Chapter 19: Clash of Arms, Pt. 3: The Ultimate Price

Well, folks… This is it. The time had finally come. There isn't much to say at this point, so I'll make it quick. After weeks of endless deadly conflicts, large-scale life-or-death adventures, the unthinkable destruction of multiple cities and landmarks throughout the quaint little country of Sequin Land, and the tireless efforts of a certain half-genie hero, her extraterrestrial sidekick-turned-lover, and their friends to thwart the latest dastardly world domination plot of a notorious pirate captain and her highly dangerous bat pirate crew… we have at last hit the final stride. And, in case you need a(nother) refresher, 'Queen of the Seven Seas' Risky Boots had launched what could very well have been her most lethal, most brutal, and most merciless campaign to date. Using the remainder of an ultra-powerful weapons collection she stole from another world entirely, she had set out to bring about the downfall of Sequin Land as we knew it in her bid to claim absolute power all for herself. And though she and her Tinkerbats caused mayhem, carnage, unrest, and pandemonium wherever they went… her operation had still found itself falling apart at the seams.

'Legendary Super-Genie' Shantae, assisted throughout her travels by the 'Enigmatic Soldier from an Unknown Land' Tayshan, had been made aware of Risky's plans before she was able to launch them. Springing into action as soon as they heard the call, Shantae and Tayshan banded together and fought valiantly through a monstrous series of wild, increasingly dangerous, life-threatening challenges to stop their common enemy in her tracks. And despite Risky's unpredictable and outright heinous efforts to exterminate, detain, manipulate, enslave, or otherwise incapacitate them, the two heroes stuck to their guns-both figuratively and literally-and saw to it that Risky would be made to answer for her numerous crimes. And after Shantae and Tayshan, alongside a small assortment of reliable friends and situational allies alike, pulled nothing short of a miracle by stopping Risky Boots from invading a vulnerable Scuttle Town and by extension the Sequin Land Palace, they pressed on to confront the self-proclaimed Pirate Queen directly to put an end to her campaign once and for all. They succeeded in eliminating most of the remaining weapon stash housed in Risky's base of operations, in addition to completely dismantling her only means of interdimensional travel, though those tasks did not come easy. On top of that, they still had one last goal to accomplish… and at this rate, we could only hope our heroes could accomplish it...

LOCATION: RISKY'S DESTROYED BASE, WESTERN EDGE, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: OCTOBER 3RD, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 0000 HOURS

"Well? Are you insolent pests ready to be exterminated?" Risky Boots asked, her bodacious form shrouded head to toe in Dark Magic, her piercing red eyes locked on the half-genie and the soldier standing before her in the bombed-out remains of her hideout.

"I'll say it just one more time, Risky: You're about to make a huge mistake in fighting us again," Shantae advised, her entire body surrounded by a luminous, flowing aura of Light Magic that rivaled her enemy's in ferocity and intensity. "You've already lost. If you continue, you know it won't end well for you."

"Save the sentimental trash for the birds. We settle the score here and now, brat. And believe me when I say this: I won't be satisfied until I've completely broken you down, so you'll never even think about attempting to stand in my way again. This abhorrent travesty of you mucking up my schemes left and right has gone on for far too long, and you've had this beating coming since the day you first dared to defy me. Lucky you, you won't be alone. Your precious boyfriend here will go down along with you."

"That will only happen in your darkest, most deluded fantasies as far as we're concerned," Tayshan interjected, his body swirling with a powerful flow of Dark Magic like the Pirate Queen standing before him. Although, the black and purple aura coating his form frequently flickered with flashes of white and light blue. Peculiar… Nevertheless, he stood by Shantae's side as the duo stationed themselves in battle poses next to one another. "If you won't make the smart choice an' stand down, then everything that happens to you from this point falls squarely on your shoulders. Don't say we didn't try t' give you an easy way out when this is over."

"Oh, Tayshan, you hopeless fool…" she mused, snidely chuckling as she did so. "Even now, you have no idea how big the hole you dug yourself into is. I'm going to enjoy ripping the both of you do-gooders to pieces, and you'd better believe the experience will be ANYTHING but quick…!" And with that, a tense, fiery standoff took place as our heroes stared down the fearsome Pirate Queen. For a moment, no one made a move. No one made a sound. The encompassing ambience of miscellaneous background noise filled the air alongside the subtle, whispering hums of the combatants' respective magic auras.

As the roaring evening waves of the sea crashed in the background, the *SPLASHes* of the Sequin Land Sea's waters smacked against the floor of the cave through the gaping hole in the wall where the incinerated remains of the Tinker-Portal rested. The frigid, drafty winds whirling from the outside contrasted heavily with the sweltering heat from inside the dimly-lit cavern, whose only source of light was the remaining torches lined up along the walls that had miraculously not been caught in the chaotic crossfire of the previous battles. The faint sizzling of the melted Weapons Crates stacked along the perimeter of the hideout still drenched in acid contributed to the foreboding atmosphere as the combatants readied themselves for the brawl to end them all. However, this intimidating standoff wouldn't last long before Risky adjusted her stance to where she held her sword above her head with one hand while the blade was pointed toward her enemies. She grounded her stance and stretched her other hand outward toward her adversaries as she locked her gaze on them like a hawk about to feast on hapless rabbits.

"Hrrrrrrrrryaaaaah!" Risky Boots shouted, her voice echoing throughout the cave like a million of her were screaming all at once. A massive rush of Dark Magic suddenly came flaring out of her like she'd been doused in gasoline and set ablaze. The massive *FRWWOOOOOSH* of her energy exploding threatened to blow anyone away that wasn't prepared. Swirling winds whipped up like the titanic battle's umpteenth typhoon was ready to demolish the cavern in its entirety. The ground beneath the combatants began to tremor like there was an impending earthquake about to strike. The voluminous, surging *CRACKLEs* of the purple-hued lightning bolts shooting off the malevolent Pirate Queen's rapidly growing aura threatened to utterly incinerate anything that came too close to her. By all means, it appeared Risky wasn't just ready for battle... she was ready to end this 'war' in as little time as possible as she built up all the energy she could muster.

"Gahh...! Sh-shoot...!" Tay exclaimed, shielding himself by crossing his arms over his face as he did his best to ground his stance by digging his feet into the wet ground beneath him. "The heat wave comin' from her is so intense...! It's like steppin' right into a burnin' building...!"

"Yeah...! She means business now, so we're... we're gonna have to be absolutely ready for anything she's about to throw at us...!" Shantae shared, equally as taken aback by Risky's incredible boost in power as she dug her feet into the ground, turned her head and shielded her face with her hand. Before either hero knew it, however, Risky hit the peak of her bolstered strength with an overwhelmingly loud, powerful, definitive *CRRAKLOCK* as her Dark Magic aura blazed and danced off her form like an uncontrollable wildfire.

"Now, you fall!" Risky suddenly roared as she dashed forth at an incredible, blinding speed almost faster than the eye could see without warning. The dastardly lady pirate charged squarely at Shantae with her scimitar and with such speed that she may as well have become a human bullet in that moment. Risky seemed to want to maim or severely injure her most recurrent adversary right off the bat.

"Not a chance!" Tayshan yelled, stepping up and catching the Pirate Queen's wrist with a deafening, echoing *SMACK* of it against his hand as she tried to swing her sword at Shantae. Ignoring the burst of incredible pain in his hand that came with blocking such a powerful strike, he countered by twisting her wrist outward to try and force her to drop the weapon, though Risky Boots reacted by drawing her gun with her free hand and firing a barrage of bullets. With a series of *POWs*, the flashing marbles struck the soldier in the chest.

"Agh!" Tay shouted, stumbling back as he was forced to let go of his adversary's wrist to clutch his chest in stinging agony.

"Yaaaah!" Shantae bellowed as she charged in from behind the serviceman, a fireball at the ready. With a burning *FWOOSH*, she flung it as hard as she could, though Risky dodged and anticipated the half-genie's approach. Just as Shantae closed the distance and launched a Hair Whip attack to catch her off-guard, Risky countered by holding up the broad side of her scimitar, where a metallic *PLANG* rang out from the hair-on-sword impact. Shantae and Risky Boots locked each other into combat with additional *PLANG* after voluminous *PLANG* after shocking *PLANG* of the half-genie's hair against the lady pirate's sword. While backing up to create distance while clashing with Shantae and parrying her Hair Whips with her sword, Risky tried to counter by aiming her pistol and firing another three or four rounds at the half-genie. Shantae proved quick enough to avoid taking damage as she batted the brutal buccaneer back with a rapid flurry of Hair Whips that all found themselves blocked by her adversary's sword. Meanwhile, Tayshan rushed in from the side, attempting a lightning-quick hook at Risky's face while it appeared Risky was distracted.

"You morons are too easy to read!" Risky declared, weaving backward to dodge the incoming punch in its entirety, the *WHOOSH* of Tayshan's fist splitting the air. Flinging her foot up as hard as she could, the Pirate Queen landed a horrifying *CRACK* of a punt to the serviceman's jaw, followed by another *THRASH* of a thrust kick to his abdomen to nearly bring him to his knees. As soon as she managed to stun the soldier, however, the half-genie whipped her hair at her once again. This time, however, Risky caught Shantae's ponytail with the hand in which she'd still been holding her sword. Pulling Shantae forward by her hair, Risky aimed her pistol right at Shantae's face with the full intent to force feed her a heaping load of hot metal.

"No!" Shantae yelled, springing an arm forth and grabbing the gun. She'd just barely managed to direct the pistol away as Risky discharged another round with another *BANG*. Half-expecting it, however, Risky used the distraction pull Shantae forward again by her hair to deliver a nauseating *THUMP* of a thrust kick to her enemy's abdomen, "Gohooogh…!" the unfortunate ponytailed heroine choked out from the intolerable pain.

"Now eat this!" Risky shouted, keeping her grip on Shantae's hair strong as she reeled her back in and slammed her pistol into the other woman's face with a disgusting *CLACK* that sent her crashing to the ground. Taking the opportunity as it presented itself, Risky hurriedly sheathed her gun and used her freed-up hand to grasp the younger woman's ponytail, pulling hard on it while stretching her scimitar as far behind her as she could. "You can't run away from this haircut forever, brat! You're way past due for one!" Risky roared, swinging the sword as hard as she could to attempt to ruin her archrival's hair. Only, this opportunity would not come. The *CLANG* of Risky's sword against a blunt object stopped her short. "What the…?"

"HUUAAAARRAGH!" Tayshan yelled, wasting zero time charging up a hefty supply of Dark Magic into one fist while it appeared that he blocked Risky's blade with a blunt piece of metal held in his other hand. And, with an explosive *PRAPLOW*, the soldier sent the Pirate Queen soaring across the base, where she'd landed with a *PLOOSH* into a gigantic puddle formed by the water sporadically pouring into the base from the hole in the wall. Immediately after, he helped Shantae to her feet as she clutched the side of her face with a hand. "You good, sweetheart?"

"Agh…! As I'll ever be," Shantae assured, massaging her aching cheek as she reoriented herself. After climbing to her feet, she fixed her ponytail once more before taking a deep breath. "How'd you block her sword without getting hurt?"

"With the piece o' my old Desert Eagle I found on the ground earlier," he revealed, showing her the broken-off barrel to his defunct firearm.

"Oh. Right, I… I did that. Sorry, Tay…" Shantae apologized, feeling a tad guilty for destroying the serviceman's signature weapon.

"Don't worry about it," he assured as he patted her on the shoulder and stuffed the broken piece of his Desert Eagle into his pocket. "It's better that it was neutralized, so Risky wouldn't be able t' use it against us. In all honesty, it was a good call on your part, Shantae."

"Hm? Really?" she asked, perking up in mild surprise.

"Yeah. You know from experience how strong it was, and evidently, Risky found that out, too. If we couldn't take it back, then the next best thing t' do was destroy it, so she wouldn't have that kind of advantage over us."

"Hmm... I suppose that's true, but I know how important that gun was to you."

"It was important in the sense that I wanted t' use it for the greater good... for an old friend's sake," he explained as he took a quick breath in remembrance of the old friend in question. "An' even now, that's exactly what I just did, despite the fact that the gun is broken. Plus, you're far more important t' me than a simple gun could ever be. There ain't a need for you t' worry about it."

"Aww, Tay..." Shantae remarked, flattered as her heart skipped a beat and a sudden, warm, exhilarating rush of a tingling sensation coursed through every inch of her body. In turn, her Light Magic aura's presence amplified without warning as she exchanged looks with her significant other.

"I mean every word o' that, in case it needs t' be said. As long as we can rely on each other, we can manage without the Desert Eagle."

"Understood... In that case, let's do this...! Together...!" the half-genie acknowledged with a nod as she internalized his statement. It went without question that Shantae wanted nothing more in that moment than to keep fighting alongside the man she loved in the wake of their most dangerous battle yet. Just by examining him in his weary, yet determined state as he so cutely smiled at her... His luminescent, magic-filled golden eyes... the numerous scars across his face he sustained from previous adventures... the other numerous scars littered across his bare, glistening, sweat-bathed, muscly torso when she flicked her eyes to his chest for a second... the fact that, even with everything they'd been through, he stood by her without hesitation, his body radiating a most peculiar mix of dark purple and light blue aura stemming from the magic forced into him from the moment he stepped foot into Sequin Land... The overall image of the soldier in that moment filled the young woman with an almost overwhelming torrent of affection, anxiety about how he'd hold out in the long run, and... an undeniable desire to protect him at all costs. And before she knew it, her feelings had caused another rush of that invigorating tingling sensation. And before she could even identify it, she felt the presence of her magic skyrocket to a level she'd never thought it could reach. Turning toward Risky as the Pirate Queen recovered from the nasty hit she took, Shantae brought herself back into focus before tensing up every muscle in her body and... "HaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she hollered as an utterly astonishing burst of light blue energy came surging forth from her curvaceous form. Just like Risky Boots moments earlier, an all-encompassing heat swallowed up the cavern as winds rivaling that of a monumentally destructive tropical storm whipped up and whirled around the young heroine. Her power had suddenly exploded with the force of the world's biggest bomb.

"Whoa...!" Tay remarked as he had to shield his face with an arm and dig his feet in to avoid being blown away yet again. The all-consuming heat of Shantae's bolstered power emerging from her like a humongous geyser threatened to melt everything around her. The erratic quaking of the ground beneath them had the serviceman swearing that the cave was ready to collapse on them. His heat-of-the-moment hypothesis wasn't helped by the fact that bits and pieces of the stalactites high above began to crumble and trickle gravel and debris with the longer Shantae continued to power up. The blinding brightness of her sparkling blue aura came close to rivaling the sun itself as the half-genie's energy intensely radiated from her body like a mighty, uncontainable forest blaze that could very well disintegrate anything and everything in its path.

"Grrgh...! How could you have still been hiding this much power...!?" Risky grumbled as she shielded her face with both arms and grounded her stance to brave the gale force winds coming from her archenemy. "Darn...! Looks like I really will need to pull out all the stops from here if I expect to win...! Failure will not be an option... Not if I can do anything about it..." she further observed, tensing up every burning, aching muscle in her body to keep herself in her position while keeping her Dark Magic flowing at the ready for when she struck.

"YAAAAAAH!" Shantae shouted as she, with an incredibly startling *KAPWEEEERRSSHHH* of her energy crackling like fireworks mixed with claps of the absolute LOUDEST thunder imaginable, reached the peak of her strength. "Hah...! Whew, what a rush...!" she exclaimed, taking a moment to register the phenomenal experience of her magic suddenly soaring way past its normal peak despite her not having drank another potion. "Huh..." she further pondered, staring at her hands as they surged with Light Magic that she scarcely recognized. "I... I've never felt anything like this before... at least, not since the day I regained my magic during my fight against the Pirate Master..." In that moment, the swirling winds had finally come to a halt, as did the unsettling quakes of the cavern. What remained constant, however, was the effervescent, sparkling aquamarine energy rising off her body like the world's most dazzling smoke

"Jeez, Shantae..." Tay murmured, lowering his arm from his face as he registered the absolutely otherworldly occurrence that was the young heroine overflowing with energy. "What... What was that...?" At that, Shantae turned to Tayshan to reveal that her sapphire-hued eyes were glowing and glimmering just as brightly as her aura was.

"I'm... not sure, but it's got me feeling like I could take on an army of ten thousand rabid gorillas and come out on top without breaking a sweat..." she did her best to explain as she flexed her tingling fingers.

"That strong, huh? Unbelievable..." he murmured in complete and undeniable amazement at Shantae's sudden massive boost in power. "Hm. Just when I think I figured everything out about you, you always find a way t' exceed my expectations by a million miles..."

"Yeah, but I'll be honest and say that I probably wouldn't have gotten this strong without you," she admitted, taking deep, coordinated breaths to stabilize her energy as the flaring, sweltering blue aura calmed down just a bit. Nevertheless, she caught her boyfriend by surprise with her comment.

"R-really? How do you figure that?" he asked in moderate astonishment, his heart skipping a beat as he tried to hide his surprise.

"In a few words, you've given me a lot of reasons to be my absolute best at all times since we met," she reasoned as she took one more deep breath to bring her power back under her control. "And, in the wake of us finally approaching the end of this weeks-long nightmare with Risky Boots, in addition to us professing our undying love for each other, I'm going to make absolutely sure we finish strong. I want to protect you, just like you've been protecting me and our friends all this time. It's about time I returned the favor. And I'm gonna do absolutely everything in my power to make sure of that."

"Heh, I'm feelin' a 'Power of Love' vibe right about now. Not that there's anything wrong with that at this point," the serviceman quipped, though he drew his own form of inspiration from the spectacular phenomenon he witnessed of his half-genie lover.

