Chapter 15: Reunion
Why, hello there! Glad to see you back! It certainly has been a little while since we last reconvened to sift through the action-packed thrills associated with this wacky series of adventures throughout the fabled realm of Sequin Land. And, for better or for worse, I gotta let you know that the ride's almost over. How much longer do we have left, you might ask? Unfortunately, I will not be answering that straight-up. If you've tolerated my senseless babbling for this long over the course of… what does it say up there…? Fifteen chapters, not including those that were broken up into parts, or the occasional gap-bridging excerpts? Yeah, that's a lot of chapters for any given story, no matter how big or small. Anyway, if you've stuck around this long, then I certainly hope you're ready to hit the home stretch. You can't say I didn't warn you that this would be a pretty hefty journey for us to embark on. All that considered, I at least feel confident enough to tell you that I'm… actually both impressed and honored by such an incredible achievement on your part for sticking it through. Just… don't tell anyone I said that, alright? I hate getting all sentimental and gunk… Now, excuse me for a minute while I toss this onion out of my window. It really irritates the eyes, y'know? Don't ask what that onion was doing here, by the way. You will not get an answer for it.
Oh! R-right, I'm supposed to be giving you the scoop on what happened immediately following the two-pronged Tinkerbat tussles that took place in both Scuttle Town and in the Baron Desert. Uh… Now, we left off with Bolo, Twitch, and Vinegar banding together and putting their skills to work protecting Scuttle Town from an early-morning Tinkerbat ambush, buying Shantae just enough time to recover and eradicate all of Risky's forces in the area with a single belly dance… that blew up all the Tinkerbats immediately, thus solving a huge problem in mere minutes that otherwise should've taken a couple hours at the least. Meanwhile, a certain hero-turned-unwilling-villain Tayshan had been forced into servitude under Risky, but had deliberately planned a merciless calculated ambush on a struggling Ammonian Army camp in the middle of a thunderstorm; which, the assault left most of Ammo Baron's remaining troops incapacitated, and only ended when Techno Baron swooped in with an Ammonian plane and saved Ammo Baron from certain doom… or at least, he tried.
And, as we left off, the plane in question had crashed somewhere deep within the mostly abandoned, bug-infested, grassy savannah known as the Tittle-Tattle Plains while Shantae raced over toward the crash site in the form of an avian chimera. Okay… All caught up now? Good, because I don't know if I could do any better to even attempt to make logical sense of anything I just told you. I'm sure you're dying to find out what happened next either way, so I'll stop prattling on and finally get into it. So, let's dig in…
LOCATTON: TITTLE-TATTLE PLAINS, SCUTTLE TOWN OUTSKIRTS, SEQUIN LAND
DATE: OCTOBER 2ND, 16 P.G.F.
TIME: 1115 HOURS
We begin our latest turbulent escapade in the air, where Harpy-Shantae was soaring over what may as well have been an ocean of waning golden thickets with splashes of polychromatic, yet very poisonous-looking flora; some of which was teeming with swirling vortexes of flying insects that looked like they'd devour a full-grown cow in under an hour. Making sure to stay high, Harpy-Shantae kept her focus on the billowing smoke cloud directly in her path in the distance. The closer she got, the thicker and denser the smoke from what she presumed to be the doomed Ammonian aircraft appeared. By no means, however, should it be interpreted that the plane landed close to the edge of town, where she'd begun her search for her estranged partner and their mutual enemies.
"Ah… Hah… Hah…" the avian-formed half-genie panted, already running low on breath as she continued to scour the incredibly inhospitable, weed-and-bug-infested landscape. "Ah… Man… I might've overdone it with that Obliterate spell, because I'm swamped already…" she complained as she flapped her wings as hard as she could to stay afloat. "I've only got but so much time before my transformation wears off, so I'd better hurry…!" she urged herself, grimacing with a mixture of residual pain and fatigue as she picked up the pace. In that moment, however, Shantae's form began to flash on and off like a light switch being played with. It appeared as though she was about to inadvertently transform back to her normal self at the worst time imaginable. "No, no, no, no, come on…! Just a bit… more…! Hah…!" she continued to verbally motivate herself, though it became increasingly difficult for her to do so with her already almost depleting her magic reserves to save Scuttle Town. She pressed on valiantly, hoping for a few different things at once; those things being that A. She would at least be able to find somewhere to land and recuperate if she didn't make it to her destination in time, B. That the people she was looking for would just show up already, or C. That if her transformation did give out, the resulting fall wouldn't hurt too much.
Luckily for our wonderful one-woman search and rescue crew, she began to pick up faint *pops* and *booms* of what sounded like Boss Battle explosions. The familiar sound alone was enough to clue her in that she was definitely headed in the right direction. A couple of much louder, more conclusive *Kabooms* could be heard from the same direction, definitely cluing her in that she was on the right track. However, the noises didn't end there. After the explosions subsided, she continued to hear strange, yet human-like grunts coming from somewhere down below. Even luckier, when she looked ahead, she could see… the faint image of the mangled, twisted, burnt-up remains of an airplane. The stench of burning plants filled her nose as she approached. And as she got closer, the sounds of roasting foliage and effortful grunting grew louder. The grunts of effort had also suddenly (and rhythmically) been joined by shouts of complete agony from another source. At this point, the grunting also came accompanied by a steady rhythm of *Thwack* after *Thwack* after *Thwack* that had no ostensible end. This, frighteningly enough, came equipped with a growing sense of dread as she hurriedly approached what looked like a grisly crime scene. The dread would only grow exponentially when the sound of someone screaming at the top of their lungs filled her ears.
Within another tense few seconds, the image of two people… and some sort of miniature green-skinned animal came into view. As it appeared, they were all in a giant, circular clearing where the weeds had been matted down to the ground. She wasn't able to conclusively identify this image at first until she drew nearer to the persons of interest… and what she saw immediately horrified her. Upon further inspection, it looked like one shirtless, frazzled looking man with poofy hair and glowing orange scars all over his body was standing over another, bigger, even more frazzled looking man (whose hair was in a messy little ponytail and who presented with no immediate visible scars yet) while armed with a certain metal-headed, frazzled looking reptilian creature. As it turned out, it was the reptilian creature who'd been shouting in peril as he had also been complaining in what sounded like total indignation. Worse yet, it looked like the smaller man was trying to beat the bigger man to death… using the metal-headed lizard as his weapon of choice as the bigger man tried to crawl away using only one arm.
"Ah, there they are! Here I come!" Harpy-Shantae exclaimed, identifying these strange individuals as the people she'd been looking for. As the flashing around her entire body grew more rapid, the half-genie tried to descend toward the troubled individuals, one of which she identified as her 'former' ally. Just when fate found it most appropriate, however, Shantae unwillingly changed back to her flightless human self with a sudden *POOF* that immediately tipped her off that her landing was going to be ANYTHING but pretty. "…Uh-oh…" she barely managed to utter in sheer terror. Thankfully, the intuitive young lady knew exactly what to do when she found herself suddenly and helplessly plummeting toward almost guaranteed earthen doom at terminal velocity from at least a few hundred feet up. And wouldn't you know? She was doing it! She was actually doing it! Doing what, you ask? Why, silly reader… Clearly, Shantae was flailing and panicking as she hurtled through the thick, chilly air, barreling directly toward her friend-turned-potential-enemy. "WAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAGH!" she most eloquently bellowed to signify that she was as good as a splattered can of red paint if a miracle didn't save her hide at that exact moment. Speaking of which…
On the ground below…
"DIE ALREADY!" a most impatient and thoroughly aggravated young alien(ish) soldier with a notably distorted voice shouted as he swung his weapon, which had been screaming various eloquent obscenities at him. Without warning, a dense, metallic *PLACK* rung out as the disgruntled weapon (a lizard in a suit with some sort of bell-shaped bucket on his head) smacked its head against the back of a gigantic, muscular, one-eyed man who'd been trying to escape the situation with his life.
"Gagh! Okay, kid, stop! You win! You wi-!" the disheveled and thoroughly worn-out cyclopean man conceded as another *PLANG* of the iron-faced lizard against his back sent a whirlwind of pain through his body. "Oww! What is your major malfunction!? Are you seriously gonna try an'-!?" the man tried to ask.
"Hrah!" the other man shouted, followed by another *PWANG* of his weapon against the other man's back.
"Agh! Come on! You're gonna try an' beat me to death using Techno Baron as the murder weapon!?" the man managed to ask just as his would-be assassin wound up for another merciless swing of what was apparently a Techno Baron-shaped weapon at him. Oh, wait, no. I misspoke. Turns out, that actually was Techno Baron in the corrupted soldier's hand.
"You disreputable degenerate! How dare you reduce the mighty and illustrious Techno Baron to the status of a mere bludgeoning tool! You could at least do me the honors of—! WHOAAAH!" Techno Baron tried to plead before he found himself being swung downward from a good seven feet high, where his face was most graciously met with yet another *PLAKKANG* against the back of the other man's head.
"Agh! OWWW! Jeez, what is the MATTER with you!? Argh, that felt like bein' hit with a crocodile-shaped bat…!" the one-eyed man complained in unspeakable pain, clutching the back of his head with one hand. Oddly enough, he hadn't even attempted to make use of his other arm, which had just been lying limp at his side as though he couldn't move it. Huh. I certainly wonder why that is.
"Ugh, just shut UP!" the extraterrestrial soldier shouted as he raised Techno Baron up high by his leg, evidently not amused by his soon-to-be victims' constant jabbering in the midst of him trying to kill them both. "You two clowns never stop talkin'! I guess I gotta gag you before I k-! Agh…!" the man complained before he flinched in what appeared to be a sudden jolt of pain. Immediately dropping the blunt object currently known as Techno Baron, who'd hit the ground with a solid *THUD*, the man pressed a hand to his head. "Ah…! Hah…" he panted, rubbing his forehead before standing tall, looking straight ahead into the distance. Though he still appeared somewhat disoriented, he was aware enough of his surroundings that he could pick up the unpleasant sound of someone other than the two Barons screaming in the distance. Certainly not helped by this was the sudden, intense feeling of dread that only grew with each passing second.
"What the…?" the one-eyed man murmured, turning his head toward the sudden noise, though his range of motion was hampered by the fact that he was still on the ground in terrible pain. "Do… do I hear yelling…?" At that, the non-Ammonian soldier sighed in vexation as he lowered his hand, seeming to know what was up.
"…In about three seconds, I'm gonna turn around an' look up. An' when I do, Shantae is gonna be flyin' in toward me like an out-o'-control missile ready t' destroy the first thing she hits," he flatly predicted with… a most questionably specific level of detail. Before anyone could ask exactly what he meant, he did exactly as he said he would. The Dark Magic-infested young man casually turned around and looked toward the sky to see a most adorable, panicking purple-haired, mocha-skinned, red-and-gold garbed young woman barreling toward him with no way to stop herself.
"D'AAAAAAAAAAAH!" this not-so-mysterious young lady shouted in unmistakable horror. At that, the man sighed as he, in a most unexpected turn of events, remained in position with no intent to move out of the way. Instead, he bent his knees a bit and stretched his arms out toward the woman in peril.
"…Yep. Yyyyyyye-!" he was about to revel (read: lament) in the fact that he was 100% correct just as the woman in question smacked full-force right into him with a most resounding *PLARCK* of their bodies against one another. "Gohhogh!" the man shouted, having been knocked HARD off his feet as he wrapped his arms around the life-sized, human/genie football he'd just caught. After sailing through the air a few feet, the corrupted soldier hit the ground with a horrifying *PLOP* flat on his back before sliding across the weeds and dirt for at least another foot and a half. "…Ohh-hoh-hoh-hoh-ow…!" he barely managed to squeak out in incredible agony as he remained on the ground, letting go of the woman to splay his arms out.
"Urgh… Ooh, what a landing… Remind me never to fly while low on magic ever again…" the woman we all knew as Shantae murmured, climbing to her knees while remaining seated while not even realizing she inadvertently defeated the evil Tayshan without even needing to fight him. Try wrapping your head around how this miraculously worked out. I dare you. Anyway... Shaking her head and taking a deep breath to reorient herself, she found her recuperation process interrupted by the sight of something glowing silver below her. "Hm…?" she hummed, wiping her eyes and reopening them to get the full image of a most familiar-looking comrade of hers scowling at her in complete disapproval for her unceremonious entrance. Rather than be confused or intimidated, however, she found herself… oddly overjoyed. "Tayshan!" she cheered with the brightest of smiles on her face, seeming to momentarily ignore the fact that he had been corrupted. With utmost haste, she bent down as she remained straddled over him, and roped him into the tightest hug she'd ever given him. "You saved me! Thank you so much! I'm so glad!"
"Gaahck…! What are you doin' here…? Why are you huggin' me…?" he tried to speak, though he found it hard when his estranged mentor was affectionately crushing his windpipes.
"I'm hugging you because I'm relieved to see you're alive!" she answered, still hugging him as he rolled over onto his side. Wrapping one arm around his attacker's midsection, he used the other one in conjunction with his legs to gingerly push himself back to his feet. Not seeming to get the hint, however, the half-genie continued to latch onto him as she continued to squeeze his face into her shoulder. Considering the height difference between the two, Shantae's legs comically dangled in midair as she held on. "I was worried sick about you," she added as Tayshan attempted to pull her off him to no avail.
"Hmph. That's fantastic," he flatly retorted, showing none of the same appreciation that she had as he continued trying to release himself from her grasp.
"Oh, don't be like that, Tay. I know we didn't leave off on such a good note last time we spoke, but you were worried about me as well, weren't you?" she asked.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about," he declined to answer. "Now, let go o' me."
"Ah, I knew you'd still be sour about seeing me again…" she lamented, though she still didn't let go of him as he asked. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said the other day. I didn't mean it. We were upset, and I was just frustrated about everything that happened. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"What?" he asked, so caught off-guard by the half-genie's apology that he'd stopped trying to wrest himself from her iron grip. "You have such poor timin', homegirl. I'm kinda in the middle o' somethin'. Can we not do this now?"
"If not now, then when? I know you're working for Risky Boots now, and I know you're apparently trying to kill Ammo Baron and Techno Baron for what happened to us yesterday," she asserted, shocking him even stiffer as he reeled back and looked her in the eye. "I know Ammo Baron set you up and sold you out to Risky, but that's no reason for you to turn to the Dark side, Tay! No matter what you're thinking right now, I hope you know you're still my friend."
"How in the world did you…?" he tried to ask, though he didn't know where to begin.
"We were put through a REALLY messy situation by Risky, and that goes without saying, but I can't let you descend any further down the path of evil to do her bidding!" she further asserted as she loosened her grip and landed on the weed-covered ground on her feet. "I don't want to have to fight you, either. Come on, I kn-!"
"Okay, hold up," Tay interrupted, waving his hands in front of himself to be granted a moment to speak. "You're throwin' a lot at me right now, an' I've got a few questions for you. But first, let me clarify that despite the fact that I look an' sound like this…" he trailed off, emphasizing his statement by extending his arms out from his sides to notify Shantae that he was aware of how he presented. "…I am NOT workin' for that horrible pirate woman," he declared, much to the shock of not only Shantae, but also Ammo Baron, who'd still been lying on the ground next to Techno Baron… who was also surprised to hear Tay's claim.
"Not working for her!? What!?" Ammo Baron yelled, evidently displeased. "Then what did you destroy my base and nearly kill us for!?"
"You, because you an' your cronies got me captured an' tortured by Risky, after which she tried t' turn me int' her enforcer, like I told you before. I also told you I'd come back t' make you regret it, an' now look what happened. The crocodile, because he was helpin' you set everybody else up for failure," he answered, glaring at the defeated Bosses. "Doesn't help that the crocodile apparently also tried t' waste the others himself."
"You destroyed Ammo Baron's base?" Shantae asked in shock, causing Tay to look at her with a… surprisingly neutral expression on his face.
"Yeah," he plainly replied.
"Why would you do that? That's not like you at all…"
"Hmph. How naïve of you t' say," he tersely retorted. "As I just mentioned t' that fool, he needed t' be taught the consequences o' sellin' out his allies for his own gain."
"Uh-huh… and… did Risky order you to do that?"
"No, but she did agree t' let me 'prove my worth' by takin' him down before he got the chance t' strike back. I just got a bit o' personal satisfaction out o' breakin' Ammo Baron down. His crew just happened t' be in the way. Otherwise, it would've just been him I attacked."
"…Oh…" she murmured, seeming to be sorely disappointed in hearing his claim. Oddly hit with a sudden, overwhelming sense of guilt as he read the sadness in her eyes, the corrupted soldier sighed, shaking his head before he continued.
"I… also agreed t' do it t' get far enough away from Risky t' pull another little 'stunt' in your favor, but I got sidetracked when these two idiots tried t' escape in that plane that crashed back over there," he additionally revealed as he pointed back toward the smoking wreckage of the aircraft, causing Shantae to perk up in curiosity.
"Really, now?" she asked, evidently not expecting him to reveal any intent to help her when he was supposed to be evil. Rather than immediately reply to his assertion, however, she elected to study him up and down for a moment. "Hmm…" she hummed, scanning her estranged ally from head to toe; something he quickly (and irritably) took note of.
"What are you starin' at?" he crossly asked.
"So… you're consumed with Dark Magic and you destroyed Ammo Baron's base because Risky let you… and yet, you just said you're not working for Risky Boots and you really only blew up the Baron Desert to get back at Ammo Baron himself. And even now, not only have you not tried to attack me, which I know for a fact Risky would've ordered you to do… you're also telling me you were planning to do something to help me once you got the chance…?"
"An' you're goin' where with this?" he rudely asked, wanting her to cut to the chase.
"Is it… possible that even now, you're not technically evil?" she dared to ask him.
"Oh, an' we go right back t' this again," Tay impatiently commented, evidently none too fond of the topic. "Depends on your definition of 'evil,' Shantae, which I know can be real black-an'-white with you," he candidly, yet dismissively answered her question.
"Yep, that answers it; you're not evil. At least, not all the way," she concluded, much to his surprise.
"What? How do you figure that?" he inquired, thrown off by her hypothesis.
"Only the real Tayshan would say something like that, although with a lot less revenge on the brain," she concluded, breathing a sigh of relief that only irritated him further. "I'm sure that the Dark Magic has a solid grip on you by now, but it hasn't completely taken you over. I can tell."
"You say that like you really know me, homegirl."
"That's because I do know you," she confidently assured him. "I mean hey, the fact that you saved me from splattering myself all over the ground a second ago, in addition to the fact that you're still calling me 'homegirl' and the fact that we're even able to have this discussion right now, is more than enough confirmation."
"Hmph," he grunted with a scowl, crossing his arms and turning away for a moment.
"So, how is it that you're corrupted, but still mostly yourself right now? How is it that you broke Risky's control over you? I just gotta know…" she asked, having never seen such an astonishing phenomenon in all her life. Whatever answer he had to give her, she was willing to take if it meant providing some clarification on how to beat Dark Magic's influence.
"Because I have a sense of integrity that no stupid gem Risky made me swallow is gonna dissolve," he crudely answered as he looked at her from the side of his eye, though it gave Shantae just the glimmer of hope she was looking for. "No matter what kind o' magic is flowin' in me, I still maintain my identity as my own person, an' nobody's gonna brainwash that out o' me. An' Risky, for as much of a 'genius' as she purports herself t' be, has a real problem with overestimatin' her 'ability' t' turn anybody completely t' her side. Make sense o' that however you want," he added with just a tinge of bitterness in his tone.
"Ah, so that's it… I knew Risky did something to you to force this transformation to happen. You'd never willingly go to the Dark side, even on your worst day… which, apparently happened yesterday. And there's nothing she could do to convince you to turn heel, so she made you swallow a Dark Magic shard the same way she slipped other Dark Magic shards onto Alsumu and Bolo. Yet even now, you're still resisting its influence. Oh, thank the heavens… It isn't too late."
"All this preachin' on about what you think you know about what's happenin' t' me, an' I've yet t' understand what your point is."
"My point, Tayshan, is that you're still the same man I've grown so familiar with and so fond of; even though I'm sure Risky tried her hardest to break you. It's still a bit concerning that you went and demolished Ammo Baron's base, though. I won't lie about that."
"An' is that your way o' tellin' me I should feel bad about that?"
"No. Well, maybe a little. I mean, I'm not saying he didn't have it coming, all things considered…"
"Hey! What the heck is that supposed to mean!?" the Ammonian leader complained.
"…but I'm pretty sure you know what I'm going to say," Shantae continued, disregarding Ammo Baron's question.
"What, that doin' such a thing as takin' my frustrations out on somebody is bad, or somethin' o' the like?" Tay guessed. "Because if it is, I'll tell you right now that he's a big part o' the reason your friends an' I became Risky's prisoners. My frustration is justified."
"I get it, but my point remains the same. I'll even go on and tell you that hurting others the way you were hurt won't make you feel any better. If anything, it only encourages you to do more harm to others every time you feel like you were wronged."
"…Hm. That's a solid point, I guess," Tay plainly acknowledged after a moment of careful consideration, though he refused to let any emotion show on his face.
"Glad you understand, because I learned that partly from you," she reminded him, causing him to reel back in surprise. "If ever you need a refresher, I'm here for you. That aside, why would you actually go through with that if you really weren't working for Risky? Isn't that something she would've wanted you to do, even if she didn't succeed in brainwashing you?"
"Not exactly…" Tay denied. "What I wanted t' do was destroy Ammo Baron an' teach him a hard-knock lesson on loyalty while also takin' him out o' the picture in case he an' his crew tried t' get in the way again. She only let me go because she figured it was a way for me t' earn her approval while also reclaimin' some o' the weapons her Tinkerbats lost t' him an' his army. What she really wanted me t' do was come out here t' find an' capture you, figurin' that the friendship we used t' have would be a good weapon to use against you. Plus, I'll admit that goin' t' the Baron Desert instead o' comin' straight t' Scuttle Town bought me the time I needed t' keep her off my back until I made it over here t' figure out how t' help you."
"…I know I did NOT just hear that this punk destroyed my base as a simple distraction ploy, so he could get the chance he needed to double-cross Risky Boots…" Ammo Baron grumbled, finding nothing but immense anger in the revelation.
"Hmm…" Techno Baron hummed in wonder.
"Ohh. Yeah, that sounds more her speed. I've gotta say, though, I'm honestly surprised that you were thinking about helping me… even like this," Shantae observed, nodding as she contemplated his statements. "Also, 'used to have,' Tay? Like I said a second ago, I still consider you my best friend," she further clarified. "No amount of arguing we do could ever change my mind about that… and even if you've been corrupted, I still hold out hope that you'll forgive me for all the pain I've caused you."
"…Uh… Okay. Wow, I uh… Huh…" he stammered, apparently even more surprised by this stunning revelation than he was at her previous statement. "Well then…"
"Yes. I felt absolutely horrible for what I said to you the other night, and the minute we woke up yesterday morning, Rottytops and I went looking for you to clear the air. By the time we got any clue of where you were, Bolo told us you went off to the Inseam Municipality with Twitch. If I knew sooner that that trip she took you on was the prelude to a massive ambush by Risky and Ammo Baron, I would've gone right over there to help you and Bolo; no questions asked," she confessed.
"You know about what happened there? Because word on the street was that you were knocked out in a separate attack planned out by Techno Baron on Naga Mountain…"
"I know a lot more than you might be aware of, Tay. Regardless, that word was true," she confirmed with a solemn nod. "Rotty and Sky were captured in that ambush, thanks to him, and they almost got me too. I was told that Giga Mermaid saved me just in time, which is how I wound up back in Scuttle Town. I only woke up maybe an hour ago when another group of Risky's Tinkerbats attacked the city."
"What? She sent another group o' Tinkerbats out here?" he asked, shocked by the news. "Why? She didn't mention that t' me at all…"
"I heard they were looking for me and/or Bolo, who'd also made it back here with Twitch and Vinegar. Thank you so much for looking out for him, by the way," she expressed her gratitude. "I can't find the right words to tell you how much I appreciate you protecting him… even if it cost you almost everything…" she further shared, after which she perked up as though she'd just remembered something.
"Okay, hang on, homegirl," Tayshan cut in, growing more and more confused with every additional bit of information Shantae revealed to him. "I'm tryin' t' follow what you're sayin', but-!"
"And, much as I don't want to say it just yet, I feel like it needs to be said at no better point than right now, so you understand where I'm coming from," she declared, reminded of a piece of advice she'd recently been given. Seeming to pick up on her impending statement, Tay raised a hand in front of himself to try to stop her as his face suddenly contorted into a nervous expression.
"Whoa, whoa, okay. I-I get it, Shantae. Slow your roll. You don't have t-!" he tried to interrupt, though it was too late.
"I love you, Tayshan," she confessed loud and clear despite his desperate pleas for her to not say it in front of two enemies. "Our friends and I… We all love you."
"…Errgh…" he groaned, sulking and hanging his head in embarrassment, though his heart began to beat quicker in his chest. Ammo Baron and Techno Baron may or may not have been grinning in spite-riddled amusement in the background.
"Jeez, what a touching little love show this is, eh?" Ammo Baron laughingly muttered to Techno Baron, who'd quietly nodded in agreement. Why they hadn't attempted to escape with their lives at this point is beyond me, but answers will certainly come in due time.
"And… I… um… I-I hope you understand that I'd never want to hurt you, nor would I ever want to see you in pain. And… and I… hope you… feel the same way, deep down inside?" Shantae asked, holding onto her faith that her extraterrestrial partner returned her sentiments. And, though Tay took basically forever to reply as he stared at her… he eventually racked up the courage to speak.
"…Yes," he sheepishly replied after taking one good, long look at her glimmering blue puppy dog eyes, cutting his eyes elsewhere to hide his apparent shame. Clearly, turning up the irresistible charm of a beautiful young woman will do the trick over fighting any day. Shantae, noticing his flustered reaction, beamed with joy at his admittance that he… at the very least, didn't hate her. "Yes, I uh… I-I love… you as well, an' I'm not mad about the other day anymore… Gotta say, though, that you are pickin' a terrible time t' talk about this…" And with that statement, I stand corrected.
"Sorry, but I had to get it out there!" she laughingly replied, her heart about ready to burst out of her chest in sheer ecstasy. In that moment, she reveled in the fact that she appeared to have gotten through to him without being made to participate in another grueling Boss Battle that, let's be real, some of us would've probably wanted to see. However, that would be way too predictable. And, as we know about our Sequinean friends here by now, they're… not huge fans of following the status quo at every turn. Anyway… "You have no idea how worried I was that Risky mind-controlled you and turned you against us! Gosh, I don't even want to think about it… I'm just glad you're still you, Tay, and I'm even more relieved to know the feeling's mutual!"
"I'm only as much o' myself as this gem in my body will allow at this point, so don't get your hopes up. I guess I can admit that I'm glad you're okay, too… for now," he darkly retorted, making her aware of the possibility that he wouldn't be able to resist the corruption forever. I mean, it sounded A LOT more like he was trying to be all mysterious and distant to salvage his composure in the moment, but it may have been a little late at that point. "An' before you get the chance t' smother me in more o' your sugary feelings, I have a li'l 'gift' for you…" he trailed off, tempering his embarrassment to reach into his inventory and pull out a bird cage with a zombie's head in it. Going wide-eyed with shock, Shantae nearly lost her words.
"You… What did you do to Rottytops!?" she shouted, panicked at the sight of the disembodied head of one of her other best friends locked in a cage.
"Don't worry, she's fine," Tayshan assured as he opened the cage and pulled the zombie girl's head out from it before tossing the cage onto the ground. "I borrowed her head an' made a… certain arrangement in hopes that this might work…" he stated, untying the cloth wrapped around Rotty's mouth and discarding it.
"Ack…!" Rotty sputtered, evidently not liking the taste of pirate rags. "Ah… Jeez, stud muffin, you were rattling me up in there! I thought I was gonna-!" she was set to complain before she laid eyes on Shantae. At that, Rotty gasped in excitement. "Snack cakes! You're okay!"
