Chapter 17: Clash of Arms, Pt. 1: Nautical Nightmares

Hey there. Been waiting for you to come back! The last thing I'd want to do is start the final phase of this wild ride without you. All jokes aside, we've finally reached that point. Yes, that point. We had to get here eventually, of course, so don't be too terribly surprised; especially not after how long it took to get here. After all this time, and after all the troubling encounters, and after all the numerous demolition campaigns perpetrated across the nation… This is it. The fated confrontation that the world had been anxiously anticipating, yet secretly hoping wouldn't need to happen. After weeks of going back and forth with scuffle after battle after brawl after skirmish… and after weeks of a rapidly escalating war between the forces of good and the forces of evil… we've finally hit the boiling point.

In a super condensed nutshell (and because I know I won't be killed for telling you now... and also in case you're possibly here because you robbed yourself of the chance to thoroughly enjoy this massive, dramatic, action-packed story in full by skipping all the way ahead like a naughty little cheater... which, by the way, is a HUGE No-No unless you're that weird type that likes indulging yourself on the climax before starting at the beginning... which, I might add, is still a HUGE No-No), Risky Boots had just launched her most daring and utterly destructive plan yet: Taking over Sequin Land by obliterating Scuttle Town (after many attempts at doing so in the past), storming the Sequin Land Palace, and deposing the Sultana… in addition to wiping her archenemy, the Half-Genie Hero Shantae, out of the picture once and for all with the vastly improved strength of herself and her Tinkerbat crew. Of course, her operation had originally been much more elaborate, expansive, vicious, and bloodthirsty. How, you may ask? Well, in a nutshell within a nutshell, Risky's original plot from the beginning was that she'd take her sweet time lying low to familiarize herself and her Tinkerbats with their newfound weapons of mass destruction procured from a mysterious alternate dimension using her Tinker-Portal. After that, she was set to launch a merciless campaign of conquering smaller towns and other places of interest across Sequin Land to bolster her might while also figuring out a way to repair the Tinker-Portal responsible for granting her the interdimensional tools of carnage in the first place... after its first and only use caused it to overheat and combust. Nevertheless, she had hoped to fix the portal, so that she could either get more of those weapons from that other timeline… or potentially attempt to invade the Genie Realm once more if it was still possible. Either way, Risky would crush anyone who stood in her way and claim anything she laid her eyes on and deemed valuable enough as her own. And, once she was ready, she was then going to mount a monstrously deadly assault on the nation's capitol that not even Shantae would've had a chance to stop, no matter what she did. This process was supposed to stretch over a much longer, much more calculated course of time, on top of all that jazz.

Her grand scheme, however, had been hit with a few (by which, I mean many) snags throughout her planning process; namely the constant interference of said Half-Genie Hero, who'd caught wind of her schemes much, MUCH too early for her to appropriately deal with right away. As a result, Shantae set out to stop Risky much earlier than she normally would've, and had gone on something of a massive anti-Tinkerbat rampage that left many of her Tinkerbats wiped out over the span of multiple encounters with her. And then there was that genie's obnoxious friends… the worst of whom hailed from that very same dimension Risky stole her new weapons from, and who actively conspired against the Pirate Queen from the minute he narrowly escaped death at the hands of her Tinkerbats and linked up with Shantae to warn her of Risky's plans. And to add insult to injury, this 'friend' of Shantae's had been going on a separate, yet collaborative massive anti-Tinkerbat rampage that spanned multiple deadly encounters with him. These ludicrous anti-Tinkerbat massacres, as one might imagine, further compromised the Tinkerbat crew's ability to assist Risky in conquering the country like she wanted.

As if fate wasn't punishing her enough, there was also at least one loose-cannon group of rogue pawns that cost her lots of valuable time and resources since she orchestrated her conquest. Rather than bend to her will, the insubordinate, conniving, thieving Ammonian Army (from whom she'd not-so-ironically stolen a priceless, ultra-powerful technological device to power her Tinker-Portal) dared to be in cahoots with the half-genie menace while also pilfering weapons dropped by Tinkerbats in hopes to undermine and overthrow her. This unsavory development forced the buxom buccaneer to further divide her time and attention between planning her invasion campaign and mitigating the numerous threats to her success. As an unfortunate result of all these insufferable distractions, hiccups, and strokes of plain bad luck, Risky Boots found her operation on the verge of crumbling in her hands before she had a chance to properly launch it.

Worse yet for the Pirate Queen, her weapon supply was dwindling, her badly damaged Tinker-Portal remained dormant with no prognosis on if or when it could be fixed, and her window of opportunity to take Sequin Land by storm was closing. Fast. To her, this rushed rendition of her ultimate plan was her best shot at getting the edge over all of her opposition before they overwhelmed her and her crew. Even with her greatly diminished weapon supply, she still had access to the most powerful non-magic arsenal in the world. And if all else failed, she would use this ill-gotten collection of incredibly dangerous weaponry to at least put herself in a position where no one would dare oppose her. At this point, it was a gamble, and Risky knew it. It was all or nothing, and there was NO way Risky was exiting this conflict empty-handed. Not if she could help it.

Meanwhile, Shantae and her band of heroic crusaders hardly fared better. Over the course of the past month, the half-genie and her allies put forth their best efforts to counter Risky Boots wherever they could while gathering something of a collection of allies that would assist in thwarting the pirate madwoman's plans for nationwide domination. However, Risky's treachery knew no bounds. Many landmarks, cities, and civilizations alike were destroyed. Most of their potential allies to the cause either refused to intervene out of fear, were (temporarily) swayed to Risky's side, they were unavailable, or they were injured and/or completely eliminated with the exception of one giant mermaid, Ammo Baron's two right hand women, and their diminutive sea-based cavalry of determined volunteers.

Other than that, Shantae and her friends were ultimately on their own to take on Risky and her crew at their most powerful, most ruthless, and most unpredictable yet. It stood to reason that both sides of this war had worn each other down considerably. However, the true victor would only emerge when all resources were exhausted, and when the leader of either side of the catastrophic clash fell at the other's feet. The stakes were incredibly high, and the fate of Sequin Land as we knew it hung in the balance. Again. And it all boiled down to this one final battle, as it always had in the past. If Shantae had anything to do about it, though, she would do whatever it took to protect the country she called her home at all costs. Of course, I'm certain you're scratching all over yourself to figure out how this titanic tussle transpired from start to finish. That said, let's get right into it.

LOCATION: JUST OFFSHORE, SEQUIN LAND SEA, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: OCTOBER 2ND, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 1623 HOURS

"Hmm… She still isn't here yet," Shantae observed, in Harpy form with Rottytops on her back as she hovered over the crashing waves below. "No sign of her approaching either, as far as I can see…"

"I ain't seein' nothin, either. Ain't seen hide nor tail of her or her crew," Tayshan added as he lay prone atop Giga Mermaid's head as the gigantic sea woman coasted along the current. "But then, Twitch and Vinegar were supposed t' come flyin' in when they spotted her. We haven't even seen them yet."

"I just checked near the shoreline of the Sequin Land Palace, and it's super quiet over there, too," Sky added as she and Bolo rode atop Wrench, who'd idly hovered above the ocean much the same way Shantae had. "If she was supposed to be here at or around 4:00 PM, she's running awfully late. At the very least, we can possibly rule out the chance of her trying to sneak behind the palace to catch everybody by surprise. For now, anyway…"

"You can say that again," Shantae agreed, though she held that thought in the back of her mind as she kept herself prepared for anything Risky had to throw at them.

"In that case, we can either develop an attack plan or expand our patrol," Tay suggested. "Granted, if we spend too much time waitin' for her, she stands a stronger chance at catchin' us off-guard. On the other hand, if we spread ourselves too wide between just the six of us, she'd have that much easier a time skatin' through us t' get t' Scuttle Town."

"Yeah, there's lots of chances for her to get the drop on us if we're not careful," Shantae agreed, taking a moment to think further on what to expect.

"I say we figure out an attack plan while we have the time, however little it may be. That said, do we have any ideas on how to go about engaging her when we see her?" Bolo asked. "Intercepting her is one thing, but actually stopping her is a whole different beast to tackle."

"Good point," Tay concurred. "Our only options, though, are t' either attack her all at once, or find some way t' collaborate with our abilities. Speakin' of… Let's gauge what everybody's bringin' t' the table just one more time, so we know what we're workin' with."

"Good idea. To start, I have Egg Bombs and avian attack teams," Sky listing her abilities to kick off the discussion. "I can handle anything having to do with hard, swift, and aggressive attacks from a distance in the air while Wrench helps us maneuver around the battlefield. My birds were trained specifically for jobs like this."

"Meanwhile, I've got my specialty Pikes and my boomerang," Bolo added, pulling out a handful of multicolored pikes. "The Pikes, I can use to take out Tinkerbats in bunches, and their effect is based on their color, as you've seen. If I'm on Sky's bird, though, I can help provide an opening by combining my Pikes with her other birds to challenge a chunk of Risky's forces."

"I recently got my hands on a potion that enhanced the strength of all my animal forms," Shantae shared. "As a Harpy, I can now fly freely and support at least one passenger. My other forms got other types of enhancements, though I've only used my Monkey, Elephant, and Harpy forms since I drank that particular potion. I can also shoot multiple talons at once and use a Sonic Screech to distract the enemy while I'm in Harpy form."

"And I've got the Concealer Ring," Rotty continued the chain. "Like I mentioned earlier, I can use it to make myself and Shantae invisible for short bursts, which could potentially allow us to attack or distract them without being seen. I also have the super strength you gave me in case we wind up getting up close and personal, Tay."

"Sounds like we've got quite a lot t' work with, despite the desperate situation we're in," Tay observed with a nod. "How about you, Giga Mermaid?"

"I am able to utilize an assortment of projectile attacks using the gem on my forehead," Giga Mermaid explained. "I can also manipulate tides in some small degree to deter our enemy's approach. Additionally, I can dive underwater and potentially provide an element of surprise from beneath the surface of the sea to directly engage Risky Boots's ship. That is, if we find some way to alternate your position, as you are unable to breathe underwater."

"That's true," Tay acknowledged. "Hangin' out in your bikini top wouldn't really give you much of a chance t' swim underwater, so maybe I should stay on your head in case we need t' go that route."

"Hmph. And you guys were so concerned about me riding with Giga-!" a certain handyman was about to gripe.

"Can it, Bolo," Shantae, Rottytops, and Sky collectively demanded of the young man, none of them wanting to hear his whining about not getting to ride Giga Mermaid. Shocked and mildly embarrassed, Bolo crossed his arms and let loose an unappreciative scowl.

"…Jeez, that wasn't necessary…" the youngest member of the group grumbled while wisely obeying the girls' command for him to refrain from saying anything he'd be made to regret.

"…Er, anyway… You've got a lot at your disposal, Giga Mermaid," Tayshan decided to continue after a rather awkward momentary silence, trying (and failing) to stifle a chuckle. Soon after, he cleared his throat and refocused. "But then, I don't know how safe you'll be with tryin' t' get too close t' the ship when Risky's got a whole arsenal o' weapons that could hurt you if you go in with no protection. Those weapons can be lethal, an' you'd make a pretty sizable target if you weren't careful," he advised.

"Plus, Risky's ship is more than meets the eye," Shantae added. "It's got all manner of funky mechanics and traps rigged into it that would most likely prevent anyone from attacking it from below. I know this because I've had to fight her while she stayed inside the ship many times over, and it can be a total nightmare when you add in all the other obstacles she'll throw at us."

"I see…" Giga Mermaid acknowledged, rubbing her chin as she pondered what she'd do to keep out of harm's way while contributing to the cause. "In that case, it appears my best bet is to keep my distance and close in on her when it is appropriate."

"Yeah, you'll wanna keep yourself safe at all costs," Tay encouraged. "At the very least, you're the most capable o' gettin' in close with the least amount o' potential harm possible," he further pointed out, tapping his forehead in contemplation. "I mean, Shantae an' Rottytops can technically sneak in almost undetected by combinin' their abilities, but I feel like it's safer if maybe you an' I took up the task o' takin' point."

"Safer how?" Rottytops asked in wonder.

"Well, as far as my own abilities go, I'd be much more effective up close than I would be from a distance unless I've got a stable vantage point with the right gun or explosives," Tay explained. "I'd rather rely on my marksmanship, but aimin' a gun or a grenade won't be easy if I'm ridin' with Giga Mermaid, whose method o' travel revolves around her maneuverin' through the water. Plus, with this magic inside me, even though it's Dark Magic, I could potentially give our common enemy a huge headache if I was able t' get close enough t' make use of it. Other than firearm skills an' magic, I've got an edge in close quarters combat expertise. I've also built up an insane amount o' strength an' stamina over time that I know for a fact Risky's troops can't handle unless she's right there t' order 'em around."

"What? No, Tay, that's too dangerous!" Shantae protested, concerned about the idea he seemed to be proposing. "From what you're saying, your plan is to board the ship and launch your attack from there using the Dark Magic that's been threatening to corrupt you?"

"Dark Magic?" Giga Mermaid queried in wonder. "You… have Dark Magic inside you now?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Tay answered, realizing the giant sea woman was out of the loop. "Long story short, Risky Boots kidnapped most of us yesterday and forced me t' swallow a Dark Magic shard while I was in captivity. She tried t' turn me evil. It ultimately didn't work, an' we managed to escape, but she still tainted me all the same. Now, while I'm still on the side o' the good guys, I'm stuck usin' evil magic that hurts me t' lend my aid. Ironic, I know."

"My word… That heartless scoundrel…!" Giga Mermaid remarked in a mix of concern for her passenger and disdain for their common enemy. "She will be made to pay for harming you."

"On that, we agree. An' as long as we work together, Risky won't get away with anything she's done," Tay acknowledged and further asserted with a nod. "Anyway, Shantae, what you said is correct. I want t' bring my part o' the battle right to Risky an' her Tinkerbats while she's distracted by all the commotion we'd make."

"I can't let you do that," the half-genie sternly denied. "There's no way I'm allowing you to put yourself in harm's way by challenging Risky and her crew alone again. There's too much at stake for you in that case, and you know that."

"I figured you'd say that, but this ain't a matter o' what we'd prefer t' do or what the risks are; it's a matter o' what has t' be done t' ensure our success," he countered. "And I'm not simply challengin' the whole crew by myself. I'm goin' in t' cause enough of a ruckus that it would make things easier for everybody else. If we don't hit her at every angle imaginable with our limited resources, we won't succeed."

"Yeah, but our success shouldn't come at the cost of your safety, honey," Shantae continued to argue. "We've all been through enough as it is, and there's no reason to throw caution to the wind for a chance to get the drop on Risky. We can think of another way."

"Maybe we could, but there's hardly another way t' contribute on my end," Tay acknowledged. "The best way for us t' collaborate, like I mentioned, is t' hit Risky at all possible angles while bein' as quick, efficient, an' coordinated as we can in the short time we have. All things considered, all o' y'all have more than enough methods of attackin' from a distance an' keepin' Risky an' those Tinkerbats distracted. Workin' together, you, Rottytops, Bolo, an' Sky can potentially create a big enough openin' t' where Giga Mermaid an' I can close the distance an' really bring the fight t' her before they get the chance t' block us. Plus, if we can get close enough t' where I can jump ont' the ship, Giga Mermaid would then be free t' maneuver however she needed to without bein' hindered by a passenger."

"I see your point, but I can't risk losing you again," the half-genie worriedly disagreed, shocking him in the process. "I know you've been able to handle hordes upon hordes of Risky's Tinkerbats on your own, and even Risky herself for awhile, but doing it all over again on a space as small as the deck of her pirate ship where there'd be no way to protect yourself? That's way too chancy."

"I hear you, homegirl, an' I'm aware o' the danger it poses. But you'll have t' trust me on this one. Without another method for me to attack effectively while I'm ridin' on Giga Mermaid, my best shot at bein' useful is by takin' my portion o' the fight right t' Risky while the rest o' y'all hammer her outside defenses. If we can split her focus up enough, then we can whittle her and her crew down t' the bare bones before she ever gets the chance t' reach Scuttle Town. This plan doesn't have the best o' chances at workin' without some serious coordination on our part, but when there's a will, there's a way."

"Then I'm going with you," she volunteered, refusing to let Tay take on yet another Tinkerbat assault alone. She couldn't stand the thought him getting hurt again, but what really drove her decision… was a lingering thought in the back of her mind regarding the ultimate fate of her significant other if he was allowed to directly fight Risky Boots by himself again.

"Goin' with me?" he asked in genuine surprise.

"Yes. And this isn't because I don't trust your judgment, nor is it because I don't have faith in your abilities. I trust and believe in you completely. And the strategy you thought up for us is perfect for what we have available now," she made sure to clarify. "But having you board Risky's ship by yourself, especially when you're still plagued by that Dark Magic, has way too many consequences to consider."

"Well, what if you hitched a ride with me and Bolo, Tay?" Sky interjected after contemplating on how to contribute to the discussion. "Maybe it's better for Giga Mermaid to be ready from the start to fight at her full strength without worrying about a passenger, and I can potentially get you to the right position if we play our cards right."

"It's possible, but it's nowhere near as safe for y'all," Tay countered. "Three of us on Wrench makes us a much easier target, considerin' you'd have t' mind two passengers on top o' you havin' t' maneuver Wrench through walls o' gunfire an' whatever else t' get close enough to allow me a way on her ship. We already know how vulnerable Wrench is t' sniper rifles in particular, an' there's no doubt Risky's forces are gonna have at least a few ready for us. So, I'd rather you be able t' keep your mobility an' keep your distance. Plus, if Wrench gets taken down with you, me, AND Bolo on top of him, this whole plan goes up in smoke."

"Ah… I suppose you have a point there," Sky agreed, rubbing her chin as she pondered other alternatives.

"Well, how about if I rode with you and Giga Mermaid and used my Concealer Ring to cloak you?" Rotty also suggested. "Maybe you'd have an easier time fighting against Risky if she can't see the biggest potential target out of all of us?"

"That sounds good at a glance, too, but that won't create the openings we need t' scramble her up inside an' out," Tay further explained. "No matter what, my goal is t' board Risky's ship an' tear it up once I'm on while y'all engage her forces from the outside. I can handle whatever parts o' her crew that don't engage y'all, an' I can make for a handy distraction on your behalf. Plus, if Shantae's plan is also t' board the ship, then she'd have the easiest time doin' so with you cloakin' her instead o' me an' Giga Mermaid."

"Sure, but Shantae can handle herself with or without me," Rottytops argued. "Especially with the form she's in now, where she can really give them a fight they won't forget."

"I don't doubt that, but you can make that fight much easier on all of us if you stuck by her. It's best t' take advantage o' the multiple aerial assets we have here while we also remain mindful o' the fact that Risky's got all the weapons she needs t' shoot any airborne opposition down that ain't wise enough t' protect themselves. You makin' Shantae invisible does MUCH more good than makin' me an' Giga Mermaid invisible would. Plus, now that I think of it, makin' us invisible wouldn't eliminate the noise or the disturbances in the waves produced by Giga Mermaid swimmin' through the sea. Addin' t' that, Giga Mermaid would then be forced t' worry about two passengers as opposed t' one, which further limits her mobility. If Risky spots us and shoots us down while we least expected it, then it'd potentially turn into the same situation as if I rode with Bolo an' Sky. Also, if Shantae gets taken down before we get the chance t' really bring the fight t' Risky because she didn't have a way t' maneuver through the bullet storms t' get close, we would not be able t' accommodate for it. Your best bet is t' protect Shantae in the air, Rotty."

"True enough, I guess, but stud muffin…" the zombie maiden worriedly acknowledged, wanting Tay to be safe.

"I'll be okay," he tried his best to assure. "From our position, our best chance at givin' her the hardest time possible is balancin' out our resources an' forcin' her t' split up her attention as much as possible while hittin' her as hard an' as fast as we can manage. That's our best bet, like I've been sayin'."

"Sounds like you've considered all the possibilities there, bro," Bolo acknowledged.

"Only the few that make the most sense," Tay answered with a pensive nod. "Mind you, none o' this has factored in the help we'd be gettin' from Twitch an' Vinegar, if any. We still need t' be prepared in case they can't help, nevertheless."

"So be it, then," Harpy-Shantae interjected after a moment of thought. "If we plan on stopping Risky in her tracks, I can't help but agree with the plan to hit her from as many different angles as we can manage until she cracks. And, despite how uncomfortable I feel with it… Tay has a great point about us making sure to protect each other, so that no one winds up alone and potentially defenseless before we accomplish our goal. We'll go with what we've come up with. But Tay, if you're completely sure you'd rather ride on Giga Mermaid until you got the chance to board Risky's ship, then I'd rather you and I do it together. I… I couldn't forgive myself if she or any of her Tinkerbats hurt you any further. And if I can prevent you from possibly being taken over by Dark Magic again, then I would MUCH rather do so by having you fight alongside me to take some of the pressure off both of us."

"…I see," he acknowledged as a pit formed in his stomach. He heard the half-genie's sentiments loud and clear, nevertheless. "I don't suppose I could disagree with that. Okay then, Shantae. If an' when we create the openin', you an' I will board the ship together an' bring the fight directly t' Risky," he stated, revising his game plan to include her in the assault behind enemy lines. "My only question in that scenario is how Rotty would fit into the equation there."

"I can join the two of you on the ship to help clean up the mess," Rotty offered. "That, or I can hitch a ride with Sky and her bird once you two get close enough to board the ship and cause a big enough ruckus to take our enemies' focus off them."

"I'd rather you be safe, Rotty," Shantae suggested. "Maybe after Tay boards the ship and diverts the Tinkerbats' attention, I can fly you over to Sky before I join him. I know that I'd be giving up my chance at sneaking in undetected, but I trust that I'm fast enough in this form to avoid being picked off as long as Risky's crew is distracted enough… Is that okay with you, Sky?"

"Yep. Fine by me," the bird tamer accepted the terms of the strategy. "If for nothing else, that invisibility thing might also do us some good once the switch is made. I'm thinking that it'll grant us extra opportunities to attack from a much closer range without putting ourselves too deep into the danger zone, provided you and Tayshan stick it to Risky like I'm sure you would in this case."

"That sounds perfect to me!" Rotty cheerfully agreed. "With this level of planning, Risky won't know what hit her!"

"That's pretty much what we're counting on," Shantae conclusively acknowledged Rottytops's sentiment. "Well… Sounds like we've got our plan from our end. But then… Where are-?"

"At our twelve!" Tay announced, pointing toward the clouds of the afternoon sky high above, where he'd spotted a familiar blue biplane racing toward them.

"They're finally here," Sky acknowledged, readying Wrench for take-off in preparation for the battle ahead.

"They got here before Risky did, which is a good sign," Harpy-Shantae acknowledged, increasing her altitude a decent amount by flapping her wings harder as she also prepared herself. Instinctively, Rottytops latched on. "As soon as they turn around, we'll follow them to Risky's location. As soon as we see that ship, we'll hit her with everything we've got, so she doesn't have a ghost of a chance at getting to Scuttle Town," she further advised as she glued her eyes to the aircraft alongside everyone else.

"Roger that, Shantae!" Bolo cheered, growing steadily more excited as he anticipated the moment they would charge on ahead. "Only a matter of time, then…" he added as he, along with everyone else, watched Twitch and Vinegar wave at them as they pulled a wide U-turn around them and took off in a direction remarkably dissimilar from the direction in which they came in.

"The direction they're flying off in…" Sky observed, quickly realizing something odd about it. "If they really are going to lead us to Risky, then…"

"It looks like Risky's plan was to try and hit the Sequin Land Palace directly, based on the angle," Shantae finished the thought, a rush of adrenaline bursting through her body as she pumped her wings and, with Rotty in tow, took off after Twitch and Vinegar. "In that case, the pressure's really on us to stop her! Come on, you guys! It's now or never!" she commanded.

"Right! Let's go, Wrench!" Sky announced, prompting her avian ally to caw in determination as he also flapped his enormous wings and took off.

"It all comes down to this…" Tay remarked with a deep breath as he tightened his grip on the gargantuan mermaid's silky wet hair. "We can't fail here, no matter what. Are you ready t' make a splash, Giga Mermaid?" he asked, causing her to chuckle a bit as she rocketed off swimming alongside their airborne allies.

"I 'sea' what you did there," she punned right back at him, actually eliciting a chuckle out of him. "I am ready, nevertheless. Hold on tight, Mr. Tayshan, because this ride will not exactly be smooth. I'm going to speed up once you have secured yourself."

"Go for it, an' don't bother lettin' up," he complied, grabbing on for dear life as Giga Mermaid seemed to be rapidly approaching mach speed as she swam along the turbulent tides. Wordlessly, Giga Mermaid dipped her upper body into the water, going full throttle as she allowed just her head to remain above surface level to ensure Tay's safety. "Here we come, Risky…! If it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure you don't fire another gun in a way that could ruin one more life…!" he solemnly vowed, his inherent fright at how fast Giga Mermaid was ripping through the ocean overshadowed by his anticipation for what could very well have been his final battle against Sequin Land's most dangerous enemy. The very possibility filled him with such a raging surge of mixed emotions that his hands had involuntarily begun tingling radiating with a dark purple aura…

Meanwhile…

LOCATION: TURBULENT WARZONE, SEQUIN LAND SEA, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: OCTOBER 2ND, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 1647 HOURS (Forty-seven minutes AFTER Risky's projected arrival time in Scuttle Town)

"Hit these scurvy dogs right in the mouth! Don't let a single one of these pathetic morons escape your sight unless it's them being swallowed up under the sea! Send them to the Pirate Master's locker on the first thing smoking!" shouted none other than the ruthless Risky Boots from the crow's nest on the mast of her ship as she fired *BANG* after *BANG* of her sniper rifle. Below her, however, was an image of utter pandemonium. I tell you, it was complete and irrevocable chaos, there was just… SO much going on all at once. I'll condense it as best as I can, regardless. As we left off last chapter, Risky found her hasty expedition to Scuttle Town suddenly hampered by a rather diminutive group of ragtag Ammonian soldiers on tiny speed boats. Or rather, they were tiny as compared to Risky's gigantic pirate ship. The soldiers in question caught up to her, lined up at either side of her, and had immediately started opening fire upon her vessel with the intent to stop her dead. Refusing to be hampered by such insignificant pests, Risky commanded her Tinkerbats to kick the ship into high gear while engaging in evasive maneuvers and returning fire just as heavily.

"We hit a minor setback or two, but now we've got her right where we want her! Keep hammering this crotchety pirate shrew without a millisecond of hesitation! For all of our fallen comrades in the Ammonian Army! For Ammo Baron! For the sake of Sequin Land!" shouted a certain female Ammonian soldier as she commanded her troops from one of the speed boats. As she uttered her order, she wielded an otherworldly semiautomatic rifle fitted with a grenade launcher that she'd using to dump entire magazines upon Risky's troops. Joining her were the other seven or eight speed boats that kept themselves nice and occupied picking off Tinkerbat after Tinkerbat while periodically switching positions and keeping the pressure on with mounted turrets, rockets, and semiautomatic rifles alike. The constant *FWOOOSHes* and *RATATATATATATATs* of so many weapons going off at once completely drowned out any arbitrary image of peace or tranquility that could've been enjoyed from hundreds of miles away.

"Hoo-rah!" a trio of Ammonian soldiers shouted in triumph after a *KABLAM* of an impact was made on Risky's ship with a grenade launcher. Not letting up for a second, however, the experimental naval sector of the Ammonian Army continued to rain a hailstorm of bullets, rockets, and grenades at Risky and her crew, forcing the ship to employ a host of evasive maneuvers to narrowly avoid being struck by the incoming warheads. And, despite how huge a target Risky's pirate ship was, it proved its uncanny agility by bobbing and weaving through the post-thunderstorm tides like there were superpowered dolphins carrying it along. The *KABOOMs* and *KRABLAMs* of rockets that missed their mark lit up the sky despite this utterly chaotic sea-based brawl going on in plain daylight. Neither side willing to let up, however, both factions continued to rampantly exchange fire with one another while the *VROOOOMs* of the speedboats also filled the air while they doggedly pursued their target.

"Grrrrgh…! That's it…!" Risky growled as she fired another thunderous *BOOM* of a shot from her sniper rifle and picked off her seventh Ammonian soldier while a pair of Tinkerbats down below shot their own rockets at the same boat and obliterated it with a fiery *KABOOM* that also kicked up a massive wave that swallowed the seacraft and its passengers whole. "You worthless insects want to get in my way and get squashed? So be it…! The Ammonian Army is HISTORY!" she roared, aiming at the female Ammonian soldier and firing her next shot with an ear-splitting *BANG*. "AVAST, MEN! SPEED UP TO CREATE ENOUGH DISTANCE FOR US TO BARBECUE THESE BUFFOONS!" she commanded, prompting her Tinkerbats to adjust the sails of the ship to increase its velocity tenfold while a particular squad of them hurriedly armed themselves with propeller packs and flamethrowers on the deck.

"Gaahagh!" the female soldier shouted, being knocked to a knee by Risky's merciless shot, which had struck her in the shoulder. "Agh…!"

"Admiral Nila!" a fellow soldier called to her, helping the naval leader to her feet as they continued to give chase to Risky Boots. "Status report!"

"I'm still standing, soldier," Nila assured, massaging her shoulder to ease the excruciating pain she felt from the sniper round. They soon found themselves having to duck again, however, as another spray of enemy rounds littered the speed boat with a series of *clinks* and *clacks*. "She's not cracking under the pressure like we'd hoped," Nila worriedly pointed out as she and the soldier poked their heads from their makeshift cover while the driver did his best to avoid further danger. "We've got to stop her from reaching the Sequin Land Palace at all costs!"

