowledging his comrade's point. "But it's pretty much established that this stuff runs solely on emotion, in my case."

"Right, your abilities are activated based on how you feel. Well then, is there something Shantae or I can do to help ease your nerves? We would not want you to burn out before we finish this quest," he offered, though the mere suggestion caused Tay's magic to increase in its brightness.

"I'm fine," he sternly assured, needing no more prodding from his ally as he kept his attention focused ahead. Just then, he noticed something glowing up ahead as the trio reached the end of the corridor. Quickly, he dashed forward and grasped Shantae by the shoulder; a move she did not appreciate.

"Hey! Don't grab me like that!" she complained, jumpily pulling herself away from him. "You scared me!"

"Sorry about that, but I need you for a second," he replied through his continued fatigued panting. "I think I see somethin' waitin' for us, but just t' be sure, could you shine that light to the left and toward the floor?"

"Oh. Uh, sure…" she obliged, shining her magic light in the direction Tay requested. Tay wasted no time carefully stepping forward, pressing his back up against the nearby wall as he took up a readied stance with his handgun. Soon after, he slowly approached the opening that appeared to lead to yet another room in the maze, aiming his gun past the side of the entrance. Carefully, he peered past the corner and looked downward to see something that made his heart sink faster than a cruise ship full of white rhinos. The instant he saw it, a *click* could be heard from somewhere near the object, causing Tay to act as quickly as he could.

"Shoot! It's a trap!" he warned, hurriedly bolting toward his teammates and tackling them both before they were put in harm's way. Just then, the startling *KABOOM* of a triggered explosive device rocked the vicinity as a thick cloud of smoke shrouded the blast radius of the device.

"Jeez, what's going on!?" Shantae asked as Tay climbed to his feet and helped her back up to hers.

"Contacts at our twelve," he warned, pressing himself against the wall again as he waited for the smoke to clear to make his move. "The pirate kind, I mean."

"Oh, so they're finally showing themselves again, huh?" Shantae acknowledged, interpreting her teammate's statement to mean that a group of Tinkerbats was awaiting them within the next room. "Alright, let's do this! Aash, get ready!" she further commanded, helping the young man to his feet before she led him into the fray. The two of them dashed in through the smoke, lights ready as they got pumped to eliminate a group of Risky's mischievous minions.

"No, wait! Don't just charge in!" Tay warned, worried as he was frustrated that his friends put themselves in immediate danger. The *BANG* of a gunshot from straight ahead tipped him off that they were in for another tumultuous scuffle of disastrous proportions.

"Hah! Nice try, but trying to get the drop on us from the shadows won't make a difference for you!" the courageous heroine challenged, immediately swinging her hips side to side as she focused. "Transform!" she announced as she, with a magic *POOF*, morphed into her Spider form. Without hesitation, she aimed her thorax upward and shot a line of web toward the ceiling, latching onto it and drawing herself upward. As soon as her legs touched the ceiling, Spider-Shantae utilized her Luminous Aquamarine to brighten the area as she scouted the potential hiding spots of her enemies. "Aash! There's two of them hiding behind that fallen pillar to your—Er, I-I mean, at your three o'clock position!" she called, alerting the magician-in-training while only just barely remembering to utter her announcements in code. "Three more at our ten! I've got them!" she further proclaimed as she inhaled and hocked an acid ball toward a trio of Tinkerbats shielding themselves behind a giant pile of rubble in the far corner of the room. As soon as she saw them jump away to avoid being struck by her gross, slimy, corrosive projectile, she advanced on them from the ceiling as they began returning fire with handguns.

"Hah!" Aash shouted, jumping out of the way of a volley of gunshots as the pair of shooters revealed themselves to him. "Finally, we meet in combat!" he dared to challenged, summoning an amber-colored cloak of magic around his hands. "You servants of destruction will not overcome us!" Wasting no more time bantering, the aspiring Hypnotist extended a hand toward the encroaching Tinkerbats, sending a sparkling wave of magic force careening toward them. The Tinkerbats were quick on their feet, as they both leapt out of the way as the magic wave sliced through the fallen pillar and exploded, sending chunks of debris all over the place. Taking this as a challenge, Aash extended his other hand to send out another rush of his energy at them. Quickly growing wise to his defensive tactics, each of the two Tinkerbats split into separate directions, firing blast after blast of improvised handgun rounds at him. "Whoa!" Aash yelled again as he was forced to retreat and spin to his side to dodge the incoming fire. Making sure not to lose too much ground, however, Aash resorted to his telekinesis spell, though the Tinkerbats' method of splitting up and pressuring him limited his ability to focus. One of them charged at him straight ahead while firing another volley of rounds at him. The other kept its distance as it awaited its opportunity to strike.

"I hope you are prepared for a flight, cretin!" he warned, changing the glow in one of his hands from amber to orange as he dodged the incoming rounds and ensnared the Tinkerbat in his magic. "Now then… Haaaa-!"

"On your nine, Aashiq! Pay attention!" called Tay as he dashed in, firing a barrage of his own rounds to eliminate the Tinkerbat that had tried to flank Aash from his left. Just as Tay knocked it out, however, it lobbed what looked like an explosive toward its intended target. With a loud, fright-inducing series of *clinks* of the device against the uneven, stony ground, the device bounced toward them. "Incomin' frag!" he further called out, grabbing Aash by the arm and yanking him as far away from the blast radius of the grenade as he could. Aash lost his focus, the magic in his hand dissipating as he tried to process what was happening. Before long, the *KABOOM* of the grenade shook the room in its entirety, glowing bits of shrapnel flung in every direction as Tay pulled Aash to the ground to protect him from the sneak attack.

"Goodness…" Aash groaned as he and Tay recovered once they felt the coast was clear. Aash rose to his feet under his own power, breathing a sigh of relief that he and his partner were okay. "Thank you, habibi…"

"No pro-! Shoot! Aash, your six!" Tay called in a panic, attempting to get up and protect the other young man again, though a sudden, debilitating wave of horrible physical anguish ripped through his body, forcing him to kneel as he began to breathe heavily. "Gragh…! What the…!? I can't move…!" Tay choked out through bursts of intense agony as the glow around his body suddenly disappeared, replaced by crackling electric jolts that surged through him. His limbs trembled and tremored uncontrollably as he kept trying to fight through the sudden handicap to continue fighting. "Haaaagh…!"

"Wha-!?" Aash attempted to ask, though the *CLACK* of a blunt metal object as it crashed against his face from behind quickly alerted him to the danger he was in. The unsuspecting fledgling adventurer was thrown to the cold, crack-riddled ground with a *THUD*, clutching his cheek in unprecedented agony as he rose to try and deliver a counterattack. However, his hopes of doing so were dashed when he immediately noticed a Tinkerbat pointing a shotgun directly at the incapacitated soldier. "Tayshan!" Aash called, though a sudden *click* coming from his side got his attention. As he turned, he noticed another three Tinkerbats with pistols aimed at him, daring him to make a move. "You fiends! You will not-!" Aash challenged, getting ready to lunge at the creatures before one of them pointed toward Tayshan while keeping its gun aimed at him. Reading this, Aash turned to see the shotgun-wielding Tinkerbat winking at him as it kept its firearm squarely aimed at the soldier as he struggled to move.

"Agh…! Of all times t' have this magic turn against me…" Tay complained, angrily staring the Tinkerbat down. "Come on, body…! Come on…!" he further urged himself, though it appeared that the harder he tried to move, the more intense the pain he felt as he remained entirely unable to move. Meanwhile, the Tinkerbat in front of him reached behind its back and pulled out a line of rope, seeming intent on capturing the soldier while he was down. "Ergh…! You got me twisted if you think I'm gonna let you… Agh…! Hogtie me again…!" Tay attempted to protest as the Tinkerbat drew near, his body still convulsing and crackling as he continued to find himself stuck on one knee.

"Oh, no…!" Aash remarked in irrevocable worry, as it appeared that if he or Tay made any sudden moves, the Tinkerbats would not hesitate to make them regret it. Making matters worse was that if he did nothing, then his teammate would be captured by enemy forces. Faced with no other option, Aash did the only thing he felt he could. "Kanafeh!" he called out, figuring that the besieging enemies would not pick up on it. And, luckily for him, he was right. The Tinkerbats in front of him shot him a confused look, as though to wonder why he was screaming the name of a food out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Spider-Shantae, hearing her comrade's call from the ceiling, turned in response to hearing her nickname being called. She gasped in horror, seeing that her friends had been pinned down. "Shoot! You sneaky little…!" she grumbled, hurriedly disengaging the Tinkerbats she'd been pursuing as she crawled along the ceiling toward Tay's and Aash's position. Acting almost exclusively on impulse, Shantae *POOFed* back to her human form, clashing her vambraces together twice while charging a fireball in one hand.

"Freezer Burn!" she bellowed from above as she descended upon her friends' would-be captors. Just as they peered upward to see what the commotion was, the Tinkerbat with the shotgun and rope was struck in the face with a fiery *PWOSH*, causing it to drop its weapon as it began sprinting around the room in a haphazard, burning panic. Immediately following this, the two other Tinkerbats immediately identified their blue-clad, iceberg-haired attacker as the cause of the ruckus. They each jumped back to avoid being struck, though Shantae meant business from the start. As soon as the she landed, she dashed toward one of the pirate minions as it fired a panicked shot that she danced around to dodge. With a freezing *THOCK* of her hair against the minion's chest, she froze it solid before throwing a vicious haymaker. With an icy *CRUNCH*, she banished the opposing creature straight to dreamland. "Try and hurt my friends when you think I'm not looking, will you? Think again!" she warned, fully prepared to make the remaining two Tinkerbats suffer her sub-zero wrath. Hearing the Tinkerbats she'd previously engaged quickly approaching from behind, Shantae decided her next move. "Aash!"

"Yes, kanafeh?" Aash perked up, shaking off his sheer astonishment at the half-genie's inconceivable fighting ability.

"There's another group of Tinkerbats coming from our six o'clock! You and Tay handle them!"

"I will do my best, but it appears Tayshan is injured. He has been rendered immobile!" he pointed out, turning to see the soldier still struggling to bring himself to a stand. Shantae glanced behind her to see that, as Aash pointed out, Tay was doubled over on one knee, panting in pain. He seemed unable to even climb to his feet, much less defend himself as his body continued to crackle with fatigue-fueled electricity.

"Shoot! Then, protect him while I handle these two!" she commanded, sizing up her enemies as they aimed their firearms at her.

"Understood!" he readily agreed, rushing toward the ailing soldier. This, however, prompted the two Tinkerbats in front of Shantae to begin firing off rounds at the young man as he made his way toward his ally.

"No, you don't!" the angered half-genie challenged, stepping in the way of their rounds and summoning up a Bubble to block them. "I'll make you regret even thinking about it!" she further roared, taking off at lightning speed as she clapped her bracelets together once more to reveal her blonde, electricity-imbued hair power. One of them got the idea to try throwing a grenade at her the instant she dropped her shield while the other attempted to keep the pressure on by firing an additional series of rounds at her. "Hah!" Shantae shouted, leaping over the incoming gunfire and whipping the grenade mid-flight to stop it dead in the air. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the immobilized explosive, dodging another spray of rounds as she did so. "Thanks for the gift, but I think you need it more than I do!" she ever so politely informed them, launching the active grenade back at them and jumping back and reactivating her Bubble to avoid being injured. Before the pair of Tinkerbats had an opportunity to move, the *BOOOM* of the grenade signaled their ends. They were each hit with multiple bits of shrapnel, disposing of them once and for all as other bits and pieces of the grenade bounced off her protective barrier. Relieved once the coast was clear, Shantae clapped her bracelets together once more to return her hair to normal and deactivated her shield before rushing over to Aashiq. As she noticed, he'd been telekinetically trapping two more of Risky's minions while sending an amber, ground-traveling magic wave toward a third.

"We will prevail over you, horrid creatures of the dark!" he bravely proclaimed as he, with a sharp whip of his arm, flung the two orange-highlighted Tinkerbats at a wall. With a rumbling *CRASH*, both henchmen were defeated. The final one, however, proved resourceful, as it dodged the energy wave thrown by Aash and rushed in, using a submachine gun to fire off a rapid blast of rounds that caught the young magician off-guard. "What!? How did-! Gahagh!" Aash cried out in pain, having been struck by three of the haphazard shots as he stumbled back.

"Agh…! Hah…!" Tay grunted, somehow gaining just enough energy to intentionally fall over to avoid being hit by any of the rounds that did not hit Aashiq as the magician stood in front of him.

"Aash!" Shantae shouted, horrified and enraged to see that he'd been hurt. "You…! You're gonna pay for that!" she threatened, clashing her wristbands together to ignite her hair as she sprinted toward the advancing Tinkerbat. As expected, it fired off another fusillade of bullets, though Shantae was prepared. She summoned another Bubble to block the incoming rounds, thereby rendering the dastardly gunman's approach fruitless as it dodged the reflected glowing marbles. It stopped in its tracks afterward and seemed to consider turning tail, though by the time it could even process the thought, it was far too late. "Take THIS! Haaaraaaah!" Shantae yelled in fury, repeatedly flogging the Tinkerbat with *FWISH* after crackling *FWISH* of her fiery hair whip attack, stunning and burning it as it tried and failed to defend itself. For her finishing touch, Shantae dug one foot into the ground as she tensed up every muscle in both of her legs. "Hyaaah!" With that shout and a graceful, yet lightning-quick spin, the half-genie delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to the vile creature's back with a mighty *THRASH*, sending it flying off to oblivion as it disappeared with a *Poof* once it hit the wall on the other side of the room. Taking no time to celebrate their victory, Shantae hurried over to Aash, who'd been standing, clutching his abdomen with one hand as he panted in a mix of pain and fatigue.

"You… you did it, sweetheart…" he cheered through his searing agony as he gingerly rose to a full stand. "You saved us."

"Of course, but are you alright? You've been hit…" she worriedly addressed, hugging him as she inspected him for damage. "I'm sorry, I should've been quicker…"

"It is nothing, kanafeh," Aash assured, beaming at her with joy as he returned her embrace. "It would be ludicrous to expect to make it through this labyrinth completely unscathed. Those firearms pack quite a sting, though I assure you that I am not mortally wounded," he added, separating from her to pat the area on his abdomen where he'd been shot. "Oogh…!" he grunted in pain as he flinched, doing nothing to ease Shantae's immense worry about him. "S-see? I am still kicking… Hardly a scratch… Heh…"

"Aash, you don't need to prove yourself to me," she informed him with as warm a smile as she could manage. "I can see those Tinkerbats roughed you up some, but you still held your own and got the job done. I'm proud of you."

"Aw… T-thank you, kanafeh… Your words are much too kind," Aash politely accepted her praise, his heart pounding with a mix of situational adrenaline and unmistakable adoration for his crush. "However, my efforts pale in comparison to yours… You are truly incredible… Your fighting capabilities are just so… so mesmerizing… so beautiful… and it certainly befits you…"

"Aw come on, Aash…" Shantae blushingly remarked, turning away to hide her embarrassment at his honey-laced words. "I didn't do anything THAT impressive… You're embarrassing me," she tried to deny, though she found herself undeniably flattered by his kind words. Before either of them could bask in the moment of their mutual admiration for one another, however…

"Gaaaagh…!" a fatigue-riddled Tay choked out as he painstakingly brought himself to his hands and knees as he recovered from overexerting himself. He'd still been panting heavily and each of his limbs quivered under him like they were made of cold gelatin. Although, he found himself more concerned with his growing frustration as he stared bullets into the ground. "Why…?"

"Are you alright, habibi?" Aash asked, turning and kneeling beside him to inspect his condition. "It is a good sign that you are able to move again, but you must not push yourself too hard."

"But I wasn't pushin' too hard…" he countered, his disappointment in himself evident. "All I did was move you out o' the way o' that grenade, an' then my body locked up…! I was completely useless after that…!"

"Tay, it's alright," Shantae consoled as she approached him. "You weren't useless. If it wasn't for you pointing out that trap, we would've been in serious trouble. Still, you've gotta watch how much magic you're using, like we said. Overloading yourself will make you more vulnerable," she continued to warn, though this served only to irritate him as he gritted his teeth and clenched one hand into a fist as he remained on all fours.

"No, that can't be… Is this my limit? We only just got started…"

"Don't beat yourself up," she continued to encourage. "With Aash and me here, we've got you covered. You're still getting used to it, and that's okay. A little more practice, and you'll get the hang of that magic in no time. Until then, we'll protect you if you're feeling too weak to continue."

"Too… weak to continue…?" he echoed, those words ringing in his head like the chime of a bell tower's bell, each mental repetition of the phrase infuriating him as he continued struggling to get up. "No…! I…"

"Give yourself time to recover," she instructed, growing worried that he'd overexert himself simply by trying to stand up. "Aash and I will handle things until we finish up, so stay close to us from here on."

"Habibi, she speaks the truth. I owe it to you to protect you in your time of need, and I-!"

"No!" he interrupted, pounding his fist on the ground and startling his teammates as his body began to glow with that same bright, burning aura once more. "I… I can't accept bein' burnt out here…! I WON'T accept bein' burnt out here!"

"Tayshan, calm down!" Shantae advised, watching him as he fought through his fatigue and rose to his feet. "I don't want to see you hurt yourself. I get it that you were overwhelmed, but please, don't stress over it." Hearing her, Tay took a moment to ponder her plea and, after a moment, took a breath to bring himself down to a marginal sense of calm as the glow died down to that of an ember.

"Sorry," he apologized, stretching his arms to shake off the stiffness in his joints. "But I'm… I'm okay now," he assured, finally able to catch his breath. His teammates begged to differ, each of them looking back at him in worry. "I only needed a minute to get myself back together."

"Are you sure about that?" Aash asked. "You have reactivated your ability, but please heed our word. You must not continue to overuse it, or else your condition will worsen."

"I understand," he acknowledged with a nod, scratching his arm as he listened to his teammate. "I'll be more careful."

"Okay, but if you feel like that could happen again, let us know," Shantae urged, shooting him a stern look.

"Right, I hear ya. I'm okay. I swear. Now, I'm gonna pick up the weapons they left behind here while we have the chance," he informed, gingerly moving to pick up the nearby shotgun as he scanned the area for any of the other weapons dropped by their enemies. "Are we ready t' roll?"

"Seems like it. I'll get the rest of them," she affirmed, looking around to see no more Tinkerbats in the area. Also taking initiative, Shantae searched around the vicinity and picked up some of the other firearms dropped by the Tinkerbats, stashing them in her inventory before turning her attention toward the three gigantic, wide-open passageways at the other end of the room, elevated by a small, wide, broken-down staircase. "Looks like, for the third time in a row, we're faced with three choices."

"And this time, it appears that the frames of every entrance is highlighted in some strange color," Aash added.

"Orange on the left, Green in the middle, an' Purple on the right," Tay pointed out as all three adventurers studied the phenomenon. "Where do we go next?" he asked as the three of them climbed the staircase and drew near the entrances.

"Tough to say," Shantae answered, unsure herself of how to decide the next piece of their path through the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth. "The last few times, we were lucky enough to only have one of the path entrances glowing. I just hope that whichever one we pick this time doesn't wind up sending us back to the beginning again," she added, revealing that they'd found some trouble navigating the maze in the form of them being led back out of it each time they picked the wrong entrance.

"It also does not help that we are supposed to intentionally encounter those trigger-happy bat creatures, who have seemed to be expecting us each time we guess the correct path…" Aash lamented. Just as he made his statement, however, a distant series of *pops* and *booms* rang out from the other end of the orange-highlighted corridor.

"Sounds like we've just got our clue on which one to go through next," Shantae declared, brightening the gleam of her Luminous Aquamarine. "Let's go," she further ordered as she tapped Aash before dashing off. Needing no further prompt, Aash enveloped his hand in an illuminating green glow and followed suit.

"Wait, hold on!" Tay called after them as he gave chase, though he immediately felt a burn in his legs as he sprinted after them. "Remember that we have t' mind the traps they set up in here!" Nevertheless, our heroes were off on their next wild run to insurmountable danger as they pursued the increasingly loud explosive noises ringing out from down the hall. As they entered the hallway, they could also faintly pick up the sounds of creatures either screeching or crying out, though the nature of the sounds was indistinguishable. Within just a mere few yards of their mad dash, however, a sudden *BOOM* rang out from both sides, dispersing glowing pieces of shrapnel every which way. Caught off-guard, all three heroes shielded themselves with their arms, sustaining damage from the latest in a series of sneak attacks. "Darn it, we can't keep chargin' in like this!" Tay warned, brushing his arms off to deal with the burning, stinging sensation in them.

"Didn't expect them to set up another trap here, but we're still good to go. Let's hurry up and get out of this corridor before we get hit by another bomb!" Shantae advised, sticking close to Aash as the two of them continued sprinting ahead.

"No, stop! If they set more o' those things up in here, we don't wanna put ourselves in harm's way!"

"We don't have time to scan the whole pathway for explosives," Shantae argued as she refused to lighten her pace. "We have to keep pushing!"

"Don't you understand!? You're puttin' all of us at risk if you-!" Tay was about to argue before another *KABOOM* rang out, prompting him to dive to the damp, clammy floor while Shantae and Aash remained on their feet a fair distance ahead of him. "This is bad…!"

"Aash, come here!" Shantae beckoned the Hypnotist apprentice as she warily studied her surroundings.

"Indeed, kanafeh!" he obliged, stepping near the half-genie. "What is your next course of action?"

"You're about to see. Bubble!" Shantae announced, summoning up yet another defensive barrier that surrounded both herself and her partner.

"Your shield can protect both of us?"

"For a short time, but if we're quick, we can get through this tunnel before it deactivates. I need you to stay close to me the whole time though, okay?"

"You have my word."

"Great. It might also help us if you kept one of your spells handy in case we're caught by surprise again. This shield only protects from projectiles, which means anything direct will completely pass through it."

"Then I shall ready myself now," Aash agreed, charging a flow of magic through two fingers on one hand in anticipation for what Shantae had in store.

"Now here we go!" she declared once more, taking Aash by his other hand and sprinting down the hall with him.