"Much as I'm sure we don't want to admit it, that's... exactly what it is," she confirmed with a nod, every inch of her skin growing warm like she'd taken a dip in the universe's most soothing jacuzzi as she felt her magic fully ingraining itself into her very core.

"Ain't nothin' wrong with admittin' it now, because I can tell we're gonna need all the power we can muster t' finally take Risky down," he assured as he felt his own energy begin to swell up inside him once again in anticipation for the battle to come. As a result, his arms became enveloped in shrouds of light blue and dark purple. "Seems like in more ways than one, we'll be dependin' on each other t' get through this together. I wouldn't have it any other way..."

"My thoughts exactly," Shantae fully agreed with a determined nod. "Thanks for the assist earlier, by the way, babe. You saved my hair yet again."

"Anytime, though it seems t' me like she's learned real well how t' counter it," Tay advised, taking the moment to massage his aching jaw. "I'm sure you know this already, but I'd suggest puttin' a limit on how often you use your Hair Attack here. An' for that matter, she's hittin' both of us a LOT harder than she was earlier. Just two or three hits, an' she's got me feelin' it int' next week…!"

"You and me both… She clocked me a good couple times as well," she agreed, shaking off her own residual pain from their recent scuffles with Risky Boots as she readied herself up for what she hoped would be the final round.

"If this is her at full power, then we're not only gonna have t' work hard…!" he trailed off, tensing up to summon another swirling *FRWOOOOOOOORSH* of his own energy bursting forth and sending yet another blast of scorching heat dispersing throughout the battle-damaged cave. Just like the others standing nearby, the serviceman's energy surged and flickered off his skin like dancing flames while jolts of electricity sporadically raced around his body. Though Shantae felt another twinge of discomfort in her stomach as a result of Tayshan reactivating the Dark Magic within him, in addition to her feeling every bit of the heat wave he generated, she didn't flinch.

"We're gonna have to work smart, too," she finished his assertion, concurring with him as the two watched Risky Boots climb to her feet, brushing the wet dirt from her pants as she glared at the two of them. The Pirate Queen didn't even bother tending to the scorching bruise on her cheek. "In that case, Tay, let's do it. It seems like you're better at handling her up close, since she doesn't know your fighting style that well. Meanwhile, I can adapt and maybe hit her from a distance, getting in her face when it's appropriate. I'm thinking if she's gonna pull out all the stops, we might as well do the same. We should be able to get an edge by planning our attacks; even if we don't get much time to do so as we deal with her. That, or maybe I can start mixing in my Dances, since she's so keen on trying to slice my ponytail off every time I try to attack her with it."

"The Dances might work, but be careful. She's also got that gun, an' she won't hesitate t' pop you if she sees you're occupied with tryin' t' pull off a transformation," Tay warned. "An' handlin' her up close is one thing, but there's no way she's gonna let me get close enough t' strip that sword or that gun from her without heavy punishment if I mess up. She's learned that much from the last few times we fought. An' while it sounds like a good idea for you t' keep your distance, we never know what Risky might do t' try and counter that..."

"I see. You raise a good point there. In that case, we'll have to coordinate. No matter what we come up with, though, I'm confident we can still get just the edge we need to finish this battle strong," Shantae proclaimed, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves as the atmosphere grew eerily quiet for a moment.

"Heh…!" Risky Boots chuckled, grinning menacingly at the duo as she struck another battle pose, this time with her sword and gun drawn. "Seems to me like you punks know just the kind of danger you're in now. Good, because I'm more than ready to make all your worst nightmares about me come true…!"

"Bring it then, Risky! We're going to take you down, no matter what you throw at us!" Shantae proclaimed as she and Tay lined up next to one another and entered their battle poses.

"Let's see you try! Haaah!" Risky declared, charging up her energy as her body became engulfed in so much Dark Magic that it seemed like the purple and black flames were burning her alive… only, as the flames flashed and danced on the surface of Risky's skin, Risky Boots shot her enemies a most terrifying glowing-eyed grin. And, with another mighty, howling *FRWOOOOOOOSH*, the Pirate Queen's energy exploded, sending such a dense, deeply unsettling wave of hot air ripping through the atmosphere that her enemies had to turn their heads away and shield their faces with their hands. Playtime was over, and Risky let them know right away. Before either of the heroes could get a word in on how immense her power was, Risky Boots charged at the duo with her gun drawn. And with that, the real battle had begun…

SHANTAE (FULL POWER) & TAYSHAN (MAXIMUM MAGIC FLUX) VS. RISKY BOOTS (UNLEASHED): THE FINAL SHOWDOWN!

"THIS IS IT! DETHRONE THE PIRATE QUEEN!" both Shantae and Tayshan announced in unison, immediately forced to jump away in different directions as Risky fired a salvo of pistol rounds at them. The second they separated, however, Risky sped up, immediately charging after Shantae.

"Figures you'd go after me first!" the ponytailed maiden called out as she landed just in time to block Risky's bullet barrage with a well-timed Reflector Bubble. Capitalizing on the opportunity, however, the darkness-consumed Risky Boots dashed in and, with a speedy tornado spin, swung at her nemesis with her scimitar. "WHAH!" Shantae shouted as the *SCHWING* of the sword narrowly missed her neck as she dashed backward. "Are you crazy!? You could've cut my head off!" she complained, blocking the next swing with a *PLANG* of her surprisingly sturdy hair against the blade.

"A shame you didn't stand still for it, then!" Risky barked without a care in the world for her enemy's safety as the girls engaged in yet another hair versus sword duel. It wouldn't last long, however, as a metal canister was spotted hurtling through the air in their direction. The quiet *plish* of the device near Risky's feet in the gigantic puddle she was standing in went unnoticed. Both of the adversarial women fiercely scuffled with one another, battling it out for an early advantage.

"Shantae, hop toward your six!" Tayshan shouted to his partner while she was going head-to-head against the wrathful buccaneer.

"My six…?" Shantae pondered for a second as she dodged a flurry of sword swings, though she remembered within a second what Tay meant. "Oh! Got it!" she further exclaimed, dodging just one more of Risky's sword swipe to jump as far back as possible, leaving Risky puzzled as to why Shantae was told to jump to a number. She wouldn't get the chance to ponder it further, however, as a sudden *KAPOW* rang out, leaving the lady pirate stunned as she held her head with the hand in which she had her sword. As it appeared, Risky was hit with a Stun Grenade while she was distracted fighting Shantae.

"Good…!" Tay quietly exclaimed in relief as he rushed toward Risky at full speed. "Shantae! If you've got somethin' up your sleeve, pull it out now! Haarrrraaah!" he further instructed, reaching Risky in as little as a second before taking a swing with a magic-charged fist. Much to his dismay, however, Risky opened her eyes and ducked under the sneak attack at the very last second.

"Nice try, you filthy mongrel!" Risky spat at him, her senses seeming to have completely shaken off the effects of the flashbang grenade. As such, she countered by ramming the hilt of her sword into his stomach. The disturbing *KATHRASH* of the weapon sent Tay doubling over, almost completely incapable of registering the pain ripping through his abdomen.

"Guhaaaagh…!" he choked out, using most of the energy he had built up in that moment just to remain on his feet. Wasting no time, however, Risky aimed her gun squarely at his head, only for him to lunge forward to grab it. Expecting this, Risky jumped backward to create distance, firing shots at him to keep him from pursuing her. "Darn it, she slipped me…! I don't know why that flashbang didn't work, but that don't mean she can get away that easy…!" he murmured, reaching into his inventory as he chased after Risky. In return, Risky kept her distance, dashing around the arena while firing potshots in the soldier's direction to keep him at bay.

"No! Shoot, she's already about to gain the upper hand…!" Shantae realized right away as her Reflector Bubble dissipated. For a moment, she watched Tayshan intently as he pulled out a pistol of his own and began firing *BANG* after *BANG* at Risky, only for the Pirate Queen to show off her increased agility by dodging every round fired at her while still firing back at him. "Looks like we'll have to force her to slip up…!" she further observed, raising her arms and gyrating her hips as she took a deep breath to focus.

"Come on, Risky! You scared o' me now or somethin'!?" Tay taunted, relenting on chasing his opponent down in favor of engaging in a one-on-one shootout where the two of them had been rapidly circling the area while the collective *BANGs* and *POWs* of their pistols went off like fireworks.

"Not even in your wildest dreams!" she yelled back, denying his claim as she continued to endlessly fire round after round at him while he quickly emptied his magazine.

"Darn it! I'm out of ammo, but she hasn't stopped shootin'…!" Tay realized, picking up the pace dashing around the arena while Risky kept unloading an endless hailstorm of rounds at him. "Looks like she rigged that pistol t' have a bottomless magazine, too…" he further observed as Risky suddenly began sprinting toward him.

"Haaaaaaaaryaaaaaah!" Risky shouted as she charged forth, giving Tay no time to breathe as she kept on firing rounds at him. The soldier, realizing he was in grave danger, opted to do the only feasible thing he could do in the 2.3147 seconds he had before Risky wreaked an unholy fury on him.

"Have a taste o' THIS!" Tay shouted, stopping in his tracks to fling the empty pistol at Risky while she was dashing toward him. Yes, his 'bright' idea was to throw the empty gun at her. Though it caught her off-guard, she sidestepped the unconventional projectile and pressed on, only ceasing her merciless gun barrage to try stabbing him with her scimitar when she got close enough. With a petrifying *SWISH*, Risky attempted to run the sword clean through her opponent. "Gyah!" Tay shouted, nearly panicking as he hurriedly dodged the incoming attack. She grazed his side with the incredibly sharp weapon, causing him to wince as he moved out of harm's way. Despite this, Tay powered through and grabbed Risky's wrist with one hand while charging up a supply of Dark Magic into his other hand. In the time Risky took to aim her gun at him, he launched his assault by throwing a monstrous haymaker that wound up clashing with Risky's hand. The *KACRACK* of their fists tearing through the air, Tay found himself surprised that Risky adjusted just in time to block the attack. As such, they found themselves locked in another deadly grappling match as Tay tried to rip either one of Risky's weapons from her hand.

"Tayshan! Jump high to your three!" Shantae shouted from above, alerting the other two combatants to her position. When they looked up, both Tay and Risky saw what appeared to be an elephant plummeting toward them at a diagonal angle.

"Whatever it is you're about to do, I hope it works…!" Tay murmured, listening to Shantae's command to disengage Risky and leap to his right as high as he could manage in the moment. As his feet left the ground, the earth-shaking *PRAPLOMBOMBOMB* of Elephant-Shantae's hooves hitting the ground sent a spray of shockwaves through the floor that immediately paralyzed Risky for a moment. Capitalizing on the momentary advantage, Elephant-Shantae charged at Risky while she found herself temporarily unable to move. And, with a powerful *KABLANG*, the genie pachyderm sent Risky Boots packing.

"Gaaaaagh…!" Risky groaned, hurtling through the air before smacking into the wall behind her with a voluminous *THWACK*. Soon after, she hit the water-soaked ground on her hands and knees while still keeping possession of both of her weapons. She wouldn't be put down for long, however, as she quickly got up and put her gun and sword away. She reached into her inventory and pulled out a miniature cannon and charged toward her adversaries without warning.

"Sorry that took so long. You holding up okay, honey?" Shantae asked Tayshan as she morphed with a *POOF* back to her human self and checked up on him.

"I'm good, but it looks like Risky ain't even close t' done with us yet," Tay warned, pointing at Risky as she dashed toward them. Getting the message right away, Shantae prepared herself alongside Tay as Risky suddenly jumped high into the air and aimed her portable cannon directly at them. "What the…?"

"It's her Cannon Jump attack! Come on, we've gotta move!" Shantae warned, taking the serviceman by the hand and pulling him out of harm's way as the first *PRAPLOWGH* of Risky's air cannon sounded off. With a whistling *WHEEEESH*, a full-sized cannonball went bulleting in the heroes' direction. As Shantae and Tayshan hurriedly avoided it, the cannonball hit the ground with a wet *PAPLONK* that left a massive dent in the stony ground beneath it. Gracefully landing on her feet, Risky quickly locked her eyes on the interlopers.

"Now, I remember you mentionin' she had a repertoire o' specialized weapons at her disposal… Is that one of 'em?" Tay asked, panting as he held his aching side.

"Yes. This is one of at least three of her Special Attacks," the half-genie explained as Risky Boots jumped high once more and aimed her portable cannon at them. With a startling *PRAPLOWGH*, the hefty cannon fired another cannonball at the duo, prompting them to dodge in separate directions while Risky gained some extra hang time. "When she jumps, Risky can use that cannon of hers to shoot cannonballs at us and keep herself high enough in the air that we can't reach her," Shantae continued to educate Tay as another *PRAPLOWGH* from the air notified them that Risky fired her second shot directly at her. "Yikes!" she yelped, performing a last-second back flip to avoid being bowled over by the dense metal basketball-sized sphere coming at her like a meteor. With another ground-smashing *KATHONK*, the cannonball hit the ground where Shantae stood moments earlier and rolled along. "Whew... That was... Oh, no! Tay! On your nine!" she called out as she saw Tay race toward her to check on her. As he approached, she caught sight of Risky descending upon her partner with her scimitar sword pointed downward while she tucked her feet onto the hilt like she'd been riding a pogo stick.

"Wha-!?" Tay barely got the chance to utter as he turned to his left at Shantae's behest. And, just as he feared, Risky was hurtling toward him with the gleaming blade of the scimitar aimed at him from above.

"I'll cut both of you down to size!" Risky barked, diving in toward Tayshan faster than a bald eagle as she readied herself to practically nail him to the ground with her sword.

"Hah!" Tay shouted, diving and rolling out of the way just as Risky closed the distance with a *KATRINK* of her sword against the ground.

"Lucky move, but let's see how you handle this!" Risky shouted, immediately charging toward Tayshan while he was recovering from his evasive maneuver. Expecting her not to give him a break, however, Tay did his best to adjust with what little time he had. And, just as Risky came bolting in to swing her sword at him with all her Dark Magic-enhanced might...

"Hooh!" the soldier grunted, ducking under the speedy sword swing, the *SWISH* of the shining blade slicing the air hard enough that one could see the molecules splitting off the razor-sharp edge of the sword. Paying little heed to how close Risky came to slicing him to pieces in a single strike, Tay countered by dashing in and throwing a series of magic-augmented jabs at Risky that seemed to move faster than the naked eye could see. Yet, as he threw his rapid-fire punches, Risky had zero issue dodging every single one of them despite having a fraction of a second to dodge each successive attack. "Hrrrrah!" Tay further yelled as he used his offensive position to try and kick Risky away, only for her to block his foot with the blade. The *KLACHING* of Risky's sword against his metallic boot sent a shockwave ripping through the air as the soldier and the lady pirate clashed once again.

"Wide open!" Risky bellowed, having immediately identified an advantage as she pulled out her gun with her free hand and fired three shots at the soldier while he was vulnerable. Each successive *BANG* of the pistol she fired echoed through the cavern as one round struck the soldier in the leg on which he was standing while the other two struck him in the chest.

"Gaah!" he hollered out in agony, collapsing to the ground while holding his aching knee. "Darn it, you play dirty...!" he cursed at her, wincing in unbelievable agony as Risky raced toward him to take the opportunity she was looking for. Before she could get close enough to do so, however...

"Kyaaaaah!" Shantae hollered out, soaring in from the side with her foot extended as she prepared to clean Risky's clock with a well-timed flying kick.

"Hmph!" Risky grunted, spinning around Shantae as the half-genie flew by. Risky attempted to counter by hammering her archenemy in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword as hard as she could. Seeing it coming, however, Shantae landed just in time to duck under Risky's unscrupulous sneak attack. Risky Boots would not be outsmarted here, however. As Shantae was turning around to engage her, Risky got set to aim her pistol right at the back of ponytailed adventurer's head when...

"Watch your six, Shantae! Tooryah!" Tayshan suddenly yelled, recovering from Risky's previous assault with just enough time to grab at her pistol. The gun went off with another *BANG* as its round thankfully soared off in a completely different direction. Nevertheless, Tayshan and Risky Boots entered yet another close-quarters scuffle as he tried to rip the firearm out of her hands.

"Get your dirty paws off me, you mangy-!"

"Enough with the dog jokes!" the thoroughly displeased soldier shouted as he tried to twist Risky's wrist to tear the gun from her grasp. "Grrgh...! Come on...!"

"Hrraah!" Risky shouted, reaching as far back as possible with her other hand as she played the world's most intense game of Tug of War with Tayshan over control of her pistol.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shantae hurriedly cut in, grabbing Risky's other wrist while she was preparing to slash Tayshan with her sword.

"What the-!? Hey! You lily-livered punks! Unhand me!" the Pirate Queen demanded as that game of Tug of War got at least a hundred times harder for her due to her being pulled in two different directions by both of her enemies.

"One way or another, you're droppin' these weapons!" Both Shantae and Tayshan shouted back, each one of them trying their hardest to pry either the gun or the sword from Risky's grasp. Risky, however, would have none of their foolhardy shenanigans. Even when she was being pulled in two separate directions and being forced to divide her strength between snatching her gun from Tayshan's hands and snatching her sword from Shantae's hands, Risky had some unsavory trick up her sleeve... and speaking of unsavory tricks...

"Don't get ahead of yourselves!" Risky suddenly yelled as she suddenly dropped her sword, causing Shantae to begin loosening her grip to grab for the weapon. It was at that exact moment, however, that Risky snatched one of Shantae's wrists into her own hand with a tight enough grip to crush bricks into dust. With a flickering burst of Dark Magic coursing through one arm, Risky Boots reeled Shantae in before the unsuspecting half-genie had a chance to prepare herself. And, with a monstrous *KAPLOCK* of her forehead against her enemy's cheek, Risky unleashed a very, VERY dirty headbutt on her dancer-themed adversary.