"What should we do, Admiral?" the soldier asked as he, alongside Nila, took up their rifles and returned fire. They succeeded in taking out just a couple more Tinkerbats that were aiming at them with a sniper rifle and rocket launcher, though they were only rewarded by another ten Tinkerbats taking the place of the two they'd just shot down. Redoubling their efforts, Nila and her allies maneuvered through the incoming hurricanes of flashing marbles, the rapid *clinks* and *plocks* of the rounds on the boat's metallic surface serving as a constant reminder of how deadly this conflict already was. Nevertheless, the members of Sector K0414 kept their resolve as strong as they could while returning fire with the turret mounted on the front of the boat, in addition to any other firearms they had in their possession to take down a hefty chunk of the encroaching Tinkerbats in the air. It still wasn't enough to hinder the pirate ship's crew, however, as the Tinkerbats continued to pour on the pressure with their sheer numbers and access to weapons of mass destruction.

"Confound it, we're barely even putting a dent in them…! We're going to have to-!" Nila was about to command just as another ferocious, deafening *KABOOM* ripped through the air as the speed boat in front of them found itself absolutely DECIMATED by another rocket. Taking desperate measures, the driver of the boat on which Nila stood hurriedly veered around the resulting burst of debris, smoke, and water shot miles high into the air. Nearly losing their balance, Nila and this soldier hung on for dear life as the driver did his best to keep control of the vehicle while keeping Risky in their sights. "Agh…! Darn it…! At this rate, we'll all be bait for the buzzards…! We've got to hit her harder, and we've got to hit her now!" Nila urged as she gingerly recovered from her latest brush with death.

"Heard, but we're losing power! And fast!" her comrade worriedly informed her as he picked himself up and continued to fire at Risky's ship once the driver got it under control. Just as he did so, however, he bore witness to three more of their boats being roasted to twisted, flaming chunks of metal by Tinkerbats hovering around in propeller packs carrying flamethrowers. "No! They've taken out most of our fleet! We're down to-! GAAGH!" the soldier tried to point out before he took a sniper bullet right to the face that came zooming in with a *FWOOSH* a half-second before it hit him. The soldier had been flung out of the boat, where he fell with a *SPLOOSH* into the ocean while the boat sped away from him. Following that, the *CRACKACK* of a series of rounds hitting the turret on the speed boat caused it to explode with a *KAPOW* before the head of it was flung into the ocean with no hope of recovering it.

"NO! Another one down, and our turret's been neutralized…!" Nila realized in a mixture of worry and intense anger as she picked up her rifle and shot down a Tinkerbat that had approached them with a propeller pack and a flamethrower. "Hey! Kick this thing up to maximum speed! We're gonna-!" she tried to command the driver as she focused her fire on another pair of incoming Tinkerbats. Unfortunately for her, however, another distant *Bang* rang out, which was followed by the driver of the boat being hit with a devastating *PLOCK*. Shouting in agony, the soldier was flung out of the driver's seat and into the Sequin Land Sea. As such, the vehicle began rapidly losing speed as Nila was immediately made aware of the dire situation she was faced with. "Risky Boots…! One way or another, you will be made to PAY for this…!" she vowed as she shot down two more Tinkerbats headed her way and hopped into the driver's seat just as another *FWOOSH* of a sniper bullet narrowly missed her. Understanding that battle had become unwinnable from her end, Nila regretfully turned the boat around and disengaged Risky to search for her injured comrades while pulling out an Ammonian Transceiver. "Unit Alpha to Unit Gamma. Disengage. I repeat: Disengage," she commanded to the other remaining seacraft, which had still been in hot pursuit of the pirate ship.

"Unit Gamma to Unit Alpha. With all due respect, ma'am, are you sure?"

"Yes. We did the best we could, but we've unfortunately bitten off more than we can chew on this one. In as little as a few measly minutes, we've been cut down to just our last two remaining units. Beta, Delta, Sigma, Epsilon, Zeta, Iota, Lambda, and Kappa have all been neutralized. We'll have to cut our losses here while we're able to do so. Disengage and assist with rescuing our comrades before we continue," she commanded as she rode toward one of her many defeated allies and reached a hand out to him and allowed him to climb back onto the boat.

"Copy that, Admiral," the other soldier complied as his boat was seen in the distance turning away and relinquishing the chase that could've spelled their doom. They barely, BARELY managed to dodge a slew of rockets, bullets, and a flamethrower blast as they zigzagged through the turbulent tides. Seeing that they were giving up, however, the Tinkerbats hounding them disengaged and returned to Risky's speeding ship as it raced off into the distance.

"This battle has only just begun. If anything, we should have been able to at least slow Risky Boots down while forcing her to exhaust some of her resources, though we weren't able to contain her like we'd hoped. I'll let Twitch and Vinegar know to be prepared," Nila informed as she allowed the soldier she rescued to retake the driver's seat, at which point they committed themselves to their search and rescue effort. "With any luck, the reinforcements they said they'd be getting will be able to engage Risky Boots and finish the fight from here…" she lamented, disappointed that Sector K0414 wasn't quite able to measure up to the expectations of their fellow Ammonian affiliates as she switched the frequency of her Transceiver. This disappointment, however, would not go unaccounted for. "Of course, that doesn't mean we're quite done yet… Not as long as I can help it…!"

Just as the naval battle abruptly reached its unfavorable conclusion…

"…Roger that, Nila. We've just alerted our reinforcements to come charging in," a bespectacled blonde Ammonian commander spoke into her Ammonian Transceiver as she and her equally blonde partner maneuvered the aircraft they were riding in. "Hold your position and regroup as best as you can. We're on our way. Good work."

"Copy that, Miss Twitch. Here's to hoping those guys give Risky a run for her money," Nila replied through the walkie-talkie.

"Trust me; they definitely will," Twitch affirmed as her conversation with the Sector K0414's Admiral ended. "Whelp, Vinni, it's not looking too good. Nila and her forces have already been wiped out for the most part, and Risky's still on a crash course for Scuttle Town."

"I can't say I had the highest hopes that it'd turn out any differently, but I suppose that's the best we could do with our limited resources," Vinegar acknowledged as she continued to pilot the Ammonian Army's last known remaining aircraft. "In that case, we'd better get ourselves ready to lend what little support we can from our position."

"Heard loud and clear," Twitch concurred with a twinge of nervousness in her voice as she reached below her and pulled out a rocket launcher. Just as she did so, Risky's encroaching seacraft came racing into view. "Well… it's all or nothing from here. Please let this turn out alright for us…" she prayed, her stomach doing all sorts of flips and turns in anticipation for the incoming skirmish.

Meanwhile, down below the clouds…

"Here they come!" a third blonde woman riding on top of a gigantic avian creature called as she pointed toward an incoming pirate ship that seemed to be full to the brim with Tinkerbats. Upon spotting their opposition, the woman urged her transport bird to gain altitude and charge forth while she whistled to summon squads of other, much smaller birds to follow suit. "It looks like her ship's sustained some damage on the way here, though."

"Yeah, I see it, too. Parts of the ship are smoking and there are cracks and burn marks along the sides," Bolo additionally described the troubling sight before them.

"Possibly because of the help Twitch and Vinegar said they'd get for us," Harpy-Shantae theorized as she hovered forth with her majestic periwinkle wings while carried Rottytops on board. "I don't see anyone following her, so that must mean they didn't hold out so well. And it isn't hard to tell that Risky's really gunning for it this time. I've never seen her ship move so fast…" the bird-woman hybrid further observed as she turned toward Tayshan and Giga Mermaid below. "Sky and Bolo are going to try and get her attention. Rotty and I will follow suit. If you're really sure about boarding the ship, Tayshan, then you'll have to be quick about it. The second I see you set foot on the deck, we'll join you."

"Copy that, Shantae," the serviceman affirmed with a salute, prompting the woman he'd just addressed to nod.

"Good. Rotty, activate the Concealer Ring!" the bird-woman revealed to be Harpy-Shantae commanded as she took off alongside Rottytops.

"You got it, baby!" Rotty obliged, tapping a ring on her finger that, once activated, cloaked the two girls as they swiftly approached Risky's ship.

"Okay! Ret-2-Go!" Shantae uttered her famous catchphrase as she picked up speed and joined her other allies in directly engaging the enemy. Taking it as her cue to follow suit, the mermaid began rapidly swimming through the waves, dipping her head to where she was just above the surface of the sea to pick up speed. Tayshan, eager to engage, crouched low and kept a tight grip on the mermaid's long, damp turquoise hair with one hand while holding an modified MP5 submachine gun in the other. And so, it began…

RISKY BOOTS (W/ SHIP): CAPRICIOUS, CONNIVING CONQUEROR!

"Alright, Giga Mermaid, we're gonna… Oh, no…! No, no, no! Twitch! Vinegar! Get yourselves out o' there! Now!" Tay hollered out toward the airplane containing the team's Ammonian supports. Just as he shouted to warn them, a sudden *FWOOSH* filled the air, followed by the sight of a long, dark, smoking, cylindrical warhead barreling through the skies.

"Hm? What is that flying object headed toward that machine in the sky?" Giga Mermaid asked, slowing her pace a bit as she watched on.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME!? GET OUT O'-!" he tried one more time to shout, causing Giga Mermaid to stop in her tracks as a sudden, deafening *KABOOM* utterly ROCKED the vicinity as an enormous and extremely violent fireworks display occurred from seemingly nowhere. "NO! TWITCH! VINEGAR!" Tayshan called out in shock and unmistakable horror as he witnessed the Ammonian aircraft getting blown to smithereens right before his eyes. Fiery chunks of metal rained into the ocean from almost every angle with varying *Splashes* and *Splooshes* as the smoke clouds from the deadly impact began to clear. Instantly filled to the brim with rage and grief, the soldier desperately scanned the immediate airspace in hopes that maybe the Ammonian girls saw the missile and ejected at an appropriate time before the plane was destroyed. "Come on, come on…! Please, if there's any hope that they got out o' there alive, then PLEASE let it be the case…!" he practically prayed, looking for any sign that the girls were at least alive. Thankfully, his hopes were fulfilled as he suddenly heard the voice of at least one of them from high above.

"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" both Twitch and Vinegar screamed, bathed in splotches of ash as they came plummeting toward the Sequin Land Sea from WAY up in the air.

"There!" Tay pointed out, spotting the panicking young women hurtling toward the sea after apparently having been flung high and far away from their doomed plane. "Giga Mermaid, do you think you can catch 'em?"

"You needn't even ask. Here I go!" Giga Mermaid took up the challenge as she raised her upper body out of the ocean, took a deep breath, and dipped into the ocean where her mouth was beneath the surface. With a mighty blow of inhaled air directly into the sea, Giga Mermaid created a massive, effervescent bubble. Soon after, she raised up again and, with both hands, shoved the bubble forth just as Twitch and Vinegar were on a one-way crash course with the unforgiving, turbulent currents beneath them. The safety bubble reached its destination just in time for Twitch and Vinegar to land on it, only to be flung off it with a mighty *BOING* like they'd bounced off a watery trampoline. The bubble burst as soon as they were launched upward from it. Without hesitation, Giga Mermaid swam forth while the girls were bought some extra hang time. Just as they were coming back down, the colossal sea maiden caught the Ammonian affiliates in her hands, securing them before turning toward Risky's ship, which was in the process of being chased toward the Sequin Land Palace by Sky, Bolo, and Wrench.

"Shoot, that was too close…!" Tay murmured in relief, though said relief was short-lived when he noticed that Risky had easily slipped past his other allies. "An' now we're in hot water…! Giga Mermaid!"

"On my way!" the sea maiden declared, hurriedly setting Twitch and Vinegar on her head before dipping down. "You will want to grab hold of my hair, ladies! I am going full speed to try and slow our enemies down!" Wordlessly, the Ammonian acolytes complied by grabbing tufts of Giga Mermaid's hair at her request. Once her passengers were secured, Giga Mermaid blasted forth as Risky's forces unleashed a volley of bullets and rockets at Wrench while he engaged in evasive maneuvers to avoid being shot down at all costs.

"How are you two feelin' right now?" Tay asked, trying to mask his deep-seated concern for them as he looked toward them with his submachine gun in hand.

"We could be a lot better, but we're alive, at least," Vinegar answered, taking a deep breath and clutching her chest with a hand. She seemed to hardly believe she'd survived such an incredible close call. "Thanks for the save, Tay."

"No problem, but I can't take much credit for that. It was Giga Mermaid who really saved you this time," he corrected. "Either way, I'm glad t' see y'all ain't too badly harmed… at least, at a glance."

"We've been in a situation like this before. Trust me, we're as okay as 'okay' gets at this point," Twitch assured. "Of course, we should've accounted for at least one of Risky's little abominations to have one of those Stinger missiles ready for us."

"More proof o' how desperate she must really be at this point," Tay deduced as Giga Mermaid gained on Risky's ship and fired a startling *CRACK* of lightning from her gem as she and the others remained in hot pursuit. The bolt struck the side of the ship, significantly knocking it off-course as it veered to the side and slowed down temporarily. Just then, Giga Mermaid raised up a bit and swiped her hand across the surface, causing a massive wave that, with a *SPLOOSH*, smacked into the back of the ship, though it only knocked it slightly off its course. Immediately following this, Harpy-Shantae and Rottytops reappeared in front of the vessel, where Harpy-Shantae let out an ear-splitting *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH* that created enough of a diversion that most of Risky's Tinkerbats had stopped firing anything but potshots from handguns as they tried to protect their hearing. However, Risky's ship picked up steam and engaged in high-speed evasive maneuvers while a *FWOOSH* from a sniper rifle ripped through the air. Forced to stop her screeching, Harpy-Shantae swerved out of the way of the incoming sniper round while Sky and Bolo took up the task of hammering away at Risky's defenses with egg bombs, bird strikes, and multicolored Pike Ball barrages. "An' we ain't exactly startin' off strong ourselves. The sooner I can get on that ship, the better! Make sure you keep yourself protected as we find a way t' get closer!"

"Understood!" Giga Mermaid agreed, firing another lightning blast from her gem that missed its mark and went fizzling out in the air. "Darn it…! This is proving to be more difficult than we had hoped…!" she observed, increasing the speed of her swimming while being mindful of her passengers and the endless cyclone of projectiles being dumped upon them.

"What did you guys plan on doing to stop her?" Vinegar asked Tay as he spotted a Tinkerbat with a propeller pack and a flamethrower headed in their direction. Acting quickly, he shot it down using the submachine gun. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to aim that well when he was only using one hand while the other kept him locked in place on Giga Mermaid's head.

"We're tryin' t' hit Risky from multiple angles an' overwhelm her. We wanted t' stop her before she got the chance t' set foot in or near the Sequin Land Palace, but with the way things are goin' right now, our window of opportunity's closin'… an' fast…!" Tay explained as another couple of Propeller Pack Tinkerbats, these two wielding rifles, came hovering in. Doing his best, Tay haphazardly fired his weapon as they also began shooting at him and his allies. "Giga Mermaid, we've got some unwelcome company! They're shootin' at us from the side!"

"Ah, I see them! These barbarians will not strike me down so easily!" Giga Mermaid vowed, engaging in a pattern of zigzagging through the turbulent currents to dodge sprays of gunfire while Tay tried his hardest to take their attackers out with little success.

"Here, lend me that gun! I've got us covered!" Twitch volunteered, holding out her hand toward the distracted serviceman.

"Hm? Are you sure about that?" he asked, ducking to avoid being shot by the Tinkerbats doggedly pursuing them.

"Positive, Tay-Tay! You look like you're preoccupied over there, and we're not counted out of this battle yet! Vinni can hold us in place while I take these freaks down!"

"Hm. Sounds like a better idea than what I had goin' on. Fine, then," he agreed, handing Twitch the submachine gun.

"Thanks!" Twitch expressed her gratitude. "Okay Vinegar, grab onto this mermaid's hair with both hands and wrap your legs around my waist!"

"You got it!" Vinegar complied, grabbing two hefty handfuls of Giga Mermaid's silky locks while Twitch scooted closer to her in order for Vinegar to clamp her in place with her legs. Meanwhile, Twitch fired a much more focused volley of rounds that, despite Giga Mermaid's rather unpredictable maneuvers, saw to it that the other two Tinkerbats were disposed of before they could damage anyone. "Nice!"

"Perfect!" Twitch cheered as Tay instinctively handed her a few extra magazines for the weapon he'd lent to her. "Thanks, Tay. Alright, so what's the plan from here?"

"From our end, Giga Mermaid is gonna try t' get in close enough t' where I can board Risky's ship while her Tinkerbats are distracted by everybody else, but we're gonna need t' reorient from here…!" Tay informed, pulling out a standard issue M9 in place of the submachine gun he'd given to Twitch.

"Reorient? How come?" asked Vinegar as she continued to assist Twitch in keeping their position while Giga Mermaid swerved around another barrage of bullets and fired another *CRACKLE* of an electric bolt at the ship. The bolt missed its mark as the ship swerved once again to dodge a slew of incoming varied projectiles and picked up speed.

"The original plan was for me t' get on the ship, so that Giga Mermaid could attack freely from the outside once I was on. We wasn't really accountin' for Risky t' blow y'all out o' the air before we even began, nor were any of us accountin' for her t' be puttin' up so much resistance while also burstin' ahead with such explosive speed in that ship. We're slowin' her down just a bit, but we ain't makin' near enough headway t' bring her invasion to a screechin' halt like we was hopin' t' do."

"I don't suppose any of us could've accounted for just how determined she'd be to get what she wants," Vinegar concurred. "We tried to hold her up with our naval unit, but she blew past them in basically no time flat. They managed to distract her, but she went all out on them right out of the gate the minute she spotted them. That's most likely why she's pressing so hard to blast through the rest of our group now."

"Chances are, she's feeling the pressure and she's trying to accommodate for it by turning the aggression dial to eleven," Twitch interjected, firing another short, controlled burst of rounds that eliminated just a couple more Tinkerbats before she was forced to duck and avoid incoming fire. "We can still help as much as we can to stick it to her, no less. If the idea is to give this mermaid free rein to attack with her full might, then we can try and call in what's left of our naval sector to hitch us a ride! That way, we can still potentially create another huge distraction while the rest of your team keeps hammering away at her until you can get on the ship."

"Sounds good t' me, but make sure that you're not puttin' yourselves in harm's way. Unless y'all got some method o' bringin' the battle right to her face, your best bet is t' keep your distance an' employ guerrilla tactics at your discretion."

"That's most likely gonna be our plan," Vinegar assured. "We don't have much choice because of how much of Sector K0414 was wiped out in just the last half-hour. As far as I know, only two boats are available, so we may be gambling with our chances a bit here!"

"Truer words about this situation haven't been spoken by anyone else," Tay agreed. "Either way, that Koala unit y'all mentioned turned out t' be the real deal, eh?" he further remarked in mild surprise as he aimed his pistol and shot down one more Tinkerbat before being forced to duck alongside his Ammonian allies while Giga Mermaid dipped low to swim under a rocket that had been barreling toward them. The rocket hit the surface of the water with a massive *SPLOOSH*, though it failed to detonate. Giga Mermaid responded by firing an energy ball from her gem that roasted the offending propeller Tinkerbat to cinders as she pushed forth to catch up to Risky's ship.

"Yeah, but if we expect to pull this off, we're gonna need to keep the pressure on Risky while making sure not to be overwhelmed ourselves. Even now, are you still aiming to get onto the ship?"

"Without a doubt," Tay confirmed with utmost confidence. "Acknowledgin' how dangerous it is, it's our best shot at stiflin' her approach before it's too late."

"Heard. In that case…" Twitch trailed off, turning her head toward her Ammonian partner. "Vinni! Call Nila to our position! The sooner we can get off the mermaid, the sooner she and Tay can get to Risky's ship and allow him to board it! We're better off providing support at a distance with Nila and the rest of Sector K0414!"

"Calling her now!" Vinegar quickly informed, tightening her grip on Giga Mermaid's hair with one hand while using the other to pull out her Ammonian transceiver. With a *SKZZZT*, she established the connection. "Nila! Do you copy!?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nila immediately answered through the transceiver. "I'm so glad to hear you're safe! We just saw you get blown out of the sky! Is Commander Twitch also okay?"

"We're both good! She's right next to me and we're still in this! Where are you right now!?"

"We just gathered up our surviving crew members! Is there anything we can do to assist?"

"Yes! As quickly as you can, get yourself and any remaining units over to our position! Time is crucial and our allies have engaged Risky Boots! Right now, we're riding on top of a giant mermaid they brought in to assist them! Head toward the mermaid! Twitch and I will join you on your boat!" she commanded as Twitch hastily reloaded her weapon before firing another short, controlled burst of round into a crowd of incoming Tinkerbats.

"Roger! On our way!" Nila assured. "Double time it, soldier! You heard the ladies! We need to get back into the battle yesterday!" the admiral could be heard further ordering one of her subordinates before the feed had suddenly cut.

"Our reinforcements are gonna be headed to our location, Tay!" Vinegar informed him as he, while gripping a few of Giga Mermaid's silky locks with one hand and planting himself on a knee, cooked what appeared to be a flashbang grenade.

"Heard! HRAH!" he acknowledged before shouting and flinging the grenade at a trio of Tinkerbats coming in with semiautomatic rifles and a flamethrower as Giga Mermaid ducked and veered to the side to just barely dodge the incoming fire. The *KABANG* of the grenade as it reached the trio forced two of them to drop their guns while one of them just barely avoided getting stunned. "Twitch! Together!"

"Roger! Take THIS!" the shorter Ammonian acolyte roared in adrenaline-boosted determination as she and Tayshan poured a relentless onslaught of rounds onto the incapacitated aerial Tinkerbats. The ones hit by the flashbang were immediately taken down, though the one with the flamethrower avoided much of the incoming barrage. This Tinkerbat, suddenly bent on revenge, began pursuing them with no intent to stop until it saw its enemies burned to ashes. With a mighty *FRRWWOOOOOOOOOSH* of its weapon, the Tinkerbat spewed a blast of incinerating flames at the group so hot that it could've melted tungsten in an instant.

"Get down!" Tay shouted, hurriedly moving himself over to where he was able to cover Twitch and Vinegar while they were shielding themselves from the sheer heat of the flamethrower.

"Such miserable fiends!" Giga Mermaid exclaimed in agitation as she, feeling every bit of the heat from the flamethrower's blast, instinctively sped up, forcing her allies to lock themselves in as best as they could. The Tinkerbat would not let up, however, as it noticed the gargantuan sea creature gaining on Risky's ship. Determined to make its leader proud, the Tinkerbat shot another blast of flames as it kept its targets in its sights. Meanwhile, other Tinkerbats with handguns and rifles alike were either flying in from Risky's ship toward Giga Mermaid while shooting at her, or they remained on the ship as they attempted to pick her off with *BANG* after *BANG* of sniper rounds. Giga Mermaid, realizing the pressure she was under, fired a small volley of energy balls from her gem before dipping low enough under the water to submerge every part of her body except the top of her head to allow her allies room to breathe.

"Eat this, you little freak!" Tayshan shouted, growing agitated with the oppressive opposition as he aimed his pistol and fired its remaining round. And, with what had to be an incredible stroke of luck, he scored a direct hit on the Tinkerbat's propeller, thereby immediately canceling its flight while it was attempting to shoot a third blast of unforgiving flames. The Tinkerbat hit the water with a minor *splish*, flailing about as the *HIIISSSSSSSS* of the flamethrower's tank drowned out its… silent cries for help. "Another one down, another million more of 'em t' go…!" he added, stashing the empty pistol into his inventory before carefully readjusting himself to where he was no longer hovering over Twitch and Vinegar.

"Huh… To think you'd still go out of your way to protect us like that…" Vinegar pondered with a raised eyebrow as she also heard the *Vrrrooooooooom* of a seafaring vehicle or two approaching them from the side. "Even with us working together, I thought you hated us now."

"Not at all. We may still have beef between us, but that doesn't mean I won't protect you… provided we remain on the same side. I don't know if you consider me your friend at this stage, Vinegar, but I figured Twitch would've told you about the talk I had with her right before we split off in Scuttle Town," Tay countered as he turned toward the incoming Tinkerbats while pulling out a different handgun that, while weaker than the M9 he'd been using, was able to fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. Using this diminutive firearm, Tay ducked while aiming and spraying up another couple of Tinkerbats looking to mow them down.

"I see…" the taller Ammonian acolyte hummed in wonder, taking a moment to study the serviceman, who'd still been doing his best to help Giga Mermaid fend off the hordes of Tinkerbats trying to put them down for a nap with the fishes. And, as Twitch readily fought alongside him, firing away as she remained seated directly in front of her, Vinegar found it in herself to understand the non-Ammonian serviceman's statement. "Well, if we can still work together like we did in Prickle Stitch, then maybe there is hope that we can clear the air once this is over. This doesn't mean we won't hold you responsible for what you did, of course."

"I'd never try t' convince you otherwise, Vinegar. I acknowledge my actions. An', as long as you also acknowledge yours, we can work on repairin' our relationships with each other over time," he assured her as Giga Mermaid fired another lightning blast at one more Tinkerbat, zapping it into oblivion before it got the chance to fire its rocket. Just then, the speed boats coming from the side finally caught up. "On that note, is that your emergency ride comin' in?"

"Yeah," the taller blonde confirmed.

"Got it. Yo! Giga Mermaid! Hang on a second!" Tay called to the humongous sea maiden, prompting her to slow her pace to a crawl as she heeded his request.

"We were just about to make significant progress in reaching Risky Boots's pirate ship. Why must we halt our advance?" she asked in understandable confusion as she waded in the water and worriedly observed the pandemonium going on in the form of the rest of their allies valiantly tangling up with Risky and her forces.

"We're droppin' our extra passengers off t' their friends in the speed boats comin' toward us from the side over there," Tay informed Giga Mermaid, directing her attention to the seacraft in question as they closed the distance. "We'll make it quick. Once we drop them off, we'll keep pushin' through full throttle until we can get close enough for me t' get on the ship."

"I see. In that case, I will oblige," Giga Mermaid acknowledged, halting herself accordingly as the boats finally arrived at their location.

"Commander Twitch! Commander Vinegar! Hop aboard!" another female Ammonian soldier called to the two of them.

"Whelp, that's our cue!" Twitch announced as she and Vinegar climbed to their feet. "Even when we're not on such great terms, you still come through with the save, Tay-Tay. I can't thank you enough, but I suppose we can wait until after we deal with Risky Boots to figure everything out," she added with some sense of hope, saluting to him.

"Count on it, Twitch," Tay smilingly responded, saluting back to her. "Till then, let's keep houndin' Risky Boots an' her crew together," he further encouraged, prompting her to smile at him before turning and leaping onto the speed boat to join her blue-coated comrades.

"Tay?" Vinegar called to him just before she jumped onto the speed boat.

"What's happenin'?" he asked, reading the concern on her face as she addressed him.

"Er… I'm… I'm sorry for the way things went down between us," she built up just barely enough courage to say to him. "I'm… also sorry we got you captured…" Surprised as he was to hear her sudden apology, Tay tempered his reaction as he nodded in acknowledgement.

"An' I'm sorry for blowin' up your base an' takin' my frustrations out on you," he matched her apology with one of his own. "We'll talk later, though, homie. Right now, we've got a war t' win," he reminded her, turning his gaze toward Wrench as the avian behemoth squawked and soared through the air to keep his passengers safe. Just then, a distant *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH* could be heard coming from Harpy-Shantae, though she and Rottytops were not immediately visible. Following that, a tornado of birds, Pike Balls, harpy talons, and bullets continuously flew in all directions as Risky's ship continued to push toward its destination at a rate far too alarming for any of our heroes to take lightly.

"Darn, we're really gonna have to kick it up a notch if we expect to stop her," Vinegar acknowledged, hurriedly jumping onto the boat to join Twitch. "We'll do what we can to distract her from a safe distance, like we agreed on! Whatever it is you were planning to do with this giant mermaid, we'll try to support you! Just make sure you don't throw yourself out of a frying pan directly into a fire!"

"All things considered, that's exactly my plan. Of course, I'm hopin' I learned how t' keep from gettin' burned. Either way, copy that! Y'all should go on an' provide your support now! We definitely need it with the way things are goin'!" Tay informed them as he crouched and prepared himself on Giga Mermaid's head.

"On it, Tay!" Twitch conclusively acknowledged before turning her attention to her comrades on the boat. "Alright, soldiers, let's move! This battle has only just begun!"

"Hoo-rah!" the Ammonian soldiers cheered as they, with a pair of *VROOOOOOOOOOOOMs* from their sea vehicles' engines, raced off toward Risky's ship with their weapons in tow as they prepared themselves to reengage Risky Boots.

"Alright, Giga Mermaid, we've still got work t' do. At this point, don't mind me as we play catch-up with our pirate friends up ahead, because we can't afford t' lose much more ground. Go full speed ahead if you can as we hit them at least twice as hard as we were doin' a minute ago."

"Brace yourself in that case, Mr. Tayshan, because I'm…" she trailed off, sinking back into the ocean to where the top of her head and her eyes remained uncovered by water. In response, Tay sheathed his firearm, went prone, and gripped into Giga Mermaid's long flowing hair with as much strength as he could manage. "…ready to…!" the enormous maiden spoke again, rearing back as her tail raised high from beneath the sea's surface behind them.

"…Oh, I can tell I'm about t' be in for the water ride o' my life…" Tay lamented, instinctively gulping as he tightened his grip even more and hoped to the high heavens he didn't slip. And, before he could ponder how he ever wound up in this situation…

"GOOO!" Giga Mermaid announced as she, with a sudden, monumental *SWWOOOOOOOOOOSH*, blasted off at a speed that put those Ammonian speed boats to shame, the wind and waves kicking up like a massive cyclone. If one couldn't tell before that the mermaid had dedicated herself to the task of helping her allies defeat Risky Boots once and for all, then they would need to get their glasses checked, because she was all in at this point. And I mean ALL in.