"Goodness, she's always so reckless…!" Tay griped, further disquieted by his team leader's impulsive actions as he rose back to his feet and proceeded to try and keep up. As he tried to hurry himself through the hall, however, he saw the distance between himself and his allies slowly increase as they dashed nonstop through the hallway, triggering explosion after explosion. Each successive detonation shook the hallway to its core, the already-deafening sounds reverberating off the dilapidated walls of the passage and causing bits and pieces of rubble to crumble to the floor. Tay kept his handgun at the ready, already feeling fatigued yet again as he continued to also fight against his own body's magic-induced limitations. This circumstance would not deter any enemy, however, as a duo of Tinkerbats wearing propeller packs sprang out from a pair of broken pillars. Wielding pistols, they immediately opened fire on the soldier, forcing him to dash toward a crevice in the wall, where he took cover. "An' it's that same recklessness that almost always has me bitin' the bullet…!" he finished his statement as he entered a standoff with the pair of Risky's minions that appeared seemingly from thin air.

Meanwhile, Shantae and Aashiq relentlessly charged through another series of exploding traps, showing no signs of stopping. As far as they were concerned, these traps couldn't hurt them as long as they were prepared (and well-protected). This protection would not render them entirely invulnerable, however, as another small group of Tinkerbats dropped in from above, causing the two to hop back in defense. Figuring they had the advantage, the loyal servants of the Pirate Queen swiftly advanced upon their targets, armed with scimitars.

"Whoa! They mean business down here!" Shantae observed, getting ready to defend herself.

"Fret not, darling! I will spare you the effort," Aash volunteered, pointing his magic-infused fingers at the group as they charged in. "Soul Pistol! Burst!" he announced the name of his next attack, pointing his open palm at them. With a loud, crackling *PWISH*, Aash fired off a magic equivalent of a shotgun blast, projecting a scattering array of magic bolts at the unsuspecting henchman, taking them all out before they got close enough to swing their swords.

"Wow, Aash! You never cease to surprise me!" the half-genie praised as the two of them continued their advance.

"I aim to please, kanafeh, but beware that my magic is starting to run a tad low," he warned, massaging one hand with the other as he temporarily stopped channeling magic into them. "I will have to use attacks like that very conservatively from here on."

"Then we'll have to pick up the pace, so you don't burn out," Shantae suggested as the two of them continued their tireless rush through the corridor. As they had come to expect, however, another ambush squad of Tinkerbats showed up, seeming to crawl directly from the shadows as the emerged from the damaged marble pillars and shattered remains of siren statues all around. At just that moment, Shantae's barrier dissipated as a deafening *BANG* of a shot was fired from behind. Alerted to the sound, the attentive heroine pulled Aashiq toward a wall, making sure that neither of them was hurt by the high-velocity round that zoomed by them. "Darn… Bubble ran out too soon."

"Might you be able to reactivate it again?" Aash asked as he spotted two more Tinkerbats and proceeded to exchange fire with them using his Soul Pistol technique. From behind a pillar, he fired his magic blasts sparingly. "I will attempt to distract them as you recover your strength."

"No need. Go ahead and take out the ones up front if you can. I've got an idea," Shantae confidently assured again, taking a couple steps away from Aashiq as he momentarily turned to look at her. The young woman, without missing a beat, raised her arms above her head and clasped her hands together as she began rhythmically swaying her hips side to side.

"…Oh, my…" Aash quietly commented, nearly speechless at the captivating sight of his belly dancing partner's hypnotic movements. It was almost as if time itself had stood still from the second she began dancing, as he'd found his eyes glued to her. Shantae noticed him staring and grew understandably nervous about him paying such close attention to her as her heart began to pound relentlessly at the mere thought of him watching her as… intently as he had been. Although, she did not allow that to break her focus as she slowly spun around and began gyrating her hips as she stretched her arms outward in front of her. Her back turned toward her teammate, she increased the speed of her hip swivels as she got into the full groove of channeling magic through her mesmerizing dance moves. She followed suit by brushing her hands through her long, silky hair as she slowed down the rate at which she alluringly rocked her hips, though she was met with the sight of Aashiq gawking at her with the guiltiest of blushes on his face.

"Aash, you're supposed to be taking out those Tinkerbats. Stay focused, alright?" she reminded him, her face suddenly burning with a mix of shyness and slight humor as she struck her signature pose. Without another word and with a magic *POOF*, Shantae changed into her Elephant form. "It's embarrassing when you stare at me like that…"

"O-oh! My apologies, kanafeh… How unmannerly of me…" he babbled, figuratively picking his jaw up off the ground as he shook his head to reorient himself. "Anyway, what do you plan to do in this form of yours?"

"We're gonna rush ahead at full speed, but I'll warn you that I can't use my Bubble while I'm in any of my animal forms. On the plus side, I can charge into and take out any Tinkerbats directly in our way, but I'll need you to shoot down any Tinkerbats I can't hit while I'm in Elephant form. Climb on," Elephant-Shantae offered, kneeling and allowing Aash to waste no time climbing onto the half-genie pachyderm's back as he readied his Soul Pistol once again. Immediately following this, a trio of Tinkerbats flew in from behind wearing propeller packs, armed with submachine guns. They fired off bursts of rounds that the half-genie and her passenger barely had enough time to avoid as she hurriedly hopped out of their path. "Looks like they're trying to bring the fight to us from the six position, so let's get moving!"

"Indeed!" Aash agreed in a word, aiming and shooting small, concentrated blasts of magic from his fingertip. Within his first few shots, he scored a hit on the propeller pack of one of them, taking the minion out as Shantae set forth to begin charging ahead like she'd transformed into a bull.

"Haaaah!" Elephant-Shantae shouted, using one of her form's special abilities to blast forward with such unprecedented speed that one could see the streaks of wind rising from her form. Every step she took in this form echoed and boomed throughout the corridor like thunder as she continued to charge, leaping over a fallen pillar while she pressed on. Before long, she found herself bowling through Tinkerbat after Tinkerbat as they attempted to either shoot at her, slice at her with swords, or panic and freeze in place for her to flatten them like fresh pavement. Aash, though caught way off-guard by Elephant-Shantae's unprecedented speed, maintained enough of his focus to shoot down one more of the opposing creatures as it and its friend doggedly pursued them, spraying bursts of flashing marbles at them.

"I have lightened the load from behi—er, from our six o'clock, Shantae!" he announced to her as she dashed forward and bolwed through another Tinkerbat before making another wild leap over a watery pile of rubble.

"Great! Now brace yourself! I'm about to use the other special ability I have in this form," she advised him as she spotted four more Tinkerbats huddled together, appearing to be lying in wait before they noticed the danger from directly above them. "Rampaging STOMP!" she announced as she reached the apex of her leap, immediately canceling all forward momentum as she went rocketing downward to squish the ironically-ambushed Tinkerbats like bugs. With a thunderous *THRASH*, Elephant-Shantae slammed all four of her feet into the ground. She directly squashed two of the Tinkerbats while another two of them managed to just barely roll out of the way. The second the half-genie's feet hit the ground, however, a sudden *CRUNCH* of the stone beneath her sent her and Aashiq plummeting through. "Whoawhoawhoa!" Elephant-Shantae bellowed, not expecting in the least to crash through the floor.

Nevertheless, she found herself accidentally smashing through four or five massive boulders before hitting solid ground below with a *SPLASH* of water beneath her. Aash, completely unprepared for such a twist, fell off his comrade, splashing into the shallow water current as he fell flat on his back. Seeing their trap being sprung, the remaining two Tinkerbats, aided by the one in the propeller pack that Aash did not eliminate, began to hurriedly plug the hole by sliding the nearby fallen pillar over it. They wasted no time making sure the hole was covered in its entirety, ensuring that neither the half-genie nor her partner would escape.

"Hey! You sneaky little jerks!" Shantae called out, *POOFing* back to her human form as she protested as she marched toward the spot of the massive hole in the ceiling. "You won't get away with setting us up for that-!" she threatened before she was cut off by the *SLAM* of the pillar as the Tinkerbats shoved it through the hole, locking her and Aashiq in an unforeseen lower level of the labyrinth. "Darn it!" she cursed, unhappy with the result of their most recent venture. "They tricked us!"

"A most unfortunate turn of events, dear," Aash agreed, gingerly picking himself up and shaking off the water drenching his clothes and hair as he sized up the pillar. "I will try to move this obstacle out of the way," he volunteered, channeling an orange glow through both of his arms. Tightening his focus, he thrust his hands forward, illuminating the pillar in the same aura as he committed himself to his attempt to move the pillar out of the way. He first tried shifting his hands upward in hopes of shoving the massive, stony object out of the hole it was pushed in. This proved futile, however, as the obstinate object refused to budge. "Gaagh…!" Aash grunted with utmost effort as he kept trying. He next tried pulling his hands backward behind him, so that he might possibly slide the slab of cylindrical stone deeper into the hole in hopes of just pulling it under. Unfortunately, this did not work either. Aash found stern resistance in the form of the ground below the pillar in conjunction with the nigh-airtight space of the hole and the sheer weight of the pillar itself. "Haaaah…!" he growled as he kept trying, though it wasn't long before he lost his focus. The magic coursing through his arms disappeared as he hunched over with his hands planted on his knees, breathing heavily.

"Don't overdo it, Aash," Shantae advised, moving to rub his back as he recomposed himself. "Here, let me try." With that, Shantae pulled off a quick dance number that was followed by her transforming back into her Elephant form. Afterward, she took a few steps back, lowered her head, and dashed at full speed toward the pillar in order to break it. Elephant-Shantae met the obstacle with a voluminous, echoing *CRASH* that seemed to do the trick… until she and Aash observed it to see that she hadn't even put a dent in it, much less caused it to budge at all.

"Just when I thought that would work…" Aash lamented in disappointment as he scratched his head.

"It doesn't look like we'll be getting back up there from this spot…" she further surmised with a sense of defeat as she reverted to her normal humanoid form.

"Such crafty creatures, those Tinkerbats…" he griped as he continued catching his breath, though he was able to bring himself back to a full stand. Charging a hand with green-hued, brightly glowing magic, he scanned his surroundings. "However, it does not seem like we are entirely trapped," he added, alerting her that there appeared to be a series of pathways that led in many different directions at a glance.

"I guess, but look at how many left and right turns we have available," Shantae further pointed out, noticing that the watery corridor they found themselves trapped in had multiple points at which to explore to find a way out. "A confusing, convoluted underground maze hidden within another confusing, convoluted underWATER maze… Who would think to be so evil? Not even Risky Boots could be THIS thorough…"

"A fair point, though I suppose we will not find out the correct path unless we get to exploring. We must not dawdle."

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Aash," Shantae agreed, taking the lead yet again. "Let's try to get out quick, but stick together, so we don't wind up losing each other on top of losing track of where we are."

"Oh, you do not have to tell me twice," he agreed, following her closely as they got to stepping. "I trust we will find our way in no time, despite our circumstances."

"Of course, we will," Shantae agreed, matching his enthusiasm to keep morale high as the two began strolling down the long, empty corridor. The two were silent as they scoured the dark, dank, dingy depths of the maze-within-a-maze, with the most prominent atmospheric noise being the water current, the *plops* of their footsteps in the water current, and the occasional droplet of moisture onto the stony surfaces of the puzzling hallways. Try as Shantae and Aashiq might, they could hardly figure out where to begin their expedition, as every single one of the adjacent passages they glanced at looked the same, thus looking nowhere close to inviting as they contemplated their next move. The darkness surrounding them certainly did them no favors, as it made their trek even more difficult as they relied heavily on their light-granting equipment/spells to aid their navigation. Despite this, they remained hopeful that they would find their lead soon. After a few minutes of scanning their surroundings, Aashiq eventually broke the daunting silence.

"This may be an odd time to bring this up, but this sort of reminds me of the time you and I took that whimsical field trip to the Knit 'n' Sew District in Oasis Town," the young man reminisced, seeing something of an ironic bright side to their current situation.

"Really, now?" Shantae remarked in surprise as she turned her attention toward him.

"Yes indeed," he answered with a slight chuckle. "Not to say it will happen to us here, but if I recall, we wandered around as though the city were a giant maze and wound up getting lost for six hours before your uncle came and picked us up. That was a delightful experience, if we detract how frightened we were that we would never make it back home."

"Wow, you still remember that? That was ages ago!" she smilingly replied, pleasantly surprised that he held some vivid memory of their time spent hanging out. "Gosh, I remember us circling the same block about seven times before we even got the idea to start land-marking to keep from going completely bonkers from the frustration," she added with a greatly humored giggle that he shared with her.

"How could I forget, kanafeh? It was our first… not to mention, ONLY adventure together outside of Scuttle Town before today. I do not regret it, however, as we spent the whole time keeping one another's spirits bright and our resolve unshaken. I dare say it even prepared us for this situation right now."

"Yeah, we'd better put our land-marking skills to the test," she half-joked. "Unlike Oasis Town, the halls in this maze don't necessarily have street names or any distinguishing characteristics. I hope you've had enough time to brush up," she added with a smiling wink.

"I am not quite as seasoned a super sleuth as you, kanafeh, but perhaps this journey will allow me to shake off some of the rust," he joked back with another humored chuckle. "I theorize that one of the other differences here is that we have no restaurants to dine at."

"Good point. Seems we can't call this a complete case of déjà vu in that case, huh?" she laughingly concluded.

"Definitely. A shame, because last time we did this, we had quite possibly the best lunch date I could ever have imagined. I still remember us howling with laughter at the stories we had for one another, in addition to our very first action comic gushing session. And then, that led into the first of many of our deep and insightful heart-to-heart conversations… We almost forgot we were lost, we were having so much fun. We learned so much about one another that day as well, and I would give just about anything to recreate or at least repeat such an elating experience…"

"Yeah, no kidding," she concurred as they continued to scour the corridors they passed, still trying to decide which pathway to explore first. "That happened so early on in our time knowing each other, too… That day definitely set the tone for us, though. Didn't it?"

"Absolutely. That was the point at which I think I considered you my dearest friend, despite how early it was…"

"Oh?" she reeled back, her body temperature flaring up as a rush of butterflies swarmed through her stomach.

"Indeed," Aash confirmed, though he appeared to hesitate as he also grew nervous while they were on the topic. "I… will spare you the sappy sentiment of explaining in detail what it was I felt by the time we parted ways at the end of that night…"

"…What, is that the point where you started to develop feelings for me or something?" she dared herself to ask, though she panicked and covered her mouth with both hands as she kept her wide-eyed gaze locked on him as they reached the eighth pair of potential turns and stopped to contemplate which way to go.

"…In no better words, yes," he bashfully confirmed, instinctively scratching his head as he blushed. "Granted, I have… had feelings for you since the day we met, if not soon after… i-if I may be so candid. Our trip to Oasis Town was more or less a confirmation that I liked you."

"Wow, Aash… I… I had no idea you… um… felt that way that long…"

"It is the truth, Shantae. However, my lack of confidence in myself, coupled with my sheer intimidation at the thought of asking you to… well… be my… m-my 'partner' in that sense when I considered you completely out of my league…" he trailed off, momentarily looking away as he continued to run his fingers through his lush, vibrant locks. "I could not even fathom a conceivable point at which to ask the woman who would become the legendary Half-Genie Hero… t-to be my sweetheart…"

"Me? Out of YOUR league? Dude, no way!" Shantae remarked, astonished by her old friend's confession. "I thought you were way out of MY league! You had a ton going for you back then, and it seems like you've only gotten way cuter since we first became friends!" she blurted out in another of her flustered rants. "You've got a nice, comfortable job or internship or whatever it is you call working for Hypno Baron, you can use magic now, you've gotten taller and you filled out your figure to the point where I almost didn't even recognize you back in Genie's Hem, though I didn't want to say anything about that at first… which is to say, you've shaped up nicely. You've even been able to improve your personality, which I didn't even think was possible, because you were always so sweet and kind…"

"Kanafeh…"

"I'm serious! You've gone from awesome to… like, SUPER awesome, Aashiq! The hero job aside, I was just a shy, skittish, goofy little girl who had a lot of trouble meeting people. Heck, I still AM shy and a little awkward, and a bit goofy, though I'm older and a little more confident in myself now. I mean… well, since the cat's out of the bag now, I… I adored you back then, but let's be real; a goofy, nerdy girl like me had no chance with someone like you."

"Shantae, I will hear none of this baseless self-deprecation," Aash sternly rebutted, setting aside the burst of anticipatory elation rushing through him as he heard the half-genie's confession. "You know you are much more well-rounded than you give yourself credit for. I have always reminded you of that, love, and that has not changed. If need be, I will continue to remind you of what an incredible, stunning, gorgeous young woman you are and always have been."

"Aw, Aash…" the young lady cooed, shuffling a bit as her very core grew warm like she'd drank a full glass of the sweetest, most savory hot chocolate on a snowy winter day. "I… I don't know what to say… Thanks…"

"You need not thank me for stating an obvious, undisputed fact, kanafeh. You are just as, if not more stunning than you were when we were younger," he assured with a bright, heartwarming smile; one she returned as the two locked eyes. As an extended silence save for the ambient sound of the streams running through the series of corridors, Shantae and Aashiq seemingly froze in place, staring right into one another's very beings as their hearts collectively pounded with such intensity that one would think the sound echoed through the entire maze. Shantae knew this feeling all too well. She had experienced it before.

But, for her to experience it as a result of someone she swore she no longer had any special affection for? It threw her off, to say the least. Her mind was mostly blank as she and Aash processed the intense moment, though she involuntarily sifted through a smorgasbord of memories she shared with the Hypnotist apprentice standing before her. The laughs they shared… the quality time they spent together… and especially their conversations. She also thought briefly about the nature of their previous separation and the reason she chose to drop her feelings for him in the first place, but…

"…Shantae?" Aash quietly called to her.

"Yeah?" she perked up, shaken out of her train of thought by the sound of the young man's voice.

"Are you… sure you do not wish to reconsider…? Well… giving us a shot?" he pressed again, bringing them back to the conversation topic they'd left off on previously. Hearing his inquiry nearly made the half-genie freeze, considering she flashed back to when her other teammate cut the conversation short… which caused her to think about her other teammate and what they'd been through since they began adventuring together.

"Giving us a shot? What do you mean?" she instinctively asked, needing to verify for herself that he was asking her what she thought he was asking her.

"Well… In no better words, I would still like to be your boyfriend… Er, that is, if you are still single, and the case is that I am not interfering with anything between you and Tayshan," he laid it out there, fighting through raging, paradoxically flaming tsunamis of apprehension to even think about making the proposal. "I am still painfully aware that I hurt you by leaving Scuttle Town without a trace so long ago, but even after I have thought it out over the last few days, my affection for you remains the same as it always has. And, I would never even think to leave you or harm you in any way, shape, or form. Our kinship is far too special to me to be so reckless and inconsiderate again. So… what is your opinion?"

And, before she could think it possible, she found herself stuck. In that moment, she began to understand Tay's predicament regarding Sky and Twitch… but, that only made Aashiq's question harder to answer, considering her mind had suddenly been switching back and forth between Aashiq and… well, someone else that she swore she recently buried a hatchet of this variety with. Certainly, the young maiden had made her stance with Aashiq clear previously. However, with everything going on in the last few days, she wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, here was the first boy she'd ever undoubtedly had romantic affection for, pouring his heart out to her and confessing his feelings in the most elaborate and eloquent way she could even dream of him doing so. He was still the incredibly handsome, selfless, considerate, sweet, and compassionate young man he'd always been. As she'd brazenly informed him moments earlier, he'd only gotten much more desirable in her eyes since they last hung out, which caused her face to flush at the thought of finally, actually being together with him. And to hear him confessing in full in the adorably wordy way he did? Were it so simple, she may have given it some thought and possibly, maybe would've hinted at taking things slowly and gradually working up to a certain point… which is a long-winded way of saying 'yes,' but with a couple of preliminary conditions.

However, she did not forget about the situations in which she'd been involved with her other teammate; the one she'd been spending most of the last fortnight in the company of. Their own conversations, their adventures, their casual hang-outs, their sparring matches… Her steadily metamorphosing feelings toward him over the course of their time together… His rare moments of showing her the tender, wounded heart that often found itself shielded behind a wall of intense, nigh-obsessive focus on their ultimate goal, in addition to a general sense of pride, loyalty to her, and determination to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing… And even her own moments of opening up to him and revealing the flawed, yet developing young woman that existed behind all the glitz and glamour of her status as an idealized local celebrity of sorts. As far as Shantae could see it, Tay was one of very… VERY few people to actually know her for who she really was and fully accept her as a person. Adding to that, she was almost entirely certain that she was quite possibly the only person on this whole planet to really know him… y'know, considering he's only existed on this planet for two weeks, the majority of which he'd spent with her. And even though they did not always see eye-to-eye, there was no doubt in her mind that he cared as deeply for her as she had come to care for him.

And then there was that kiss… which was supposed to be entirely situational and which wound up causing them to split for two days before they got to speak again. After their most recent talk they'd supposedly put it behind them once and for all… Yet, thinking about it, even at this point, caused Shantae to feel funny as her stomach did another series of turbulent flips as she conjured up the scandalous memory. Then again, Tayshan had his hands full already with two other girls (one of which was Sky, her best friend, while the other had already stolen a kiss or two of her own from him) that, as far as Shantae was made aware, literally came to blows with each other over him… on top of Sky and Twitch generally being completely unable to get along with one another. As far as she saw it, she wanted no part in that chaotic conflict and saw no reason to even think to get tangled up in it.

But then, since she was able to identify hers and Tayshan's friendship as platonic and professionally oriented with no romantic overtones whatsoever, what exactly was making Shantae hesitate to answer Aashiq when popped his question? Why did it feel like either answer she could give him would cause a massive strain on her own heart? Actually… Why is it that she even found herself still considering Aash's proposal when she told him 'no' the last time he asked her? Did she not really mean what she said before? The more she paused and pondered it, and the more she studied Aash from head to toe, the more evident that possibility seemed. After a few gut-wrenching moments, Shantae sighed.

"…I-I don't know," she hesitantly, yet impulsively answered, though such an indecisive response filled Aash with a dual sense of worry… and more anticipation.

"You… do not know?"

"Yeah… I don't know," she repeated, taking a deep breath to wash away some of her nervousness. "It's still been a really long time since we last really hung out with each other, Aash, and I don't… I just don't know if I could say 'yes' or 'no' to that idea when we're only just reconnecting for the second time, counting Genie's Hem. Besides, like I said before, we've both gone through quite a lot and made quite a few changes since we were younger. I mean… I thought I suggested that we start over as friends because of what happened before. How much thought did you have about our conversation back in Genie's Hem?"