"Apparently, so are you," Shantae replied, though she remained confused. "Thank goodness… Where's the rest of you? And where's Sky?"
"Let's try an' figure that out right now," Tay suggested.
"How?" Rotty asked. "Are we gonna go back to Risky's hideout and try to get her, since Shantae is here and you're apparently not really evil?"
"No, I was hopin' you'd do that funny li'l Head Warp trick o' yours while the rest o' your body grabbed ont' Sky an' Wrench to bring 'em back here."
"Ohhhhh, so THAT'S why you winked at me and put me in that bird cage!" she finally realized. "You were playing up the old 'Heel Turn because being a Face didn't pan out for me' trick to make Risky think you were working for her, so she'd go with your idea to stuff all of us in that cage in her hideout! And then when the time came after your field trip to the Baron Desert, you'd pull me out and allow me the chance I needed to use my Head Warp to save myself, Sky, and her bird!"
"Whoa… Really?" Shantae remarked in wonder, growing more curious about her comrade than she'd ever had before. "You… you went through all of that to just to get the chance to save them, even though Risky almost turned you evil?"
"Risky did turn me evil… but thankfully, it didn't stick. Either way, that's the gist of it," he answered, clarifying just how close he was to becoming the Pirate Queen's minion.
"Ahh, stud muffin, you're a genius! You had me worried that she really got your mind all mixed up and warped beyond repair, but somehow, you still pulled through!" Rotty cheered, evidently relieved to know Tay was still on their side. "I shouldn't have doubted you, dude! You're incredible!"
"Eh, I think that's a bit much. Thanks, either way. Now, if you can, could you go ahead an' bring Sky back here?" he asked, wanting to bring the discussion to its main point.
"Hmm, it's kind of a long shot from here. I haven't had to do it from this far out before, but when there's a will, there's a way. Set me down on the ground, and watch the master work her stuff!" Rotty excitedly accepted the challenge. At that, Tay obliged by setting Rotty's head onto the ground, at which point she squeezed her eyes shut and began to focus.
"What…?" Ammo Baron murmured in wonder, watching on from the sidelines as he fought through monumental waves of unimaginable pain to finally pick himself back up. "So… she really wasn't dead?"
"It certainly appears that way. I actually completely forgot that the zombie's head was detachable," Techno Baron realized as he pulled himself back up as well. "She threw it at me to get inside my Mecha-Dagron yesterday…" he further admitted with a horrified shudder, also pushing himself through unfathomable physical agony to climb back to his aching feet.
"Really, Techs? That would've been nice to know a few hours ago…"
"Eh, you never asked, and I wasn't terribly focused on that meager detail, considering what we've been through…" Techno Baron dismissed as they watched on, though Techno Baron suspiciously took the precaution of hiding behind Ammo Baron's leg.
"Hm? Techs, what are you...?"
"Shh! In case their little parlor trick works, I don't need those other girls to see me...!" he urged, clinging tightly to his partner's leg.
"...Ooookay. But then, I'm pretty sure Shantae might've already seen you, so hiding isn't really gonna do you much good."
"Yes, but she's distracted at the moment. It actually looks like they've forgotten we're here. At this rate, we've got our chance to beat it before we get in more trouble..." the lizard theorized, though he was only saying so out of sheer hope rather than any factual analysis of his enemies' awareness of his presence.
"Well that much, I agree with, but we've got no idea where we are. And there's these giant, bug-infested weeds everywhere. I'm not ruining my perfect skin complexion just to save your hide from a bunch of girls and that crazy 'friend' of theirs."
"It's either we-by which, I mean you-get a few measly bug bites and grass welts while we make our escape, or we both face execution by that psychotic tornado on two feet the minute he remembers we're still here...! I can't even imagine what the girls would do to me if they got their hands on me...! I'm not willing to stick around and find out, either...!"
"...Also a good point. Okay, then... stay close, stay alert, and move slow," Ammo Baron suggested, suddenly convinced to attempt escape from a soggy, plant-littered wasteland that yielded no escape paths unless one knew how to fly. But, I guess if anyone was stuck in the middle of a damp, smelly, bug-riddled, weed-infested savannah and the choice was between being brutally assassinated by a rampaging magic alien man or being ravaged by bugs and other potential disease-carrying predators as they tried to make their escape on foot... they'd have to weigh their options, too. "If for nothing else, we've gotta keep quiet, so they don't notice us..."
"Good, good..." Techno Baron concurred, practically squeezing Ammo Baron's leg as they tip-toed toward the wall of weeds mounted in front of them. I'm... not entirely sure how far they thought they'd go, but you gotta give them some credit for trying to be creative with their cowardice. Meanwhile…
"Hrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaah…!" Rotty grunted, pouring every last bit of effort she could muster into activating her uncanny special ability. "Hmmmmm…!" she hummed some more, really dedicating herself to completing such a tall order as warping her body from wherever Risky's Base was, all the way back to Scuttle Town.
"Come on, Rotty…!" Shantae cheered her friend on, clenching her fists in front of her chest in anticipation. "You can do it! I believe in you!"
"Thanks, snack cakes! It's that sort of motivation that… Haaaaah…! That should carry me through…!" Rotty assured Shantae as she focused even harder on establishing some sort of wireless connection with the rest of her body. "Ah! I… I've… got a link… and…! Here… we…! Go…!" she informed, straining as hard as she could as her disembodied head began to tremble like a wind-up toy.
"Huh… I've seen it once or twice, but it still amazes me that this is even a thing…" Tayshan remarked, rubbing his chin in wonder as he watched Rotty work her zombie magic.
"Glad you think so, stud muffin…! Now, to really rock your socks off…! Here we come…!" Rotty conclusively remarked before shifting her full attention onto her goal. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" she practically roared in a rampaging torrent of intense determination and debilitating pain as a swirling purple vortex formed under her head. Thankfully for the zombie girl, she did not need to strain herself further. Within a second, and with a mighty *FWOOSH*, a certain blonde bird trainer clutching a certain multicolored bird came shooting high into the air from within the confines of the portal.
"Whaahahahaaaaah!" a panicked Sky bellowed, holding Wrench close to her chest while having zero idea of what was going on.
"I've gotcha!" Shantae called out, rushing forward with her hands extended in preparation to catch her friend. At the same time, the rest of Rottytops' body came rocketing upward, attaching to her head the second it emerged from the portal.
"Whaawoah!" Rotty bellowed as she found herself propelled a few feet in the air. Realizing her position, however, the undead maiden shifted herself to where she landed cleanly on her feet in front of the corrupted soldier. At the same time, Shantae caught Sky, holding her in a bridal carry position.
"Huh… What the…?" Sky murmured, looking around to try and get some semblance of context of what just happened.
"Welcome back, Sky!" Shantae cheerfully called to her as she continued to hold the bird tamer in her arms. Snapping to, Sky turned and found her eyes met with the disarming, beaming face of her best friend.
"Shantae?" Sky called, seeming to almost not believe the sight of the half-genie to be real. It didn't take long, however, for her to realize that she'd been saved by her best friend. "Shantae!" she called again, excitedly wrapping an arm around the half-genie's shoulders with such momentum that both girls wound up tumbling over and falling to the ground. Sky's endless excitement for seeing Shantae in that moment did not end, however, as she hugged her best friend with gusto. Laughing in a mix of relief and total elation, Shantae returned the loving embrace with just as much enthusiasm.
"I'm so glad you're safe!" Shantae stated, nuzzling her face into Sky's as though she couldn't believe it for herself. "Yesterday was such a mess, and I was so worried they hurt you!"
"Oh, I could say the same thing myself! Thank you so much, girl! I don't know how I can ever repay you, but I totally owe you one!" she excitedly cheered, though her gratitude was misplaced.
"Oh, no, I wasn't the-!" Before Shantae could correct her, however, Rottytops walked over and extended her hands toward both of the other girls. Shantae and Sky both took Rotty's hands and allowed her to pull them to their feet. After that, all three girls happily hugged one another, thankful that they could be reunited.
"For once, I'm just gonna go with the flow on this one and tell you both that no matter what, we're in this together! After such a heart-stopping experience, I've never felt more alive!" Rottytops brightly (and ironically) confessed, appearing to take note that she wasn't quite used to sharing hugs of this nature while nevertheless fully welcoming the collective embrace of Shantae and Sky in that most wondrous moment of celebration. The girls entered their own bout of chatting each other up as they continued to hug and let it sink in that they were safe.
"Hmph. Looks like I've fulfilled my purpose here. Time t' go an' figure out the next move. Risky's most likely gonna be on her way out t' check on my 'progress' or figure out why all her hostages suddenly disappeared..." Tayshan, who'd opted to do literally anything BUT join in on the saccharine, tearful group hug, bluntly stated as he turned and began walking away from the girls to allow them their moment of celebration. It appeared, however, that he had no intention of sticking around, despite feeling just as relieved to see all three girls safe. He approached the injured Ammo Baron and Techno Baron, who'd heard him walking in their direction. Both Barons turned around and tensed up, wary that he might try something. While he wasn't walking directly toward them (he was walking toward the looming wet foliage in a different direction), he stopped as soon as he noticed them trying to escape, his silver eyes piercing into them as his face formed a most displeased glower. "Couple o' cowards...!" he spat at them, already seeming to know what they were up to.
"What do you want now, kid?" Ammo Baron asked, putting up one fist as his other hand remained unusable. At that, Tayshan closed his eyes and, with what seemed to be every fiber in his being, breathed a tense, heavy sigh. Afterward, he reopened his eyes and continued to stare them down.
"Suddenly, I don't feel like killin' you anymore," he rather bluntly informed them, though it was through this statement that he revealed that he'd granted them mercy. "Just lookin' at how beaten an' worn down you fools look, I suppose I made my point clear enough t' y'all. You can thank Shantae for convincin' me t' let you live."
"You sure talk a lot of smack for a lapdog!" Techno Baron shouted in total indignation. "If we were more prepared, then you would never have gotten us into this position."
"Believe whatever you want, lizard," Tay tersely shot back, causing the tiny reptile to cower further by completely pressing himself to the back of Ammo Baron's leg to hide himself from view. "I don't really care what you thought should've happened. Appreciate the fact that you're still breathin' t' have this chat right now. That said, I'll leave you with a warnin' to avoid makin' me change my mind." And without waiting for either of his pacified adversaries to reply, he silently walked around them, studying the rough, overly grassy terrain ahead of him to see how he could make his way back toward Scuttle Town. Figuring he'd wing it by making sizable across the Tittle-Tattle Plains, Tay bent his knees and built up power in his legs to prepare to make the trek. Before he got the chance to jump, however…
"Tayshan! Wait!" Shantae called as she, Sky, and Rottytops came rushing toward him, stopping him in his tracks. Clamming up and backing away, Ammo Baron and Techno Baron remained vigilant as their escape plan quickly found itself compromised. As such, they found themselves too wary of the potential noise they'd have made if they kept going. Seeming to at least take solace in the fact that they at least hadn't been noticed yet, they opted to stand and wait for their next chance to high-tail it out of there.
"Yeah, stud muffin, what's the hurry?" Rotty asked after Shantae. Seeming very reluctant to stick around, Tay turned back around and faced the three young ladies as they closed the distance between themselves and him. "We didn't even get to properly thank you for saving us," the zombie girl smilingly added.
"I don't need your gratitude," he flatly replied. "I just figured you girls didn't need t' be made victims o' circumstance by Risky Boots. That's all."
"Tay?" Sky called to him, stepping forward while holding Wrench, who'd appeared to have just woken up. Seeing the parrot/quail/pigeon creature, Tay found himself reminded of something.
"Oh, right. Here's your bird seed back," the corrupted soldier stated, pulling a tiny sack of bird seed from his pocket and handing it to the bird tamer.
"Well, thanks, but that's not what I was calling you for," Sky stated as she got Bird Seed from Tayshan.
"Oh. Then what's up?"
"I… I can't even begin to imagine what Risky Boots did to you…" she began, already tearing up as she fixed her gaze on him. Hit by the sudden somberness in Sky's tone, Tay merely froze. "But for her to have hurt you in general, much less hurt you enough to forcibly turn you into this, brings my blood to a boil. And trust me, we are gonna make her regret EVER bringing you harm. I… um, if there's anything we can help you with… we're here. I… don't know how you feel about that, but I want to put that out there like I did last time we saw each other. And… Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring enough about us to save us. Shantae and Rottytops filled me in on how you did it, and… well, among other things, you have my utmost respect. Not to say you didn't have it before, but I can't help but at least make you aware of it now. I owe you one."
"Like I said, Sky, I… I don't need your gratitude…" he reiterated, though he sounded much less sure of himself this time around. "Your respect ain't necessary either, an' you don't owe me a thing."
"Aw, don't be that way, stud muffin," Rotty chimed in, her own smile fading as she picked up on the tonal shift of the conversation. "She means it. And so do I. You really helped us out back there when we thought Risky managed to sink her claws into you. And… while I don't know whether the things you said to us back at Risky's base were how you really felt about us or if it was just part of the act or if it was the Dark Magic warping your thoughts at the time, I want you to know that I'm sorry for being so rough on you since we met. I… hope you know that I meant what I said about loving you as a friend whether Shantae was a factor or not. Right?"
"…Sure," he confirmed after a moment of hesitation brought on by a mixture of wariness, discomfort, and… dare he say, a slight sense of relief that the girls didn't find themselves repulsed or intimidated by him. "An'… no, I didn't mean what I said t' y'all back in Risky's cave, if that makes you feel better. I was… in a terrible state o' mind at the time, an' it very well could've been the Dark Magic makin' me think that way. Regardless, I acknowledge that I said those things t' y'all in the first place, an' I'm sorry."
"Oh, thank goodness…" Rotty exclaimed through a sigh of relief as she clutched a hand to her heart. "Don't worry about it, then. No hard feelings. I have to ask, though… how do you really feel about Sky and me, if you don't mind my prying?"
"Hm. I… I honestly think you two are excellent friends t' Shantae. Y'all three look out for each other, an' that's worthy of a lot o' respect; even if you an' Sky don't get along all that great with each other, from what I've heard."
"Well, Sky and I are always gonna be on the rocks, but she knows that deep down, she can't imagine life without me. That's why she pretends to hate me all the time," Rotty teased, much to Sky's chagrin as the bird tamer rolled her eyes.
"Don't believe her on that, Tay," Sky corrected. "She's a pest and she's fully aware of it. That said, you know that we're still your friends, too… don't you?" At that, Tay hesitated as his heart skipped a beat. During that brief silence, his eyes shifted between making visual contact with Shantae, Sky, and Rottytops before he took a deep breath and cautiously offered his reply.
"I… I guess I do now, but… I don't know how any o' y'all could accept me… after what I said… after what I did… and even with me lookin' like… this…"
"It doesn't matter how you look, Tay," Shantae spoke up, stepping forward along with the other girls. "And it's not what you say that matters, so much as it is what you mean when you say it. And, while I'm aware of what happened in the Baron Desert, I know for a fact that the state of mind you were in when you went there is not the state of mind we're used to seeing of you at any other time. Accountability is important, and it sounds to me like you acknowledge that, as always. On the other hand, I do think you still showed that, even if your mind wasn't in the right place, your heart was. That said, Tay, you also still showed all three of us that you care as much about us now as you did before Risky corrupted you with Dark Magic and tried to control you. You still put your life on the line to protect us, and we owe it to you to at least return the favor," she poignantly informed him, wanting to drive the point home that he did not have to be alone. She emphasized her statement by approaching the young man and wrapping her arms around him; an action he found utterly astonishing, though he did not resist this time. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Tay. I love you," the half-genie confessed once more as she hugged him tightly.
"…Hrrmmmph…" he groaned, embarrassed to the point where, behind the glowing silver eyes and illuminated orange scars… one could possibly see something of a blush forming on his face as he turned his head away and gently laid a hand on the half-genie's head. Ultimately submitting to her saccharine show of appreciation for him, the soldier tenderly stroked his comrade's luxurious amethyst locks like he was petting his favorite cat. In return, the half-genie nuzzled her face into him as she found herself overjoyed that he was returning her affection. This, of course, only embarrassed him more.
"D'awwwww, you two look so cute together!" Rotty teased as she clasped her hands together and propped a foot up, making sure she never missed an opportunity to spoil the moment. "I'm actually getting jealous over here~!"
"Come on, Rotty, now's not the time for that!" Sky admonished with a blush of her own, quite disapproving as she swatted at the giggling zombie girl. "Let them have their moment!" Meanwhile, rather than panic and separate at the very second Rottytops started her usual playful shenanigans, the two 'lovebirds' in question continued to hug one another (well, more so Shantae hugging Tayshan while he tried to pretend to not enjoy it) as she continued to rest her head on his chest. Within a moment, however, Shantae looked up toward him while still holding him, at which point he grew even more flustered as he absorbed the image of the young lady happily embracing him.
"Funny… You're suddenly really warm, and your heart is racing like you were running from an army of rampaging bears and fire-breathing dragons," she pointed out to him, though she seemed surprised herself. "That's totally different from what anyone else has said when they hugged you… or even, any of the other times I've hugged you."
"Yeah, well… Th-that happens when you hitch a ride on the back of an airplane with your bare hands while it flew for about an hour an' you're completely bent on revenge," he dismissed, raising his other hand to scratch his cheek. Little did he know, his 'former' friend saw right through it.
"Suuure it is," Shantae got the guts to tease, giggling as she continued to look him in the eye.
"An' what's that supposed t' mean?" he asked, suspicious of her tone.
"Tay, I know you more than well enough by now to know that you scratch your cheek with your index finger when you're nervous or you're trying to hide something," she revealed, almost causing him to jump out of his skin as his heartbeat quickened even more. "Mm-hmm. That look on your face means I'm right. Doesn't it?"
"…Stupid nonverbal tells…" he grumbled, looking elsewhere and pouting while blushing harder, resisting the urge to scratch his cheek again and prove her even more correct than she already was. At that, Shantae giggled even more as she completely dismantled the image of intimidation and evil-adjacent flair that Tayshan had built up over the span of a couple hours, using nothing but her immaculate heroic cuteness to accomplish the task.
"Aw, there's no shame in admitting it now. I get it if you're still a little nervous about us talking to each other again…" she assured him as she squeezed him closer just one more time before finally letting go of him. "Anyway, I uh… I wonder… and… maybe now's a bad time to ask, but um… I'm… just a little curious… based on what I've seen… and what we've talked about… I… have a hunch about something… and I think you might um… know what I'm… um… getting at. Are you…? Er… Have you…? Hmm…" At that, Tay contemplated finding the nearest ocean to jump into before he ever entertained the idea of being asked the question he all but KNEW she was going to pop. If her rather bashful tone, her nibbling on her finger, and her furious blushing didn't give it away, then reader, I don't know what would've. Nevertheless, the evil-but-not-really-evil soldier accepted the fact that drowning himself was off the table due to the lack of available water, and instead took a deep, heavy breath. After that, he mentally prepared himself to try and answer her unasked question with the full intent to move on once he answered it. And, perhaps against his better judgment, he did.
"…We're really doin' this now. Fine, then. I'm just gonna come out with my answer this time, because I've had more than enough o' this conversation an' we really need t' get movin'," he stated, fighting through walls upon walls upon WALLS of apprehension just to make that announcement.
"Hm? What do you mean, Tay?" the innocent young lady asked, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow as they locked their gazes on one another.
"…Let's just say that, with regards t' your verbal 'slip-up' on Spider Web Island as we finished that footrace the other day… uh, the feeling there is… mutual… provided you still feel that way about me after everything that happened. There. I admit it. But now's not the time t'… t' talk about that…" he sheepishly muttered while also revealing that he remembered something she accidentally said to him. He was so embarrassed that the glow illuminating his eyes and scars had dimmed almost completely. His hair had also returned to its usual shade of jet black without anyone really picking up the subtle change. However, all that came secondary to the very exaggerated gasp of an excited Rottytops as she overheard the confession. Sky, however, remained clueless as she and Rotty watched Shantae's and Tayshan's conversation from the sidelines. The half-genie's reaction, on the other hand, was something else entirely.
"WHAT!? You… You LIKE me? As in, like, you LIKE like me!? As in, you… have a CRUSH on me!? Me!?" Shantae asked in complete surprise as she pointed toward herself, seeming not to be aware that he was going to blatantly, yet sheepishly admit to being sweet on her. As if it could possibly have been anyone else...
"Er… Y-yes…" he confessed, though it pained him greatly to do so. His stomach flipped like bowling pins being hit with a bowling ball moving at the speed of sound, but he figured he may as well have addressed it when she brought it up. "I've spent too long tryin' t' sort everything out, an' at this point, I'm just gonna be straight-up instead o' beatin' around the bush or pretendin' it ain't the case like I have been. I'd rather… just get it out there now, since you were gonna ask me anyway…"
"Wow, I had no idea you felt that way about me, Tayshan! I'm flattered! Like, SUPER flattered! I'm… also incredibly glad to know that now. I mean, that wasn't at all what I was gonna ask, but… wow…" she stammered, taking the deepest of breaths to try and calm her fluttering heart.
"…What?" Tay hesitantly asked, the dread written all over his face. At that moment, he felt as though he may have just slipped up. Hard. Nevertheless, Shantae's heart was ready to pop with enough force to completely wipe out anything within a three-mile radius. "You… you WEREN'T gonna ask me how I felt…?"
"No, I-I was just going to ask if you've always been an adorable shy guy at heart, but just… I… WOW…! That… just… wow… I can't believe it…! You actually have a… a c-crush on me…! After all this time of wondering…" she stammered and muttered through a bout of nervous giggling as cupped her hands over her face, which lit up like a blazing red sunset. And to think that the question Tayshan thought Shantae was going to ask, was in fact NOT the question she was actually going to ask. At that, the mortified serviceman stared blankly at the girl now revealed to be the object of his affection, utterly speechless.
"… Oh, you have GOT t' be kiddin' me, maaaaaan…!" he complained, mentally kicking himself as hard as he could because he completely jumped the gun. Unable to face the supreme humiliation, he turned around, planted his face firmly into his hands, and let out a sigh hot enough that it threatened to incinerate the weeds that weren't already roasted by the destroyed airplane in the distance that everyone appeared to forget about.
"Wow… So after all this time, his true answer finally comes out…" Sky quietly remarked, feeling a mixture of pride for Shantae, and a bit of disappointment that she wasn't the one he'd embarrassingly and inadvertently confessed his affection to. "Well, I can't say I'm terribly surprised, no matter how much it stings… But, I would much rather it have been Shantae than Twitch, if I'm gonna be totally honest…" she further admitted with a shrug and a breath of fresh air, seeming to find some consolation in that her best friend was the one he ultimately chose.
"Whoo! Way to go, snack cakes! Yahoo!" Rottytops inappropriately cheered as loud as she could, just about ready to throw a love confession party as Shantae walked toward the thoroughly humiliated soldier. "At the end of the day, it always is the heroine that gets the guy! You totally earned it, too!"
"Heh… Y'know, I'm actually kinda glad we stuck around to watch this trainwreck…" Ammo Baron laughingly shared as he and Techno Baron remained a safe distance away to witness a most awkward teenage romance in all its glory blooming between a woman who routinely screwed up their plans like it was her day job, and a man who had just moments ago almost killed them both… also like it was his day job. "Makes me feel at least a tiny bit better."
"Oh, indubitably… I just wish we'd had some way to record it for blackmail…" Techno Baron mischievously remarked with a snicker. How immature. Anyway…
"…So, uh… I… guess that at this point, there's nothing to hide. I… I like like you, too, Tay. As in… well, I… I also have a crush on you… or rather, I still have a crush on you, in case you thought my feelings toward you changed since Spider Web Island…" Shantae sheepishly admitted, feeling a tad hot herself. "How strange, though… After all the drama we went through, and even with all the stern denials from both of us, we actually turn out to have mutual feelings for each other, huh? Who would've guessed?" she nervously inquired as she stood next to him, blushing and folding her hands behind her back. Tay speechlessly peered at her through one hand that was still plastered over his face while his other arm hung limp at his side. In no better words, he was almost entirely speechless with no way to conceivably recompose himself.
"…Despite everything we tried t' do to avoid this happenin', this is where we wind up…" he bashfully murmured. "…Unbelievable…"
"I know, it seems so surreal. What an interesting way for us to get to this point… I mean, I'm not saying I hoped it would turn out like this, but… like… we actually, factually, without a doubt, have crushes on each other…" she stuttered through her words, her stomach flipping and turning like it was practicing gymnastics.
"Yes, because repeatin' it over an' over again makes it so much less embarrassin' t' acknowledge," Tay sarcastically remarked, growing more and more flustered with the more Shantae tried to rationalize the momentous development.
"Sorry, it's just… I'm a little jumpy right now, because I can't contain myself. But… now that the cat's out of the bag, and since we uh… since we like each other… I-I guess that whole 'keeping it professional' thing we tried to stick by has gone out the window… So ah… How… do you think we should proceed from here…? Do we… stay friends…? Or, like… is… this maybe the part where one of us asks the other one out, or…?" she tried to innocently suggest, coming across as just a TAD awkward in her delivery. As one might imagine, this did absolutely nothing to ease the monumental affection-borne tension in the air.
"…How… about we… talk about that AFTER we figure out how t' clear up the Risky Boots problem?" he very hesitantly replied while hastily introducing a most convenient topic change, removing his other hand from his flustered face and taking another deep breath to try and dispel the absurd amount of pressure in his chest. Afterward, he turned toward the equally flustered half-genie. "We've only got but so much time before she enacts her plans o' blowin' up as much o' Sequin Land as she deems necessary for her t' be declared the supreme overlord or whatever it is she's aimin' for, an' until we find a way t' put a stop t' that, we won't be able t' focus on anything else…"
"Oh. Right, of course," she agreed, however half-heartedly, as she shook herself back into focus along with him. "We should uh… definitely be planning on stopping her. That's definitely much more important right this minute."
"Glad you understand, homegirl."
"Of course, I do! In that case, let's regroup with the others and talk about stopping Risky first," she added, though she suddenly found herself unable to stop flicking her eyes toward him as they walked back toward Sky and Rottytops. He… discovered that he had much of the same sudden issue, as he kept involuntarily flicking his eyes back toward her. Just as the four of them were about to huddle together, however, the sounds of rustling in the weeds nearby startled everyone in the area.
"Pagh! Ugh, we're gonna have grass welts all over us for weeks…!" a female voice could be heard from within the overgrown thickets as its owner, joined by two other individuals, eventually emerged from the invasive foliage of the Tittle-Tattle Plains.
"Twitch? Vinegar?" Ammo Baron called out to two of the three incoming adventurers, causing them to immediately snap their attention toward him.
"Ammo Baron!" Twitch called out as she and Vinegar, both covered in broken-off twigs and weeds, rushed toward him.
"Bolo?" Sky called to the third of the new party members.
"Sky!? Rottytops!? Tayshan!? Shantae!?" he remarked in complete surprise to see everyone all nice and gathered up in one spot.
"Why are you surprised to see me?" Shantae asked, raising an eyebrow. "You knew I was here already. You also knew Tay was here… sort of. Remember?"
"Good point, but I was still a little worried when we saw you suddenly change back to your human self and drop like a rock while you were still hundreds of feet in the air," he remarked with a nervous chuckle, though he still couldn't contain his surprise at seeing the others.
"...Heh, r-right..." Shantae acknowledged as she lowered her head and rubbed the back of her neck in momentary embarrassment.
"But how… How did you two get here?" Bolo was all but compelled to ask, referring to Sky and Rottytops. "I saw you two get captured by Risky Boots's forces! And… if I'm not mistaken, Tayshan, you're evil now, aren't you?"
"No," he flatly replied, also raising an eyebrow.
"And, F.Y.I., Bolo, we escaped without a hitch," Rottytops answered his question with minimal detail.
"I'm… gonna need a bit more context there, but I'm glad to see everybody's back up and at 'em," he expressed his relief. "But Tay… You're… not evil?"