"Gaaagh! Oww...!" Shantae groaned in excruciating pain, inadvertently letting go of Risky's sword to nurse the sudden splitting headache she sustained from Risky's cheap shot.

"You're gonna PAY for that!" Tayshan yelled, infuriated by the sight of Risky Boots harming Shantae in front of him. Keeping one hand on Risky's gun, Tay cocked his other fist back with the intent to punish the Pirate Queen. Without warning, and while charging a massive load of Dark Magic into his fist, the angered serviceman aimed his next haymaker right at Risky's face. Keeping herself fully alert, however, Risky dodged the incoming punch by leaning back, the humid *WHOOSH* of her enemy's arm racing past her. "Shoot...! You're-!" Tay was about to complain before Risky, with another rush of Dark Magic coursing through the arm Tay was holding, reeled him in the same way she did Shantae.

"Eat THIS!" Risky shouted as she cocked her knee back while Tay was being hoisted forth. Before he could get the chance to properly defend himself in the wake of his being thrown off balance, Risky launched her second devastating strike. With a nasty *THUMP* of her knee against his exposed abdomen, Risky threw a vicious knee right into Tayshan's stomach that forced him to double over. Surprising to Risky, however, was that he kept his grip on her gun despite the debilitating abdominal agony she'd inflicted on him. "Grrragh! Stubborn, you are...! But I've got just the thing for that..." she murmured, reaching toward Shantae while she was still nursing that awful headache and grabbing the unsuspecting half-genie by the back of her head.

"Agh...! Hey, wha-!?" Shantae was about to ask before she found herself being propelled forth with the speed of a high-end sports car. "Whoooooaaahaah!" And before either she or Tayshan knew it...

"Hrrrrrrraaah!" Risky hollered again as she charged as much Dark Magic into her hand as possible while grabbing Shantae by the back of her head. She used that power to fling the unprepared genie girl across her own body, where Tayshan's vulnerable face was waiting. Within seconds, and with a most cringe-inducing, echoing *KRATHWACK* of their faces smacking into each other, Risky flung Shantae face-first into Tayshan at what could be considered mach speed. Almost immediately after being forced to butt heads, the duo toppled over one another with Tay landing with a *THUD* flat on his back while Shantae found herself planted on top of him. Panting as she recovered from her dishonorable sneak attack, Risky took the fleeting moment to massage and stretch her aching shoulder as she reached for her scimitar on the ground nearby.

"Gaagh, awrgh...!" Tay groaned, clutching his head with both hands as he remained flat on the ground while registering the devastating impact of his partner's face smashing into his own like a medicine ball flung from a catapult.

"Agh, jeez...!" Shantae also groaned, immediately rising to a seated position while massaging her horrendously aching forehead and shaking her head to reorient herself

"Since you two like fighting together, I'll do the both of you a favor by burying you together!" Risky taunted, hurriedly picking up her sword and aiming her gun at the duo while it seemed they were defenseless. Without even a millisecond's worth of warning, Risky fired the next *BANG* of a shot from her pistol, aiming right for Shantae's head. Having been alerted to the extreme danger she and her teammate were in, however, the half-genie reacted on pure instinct.

"Bubble!" the lavender-haired heroine shouted, pressing herself up against Tayshan to cover him while a familiar blue force field spawned from seemingly nowhere just as Risky's round came careening toward them. With a *plink* of the high-speed projectile of the protective barrier, the round went whizzing back to its sender while catching her by total surprise.

"Gah!" the Pirate Queen bellowed, narrowly dodging the flashing marble as it brushed past her cheek and scorched it as it zoomed by. This unwanted turn of events, however small, sent Risky's temper through the roof. "My face! Grrrgh...! That's it! I'm going to end the both of you peons right now!" she further roared, sheathing her pistol and whipping out that fancy (read: fearsome) portable cannon of hers and jumped as high as she could manage. Aiming the cannon directly at Shantae and Tayshan while they were still grounded, she fired another cannonball with an ear-splitting *PRAPLOWGH*. Immediately, the cannonball found itself deflected back by the *SPWEESH* of its jarring impact with Shantae's Reflector Bubble. Counting on this, however, Risky fired five more shots (which is FAR more than she was normally allowed to utilize) as she inched herself to a position where she hovered directly over her adversaries.

"Haaagh...! Come on, bubble, hold out for just a bit more...!" Shantae murmured, pressing herself onto Tayshan as she poured all her focus into maintaining the shield as it began to crack under the immense pressure of Risky's cannonball barrage. Each successive *PWEERSH* and *PWONG* of the dense metal spheres against the barrier made it increasingly apparent that it was going to break any minute. However, the final *PLANG* of just one more cannonball smacking into the shield shattered it into a million magic pieces with a sudden *KAPLWEEERGSH*, leaving the heroic duo entirely vulnerable.

"Ahhagh...! Shoot, those cannonballs are a lot stronger than they used to be...!" the half-genie complained, moving to rise to a seated position as she remained straddled on top of her teammate. However, she found herself pinned to the serviceman as he hurriedly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back down. "Gah...! H-hey, what-!?"

"I'll skewer you!" Risky hollered from way up above as another *WROOOOOOOOOOSH* of Dark Magic erupted from her while she was high enough in the air to touch the stalactites hanging from the cave's very, VERY high ceiling. Preparing to cut this battle short (no pun intended), she switched out her cannon for her scimitar and pressed her feet to the hilt while aiming the blade directly at her targets. And, with a mighty *FWISSSSHHHH*, Risky bulleted down so fast that afterimages were trailing behind her. It went without saying, however, that she wanted nothing more than to destroy her enemies in that moment. Unfortunately for her, however, this opportunity wouldn't come like she wanted it to.

"Hrrryah!" Tayshan hollered, clutching Shantae tightly as he regained just enough of his senses to spot Risky Boots violently plunging toward them with that despicable sword in her hands. Just as she was about to close the distance and set up most grisly crime scene in the history of Sequin Land, the soldier rolled to the side with the half-genie in tow. He'd barely gotten one full roll in as Risky's blade penetrated the ground with a startling, echoing *SHKINK* and nearly sunk all the way to the hilt.

"Are you kidding me!? There's no way you should've been able to dodge that!" Risky complained, evidently very unhappy with her failure to brutally maim the two heroes when she thought she had the chance.

"An' there was no way we was gonna sit there an' let you turn us into a kebab!" Tayshan yelled back as he found himself planted on his hands and knees while Shantae laid under him. Hurriedly climbing to his feet, Tay lent a hand to his partner. Graciously taking his offer to help her up, Shantae reached for and grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her up to her feet. "Real quick: If you got another one o' those Animal Dances you think could help us out, now's the time t' use it...! I'm gonna buy you the time you need t' pull it off... Of course, we also need t' remember not t' overexert ourselves. If we play it smart enough, we can outlast her like we've been plannin'..." he whispered to her, to which the half-genie merely nodded despite being incredibly worried about the serviceman's wellbeing. Immediately after they agreed to their last-second plan, however, Tay went charging in just as Risky, with considerable effort, pulled her scimitar out of the ground.

"You want more punishment!? Come and get it!" Risky dared him, not at all bothering to retreat as Tay closed the distance between them. Meanwhile, Shantae began to rhythmically gyrate her hips, a swirling pink mist forming around her as she focused her energy.

"TOOWAAAARGH!" the furious serviceman shouted as he, with another explosion of that strange mixed magic, took another swing at Risky with a magic-charged fist. Despite being caught by surprise, however, Risky dipped under the hook and countered by swiping her sword upward with a *SCHWISH* of its blade against the open air, forcing Tay to dip to the side to avoid getting sliced. Taking it as an opportunity to punish him, Risky charged a collection of Dark Magic into her foot and attempted to deliver a world-obliterating roundhouse kick directly to Tayshan's face while he appeared to be distracted. However, with a monumental, crackling *THROCK* of her heel against his forearm, Tay put as much strength as he could muster into blocking the attack that could've very well ripped him to shreds had he not been prepared.

"Your resistance is only delaying the inevitable! Lay down and submit already!" Risky demanded, pulling her foot away before Tay could grab it. She hurriedly swung at him with her sword, causing him to lean back to narrowly avoid it slicing him across his chest as she hopped back to create some distance.

"Not even in your wildest dreams, demon! DOORRRAH!" Tay valiantly defied, racing toward Risky and closing the gap between them the instant she landed. And, with another *PLOCK*, his energized fist clashed against Risky's. As soon as they did, however, he noticed the Pirate Queen wincing in what appeared to be excruciating pain as she swiftly pulled her arm away and delivered a solid *THWACK* of a kick thrown at blistering speed that nearly knocked him off his feet as she connected with his jaw again. "Ahagh...!" he groaned, taking the briefest of moments to rub his aching chin before shaking it off and charging in to avoid the next *SWISH* of a sword swipe from his enemy. Within seconds, the soldier and the Pirate Queen became embroiled in another heated storm of blows. They quickly began swirling around the arena, matching blow for magic-infused blow as they they tore into each other once again.

"Argh, why do you have to be so annoying!? Do us all a favor and go down already!" Risky demanded of him as she let loose a series of sword swipes that he managed to dodge by bobbing and weaving as she chased after him. Each successive *SWISH* and *FWEEERSH* came hard enough that even just slicing the air, you'd swear she was ripping through space-time. Worse yet, her swings and swipes were coming in as though there were at least fifteen of her trying to cut her opponent down all at once. It was only a wonder that Tayshan, even WITH his reflexes boosted by his magic, found himself even remotely capable of avoiding getting chopped up into a human-sized salad.

"'Annoying' ain't the word for it! At least, not for me, it ain't!" Tayshan countered as he tried to turn the tide of the scuffle by throwing sporadic jabs, crosses, and kicks to try and catch Risky off-guard. The Pirate Queen refused to be outmaneuvered, however, as she swiftly dodged or blocked every attack he threw at her. No matter how quick the soldier was on his feet, she knew FAR better than to let him get an up-close advantage on her at this stage in the game. As such, she only became more aggressive with her assault (as if it was even possible) as she tried harder to cut him down to size. "Maybe you're the one who should get a clue an' quit while you're behind instead o' wastin' everybody's time tryin' t' save your doomed, failed plan! Get it through your thick skull that you lost already!"

"Why you insolent little...! I am going to tear you limb from limb for that!" the Pirate Queen shouted in a soul-ripping rage, immediately upping the ante by unloading a rapid barrage of sword swings, kicks, and elbow shots that immediately forced Tayshan into an entirely defensive position as he opted to relent and retreat to at least get some room to breathe. Risky would have none of it, however, as she belligerently hounded him all around the arena.

"Hah...! Ghaah...!" Tay panted, doing his absolute best to keep the infuriated Pirate Queen at bay as he committed himself to blocking and dodging as many attacks as possible while Risky poured the pressure on like a violent waterfall. "One way or another, you're gonna burn yourself out, an' when you do, we'll finish this in a flash...!" he murmured just before eating a fierce left hook to the face that landed with a horrifying, crackling *PRACK* and forced him to stumble back. "DWA-HAAGH!" he yelled, feeling every bit of the impact that should've shattered his jaw into a scrambled mess of loose teeth and pulverized bone fragments. Checking to see that this wasn't the case, Tay did his best to shake off the pain and momentary dizziness that came with taking a punch of any kind from the likes of Risky Boots.

"Shyaaaah!" Risky hollered, jumping high and whipping out her cannon to aim it at Tay while he was recovering from the haymaker she blasted him with. With another *PRAPLOWGH*, the enraged pirate captain fired another cannonball at him from the air. Forced to dodge, Tayshan hopped backward as the wayward projectile smashed into the ground with enough force to leave another dent. Intent on capitalizing on her situational advantage, Risky Boots fired seven more shots at him in such rapid succession with *PRAPLOWGH* after *PRAPLOWGH* after ear-splitting *PRAPLOWGH* that it almost appeared as though she repurposed her cannon into a Gatling gun that fired cannonballs instead of bullets. Suffice to say, Tay found himself on the receiving end of the world's most dangerous game of dodgeball as he was made to leap, hop, and dive roll out of the way of every shot.

"Whah!" he shouted, jumping over one of the many giant metal projectiles blasted at him. Every cannonball came within inches of pummeling him as he performed a series of graceful, yet incredibly hurried spins, twirls, flips, and weaves to keep from eating a giant ball of iron-clad doom. And, just as one cannonball he dodged smacked the ground with a dense metal *KATHWANG*, he turned and saw one more coming directly for his face. "Gwohh!" he hollered as he ducked under the speedy metal sphere of doom with JUST enough time for it to brush over his hair with a mighty, windy *FWOOSH*. Just as the final cannonball hit the ground with another startling *KATHWONG*, Risky came barreling in with her sword at the ready.

"Try and dodge THIS one, dog!" Risky threatened, coming at Tayshan from the air faster than any of her cannonballs had. Rather than run away or attempt to block her incoming strike, however, the soldier opted to clench a fist and cock it all the way back behind him while it flickered with an intense concentration of magic. As Risky rapidly closed the distance on him, preparing to slice him to ribbons with her sword as she came flying in like a nosediving jet, Tay locked his gaze on his adversary as he clenched his fist even tighter and readied himself by stretching one leg backward and planting that foot firmly into the ground. "HAAAARRRYAAAAAH!" Risky shouted as she, with little other warning and with a sudden, burning *SWISH*, took her swing. However, it narrowly, NARROWLY missed as she shaved a few small strands off the top of Tayshan's head instead of doing any significant damage. The reason she'd failed to slice him up as she'd hoped was because the serviceman had just launched his counterattack in the exact same moment. Risky hadn't even landed on the ground at this point as she watched Tay propel himself forward and upward off his back foot while swinging his magic-bathed fist upward toward her chin. He'd also appeared to leave the ground for a moment as he threw his explosive punch, tucking the foot he launched himself with upward as he built further momentum by jumping off his remaining foot as he fully extended his magic-enshrouded fist. And, with a truly astonishing *PRAPLARKK*, Tayshan landed a most brutal and unexpected jumping, spinning dragon uppercut whose impact ripped through the air within the cavern like a chainsaw through paper. "Ghaagh...!" Risky grunted, having been flung high and far away as a result of the insolent alien soldier's obnoxious propensity to pull dirty tricks when she least appreciated them.

"Gotcha...! Hah...!" He quietly cheered as he gracefully landed on his feet, taking the moment to catch his breath. His break would be a woefully short one, however, as Risky Boots almost immediately somersaulted in midair to correct her position before landing directly on her feet as well. "Ah, are you serious...? I put so much power int' that punch...!"

"You wanna play it that way, do you? Okay, then... Let's see how you like this...!" Risky murmured, shooting Tayshan the most horrific death stare she'd mustered in ages as her crimson eyes gleamed to reflect her ravenous desire to decimate her opponents. In that moment, she noticed Shantae on the side belly dancing as an all-encompassing Light Magic aura swirled around her. "And just for good measure, since you won't be going anywhere right this second, brat..." the Pirate Queen further murmured, reaching into her damaged breastplate to reveal a Frag Grenade.

"What the...? Hey, what do you think you're-!?" Tayshan was about to demand to know, spotting the pine cone-shaped explosive device in Risky's hand as Risky snatched the pin from it and flung it as hard as she could toward the occupied half-genie. "Shoot...!" he cursed, hurriedly dashing with a burst of unprecedented speed toward the airborne grenade as it soared across the cavern like a football being punted across an open field. "Shantae, look alive! Hrryah!" he shouted as he used his Propeller Boots to jump as high as he could to intercept the incoming Frag. It took mere seconds for him to reach it and swat it away with a *WHACK* of the dastardly device against his open hand. However, the grenade would be the least of his worries.

"Fell right for it, you pathetic fool...!" Risky quietly gloated as she charged an enormous supply of crackling Dark Magic through her entire body while she held her sword to her side with the blade pointed forward. Without warning, she dashed forth at top speed, moving fast enough for a series of dark blue afterimages to trail behind her. As Tayshan landed after swatting the grenade out of the air with a *PLACK* of his boots on the stony surface of the cavern floor, he immediately picked up the gradually increasing volume of Risky's rapid footsteps as she bolted toward him.

"Tay! On your five!" Shantae worriedly shouted, her belly dance nearing its completion as she spotted Risky charging at Tay from his right while he was distracted. Sensing the urgency of the situation right away, Shantae began gyrating her hips faster as she tightened her focus. Much as she wanted to jump in and spare Tay any additional hardship in fighting Risky alone, she knew for herself that their plan would fall apart if she didn't commit to her part. As such, the half-genie shook her hips faster than she ever had as she decided on what to transform into.

"Grrgh, shoot...!" Tay cursed again, realizing Risky had made a devious play on him by using the grenade as a decoy. Just as he turned in Risky's direction, however, Risky was basically right in his face. She sped toward the soldier with the speed of a bloodthirsty ostrich, ready to destroy him where he stood. Expecting him to possibly dodge such a straightforward attack, nevertheless, Risky improvised by performing a graceful spinning dash forward that caused Tayshan to tense up in anticipation of her next move.

"Soorah!" Risky hollered, spinning like a professional ice skater to close the distance between herself and Tayshan. Immediately afterward, she thrust her scimitar forward with all the Dark Magic she could charge into one hand, looking to turn her adversary into a human pincushion.