"I have had much more than my fair share of reflection, which is why I wanted to speak to you again. I fully acknowledged your previous suggestion, but I would like to be absolutely certain of a few things before I consider that the right course of action for us. I discovered that I may only do so by conversing with the woman I fell in love with…"

"Fell in love with?" Shantae repeated in complete surprise, her heart nearly stopping dead as she processed his bold statement. "Aashiq…"

"Yes, and before you ask, I mean that with all my heart," he further pressed, shocking her even more. Reading her expression, he dialed it back a notch, taking a deep breath of his own before continuing. "Excuse me, that was a little much… Anyway, do… you want to maybe… talk a little more about this? To further clarify our stances? I feel as though there is… still some uncertainty within both of us."

"Yeah… Yeah, there is…" she openly acknowledged, sighing away a tiny bit of the pressure. "Well… I guess there's no time like now to do it, but let's also focus on getting out of this maze. Tayshan's all alone up there, so who knows what sort of trouble he could be in right now?"

"Right," Aash agreed, a sudden pang shooting through his heart as he grew worried about the serviceman who'd been left to fend for himself. "We must return to him as soon as we can. I hope he will be okay by the time we reunite."

"He's been by himself before, so there's little doubt he can handle himself. He might be running low on magic, but he's proven to be good at surviving without relying too heavily on it. Regardless, I'd still like for us to find our way back to him before too long," Shantae assured, though a pang also shot through her heart as her concern for Tayshan's safety grew. Even so, she also grew curious about something else. "That actually reminds me, Aash…" she posed, cluing him in on what she was going to ask as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You are going to ask me if I also still have feelings for him, are you not?"

"Bingo."

"…Sort of, but I am aware that he does not necessarily feel the same," he plainly acknowledged, hiding his mild disappointment. "Plus, my attraction to him is almost entirely physical, as I have come to realize."

"Oh? Interesting," Shantae commented with a pensive nod. "Granted, it still sort of trips me up a bit that you discovered that about yourself, Aash..."

"It was not an epiphany that came very easily, I will admit," he shared, though a bit hesitantly. "To this point, I have only ever dated one other male. Without boring you with the details, it was... how do you say, spontaneous, intense and incredibly spicy, but short-lived," he revealed, completely catching her off-guard as she resisted the urge to quiz him on the experience. "It was nice while it lasted, but he and I did not have the same ideas about our relationship in the long term. I was also not very comfortable with the idea of being involved with another male, which further damaged the stability of that relationship."

"Whoa... Aash, you... You're throwing a lot at me right now... Like, I'm excited for you that you explored that and learned something about yourself, but... wow..."

"Your intrigue is most definitely noted, kanefeh," the magician smilingly acknowledged. "And, while it pains me to admit that my heart was not entirely into that relationship, it certainly did open my eyes in a way I felt I needed them to be opened. Since then, I have been dedicated to learning more about myself and accepting myself for the person I am... and, as you may have already guessed, I have grown to equally be attracted to males and females alike. As for our mutual friend, I... suppose I should clarify that I find him... very... um... now, how do I say this without coming off as crass...?"

"Hot?" she nonchalantly threw the word out, though it caused Aash to flinch in total surprise.

"Sh-Shantae! My word, that is much too impolite for me to say!" he blushingly denied (sort of) as he cupped his face with his hands.

"Yeah, but it's written all over your face, Aash," she lightly teased, though she wanted to help calm him down. "You don't have to scramble your brain or sugarcoat your feelings around me. Plus, it isn't like you're wrong."

"Oh! Y-you think so, too? That habibi is... hot?" he asked, perking up in surprise. Shantae stared at him for a moment, debating on how to reply once she realized what she said (and possibly regretted it).

"...If anybody asks, you didn't hear that from me," she avoidantly confirmed before clearing her throat and momentarily batting her eyes elsewhere while running her fingers through her hair. "And if you do say anything, I'll deny it outright." At that, Aash let out a relieved, mirthful giggle.

"I am no whirlpool of gossip, so your secret is safe with me," he assured with a wink. "Er, either way, kanafeh... um... that certainly would not impact my feelings toward you in the slightest. And, now that we are sort of on the topic, I also know it was a rather foolish and impulsive move to suggest we all be in a relationship together. My apologies for that."

"Glad you came to that conclusion," she remarked with a nervous chuckle. "Still, you never know. Tay DID say he found you really cute. Remember?" she further egged him on, though the very statement made the young magician's heart pound harder than a sledgehammer on a gong.

"I remember, but he stated he would never change his preferences to make an exception for me," he countered, shaking his head slightly as he found it in himself to smile a bit.

"I dunno, Aash. Never say never," she teased with a wink and a shrug as she took a slight (read: substantial) bit of enjoyment out of A: Temporarily changing the topic, B: Lightly teasing Aash about his boy-crush, and especially C: Curiously exploring the wildly unlikely possibility that Tayshan and Aashiq would enter a romantic relationship with each other. What her fixation on this unusual idea was, is FAR beyond me, so don't look at me. She seemed to be quite the proponent for it, no less. "With or without me in the middle, I think you two could make it work once you had some time to explore it. I promise I wouldn't be offended if you decided to pursue something with him rather than me."

"You tantalize me, kanafeh," Aash pointed out, smirking at her as he read her mannerisms. "However, knowing you, I get the sense that you would enjoy that prospect far more than habibi or I would. Your imagination remains as colorfully provocative as always…~" Shantae heard this and immediately became hot with embarrassment.

"Dah! N-no! No, that's not true! My imagination is clean and pure! Who said I secretly fantasize about you and Tay getting kissy and cuddly with each other?" she blurted out, thus outing herself for her lascivious thoughts as Aash chuckled in a mix of amusement and nervousness. "D'oh, shoot, I did it again…!" she cursed herself under her breath as she shot her gaze toward the floor, planting a hand on her forehead.

"And yet, you wonder why I suggested that the three of us be in one big, happy relationship…" he remarked with a smiling wink of his own, throwing Shantae way off her game. "If this is your stance, then I can see it working already. Maybe after a thorough discussion, we may all discover our motivations to fall in love with one another."

"Oh, no. No, no, no—!" Shantae tried to protest, pouting at him before being cut off.

"I now also have my suspicions that your feelings toward habibi, as well as his toward you, are more than platonic, just as mine are toward both of you…"

"What!? N-no! There's no way either of us has a crush on the other! Not at all! He and I are totally just friends!" she tried to deny again, growing steadily more flustered as he turned the tables on her. However, the deepening blush on the half-genie's face, in addition to her inability to maintain consistent eye contact in that moment, as well as the sudden occurrence of instinctively brushing the knuckle of her index finger against her lower lip as she turned away from him, sent a different signal entirely. Reading this and remembering some of Shantae's nervous tics from their earlier days, Aash found himself mildly surprised at her reaction, but he also acknowledged a point of clarification regarding the young woman standing before him.

"Close friendship is where any successful relationship begins. Considering that the three of us are so tight knit already, taking a well-coordinated romantic turn… Well, it would be the best of all of our worlds, simply put~! Especially for you!"

"Aash!" she whined, shoving him as her face grew red like a fresh rose and her heart began pounding with a not-so-secret anticipation of such a preposterous scenario if it were to happen the way Aashiq had illustrated for her. "Don't say weird things like that! I already yelled at Tay for doing that, not to mention having to yell at that siren for suggesting I had a reverse harem! You're such an oddball sometimes!"

"Takes one to know one, does it not?" he teased, chuckling away his apprehension as Shantae pouted again in guilty frustration.

"No! That's not acceptable! It's awkward, and unusual, and gross, and repulsive, and… and every word in between!"

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Aash teased some more, shooting her a rather smug grin.

"I doth not protest too much! Stop methinking-er, you-youthinking about it!"

"Oh? So, what would you have me believe then, kanafeh? That you no longer have an interest in 'weird' things? Because I am picking up a conflict of interest there, based on how often we entertained unusual romantic pairings in our time. Your reactions here indicate that you have not changed in that respect. And as we already know, one does not simply fixate on the idea of her two male comrades joining together in boundless romantic bliss for her own enthusiastic intrigue, and in the same moment deny all insinuations and grow perturbed with those who mention or comment on them."

"What!? I…! You…!" she tried to argue, though he continued to shoot her a knowing, mischievous grin that told her he already knew her too well. "…Hmph. I'll let you have that one…" Shantae murmured as she caved, crossing her arms and turning her head away while cutting her eyes at him. She seemed unable to find a point of contention for Aash's suggestion that her mind was not entirely pure, as most people would believe about her at a glance.

"Some things never change…" he humorously mused, shaking his head. "If you see my point, then I believe our teammate deserves an apology from us about our conversation earlier regarding a comment you reprimanded him for."

"…I guess…" she conceded, pouting harder after being called out.

"You can always count on me to help you learn something new, Shantae. Nevertheless, shall we switch gears and continue? We can talk further as we search for a way back to the surface."

"We can try to squeeze in conversation as we go, but our primary goal should be to link back up with Tay before he gets hurt. You're right, no less. Let's go," she further urged as she regained her composure, instinctively moving into the corridor on their right. Aash followed without question as they broke into a steady jog, immediately picking up on the sounds of monsters as they traversed the first of many twists and turns in the under-sea, underground maze.

Back in the above corridor…

"She done did it again…" Tay complained after having shot down the last Tinkerbat before taking a much-needed breather. "Ditched me t' fend for myself while she goes ahead with Aashiq t' sweep right through everything… I'm startin' t' get real tired o' this cycle…!" he further griped, his patience with the developing situation dwindling as he stopped before the entrance to the next room, looking around to try and find where Shantae and Aashiq may have gone. Relying on the barely visible glow of his own enigmatic aura, he meticulously peered around the now-silent corridor, trying to at least spot at least one of the lights they were using as the three traversed through the dangerous labyrinth.

"Shantae! Aashiq!" he called out, though he could only hear the echoes of his voice bouncing off the crumbling walls around him. "Yo! Are y'all here!?" he called again. Once more, he heard nothing back. This only amplified his concern as the magic in his body inadvertently grew brighter. In turn, this sent ripples of residual itching and pain coursing through his limbs as his breaths grew heavier again. "Darn it…! I gotta relax, or else I'll be a sittin' duck again…!" With that, Tay did his best to take a deep, quavering breath to bring himself down to a sense of calm. After just a few repetitions of his deep breathing, he heard a distant explosion, followed by a wail of agony coming from directly ahead. "Shoot! That ain't good…!" he murmured, taking off at full speed toward the sound of the agonized cry.

Tay's frantic sprinting trip would not be long, however, as he immediately found himself in a wide, seemingly-empty room that housed a plethora of torches that, for some odd reason, were burning brightly as though they were just lit. Thanks to this unusual discovery, however, he was able to take in much more of his surroundings. Pristine marble statues of various attractive monster girls (mostly sirens, with the occasional Naga and Mermaid) abound, as well as a long, steep set of stone stairs that led up to two more entrances; one whose frame had a strange symbol atop it that glowed bright red while the other had a symbol that glowed blue. The rest of the temple room appeared just as worn down as the rest of it had, with crumbling, dusty marble pillars whose gigantic chunks found themselves scattered around the mossy, sopping wet floor, and walls heavily coated in foul-smelling algae and (you guessed it) more moss. Before he could begin to ponder the phenomenon or his surroundings, a startling *SLAM* of a stone structure behind him forced him to turn and point his gun at any potential danger that would dare attack him from behind. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of the doorway he'd just entered being filled with a giant boulder that sealed it off.

"Ah, shoot…!" he cursed, warily looking around as he switched from his pistol to a submachine gun and pointed it upward. "I shouldn't have rushed in here like I did… Now, it looks like I don't have a choice but t' go forward. I still don't see any sign o' Shantae or Aashiq, though… They couldn't have moved THAT fast, could they?" he pondered, though his train of thought was quickly interrupted by the pained groaning and grunting of what sounded like a woman coming from the far corner of the room. Wasting no time to investigate, Tay carefully approached the direction of the noise, gun at the ready as he nervously peered around for any potential traps. The eerie silence of the atmosphere did nothing to ease his nerves as he found himself almost trembling as his senses felt like they were going into overdrive. Nevertheless, Tayshan reached the sound of the despair-addled cries and ducked low behind the other side of the fallen pillar chunk that separated him from the source of the noise. Taking another deep breath, Tay popped up, aiming his gun over the hunk of rock to scout for any traps that may have been set for him. Instead, he found the defeated, heavily damaged form of what appeared to be a siren, lying on her back as she moaned in pain without even noticing the soldier. "…Melody?" Tay called as he lowered his weapon, evidently recognizing the injured creature.

"Huh…?" the siren responded, opening her eyes to see who'd called out to her. Her eyes were filled with the sight of the confused and worried young man as he lowered his guard to hop over the pillar to inspect her condition. "It… it's you again…"

"Yeah, it's me. Hasn't been that long since we parted ways," he answered, thus confirming that he found Melody. What concerned him, however, was how badly injured she was. Her body was wrought with bruises and scratches, and her wings appeared dirty and mangled beyond usability. "What happened t' you?" he asked as he knelt down beside her.

"Pirate Master's minions…" she choked out, not even attempting to sit up as she lay, her breaths heavy with fatigue. "They ambushed us… wiped out the remainder of the creatures in the labyrinth before I could… Agh… before I could ask them to help you…" the weak, wavy, agonized tone in her croaky voice further conveyed just how much pain she was in.

"Oh, no…!" Tay murmured, unmistakable dread washing over him as he marked her words.

"You must… defeat them…" she requested, seeming to slip from consciousness as her injuries grew too severe for her to bear. "Where… are your friends…?"

"I don't know. It looks like we got separated, but stay with me, Melody. You're gonna make it," Tay urged, reaching out a hand to help as he searched his inventory with his other one for a possible healing item, though she weakly raised one of her own hands to stop him.

"I… It is too late for me," she informed him, appearing to resign herself to her fate.

"Not whle you're still breathin'. I should have somethin' for-!"

"Listen to me…!" she weakly demanded, though she did not wait for Tay to comply as he turned his attention back to her. "You… you and your friends must exterminate those pests… and escape with your lives… ahagh… b-before Lady Radiyah awakens from her tomb…"

"Lady Radiyah…?"

"You must also know… that the corridors you enter… are marked by color starting from… from cold to hot…" she hinted as it grew progressively more difficult for her to speak. "Once you reach the final pathway… that is where you will find her tomb… and your way out of this place… but you must hurry… Your friends did not pass through this room, which… which I can only surmise means they… ergh… that they may have wound up in the dungeon maze hidden underneath if… Oogh…! I-if they were not sent back to the beginning of the maze by entering an incorrect pathway…"

"…You have my word," Tay vowed without contest, though he still wasn't sure of what he was being told by the dying siren that lay before him as he quickly searched through his inventory for something… anything that might help her. "We got lucky because we followed the sounds comin' out o' most o' the hallways we ran through, but we would've had no idea how t' complete the maze without that info. Thanks. But wait… there's another maze hidden under this place?"

"…Yes… Aaaagh…!" she confirmed, though her pain grew more severe as she writhed in torment. "Hah… hah…"

"It's alright," Tay offered his encouragement, grasping her hand with one of his. "You'll pull through. I'm here."

"No… no, I will not… but thank you… for being with me in my final moments… and… I apologize if I… if I offended you before…" she barely spoke out above a whisper as her eyelids began to close. Tay found himself speechless as he watched on, clutching the siren's hand tightly as he hoped that she would only fall unconscious and not… well… "Just… know that if you hear singing coming… from the tomb up ahead, then that means… that Lady Radiyah has awoken… I hope what your friend said about your preparation for battles with sirens… holds true…"

"…" Tay remained silent as he helplessly observed the siren breathing her last. He wanted to say something. He burned with a hot intensity to say something. However, he was too caught up on the fact that this dying siren reminded him of some other situation in which someone lay dying before him. That same harrowing memory left him speechless as he gripped Melody's hand tighter as her grip began to slip.

"…I… We leave the rest to you… For the sake of all the peaceful creatures that once called this beautiful place home… I beg of you to deliver justice to those savages… Best of luck, Tayshan…" Melody whispered before completely losing consciousness as her eyes closed. Her hand went totally limp in Tay's grasp. Before he got the chance to let go of her, he noticed what appeared to be an astral projection of Melody rise from her lifeless body, flaring its newly restored wings as it looked at the thoroughly astonished soldier. In a moment's glance, the spirit, devoid of any of the wounds present on her motionless corporeal form, smiled at Tay and waved before vanishing with a single, silent flap of its wings. Left behind was a spatter of glittering light that sprinkled around the immediate vicinity as Melody's body disappeared with a *POOF* before the serviceman's watery eyes. In its place were a pile of gems and what appeared to be a healing item.

"…She's gone…" he murmured as though he couldn't believe it for himself. "…Man…" Tay quietly lamented, wiping his eyes dry before hesitantly collecting the materials left behind by the chimera. After collecting the gems, he picked up the food item (a single glowing, sparkling Golden Lima Bean) and stared intently at it. Its radiating glow mesmerized the soldier, though he couldn't make heads or tails of what made this bean appear so special. Before long, he stored the item in his inventory and rose to his feet. "…That pirate woman an' her thugs are gonna answer for EVERY life they destroyed…!" he vowed, invigorated as he was infuriated by having witnessed a living creature's final moments, brought on by none other than the dastardly minions of the infamous Risky Boots. In this same line of thought, however, Tay felt his heart sink as he briefly flashed back to the recent memories of the monsters he and his friends defeated before finding out that they were only trying to protect their home. "We've… also got t' do better than this…" he murmured as he also pondered about the allies and enemies that he and Shantae made along their travels. Before too long, however, the rapid series of sudden *click* noises alerted Tayshan that he was out of time to think about his current predicament. Recognizing the noise as weapons being readied for battle, Tay took up a stance of his own, ducking behind the fallen pillar and readying a flashbang in case things got serious.

However, his plan to stage a counterattack was foiled by the sudden emergence of two Tinkerbats that dropped in on either side of him from above. Startled and fired up in one single breath of air, Tay dropped his flashbang and leapt upward to his feet, kicking one Tinkerbat away while the other aimed a flintlock pistol at him. It fired the weapon with a *POP*, though its vastly inferior strength compared to the advanced weaponry they were already seen using gave Tay more than enough time to dodge the incoming round and punt the minion high and afar into oblivion. Turning back to where he defeated the first Tinkerbat, however, he noticed a frag grenade missing its pin lying in its place.

"Darn it, that crafty little-!" Tay was about to complain as he dashed away as fast as he could. Before he could get too far, however, the *BOOM* of the grenade filled his ears. "Gaahagh!" he screamed in agony, having been struck by some of the shrapnel as he dove to the ground. Immediately following this, his magic reactivated, suddenly shining almost as brightly as the flames from the torches affixed to the walls surrounding the room. This marginally fortunate ability mostly numbing the pain he felt from the damage he took from the grenade blast, Tay rose to his feet, taking heavy breaths as he scanned the room. "Agh… Martyrdom tactics too, Risky? How low will you an' your servants go…?" he muttered as he pulled out his pistol, though it wasn't long before he realized just what he was in for. To say he was alarmed beyond belief would be an understatement. Tinkerbats. Tinkerbats everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Worse yet, every single one of them was locking their yellow-eyed gaze on him. Some were standing on the ground. Some were levitating with propeller packs. Some were hiding behind stone pillars, statues, or some form of coverage, with weapons of some variety aimed at him. Some were close enough that Tay could take three big steps and be right next to them (provided they were on the ground). Others were farther away and would require long-distance methods of being engaged. No matter what way Tay sliced it however, he could conclude one thing…

"These little suckers have been so aggressive in these last couple days… which can only mean their boss really wants us out o' the picture…" he commented, silently counting them all off as some of them inched toward him. They all seemed to take note of the glow enveloping the soldier's form and chose to either wait for him to make the first move, or for the perfect moment to begin an all-out frontal assault on the lone young adventurer. "38… 39… 40 of 'em, if I'm countin' right…" Tay pointed out, instinctively gulping as he felt his body begin to tremor with a mix of fear, desperation, and… dare he say, a twisted sense of enthusiasm that may or may not certify him as completely crazy.

"Alright, well y'all got me cornered now," he began to speak to them, his eyes darting around the room to gauge the positions of as many of his enemies as he could while watching for any potential sudden moves. "So, as far as I see it, this is the part where I dig my heels in an' fight until either I draw my last breath, or I exterminate all o' y'all like the vermin you are. An' I don't plan on dying here. You're gonna pay for everything you've done since y'all dragged me t' this planet! You hear me!? All o' y'all are gonna pay! I ain't plannin' on runnin' away either, so if your idea is t' take me down, then come an' get me!" Tay roared, his energy exploding in synchronization with his adrenaline as he made his move.

SUBMERGED SURPRISE ATTACK: DEEP SEA DISADVANTAGED 'DUEL!'

In a flash, the soldier fired the first *BANG* of a shot from his pistol, striking and knocking out a Tinkerbat as he dashed back toward the pillar and took cover, triggering a hailstorm of *BANGs,* POPs,* and *CRACKs* of various weapons being simultaneously fired at him all at once. Knowing he was severely outnumbered, Tay felt as though his brain went into hyper mode, thinking about all the very chancy ways he could potentially survive the encounter as he hurriedly picked up the flashbang grenade he previously dropped. "Gotta try an' play this smart…! Even if I can't knock 'em all out, I have t' at least survive…" he acknowledged, ripping the pin from the explosive and waited for a two-second countdown that felt like a full two minutes. As fast as he could, he peered over his makeshift cover, hurling the grenade toward the feet of a small portion of the Tinkerbat horde before ducking back into cover, all the while doing his best to avoid the rapid and unrelenting gunfire coming at him from multiple angles. As he waited for the flashbang to detonate, he opted to switch back to the submachine gun he planned on using before the violent confrontation began and waited for his opportunity to strike.

The startling *POW* of the flashbang's detonation prompted the lone serviceman to aim high toward the Tinkerbats he saw hovering in toward him from above. Wordlessly, he readied his weapon and pulled the trigger. With a few short bursts of glowing, flashing rounds, Tay took out two of the airborne Tinkerbats while some of the ones on the ground were disoriented by the aftershock of his stun grenade. However, a sudden *FWOOSH* of a round coming from a henchman hidden behind an upright pillar tipped him off that he was as far from safe as he could be. He was further reminded of this when the round from that Tinkerbat's firearm struck him in the chest.