"Nope," he reiterated.
"But… your creepy silver eyes… the faint orange glow on all your scars… your weird, distorted voice… and that ugly collar around your neck…" he expertly pointed out, definitely NOT AT ALL wounding the self-conscious soldier's pride in the process. Hiding his offense at Bolo's comments, Tayshan glanced at Shantae, who'd responded by looking back at him as though she knew what he was thinking. Resisting the urge to giggle, she shrugged to communicate that Bolo was usually this blunt with his observations. At that, Tay nodded his head once in acknowledgement before they turned their attention back to Bolo. Rottytops, reading both the half-genie's and the soldier's facial expressions, covered her mouth as she chuckled.
"Bolo, a little tact never hurt anybody," Sky scolded the plucky young man. "You're coming across as a bit rude, don'tcha think?"
"Oh. My bad. Still… Last I heard, Risky brainwashed you and sent you on a rampage in the Baron Desert. Did… that not happen?" Bolo asked Tay, still trying to make sense of everything he was seeing.
"In a nutshell, I wasn't brainwashed; I was… I guess the word we're usin' here is 'corrupted.' Risky forced me t' swallow a Dark Magic shard, after which she… tortured me an' made me do some other… regrettable things t' try an' force me t' bend t' her will…" he reluctantly shared, causing everyone within earshot to reel back in shock.
"What did she make you do?" Shantae was the first to ask, reading the immense discomfort on the serviceman's face. The genie girl's tone was rife with utmost concern, her heart pounding heavy in her chest as she got the feeling that Risky did something truly awful to Tayshan to try and 'persuade' him to the Dark side.
"…Um…" he stammered, looking the half-genie in the eye for a moment before finding himself so… so mortified that he broke eye contact with her, frowning as he cast his gaze toward the ground while sullenly shaking his head. That was more than enough for Shantae to recognize that Risky hurt him. Badly. His hesitation only made that realization even more maddening to her. "Uh… she… forced me t'… t' trade somethin' away in exchange for Sky and Rotty's safety…"
"What…?" Both Sky and Rottytops remarked, gasping in shock as they heard him.
"What did she force you to trade to make sure we were okay? And… can we get it back from her?" Sky asked, not exactly knowing what Tay was referring to as a result of him being vague. At that, however, Tay looked directly at Sky with a rather somber expression.
"I… I'd rather not say outright," he hesitantly answered, though he knew his answer would only make the group more curious. He paused for a moment, massaging his forehead with a hand as he struggled to find the right words to explain the ordeal with. "What she took from me… there's… no way t' get it back, no matter what anybody does."
"Why not?" Bolo asked, not really understanding the context.
"Because what she made me trade away… could be described as an… 'experience' that can only be had once. An'… no matter what, there's no such thing as undoin' an experience after all has been said an' done. She made sure I knew that, thinkin' that what she did t' me would irreversibly turn me t' her side. Thankfully, she kept her word an' left you an' Rottytops alone, Sky. I'm also thankful that she was wrong about the effect she thought it would have on me, but…" he trailed off, growing more uncomfortable as hie eyes darted around to absorb the worried facial expressions of his comrades. None looked more worried, however, than his half-genie mentor.
"Say no more, Tayshan," Shantae spoke up, understanding for herself that, while she did not know the explicit details, she knew that whatever Risky did to him was far too serious to be shared out loud. Nevertheless, she found herself burning from the inside with vicarious anger directed at the Pirate Queen for harming her friend. "You can count on it that we're gonna make her regret even thinking about hurting you. I swear, if it's the last thing I do, she's gonna be made to pay. I promise." Hearing her loud and clear, Tay gathered up the resolve to look at Shantae. Just by the glimmer in her youthful, wavering blue eyes, could he tell that she had every intention of staying true to her word. At that, he breathed a much-needed sigh of relief.
"…Thank you, homegirl," he expressed, somewhat comforted by her sentiment.
"No need to thank me. There's no way we'd EVER let her get away with anything she's done."
"She's right, stud muffin," Rotty vouched. "And if the case is that we can't get back what she took from you, then we'll at least make it up to you for having given it up to make sure we were safe."
"That's appreciated, but that ain't your obligation," he politely countered. "My concern was that she'd have potentially seriously hurt you an' Sky otherwise, an' even for how… how tainted I feel because o' her, it's made much more bearable when I see you girls safe an' out o' harm's way," he further asserted, perking up a bit as he made his statement. "If for nothin' else, we're all here t' fight her together; even with everything she tried t' do t' break us apart."
"Truer words couldn't have been spoken," Sky wholeheartedly agreed. "I still think it'd be impossible not to consider what you went through to save us, but you're definitely right in that together, we can stop her from trying to take over Sequin Land again."
"Aw, yeah! That's the spirit!" Bolo cheered, getting into the excitement of having the whole crew together to face off with Risky in their latest cataclysmic clash for the ages. "With the five of us banding together, there's not an evil force on the planet that could overpower us! That said, though…"
"Bolo, think carefully about what you're gonna say this time," Shantae warned on Tay's behalf.
"I will, I will," Bolo assured before turning his attention toward Tayshan. "So, are you sure you're still feeling like yourself? I mean, when Risky's goons hid a Dark Magic gem fragment in my headband, I acted completely outside of myself… I tried to fight Shantae and I hurled a ton of uncharacteristic insults at her. I was so out-of-sorts," he confessed, causing Tay, Rotty, and Sky to reel back in shock. "I barely remember what happened exactly, but it was pretty chilling…"
"What!? Risky tried to turn you evil at one point, too!?" Rotty asked, a tad incredulous of Bolo's claim. "No way!"
"It's true, Rotty," Shantae vouched for Bolo. "She had him kidnapped and brainwashed, at which point she also forced him to fight me before we found a way to get the gem off him."
"Wow… and now, I think I've heard everything," the zombie girl remarked, still finding it rather far-fetched that Risky would target Bolo of all people to control. "To think she'd sink so low as to try and brainwash someone with maybe half a brain, thinking that would be in the least bit useful. What a weird move for her to make," Rotty laughingly shared her thought.
"Yeah, you're telling me…" Bolo agreed… at least, until he realized what Rottytops said about him having half a brain. "Hey, wait a minute!" he finally reacted in offense, though it went unacknowledged.
"So, if that could happen to Bolo with a Dark Magic shard ON him, then how do we know what'll happen to you when the shard is IN you this time, Tay?" Sky asked, still concerned about the wellbeing of her otherworldly friend.
"And for that matter, how do we know that your attack on the Baron Desert wouldn't be repeated somewhere else if we can't find some way to get that shard out of you?" Shantae added, curious as she was worried.
"Wait, what? You actually DID go out to the Baron Desert?" Sky asked in shock. "That wasn't mentioned to me earlier..." she further revealed, hinting that some of the details of the serviceman's rescue of her and the zombie maiden were left out.
"Yeah, I did," Tay answered, knowing he'd have to elaborate. "I... wasn't bluffin' about that when we were in Risky's cave. At the time, I felt like they deserved payback for what they did to us. I took it upon myself t' deliver that payback, but..."
"Eh, I overheard enough of your conversation in the Baron Desert to know you weren't doing it for Risky's sake, which adds up with what we discussed here," Rottytops interjected, taking it upon herself to spare him the burden of explaining himself. "On top of the Dark Magic clouding your judgment and the fact that you needed a convenient enough reason to get away from Queen Stick-In-The-Mud, you were angry at Ammo Baron because he and his crew betrayed us and got us all either injured or captured, no?"
"Yeah. Granted, it doesn't justify the way I retaliated, so I understand if y'all feel wary o' me because of it. I won't make any excuses."
"Don't worry about that, Tay," Sky assured him. "I mean, not to say we should disregard what happened, but the context is there. I think I speak for all of us when I say we don't think any less of you for it. That said, I suppose we should get some idea of how much control you have over yourself. Adding onto what Shantae asked a second ago, how do we make sure to keep you grounded, so nothing like your visit to the Baron Desert happens again if the case winds up being that we can't get the Dark Magic out of you?"
"Those are good questions. It's… honestly somethin' I wonder about myself. I'm still me, though; I assure y'all. At least, I'm still me for now. Only toward the beginnin' o' this corruption business did it take full control over me. I… I can't really find the words t' describe the experience as a whole, because it's so haunting an' so confusing. Regardless, it's just as we just discussed: That incident in the Baron Desert was mostly me gettin' back at Ammo Baron on my own terms… an' admittedly, with Risky's permission. This magic made me feel more justified in doin' what I did, on top o' makin' me feel like I hated everybody around me an' that everybody was out t' use or manipulate me… As you said, Shantae, in addition t' what I mentioned a few minutes ago... I was… in a really bad state o' mind when that happened, but I was conscious the whole time. I fully acknowledge the things I said an' did since Risky corrupted me. Despite that, I'm… in control now, thanks t' you," he informed, much to her relief. "With any luck, I won't be so unhinged in the future… I hope."
"Oh, alright," Bolo nonchalantly accepted. "Well, it's good to know you're still on the straight-and-narrow, dude. In that case, I'm guessing you're in better control of yourself now because Shantae gave you the Heart Monitor from Professor Mimic?"
"The what?" Tay asked, totally thrown off by Bolo's question.
"Oh, right… I was supposed to hand this to you," Shantae finally realized, reaching into her inventory to pull out the Heart Monitor in question. Rather than simply hand it to him, however, Shantae opted to take the soldier's hand and affix the device to his wrist herself. Thus, Tay (FINALLY) got Heart Monitor. The second it was put on, it lit up with a *beep* and activated itself.
"Huh… So, this is the fabled 'Heart Monitor' your uncle was so adamant on makin' for me, hm?"
"Yep. Like he said before, it essentially gives you your very own health bar!" she excitedly informed him. "He said that he also reworked it a bit, so that it also works on purifying the Dark Magic inside you. Only things are that it works super slowly, and that it'll take forever for that thing to either get rid of the Dark Magic inside you or turn it into Light Magic."
"Huh. Alright, then. Hopefully, it'll work the way he intended it to," Tay commented, glancing at the device to see that it read '233/1000 HP' with a heart symbol next to a red and green bar (which was mostly red) under the number before flashing to what looked like the outline of a golden oil lamp whose form was partially colored in a dim cobalt blue. "So, if I'm readin' this thing right, then I've only got 233 points o' health left out of a thousand? I didn't even know it was possible t' quantify health here, but I stand corrected yet again. Then again, with how those numbers pop up every time somebody takes damage, it makes sense now. I… can't really tell what the picture o' the lamp is for when it shows up…"
"Hm. If that's reading right, then Tay, you've got a LOT of Hit Points there. It's still concerning that you've lost so many up to this point, but wow. It PROBABLY would've been a good idea for Uncle to give us a demonstration to be totally sure of what we're reading on your Heart Monitor, but since we're here now, we may as well take some time to figure it out," Shantae replied as she and the rest of the group gathered around to crack the code of the mysterious Heart Monitor.
Meanwhile…
"Are you alright, A.B.?" Twitch asked as she and Vinegar inspected their boss's condition and treated him for his wounds while the rest of the group conversed amongst themselves. "It seems like you barely escaped alive…"
"Eh… I've been better, but you can't count me out just yet," the Ammonian leader assured as he tried to stand as tall as he could while he found himself patched up with a series of bandages all across his body.
"I would hope not. You look like you survived being put through a meat grinder, sir," Vinegar very observantly remarked. "With all due respect, of course."
"And… the way your arm is… just… hanging there… you haven't even tried to move it…" Twitch observed, moving forward to get a closer look. She also touched a finger to the upper area of Ammo Baron's limp appendage, at which point the army general yelped in debilitating pain.
"Ow…! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…!" he complained, wrapping his messed-up arm with his opposing free hand.
"Hold on a sec… is… is your arm BROKEN!?" Twitch asked, noticing that their leader's arm appeared to be a tad… mangled, for lack of a better term.
"Yeah, thanks ta that jerk over there," Ammo Baron very bitterly accused, pointing a finger on his remaining functional arm toward Tay, who'd glanced over at him in response once he heard the complaint. Of course, his glaring eyes also met those of Twitch and Vinegar, who'd frozen in stark apprehension the second they acknowledged one another's presence. Techno Baron, wanting no additional part of the conflict, continued to hide behind Ammo Baron's leg.
"…Oh," was all Twitch managed to say in that moment.
"Somethin' I can help y'all with?" Tay asked them directly as he turned toward them and approached. Shantae, Bolo, Sky, and Rottytops followed suit, worrying that another confrontation was about to take place. "Because if you've got somethin' you wanna say, then you can-!"
"Whoa, whoa. Tay, cool it," Shantae advised, grabbing his hand and pulling on it to get him to stop. Seeming to get the idea, Tay stopped at his tour guide's behest as he turned to look at her. "You've done far more than enough to Ammo Baron. There's no more reason to fight him. Don't let him get to you."
"Yeah, don't bother with them," Sky added, a rather irritated scowl forming on her face as she glared directly at the offending Ammonian army affiliates. "These traitors aren't worth it."
"Sky, hang on," Bolo urged, stepping in front of the bird tamer. "I don't know about Ammo Baron himself, but Twitch and Vinegar are good," he stated in defense of the Ammonian women.
"Yeah, right," Sky remarked with a scoff. "I'm aware of what they did to get us captured by Risky, Bolo. There's nothing 'good' about any of them."
"They totally set us up for failure and got everyone knocked out or captured except you… which is as ironic as it gets, but still," Rotty added in agreement with Sky. "Why are you defending these two-faced turncoat losers?"
"Hey!" Vinegar barked, immediately irritated with the way they were being addressed by the other girls. "Why don't you come and say that to our faces!?"
"Come closer and watch me! Loser!" Rottytops argued, not backing down as she dared them to make a move.
"You two had better mind who you're addressing," Twitch warned, stepping up alongside Vinegar. "We may be working together again, but that doesn't mean we won't put you in your place if you think you can keep talking smack to us."
"Working together again? In your dreams!" Sky viciously shouted directly at Twitch. "We tried that once, and not only did it turn out to be a total disaster when you and I were forced to collaborate, now it turns out you also stabbed us in the back and got us all captured by Risky Boots? Who in their right mind would ever be foolish enough to trust you opportunistic, backstabbing cowards after what you did!?" At that, Twitch sighed and rolled her eyes before glaring at Sky.
"See, this is why I had to beat you up last time we met, birdbrain," the shorter Ammonian acolyte challenged, finding herself most displeased with just the sight of Sky. Having to address her again was a whole different story. "You still haven't learned how to stop squawking away before your beak gets you in trouble."
"You? Beat ME up!? Give me a break!" Sky sternly denied, finding Twitch's assertion just a tad inaccurate. "I mopped the floor with you after you burned my headdress in that tower, you little brat! However, I'm a lot more sophisticated than that. You brought me down to your immature level before, Twitch, but you won't do it again."
"D'oh, you're so full of yourself, you pompous little two-faced b-!" Twitch was about to explode.
"Okay, stop! Everybody just chill out for five seconds!" Bolo demanded, waving his arms out as he stood between the two opposing groups. Once he had everyone's attention, he took the moment to clarify the circumstances. "Let me explain. Twitch and Vinegar have realized the error of their ways, thanks to a discussion I had with them, and they're now back on our side. In fact, they are the reasons I made it back to Scuttle Town after Tay and I got ambushed in the Inseam Municipality. After he gave me a chance to escape, they picked me up and brought me back here, after which we all worked together to fight against another squad of Risky's Tinkerbats until Shantae woke up and cleared them all out with one of her dances."
"…Really?" Tay asked, raising an eyebrow in utmost curiosity.
"Much as it pains me to agree… Yeah, that's pretty much what happened," Shantae confirmed with a shrug.
"Okay… so, whose side are they really on now? Their own?" Tay questioned, still very wary of Twitch and Vinegar at this point.
"Tay, come on…" Twitch addressed him through a tidal wave of apprehension. "We never actually changed sides. Risky forced us into it, like I said yesterday. If that wasn't the case, then the whole thing at the Inseam Municipality would never have happened."
"Hmph. You can say that as much as you want, but even if it wasn't you an' Vinegar that had the ulterior motive, you're still just as guilty as your idiot boss," he vindictively spat.
"Idiot!? Kid, who do you think you're talking to!?" Ammo Baron barked, though Tay remained stoic. "I have half a mind to put you down for such disrespect!"
"Can it, Ammo Baron," the non-Ammonian soldier warned. "After what happened this mornin', you're in no position t' threaten me."
"Get one surprise attack off, and suddenly you think you're-!"
"Ammo Baron, hang on a sec," Vinegar interrupted, holding a hand out toward her general. Though surprised, Ammo Baron obliged. At that, Vinegar turned toward Tay. "Alright, Tayshan, I… we definitely owe you guys an apology, but no one more than you," she further spoke, much to her boss's surprise.
"Vinegar, what are you talking about!?" Ammo Baron boisterously disagreed. "We don't-!"
"With all due respect, we kinda do, sir," she interjected, though she kept her attention focused on the extraterrestrial young man. "Even if Ammo Baron won't apologize, Twitch and I will. I'm doubtful that you'd ever forgive us, considering what you did to our base and our boss in retaliation for what happened in Inseam. But at the very least, you and your friends need to understand that we are NOT the scheming tricksters you think we are. We were absolutely serious when we said we'd never work with Risky. At least, not willingly."
"An' I'd be more inclined t' believe that if Ammo Baron didn't shoot me with a sniper rifle at Risky's request t' end the battle in that war-torn city in her favor, an' if Twitch didn't lure me there knowin' what was gonna happen once I set foot int' the warzone before that," Tay unforgivingly countered. "Either way, why should any of us believe you this time? You've lied t' me enough as it is."
"I don't know about that, but even if that was true, we'd have no reason to lie now. Mind you, this is all being said with the full knowledge that you went completely berserk and destroyed our base in a fit of rage at Risky's behest," Vinegar reminded him, containing her anger at him for what he did. "Not to mention that you beat up and almost assassinated our commanding officer. Normally, we'd be finding all sorts of ways of making you pay for crossing the Ammonian Army the way you did. Your stunt could very well have cost us a lot more than you realize. This situation is mainly complicated by the knowledge that you did it because you felt we wronged you, though that didn't give you the right to retaliate the way you did. We heard what you said to Ammo Baron over the transceiver when you fought him. Either way, why would you do that? How could you?"
"I'd hate t' play devil's advocate, but I wouldn't have even visited your base if you hadn't sold me out t' Risky an' endangered everyone else here," Tay rebutted. "I'm not exactly proud o' what I did, an' I'll take in any resentment you have toward me because of it. On the flip side, Vinegar, you an' your crew have a lot t' answer for yourselves. I can't ignore that y'all had t' do far more than simply isolate me t' try an' make me easy pickings for everybody's favorite Pirate 'Queen.' You knowingly had your colleague Techno Baron destroy a landscape full of innocent monsters t' lure Shantae an' the girls to what you thought would be their doom. You also sat idly by as Risky ripped through an entire city just for the sole purpose o' settin' the stage for a cold-hearted ambush against someone you tricked int' believin' you were his allies. I don't even WANT t' ask if your guys played an active part in helpin' her conquer the Inseam Municipality…"
"Well, it wasn't like we-!" Ammo Baron was about to speak.
"Ammo Baron…!" Twitch rasped, waving a hand under her chin as surreptitiously as she could to keep him from spilling a most disturbing secret.
"Wow, you guys are scum…!" Sky commented in sheer disgust as she picked up every hint she needed to from Ammo Baron's and Twitch's brief interaction. Shocked, Twitch turned toward Sky. "You actually helped Risky conquer the Inseam Municipality!? That is utterly despicable!"
"And you seriously expect us to feel bad for you because of what Tayshan did?" Shantae chimed in, equally as appalled. "I mean, I would never condone going as far as he did to get even with you, but WOW. Now, I'm starting to think you deserved him wrecking your base," she further remarked with a most displeased shake of her head. "Do you even have a clue of how many innocent lives were destroyed because you guys were too scared of Risky or too hung up on getting some meaningless prize from her to do the right thing?"
"Okay, but you all do understand that this was all Risky's doing, don't you?" Ammo Baron defended. "And even for what happened, do you seriously think that it's right that your friend here invaded my base WITH TINKERBATS, and wiped out so much of it that it'd take at least a year to recover the losses we suffered? Especially after what YOU did just a couple months before all this, genie girl!?"
"What I did, Ammo Baron, was stop you guys from terrorizing Sequin Land again," Shantae rebutted. "Blowing up your airship and beating you, Twitch, and Vinegar was to stop you from making a complete mess of Cape Crustacean. And blame Risky all you want. We'll make her answer for the harm she's caused, but you still played your part by helping her, too."
"She's right," Tay interjected in agreement with his mentor. "An' let's be real. We don't bring all this up t' justify what happened in the Baron Desert today. But after what you got your hands dirty with, you make it VERY hard for me t' reconsider my actions, now that we all know just how much of a threat you can be t' this country's safety. An' just t' be clear, one o' my biggest reasons for what I did, however disagreeable, was to eliminate you as a threat. Risky's convinced it was for her sake, but…" he trailed off, though his words shocked everyone around him. However, none were more shocked than the Ammonian Army personnel standing before him.
"Tayshan… You… You'd really go that far to hurt us?" Twitch asked, her heart sinking harder than a hundred anchors as she was made to realize his stance. "Even after everything we'd been through? Even after we explained to you why we had to do what we did?"
"It wasn't t' hurt you," he clarified rather bluntly. "The only one I aimed t' hurt in my frustrated state o' mind was your boss. You an' Vinegar betrayed us because you were apparently just followin' orders, an' despite how much that stings me t' acknowledge, I at least realize that for what it is. I understand that Ammo Baron, on the other hand, was the one who masterminded whatever bargain you struck with Risky, an' he an' Risky arranged t' have me taken down on the spot. Of course, you two ladies can only imagine the terrible things Risky did t' me over the course o' the followin' eight or nine hours once she chained me up an' dragged me t' her ship…"
"…Oh…" Vinegar quietly murmured, her stomach turning as Tay fixed his gaze on the two Ammonian girls.
"So, if you wanna talk about somebody bein' hurt by this whole situation, then look no further. I alone am chock full o' stories about bein' hurt; somethin' you should definitely know by now, Twitch," he called out the bespectacled blonde, putting her on the spot. "That said, you can be as mad as you want at me for attackin' the Baron Desert. You can at least rebuild what you lost there an' start anew. There are others your actions have harmed t' the point where they may not get a chance t' recover, considerin' the terrible shape the Inseam Municipality was in. An', not that it matters t' you, but... On my end… On my end, there are things that, no matter how long I live, I can't ever, EVER get back from that no-good thief Risky after I lost them t' her."
"…What? What did you lose to her…?" Vinegar hesitantly asked, though she found herself entirely unwilling to actually find out.
"There's no need t' go int' further detail here," Tay rebuffed. "Just understand that your actions have consequences, an' nether of us is innocent. I ain't sayin' that t' compare bad deeds or weigh who's more capable o' causin' pain an' destruction, either. I'll swallow my pride now an' admit that I didn't have the right t' do what I did. I did it anyway, an' I'll have t' carry the memory for as long as I can still breathe. Regardless, I'm just lucky someone close t' me reminded me o' that today, or else you'd have also lost somethin' you'd never be able t' get back. That is, aside from the other soldiers you already lost..." he further clarified, his gaze momentarily shifting toward the half-genie. Picking up on his nonverbal cue, Shantae grew somewhat nervous as she glanced back at him. Rather than say anything, however, Tay merely offered a wan smile from one corner of his mouth and nodded before turning back toward Twitch, Vinegar, and Ammo Baron.
"Well… I guess that we can't help but acknowledge that," Twitch understandingly, yet regretfully replied. "And… you're right. It pains me to admit it, because you still went out of your way to demolish something Vinegar and I helped Ammo Baron build for years, and the anger we feel from that is not going to fade anytime soon. That said, I… I understand where you're coming from. I don't know how many times we can say it, but we—or at least, Vinni and I—are sorry for what happened to you. And all things considered, we probably don't have the cleanest records out there, but we're not monsters like Risky is. We can promise that. But, especially considering what you and I were talking about when I brought you over to the Inseam Municipality.…" she further hinted, causing Shantae to tense up as she glanced at Tay. He'd also tensed up, glancing back at her, though he quickly shifted focus back to Twitch. "I… hope we really get a chance to… to make it up to each other… if you'd… be willing to forgive me? Because if you're so willing, Vinegar and I can forgive you, too. What we had as friends was great, and despite what happened over the last week, I wouldn't want to lose that, y'know?" she suggested, her voice growing shakier with the more she spoke.
"Hm…" Tay hummed, taking a deep breath to carefully consider his words before he spoke. "At this point, Twitch, I haven't really come around to the idea o' forgivin' you," he admitted, much to hers, Vinegar's, and Shantae's surprise. "Not t' say that I won't get there, but there's clearly a lot that needs t' be looked at before we even start that conversation. It's one thing for you t' set me up like you did, but for you t' also assist Risky—even if you were forced—in wipin' out a whole city just to set the stage for that ambush? That's a WHOLE different beast t' tackle…"
"But that wasn't us!" Twitch reasoned. "Vinni and I didn't give a single order to do that, nor did we participate!"
"I don't think that matters," Shantae interjected, almost entirely consumed with displeasure at the Ammonian affiliates. "You all knew what the stakes were, and at least one of you chose to act in favor of your own interests instead of on behalf of all those innocent people in the Inseam Municipality whose lives you ruined. The others of you followed suit instead of taking a stand. Knowing what's right and not doing it is lack of conviction."
"Yeah, well I wasn't talking to you," Twitch rudely rebutted.
"She has a point, regardless," Tay once again sternly spoke up in defense of Shantae. "No matter how distressin' the situation was, you still knew the right thing t' do. You chose not t' do it an' instead went along with that pirate woman's orders with no intent to at least try t' stop her. That can't be overlooked."
"Hmph. Coming from someone who also followed Risky's orders, that sounds awfully hypocritical of you, don't it?" Ammo Baron dared to call Tay out.
"Wrong. I already explained this t' you earlier, an' I don't know how many more times you gotta hear it before you understand. Still, I'll reiterate that Risky didn't order me t' go find you," he corrected. "She ordered me t' go find an' capture Shantae. I convinced her t' let me go t' the Baron Desert instead, because I felt like the 'right' thing t' do at the time was eliminate you as a threat, even though her idea of you bein' a threat differed from mine. Mind you, this was also while this Dark Magic shard was still drivin' my compulsive urge t' get revenge on you, Ammo Baron. But then, considerin' what you just admitted to, I wasn't exactly very far off the mark, now was I?"
"Hmph. Semantics…" Ammo Baron grumbled.
"Uh-huh. 'Semantics.' Anyway, my other goal was givin' Rottytops an' Sky an avenue of escape from their prison in Risky's base before findin' some way t' get back t' Scuttle Town. From the minute I regained some o' my senses, I had no intention o' doing anything that miserable pirate woman told me t' do. The only thing Risky an' I 'agreed' on was gettin' rid o' you once an' for all, like I said. Thankfully, my friends here helped me fully regain my senses before I went through with the deed. Either way, what I want now is t' make her pay for all the crimes she an' her bat servants committed by any means necessary. It's twisted in hindsight how it all played out, now that my mind's clearer, but there's obviously a huge difference in what we expected out o' workin' with Risky Boots at the times we did."
"Huh… Your morals are all over the place, kid…"
"No. My 'morals' are the same as they've always been. My methods over the last few hours, I'll admit, were not entirely within my norm. I have you three, Risky, an' this Dark Magic gem t' thank in part for that. Regardless, this is about whether we'd somehow be able t' move past this, as Twitch said. An' t' that, I say that I don't know…"
"You don't know? Why?" Twitch asked, finding herself hurt by his uncertain response to her original question.
"In general, there's a lot to unpack here. A lot more than we might realize. There's no ignorin' that. I'm still just as angry at you right now as you probably are at me. There's no denyin' that, either."