*Yah!" Tay hollered, narrowly dodging the *FWISSHH* of the scimitar's blade by stepping to the side as fast as he possibly could. However, the blade glanced his side, leaving a scalding hot mark on his exposed torso that burned like a branding iron pressed directly to his skin. "Gaahagh...! You-!" he was about to complain before a sudden, bone-shattering *KATHRASH* of Risky's Magic-bathed foot thrusting full force into his stomach cut him all the way off. "Gooowaaaagh...!" he struggled to utter as Risky kicked him hard enough that she could've potentially ran her foot clean through him if she wanted to. Nevertheless, Tay doubled over in excruciating agony, clutching his horribly aching abdomen with both arms as he tried to catch his breath. He would receive no such kindness from the likes of the merciless Risky Boots, however.

"Time to go for a ride!" she shouted as she sheathed her sword and rushed toward Tay before she turned around to where he was behind her while sliding her shoulder under his chin. Afterward, she wrapped the corresponding arm around his head, placing him in a most brutal chokehold as she pressed her magic-shrouded hand to the back of his head as tightly as she could. Before the vulnerable serviceman could even begin to struggle to break free, Risky jumped up and forward, yanking him off his feet like she'd tied him to a speeding truck. Stretching her legs out in front of her, Risky Boots finished her nefarious technique by slamming backside-first onto the ground with a powerful, ground-shaking *WHAM*. Meanwhile, Tayshan, who'd been unable to break free, found himself hit with the full momentum of Risky's gruesome 3/4 facelock jawbreaker attack. With an utterly grotesque *KAPLACK*, Tay's extended jaw went crashing into Risky's shoulder like a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil while he found his knees hitting the ground with simultaneous *THWOPs*. As though for the sake of adding more emphasis on the unspeakable power of the lady pirate's attack, the grenade she'd thrown had exploded with an ear-splitting *KABLAAAAAAM* at the exact same second she hit the ground. The sheer, unadulterated force of the Pirate Queen's technique sent Tayshan dramatically hurtling backward through the air like he'd been blown back by a massive gust of wind. Before long, he landed flat on his back with a *PLOP* on the ground a surprising few feet away.

"Ooh-hoogh...! Aaawrgh...!" the unfortunate soldier groaned, his jaw and his abdomen surging with unbelievable pain as he gingerly pulled himself onto his hands and knees. Soon after, he began massaging his jaw in hopes that Risky's dirty move didn't leave him needing an emergency dentist appointment. He would get no time to think about when to schedule his appointment, however.

"Hope you liked that absolute stunner of a new technique of mine, Tay-Tay, because there's a LOT more where that came from!" Risky taunted, rolling back to her feet and wasting no time in sprinting directly toward her opponent. And before he got the chance to do anything to stop her, Risky cocked her foot back and, with another awful, miserable, echoing *KAKRASH*, punted Tayshan hard enough in the stomach to send him sliding across the wet cavern floor. He stopped just shy of hitting the crumbling wall behind him as he continued trying to recuperate. And, defying the odds that would normally have scared away even the most fearsome contenders to Risky's unprecedented power (and perhaps against his better judgment), Tay managed to just barely pick himself back up. His knees quaking in the moment as the magic aura coating his body grew even more intense, he shook off the pain as best as he could just as Risky came racing in with her gun drawn. *POP* after *POW* after *BANG*, Risky fired a salvo of flashing marbles at Tayshan, hoping to completely overpower him and beat him into submission before Shantae had the chance to pull off another underhanded sneak attack. "By the time your girlfriend figures out what to do, I'll have long since demolished you!" she shouted as she continued doggedly pursuing him. Keeping her archenemy in mind, however, Risky pulled out another Frag Grenade and tossed it at Shantae while Tay was too preoccupied to interfere. With a *WHOOSH*, the grenade went hurtling through the humid air across the cave toward its intended target.

"Oh, no...! Shoot, shoot, shoot...!" Shantae quietly panicked, forced to stop dancing and summon another Reflector Bubble just as the grenade landed with a *PLINK* against the ground just a few feet away. And before Shantae could get another word, the device went off with a mighty *BOOOOOOOOM*, scattering shrapnel and gravel in all directions. Luckily, Shantae's shield pulled through in the form of deflecting all the incoming projectiles aimed at her. Realizing that her move came at the cost of her needing to start her dance over, Shantae hurriedly kicked it back into gear as she raised her arms and began swiveling her hips as rhythmically as she could. "Darn it, she's caught on...! Come on, Tay...! Just hold out a little longer...! I'll be ready soon enough...!" Shantae pleaded, struggling to keep herself focused enough to complete her Animal Dance as she watched Tayshan take a malicious beating from Risky Boots. And while seeing him get back up and press on relieved her in the moment, the immensely concerned half-genie knew that they were running out of time before Risky turned the tides of the battle exclusively in her favor.

"Gah...! Hah...! You're gonna be made t' regret that for sure, you connivin' witch...!" Tay grunted, dodging the incoming rounds before suddenly dashing off to the side with as much strength as he could muster as he witnessed Risky sneakily toss her grenade at Shantae moments earlier. "Hah...! This is much harder than I thought it would be, but I have t' keep pushin'...! Come on, Risky...! You'll have t' hit your limit at some point or another...!"

"Oh, and now you're running scared!? Hah!" Risky taunted as she chased after him, firing potshots along the way while being very careful not to get too distracted. "Of course, now's not the time to be a coward! Face your impending doom like the man I made you into!" The second she uttered that statement, however, Tay suddenly stopped in his tracks while she continued to advance on him. To say the look on his face personified his ferocious, boiling rage aimed exclusively at Risky Boots did him a monumental disservice.

"...Y'know what? Forget runnin'. I'm takin' this fight RIGHT t' you, just like you're askin'...!" he muttered, having found himself SUPREMELY agitated by her snide comment. His entire body igniting with a flow of that arcane mixed magic aura, he turned around and zoomed directly toward the Pirate Queen at full speed as he locked her in his sights. Despite the weapons-related disadvantage he found himself in, he managed to dodge a few of her incoming rounds while flat-out tanking the rest. And as soon as the two met face-to-face once more, Tay threw a nasty haymaker that Risky blocked by raising her arm to block it with a *THWACK* of his fist against her elbow. Risky tried to counter by swinging the pistol at the soldier, who'd ducked under it and tried to counter by launching a roundhouse kick. It would miss its mark, however, as Risky hopped backward and aimed her gun at Tay to keep him at bay. Tayshan would have none of it, however, as he raced forth and closed the distance again just as Risky fired her next *BANG* of a shot into the air as Tay got just close enough to slap her hand away. Still holding onto the gun nevertheless, Tay and Risky clashed once again with a crackling, magic-imbued *SMACK* of their fists colliding against one another at full power. The deafening echo alone from the impact was enough to startle someone a hundred miles away. Within seconds, and with another rapid series of *WHACKs*, *PLOCKs*, and *KAPLACKs*, the soldier and the lady pirate entered yet another high-speed exchange of blows as they raced all over the arena yet again. This time, however, Risky gained an immediate upper hand, forcing Tay on the defensive as he did his best to block or dodge every Dark Magic-infused attack she threw at him.

"Come on! If you've got any gas left in the tank, you'd better use every ounce of it if you want to keep me from TEARING YOU APART!" Risky Boots taunted as she flung a hurricane of punches, kicks, elbows, and even headbutts at Tayshan to really pour the pressure on. She found it somewhat curious that he was spending so much more time blocking, dodging, or even straight-up eating many of the shots she landed on him than attacking, but she attributed it to him burning out like he had during their last bout. Gaining a massive confidence boost, Risky intensified her vicious assault, chasing the soldier around the battlefield as he valiantly defended himself as best as he could.

Meanwhile, Shantae had just finished up channeling her magic as she continued to gyrate her hips like she was balancing five hula hoops at once. She'd been anxiously watching the turbulent scuffle, rooting for the soldier as he dueled their common enemy with all his might. Knowing the stakes presented by Tayshan fighting a power-boosted, inconceivably ticked-off Risky Boots for an extended period of time, Shantae committed herself to employing her strategy for how to bring Risky Boots down. However, the young heroine nearly lost her focus yet again as she watched her partner eat a couple of terrible haymakers from Risky Boots as they continued to relentlessly pound each other into oblivion.

"Uh-oh... I'd better hurry up and get back in there before this takes a turn for the worse..." Shantae urged herself as she watched Risky explode with Dark Magic and turn the tables on Tayshan without warning. Worried that she might not be able to save Tay from a potentially grim fate if she didn't act quickly, the half-genie kicked it up a notch. Before too long, however... "TRAAAAAAAAAAANSFORM!" she emphatically announced as she struck her pose and morphed with a *POOF* into Monkey-Shantae. "Now, then...! Hyyyaaaaaaaah...!" the tiny primate hummed, her little body suddenly becoming engulfed in a luminescent sky blue aura. Monkey-Shantae's eyes immediately locked onto Risky Boots as the lady pirate continuously tussled with the serviceman who'd been holding up as best as he could with keeping her busy. It was only when Tayshan and Risky Boots entered a stalemate of a grappling match where they locked their hands together did Monkey-Shantae make her move. And, with a high-pitched *TWEESCH*, she blasted off faster than a speeding bullet.

"Where's all that bravado now, dog!?" Risky shouted in Tay's face as the two of them locked themselves into yet another life-or-death struggle for dominance. Their hands flickering with magic and pressed against each other's at the palms, Risky and Tay were equally determined to drive each other into the cold, wet, debris-laden ground. "Hrrrgh...! I can tell you're already running out of steam, but don't make this too easy for me now...!"

"Haaaah...! Don't count me out just yet...!" Tay breathlessly warned, still giving it everything he could muster as he scuffled with his most hated enemy.

"Count you out? You don't know what you're in for...! With my power, I could go for at least another twelve hours! Meanwhile, you're petering out like a dying ember about to be washed over by a tsunami...!" she boldly claimed as a sudden *CRACKLE* of magic-borne electricity shot out from her injured shoulder, causing her to wince for a second. Taking that as a sign that Risky was finally approaching that critical point where her magic would turn against her, he confidently grinned in her face.

"Hah! You talk a big game, but you ain't foolin' anybody here...!" Tay defiantly remarked, pouring more strength into keeping his adversary locked in place as he tried to gain some semblance of an advantage. "You've gotta be feelin' it by now, an' you know it...!"

"Hmph! All I 'know' is that you and your idiot girlfriend are bound to become my most prized war trophies by the time I'm done with you...!" Risky threatened, another surge of Dark Magic racing forth from her body as she quickly pulled Tay's arms outward and hammered him with a *THRASH* of her knee against his stomach.

"Ooof...!" Tay groaned, forced to let go of Risky's hands as he stumbled back a few paces while clutching his abdomen with both arms. In that same moment, a blinding flash of sky blue came racing in from the side at light-speed headed directly toward the dastardly buccaneer.

"Nice try, brat!" Risky taunted, turning toward the ball of light careening toward her and leaning back to dodge the incoming projectile at the last second. With an astonishing *WHOOOOSH*, the light ball rocketed past Risky's face, only for its momentum to be stopped dead when Risky Boots reached toward it and snagged a furry monkey tail with a *SNAP* of her fingers tightly gripping the appendage.

"Gah! What the heck!? How did you-!?" Monkey-Shantae was about to remark in complete astonishment, though Risky paid absolutely no attention to the comment.

"PERISH!" Risky shouted without giving the miniature primate a chance to question her amazing reflexes. Nevertheless, Risky turned the other way, cocking her arm back. And, with all her Dark Magic-enhanced might, she viciously swung Monkey-Shantae toward the cavern floor. The gruesome, wet *PLARCK* of the poor girl's body against the stony ground was almost too much to bear as the Pirate Queen reveled in causing as much damage to her adversary as possible.

"Gwaaaah!" Monkey-Shantae shrieked in unspeakable pain, the impact of her body slamming against the damp, rigid surface of the floor leaving a monkey-sized dent as Risky picked her back up with the intent to repeat the motion.

"LET GO OF HER!" Tayshan roared out, recovering from his sudden bout of nausea quickly enough to go charging in at Risky with another furious *FWOOOOSH* of his energy exploding out of him to try and save his teammate. He caught Risky's attention as she seemed ready to dole out more merciless punishment to the half-genie.

"You want her so bad? TAKE HER!" Risky taunted him, suddenly spinning around twice with unprecedented speed and just HURLING the injured simian girl forth with all her strength. With magic-powered *FWEEEERSH*, Monkey-Shantae was sent barreling toward Tayshan, who'd suddenly stopped on a dime to try and catch her. Grounding his stance and tensing up as he held his arms out in the 1.6454 seconds he had, Tayshan's body erupted with another *WHOOOSH* of fluctuating Light and Dark Magic as he braced himself for impact. And, just as he had expected, Monkey-Shantae went crashing into his chest with a voluminous *THUMP* of her head against his body.

"Khaaagh...!" he grunted, tanking the hit as best as he could as he quickly wrapped his arms around his monkey-formed comrade to protect her from further harm. He wouldn't immediately get the chance to check up on her, however.

"Your cheap tricks won't work on me! I'll skin the both of you alive for even trying!" Risky uttered a most macabre threat as she rushed at the duo while they were distracted. Looking to put at least one of them down for the count before the battle dragged on for too long, Risky immediately sprang forth with a magic-infused fist cocked all the way back as she flew through the air. Aiming directly at Tayshan's face, she sought to obliterate his skull in a single strike while he was preoccupied with cradling the seemingly incapacitated Monkey-Shantae. With absolutely zero warning, Risky flung her fist forward with the combined speed and weight of five freight trains. The crackling *FRWOOOOSH* alone was enough to make an army of grown men cower in fear at her awesome might. Yet, Tay found himself far less concerned with Risky's brute strength than one might imagine.

"Hrrragh...!" Tay grunted as he, while still cradling his monkey-formed teammate, ducked under the incoming flying haymaker just as it seemed Risky was going to annihilate his face. The intensely heated *FWOOSH* of her fist against the air did him no favors, however, as she just BARELY missed him. Figuring he would try to counter if left unchecked, however, Risky improvised as she surreptitiously cocked a foot back while she remained airborne. And just as he went reaching for her leg to prepare his defensive maneuver...

"EAT THIS!" Risky roared, propelling her knee forth with the power of a hundred magic-boosted stallions toward the unsuspecting soldier's face. And, with a truly GRISLY *KRATHWACK*, Risky drove her knee right into the soldier's cheek when he was least expecting it.

"GRAHHAHGH!" Tayshan wailed out in excruciating pain radiating from his face all the way down to his torso as he was sent flying across the cavern like he'd just become a human kickball. Somehow remaining conscious, however, he cradled his partner tighter as he braced for impact. Within just a few seconds, he hit the ground with a startling *THUD*, sliding across by at least a few feet as he continued to hold Monkey-Shantae in his arms. As the two heroes found themselves at possibly their greatest disadvantage yet, they could both hear Risky Boots cackling with her characteristic sadistic glee as she marveled at the horrible show she put on.

"Maybe now, you miserable pests will understand just how terrifying I can be!" she called to them as she approached, her body radiating with Dark Magic as she got into the swing of beating both of her mortal enemies senseless at the same time.

"Ghaaah...! Ow...!" Tay grunted, hurriedly rolling over and pushing himself to his feet with one hand while cradling the half-genie monkey girl in his other arm. As soon as he lifted himself up, he massaged his pulsating cheek and stretched his jaw as he wondered how it was possible for him not to have lost a few teeth or been knocked completely unconscious by such a dirty blow. "Mmmph, that hurt like a mother-!"

"Tay..." Monkey-Shantae called, cutting him off. Hearing her, he snapped to and immediately turned his attention to her. Immensely worried, he cupped the furry simian maiden in his hands and held her up to eye level.

"Shantae...! Are you alright?" he asked, not knowing at all how badly she was injured as he scanned her up and down with his eyes.

"I'm okay, I promise," Monkey-Shantae assured him, her voice coming in clearly as she massaged her forehead and shook off the residual pain from her wild and tumultuous ride. "She's already onto us in terms of sneak attacks, so we're gonna have to improvise."

"No doubt about that, but what can we do? Much as I hate to admit it, she's been runnin' us ragged...! She knew about your monkey form an' countered it completely. An' she's been givin' me a run for my money as well. Just when I thought I had her, she powered up even more an' almost overwhelmed me before you came in..."

"I know, but we're far from outmatched," she remarked in sheer determination as she pumped one of her tiny monkey fists high. "She knows the basics of my Dances because she's seen them before, but we've still got a fighting chance. And while we're on the subject, I've got another idea. It's pretty chancy, and it's gonna take a lot of coordination between the two of us, but I have a feeling it'll turn the tides in our favor. If you can buy us some more time, I'll explain it as quickly as I can. We'll get it started right away..."

"I'll do what I can, but she ain't gonna let up...! Matter fact, here she comes...!" he warned, hopping away as Risky jumped high and fired another *PRAPLOWGH* of an aerial cannon shot at them.

"Dang! In that case, just cradle me in your hands and charge up as much magic as you can into them! I'm gonna charge up my power as well as we go along!" Monkey-Shantae suggested as she immediately began to glow that same radiant, sparkling light blue. "If we can time it right, you can get in close and shoot me directly at her at full force with our combined power! If we can hit her hard enough, we'll at least slow her down a bunch, if not completely clean her clock before we have to drag this out any longer!"

"I don't know how practical that's gonna be with how quick she is, but I'll give it a shot!" Tay reluctantly agreed as he jumped to the side to dodge another cannonball hurtling toward him. Meanwhile, Tay did as Shantae had requested and began channeling a huge concentration of his mixed magic into his hands.

"I'm not finished with either of you yet!" Risky shouted, careening toward them from the air with her sword drawn once again. Rather than ride the blade like a pogo stick on the way down this time, however, she opted to come swooping in with the full intent to slice the duo to ribbons. And, with a speedy *FWISSSH* of her blade cutting through the thick, humid air as she landed, she narrowly missed Tayshan's face as he dipped back and hopped away while holding Monkey-Shantae tight in his hands.