"Gwaaagh…!" Tay winced in terrible agony as he hurriedly ducked behind his thin line of cover, clutching his chest as he breathed to try and register the pain. "Darn it… Sniper rifles, too? They mean business… I'm only lucky Risky even replaced the ammo in those, just like everything else she got her hands on…" he speculated, trying to shake off the pain as the group of Tinkerbats on the ground ahead resumed firing at him, signifying that he lost his chance to take them down while they were incapacitated. Feeling the pressure building, Tay's heart rate skyrocketed as he contemplated a strategy for further reducing the belligerence of the assault he'd been the sole target of. Just then, however, a live frag grenade soared over his cover, landing right beside him. Having every reason to be immensely concerned, Tay followed his instincts and picked the device up, launching it over his head without removing himself from cover. Within a second, he heard the *BOOM* of the explosive rock the labyrinth that alerted him that the threat was gone.

Before he could relax, however, two more grenades found their way over to him, frightening the soldier beyond a conceivable doubt. "No!" he yelled in a panic as he dashed out of his coverage spot as fast as he could, ducking low as the Tinkerbats rained an unforgiving barrage of bullets on him. Tay kept his head low as he sprinted through the mushy, sopping wet cavern of a temple room toward an upright pillar on the other end. The nefarious henchman of the Pirate Queen followed suit, hounding him with gunfire as they gave chase. Tay, despite how quickly he dashed from one end of the wide, spacious, humid room to the other, took more damage before he pinned himself behind an upright pillar, where he found another Tinkerbat waiting.

"You're finished!" he roared, spraying the malevolent creature with a burst of gunfire from his submachine gun before stealing its spot. Knowing he had not a moment to lose, the young adventurer-in-training reached into his inventory and pulled another flashbang. Following the usual procedure of pulling out the pin, he hurriedly turned past the pillar, at which point his instinct kicked in again. As if everything else was moving in slow motion, Tayshan flung the metal canister directly at the Tinkerbats chasing after him as they seemed to be prepared to separate and flank him from both sides. Without waiting for the grenade to explode, Tay darted out from behind the pillar, running toward a Siren statue that appeared to be a safe spot. The sudden *BANG* from a Tinkerbat rifle hiding behind that same statue proved to him that his hunch was wrong.

"Gah! Gotta move!" he urged himself after narrowly dodging the round as it whizzed past his head and struck the stone wall behind him. He changed direction, running back toward a Naga statue he'd initially passed when he heard the *POW* of his stun grenade go off. Glancing in the direction of the explosion, Tay saw that four Tinkerbats were standing around that immediate area, disoriented by the blast. Thinking quickly, Tay pulled a frag grenade from his inventory, pulled the pin, and lobbed it over toward them before turning to try and deal with the Tinkerbat sniper patiently waiting for him to remove himself from cover. That Tinkerbat wouldn't need to wait long, as two more of the henchmen, flying through the thick, musty air in their propeller packs, rained another storm of rounds on Tay before he was alert to what was happening. Tay was hit multiple times across his body by the rounds, each impact feeling like he'd been stung by ten wasps as he nearly crumpled over in debilitating agony.

"Ahwargh...! Agh… Hah…!" he winced, brought to a knee as his pain and fatigue quickly began to set in. His clothes suffered major damage in the form of various tears showing up all across his pants, in addition to his shirt being ripped and tattered to the point that one of the shoulder straps had been split completely apart. He couldn't give up here, however. He wouldn't allow himself to give up. Fighting through the horrible rings and twinges of pain in his every limb, Tay pulled himself up and, with another flittering burst of magic, leapt as far as he could away from the airborne Tinkerbats. As he did so, he fired the last barrage of rounds from his submachine gun at them as they pursued. He managed to defeat one of them before he landed toward the center of the room, where there was another statue a couple yards away. In that same moment, the *BOOM* from his grenade directed his attention toward the corner he'd fought tooth-and-nail just to escape from. As he'd hoped, the four Tinkerbats that were there were defeated.

He would taste no celebration, as another *FWOOSH* from that same oppressive sniper rifle tipped him off that he was still in grave danger. Additionally, the remaining aerial Tinkerbat zoomed toward him, a frag grenade at the ready. Faced with little option, Tay switched from his empty submachine gun back to his pistol and, while running toward the statue with unprecedented speed, fired a spray of gunshots as fast and as accurately as he could manage. Luckily for him, two of his rounds struck the creature before it could throw the grenade at him, knocking it out. Soon after, he dove toward the statue, just barely being missed by the *SHOOM* of yet another sniper rifle that appeared to have been fired from above him. Ignoring the disgusting feeling of his bare skin rubbing and brushing along damp, freezing, sticky plant life, Tay picked himself up and pressed his back against the statue as the *BOOM* of the Tinkerbat's grenade went off. However, he still wasn't safe. Just as he was planning to check his inventory for another weapon, he felt something itchy, long, and prickly latch onto his back.

"Wah! Agh! What the-!? Get your filthy claws off me!" Tay roared out in a mix of surprise and anger as he tried reaching for the Tinkerbat that had bravely attempted to choke him out. Taking this as their chance to finally bring this chaotic confrontation to a suitable end, two more Tinkerbats hidden behind pillars rushed forward, fully intent on helping their friend take down the wayward human that had given them so much trouble. Tay would have none of it, however, as he noticed them dashing toward him. Aiming his pistol as best as he could, he fired a good three or four rounds, striking one of the encroaching Tinkerbats in the face and eliminating it. However, the Tinkerbat already hitching a ride on his back grabbed for the gun, resulting in Tay becoming fully distracted with trying to get the sneaky minion off him. As he struggled for control of his weapon, the other Tinkerbat came in and jumped, latching onto his other arm.

"GET OFF ME, YOU LITTLE PUNKS! RAAGH!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, his determination to survive suddenly turning into outright desperation as he thrashed, kicked, and jerked around to try and shake the Tinkerbats off. Unfortunately for him, another *BANG* from the sniper hidden behind the pillar rang out, its round striking the distracted soldier in the abdomen. "Gwaaaagh! Urgh! Darraaagh…!" he hollered in intense, unspeakable anguish as he dropped his weapon. He immediately felt a sudden, sharp drop in strength as two more Tinkerbats jumped onto him in a relentless joint effort to bring him to the cold, watery ground. Quickly losing his breath, Tay found himself being brought almost to his knees as a fifth Tinkerbat climbed on, causing him to nearly buckle under the overwhelming combined weight of the malicious creatures. In just that moment, however, Tay's desperation turned into an astonishing, blazing rage as his body shined once more with aura… that wasn't white, oddly enough. You'll see what I mean in a minute…

Nevertheless, Tay forced himself to a full stand and swung one of his arms toward the statue as a Tinkerbat latched on tightly. With a crumbling *SMASH*, the soldier knocked the Tinkerbat off his limb while also knocking off a chunk of the statue. His arm now free, he grabbed the Tinkerbat latching onto his other one by its neck. The panicked minion immediately let go, reaching for its windpipes as Tay lifted it high. In one fluid motion, the serviceman cocked his arm back and rammed the defenseless henchman into the base of the statue, the macabre *CRUNCH* of the stone against the creature's face leaving a sizable crack in it. This left Tay to deal with the Tinkerbat still hanging from the back of his neck, in addition to the ones clamping down on his legs. Wasting no time, Tay grabbed the Tinkerbat on his back and ripped it off of him. Immediately after freeing himself from this Tinkerbat's grasp, he spiked it to the ground with as much might as he could muster, continuing to ignore the increasing shocks of pain and stiffness radiating throughout his body as he pressed on. At this point, however, the Tinkerbats had succeeded in deterring him greatly, even going as far as to tear his shirt completely off as he fought to free himself from their clutches. Rapidly losing strength, Tay's magic glow began to dissipate as he futilely tried to kick the other two Tinkerbats from his legs.

"Why are y'all so stubborn…!? Let… go o' me already…!" he tiredly demanded, stumbling back and nearly falling as he tried to maintain his coordination while reaching to grab the Tinkerbats practically gluing themselves to his legs. Unfortunately, things would only take a turn for the worse as his magic fully ran out, freezing him in place as his limbs began to tremor and shake uncontrollably as bolts of electricity coursed through them. "No…! No, no…! Not now…! I… I can't go down here…! Not… like this…!" he pleaded to himself as he tried to move his paralyzed limbs to no avail. In as little as a single moment, Tay was reduced to basically imitating the statues he'd been trying to use for cover as he became totally immobile. Before he could make another inkling of progress on overcoming the massive ambush, one more rancorous *BANG* from that same sniper rang out, its sound reverberating throughout the room. With no method of defending himself, Tay took another direct hit square in the middle of his chest. "Hawauaagh!" he cried out, flung off his feet in defeat. With a dense, wet *THUD*, Tay fell flat on his back, wheezing in immense pain and total exhaustion as the Tinkerbats finally let go of his legs and stood over his motionless, agonized form.

Try as the helpless soldier might, his limbs refused to obey even a single command that his brain gave them. He was only capable of turning his head just enough to watch a swarm of Tinkerbats hurry to flip him over onto his stomach, planting his face directly into a fresh, slimy pile of moss as he struggled against his own body to even move, much less escape. Making matters worse was that the more Tay attempted to force his limbs to move, the more his body would react by sending crackling shocks through every inch of his arms, legs, and torso. Paying little heed to this, his soon-to-be captors set forth with grabbing his tremoring arms and pulling them behind his back as the pulled his quaking legs together. The only thing aside from the crippling electric agony he felt in that moment was the circulation to his hands and feet being cut off as they bound him with rope.

It was at this point that Tay realized that his capture was imminent. That very thought caused his heart to sink as he relented in his efforts to escape. It was one unbelievably humiliating thing to have been stopped dead in his tracks not by Risky Boots, but some random group of her mostly incompetent goons who, as far as Tay saw it, got lucky with quite possibly their most gutless tactic to date. It was another tremendously infuriating thing that, of all the things to be a key factor in his downfall, it turned out to be the very same magic that originally seemed to be one of his greatest newfound strengths. To be captured in a filthy, abandoned, scummy underwater dungeon miles upon miles below surface level with his face buried in a pile of moss at the mercy of a few scrawny bat mutants with guns stolen from his world? That was a most brutal insult to an already gruesome injury… and not even because his scarred face was being pressed into the moss as a Tinkerbat rested itself on the back of his head. His mind also flashed through the series of other numerous inconveniences, big and small, that he'd suffered throughout the course of this journey to and through the labyrinth, which only made his frustration worse.

Where was Shantae when he needed her? Where was Aashiq? Why did they leave him to such a miserable fate without even a second thought about helping him out? How could someone who vowed to keep him safe wind up reneging on her word in such a callous manner? Was… was this the end for him? Was this REALLY the end? Tay pondered this as he rapidly grew angrier… at Shantae for abandoning him… at Aashiq for interfering with what should've been just Tay's and Shantae's job and making the half-genie pay so much attention to him that they together ditched the soldier when he needed them most… and especially at these repugnant, vile creatures for getting the drop on him and even managing to overwhelm him…

But no matter how upset he felt with everyone else, it paled… PALED in comparison to the insurmountable shame, disgrace, and disappointment he had in none other than himself for even allowing these opportunistic freaks of nature to get anything close to an upper hand on him. They were weak and pathetic on their own or in smaller numbers. This shouldn't have been happening. It was preposterous to even fathom it. Utterly unthinkable…! Yet, here he was, all alone and unable to even move, buried under a pile of these hideous creatures as they triumphantly tied him up with the presumable intent to hand-deliver him to their boss on a silver platter. If he couldn't even handle a group of lousy Tinkerbats on his own without his mentor's help, then… then what good was he? What if Shantae was right all along about him constantly needing her help; especially if THIS was a result of her not being around to save him? If anyone… Sky, Bolo, Twitch, Vinegar, or even Shantae saw him now… or the dearly-departed Melody, who'd just put her faith in him before she, much like all the other creatures that called this place home, met her end at the hands of these despicable little scarf-adorned rodents he was supposed to be responsible for clearing out… or Giga Mermaid, who had to be convinced to allow him to join in on this mission… or his old friends, to whom he'd made all those promises that he would survive, persevere, and succeed at all costs… What would they think of him for being so inept at keeping his word or proving himself good enough? The mere prospect saddened and aggravated him to no end. He couldn't tolerate it.

But then… even worse… if that fiendish witch Risky Boots saw him in such an unflattering position… Oh, goodness… She would absolutely have no issue rubbing his nose in it like these Tinkerbats were basically rubbing his nose in this disgusting moss while he was helpless to do a blasted thing…! Oh, he could hear her hideous cackling and merciless taunts the very second he thought of her… and the instant he thought of the consequences of losing this battle, in addition to all the people he'd be letting down for falling so woefully and so very pitifully short of his ultimate goal, he swore he felt something inside him tangibly snap.

"Grrrr…!" Tay growled, suddenly feeling his skin run hot with a widespread, insatiable itch that he was unable to scratch due to his limbs being bound with rope. The debilitating crackling in his limbs came to a sudden stop, though this was replaced by an intense, wrathful burning sensation that compared to him lying flat on a bed of scorching hot coals. His breathing grew ragged and almost… primal as he forced air in and out of his mouth through his tightly gritted teeth. "Grrrrah…!" he growled again, feeling nothing but a sense of burgeoning, unforgiving rage quickly building up inside him as he lifted his head off the moss. His entire body began to tremble even harder as the thought of vindictively brutalizing every Tinkerbat responsible for ambushing him threatened to drive him into a blind, furious frenzy the likes of which they could never be prepared for. "Grrrraaah!" he mustered up the strength to roar out as he then began anew with struggling against his binds. He felt his strength quickly returning to him (and then some), but he ignored this in the wake of being consumed with inconsolable, fiery wrath that only kept growing without an end point in sight, matched only by the increasing intensity of irritation and searing pain radiating through every inch of his body. Startled, the Tinkerbats panicked as many of them attempted to hold him down; a task they found growing rapidly more difficult as their captive seemed to grow stronger by the second. They barely even noticed the glow of dark purple emanating off the serviceman's form at first. More of the massive Tinkerbat squad cobbled together to try and restrain the soldier further, but by the time the reinforcements came, it was far too late.

"HAAAAAWAAAAAAAAH! WAAAARRRRAAGH! AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Tayshan roared once more in a sudden, intensely sharp stab of immeasurable, soul-ravaging pain throughout his body radiating from his very core. Every inch of his skin burned as though he'd been locked in a thousand-degree pressure chamber. Every twitch of his limbs felt like raccoon teeth ripping deep into his flesh. His stomach felt as though there were a sword plunging into him and twisting without end. He flexed his every muscle in an uncharacteristically vicious show of aggression and desperation to escape. The very veins in his forehead and arms protruded from his skin, seeming to become engorged and ready to burst as he strained even harder to unbind himself. "DAAAARRRRGH!" he yelled once more, overwhelmed by the excruciating sensations tearing through his body. In that moment, and with a low *WHOOSH* of a newer, more ominous, much more sinister glow of black and dark purple washing over his form, Tay ripped himself free from the rope binding his limbs together. In that same instant, he lifted himself up to his hands and knees, all the Tinkerbats sitting on him falling right off. Squeezing his eyes shut as he continued his ragged, animalistic breathing, he attempted to reel himself back in.

He would get no time to do this, of course, as a Tinkerbat bravely marched forward and attempted to grab him. As soon as it got close enough, however, Tay's arm lashed out as if it were moving on its own. His eyes still closed, he wrapped his fingers tightly around the Tinkerbat's neck before it realized what he was doing. The others, witnessing their enemy's sudden increase in brute strength, backed up and aimed their guns at him in preparation for a second round of 'Capture the Target.' Gingerly, Tay rose to his feet with his back turned to the Tinkerbat squad as they chose to stick closely together. That one unfortunate Tinkerbat that he grabbed continued to squirm and wrestle against his merciless grip as he held it high. The Tinkerbat's struggling only stopped when it saw the soldier open his eyes and glare at it with what could only be described as a bone-chilling bloodthirsty grin. It was at moment that Tayshan, after glimpsing over his shoulder, turned around, still holding the Tinkerbat hostage as he faced his would-be captors.

As they bore witness, the loyal servants of Risky Boots couldn't believe it. Their lone human target stood tall before them, his body coated in a rippling, swirling aura of midnight purple and pitch-black. His grin was wide, toothy, and menacing, like a hyena ready to have a feast. The brown in his eyes was replaced in its entirety with a sharp, piercing, glowing, malignant silver as his pupils contracted nearly to the sizes of beads. The sclera in his eyes were bloodshot. His hair bore streaks of the same ominous silver as every strand of it stood on end. He took a second only to brush the moss off his face, where he uncovered the scars he'd previously picked up and showed that they appeared to be highlighted with a faint orange glow that only made his ghastly grin much more haunting to those who bore witness to it. This, of course, made this sudden change in his disposition even creepier as he stared squarely at the group of frightened henchmen. If one didn't know better, then it seemed as if…

"Haaaa…" the young man questionably known at this point as Tay uttered in an unsettling, low growl as he remained stationary. "You almost had me there," he finally spoke, his voice much lower and more… doubled than usual and filled to the brim with scorn and contempt. "Y'all really almost got me. Just like that. In one very cowardly little forty-to-one sneak attack in a hidden, underwater temple of all places…" he ranted, clenching his teeth toward the end of his statement. Such an aggressive tone prompted the Tinkerbats to tighten their stances in preparation for the second round of the brutal encounter. "That would've been bad for my reputation… an' just the thought o' bein' done in by a pack o' worthless, bootlickin', dirty animals like you… Oh, it makes me VIOLENTLY angry…! But it's alright. Y'all wanna know why?" he asked, pausing as if to wait to hear a reply he must've known wouldn't come, given that Tinkerbats weren't exactly known for their outstanding conversational habits. As such, many of the rightfully wary minions exchanged glances with each other before turning back to him, only to witness him reach toward his belt and pull out that same jagged, onyx-colored combat knife he'd originally been stabbed with earlier during his journey. If he didn't have the Tinkerbats' attention before, he certainly had it now. He raised the knife high in one hand while pointing the blade at the Tinkerbat that watched helplessly as he brandished it.

Without warning, Tay slammed the Tinkerbat into the watery ground, the resounding wet *THUD* being heard all over the labyrinth room as he held it in place by its neck. Taking a knee while pinning the Tinkerbat to the ground, he raised the knife high above his head. As though I need to go into further gruesome detail, reader, the soldier made his next move. In an act most unbecoming of the hero he aspired to be, Tayshan plunged the knife into the Tinkerbat, immediately causing it to disappear in a loud *POOF* of smoke as though he popped a balloon. In its place appeared a few rainbow-colored gems that the serviceman ignored as he stood back up, combat knife held tightly in his trembling hand. After a few seconds of staring at the empty space where the Tinkerbat used to be, Tay turned his attention back to the rest of them.

"…Because I'm gonna pay y'all back. Each an' every last one o' you. It helps that I also get t' take in those helpless looks on your faces as y'all realize just what you deserve for what you did in here…! An' I'll make sure you all get what's comin' to you. Take that as an example o' what's about t' happen t' all o' you!" he threatened, his grin quickly twisting into a murderous scowl, his rage seeming to be totally uninhibited as that ominous glow grew in its intensity. "Now line yourselves up, because there's about t' be a massacre much worse than the one you just committed…! It's about time you all learned what it's like on the other side!" Taking this as more than enough fair warning, the remaining Tinkerbats scattered to safer positions as they opened fire with a series of *BANGs* and *POWs* of their weapons. Tay, with unprecedented speed, lunged forward and slashed. With a *SCHWING* of the knife, he vanquished two Tinkerbats in one swoop before grabbing another and using it as a shield to block some of the incoming rounds. Within a few accidental hits from its allies, that Tinkerbat wound up being knocked out as it was flung from Tay's hand into the distance. Seeing two more headed toward the statue he was hiding behind earlier, Tay took off after them. With a short, magic-powered leap, the menacing soldier pounced on his prey.

With a *THOCK* of his boots, he stomped on one of the Tinkerbats, trapping it under his foot as its partner turned and witnessed its ally in danger. Desperate to save its friend, the Tinkerbat pumped its shotgun and fired a deafening *PWOSH* of a shot from it. Tay took the initiative to duck behind the other side of the statue, though he realized he wasn't safe. Other Tinkerbats continued firing at him as they retreated to safety, causing him to roll out of the way of the incoming rounds. Seeing the Tinkerbat with the shotgun dashing toward him from one side as he recovered, he hungrily sprang toward it, tackling it to the ground. Immediately following up, Tay propped himself up and, without a shred of hesitation, stabbed it multiple times until it disappeared with a *POOF* into oblivion before it got the idea to pull the trigger again.

Hearing a *click* coming from behind just as he finished the Tinkerbat, Tay turned to see that the other Tinkerbat he'd previously used as a footrest trying to shoot him with a pistol that appeared to be out of ammo. Lucky him, no doubt. Not taking this lightly, however, Tay rushed back over with blistering speed and, with a nasty *THUMP*, kicked it into the statue behind it, where another *CRACK* of the stony structure was triggered by the speedy impact of the Tinkerbat's body on it. Soon after, Tay stomped the defenseless minion a second time (and much harder), dispatching it with cold, unforgiving prejudice. Wasting no time to gloat in the wake of still being pressured by gunfire from afar, Tay found coverage behind the statue. Sheathing his knife, he hurriedly pulled a rifle and a frag grenade from his inventory and readied them for battle.

"I'm gonna enjoy beatin' every single one o' you hideous mutants int' submission…! An' I won't stop until you all get your fair share…!" this foreign, malicious being spat in a mix of seething contempt and unmitigated anger as he continued to engage the Tinkerbats in a lopsided skirmish for their lives. Although, I couldn't tell you who I felt worse for; Tayshan, who'd become so consumed with such vitriolic anger and despair that he slipped and allowed this sudden rush of malevolent energy to take control of him… or the Tinkerbats, who'd triggered the cruel, ruthless brutality of the berserk soldier and were set to either endure and contain it or be destroyed by it.

Meanwhile…

"Come on, Aash! We need to go left from here!" Shantae commanded as she and her current tag partner jogged through the musty sewers of the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth.

"I agree," Aash replied as they kept their pace. "Although, are you certain? I am not sure of how much headway we have made. We have passed through this room at least three times by now."

"I know. There's a pattern we need to follow in order to get out of here, from the looks of it, and we've figured out a few of the necessary turns," she deciphered as they crossed into the next room, where they were faced with a gang of Tinkerbats just finishing up with exterminating more of the indigenous life forms. Just as Shantae and Aashiq arrived, the squadron of Risky's henchmen sprayed down a centipede, two winged crocodiles, and a siren, who'd disappeared with a wail of sorrow and a puff of feathers and smoke. Also apparent when the duo stepped in was the convenient placement of a Claymore mine right by the half-genie's feet. "Oh, shoot! Bubble!" Shantae called out, summoning her protective barrier while pulling Aashiq close. At that same moment, the mine was detonated by one of the Tinkerbats standing before them. The sudden *BOOM* startled our courageous heroes, but they remained unharmed by the explosive.