"Hoorgh…! Ergh, I'd have never… expected her t' hit speeds like this…!" Tay commended… sort of as he turned his head away and kept his grip strong. The burst of gale force wind and the never-ending sprays of seawater kicking up as Giga Mermaid gave her best impression of a pack of sharks charging ahead to devour prey nearly caused him to be totally unable to see anything. "She's fast…! There's no doubt they're gonna see us comin,' but as long as we can manage t' keep 'em occupied, I can… still make it on that boat an' help turn this around. I just hope… I can keep my grip long enough for that t' happen…! Haargh…!" he further vowed, holding out hope that their plan was still working.

As the gigantic sea lady steadily approached the conflict once more, Giga Mermaid continued dodging haphazard sprays of gunfire coming from airborne Tinkerbats. Tay, from their slightly disadvantaged position, somehow still pulled out the Glock he'd used moments earlier and fired a few bursts of rounds as Giga Mermaid summoned another energy ball from her gem and sent it barreling toward another small group of propeller Tinkerbats. The gargantuan sea woman had been rapidly catching up to Risky's vessel as the others attacked their shared adversary full force, but Risky and her Tinkerbats remained determined to wipe out their opposition and put the finishing touches her plan to plunge Sequin Land into an era of darkness, pandemonium, and total lawlessness that only she would benefit from.

And, because so much is going on all at once, we'll be going about this a little differently…

It goes without saying that, for a scuffle that seemed like it would be so small, there was a LOT happening. A LOT. And it was happening fast. Too fast for me to outright tell you the play-by-play of every individual in one fell swoop. So, instead, we'll explore this as sequentially as possible. I don't want to lose you in this winding, overgrown rainforest of details, but I at least want to make sure you're getting as full a scoop as possible of what the heck is happening. Take my hand, don't let go, and let's dive right on in! Now, to really get things into perspective…

In the air...

"Shoot, we're still losing ground…!" Sky observed as she guided Wrench into dodging a sniper round aimed directly at them from the mast of the ship as it began slowly but surely altering its direction from a direct course to the Sequin Land Palace's coastline. Thankfully, the pirate ship had remained significant distance away from the vulnerable capitol. "At the very least, we can tell she's feeling the pressure now," she further observed as she tossed another egg bomb downward while steering Wrench to where he flew over the ship.

"Yeah, and now we're about to really give 'em a headache!" Bolo declared as he flung a yellow Pike Ball toward the mast of the ship just as he spotted what looked like Risky Boots aiming a long-range gun at them. The Sticky Pike narrowly missed its mark, attaching itself a few pegs lower than his intended target. "Careful, Sky. It looks like those Tinkerbats aren't the only ones trying to use us for target practice! I just spotted Risky hiding out at the top of the ship with another one of those guns designed to pick us off from long distance!"

"So that's her game, huh? Okay then, we'll have to adapt while still hitting them hard enough so Shantae can take care of the rest," Sky observed. "She and Rottytops can't get in and attack if we don't keep the pressure on ourselves!"

"I agree. In that case, why don't we make our impact an explosive one?" he 'cleverly' punned as he pulled out the remote for his Sticky Pike and detonated the device. With a thunderous *BOOM*, the Sticky Pike exploded, though it seemed to do next to no damage to the ship. However, it was enough that some of the more aggressive Tinkerbats blasting away at them from the deck ceased their fire to gather an understanding of what the source of the explosion was. "Sky! Some of them are distracted!"

"Just the opening we need! Eat this!" Sky cheered as she directed Wrench away from the ship and circled around at what she judged to be a safe enough distance. Darting back in, Sky and Bolo showered the ship with a mixture of egg bombs and green Pike Balls, forcing the Tinkerbats they were aiming at to duck for cover while others returned fire with various rifles, handguns, and even another flamethrower to keep them at bay. The bright, flashy *BANGs*, *POPs* and *BOOMs* ringing out amid the chaos made for quite the fascinating, if not truly frightening display. Nevertheless, Sky and Bolo flew upward and away as they, along with Wrench, took heavy fire from their enemies. Wrench squawked in pain as he nearly lost his coordination from being struck by so may rounds in such a short amount of time.

"Whoawhaaah!" Bolo shouted, instinctively wrapping his arms around Sky as she did her best to help Wrench regain control of himself. As Sky struggled to help Wrench regain control, they were also struck by rounds left and right with hardly any way to defend themselves. "Gaah! Ow, these bullets sting like hornets...! And there are so many of them flying at us...!"

"Ouch! T-tell me about it...!" Sky agreed, though she was still preoccupied with keeping Wrench afloat. "Come on, buddy! We'll pull through!" the bird tamer urged her avian ally as he gained enough altitude and distance to be considered safe from the relentless assault of Risky's forces. Once Wrench reoriented himself and turned to resume giving chase to the ship, he chirped in redoubled determination as many of his master's smaller birds did their best to keep the Tinkerbats busy while most of them avoided being shot down. Realizing quickly that they may have been cutting it a bit too close for comfort in their efforts to contribute to the cause of stopping Risky, Sky opted to fly Wrench a lot more conservatively while minding his speed. In doing so, she hoped to provide herself and Bolo a more comfortable avenue to keep piling on the projectiles and avian attack squads.

"Why are we suddenly moving so slow?" Bolo complained as he flung a trio of red Pike Balls behind them to take out three Tinkerbats with propeller packs.

"We need to keep Wrench safe if we expect to keep fighting," Sky explained as she ordered another flock of birds to nosedive toward the ship to peck away at Tinkerbats aiming at them with marksman rifles and grenades galore. "We're not gonna last if we can't avoid taking damage."

"We've only taken a few scratches! We can't let that discourage us from hitting Risky as hard and as fast as we can! Come on, let's step it up!" he urged as he spotted another pair of Tinkerbats looking to burn them alive with flamethrowers and flung his spiked boomerang at them. With a couple of *PLOCKs*, the fledgling adventurer scored two direct hits before the projectile came racing back to him.

"If I thought it was safe, I would! Right now, we need to mind our position and focus more on keeping our distance!" she sternly advised him, steering Wrench to gain some altitude while she flung another egg bomb toward the ship that crashed with a yolky *KABLAM* on the ship's deck.

"We won't get anywhere like that!" he argued as he scoured the immediate area for additional attackers in the air. "We need to keep the pressure on! No battle we get into is gonna be won without us taking a few lumps, so come on! Let's get in there!"

"Bolo, stop!" Sky shouted, growing frustrated with his demands as Wrench swerved to the side to avoid an incoming sniper round while a team of blue jays came racing in to peck and scratch away at the Tinkerbat responsible for firing the dastartly shot. "You don't understand how dangerous it is for us if Wrench gets shot down! We can't keep forcing ourselves into the fray and expect to survive, much less win! We're not looking to be the stars here, we're providing support for Shantae! How hard is that to comprehend!?"

"We can support Shantae and still make our presence known! This is no time to be scared of the risks, so stop being scared! We're already in the thick of it, and the best we can do is keep up the pressure as much as we can from our angle, just like everyone else is!" Bolo shouted back as he pulled out another handful of Pike Balls while looking around to gather an idea of what was happening. Suddenly, Risky's vessel changed direction yet again as it picked up speed toward the palace in the distance. He and Sky saw that Shantae and Rottytops were in hot pursuit as well, but it seemed like they were being blocked out by the Tinkerbats unleashing a monumental resistance as the two of them looked for an appropriate opening. Risky herself was trying to shoot them down from the mast of her ship, though Shantae's maneuverability kept them safe… for a time. Meanwhile, Giga Mermaid and Tayshan were trailing behind the ship while hurriedly dodging rockets, flames, and flashing rounds from Tinkerbats wearing propeller packs. They, too, had been struggling to close in and take the fight right to Risky. They also noticed a couple of speed boats (one of which carried Twitch and Vinegar) racing in to attack Risky with barrages of bullets from a safe enough distance that the Pirate Queen's forces wouldn't immediately be able to do anything about them. Due to the unprecedented might of Risky's crew, however, even they couldn't find a comfortable enough position from which to maximize their effectiveness. As such, Risky's path remained mostly open as she pressed on toward her destination.

"No, she's still racing right for the shore! Shoot, we really don't have a choice, then...! Wrench, let's go!" the bird tamer commanded once she realized the rapidly increasing danger of the situation, prompting her giant bird to dart toward the ship before it could make any further progress

"This isn't looking too good, Sky!" Bolo observed as he flung another trio of his trusty red Homing Pikes at a group of Tinkerbats headed toward them with propeller packs and rifles. Wrench dipped low to avoid the inevitable gunfire while Bolo's Homing Pikes did their job of eliminating the opposition. "We're not gonna catch her at this rate unless we find some way to throw her off her path!"

"I know, and we won't give in! If we don't stop her here and now, Sequin Land is history! Turns out you're right in that we need to turn up the heat, but we need to be tactful about it... The only thing I think might buy us some time is this, but we can only hope it plays out right…!" she informed Bolo as they soared over Risky's ship once again. This time, they maintained a much safer distance as Sky whistled to summon another team of sparrows and rained another barrage of egg bombs onto the Tinkerbats beneath them. Meanwhile, Bolo flung a handful of Sticky Pikes and Scatter Pikes across the deck of the ship. Seeing this, Risky Boots turned toward them with the sniper rifle in tow and immediately fired a crackling *BOOM* of a shot at them. The shot narrowly missed Wrench as he was once again knocked off-kilter. "Shoot…! Hold it together, Wrench…!" she pleaded as she held on tight. Determined to make his master proud in their valiant effort to prevent the total annihilation of their home, Wrench quickly reoriented himself and swung himself upward to maintain control. "Okay… Now then, Wrench, position yourself in front of the ship! This might be our only shot at really slowing them down!"

"What are you planning to do?" Bolo asked as he flung one more Sticky Pike at a Tinkerbat that had been scoping them with a rocket launcher. Hurriedly, he pulled out the detonator again and pressed it, causing another *KABLAM* to fill the air as the Tinkerbat in question was flung away in defeat.

"You'll see in a second," Sky informed as Wrench created the distance he needed for Sky to employ her ace in the hole. Taking a deep breath and placing two fingers into her mouth, she whistled as hard and as loud as she could. "Icarus! Hit the ship as hard as you can!" she commanded right before maneuvering Wrench to dodge an incoming spray of rounds as another *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH* coming from the harpy-formed half-genie pierced the eardrums of everyone in the vicinity. This convenient development provided the perfect diversion for Sky's most powerful feathered friend to come bulleting in from seemingly nowhere at a speed that threatened to cause a rift in time and space as we knew it. And, while most of Risky's forces were preoccupied, Icarus smashed head-on into the side of Risky's ship with a startling *CRASH*, disappearing inside of the vessel for a literal second before another *CRASH* filled the air after Harpy-Shantae finished screeching and began firing talons at a group of Tinkerbats before Rottytops used her Concealer Ring to make them invisible again. Much of the Tinkerbats' focus was disrupted by the startling collision as some of them noticed the giant holes in the hulls of the ship that (thankfully for them) were too high to begin picking up water. In that same moment, however, another powerful swipe across the waves from Giga Mermaid sent the tides rushing toward them with the force of a typhoon. With another *SPLASH* of a massive wave against its sturdy wooden surface, the ship was sent veering off its course while its occupants were scrambling to figure out what was going on.

"Nice!" Bolo cheered as he watched Icarus soar off into the wild blue yonder. "It looks like that did the trick! They're turning the other way!"

"Yeah, but we're not out of the woods yet! Hang onto me! Wrench, look out!" Sky urged, desperately steering Wrench away as she picked up a shining gleam from the mast of the compromised pirate ship. There was no doubt at that point that Risky spotted them and prepared to take care of them. Just as Wrench turned to try and evade incoming fire, the *BOOM* of the sniper rifle rang out. And unfortunately, Wrench's speed wasn't enough to accommodate for his enormous size. With a nasty *POCK*, Wrench was struck directly in the wing by Risky's shot, completely destabilizing him as he lost his ability to keep flapping his wings. "WRENCH!" Sky hollered out in a total horror as she and Bolo were flung off Wrench's back. "Noooawaaaaaagh!"

"Gaggh….! Dang it…!" Bolo cursed, hurriedly pulling Sky close with one hand while taking out his Morning Star and twirling it as hard as he could with the other. "Haaaarrrrrryaaaaaaaaaagh!" the young man shouted as he swung the mace with all his might to create some sort of resistance significant enough to take flight. Against all odds, it barely managed to work as he at least found some success in slowing their descent by some marginal degree with the metallic *WHRIIINGINGINGING* of the weapon's chain links and Pike Ball beating against the open air. "Ghhaaaaaagh…! Sky, are… are you alright…!?"

"Huh? How… How are you able to do this!?" the bird tamer pondered in complete surprise as she found herself clinging to Bolo like her life depended on it… well, because it kinda did.

"No time to…! Agh…! No time to explain…! Can't keep this up for long…!" he warned as his arms quickly grew tired as the Morning Star barely remained functional as a set of helicopter blades.

"Oh, no…! Shoot…! Wrench! Wrench, where are you!?" she shouted, looking around in a panic as she and Bolo steadily descended toward the tempestuous waves of the Sequin Land sea that threatened to swallow them up the second they made contact. It didn't take long for her to spot her injured friend hurtling toward the ocean, though what frightened her most was that he'd suddenly shrunk to his original size as he desperately tried to keep himself afloat. "No! No, no, no, we're doomed…!" she let it sink in as Bolo continued to lose strength. "His transformation wore off!"

"What!?" Bolo shouted in terror as he tried even harder to keep the two of them afloat. "So, what do we do now!?"

"The last trick up my sleeve is this, but we're not gonna be able to do much with it…" she informed before she whistled again. Immediately, a team of falcons came rushing in, forming a makeshift floating platform beneath them. "Okay Bolo, you can give yourself a short break!"

"Oh, good, you did have a back-up plan…" he sighed in relief, stopping his helicopter technique. Bolo and Sky safely landed on the birds summoned by Sky's handy Falcon Call. Taking the moment to decompress after their latest brush with death, Bolo stretched his burning arms out.

"Don't get too comfortable," Sky advised as she kept herself on high alert. "We've only got a couple seconds before my falcons get too tired to hold us up. We've still got to find another method of-!"

"Hey! Over here!" a female voice called to them, its owner cruising toward them in a sizable royal blue speed boat with a mighty *VRRROOOOM*.

"Oh, it's Twitch and Vinegar!" Bolo pointed out, breathing another heavy sigh of immense relief at the sight of the two Ammonian young women, who'd appeared to be accompanied by a third, brown-haired woman wearing sunglasses that neither he nor Sky recognized. Nevertheless, the Ammonian ladies came in the nick of time, stopping as soon as they reached the two non-Ammonian allies they'd spotted.

"Get on! We've only got but so much time, so make it quick!" Vinegar urged just as Sky's Falcon Call wore off. As if on instinct, Sky and Bolo hopped off the team of birds as they scurried away. They landed safely in the speed boat, after which the normal-sized Wrench hovered toward Sky, allowing her to catch him in her arms. After that, the speed boat zoomed ahead toward the ship as the woman that wasn't Twitch or Vinegar pulled out an interdimensional semiautomatic rifle and took up a position at the front of the boat to open fire on some approaching airborne Tinkerbats.

"Wrench…" the bird tamer murmured, cradling her companion as he curled up in what appeared to be inconceivable agony stemming from his wing. "It's alright… You did an awesome job, my friend..." she assured, keeping him wrapped up in her arms as she turned her attention to hers and Bolo's rescuers. "Thanks for saving us," she humbly expressed her gratitude. "We owe you one."

"Don't read into it, birdbrain," Twitch very quickly shut down any chance for a bond to be formed from the occurrence. "We're only doing this out of obligation."

"Of course. Well, you have my appreciation nevertheless."

"Regardless of how we all feel about this, I gotta say you girls pulled through!" Bolo cheered, still stretching the muscle fatigue out of his arms. "I'm also glad to see you're alive. We saw what happened to your plane not too long ago…"

"Yeah, that underhanded witch blew us out of the air with a heat-seeking missile," Vinegar complained. "We saw it coming and ejected from the plane right before it hit, thank goodness. Of course, we have Tayshan and that giant mermaid to thank for keeping us from plumetting right into the ocean and giving us the chance to link up with our comrades. That said, we aren't counting ourselves out yet."

"Awesome," Bolo praised in acceptance of their determination to continue fighting the good fight. "Although, I didn't think the Ammonian Army had any dealings in sea travel…"

"We're full of surprises, Spiky, but we don't have time to fraternize over it," Twitch urged, readying that rocket launcher she'd been holding onto. "We've still got a lot of work to do, and Risky's still not cracking under the pressure. If either you or Feather Face back there still have any creative ways to help us out, it'd be much appreciated."

"Right. I'll do what I can from here," he agreed as he committed himself to scouting around the immediate area for potential threats to neutralize.

"I suppose I will, too," Sky also agreed, whistling to summon up a swarm of swallows that she directed to assist while the speed boat raced toward Risky's ship. "I don't have a clue how much longer we'll have to keep fighting, but with any luck from this point on, we'll get the job done…"

Elsewhere, but still in the air…

"Shoot… Snack cakes, be careful!" Rottytops called out to Harpy-Shantae as the two of them soared through a barrage of bullets aimed in their general direction while they remained mostly invisible. "Risky just took down Sky and Bolo!"

"I know, and I swear she's gonna regret it…! I just wish we could get close enough to do a little more…!" Harpy-Shantae vowed as she fired off a salvo of talons at the ship just as the effects of the Concealer Ring wore off once again. As soon as they reappeared, a huge group of Risky's men immediately focused much of their firepower on the two of them. Thankfully far enough away not to be caught up in the crossfire, Harpy-Shantae flared her wings and turned to create some additional distance while dodging the incoming rounds. Determined to extinguish her opponents all the same, Risky spotted the two girls and took aim. Just then, another massive *KRABLOOM* could be heard from the other side of Risky's ship as it was jarred off course and knocked for a loop. Looking toward the source of the sudden explosion, Harpy-Shantae spotted a small speed boat that, at a glance, seemed to be occupied by Twitch, Vinegar, Sky, Bolo, and two Ammonian soldiers as they pulled a U-turn with Sky and Bolo hurling Pike Balls and egg bombs at the Pirate Queen's vessel. As they sought to create some distance, Shantae and Rottytops noticed a host of vengeful Tinkerbats gearing up to give chase. Surprisingly nowhere in sight, however, were Giga Mermaid and Tayshan.

"It looks like they've all been saved somehow, but if we don't do something, they're all gonna get hurt worse!" Rotty warned, her fears about the outcome of their titanic clash higher than ever as she clung to her best friend for dear life.

"Trust me, we're on it!" Shantae vowed, keeping her resolve strong. "Can you activate the Concealer Ring again?"

"I think so. Here goes nothing…!" Rotty agreed, tapping the Concealer Ring to activate its ability one more time. Within seconds, the girls vanished except for their eyes that appeared to be floating in midair. "If you've got some crazy idea on how to keep our friends from getting blown to bits, now's the time to put it into action!"

"My thoughts exactly, Rotty! Hang on tight!" Shantae urged, prompting her friend to increase the strength of her grip as much as possible as a rush of enemy rounds (which this time included a rocket) came hurtling toward them. "Whaaah!" the half-genie bellowed out in sudden burst of fright as she narrowly avoided being hit by the incoming explosive. Not letting it deter her, she used what little time she had to build up energy into her core as she took a deep breath and positioned herself in front of Risky's pirate ship. And then, without warning, Harpy-Shantae let out the most power-packed *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH* that she could manage. Though it took an enormous amount of her strength to pull it off, Shantae's surprise auditory assault found success in that it stunned a huge chunk of Risky's forces (including Risky herself) as they paused their onslaught to cover their ears. The drawback, however, was that her allies in the speed boat were also affected by the Supersonic Screech as they were also made to cover their ears. Thankfully, they remained in motion as they slowed their approach to reorient themselves. As soon as she finished, Shantae engaged some of the aerial Tinkerbats that had somehow avoided the effect of her auditory attack by dodging some of their incoming fire and shooting talons in return. Within a few seconds of her beginning her scuffle with this group of minions, the invisibility effect wore off, prompting her to create some distance to avoid taking damage or putting Rottytops in danger.

"It's a good thing I'm riding on your back, because that is a killer noise to be subjected to," Rotty observed, carefully scanning the watery arena and spotting a few Propeller Tinkerbats carefully approaching the incapacitated speed boat crew. "Oh, no! Shantae, over there! Those Tinkerbats are gonna-!" she tried to call out as a sudden *CRACKLE* of lightning bolts ripping through the air from beneath the sea electrocuted the five Propeller Tinkerbats that had hoped to dispose of Sky, Twitch, Bolo, and Vinegar while they were temporarily incapacitated. "Huh? What in the…?"

"Giga Mermaid!" Shantae called out as she spotted their aquatic ally emerging from the sea in a vicious rage. She'd appeared to be riddled with scratches and bruises as her gem glowed red to match her insurmountable anger. Despite this, Giga Mermaid immediately rushed toward the ship as Shantae was hit with a sudden wave of dread that resonated in her stomach like she'd swallowed acid-soaked rocks. The overwhelming feeling nearly caused her to stop flapping her wings, it hit her so hard. "Aagh…! Hagh…! Hah…! This feeling…!"

"Whoa! H-hey, you alright?" Rotty asked, noticing that her best friend had suddenly stopped moving and had momentarily struggled to keep them afloat. After the moment had passed, however, Harpy-Shantae regained enough of her composure to remain airborne as she flapped her wings harder. "What's going on?"

"The Dark Magic… It's…!" she stammered, turning her full attention toward Giga Mermaid as she raced through a sudden barrage of bullets, cannonballs, and flamethrower blasts to close the distance between herself and the ship. Before either young lady could rightly identify what was happening as they hovered in midair. Shantae spotted a certain crimson-clad young man bathed in an ominous black and purple aura leap high and far off Giga Mermaid's head while both she and Risky's ship were still in motion. "Tay!" Shantae hollered, hurriedly bolting toward the ship as she watched Tayshan slip into a smoking hole in the hull of the ship.

"Oh, I see him! He just jumped in through the hole in the side of the ship! He finally made it!" Rotty pointed out as she and Shantae pushed on full throttle to catch up. As soon as Giga Mermaid allowed the serviceman passage into the enemy vehicle, she created some distance as Risky, who'd finally recovered from Shantae's previous attack, aimed her sniper rifle and fired another round with a voluminous *BOOM*.

"Haaaagh!" Giga Mermaid hollered out in agony, having been struck in the shoulder by Risky's bullet. Following suit, another small squad of Tinkerbats unloaded entire magazines' worth of rounds from handguns, rifles, and grenade launchers alike to try and eliminate the giant mermaid as soon as they could. Forced to retreat for the moment, Giga Mermaid submerged herself underwater with a mighty *SPLOOSH*, protecting herself from the relentless assault.

"Darn it, our plan's still not working…! They're even giving that giant mermaid a run for her money!" Rotty observed in increasing worry as it appeared most of hers and Shantae's allies were being incapacitated while Risky Boots remained on a shaky crash course toward the coast of the vulnerable port town that housed the nation's capitol. At this point, the coast was clearly coming into view, and at this point, it seemed that there was hardly anything anyone could do to stymie Risky's aggressive advance unless someone managed to perform a miracle. "What do we do now?"

"It isn't over yet!" Shantae confidently assured, glancing behind her to see that Sky, Bolo, and the small Ammonian crew had recovered and had still been giving chase to Risky's ship. She also spotted Giga Mermaid poking her head out from beneath the surface of the sea and firing an energy beam that struck the ship from behind, again deterring its progress. Motivated to keep pressing on as long as her allies did, Shantae gave it her all on picking up the pace while dodging sniper rounds from the furious Pirate Queen, in addition to a volley of bullets from her henchmen. "This was never going to be an easy fight by any means, Rotty, but we still have fighting chance!" And just as Shantae uttered her statement, a sudden *KACRASH* erupted from the the middle of the deck of Risky's ship. Among a massive pile of wood and other forms of debris being flung high and far in all directions, a Dark Magic-shrouded Tayshan could be seen emerging as he leapt from within the confines of the hole. Shantae saw Tay land with another *CRACK* of the wood under his boots as the Dark Magic surrounding him intensified, which in turn sent another wave of apprehension through her abdomen. Knowing that she had to get to the ship at all costs before something truly regrettable happened, Shantae very nearly threw caution to the wind as she dodged another spray of rounds.

"Do you want me to make us invisible again?" Rotty asked, already knowing from their previous discussion that Shantae's goal was to board the ship the second Tayshan did.

"That would be g-!" Shantae was about to agree as another *BANG* from a Tinkerbat sniper rifle ripped through the air.

"GAAAHAAAAAGH!" Rottytops shouted in unbearable pain as she was struck in the chest by the round. The *POCK* of the bullet's impact was so intense that it jarred the unfortunate zombie girl senseless. As such, Rotty was sent flying off Harpy-Shantae's back as the half-genie brought herself to a screeching halt and turned to see Rotty plummeting toward the ocean.

"ROTTYTOPS!" Shantae cried out in unspeakable horror and grief as she immediately went into a speedy nosedive, inadvertently avoiding another sniper round as it whizzed by. In that moment, absolutely nothing mattered more than rescuing her best friend from what appeared to be her imminent doom. However, it appeared that no amount of speed Shantae picked up would be enough to save Rotty from meeting a most gruesome watery end…

"We've got her!" called a voice from within the confines of a certain speed boat. With a forceful *VROOOOOOM*, they rode up just in time for Sky to utilize another Falcon Call. The falcons arrived just in time to catch the badly wounded Rottytops and carefully carry her onto the seacraft.

"Oh, thank goodness…" Shantae breathed a monumental sigh of relief, though it pained her greatly to see Rotty clutching her chest in insurmountable agony. "Are you alright?"

"Gah, that smarts…!" Rotty complained, taking the moment to recover as much as she could and peek at the spot where she was shot. She noticed that it ripped a hole in her shirt and left a nasty bruise on her chest. "What a terrible spot to be shot...!" she further groaned, massaging her wound as she took a deep breath to relax herself before turning toward the immensely worried Shantae. "I'll... I'll be okay, snack cakes...! You go on ahead from here!"

"We'll keep your friends safe, genie girl," an unfamiliar female Ammonian soldier assured her. "Go and take that unforgivable pirate crone down before our window of opportunity closes! Now!"

"…Count on it," Shantae vowed as she found herself filled with a mixture of vindictive anger and determination that rivaled the incredible dread she felt from the sudden surge of Dark Magic coming from the direction of the ship. Turning around to look at Risky's war vehicle, she noticed that it had suddenly been jerking and veering haphazardly as it turned a full 180 degrees and began traveling in the opposite direction as Giga Mermaid rammed into it with all her might with a powerful, echoing *SMAKRASHH*, followed up by a string of explosions and shouts from aboard the despicable vessel that indicated that they'd finally begun gaining ground. Taking that as her golden opportunity, Shantae blasted off, looking to board the ship herself while it seemed their chance to turn the tides of the battle had finally come. "You're going down for sure, Risky Boots…! I swear!"

On Risky's ship…

"HOOOOOAAAAAARRRAAAAAH!" a certain extraterrestrial soldier roared with the might of ten lions as he threw a vicious left hook directly into the face of a very unfortunate Tinkerbat. The unfortunate minion was sent hurtling away in defeat as many of its allies came charging in on its behalf. Just as they committed to uniting their might against the lone human being that invited himself onto the vessel, however, another *KABLANG* rung out from the side of the ship, prompting at least half of Risky's troops to divert their attention toward the giant mermaid that had been causing them no small amount of grief from below the sea's surface. Those that chose to engage the soldier onboard, however, did so with extreme hesitation as the Dark Magic-bathed human rushed toward them with reckless abandon. "It's time y'all got exactly what was comin' t' y'all! Hope you're all ready t' practice breathin' underwater!" the human shouted as he pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and flung it toward the group of Tinkerbats that were trying to contain Giga Mermaid. Realizing the danger they were in, the portion of Risky's crew that chose to directly engage him immediately opened fire.

"Hah…! Just the type o' cowardice I'd expect…!" The furious serviceman observed, pulling out a grenade launcher and engaging it. As his enemies attempted to surround and detain him while he appeared vulnerable, the soldier fired his first shot high with a *THOOM* toward the mast of the ship as he spotted the crew's leader hiding out at the top of it. Risky, who'd been trying to figure out whether to aim her sniper rifle at him, the guerrilla speed boats, the relentless Giga Mermaid, or the screeching Harpy-Shantae who'd also been aggressively trying to board the ship as a dedicated faction of Tinkerbats tried to shoot or burn her down with rifles and flamethrowers, found herself knocked to the floor of the crow's nest upon the terrifying *KABLAM* of an impact from the grenade launcher's round against the mast. Many of Risky's forces halted their assault as they flew up toward their captain to protect her. Many more of the Tinkerbats, however, charged in with the full intent to detain and/or dispose of the traitorous intruder once and for all. "That's right, come at me! I'll put every last one o' you cowards down myself!" the soldier dared, switching from the grenade launcher to a most peculiar choice of the M9 pistol he'd been using earlier as he reloaded it.

With the gun in one hand, the soldier backed up and began rapidly firing rounds at his enemies as they returned fire tenfold. Knowing right away he wasn't anywhere close to safe in his current position, he opted to do his best to dodge the incoming rounds by dive-rolling to the side before pulling out a flashbang grenade. The Tinkerbats were quick to retaliate by trying to swarm him with sheer numbers and sheer force. Counting on them to overestimate their perceived advantage, the lone soldier flung the flashbang at them, pretending to pull the pin before he did so. Startled for a second, many of Risky's forces elected to either dive out of the way or attempt to pick up the explosive and toss it overboard. Little did they know, a second, much more… how do we say, 'active' frag grenade came hurtling in from the same direction. Before any of them had a chance to react, the grenade exploded with a *BOOM*, eliminating a handful of Tinkerbats all at once.