"Barely got out o' the way o' that one...! Hrrrrraaaaaaah...!" the serviceman muttered, the crackling glow in his hands growing steadily denser as he felt the almost scorching warmth of Monkey-Shantae's luminous energy through his fingers.

"Get over here!" Risky Boots shouted again, dashing right for Tayshan in the most aggressive manner anyone had ever seen as she took another swing with her scimitar. The desperate serviceman barely had enough time to dodge it as he weaved around it and tried to counter with a thrust kick while it appeared Risky was recovering. Yet, with a *CLANK* of his boot against her scimitar, Risky blocked the attack with ease. Wasting no time at all, she pressed forth and threw a monstrous kick aimed at her adversary's free foot while he was recovering from his previous attack. With a *PLOCK* of her boot against his, the Pirate Queen succeeded in knocking Tayshan's free foot from under him.

"Whohaah!" Tay bellowed, landing with a hard *PLOP* of his side against the cavern floor as he tried to split his focus between charging magic into his hands and keeping Risky busy. "Grrgh, you...!" he grumbled as Risky followed up by quickly approaching him with her pistol drawn and aimed at his head.

"We've played around long enough! And now it's time to-!" Risky was about to threaten before a sudden *PLARCK* of something (Tayshan's foot) striking her ankle with the force of a dynamite explosion sent a debilitating wave of pain coursing through her leg just as she was set to step over him. "OUCH! You worthless maggot...!" she spat at him, none too appreciative of his underhanded tactic. Knowing he had no time to dawdle, Tayshan rolled over and pushed himself back to his feet while keeping the charging Monkey-Shantae in his clutches. At this point, one could hear the *POPs* and *CRACKLEs* of the heroes' combined energy coursing through them as they got prepared to initiate this mysterious idea of the half-genie's. Risky, quickly noticing the sudden flare-up of power coursing through her enemies, figured right away that they were up to something. And if she had anything to do about it, they would NEVER get the chance to pull it off. "You conniving punks...!" the lady pirate venomously insulted as she rose to her feet while being mindful of her aching ankle. "You really don't think I know you're u-!?"

"Tyyyaaaaaahhh!" Tayshan hollered as he cut Risky off, charging directly at her just as she rose to her feet. Risky pointed her gun at him, though he proved JUST quick enough in that moment to kick the firearm out of her hand with a jarring *CLACK* of his foot against Risky's hand. The gun went hurtling a short distance away, where it harmlessly landed near a puddle caused by the leakage in the gigantic hole in the nearby wall.

"Gah! Darn you!" Risky condemned Tayshan as she anticipated his next move while taking into consideration what he was doing cradling that halfling brat in his hands. As she may have been able to predict, Tay followed up with a spinning roundhouse kick. Raising her forearm toward her face, she blocked the incoming attack with a humongous *PLACK*. She wouldn't let him get away this time, however. Quickly wrapping her arm around his leg and sheathing her sword, she prepared to get some sweet, sweet revenge on the soldier.

"What the-!? Whhoaooaoaaaah!" Tay screamed as he found himself flung forth by his foot while it remained in Risky's grasp.

"Let's see how YOU like being tossed around like a ragdoll!" the Pirate Queen yelled as she, with all her Dark Magic-boosted strength, flung the soldier over her shoulder and spiked him to the ground. The sickening *PLATHUMP* of his body against the wet, stony surface of the hideout's floor sent ripples of excruciating agony ripping through Tayshan like a dozen hacksaws through balsa wood.

"HRRGH! Ghaahah...!" Tay grunted, still trying to maintain his focus on channeling his energy into his hands while keeping his teammate secured. Risky hadn't let go of his foot, however. With another burst of considerable effort, Risky swung Tayshan up into the air by his ankle once more. "Hwaaaarrrgh!" Tay shouted again, tensing his body up to brace for impact again. However, a sudden, horrifying jolt of pain shooting through her shoulder like someone rammed a javelin into it stopped Risky's attack dead.

"Daaaaagh!" the suffering Pirate Queen groaned as she suddenly let go of Tayshan's foot mid-swing. The soldier went hurtling a few yards away as Risky took the moment to massage her shoulder, which had been pulsating with unbearable, torturous agony. "Confound it...! Hah...!" she grumbled, rushing over to the side to pick her gun back up as she saw Tayshan hit the ground face-down with another wet *THUD* before rolling a few extra feet. "Mmh...! I can't let these peons get the better of me. If this goes on too long without me taking at least one of them down, this could take a really ugly turn...! I refuse to let that happen before they're rightfully punished...!" she theorized, making it very clear that she was determined to finish this grueling battle as quickly as possible. Knowing that giving them any form of leeway could potentially spell the end for her, however, Risky aimed her gun and hastily approached her enemies.

"Hah...! H-hey...! You finished yet...?" Tay whispered as he gingerly climbed back to his feet as he continued to hold Monkey-Shantae in his magic-bathed hands while Risky was on her way over to them. "I've charged up about as much o' this energy as my body will let me...!" he further informed her, trying his best to shake off the numerous throbbing aches throughout his body that resulted from Risky's ruthless assaults on him.

"I'm already fully charged and Ret-2-Go!" Monkey-Shantae assured him. Just then, a *BANG* from Risky's handgun alerted the soldier that they weren't safe. Wanting to find out what their next move would be, Tay quickly turned and used his Propeller Boots to leap a fair distance away from the Pirate Queen with a *FWOOOSH* of air from the fancy footwear as she fired a barrage of flashing marbles at them and chased them down.

"Okay, so real quick: What are we doin' from here? She ain't gonna let us talk our strategy out at this rate, so I'll go with whatever you're thinkin'," Tay warned as he practically hovered through the hot, thick cavern air like a human balloon.

"Right! The idea is to get Risky to stop moving just long enough for you to launch me at her! I can use your hands as a wall for me to use a charged-up version of my Monkey Bullet attack as soon as you point me at her!" Monkey-Shantae revealed her big idea, though her description of it left a lot to be curious about. "My Monkey Bullet boosted with your power should score us a major hit, if not completely knock her out, like I was saying a second ago! It's just a matter of timing it right, so she can't avoid it or catch me in the air again!"

"Is that right? Hm, I don't know about that..." he murmured in concern about the practicality of the plan as he landed with a *PLACK* of his boots against the cavern floor with just enough time to dodge the incoming rounds from the belligerent Risky Boots. Seeing her racing toward him with a cloud of Dark Magic fuming from her body, Tay opted to buy himself and Shantae just a TINY bit more time to figure out a strategy as he dodged the next flurry of rounds and went dashing off to the side.

"It's our best shot with the way things are going now," the half-genie asserted as she kept herself curled up and pumped full of energy. "At least, if we want to dish out a massive amount of damage in as little time as possible before she catches either one of us off-guard..."

"Can't exactly argue with that, but we don't have a way t' open her up t'-!" Tay was about to rebut as Risky caught up to him by using her Dark Magic to increase her speed and numb the pain in her aching ankle.

"Tay! On your seven!" Monkey-Shantae called out, alerting Tayshan that Risky Boots was right behind him to his left.

"Shoot...! Guess we've gotta make our openin' appear now, if nothin' else...!" Tay cursed, adjusting by coming to a sudden stop that caused him to skid forth a bit. In that moment, Risky fired another barrage of rounds to keep Tay right where he was as she pulled out her sword with her other hand. Swiftly turning around to face Risky, Tay just barely caught sight of the incoming rounds headed in his direction. "Gwah!" he bellowed, hopping off to the side to avoid being struck by any of the wayward projectiles. However, Risky Boots had other plans.

"I don't know what it is you two think you're going to do, but it won't work on me!" Risky brazenly challenged, racing ahead and engaging a full-range slash of her sword at the soldier and the half-genie primate in his hands while they were recovering from their evasive maneuver. With a swift *SCHWING*, the ruthless Pirate Queen grazed the soldier's arm as he did his best to lean back and create some distance. The sudden, searing, stinging agony in his forearm was more than enough of a wake-up call for him, nevertheless.

"Gaah-owch! She almost got me on that one...!" Tay worriedly realized as he hopped backward to create some distance. It was at that moment, in conjunction with seeing Risky Boots aggressively charging at him again, that made it all too clear that he and Shantae would need to come up with something fast or potentially die trying.

"Careful! Knowing her, she's not gonna let up once she's on a roll!" Monkey-Shantae advised him. "Think maybe you can counter her?"

"It's my specialty, but I need both my arms t' do that!" he informed her as he narrowly avoided another *SWISH* of a sword swipe from Risky. From that point on, Risky began chasing Tayshan all across the arena, relentlessly swinging her scimitar at him while mixing in sporadic punches and low kicks to force him off his game. Despite the incredible disadvantage he was faced with, he did his best to keep Risky on her toes as he dodged her sword swings, blocked her incoming punches that he could tell right away weren't packing near as much power as he thought they would, and hopping over her low kicks to avoid her tripping him. Nevertheless, he knew that if he slipped up even once, both he and Shantae would be goners.

"In that case, leave it to me!" Monkey-Shantae volunteered, climbing out of the serviceman's grasp and perching herself on his shoulder just as he ducked to avoid a sword slash aimed at his head.

"Stay still and take your due punishment already! You're getting on my nerves with all this running away!" Risky shouted, letting her immediate frustration shine through as she increased the speed and variety of her attacks and continued trying to practically maul the soldier with her assault. "Are you that scared of me now!?"

"Scared? Us? Don't make us laugh, Risky!" Monkey-Shantae taunted as she remained perched on Tay's shoulder while he kept busy with blocking and dodging most of her seemingly endless barrage of sword swings, spinning sword swings, elbows, punches, knees, and ankle kicks. "You're the one who's outnumbered and outmatched! We're gonna mop the floor with you again, and then we're gonna celebrate it again!"

"Yo! How is tauntin' her at a time like this gonna-!?" Tay was about to seriously question Shantae's brash decision to purposely agitate Risky before he was cut off.

"Oh, that DOES IT! PREPARE TO DIE SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY, YOU WRETCHED GENIE BRAT!" Risky roared with enough intensity and volume that it could've shattered all the windows in an entire shopping district. Clearly, Shantae had struck a chord with Risky by so inconsiderately insulting her the way she had. And by any means necessary, the Pirate Queen would make this arrogant half-breed twerp suffer for every syllable in the ill-advised statement she'd just made. "HRRRRRAAAAH!" the furious lady pirate shouted, engaging in the SWIFTEST spin anyone outside of figure skating had ever witnessed. Aiming her scimitar directly at Monkey-Shantae, Risky took the mightiest swing she could muster as her arm became coated in Dark Magic once more. She couldn't care less if she struck Shantae or Tayshan at that moment. At least one of them was going to feel every bit of her burning rage with this next strike. And with how viciously she was swinging her scimitar, neither Shantae nor Tayshan would have enough time to dodge it. Realizing this for himself, however, Tayshan thought as quickly as he could in that moment and tensed one arm up as hard as he could. With a crackling *FWOOOOOSH* of mixed magic suddenly coursing through his arm, he leaned forth and raised his powered-up limb high enough to protect both himself and his partner. And, with a MONUMENTAL, echoing *KRAKLASSSHHHHH*, Risky Boot's wrist collided with Tayshan's forearm with the force of two high-end sports cars ramming head-on into each other at full speed.

"Not today, Risky! Now take THIS!" Tayshan shouted, overflowing with desire to protect Shantae at all costs as he hurriedly wrapped his arm around Risky's wrist long before she had a chance to withdraw from her latest gruesome murder attempt. Soon after, he charged up an alarming supply of magic into his free hand while he held Risky in place by locking her wrist in his grasp. "Hrrrrrraaaah!"

"As if you'd really be given the chance to pull another one of your dirty tricks...!" Risky challenged, moving to duck under the incoming punch Tayshan was aiming at her face while she also searched for an opportunity to break his grip on her arm. Only, to her surprise, that punch never came.

"Right where I want you!" the soldier brazenly called out as he, evidently feigning his counterattack, quickly launched his free hand forward with the speed of a hummingbird and latched it onto Risky's shoulder as hard as he could.

"Gaaahaaaagh! You filthy mutt! Get your hands off my-!" the ruthless pirate captain demanded, a merciless twinge of pain shooting through her entire arm from the moment her adversary grabbed onto it. She wouldn't get the time to finish her demand, however. Without warning, she found herself being pushed back a few steps before being yanked forth like she'd been flung from a giant rubber band.

"TOOORYAAAAH!" Tayshan hollered out at the top of his lungs as he, while pulling Risky forth, cocked a leg as far behind himself as he could humanly stretch it. And, within as little as a single second, the soldier threw out the most vicious gut-blasting knee anyone this side of Sequin Land had ever seen or been subjected to. With a truly earth-shattering *WHAKRAAAAASH* of Tayshan's knee smashing into Risky's stomach with the speed and power of an 18-wheeler moving at full speed, Risky had almost all the wind knocked out of her.

"Ghuuhagh...!" she choked out, her feet leaving the ground for a second as she registered the torturous agony that came with being kneed in the stomach with such speed that it felt like someone took a sledgehammer directly to her gut. She would get very little time to recover, however, as Tayshan reached toward his shoulder, took Monkey-Shantae into his hands, and somersaulted backwards to create some distance.

"Good job! Now, tuck me in toward your side with both hands like you were holding a basketball!" the half-genie commanded. "And make sure you ground yourself, because we're going full-force with this one!"

"Somethin' tells me you're about t' have me send you blastin' ahead like a rocket with these instructions..." he realized, though he followed her commands nevertheless. Cradling the tiny simian girl in his hands, Tayshan widened his stance, dug his feet into the ground, and twisted his body to one side while tucking his energy-bathed partner in by his torso.

"That's the exact idea! I call this the Monkey Bazooka!" she openly and excitedly shared with him as she continued to charge up her own energy in conjunction with his. Her entire body at this point was crackling with Light Magic-borne electricity as she let the combined sweltering heat envelop the entirety of her form.

"Monkey Bazooka? Heh..." Tay couldn't help but chuckle, though he remained focused on Risky Boots as the Pirate Queen remained hunched over, clutching her aching stomach. "Creative, if nothin' else. I only wonder how an' when you came up with this. You sure this'll be enough t' put her down, though? We're usin' up a lot of energy just preparin' for it..." he further warned as a sudden, obnoxiously loud, humming *DWWWEEAAAARRRRNNNN* of their combined magic energy filled the air like a dozen superpowered lawn mowers running at the same time.

"Only one way to find out, Tay, so get ready...!" Monkey-Shantae advised him as she tucked herself tightly into his magic-bathed hands. Accordingly, Tay locked his gaze on Risky Boots as he tucked Shantae even closer to his side and cocked his arms back while they remained at his side. "Aim...!" the monkey maiden commanded once again in preparation as she also locked her eyes on Risky Boots, who at this point had been recovering from the devastating knee she took.

"Hooooooooh...!" Tay hummed, his entire body roasting like he was standing on the surface of the sun as he tightened his focus and dug his feet harder into the ground in preparation. Meanwhile, Risky Boots had just gotten done catching her breath as she looked at her opponents once she heard an incessant humming noise coming from their direction. The second she locked eyes with Shantae, however...

"FIRE!" the half-genie commanded, prompting Tayshan to fling his arms forth with all his might, the bottoms of his palms pressed together as he allowed Monkey-Shantae to cling to his open hands.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tayshan shouted loud enough that people from his old world could very well have heard it as he aimed Monkey-Shantae directly at their shared enemy. And, with an ear-splitting *PWAPLEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRSHHHH*, Monkey-Shantae went blasting off out of Tayshan's hands with a bright, blinding streak of Light Magic trailing behind her like she'd suddenly become a human-monkey-comet. The whistling *WHEEEEEEESH* of her body against the air was enough to make someone think she really HAD become a comet ready to obliterate the first thing it hit. And unfortunately for Risky Boots, she would be that 'first thing' as she tried to move out of the way.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Monkey-Shantae could be heard shouting, her voice echoing throughout the entire cavern just as loudly as her partner's as she careened toward Risky at such blistering speed that she could hardly be seen by the naked eye. And before Risky Boots could do anything about it, a sudden *KRAKLARCK* of Monkey-Shantae's head against her face knocked her for at least two dozen loops. The force of the impact very, VERY nearly knocked the Pirate Queen out as an UNBELIEVABLE surge of pain went ripping through her eye where Shantae's head made contact. Worse yet was that the second Monkey-Shantae smashed into Risky, a gigantic orb of blinding, burning light that expanded to the size of an industrial pool came bursting forth with absolutely no end to its growth in sight... that is, until the orb suddenly popped with a shining flash. And the very instant the Light Magic bubble burst, it came accompanied by the absolute LOUDEST, most frightening *BRABWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM* of a magic explosion whose volume threatened to wake up every sleeping person or animal across the entire globe from the sheer, unmitigated force of the impact. The entire cave quaked like it was ready to sink into the ocean as some of the stalactites above shattered and rained onto the arena from the almighty force of the monumental attack. Making things even more emphatic, a massive, thick cloud of blue smoke dispersed from the point of impact as Shantae was flung upward as soon as the explosion happened.