"Have at you, fiends!" Aash called out, stepping forward beside Shantae as he channeled a flow of orange light into his hand and reached forward to telekinetically lift up three of the seven Tinkerbats before they got a chance to open fire.

"Perfect!" Shantae praised, charging forward while dropping her shield. The four remaining Tinkerbats, all wielding pistols, fired simultaneous shots at her, though the indomitable warrior was ready. She clashed her vambraces together to turn on her Fire mode before performing a well-timed, graceful spin to whip each of the rounds in one fell swoop. As she'd expected, each round split into three and went hurtling back at her would-be assailants at double the speed. Each Tinkerbat was hit, stunning them before Shantae closed the distance and punished every one of them with a flurry of punches, spinning kicks, and trademark hair whips that they'd stood no chance against. "Yes!" she cheered with an excited pump of her fist as she moved to collect the gems that her enemies dropped. Meanwhile, Aash telekinetically slammed the other Tinkerbats against the ceiling twice, vanquishing his targets with relative ease before canceling out his spell to take a quick breather.

"Goodness gracious, how many of them have we defeated?" he asked, seeming tired of seeing Tinkerbats already.

"Whew… I lost count at 30," Shantae nonchalantly answered, clashing her bracelets a few times to return her hair to normal and wiping sweat from her brow. "If there's any more after that, then we've gotta keep taking them out until we know they've left this temple alone."

"We certainly have been busy, that is for sure. I would be surprised if there was but a single one of these foul creatures left by the time we accomplished our goal."

"Yeah, but so long as we're together, we can handle however many of them there are!" Shantae cheered, gesturing with a hand for Aash to follow her into the corridor on her right. In just that moment, however, Shantae felt a sudden, stinging pang in her heart, causing her to gasp and freeze in place. Aashiq, not paying attention, bumped into her, nearly falling back before he caught himself on a nearby empty statue base.

"My apologies, kanafeh. Are you alright?" he asked as he recovered, though he received no answer. "Kanafeh?" he beckoned once more as he tapped her shoulder. Again, no answer. She didn't even turn to acknowledge that he'd tapped her. "…Shantae, why have you stopped moving? Speak to me," Aashiq prodded some more as he walked in front of her to see what was wrong. He was caught completely by surprise to see the wide-eyed, horrified look on the half-genie's face as she clutched her heart and stared miles into the empty corridor in a daze. "Shantae!" he called out, grasping her shoulders as he looked directly into her wavering eyes. "What is the matter? You are suddenly so distressed. Tell me, please. What is your concern?"

"…It's Tayshan," she murmured as she focused her line of sigh on Aashiq, her eyes wavering as she took in a sharp, gasping breath and shakily let the air back out. "Something's wrong…!"

"What? What is wrong with him?" Aash asked, his own concern about their third teammate amplifying as a result of Shantae's confession of fear about his safety. "How can you certify that he is in danger?"

"I don't know… but… I… I swear I can hear him screaming… He sounds like he's in a lot of pain… and…" she tried to explain, though her attempt to do so only upset her further. "…and I can sense a strong presence of Dark Magic that… just showed up out of nowhere…"

"My word!" Aash shouted with shock, mortified by his best friend's premonition. "We must not waste another moment, then! We must find him! Though, I cannot hear anything related to him screaming… On another note, you can sense Dark Magic?"

"…I know where we need to go to get back to him," she also revealed, suddenly perking up while not answering Aashiq's question as she shook her head and recomposed herself. Instead, she took his hand and pulled him away from the corridor they were about to enter.

"Whoa, hold on! Where are we going?"

"If my hunch is right, then I have no choice but to follow the signal I'm getting…" she answered with a mix of anticipation and urgency in her tone as she pulled Aashiq into the corridor in the opposite direction to the one they were about to enter. "I just hope I'm wrong about where… or rather, WHO it's coming from…"

"How do you know the signal is the correct one, kanafeh? I am confused," Aash expressed, though he offered no resistance to Shantae dragging him through the watery, mossy tunnel.

"I can't really explain it, but the sooner we track it down, the better. We need to close in on it before it possibly disappears," she explained as she quickened her pace, dragging her teammate with her through the next of many damp, humid, mossy maze corridors. With hardly a hint of hesitation, they set off on their hurried, nearly blind journey to close in on the unusual energy Shantae had sensed… and, if luck would have it, she would also save her friend from what she could only guess may have been certain doom if she didn't reach him in time. Just before the duo entered their next room, however, they were met a series of *POP* noises and a *BOOM* of a weapon being detonated, followed by wails of agony and defeat. The second Shantae and Aashiq entered the room, they came face-to-face with another squad of Tinkerbats armed with interdimensional weapons as they wrapped up their task of wiping out more of the labyrinth's indigenous inhabitants. Without missing a beat, the Tinkerbats turned toward the two adventurers and reloaded their weapons with the intent to do some more damage.

"Darn it, they've already defeated another group of the monsters in here!" Shantae cursed as she felt a swelling sense of dread and urgency with the longer it may have taken her to reach her other comrade. Nevertheless, she prepared herself for the next of at least a few skirmishes with Risky's merciless minions. "You creeps have done more than enough damage! It's time you were taught a lesson!"

"They will certainly not escape this dungeon without understanding the consequences of their despicable actions…!" Aash added as he charged his magic energy into his hands and struck a battle pose alongside his de facto team leader. Neither of them would have to wait, as the Tinkerbats immediately opened fire with a spray of *BANGs*, *POPs*, and *BOOMs* that caused the two to separate, diving behind giant piles of purple, rectangular boulders nearby as they prepared their own respective countermeasures. As if it needed to be said, the two of them would be quite busy eradicating the Tinkerbat menace from within the confines of the underground dungeon maze before they got close to reconnecting with Tayshan.

One could only hope Shantae and Aashiq reached their destination in time, but it would almost be a crime not to wonder if they would be prepared to deal with the presumed threat they were headed toward. Additionally, how could the half-genie develop such a sense of clarity in where she and her Hypnotist partner needed to go? She mentioned it being in relation to her sensing an evil presence in the air, but how exactly did those two factors connect? Most importantly, what would she do about her hunch if it turned out to be correct? Such pressing questions demand answers, but as you already know, those answers never come easy. As such, we press on, hoping something (preferably good) would come out of such a dire set of circumstances. Regardless, we make a very important shift in gears…

Back on the surface…

"Haaaaah!" the thoroughly incensed young marksman shouted as he dashed through the mossy, stony terrain of the formerly abandoned chamber, spraying down two more of his hated enemies with gunfire and taking them out before his weapon ran out of ammunition. Just as he placed the empty rifle in his inventory, a third one popped out from a nearby statue once he was close enough, wielding a shotgun. Seeing this, Tay stopped dead in his tracks and attempted to dodge as the Tinkerbat pulled the trigger. The earsplitting *BOOM* of the firearm reverberated around the room as its rounds scattered in the berserk soldier's general direction.

"Huwagh…!" he grunted in pain as he rolled, making evident that he'd been struck by at least some of the rounds. His energy surging past its original limit (and swirling around him like a cloud of ominous black smoke) however, he quickly recovered just in time to barely dodge a round from a long-distance rifle fired from behind him. Were it not for the distant, crackling *PWEERSH* of the rifle's discharge, he would have been totally unaware. He leaned to the side to watch the high-velocity marble zoom by him and strike the nearby wall with a *plink* before it disappeared. Tay quickly took note of this, but he kept his attention on the Tinkerbat hiding behind the other side of the statue he'd been running toward, waiting for another chance to take him out. "So that's how you wanna play it, huh? I got somethin' for y'all, then…!" he muttered, searching around the immediate area and finding a loose rock the size of his fist. Grinning with malevolent intent, Tay picked up the rock and hurriedly dashed back toward a small collection of boulders and ducked behind them to avoid the sniper before it got a lock on him again. Tay then pulled out a flashbang grenade and, after a moment of consideration, decided to throw the grenade over toward statue the Tinkerbat with the shotgun had been hiding behind… without pulling the pin.

"Now, we wait until you take the bait…" he murmured, eagerly awaiting the result of his unusual tactic. And, just as he called it, the Tinkerbat hurriedly dived out from its cover, expecting the explosive to detonate. Before it could realize the soldier's bluff, Tay burst forth, hungrily taking the opportunity to its fullest. "Why don't you have a taste o' THIS!?" he yelled as he cocked his arm all the way back, triggered a quick burst of this dark and ominous energy to line up his aim, and then let 'er rip. With as much strength as he deemed necessary (by which, I mean with almost all his might), Tayshan launched the rock at the Tinkerbat just as it was rising to its feet. The unfortunate minion didn't even get a chance to figure out what was heading toward it before the stony *CRACK* of the rock knocked it hard off its feet. It landed with a wet *SQUISH* into a pile of moss, dazed and barely able to tell where it was as it also dropped its weapon. This was not the end, however.

"Yaaaaah!" Tayshan roared out again, advancing on the creature in a moment's glance. Picking up the shotgun along the way, Tay sprinted toward the discombobulated Tinkerbat before it could get back up and swiftly knelt over it while pinning it down with one hand. He put the shotgun down next to him, raised his dark cloud-covered fist, and, without saying too much, began relentlessly pummeling the creature into submission. Just the horrifying sound of his fist's rapid and repeated *SMACKs* against the Tinkerbat's face as he held it down was enough for me to cover my ears in shock. He would not get the chance to continue exhibiting such frightening brutality for long, as three more Tinkerbats came rushing in from separate directions, guns and a grenade at the ready. One of them fired its pistol, prompting Tay to get up, pick up the shotgun with one hand, and run toward it while holding the Tinkerbat he'd just been using to harden his knuckles up in front of him with the other hand. With just a couple of shots, the Tinkerbat was flung out of his grasp, defeated. As soon as this happened, however, Tay lunged forward, holding the shotgun as though it were a giant, metal stick as he wound up. The second he got close enough, he swung the weapon across as hard as he could. The cringe-inducing *CRACK* of the shotgun's barrel against the Tinkerbat's face sounded almost like he'd actually fired the weapon. Nonetheless, the Tinkerbat was flung backward in defeat.

As though this unspeakable show of barbarism needed more carnage to add, Tay quickly turned to see two more Tinkerbats coming for him. One of them appeared to be ready to throw a flashbang at him as it gripped the device in its hand with the full intent to incapacitate him. The other was armed with a rifle and wasted no time firing off a barrage of glowing marbles at him. Tay, pressed for time, fired a blast from the shotgun to distract them before dashing across the way toward where he threw his decoy grenade to avoid being victimized. Lucky as he was to stall his enemies' assault as he ran off quickly enough to create some significant distance, he still had to deal with the one wielding the rifle. The one with the grenade kept its jagged fingers wrapped around the explosive while keeping one finger hooked into the pin as it awaited an opportunity to use it. Tay was quick to pick his own inactive flashbang back up, but he was forced to hide behind the statue to avoid an incoming spray of gunfire. A glimmer caught his attention, however, and when he turned to look, he noticed the sniper lining up a shot.

"Argh…! No more time t' play around…!" he complained, ripping the pin from the flashbang and waiting a couple seconds until he heard the two other Tinkerbats approaching. "Here goes!" he announced. With that, he lightly lobbed the grenade around the statue, where he caught just a glimpse of the Tinkerbat with the semiautomatic rifle before he dashed off toward another giant boulder. The *POW* of the grenade startled the Tinkerbat that had previously tried using the same type of weapon as it stopped to glance at its dizzied, incapacitated teammate. Just then, Tay came barreling in, Combat Knife in his hand rather than the shotgun he'd just been carrying. "Look sharp!" he warned while squeezing in a morbid knife-related pun, dashing in close as he cocked his arm back and, in one fluid motion, flung it toward the Tinkerbat that found itself victimized by the flashbang grenade. With a metallic *KSH*, the Tinkerbat had been struck and launched out of the way, where it disappeared in a poof of smoke while the serviceman's knife found itself bouncing across the wet, stony floor nearby. By the time the other Tinkerbat realized what was happening, Tay had already been in the process of throwing a fierce left hook at it. With a frightening *CRACK* of his knuckles against that henchman's face, Tay caught it off-guard. He immediately followed up with a right uppercut, followed again by a heavy thrust kick aimed squarely at the unsuspecting pirate servant's stomach. With a powerful *POOMPH* of his wet boot against the Tinkerbat's torso, Tay brutally dispatched it as it, too, was sent flying off into the distance.

Knowing he still wasn't safe, however, he hurriedly picked up his knife and stashed it away as the Tinkerbat with the sniper rifle aimed and fired another deafening blast of a shot at him. The disadvantaged soldier narrowly avoided being struck in the head, diving out of the way as the bullet struck the ground with a speedy *trwush*, ricocheting into the distance. Realizing that the Tinkerbat sniper would be an issue if he did not close in on it and eliminate it, he climbed to his feet as swiftly as he could and hid behind another statue. He initially thought himself safe, but he found himself under continued pressure as two more Tinkerbats sprang out and attempted to overwhelm him. One of them cocked its shotgun and pointed it squarely at his chest as he pressed his back against the siren-shaped statue. The other was ready to pounce on him from above, hiding atop the stony structure as it waited for the right moment to strike. As it got itself into position, however, it stepped on a fragile piece of the stone siren's head, chipping a part of it off. That tiny piece landed on the soldier, who'd been tipped off as he was almost provoked to look up. He chose not to do so right away, as he was aware of the danger the Tinkerbat sticking him up posed.

"Darn it… You got me pinned again," he sighed in defeat, reaching his hands behind him in a show of surrender that caught both Tinkerbats by surprise as they relented just enough to halt their assault. "No matter how much I fight, y'all are always one step ahead. Your leader must be teachin' y'all well. You guys are just too much for me…" he further murmured, though he kept his hands behind his back.

Not taking the soldier's sudden surrender lightly, the Tinkerbat glared at him and nudged its weapon toward him as a warning to comply under the threat of it giving him a full helping of shotgun shells, though it very much considered pulling the trigger anyway. The only thing stopping it was its master's strict orders to bring this fiendish, belligerent human in alive. Failure to do so under any circumstance was not an option; no matter how badly it wanted to avenge its fallen comrades. Plus, whatever Risky Boots had in store for him, the Tinkerbat was certain would be at least hundred times more suitable than anything it or its remaining allies could do. It... may have also had something to do with it patiently waiting for its partner to get the drop on their target from above, but that may just be conjecture at this point. Anyhow...

"Oh, you want me t' put my hands up where you can see 'em? Oh, sure. My mistake…" he complied, slowly removing his hands from behind him… only to immediately pull a frag grenade from his belt and, in a swift and incredibly chancy move, throw it at the Tinkerbat.

Thoroughly alarmed by the maneuver, the startled henchman dived out of the way, expecting the grenade to explode. In doing so, however, it made a crucial mistake in not examining the conniving human's movements to see that he, once again, did not pull the pin before throwing it.

"Hah! Just as gullible as the last!" he announced with a malicious cackle as he dashed toward the Tinkerbat, picking up his dormant grenade along the way. Within a second of reclaiming his explosive, he reached the Tinkerbat and, after raising his foot up high, stomped on the Tinkerbat with an echoing *THUMP* on its torso. He repeated this brazen attack at least four more times before winding back and punting it away, where it disappeared in midair with a *POOF*, dropping a few gems in its wake. Just then, the other Tinkerbat dropped down from the statue and angrily rushed toward Tay in an attempt to avenge its fallen comrade. Tay, well aware of its presence, quickly pulled his knife out and, in a swift 180-degree turn, slashed at the minion as hard and as fast as he could once he deemed it close enough. "Huuwaarah!" And sure enough, with a hot *SHWISH* of his blade, he struck and defeated the Tinkerbat before it had enough time to think about its next move. In that moment, the Tinkerbat sniper fired another shot, the *BANG* ringing out like a firecracker. "Haagh…! Ow…!" Tay grunted as he was hit in the shoulder. He stumbled back a few steps but managed to retain his footing as he held his aching arm and caught his breath. The soldier was far from done, however, only finding himself more infuriated as the nightmarish scuffle continued.

"Haaarrraaaaagh!" he roared out toward the ceiling above, flexing every muscle in his body as the swirling clouds of black and purple increased in their volume over his form. Before long, he turned toward the Tinkerbat aiming the sniper rifle at him and spotted at least a few others hiding behind other structures in the vicinity. "Is that all y'all got, you cowards!?" he openly taunted, his immeasurable anger increasing for seemingly no reason at all. "Well, here I am, still standin'! Come on! Take me out if you can, or I'll destroy you all!" he continued to goad them, ready to bring the battle to a ferocious end. As such, some of the Tinkerbats moved out, guns at the ready, and took him up on his challenge. Tay, at this point fully consumed with rage, did nothing to back down. He instead hurried forward and ducked behind the statue he'd initially pressed himself up against and readied a grenade. "You'll be lucky t' be conscious enough t' regret this…!"

Back in the Under(water)ground…

"We're making another right from here," Shantae called out as she and Aashiq continued to hurry through the maze they found themselves trapped in. Filled to the brim with dread and concern, the half-genie sprinted as hard as she conceivably could as she continued trying to home in on the Dark Magic signal she'd been getting.

"Are you certain, kanafeh?" Aash asked through labored breaths as they traversed through yet another long, empty, damp hallway. "Not to question your directions, but it appears we have more or less been zig-zagging through these rooms."

"Yeah, I'm positive," she candidly answered as she kept her pace. "The signal's getting stronger, and so far, we haven't been hitting any repeat rooms, but it isn't helping us that-!" she was about to complain as they reached the next room to find themselves greeted with yet another horde of Tinkerbats that appeared ready for them. "Oh, for goodness sake, how many of you are there in here!?" she yelled, growing frustrated with the amount of ambushes they'd been subjected to.

"My word, this is the tenth group we have run into since we arrived in this accursed maze…" Aash also complained, concurring with Shantae as he found himself out of breath. "At this rate, my magic is bound to run dry, even with this specialized headband, if we spend too much time fighting these ghoulish creatures…" As Aash finished his statement, he and Shantae observed the structure of the chamber to notice that they were separated from their enemies by way of a deep, wide chasm teeming with long, jagged, stony spikes. The only thing linking one side of the room to the other appeared to be a thin, narrow stone bridge littered start to end with Claymore mines. Without warning, one of the Tinkerbats pressed a button on the remote it was holding, detonating the mines with a series of frightening *BOOMs* that saw to it that the bridge was demolished.

"You've gotta be…!" Shantae was about to complain, irritated that Risky's goons would do something so incredibly inconvenient as destroy their only means of easily crossing over to the other side of the room. Not even waiting for her to react, the rest of the group opened fire, raining another barrage of bullets at their adversaries. Two of them upped the ante by throwing a flashbang and a frag grenade. Their aggressive tactic prompted Shantae to pull Aashiq out of there as fast as she could. They rushed backward toward the entrance, hiding behind the opposing sides of the open doorway just as the explosions of the grenades rang out in the midst of the rampant gunfire.

"Kanafeh, what do we do?" Aashiq asked as he squeezed himself tightly into the narrow space of the walls. "They appear to be growing more desperate to stop us in our tracks!"

"I've… got something of an idea, but it's gonna cost me," she assured him, though he could pick up on the worry in her tone.

"What might you be thinking?"

"I can use my Obliterate Dance to take them all down in one go, but it'll take up most of my remaining magic to do it. I also need to be able to focus long enough to use it, but with them constantly shooting at us and trying to blow us up, I don't know if I can pull it off."

"Obliterate Dance?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like, Aash; a dance maneuver that, once activated, wipes out every enemy in the area."

"Oh, my… To think you have access to such a powerful technique…"

"Yeah, it is. I do wonder, though… Do you have enough magic in you at this point to summon up a barrier?" she curiously asked as the two continued to hide from the Tinkerbats' brazen assault.

"I am not sure," he answered, shooting her a look of immense concern. "I have been burning through my reserves since we began our journey, and I fear I may end up depleting them soon. Even sooner if you require me to set up a barrier."

"That's what I figured… You've held your own pretty well, but I can tell this trip has been taking its toll on you. Still, my dance only takes a couple seconds to activate, so if you can at least manage that, we should be able to cut ourselves a break. You think you have enough in you to at least pull that off?" At that, Aashiq silently pondered his partner's request, gazing directly at her as he did so. Taking in the radiant gleam of her vibrant blue eyes as she worriedly gazed back at him, he made his decision with hardly a thought.

"For you, my love, I will give it everything I have," he vowed with a solemn nod. "I will initiate as you advise," he further offered, readily awaiting his leader's command.

"Thanks a bunch, Aash," Shantae offered her gratitude with two thumbs up before turning her attention toward the Tinkerbat wall up ahead. "I can perform the dance the very second you summon up the barrier, so let's try to make it quick."

"Understood, dear," he concurred, extending his arms out in front of himself to conjure up a luminescent orchid purple in his hands. Doing so, however, appeared to cost him a great deal of his stamina, as he required immense focus to even draw upon his power. "I… I am ready," Aashiq informed her through labored breaths, ignoring the shocks of pain running through his arms.

"Aash…" Shantae murmured in concern that Aashiq had been pushing himself harder than he needed to. However, she knew that he would most likely refuse to take a break in the wake of them being held at a standstill by their pirate-affiliated adversaries. With a sigh of worry and a few seconds of silently staring at Aashiq, Shantae made up her mind as best as she could. "Okay… On my mark…" she instructed him as she held up one hand, extending three fingers. "Three… Two… One… Go!" she ordered, prompting the young magician to spring into action. Immediately upon turning around to charge back into the room, Aash spread his hands and cast his spell after a few hurried footsteps. The same instant they saw even a strand of his luxurious hair, the Tinkerbats opened fire anew, filling the room with a cacophony of gunshots.

"Here I go! Impenetrable Arcana-Shield!" he called out as an enormous flash of purple sparked through his hands, creating a magic wall big enough to match the size of a van. As he did so, the rapid and numerous *pew* noises that rang out as a result of the Tinkerbats' rounds striking his awesomely named magic barrier brought him a fleeting sense of relief. Immediately feeling the strain of summoning the wall, however, he acknowledged that he and Shantae needed to act quickly. "Kanafeh! Now is your chance!"