"Y'all never learn…! Take this!" the serviceman taunted as he aimed his pistol and, while jumping high using his Propeller Boots to avoid the incoming rounds, fired a volley of rounds at them of his own toward his enemies as accurately as he could as he soared from one end of the ship to the other. As he emptied out the magazine from midair, another jarring *CRASH* of an energy beam from Giga Mermaid smacked into the ship, knocking it further off-course. As such, many of the Tinkerbats focused on Tay found themselves flung to the damaged deck of the ship. This provided Tay with just the time he needed to shoot down a few of Risky's henchmen before he landed near the stern of the ship as it quaked from the impact of Giga Mermaid's attack. In response, a swarm of Tinkerbats immediately disengaged the soldier, uncertain of who the bigger threat was as they suited up with propeller packs and took to the skies with a host of weapons ready to neutralize the aquatic nuisance. "Where y'all goin'!?" Tay challenged, switching out the empty pistol for a semiautomatic rifle and immediately taking aim.

"You miserable, traitorous DOG!" an unspeakably furious voice shouted from above as its owner descended upon him with nothing but gruesome, murderous intent.

"Uh-oh… I was wonderin' when you'd finally come down t' see me…! In that case, I'm ready for you…!" The serviceman commented, looking up and seeing a Dark Magic-bathed Risky Boots barreling toward him from the smoking mast of the ship with her fist cocked all the way back. Just as he took aim with the rifle to try picking her off out of the air, he found himself surprised by yet another unexpected turn of events.

"NOT A CHANCE, RISKY! HAAAARRYYAAAAH!" another voice came from seemingly nowhere as its owner directly called out the Pirate Queen. And before Risky knew it, another individual delivered a bone-shattering aerial kick directly to her face that landed with an echoing *THRASH*. The sneak attack sent the unsuspecting buccaneer hurtling toward the deck at blistering speed. With a debilitating *CRASH*, Risky was sent blasting through the deck, creating yet another massive hole. The person who'd knocked Risky senseless made her entrance as grand as could be as she descended and planted herself in front of the lone soldier with a most epic heroic landing. After securing her footing, she stood tall and brushed the sweat from her brow through her lush, long, lavender locks before turning toward him.

"Nice o' you t' join the party, Shantae," the serviceman politely greeted the scarlet-clad young woman as he momentarily put his rifle away and hurriedly scooped her up into a bridal carry. Immediately afterward, he dashed toward the base of the ship's mast to avoid an incoming grenade and a spray of gunfire by a group of very angry Tinkerbats that had witnessed their leader being disrespected and brutally assaulted by their worst enemy. He set her down after securing their spot behind the mast, after which he pulled his rifle back out and reloaded it.

"Trust me, I'm super excited to be here, Tayshan," Shantae (who'd evidently transformed back into her humanoid self) greeted back, taking a deep breath before focusing energy throughout her body in preparation for the next phase of their plan. "Alright, so I'm not sure if you're aware of what's happening right now, and we don't have much time to fill you in," she further spoke to him as she began charging a supply of crackling lightning into her hands.

"Bolo, Sky, Twitch, an' Vinegar got taken out o' the air," Tay responded as he peered from their cover and fired a short, controlled burst of rounds at their enemies, eliminating a few of them as another *SMASH* of Giga Mermaid's next energy blast rocked the ship once again. "…but I caught a glimpse o' Twitch an' Vinegar in their boat with Sky an' Bolo aboard, which is a huge relief…" he further observed as they remained very busy taking on their opposition. Doing their best to hold their ground, the newly reunited dynamic duo continued engaging Tinkerbats as Shantae peered from the opposite side of the mast. Without a word, the half-genie unleashed a massive, flashing burst of lightning bolts from her hand that immediately electrocuted a slew of Tinkerbats that were firing flamethrower blasts and rockets at Giga Mermaid.

"Thank goodness the incantation for my Lightning spell was hidden in one of those treasure chest Al gave us…" Shantae remarked with a sigh of relief as she revealed yet another new ability she gained in preparation for this most catastrophic battle, though she kept herself on high alert.

"You ain't lyin' about that," Tay commended in surpise at the half-genie's powers, though he remained focused on the progress their allies were making. In that moment, however, the gargantuan sea maiden was hit with a combination of haphazard gun rounds and one voluminous *KABOOM* of a rocket that she'd tried to block with a water veil. At the same time, another faction of Tinkerbats had been raining heavy fire on the loaded speed boats circling the ship as its passengers returned fire as heavily as they could with Pike Balls, attack squads of birds, and bullets. "But we ain't out o' the woods yet…"

"We've still got our work cut out for us, even now…" she acknowledged, keeping her eyes on their enemies as she took a moment to recover at least a little of her energy.

"That we do. It looks like our friends are still givin' it their all, despite how tense this situation's gettin', at least. We took some major hits, even though we succeeded in at least slowin' Risky down… Yet, those Tinkerbats are really doin' their job at keepin' our friends out o' range while they're all on that boat alongside the other one…" he further observed, though the disheartening *FWOOOOOOSH* of a rocket being launched filled his and Shantae's ears. And, with a soul-crushing *BOOOOOOOOOOOM*, the second speed boat he'd just mentioned had been blown to bits, its shredded, mangled, flaming wreckage being flung in all directions as the boat housing all of their friends hurriedly veered around it to protect themselves.

"Shoot…! There goes the second boat…!" Shantae worriedly observed, her heart thumping hard in her chest as she hoped with every fiber of her being that the one remaining boat wasn't next. "Oh, no…!"

"Gaaaah!" Giga Mermaid shouted in agony as she was flung into the water with a monumental *SPLOOSH* of her enormous form against the sea's surface after being struck with another flurry of rounds.

"…An' Giga Mermaid's startin' t' get winded too," Tay also pointed out, pulling out another flashbang grenade, pulling the pin, and tossing it toward a group of Tinkerbats that were trying to approach. To keep them at bay, he emptied the rest of his magazine by shooting at them to keep them from getting too bold. "She's givin' it everything she's got an' then some, but she can't keep it up forever. If we expect t' really pull this off, then it's lookin' like it's up to the two of us t' put a stop t' this madness before anybody else gets hurt… An' we have t' do it now; which reminds me, homegirl… Where's Rotty?"

"They shot her off my back right as we were headed to join you," Shantae further informed him as she grabbed his hand, activated a Reflector Bubble, and pulled him away from the ship's mast as a storm of grenades and enemy fire came rushing in with extreme prejudice. The multiple flashing *CRASHes*, *BANGs,* and *BOOMs* abound threatened to overwhelm the duo as Shantae led Tayshan toward the hole he'd previously created and, without hesitation, led him inside before her shield dissipated.

"They SHOT Rotty!?" Tay asked for confirmation, incensed to the point that his hands glowed more intensely with Dark Magic.

"She's okay for now, I promise," Shantae assured as she and Tayshan found themselves within the confines of the ship's dark, Weapons Crate-loaded lower deck whose only source of light was the gaping holes in the port, starboard, and upper deck. "Sky, Twitch, and Vinegar rescued her. She's on that speed boat with the others right now. They should be safe as long as we-!"

"HRRRRAAAAAAGH!" a third voice roared out in extreme wrath, startling the duo into high alert. Before either of them could identify where the voice was coming from, a purple-and-black blur came ripping forth. Without warning and with extreme speed, a splinter-riddled Risky Boots dashed ahead and hammered Tayshan as hard as she could with a crippling *CRASH* of her fist against his stomach.

"Guaaaackh…!" Tay grunted in terrible agony before the heel of Risky's foot connected with an additional *CRACK* against his face, sending him hurtling into a pile of cargo boxes filled with food rations and miscellaneous pirate equipment.

"TAYSHAN!" Shantae called out, though Risky refused to let her go and help.

"You're not going anywhere, you filthy little runt!" Risky shouted, dashing forth and taking a vicious swing of her fist at the half-genie. With barely enough time to dodge, Shantae hurriedly ducked under Risky's attempted sucker punch, which was followed up by the Pirate Queen throwing out a powerful thrust kick to try and blast the wind out of her adversary. Shantae sidestepped the incoming attack, after which she wrapped her arm around Risky's ankle and reeled her opponent in.

"Get a load of this! Hah!" the valiant half-genie shouted, employing her most unique and reliable method of dealing damage in the form of her Hair Attack. Shantae, while holding Risky in place, hit Risky with *THWAP* after *THWAP* after *THWAP* after *THWAP* at such an incredible speed that the rotation of her head and ponytail could've rivaled the wheel of the world's fastest sportscar. With her ponytail at its most powerful, Shantae was able to deal massive amounts of damage in the time it took a person to blink. However, Risky's resilience kicked in. Blocking a number of her enemy's hair whips with one arm, Risky suddenly jutted her arm forth and grabbed a fistful of Shantae's hair at the base near her forehead and pulled on it as hard as she could. "Agh! OW! Gaaagh! Let go of my hair! Ow, ow, ow!" Shantae demanded through a surge of pain in her scalp from Risky pulling her hair. In her struggle to wrest herself free, Shantae inadvertently let go of Risky's leg to claw at the Pirate Queen's hand.

"Not before you learn just who the heck you're messing with, brat!" Risky threatened, tugging on Shantae's hair to pull her forth. And, without a shred mercy, the malevolent lady pirate charged a supply of Dark Magic into her fist and rammed it into Shantae's exposed abdomen with the amount of strength it would take to smash a watermelon with a sledgehammer. The underhanded attack landed with such a horrifying, burning *PLOCK* that its impact could've been felt for miles on end.

"Guu-haaaah…! Ahagh…!" Shantae coughed out as Risky pressed her fist harder into the poor girl's abdomen while her other hand remained planted in the half-genie's hair. Before the heroine could recover, however…

"Now take your punishment! Yaaaaah!" Risky jerked Shantae's head back by pulling her hair in the opposite direction, letting go only to deliver a most despicable *KRAKLASH* of a thunderous uppercut to her adversary's chin. Shantae was sent rocketing out from the hole in the upper deck in unspeakable pain. "Hah! Serves you right," Risky gloated, preparing to pursue her enemy before a sudden *KABLAM* of splintery pieces and metal chunks erupted from the corner of the lower deck.

"GRRRRAAAAH!" Tayshan shouted, bursting forth from the mess as he charged at Risky and threw a nasty haymaker that the Pirate Queen dodged before countering with a heavy punch of her own. Tay parried her attack and followed up by attempting to deliver a gut-blasting knee to her seemingly exposed abdomen, which Risky blocked by sticking her own knee up to counter. She followed up by trying to hammer him in the face with a Dark Magic fist set to 'Maim,' though Tay caught with one hand. Finding another opportunity to retaliate, Tay threw a vicious Dark Magic-infused elbow at Risky's face, though she blocked it by sticking her opposing forearm up. At this point, the two of them found themselves entangled in yet another grueling brawl of most chaotic proportions as they tussled all over the lower deck.

"You stupid dog! You had everything you could've ever desired handed to you on a silver platter, and here you are, throwing it all away for nothing! I should've known you'd try something slick the second I took my eyes off you, rescuing those worthless peasants from my clutches and crawling back to your pathetic girlfriend…! You really are hopeless!" Risky shouted at him as she grew increasingly irritated at just the sight of the soldier she'd tried to control as she poured an unprecedented amount of power into every attack she threw at him.

"You ain't give me jack squat except a few more reasons t' stop you once an' for all!" Tay rebutted as he and Risky suddenly came to a standstill where each of them tried to punch the other in the face, only to catch each other's fists. And before anyone knew it, the two adversaries were locked in a grueling grapple match as their respective magic abilities began to kick in. "You can't control me, Risky! Not now, not ever, no matter what you do! An' t' think you really believed you could brainwash me an' force me int' servin' you after what you've done! Get real!"

"Oh, trust me, it's about to 'get real' for you and that spoiled brat you call a lover!" Risky remarked as she turned up the intensity even higher. On instantaneous impulse, Risky used the close quarters grapple as an opportunity for her next attack. Suddenly pulling the soldier in, she cocked her head back and thrust it forth to crack her opponent in the face with a disturbing *THUMP* of her forehead against his cheek.

"Gah! Agh…!" Tay grunted, clutching his jaw with a hand as he registered the immense pain.

"Get over here!" Risky shouted, lunging forth and grabbing the unsuspecting soldier by his throat with a Dark Magic-coated hand.

"Gaaack…! Aaaaargh…!" he sputtered, immediately clawing at her hand to try and break her grip. This would prove fruitless, however, as Risky quickly committed herself to her next maneuver. The malicious Pirate Queen charged up an enormous supply of her newfound evil energy and, in a single bound, jumped out of the hole in the upper deck with an asphyxiated Tayshan in tow. Once she saw the waning light of the setting afternoon sun, she spun around once while in midair, positioning her enemy to place a most harrowing *THRASH* of a thrust kick against his face that sent him hurtling toward the deck with a frightening, whistling *WHIIISH*.

"I've got you!" Shantae called out, having since recovered from Risky's previous attack as she positioned herself to try and catch him. Just then, however, a small team of Tinkerbats fired a spray of rounds at her, forcing her to dive out of the way to protect herself. "Dang it…!" she cursed, creating distance as she charged up a fireball in her hand.

"Haaaaaah!" Tay shouted, hurriedly bracing for impact as he positioned himself to where he had his magic-coated arms crossed in front of him as he landed with a *SMACK* against the deck of the ship. Though the initial impact hurt like no tomorrow, he oriented himself as best as he could as he rolled along the ship's uppermost floor using the momentum from his fall before flinging himself back onto his feet using his hands to somersault off the ground. He would find no comfort in his narrow recovery, however.

"Tay, look out!" Shantae called, dashing toward him as she flung a series of fireballs at a group of Tinkerbats looking to jump him from behind; one of which had a sniper rifle pointed right at his back. The half-genie refused to allow him to be put in danger as her entire body surged with Light Magic as she rushed to him. She'd eliminated one or two of them while the rest of them cleared the area to avoid being burned alive. Just then, Risky attempted to catch them off-guard by dashing toward them while she thought they weren't looking and ambushing them herself.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tay shouted, jumping in between Shantae and Risky and striking a grounded stance. With a voluminous *THWACK*, Tay ended up catching the pirate captain's unforgiving fist just before she could sucker punch Shantae.

"Grrgh, you-!" Risky growled, ready to launch another attack at him for his interference.

"Perfect! Now for a little PAYBACK!" Shantae shouted, seizing the opportunity to smack Risky in the face as hard as she could with a *WHACK* of her hair whip against her archenemy's cheek.

"Dwaagh!" Risky hollered in pain, staggering back while Shantae ran ahead of Tayshan as another *CRASH* caused by an attack from everyone's favorite giant mermaid that nearly capsized the ship. Somehow, it remained stable as Shantae found herself mostly unfazed by the sudden turbulence. Meanwhile, Tay found himself swarmed by Tinkerbats, forcing him to engage them while Shantae kept Risky Boots busy. Determined to punish Risky with all the strength she could muster, the half-genie followed up by delivering a swift and violent roundhouse kick to the Pirate Queen's jaw that hit with a horrifying *KAPLACK*, after which she engaged in a brutal series of punches, kicks, and hair whips that landed with *POCK* after *CRACK* after *THWAP* after *CLONK* as she rapidly increased the speed of her successive strikes. Shantae sought to put Risky down for the count as she finished her onslaught with a most skillful takedown. She grabbed Risky's arms while she was stunned, angrily rammed her foot into her stomach with another *WHACK* and pulled Risky over her with that foot planted into her stomach.

"Hiyah!" Shantae hollered with immense effort, flinging Risky Boots over her with no small amount of effort. The thoroughly stunned pirate captain landed flat on her back with a resounding *THUD*.

"Ahagh…! Grrrrgh…!" Risky growled in rapidly building frustration as she quickly picked herself back up and drew her scimitar and a certain silver Desert Eagle that was thought to have been lost. Spotting it right as soon as she saw Risky get up, Shantae prepared herself. "Clearly, you've gotten a lot stronger than I thought. Unfortunately for you, so have I! Now, if it's a fight to the bitter end you want, you repulsive little wench, then it's a fight to the bitter end you'll get! Hrrrrrraaaah!" Risky challenged, rushing forth and firing a volley of rounds from the Desert Eagle with the intent to draw the brutal battle to an early end.

"So, she did take Tay's gun from Rottytops… And now she's going to use that and her sword against me? Guess I'd better get ready, then! Bubble!" Shantae observantly remarked, summoning a Reflector Bubble to block the incoming rounds and return them to sender. Risky, seeming to have recognized Shantae's defensive maneuver, leapt high into the air, spinning toward her adversary with her scimitar extended. Understanding the sheer danger of the situation, Shantae somersaulted backward to create enough distance to avoid Risky's sword swipes as the buccaneer landed with a definitive *SWISH* of her weapon against the air.

"Get back here and let me cut you down to size!" Risky shouted, rushing forth after Shantae as the half-genie charged up a supply of electricity in one hand and a fireball in the other.

"You'll have to catch me first, Risky! Eat THIS!" Shantae taunted, dashing away as she tossed the fireball at Risky. Risky shot the fireball in her unrelenting chase, the Desert Eagle sounding off with a deafening *BANG* as she did so. This display soon evolved into a torrent of Shantae going on the defensive as she leapt, hopped, and flipped all over the ship, flinging lightning bolts and fireballs galore as Risky belligerently chased after her. In classic Shantae versus Risky Boots fashion, the two superpowered women engaged in their usual bout of attempting to either decisively thwart or brutally murder one another, depending on which perspective you looked at it from.

Meanwhile...

As the bombastic battle for the ages between hero and villain kicked off to an explosive start, Tay made himself busy with eliminating more of Risky's troops once he saw that Shantae had Risky under control… at least, as it seemed. Dashing across the ship and punching out a Tinkerbat to gain access to its shotgun, Tay committed himself to at least providing enough of a distraction that the dastardly minions wouldn't continue to interfere with Shantae. Glancing off to the side of the ship, Tay recognized the image of what was basically an all-out war unfolding. On one side, Giga Mermaid had been keeping up with firing sporadic blasts of lightning and pure energy to keep her pirate adversaries at bay as they attempted to swarm and overwhelm her with firepower from their stolen arsenal, the cannons mounted on the side of the ship, and sheer numbers. On the other, he took in the image of a single speed boat carrying all of his and Shantae's other allies, rushing in and out of view with a hurricane of birds, Pike Balls, and bullets bombarding another portion of Risky's henchmen that had been trying to contain them. It was only when he saw the boat carrying Rottytops, Sky, Bolo, Twitch, and Vinegar seemingly vanish before his and the Tinkerbats' eyes did he realize that they were strategically combining all of their abilities to mount a last-ditch effort to contribute to their cause.

"If I ain't crazy, then it looks like we're finally startin' t' make some real progress….!" Tayshan observed as he narrowly dodged the spray of flashing rounds from the rifles of a few Tinkerbats. With little option other than to face them head-on from his position, Tay charged ahead, pumping the shotgun before firing it off with an explosive *KABLAM* that eliminated just two of his enemies while the rest split up and surrounded him while tossing frag and flashbang grenades at him. "Dah…! They're gonna cage me in an' tear me apart if I let them…!" he observed, looking around to see that he had nowhere to hide. And in his position, he had mere seconds to act before he was subjected to a firestorm of bullets, grenade shrapnel, and an insufferable temporary loss of his sight and hearing. Spotting the hole Risky first created when Shantae kicked her into the deck, Tay made his move. Firing another *KABLANG* of his shotgun to distract some of the Tinkerbats, he used his Propeller Boots to make a gigantic leap of faith across the ship, taking some damage from direct enemy fire as he did so.

"Grrgh…! Hah…" he panted, feeling various minor aches and stings across his body as he landed near his designated point of interest. Just then, the fireworks display of *BANGs*, *KAPLOWs* and *BOOMs* of grenades rang out, which came immediately followed by Giga Mermaid directly ramming the ship full-force with a startling *KRACKLASH* of her shoulder against the starboard that nearly knocked everyone aboard off their feet. "Whoa…! Hm…" the soldier hummed as he held on, though he was granted just the breath of time he needed to see that at this point, the ship had thankfully been heading in some direction away from the Sequin Land Palace's coastline. What still worried him, however, was that the Sequin Land Palace was still in plain view. It was still far more than a stone's throw in the distance, but they were still cutting it way too close on halting Risky's impending conquest of Sequin Land's capitol. "We're just barely holdin' her off…! We gotta figure out a way t' finish this before it's too late…!" he further murmured as he dipped into the hole that led him back down into the lower deck of the ship as another wave of Tinkerbats hunted him down.

The second he jumped into the lower deck, he moved to a safe enough area to where he wouldn't be hit by any incoming fire. Afterward, he aimed his shotgun upward, pumped it, and waited for his enemies to rear their ugly heads. Without fail, a bunch of the opposing henchmen stuck the barrels of their weapons into the hole and fired an utterly malevolent salvo of rounds in whatever direction they deemed necessary for them to possibly eliminate their human target once and for all. When they didn't hear any shouts, screams, or even the sound of someone scurrying around once they nearly unloaded all their magazines into the lower deck, the Tinkerbats hastily took the moment to investigate. The instant three of them simultaneously jumped down into the lower deck, however, a sudden, startling *KABLAM* of a shotgun blast sent a barrage of scattering rounds at them, riddling two of them in the process as they were defeated. The third narrowly managed to escape the ambush, though it would find no comfort in having dodged the shotgun rounds.

"Get lost!" Tayshan shouted from the shadows, rushing over and punting the Tinkerbat as hard as he could before it knew what hit it. With a cloudy *POOF*, the Tinkerbat vanished, though a couple more armed with shotguns, handguns, and a supply of frag, flashbang, and Thermite grenades, had jumped in to try and quell the disturbance. Hiding in the darkest corner he could find with his own shotgun at the ready, Tay spotted the Tinkerbat Grenadier in particular, after which he looked around to realize just how jam-packed full of Weapons Crates the lower deck was. It was then that he came up with a scandalously innovative idea. "Hmm… Now that I think of it, Risky won't be able t' go through with her plan t' storm the Sequin Land Palace if she doesn't have any weapons t' work with…" he very quietly pondered, skulking around in the spotty darkness of the partially exposed lower deck as he carefully watched the Tinkerbats attempt to locate him by spreading out and searching. "I ain't too sure how I'll pull it off, but maybe destroyin' or disposin' o' these Weapons Crates will give us the edge we need… on top o' potentially torchin' this ship, which I'm gonna need the Thermites off that Tinkerbat for…" he further contemplated, making his way toward a stack of Weapons Crates as the ship was rocked with another *CRASH* caused by some outside force colliding with it once more.

"Guwwah!" Tay inadvertently bellowed as he lost his footing and slammed against the inner wall of the ship as a bunch of the Weapons Crates fell over with a collection of *THUDs* and *BANGs*. Even more unfortunate, however, was that the Tinkerbats heard his shout. Turning to face the direction of the noise, they immediately identified their target by his super inconvenient glow-in-the-dark eyes as he climbed back to his feet. Immediately, the Tinkerbats opened fire and began tossing flashbang grenades in his direction. "Shoot!" Tay shouted, dashing through the assortment of boxes while returning fire with a mighty *KABLANG* of his shotgun aimed at one of his adversaries. Worse for wear, however, was that a few more Tinkerbats entered the fray as he continued trying to figure out how he'd deplete Risky's weapon supply. "I knew this wasn't gonna be easy, but it's either burn it all down or toss as many o' these crates int' the ocean through the holes in the sides o' the ship as I can before I go an' help Shantae…!" he revealed his intention as he dodged a volley of flashing marbles darting at him while kicking a Weapons Crate off the ship with a *KLANG* of his metallic boot against it. Without fail, the container slid out through the hole in the wall and hit the sea with a satisfying *PLISH*. Afterward, Tayshan scurried through the lower deck, avoiding gunfire and grenades alike as he committed himself to his last-ditch course of action.

Back on the upper deck…

"Why won't you just DIE already!?" Risky Boots shouted in extreme anger as she continued to engage her most hated rival in the most intense one-on-one battle they'd been engaged in yet. By this point in their wildly chaotic clash, Risky had fully committed herself to either shooting or slicing away at Shantae as the half-genie desperately danced, dodged, and ducked around every rapid sword swing and gunshot she could manage. The ship itself remained under constant attack by Giga Mermaid and a team of Shantae's closest allies as more and more of Risky's minions split their attention between the magically disappearing speed boat, the giant mermaid, and the crazed, Dark Magic-infested soldier wreaking havoc on the lower deck.

"You can't beat me, Risky!" Shantae dared to taunt as she weaved around another one of Risky's sword swipes and countered with a coordinated hair whip that struck the Pirate Queen with a *THWAP* against her arm. Risky remained undeterred, however, as she pressed forth. Knowing Risky to be the farthest thing from a quitter imaginable, Shantae made absolutely sure to keep up with her evasive maneuvers, countering when the opportunities arose by way of throwing sporadic punches, kicks, fireballs, lightning blasts, and hair attacks to chip away at Risky over the course of their deadly ballad. "You have to know by now that this isn't going to end well for you! Give it up before you get hurt again!"

"Grrrgh, that TEARS IT! You think you're better than me, you filthy little whelp!? I'LL SHOW YOU JUST HOW WRONG YOU ARE!" Risky furiously challenged, having absolutely no tolerance for the half-genie's arrogance. As such, the buccaneer pulled another trick from her sleeve. She started her next technique by aiming the Desert Eagle at Shantae as soon as the half-genie dodged an upward vertical sword swing aimed at her abdomen. Or rather, she almost dodged it as a *SNAP* could be heard coming from Shantae's person.

"Hey!" the ponytailed heroine shouted in evident embarrassment and displeasure as she looked down and wrapped her arms around her chest. "You cut my top in half, you cheater! You even got the Bikini Armor underneath it! Time out!"

"Not on your life! Now, you're mine!" Risky declared in triumph, aiming the Desert Eagle right at her enemy's face. Realizing right away that she was in danger, Shantae thought fast and, while covering herself up as best as she could, she ducked to just NARROWLY dodge the bullet that hurtled from the handgun toward her face before doling out a vicious thrust kick that sent Risky stumbling back a few steps. "Gah…! Your dumb luck strikes again, but it's bound to run out!"

"Shoot, shoot, shoot…! Bubble!" Shantae shouted, summoning up an Invincibility shield just as a flurry of flashing marbles came zooming toward her. Taking full advantage of her adversary's disadvantage, however, Risky dashed in with the full intent to demolish the disadvantaged half-genie. Risky would find limited success, however, as her latest sword slash hit the shield with a jarring *CLINK* that notified her immediately that her attack was rendered useless.

"Really, brat!? A magic shield that protects you from all outside attacks!?" Risky shouted as she began furiously slashing away at the shield in hopes that it would eventually break. Within seconds, she noticed the shield shrinking ever so slightly with each successive strike as Shantae held her ground while belly dancing with the limited amount of time she had. "You can't hide behind this shield forever! HaaaaaaaAAAAAAH!" the Pirate Queen roared, cocking her sword back and charging a frightening flow of Dark Magic into it.

"Come on, come on…!" Shantae chanted, belly dancing as hard as she could to try and transform into something before her shield disappeared. Unfortunately for her, she wouldn't get the chance.

"Perish!" Risky declared, smashing the half-genie's barrier to bits with an astonishing *KRZPLAKASH* of her sword against the shattered Invincibility Bubble into a billion pieces.

"What!? How!?" Shantae hollered in complete surprise, having never seen one of her most powerful spells thwarted in such a barbaric and merciless manner in her life.

"TAKE THIS!" Risky shouted, spinning as swiftly as she could in the wake of completely catching Shantae by surprise. With a thunderous *KRACK* of the Desert Eagle against the defenseless half-genie's face, Risky sent Shantae packing as she was flung across the upper deck of the ship as it remained under heavy fire from the other heroes that had refused to relent.

"Ghaaahaagh…!" Shantae groaned in an insufferable burst of agony, though she managed to catch herself before she wound up crashing to the ground. Reorienting herself in midair, she managed to catch herself on her feet and one hand while she desperately clung her other arm across her chest. Risky, knowing she had the upper hand at this point, made it her business to apply as much unfair pressure as possible as she unloaded a fusillade of rounds from the Desert Eagle. Shantae, realizing she couldn't afford to give in, picked herself up and began spinning and dodging around the uncoordinated rounds while dashing away from Risky to create enough of an opportunity to figure out a counterattack. "Grrrgh, you're not gonna get away with this!"

"You can't stop me when you can't even use your arms, now can you!?" Risky taunted, rushing toward Shantae at full speed while continuing to fire rounds from the infinite ammo-equipped Desert Eagle. Shantae's only saving grace in this scenario was that, as it appeared, Risky's aim with this particular handgun suffered immensely as the recoil forced the Pirate Queen's hand to jump and jerk all over the place. Seeing it as something of an opening, Shantae relaxed a bit on dodging the incoming rounds as she noticed Risky preparing to swing with her sword and waited. "Now I've got you right where I want you!" Risky proclaimed, coming in hot with her scimitar cocked and ready to eviscerate her enemy.

"Hyahh!" Shantae shouted, dodging at just the moment Risky took a *SCHWING* of a horizontal slice aimed at the half-genie's head. Craning her head back to just barely miss getting the worst haircut of the century, Shantae followed up by charging a massive amount of Light Magic into her foot and flung it upward as far as she could. With the MIGHTIEST *SPLOCK* of her foot against her archenemy's chin, Shantae kicked Risky hard enough that she could've realistically sent the savage lady pirate flying to the sun. "Gotcha! Now eat this, Risky!" Shantae further challenged, delivering another devastating Light Magic-fueled kick to Risky Boots's stomach that landed with a *THRASH* that forced her to double over. Risky, totally blown back by the surprise attack, wound up dropping her scimitar from the sheer force of the attack. "Arms or no arms, I'll still beat you! Haaaaaaryaaaaaaaaah!" the ponytailed young woman boldly declared, engaging in a merciless flurry of hair whips that forced Risky backward. Seeing right away that she'd just begun swinging the momentum of the fight in her favor despite still needing to cover her upper torso with both arms, Shantae took as much of an advantage as she could. Hammering away at Risky with *THWAP* after *THWAP* after *THWAP* of her most reliable attack, the half-genie made it her mission to take Risky Boots down right then and there if she could manage it.