"GWAAAAAAAAH!" Risky Boots shouted as she was sent hurtling through the air at about the same speed Shantae came blasting into her. Flying almost parallel to the ground for a solid five seconds, Risky tried her best to reorient herself with what little time or awareness she had. Hurriedly reaching her hands to her hat, Risky Boots took her headwear off and raised it ahead to use it as a parachute that would help lessen the severity of her impending impact with the wall behind her. "Hrrrgh...!" she grunted, trying to ignore the unbearable agony ripping through her body as she focused on saving herself. With a sudden *PLOOMPH*, the Pirate Queen's stylish pirate hat expanded like a balloon, catching a vacuum of air that slowed her down just enough that when she eventually did smack into the wall with a horrifying *KRUNCH* of the stony surface against her back, she didn't wind up smashing through it like what probably would've happened otherwise. Nevertheless, her impact was still a nasty one, as she was sent crashing to the ground with an emphatic *THUD* while bits and pieces of rock rained upon her. She remained conscious, though she found herself short on breath as her eye ached like someone was digging a Pike Ball into it with all their might.

Meanwhile, Shantae remained high in the air as she also recovered from the literally explosive impact of hers and Tayshan's Monkey Bazooka attack. With a *POOF*, she suddenly transformed back to her humanoid self in midair as she began to descend into the billowing sapphire-hued smoke. Seeming just a tad disoriented herself from the sheer, unadulterated speed and power of her impromptu technique, Shantae hastily tried to regain her composure as she plummeted toward the cold, wet ground beneath her.

"I've gotcha..." Tayshan murmured as he, with a Propeller Boots-boosted jump, threw himself high enough into the air to wrap his team leader in his arms. Holding her tight, he quickly landed with a *PLACK* of his boots against the ground before setting Shantae back down on her feet as she shook her head and blinked a few times to recompose herself. Flexing his trembling, aching arms himself, Tay took a moment to breathe before addressing the half-genie. "You okay, baby?" he asked, massaging his arms as both Light and Dark Magic continuously radiated through them.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine," Shantae assured as she finally regained her awareness and peered around the arena. She noticed the cloud of smoke dissipating behind herself and her partner, which she took as something of a sign that their team attack at least landed. She then took note of a peculiar cloud stream that stretched all the way across the base from the spot Risky was previously standing. Following it with her eyes, Shantae's gaze was eventually brought to the spot where Risky Boots had landed. And judging by the fact that Risky was on her hands and knees, panting heavily and shaking her head, Shantae could tell that the attack she invented on the fly was indeed successful. At that, she turned toward Tayshan, smiling with a mixture of pride and determination. "From the looks of it, though, our technique worked!"

"Shoot, you ain't lyin' about that..." he agreed, marveling at the aftermath of the Monkey Bazooka himself, though he noticed that Risky was still climbing to her feet. "For a move I'm guessin' you pulled out o' one o' the many manga series we've read, that was insane...! I never dreamed we'd get t' do somethin' so crazy in a fight, but I'm glad we got far enough t' see the day it happened..."

"Right!?" Shantae excitedly asked, knowing for herself that he'd understand how she thought up the devastating maneuver. "Of course, that wasn't based entirely on any manga series."

"It wasn't?"

"Yep! The Monkey Bazooka was mostly based on that one time during our first trip together, where I turned into my Monkey form and had you launch me over that huge gap in the forest with the floating rings and the burning bushes. Remember?" she smilingly reminded him, causing him to reel back in mild shock as the memory rang fresh in his mind.

"Ohhh, right! Wow, I almost completely forgot about that..." he remarked with a chuckle as he also bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. "I accidentally threw you too hard an' you wound up takin' a nasty spill, if I remember it clearly enough... You drew inspiration from that of all things?"

"Oh, yeah!" she proudly and energetically confirmed with a fist pump. "Well, that and when you charged your hand up with Dark Magic and flung Rottytops's head all the way up to that platform in the Thimble Canyon. And maybe a little bit from my dream when I saw you fling Bolo halfway across the forest leading to the Inseam Municipality to save him..."

"Huh... That's uh... That's a lot of inspiration t' draw for a move like this Monkey Bazooka attack, ain't it?" he rather sheepishly asked, feeling a tad silly for having such an illustrious track record for throwing his friends across long distances like he was a human catapult.

"Don't be shy about it, sweetie! You've got an arm more powerful than a hundred cannons, which you should be proud of! There was no way I'd have thought up that move if I wasn't sure of how strong you were. Plus, with the way we coordinated for it, we pulled it off like we practiced it a thousand times! I'm so pumped that you and I can work so well like that, and I'm honestly questioning why we haven't done more incredible Team Attacks like that sooner! This was totally awesome!" she further gushed as she offered a most enthusiastic high five.

"I completely agree," Tayshan couldn't help but share in some of the excitement as he accepted her high five with gusto, though he was aware their celebration would be short-lived. "Of course, Risky's still gettin' up, from what I see..." he informed the ponytailed maiden as he nudged his head toward the Pirate Queen, who'd at this point climbed to her feet and had placed her hat back on her head while still catching her breath. Granted, Risky looked a bit worse for wear, as her eye was now swollen, her hair had been falling out of her loosening bandana... and, as far as Tayshan could tell... a heavy stream of a thick red liquid was running from the side of her mouth as she glared at them.

"Hmm...!" Shantae grunted, a tad disappointed that their technique, even for how incredibly powerful it was, STILL wasn't enough to take Risky down. Observing Risky for herself, Shantae immediately prepared to continue the fight alongside Tay as they collectively stared the Pirate Queen down. "Darn... She's a lot tougher than I give her credit for... Anyone else we could've used that technique on would've gone down in an instant...!"

"It still made its mark, though," Tayshan assured, trying his best to keep his magic from overwhelming him in the wake of him being made to use more of it than he was hoping. "We still got her with it an' it should've at least shook her up, which is what counts most here. Plus, we just drew first blood after everything we went through t' get t' this point. Now, with any luck, we're on a more even playin' field in terms o' wearin' her down like we was hopin' t' do."

"Right. In that case, let's pace ourselves from here on," Shantae agreed as she took a deep breath to steel her nerves. "If we've got the advantage here, our best play is to capitalize on it before she gets another chance to try anything funny."

"Y'know...! Hah... It's one thing to be endlessly tormented by one of you..." Risky Boots finally spoke up, shaking off the pain circulating through her body and sheathing the sword she somehow managed to hold onto throughout the entirely ridiculous super-charged beating she was subjected to. "It's another thing entirely to deal with the both of you at the same time. But when the both of you lovestruck idiots band together and use your precious little 'connection' to each other as a way to motivate yourselves to annoy and torment me even more, and then have the audacity to bask in a false sense of triumph like you've already won? It's so repulsive that just the sight of you two makes me want to VOMIT...!"

"Yeah, well as much as we'd love to apologize for your disapproval of our relationship, Risky, it stands to reason that neither of us cares what you think," Shantae shot back, determined as ever to stick it to Risky in whatever way she could. "For someone who tried to divide and conquer us, you sure did a fine job of making the exact opposite happen. And if you're so sick of dealing with us, your easiest way to make it stop is to surrender."

"And you'd better believe I'd rather swallow a box full of rusty nails and wash it down with acid than concede to the likes of you," Risky venomously barked back at her archenemy. "Look at you, acting all uppity because you think you've got me pegged," she added with a snide chuckle as she wiped a portion of the dripping liquid off her lip with the back of her hand and inspected it. Much to her surprise and absolute inconsolable frustration, she identified the liquid in question as her own blood... At that, she growled like a lion ready to pounce as her body became enveloped in Dark Magic yet again. "This isn't over by a long shot, and I'm going to make you lovebirds wish you'd never met each other...!" she further threatened as she sized up her enemies in preparation for her next move.

"Not your wisest move, Risky," Tayshan interjected as he watched Risky like a hawk. "You consider yourself a master strategist, but you don't know when t' quit while you're behind. What's the point o' continuin' a fight you know you can't win?"

"Hmph. Only a naïve, arrogant dolt like you would seriously think this battle was decided in your favor after a couple of utterly absurd lucky shots. And here, I thought I 'taught' you better than that last night, Tay-Tay...~" she deviously shot back at him while also shooting him a grinning wink full to the brim with a most... unsavory flair that both Tayshan and Shantae immediately picked up on. Refusing to let Risky get under his skin with her grossly inflammatory statements, he took a deep, yet VERY shaky breath as he glared at the mischievous Pirate Queen.

"...You can keep tryin' t' hang that over my head all you like, but it ain't gonna change the fact that you're goin' down harder than a plane bein' shot out o' the sky," he tersely remarked, harboring no tolerance for her attempt to throw him off his game.

"And trust me, Risky: Before this is over, I will personally make you regret even thinking about trying to sink your nasty, jagged teeth into him...!" Shantae very menacingly warned, even more furious at Risky than she'd ever been. "And in case I have to say it, I'll tell you right now to keep your hands off my boyfriend!" At that, Risky burst into a quick fit of raucous cackling as she reveled in frustrating the couple with her frequent reminders of what she did to Tayshan to try and separate him from Shantae...

"Oh, please. If I really wanted him, brat, I'd have had him all to myself long before you'd even gotten the chance to meet him," Risky brazenly shot back, nonchalantly flicking her hand at them as she dismissed Shantae's threats. "Of course, I already had him all to myself for a night in a way your feeble, inexperienced adolescent mind couldn't even begin to comprehend, but I digress. I'm far more interested in beating the both of you down and claiming Sequin Land as my latest conquest. You know that much by now, of course."

"All I 'know' by this point is that you're not fooling anyone!" Shantae challenged, growing angrier with Risky's disrespect and constant teasing, in addition to her rubbing mounds of verbal salt into a proverbial open wound. "Your past actions completely contradict what you're saying! This is by far the LOWEST you've gone to try and get an advantage over me, and it's coming back to bite you harder than ever! And you know what? The more you bring that awful situation up, the more it just tells me that you're mad because you're single, on top of being upset that you can't beat me!"

"An' only in your wildest fantasies would that statement ever be remotely true the way you're tryin' t' spin it, you cacklin' viper!" Tayshan additionally shouted at Risky with no form of hesitation, greatly angering the Pirate Queen as he found himself repulsed and appalled at her bold assertion. "I would never in my life be willingly drawn within ten miles o' somebody as vile an' connivin' as you are, an' you know it! Keep your revoltin' fantasies t' yourself!"

"And just like that, I'm about ready to beat the both of you lubbers into next week...!" Risky Boots declared, suddenly so furious at the mouthy little scalawags who dared insult her that her glare alone threatened to tear them to pieces. At that point, she pulled out her portable cannon and, without warning, jumped as high as she could before fitting the cannon beneath herself. "I'll demolish the both of you right here, right NOW!" she roared as she fired the first of many, MANY *PRAPLOWGHs* of her cannon directly at her opponents. Suddenly on high alert, Shantae and Tayshan dodged the incoming cannonball barrage as they rained to the ground with *KLUNK* after *KLANG* after *PLAKRUNCH*.

"Shoot, she's firin' so many of 'em at once...!" Tay observed as he hopped over an incoming cannonball and hopped to the side to avoid another one racing at his head.

"You're telling me..!" Shantae agreed, spinning to avoid a duo of cannonballs aimed at her before crouching low to avoid a third. Hurriedly, she ran toward Tayshan and grabbed him by the hand, leading him across the cavern to create enough distance that they could at least think of what to do next. "It's pretty clear by now that she's improved her abilities by a wide margin since last time I fought her...!"

"Yeah, that seems t' be the case...!" Tay acknowledged as he took Shantae into his arms and leapt out of the way of at least six additional cannonballs headed their way. As the two heroes raced out of harm's way the continuous *PLONK*, *PWANG*, *PLEENG*, and *KRAKLANG* of cannonballs raining upon them while Risky Boots remained airborne, gaining tiny bits of altitude with every cannon shot she fired, they desperately brainstormed on how to counter.

"Aw, don't be scared now! The fun's only just beginning! Come on! Let's see how strong your pathetic little love connection is when there's a hailstorm of cannonballs raining down on you!" Risky maniacally shouted with a cackle as she relished the sight of Shantae and Tayshan running for their lives from her insane cannon barrage. Noticing that they were trying to create distance, the lady pirate quickly switched from her cannon to her parachute hat that inflated with another *FLOOMPH*. Its momentum from the moment she activated it carried her forth as she glided toward her adversaries. As soon as she got close enough, she swiftly deflated the hat, switched back to the cannon, and began unleashing another hailstorm on the half-genie and the soldier.

"Any ideas on how t' stop her from here?" Tay asked as he found himself forced to do a forward somersault to avoid being blasted with another four cannonballs aimed in his direction.

"Wah!" Shantae hollered, narrowly dodging a trio of other cannonballs as she was forced to separate from her partner. "Hah...! I can try to shoot her down with a fireball or electric attack, but I don't know if I can find the time to try! You have any guns on you?"

"None at this point! I used all the ones I had fightin' her an' her Tinkerbats off. There are none near us, either...!"

"Not so easy for you scalawags to think your way out of this one, huh!?" Risky taunted, firing off another spray of cannonballs between the two to further separate them.

"Shoot! Tay, look out!" Shantae warned as she found herself forced to cartwheel and hop out of the way of two more cannonballs that hit the ground with successive *KATHWANGs*.

"Hah!" Tay shouted, hurdling over one additional cannonball before being forced to slide under yet another before it took his head off. Quickly climbing to his feet and seeing Shantae being forced to run along the perimeter of the cave to keep from getting hit, the serviceman realized that they were losing ground... and quickly. "So you think hidin' in the air's gonna save you from us...? I've got a wake-up call for you...!" he muttered, immediately racing in Risky's direction as the Pirate Queen switched from her cannon to her parachute hat to slow her descent to the ground. Wasting no time at all, the soldier used his Propeller Boots to launch himself with a mighty *FWOOSH* toward the opportunistic pirate captain when it appeared she was vulnerable.

"Oh, how nice of you to join me up here, Tay-Tay! Too bad for you, your meeting with the ground's not gonna be so pretty...!" Risky taunted with a most ominous grin as she seemed to expect him to come rushing toward her.

"Hyaaaah!" Tayshan roared, jumping high enough to clear a three-story house as he lunged toward Risky. As Risky implied, however, she was more than ready for him. Without warning, and with a *FLOOMPH*, Risky's parachute hat increased in size, causing her to gain just enough altitude at just the perfect moment for Tay to go soaring past her from below. "Dah...! What the...?" he remarked in total surprise as he realized he completely missed.

"Time for an emergency landing!" Risky shouted, hurriedly disengaging her parachute hat the second Tayshan was right below her. As she quickly began to descend toward him, she tucked her knees in as he reached the apex of his jump. Looking to make his impact with the ground a truly ugly one, Risky Boots also charged a supply of Dark Magic into her feet as she identified the perfect time to strike. "TAAAAH!" the Pirate hollered as she, with all her might, stomped both her feet downward. The startlng *KRATHWACK* of her boots against Tayshan's uncovered back echoed throughout the cavern as he was sent careening toward the ground at terminal velocity from a height no regular human had any business surviving without extreme injuries.

"Ghwaaaaaaaaaaaoooh!" Tayshan bellowed as he found himself hardly able to properly brace for his gruesome impending meeting with the ground from a good fifty or sixty feet up.

"TAYSHAN!" Shantae called out, racing toward him as he plummeted toward the cavern floor.

"Not a chance, brat!" Risky Boots declared, quickly switching to her pistol in midair and firing *BANG* after *BANG* after *BANG* of a malicious barrage of rounds at her.

"Darn it...!" Shantae cursed, stopping in her tracks to just BARELY avoid being struck by the salvo of rounds aimed at her. Just then, however, the *PRAPLOWGH* of Risky's cannon sounded off once more. "D'oh, that does it! BUBBLE!" the angered half-genie shouted, activating her Reflector Bubble just in time for the incoming cannonball to go smacking into it with a deafening *KAPWEEENGH*. Much to Shantae's surprise, however, her shield completely shattered on impact with a forceful *KAPLWEEERGSH* despite the fact that the cannonball was successfully deflected back in Risky's direction. "Gaah! What...!? Her cannon just shattered my Reflector Bubble in one shot this time!" the astonished heroine remarked as she found herself blown back by a few steps. Meanwhile, Tayshan went crashing into the ground with a terrifying *KAPLACK* of his boots and his hands hitting the wet, rocky surface. Immediately after, he went tumbling to the ground with a voluminous *THUD* before rolling across the ground while doing his best to tuck his limbs into himself. "NO! Shoot, shoot, shoot...!" Shantae panicked, shaking off her disorientation to go and run after Tay to see if he was alright.

"Perfect...!" Risky gloated as she quickly switched to her scimitar and performed a Scimitar Dive to almost instantly descend from her position back to the ground with a *SHPLINK* of her sword against the craggy cavern floor. Landing right in front of her hated nemesis, Risky stopped Shantae in her tracks and immediately pulled out her pistol. "You're not going any-!"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Shantae angrily demanded, quickly charging fireballs in both of her hands and flinging them at Risky, who'd quickly sliced through them with her scimitar. Risky then tried to counter by slashing at Shantae while the half-genie was recoiling from throwing the fireballs. However, Shantae read her adversary's aggressive advance and swiftly ducked under the *FWISSSH* of the pirate captain's sword against the air. "I said MOVE!" the angry heroine demanded, quickly losing her patience as she, with a blinding burst of Light Magic, performed a powerful whirling thrust kick in the time it took a person to blink. And with a startling *KATHWACK* of her foot against Risky Boots's open abdomen, Shantae landed a direct hit that sent Risky skidding back along the wet ground on her feet.

"Grrrgh...! Darn it, that hurt a lot more than it should've...!" Risky complained, quickly shaking off the pain as she took a deep breath to reorient herself.

"Tayshan! Hey, are you okay!?" the half-genie shouted toward her incapacitated boyfriend, whom she spotted at the far end of the cave near a pile of melted Weapons Crates. He didn't look to be in the best of shape, as Shantae saw him slowly climbing to his hands and knees after his brutal impact with the ground. Worried that he might've been hurt, Shantae opted to dash toward him. Risky, however, had other plans.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry so much about him right now if I were you!" the nefarious Pirate Queen warned, blasting forth with unprecedented speed behind Shantae with her sword up and ready to slice some heads.