"Oh. O-okay…"
"I ain't sayin' I'll hold onto it forever, but… this whole situation is way beyond messed up for how it went down. An'… even if we do eventually make peace with what happened an' forgive each other, I don't know if I could ever bring myself t' trust you OR Vinegar anywhere near as much as I did before. Like I said, that situation with Risky cost me a lot o' things I won't be able t' get back. An' unfortunately, in regard t' what we talked about yesterday, with you wantin' t' 'get closer' like you suggested… I'm afraid that ship has sailed…" he completed his answer as delicately as he could manage, inadvertently glancing at Shantae as he did so. Tensing up even more, Shantae silently fixed her gaze on Tay, trying to contain her reactions to his rejection of the Ammonian acolyte. The crushing dejection was written all over poor Twitch's face. In response to her partner's sudden deflation, Vinegar rushed over and hugged her for consolation.
"…Understood. I… I get it…" Twitch conceded, lowering her head, though she did not break eye contact with him. "Shoot… this… this sucks…" she further regretfully whispered before taking a deep, shaky breath to keep herself under control.
"You could've been a little less harsh with your words, dude," Vinegar scolded in defense of Twitch. "That was unnecessarily cold."
"Yeah, well you could've been a little bit more trustworthy and just a tiny bit more willing to do the right thing, from the sound of it," Sky preemptively countered in Tay's defense, though Vinegar immediately glared at Sky. "And to be frank, I think he got his point across just fine."
"And, as if it wasn't obvious enough to you guys, this is usually what happens when you earn someone's trust and then destroy it for your own gain. Just sayin'," Rotty chimed in, having been in a similar situation herself once upon a time.
"I wasn't talking to either of you, thank you very much!" Vinegar shouted at Sky and Rotty, not the least bit appreciative of either girl's words of advice.
"Alright, I think we can agree that there are lots of lessons to be learned here about friendship and responsibility, but let's not get distracted," Bolo cut in again, redirecting the conversation in a most surprisingly cordial manner. "We've got a country to protect, and I'm presuming not a lot of time to figure out how to protect it."
"Good point," Shantae agreed. "In that case, what do we know about Risky's plans thus far? Tay, you said she planned on destroying as much of the country as possible with the weapons from your planet, right?"
"Affirmative," Tay confirmed.
"Got it. And since you were in her base, do you know where it might be? Or at least, if she managed to get that Tinker-Portal working again? I'd imagine we'd have a real issue if she was able to take more trips into your world to get more weapons."
"Hmm… I'm gonna need a minute t' retrace my steps gettin' here from Risky's hideout. As for the portal, it doesn't work at all as of now," he plainly stated, hiding his eternal disappointment in the fact that he would never be able to return home. "I learned that Risky couldn't fix it because she didn't have the knowledge or resources necessary t' get it up an' runnin' again."
"Oh…" the half-genie replied, instantly hit with a wave of concern for her friend as she acknowledged what the inactivity of Risky's Tinker-Portal meant for him. "Uh… Are you… okay wi-!"
"She couldn't get it fixed because she does not have the technological prowess I possess," Techno Baron finally stepped up from behind Ammo Baron's leg to speak, though his interjection was not met warmly.
"Techno Baron!? What the heck's THIS little freak doing here!?" Rottytops yelled in total displeasure at the sight of the tiny reptile.
"You've got some nerve showing your hideous helmet around here after you destroyed Naga Mountain and almost killed us!" Sky also shouted, though it should be said that Sky and Rottytops were on a roll agreeing with one another. Better to keep that secret, though. Shhhh…
"Save your vitriol, ladies!" Techno Baron countered, gesturing with his hands for them to simmer down while also quaking at the knees. "Besides, I didn't destroy Naga Mountain; Risky Boots's minions did. Let's get that right. And despite our bad blood, you should be glad that I am here with no further intent to harm… THIS time, anyway."
"Yeah, except that you're only here at all right now because I chose not t' STOMP YOUR GUTS OUT for what you did t' these girls an' that mountain, Techno Baron," Tayshan quickly shot toward the smaller Baron, harboring absolutely zero tolerance for the reptile's hubris. At that, Rottytops hid a most ill-timed chuckle at the morbid idea. Techno Baron, the poor little lizard man, flinched in total panic as Tayshan glared at him. "Don't get ahead o' yourself."
"Well, THAT escalated quickly…" Bolo commented under his breath while trying to stifle a chuckle of his own.
"Jeez, dude, tone it down a notch!" Ammo Baron suggested, put off by the Dark Magic-consumed soldier's comment. "The fighting's over, alright?"
"Don't tell me what t' do, clown," Tay very crossly argued, demonstrating his unabashed, fiery hatred of the two Barons in front of him. "You of all people are in no position t' bark orders at me."
"Okay, that's enough," Twitch cut in, having recovered just enough from her previous disappointment to step in on her boss's behalf. "You've made your point already, so chill."
"Sure thing. Got any suggestions on how t' do that when we're hot off the coattails o' you betrayin' me for the second time, Twitch?" he sarcastically rebutted while tightly containing his immeasurable contempt, much to Twitch's shock as she exhaled in disbelief.
"What? I didn't intentionally betray you, and that has nothing to do with me telling you to calm down!" she argued, finding no form of pleasure in the way he addressed her. "You're being rude to my commanding officer, who you also just tried to kill, and I'm not going to sit here and tolerate it! I don't care what kind of grudge you have, Tayshan; you've said and done enough as it is, so back off!"
"You guys, relax. This is no time to bicker," Bolo tried to intervene, though Tay's glare toward the Ammonian troop intensified.
"Then I'll direct the same message t' you, since you're so loyal t' him: DON'T tell me what t' do," Tay argued, feeling a rush of furious heat boil up from his very core. "It's more than enough that we're all even standin' here talkin' mere hours after you almost got us all killed, an' now y'all wanna make excuses for what happened an' tell me t' chill out because you're scared your boss got his feelings hurt over one comment?"
"Hey, Tay. Come on, that's e-!" Shantae tried to intervene to call an early end to the argument before it escalated any further.
"Now you're way out of line, dude," Vinegar stepped in on Twitch's behalf. "You can be as mad as you want, but you're pushing your luck! Everyone is here and we spoke our pieces on the situation already. The least you could do is try to get over what happened and speak to us like a civilized adult instead of being so petty about it," she further remarked, immediately infuriating the soldier as he shot Vinegar the dirtiest look he'd ever given anyone outside of Risky Boots herself.
"Okay, now you're the ones crossing the line," Rottytops shot back on behalf of Tayshan, angered by Vinegar's comment. "You do understand how much of this situation is YOUR fault, don't you? I-!" she was about to tear into the Ammonian squad before Tay held a hand out to stop her. "Hm?" she hummed, looking up at the serviceman. Tay merely glanced at her with a surprisingly neutral facial expression. What alarmed her, however, was that the menacing glow in his eyes had somewhat returned. Before the zombie maiden could say anything else, however, Tay turned back to Vinegar.
"Vinegar," Tay called.
"Yeah, what is it?" she tersely replied, waiting for a smart remark to leave his lips.
"I want you and Twitch t' take one good look at Ammo Baron an' Techno Baron right now," he calmly requested, though it only sent an eerie vibe through the souls of the Ammonian crew and their weapons dealer.
"…Why?" Vinegar hesitantly asked.
"Just take a look, an' then I'll explain," he reiterated.
"…Okay…?" Twitch acknowledged as she and Vinegar slowly turned toward their general and his ally.
"Uh… I'm… not sure what's happening here, but alright…" Ammo Baron murmured as he exchanged glances with his seconds-in-command.
"I can't say I have much clue, either," Techno Baron concurred as he also exchanged glances with Twitch and Vinegar. After a few seconds of exchanging glances with one another at Tay's request...
"Now look back at me," Tay requested, prompting the girls in question to return their gazes to him. "Good. Now, what do you see?"
"…Tay, where are you going with this…?" Shantae questioned, an ominous feeling creeping up in her stomach as she read the lingering anger in his method of addressing their acquaintances.
"You'll pick up on it in due time, homegirl," Tay assured, never shifting his eyes from Twitch and Vineger. "As I asked a second ago, ladies; what do you see?"
"…Our boss covered in sand with no shirt, a broken arm, dried blood around his mouth, a black eye, and bruises all across his body from the fight you apparently had with him," Twitch warily answered.
"…and Techno Baron also matted with sand, a bunch of dents in his helmet, and his outfit in tatters," Vinegar added her observation, equally as wary as her teammate.
"Right, but that's not exactly what I'm gettin' at. What do you see between the two o' them that's immediately noticeable?" he asked, stumping everyone in the area as they appeared to lose track of his cryptic inquiries.
"Huh… Where are you going with this?" Sky asked in wonder.
"Soon enough, you'll know," Tay assured her the same way he assured Shantae moments earlier. "Anyway, Twitch an' Vinegar. What do you notice about Ammo Baron an' Techno Baron at first glance?" At that, the two young ladies in question found themselves befuddled.
"Uhh… Vinni, are you following this at all?" Twitch whispered to Vinegar.
"…Not really, but we may as well try to figure it out," Vinegar whispered back as they pondered Tay's reasoning for making his requests.
"Well? What do you see just by lookin' at them?" he urged them to answer.
"I don't know… That they're in bad shape?" Vinegar guessed.
"Or that their clothes are all messy?" Twitch additionally guessed.
"No," Tay candidly rebutted. "What you should've noticed right away is that they're still alive," he further clarified, causing both of them to reel back in shock while the others tuned all the way in.
"S-so what's that supposed to mean, huh? That we're lucky that you didn't go overboard and kill them?" Twitch asked, sour about the implications of the extraterrestrial serviceman's assertion.
"Partially," Tay answered, looking them dead in the eye. "But it ain't about luck. It's about how close these two were t' dying. Had I been granted just a couple more minutes alone with them before Shantae thankfully showed up when she did, this whole scene would've carried out VERY differently."
"So what's your point?" Vinegar demanded to know.
"My point is t' make sure we understand what bein' 'petty' versus bein' 'civilized' is on the same level," he clarified. "If I was bein' petty about a situation like the one we're in now, an' if Shantae, Rottytops, an' Sky didn't talk me down like they did, then I… Well, let's just say you would've been here WISHING you could see Ammo Baron an' Techno Baron the way they are now, as opposed t' how they could've wound up," he ominously warned, his eyes flickering with that creepy, murderous Dark Magic-powered gleam that no one wanted to see. "An' there's no tellin' what I might've done t' you two if I completely lost control o' myself…"
"Jeez, Tayshan, that's a little much… isn't it?" Shantae asked, frightened for herself at the implications of her comrade's comment.
"I'm afraid not, Shantae. I've got a point t' make, an' this is the only appropriate way t' make it," he clarified as he looked toward his mentor, reaching toward her and momentarily resting a hand on her shoulder. In response, Shantae rested her own hand on his hand as she looked him in his gleaming eyes. In that moment, however, she watched the gleam slowly vanish as she continued to study him. Before another statement could be made between them, however, Tay removed his hand and turned back to Twitch and Vinegar.
"…So, you're trying to say you're being civilized by being rude to us instead of lashing out at us more than you already have? Is that it?" Twitch guessed again.
"No," Tay denied as he continued to explain. "But take int' consideration my—no, our perspectives for a second. And by 'our,' I mean Shantae, Bolo, Sky, Rottytops, an' myself. If either o' you two was able t' trade spots with any one or two of us an' live out the last two days from any of our viewpoints, what do you think you would do in this situation? How would you feel?"
"We get it, alright? What we did was-!" Vinegar tried to interrupt, figuring she knew where he was going.
"No, you don't get it," he sternly shut her down. "If you understood it, then we wouldn't be havin' this 'civilized' discussion, an' I wouldn't have t' repeat myself," he further shot back, throwing some of her own phrasing back at her. "If you're feelin' upset at what I did t' Ammo Baron an' your base in one day, then at the very least, imagine how I felt a day earlier, but after a few weeks o' bein' led t' believe y'all were on our side. Y'know, when a bunch o' those same guys in that base o' yours, along with you two AND Ammo Baron, surrounded me an' one o' my friends here in the ruins of a city that, as we just learned, your army helped destroy."
"…Right," Twitch acknowledged, seeming to be catching on.
"Good. Now, think about how you would feel if you two traded spots with me an' Bolo at that time. Imagine if he an' I waltzed in alongside Risky Boots, told you that the friendship we shared was a gigantic lie we orchestrated t' lure you into a false sense o' security all the way up t' the point that I brought one o' y'all there with the intent t' sell you out after a week of ignorin' you over one bad private discussion. An' then from there, imagine that as soon as I brought you t' Inseam, I tried t' ask you out on a date, an' then after revealin' my betrayal maybe an hour later, I accused you, with no basis, of playin' head games t' get one over on me because I had some suspicion from Risky Boots of all people that the crush I had on you was bein' used against me," he continued to explain, sparing little detail as everyone else listened intently.
"Okay, but Tay, you know what the deal there was…" Vinegar expressed, her tone wavering a bit as her heart began to beat a bit heavier in her chest. "We didn't mean to…"
"I'm not finished," Tay rebutted, remaining as calm as he could. "As long as you two have that idea in mind, I also want you to just imagine what it's like t' watch helplessly as Risky's forces drag the unconscious bodies of two o' your closest friends to a giant, rickety pirate ship t' be locked in cages like animals, an' then be fed the idea that I secretly knew that there was a set-up planned for said friends a week in advance that I willfully chose t' hide from you when I could've said somethin' t' warn you… an' then on top o' that, I want you t' understand the what it's like t' have that gut-wrenchin' feelin' o' discoverin' that not only were three o' your closest friends badly injured in an ambush planned out by Techno Baron an' Risky Boots that also completely destroyed the lives of a bunch of other innocent people you also made friends with, the assertion is just so casually made that, while two o' those three close friends were captured, the other one o' them could've… could've… been… Grrgh…!" he trailed off, losing his cool as he shot a wrathful death glare specifically at a wary Ammo Baron and Techno Baron, clenching a fist that found itself bathed in a copious amount of Dark Magic.
"Uh-oh…!" Ammo Baron warily acknowledged, tensing up as he prepared himself for another potential attack by the hostile enemy soldier in front of him.
"…Ooh…" Twitch muttered, scared stiff as she and Vinegar watched Tay struggle to contain his insurmountable anger. Within seconds, however, he looked back at the Ammonian girls with just as much rage in his eyes.
"…An' then imagine either one o' y'all havin' t' toss the other out o' harm's way after you're suddenly swarmed by enemies all around, after which you're left alone t' take in the feelings of betrayal an' anger as you fight with every ounce of energy you have just t' survive a two-pronged ambush by two separate gangs, only t' be shot down at the last second, chained up, forced t' wear a humiliatin' DOG COLLAR after Risky Boots forces herself on you t' make you swallow a giant magic-infused rock, an' then dragged t' Risky's pirate ship t' be personally-!" he continued to explain, getting progressively louder in conjunction with his burgeoning anger… and worse yet, the growing presence of Dark Magic in his fist.
"Tayshan, that's enough!" Shantae hurriedly interfered, reaching toward him. Tugging on his arm, the half-genie roped him into an emergency hug to get him to calm down before he snapped again. Suddenly shaken out of his rage-riddled stupor, Tay gasped in shock as he registered the sudden, icy sensation of his friend's bracelet pressing into his side as she pressed her opposing hand to his cheek to get him to look at her again. "It's okay. Just take a second and breathe for me, alright?" she requested, locking her wavering blue eyes onto his as he took in the empathetic frown she wore. "It's okay…" she repeated, patting him on the back with her other hand as he blinked a few times and shook his head. Afterward, he gathered the situational awareness to straighten himself up and wrap an arm around the half-genie to embrace her as she continued to look him in the eye.
"…Sorry, Shantae…" he apologized, doing his best to breathe as she requested while registering the waning burning sensation in the hand he wasn't using to hug the ponytailed maiden. "I didn't mean to lose it like that… I didn't think I would still…"
"There's no need to apologize to me," she assured him as the two of them separated, though she remained close. "We just need to keep ourselves calm from here on. I understand how you feel now, but don't let it overwhelm you. That's what the Dark Magic feeds on, remember?"
"…You're… You're right," he agreed, massaging his forehead as he took a few extra deep breaths to dispel as much of his residual agitation as he could. "Gotta stay focused. Thank you…"
"I'm always here, Tay…" Shantae offered a friendly reminder as she kept an eye on him while they separated.
"No wonder Risky turned you evil like she did… Goodness…!" Rottytops murmured, wracked with second-hand anger as she, Bolo, and Sky watched on and listened to the play-by-play explanation of the events leading to Tayshan's corruption and the resulting Risky Boots-approved assault on the Baron Desert.
"…Huh… Now I get it, as much as it pains me to admit…" Vinegar whispered to herself, instinctively gulping as her gaze fell to the ground in deep contemplation. Meanwhile, Ammo Baron and Techno Baron also took a moment to process their would-be killer's flash of anger directed squarely at them.
"…Wow, you… you're really mad at us, aren't you?" Twitch dared to shakily ask Tayshan after she had the chance to process his words. And… in the most painful and uncomfortable sense imaginable, she brought herself to understand his perspective just as he wanted her and Vinegar to.
"As if you even need to ask," Sky very crossly remarked, harboring no form of sympathy for her fellow blonde. "We're ALL mad at you, in case you haven't noticed, genius. You completely sabotaged us and put every single one of us in serious danger!" she added as she and Rotty collectively glared at the Ammonian affiliate. At that, Twitch shot a contemptuous look at the bird tamer for a moment before exchanging glances with the rest of the non-Ammonian group. It was safe to say that none of them seemed to find themselves appreciative of her question. Afterward, she let out an exasperated sigh.
"Whatever…" she commented with a seemingly uncaring shrug before crossing her arms and turning away. One could tell right away by the downtrodden look on her face, however, that the younger Ammonian girl had been hurt by the comments far more than she let on.
"Er… R-right… Shantae, do you mind keeping your boyfriend under wraps in case he flies off the handle, please?" Techno Baron politely (read: unwisely) requested of the half-genie. Though moderately flustered by the comment, Shantae held her composure… mostly.
"Watch it, Techno Baron!" she yelled at him, finding herself in no mood to tolerate his shenanigans.
"Gosh, you teenagers are so disrespectful… The shame of it all…" he muttered before breathing a sigh of nervousness. "Anyway, if I may bring our discussion back to the point we were at before that most riveting and utterly terrifying tirade… Erm, Risky Boots has no clue that the part she needed most for her portal to function, the Hypersonic Propulsion Generator she stole from my colleagues here, was built by me," the tiny lizard man explained, seeming confident in that statement marking him as a key player in this catastrophic conflict.
"…And?" Sky urged Techno Baron to elaborate, not exactly seeing things his way.
"…And, that's it. Without me to assist her in fixing it, she has no chance to rebuild it."
"Oh. Well that's good, because that thing's goin' up in flames before she gets the chance t' force you t' rebuild or repair it for her," Tay remarked, much to the collective shock of Shantae, Rotty, Sky, Twitch, and Vinegar.
"What? I thought your ultimate goal was to get home!" Twitch replied, unable to make sense of Tay's declaration.
"Yeah, that was one of the biggest reasons you've been fighting so hard to help us stop Risky, wasn't it?" Shantae asked, intensely worried about his decision.
"That was the plan before I found out she never fixed it," he calmly explained. "An' at this point, I'd… uh… I'd rather not see her get another chance t' invade my old timeline t' cause more harm here or there. I've… come t' terms with what that would mean for me…"
"Tayshan… are… are you sure about that?" the worried half-genie asked, still unable to wrap her head around the reasons for his decision to forego his chance at returning home in favor of eliminating Risky's ability to invade other realities entirely. "You'd… be giving up everything you worked so hard for…"
"Not… necessarily. What I've worked for here has been built upon what I've tried t' work for in my old world, without question," he assured Shantae, looking her right in the eye with a most solemn expression as he remembered the other reason only he knew for himself why he was opting to destroy the Tinker-Portal rather than preserve it. "An'… I… have an obligation an' a duty t' protect both my old planet and this one by any means necessary. My own desires have t' take a back seat here…" he added, though his gaze faltered as his eyes fell toward the ground. At that point, Shantae took his hand into her own, interlocking her fingers with his and gripping his hand tightly as she sensed the almost unfathomable sadness in his tone.
"…Well…. If you're really sure about that, Tay… Then, in that case, we'll support you as best as we can," Shantae vowed as they exchanged gazes once again.
"You can count on it that we'll be here for you, always," Sky added, laying a hand on his back as she sympathized with him.
"And for what it's worth, I'd be glad to finally have a guy best friend to toy around wi—er, I-I mean, introduce to the boundless wonders of life in Sequin Land," Rottytops chimed in with her usual charismatic flair as she smiled and winked at the soldier, who'd been wearing a scrutinizing facial expression when he cast his gaze on the zombie girl.
"Hey! What am I, chopped liver?" Bolo griped, offended by the nature of the zombie girl's comment.
"Oh. Sorry, I meant another guy best friend to toy around with," she 'corrected,' even though she seemed to have missed some of the words from her previous declaration.
"That's better," Bolo nodded approvingly before realizing what Rotty said. "Well, sort of," he corrected himself. "Either way, I'm with them, Tay. Anything you need once we finish up with Risky, I've got your back."
"Good lookin' out, homie," Tay thanked Bolo with a quick thumbs-up, which the younger adventurer returned.
"Well, it's always good to know I have to keep my eye on you to make sure you don't get carried away like you usually do, Rotty," Shantae remarked toward the undead maiden with a knowing smirk.
"Aw, cut me some slack, snack cakes," Rotty playfully complained with a smiling wink and shrug. "No need to watch me too suspiciously now~! I'm all about making our friends feel right at home."
"Hmph. On a different planet, that might've been true," Sky remarked at Rotty's expense.
"And that's why no one asked you, feather-head," Rotty shot back, scowling at Sky and thus ending their streak of being on the same page. Oh, if only it could've lasted…
"Hm. Well, I appreciate all o' y'all for lookin' out for me," Tay gratefully expressed as he looked at all three of the energetic young ladies trying to console him, in addition to the other young man who'd coolly offered his support. "I'll be alright, though. No need t' worry. I can adapt."
"Right, and I'm sure we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Bolo conclusively interjected, wanting to move the conversation along and keep it strictly business. "So anyway, Risky apparently can't go back to this other dimension she invaded. That's good. What is she planning to do now?"
"She was gonna wait until the thunderstorm passed, an' then she was gonna launch a campaign o' destruction an' domination across the country usin' the weapons supply she got from my home world, as far as I know," Tay explained. "An' considerin' that the storm has been clear for at least a li'l while, she may very well be gettin' started if she hasn't set off already. Of course, she might also be a little bit upset that she no longer has any hostages t' threaten Shantae with."
"Then we don't have much time to work with after all," Bolo acknowledged, his anticipation for the incoming battle spiking sky high.
"From what I remember while I was stuck in her base, I'm pretty sure she's also doing it with the expectation that Shantae was out of commission," Sky added. "I'm not sure what she planned on doing to you to take you out of the picture though, Shantae. Well, other than potentially making Tayshan go out and bring you to her."
"Chances are, she probably found out I was knocked out and almost kidnapped by her Tinkerbats after Techno Baron's attack on Naga Mountain yesterday," Shantae theorized, though Bolo silently perked up as though he remembered something. "And I'll bet that the other part of her plan was to distract me by kidnapping you, Rotty, Bolo, and Tay to make sure I had no one available to help me in case I was awake by the time she set off for her conquest."
"We can confirm that," Twitch spoke up as the discussion finally began to pick up steam. "That's why she extorted and manipulated us into setting up the ambush in the Inseam Municipality."
"And if I had to guess, then it was probably also part of her plan to turn Tayshan evil, and then use him to create another diversion by taking out our base after she reneged on her end of the 'deal' she forced us to agree to," Vinegar concluded. "However we feel about how things turned out by this point, it's clear that that crotchety old, manipulative shrew wanted to destabilize us in as many ways as she thought were possible, so we'd have no chance to stop her."
"Holy cow, that woman is mischievous…!" Ammo Baron commented in disbelief, shaking his head as he heard about the depths of Risky's depravity and knack for conspiring against anyone she deemed to be a threat. "All this, because she wanted to take over the country without substantial opposition? Jeez… Normally, I'd commend such ingenious tactics, but I can't help but find myself disgusted by how far she'd push it just to get her way."
"For once, you an' I at least partially agree," Tay acknowledged with a nod. "That said, I don't think it's too late t' figure somethin' out t' stop her…" he further stated, though he paused as he shifted his gaze between Twitch, Vinegar, and Ammo Baron. And, though he still harbored immense resentment toward all three of them, he tempered his reservations with a heavy sigh before continuing. "…an', if you at least want a chance t' rebuild what you lost, then maybe you should consider workin' with us this time instead of against us. Only together, can we stand a reasonable chance at cleanin' up this pirate mess."
"What!? Not in a million years!" Sky boisterously denied. "After what they did to royally screw up our efforts at Risky's request!? Why would we ever want to work with them again!?"
"I have to agree with Sky on this one," Rotty added, moderately surprising the bird tamer in the process. "I'm not giving these creeps another chance to stab us in the back."
"Girls, hang on," Bolo stepped in on the Ammonian forces' behalf. "I've already made it clear that Twitch and Vinegar are on our side. And from the sound of it, it was all Risky's fault they even switched sides in the first place. Even if not everyone here wants to get along, the important thing is that we at least have to understand this situation on a grander scale. Risky tried to divide and conquer us, so she'd go uncontested as she eventually decided on dividing and conquering Sequin Land as a whole. But while we're here, not killing each other like she wanted us to, we may as well suck it up and work on a cohesive game plan on how to counter her before she causes any more mayhem."
"Wow… Well said, Spiky," Vinegar acknowledged, impressed by his sense of reasoning.
"Can't disagree with that. You hit the nail on the head, Bolo," Tay also agreed.
"Gotta admit, that was the perfect way to nutshell the situation at hand. Thanks for clarifying, Bolo," Shantae also threw in a compliment.
"Oh, well I mean… I-I didn't say all that much. There's no need to praise me so heavily, guys… Heh…" the blue-haired young man bashfully (read: pridefully) accepted their lauding of him as he smilingly looked toward the sky, rubbing his finger under his nose while his opposing hand was planted on his hip.
"That said, I suppose I also agree with Tay," Shantae spoke up as she turned her attention toward the Ammonian crew. "If you guys understand just how serious this is, then is it too much to ask that you at least TRY to work with us this time instead of trying to take advantage of the situation?"
"Hmph. What kind of spineless weasels do ya take us for?" Ammo Baron countered, unhappy with Shantae's assertion that he and his crew were unreliable. "We've had our spats, but I assure you that we've got our own code of ethics! Of course, we're gonna help you take that pretentious pirate down, babe!" he added, though the end of his statement garnered a VERY negative reaction. Shantae reeled back in mild disgust, clearly not approving of him calling her by such an intimate pet name. Tayshan, on the other hand, glared at Ammo Baron with such intense and almost unbridled wrath that the gleaming silver glow in his eyes could very well have incinerated the Ammonian general on the spot.
"I'll only tell you this once: DON'T call her that. EVER!" Tay instinctively and defensively spoke up with a menacing growl in his distorted voice as he pointed at his former enemy. Without noticing in the moment, he shocked Twitch and Vinegar as they read the EXTREMELY fervent displeasure in his tone. Though somewhat taken aback by the hostility within Sequin Land's resident alien, Ammo Baron acknowledged the reasoning behind it after a couple seconds.
"Tay, it's alright. It doesn't mean anything. This isn't the first time he's-!" Shantae tried to inform Tayshan to quell his sudden agitation.
"Right. My bad, kid. I almost forgot about the chat you two had earlier. You and genie girl are a couple now as I understand, right?" he calmly replied, nearly causing Twitch to explode on the spot with shock. Vinegar, while not quite at that same level of surprise, couldn't help but go wide-eyed at the revelation.