"Roger that!" Shantae called back to him, dashing in as fast as she could to join him behind the barrier. Knowing just how crucial the timing of their counterattack was, Shantae stretched her arms out to her sides and began swiveling her hips. Not long after, she rapidly cycled through at least three more poses between her raising her arms high and rocking her hips side to side, clasping her hands together as she gyrated her hips while spinning around, and stretching her hands forward while rapidly undulating her lower body. Through it all, she kept her form loose and fluent while also keeping her focus as tight as she could.

"Shantae…! I… I do not know if I can hold this for much longer…!" Aash warned her through intense strain, panting heavily as he dug his feet into the ground and put forth his best effort to hold the spell up. As such, the barrier began to flicker and fade, signifying that time was running out. "Nrrgh…!" The sight of Aashiq struggling to maintain his Arcana-Shield nearly caused the half-genie to lose her focus as she found herself tempted to stop her belly dance ritual and pull him out of harm's way. However, she weighed her options with the little time she had and quickly came to the conclusion that stopping now would put both of them in grave danger. As such, she awakened her ability with one final energetic pose.

"Obliterate!" Shantae finally called out, setting off a storm of loud, echoing detonations that rang out all across the room. The sheer volume and frequency of the mini-explosions caused the room to rumble as though it were about to collapse in on itself. Nevertheless, Shantae's spell worked to perfection, as every Tinkerbat she and Aashiq could see had been flung from their cover either to disappear with a *POOF* against a wall, or be cast into the spike pit below, where they also met their untimely ends as though they were deflated balloons filled with smoke. As soon as the last Tinkerbat seemed to have been defeated in the ensuing chaos, Shantae fell to one knee, breathing heavily as a result of having to use up a ton of her energy just to use her spell. Aashiq, feeling much the same as she did, fell to his hands and knees after canceling out his barrier once the coast was clear. After a moment of recuperating and basking in the aftermath of their latest minor victory (but mostly recuperating), Shantae gingerly rose to her feet and walked toward Aashiq, who'd still been planted on all fours on the ground ahead of her. "Hey… You okay?" she asked as she knelt beside him and placed a hand atop his head.

"I… I-I could be better, kanafeh, but… I will live," he tiredly assured, looking up at his prospective girlfriend and shooting her a weary, but confident grin; one that she returned with a relieved exhale. Without another word in that moment, Shantae moved to sling his arm over her shoulders to help him up. Accepting her help, Aash relied on her for support as he did his best to push himself up to his feet. "How about you?"

"I'm fine. That spell almost completely drained me of my magic, but I'll be okay. You really pulled through, dude," Shantae praised, smiling brightly at him as she wrapped an arm around his waist while the other one held the hand of his that was slung over her shoulders. "Come on, I'll help you," she further offered as the two carefully traversed toward the the decimated remnants of the bridge that was supposed to allow them to get across.

"Thank you, Shantae…" Aashiq tiredly expressed his gratitude as he did his best to pull his own weight. "I apologize for burning up so much of my energy so soon, however. It should not be your burden to drag me through the remainder of this maze…"

"Don't apologize! I'm proud of you! Despite everything that's been thrown at us, you've held your own and did more than your fair share of the work. I know this trip's been really rough on the both of us, but you're doing an incredible job, Aash. We work so well as a team… It's like we've been together for years," she further admitted, causing the young man to blush in a mix of sheepishness and excitement that he earned her approval.

"You have the most astounding ways of making me feel all fuzzy inside, Shantae…" Aashiq confessed, his heartbeat somehow growing heavier despite the fact that it was already racing as a result of the do-or-die predicament he was just in. One could only hope he didn't have a heart attack over a simple compliment paid to him by the girl he liked. "Through thick and thin, spending this time with you has been nothing short of the best time of my life… I only wish we were together for as long as you mentioned… I do not know how much you realize how ecstatic I am to even be at your side, much less in your arms, regardless of the circumstances. Once I have the energy, I would like to fully embrace you like our lives depended on it," he added as he turned and locked eyes with her. The moment they did so, Shantae's heart also began to race as though she didn't just risk her life for the 8,000th time to dispatch a group of pirate mutants that tried to kill her and her friend. Her breath caught in her throat as she instinctively gulped, taking in the realization that she was holding her former crush (well, maybe not so 'former' at this rate) closer than she'd ever held him before.

"Aw, come on…" she sheepishly protested, steadily growing warmer as the two separated temporarily. "It isn't THAT big a deal, is it? I mean, you tired yourself out protecting me when I asked, so the least I can do is lend you a hand while you take some time to regroup. And besides, what kind of friend would I be not to appreciate everything you've done, much less find some way to repay you for it?" At that point, Aash took it upon himself to channel more energy into his hands and summon up a makeshift pathway in place of the one the Tinkerbats previously blew up. Hurriedly, the two crossed it, with Shantae moving to support Aash once more as they staggered their way across while the magician kept his focus on the purple-hued bridge substitute.

"Yes, you are right… Perhaps I take more enjoyment out of this arrangement than I should," he admitted, though he managed to straighten himself up enough to take some of his weight off her as they made past the bridge, allowing Aashiq to cancel out his magic after they safely marched toward their next destination. Soon after, the two climbed a short set of stairs without thinking to collect any of the dropped weapons before continuing into the dark, empty tunnel of a pathway that followed it. "I suppose I cannot help it, however. Simply being near you fills me with such endless joy that I can hardly stand it. Not to come across as… er, awkward, but Shantae, I deeply relish every moment we spend in each other's company," the young love-struck magician continued to display his boundless affection for the heroic maiden. As one might expect, the flustered young woman found herself stunned by his eloquent, yet blunt confession as her heart began to beat just a bit heavier in her chest.

"…Do… Do you like me that much?" Shantae asked without thinking, thrown completely off her game by the fact that Aash, even at a point where they'd just gotten done fighting for their lives for the hundredth time since they entered the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth, could be so sentimental about it. Nevertheless, she found herself deeply touched by his romantic revelation, though she continued her internal effort to suppress her growing… dare we say, appreciation of his company in the wake of their perilous escapades. Aashiq exhibited no such trepidation, however. Just as the duo entered the next room from the corridor they strolled through, he garnered just enough of his energy to stand himself all the way up, moving to draw her in for a hug where they were directly facing one another. Shantae, alarmed by his sudden shift, rested her arms at her sides as he held her by her shoulders.

"Shantae, I will use every last bit of the strength I have right now to say it as many times as you deem necessary," he spoke through wavers in his voice, his every action fueled not by magic, but by the power of love… Yep… Yyyyyyep. I said it… and it sounded SO much better in my head… and so much sappier and more cliché out loud than I could've ever hoped. I don't know if I could live that one down… A-anyway, Aash additionally moved to softly caress the half-genie's cheek with one hand as his other one remained gently rested on her shoulder. "I have been head-over-heels for you since the day we first met. You are always in my thoughts. Always… Just speaking to you sets my heart aflutter as though it were the most majestic avian creature spreading its wings and soaring through Sequin Land's warmest, sunniest skies. Just looking at your incomparable beauty makes me want to melt into the gooiest puddle of affection imaginable. I… I cannot even continue to put into words how immeasurably strong my love for you has been… Those feelings have not changed, despite our time apart. If anything, absence has made my heart grow fonder. And, as you have just witnessed, I would risk my own life to certify that you were safe from harm."

"Aashiq, I…" Shantae stammered in a mix of excitement, confusion, and incredible nervousness as she felt her entire body trembling. Her stomach erupted with butterflies as she stared right back into his glimmering eyes and processed how affectionately he'd been holding her. In any other context, she acknowledged that this could've been a dream come true. The boy she'd harbored (formerly) secret romantic feelings for, pouring his heart out to her in another one of at least a few confessions that came across as bold and wordy as they did utterly saccharine. As she attempted to reel herself in, she found herself also studying the Hypnotist apprentice. His gorgeous, youthful face… His stunning, beautiful hair… His vibrant, mesmerizing eyes… His gentle, nurturing touch… "Wow… I… This is too much all at once…" she murmured, shaking her head as she snapped out of her trance before looking back at him again. "Gosh, I… I don't even know what to say…"

"You need not say anything if you do not feel it necessary," he replied, reading her blank, thoroughly astonished stare as a signal that he frightened her. "I must apologize…" As such, he breathed a sigh of his own as he moved to separate himself from her. However, he found himself just as astonished when he witnessed Shantae instinctively throw her arms forward, laying them upon his shoulders. Aashiq, trying to hide his growing excitement, reacted by slowly and carefully placing his hands onto her hips. "Shantae…?"

"Um… I… Well…" she hesitantly began, a hot, furious blush creeping onto her face as she tried her hardest to figure out what she wanted to say. "Aash… I… I really have no experience with this, so forgive me for sounding like a dummy… but… I… I think… maybe I was wrong to try and write you off as 'just a friend' back in Genie's Hem…" she admitted, much to the young man's complete surprise as his eyes widened like they were inflated by a bike pump.

"What…?"

"Yeah… I… I just… our conversations since we got here have… I guess, opened my eyes a little to exactly how strong our connection used to be… and… how strong it still is. I hear everything you're saying to me, and… I'm flattered. Like, really, honestly, genuinely flattered. I'm still just trying to take it all in… But, I was sort of turned off by the idea of us becoming a thing because… Well, other than my responsibilities as a guardian genie, it was partly because I guess I might've still been a bit… hurt from the time I saw you in the Great Button Province…" she confessed.

"I understand…" he acknowledged, resisting the urge to flinch at the mention of his being seen with someone else. "I can never be sorry enough for hurting you…"

"No, it's… it's okay now. I mean, like I said before, my other friends pulled me out of that funk, so there's nothing to apologize for. Still, I… also thought I'd never see you again, which was another reason I thought I moved on…"

"That makes sense, kanafeh. The abrupt interruption of our friendship had a lasting impact on both of us. That blemish on our friendship is too great too ignore."

"Yeah, but you can imagine my surprise to see you in Genie's Hem after so much time went by. I admit, it was sort of bittersweet at first, but as we talked more, I started to remember why we even became friends in the first place… even IF I was trapped in someone else's body when we met up," she joked with a sheepish smirk.

"That was certainly a mind-boggler, if I must admit, but you picked an excellent person to swap bodies with," he joked back with a mildly suggestive grin.

"Hmph. You're something else, Aash. You really are," she remarked with a small chuckle before she refocused herself. "Although, it kind of worried me that you took such a liking to Tay when you guys met in Genie's Hem… Speaking of which, we should really get a move on with finding him, so I'll try to keep it short," she explained, still worried about the fate of her extraterrestrial sidekick despite the fact that they paused to have this heart-to-heart conversation. Nevertheless, the two let one another go and continued their trek as they continued to talk.

"I am just as concerned for his safety as you. I will not burden you further, and I agree that we must locate habibi before it is too late. So, please. Say what you must, kanafeh," he pressed, trying not to sound too eager to hear what she had to say to him.

"Believe me, I'm trying…" she assured him, her voice wavering as her nervous trembling intensified. "A-anyway, I… in a nutshell, I… after giving it a lot of thought up to this point, erm… I think I still… um… well… y-y'know… have… a… er, I-I still like you, is what I'm trying to say," she eventually spat out after much hesitation. "But, much as I think I'd like to ask you to be my boyfriend, I… I just don't know if this is a good time for it. Not because we're in the middle of a dangerous undersea adventure and missing a teammate, of course, though that plays a huge factor in it."

"I understand what you are implying," he smilingly nodded.

"Good, so we're on the same page. But yeah, I mean like, after so much time passed by without us talking to each other, only for us to run into each other as little as a few days ago... It just seems way too soon after we just reconnected, which is part of why I wanted us to start over as friends. I understand your points, and you've made a lot of them, but… I don't want to rush things and just dive into a relationship when I'm not completely sure of how I feel… toward you… or… toward… um… Ta—er, toward…"

"Toward who?" he pressed, suddenly about fifteen times more curious to hear about another potential crush harbored by the half-genie. The very question startled her as her eyes went wide. Seeming to realize for herself that she didn't want to speak too rashly, she corrected herself.

"Toward, uh, being in a relationship in general," she blurted out, hurriedly covering herself in a knee-jerk move, breathing out a hot, heavy sigh after doing so. In that moment, she reminded herself she'd already set a strict boundary with the person to whom she almost referred before continuing. "Y'know… like I said, there's all the commitment stuff, and us needing to really work things out so we're sure we're right for each other, and… and…"

"Shantae, with as long as we have known one another, there are hardly any secrets between us. I am thoroughly certain that we would work as a couple," he confidently asserted, pulling her closer. "However, if you still have your reservations after what we discussed, then I will surely respect that boundary and cease my pestering of you…"

"You're not pestering me, Aash, believe me," she ascertained with a nervous giggle, though her smile quickly faded as she drew in another deep breath. "I just… It's like… I… I want to, if I'm going to be honest, but… I just… it's scary to think that this conversation is actually even happening… after all this time and after we separated… I'm so torn when I really get to thinking… about what a real relationship between us would look like…"

"Trust me, I share in your apprehension," he admitted with a lighthearted, anxious chuckle. "But… I feel as though we should clarify things when we have the opportunity. I do not want to lose you again, but I do not want to force this on you. I understand that we would have much to discuss, but I am certain that we could do it in a manner that bolsters our bond rather than straining it."

"Yeah, I… I don't doubt that we could work things out. Our conversations have always been sensible, and we always seem to be on the same vibe. Maybe we could smooth things over like we've been doing since we came here."

"I see. And, are you certain about that?"

"Mm-hmm," she concurred with a nod. "Well, not a hundred percent, but I'm… Something tells me to trust and believe that we could."

"Wonderful! In that case, I am slightly less nervous about this conversation. However, as we are not quite out of the proverbial woods, how about I simply ask you instead of beating around the bush before we move along…"

"Wh… Wh-what are you about to ask me, Aashiq?" Shantae asked, suddenly tensing up as she anticipated the next few words that were about to come out of his mouth like a child anticipates their favorite holiday. Aash, after a moment of staring at his comrade, paused only to take a deep, incredibly flustered breath before gathering the courage to ask his question.

"Shantae, after all the time we have spent and all the memories we have shared, I would like to continue doing so… more closely than we ever have before. I am all but compelled to ask… Would you like to have me… as your boyfriend from this moment on? I-I figured I would propose now to get the most difficult question out of the way before we discussed anything else, and I apologize if this is still too sudden, but… would you?"

And there it was… the billion-gem question that had been teased and prodded at since the two lovebirds crossed paths just days earlier in the bustling city of Genie's Hem… and, as they would both have you know, long before. Shantae's entire world was nearly rocked out of existence as the two of them stopped in their tracks. It utterly floored her to hear none other than one of her best friends pop such a question… a best friend she shared many of her most intimate memories… a best friend who was among the first to make her feel not like a hero, or a genie, or even like she was some form of commodity, but like a person… a best friend who, as it turned out, shared the exact same attraction to her as she did him, for just about same amount of time.

However, after so much time… after so much had changed since they initially 'stopped' being friends… after she'd gotten so much counsel from her other friends about getting over him once it was revealed that he moved on… and even, after she seemed to be forming a close bond of a similar nature with… well, after she and this certain someone established a TOTALLY-PLATONIC friendship that nearly mirrored her previous relationship with Aashiq, despite all the romance-oriented hiccups they dealt with… and besides, with him already being in the thick of it with Sky and Twitch, it hardly seemed worth it to even think about him in any context that didn't relate to them simply being friends and adventuring partners. But then… Was… Was it a good idea to even entertain this? To welcome Aashiq back into her life as though he'd never left? Especially as her significant other? Granted, to have a boyfriend after so much time she spent alone… The concept brought on a swirling mix of excitement, fear, anticipation, and concern within her as she nearly began to daydream about the intricate details. She couldn't allow that to cloud her judgment, however, as it all came down to her decision.

The poor confused young woman wracked her brain for what seemed to be hours (in reality, a good ten seconds' worth of contemplatively staring at Aashiq) as she seriously questioned herself on whether she would accept his offer. Granted, if he was willing to accept her as she was, then there was hardly a reason not to do so. At its core, he liked her for her, and she liked him for him. Simple as that. Just the thought of the two of them reuniting with the added bonus of fostering a deeper, more intimate connection made her want to jump on the offer. There was nothing holding her back from accepting it, as far as she could surmise. Factoring in everything else she'd recently been through, however, caused her breath to catch in her throat as her heart pounded loud enough that using a stethoscope on her in that moment would veritably blow your eardrums out. Nevertheless, she weighed her options, and…

"…Shantae?" Aash called to her, shaking her out of her daze as she continued trying to process the fact that he just asked her out. Her hesitation frightened him greatly as he resisted his body's involuntary urge to begin trembling as though he drank fifty cups of coffee. However, she wasted little time offering her reply once he called to her.

"…Yes," she, looking him dead in the eye, plainly answered after sighing away some of her intense apprehension as she smiled at him, though she was so overwhelmed that she almost didn't hear herself confirm that she would like for her and Aashiq to become a couple. "Yes, I'd like you to be… m-my boyfriend…" she shyly murmured, lowering her head as she kept her glimmering eyes locked onto his. And, in case you also need clarification as to what was happening, reader… Shantae and Aashiq, at this exact moment in time, confirmed that they, after at least a year's worth of on-and-off communications, were officially a couple. Shoot, I couldn't even believe I was saying it, but here it was.

"Oh, splendid!" Aash cheered, drawing Shantae all the way in for possibly the tightest hug he could've ever given another individual as he (almost literally) exploded with happiness at her acceptance of his offer. "I am beyond overjoyed! If I could, I would rocket high into the air and burst like fireworks! Kanafeh, I… I-I cannot believe it… We have finally, officially come together!"

"Yes, we have, Aash. We really have," she replied in equal excitement, squeezing him just as tightly as he had been squeezing her. Just the feeling of his hair as he nestled into her was nearly enough to send her into an entirely euphoric stupor about what it meant for the two of them to advance their companionship to the next level. Still hardly believing it for herself in her excitement about entering a relationship, her grin widened as her heart pounded like rocks on the windshield of a speeding car. A mere thought about what they might be able to do as a couple provoked her to hug him tighter as she tried to temper her enthusiasm. "I… I feel like I'm dreaming right now… Are… Is this really happening?" she asked, her blush deepening as they separated just enough to where they were still facing one another while they held each other close.

"If you require it, I will pinch you to assure you that this is reality," he joked with a wide, toothy grin and a wink that sent another wave of butterflies through the half-genie's abdomen. "Granted, I may need a pinch or two myself…"

"Wow… So, just to be absolutely sure, you're… my… boyfriend now?" she awkwardly asked, gawking at him like he'd suddenly turned into an exotic animal (unrelated to her actual magic ability to do just the same, but you get the gist).

"Indeed, I am, Shantae. Though, I must admit that I am having some trouble believing it myself," he joyfully answered. "As though I have not said it already, I have only ever dreamed of a point in our friendship so momentous…"

"Same here… So, what do we do next? Do we… do we confirm it somehow, or… I-is there some kind of ceremony we have…?" she nervously asked, trying not to let her mind wander too far in the direction of how couples seal the deal on their relationships when they declare them.

"My, such adorably silly questions," he teased, causing her to turn away and pout with embarrassment.

"Hey… Don't judge me, I'm new at this…" she protested, still trying to conceptualize the fact that she was no longer single.

"Not a problem, love. We will learn together."

"…Of course, so long as you're patient enough with me," she cutely remarked to him as a means to curb some of her apprehension about them dating. However, their moment was cut short before they could flirt with one another proper.

"…Huuuuuaaaraaaaaaaah…!" a distant, animalistic roar could be heard in surprisingly close proximity, though it still sounded like it was off in the distance. This distant shout was followed by a startling *boom* that resonated just as loudly through the air. Shantae felt a sudden, intense sense of dread wash over her again as she froze with a panicked look on her face.

"Shantae, are you alright?" Aash asked, still holding her as he worriedly studied the distraught look on her face.

"Tayshan…!" she murmured, suddenly fearing the worst as she let go of Aashiq.

"Oh, dear… Are you getting another feeling that he is in danger?" Aash asked, the fear in his tone matching hers.

"Come on, we have to hurry!" the anxious young woman urged, grabbing her (boy)friend by the hand and pulling him along into the next room. And before we transition, I will go on to state that, while I am totally a proponent of two people coming together in holy matrimony and setting up the framework for a typical sappy, sweet, cavity-inducing happily-ever-after scenario, one could only wonder (as you most likely are) what the implications were of Shantae and Aashiq getting distracted and choosing this point of all times to smooth out the context of their relationship. Particularly, what did it cost them to take the extra few minutes to have such a heartfelt discussion? Y'know, when they were in the midst of fighting for their survival in an abandoned temple at the bottom of the Sequin Land Sea, where times for breaks were few and far between? And personally, I completely agree with you. Either way, Shantae and Aashiq probably didn't have too much to worry about just yet, since it was only the beginning of their courtship. Though, I find myself calling back to an unlikely word of advice from an unlikely source that appeared much earlier in this story that had something to do with 'having your cake and eating it, too.' But, I digress. Anyway, on the end of a certain someone else, who'd been handling business of his own, ON his own somewhere else in the Tinkerbat-infested temple? Well... Let's just go ahead and see, shall we?

And as we switch back to the monstrous carnival of chaos and carnage elsewhere…

Now as you know, reader, I would normally try to recap some of what you missed out on before we dove into the action. However, I found myself much too distracted/horrified by the unfathomably loud, damp *SMACK* of a Tinkerbat's face against one of the walls of the room our favorite lonesome soldier found himself going to war in. As for why that Tinkerbat met its end in such an unsavory manner? Well, let's just say that it may or may not have had to do with the thoroughly enraged serviceman grabbing the hapless minion by the back of its head and sprinting full-speed ahead across the room like a train with no brakes and attempting to ram its head through the wall. Depending on who you were more concerned about, you may either be pleased or displeased to know that the Tinkerbat disappeared with a defeated *POOF* while only leaving a tiny crack in the stony structure it was forced to kiss at mach speed.