"Agh! Grrgh…! Ghahagh…!" Risky grunted as she did her best to block the impossibly speedy hair whips as she was forced into a defensive state while trying to recover from Shantae's vicious double kick technique. Each successive whip of her foe's follicles of fury on any part of Risky's body felt like she was being bludgeoned with a metal pipe. And to consider that Shantae was whipping her hair faster than a hummingbird could flap its wings? Risky knew that she had to do something before this repugnant little ponytailed pipsqueak got too carried away. And you'd better believe Risky, being the master of quick thinking that she was, already had a plan as she grew familiar with her enemy's attack pattern. "Hrmph!" she grunted as she began to glow with evil energy, quickly stuffing the Desert Eagle away to free one of her hands while she was being pelted. Within a few additional strikes, however, Risky used her Dark Magic-enhanced reflexes to dodge one of Shantae's hair whips and catch the end of her ponytail in a split-second.

"Huh!? What the…? Again!? How-?" Shantae tried to ask, surprised that Risky could catch her ponytail again.

"Hope you're hungry, brat!" Risky taunted, viciously pulling Shantae forward by her ponytail and, with her free hand, unleashed the most powerful haymaker she could manage. And, with a most disturbing, burning *PLACK*, Risky landed a most underhanded and heinous hook that collided full force against the half-genie's eye.

"Gaaaahhaagh!" Shantae shouted in unbelievable pain, though she found herself unable to move a hand to her eye due to her compromised position related to her damaged clothing. Risky wasn't done yet, however. Still gripping Shantae's ponytail with all her might, Risky reeled her back in, this time ramming her knee into the defenseless half-genie's stomach with a debilitating *THRASH*, forcing her to her knees. Poor Shantae could barely register the inconceivable pain coursing through her face and her stomach as she hunched over. "Gahaack….! Kahah…!" she coughed, trying to fight off the sudden, almost overwhelming nausea she felt churning up in her abdomen in that moment.

"Hah… That's what you get, you pretentious punk…!" Risky gloated, letting go of Shantae's ponytail only to walk over and pick up her scimitar. "And now, before I deal with you properly, let's do something about those split ends of yours…!" she further quipped, callously and cruelly grabbing Shantae's hair by the base of the ponytail just above the hair tie.

"Haaagh…! Ow! Get your hands off my hair…!" Shantae demanded, her head being jerked upward by Risky's rough, forceful grip. As mentioned earlier, of course, Shantae couldn't move her hands to pry Risky's fingers out of her hair due to the fact that she was still desperately covering herself up. It was truly a most unfavorable spot to be in. No doubt about that.

"Sure, as soon as I slice it all off…!" Risky threatened, raising her scimitar to deliver the blow that would spell the end of her rival's most useful weapon. Before she could get the chance to trim Shantae's edges, however, a sudden series of *KABOOMs* from below the upper deck of the ship broke her focus as she nearly lost her footing from the sheer magnitude of the ship's sudden quaking. "What the…?" she was about to ask as she looked around to see that her Tinkerbats had been keeping Giga Mermaid at bay with relentless gunfire and that her other opposition had been meeting some fierce opposition from another sector of her pirate crew, though her ship had been halted almost entirely. However, she also noticed thick, black clouds of smoke billowing from the holes in the upper deck. Just then, another *CRASH* of something else blowing up behind her forced her to let go of Shantae and look around to inspect the disturbance. "What the heck is going on!?" she demanded to know, though her time of wondering would be short. "Huh!?"

"HOOOWWAAAAAAAARRRRAAAAAAAAAH!" a thoroughly enraged voice shouted loud enough to potentially move the storm clouds above. Suddenly on high alert, Risky looked upward toward the source of the terrifying noise to see the voice's owner—a certain soldier bathed head to toe in Dark Magic—descending upon her from way up high with his arms cocked behind his head. And, lest I forget to emphasize, he was coming down FAST and HARD. By the time Risky turned around and spotted him, he was already right in her face. And then, with an earth-shattering *KAPLASHCK*, Tayshan hit Risky with the most BRUTAL flying double axe handle this side of Sequin Land. The impact was so loud and so resounding that it echoed across the ship as he sent Risky crashing clean through the floor of the upper deck with a series of splintery *CRACKs* and *CRASHes* before he landed with a *PLACK* of his boots against the ship's floor. "Hah… Hah…! Hey…! You okay? I got that weird Soul-Link feelin' again…"

"Tay?" Shantae called, gingerly picking herself up and turning toward him while still covering her chest with her arms to notice him hurriedly approaching her while surrounded by the same malevolent aura Risky was exuding. "Oh, thank goodness… You came just in time. Nice double axe handle, by the way!" she praised with a grateful grin as she caught her breath.

"Heh, that wasn't exactly planned. I just saw the openin' an' took it. Thanks, either way. Need a change o' clothes?" he asked, quickly taking his shirt off and handing it to her the second he noticed that she'd been 'compromised.'

"I definitely do. You're a lifesaver, sweetie," the half-genie expressed her gratitude as she got Tayshan's Tank Top. Turning around to where she was facing away from her partner, Shantae hurriedly slipped Tay's red tank top on, after which she turned her head toward him. "Even better that it's the right color this time… not that I'm expecting this to happen again, of course. Thanks a bunch."

"Heh, I suppose that means we should either start color coordinatin', or you should buy sturdier tops for your adventures," he teased with a small chuckle that she shared with him.

"We'll save that discussion for my next shopping trip," she quipped back with a grinning wink as she adjusted her new top. "Mind helping me tie this shirt up?"

"Sure thing, baby," Tay agreed, quickly helping her with fastening the oversized shirt into a very tight, midriff-baring knot in just the way she preferred. "There ya go. Gotta say, this top looks a lot better on you than it did on me," he further joked, sizing her up with his eyes while trying not to seem too enamored with her in the moment. "An' while we have the very limited time t' discuss it, what happened up here?"

"You're such a charmer, Tay. You're just lucky you look so amazing without a shirt yourself," she flatly remarked as she smilingly looked back at him over her shoulder with a slight blush creeping across her face, accepting his 'compliment' while paying him a 'compliment' of her own.

"Heh… Thanks for that. I-I uh… I aim t' please," he nervously remarked, chuckling a bit as he found himself as flattered as he was flustered by her comment.

"And you always succeed," the half-genie further teased, unknowingly causing her significant other's heart to flutter in that moment. Of course, she also kept her back turned to hide the fact that he caused butterflies to erupt in her stomach with his comment and the way he'd been… affectionately staring at her. She… may have also taken a second to think about the context of her joke… but I digress. Needing to keep herself focused, however, Shantae shook off the distraction. "Er, a-anyway, to answer your question, Risky sliced my top off with her scimitar to get an unfair advantage in the middle of our battle. I fought her off for the most part, but she almost got me to the point where she was going to give me a nasty haircut if you hadn't shown up when you did," Shantae informed him, adjusting the shirt and fixing her ponytail as she turned all the way toward Tay once more. "Of course, I had a hunch that the sudden nauseous feeling I got a second ago wasn't from her kneeing me in the stomach…" she observed, calling attention to the fact that her comrade had been bathed in Dark Magic yet again.

"Yeah, I may have let loose a bit more than I was hopin' to. Those Tinkerbats can be a handful in big enough numbers or in close enough spaces. It… also doesn't help that I picked up that you were in danger again… I can tell by the swellin' in your eye, now that I see it, but the second I felt like you weren't doin' too good, I rushed over here t' lend a hand…" he explained, though he instinctively felt the situational anger welling up inside him from the second he saw his mentor-turned-girlfriend in any form of danger perpetrated by their shared enemy.

"Sorry about that," she apologized as the two of them got prepared for any additional incoming attacks while some of the Tinkerbats on the ship took note of them and approached. "And yeah, Risky got me good once," the half-genie further explained, pressing a hand to her aching eye. "I can assure you that I don't look as bad as she does, if that eases your mind at all."

"It relaxes me as much as it could in this situation, because I get the feelin' we ain't even close t' finished yet."

"You got that right," Shantae confirmed with a nod. "Oh, I should probably also mention that Risky Boots has your Desert Eagle," she further revealed, much to his surprise.

"What!? She does!?" he asked in complete surprise and an accompanying sense of dread.

"Yeah. She was using it against me right around the time we got separated, which means she did swipe it off Rottytops when her goons captured her."

"Hmph… Well then, she's givin' it back one way or another." he vowed, wanting no part of Risky using his signature weapon against him or his allies. "Also, I'll warn you that she's probably not gonna be too happy when she gets back up here."

"How come?"

"While you was keepin' her busy, I took the liberty of either torchin', blowin' up, or disposin' of as many o' the Weapons Crates she had stored in the lower deck as I could. I didn't get all of 'em before I got up here, but most o' what she had should be rendered useless by now."

"Whoa, seriously? That's what you were doing after she attacked us?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "That's what all those explosions were a second ago. While I was down there fightin' her minions, I figured that she probably couldn't invade Scuttle Town or storm the Sequin Land Palace properly without that weapons supply she grew so attached to. At this point, those weapons are better off bein' destroyed or disposed of than they would be in her hands. It's a good thing we chose t' board the ship, Shantae, because it looked like she brought at least half o' the weapons she had left; most of which was the heavy duty stuff, at that," the serviceman further explained.

"I noticed she had a lot when I brought you down there earlier, but I didn't know it was that much" Shantae acknowledged, forbidding the thought of what unspeakable amounts of harm Risky could've caused if she was left unchecked. "How'd you manage to pull that off so quickly?"

"Thanks to our friends, most o' Risky's forces were too distracted t' notice me as I slipped back down there. An' however bittersweet it is now, you drawin' Risky herself away gave us just the chance we needed t' finally flip this battle exclusively in our favor."

"Wow…" she exhaled in admiration that her allies, even for how much trial and tribulation they'd been put through, came together as cohesively as they did to help her thwart Risky's latest attempt at nationwide conquest. "Even for how messed up this whole ordeal is, it still seems like we're on the right track."

"It helps that we're all improvisin' as we go along," Tay assured as he noticed Tinkerbats left, right, up, down, and all around surrounding the duo, prompting them to inch themselves closer to one another. "An' speakin' of improvisation, what do we do here?"

"Depends. How comfortable would you feel about rushing past or fighting those Tinkerbats from the inside of an Invincibility Shield?"

"Not very, but it beats tryin' t' duck for cover or tryin' t' run toward any of 'em with no protection in this position."

"Well, it's our best shot for right now if we want to at least avoid taking damage for the next few seconds. Plus…" Shantae paused as she watched Giga Mermaid fire another energy beam at the ship that scored a devastating *KABLAM* of a hit that forced the vessel to turn in a different direction. "…it's probably in our best interest to make our escape before we wind up going down with the ship. I don't know how much more damage it can take."

"In that case, climb on my back. I'll see what we can do from there," Tay hastily agreed, keeping his eyes glued on their enemies as he crouched. Without a moment's hesitation, Shantae hopped onto his back, after which he stood tall and braced himself for whatever it was she had in mind. Just then, all the Tinkerbats surrounding them began to fire all their weapons at once.

"Bubble!" Shantae shouted, coating both herself and her battle partner in a magenta-hued energy sphere. She grunted with considerable effort, however, as it seemed to pain her to summon the barrier again. It did its job of blocking out all outside attacks, nevertheless. "Agh… My magic might be running low at this point, Tay, so we're definitely gonna need to make our escape a quick one…! I'm thinking we can possibly get Giga Mermaid's attention, so she'll catch us as we jump! Now, go for it!"

"Shoot…! Fine, then. Here goes!" he uncertainly acknowledged, immediately bolting toward the side of the ship where he saw Giga Mermaid swatting away at Tinkerbats that were dumping entire magazines of rifle ammunition at her while hovering around her with propeller packs. It was like watching a lethal swarm of mosquitoes attempting to make a meal out the sea maiden as she fiercely defended herself. Understanding the pure chanciness of the plan, the duo committed themselves to dashing through a catastrophic tornado of bullets that threatened to swallow the two of them up if the half-genie's barrier didn't hold.

"On your two, Tay!" Shantae called out as she clung tightly to his back, spotting three Tinkerbat with grenade launchers all ready to fire.

"Noted!" the serviceman called back as he altered his direction to where he was still dashing toward the side of the ship, though he did so at an angle that would give their enemies the hardest time aiming at them. Right then, all three of Risky's minions unloaded their rounds simultaneously as Tay rushed toward a different Tinkerbat firing at them with a shotgun. "Yah!" he shouted, hooking his arms tightly under his teammate's legs as he punted the creature far away as a series of *KABLAMs* rocked the immediate area.

"Nine o'clock!" Shantae warned, prompting Tayshan to turn his head to the left to see another group of Tinkerbats taking aim with powerful long-range rifles while others around them continued their quarrelsome efforts to prevent the heroes' daring escape. "We've got some incoming grenades on our twelve from above, too!" she also warned as a trio of flashbang grenades dropped from the sky, courtesy of Propeller Pack Tinkerbats that had been alerted to the situation at hand.

"Darn it, they're pilin' on the pressure now…!" Tay observed, engaging his Propeller Boots to jump away from the explosives and the sniper rifles back near the ship's mast to pinpoint another route of escape while more of Risky's henchmen (of which there seemed to be an infinite amount) continued unloading handguns and rifles alike upon their Invincibility Bubble. "At this point, caution just might have t' take a back seat… Shantae, how much longer do we have with thi-!?" he was about to ask before he spotted a familiar, albeit disheveled and splinter-covered, Dark Magic-bathed pirate woman spring up from within the hole nearest to them.

"Oh, no! Risky's back up!" Shantae pointed out, getting ready to jump off Tay's back. He had other plans, however, as he tightened his grip on her legs. "Hm? Tay, you can let go now. We're gonna have to fight our way off the ship."

"Not necessarily... With any luck, our friends will see us in the air an' come to our aid. Just a matter o' signalin' for them before it's too late...!" he replied, immediately turning around and making a massive Propeller Boots-and-Dark-Magic-boosted leap of faith as high and as far as he could manage. Mind you, he was jumping toward the ocean with hardly an idea of how they were going to manage from there.

"Whoa, what gives? Why are you just hopping off with nowhere to land!?" she asked in very understandable worry as she clung to him.

"There's too much heat t' deal with from this position. Sorry about this, but we're gonna need t'-!"

"DIE!" Risky roared, leaping after them with just as much velocity with an energy-packed fist cocked all the way back. And as it appeared, Risky was locked on with ZERO intent to allow her enemies to escape alive.

"TAYSHAN, LOOK OUT!" Shantae warned as she braced herself for what truly heinous thing Risky had in store for them.

"Ah, I should've expected as much…! Okay then, Risky. Let's see how you handle this…!" Tay warned just as he reached the apex of his momentary flight. As soon as he could manage, he whistled to summon a flock of falcons that formed a floating platform a few feet below where he was set to descend. As soon as the *PLACK* of his boots sounded from his landing, he turned around with Shantae on his back while their only means of protection (the Invincibility Bubble) suddenly dissipated.

"You little punks are DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!?" Risky Boots hollered loud enough that anyone within at least a 500-mile radius could hear her as she came barreling down toward her soon-to-be victims. It was certainly a most dreadful understatement to say that she wanted to kill them. Oh, yeah. At this point, Risky was looking to completely eradicate the two teen heroes off the face of the planet with her bare hands. Just as she came zooming in toward them, however, Tay identified her position and braced himself.

"Haaarrrrrrah!" the serviceman shouted, grounding his stance and holding out an open hand to catch Risky's fist with an electrifying *CRACKLE* that coursed through both combatants' bodies while the Pirate Queen was still in midair.

"Grgh…!" Tayshan grunted in excruciating pain, though he held strong.

"Whoa…!" Shantae remarked in total astonishment, never expecting such a dire situation to have such an inconceivable turnout that she previously thought impossible as she also took a shaky breath to mitigate the overwhelming dread coursing through her stomach.

"What!? How-!?" Risky Boots was about to ask, completely astonished to see the soldier stop her attack in its tracks.

"Hit the dirt, Risky! HRRRAAH!" Tay shouted, charging his free hand with as much Dark Magic as he could tolerate in that moment. Before Risky got the chance to defend herself, Tay unleashed just about the MEANEST uppercut he'd ever thrown, hammering the Pirate Queen as quickly and as hard as he could with a startling *THWACK* that sent her hurtling at nearly mach speed back toward her ship.

"Gwaaaagh…!" Risky grunted, both pained and surprised immensely to have been subjected to such a disreputable attack. Doing their best to keep their leader safe, of course, a small collection of Risky's men formed an emergency net that caught her shortly before she would've otherwise hit the surface of her ship with the speed of a full-swing wrecking ball.

"Gaahh…! Ow, that hurt…!" Tay complained, dropping to a knee and clutching his burning, aching arm as he and Shantae remained on the Falcon Call platform for what little time they had.

"Tayshan, how did you-?" the half-genie was about to ask.

"Sorry, but we ain't got no time t' explain now," he hurriedly warned her while cutting her off. "If you got an Animal Dance or somethin' that could save us, now's the time t' use it! This platform's gonna disappear in the next few seconds, an' we're sittin' ducks up here…!"

"Oh, jeez! I wish you'd have told me that earlier!" she complained, frantically hopping off the serviceman's back and initiating the fastest, most pressured belly dance routine she'd ever found herself engaging in. Nevertheless, with a few shakes of her bodacious hips and a sudden pose… "TRAAAAAANSFORM!" Shantae announced, morphing into Mermaid-Shantae with a sudden *POOF* while she and Tayshan remained suspended atop the Falcon Call brigade. "Come here!" she commanded, prompting Tay to stand and turn toward her to see that the half-genie sea maiden had her arms stretched out toward him, frantically gesturing her hands to tell him to come to her. Reading her mannerisms, he quickly approached and took a knee in front of her as she seemed to be requesting.

"So, how's this gonna work?"

"It's a good thing you're my boyfriend, or else I'd probably never entertain this…" she nervously confessed, taking a deep breath as she clasped his face. Just then, the Falcon Call crew dispersed from under them, causing them to drop just as a rocket came zooming by them with a monstrous *FWOOSH*.

"Wait, what? Wh-?" he was about to ask before Mermaid-Shantae cut him off by following her instincts. And, by 'following her instincts,' I meant that she pulled him toward her and pressed her lips to his to form an airtight seal as they plummeted toward the ocean. Might I also mention that the two of them were falling from a distance high enough that it should very well have guaranteed an unpleasant meeting with the surface of the Sequin Land Sea? Because that's what was basically happening. Having absolutely no clue what was going on in such a disastrous whirlwind of a moment, Tay did the only sensible thing he could think to do when one found themselves plunging helplessly toward an incredibly large body of possibly shark-infested water with no form of diving equipment and with a mermaid woman trying to suffocate him with her lips as they fell together. "Mrrrmph! Mrrffrmfrmfrmmph!" he tried to tear himself away from his teammate to speak, though her grip held firm as she said nothing back. Before long, however, Mermaid-Shantae and Not-Mermaid-Tayshan simultaneously hit the ocean surface with a monumental *KERSPLOOSH* as they vanished underwater.

While our heroes were perfecting their competitive diving routine…

Risky hopped to her feet from the Tinkerbat-made safety net and dusted herself off after her failed attempt at slaughtering her enemies with her bare hands. Although, she was still radiating with Dark Magic as her furious red eyes glowed brightly enough that her frustrated glare alone could've incinerated her damaged ship on the spot. One could say that she wasn't a terribly huge fan of being run ragged and outmaneuvered by her most hated genie adversary. One could also say that Risky despised the idea of a certain traitorous upstart royally sabotaging her plans like he had, with trashing a maddening majority of her prized interdimensional weapons supply in her lower deck while she was distracted. And one would definitely NOT be wrong in identifying that the menacing lady pirate was supremely displeased with the fact that her advance on the Sequin Land Palace was hit with so much resistance from such a minuscule, ragtag motley crew of morons that it appeared that she wouldn't realize her dream. Point any of that out to her, however, and she'd gut you like a lamb. She'd rather figure it out herself. As such…

"Darn it…!" she cursed, stomping a foot on the floorboards while clawing at her face. "Darn it, Darn it, DARN IT!" she shouted, repeating the action a few more times. "Our plan's completely falling apart! Most of the weapon supply we loaded onto the ship's been disposed of, my vessel is being ragdolled across the blasted sea, and worst of all, YOU incompetent simpletons are getting your scurvy butts handed to you by that idiotic genie brat, a bunch of snotty kids, that miserable, traitorous dog, and a giant fish woman that we should've filleted, fried, and served on a platter by now!" she griped, beyond furious that Operation: B.O.A.R. was hitting such disastrous snags before it had even truly begun, that it seemed like the entire mission was dead on arrival. Arguably her most daring and ambitious scheme yet, which had initially held so much promise, was crumbling before her eyes like a plate of crackers being smashed with a jackhammer… and who else would be at fault for it other than that same repulsive, intolerable, obnoxious genie nuisance and her idiot friends that she thought she'd practically crushed under her heel a day earlier?

Risky Boots would not take this lying down in the slightest. She still had a couple of tricks up her sleeve to turn this discouraging scenario around, though she realized that said tricks were as far from her favorite options as could be. As such, she turned toward her men, took a deep breath, and whistled hard enough that the shrillness of it threatened to burst the eardrums of everyone who could hear it. Those of her troops that weren't busy trying to contain the mermaid immediately turned to see Risky flagging them down. The Tinkerbats that were either scouring the ocean's surface for a certain half-genie or locking horns with the magically disappearing speed boat hurriedly disengaged and returned to their leader. The Tinkerbat group keeping Giga Mermaid at bay also glanced toward Risky, though she gestured for them to keep fighting her to keep the sea woman from annihilating their only method of transportation.

"Avast, men! Our entire operation has been compromised, and we're going to need to pick up the pieces where we can. We haven't even made landfall, and most of the weapons we brought with us have either been used up, destroyed, or tossed overboard. If we hope to do this the right way next time, then we'll have to regroup, lay low, and mind our resources much more carefully. At the rate we're going now, these irritating brats and their pet mermaid are going to overwhelm us… much as I definitely HATE to admit it…!" Risky explained, clenching her energy-infused fist hard enough to crush diamond as the ship veered to the right to narrowly avoid the energy beam fired by Giga Mermaid while she was preoccupied with trying to shoot them down.

A couple of the Pirate Queen's loyal minions vocalized some ill-advised objection to her decision to retreat. Based on their silent gestures, it appeared that they were recommending that they possibly continue, as their opposition had been wearing down just as, if not even more quickly than they had.

"That's hardly true," she answered with an agitated scowl. "If it was just the brats and their dumb speed boat, then we most likely wouldn't have even been put in this situation. We'd have blown way past them and we'd have already had the Sultana and her guards bowing before me by now. The problem is that we didn't account for the mermaid these fools recruited to their side, not to mention that the pathetic little ambush sprung on us by Ammo Baron's goons threw us off schedule a half hour or so before we met these worthless maggots head-on."

The Tinkerbat gestured some more to ask if maybe Shantae and her obnoxious friends had any significant stake in their plot going awry, or if it really was just the Ammonian ambush and Giga Mermaid that caught them off-guard.

"Of course the brat and her peasant pals did! One of the sneaky little punks is the exact reason we're suddenly so drastically short on weapons! The rest of them should've bee my captives, yet they remain free! They bombarded us from the air with everything but the kitchen sink from too many angles for you fools to handle them properly! They're the biggest reasons this is all so screwed up right now! What kind of idiotic question is that!?" she shouted, seeming to have only been made angrier by her henchman's inquiry. "If everything had gone right, then most of Shantae's pathetic friends would've still been in cages, her precious lover would've been under my complete control, and Shantae herself would've been left utterly powerless to stop us as we conquered the entire country! Don't forget that we only went with this route instead of our original plan because we've suffered so many setbacks over the last month that we were forced to either launch our operation today or be humiliated yet again! Do you even know how many of those weapons we lost as a result of your indescribable incompetence!? Or even how much time, money, and other resources we lost because you buffoons couldn't figure out how to stop these brats yourselves over the span of multiple encounters with them!? It shouldn't always have to boil down to me having to clean up YOUR messes!" she berated without relent, evidently blaming her minions for everything that went wrong throughout the course of her latest ploy to bring Sequin Land to its knees. Huh… I feel like we've explored this concept before, but… y'know, I like my face where it is. So, under the threat that Risky would tear it off with her bare hands, I'll just say I digress and move on.

Another Tinkerbat gestured back to her with a shrug, seeming to ask her what they should do from here if they were in such a tight spot that the battle seemed unwinnable.

"At this point, we still haven't lost yet. As I said a second ago, we'll need to fall back before we completely lose our edge. Set sail for the base! Men, take your assigned positions along port and starboard and get your arms ready! Oh, and… make sure to engage our most special weapons in case our 'friends' here decide to follow us…" she ominously mentioned as her minions dispersed, lining up along the perimeter of the heavily damaged vessel while Risky herself jumped back up toward the mast and climbed it in an alarmingly short amount of time. Once she reached her vantage point, she reclaimed the sniper rifle she'd left up there earlier and scoured the surrounding area to see that the ship's biggest threat (Giga Mermaid) had been panting heavily as she took a moment to recuperate from the seemingly endless skirmish once she appeared to finish off the last of the Tinkerbat group tasked with eliminating her as a threat. "And as usual, I have to be the one to tie up this loose end, too. Fine, then. If I've gotta get my hands a little dirtier to make sure we come out of this as cleanly as possible, then so be it…" Risky murmured to herself, taking aim while no one appeared to be looking.

Meanwhile…

"They're turning tail! Finally!" a certain undead maiden cheered as she and the rest of the makeshift anti-pirate crew watched Risky's ship reengage the sails as the battered sea vehicle turned away from the shore of the Sequin Land Palace and began slowly wading off in the direction from whence it came.

"Sure, but why does it look like her Tinkerbats are lining up along the borders of the ship like they're expecting something to happen?" asked one of three female Ammonian affiliates present on the diminutive sea craft as she took note of the unusual occurrence.

"Twitch is right… They've stopped attacking us directly, but it looks like they're still up to something…" the second of three female Ammonian acolytes also observed, remaining wary as everyone aboard took the brief pause in combat to reorient themselves. Just in that moment, the *SPLASH* of something emerging from the sea beside the group caught their attention. Anxiously turning their attention to the sound, they spotted a much smaller blue-haired mermaid that had a shirtless young man trapped in a giant bubble trailing behind her.

"Shantae!?" one of the other passengers called out, immediately recognizing this strange sea creature as everyone's favorite genie girl.

"And the assassin…!" the third female Ammonian soldier hissed with a glare at the man in the bubble, who appeared to have been holding his breath while desperately trying to escape his watery prison before he drowned.

"In the scaly flesh!" Mermaid-Shantae confirmed with a bright grin as she pulled the massive bubble toward the boat. "I'm glad to see everyone's still alright!"

"Sure, but snack cakes, when did you transform into a mermaid?" asked Rottytops, scratching her head in confusion.

"And how did Tay wind up stuck in that giant bubble?" Bolo additionally questioned.

"And is he gonna be alright? It looks like he's gonna drown in there if we don't get him out," Sky worriedly observed as she and Bolo watched the unfortunate serviceman struggle to escape.

"Long story, guys, but I'll explain in a bit," Mermaid-Shantae assured, turning around and striking the bubble with her hand. With a moist *POP*, the soldier in question was freed from his prison as he was flung upward, helplessly flailing as he failed to register what was happening right away.

"I've gotcha!" Rotty volunteered as she watched the helpless young man descend over the boat. And… by some incredible and inconceivable feat of strength, the zombie maiden reached her arms out and caught Tayshan in midair, holding him in a most bizarre bridal (or… in this case, groom-al?) carry before he wound up falling into the boat and potentially capsizing it. As he engaged in a fit of hacking and coughing up water after being rescued, Mermaid-Shantae received some assistance from Sky and Bolo with climbing aboard the vessel before morphing with a *POOF* back to her human form. "Oh, boy… You must've been in that bubble for a hot minute, stud muffin," Rotty observed as she set him down and began patting him on the back.

"Are you two okay?" asked Vinegar, studying her acquaintances up and down to observed their varied states of dishevelment. "We lost sight of you in the middle of the fight and got too swept up with Risky's goons to try and check in sooner."

"We're as good as can be," Shantae assured with a thumbs-up, though one glance at Tayshan hacking up a lung told them otherwise. "Er, well... minus Tay needing to get the water out of his lungs, of course," she further sheepishly admitted.

"Yeah, but girl, you've got a nasty shiner going on there," Sky worriedly pointed out, inspecting the half-genie's swollen eye with one hand as she continued to hold Wrench in her other hand.

"That's because Risky decided she wanted to fight extra dirty this time around, but it's no biggie," Shantae assured, lightly grasping the bird tamer's hand and pulling it away from her face to emphasize her point. "Risky looks a lot worse than I do. I can promise you that."

"Right, but I also can't help but notice your fancy new top there, genie girl," Twitch rather flatly observed, glancing at Tay to see that he had been missing the tank top he was wearing earlier. Afterward, she returned her scrutinizing gaze to Shantae, whose adorable new shirt seemed... just one or two sizes too big for her slender frame despite the fact that it was tied into a midriff-baring knot.

"Well, ya see... About that..." Shantae was about to nervously take the liberty of explaining as she bashfully rubbed the back of her head.

"Somehow, some way, you lost your old top and he had to give you his to cover yourself up with. That sound about right?" Twitch expertly guessed.

"Yeah..." the ponytailed maiden admitted, momentarily cutting her eyes elsewhere in mild embarrassment before looking back at Twitch. "Er... How'd you know?"