"Wait, what!?" Bolo also reacted in total surprise, having not been caught up on the situation. "When the heck did that happen!?"
"Gah…! Uh…" Tay stammered, his previous anger thoroughly replaced with inconceivable embarrassment as he dropped his stance and gawked at the Ammonian leader. In response, Ammo Baron looked back at him in mild confusion, seeming not to understand why he got such a reaction from his (presumably) former adversary.
"…What? Did I say somethin' I shouldn't have?" the clueless army general asked.
"D'ohhh, Ammo Baron, you JERK!" Shantae screamed, her face hot enough that simply being near her with a pot of water would've been enough to make the pot boil in five seconds flat. "That's none of your business, and that has NOTHING to do with why you shouldn't be calling me weird names! Are you serious!?"
"Whoa, whoa, chill! I didn't mean anything by it!" Ammo Baron pleaded, holding up one hand to wave off any anticipated aggression. "I was just making an observation!"
"…So, I'm not hearing a 'no' to the question he just asked…" Twitch pointed out, suspiciously shifting her eyes between the flustered Shantae and the nervous Tayshan, who'd both been preoccupied arguing with Ammo Baron. "…yet, something tells me I shouldn't even need to hear an answer at all…" she further observed, clutching her broken heart at the realization that she may have lost her potential romantic partner to someone else. "…Darn it…!"
"It's alright, Vidi," Vinegar consoled, rubbing her friend's back. "There's plenty of other guys out there for you. It may not be what you want to hear right now, but you're way too beautiful and way too much of a catch to be hung up on one person. Like I said yesterday, we'll take a long, much-needed vacation after this is all over. Just you and me. And we'll spend as much time as we need to forget about as much of this mess as we possibly can. Okay, girl?"
"…Yeah… That… that sounds good, Vinni," Twitch half-heartedly agreed, unable to tear her gaze from the ground as she took in a sudden, sharp gasp and fought the urge to cry with every fiber of her being. Hearing the gasp, a certain extraterrestrial serviceman glanced toward the two Ammonian girls and, for some reason, felt his own heart sink at the sight of Twitch in a state of apparent emotional distress. Without needing much context, he realized that, despite what happened, they still had unfinished business to address. Clutching his chest with a hand, he took a deep breath before speaking.
"Alright, y'all," Tay began, his statement bringing the attention of the entire group toward him. "We need t' focus an' discuss a game plan now, an' we're goin' off track. That said, we know what Risky's plannin', an' what she's bringin' to the table. What do we got in terms of how t' counter her?"
"Considering the kind of heat she's packing now? I can't say we got much," Ammo Baron admitted. "Here, we've got seven teenagers, a super-genius lizard, and a buff, charismatic, handsome devil with a broken arm and an army in shambles."
"Yeah, well one of these teenagers has defeated Risky Boots time and time again all on her own," Bolo spoke up to vouch for Shantae.
"That's cute and all, but it's clear she's gonna need a lot of help beating Risky this time. That old pirate broad means business, and I can tell ya from experience that she's not gonna be pullin' any punches," Ammo Baron warned.
"Then we won't pull punches, either," Rotty declared. "If it's a war she wants, it's a war she'll get. That said, what are the odds that the other members of your little Baron club would lend a hand?"
"Who? Squid Baron and Hypno Baron?" Techno Baron finally stepped up to ask, remaining largely silent throughout the discussion up to this point.
"Not sure who else I'd be referring to, gecko boy," Rotty irreverently remarked.
"Watch it, you brain-chomping brute!" Techno Baron rebutted in sharp distaste for Rotty's sass. "Anyway, those two are not going to step within ten thousand MILES of this conflict."
"Yeah, Hypno hates getting tangled up in messes that aren't his, and after Risky blew up his castle and had him try to lure Shantae and her boyfriend here to their doom in Genie's Hem, he's completely refused to participate in anything else. Dude's still just a TAD salty about it," Ammo Baron further explained.
"And it goes without saying that Squid Baron is, by all accounts, a complete imbecile," Techno Baron oh-so pleasantly revealed about his sea creature counterpart. "I've caught wind of his recent escapades that may or may not have left him hospitalized indefinitely, and there's no way he wouldn't screw something up along the way like he always does."
"Wow, what a useful and competent group you guys turned out to be in a time of crisis," Sky flatly commented, seeming to expect the answers they were given. "As usual."
"Listen here, you," Ammo Baron challenged Sky directly. "Just because we don't always operate on the same wavelength, doesn't mean we're inept at our jobs. You should feel lucky Techno Baron and I are even entertaining this conversation, considering how often we seem to get tangled up with you punks. I don't care how insanely attractive you are; the disrespect will not be tolerated."
"Ugh, keep your gross comments to yourself," Sky shot back in revulsion, covering herself up so Ammo Baron wouldn't continue leering at her. "You still haven't even given us an idea of what you can do to help."
"Well, much as I'd love to get my hands dirty in a fight that was never mine to begin with, it just so happens…" Ammo Baron trailed off, pointing a finger to his other limp, dangling arm. "…that as of right now, I can't even use one of my hands." At that, most of the group with the exceptions of Tayshan and Bolo turned away in disgust and shielded their eyes. "Yeah, if it ain't pleasant ta look at, then imagine how it feels. Either way, I'm not gonna be able to do much myself in this condition, though I'd still like to see Risky Boots get what's comin' to her. We owe that old bat the 'favor.'"
"And had you rotten kids not gotten my Mecha-Dagron destroyed, you may have had a more feasible opportunity for me to lend a hand," Techno Baron added, thus concluding that approximately ZERO of the four Barons of Sequin Land would lift a finger (or a tentacle) to help our heroes out. Go figure…
"Eh, that's alright, Techno Baron," Bolo suddenly assured. "I actually have a friend who wants to maybe discuss how you can help from the sidelines anyway." Of course, Bolo's comment confused everyone in the vicinity.
"A friend, you say? Huh…" Techno Baron mused in wonder, having not the slightest clue what his one-time intern was talking about. Also, fun-fact: During the Pirate's Curse saga, Bolo once worked as something of a weapons maintenance/locksmithing intern under Techno Baron, at the time having no clue the tiny bell-headed lizard was evil. Just thought I'd put that out there. Anyhow… "Why are you just bringing this up now?"
"Sorry, all the commotion made it slip my mind until I just remembered a second ago. Anyway, this friend of mine says she's heard of you and would like to meet you in person," Bolo further suggested, though I'm pretty sure you know exactly where THIS is going by now.
"Really? And, why should I entertain this mysterious person's request, my former apprentice? And for that matter, who is she?"
"Why shouldn't you entertain it?" Bolo answered with another question. "It isn't like I'm walking you into a trap or anything, and from the sound of it, this person says she was really 'excited' to meet you. I just figured I'd give her the chance she's been waiting for. Uh… and um… w-weirdly enough, she told me that she'd rather introduce herself to you in person, so I'm sworn to secrecy on her name," he further mentioned with a nonchalant shrug, very nearly giving away his plan before he had a chance to enact it. Thankfully, Techno Baron hadn't caught on. And for that matter, neither did anyone else as they all exchanged glances with one another.
"Hm. Well, I won't lie, kiddo; my curiosity has been piqued. Are you sure this mystery woman will be useful to this joint effort to get one over on Risky Boots?"
"We won't know for sure until she sees you, but I'm confident she'll be pretty important to our success."
"In that case, since you're feeling so confident, why don't we go and meet her?" Techno Baron eventually agreed, warming up to the idea of meeting a potential fan of the female variety.
"Sounds good to me…" Bolo concurred with a most… suspicious grin on his face as he turned to Sky. "Hey, Sky. You got a minute? I'm gonna need your help with something…"
"Uh… Okay…?" Sky curiously replied, uncertain of this odd change in her youngest friend's demeanor. "What's up?"
"Why don't we go over there for a sec? It's… kinda personal," Bolo rather shyly admitted… or rather, it SEEMED he was being shy about it. Nevertheless, Bolo broke away from the group, further mystifying everyone else. "Be right back, you guys. I just need to figure something out."
"Oh, brother… I only wonder what this is gonna be about," Sky commented, rolling her eyes as she followed suit to address this personal issue privately. Meanwhile, the rest of the group allowed Bolo and Sky their privacy as they continued to deliberate.
"Okay, so we've got Bolo's random 'friend' that is apparently supposed to need your help, Techno Baron. That's… something," Shantae observed, still quite befuddled by Bolo's claims. "Other than that, we've only got ourselves. Does anyone have anything else?"
"The best we've got is a single passenger biplane parked on the other side of town," Vinegar shared. "Best we can do there is provide some form of aerial support. It won't be much, all things considered, so don't expect us to pull off any miracles."
"It's better than nothing," Shantae replied with a shrug. "You and Twitch have at least proven yourselves capable of handling yourselves in the air, so I think that's pretty good."
"Huh. Never thought the day would come that I'd ever get a compliment like that from you."
"There's a first for everything. You'd experience it a lot more if we were friends."
"I suppose I would, but… well, y'know, the whole 'you being a pest' thing, and the constant battles between you and our army and such…" Vinegar passive-aggressively mentioned.
"Uh-huh," Shantae flatly remarked, knowing that Vinegar was goading her. "Anyway, what else do we have?"
"Tough t' say," Tay replied, rubbing his chin in wonder. "I was hopin' we'd have made a few powerful allies along the way, but I'm not sure who'd go as far as gettin' in Risky's way t' help us. We've at least got SOME o' the Nagas an' Archers on Naga Mountain… right?"
"Uh… I-I'm afraid not…" Shantae informed him, frowning with regret as she looked at him.
"…I presume that means they've been…?" Tay hesitantly trailed off, though he knew what she was going to say.
"Yeah. They were mostly, if not completely wiped out by Risky's Tinkerbats yesterday while Rotty, Sky, and I battled Techno Baron."
"Of course…!" Tay growled, immediately glaring at Techno Baron. Picking up on this, the little reptile backed up in fear that the corrupted soldier would lash out. However, Tay's glare softened into a melancholy frown as he averted his gaze toward the ground for a moment. Afterward, he turned back to Shantae. "Then… Sana, and Priyanka, and the rest o' those monster girls…?"
"…As far as I know, they… they didn't make it. I'm sorry, Tay…"
"…Darn it…!" he cursed, infuriated by the idea that the allies he'd made on Naga Mountain had been K.I.A. "More innocent lives Risky has t' be held accountable for…" Tay further vowed, clenching a Dark Magic-enshrouded fist before the burning sensation caused his hand to lock up in pain for a moment. He shook it off rather hurriedly, however, before continuing. "In that case, uh… the next person that comes t' mind is Alsumu, though you said he ain't much of a fighter when he's not possessed by Dark Magic, right?"
"It's worth a shot to go over and ask him," Shantae assured, doing her best to ignore the sudden rush of dread coursing through her abdomen as a result of Tayshan's display. "Since we've been to the Ktischy Quilt Desert, I think I might be able to use my Warp Dance to teleport us right to his house rather than take an hours-long trip on a canoe like we did last time. I'm not sure how well my Warp Dance will work at this rate, but it's worth a shot."
"Well, that's a relief," Tay gladly acknowledged. "Can we also maybe take a trip t' Genie's Hem t' see if MAYBE Hypno Baron an' the octopus will help? Or at least Aashiq?"
"I'll tell ya right now that you'd be wasting your time doing that," Ammo Baron interjected. "Hypno Baron is not gonna budge. Last time I saw him, he was neck-deep in bills, complaint letters, and lawsuit notices related to that fancy college he bought and the massive amounts of damage his monsters caused in Genie's Hem. He was also already miffed about what happened when you two apparently went there while body-swapped and beat him to a pulp, and he refused to even listen to what I had to offer him."
"And, now that your prattling has reminded me, I'm about… 101% certain Squid Baron is in the hospital following a most vicious group beating orchestrated by Hypno Baron after that oafish cephalopod took his spell book and tried—and evidently failed miserably—to eradicate you two with it," Techno Baron added. "Margin of error there is approximately 1%, by the way."
"And I'm pretty sure Aash is done with adventures after our time in the Siren's Requiem Labyrinth," Shantae added to the list of inactive participants.
"Question," Twitch interjected with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah?" Shantae permitted.
"That 'Aashiq' person you're mentioning… He wouldn't happen to be about your height, with long, flowing black hair, and sparkling hazel eyes, would he? Has super feminine curves and an incredibly soft, rounded face for a boy? Has a light, delicate accent? Doesn't like to use contractions when he talks? And, he apparently works for Hypno Baron? Is that who you mean?"
"Uh… Y-yeah, actually. How'd you know?"
"We met with him last night. He came to Scuttle Town and healed you in your sleep after you were brought back to that old timer's laboratory. He didn't stick around long, but I don't remember him exactly chomping at the bit to join the battle," Twitch explained to Shantae's surprise. "Vinni and I didn't really take kindly to him, and that feeling was mutual, but I'm also remembering that his arm was in a sling when we saw him. How useful do you expect him to be?"
"Oh, right… I forgot that he also suffered that dislocated shoulder…" Shantae murmured. "Which reminds me… Tay?"
"What up, homegirl?"
"How long does it take for a dislocated shoulder to heal?"
"Hmm… Anywhere between six weeks and three months, presumin' he can't magically heal himself," Tay informed. "An' as they say, you're not supposed t' do anything that might aggravate it for at least two weeks before it really starts t' heal up. If his arm was still in a sling as of last night, then Aash is most likely not gonna be in any condition t' fight," he further shared, much to the half-genie's dismay.
"Dang it!" Shantae cursed, growing frustrated with the longer the list of inactives/injured reserve appeared to grow.
"Ohh, well look at you!" Ammo Baron took the moment to sarcastically comment. "We got ourselves a regular anatomy and physiology expert over here!"
"Hmph. You sound like you've got somethin' t' say about that," Tay pointed out.
"Oh, how observant of you, kid. Since you're so adept at doling out prognoses for bodily injuries, tell me how long it'll take for this arm you broke to heal."
"Depends on where it broke," Tay bluntly remarked.
"Eh… Ow…! Right about here," Ammo Baron painstakingly pointed toward the uppermost part of the back of his arm just below his shoulder.
"Your humerus, then," Tay identified without needing to go near Ammo Baron to get a closer look. "Um… I'd probably say a good four t' six months total."
"Six months!?"
"Unfortunately for you, yes. Mind you, I've learned that it takes one t' two months for the bone t' even fuse back together properly, provided you're gettin' the right treatment for it. After that, you're gonna need some hardcore therapy t' heal it t' the point where you can make full use of it again. You'd be lucky if there wasn't any muscle tears t' go along with it."
"Are you kidding me!? Six months of inactivity and physical therapy!? Do you know how much muscle mass I'm gonna lose because of this!? Darn it, that's the worst news I've heard all day! My Adonis-level physique…!" Ammo Baron lamented for arguably all the wrong reasons. "You just HAD to go and break my arm…! Didn'tcha?"
"Could be worse; I could've broken your leg instead, in which case you would've needed a wheelchair or crutches for six months."
"That doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that you sabotaged my life, you little punk!"
"An' I just feel terrible about it, Ammo Baron. I really do," Tay offered his (feigned) regret for beating up Ammo Baron. "But, there's always the Bathhouse t' fix you right up. Maybe it'll cut the recovery time in half."
"Actually…" Twitch chimed in, seeming ready to break some bad news.
"Oh, don't tell me; the Bathhouse got destroyed or is inaccessible for some reason, so now I can't even go there," Ammo Baron guessed, hoping to the high heavens that his prediction was false.
"Er… B-bingo, sir," Twitch sadly shared, thus breaking Ammo Baron's heart worse than Tay broke his arm.
"Of all the rotten luck…!"
"The Bathhouse was destroyed!?" Shantae asked, dismayed by the revelation.
"Yep. A Tinkerbat blew it up with a rocket while it was aiming at me," Vinegar confirmed.
"Wow, and things just seem to keep getting bleaker…!" Shantae complained, stomping her foot onto the soggy earth beneath her. "Next to no allies, no unlimited healing, and barely any items to help us prepare…! And I doubt the Item Shop is open after what just happened to Scuttle Town…"
"Well, I mean… at the very least, you've got that Brain Chomp thing goin' for ya, Rotty. Right?" Tay dared to ask the zombie maiden to rope her into the discussion.
"Absolutely not!" Rottytops very sternly rebuffed. "I would NEVER kiss this arrogant meathead if I got a second life that depended on it!"
"Hey!" Ammo Baron complained.
"My healing kisses are reserved specifically for those who deserve them," Rotty further clarified, though Shantae got hot under the collar at the very mention of the zombie girl's secret technique. "And at this point, only you and Shantae are worthy of such a thing, Tayshan."
"Rotty!" Shantae yelled in panic, getting flustered all over again.
"What? W-why me?" Tay asked, completely thrown off by Rotty's bold claim.
"As if you need to ask. Let's be real, stud muffin; you stuck your neck out for us more times and in more ways than any of us could count. Heck, you put everything on the line to save me and Madame Bird Whisperer over there from certain doom even though Risky had you right where she wanted you. It'd be totally disrespectful to not want to reward you in SOME way or another, and the best thing I have to offer is sweet, sugary kisses that also restore your health. Y'know, provided I have the right food item to do it with."
"Oh. Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Rotty," Tay graciously acknowledged.
"Ah, you don't need to thank me," she assured as a most mischievous grin plastered itself onto her face. "Of course, I do have other ways to 'reward' you if that isn't enough…~" she just HAD to throw out there with a flirtatious wink aimed in his direction. At that, the soldier sighed out a massive amount of sudden situational awkwardness as he cut his eyes at the goofily grinning zombie girl.
"…Gee, I'm so flattered…" Tay remarked with a roll of his eyes, definitely nothing but enthusiastic (read: intimidated) about Rotty professing her willingness to use her Symbiotic Brain Chomp on him... or employ 'other' methods of repaying him for his protection of her and their friends.
"…Gross," Vinegar very wisely pointed out as she and Twitch shuddered in disgust.
"Cut it out, Rottytops!" Shantae protested once more, flailing her arms at her giggling zombie friend as they began horsing around with one another. "This is serious! And there's no way I'd give you permission to do whatever it is you're thinking to him!"
"Anyway," Tay spoke up, redirecting the conversation. "From the sound of it, we're in somethin' of a bind here. No other Barons, no situational allies, an' unless y'all have got some secret stash o' those weapons hidden away somewhere, we're pretty short on that, too. The only plus side t' this is that Risky's startin' t' run low on weapons as well."
"She is?" Twitch and Vinegar asked in unison while Shantae and Rottytops stopped wrestling with each other long enough to rejoin the conversation.
"Yeah. However many supplies she took from my planet, she's been burnin' through 'em quicker than I thought. It's to the point where if she doesn't act now, she won't get another chance t' restock. Far as I know, this is just about her only opportunity t' get what she wants, since she spent so much extra time an' resources tryin' t' take us down. This was the main topic o' my last conversation with her this mornin', now that I remember. There's a chance she won't even go through with her original idea o' bombin' her way across the country one major city at a time to establish herself, but I'm not entirely sure."
"Well, that's something of a relief, but it's definitely gonna mean she'll pull out all the stops to try destroying us once and for all as an alternative," Shantae theorized, knowing Risky's M.O. "So, with that in mind, where do you think she might attack first if she's in a hurry and strapped for resources?"
"Probably Scuttle Town," Tayshan, Twitch, Vinegar, Rottytops, Ammo Baron, and Techno Baron all answered in unison. Evidently, Risky really needed to mix things up a bit if EVERYONE could accurately guess that she was going to kick her campaign off by blowing up Scuttle Town… yet again. For, like, the 63rd time. Something tells me that Risky Boots just plain hates anything having to do with the quaint little port town. But, I digress.
"She's really gotten THAT predictable, huh?" Shantae remarked with a slight chuckle, though her smile faded quickly when she realized just how much danger Scuttle Town was in at this point. "Only thing this time, though, is that Scuttle Town is even more defenseless than it usually is, since a swarm of her Tinkerbats destroyed a huge part of it earlier this morning. And with those weapons at her disposal and the Palace Guards already trying to get control of the situation, she'd have a straight, wide-open path to the Sequin Land Palace if we didn't stop her."
"Oh, shoot…!" Tay reacted in surprise, realizing the gravity of the situation for himself. "So, do you think maybe she's gonna stage a coup t' depose the Sultana if she managed t' wipe us out?"
"That's exactly what I'm worried about, Tayshan…" Shantae confirmed, crossing her arms and thinking hard about what they could do to stop her. "If she usurps the Sultana, Risky Boots will essentially BECOME the Sultana. Just like in the S.U.G.A.R.S. comic we've been reading together… And if that happens, then no one in the country would be able to touch her without SEVERE consequences, knowing how much she'd abuse her newfound power…"
"Hm… I suppose this does sorta sound like that comic series…" Tay acknowledged, though he found it both odd and somewhat amusing that she'd bring it up so suddenly with hardly any context.
"Then it sounds like our plan should be to stop her before she gets anywhere near Scuttle Town," Rottytops suggested as she, Shantae, and Tayshan began bantering among one another about how to keep Risky out of their territory.
"Wow…!" Ammo Baron exhaled in wonder, both appalled and amazed by Risky's drive to get what she wanted in life. "Risky Boots is hardcore…! If only she wasn't such an insufferable witch with a gross penchant for younger guys…"
"A.B., now is NOT the time to be fantasizing about that disgusting old hag," Vinegar sternly advised him, shocking him stiff because she wasn't supposed to hear him.
"Seriously, with all the girls you usually have throwing themselves at you, why would you ever want anything to do with HER?" Twitch asked, not at all understanding her boss's slight infatuation with the Pirate Queen. "And… what exactly do you mean when you say she has a 'penchant for younger guys'?"
"Uh, no, don't get me wrong, ladies. I don't want anything to do with her like that," the Ammonian general assured, however unbelievable his assertion was. "What I meant was that if Risky was more personable, we could've potentially worked together more cohesively than she made us this time around. Alas, that version of Risky exists only in fantasy. As for the other part, I… got word that she apparently did some really horrible things to that kid over there after that repulsive 'kissing' display she put on in Inseam. Evidently, what she did then was just a prelude… And, far as I'm suspecting, it's whatever she did to him once she took him to her ship that turned him into… well, whatever we're supposed to call that," he concluded, nudging his head toward Tayshan as he remained preoccupied talking to Shantae and Rottytops.
"…Wh… what 'horrible' things…?" Twitch found herself almost too scared to ask, were it not for her curiosity practically forcing her to do so. It didn't help in the slightest that her curiosity was borne from the conclusion of the Inseam Municipality incident, when Risky…
"Eh… I'm not sure I should, but… come here, and I'll tell ya what I think happened," Ammo Baron whispered, sparing us the displeasure of having to hear about his conjecture. Apprehensively, Twitch and Vinegar approached Ammo Baron and allowed him to whisper something to them. Instantly, both girls went bug-eyed with horror, their mouths wide open as they received the message.
"…No…! She didn't… she… she COULDN'T have…!" Twitch stammered, so wracked with guilt and disbelief at Ammo Baron's statement that she'd begun visibly trembling.
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't suspect it to be true, but I'm pretty sure that's the case," Ammo Baron solemnly assured. "I only have that idea because he yelled at me about it back in the Baron Desert earlier today. Kid was NOT happy about it, either."
"…So, that's what he meant when he said he 'lost' something he couldn't get back from her…" Vinegar murmured through a crestfallen exhale, pensively staring at the mud beneath her boots. "Jeez…!"
"Ohh…! I… I can't believe…! Oh, my gosh…!" Twitch exhaled, devastated by the news as she fell to her knees, hung her head, and began to weep.
"Ah, come on, girlie. Now's not the time for that. Come on, let's uh… Let's go over there, so you can have a moment," Ammo Baron advised, sympathetically offering Twitch the hand he still had use of. Though a fresh set of cascading tears rolled down the poor young woman's face, Twitch acknowledged her leader's offer and hesitantly took his hand. With that, Ammo Baron walked Twitch farther away from the group to console her. Meanwhile, Vinegar took a deep, quaking breath, and hesitantly approached the portion of the group consisting of the zombie girl, the half-genie, and the alien soldier.
"Uh… What… is happening right now?" Techno Baron asked, having been left out of the loop.
"Yo! Techno Baron!" Bolo called as he and Sky finally broke from their private discussion and approached the flabbergasted lizard man. Once the two of them reached him, they glanced around to see Twitch and Ammo Baron separately talking while Twitch was huddled over and hugging her knees on the ground. On the other end, Vinegar had entered a separate discussion with Shantae, Tayshan, and Rottytops that seemed to be going normally.
"Why is everybody separated?" Sky asked in wonder as she allowed Wrench to perch atop her falconer's glove.
"Beats the stuffing out of me," Techno Baron remarked with an uncaring shrug. "They were discussing how they'd navigate the process of stopping Risky Boots with next to no resources or allies to help them. Suddenly, the girl with the glasses started crying, and now Ammo Baron's trying to cheer her up. The taller blonde one with the bob cut, I can only guess is sharing her own ideas with your friends over there," he guessed without much context. "At this point, I don't feel like I can contribute to such a messy discussion, so whenever you're ready, you may take me to this friend of yours."
"Cool, cool. We were just discussing our method of transport," Sky assured, pulling out her specialized bird seed and feeding some of it to Wrench. Soon after, Wrench hopped off Sky's glove before instantly growing a good fifty times his normal size with a voluminous *POOF* that startled Techno Baron out of his wits. The unsuspecting lizard man jumped out of his skin before flopping backward onto the wet dirt.
"Hoh! Wha… What in the…? You could've warned me, ya know!" Techno Baron irritably shouted at the bird tamer before Wrench, with a mighty avian screech aimed at the bite-sized technician, basically told him to watch his mouth.
"I suppose I could've," Sky very casually acknowledged. "Anyway, we'll get to Bolo's friend the fastest riding on my friend Wrench here," she further asserted while mounting her behemoth of a sidekick.
"And just to be sure you don't fall off along the way…" Bolo added, approaching Techno Baron and tightly fastening a thick rope around his waist. Bolo then fastened the other end of the rope to Wrench's saddle… very, VERY carefully, I might add, considering Wrench had been ravenously eyeing Bolo up and down.
"Wrench, no. I told you about this," Sky admonished her bird as she stroked the back of his neck with a hand. "Bolo is friend, not food; no matter how delicious he looks to you." In response, the creature chirped in understanding and mild disappointment in not being able to make the spiky-haired adventurer his next meal.
"Yyyyyeah, if you could PLEASE keep this monster under control, that'd be great," Bolo warily asked as he led the rope-bound Techno Baron onto Wrench's saddle. Bolo climbed aboard first, after which he assisted the unassuming reptile with mounting Wrench.
"Wait… How come neither of you is fastened to this freak of nature with rope?" Techno Baron rudely asked, his suspicion of foul play starting to kick in.
"First of all, don't call my bird a 'freak of nature,'" Sky irritably ordered. "Second, I'm an expert with my birds, and my friends have been trained on how to keep their balance to minimize their risk of falling off."
"We have?" Bolo unwisely asked, causing Sky to let loose an annoyed sigh.
"Yes, Bolo, we have," she very, VERY specifically responded as she got settled in. "It's why Techno Baron, who has not been trained on how to properly ride a giant bird, needs the rope. For security. Like we discussed a second ago, REMEMBER? HMMMM?"
"Uh…" he droned as he scratched his head, seeming to completely forget this most important part of their private discussion. It took him an additional few seconds (that also made Techno Baron more suspicious of them) before he finally got a clue. "Ohh, right, we did talk about that," the plucky young man finally recalled. "Sorry, I can't believe I let that slip so soon. Sometimes, when you hit me with one of your long-winded, preachy lectures, I get bored and start daydreaming about literally anything else. I remember, though, so it's all good." At that, Techno Baron chuckled while Sky resisted the urge to turn around and deliver a most savage backhand to Bolo's annoying face just long enough to take a deep breath and dispel some of her sudden anger.