"As if I'd really let you get the drop on me...!" the half-genie slyly muttered, charging a fireball into her hand as she continued running toward Tayshan. And just when the opportunity arose in the form of Risky attempting to slash at her once again with her sword, Shantae made her move. Turning around, she sidestepped the downward swipe of the blade, which was immediately followed up with a Dark Magic-infused hook that Risky was hoping would catch her by total surprise. "Hyah!" Shantae hollered, using a Light Magic-covered hand to parry Risky's second strike and direct it upward. "Zrrraaaah!" she further yelled as she, with all her might, rammed her open, flame-bathed palm into Risky's chin with a *PWASH* of extreme prejudice. The impact came accompanied with an additional *KABLAOWOOOM* that sent the unsuspecting Pirate Queen hurtling back, though she quickly recovered by performing a backward somersault to land on her feet after being flung at least a few yards away. One could tell by the bloodthirsty scowl on her smoking face, however, that she was FAR less than pleased with what she'd just been subjected to.

"I WILL TURN YOU INSIDE OUT, YOU MISERABLE LITTLE MINX!" Risky Boots roared with the ferocity of a hundred bears as she, with an explosive *FWOOOSH* of Dark Magic coating her form, went dashing right back at her archenemy with the intent to completely decimate her. "HRYAAAAAH!" she further shouted as she lunged and swung her sword at Shantae while she was preparing herself.

"Not a chance!" the half-genie remarked as she clashed her wristbands together to ignite her hair into that same blazing red we had only hardly grown accustomed to. Thinking quickly, Shantae used her Fiery Hair Whip, flinging her burning ponytail at Risky. With a hot *KAKLINCH*, the young adventurer's ponytail struck the lady pirate's sword just as it was coming down yet again. Landing firmly on the ground, Risky dashed forth to try an slice away at Shantae yet again. This time, Shantae performed a swift backflip to avoid the incoming *SHREEENG* of the blade as Risky swung it across hard enough to cut through ten tree trunks in a single strike. Refusing to be outdone nevertheless, Risky followed up by racing farther ahead and getting in her enemy's face just as she gracefully landed following her backflip. Charging up energy into her foot, Risky attempted to punt Shantae all the way across the arena. "Whohah!" the half-genie bellowed as the *WHOOOSH* of Risky's crackling, energy-charged foot tearing through the wind hard enough that I could've sworn I saw the very air around her foot ignite for a flash.

"Get back here and take your beating, brat!" Risky angrily shouted, racing at Shantae yet again and slashing her sword. Yet, with a truly frightening *KRACHING*, Shantae did the unthinkable in blocking the incoming blade with her bracelets.

"Ghaaaagh...! Wow, I felt that one...!" she remarked in surprise as she registered the burning, tingling sensation ripping through her arms in the wake of her blocking Risky's attack. The dastardly pirate captain would not continue to be outmaneuvered, however.

"YAH!" she shouted as she cocked a foot back while Shantae was distracted. And, with a terrible *WHAPLAARGH* of her boot against Shantae's vulnerable abdomen, Risky landed a most underhanded thrust kick that sent the half-genie packing.

"Gwaagh...!" the half-genie choked out in inconceivable, searing agony as she registered the awful impact of Risky's dishonorable sneak attack. Refusing to give in nevertheless, Shantae recovered by gracefully twirling in midair before landing with a *PLOP* of her feet and one hand on the frigid, damp cavern floor near one of the many heavily damaged walls. As soon as she recovered, however, she witnessed a most heinous sight in the form of Risky leaping high into the air from her position and pulling out her cannon. Only...

"Since you're so distracted by him, how about I do us both a favor and wipe your precious boyfriend out of the equation!?" Risky shouted as she aimed the cannon directly at Tayshan, who still hadn't fully recovered from Risky's last counterattack against him.

"RISKY, DON'T YOU DARE! LEAVE HIM OUT OF-!" Shantae tried to warn, though it fell on deliberately deaf ears. With *PRAPLOWGH* after *PRAPLOWGH* after voluminous *PRAPLOWGH*, Risky unleashed another torrential downpour of cannonballs aimed at the serviceman as he remained planted on one knee, trying to catch his breath. "TAY!"

"Whoa! Hah! Gwaaaahah!" the soldier shouted, forced to get up and dodge cannonball after cannonball as Risky kept firing them at him from midair. By some miracle, Tay dodged the first smattering of the iron spheres of doom as he jumped out of the way of them. However, he would find his situation compromised as he took one of the shots to the chest with a thick, dense *PLONK* while he was attempting to weave past another six or seven cannonballs aimed at his general direction. "Guhaaagh!" he hollered out in agony, stumbling back as he narrowly avoided the next five cannonballs hurtling toward him like comets. As if that wasn't enough to make things tenser than ever, the numerous *PLOCKS*, *PLANGs,* and *KAPWONGs* of all the cannonballs that missed their mark as they smashed into either the walls or the floor of the cavern filled the air like a team of construction workers banging on steel poles with hammers.

"NO!" Shantae shouted at the top of her lungs, at this point FAR beyond sick of Risky's dirty tricks as the Pirate Queen continued trying to hurt Tayshan. "GRRRRGH, I SAID LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she absolutely DEMANDED, hurriedly beginning a series of hip swivels that rivaled the spin cycle of a washing machine on full blast. In that same instant, the half-genie's entire body erupted with Light Magic as she put on by far her FASTEST belly dance yet. Before long, and with an emphatic, smoky *POOF*, Shantae morphed into Harpy Shantae. And, right after she took the deepest breath imaginable and aimed directly at the airborne, cannon-happy Risky Boots, she let out possibly the most ear-obliterating hypersonic *SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH* imaginable. You probably heard it at some point, wherever you are. Oh yeah. It was THAT loud. Of course, you only have to witness such a devastating technique from afar, where your ears were presumably safe from exploding. As for Risky... and even Tayshan, who wasn't even the target of the attack? Well...

"Gaaaaaaagh, how in the unholy blazes can you make such an OBNOXIOUS NOISE...!?" Risky shouted, though she couldn't even hear herself talk. In fact, she couldn't hear anything at all but the incessant, eardrum-destroying sound of her adversary's banshee screeching. Forced to put away her cannon while in midair, the hearing-impaired did the practical thing of trying to cover her ears with her hands as she descended to the ground. She remained coordinated enough to land on her feet despite how high up she was, but that's just about all her luck would grant her. It was made even worse by the fact that the sound waves of the screech were being bounced around all over the walls, causing massive, jarring quakes that rock the cave to its core. With a sudden series of crumbling noises, more of the stalactites above basically disintegrated, bits and pieces of them crashing to the cavern floor.

"Daaaaaah, that is lethal with how loud that is...! Jeez, Shantae...!" Tayshan complained despite not even being able to hear himself think. Just like Risky, he tried his hardest to protect his own hearing as he pressed his hands against his ears as hard as he could. Luckily for all in the vicinity that weren't Shantae, she stopped her vicious auditory assault as soon as she saw Risky land, which in turn stopped the cave's quaking that threatened to destabilize and sink it. Shantae was playing ZERO games at this point, however. Capitalizing on the opening, the half-genie took flight and bulleted toward Risky while rapidly gaining altitude. Once she was high enough, she transformed back into her fiery-haired humanoid self with another emphatic *POOF* while airborne. And, as she came hurtling toward the stunned Pirate Queen, Shantae charged a surge of crackling electricity into her fist as she cocked it all the way back. It was clear by this point that Shantae, for all intents and purposes, was going to try and BURY Risky as hard as she could.

"HaaaaaaaaRYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Shantae shouted as she, with every bit of strength she could conceivably gather from her position, HAMMERED the vulnerable Risky Boots with a crackling *KAPLEEZZZRRGH* of her electrified fist against the Pirate Queen's face. Though she was sent stumbling back a few steps as her cheek went numb for a few seconds, Risky recovered just in time to dodge the additional *THWAP* of the half-genie's Fiery Hair Whip before blocking the next electricity-powered hook aimed at her with her scimitar.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you little punk!" Risky shouted, ducking and racing forth to counter Shantae when she spotted the chance to do so. Taking something of a sacrificial hit in the form of the *THWAPLAASH* of her adversary's Fiery Hair Whip against her chest, Risky Boots powered through it and cocked her arm all the way back to prepare to swing her sword once again. And, with another *FWEEESH*, Risky BARELY missed cutting Shantae across the abdomen as the heroine leapt backward to dodge. Trying to capitalize on it, Shantae clashed her wristbands together to turn her hair back to normal. Immediately following the hair color change, she charged up a fireball the size of a baseball and flung it at Risky Boots. Ready to deliver what she felt was overdue punishment, Risky raced ahead, slicing through the fireball with a *SKRISSSSHHH* of her blade against the dissipating embers as she once again closed the distance.

"Take THIS!" Shantae shouted, swiftly twirling around to try and catch Risky with a lightning-quick spinning kick aimed at the lady pirate's face.

"No thanks! Have THIS instead!" Risky taunted, blocking Shantae's kick with a *WHACK* of the genie girl's shin against her forearm while she cocked her free hand back as it once again became engulfed with Dark Magic. Taking the opportunity to strike, Risky tried kicking Shantae's other foot out from under her, forcing the half-genie to hop over the incoming sweep. "Perfect...!" the conniving Pirate Queen muttered as she flung her fist forward while Shantae was distracted. With a gut-blasting *KATHRAAAAASH* Risky drove a magic-powered uppercut of terrifying proportions directly into Shantae's stomach.

"Ooghaagh...!" the poor genie grunted, the burning impact of Risky's fist ripping through her body as she managed to land on her feet, clutching her aching belly with one hand while keeping her eyes locked on her opponent. Seeing Risky Boots coming at her full-speed with her scimitar ready to slice and dice, Shantae took what little time she had to prepare herself. "Hah!" she shouted, flinging her ponytail forth to strike Risky's blade as the Pirate Queen swung it downward as hard ass she could. With resonating *TWANG*, Shantae's ponytail collided with the blade and repelled it. Not letting this stop her in the least, however, Risky took another swing, which was once again countered with a *KATWANG* of her blade against Shantae's unusually sturdy hair as the ponytailed maiden tried backing up to create space.

"How the heck is it that I'm not shaving clumps of hair out of that hideous ponytail right now!?" Risky complained as she charged at Shantae and began a flurry of rapid sword swipes mixed in with a smattering of Dark Magic-infused punches and kicks. "Hrrrraaah!" Risky further roared, fully committing herself to chasing Shantae all over the arena while the half-genie was busy dodging sword swipe after roundhouse kick after hard hook after sword slash. Meanwhile, Shantae was doing her best to find an opportunity to decisively turn the tables against Risky. While mostly avoiding Risky's rapid strikes and taking some damage, Shantae fought back by throwing a flurry of punches and kicks of her own, each *WHOOSH*, *WHACK*, and explosive, magic-charged *KAPLACK* of the ladies' limbs crashing against each other with the force of deadly train collisions. Once again, the adversarial women let their tempers flare as they tried to utterly OBLITERATE each other. Paying little heed to the fact that they were bouncing off the walls (somewhat literally as Risky forced Shantae against the wall at one point, causing the half-genie to duck under a devastating cross Risky fired at her that dented the thick, stony surface with a crumbling *KAKRACK* before they continued their high-stakes, high-speed, high-intensity power struggle across the arena), the entire cavern shook and quaked with every impact of the girls' attacks on each other. Neither one of them able to get the best of the other right away, Shantae and Risky Boots continued on fighting as though they were expecting to go all night long.

"You've threatened my friends' lives for the LAST TIME, RISKY! THE LAST TIME!" Shantae very, VERY angrily shouted as she weaved past another *SWISH* of Risky's sword cutting the air near her and, while charging her fists with fire, landed a three-punch jab combo against Risky's face and torso before a fourth strike was blocked by Risky putting up her forearm.

"Gimme a break! You should be FAR more worried about yourself!" the Pirate Queen shouted as she sidestepped an incoming uppercut from Shantae and countered by flinging her foot upward as hard as she could. Risky landed a jaw-shattering *KRATHWACK* of a punt right to Shantae's chin, sending the half-genie hurtling backward before she corrected her position by flipping backward. Immediately after, Shantae landed gracefully on her feet, mostly unfazed by Risky's attack as she charged lightning into her hands.

"Haaaaaaaah!" the half-genie shouted, clasping her hands together with her index fingers pointed forward. And, with an ear-splitting *KRAKAZAZAAAAAZZZZAAAAP*, Shantae fired an incredible blast of lightning from her fingertips that would've instantly barbecued an entire barn full of animals in an instant.

"Hwaaah!" Risky grunted, hurriedly jumping high and forward to avoid the lighting blast in its entirety. The blast traveled from Shantae's position to the wall at the OTHER side of the cave and blowing another hole in it with a massive *KRABLOOM*. As she somersaulted over the lightning bolt, Risky took it in that Shantae was trying to catch her by surprise. Her hunch would be proven correct when she spotted Shantae aiming at her again with electricity running through her hands. "Not on your life will you hit me with that!" the Pirate Queen remarked, hurriedly drawing her pistol and firing a flurry of *BANGs* in Shantae's direction.

"Gaah...! Darn it, just when I had her...!" the frustrated genie maiden complained, canceling out her attack and jumping to the side to avoid Risky's bullet barrage. Refusing to take such foolish and underhanded tactics lying down, however, Risky immediately charged after Shantae after landing on her feet while sheathing her gun. Keeping the sword drawn as both girls' bodies erupted with collective *FRRRWOOOOSHes* of magic, Shantae and Risky Boots became embroiled in yet ANOTHER wild, tempestuous cyclone of blows. *WHACK* after *KRACLANG* after *FWEERSH* after *PLOCK*, they began moving faster than the eye could see as their life-or-death brawl sent literal shockwaves ripping through the cavern.

"There's no way you're beating me! You will NOT destroy my home, no matter what! I won't ever allow it!" Shantae vowed as she and Risky remained locked in the heat of combat.

"Big talk, coming from a weak little pipsqueak who spent most of her time thus far hiding behind her boyfriend, hoping he would tire me out enough for you to come swooping in to save the day! Coward!" Risky venomously spat as she blocked a low kick aimed at her ankle and dodged a swift hook aimed at her face. She followed up by swinging her sword at Shantae and throwing a hook of her own, which Shantae blocked.

"You're one to talk! Which one of us had an entire army of Tinkerbats with guns and bombs from an alternate timeline at the ready to try and take down just two people or wear them down at her command, just so she could 'swoop in' and take them out because she thought it would be easy!?" Shantae countered as she took another swing at Risky, barely grazing her adversary's face as Risky spun and tried to practically vaporize the half-genie with a well-timed roundhouse kick.

"Takes a hypocrite to know a hypocrite, doesn't it!?" Risky barked as she unleashed her devastating spinning kick, which found itself blocked as Shantae raised a forearm up. Risky's foot landed with a *PLACK* against her opponent's bracelet as Shantae dashed forward and threw another punch that Risky ducked under. Not keen on letting Risky gain a situational advantage, however, Shantae followed up with an onslaught of additional punches and kicks that Risky was forced to either block or dodge.

"Hardly, but I won't waste my time arguing with you! All you need to know is that I'm ready to take you down again! I've been ready! I'm always ready!" the half-genie declared, dodging another *FWISSH* of Risky's sword, as well as two vicious Dark Magic-charged haymakers that went soaring past her face as they ignited the very air around her.

"How insufferably arrogant and misinformed of you! What makes you think you're really gonna beat me this time!? You're far too weak to handle me at my absolute strongest on your own, and you know it!" Risky asserted, capitalizing on the tiny window of opportunity she found in the moment. Spinning past a thrust kick aimed at her stomach, the Pirate Queen managed to catch Shantae by smashing the hilt of her sword in to the ponytailed maiden's face with a *THWACK* while she was rushing in. Risky followed up by ramming her knee into Shantae's stomach while she was stunned from the sword strike, sending her enemy stumbling back. Rather than be winded or in any serious pain at a glance, Shantae watched Risky come racing toward her with her sword again. Adapting as quickly as she could, she danced and dodged an incoming trio of *SWISHes* from Risky's sword as the Pirate Queen tried to cut her into ribbons.

"Yeah, right! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say!" Shantae defiantly yelled back, countering by scoring a rare *THWAP* of her Hair Whip against Risky's face, causing the pirate captain to stumble back while clutching her face with a hand. Brushing it off immediately, however, Risky and Shantae locked horns yet again, their vicious brawl only growing more intense as they traded mountainous blows with one another.

"Bluff all you want, but you wouldn't have brought that moronic, lovestruck boyfriend of yours here to do your dirty work for you if it wasn't true!" Risky accused as she poured more energy into trying to knock Shantae out.

"He's not doing anyone's 'dirty work,' Risky! He and I are working together in stopping you once and for all! And after everything you did to him and everyone else, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you!" At that, Risky burst into a fit of cackling as the girls continued trying to tear each other to ribbons.

"Ha! You expect me not to see right through that sappy, sugar-coated excuse!? It's beyond clear by now that you knew you couldn't win without help this time! Ironically enough, you're too blind to see that your pitiful reliance on your worthless friends has made you WEAKER! If you were actually strong at all, you'd have come in here to face me on your own like you so 'bravely' did during our past battles! If you were actually strong, you'd be winning without an issue! Yet, here you are, struggling to even survive my wrath as I get closer and closer to breaking you! Face it, brat! I'm getting too powerful for you to handle, and the very thought of me wiping you and those repugnant little maggot peasant cowards you call friends out of the picture has you quaking in your tawdry little genie slippers!"