"Been there before, girlie," the shorter blonde Ammonian affiliate admitted, remembering her time just outside the Sheared Spool Shrine. "I have a green one hung up in my wardrobe. I presume your zombie friend here's been there as well, considering she's rocking another one of his shirts, tied up the same way yours is."

"Yeah, but the one I was wearing earlier was blue," Rotty interjected as she continued to help Tay clear out his lungs and reorient himself. "This black one, I was given after we split off to figure out how to contribute to our effort to stop Risky."

"Jeez, it seems like we've got ourselves a walking emergency closet over here. Lucky us, eh?" Vinegar quipped with a light chuckle, though only Twitch laughed with her. Nila and Bolo had been watching Giga Mermaid as she gathered up the strength to keep attacking Risky's ship, despite her weary and heavily disheveled state. Sky had been pondering on the fact that there appeared to be some sort of tank top giveaway going on as it dawned on her that both Shantae and Rottytops were wearing Tayshan's shirts.

"Yeah, I'll bet..." Shantae rather dismissively replied, not terribly concerned about how she got her free shirt as she motioned to change the subject. "Anyway, I'm more worried about how everybody else is doing, considering what happened for everyone to wind up on this boat," she further asserted as she looked toward Sky, who'd still been cradling her injured avian ally. "How are you and Wrench doing, Sky?"

"I'm good. Wrench is hurt, but he's managing," Sky assured as best as she could while she continued to hold the poor bird close to her chest.

"I see. Poor Wrench… He fought so hard and did so well… I'm at least glad to know you're both alive, but I hope the little guy's okay," she offered her sincerest consolation before turning toward Rottytops, who'd just finished helping Tay clear the water out of his lungs. "Rotty?"

"Yeah, babe?" Rotty answered, turning her attention to Shantae in response as she finished helping Tay clear his airways. Soon after, Tay joined Nila and Bolo in watching Giga Mermaid continue to pursue the Pirate Queen's ship.

"Are you okay?" the half-genie worriedly inquired, remembering the vicious sniper bullet the zombie girl took earlier during the battle.

"I'm still partially alive, so I don't suppose I could complain," the undead maiden offered her vote of confidence as she rubbed the spot on her chest where she'd been shot. "I've got aches all over my body like no tomorrow from when we were flying together, though. Those bullets really did a number on me; especially the one I took that knocked me off you."

"That's what I figured… I'm really sorry, girl… I should've been a lot more careful," Shantae apologized. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I-!"

"There's nothing for you to apologize for, snack cakes," the zombie maiden assured, patting her friend on the shoulder. "We did our best and we worked together the whole way through. More importantly, we got results. On that note, how was your time on Risky's ship? I know most of our scheme kind of went haywire from the start, and... I can't help but notice that awful black eye you've got, but it looks like you pulled through," she further asserted, moving her hand from Shantae's shoulder to her face to gently rub her thumb across the half-genie's swollen, discolored eye.

"Yeah, we did," Shantae confirmed with a confident smile as Rotty continued to caress her face. "And I'd like to think we definitely-!"

"Oh, no…!" Tay suddenly murmured, his eyes glued to the mast of Risky's ship as he spotted the Pirate Queen aiming a sniper rifle with the intent to shoot.

"What? What's happening? What do you see?" Twitch worriedly asked as he stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"GIGA MERMAID! GET DOWN! GET DOWN!" he shouted toward the gargantuan sea woman as she seemed to catch her second wind. Without noticing the danger she was in, Giga Mermaid committed herself to continuing her attack on the ship. His shouting startled everyone else aboard, as they had no clue on why he was yelling for Giga Mermaid to lower herself.

"Get down? Why are you telling her to get down?" Sky asked as she and the others found themselves unable to piece together a reason for his panic.

"Risky's gonna shoot her if she doesn't duck!" he warned, shocking everyone into a state of high alert as they looked toward Risky's ship and saw exactly what he meant.

"He's right! She's gonna shoot!" Rottytops confirmed as everyone looked on in collective horror.

"HEY! GIGA MERMAID! DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE!" Tay continued to warn, desperate to save her from a potentially grim fate if she didn't hear him.

"What are you just sitting there for!? Fire this thing up and get us over there before-!" Nila was about to command the boat's driver before a heart-wrenching *BANG* ripped through the air, followed by a *FWOOSH* and a smoking trail that led the round fired from Risky Boots's weapon as the ship picked up the pace of its hasty retreat. And, just like absolutely everyone had been hoping WOULDN'T happen, the bullet struck Giga Mermaid directly in the forehead where her power gem was located. With an ear-splitting *KRAKLASH*, the gem was shattered into a million pieces as the unforgiving round dug just a bit deeper.

"GHAAAAH!" Giga Mermaid wailed in extreme agony as she was flung back, crashing into the sea with a humongous *SPLOOSH* that sent a flurry of waves tearing through the immediate vicinity.

"Get over there now, soldier! That's an order!" Nila demanded, prompting the Ammonian soldier driving the boat to practically floor it to Giga Mermaid's location while everyone else aboard attempted to register the terrible event they'd just witnessed.

"Gotcha!" Risky could be heard cheering from her ship, causing both Shantae and Tayshan to glare so intensely at the ship that they collectively swore they could've made it explode into a billion pieces just by looking at it.

"…You heartless monster…!" the half-genie murmured, utterly appalled by Risky's callousness as the speed boat jumped and jittered while riding through the rippling waves to approach the injured mermaid. Before long, however, they made it to her.

"Gaaaagh…! Ow…!" the unfortunate sea maiden groaned, gingerly lifting herself out of the water while clutching her forehead.

"Are you okay, Ms. Mermaid?" Bolo frantically asked, just about ready to climb out of the boat to do just about anything to help her.

"I… I am okay… I think…" Giga Mermaid spoke through heavy breaths and an unending torrent of immeasurable agony as she continued clutching her hands to her badly aching head. "But my power… it is but a fraction of what it once was… and… my gem…" she further murmured, squeezing her eyes shut as they welled up with pain-addled tears. In that moment, however, she momentarily removed her hands from her shattered gem to reveal to everyone just what Risky had done to her. To everyone's shock, the sight was more gruesome than any one of them expected. Where Giga Mermaid's gem was, instead resided a shattered, crumbling mess of glassy shards. Worse yet, everyone could see the spot at which the bullet struck to see a smoking, leaking wound soaked in a turquoise fluid.

"Ooh… Yikes…" Twitch and Vinegar reeled back in unison, equally unsettled by the nature of Giga Mermaid's head wound.

"…There just no end t' your senseless brutality, Risky… No end…!" Tay very, VERY angrily whispered, clenching his fists as they flickered with an intense concentration of dark energy. Sensing his frustration, Shantae shot him a worried glance that he received as he locked eyes with her. Realizing what her look meant, he nodded to her and took a deep breath to dispel some of his frustration. As such, the Dark Magic aura coating his body fizzled down a bit.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright, Mermaid Lady?" Rottytops asked as Giga Mermaid cleared the shards from the hole where the gem used to reside and pressed a hand to her head. Through it all, the strange liquid had begun to run down the poor sea maiden's face as she somehow remained as calm as she could be in her battle-weary condition.

"I will be fine. However, I am not certain I will be of much use now," she somberly informed her allies as she winced in pain. "I am low on energy, I am badly injured, and I am all but powerless without my crest. As much as I hate to say it…"

"It's okay, Giga Mermaid. You helped us far more than you even know," Shantae spoke up, her determination igniting like a mighty inferno as she observed Giga Mermaid in her injured state and grew more furious by the minute. "We can handle Risky Boots from here. It looks like she's trying to retreat to her base, so we at least know we succeeded where we needed to here. If you're not feeling well, you should go and rest."

"Are you certain, Shantae?" Giga Mermaid asked, trying to ignore the severe, pulsing agony in her head as she continued trying to keep her wound closed. "I would feel terrible if I did not continue to participate in our joint effort to take down Risky Boots."

"Without a shadow of a doubt," she assured, clenching a fist and holding it to her chest. "She won't get away. Trust and believe," she further vowed, turning her attention toward the enemy vessel as it sailed away in a hurry.

"You want us to chase that maniacal pirate woman down?" Nila asked in disbelief. "If she's already backed into a corner, what use would there be in pursuing her and risking further injury like our mermaid friend here?"

"We need t' make sure she doesn't get away with anything she's done; especially not this," Tay spoke up, much to Nila's surprise as the two of them locked eyes. Nila was immediately filled with a mixture of resentment, contempt, and dread as she scanned his Dark Magic-coated form up and down and took in his angry, glowing-eyed gaze. "On top o' that, we can't afford t' give her any time t' plot somethin' else t' get the drop on us, in addition to us needin' t' bury her scheme as far under the dirt as we can manage. Part o' that includes tailin' her to her base an' disposin' of as many o' her resources as possible. This battle ain't over by a long shot."

"Hmph. You've got some nerve making such an assertion to me, assassin," Nila contemptuously addressed him, much to everyone's surprise.

"'Assassin?'" Tay asked, raising an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yes, YOU, ASSASSIN!" Nila angrily spat as she glared death at him through her sunglasses. "In case you have forgotten, you wiped out countless colleagues of mine and nearly killed me and my commanding officer mere hours ago. Our alliance here means nothing, so don't you DARE think you've got the authority to hurl your useless suggestions at me!"

"...I see," he plainly acknowledged with a solemn nod, understanding right away that Nila had a bone to pick with him for what he'd done in the Baron Desert. "Well, I'll take in every bit o' hatred you feel toward me for what happened, but now ain't the time t' get hung up on personal grudges."

"As if it were that easy to simply write off your heinous deeds as though you'd merely stepped on someone's toes. Disgusting…!" Nila spat once more, holding nothing but vitriol toward the 'evil' soldier that once worked for Risky Boots. "I hope you know that no amount of help you lend us against your former boss will absolve you of any responsibility for what you've done!"

"Hey, back off!" Rottytops stepped in on Tay's behalf, though Tay merely kept his eyes focused on the agitated admiral. "You have NO right talking to him like that! We're on the same side, so maybe you should watch how you-!" she was about to rant before Tay tapped Rotty on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Rotty," Tay informed the zombie girl to her surprise as she turned toward him.

"What!? How!? She's being completely disrespectful toward you for no good reason!" she proclaimed, still wanting to stick up for him.

"All things considered, she does have a good reason," he countered, looking directly in Rotty's eyes as he communicated his message. Though shocked, she seemed to understand where he was coming from. As such, she relaxed herself. At that, he turned his attention back to Nila, who'd still been glaring at him. The others merely watched on, wondering just how the rest of this frightening confrontation would play out. "An' no, I ain't writin' nothin' off. Regardless, we don't have time t' squabble about what happened earlier. We've still got a much more active problem on our hands as we speak."

"He's right," Vinegar spoke up. "And considering what we know about Risky Boots, there's no way she's just going to retreat from a fight like this without some back-up plan in mind for how she'd come back to accomplish her goal of taking over Sequin Land. That, or how she'd get back at us for stopping her."

"Exactly," Shantae chimed in as well. "And, if you Ammonian folks are still willing to help us, we can hunt her down and put an end to her scheme once and for all. And even if we don't stop her mid-trip, we can at least follow her to her base and really corner her there, like Tay said. We have to hurry, though, because she's gaining a lot of distance on us with the more we stand here and wait."

"…So, are you really suggesting that we-?" Nila was about to incredulously ask again.

"Yes, we're helping them catch up to Risky," Twitch cut in and gave her order. "As long as Risky Boots remains an active threat to the Ammonian Army, we won't rest until we're sure that filthy old bat's been taken down a peg like she deserves to be. Wouldn't you agree with that much, Admiral Nila?" At that, Nila sighed after a moment of contemplation.

"Well… I can't argue with that, Commander Twitch," Nila agreed for the sole purpose of getting a chance to deliver a heaping dose of payback to Risky Boots in the name of the Ammonian Army. "In that case, I'll put my reservations aside and follow your lead, ma'am."

"Glad we're finally on the same page. Now, if we're done dilly-dallying, we've still got work to do! Let's get to it before she gets away!" Twitch further ordered, prompting the boat's driver to prepare for the aquatic chase of a lifetime.

"I suppose that settles it, then," Shantae conclusively stated, though she cast a worried look toward Giga Mermaid. "Will you be okay with us going on ahead, Giga Mermaid?"

"I promise, I will be fine, as long as I treat my wounds appropriately. I… I deeply regret not being able to continue assisting you, but my injuries will be managed," the benevolent sea maiden assured, though she still pressed her hand to the open wound that had still been bleeding. "I can construct a new crest, and this gruesome, disfiguring gash will heal in a matter of hours as long as I am in my natural element. For the time being, I will return to Naga Mountain to recuperate while I assist its populace with rebuilding their home. For the sake of Sequin Land's people, Shantae, stop that malicious pirate from hurting anyone else. I beg of you."

"You have our word," Shantae agreed with a confident grin, speaking for everyone aboard the boat. "We can catch up with each other after we're done," she added before turning to her friends and allies. "Are you all Ret-2-Go?"

"Without a doubt, Shantae," Sky answered with a nod and a deep sigh. The others nodded in collective agreement.

"Alright, you heard the lady," Nila commanded the boat driver. "Let's go catch us a pirate menace…!" And with that and a mighty *VROOM* of the speed boat's engine, our heroes blasted off to try and bring their conflict with Risky Boots to an early end.

"Best of luck to you all…" the weary Giga Mermaid bade as she turned and headed in a direction separate from her allies to recuperate from her numerous injuries. "I have utmost faith that they will succeed in their mission, but I only wonder at this point if they may be able to do so without any further harm being brought upon them…"

Well, I'm sure it goes without saying that, even for how catastrophic the battle of good versus evil had been transpiring for both sides, it took nothing short of a miracle for our heroes to pull anything close to a victory of this caliber off. And when we consider that next to none of the allies they'd gathered up since the start of their adventures throughout this perilous saga found themselves able (or in some cases, even willing) to participate, there's no doubt that they got VERY lucky with how things were playing out when the odds were stacked so high against them. Of course, this 'victory' in the form of repelling Risky Boots from Scuttle Town and the Sequin Land Palace while they were vulnerable was fleeting. If the forces of good planned on sealing the deal, they had absolutely no choice but to keep bringing the battle to the notorious pirate woman and her crew. And by the brightest shining stars, they were going to do just that. However, we know Risky Boots well enough to know that, even for as impulsive and capricious as she had proven herself to be, she was also dangerously cunning. That said…

Aboard the ship…

"Hmph…!" Risky grunted, massaging her jaw as she took a breather in the nest atop the ship's mast. "This isn't looking too good. Those brats were way too well-prepared for me. It's one thing to have been slowed down, but we couldn't even get anywhere near Scuttle Town, much less the Sequin Land Palace. Even for what may have contributed to them banding together like they did, there should've been NO way for any of them to stop me…! I had the upper hand, darn it! I was WINNING! Yet, here we are, somehow being made to go back to the drawing board in the span of a simple hour-long sea scuffle. Blast it all…!" she cursed, pounding her fist against the wood beneath her as she sighed in exasperation. "To have my entire plan put on ice by a bunch of uppity teenagers and their pet fish…! That's a blow to my ego that can't be tolerated by any means of the word! At the very least, I put one right between that hideous mermaid's eyes before we shoved off. That should buy us some time to contemplate our next move…" the Pirate Queen theorized, though her thought process was interrupted by the sound of an engine roaring in the distance. "Or, my other prediction could come true, which means we'll have to pull out all the stops just to get these pests to stop following me…" Sighing with expectant exhaustion, she picked herself up and aimed her sniper rifle, peering down the scope. As she expected, of course, her enemies were doggedly chasing after her in a single speed boat that seemed to be holding way too many people on it.

"Heh. Simple enough," Risky murmured, lining up her crosshair to aim at the driver. Just before she took her shot, however… "They're hot on our tail, boys! Just as we expected!" Risky warned her Tinkerbats, who'd shifted into position accordingly. "The second you hear my gun go off, initiate Turbo mode and be prepared to bury our enemies at sea!" she warned, lining up her shot as best as she could with all the rocking and bobbing the damaged vessel had been doing over the waves. Nevertheless, Risky found the perfect moment and pulled the trigger. With a voluminous *BOOM*, the round went speeding toward its target faster than anyone could see.

On the speed boat…

"Daaaaahh!" the speed boat's driver shouted in agony as he was flung from the boat the instant Risky's bullet struck him in the face.

"NO!" Nila shouted as she and the others watched the soldier's demise in collective horror. Before anyone could do anything, the soldier hit the water with a *SPLASH*. Without a driver, the speed boat came to a gradual halt as more sniper fire came raining in from the ship, prompting everyone aboard to hit the deck until the shots stopped coming seconds later. Once the coast was clear enough, the motley crew of crusaders stood, hurriedly organizing themselves in a fashion where they could conceivably catch up to Risky as she sped away. Nila took the driver's seat in her comrade's stead. "Do you guys see the driver anywhere!?"

"There!" Vinegar called out, seeing the image of a hand sticking out of the water way out in the distance. However, when Nila turned to see where Vinegar was pointing, the entire group noticed the hand waving to them and giving a thumbs-up before sinking below the sea's surface. "Oh, no…! He's… He's gone…!"

"GrrrrrrraaaaaaaAAAAAAAH!" Nila roared in a mixture of dismay and incredible anger, gearing the speed boat into its fastest setting and just FLOORING it after Risky Boots with a deafening *VRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* that sent waves taller than houses bursting off in separate directions with a continuous *SPLLIISSSHSHSHSSHSHSHSHSH*. In her fit of rage, however, Nila failed to consider that her passengers weren't appropriately prepared for a sudden burst of speed.

"Whoawaaaaahah!" Shantae bellowed in terror, nearly being flung off the boat herself before Tayshan and Rottytops grabbed her by each of her wrists while holding onto the speeding seacraft as tightly as they could. Meanwhile, Twitch and Vinegar clung tightly to another section of the boat while holding onto Sky and Bolo, respectively.

"What is she, crazy!?" Bolo shouted in horror, wrapping an arm around Sky while the two of them continued to hold onto Twitch and Vinegar for dear life. "She's gonna get us all killed speeding off without warning like that!"

"Seriously, tell her to take it down a notch!" Sky also shouted, whistling to the best of her ability. Within seconds, a trio of giant red hawks came zooming in. Within seconds of arriving, the hawks swooped under Sky, allowing her the chance to at least spare Wrench the turbulent ride by handing him over to one of them. The other two hawks lined up above Sky and Bolo, digging their claws into the backs of their shirts and increasing the speed of their flight. "Okay, girls! Pull us in!" Heeding the bird tamer's request, Twitch and Vinegar put their backs into yanking their comrades forward, allowing them the chance they needed to find safe ground within the boat. Hurriedly, Twitch and Vinegar sat Sky and Bolo in two of the available seats, strapping them in after the hawks let go of them.

"There! You two should be good for the moment!" Vinegar assured as she and Twitch quickly took their own seats and strapped themselves in.

"Thanks, ladies!" Bolo showed his gratitude.

"Don't mention it, Spiky!" Twitch acknowledged as she reached under the seat and pulled out a semiautomatic rifle.

"Take Wrench back to Scuttle Town! I'll be back home once this is over!" Sky shouted to her hawks, to which they acknowledged as they formed a V-shape with Wrench atop their backs and flew off.

"Yo! Ease up on the gas, will you!?" Tayshan shouted at Nila while he and Rottytops were still clinging to Shantae for dear life. Tay's only form of leverage was the side of the boat, where as Rotty's was the top portion of a seat in front of her.

"Don't be stupid! She'll get away if I let up now!" Nila objected, still going full speed ahead as they just barely been moving fast enough to catch up.

"Okay, but if we don't, we're all gonna be fish food! I can only hold on but for so long before any one of my limbs detaches!" Rottytops warned, alerting both Shantae and Tayshan of the imminent danger they were all in.

"Ah, shoot…!" the soldier realized, growing desperate as he anxiously thought of some method of keeping his friends safe. "Slow down for just a second, lady! Come on!"

"No! That witch is going to pay for what she did! There's no way I'm losing my chance to take her down! Not after that!" Nila sternly refused, completely throwing caution to the wind as she pressed her foot so hard on the gas that she may as well have driven her foot through the boat itself.

"Oh, for…!" Tay growled in frustration, the Dark Magic aura around his body intensifying as he tightened his grip on both Shantae and the boat. "Rotty!"

"Yeah?"

"Let go o' Shantae an' grab a seat! I can hold on an' get us situated!"

"What!? No way! If she slips-!"

"She won't slip! Not if I can help it!" he assured, squeezing both the half-genie's wrist and the side of the boat. "If your arm detaches while you're clingin' t' that seat, that wouldn't be good for any of us! I'd rather not see that happen here!"

"…Dang it…!" Rotty cursed with a frustrated sigh as she realized his point. As such, she reluctantly heeded his request as she slowly let go of Shantae's wrist and climbed into the nearest seat she could find. Noticing the seatbelt, Rotty strapped herself in. "You'd better not let her go if your life depended on it, Tayshan!"

"My life does depend on it!" he shot back, using as much Dark Magic-boosted strength as he could muster in one arm to reel Shantae in. "Grrraaaaaah...! Hah...! Homegirl! Grab my neck with your other hand!" he commanded as he stuck his head out toward her while pulling her in as close as he could.

"Roger!" Shantae agreed, hurriedly latching her free hand around the back of his head. "Okay…! Here goes…!" she further announced as he pulled her other arm closer. Seeing the opportunity he presented her, Shantae wrapped that arm around his neck, giving him just the window of opportunity he needed to let go of her wrist and wrap his arm around her waist to pull her all the way in.

"Good…! Agh…! Now, strap yourself in…!" he advised, crouching toward the empty seat next to him.

"Got it! I'll make it quick!" Shantae assured as Tay held her tightly by her waist to assure that she didn't slip again. Finding herself placed in an appropriate position, Shantae hastily fastened the seatbelt, finally securing herself as she let go of Tay. "I'm strapped in! Thanks!"

"Not an issue…!" Tay breathlessly accepted her gratitude as he spotted the vacant passenger seat at the front of the boat.

"Oh, thank goodness…" Rottytops sighed in immense relief as she relaxed. Seizing the opportunity in the meantime, Tayshan made short work of hurriedly clawing his way up to the front seat, plopping himself down, strapping himself in, and pulling out a sniper rifle of his own.

"It's about time you situated yourselves!" Nila rather hastily commented, drawing no small amount of frustration out of her situational allies. "We're gaining on her!"

"Yeah, but how about warnin' us the next time you pull a stunt like that, huh!?" Tayshan barked at her as he leaned on the side of the boat and set himself in as comfortable a position as he could to aim the firearm. "You almost launched us all off the boat!"

"Well excuse me for wanting to-!"

"Nila, cool it!" Twitch shouted, wanting no form of bickering to happen at such an inopportune time. "We appreciate that you're taking up the task of driving the boat in our teammate's stead, but Tayshan's got a point! What you did was totally reckless, and we're lucky we were able to accommodate! The attitude has got to go!"

"Huh… How ironic, coming from the queen of attitude herself…" Sky took only the greatest of opportunities to quip.

"Watch it, birdbrain!" Twitch shouted, immediately catching an attitude with Sky. "One more remark like that, and I'll toss you overboard like I was tempted to do a second ago!"

"Copy that, Commander. My apologies," Nila obediently acknowledged Twitch's direct order as she swerved to avoid what looked like a cannonball as it hit the water with a mighty *PLASH*. "Shoot…! Look alive, folks! Risky's got us in her sights!"

"Target locked!" Tay shouted as he took aim with the sniper rifle, peering through the scope to see Risky aiming right back at him. "Oh, no…! Everybody duck!" he further murmured as Risky took her next shot, forcing him to lean to the side. Hearing him, the rest of the speed boat crew followed his request. Just as they did so, the *PWING* of Risky's round struck Tay's seat, narrowly missing his head.

"Risky's ship is transforming!" Shantae pointed out as Nila swerved out of the way of another barrage of rounds hurtling toward them from either side of the ship. As Risky's crew engaged in swift and merciless defensive maneuvers, a pair of mechanical arms emerged from the sides of the ship with an intimidating *WHIR* of grinding gears while an equally mechanical set of propellers emerged from the lowermost part of the ship's stern. And, with a mighty *VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*, the propellers activated, giving the vessel an unprecedented speed boost. Adding to the perilous situation was the emergence of five cannons across the back of the ship, where Tinkerbats were seen immediately readying them up. "She's pulling out all the stops to make sure we don't-!" she was about to further observed before being forced to duck under another potshot from the Pirate Queen herself that struck her seat with a *TWEEN*. "Gah…! She's trying to take us all out to stop us from tailing her to her base!" As Shantae pointed this out, another trio of cannonballs came raining down, forcing Nila to bob and weave through the heavy fire while pressing the pedal to the metal as hard as she could.

"No kidding!" Twitch responded, aiming her rifle as best as she could while returning fire in short, controlled bursts.

"We can't afford to let that happen," Vinegar asserted as she immediately pulled out her own Stinger and hurried to try and get it set up for use.

"Whoa! What the heck is that thing!?" Bolo asked, floored by the sheer size and volume of Vinegar's weapon.

"Hopefully our ace in the hole," Vinegar replied, digging into her ruck sack and pulling out the Battery Cooling Unit she needed to make the weapon usable. Just then, the *BOOM* from Tayshan's sniper rifle ripped through the air. The round he fired picked off a Tinkerbat at the back of the ship that had been manning one of five cannons. Just then, one of the giant robotic hands raised itself up high and came down hard, smacking the ocean's surface with a monumental *KERPLOOSH*.

"We got an incomin' wave headed straight for us!" Tayshan warned as he aimed his sniper rifle and fired away with another *BOOM* that struck a Tinkerbat on the ship that had been aiming at them with a grenade launcher.

"Serpentine…!" Nila remarked, veering hard to the inside to dodge the brunt of the wave as it caused the speed boat to tilt for a few pulse-pounding seconds. Before any form of relief could be enjoyed, however, the other mechanical arm smacked up another wave on the other side of the ship, forcing Nila to barely swerve past that one as well.

"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick…!" Rottytops complained, evidently finding it difficult to handle the rampant, haphazard movements of the boat as they tried their hardest to survive Risky's onslaught. Worse yet, Risky's forces poured on the aggression with firing cannons, guns, rockets, and grenades alike as the mechanical hands engaged in an unpredictable pattern of kicking up waves left and right. Twitch and Tay did their best with trying to return fire, but the constant evasive maneuvers of Admiral Nila, in addition to the heavy fire they were under, made it nearly impossible to get any clear shots.

"We've got to do something about all the pressure she's putting us under before we wind up getting sunk…!" Sky observed, clinging to the boat for dear life. "Rottytops!"

"Urgh…! Y-yeah?" the zombie girl answered, trying not to lose her lunch as another *PLOOSH* of a cannonball hitting the water forced Nila to swerve again.

"You think now's a good time to use that invisibility thing to throw them off?" the bird tamer asked. "I know it doesn't last that long between uses, but maybe it'll buy us some time to figure out how to get past all the obstacles Risky's throwing at us!"

"Sounds good to me…!" Rotty nauseously agreed, doing her best to shake off her seasickness as she adjusted her Concealer Ring before turning to the boat's driver. "Hey! Boat Lady! What if I made us invisible for a few seconds!? Would that help!?"

"Sure, but judging from past experience, that fancy trick of yours only works in short bursts, doesn't it!?" Nila asked back.

"Yeah, but if we can at least lose Risky's-! Whoa!" Sky began shortly before being cut off by the *ZOOM* of a series of bullets and an explosive whizzing by the boat, which was then followed by another monstrous wave. "Jeez…!"

"That does it…! BUBBLE!" Shantae suddenly called out, summoning up a blue-hued Reflector Bubble that surrounded the entire speed boat. "Haaagh…!" she grunted, already struggling to maintain it as she fought to keep her focus.

"What the…? A protective barrier!?" Vinegar asked in disbelief as she watched cannonballs and bullets alike bounce off the shield like it was made of rubber.

"If you could conjure up a shield to protect us this whole time, genie girl, then why are you only choosing NOW to do it!?" Twitch complained, evidently not too happy with Shantae's timing.

"Because I've never used any of my shields to protect more than two people at a time…!" Shantae remarked with considerable strain. "I… I can't hold this up for long, with there being eight people AND an entire boat to account for…!" she further warned as the shield had already begun to crack with every successive *PING*, *BANG*, and *THUD* of the numerous projectiles headed in their direction. "Gaaaahh…! I'm… about to lose it…!"

"Don't strain yourself, Shantae!" Tayshan urged, lining up another shot and pulling the trigger as Nila continued to bob and weave between the disastrous waves being kicked up by Risky's mechanized ship with *KAPLOOSH* after *KESPLAAAWRSH* of the giant metallic hands against the sea surface. He was fortunate to see another Tinkerbat manning a cannon go down, though the pirate crew's onslaught didn't seem to decrease in its intensity at all. "Even if we don't stop them here, you'll wanna conserve your energy for if an' when we eventually get t' her base!"

"Got it, Tay…!" Shantae answered, her arms growing tired as the shield began to flicker and fade.

"Her shield's gonna pop any second…!" Bolo observed as he contemplated what they were going to do next. "Rotty, maybe it's a good idea to use that ring of yours the second Shantae's bubble disappears! At the very least, we can give these creeps the slip for a few seconds and buy us some time like Sky was saying earlier!"

"My thoughts exactly, Bolo!" Sky agreed as she looked toward Rotty and nodded.

"No disagreements here!" Rotty concurred as she turned toward Shantae. "Hey! Shantae!"

"Yes?"

"Let the shield down! I'll use the Concealer Ring as soon as you do!" the zombie girl instructed.

"At least let us get into a comfortable enough spot first!" Nila interjected as she dodged a bombardment of cannonballs and at least two rockets, though it forced her to go careening right into one of the waves kicked up by one of the mechanical arms. And, with a most horrifying *VREEEEOOOOMMMM*, the speed boat traveled at top speed up the wave, flinging it high into the air.