"Hmph. No wonder y'all always try t' gang up on your targets," Tay coldly pondered, jumping out of the way of an incoming flashbang grenade before taking off to a safe distance. "You're so fragile, I swear I'd have a tougher time smashin' up a bunch o' watermelons. Not that I'm complainin'…" he further drew a comparison as the rapid *BANGs* of a marksman rifle alerted him to the presence of at least one more Tinkerbat trying to hunt him down. He ducked behind a nearby statue just as the enemy flashbang exploded, hurrying up to pull out a pistol he managed to swipe from one of the many henchmen he bested. Hearing more shots, Tay glimpsed past his cover to see two more Tinkerbats, one of which was armed with a rifle. The other had been armed with a frag grenade. Both were preparing to flank him from both sides as they separated and rushed toward him. He also noticed that same cowardly Tinkerbat sniper, hiding behind a different pillar farther away from him, still patiently waiting to pick him off the second it got the chance. "These should be the last three, but they're comin' in quick this time. Looks like they're about t' try an' flush me out t' see who can get me first. In that case…" he trailed off, carefully watching the Tinkerbat with the grenade from his cover. As the two minions continued their aggressive advance, the one with the rifle came to a screeching halt and aimed its rifle at the statue Tay was hiding behind. Meanwhile, the other Tinkerbat slowed its own pace to a crawl as it slid one of its little claws into the pin of the explosive and crept forward.

"Hmm…" Tay hummed in a mix of contemplation and anticipation, still carefully studying his enemies. He dared not poke his head out and risk earning a deadly new scar trying to figure out what they were planning. He was aware that, despite how much work he'd done to exterminate his would-be captors, any single misstep could land him right back in their clutches… or worse. The best he could do was press himself against the back of the sculpture and peer at one of them at a time to keep tabs on them. He was low on options and lower on time, as he found himself in yet another worrisome predicament he would need to figure out before it was too late. It was at the moment he heard the *tick* of a pin being removed from a grenade very close by that he developed an idea… and before that idea could be explained, the anger-fueled, silver-eyed soldier made his move. Turning to his left around the statue, gun at the ready, Tay fired a series of rounds at the Tinkerbat. In a panic, the astonished henchman attempted to throw the grenade and flee. Tay's uncanny accuracy saw to it that the Tinkerbat was dispatched before it could pull off a successful throw. The Tinkerbat still lobbed the grenade forward, however, and it happened to land a mere few feet away from the soldier. "What!? Darn it, you gotta be-!" he was about to complain, attempting to run before the *BOOM* of the grenade sprayed a mass of glowing, flashing debris in all directions. "Gahwaagh…!" the unfortunate serviceman winced as he was sent stumbling forward, wounded by the debris as he dropped the handgun.

Even more unfortunate for him was that he found himself outside of his cover, prompting the Tinkerbat with the semiautomatic rifle to advance on him before he could attempt to pick the gun back up. Knowing the danger he was in, Tay sprinted off to the side, narrowly avoiding another *FWOOSH* of a sniper round fired from the distance. As he began to run, the Tinkerbat up front gave chase, firing short bursts of rounds to deter him from prolonging the inevitable. As the soldier continued to fight for survival, the Tinkerbats tried utilizing the pressure to their advantage. Quickly, the Tinkerbat sniper refocused and fired another crackling shot just ahead of the soldier, who was trying to make his way toward another statue near the sealed-off entrance to the room. The sight of the round, as planned, caused him to stop in his tracks, where he found himself struck by at least five of the rounds fired from the pursuing Tinkerbat's rifle.

"Gwaah! Argh…!" he grunted in unbelievable pain, nearly being brought to his knees by the sting of the marbles as they struck him. Instead of him being halted by the impact of the Tinkerbat's bullets, however, it only seemed to make him… angrier. "Hrraaaaaaaah!" he roared out, though he was quick to suddenly dash toward the statue before the rifle Tinkerbat could catch up. Not giving up on the hunt, however, the Tinkerbat took the opportunity to capitalize on the ostensible advantage. It continued to run toward him, rifle at the ready as it closed the distance. Unfortunately for this Tinkerbat, its glorious effort to detain the soldier were soon met with swift and merciless retaliation. Before it even knew what hit it, the unsuspecting creature was blasted with a sudden *PLOCK* of a blunt object crashing right into its forehead. Stunned and immensely pained by the force of the object smacking it, the Tinkerbat dropped its rifle, stumbling back as it held its head in extreme agony.

"Come'ere!" the soldier shouted, bursting forth at top speed from the side of the statue opposite of the one the Tinkerbat was headed toward. Just as it reoriented itself, the Tinkerbat felt something grip its neck tightly enough to nearly cut off its air supply before it was hoisted into the air. "Thanks in advance for the cover. Now, let's see how much of a sharpshooter your friend over there REALLY is!" he dared as the Tinkerbat kicked and squirmed to try and break his grasp to no avail. Ready to end the tumultuous scuffle once and for all, Tay picked up the Tinkerbat's rifle with one hand while keeping his other hand's grip locked tightly on his adversary's neck. Soon after, he recklessly raced toward the sniper, holding the other Tinkerbat out as a shield. However, the serviceman opted to zigzag haphazardly across the room rather than make things easy for his enemy by running straight at it. Surprised by the dark turn of events, the Tinkerbat sniper hurriedly lined up another shot in the few seconds it had before its target closed in on it. Having little time and rapidly decreasing space to work with, the Tinkerbat fired its rifle with a *BOOM* that it only hoped was accurate enough to hit its mark.

The round came zooming in toward young man and his frantic hostage as he continued to rush toward his target in the unorthodox manner that he'd adopted. Noticing that he'd have little to no time to dodge it, he instead opted to extend the captured Tinkerbat forward. The bullet hit the Tinkerbat, flinging it up and behind its captor, where it exploded into a cloud of smoke like the rest of its friends. Undeterred, Tay immediately readied the rifle he swiped and fired a small burst of rounds at the Tinkerbat sniper that had been hastily trying to reload its weapon. Recognizing the increasing peril it found itself in, it ducked behind the pillar it stationed itself behind and reloaded. Wanting to at least survive the encounter at this point, the Tinkerbat readied its weapon, only to find that its malicious enemy was nowhere in sight. Anxious and not wanting to be a sitting duck, it dashed out from the pillar toward another one nearby as it scanned the room. Still not seeing anyone after briefly scouring its surroundings, it took a breath to relax before stationing itself to line up another shot. Its opportunity to finally take down the wayward serviceman would never come, however.

A sudden *POW* rang out from the direction of the pillar the Tinkerbat had just been hiding behind. As it instinctively turned to see what the sound was, the unfortunate minion found itself struck in its side by a high-speed glowing marble, knocking it to the wet, mossy temple floor as it dropped its weapon. Stunned and agonized by the impact of the shot it took, it slowly attempted to get back up to defend itself. It would get no chance to even do this, however. In a moment's glance, the creature felt something tightly grab around its neck, propelling it into the air and toward a wall. The Tinkerbat hardly even had enough time to register the dense *THUD* of an impact of its body against the wall before it opened its eyes enough to be terrified of the sight before it; a thoroughly infuriated man with a menacing glare aimed at it as he pinned it to the wall. If it wasn't the man's piercing, glowing silver eyes that did the trick, it was certainly the ominous clouds of what could be described as evil energy pouring from the man's form. Makimg matters more frightening was the fact that the man threw down the rifle he'd used to shoot the Tinkerbat, only to pull out that same jagged-edged, shining blade and hold it high with the seeming intent to finish the job. Unable to defend itself, the Tinkerbat merely stared the purveyor of its inevitable demise in the eye, going limp as it appeared to accept its fate.

However, that grim and depressing moment would not come. Tay, who'd seemed to be ready to close the curtain on the dramatic life-or-death (or capture) skirmish with a single knife strike, suddenly found himself trembling… not with anticipation, however, but with hesitation. As he silently took in the fear-addled expression on the Tinkerbat's face, he appeared to find some form of restraint as he suddenly lost the urge to vanquish the defenseless creature. His expression changed from one of anger to one of moderate confusion as he felt his grip on the distraught Tinkerbat loosen. The very instant his focus faltered, it sparked yet another unusual change.

"Garrrraaaahaaaagh!" Tay screamed in apparent torment as he let go of the Tinkerbat and dropped his weapon to bring his hands to his head. Stepping back and hunching over while clasping his head, he seemed to struggle to reel himself back in. A few seconds later, he straightened up a bit, though he found himself mesmerized by his own empty hands as they remained shrouded in the dark aura that continued to coat his body. Seeing this as an opportunity to strike, the Tinkerbat scurried toward the nearest firearm it could find (the rifle Tay dropped mere moments earlier), aimed it, and fired at the distracted young man… only for nothing but a *click* noise to come out of the weapon. Hearing this, Tay turned his gaze toward the Tinkerbat as it realized its plan had failed. The sight of the creature attempting once more to dispatch him while his defenses were down further infuriated the man, who'd lunged toward it in a rage. Try as it might to dodge the human projectile, the Tinkerbat failed to bail itself out. The two warriors landed on the ground with a solid *THUMP* on the stony floor surface, whereupon Tay pressed the creature's chest down with his hand as he straightened up enough to scowl at it as it struggled to break free.

"If you was smart, you'd have ran away the second I let you go instead o' tryin' t' get one over on me…!" he advised, though his tone came across as unusually strained… It was like he'd just finished carrying a thousand-pound sack of rocks for fifteen miles, he sounded so exhausted. The intimidating shine in his irises continued to glow brightly, though it appeared the aura surrounding him had died down significantly as he kept his position. "Lucky you, I'm… suddenly feelin' generous, despite what I had t' go through t' take you an' your friends out…"

The Tinkerbat, bewildered by the outraged human's sudden disposition change, ceased its struggling just to hear him.

"So, you are capable o' listenin'. Good," Tay pointed out, still seeming to be struggling to even speak, much less keep his position. "In that case, I... agh... I have a suggestion for you."

Understandably confused, the Tinkerbat cocked an incredulous eyebrow as it warily scanned the man basically holding it hostage.

"I'm only gonna say this once, so open your ears... wherever they are. Beat it out o' here, go round up anybody in your crew that's still conscious in this place, an' run with your tails between your legs back t' your little Pirate Princess… or else, I'll take that knife over there an' pop you like a dusty balloon an' hunt down the rest o' your group myself…!"

The Tinkerbat, not receptive to the ultimatum handed down to it, scowled at the human. Its facial expression alone communicated that not only did it find the soldier's threat empty, it also found said threat made him sound crazy.

"I can tell by that look on your face… You… ergh… you think I'm playin'?" he asked, though he was not expecting a reply. And instead of waiting for one, he picked the Tinkerbat up. While standing and holding it by the back of its neck, Tay extended his arm forward and walked toward the pillar the henchman previously attempted to hide behind. "Maybe you need a reminder o' why you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," he further warned. "Take a look around." Doing as he instructed, the Tinkerbat took the moment to scan the rest of the sizable temple room. However, it failed to see what he was referring to. After a few seconds, Tay pulled it back so that it was looking at him. It maintained a stoic, displeased facial expression, which prompted the young man to walk back toward where he first ensnared the Tinkerbat, pick up the Combat Knife, and brandish it toward his adversary.

"After everything that happened here, I'm still standin', while every single one o' your crew members has been wiped out," he warned, his voice low and laced with tightly contained anger. "I ain't talkin' about just this room, either. Whatever shadows you an' all the other cronies o' that crazy pirate woman crawled out of t' try an' get the drop on me, it didn't work out for you. You might've destroyed all the monsters in here before they could properly defend themselves, but the minute your crew crossed paths with some folks who stood a chance against you, you lost…! I alone beat at least forty o' you in this room alone, an' at this rate, I have no problem addin' at least one more t' that count," he threatened, inching the knife closer to the Tinkerbat, whose gaze widened in a show of concern for its own safety as it realized the berserk soldier's point. "It's clear that you little creeps ain't strong enough t' do anything on your own. Even in big numbers, you're still too weak t' handle one person. So, if you wanna provoke me t' rethink givin' you the easy way out, even with the atrocities your crew committed in this labyrinth, then go right ahead. I dare you!" he shouted, his grip on the Tinkerbat tightening enough for it to flinch in a mix of pain and increasing fear.

Appearing to suddenly see what the angry soldier was driving at, the Tinkerbat frantically raised its hands to its sides, waving them rapidly to communicate that, in no better terms, it agreed to stand down.

"Good," he contemptuously spat, tossing the Tinkerbat forward, where it landed on its back with a *THUD*. It picked itself up enough to take in the towering form of the silver-eyed monster of a human that spared it as it slowly rose back to its feet. "Now go get whatever friends you have left an' get out o' here before I change my mind. An' make your retreat a hasty one."

The Tinkerbat, uncertain of if it was truly being offered a chance to live to see another day or if the human was merely giving it a head start before he hunted it down, slowly backed away. However, it kept its gaze firmly locked on the young man in the case that he did do something… anything at all that would warrant it to make one last attempt to defend itself. Tay, watching the Tinkerbat slowly creeping its way backward, quickly lost his patience.

"Did I st-stutter?" he sarcastically and rhetorically asked as he remained stationary. "I'm sorry. Maybe I'll make myself clear one more time before things get real ugly for you…" he informed before taking a deep breath and… "GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" he hollered so loudly that I'm almost positive anyone from outside the labyrinth could've heard it and would've had to cover their ears. This did effectively get the message across, however, as the Tinkerbat turned and fled in a panicked frenzy without even attempting to pick up a weapon. While the Tinkerbat was running, a sudden, earthen shift of stones grinding against one another made itself apparent as it headed toward the noise. Tay turned to observe that, on the other end of the room, the entrance he initially waked through had reopened, allowing the Tinkerbat a means of escape. After watching the cowardly crony of Risky Boots flee to safety, he took a moment to breathe and recuperate. However, as soon as the sense of urgency had vanished from the room, a sudden, sharp pain in his head overtook him.

"Gaaagh…! Aarrraaagh…!" he choked out, stumbling about before collapsing on one knee while holding his head again. He dropped his knife and began taking in sharp, shaky breaths as his entire body began to tremble immensely like it had done at least once during his time in the Sheared Spool Shrine. Only, this episode was not borne from simple paralyzing anxiety. Rather than temporarily lose total awareness of his surroundings like he did last time, he remained entirely conscious… and entirely in searing pain, as the aches in his head rapidly spread to his shoulders, followed by his arms, followed by his abdomen, followed by his legs, and then followed by his hands and feet. "Aagh…! What's… happenin'…?" he barely managed to utter through the frequent and persistent sharp, agonizing stings that ripped across his body for what felt like hours. "Aahaaagh!" he cried out again, stretching his arms out and throwing his head back while planting both knees on the ground.

With a sudden, final *whoosh* of what seemed like thin air, Tay fell forward, catching himself on his hands while he remained on his knees. Panting heavily as though he'd spent a solid, literal day sprinting away from a pack of lions, he stared at the ground. Watching beads of sweat trickle from his face onto the floor, he blinked a few times to clear up his vision… at which point, he noticed the last vestiges of the fading midnight purple steam-like fumes emitting from his hands. At the same time, the intense, irritating tingling in his body quickly died down to near nonexistence. Despite this, Tayshan's limbs still felt as though he'd over-trained, with sporadic aches making themselves apparent as he rose to a stand. The sluggishness of his movements further exemplified his fatigue as he gingerly rose to a stand.

After standing tall and stretching, he took a moment to peer at his hands. They were still trembling, though nowhere near as much as they were a moment ago. He flexed his fingers to find that, while they felt stiff and achy, they still worked. However, what couldn't escape the soldier's mind was what came over him… what that glow was that he glimpsed emanating from his hands before it vanished… and, as he turned his attention toward the rest of the room to take in the sight of all the tattered red cloths strewn messily about, in addition to all the used weapons, and crumbled piles of oxidized marble that used to be statues… and worse, what exactly happened between him nearly being captured by the Tinkerbats and letting that last one run away.

"Man… What… happened t' me…?" he questioned in total befuddlement as he continued to scan the room with his eyes. As he looked on, he took in the pungent aroma of wet plant life, mixed with the fragrance of hot metal, sweat, and gunpowder. He also took in the overwhelming, eerie silence of the atmosphere, wondering how things could go from being loud enough to wake anyone up within a 30-mile radius, to being so quiet that one could hear a feather floating through the air to gently touch the ground. As his senses absorbed the environmental stimuli (or lack thereof), he was suddenly hit with a rush of not-so-fond recent memories. It was like the entire battle played itself in fast-forward in his head. He remembered the siren Melody's dying words… her rather disheartening departure… his vow to avenge her and the other inhabitants of the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth… the sudden drop-in of the small army of Tinkerbats… the short, perilous scuffle that resulted in him being overwhelmed and nearly wrapped up in their clutches… and then… the rest of it seemed like a blur… but he remembered what happened immediately before the blur, nonetheless. The sudden, sharp bursts of unbearable pain, the immeasurable frustration aimed in multiple directions, the burgeoning anger, the monumental increase in his physical strength… his crushing disappointment in himself and his allies… all nice and mixed in with an insatiable thirst for destruction the likes of which he'd never experienced before… and, as he pondered just what those feelings were and how they grew so extreme that they contributed to his sudden, almost total loss of awareness, he suddenly heard a familiar voice in his head.

"However dire the circumstances, do not let your passions burn you…" the words, spoken through the memory of the urgent warning he received days earlier, rang fresh in his mind as though someone were right there to speak it directly to him. In that moment, he also flashed back to a series of other memories of a similar experience in Genie's Hem, in addition to the conversation that he and Shantae had following the body-swap ordeal, where he'd also gone berserk with inconsolable wrath and lashed out without regard to his or anyone's safety. It was then that he reached a couple of harrowing conclusions…

"…That jackal lady was right…" he murmured, frightened by the mere thought of one of her predictions coming true. "…So, that's what she meant? Insane…" he further mumbled, looking back at his hands for a moment before shaking himself out of his mesmerized stupor as he went to pick up the Combat Knife and stare intently at it, seeming to contemplate if he should continue to use it. "I hoped it wouldn't be an issue, but after it happened twice, there's no denyin' it. Even after what she said about washin' it out, an' even though I'm not in homegirl's body anymore, I can still be taken over by Dark Magic…" he deciphered, though the realization dug a miles-deep pit in his stomach as he sheathed the blade. As he did so, he noticed that his gun holster was empty. He breathed a very heavy, pressured sigh, wiping his dry, itchy eyes before brushing his hands down his face before moving to walk down to the battlefield to find his pistol. "Man… That's not good. That's not good at all… I need t' keep myself under control from now on. More importantly, I need t' find a way back t' Shantae an' Aashiq, so we can…" he was about to suggest of himself when his ear picked up a voice coming from behind him. "Wha…?" Tay questioned, spinning around to see no one behind him. Instead, he discovered that the voice, sounding like a young woman humming a string of beautiful, pitch-perfect notes, had been carrying down one of the two corridors to grace his ears.

"Hm… That voice don't sound familiar t' me, but whoever's singin' sounds incredible…" he observed, listening to the somber, soft, tone of the delicate, feminine voice as it uttered note after note. Of course, he remembered the final warning of the siren he'd avenged before his turbulent battle with Risky's minions. "Wait… If what Melody said was right, then it sounds like we might have a whole different monster on our hands now…" and, as he said this, he felt his body stiffen before he could take another step. The disembodied voice became stronger in his ears, forcing his body to lock up. "No…! No, come on…!" he urged himself as he attempted to resist the hypnotic allure of the woman's low and soothing voice. However, the voice suddenly began to hit a rapid series of high notes, to which Tay's body responded by automatically shifting and walking toward the pathway entrance whose frame glowed red. "No, wait…! Darn it, body, listen t' me…! You've been actin' on your own long enough, don't you think…?" he questioned, though he couldn't resist walking toward the entrance to what he was led to believe was the tomb of the fabled Lady Radiyah. Try as his brain might to communicate the message, his body refused to obey. The voice hit another high note that threatened to burst the young man's eardrums, at which point Tay's body burst into an unwilling sprint down the red-lighted corridor. "No! Body, I command you t' stop! Wait! Aaagh…!" he continued to protest, though his body was apparently too enamored with the mellifluous tunes of disembodied voice coming from the other end of the labyrinth's final main tunnel to care.

Back in the underground…

"We're almost there!" Shantae announced as she and Aashiq sprinted through a narrow, trap-infested hall of nightmares. Just as she made her announcement, she was forced to dive low, sliding under an eruption of flames spewing from one of many massive lizard-shaped statues lined up throughout the pathway. Afterward, she rose to just barely miss being skewered by a spear that had come flying directly at her. Frantically, she sidestepped the sizable projectile, after which it found itself lodged with a *PLONG* into the doorway behind her. Having little time to process it, she pressed on, hopping over a giant hole in the floor that housed a bed of long, jagged, moss-covered stone spikes. Just as she cleared the gap, however, she landed on a shaky stone that forced her to leap forward and use her hair attack on a giant, rectangular, bright purple boulder that blocked her path. The unusual, indescribable, yet strangely rewarding sound made as it immediately shrunk into nonexistence clued her in that they were making progress. However, she was forced to both duck under another blast of statue flames before she was roasted alive. Then, at the last possible second, she was forced to hop to the side to avoid being taken down by another floor trap. Clearly, you can see that we were once again jumping right into the thick of it.

Meanwhile, Aashiq had been doing his best to keep up. He too, had been concentrating on remaining alive and uncooked as he crouched under a separate pillar of fire a couple yards behind his partner while being forced to play a death-defying game of hopscotch to avoid being ravaged in a random spike pit or swallowed up in the abyss below via any one of the dozens of dud floor tiles hidden throughout this dark, foggy corridor. Added to his challenges, however, was the fact that he had been basically running on fumes. The vibrant green glow in his hand was down to barely a flicker. His clothes were tattered and matted with dust and stains from various surfaces within the labyrinth. His breath was ragged and strained. His slender limbs ached and burned like he was lying on a hot frying pan. However, he stuck it out as best as he could. He leapt over the same giant spike-laden gap Shantae had cleared moments earlier. And by that time, Shantae had cleared enough of the odd, shrinking boulders out of their path that he was given what seemed to be an easy enough out. However, as he tiredly sprinted through the pathway she carved, another burst of flames spouted from another statue that seemed almost entirely hidden in the darkness.