"Cool. In that case, I suppose Wrench won't need to add a new item to his diet just yet," she menacingly remarked as she grabbed hold of Wrench's reins.
"Alright…" Bolo acknowledged, pausing for a few more seconds until he realized the dark implications of Sky's comment. "Wait, wha-?"
"Shantae!" Sky called over to her best friend, prompting her and the others to turn and face her.
"Hm? Hey, where you guys going?" Shantae asked in wonder, having no clue why Sky, Bolo, and Techno Baron were already about to leave.
"We're gonna take Techno Baron to meet this friend of Bolo's, so we hopefully get some support with the upcoming battle against Risky," Sky advised. "With any luck, this won't take long. We'll be back in town within… I'd say the next hour or two, so let's reconvene at your house, okay?"
"I guess that's fine, but Sky, hang on! I think you might need to hear-!" the purple-haired young woman tried to call out to her friend, but she found herself cut off by Wrench letting out a piercing caw that drowned out any other noise in the area as he spread his wings. "Sky! Wait! There's something we need to talk about!" Shantae tried to yell again over the voluminous flaps of Wrench's humongous wings as she ran toward them. Before his passengers spent another second waiting for any additional information, however, Wrench majestically soared off with Sky, Bolo, and Techno Baron in tow. We'll, of course, be catching up with them later. For now… "…Shoot. I wasn't expecting them to just take off like that, but I can only presume it's for a good reason…" the half-genie murmured as she turned back and walked toward Tay, Vinegar, and Rottytops. One could tell right away by the distraught and despondent expressions on their faces, however, that something was wrong; very wrong. "…So, I don't know when we're gonna get another chance to tell her what happened…"
"Do we have t' tell her?" Tayshan asked, his tone entirely deflated as he wore a most… dare I say, mortified expression on his face. "I didn't even wanna tell you until I was ready t' make sense o' the incident…"
"I'm sorry, Tay… I-I thought you told them already," Vinegar apologized, her expression full to the brim with regret as she took in the dejected, anxiously trembling form of the man.
"Cat's out o' the bag now, so… it is what it is," he dismissed, finding it difficult to look any of his friends in the eye. It was clear that, based on what was shared between them, he found himself entirely uncomfortable with the situation.
"I… uh, I… I don't even know what to say, man…" Vinegar attempted to provide anything close to a sense of understanding, her voice wavering and her eyes tearing up as she sifted through her mind to find some combination of words that would help her estranged non-Ammonian teammate feel better. "I… I feel so bad… That's… just so messed up on so many levels… and poor Twitch over there… she's… I-I mean, if maybe she and I would've helped you before…"
"Like I was sayin' earlier, there's no point dwellin' on it now," he countered, attempting to end the conversation regarding the topic. "I don't want anybody's pity, an' at this point, it… it had t' be done… t' keep everybody alive… I mean, I don't know how else t' put it. If I was just a bit stronger, or a bit more careful durin' the battle at Inseam, it wouldn't have had t' go down like that, but… well…"
"Yeah, but stud muffin…" Rotty spoke up, deeply saddened as she reached out and grabbed his hand. "We… we would never in our lives ask you to go that far for us… That was a super special part of yourself that you were made to surrender, and after you've already been through so many other bad situations… I couldn't even imagine what it's like being put in that position, and I hope no one else ever experiences that. I-I mean, I understand you as much as I can, and you have our eternal gratitude for thinking of us, but… in no way did you ever, EVER deserve anything like that…" she added, tearing up as she felt his jittery hand grip hers in response to her taking hold of it. "I… can't even… believe that, of all the things Risky was capable of… and for her to do it to you of all people… it makes me sick just thinking about it…!" she further expressed her vicarious frustration, a fresh set of tears streaking down her cheeks as she tried to hold herself together.
"I don't know if any of us was aware o' how many lines she'd cross," Tay responded, taking a breath and shaking his head, though he did not let go of Rotty's hand. "But I promise you, I'm alright. She didn't break me like she wanted to, an' we're all free t' put a stop t' her once and for all. That's… that's what's most important. Nobody should feel like they need t' treat me any differently for it, because I don't plan on actin' any differently. I'm good. I promise. It ain't really worth wrackin' our brains over at a time like this. We don't have t' keep gettin' hung up on it."
"Well, that's… definitely relieving to know," Rottytops fully acknowledged with a relieved sigh and a sympathetic grin aimed at the soldier as she wiped her eyes dry. At that, Tay looked back at her and nodded in confirmation as he confidently held her hand a little tighter.
"Tayshan?" Shantae called to him, her own voice wavering as she looked directly at him with nothing but utmost concern in her expression.
"Yeah, Shantae?"
"Um… I… I know you don't really like to tell anyone what's bothering you, and I respect that… but I… I wanted to know if maybe you, Rotty, and I should at least take our talk somewhere more appropriate," she suggested, choosing her words very carefully. "I want you to know that you can share anything with me, as long as you're comfortable enough to do so. I won't force you to say anything you don't want to say, and I can't guarantee I'll have all the answers, but I want you to know that no matter what…" she trailed off, approaching him to take hold of his other hand while Rotty still held the first one. "…no matter what, we'll always be here for you." At that, Tayshan went almost completely stiff as he took in the somber expression within the teary blue eyes of his closest ally.
He knew she cared enough about him that she'd always lend a helping hand. He knew that she wanted nothing more than to see their connection flourish and evolve. He couldn't help but to acknowledge (because she kept saying it over and over when she thought he became a villain) that she… well, she loved him as much as he came to realize he loved her. However, among the other rampant thoughts speeding through his mind in that moment, one remained prevalent. Could he… could he really tell her about what happened? As in, the full story? Would she be devastated? Would she be angry? And… shoot, at this point… could he consider himself good enough for her, considering the situation and the things he was forced to give up for their friends' safety? Granted, time seemed short enough as it was, with Risky potentially being on her way to attempt to topple the country and them having almost no solid plans on how to deal with the issue. It isn't like he wanted to keep the residual turmoil locked up inside him. He trusted Shantae completely. After all, the girl stops at nothing to get a problem solved… even if she sometimes went about it a tad impulsively. But… to have to come clean with something so humiliating… it just didn't sit right with him. Nevertheless, he exchanged glances with both the girls holding his hands and, in that moment, saw that they wanted to help him get better. At the very least, that provided some peace of mind as he took another deep breath to dispel the quaking in his hands.
"…Alright. Yes, I'd… like t' talk," he accepted Shantae's offer, causing her much relief as she let go of his hand and moved in for a hug. Fully welcoming of the gesture, he wrapped his arm around her to reciprocate. Rottytops, following suit, did the same. As such, Tay wrapped his other arm around the undead young woman. "We ain't got a lot o' time before the big showdown, an' we'll need t' make it quick, but for once, I… I think it's better t' just spill it instead o' lettin' it eat away at me like so many other things have in my past," he admitted, thus demonstrating that, as long as he was able to seek support from his friends, he was willing to try moving forward instead of looking backward.
"Awesome," Shantae conclusively agreed as she and Rotty ended their collective hug with Tayshan. The young half-genie wasted no time pulling out the Potion she collected from Mimic's abode and downing most of its contents almost instantly as she wrapped her lips around the neck of the vial. Within an instant, Shantae restored herself to full health while also fully replenishing her magic. Curiously, she left a decent portion of the vial untouched. "Ah… I don't know if this'll work for you too, but here," she offered Tayshan, much to his surprise. He took the vial into his hand, studying it up and down.
"You're… not gonna drink it all?" he asked, uncertain of why she handed him her unfinished Potion.
"Nah, I'm back at full power already," she assured. "Plus, without the Bathhouse, we don't have another way to heal. And from the looks of it, you could use a pick-me-up."
"Well… I mean, that's not the ONLY way he can heal right now," Rotty reminded her friends.
"Okay, it's the only way that doesn't require another person's help, to our knowledge" Shantae clarified, avoiding any mention of Rotty's ability.
"Hm. Well… I guess…" he acquiesced, bringing the Potion to his nose and giving it a quick sniff. "Smells… like straight-up sugar… What is this, magic grape juice?"
"No, Tay, don't be silly," she denied with a slight chuckle. "If grape juice could restore my magic and health, I'd be buying that in bulk. Anyway, we should really get going now, so go ahead and drink that."
"Ah… Alright," he obeyed, pressing the vial to his lips without hesitation and downing the remainder of the Potion. Once he drank it, however, he felt something of a tingling sensation course through his body for a literal second before the feeling dissipated. He smacked his lips as his face changed to one of utmost curiosity surrounding the taste. "It goes down like melted ice cream, yet it tastes like caramel an' pancake syrup… Ooh, I don't know if I like that too much…"
"Eh, it's an acquired taste," Shantae informed him, having already grown used to the peculiar flavor of the serum.
"Hm. If you say so," he responded before looking at the Heart Monitor to see that its number read the same as it had before. The digital oil lamp, however, appeared to have increased somewhat. "It doesn't look like this worked for me in terms of restorin' my health in the slightest, but… if I'm readin' this thing right, then it gave me a boost in magic…?"
"Darn… Well, that's something to note," Shantae replied in disappointment, though Rotty didn't share such a sentiment.
"Well in that case, if you still need that health boost, just let a girl know," the zombie girl casually mentioned, wanting to help her friends.
"Noted," both Shantae and Tayshan replied in unison before the half-genie turned toward Twitch and Ammo Baron.
"Hey!" she called to them, prompting them to turn around to face her. "I'm about to warp back into Scuttle Town using my Warp Dance! Come on, I'll take us all back!" Heeding her call, Twitch and Ammo Baron apprehensively rejoined the party. It was made quite evident by the distress on Twitch's face, however, that they separated because she needed a moment.
"Uh… Are you okay…?" Tay found it in himself to ask Twitch, causing her to involuntarily frown in compounded sadness as she looked up at him in response. Her eyes welled up with more fresh tears in her puffy ruby red eyes.
"Tayshan…" she tried to call to him, though it came out as an asphyxiated whisper. "…Do you hate me for… for what happened…? I totally understand it if you do… I should've helped you when I had the chance…" she continued to confess in immense guilt, putting the soldier on the spot as he heated up with situational pressure.
"Er, that's… What happened wasn't your fault…" he uneasily tried to address, the sudden discomfort almost paralyzing him as he was brought back to a certain painful topic. "You couldn't predict what Risky Boots was gonna do, so uh… d-don't hold yourself accountable for that. An'… no, I don't hate you. Even if I strongly dislike your boss an' I still haven't gotten the chance t' cope with the Inseam thing, I don't hate you," he admitted, granting Twitch a much-needed sense of relief, however fleeting it was.
"Hmph. Feeling's mutual, but I gotta at least respect your integrity, kid," Ammo Baron stated in acknowledgement of his and his would-be assassin's shared feelings of enmity toward one another. "Even if you still cost me literal billions of gems in damages, of course."
"Right. In any case, are you ready, Shantae?" Tay asked the half-genie, dismissing Ammo Baron entirely.
"Sure am," Shantae assured, grabbing Tay's hand and extending her other one toward Vinegar. "I haven't tried this with multiple people before, but it isn't that far. Everybody hold someone's hand. Except Ammo Baron, in which case, someone just grab hold of his shoulder." Wordlessly, everyone in attendance locked hands (or shoulder) with one another as Shantae took a deep breath, closed her eyes to focus, and began rhythmically rocking her hips. Within a few seconds, the atmosphere around the group grew warm like they'd been approaching a busy kitchen where all the ovens were turned on. Before anyone could process the arcane feeling, however… "Warp Dance…!" Shantae announced as the entire group got teleported out of the largely unexplored Tittle-Tattle Plains with a collective *POOF*.
A little later…
LOCATION: CROWN JEWEL INN (OUTSIDE), SCUTTLE TOWN, SEQUIN LAND
DATE: OCTOBER 2ND, 16 P.G.F.
TIME: 1204 HOURS
The makeshift Anti-Piracy Defense Force (pretty cool name that they never went with) warped safely into an emptied-out Scuttle Town with a flashing *POOF* outside of the hotel where Tay, Twtich, and Vinegar had previously booked stays. The sheer silence of the normally bustling district was all too chilling. Where there should have been children and adults alike carrying on about their usual business, there were instead only tattered remnants of clothing and burnt-up children's toys. Where there should have been lively, reasonably crowded businesses, there were broken down, crumbling, smoking fragments of the buildings once frequented by Scuttle Town's citizens. Guards were seen patrolling through in various small groups, assisting injured, displaced citizens (in addition to other guards who were wounded in the battle) in whatever ways they could manage. The clouds still loomed over the rain-soaked city like a bad omen as our heroes took in the view of the carnage spread by Risky's relentless forces.
"This is insane…" Tayshan murmured in a swirling mix of ire and consternation, not at all pleased to see the results of Risky's ruthlessness. "They really did all this…?"
"I'm afraid so," Shantae confirmed, equally as appalled. "I'm hopeful that the townsfolk are being taken care of, but this… this is the worst state I've ever seen Scuttle Town in."
'No kidding…" Rotty added in dismay. "The town was as lively and as busy as ever just yesterday. To see it like this now… Risky CAN'T be allowed to get away with this…!"
"And you'd better believe we're going to make sure she regrets every bit of it," Shantae confidently assured, balling up her fists as she tempered her burgeoning frustration at Risky for the rampant destruction and mayhem she caused. "Naga Mountain, the Prickle Stitch Valley, Hypno Baron's Castle, Yarnball Heights Town, the Inseam Municipality, and now Scuttle Town…"
"We can't forget that her goons also completely annihilated the Sheared Spool Shrine," Twitch added in.
"Can we also throw in the Baron Desert?" Ammo Baron pointed out as well, causing Tay to shoot him a deadpan glance.
"Too many places have gone down due to this awful new power trip she's been on, and if it's the last thing I do, I'm gonna stop her once and for all," the half-genie vowed, filled to the brim with determination to make her nemesis answer for her numerous war crimes. "That said, is there anything you guys can do to maybe give us a little bit more help?" she asked the Ammonian trio.
"I'm not sure," Vinegar answered. "We still have our plane parked down the road and, with any luck, it hasn't been touched by those Tinkerbats. In the case that it's still there, we might be able to make a trip back to what's left of the Baron Desert and scrounge up what we have in terms of firepower. Other than that, we may need to call in our old friends from Sector K0414 for reinforcements."
"Wait, what? There's a Koala sector of the Ammo-?" Shantae asked in surprise.
"Daah, dah, dah, dah, dah, you didn't hear any of that," Ammo Baron swiftly shut the topic down. "No, there is no ultra-secret experimental Koala—er, K0414 sector designed primarily to find and execute a covert and militaristic counter to your every move. Stop asking about it!"
"Well, how can I not when-?" Shantae attempted to ask again.
"No! That topic needs no further exploration! That part of the Ammonian Army does NOT exist, and Vinegar was just pulling your leg!" the general put his foot down while also very irritably nudging the taller blonde acolyte as a way of telling her to zip it.
"Y-yeah, sorry about that. I forgot that uh… that was a bad joke that we no longer mention for some reason," Vinegar assured with a nervous grin and forced chuckle that did not at all seem suspicious. At that, the very observant half-genie eyed all three of them up and down with a scrutinizing expression on her face.
"Okay, well, I certainly hope this 'imaginary' Koala sector knows that they'd better be on their A-game if they ever expect to get one over on me," she very directly challenged, keeping the info in mind. "But in the case that they really don't exist, is there anything else you three can do?"
"Well, as we established, I can't really do anything with this broken arm," Ammo Baron informed, massaging the damaged appendage. "If anything, I think I really need to get to a hospital. It's starting to swell and the pain is almost completely unbearable."
"And unless we've got other troops that can join us on the battlefield, Vinegar and I are pretty much all you've got on our end," Twitch added. "At the very least, I'm thinking we can patrol the skies nearby and report to you the minute we see the yellow in a Tinkerbat's eyes. Tayshan, you still have that Ammonian Transceiver, right?"
"No," Tay answered with a shake of his head. "Risky frisked it off me an' destroyed it t' make sure I couldn't try t' talk y'all int' doin' anything against her."
"Oh… Shoot, she WOULD do that…" Twitch lamented.
"I'd have lent you mine, but y'know… you destroyed that one when you tried to kill me," Ammo Baron also shared, not letting up on the spiteful remarks that went ignored nonetheless.
"If nothin' else, y'all can at least make sure y'all fly high enough t' where she won't see or hear you from above, restock as much as you can at your base, scout for Risky as you come back, an' then circle around a designated point where we can see y'all t' let us know you spotted her, no? That way, the second we see y'all comin' back in our direction, we know t' get ready t' fight," he hypothesized. "I'm not sure how long it'll be before she gets anywhere near Scuttle Town, but I figure our safest bet is t' spot her an' strike first. Bring the battle t' her before she expects it instead o' waitin' for her t' come to us. The only thing, though, is t' be careful not to fly too low, in case any o' those Tinkerbats have Stingers t' shoot you down with."
"That's… actually not a bad idea," Vinegar acknowledged. "It's incredibly dangerous and we're putting our last aircraft on the line for it, but… it's the most feasible thing we can do. Granted, it takes at least an hour to fly from here to the Baron Desert and another hour to fly back. But, I'm sure you're aware of that by now."
"Very aware," Tay remarked with a nod as he flexed his aching fingers.
"That sounds reasonable to me," Twitch agreed. "Of course, we'll be dropping A.B. off to the nearest hospital before we take that trip. Buuut, the nearest hospital is…?"
"In Bandit Town, which is maybe a good fifteen minutes from here," Shantae interjected, pointing over the horizon. "They're your best bet for getting emergency care, as far as I know, so you might have time to do that if you guys take off now. Which reminds me… Tay?"
"Yo."
"Have you figured out how long it might be before Risky possibly gets here?"
"Ah…" Tay hummed, pondering for a minute as he did the enormous amount of directional math in his head. "All things considered, it took me about two and a half hours t' get from her base t' the Baron Desert usin' your uncle's Auto-Canoe that Risky stole from us," he began, already surprising his mentor with the detail about the stolen seacraft. "Before that, though, Risky said somethin' t' me earlier this mornin' about a suggestion I made t' her about comin' here first an' foremost."
"What was it you discussed with her?"
"Hmm… At about… I'd say 5:00, maybe 5:30 this mornin', I asked her about what it would look like if she went from her base directly t' Scuttle Town. She, of course, gave nothin' but vague, cryptic replies t' my questions. But, I remember her sayin' that if she was t' take off from her base that minute, she'd have realistically arrived in the afternoon or somewhere close to it, factorin' in the storm. My guess is that it'd take anywhere between three an' six hours for her t' sail here from her base. All things considered, it's the afternoon now, an' she ain't here. But, presumin' her ship is faster than that Auto-Canoe…"
"Which, from my experience steering it, her ship is… hm, I'd say a good deal faster, but not quite to the point where I'd even come close to saying it was twice as fast," Shantae speculated. "Like, if it took us two and a half hours to get to the Kitschy Quilt Desert with the Auto-Canoe, then we'd have made it there in about an hour and forty five minutes… maybe two hours tops in Risky's ship. Actually, what happened to the Auto-Canoe, Tayshan?"
"Ammo Baron blew it up t' try an' trap me on the Baron Desert," Tay informed her, causing her to sigh in vexation and shoot Ammo Baron a displeased expression that he reeled back from.
"Of course you did, Ammo Baron," Shantae remarked at the Ammonian leader with a shake of her head.
"Hey, don't blame me! He shouldn't have shown up there with it in the first place!" Ammo Baron complained, pointing at Tay.
"I'm not takin' the rap for somethin' you know you didn't have t' do but did anyway," Tay rebutted. "Anyway, it took me a total of… I'd say three and a half, maybe four hours t' get here, if I add up the trip times between the Auto-Canoe an' when I hitched a ride on the back of Ammo Baron's plane, not countin' anything else. But then, it can't be ignored that an Ammonian airplane is WAY faster than anything that travels by sea. An' for what it's worth, I remember sailin' directly east from Risky's base t' the Baron Desert. An' then from the Baron Desert t' here, I think we came flyin' in from… I wanna say… southwest o' Scuttle Town?"
"Yeah, that's accurate," Ammo Baron confirmed. "The Baron Desert is indeed a pretty hefty distance southwest of Scuttle Town."
"So is the Kitschy Quilt Desert, right?" Shantae pointed out, remembering the last time she and Tayshan traveled in that direction.
"Sorta. The Kitschy Quilt Desert is much farther south than west in relation to Scuttle Town, though," he clarified. "That desert might also be a bit farther out from Scuttle Town than the Baron Desert is, if I had to guess. That said, was it a straight shot from Risky's hideout to my base?"
"More or less," Tay affirmed. "We were sailin' through right as the storm picked up, but I don't think we needed t' take any detours. That said, that would mean Risky's base is somewhere a few hours t' the far west of here if we're talkin' sea travel alone…"
"Wow, that's a surprise…" Shantae acknowledged, scratching her head as she considered the details. "But, it sounds like we're close to cracking the code here. The only thing we need to consider now is how long ago the storm ended. Knowing Risky, she'd most likely set sail the instant the tides settled… or at least, the minute it stopped raining…"
"Which, by any guess of ours, the rain probably stopped just under an hour ago," Vinegar speculated.
"Right. Then, that means… that, by way of her ship, we should probably expect Risky to realistically show up by… hmm, my guess would be about 4:00 P.M. at the earliest, giving us a little less than four hours to prepare if she was on her way here now."
"Shoot, that's not a lot of time at all…" Twitch remarked in worry.
"Don't panic," Shantae assured. "You guys have that plane, which gives you more than enough time to fly to the Baron Desert and back, and you even have enough time to drop Ammo Baron off at the hospital. You just have to be sure to keep from taking any unnecessary detours. In any case, are you in agreement with your part of the plan?"
"It's the best we've got, so I'm ready to rock," Vinegar agreed.
"Ditto," Twitch also agreed.
"Awesome. In that case, you three go on and get ready. Tay, Rotty, and I will figure out what to do on our end while we wait for Sky, Bolo, and Techno Baron to get back from meeting that friend of theirs."
"Sounds like a plan to me. In that case, we'll see you guys on the battlefield," Vinegar acknowledged with a nod as she, Twitch, and Ammo Baron turned and made haste returning to their parked plane on the outskirts of town. Just before they got too far, however…
"Twitch," Tayshan called after a moment of thought, causing the smaller Ammonian affiliate to flinch as her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his doubled voice. Hesitantly, she turned around along with her teammate and team leader.
"Yeah, Tay?"
"Uh… could you come here a minute?" he requested.
"Um… Okay," she obliged, turning and walking back toward the soldier until she was right in front of him. "What's… uh… what's up?" At that, Tay took a deep, contemplative breath as Shantae and Rottytops watched on in wonder.
"…I uh… I don't know if we'll ever get another chance t' clear the air between us, but just in case we don't…" he began, suddenly incredibly nervous. The phrasing of his statement, however, resonated with Shantae. It brought up a harrowing reminder of a certain dream she had that caused her heart to sink. She stifled a gasp by covering her mouth as she did her best to keep herself under control. In that moment, she remembered the exact detail of a particular conversation she had with someone within the recesses of her subconscious that nearly petrified her on the spot. Rottytops, noticing Shantae's horrified reaction, studied her best friend up and down while saying nothing in that moment. Meanwhile… "Uh… I… just want you t' know that… that no matter what, I'm not holdin' anything against you. An'… eventually, when this is all over, maybe we can start over as friends if this plays out the way I'm hopin' it will. An' even if we don't get that chance, just uh… just know that it was an honor fightin' alongside you."
"Jeez, Tay, that's… awfully heavy, don'tcha think?" Twitch asked, concerned about the ambivalence surrounding his hesitant suggestion. "You make it sound like you might die or something…" At that, Shantae tensed up as that haunting 'reminder' grew much, MUCH more salient in her mind. The poor half-genie nearly went catatonic as she processed Twitch's words to Tay and related them to a premonition she'd recently received.
"Shantae, what's going on…? Are you okay?" Rotty whispered to her, though Shantae could only look at Rotty while being unable to wipe the distress off her face. "Whoa… You look like you've seen a ghost… What's the matter, hon? Is something bothering you?"
"…Um… we'll… talk about it a little later…" Shantae barely found the courage to mention, giving Rotty no clarification whatsoever on what was wrong.
"Eh, I ain't sayin' all that," Tay nonchalantly, yet nervously remarked with an involuntary scratch of his cheek that all but sealed it for Shantae that… that Tayshan had been keeping something from her. And whatever it was… it scared her senseless. Nevertheless, the serviceman continued. "I'd… just like for there not t' be bad blood or regrets between us. I mean… At this point, the 'relationship' you were lookin' for, is not somethin' that's gonna happen at this point if I gotta say it, but I still want you t' know that I still… in a somewhat twisted sense, appreciate the friendship we shared… I can admit that much, now that my mind's… at least somewhat clearer than it was a few hours ago."
"Got it… Well… Tay, I can't pretend I'm not disappointed by that…" Twitch began, choosing her words carefully as she looked him in the eye. "…but, all things considered, I… I think I've learned quite a lot on how to better treat someone I love… Part of me wishes you still wanted to… well, y'know… possibly be with me once you cleared your head, but I acknowledge that I've hurt you far too much for it to work between us. I hope you'll forgive me one day, and I hope I can forgive myself, considering what happened to you…"
"Right. I… hope you can forgive me one day for lashin' out the way I did as well…"
"If things play out like they're supposed to, then we'll have as much time as we need to hash things out," Twitch assured with a hopeful smile aimed at him. In return, Tay grinned back at her, though his expression hid a world's worth of uncertainty behind it. "On that note, I'd better get going. Can I… at least get one last hug before I take off?"
"Sure. Why not?" Tay permitted, opening his arms up and allowing the young blonde to embrace him fully and warmly. Squeezing him tightly, Twitch nuzzled her head into his chest, prompting him to wrap his arms around her just as affectionately. "While you're here, Twitch, I gotta say somethin' that I think I should get off my chest while I have the chance…"
"Hm? Like what?" she asked, perking up in curiosity as they continued their embrace.
"You don't have t' listen t' this if you find it t' be wrong, but I think if you really want t' achieve your own goals in life, you'd get your best start on accomplish them by leavin' the Ammonian Army behind," he rather candidly informed her to her mild shock.
"And why's that?" the bespectacled blonde incredulously asked.
"Just seems t' me like puttin' your leader's interests ahead o' your own don't do you many favors outside o' keepin' you employed. An' if you ask me, a job that forces you t' choose between keepin' yourself on somebody's pay schedule an' protectin' the people you care about is a job that ain't worth it."
"Oh…" she murmured, her heart sinking a bit further as she contemplated his words. She certainly heard him loud and clear, but what he was saying… Leave the Ammonian Army to pursue her own goals? As far as she knew, serving in the Ammonian Army WAS her goal… or at least, she thought it was before Tay made his point. And the point, however vague, couldn't have hit closer to home by any means outside of hitting home directly. She knew what he meant. She understood his reasoning. She… in a sense, agreed. However, she knew that what he was suggesting wasn't the most practical or feasible at this time. She also knew, though, that this moment proved inopportune to get too deeply lost in thought. "Hm. I… I don't know, Tay-Tay. There's a lot I've gained working for Ammo Baron over the years. I understand that it seems bad for me now because of what happened since you've been here, but I couldn't just up and leave. Besides, this is the best job I've ever had. Not to say I don't see your point about eventually branching out or prioritizing my goals over the goals of the Army, but still…"
"I ain't sayin' you should leave today or tomorrow, Twitch. I'm just sayin' that no job worth keepin' should make you sacrifice your own happiness for your employer's sake. You deserve way better than that."
"Ah… I… I see what you mean now…" she pensively replied with a nod. "In that case, you've definitely given me something to think about. Thanks, Tay-Tay."