"WHHOOOAOOOAAAAAAAH!" everyone shouted in terror as the boat temporarily became an airplane.

"Shield's… disappearing now!" Shantae warned as the Reflector Bubble dispersed with a *POP* while a host of enemy rounds hurtled toward them while they were in midair.

"This is as comfortable as it gets…! Oooogh, I'm gonna hurl if I don't do this…!" Rotty complained, instinctively swallowing as she activated the Concealer Ring and closed her eyes. And, just like that, the speed boat and everyone aboard ostensibly vanished. Though the speed boat took considerable damage from the salvo of bullets that impacted it, it rapidly descended as it remained invisible, landing with a massive *KASPLASH* before Nila went right back into flooring it to catch up.

"We barely made it on that one, but now comes the hard part," Tayshan observed, doing his best to adjust his aim with the sniper rifle that he could no longer see right in front of him. "Chances are, she's still gonna see the waves the boat's kickin' up, even if she can't see us outright! We'll also be lucky if she can't pinpoint our position from the sound o' the boat's engine! If we've got any plans on how t' catch Risky by surprise from this angle, then this might just be our only shot at doin' it!"

"Trust me, Tay, I've got just the thing…!" Vinegar assured, having finally put the Stinger together. Despite not being able to see it in her hands, the Ammonian commander managed to aim it and listen to the sounds it made as she took aim at her intended target up ahead.

"And I'll see if my birds can get the drop on some of the Tinkerbats while they're looking for us," Sky also volunteered.

"Sounds like we've got some good ideas going," Twitch observed. "Of course, we're gonna need to be prepared to defend ourselves when this wears off! Shantae, do you think you can whip up another one of those bubble shields when we become visible again?"

"Not right away, unfortunately," the half-genie regretfully informed. "My magic isn't exactly at its highest right now, and I can't just keep turning my shields on and off! I'm gonna need at least a minute of cooling down after Rotty's ability wears off before I can bring up another one."

"Shoot… So, this strategy's gonna be far from perfect, but it's the best one we've got…" Twitch acknowledged. "Spiky, do you perhaps have anything else to add to make sure this works out as planned?"

"My only idea at this point is to maybe get close enough to the ship that I can plant some of my Sticky Pikes on it to blow off at least one of those mechanical arms! I can at least tell where their weak points are! I can also hurl a few Homing Pikes up close to have them knock out some of Risky's goons!"

"Perfect! In that case…" Twitch trailed off before turning her attention toward the speed boat's driver. "Nila!"

"Already on it, boss! Let's teach these punks a close-and-personal lesson they won't forget!" Nila enthusiastically agreed, using the slim window of opportunity to get the vehicle into a suitable position…

Meanwhile…

"Hmm… Where the heck did they go this time…?" Risky muttered to herself, having momentarily lost sight of her adversaries right after she watched them get flung into the air off a wave created by one of her ship's enhanced mechanical hands. Peering through the scope of her sniper rifle again, she scoured the immediate area behind her vessel. She had some idea, based on her previous observations, that the rambunctious upstarts were trying to pull a series of parlor tricks to catch her off-guard. Knowing far better than to give them any chance to gain an advantage, Risky soon set the sniper rifle down… and pulled out her very own Stinger that had been hidden within the confines of the nest. "And they say you can't hit what you can't see…" she quipped, engaging the weapon of mass destruction and aiming it. Within seconds, her Stinger got a lock, picking up a massive heat signature gaining up on the ship's stern from the side, where she also noticed the jets of water shooting up from the invisible seacraft. "Perfect… Men! Focus fire toward the starboard! That's where they're headed!" the calculating buccaneer announced, prompting her Tinkerbats to hurry up and organize their oppressive fire toward the space in question. "Hope you all enjoy eternity in the Pirate Master's Locker, you scurvy dogs…! Now, perish!" she announced, ready to launch the round just as a sudden, jarring *FWOOSH* of a sniper bullet struck her with a *PLOCK* against her shoulder.

"Gaaah! Agh…!" Risky shouted, having been flung off her feet while dropping the Stinger off the crow's nest. "No…! You filthy brats are gonna PAY FOR THAT!" she vindictively roared as a sudden series of *KABOOMs* rang out, causing her ship to nearly tip over. "What the…?" Risky was about to ask as she clamored to her feet and peer down. And, as one might imagine, what she saw only infuriated her further. "NO! They blew off one of the ship's Tinker-Limbs! Oh, that does i-!" she was about to yell in rapidly burgeoning anger as she spotted kaleidoscopic flocks of birds of varying shapes and sizes raucously chirping and cawing away. Within seconds, these birds began an aerial onslaught of pecking, screeching at, and swarming her men. As such, at least a few of her Tinkerbats found themselves distracted to the point that they began trying to shoot down the birds. Others had been trying to run away from floating red Pike Balls that were chasing them all around the the hole-riddled upper deck of the ship. And, just when things couldn't go more obnoxiously awry for Risky, another *FWOOSH* from an enemy sniper rifle sounded out, prompting her to reclaim the sniper rifle she'd been using and duck within the nest to avoid being shot again.

"This is not happening…!" she grumbled, climbing back to her feet and reorienting herself just as another monumental slew of *KABOOMs* tore through the air, alerting Risky to the fact that the other Tinker-Limb on her ship had been blown to smithereens while her enemies remained uncontained at this most crucial moment in her plan to elude them. "There is no way in the darkest pits of the Oubliette of Suffering that I'm going out like this again! You hear me, you rowdy little peons!? You're going down LONG before you could even DREAM of stopping me!" she roared, her body surging with Dark Magic as she picked herself up and aimed the sniper rifle once more. It didn't take the vengeful Pirate Queen long before she pinpointed her enemies' location just as their cowardly little magic trick wore off. As it turned out, they had somehow lined themselves up next to the ship, with some of them trading fire with her Tinkerbats. As it appeared, however, even the numbers of her minions were dwindling with the longer they remained involved in this conflict. And Risky knew better than anyone that the less of her henchmen she had available, the less likely she was to accomplish her goal. It was then that Risky Boots made a crucial decision.

"If that's how you punks want to play it, then we're just going to have to start taking an eye for an eye…!" she menacingly whispered, taking aim with her sniper rifle as she got a clear view of the speed boat. "Choke on this!"

Back on the boat…

"We're doing it! We're really doing it!" Shantae cheered, tossing a fireball or two as her friends focused on hammering away at Risky's defenses while her forces began to crack under pressure. "And look! That skull-shaped cave in the distance! That must be Risky's base!"

"Sure, but let's not celebrate until after we've actually stopped her once and for all!" Nila warned, swerving wide to avoid another pair of cannonballs, followed by her sharply maneuvering the speed boat inward to dodge a spray of enemy gunfire.

"Okay! Pull back! Pull back!" Sky called to her birds with a series of hand signals once she was satisfied with the work they'd done distracting the Tinkerbats. She wanted to avoid taking too many casualties amongst her avian allies, and the progress she and all her friends had been making brought her a situational sense of confidence that their victory would come fairly soon.

"Whew… It looks like it's almost over…" Rotty sighed in relief, keeping herself as protected as she could.

"I'll say," Bolo additionally cheered, wiping the sweat off his brow as he nodded his head in triumph. "This was really rough, but I'm so glad to see we wor-!" he was about to add before a sudden *BOOM* rang out from within Risky's ship. "GHAAAAAGH!" the unsuspecting young man shouted in immeasurable pain as a bullet went speeding right into his abdomen. The devastating round hit with a startling *CRACK* that threatened to send him flying off the boat, were it not for his seatbelt keeping him strapped in.

"BOLO!" Shantae and Sky shouted in immense panic, watching the young man crumple up in terrible agony.

"Spiky, no!" Twitch also called out as the three girls unfastened their seatbelts to check on him.

"Gaaah, it hurts…! Aaaagh…!" the badly injured young man groaned, hunching over and clutching his stomach as it ached like a bear's claws tearing into him. "Hah…! Hah…!"

"Shoot, shoot, shoot…!" Rottytops additionally panicked, joining the other girls in tending to the severely injured Bolo as he continued to writhe in agony.

"What!?" Tay questioned in shock, turning to see the horrible scenario for himself. "No…! No, no…!" he murmured, a surge of malevolent energy coursing through his body as he turned toward the ship, where he spotted Risky still aiming at them from the crow's nest with her sniper rifle. "YO! ALL O' Y'ALL GET DOWN!" he shouted, seeing exactly where Risky was aiming. Hurriedly, he ripped his seatbelt off with a *KRICLACK* and rushed toward the back of the boat in his effort to save his friends. However, the second *BOOM* of the enemy sniper rifle served as a harrowing signal that he was too late.

"DAAAAGH! Haagh! Ghah…!" Sky hollered out in despair, falling forward and nearly tumbling out of the boat before Rottytops caught her.

"SKY! No…!" Shantae called to her best friend, even more horrified to see that the bird tamer had been badly injured. "Oh, my gosh, no…!"

"Darn it! Grrgh…!" Tay grunted, suddenly frozen in shock as he took in the deeply unsettling image of his allies being made to suffer once more. Every part of his body wanted to move to check in, but his mind… His mind wasn't cooperating. As such, he clenched his fists with enough pressure to rival an alligator's jaws, his body surrounded by clouds of dark indigo and black.

"We're under heavy fire! Get yourselves under cover before-!" Nila was about to warn as she continued steering the boat before a third *BOOM* rang out. And, as we have come to unfortunately expect, even she had been struck. Only, in Nila's case, she was struck in the temple with an agonizing *POCK*, knocking her out cold in the process before she even knew what hit her.

"NILA!" Vinegar called out as the boat once again began rapidly losing speed. In a collective state of horror, Twitch and Vinegar rushed to Nila's aid as the unfortunate brunette lay in her seat, slumped over the side of the boat.

"Darn it…! She'll take us all out at this rate…! I have no other choice…" Shantae observed in building frustration at hers and her allies' rapidly deteriorating circumstances. Building up all the magic she had left in that moment, the half-genie stretched her arms outward. "Bubble!" she called out summoning another Reflector shield as another *PWEENG* from yet another sniper round came zooming in to strike the barrier.

"Nila! Nila, wake up! Please!" Vinegar desperately called out as she and Twitch hurriedly pulled their comrade out of the driver's seat of the boat and laid her limp, unconscious form on the floor and checked her vitals.

"She's still got a pulse, but she's down for the-!" Twitch was about to inform as the *FWWEEEESH* of one more deadly obstacle came hurtling in right for them. Hearing the dreadful sound, Shantae turned toward it while putting all her focus on keeping the barrier up. Though it was hard to actually see the incoming projectile, the sound alone let those who were aware know what was coming.

"Incomin' Stinger! Everybody get down an' brace for impact!" Tayshan snapped out of his anger-riddled trance to warn, hurrying toward Twitch and Vinegar to cover them and Nila.

"Darn it…! Hope you guys don't mind getting up close and personal for this one…!" Rottytops informed Sky and Bolo, trying not to panic as she used her enhanced strength to pull the two of them to the floor before ducking for cover with them.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaah!" the valiant ponytailed heroin shouted, pouring every last bit of her remaining magic into keeping the flickering barrier stable enough to block Risky's dastardly missile strike. Our heroes would hardly need to wait for the impending impact of the incoming warhead. With the most frightening, devastating *KABOOOOOOOOOM* any of the heroes could have ever found themselves on the business end of, Shantae's barrier shattered into a billion pieces with a massive *KACRAAASH* like a bowling ball smashing through a hundred glass coffee tables. The resulting shockwaves sent the speed boat spinning away for what felt like ages, threatening to completely capsize as everyone held on for dear life. The waves kicked up by the monumental blast tossed the boat all about like the ocean itself was trying to swallow it and its passengers whole. *SPLOOSH* after *SPLASH* after *KRISCH*, the cascading sprays of the Sequin Land Sea's sparkling, salty waters rained heavy on our compromised defenders like a mini typhoon had hit their position and their position alone. Their only saving grace was that the sudden, turbulent spin cycle was over almost as quickly as it started. Within a few seconds that felt like an eternity, the waves rested and the boat had finally stopped spinning. The only semblance of the Stinger missile that threatened to obliterate them was the massive smoke cloud that wafted through the calm evening wind.

"Gaaaahh…! Owww…!" Shantae groaned, her knees wobbling as her arms sparked and crackled with electricity. As it appeared, she'd completely overused her magic and burned herself out. "Oogh…" she wearily moaned, just about ready to conk out on the spot as she began to collapse.

"I gotcha…" Tayshan stated in utmost concern, having hurriedly helped Twitch and Vinegar back to their feet as he saw the half-genie seeming to lose consciousness. Catching her right before she hit the floor, he took her into a tight hug, intentionally falling to his knees as he did so. Shifting their position, Tay took a seat on one of the vacant passenger seats behind him as he laid his exhausted team leader face-up over his lap while cradling her head. As he held the half-genie in his arms, the soldier glared toward the escaping pirate ship that had been speeding off toward the skull-shaped cavern in the distance. It was then that the shrouds of Dark Magic initially coating his hands expanded throughout the rest of his body, though he did not immediately acknowledge it.

"Ugh… Now that's an experience to lose your head over…" Rotty quipped, fighting off her urge to vomit as she lifted herself off Sky and Bolo. "You two okay?"

"Gaaaahaaaagh…!" Bolo groaned in unrelenting torment, still clutching his stomach as he curled up over himself.

"Dhaagh…! Ahaagh…! Hah…!" Sky also groaned, fighting back tears as she lay on the floor, rubbing her back as she tried to deal with the unspeakable physical despair she'd been suffering from her gunshot wound.

"…Didn't think so…" Rotty acknowledged, clutching her own chest as she found herself reminded of a similar firearm-related experience. "Hmm… you're both gonna need a major pick-me-up, but… should I…?" she pondered, digging into her tank top and pulling out her last Fake Brain. She also took a moment to glance around the boat at her allies to see that they were all pretty banged up. The zombie maiden even took in the sight of the unconscious Nila as Twitch and Vinegar tended to her. "I guess we're all in bad shape, but... I don't have enough Fake Brains to go around... What should I do?" she pondered, though her worried gaze became fixed on Sky and Bolo.

"Whew…" Twitch and Vinegar breathed in unison, though they found no sense of relief in their dire situation.

"How quickly this whole thing went south for us…!" Twitch complained as she and Vinegar pulled Nila toward the side of the boat opposite of Tay and Shantae, and laid her unconscious form across the empty seats while passing by their non-Ammonian allies. "A total disaster...!"

"Tell me about it…" Vinegar agreed. "Risky's gonna feel every bit of what she's done to us…! One way or another, we've gotta do something about her. Poor Nila…"

"Thank goodness she's still alive, but that nasty burn mark on her temple spells it all out for us. And then there's all these other injuries…" the bespectacled blonde observed, carefully scanning her unconscious brunette ally for any further injury. Judging by the various rips and tatters in her outfit, as well as the scratches littered across her face, it was easy for them to tell she'd been taking damage left and right long before taking the fateful sniper round that knocked her out.

"No kidding," the taller Ammonian commander agreed as she turned toward the rest of their allies. From what she could see, Tayshan was cradling a tuckered-out Shantae on one side of the boat while Rottytops was busy lifting the grievously injured Sky and Bolo up to a pair of seats in the back. "Hey, are you guys okay? And…" she trailed off as she noticed a very unusual, very off-putting object sitting on one of the seats. "Whoa, whoa, what the heck is that!? Is that a human BRAIN!?" she asked, certifiably spooked out of her wits at the object. "And if it is, whose is it!?"

"Relax, will ya?" Rotty advised them. "It's not a human brain, I assure you. It's a specialized replica that I use for emergencies like this," she further explained before she split the brain in half down the hemispheres with a nauseating *SQUELCH* that further disturbed the Ammonian acolytes. "I have a secret ability and... as much as I'd like to share it with everyone, I've got no choice but to be conservative about it here..."

"Whatever that 'ability' of yours is, you can keep it as far away from us as possible!" Vinegar protested, shielding her face to avoid seeing the grotesque image of a disembodied brain being split in half by the zombie about to eat it.

"But what about your friend there? She's gonna need help with-!"

"Stay away from her!" Vinegar shouted again. "We're not letting you harvest her brain, you cannibal!" At that, Rotty shot the Ammonian girls an annoyed glare as she contemplated just how little they knew about her.

"...Whatever. I wouldn't want to use my ability on a total stranger anyway... especially not if they're from the Ammonian Army," she dismissed, seeming to figure out who she wasn't going to heal as she turned toward Shantae and Tayshan as they remained cuddled up to one another. "Yo. Snack cakes. Stud muffin. Need a quick heal?"

"No thanks, Rotty. I'm okay," Shantae tiredly denied with a thumbs-up, though she didn't move from Tay's lap. "I'm only out of magic right now, so all I need is a few minutes of rest before I get back up..."

"I'm good, too," Tayshan also denied, though he was preoccupied with tending to Shantae to the point that he hadn't even looked at Rotty when he offered his reply. "I can manage for now."

"Okey doke," Rotty acknowledged with a nod as she turned toward Sky and Bolo, who were still writhing in agony. "Whelp, much I dislike the idea of using this on you two, it's... the right thing to do," she further rationalized with a pressured sigh as she felt bad for her acquaintances. With that, the undead young woman opened her mouth wide and devoured one half of the Fake Brain without warning.

"Ew, gross!" Twitch shouted, understandably skeeved out by the fact that she was just made to watch a zombie eat someone's brain in front of them. As one might imagine, it did nothing to ease their stress regarding the fact that they were nearly blown to bits and were out at sea with no form of escape in case said zombie went rogue. "I hope you're not lying about that brain being fake, zombie chick, because if you are, I won't hesitate to take you down!" Rather than reply with words due to her mouth being full of brains, Rotty merely craned her head toward them and gave a quick thumbs-up before turning back around and cupping her hands on Sky's cheeks. Annnnd at this point, you probably know where this is going…

"Nerthin' pershernal, birdbrain, sho pleashe don't get ther wrerng idea from thersh..." Rotty whispered to Sky while she was chewing on raw, unseasoned flesh. "Thersh ersh ernly to heal you..."

"Huh…? Rottytops, what are you-? MMMPH!?" Sky tried to ask mere seconds before she felt her mouth suddenly graced with the wet, clammy sensation of her not-so-friendly undead acquaintance's lips. "MRMPH! WHRT THR HRCK R YR DRIRNG! GRT RFF RF MRR!" the unsuspecting bird tamer shouted (or rather, tried to shout), suddenly flailing about in a mixture of rage and panic while Rotty employed her Symbiotic Brain Chomp. In the middle of this most unsavory display, both girls flashed green for a split second, though that was hardly what anyone had been paying attention to.

"Ohh…" Twitch droned, utterly flabbergasted by the fact that they just witnessed Rottytops kissing Sky.

"…my goodness…" Vinegar remarked in equal shock, pursing her own lips as both she and Twitch went wide-eyed.

"...Dude... What in the world is going on...!?" Bolo stopped writhing in unspeakable pain long enough to notice what happened right next to him. "I... did not just see Rottytops plant one on Sky of all people... D-did I...?"

"…Whelp, she did it again…" Shantae observed, barely speaking above a whisper as she laid herself up with her back pressed to Tay's chest while pulling her remaining Potion out of her inventory. Practically inhaling most of the healing serum, Shantae felt a sudden surge of energy that woke her right up. In a flash, she regained most of her energy and healed all her injuries in the miraculous fashion that her Potions often did for her. Soon after, she nudged Tay and handed him the remainder of the healing serum.

"Shoot... Rotty could've warned her, at least… Poor Sky…" Tay commented, shaking his head in disbelief before noticing Shantae handing him a vial with a swig of Potion left in it. Wordlessly, he accepted the offer as he adjusted his seating position while he still held Shantae in his arms. Seeming to have no issue with this, the half-genie refrained from separating from him in that moment, though she did take notice of the swirls of dark energy radiating off the soldier's hand. Tay, despite not being a fan of the syrupy flavor of Potions, pressed his lips to the vial and drank the remainder of its contents. The second he did, he felt a slight tingling rush that disappeared as suddenly as it came about. "Thanks, homegirl."

"Not a problem," Shantae acknowledged, looking up at him and patting his cheek with her hand before the two of them continued to watch the spectacle unfolding before them.

"GRRRRRAH!" Sky shouted as she, with a very forceful thrust of her hands, shoved Rottytops off her as hard as she could. The zombie maiden was sent tumbling to the floor with a hard *THUD* flat on her back, though she was quick to get up.

"What the heck's your problem, featherhead!?" Rotty shouted at Sky while rising to a stand and glaring at her.

"My PROBLEM!? You just KISSED me! That's my problem, you weirdo! Ugh, gross! What in the world would possess you to do that!?"

"Get over yourself! I told you I was healing you!"

"By KISSING me!? Are you CRAZY!?" Sky indignantly shouted, rubbing her mouth off and sputtering to try and rid herself of the zombie germs she'd suddenly contracted. "Eckh, that's disgusting!"

"Trust me, it was no treat for me either!" Rotty shot back, also spitting and rubbing her lips to rid herself of the bird tamer germs she'd suddenly contracted. "This'll be the LAST time I ever use my Symbiotic Brain Chomp on you!"

"What!? Symbiotic Brain Chomp?" Sky stopped spitting into the sea long enough to question. "You mean that 'secret' healing technique you were babbling about earlier!? THAT'S what you were hiding all this time!?"

"For your information, yes," she explained, though she remained highly irritated at Sky. "It works differently outside of Shantae's mind than it did inside. Either way, you were healed, so you should be thanking me right now instead of throwing another one of your hissy fits!" At that, Sky sighed in extreme vexation, scratching her head as she realized in that moment that a great deal of the pain she'd been feeling throughout her body from her battle-related injuries had indeed disappeared. It was then that the war bird trainer realized for herself that Rotty wasn't just pulling her leg. It was also then, however, that Sky realized what Rotty meant when she mentioned using this bizarre technique on Tayshan earlier. And then it dawned on her that Rottytops... also kissed Tayshan. Like, on the mouth. With a mouthful of brain matter.

"Wait... So, that means you-!?"

"Also used the same technique on those two, and neither of them whined or complained about it like you did," Rotty matter-of-factly finished the statement, pointing toward the half-genie and the soldier, whose faces went red with embarrassment.

"...Aw, man..." Tay grumbled, knowing that this was an open invitation for the discussion to go so far south that they'd be digging up ancient fossils buried close to the planet's core.

"Rotty!" Shantae yelled, suddenly furious at her zombie friend. "Why would you just blurt that out!?"

"WHAT!? You kissed them both!?" Sky remarked in total disbelief at the totally preposterous assertion Rotty made. "What the heck!? When!?"

"That's none of your business, feather face," the undead maiden refused to share, crossing her arms. "All you need to know is that they appreciated it far more than you did."

"...Wow..." Bolo groaned, still tightly clutching his aching stomach as he split his focus between nursing his wound and tempering his complete astonishment at what he'd just overheard.

"Wait, WHAT!?" Twitch bellowed in equal surprise to Sky as she registered what she was hearing. "Tay!"

"Er... Y-yeah?" he nervously responded, reading the shock on the Ammonian acolyte's face as she gawked at him like he grew an extra set of arms out of his neck.

"Tell me what I just heard isn't true! This zombie did not actually use that same disgusting 'healing technique' on you and genie girl! Right? RIGHT!?" she demanded for him to deny, hoping to the high heavens that Rottytops was joking.

"Unfortunately, she ain't lyin'..." Tay rather shamefully confirmed with a sigh and shake of his head.

"NO, TAYSHAN! THAT IS THE WRONG ANSWER!" Twitch frantically shouted, refusing to believe the notion at all costs. "YOU DID NOT KISS A ZOMBIE OF ALL THINGS JUST TO GET YOURSELF HEALED!"

"Look, it is what it is," Tay countered, growing both irritated and flustered as he tried to explain himself. "We were in a bad spot with no other healin' items... aside from a piece o' Black Licorice that would make me vomit the second I tried t' eat it, I was really low on health, an' Rotty volunteered t' help."

"Licorice? Really?" Twitch flatly, disbelievingly remarked as she found his 'excuse' to be lacking in thought.

"Yes, really..." he affirmed as he reached into his inventory to pull out the accursed candy he refused to eat, much to Twitch's surprise as he proved his point. Even more to her surprise, Tay gagged the second he caught a whiff of the abominable food item's toxic aroma as he held it as far away from his face as possible. Shantae resisted the urge to chuckle at her significant other's sharp distaste for the vile, inedible piece of candy.

"...Huh... Well, that's fair enough, I guess. Licorice is pretty disgusting..." Twitch acknowledged, scratching her head in contemplation.

"What? Twitch, what are you talking about? Licorice is great!" Vinegar disagreed, vocalizing some form of fondness for such an abhorrent delicacy.

"You're probably the only person on this boat who thinks that, Vinni," Twitch countered before turning her attention back to Tay. "But... Tay... You're really telling me that between...?"

"That between havin' Rottytops use that Symbiotic Brain thing on me an' eatin' this disgusting licorice... I'd go with the Brain thing any day..." he confidently, albeit disdainfully admitted as he shuddered with revulsion at both ideas.

"See? It's not that bad!" the zombie maiden in question added, seeming to appreciate the... rather crude recommendation.

"Awgh, dude!" Vinegar exclaimed, her face scrunching up in disgust. "Why would you ever? Even if she could heal you? And for her to have done it to you and genie girl? What the heck!? On a side note, I don't know what all the licorice hate is about. The stuff's delicious! Or at least, it should be more appetizing than warm, sopping wet, pre-chewed brains from the inside of a zombie's mouth."

"Ugh..." Tayshan groaned, resisting the urge to vomit from Vinegar's unnecessarily descriptive comparison. Sky, hearing the comparison as well, retched as she momentarily turned and held herself over the edge of the speed boat. Suffice to say, neither the bird tamer nor the soldier seemed to take much pleasure in knowing exactly how the Symbiotic Brain Chomp worked.

"Hey!" Rotty yelled in offense.

"It's complicated, alright?" Shantae interjected with a pressured sigh as she was hit with a wave of situational discomfort. Nevertheless, she wanted to defend Rottytops from further castigation. "The point is that Rottytops has healing kisses that require the use of Fake Brains, which I'm pretty sure you two knew about already from the conversation we had earlier this morning."

"We thought she was just kidding back then, to be fair," Twitch countered. "Neither of us had any idea she actually had that kind of power... however gross it is..."

"Yeah, well the proof is right here," Shantae shot back. "She only uses them in extreme emergencies. I'm not going into detail about how or when, but yes, Tayshan and I can vouch for Rotty. Her technique works. Now, can we move on from this, please? This is getting super awkward, and we've got FAR more important issues to be thinking about right now!"

"What she said," Tay agreed, still holding out the Black Licorice that he really, REALLY didn't want.

"Hmph. I doubt this is the last time we'll be talking about this, but you're right, genie girl," Vinegar acquiesced, approaching Tayshan to get Black Licorice from him. "I'll be taking this if you don't mind, by the way," she further asserted before doing the most horrible thing ever... in EATING the Black Licorice. And enjoying it... Oh, that poor woman and her terrible taste in sweets...

"You're doin' us both a favor there, Vinegar," Tay replied, having no qualms with finally getting rid of the repulsive food item in a way that didn't require him to eat it.

"Hm. Well, while I have a LOT of questions on how it could ever be possible for you and Hairball to have been victimized to the point of needing Brain Bite Betty over here to do such a thing, I'll... reluctantly let it slide for now. Of course, I expect a thorough explanation at one point or another, Tay."

"Why? It's done an' over with, an' I really don't wanna talk about it anymore. Rottytops kissed me once upon a time to heal me. Rottytops also kissed Shantae at another point in time t' heal her. That's the whole story in a nutshell. Ain't it enough for you that we're even on the topic now?" Tayshan argued, wanting to move so far beyond this conversation that the stars above would gaze at him and be amazed at how fast he was rocketing through space.

"Yeah, and it really isn't your concern in the first place unless you're that curious about what it's like to kiss Rottytops," Shantae added in agreement with Tayshan. Reeling back in collective disgust, Twitch and Vinegar looked at one another, nodded, and then turned their attention back to the half-genie and the serviceman.

"...Good point, Shantae. You got us on that one," Twitch conceded. "We'll just... pretend we didn't hear any of it and hope it doesn't invade our nightmares."

"All things considered, girls, it's not as scary as you think," Rotty interjected with a confident, mildly blushing grin, some of her own nervousness washing away as she found confidence in her two best friends sticking up for her. "For some, it could be considered a dream come true~!"

"…You're a complete mess, Rottytops," Sky griped, still wiping her mouth off as she resisted the temptation to dunk her head into the sea to gargle the saltwater they were floating on.

"Y'know, a 'thank you' would sound just as nice," Rotty complained, offended by Sky's derisive comment. "You don't have to be such an ingrate about it!"

"...Thanks, but I could've gotten something out of my inventory to heal with," she angrily informed, reaching into her inventory to pull out a slice of Apple Pie. "And I would MUCH rather have eaten this pie than have you put your mouth anywhere on me! And just so you know in addition to everyone else, this incident NEVER leaves this boat! Ever!"

"Oh, well that's just great," Rotty complained, feeling just a tad silly in that moment. "First of all, I agree. I would never want anybody to know about this at all. Second, why didn't you say you brought food earlier!? I wouldn't have had to waste my special technique on you if I knew you could already heal yourself!"

"You never told me your Brain Bite thing could only heal other people if you kissed them, Rottytops! You chose to keep it a secret! And then you just pounced on me before I got the chance to say anything! That's YOUR fault!" Sky yelled back, getting ready to hand the Apple Pie slice to Bolo.

"Ah, don't hand him that yet. My Brain Chomp will work better," Rotty ordered, throwing almost everyone off as she approached the young handyman in question.

"How?" Sky dared to ask. "It shouldn't make a lick of difference."