"Whaah!" the poor young man cried out in panic, ducking and sprinting away from the controlled blaze as fast as he could. What was most unfortunate for him, however, was that in his efforts to escape imminent danger, he failed to notice the gap in the floor that used to house a fake floor tile. As he took the step, he was immediately thrown off. He tripped and suffered a brutal *THUMP* of a fall, tumbling forward with hardly an idea of what was happening. "Agh… Dear me, this… this is—Waah!" he was about to complain as he got up from being flat on his back. However, when he moved to roll over, he… well, rolled over the edge of another spike pit he did not notice. In a heavy panic, Aash reached anywhere and everywhere that might've saved him from meeting a gruesome end within the terrifying confines of this labyrinth. Thankfully for him, he was able to cling onto what felt like a vine or some rope-like material that hung close to the wall of the pit. However, his severe muscle fatigue proved to be a huge problem at the worst possible time. He barely had the strength to hang onto the rope. He was so low on magic that simply pulling himself out using it was out of the question. And, as though it really needed to be a problem right here, a sudden *CRACKLE* of the wall he'd been pressed against alerted him to the sight of the wall (in addition to the one opposing it) began to slowly close in as the spikes began retracting into the floor at the bottom of the pit.

At this point, Aashiq was in a lose-lose situation by just about all accounts. He was out of energy and was just about out of options for escape. If his grip faltered, he would fall into the spike pit. If his grip held, he would find himself crushed into paste by the encroaching walls. If he attempted to climb out of the pit, it could very well cost him the remainder of his energy, which would invariably lead to one of the other two painful choices of death. The distraught magician could do little but contemplate his impending doom as he immediately thought about just how much he regretted coming into this cesspit of misery and misfortune, that teemed with ferocious creatures and was rife with so many hazards and hidden traps that it made Hypno Baron's Castle look like a children's playhouse. Suffice to say, he was not really enjoying himself in this moment. However, he spent but a mere two seconds thinking about why he came here… and at that point, he realized he needed her more than anything.

"Shantae! I am in danger! I... I-I am stuck in this pit, and the walls threaten to close in on me!" he shouted as loudly as he could.

"Huh?" Shantae responded as she turned around, her heart sinking at just the sound of Aash's distress. She was at least a couple yards ahead, and the sounds of stones shifting in the distance frightened her nearly stiff. Of course, this sudden increase in her anxiety would do nothing to stop her from rescuing him. "Aash! I'm coming! Hang on!"

"I am trying, but my… my strength is fading fast, kanafeh…" he choked out, clutching the ropy material tighter as he huddled up in anticipation for what was about to happen to him. His hope in his survival dwindled in accordance with his waning energy. "I am… sorry for burdening you, but it appears this is… where I-!"

"No! Don't talk like that, Aash!" she shouted, sprinting back toward his position while sliding under another brutal rush of flames coming from one of the statues adjacent to her. Relying heavily on the Luminous Aquamarine, whose glow had long since begun to fade as a result of her overusing her magic, Shantae hopped and skipped over a spike pit that appeared not to be the one Aash was stuck in. "Do me a favor and keep talking! I'm on my way to save you, okay?" the half-genie suggested, dodging yet another flying spear right after she stepped on a trigger hidden on the floor.

"You need not worry about me, sweetheart…" he spoke barely above a whisper, though he continued to hold on. "It feels as though… in a moment, my fingers will give way… and even if they do not, this place appears to have a back-up plan…"

"Aashiq, don't give up! If it's the last thing I do, I swear I'll get you out of there!" Shantae pleaded, hopping over another hole in the ground as she made her way back. Soon enough, she reached his position. However, time was of the essence. As she shined her light into the pit, she noticed the numerous holes where there should've been spikes. She noticed that the walls of the pit were inching closer and closer by the second. The most harrowing sight, however, was the nigh-hopeless, terrified look on the young man's face as he continued trying to hold on. It was immediately apparent to her that he was too far down to reach with just a hand. He peered up at her, noticing the light shining down toward him.

"Shantae… I apologize…" he began, his voice wavering in a mix of sadness and fear as the walls grew closer and closer. "I… In the end, I was not a worthy partner for you… especially if this is how I would meet my end on my first-!"

"Stop!" she cried out to him, wasting not even a millisecond to hurriedly perform possibly the fastest belly dance maneuver she could've ever conceived. "I told you, Aash, I won't let you get hurt! Just hold on!" she hollered out as she, with a sudden *POOF*, morphed into her Spider form. She had a last-ditch plan to save her boyfriend from certain doom, but she knew right away that she only had one shot. She peered upward at the ceiling of the corridor, breathing a thankful sigh when she saw that it may have been low enough for her plan to work. Regardless, failure was not an option. With hardly any time to even consider the possibility, Spider-Shantae enacted her rescue maneuver. She bravely jumped into the pit, though she barely had enough room in her current form to do so. Her plan was not to dive in and try to stop the pit's walls from closing, however. She needed to simply swoop in and pull Aashiq out. Her Spider form gave her only viable option to do so. "Hang tight, Aash! I've got you!" she called to him, shooting a web straight up from her thorax as soon as she descended enough to wrap her humanoid arms around the Hypnotist apprentice's waist.

"Huh…? What is-?" Aash tried to question, though he was interrupted by the sudden *woosh* that came accompanied by him and Spider-Shantae being yanked out of the pit with unprecedented speed. Shantae proved fortunate, though only just barely. She felt each of her arachnid limbs scrape hard against the closing walls as she clutched her partner tightly in her humanoid arms. Nevertheless, she managed to zip herself, along with Aashiq, out of the pit just as the voluminous *SLAM* of the walls rocked the corridor. She found herself safely perched on the ceiling, though she would not be able to hold out for long with Aash in such an uncomfortable spot. As such, she peered down toward the ground and judged a safe spot for them to land. After watching a spray of flames dissipate just ahead, she carefully, yet quickly crawled toward the area and shot another web onto the ceiling. Once she was secure, Spider-Shantae lowered herself and Aash to the ground, where she detached the webbing, set him down, and *POOFed* back to her human form. "My word… Shantae… you-!"

"We'll talk in a second. Come on, let's get you out of this tunnel before it gets any worse for us," she urged, prompting him to look at her to see the glimmer in her eyes as she shot him an expression of immeasurable concern that shook him to his very core. Hit with a tempestuous wave of guilt at the fact that he made her so worried about him, coupled with him briefly flashing back to what he said to her when he thought he was going to meet his end… He couldn't stand the feeling. He resisted the urge to break down in front of her as he swallowed the massive knot in his throat. Finding the power to do so in that moment, he fought through his physical fatigue and stood as though he'd finally caught a second wind.

"I am ready, kanafeh," he assured her, pumping his fists after taking a deep breath to recompose himself. "Let us continue."

"Alright," she nodded, turning toward their destination at the end of the trap-infested dungeon hall. She couldn't help but keep her eyes on him as he stared right back at her. "We're basically at the door, so let's stick together. I'm guessing your magic's just about run out by now?"

"Indeed," he confirmed, briefly glancing at his hand to see that what little glow it exhibited was gone. "I am more or less spent."

"That's what I figured. Okay, just stick by me. We'll have to make this quick though, because I'm not sure how much longer I have with this gem Giga Mermaid gave me," she advised, noticing that the glow in her Luminous Aquamarine had dimmed a bit more. Before either of them would get the chance to converse further, Shantae took Aashiq by the hand and led him through the remainder of the corridor. It did not take long for them to reach the spot Shantae had reached before she went back to rescue Aashiq from the spike pit. It was a mere couple of leaps over additional pits, the avoidance of a spear switch she preemptively noted, and another period of ducking below an additional spray of flames from a statue they were approaching. Added to the mix was the fact that Shantae found herself occasionally needing to hair whip more of those strange blocks out of her way, each one making that unusually satisfying *PLEOUGH* sound as though someone were hitting the same keys on a piano with each boulder she struck with her hair. But, I digress.

Despite the continued challenges with navigating such a dark, dank, and thoroughly dangerous landscape, however, Shantae and Aashiq pulled through. With one more transformation by Shantae into her Harpy form, she piggybacked Aash once they reached the final spike pit (which was at least three times as wide and at least twice as deep) and, with as much strength as she could muster, flew them to the other side. Once they touched down on the dilapidated staircase leading to a single door whose frame glowed red-orange at the top, Shantae changed back to her human self. Together, she and Aash took a much-needed breather as they took in the fact that, despite everything but the kitchen sink being thrown at them, they survived. After a few moments of recuperating, Aash spoke.

"Shantae…?"

"Yeah?"

"I cannot put into words how eternally grateful I am that you have done so much for me since the beginning of our trip. I am of course, especially grateful that you saved me," he began, his heart thumping harder than closing pit walls (too soon?) as he found his gaze almost exclusively fixed on her. "I… I have caused you so much trouble, and you still pulled through and most graciously spared me such a horrible fate…"

"Aash, if you're going to say you owe me, you don't," she halted him as she straightened herself up with a stretch before standing tall and facing him. "I would never, ever let anything bad happen to you on my watch. If I did, I would never forgive myself."

"I understand, sweetie pie, but it certainly must be made evident that you are undoubtedly the most incredible person this planet has ever known," he praised, his nervousness growing as quickly as his appreciation of her as the two began scaling the stairs toward the open doorway. "You truly have my undying love and loyalty…"

"Oh… W-well, I-I appreciate that, um… b-babe…" she awkwardly responded as she nervously pressed her index fingers together, wanting to match his pet name for her with one of her own for him. The mere thought of calling Aashiq anything but his name or a certain alteration of it, however, sent poor Shantae's body temperature through the roof. Like, to the point where she could've possibly fried eggs on her rosy cheeks, she found herself so flustered. Trying not to seem too bothered by it, she cleared her throat before continuing. "…B-but like I said, you don't owe me anything. I'm a hero. H-heroes always do those sorts of things… it's fine…" Aash grinned wide at her reply, though he resisted the urge to gush at the moment she called him 'babe.'

"I am certain it is. I am all but compelled to express my gratitude, nevertheless. But, I also feel I must apologize for… for speaking in such a hopeless manner when I was trapped in the pit…" he hesitantly brought up, worried that his comments may have communicated a lack of faith in the half-genie's talents. "I did not mean to come across as though I had no faith in you…"

"Ah, don't worry about that," she casually dismissed. "People do that sort of thing all the time when they're unsure if they'll make it or not. Not to say I don't understand your feelings in that situation, but… as long as we're here together to even talk about it right now, it hardly matters what was said in the heat of the moment. I'm just thankful that you're safe, Aashiq," she added with a shrug as the two of them reached the doorway, which appeared to thankfully be lit with torches; the best sign they'd seen since they began their undersea, underground voyage. Granted, neither Shantae nor Aashiq immediately took this into account. They were too busy staring at one another as they froze, their hearts collectively pounding as they grew steadily more awkward around one another… as in, a nearly tangible awkwardness that only grew with the longer they continued to stare at each other without saying anything. Before TOO long (which was only 2.32 seconds away), Aash spoke once more.

"…Shantae, I… I swear, if we had the opportunity, I could kiss you right now…" he blurted out, thereby completely blowing my last statement of the increasing awkwardness out of the (literal AND proverbial) water. At that, the half-genie gasped in a mix of shock, surprise, astonishment, bewilderment, befuddlement… uh, discombobulation… a-and every synonym for surprise and confusion that either you or I might know at this moment. Suffice to say, she was taken aback by his suggestion. Of course, considering they were a couple, it shouldn't have been an issue, but like… wow, how sudden.

"Oh! Uh… o-okay, wow… That's… wow…" she stammered, her cheeks flushing so hard that one would swear her head would explode like the end of an overheated thermometer. In a sudden rush of anticipation and… well, more anticipation, Shantae turned and began furiously wringing her ponytail while keeping her wide, side-eyed gaze locked on the young guy, who'd read every nervous tic and stutter uttered by his significant other… By the way, NONE of that was supposed to rhyme the way it did. Total accident. I am not a poet by any means. Anyway…

"O-oh, dear!" Aash yelped, his own face flushing redder than a cardinal's feathers as he realized just what romantic havoc he'd unwittingly wrought. "I-I did not mean that, kanafeh! I-I was speaking figuratively! As in, I was just expressing my appreciation of you, n-not, er… um, expressing my desire to kiss you."

"Oh. O-okay, got it," Shantae acknowledged with a shaky nod, though that did not seem to do the trick.

"Oh my, that sounds too harsh. I mean, I would certainly enjoy kissing you, b-but, I am certain that you would say this is not an appropriate time," he further confessed, throwing the poor girl for another loop as she froze again. "And even if it was, I would only do it if I had your permission. But it would be more out of appreciation for you because you-!"

"Aashiq!" Shantae called out, sparing her brain the misfortune of being fried to a crisp as a result of the six million thoughts running through it as a result of Aashiq's bold, awkward confession.

"Y-yes, kanafeh?" Aash finally stopped, though he looked at her with such nervousness and apprehension that the half-genie likened it to a kitten who'd just been welcomed into a comfy new home.

"I totally get what you mean, but let's take just a second to breathe before we move on," she suggested, letting out a rattled sigh as she tried to ease her nerves. "We really need to get going with finding Tayshan. I can't sense the Dark Magic anymore. I'm not picking up on any sounds of him screaming, either. Something tells me that we might've caught up to him, either way," she further explained, thankfully changing the subject. "I have a feeling that he's still okay for right now, but we need to go and make sure."

"Oh! R-right, of course," Aash agreed with an energetic nod, equally as thankful that she changed the subject… Although, he remained on-edge as a result of his perception that he royally messed up her idea of him. And that nagging bug on his shoulder unfortunately wrote the signs all over his face. "Habibi needs us, so we must make haste. Okay, I am ready when you are."

"Awesome…" she agreed, thereby giving the go-ahead to… well, go ahead. However, if it were so simple, the two of them would've gone on, and I would've come up with another convenient excuse to end the chapter right here as I monologued about what you should expect next time. However, because teenage love is a mysterious, painfully fickle, and undeniably socially unskilled beast all on its own, we are instead forced to acknowledge the fact that neither Shantae nor Aashiq moved a muscle when they said they would. They continued fidgeting with themselves, their eyes darting about as Shantae attempted to build the nerve to move already, while Aash waited for her to make the move. If I was there, lemme tell ya… I'd have been carrying a giant picket sign that read 'Go Find Your Friend Already! He Might Be That Way!' with a giant red arrow artfully painted on it that would quite literally show them the door. Alas, I was not, and as a result, we get to finish off with this little gem. Ahem! I'm ranting. Sorry. Anyway…

"…Shantae? Are… you ready?" Aash hesitantly inquired, wondering why they hadn't moved yet.

"Yeah, but I was just thinking…" the young half-genie shared, twirling her fingers through her ponytail as she focused on the nervous Hypnotist standing before her.

"Thinking, you say?"

"Y-yeah…"

"About what?"

"Well… uh… y'know… about… that thing you suggested…"

"Thing? What thing?"

"You know… what you said earlier. I was thinking m-maybe… if we could… um…" she stammered and stuttered, wanting to bring up a certain topic that we surely had no idea about. "…do… a thing… f-for confirmation…?" she vaguely hinted in such a manner that made sure absolutely no one would guess what she was talking about. "Just… a… a quick one… y'know…?" she continued to nervously beat around the bush.

"Shantae! Are you asking… what I think you are asking?" Aash inquired, failing to mask his excitement at the prospect. "Would you… perhaps… actually like a… a kiss? For good luck before we head on?" he somehow expertly deciphered from the minimal hints he was given.

"Well… I meant more like… to make this… relationship official, but one for good luck works, too. I was… uh, also thinking about reassurance… because… like… I um… I feel like we… both could use it…?" she sheepishly admitted, bringing her hands to her face, where she began her ages-old habit of nibbling on her finger.

"B-but of course, my love!" he ecstatically agreed, though he froze for a second before sighing away some of his mountainous anticipation. "Indeed, I could most certainly benefit from some… er, reassurance… and luck… Erm, in that case, let us confirm our newfound love before we continue our trek… if that is what you are suggesting… but, are you sure you would like to do it now? Are you certain that we are not moving too fast?"

"N-no," she denied, though the mere thought nearly caused her to panic. "I mean… we've known each other a long enough time before this, and I don't think I'd have a problem with it by now. Maybe you're right, though. Do you think I'm being too hasty? If you do, then I'm sorry for putting you on the spot…"

"Of course, I have no issue with it, sweetheart!" Aash cheered, though he kept up his efforts to contain himself. "I agree that we are very familiar with one another. And I suppose if you are comfortable with it, then so am I. I also suppose we must start somewhere."

"My thoughts exactly," she concurred with a sigh of marginal relief, though the romantic tension continued to build. "Okay, then. Just a quick one to um… t-to calm our nerves, and then we have to go. Uh… Sound good?"

"Very good. Lead the way, kanafeh…" Aash permitted as he took another breath and awaited the golden moment. Shantae, having just about run out of words to ramble with, swallowed hard before approaching her significant other. Aashiq mirrored her movements as they closed the distance between themselves. Soon enough, they were face to face, staring intently into each other's hotly blushing faces. Each of them tremored in a mix of fear, excitement, and anticipation, seeming to be waiting for the other to make the first move. Everything surrounding the couple seemed to melt into a messy, foggy blur as they remained stiff and unable to even fathom what they were about to do. However, Shantae knew that she didn't have all day to gather up the courage to kiss her boyfriend. As in, Aashiq, the young man standing before her… that she still couldn't believe was actually, factually her boyfriend. She found her mind going almost entirely blank as she tried to process it all. However, one constant thought did at least run through her mind.

Her other adventuring partner, no matter how safe she felt he was at this moment, had been separated from the group for an extended period that would make anyone uncomfortable with any added time away from one another. Certainly, the sudden disappearance of the dark omen she'd experienced on her way to this spot shouldn't have meant the danger she sensed was entirely gone. She recognized that. Heck, she almost didn't consider the possibility that the disappearance of the sinister energy signature meant something terrible had happened to her sidekick. Regardless, that thought unfortunately introduced an intense nervous pang in her stomach as she almost completely lost her will to follow through with her 'reassurance' technique. As such, she mentally urged herself to simply drop this 'kiss' thing and move on. It was just… the chance was finally here, after so long, and after such an unpredictably wild roller coaster ride of conflicting emotions… What would stop her from just planting one on the young man before her and making things official before they continued on their quest? Why couldn't she move? Why did her body feel like she'd been tied up with hundred-degree rope? Before she rode this turbulent train of racing thought for too long, nevertheless…

"Shantae? We do not have to do this if…" Aash mostly suggested before he trailed off, his excitement turning to worry as he continued to examine her blushing face. He would not get to finish that statement, for reasons you are about to find out.

"…D'oh…! Okay! Here goes nothing!" Shantae announced after expelling as much hesitation as she could. In a flustered, blurry rush, the jittery young woman slipped her clammy hands onto Aash's cheeks, puckered her lips, and swiftly closed the distance as she shut her eyes. The second her lips met his, a cyclone of what felt like electricity coursed through her entire body as she absorbed the encapsulating feeling of Aashiq's lips against her own. Disregarding the fact that she of all people could possibly do something so impulsive, she felt the entire world around her completely vanish. She felt such an intense, enrapturing burst of excitement shroud every inch of her body as she instinctively strengthened her grip on him as she pulled him closer in her total exhilaration. She had felt this rush before, which initially concerned her. Although, as her lips remained locked with Aash's, she quickly grew fond of the overwhelming joy and intense happiness that their tender, innocent embrace constituted. She almost couldn't get enough. It certainly didn't help that she'd had this experience once before, but it was ironically because of that, that she enjoyed it as much as she did this time around. Y'know, because this was actually of her own volition this time, in case I need to unnecessarily clarify.

Aash, in much the same manner, felt his stomach explode with so much excitement that he'd sworn he'd have awakened from a dream, only to completely and literally explode in his bedroom upon waking. However, he did not black out. He did not suddenly lose awareness of his surroundings the same way one would when a dream was about to end… although, he certainly did feel something very close to it. After the initial rush, he remained still to process it… and, as he had hoped, it was real. His lips were pressed against those of his favorite half-genie… who, as far as the context would have him believe, he could call his girlfriend. He found his surprise quickly turning into complete and undeniable amorous bliss as his gaze grew half-lidded and his hands automatically attached themselves to the young woman's hips as he also pulled her closer to him. At this point, he realized that this was happening. This was really, REALLY happening. He and Shantae… they were really kissing. They were really kissing! And it was every bit as glorious as he had dreamed. No, it was more glorious. Like, a TON more glorious. The very instant she kissed him, he felt all the air leave his lungs like it was sucked out by a vacuum cleaner. Of course, before either one of them got so swept away by the irresistible enchantment that came with the experience of sharing their first kiss, the two separated with a surprisingly loud *pop*. Each of them equally stunned by what just happened, they continued to blushingly stare at the other as though they suddenly grew second heads.

"…Oh… my…" Aash breathlessly murmured, wobbling a bit as he felt almost like fainting on the spot.

"There… I-I did it… I… I really did it…" the flustered young maiden spoke, though more to herself than her partner as she continued wrestling with the fact that she kissed a boy… well, again, but like… this time, there were no conditions or compromises to be made. It was as it should've been; two people who really like each other, proving it by willingly pressing their lips to one another's for a few seconds at a time. Simple enough, but the experience far outmatched any words that could be used to describe such a wonderful phenomenon. Realizing however, that she and Aash still had a mission to complete, she snapped herself out of her enamored stupor as best as she could. "So… how do you feel now… h-hon?" she again innocently tried to ask.

"Ha… ha haha ha… haaaa…" Aash incoherently hummed (or laughed, or… or something) as he continued to waver back and forth with literally the goofiest, toothiest, and… dare I say, the most adorable nerve-wracked grin on his face as his eyes lazily drifted toward the ceiling. "That… was… so much more amazing than I could have ever hoped…" he further babbled as he lost himself in thought about what just happened to him. Without saying too much, it seemed like Shantae may have laid it on a bit too thick.

"Oops… I might've overdone it a little…" she remarked in a mixture of embarrassment and charmed humor as she resisted the urge to giggle at her boyfriend's disorientation. "Sorry about that, Aash. A-anyway, let's go!" she suggested, grabbing her dazed and confused comrade by the hand and more or less dragging him along as they finally continued their efforts to locate their third teammate. And NOW, reader, would be that wonderfully inconvenient time for me to cut out for another break. I've been trying not to get too long-winded with these extensive excerpts, but y'know… I also don't want to leave you hanging. And hey, if you made it this far, then I must be doing SOMETHING right. Either way, I will at least let you know that when we come back, we will be drawing this monstrous underwater journey to its titanic conclusion. But then, I'm sure the most pressing question you're probably thinking about right now (amongst many others) is what happened to Tayshan after he was involuntarily led deeper into the catacombs of the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth. And believe me, you won't want to miss what I have in store for you next time. So, bring your sturdiest running shoes and your best pair of track pants, because we'll be in the home stretch next time we meet! Just stick it out and pace yourself, and we'll get to that finish line together! Alright, till next time!