"No need t' thank me. I'm just… lookin' out for a friend…" he hesitantly remarked, though the implication of the statement brought out a disarming, yet somewhat forlorn smile as she hugged Tayshan tighter. Without saying a word, he pressed a hand to the back of her head and pulled the Ammonian acolyte closer in response to her strengthening her hug. The two embraced for what felt like a solid five more minutes, saying nothing else to one another as the others watched. Before too long, however, the two of them separated with Twitch almost immediately turning toward Shantae.
"Take good care of him, Shantae. Okay?" Twitch requested of the half-genie, shocking her out of her daze as the two girls locked eyes.
"Uh, wh-wha? What do you mean?" Shantae stammered with a nervous chuckle, suddenly blushing as she was put on the spot. Also flinching with embarrassment, Tay batted his eyes elsewhere and shifted to try and hide his discomfort.
"I think you know. Don't make me say it out loud, because I'm trying to be mature about this," Twitch shot back with something of a scrutinizing frown, doing little to hide her… let's say 'disagreement' with Shantae as Tayshan's 'choice.' "That said, don't take him for granted like I did. If you really love him, then you'll do everything you deem necessary to protect him and cherish him as your boyfriend. And… please, help him as best as you can with moving forward from everything that happened with this Risky Boots mess…" At that, Shantae's jaw nearly hit the ground hard enough to break through fifteen cinder blocks.
"Dah, wh-wh-wh-what are you… uh… I… I never said anything uh… um…" she stuttered and stumbled over her words, immediately going for her ages-old practice of nibbling on her finger as her head grew hot enough that her brain seemed to short circuit from the heat alone.
"…Jeez, Twitch, I'm right here…" Tay complained, thoroughly flustered by the bespectacled blonde's assertion. At the 'couple's' collective nervousness, Twitch let out a lighthearted giggle as she turned and walked toward her Ammonian comrades in arms.
"Best of luck, you two. Peace out, zombie chick whose name I can't be bothered to remember. And Tay-Tay, I'll be looking forward to our next chat, okay? Till then, I'll catch ya on the fly," she cheerily bade as she turned around once more, flashed the soldier a cute, toothy grin accompanied by a wink and salute. Afterward, she, Vinegar, and Ammo Baron headed off, leaving a flabbergasted Shantae, a befuddled Tayshan, and a moderately worried Rottytops on their own to discuss their contributions to the cause of stopping Risky Boots. Once the awkward moment had passed, however, Tay shook off his discomfort and turned toward his companions.
"…An' then there were three," he pointed out the obvious. "An' how interestin' it is that we're the only ones who haven't figured out what t' do just yet."
"Yeah… I uh… hm… I… er…" Shantae stammered some more, seeming very much lost in though as she averted her blushing gaze while Rotty raised an eyebrow at her before turning to him.
"I don't think she's quite used to the idea of having you as her boyfriend just yet," the zombie girl just blurted out with a shrug, causing Shantae to snap out of her stupor enough to scowl at her friend.
"Rotty, stop that!" the flustered genie girl complained. "We haven't even agreed to start dating yet, so why is everybody so fixed on that!?"
"…Yet?" Tay remarked with a raised eyebrow, his stomach ready to explode with a blimp's worth of butterflies as he instinctively gulped. "Uh…"
"Oh! I-I mean, we um… you're… not my boyfriend…?" she tried to utter one of her most repeated lines in the entire story. Although this time, it couldn't have been less convincing.
"Well… I mean… Do you want me t' be?" he uncertainly asked as he scratched his head, growing more nervous by the second as they failed to get past this last-minute game of Will They or Won't They. Of course, the question nearly caused the poor purple-haired maiden to explode with enough force to level what was left of Scuttle Town as her face went red like scarlet lily beetles as she gawked at him. Realizing the sheer gravity of his question, Tay immediately regretted asking it as he cleared his throat and mentally scrambled to try and find a way to save face. "Er, I-I mean… My ba-!"
"Yes," Shantae abruptly answered right away instead of giving her reply much thought. Although, she still wore the deer-in-headlights expression that communicated every last fiber of the awkwardness she felt in that very tense and pulse-pounding moment. "Yes, you uh… I mean… um… I'd like it… if you were… uh, I mean I'd like for you to… be… my… m-my… boyfriend… if… you'd… um… if you're… okay with that…" At that, it was Tay's turn to nearly explode with enough force to level what was left of Scuttle Town. At this rate, this poor city's days appeared to be numbered.
"Okay… uh… cool…" he nervously stammered, this bashful demeanor completely and totally betraying the intimidating image of what was supposed to be his darkest transformation yet. It seemed that no matter how vicious he appeared on the outside, he was… pretty much the same on the inside; even with a Dark Magic shard planted inside him. "So, I guess that's that, then… er… we're… actually a… a couple now… after all this time… huh…"
"Yeah… heh… y-yeah, we are…"
"Finally, it's official," Rottytops remarked with a giggling shake of her head. "Now, if you two are done making a simple agreement to date each other much more painfully awkward than it needs to be, then we should probably really start using our time to figure out how to stop Risky."
"Right," both of participants of the sudden new relationship agreed simultaneously, secretly thanking Rottytops for helping them push the discussion along before people started keeling over from the sheer awkwardness of the conversation.
"In that case an' since we're here, I'm gonna go in an' freshen up with a quick shower an' a change o' clothes before we hit the road," Tay informed, walking toward the entrance of the Crown Jewel Inn. "Um… I suppose I'll catch y'all back at the lighthouse t' regroup?"
"Actually… You mind if I get a chance to use that shower, too, stud muffin?" Rotty innocently asked. "I'd hate to impose, but spending an entire day locked in a cage in Risky's ship after getting super sweaty in a life-or-death struggle does not bode well for a girl's overall hygiene," she further shared, sniffing herself to emphasize her point. "Whoo, I swear you could probably smell my decaying corpse stench from ten miles away."
"Didn't need t' hear all o' that, but sure," Tay nonchalantly approved her request, thinking nothing of the implications. "Just don't overdo it on the soap. Stuff's expensive here."
"Great! I promise, I'll be super quick," Rotty assured, opting to tag along with Tayshan to enter the hotel. "Is it too much to also ask if you've got any good eats in here, too? I'm starving."
"Nothin' but a bunch o' light snacks an' all bags o' coffee I don't drink, but it'll hopefully curb your hunger," he answered, much to Rotty's delight as he mentioned her absolute favorite beverage.
"Perfect! I totally LOVE coffee! I just hope you've got the right flavors."
"Whatever's in there, I hope it's t' your likin'," he plainly replied as he held the door open for Rotty to step in before him. Although, he soon turned to look at Shantae, who'd not followed them. She appeared to be rather puzzled, standing and bashfully darting her eyes around the vicinity as she twirled a finger through her hair. If anything, it appeared she'd been lost in thought about what to do from there "Homegirl?"
"Huh?" Shantae responded, perking up as she snapped to.
"Are you comin' with, or are you goin' back t' your house?" he asked, wondering why she'd suddenly been so hesitant.
"Oh! Er, I-I suppose I could use a quick rinse as well, and the shower is a lot faster, so… if you're offering, I'll come in," she shared, rubbing the back of her head with a hand. "Are… you sure you're okay with me using your shower?"
"Why wouldn't I be? Despite what we went through the other day, you can still consider this room as much yours as it is mine for as long as I'm rentin' it," he reassured, perplexed by her apprehension. Little did he know, the poor young woman was sifting through a rampaging tornado of thoughts and emotions based on the dire situation at hand, in addition to her newly discovered love. "Come on, let's get in here an' get ready. The quicker we move, the better prepared we'll be; especially if your four-hour prediction is somethin' t' go by," he suggested, gesturing with a hand for her to come along.
"Good point, Tay," Shantae agreed, finally strolling forth to join her comrades. "Alright, let's discuss what to do while we all get ourselves set up. I'm thinking of a couple places we can potentially Warp Dance to, so we can at least touch base with some of our allies-slash-acquaintances and collect any important items we missed out on. I'm already thinking about the Thimble Canyon and Al's Storm Bunker in Kitschy Quilt, for example."
"Right, we did miss a few things," Tay realized. "Never thought t' backtrack a bit t' gather resources. Think we'll have enough time for that, though?"
"With my Warp Dance, we should have all the time we need, as long as we don't dawdle," she assured. "But like you said, the quicker we move, the better. So, if for nothing else, we should probably all be mindful of the time when we wash up."
"Speaking of, guys, if you really want to make things quick, then I've just come up with the perfect idea on how to save time cleaning ourselves up," Rottytops chimed in, though her playful inflection gave it away that she had some awfully strange ideas in her head.
"…I know I'm gonna regret askin', but what's your idea, Rotty?" Tay very, VERY warily asked, reading the grin on his teammate's face as being full of mischievous intent.
"How about we all shower together~? As in, at the same time…" Rottytops 'joked' in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.
"Ah, I had a feelin' you would say somethin' triflin' like that, an' it doesn't surprise me at all that I was right…" he commented, shaking his head as he looked at the zombie girl.
"You're that familiar with me already, eh, stud muffin?" she teased, chuckling at his blunt reaction to her suggestion. "That just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside~! Of course, you can't deny it's a good way to speed things up a bit. I do wonder what you and snack cakes really think about that idea, no less."
"Nice try, Rotty, but we've crossed that boundary line already," Shantae fought through a mountain of situational apprehension to counter. "You're not going to get a rise out of me with that one. Besides, don't you think that's a little much to be talking about right now, considering…?" she trailed off, briefly flicking her eyes toward Tay as a nonverbal method of telling the rambunctious zombie to cool it.
"Aw come on, it isn't like I'm saying anything weird," Rotty rebutted, not quite understanding the reason for Shantae's objection in full. "And besides, if Tay has an issue with it or if it comes across as insensitive, he can tell me himself," she added, putting the young man on the spot as she turned her attention toward him with an uncertain look on her face. "Is what I'm suggesting bothering you at all, stud muffin?"
"Hm. No more than it usually does, if that's all you're worried about…" he nonchalantly answered with a shrug as he momentarily cast his gaze elsewhere. Shantae remained highly concerned, however, as she scanned his rather disquieted facial expression.
"See, Shantae? He's totally fine!" Rotty declared, reading Tay's nonchalance as acceptance of her provocative comments. "I knew it wouldn't get to him. He's still got that dry sarcasm in his tone that I simply adore. There's no need to be so overly cautious if he's not letting that terrible situation mess with his head."
"What? No, no, I meant that it def-!" Tay hastily tried to correct, though his statement fell on deaf ears before he could finish it.
"That said, there shouldn't be that much of an issue with my suggestion," Rotty spoke over him, causing him to sigh in contemplative regret for letting her off the hook.
"You should still be mindful of the things you say, Rotty," Shantae chided. "You can't just assume someone's gonna be okay with what you say without at least asking them first. And if I have to say it, then I don't think your 'suggestion' is going to work. At all."
"Sure, it will! I mean, if we're strapped for time, then what other convenient option do we have? Of course, you and I have bathed together a few times before, snack cakes, so there's no issue there. Although, I suppose you're right in that I should ask when the last time was that our wonderful alien friend here bathed alongside a gorgeous young lady, much less two of them," Rotty shot back while not understanding the context of Shantae's statement, keeping the pressure on to try and get the reactions she was looking for.
"Last week," Tay plainly remarked, catching the zombie girl by complete surprise while shooting the half-genie a quick glance that communicated that he knew what Rotty was doing. At that, Shantae merely nodded, thus confirming his statement to Rotty.
"Whoa! Are you serious?" the prying undead maiden was all but compelled to ask.
"Yes. Not that I'm sayin' that t' promote or condone the idea in this context, but Shantae an' I have shared enough baths that the experience ain't exactly new t' me by now. You're not gonna get me all hot an' bothered with that suggestion either, Rottytops," the serviceman matter-of-factly informed her.
"Oh, really?" Rotty remarked in genuine astonishment… and an obvious sense of amusement at the confession.
"Yes, really. Your joke's not gonna work on us this time, so just give it up," Shantae sternly rebutted, refusing to be affected by her zombie friend's shenanigans while also further confirming Tay's claims.
"Well, who said I was joking?" Rotty nonchalantly played off with a wink in her best friend's direction as she doubled down. "Sounds to me like there's a lot less issue with it than I thought there'd be in this case. I wasn't aware you two were quite that close already, but that's certainly music to my ears. I only hope you don't mind there being a third party this time."
"Yeah, okay," Shantae incredulously commented. "You of all people, not joking about taking a shower with two friends—one of whom, I might remind you, is MALE—at the same time. That's a little far, even for you. I know you're trying to get me all riled up again because Tay's my boyfriend now, but I'm telling you, it won't work. Come on and stop goofing around."
"Oh, but Shantae, I'm dead serious now," Rotty dared to assert with a morbid pun. "It stands to reason that it'd make more sense and save more time to do it together rather than take turns. We'd have just as easily taken care of it like this in the Bathhouse, but since that's not available, this seems to be the next best thing. It's entirely practical, given the circumstances!"
"Hmph. Well, look at you, makin' all the best points at the weirdest o' times," Tay pointed out, trying his hardest not to give Rottytops the reaction she was looking for. At this point, however, he wasn't sure at all if she was still just playing, or if she really was serious…
"Eh, I have a knack for these things," Rotty proudly accepted the sarcastic compliment with a confident, smiling shrug. "You know that by now, stud muffin."
"Of course. In that case, if you really want us all t' bathe together that badly, then let's stop talkin' about it an' just do it," Tay sarcastically challenged her, growing both flustered and impatient as he and Shantae collectively matched Rotty's quips with their own. Shantae wasn't quite in the loop on this last comment, however. She was about to object as she raised an eyebrow at her new relationship partner, only stopping when he intentionally scratched his cheek while cutting his eyes toward her to communicate that he didn't really want to entertain their mutual friend's ludicrous idea. The purple-haired maiden nodded in acknowledgement once again to communicate that the message had been received.
"Er, yeah. I uh… I think we've all broken down more than a few boundaries between us at this point, and uh… if Tay doesn't have an issue, then neither do I," she tried to convincingly agree while crossing her arms, though it made her incredibly uncomfortable to do so. The rosiness of her cheeks was a dead giveaway. Tay, while still trying to maintain his composure, couldn't help but shoot a puzzled glance at the half-genie because of her odd phrasing. Rotty, though surprised to see them teaming up to challenge her inappropriateness, found herself nowhere close to irritated by it. If anything, she found it incredibly endearing… as if we didn't know that already.
"…Ah, not the words I'd use…" Tay muttered, evidently less than satisfied with Shantae's effort to play along and stop Rotty from joking with them further on the matter.
"Wow, you're both suddenly so forward about this," Rotty teased, much to her friends' collective chagrin. "I mean, if you're down with it, then I'm down with it, presuming we'll all be covering ourselves appropriately while we're in there. Sounds like we all agree, nonetheless. You wouldn't happen to be looking forward to such a thing, though, now would you, stud muffin~? Hmm~?"
"Oh gee, you caught me red-handed, Rottytops," he 'admitted' with another bemused shake of his head. "You have such a sharp eye for this sort o' thing. You've read right through me."
"Ah, I knew it. Had to get that obvious admission out of you eventually. I do wonder, though… How big is the shower in your room?"
"Uh… N-now I'm not sure I should answer…" Tay hesitantly answered without actually answering her question.
"What, is it too small?"
"No, it's big enough t' maybe just barely fit five people," he assured against his better judgment. "I'm just not sure o' how you'd-!"
"Oh, that's perfect!" Rotty proclaimed, cutting Tay off in the process while utterly flooring Shantae. "I don't even know what you'd be hung up on if it's that sizable. In any case, since you're both okay with this, let's stop dilly-dallying and get this show on the road, shall we? I'd like to get out of these rags sometime this century," the zombie girl suggested, taking both of her comrades by the hand and leading them both into the Crown Jewel Inn to (in)appropriately prepare themselves for what could very well have been the ultimate clash of this saga with Risky Boots.
"…What in the world did we just agree to…?" Tay murmured in dread.
"…Smooth, Tay… Real smooth…!" Shantae grumbled, shooting him a most disapproving pouting stare that he all but acknowledged with a defeated sigh.
"…I know…" he shamefully agreed with her as Rotty dragged them along. Yyyyyeah, this would normally be the point at which we'd end off, but the context here is FAR too racy for me to be comfortable parting on. So, we're gonna push it a little farther (not THAT far, in case you were thinking of it) and wrap this up on a much more… dare I say, wholesome note. And with that disclaimer having been made…
One very interesting bathing arrangement later…
"…Whelp, that just happened. I hope we can agree never to speak of this to anyone ever," Shantae suggested as she tied her long, flowing hair back into her trademark baddie-beating ponytail to finish dressing back up in her scarlet dancer outfit.
"Couldn't agree more," Tayshan concurred as he slipped on a red tank top that matched the red-and-black camouflage fatigues he'd been wearing. After getting dressed and slipping his Propeller Boots back on, he sat comfortably on the bed and began fidgeting with the collar still stuck on his neck. "Now, that's two Scuttle Town bathin' incidents I'm sworn t' secrecy on… I can't believe we really just did that..."
"I don't see what the issue is," Rotty commented, adjusting her black tank top (that once belonged to Tayshan) to better fit her astoundingly curvy form as she lounged on the nearby couch within the hotel room. She'd been treating herself to a nice, piping hot cup of coffee and a miniature mountain of powdered donuts and bags of potato chips. "You guys handled it much better than I thought you would, but I guess that goes without saying when you've already bathed together before, in addition to you and me bathing together before, Shantae."
"Yeah, but it's still weird to have all three of us in one enclosed bathing space outside of the Bathhouse," Shantae protested. "And for the record, Tay and I never shared his shower before today. We bathed together in the Bathhouse or at my house. We should've clarified that earlier... or at least stood our ground."
"All you're doing is comparing apples to apples there, babe," Rotty countered. "If you've bathed together in one way, then you've bathed together in all the ways. Besides, it wasn't bad at all like you two might've thought it could be. I mean, it isn't like we were completely bare in there. We were reasonably quick, we scrubbed ourselves up and down, and then we dried off, brushed our teeth, came out, and got dressed. Simple as that. Nothing terribly weird happened except for a wardrobe malfunction or two. Sorry about trying to tickle you while we were in there by the way, snack cakes…"
"Hrrmmph…!" Shantae irritably groaned with a most dissatisfied pout, turning away to hide the extreme embarrassment on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. Tayshan merely cleared his throat, glancing at the half-genie before shyly turning his gaze elsewhere.
"That aside, it was kind of like what happens at a regular group sleepover, if you ask me! You came through on the bikinis, Shantae, so thanks a bunch for that. And Tayshan, I feel like we've seen each other in… indecent states more than once by now, so I hope it wasn't as awkward this time…" At that, he shot her a most deadpan expression of disbelief and sighed.
"Only now do you choose t' be mindful about that? You are somethin' else, Rotty… Of all the friends I've made since I got here, you are by far the most… unique in terms o' where your incredibly loose boundaries lie."
"I definitely warned you on that one," Shantae chimed in, agreeing wholeheartedly with the soldier's statement.
"Aw, you two are gonna make me blush! Anyway, I'm also sure we're used to seeing you in a… certain state of undress by now, Tay, considering that I've almost always seen you without a shirt on. Not that I'm complaining, of course… Thankfully, you at least had a pair of boxer briefs on, because the bulg-!"
"Yeah, I know. We don't need a play-by-play," he hurriedly interrupted her (to which, she of course snickered), finding himself completely opposed to her sharing any additional intimate details she possessed about the unusual arrangement. "The fact o' the matter is that it turned out you were right in that it made things a lot faster. You can have that much from me. Now that it's done, though, we can finally move onto figurin' out where we're goin' first."
"Agreed. Although, Tay…" Shantae beckoned the serviceman.
"Hm?"
"Do you want me to get that collar off for you?" she asked, concerned about the task he was preoccupied with. "You seem to be having a really rough time with it…"
"Yeah, I'm not sure why I can't get this hideous thing off…!" he grumbled, tugging at the oppressive accessory in a vain attempt at ripping it away from his neck. "No matter how much I try, this thing won't budge. There ain't even a buckle on it to undo it…!"
"I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'hideous,'" Rotty consoled with a mouthful of donut. "I mean, it matches the rest of that snazzy new outfit of yours. And now that you're wearing the right colors for it, it actually goes really well with the overall look. The spikes on the collar even bring out the silver in your eyes a little better… even IF they're only silver because you're infested with Dark Magic… Either way, I think it's actually really cute, despite who you got it from. You should leave it on for now," she complimented, hitting him with a certain word that only made him pout angrily as he tried even harder to rip the blasted thing off with brute force.
"Hmph. Thanks for the kind words, but that's not gonna… hrgh…! Convince me t'… keep it…! Grrrrgh…!" he remarked, though he strained significantly to get the unwanted 'clothing' item off. After a few seconds of tugging on it with both hands, he ceased for fear of injuring his neck. "Gaah, darn it! What is this…!? Why can't I get this collar off!?"
"Here, let me…" Shantae volunteered with a small giggle, walking up to him as he sat on the bed. Though he found himself suddenly hot under the (TOTALLY PROVERBIAL… and maybe just a TINY bit literal) collar at his significant other's offer, he did nothing to refuse her. Before he knew it, the half-genie found herself practically face-to-face with him, reaching toward the collar as the two of them locked eyes. The second she wrapped her fingers around the collar on either side of the soldier's neck, she suddenly froze. She couldn't explain for the life of her why she couldn't bring herself to try and actually remove the collar in the moment that immediately felt like it would last hours on end. Her heart began pounding rapidly like it had been trying to burst out of her chest with the force of a bullet train. Her breath caught in her throat like a serpent had ensnared her in its airtight grip with no intent to let go. To make things more intense, the seemingly mesmerized young woman stared into the eyes of the young man she tasked herself with helping and said nothing. She instinctively gulped as her eyes flicked downward toward his chin before returning to meet his equally… hypnotized gaze.
"…Hm…" was all Shantae uttered in the moment, tugging lightly on the collar as its wearer studied her just as intently as she had him. And, just like that, the collar detached with a light *snap* as it opened all the way up.
"Oh, you… you did it…" Tay murmured, his cheeks growing hot. He found himself so enchanted with his companion's innocently curious facial expression that he dared not even attempt to move.
"Yeah…" Shantae barely acknowledged, dropping the collar onto the bed before cupping his cheeks with her hands. Most peculiarly, however, was that as she held the soldier's face, she slowly inched Tayshan closer. She'd also been slowly inching her face closer as they absorbed the moment for what it was. The deed had been done, but for some reason, neither of them ended the close quarters encounter right away. As the distance grew smaller between the two of them, the mounting pressure grew more apparent. The half-genie's heart pounded louder with every passing second, each echoing beat a tantalizing reminder of what she'd been feeling… relief, joy, fear, affection… and even a substantial bit of desire as her upper eyelids extended to cover the upper portion of her sparkling sapphire eyes.
Her facial expression was almost entirely blank, though her cheeks radiated with her notable anticipation. It became quite apparent at that point what the amethyst-haired maiden was going for in that moment. She eagerly, yet apprehensively committed to engaging in a certain show of affection with baited breaths that very well may have brushed against her partner's face with how close they were to actually doing it. However, while Shantae's eyes began to slowly shut as she closed the remaining distance between herself and the young man she'd grown so fond of, said young man's gaze faltered. Batting his eyes elsewhere in despondency, Tayshan instinctively pressed his hands to her hips to stop her as he also turned his head to the side.
"H-hold on…" Tay finally spoke again, his tone full to the brim with what sounded like sadness.
"Hm?" Shantae hummed in curiosity, shaken out of her enamored stupor by Tay's sudden unwillingness to participate in an exciting show of newfound affection. Realizing right away that something was wrong, Shantae grew worried as she removed her hands from his face. "Oh. S-sorry, Tay… I uh… I don't know what came over me…" she stated in poorly hidden disappointment as she moved to step backward, only for him to tighten his grip on her sides ever so slightly to communicate that he didn't want her to separate from him yet.
"Shantae… Are… are you sure you… that you'd want me of all people t' be with you…?" Tay asked, most uncertain of himself as he somberly directed his gaze toward her while his head was still bowed and turned to the side. The sheer self-doubt was evident in both his facial expression and his tone.
"What do you mean?" Shantae curiously inquired, raising an eyebrow as she scanned him up and down to figure out what he was thinking.
"Well… after everything we've been through, an' the way we left off…" Tayshan hesitantly confessed, evidently having a host of personal hang-ups about the nature of their relationship. "And… after what Risky did t' me… an' the things I did after she corrupted me… an' especially with the way I look an' sound now… I-I mean… I never knew if I was ever good enough for you, even as a friend, before yesterday happened. But now… after what she took from me for the sole purpose o' sabotagin' what she thought you an' I had… an' even though you an' I confessed to each other… I… I… I honestly don't think I deserve you as-!"
"Tayshan," Shantae called to him to stop him from finishing his statement, taking the deepest breath imaginable as she inched herself closer while grabbing his face once more to direct his full attention to her. "Hear me out, because I'm going to speak as straightforwardly as I can. I'm gonna be honest and tell you that what happened between us after Spider Web Island was nothing but me being frustrated and not seeing things the way you saw them. I've had a lot of time to mull over it with Rotty, and all things considered, we both could've used the time to cool off after everything that happened there. Honestly, we both should've spent some time cooling off before we even went over there. Regardless, I was never mad at you, and I should never have told you to leave when I got the dumb idea in my head that you didn't like me anymore because of that argument. It wasn't right of me in the slightest, and when I think about everything you'd been through since you arrived in Sequin Land, I should've been far more considerate to you. I should've been way more alert to you in terms of how unique our adventuring styles really are instead of getting mad at you for doing things somewhat differently than I do, now that I think of it. I should've been more accommodating to you instead of forcing you to see things my way at all times. I should've listened to you on a lot of different occasions, because you've actually taught me things about myself that I wasn't ready to recognize until after I had some time to think about it yesterday and the night before. And… as far as Spider Web Island goes, I'll admit, I… probably shouldn't have… uh… done what I did to… well, you know…"
"That situation an' all our past disagreements are water under the bridge as far as you an' me are concerned," he replied, not wanting her to feel sorry for him or beat herself up for their past negative interactions. "What happened with Mr. Fuzzles… was an unfortunate accident, but we've gotta learn from the experience. Granted, that trip could've gone better in at least fifty different ways, an' there's no doubt we both had somethin' important t' learn from it… but I would hope that no matter how bad any adventure goes, it wouldn't be enough t' permanently tear us apart. Thinkin' back, I was only mad because I kept holdin' onto a ton of unrealistic expectations o' how we were supposed t' work through Spider Web Island. Shoot, that same problem came up on most, if not all of our past adventures. What made it worse was that I projected those unrealistic expectations on you without explainin' much about what I was thinkin' an' assumed you knew right off the bat, which led t' me gettin' upset when you did somethin' different from what I thought you'd do. That wasn't fair t' you in the slightest, an' I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry for lashin' out at you an' actin' like a complete ingrate all those times. That said, never in a thousand lifetimes would I ever stop likin' you, homegirl. Even with this gem tryin' t' bend an' twist my every thought toward the idea of hatin' everything, I could never come close t' changin' the way I feel toward you. Trust an' believe."
"I absolutely hear you, and it brings me nothing but relief and happiness knowing you still haven't changed. I understand, though, what you might've expected of me, considering I was your mentor for the majority of our time together. I picked up on you looking to me for guidance almost right after we began traveling together, and I did my best to try and meet the expectations you had of me; whether you spoke about them or not. That's not your fault, of course. I've got plenty of room to grow myself, and I hope that you and I can continue to learn more and grow together."
"…Huh… Wow, I…" he murmured as he listened to her, evidently quite astonished to hear her coming clean.