"It's called the SYMBIOTIC Brain Chomp for a reason; that reason being that I also heal from it, and if we can save on food items, we'd be doing ourselves a favor."

"What!?" Sky shouted, finding herself even more offended out of nowhere. "Are you serious!?"

"Yes, I am. Allow me to demonstrate to enlighten your feeble little robin's egg-sized brain," she insultingly informed her not-so-friendly ally as she grabbed the clueless Bolo by his cheeks.

"Uhhh…" he droned, uncertain of what to expect as Rotty cupped her hands around his face.

"Oh, and before I do this, Bolo, don't you go getting any funny ideas. This means absolutely nothing outside of me healing you, so I'd prefer that you didn't get all gushy or start falling head over heels for me because I'm kissing you just this once," she went out of her way to warn him, causing him to glower at her as he was made to watch her wolf down the other half of the Fake Brain.

"Agh…! Don't flatter yourself… I'm not looking forward to this in the slightest, Rotty…!" Bolo grumbled through the waves of pain in his abdomen, finding no form of humor in her abrasive comment. "Say whatever you want, but I'm not too thrilled about do-!" he continued before being cut off by Rotty pressing her brains-filled mouth to his. "Mmh?" he grunted, flinching in complete shock as the zombie maiden locked him in. And there it was yet again. And, just in case you weren't counting… I'll have you know that at this point, this makes every single one of her friends that Rottytops has used this very eccentric technique on. That aside, Rottytops pressed her lips to Bolo's just long enough for the both of them to flash green before the undead maiden swiftly separated herself from her teammate.

"There! All better!" she cheered with a thumbs-up.

"Thanks, I guess…" he hesitantly showed his limited gratitude, rubbing his lips clean with one hand while poking at his newly healed abdomen with the other. "Ew, it tastes like spoiled beef…"

"Oh, suck it up," Rotty remarked with a flick of her hand. "You know that this has gotta be special for your first kiss, Bolo," she further blurted out, humiliating the poor young man in the process.

"N-no! This doesn't count!" Bolo yelled, not wanting to accept Rotty's assertion before he realized what he said as he looked around to see everyone staring at him. "E-er, I-I mean uh… This was nothing. It wasn't even my first kiss. At all," he told in super convincing fashion as he crossed his arms and turned his head away to hide his blushing discomfort.

"Yikes… Poor Bolo," Shantae remarked as she slid out of Tay's gentle grasp and rose to her feet, prompting the serviceman to follow suit.

"You ain't lyin', homegirl," Tay agreed as the two of them approached the rest of their group to reconvene. "Regardless, we should count ourselves lucky that most of us got through this mess without bein' too badly hurt. I don't know if I can say the same for that other girl over there, but still…"

"Yeah, you're right…" Shantae agreed, taking a deep breath to alleviate some of the residual stress she'd been feeling from the disastrous ordeal. "It also stands to reason that we've still got a mission to accomplish in stopping Risky once and for all."

"Whelp, now I've seen just about everything," Vinegar remarked, still finding herself as confused as she was disgusted by the peculiar display.

"Zombies that heal people by eating brains and kissing their victims? Check," Twitch concurred, though she soon found herself grinning mischievously for a second as she nudged her teammate. Expecting Twitch to have some sort of scandalous idea, Vinegar leaned toward her to hear what she had to say. "Plus, with this kind of dirt, we could probably blackmail birdbrain into oblivion once this is all over…!"

"Oh, you're bad, Twitch…" Vinegar remarked with a quiet snicker that the two of them shared.

"Hey, is that other girl gonna be okay?" Shantae asked, turning to Twitch and Vinegar as she shifted the gears of their post-battle conversation to more urgent topics.

"Nila, you mean?" Twitch asked, momentarily turning toward her incapacitated comrade before turning back toward the rest of the team. "She's hurt bad, but she's still alive."

"Yeah. She took a direct hit to the head earlier. We can only be but so lucky she's still breathing," Vinegar added. "Of course, she's the only one of us who knows how to drive a speed boat, so until she wakes up, we're more or less stuck out here."

"Not necessarily," Bolo assured, stepping up to the plate. "I know my way around some seafaring vehicles, and speed boats just so happen to be my specialty." At that, the Ammonian girls incredulously eyed him up and down.

"Really, Spiky? You know how to drive a speed boat?" Twitch disbelievingly asked.

"Of course. Don't you remember from yesterday? How do you think I tailed you to the Inseam Municipality all the way from Scuttle Town? Or how I escaped and found that deserted island you picked me up from?"

"Ohh, yeah…" Vinegar droned in realization. "I suppose that's true enough, but that doesn't exactly tell us how good you are."

"Eh, he's okay," Sky vouched for him, much to his surprise. "You gotta give him credit where credit is due when it comes to boats. He may not know exactly how to build or fix one, but he's more than capable of driving them."

"Except for one unfortunate recent incident, I can attest," Shantae added in Bolo's favor, choosing not to mention the Thimble Canyon mishap in full.

"Wow… Thanks, girls," Bolo expressed in mild surprise, though he took the compliments all the same.

"Don't mention it," Sky replied with a quick shrug before changing the subject. "Of course, with as much damage as this boat has taken, and taking into account how much time we've spent riding around on it, can we realistically still make it to Risky's base from here? We can see it from here, but it still looks really far away from our position…"

"That's a good point, Squawks," Twitch rather impertinently acknowledged Sky's point.

"You know by now that my name is Sky," the bird tamer corrected.

"'Squawks' sticks in my mind better. Deal with it," the shorter Ammonian blonde dismissively shot back as she walked toward the driver's seat of the boat to check the console for a status report.

"So what, do you have rude nicknames for all of us or something?" Shantae dared to ask with a raised eyebrow despite knowing that she was picking a rather improper time to ask.

"Yeah, but that's hardly worth wracking your head over right this minute, Hairball," Twitch replied without actually turning toward Shantae… and while addressing her by the rude nickname she picked out for the half-genie.

"'Hairball,' 'Spiky,' and 'Squawks,' eh?" Rottytops asked Twitch, finding some humor in the fact that she was not the only one to stick nicknames to people without their consent. "Not gonna lie; those are pretty amusing. Got one for me by any chance?"

"Sure do, Brains," Twitch nonchalantly confirmed, thus dubbing the zombie girl 'Brains.'

"Hah! Nice," Rottytops cheered, finding this most irreverent nickname to be a good fit for her. "And what about Tayshan? You got a name for him?" she just had to ask, immediately alarming the soldier as he flinched.

"No, wait! Rotty, chill! She do-!" Tay hastily tried to cut in.

"I've always called him 'Tay-Tay,'" Twitch revealed as she finished inspecting the console, initially unaware of the horrible thing she'd done in revealing her nickname for Tay as he froze in a mixture of ire and embarrassment. "I gave him that nickname back when we first became friends, and it kinda stuck…"

"…Huh. Y'know, I never could understand why she kept calling you that," Bolo curiously observed, raising an eyebrow and shooting a befuddled glance at the mortified soldier. "Either way, dude, what an embarrassing nickname that is. That's rough, buddy…"

"Don't remind me…" Tay acknowledged with a frustrated scowl, evidently growing to truly HATE the nickname in its entirety in that most mortifying moment.

"D'aww, that's the cutest!" the zombie girl practically shouted as she chuckled at her alien friend's expense. "I was expecting something like the nickname I gave him, but 'Tay-Tay?' Hah, that's so adorable! Why didn't I think of that? Granted, I've grown used to 'stud muffin,' but that's a close second!" At that, Twitch chuckled along with Vinegar, thus angering Tayshan further as he growled. Little did he know, Shantae was also stifling a giggle at his insurmountable embarrassment. Don't tell anyone she did that, though. Shhhhh.

"'Stud muffin?'" Twitch dared to ask. "That's a weird one… Why that?"

"Because he's super hot, but he's also super sweet," Rotty took the liberty of clarifying, much to Tay's endless chagrin.

"Stop it," Tay desperately urged, though his request fell on deaf ears. What suddenly didn't fall on deaf ears, however, was Shantae's continuous giggling as she stood by him. As such, he turned and shot her a disapproving, pouting stare. "An' what are you laughin' at?"

"Uh, n-nothing," the half-genie tried to lie, still giggling at him as she did so. "Nothing at all, sweetie…" At that, Tay shook his head and sighed.

"…Unbelievable…" he grumbled, making the ponytailed maiden laugh at him some more in addition to Sky, who'd at least been polite enough to cover her mouth. Unfortunately for him, however, Rotty noticed his pouting and doubled down.

"Of course, he constantly tries to hide the sweet part, but the harder he tries, the more it shows," Rotty further remarked, pointing at the serviceman to emphasize her point. "That's what makes him so adorable that you just wanna hug him till he pops."

"For goodness sake, stop! Please!" Tay begged, wanting to hear no more of this emasculating discussion. "I am a grown man, not a teddy bear!" Of course, a whopping nobody agreed with him, as the rest of the group shared another laugh at his expense. Twitch, taking note of the soldier's comical disdain for the unwanted comments aimed at him, found herself… oddly relieved to see him acting like his old self again.

"Ahh, I see what you mean now. I like the way you think. That nickname definitely fits, now that you explained it," Twitch complimented, to everyone's surprise as it seemed like she and Rottytops were finding common ground with each other.

"What can I say? It takes brains to come up with a good nickname for a close friend," Rotty quipped, sharing another quick laugh with the bespectacled blonde. "Granted, I know we're not technically on the same side, but that kind of talent's gotta be acknowledged."

"Great. They're bonding now. What a totally unexpected surprise this turned out to be," Sky remarked with a roll of her eyes at the fact that her two least favorite people aboard the boat were breaking the ice with each other.

"Can it, birdbrain," both Twitch and Rottytops remarked in unison, which caused the two of them and Vinegar to laugh at Sky's expense.

"Oh look, another thing we have in common!" Rotty pointed out.

"What, you can't stand Squawks and her snobby attitude either?"

"Bingo," the zombie maiden confirmed, much to Twitch's amusement.

"Rotty! That isn't nice!" Shantae scolded, disappointed in Rottytops for taking sides with Twitch against Sky.

"Wow, you two are rude! Forget both of you!" Sky shouted in offense, causing both of her 'enemies' to snicker at her.

"And the cat claws are out…" Bolo murmured, shaking his head as he watched the mean-spirited display in full.

"Okay, so what's your prognosis on the boat, Twitch?" Tayshan asked, wanting to skip past the fraternizing session and get back to business before another war broke out on the cramped seacraft.

"Unfortunately, it looks like she's almost completely out of gas," Twitch informed the group as she turned to face everyone. "At this rate, it isn't likely that we'd make it to Risky's base from here. Not even close. So, unless we've got a back-up plan, we'll have to get lucky and find a nearby island to rest on and either signal for help or find another way there before it gets too dark. That is, unless one of you has some ability or neat trick to get us the rest of the way across."

"Unfortunately, I don't," Sky denied. "My main transport bird is out of commission after being shot down by Risky and her Tinkerbats, and the rest aren't fit to navigate at night. There's no telling how long it'll be before Wrench is up and at 'em again…"

"I have my Mermaid and Harpy forms, but I can only take one person with me at a time in either of them," Shantae was next to answer. "And considering how far we are from Risky's lair, there's no way I'd be able to make enough trips back and forth to take all of us there. My Warp Dance won't work out here either due to the limitations of that spell."

"What limitations?" Vinegar asked.

"I can't teleport to places I haven't visited before, and I wouldn't be able to teleport all of us and this boat back to Scuttle Town from here," she revealed. "It doesn't help that I don't know how far out we are from Scuttle Town, either."

"Well, shoot. How inconvenient…"

"I have my Head Warp, but I have doubts that I'd be able to launch my head far enough to get anywhere near Risky's cave up ahead."

"…Head Warp?" Twitch asked.

"Yep. I can detach my head, give it a toss, and as long as it lands on solid ground—or on certain areas of another person, as I recently discovered—I can teleport the rest of my body and one passenger to the spot where my head landed," Rotty explained, knocking the Ammonian girls for a loop.

"…Interesting," Vinegar remarked.

"Yup! Which reminds me… Tay-Tay?" Rotty called to the serviceman, immediately agitating him in the process as he breathed a VERY heavy sigh before turning his attention to the zombie girl who beckoned him.

"...Yes, Rottytops?" he answered as calmly as he could as he let it sink in that the 'Tay-Tay' virus was spreading uncontrollably.

"Do you think you could toss my head far enough over the ocean to Risky's cave from here?" she sweetly asked, paying no attention to the fact that she got on his nerves by using his 'secret' nickname.

"Hmm… I honestly don't know, judgin' by the distance alone. It's kinda hard t' see how far it is with it gettin' dark as well," he answered, studying the distance between their wading seacraft and their destination. "An' even if I could, it still wouldn't do us any good if you can only bring one person with you. That is, unless you really want t' test your luck an' see if you can stretch it…"

"Dang, that's true…" the undead young woman acknowledged. "And… to be honest, I stretch that ability enough as it is taking just one person with me. I wouldn't be able to pull it off trying to take our entire group with me."

"I figured as much… Of course, there's also the option of havin' one of us carry your head t' Risky's base in case you still wanted t' come along, but I don't think it's the most appropriate option t' bring you that far behind enemy lines with no protection."

"Safe or not, I'd still like to contribute. Plus, I've got my Concealer Ring and my Symbiotic Brain Chomp in case someone gets hurt while we're over there."

"Right, but that still wouldn't account for how you'd keep yourself safe."

"He's right, Rotty. I wouldn't want to see you be put in harm's way again," Shantae spoke up, expressing her concerns. "Even with that ring, we'd still be facing Risky and her forces at their most terrifying yet. The instant the cloaking effect wears off, they'd probably swarm you, and I don't want to even think about what could happen from there. I think it's better if you stayed with the rest of the group, so you guys can all protect each other in case another Tinkerbat invasion or ambush happens."

"Hmm… If you say so, snack cakes," Rotty acquiesced. "I'm not a fan of letting you tackle things on your own from here, but you've got a point…"

"So, what do we do from here? We can't just sit in this boat and wait for something to happen," Vinegar pointed out, growing more anxious with the more the sun had set.

"I'm thinking that maybe I can call in some of my birds to scout the area to maybe see if there's somewhere closer for us to steer the boat before it runs out of juice," Sky suggested. "At least that way, we can navigate to that location and regroup there instead of getting stranded out at sea in the dark."

"Y-yep. Definitely don't need that at all," Vinegar agreed, trying to keep herself under control once the thought of her having to be anywhere in the black of night on a tiny speed boat coasting harmlessly along the tumultuous Sequin Land Sea entered her mind.

"That sounds like a good plan," Shantae agreed. "In that case, I'm going to go Mermaid and swim the rest of the way to Risky's hideout to take care of her while you guys get yourselves to safety," she further announced to the shock of most of her team.

"Whoa, are you sure about that, Shantae?" Bolo asked in concern. "We've all seen how much sneakier and more powerful Risky Boots is now. Are you sure you're not biting off more than you could chew there?"

"She's stronger, sure, but so am I," Shantae confidently assured. "I fought her one-to-one for a bit earlier while I was on her ship, and I've got an idea of what to expect from her this time."

"Will you be allowin' me t' tag with you, then?" Tay asked, wanting to make sure Shantae understood the level of danger Risky posed.

"Of course, I will!" she exclaimed, actually managing to surprise him. "I'd be crazy to go in there by myself, and you alone have proven yourself more than capable of handling Risky in a fight. Together, I know we can take her," she further offered her vote of confidence in him, though a thought hit her in that moment. "…My only concern, though, Tayshan… is… um… er…"

"The Dark Magic won't pose a threat t' me," he assured, guessing what she was going to say. "It still burns like no tomorrow, an' I'm still not fully able t' keep it under control at this point, but I trust myself enough right now t' be mindful an' not overdo it."

"Well, yeah, I can see that," she acknowledged, finding some fleeting relief in his ability to keep such a powerful evil influence under his control for the sake of good… however ironic that was. "But… that's… not exactly the main thing I'm worried about…"

"Hm? Then, what is?" he asked, growing worried for her as she shot him a heavily concerned look that shook him to the core. It was like she was about to lose her pet, she seemed so apprehensive. Nevertheless, she looked around and noticed that everyone who was conscious in that moment was looking at her in worry that she was going to break some bad news to them.

"…I'm sure it's not that big a deal," she dismissed for the moment, not wanting to alarm anyone. However, she knew for herself what she wanted to address with Tay. She'd been trying to address it with him since they reunited with one another earlier during the day, but the opportunity never seemed to present itself. And at this point, with everyone watching and listening to her, she lost her nerve yet again. "I think I'm just a little nervous about how this battle's gonna go with the two of us against Risky Boots. If I'm still thinking about it when we get over there, I'll… I'll tell you before we engage her. Okay?"

"…I guess so, baby, but if it's troublin' you that much, you do know you've always got my ear. Right?" Tay offered, still sensing that Shantae was hiding some deep-seated doubts within her mind.

"Sure thing, honey," Shantae acknowledged with a smile, though it was riddled with immense uncertainty. "In any case, we should probably get going. We can't allow Risky too much time to plan some underhanded revenge tactic, and the sooner this is over, the better. Are you ready?"

"I've been ready for this all day," he confidently assured, clenching his fists as they involuntarily ignited with Dark Magic yet again. "An' today's the day Risky Boots is paid back in full for every person she harmed…!"

"My thoughts exactly, but please make sure you're minding that Dark Magic. I can tell how much it's been affecting you throughout the course of this exhaustive battle, and I don't want to see you get hurt," she warned. "I'm just as determined as you are to take Risky down, but don't let it overwhelm you again, sweetie."

"You ain't gotta tell me twice…" Tay acknowledged as he closed his eyes and took a deep, heavy breath to calm his nerves. In that moment, the aura around his body calmed down a bit, though it still radiated off him like an active purple flame.

"You're still glowing… Hm. Well, if it starts to hurt you again, or if you feel like you're becoming corrupted, let me know."

"Duly noted, boo," he assured with a nod.

"Good… Alright, here goes," Shantae remarked, engaging in a quick routine of shaking and swiveling her hips while holding her arms outward. Within seconds… "Transform," she plainly proclaimed as she, with another *POOF*, morphed into Mermaid-Shantae once more. "Good. Now, I will say that it might still take a little bit to get over there, Tay. Are you okay with me putting you in another Transport Bubble?"

"Sure, as long as you don't try t' drown me in it again," he remarked, causing her to nervously chuckle a bit.

"Sorry! I think that was because we were underwater when I activated it last time," she explained. "It's a new ability, so I'm not entirely familiar with it just yet. I still suspect that it should work totally different on land than it does underwater. As in, the bubble will have air in it instead of water. Wanna try it out and see?"

"Hm. Not like we have another choice at this point. Let's do it," he agreed, approaching his mermaid-formed comrade and crouching to meet her at eye level. "Ret-2-Go when you are," he further remarked with a wink, eliciting a pleasantly surprised giggle out of her.

"That's my line, homeboy," she teased as she rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh, is it?" he jokingly asked. "I've only heard you say it a few times…"

"Only a few? Cute, Tay. Real cute," she taunted, causing him to chuckle a bit.

"You're the only one I'll let get away with that," he remarked, though he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe this wasn't the most appropriate time to be flirting with the half-genie. "On that note… Er, hold up," he suddenly paused, prompting Shantae to raise an eyebrow.

"Hm? What's up?" she asked, though he responded by taking her hands into his and raising to a full stand for a moment. Soon after, he turned toward the rest of the group while still holding the mermaid maiden's hands.

"I er… I-I don't really know how y'all are gonna take this, an' I won't deny that it's an awkward time t' say it… but for better or for worse, it's been an honor fightin' alongside y'all," he rather somberly informed them. None the wiser in that moment, most of the group took Tay's sentiment at face value. Shantae, however, found herself hit with an incredibly unnerving pang in her heart as she fixed her worried gaze on the serviceman standing before her.

"Likewise, Tay, but the fight isn't over yet," Vinegar confidently replied.

"We'll save the thanks and congratulations for after we put that hag Risky in her place," Twitch added in equal confidence.

"And trust me, when we're done, we're definitely planning something to help us unwind," Rotty additionally shared.

"Something tells me we're all gonna need just that," Sky added with a smile.

"I agree with the girls, but it's definitely been an honor being comrades in arms with you as well, dude," Bolo conclusively added with a thumbs-up. Knowing right away that his allies didn't understand the reason behind his statement, Tay paused for a moment, contemplating if maybe this was an appropriate time to… well, to break the news to them about his premonition. He quickly shifted his gazes to the bright, shining eyes of his unassuming comrades one by one, his heart pounding with a disquieting intensity as he remained silent. Before too long, however, he took a deep, shaky breath and offered his reply.

"…Yeah. I'm glad we're all on the same page," Tay stated with a smiling nod, though the smile only hid the insurmountable pressure he'd been feeling in regard to the approaching final battle. "An' if this goes the way it needs to, then I'm sure we'll uh… W-we'll get the break we been needin' since forever."

"Tay?" Shantae called to him, causing him to turn to her.

"Yes?" he replied, giving her his full attention.

"We'll get through this. Together," she assured him, gripping his hands tighter. "And no matter what, Risky won't be allowed to hurt anyone else; especially not you."

"…I trust an' believe, homegirl," Tay remarked with a confident grin that eased her tension just a little. "I'm just ready t' finally put this situation t' rest, so we can get on with our lives. I know I've got a long road ahead o' me in terms of adjustin' here, so the sooner, the better."

"Count on it that I'll be there with you every step of the way, hon," the endearing mermaid assured him. "It won't be long before we start working on that, and I personally can't wait to hang out after we finish with Risky Boots. As for right now, though… Are you ready?"

"Sure, except for one thing if your plan is t' put me in another bubble."

"What's that?" she asked, causing him to turn back toward the rest of the crew in the wading speed boat.

"Um… S-so, I don't wanna make anybody feel uncomfortable here… but uh…" he stammered, not really certain how to address the pressing concern of the method of Mermaid-Shantae's latest technique.

"What?" Sky asked, none too sure of what the issue was.

"Um… The way… that we have t' get this Mermaid Bubble thing to work…"

"Oh, that? Don't worry, sweetie! I've got it this time!" Mermaid-Shantae assured, taking a hard, deep breath. Following up with a very strong exhale, the mystical maiden opened her mouth wide to produce a bubble that rapidly expanded, growing bigger and… well, bubblier by the second. Before Tayshan could even attempt to figure out what was happening, he found himself entirely encapsulated within the giant watery orb. The Transport Bubble itself turned out to be big enough to comfortably fit the soldier inside, but not quite big enough to overtake the boat. Once he was unexpectedly swallowed up in the sphere, Mermaid-Shantae pressed her hands to the part of the bubble still connected to her mouth and carefully detached herself from it. And, with a rather mild *Pop*, her technique was completed. "There! Airtight and ready to roll!"

"…Wow," Rotty remarked as she and the others stared in awe. "The things this girl is capable of… It never ceases to amaze me."

"You can say that again," Twitch agreed, finding herself speechless at the unusual event that just transpired in front of her.

"All set, Tay?" Mermaid-Shantae asked, to which Tay responded by waving his hands toward her and attempting to speak. Unfortunately, no one could hear him from the inside of the bubble. "…I'll take that as a 'yes,'" she assumed, pushing her bubble-trapped partner into the water, where the bubble it the surface with a buoyant *Plop*. Soon after, the half-genie jumped into the frigid sea with an additional *Ploosh*. "Alright, you guys! Make sure you don't take too much time to get yourselves to safety! With any luck, Tay and I will make short work of Risky and bring this saga to a close before anyone else has to get hurt!"

"Whoa, hang on!" Bolo protested. "What about the rest of us? You're not seriously going to do this alone again after everything that just happened, are you?"

"I'm not opposed to you all coming along to help, but it's clear by now that we can't all make it to Risky's base like this," Mermaid-Shantae answered. "I can only take one person with me, and as long as it's the case that this boat won't make it there before it runs out of gas, it looks like Tay and I will have to handle Risky ourselves."

"Yeah, but who's to say we should actually follow her to her base immediately instead of regrouping in a safe spot and planning another counterattack?" Vinegar asked. "What if she's expecting you to tail her right away?"

"That never seems to matter to her. Whether I come for her ten seconds from now or ten days from now, she always has a plan on how she'll try to throw me off my game. Either way, we all know Risky's not gonna give us another chance to foil her schemes if she has anything to say about it," Mermaid-Shantae countered. "We barely managed to hold her off this time, but the second she feels like she can pull a fast one on us, she will. I understand the reasoning behind letting her go for now and figuring things out, but I know Risky way too well by now. Our best bet at this point is to strike while the iron's hot and while we have her in a corner."

"Hmm… A-are you sure about that, Shantae?" Rottytops found it in herself to ask. "I mean, we've all seen what Risky's capable of at this point. I don't doubt you can do it, but even with Tayshan there to help you, it just seems to me like that old bat really does mean business this time."

"I've never been more certain of it, Rotty. Believe me," the half-genie asserted with an expression of pure determination on her face. "The longer we wait to finish the job on Risky Boots, the more opportunities she'll have to cause more mayhem and destruction. And we've seen far more than enough of that over the last month alone. Plus, she hurt you guys, and I REFUSE to take that lying down. I'm gonna get her; this time, for all of us."

"You're as fired up as always, Shantae," Sky observed with a contemplative sigh. "It's that kind of confidence I kinda wish we all had at a time like this, to be honest. Regardless, if this is the way it has to be, then… then make sure you take Risky down as quickly as you and Tay can manage. At this point, I'm sure we can all agree when I say I just want this to be over already…"

"Ditto," Bolo concurred. "Granted, I would prefer to be there with you to end this mess on a high note, but yeah."

"No kidding," Twitch also agreed. "In that case, we'd better get cracking on finding dry land before it gets too dark. If you would be so kind, Squawks?" she 'politely' requested of Sky, who merely sighed.

"…On it," Sky complied, whistling to summon a team of owls that hovered over the boat. With a series of nonverbal gestures, the owls dispersed into pairs in search of an appropriate landing spot for the anti-pirate crew.

"I'll take the driver's seat, then," Bolo volunteered, quickly taking his opportunity to contribute. "As soon as we've got a spot to make landfall on, I'll get us over there."

"Sounds good to me," Vinegar concurred, sitting down next to the unconscious Nila as she remained motionless. "Hopefully, we can also find a decent clinic or hospital to check Nila into. She's in bad shape…"

"Hm. Then, for whatever it's worth, I guess I'll keep watch for enemies and keep my Concealer Ring on standby," Rottytops offered her cooperation as she took a seat. "You sure that this Nila chick's gonna be okay, though? I mean..."

"No, you're not kissing her like in some fairy tale to make her conscious again, Brains," Twitch fervently denied. "She'd tear your head off for it the second she woke up."

"Well, it's a good thing my head's already detachable," Rotty joked, emphasizing her point by removing her head with a *pop* from her neck before reattaching it.

"Uh-huh..." Twitch remarked, hiding her total astonishment at the corporeal enigma that was Rottytops. "Well, she'd tear your head off and fling it into the sea where you wouldn't be able to get it back. She's fine as is for now."

"Suit yourselves," Rotty acknowledged with a nonchalant shrug, not giving the idea of healing Nila another thought.

"Indeed. Alright, I'll ride shotgun and cover," Twitch dismissised before volunteering to take the front passenger seat. As soon as she got herself situated, she readied a rifle in case any looming threats lurked about.

"I've got a good enough feeling that you'll be safe from here on, but it's always good to be prepared," Mermaid-Shantae observantly lauded her friends and situational allies. "I couldn't be more thankful for your help up to this point. Thank you. All of you."

"Eh, it's no biggie," Twitch casually answered with a shrug. "We owe you all one. I'm… not sure if our genuine help this late in the game is enough to make up for everything, but it's the least we could do."

"I agree," Vinegar added with a tilt of her head. "I'm also fairly certain we won't all necessarily become 'friends' once this is over, but at the very least, Twitch and I hope we've done enough to help you stop Risky Boots again."

"There's only one way to find out at this point, girls and guy," Shantae replied, taking a deep breath as did her best to keep her cool in the tense moment. "And I'm not planning on having this turn out in any way other than with us saving the day."

"Spoken like a true hero," Sky confidently offered her support with a smiling thumbs-up. "Best of luck to you two, girl! Make sure you stick it to Risky good this time!"

"Yeah, make her regret messing with us!" Rottytops additionally cheered, having utmost faith in her teammates' ability to defeat the Pirate Queen once again.

"And whatever you do, don't let her get the drop on you! She's done more than enough of that to all of us as it is," Bolo strongly advised, though he was also confident that Shantae and Tayshan could deal with Risky together.

"I promise! Alright, we'll catch up with you in a bit! Get yourselves out of here as soon as you can!" Mermaid-Shantae assured before turning and, with a bubbled-up Tayshan in tow, blasting off at a speed that nearly rivaled that of the speed boat they'd just dismounted. And with that, our dynamic duo was off to face their final challenge of this epic saga. Meanwhile, their allies had committed themselves to finding a safe place to take refuge in the encroaching dusk. Would the remainder of the final battle be quick and easy, like they hoped? Would Risky Boots seriously be taken out in such a short time, considering there were two heroes facing off against her in the final battle instead of one? And for that matter, what more would Risky Boots do to ensure she found some form of success after being thwarted so soundly? There were many, many questions to ask about how the impending clash between good and evil would transpire, but we could still count on it that our heroes' resolve remained high and their hopes of succeeding in their final quest remained strong. Even with the many setbacks they were faced with in the sea-based skirmish along the waves of the Sequin Land Sea, our heroes remained determined as ever to deliver justice and peace to the fair country's inhabitants. Of course, with certain ideas in mind on how their efforts in contrast to Risky's could potentially lead to their downfalls, they remained vigilant. Whelp, that just about wraps it up for this phase of the final fight. I trust that we'll meet again, so I can tell you more. As always, you wouldn't want to miss it. Catch ya in the next installment! Arrivederci!