"Also, what we've been through together before that argument at the end of our trip to Spider Web Island, I would hope completely trumps any negative feelings we might have picked up from it or any other disagreements we had. The long conversations we've had so much fun with to the point where we'd stay up all night sharing life stories and goals, the crazy adventures we embarked on together, all the time we spent getting to know each other and teaching each other new things, the unbreakable bond between us that, now that I realize it, seems to only get stronger and stronger after every silly fight we get into… Risky could never hope to destroy that in a hundred million years, no matter what she tried to do," she confidently assured him, though it pained her deeply to acknowledge what the Pirate Queen put him through.
"Oh… Er, that's… relievin' t' hear…" he admitted, though the dissonance in his tone was still evident.
"And if I've got to say it, then I'll tell you right now that I would never, EVER base my value of you on what your personal experiences were; especially when those experiences were out of your control," she continued to confess, growing nervous as she considered her words carefully. "I'd like to think that we've established that from the day we met. Granted, I can't even fathom what you must be feeling right now because of what Risky did. I'll admit that I'm also super conflicted on how to feel about it myself, though. I mean, like Rotty and I said, we're absolutely and eternally grateful that you would sacrifice so much to protect us, but we would NEVER ask you to give up such important pieces of yourself for our sake. It's… tough to say this, but… none of us should ever have to be pushed that far. And by that, I mean that we're here to protect each other, so that such a thing shouldn't even be a thought in anyone's minds. It… honestly disheartens and angers me that Risky would even be capable of doing something so horrible to you… and then, for her to have actually done it… and for me not to be there to prevent the situation from even getting to that point…"
"I hear you, but that's not somethin' you should be blamin' yourself for. It wasn't your fault in the least, an' the last thing I want you t' do is take responsibility for somethin' you had no control over. As for why it happened that way, though… I… I really didn't have a choice…" he hesitantly shared, still feeling ashamed of the event. "Or rather… my 'choices' were t' either let her take what she wanted from me, or she'd make me watch as she tortured Sky and Rottytops. She knew the decision I'd make in that situation, an' she used it t' manipulate me int' becomin' corrupted enough t' do her bidding… My only savin' grace was that whatever anger I had toward everybody involved in me bein' captured by Risky was almost overshadowed by how disgusted I am at her for how low she'd go t' get her way… in addition t' the idea that I could never, even on my worst day, come t' the idea of hurtin' you or any o' the people I made friends with here. Other than that, I… I admit, I got caught up on gettin' even with the people responsible for puttin' us in that situation. An' as a result, I chose t' go to the Baron Desert bent on revenge before findin' a way back t' Scuttle Town t' see if you were okay… An' while it worked out in the form o' me keepin' Risky's suspicions about me low at that point t' grant me the chance I needed t' get back here an' have Rotty pull herself an' Sky out of her clutches, I… I still almost completely went back on my morals over a grudge that it didn't even make sense t' hold…"
"Tay, we definitely appreciate your determination. We appreciate that you managed to hold it together long enough to eventually get away from Risky and rescue Rotty and Sky. I mean… I know we addressed it before, but I'm well aware of the situation with Ammo Baron by now. Still, I'm at least glad to know Risky didn't completely turn you evil and that you snapped out of it by the time we met up again. There's no ignoring that what happened in the Baron Desert was bad, but… I don't really know how to say it correctly, but what I'm getting at is that a lot of bad decisions on Ammo Baron's, Twitch's, and Vinegar's parts played a huge factor in that situation happening the way it did. I'm not saying that necessarily clears your name on it, but I know you well enough to know that, under any circumstance that didn't involve you being corrupted with Dark Magic, you most likely would never have gone over there to destroy their base; especially not at the request of Risky Boots, and definitely not to settle a grudge."
"True… but I can't say it makes me feel any less responsible with that bein' acknowledged…"
"That's fine, because like I mentioned earlier, I know that even with your mind being clouded at the time, your heart was, and still is in the right place. Odd to say, I know, but that's what I see. I'm a believer, however, that everyone involved had a part in it. Of course, no one had bigger parts than Ammo Baron and Risky Boots themselves. I just hope that whatever way we deem it necessary, we can find a way to learn from this, so that it never happens again."
"Right. I… I most definitely will…" he pensively replied, never taking his eyes off his 'former' mentor.
"Glad to hear it. Either way, you can count on it that Risky will especially be held accountable with everything in our power. It goes without saying that at the core of it, she caused all of this to happen. She manipulated a bad situation to her advantage to make it worse for everyone except herself. And without a shadow of a doubt, she went WAY too far in hurting you, especially in the way she did, because she thought it'd be some twisted way to hurt me indirectly. She will not get away with it under any circumstance," she vowed, her expression momentarily turning to one of furious conviction as she took in the reflective pain in her lover's glowing eyes. Tempering herself, however, Shantae took another deep breath before relaxing a bit. "And… I mean… for what it's worth, I… admire you for keeping your resolve strong, even with that Dark Magic gem inside you. To be honest, even I couldn't maintain that much control over myself the last time I was turned into Nega-Shantae. And whatever it takes, we'll find a way to either get that gem out of you or at least purify it to rid you of the effects of the Dark Magic faster than your Heart Monitor might be able to. That said, how are you feeling now?"
"I feel… what I guess I could describe as 'normal,' but that's pretty much only because I'm calm now. I don't know how I'd be if I let my emotions get the best o' me like I did earlier…" Tay informed, his breaths growing heavier out of building nervousness. "I have you t' thank for bringin' me back to a level o' clarity if I ain't said it already. But yo… I… I don't know what t' say except… well, thank you for always lookin' out for me, homegirl. I'm eternally in your debt," he expressed, his expression changing to one of comfort in the half-genie's words.
"Don't be silly; you don't have to thank me, and you don't owe me a thing. It's super clear by now that I should be thanking you. Not only for protecting all of our friends in my absence, but also for caring enough about us to see this battle with Risky to the very end with us. I… I can't even put it into words how deeply I appreciate and cherish you for all you've done for us… and especially all you've done for me," she laid it out on the proverbial table, her eyes wavering as she focused her gaze on him exclusively. It also stood to reason that Shantae's heartbeat had sped up exponentially as she found the air around her surprisingly thick and unseasonably warm. Her breaths were heavy and her stomach was swarming with butterflies that seemed to only get more active with the longer she and Tay remained in their position. She hadn't quite experienced such an incredible, yet mystifying phenomenon before, but at this point, she knew what… or rather, WHO was causing her to feel the way she was in that moment… and once she hit that epiphany, she knew right away how she felt about the extraterrestrial soldier.
"Ah… W-well, I'd do anything t' make sure y'all were okay," he sheepishly responded, much to her delight as she beamed at him. "You sure there's nothin' I could do t' show my appreciation, though?"
"Trust me, the fact that you're here with me right now is reward enough for me," she assured with heartwarming smile aimed directly at him as she continued to press her hands to his cheeks. She could tell just from the rising temperature of his cheeks in her hands that he'd been overjoyed to hear her comforting him when he needed it. And though the young lady's heart had still been pounding as her face lit up like red stadium lights, she took the opportunity to wrap her arms around the back of his neck and draw him in for just about the strongest hug she'd ever given him.
"Whoa… wow…" he murmured, his own heart speeding up to where it reasonably sounded like ten horses galloping all at once. Nevertheless, he returned Shantae's embrace just as strongly, showering her in just as much tender affection as she'd been giving to him.
"I love you, Tayshan…" she sincerely confessed, her entire body engulfing itself in passionate warmth the likes of which she'd only vaguely been familiar with. "I love you so much… Just… s-so much more than I thought I could ever imagine or even dream of… I know that sounds super strong right now, but that's how I feel, from the bottom of my thumping heart… and I'm not afraid to say it anymore… and believe me, I mean every word of it. I love you."
"I… I love you just as much, Shantae. I can't find the right words for it either, but I love you… I'm… so glad t' know that what we feel is mutual…" the soldier timidly, yet honestly vocalized his fully reciprocated sentiment as he breathed the heaviest, most joyful sigh he'd ever let out of his lungs. Feeling the enrapturing heat radiating from the young half-genie just from her affectionate touch, Tay instinctively pulled her even closer as his own body heated up in response. He shifted himself for comfort as he wrapped his arms around her waist, the damp softness of her bare midsection sending jolts of euphoria through his hands that made his spine tingle with excitement. The intoxicating, tangy, fruity scent of the shampoo in her hair invigorated him like he couldn't believe as he hugged her tighter. The sound of her racing heart in his ear as she nuzzled into him completely enchanted him as his own heart was beating just as rapidly. Thoroughly elated by their close embrace, Shantae moved to grasp his face with her hands, prompting him to loosen his grip on her hips to give her the room she seemed to need. The instant he locked eyes with her again, his heart nearly melted at the sight of her bright, enthusiastic smile that he grew to utterly adore. It was at that point, however, that Tay knew for himself how he truly felt about his most cherished companion as he looked at her. "Wow… you… look so… so beautiful... hah… I… can't believe we're really…"
"Shh…" she playfully and blushingly interrupted as she pressed an index finger to his lips, seeming to know what he was going to say as her heart raced even harder to the point that it could've disrupted space-time. "No need to say anything else… I um… was just wondering… if maybe… you'd… Y'know…?" she tried to ask before she suddenly lost her nerve. She'd found herself shyly batting her eyes at him as she bowed her head and turned it to the side, her face heating up like a metal plate in the summer sun as she brought that same index finger to her own lips to nibble on it.
"Hmm…" he hummed, inadvertently smiling at her as she most endearingly stumbled over her words on what she wanted to ask him. "I only hope I'm makin' the right guess this time…" he half-joked, opting to 'finish' his statement by gently grasping her hand with one of his own and removing it from her mouth.
"Well… if you're willing to find out… I'm right here…" she innocently suggested through a hushed whisper, grinning ear to ear as she barely contained herself. On that note, the flustered serviceman summoned every last ounce of courage he had in that moment to pull the lovely young heroine closer once more with the hand he had pressed to her hip, to which the nervous Shantae offered no resistance. Tay, still incredibly nervous himself, took a deep breath as he continued to steadily inch Shantae closer and closer.
And finally, because it took an eternity to reach this most climactic point, Tay leaned forward and firmly pressed his lips to Shantae's, causing her eyes to widen in surprise as she processed the raciness of the embrace. It wasn't long, however, before the ecstatic maiden responded by interlocking the fingers on one hand with his, cupping his cheek with her other hand, closing her eyes, and kissing him back with just as much romantic desire. The overwhelming amorous energy of their first (entirely intentional) kiss nearly sent both of them into overdrive as they could be heard collectively exhaling a world of pressure. With a quiet *pop* of their initial kiss concluding, the new couple separated their faces before closing the distance again to fully absorb each other's boundless passion. The second kiss sent shockwaves through them that rivaled, or even overshadowed the exhilarating rush of the first smooch before they separated again.
"…Was I right this time?" Tay bashfully asked, his face just as scorching hot as his half-genie lady friend's as he fully absorbed the exuberant beauty of the young woman he was holding in his arms. At that, Shantae affectionately giggled in an infectious sense of pure joy at the endearing awkwardness of the question.
"You would be the one to ask something silly like that now of all times. What do you think, Tay?"
"Heh. I think maybe I should double-check…" he cleverly replied with the warmest smirk he'd ever flashed his mentor-turned-girlfriend that sent an intense, tingling rush through her entire body. It was a feeling entirely unfamiliar to her, but Shantae welcomed it without question. This feeling… to desire someone so strongly that she was no longer capable of imagining life without him… and to be desired by that person on a mutual level so overwhelmingly intense and so encapsulating that it made her heart flutter… Nothing she'd ever felt in recent times came close to how she felt in that moment, staring directly into the face of the man she'd just professed her love to… It made her just want to… to POP with a kind of excitement totally different from, yet equally as powerful as the kind of excitement she experienced during her adventures.
"Oh, yeah? You really want to?" she asked through an elated giggle, barely able to contain herself.
"If you're willin' t' let me try again, then…" he trailed off, roping her in by pulling her in closer by her hip on impulse.
"Ooh~! Gosh, Tayshan… Hah…~" she remarked, pleasantly surprised by his eager move as she allowed herself to be pressed up against him to the point that she could hear his heartbeat in tandem with her own. In response, she ran a hand through his bushy facial hair and planted it on the back of his neck as the air in her lungs grew thick and pressured.
"…I'll take as many chances as you'll give me, Shantae…" he communicated to her barely above a whisper as their faces remained mere inches from one another. At that, Shantae found herself smirking endearingly at Tayshan's campy remark.
"As always, you have the most interesting way with words. But as we both know… actions… speak louder than words…" she remarked, matching his flirtatious comment with one of her own as she inched her face forward to give the serviceman an affectionate peck on the lips. He followed up by giving her a peck on the lips in return. After that, she relocated the hand she had interlocked with his, pressing it to his cheek as she pulled him in and pressed her lips to his with such incredible vigor that she could very well have sucked all the air out of his lungs. In response, Tay relocated his free hand to Shantae's other hip, more or less locking her in place as he returned her amorous smooch with one of his own.
The warmth… the passion… the genuine love he felt from her as they embraced one another… it was utterly astounding to him. He still couldn't believe she would do this with him after what happened, but… in that moment, he brushed the doubts out of his mind as they suddenly seemed irrelevant in the wake of his bolstered connection to his most beloved Sequinean companion. He fully accepted Shantae's unconditional love for him while giving her a sizable sample of the unconditional love he had for her. With another thick *pop*, they separated just one more time. It… wasn't long after that, however, that the half-genie and the soldier got into the full swing of… for lack of a better term, making out.
"…Whew, I was not prepared for this…" Rottytops quietly murmured with widened eyes, nibbling intently on a powdered donut as she sat up on the couch. She watched on in anticipation of the most encapsulating display that was her two friends declaring their undying love for each other. "I'm glad I got a front row seat and I couldn't be prouder of her for finally letting her womanly desires be known like I've always told her… and of course, getting them filled as intensely as ever, but man, it's getting hot in here… Hoo, boy…" she further commented, fanning herself with her hand and desirously biting her lip as she still found herself unable to tear her eyes away. And who could blame her? Her best friend in all of Sequin Land, the Half-Genie Hero, the Legendary Super Genie, the otherwise meek, naïve, and innocent teenage girl with seemingly no romantic interests whatsoever…
Yet, here she was, ravenously and passionately smooching it up with an incredibly hot alien boy from a different dimension that basically fell into her lap when she wasn't even looking for a relationship. Hmph. Some girls just have all the luck. As she mentioned earlier, Rottytops couldn't help but be both incredibly proud of and, dare she admit, somewhat envious of Shantae for her exciting new experience of entering a relationship as loving and as racy as the one between the half-genie and the extraterrestrial serviceman seemed to be. Yet, just as the thought entered her mind, the undead maiden couldn't help but notice that, in between the many, many steamy, hot, melty, wet kisses her friends were sharing, Shantae's body suddenly began glowing white and sky blue as she pressed her lips harder onto Tay's, humming with hypnotized glee as she did so.
"Hah…~" the half-genie exhaled just as she separated her lips from the mesmerized serviceman's with another slick *pop* as she reopened her eyes to take in the image of his adorable, enraptured face as she pulled him in and kissed him again. Upon impact of their 80th kiss, her stomach did more flips and turns than if she were riding on Wrench blasting off at full speed through the air while spiraling with no intent to stop. The warm, tingling rush of what felt like adrenaline… the inconceivable sensual excitement… the tickle of his facial hair as its bristly texture grazed her hands and her upper lip… heck, even the sweet, minty taste of the young man's lips with every time she kissed him… and the overwhelming pleasure the likes of which she'd been almost insatiably curious about since… well, since the last time they did this (even if the last time was an emergency)… So much was coming at her all at once, it almost sent her to an entirely different realm of consciousness as she lost focus on anything that wasn't her boyfriend's loving embrace. "Hmm…~" the enraptured young woman moaned, taking a sharp breath through her nose as she wrapped her arms around the back of Tay's neck to keep her balance. As she did so, she felt another monumental rush of warmth wash over her entire body to the point where she unintentionally flinched, separating herself once more from Tay. Seeming to feel the same powerful effect, Tay also pulled his head back as he opened his eyes to study Shantae. To his surprise, she was glowing with what appeared to be Light Magic. Just as he opened his mouth to speak as he scratched an itch in his eye, however…
"Whoa… Tay… Your eyes…" she pointed out as she held him, evidently caught by surprise as the two of them panted like they'd been holding their breath for ten straight minutes. "One of them… it isn't silver anymore."
"Huh? What do you…?" Tay was about to ask with a raised eyebrow, having little clue what she meant.
"Your right eye is glowing gold now," she explained, staring intently into his eyes to make sense of the phenomenon.
"What? Gold?"
"Yeah. It's like, your eye is almost back to being brown like before, but both of your eyes are still glowing…" the befuddled maiden did her best to explain. "I have no idea why…"
"Huh. Well, that's news t' me," he replied, though he couldn't help but notice the luminescent glow coming off his romantic partner's skin. "That said, you're also glowin'. You're coated head-t'-toe in Light Magic…"
"Huh? I am?" Shantae queried in shock, looking down toward her own body to see that Tay's observation was correct. "Whoa, I totally am glowing! But, I never turned my magic on at any point… Gosh, is something happening to us that we should be aware of?" she asked as a sudden *BEEP* noise rang out from the Heart Monitor on Tay's wrist.
"Hm?" Tay hummed, peering at the device to see that its display had changed. "Interesting…"
"What does it say?" Shantae asked in utmost curiosity as she took the moment to breathe and bring herself back down from a most hypnotic cloud nine as she backed up by a couple steps.
"It… says that my health is now at 520 points instead o' 233 like it said before, and… now the lamp is colored a slightly brighter blue than it was earlier… an' the lamp is completely full instead o' bein' half-empty," he observed, taking his other hand off Shantae to scratch his head in wonder.
"Hmm… I wonder if the color of the lamp reflects how much Light or Dark Magic is in your body at a given point," the half-genie theorized. "It's just a wild guess, but knowing Uncle, that's probably what that means…"
"I don't have a reason not t' believe that, because it makes enough sense t' me," Tay concurred, accepting the ponytailed maiden's explanation. "Although, I haven't eaten anything since this mornin'. If my health was low, an' that potion you gave me didn't work, why would it go up now of all times?"
"I'm not sure myself…" Shantae pondered, scratching her chin with a finger.
"If anything, we could probably just chalk all this up to the totally 'unexpected' and 'unrivaled' and definitely NOT cliché Power of Love or some sappy gunk like that," Rotty interjected after just having downed her eighth cup of coffee to wash down the last fourteen powdered donuts and ten bags of chips she'd just gorged herself on. Both Shantae and Tayshan raised an eyebrow as they turned their attention to the zombie girl while she got off the couch and approached them.
"Aw come on, Rotty, this isn't a fairy tale," Shantae nervously dismissed the assertion, batting her eyes elsewhere as her cheeks grew just a tad rosy… well, rosier than they had been as the glow around her body lingered. "That's just silly."
"Maybe not that silly, considerin' that, between the three of us, Rotty an' I both apparently had t' kiss you t' heal you at one point or another," Tay pointed out, much to Shantae's embarrassment as the realization made her sink into herself. "Of course, she also kissed me, but I don't remember feelin' any healin' effect from it…"
"You don't have to bring all that up now of all times, Tay…!" she murmured, pouting at him while pressing her index fingers together.
"Not gonna lie; that's actually a really good point," Rottytops agreed, the revelation bringing her nothing but joy as she giggled in amusement. "All three of us have kissed each other at least once by now. Huh. Neat! Of course, I kissed you back when we met because you needed help figuring out the reason you two were on Spider Web Island in the first place, Tay. That wasn't just because I wanted to. Remember our intense, chocolaty introduction?"
"Unfortunately," Tay rebutted, crossing his arms and shooting Rotty a most disapproving frown as Shantae stifled a giggle.
"Aw, don't act like you weren't at least a little bit excited about it. It's not every day you get to smack lips with a zombie as pretty as I am without the threat of her eating your brain or turning you into a member of the undead."
"I… can't say I can argue with that, because that was never exactly a goal o' mine," Tay casually remarked. "I'll acknowledge your dazzlin', adorable charm for the sake o' this conversation, but it doesn't give you a free pass t' pull that sort o' stunt with me whenever you feel like it."
"He's got a point, Rotty. And with as often as you joke about eating my brain, I'm not sure how proud of that you'd want either of us to be," Shantae added, causing Rotty to giggle a bit more.
"Aw, you know I'd never ACTUALLY do it, though, snack cakes! At least, not unless you want to be technically immortal. Only thing you'd really be giving up is that gorgeous skin complexion of yours. And stud muffin, while I certainly appreciate your keen eye for attractive ladies like Shantae and myself, I'll add that the kiss I gave you should've gotten you nice and prepared for when I use my Symbiotic Brain Chomp on you!" the proud young zombie admitted with a gleeful grin, though both of her friends gawked at her in complete disbelief.
"…Wh-what?" Tay stammered, unable to organize a proper rebuttal in his astonishment.
"Rotty…!" Shantae called to her best friend in a most unamused tone, shooting the other girl a scrutinizing look.
"Oops! Sorry… Am I trippin' again?" Rotty bashfully asked, throwing a certain bit of slang in there as she playfully clasped her hands over her mouth. At that, a certain soldier couldn't help but let out a chuckle that he tried INCREDIBLY hard to stifle as he clasped a hand over his mouth. It was too late, however, as the zombie girl's face lit up like a hundred flashlights as she smiled at him. "Aha! I finally got you to laugh!" she cheered, pointing at him and chuckling as though she'd accomplished the world's hardest task. Trying not to appear too humored by Rotty's antics, Tay took a deep breath to make sure he gave Rotty no further titanic victories as he straightened his face as best as he could. Watching him the entire time, Shantae chuckled in amusement at the sight of her friends warming up to each other… however incredibly awkward the context was.
"…Y'know what? I'm just gonna let you have that an' keep it movin', because you are just… you… Ah. You, Rottytops… are just a gigantic box of unpredictable."
"I'm glad you finally noticed, stud muffin~!" she teasingly accepted the 'compliment' as she let out a most energetic giggle at his expense. "That's how I know for a fact that we're friends now."
"Keepin' you from gettin' cut int' ribbons by Mr. Fuzzles an' gettin' you out o' that cage in Risky's cave wasn't enough?"
"Sure it was, but only my friends know to expect the unexpected with me. That said, saving me once earns you my eternal respect. Saving me twice earns you something way more worthwhile than just my friendship… at least, in your case, it does~! Don't even get me started on how grateful I am to you for saving Shantae as many times as you apparently have."
"An' I'll do the smart thing by refusin' t' ask what you mean by that."
"Doesn't mean you won't find out eventually," she casually assured with a teasing wink.
"Nope," Shantae cut in, shutting this topic of the conversation down. "Unless it has to do with something nice, sweet, and TOTALLY APPROPRIATE, like baking a cake or treating him to a fancy dinner or even just hugging him, you'll just have to settle on you two agreeing to be best friends."
"Hm. Maybe you're right, snack cakes. It's still pretty early in the budding connection between him and me, so I suppose that'll have to do for now. We'll work on it," Rottytops conceded with a nonchalant, smiling shrug.
"Sounds good t' me, except for that ominous 'for now' piece you just added…" Tay warily acknowledged.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about~! I haven't implied anything at all…" the undead maiden continued to relentlessly tease her comrades. "Aaaanyway, we should probably get a move on as for right now. Exciting as it was for me to watch you two canoodling with each other, we've got a potential invasion to prepare for, and we've done what we needed to do here by now, no?"
"Uh… R-right…" Tay uncertainly acknowledged, scratching his head and looking elsewhere.
"…Canoodling?" Shantae asked in wonder, seeming to have been reminded of something. "Come to think of it, I never did find out what that meant. Last time I heard that word was in Genie's Hem, but…"
"It means the exact thing we were just doin' a few minutes ago, homegirl," Tay reluctantly blurted out to spare everyone the awkwardness of having to actually explain it at length.
"…That's… what I figured… Jeez…" the half-genie murmured, flustered beyond belief at her discovery of the term.
"Great, and now you've learned a new word!" Rotty excitedly declared, nudging her best friend with the brightest of grins. "Now come on, you guys! Let's move out! We'll all have plenty of time for canoodling with each other once we finish up dealing with Risky, and the sooner we act, the better!"
"…Wait, what do you mean by tha-?" Tay tried to ask after a moment of processing Rotty's peculiar statement.
"Okay, time to go!" Shantae hurriedly announced, wanting Rottytops to take this conversation no further in the direction she may have (by which I meant she'd definitely) been trying to take it. "Grab my hands!" she further commanded as she reached her arms out. With hardly a moment of hesitation, Tayshan and Rottytops each grabbed one of Shantae's hands as she began swiveling her hips to increase the flow of her magic. "The first place I think we should revisit is the Thimble Canyon, just to give you a heads-up. One of your Weapons Crates is locked in some sort of puzzle on one of the mountaintops, and I didn't have the time to get it last time I was there."
"Was there, now? Interesting… I wonder what's in there, then. I'm a bit strapped for weapons at this point either way, and… now that I remember it, you still have my gun. Right, Rotty?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure, to be honest," Rotty uncertainly answered. "I think Risky's goons swiped it off me while I was out cold. That, or I might have dropped it at some point during our battle with Techno Baron. I'll check as soon as we teleport."
"Much as I hope Risky's minons didn't take it from you, it would only make sense if they did… But if it got lost in your fight with that lizard, I'm not sure if we'll ever see it again…" he acknowledged, glancing at the empty holster on his belt and realizing right there that he hadn't even seen his favorite firearm in the last two days. Rotty's admission that she possibly didn't know where it was did him no favors.
"Whatever happened to it, Tay, I'm sure we'll find something just as good or better when we get to the Thimble Canyon," Shantae vowed as she shifted herself to prepare her Warp Dance.
"Roger that, homegirl. In that case, let's hit the road."
"You got it, homeboy," Shantae affectionately addressed, causing him to mirthfully chuckle a bit as he privately processed for himself that, after all the things they'd been through, he could proudly call the half-genie his girlfriend.
"D'aww, that's so adorable…" Rotty of course took the opportunity to tease, causing both of them to blush as Shantae focused.
"Alright… Here goes…!" the ponytailed heroine stated as she commenced a sequence of belly dancing while her allies firmly gripped her hands. With a few shakes of her hips here and a few hypnotic swivels of her hips there, Shantae quickly activated her magic as she closed her eyes to focus on their destination. And before long… "Warp Dance…!" she cutely whispered as the three adventurers vanished with a *POOF* to the first of their backtracking locations, thus concluding our time on that wholesome note I told you we needed to finish off on. And, even for how grim and unsettling things got, it certainly warmed my heart to see our heroes picking up where they left off and bravely taking up the task of saving Sequin Land once again. It additionally sends a pleasant tingle through my… well, myself, I guess, to see that our favorite belly dancing guardian genie had finally, after much trial and tribulation, found a special kind of wondrous and passionate love in the form of her new relationship with the man formerly known as her apprentice… or maybe, he could still be considered her apprentice? I'm not sure, but I'm presuming it's the former. Y'know, because dual relationships cause conflicts of interest and a host of professional issues and such. A-anyway, it seemed that, by all accounts, the love between the half-genie hero and her genie-in-name-only sidekick was as solid, unconditional, and unshakable as it could be in the midst of all the hardships she'd faced in recent times.
Of course, they weren't out of the woods yet. As previously predicted, Risky Boots was on a path of rampant destruction, and Scuttle Town was next in her sights. Time was winding down, and her arrival to the defenseless port town was all but imminent. The unofficially named Anti-Piracy Defense Force had been on the move at all angles, accomplishing various tasks in preparation to mount an appropriate counterattack against the ruthless Pirate Queen. And when we return, you'd better hang onto your seats, because we're about to really build up to the clash of all clashes of good versus evil. We're so close, even I can't help but wring my invisible hands in anticipation for how the next action-packed chapter would unfold. Ooh, I can't wait! See ya then!