"You couldn't be more wrong if you tried! And say whatever you want about me, but don't you DARE TALK ABOUT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!" Shantae very sternly warned her as the speed and power of her rapid strikes suddenly began to increase. Immediately taking notice, Risky tried to turn up the aggression on her end as well. However, she would find it difficult to do so as a sudden, painful *CRACKLE* of purple electricity in her shoulder caused her to relent for just the second Shantae needed to turn the tables.

"Gaaagh...! Darn it, I'm losing ground...!" the lady pirate complained, not even acknowledging Shantae's statement as she found herself on the defensive. Still managing to block or dodge many of the genie menace's rapid strikes, Risky dug into herself and put forth a stronger effort to regain the upper hand. However, Shantae's steadily increasing power and speed, in addition to the variety in her close-quarters attacks made it difficult for Risky to appropriately counter. As such, she found herself getting beaten back into a position where she needed to retreat before the half-genie overpowered her. Refusing to let it happen, of course, Shantae chased Risky around the arena, throwing punches, kicks, and occasional Hair Whip attacks abound.

"My friends are the bravest people I know! You have NO idea what we went through because of you! You have NO idea how much suffering you caused us! You...! You have absolutely NO idea how much courage it took them to stand against you, even after everything you did to them! Especially Tayshan, who you targeted and tried to take away from me in an utterly DISGUSTING show of pure spite and envy...!"

"Oh, give it a rest with the this tired old 'doing it for my friends' shtick! There's no strength to be found in depending on miserable weaklings like your useless friends, and you're going to make me sicker of you than I already am by continuing to babble on about it!" Risky very angrily shouted, wanting to hear none of Shantae's declarations of justice for her friends. "And trust me, you have NOTHING I could ever be envious of! Get real!"

"They are anything BUT 'miserable weaklings,' Risky, but you would never know! I love my friends with all my heart! That's part of what pushes me to keep going strong! I'll do everything in my power to protect them, and our support of each other gives me ALL the strength I need to take you down! And just so you understand this for yourself...! Tayshan is MINE! Do you hear me!? He's MINE! If you EVER put your hands on him again, I'll DESTROY you!" the half-genie roared as a sudden burst of energy came flooding out of her with another raging *FWEEERRSH* that actually managed to catch Risky by surprise. Shantae, more determined than ever to soundly defeat her nemesis, blasted forth with an absolute maelstrom of blows that began to overwhelm Risky's ability to defend herself.

"No...! Shoot, this shouldn't be-!"

"And as for all the other horrible things you've done to all the innocent people of Sequin Land? All the peaceful lives you ruined with your horrible world domination schemes? I'll make you answer for everything you've done! And you'd better get this through your head before this is over, Risky Boots: When you hurt innocent people, especially in the ways that you did, I will come after you without hesitation...! I will find you, no matter where you try to hide...! And you'd best believe that I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR HURTING THEM EVERY TIME!" Shantae declared as she, with an alarming supply of Light Magic rising off her with enough power to light up an entire auditorium, leapt high and immediately came careening downward. Risky, still trying to find her edge, tried to counter by thrusting her sword at Shantae while she was in midair. Proving far more agile than she let on, however, Shantae tilted her head at JUST the angle she needed to as Risky's blade zipped past her with a *SCHWING*. Meanwhile, Shantae practically BURIED her fist into Risky's face with a powerful, resounding *KRATHWACK* that could have probably cut through titanium. Yet, it only nearly knocked the resilient Pirate Queen to the ground. Barely keeping her balance, however, Risky stumbled back, clutching her face with a hand as she registered the unfathomable impact.

"Gah...! Grrrgh, you wretched little-!" Risky was about to remark while turning toward Shantae, only to see the ponytailed 'brat' in question racing toward her at blistering speed. And with another monumental *THRASH* of her foot against Risky's side, Shantae landed a truly terrifying spinning kick that had the potential to obliterate her enemy's hip. Seeing Risky grimace and flinch in excruciating pain, Shantae made sure to make her next impact one that Risky Boots would feel for years to come.

"Grrrrraaaah!" Shantae shouted, dashing forth as Risky tried to recover from the brutal Light Magic-infused kick she'd just been blasted with. And before Risky could do anything about it, she found her face meeting Shantae's foot at mach speed with an earth-shattering, crackling *KRATHRACK* that sent her hurtling far across the cavern. Within a few yards, however, Risky hit the ground with a sickening *THUD*, rolling across several puddles of saltwater and tracking dirt all over her tattered outfit. She eventually managed to stop herself nevertheless, as she used the rapidly decreasing momentum to roll back to her feet. Once she did so, however, Risky Boots found herself immediately taking a knee, putting her sword away and pulling out her pistol. Seeing Shantae running toward her with the intent to bring the battle to an early end, Risky improvised.

"Darn it...! Alright, fine. You wanna play rough, you uppity little runt? Let's play rough...!" she ominously murmured as she caught her breath, reaching downward and scrounging up a handful of dirt into one hand as she patiently waited for her adversary's arrival.

"We're not finished yet, Risky! Toryaaah!" Shantae shouted, her Light Magic aura mysteriously dying down a bit as she charged a fireball and flung it at Risky.

"Yah!" Risky grunted as she quickly rose to her feet and hopped over the incoming projectile before it had any chance of hitting her. Quickly landing on her feet, she awaited Shantae's next strike, which came almost immediately after she dodged the fireball.

"Take this!" Shantae shouted, closing the distance as she led with a jumping, spinning crescent kick that came in with a startling *SWOOSH* as Risky leaned backward to dodge it. Quickly spinning backward after dodging Shantae's impulsive attack, Risky cocked her hand back as she held the mound of wet dirt in it. And without warning...

"Got a present for ya, brat!" Risky hollered, flinging the pile of mud as hard as she could as she watched Shantae come dashing in.

"Wha-? HEY!" Shantae complained, forced to come to a screeching to duck under the glob of muck Risky hurled at her. "Wow, Risky. Really? There's playing dirty, and then there's-!" she was about to further complain as she rose to a stand, only to see the sneaky Pirate Queen aiming her pistol at her. "Oh, jeez...!" she panicked, summoning a Reflector Bubble on impulse to prepare for Risky's next projectile-heavy assault.

"Not this time! HRRRAAAAH!" Risky shouted, taking Shantae's momentary hesitation as the perfect chance to strike. Racing ahead with her pistol in her hand, the malicious buccaneer charged a startling flow of Dark Magic into her hand and, with a sudden *KRAKLACK*, struck the Reflector Bubble with all her might. The bubble shield, unable to withstand the impact of Risky's incredibly heavy attack, shattered with another *KAPLWEEERGSH* that rang out like a hundred windows being smashed through at the exact same time.

"Ahagh! What the heck!? How are you able to keep breaking my-!?" Shantae tried to question as she also tried to process Risky's sudden increase in strength and uncanny ability to smash through her protective barriers.

"Time to put you down!" Risky shouted, pointing her gun right in Shantae's face with no intent to hesitate, much less answer the half-genie's question. And within a literal second, Risky just UNLOADED on her intended target with the bottomless magazine fixed into it. "Gaagh...! Darn it...!" the half-genie complained again, taking some of the hits point-blank as she found herself forced to retreat and create enough distance to figure out an appropriate measure of countering. Risky Boots would have none of it, however, as she doggedly pursued the younger woman across the arena and shot at her over and over again. With how frequently and how rapidly Risky was pulling that trigger, one would swear she was making at least twenty bags of popcorn if they didn't know better. *BANG* after *BANG* after *BANG* after repetitive *BANG*, Risky forced her adversary into a purely defensive position as Shantae struggled to outrun her. And before long, Shantae was hit with a *PLOCK* of a shot to her ankle as she tried to perform a spinning backdash to dance her way out of danger.

"OWAAH!" the unfortunate genie maiden wailed as she suddenly found herself brought to a knee. "Darn you, Risky...! Gah...!" Shantae complained, fighting through a wave of agony and moderate fatigue as she tried to climb to her feet as fast as she could, only to wince in pain as a jolt of electricity shot through her leg without warning. Meanwhile, Risky Boots advanced on her like a ravenous werewolf ready to devour her whole.

"NOW YOU'RE MINE!" Risky shouted, Dark Magic bursting out of her curvaceous form as she cocked her scimitar back with the intent to cut Shantae down while she was vulnerable. Just then, however, a blur of purple, blue, and red came racing in from her side.

"Hyaaaaarrrraaaahh!" Tayshan roared, dashing in out of nowhere as he hurriedly recovered from his brutal meeting with the ground and intervened before Risky could land her heinous attack.

"I figured you wouldn't stay down for too long, big boy, but it's so much better that you're up again...!" she murmured, stopping dead in her tracks just a few feet away from Shantae as she turned her attention toward Tayshan. Meanwhile, Tay came bulleting in with a vengeance.

"Tayshan, wait! She's about to-!" Shantae tried to warn, though it was too late for her to finish her statement. With a crackling *FRWOOOOOSH*, Tayshan threw a haymaker that Risky parried with a *THRACK* of his fist against her scimitar. Directing his fist upward with her sword in one hand, the dastardly Pirate Queen sheathed the pistol she had in her other hand as she quickly charged up another supply of magic into that same arm. Within that same second, she reached her arm all the way across her body with the intent to OBLITERATE his exposed stomach with a Dark Magic.

"TAKE THIS!" Risky shouted, showing absolutely zero mercy as she flung her elbow across her body with the all the speed of a thousand fighter jets. However, she wouldn't get the result she was hoping for, as Tay hastily flung his knee up at the very last second. With a crackling *KAPLOCK*, the soldier BARELY managed to block the potentially deadly strike with his shin, though the insurmountable, soul-rending pain shot through the entirety of his leg as he was sent stumbling back while clutching the ailing limb with both hands.

"Gaagh...!" Tay grunted, sucking in air through his teeth as he massaged his burning leg to mitigate the almost paralyzing effect Risky's attack had on him.

"Not bad, though you only delay the inevitable!" Risky shouted, rushing toward him and jumping high to try blasting him in the face with her foot.

"Taaah!" Tay yelled, ducking under the Pirate Queen's jumping roundhouse as it passed over his head with an astonishing *WHOOOM*. Doing his best to shake off the pain in his leg, Tay tried to counter by throwing a punch while his enemy was pivoting after landing back onto the ground. Seeing it coming, however, Risky proved herself more lithe than she let on. Sidestepping Tayshan while facing away from him, she calmly watched as his fist came soaring forth past her. In the exact instant she found her opening, Risky capitalized.

"Haaaaaryaah!" the buccaneer grunted with considerable effort as she raised her elbow up high with the intent to bring it crashing down on the soldier's head while he was vulnerable. However, she missed this attack with another *WHOOSH* of her limb against the thick, musty air as he ducked out of the way at the last second. "What!? How are you still so-!?" Risky was about to complain as the momentum from her whiffed elbow strike caused her to stumble forth.

"It ain't ever gonna be that easy!" Tay shouted, quickly grabbing Risky's arm with both hands, turning around and... "Tsheeeeaaaaaarraaah!" he grunted, whirling around and flinging Risky Boots over his shoulder as far away as he could manage. Though no one noticed it in the moment, however, Tayshan winced in pain after finishing his throw, a *CRACKLE* of electricity ripping through him faster than the blink of an eye. "Hah...!"

"Gaahaagh...!" Risky grunted, gripping her shoulder as she quickly adjusted herself in midair. Nevertheless, she landed as gracefully on her feet as she could. Feeling the incorrigible ache of her injured shoulder getting worse, Risky took the moment to catch her breath as she aggressively massaged the ailing body part to get the pain to stop. "For Pete's sake, this shoulder...! I need to put these interlopers down now...!" she urged herself as she mentally conjured up a way to get the edge she truly needed. Meanwhile, Tayshan ran to Shantae's aid while the half-genie was carefully rising back to her feet.

"How you holdin' up, Shantae?" Tayshan asked of his team leader as he reached her while also taking the moment to catch his breath and mind the numerous ominous jolts of mild pain shooting through his body.

"Been better, but I'm managing," the young heroine assured, bringing herself to a stand and doing a quick series of ankle stretches to assure that she was still able to walk. Shaking off the lingering discomfort, Shantae stood tall, undeterred as she turned her full attention to Tay. "Risky got a few good hits in on me after she kicked you out of the air, but I'm still going strong. I roughed her up a bunch while you were down, so my hope is that she's getting closer to hitting that limit of hers... wherever it may be. I'm more worried about you, though. Just by the look of all the new tears in your pants and the wet dirt coating your chest, you must've hit the ground really hard... and that's not even taking into account the cannonball you took directly to the chest. How are you feeling right this second?"

"Trust me, I ain't too bad," he assured with a thumbs-up. "I'm still in decent fightin' shape, though I owe you big time for savin' me," he further asserted, stretching his back as he minded the lingering aches he felt across his back from the aerial dropkick he suffered from the Pirate Queen, in addition to shaking off the nagging tingling in his leg from when he blocked her elbow strike. "Between the Harpy screech an' the way you was tearin' her up with all those fancy moves o' yours, I could've sworn you would've had her beat outright if she didn't find some way t' weasel her way out o' the pressure. You never cease to amaze me."

"Aw, Tay..." Shantae affectionately remarked, proud to have earned his adulation once again. "I was just trying to do what I could to wear her down, like we agreed on," she further asserted as she turned her head toward Risky and glared at her. "Granted, she's still up, so I don't know how much progress we've made at this point. Thanks for coming in when you did, by the way. That was a huge help."

"No need for thanks, Shantae. I was never gonna let her get the drop on you," Tayshan assured, still trying to catch his breath as he stretched some more. "Either way, it seems t' me that Risky's still got a lot left in her tank. A lot more than I was hopin' for, t' be perfectly honest..."

"That's Risky Boots for ya, sweetie," Shantae acknowledged with a tilt of her head. "Just when you think you've got her, you can guarantee that she'll have something else to pull out of her sleeve to try and turn the tables. That's why we have to be on top of our game from start to absolute finish."

"That makes all three of us, then..." Tay remarked in a mixture of dread and mental exhaustion as he sighed. "We can go the distance, no matter what, though. That said, you think you might be able t' pull off just one more o' those Animal Dances o' yours t' catch her off-guard again?"

"I can certainly try, Tayshan, but there's no guarantee she's gonna let me even breathe long enough to pull another one off. I can tell from how aggressive she's suddenly become that she's counting on us to try it again," Shantae reasoned, knowing Risky's unscrupulous style of battle very well. "And even if I did manage to transform into something, it's still a matter of what we can do to catch Risky by surprise at a point where she's expecting anything and everything from us now..."

"That's true, but we've been pretty good for on-the-spot strategy thus far. Ain't no reason t' believe we can't still figure somethin' else out t' put her down for the count."

"I trust you completely on that. I admire your can-do attitude," the half-genie pointed out with a motivated grin aimed Tay's way, eliciting a mutually motivated smile from him aimed right back at her. "And you better believe me when I say we can do this, no matter what happens from here on."

"Ain't no reason t' believe otherwise," the soldier concurred as he and Shantae turned toward Risky to see that she was done recuperating.

"Agreed, though it looks like we've still got our work cut out for us..." Shantae warned as she and Tayshan readied themselves for what had to be, like, the seventh round of this grueling three-person war for the ages. "Here she comes...!"

"Heard," Tay acknowledged, bracing himself as Risky Boots suddenly broke into a mad dash toward them. The speed at which she was racing toward them rivaled that of ten Olympic sprinters combined as another small *FRWOOOSH* of Dark Magic erupted from her form. However, this rush of her bolstered energy came littered with a series of peculiar crackling jolts of electricity...

"I've got something special saved up just for the two of you…! Hrrrrrah!" Risky sinisterly murmured, suddenly leaping high into the air and pulling out her portable cannon and situating it beneath her as she ascended. Without her opponents noticing, however, Risky also pulled another device from within her inventory, ripped a key out of it, and held it tight in her hand. And just as she reached the apex of her jump that had to be high enough to clear an entire basketball court, she aimed the cannon downward and fired another cannonball with a *PRAPLOWGH* directly beneath her to gain some additional altitude. Meanwhile, the half-genie and the soldier created some distance between themselves and her to avoid being caught off-guard as they anticipated her next cannonball-laden aerial assault.

"More cannon shenanigans...!" Shantae observed as she expected Risky Boots to unleash another hurricane of cannonballs at them. Adapting quickly, the duo jumped away in opposite directions to try and split the lady pirate's focus.

"Just like I wanted you idiots to do...! Let's see you have a taste of your own medicine first, Tay-Tay...! After clearing you out of the way, I'll squash the brat...!" Risky menacingly mumbled as she quickly flung the device in her hand down toward Tayshan just as he landed back on the ground. It was only when the metallic *clank* of the device landed right in front of him following his evasive maneuver did he realize the danger he was in.

"Wha...? Oh, no! Flashbang! Shan-!" Tay was about to yell as he tried to clear the area. However, it was too late for him in that moment. The flashbang grenade went off with a boisterous *KAPOW*, temporarily blinding and deafening him immediately. As Tayshan staggered around, holding his ears and trying to shake off the sensory overload that came with being hit with a Stun Grenade at point-blank, he blinked his eyes to see only splotches of white and blue. The only pervading sound in his ears was an obnoxious, incessant, unbearable high-pitched ringing noise that threatened to drive him crazy. The serviceman was completely disoriented and unable to even process what was going on around him. Taking full advantage of this, Risky Boots aimed her cannon at him as she was descending and fired another *PRAPLOWGH* of a blast at him almost immediately after her grenade went off.

"TAY! LOOK OUT!" Shantae tried to warn, none the wiser to the fact that he could neither hear her, nor see anything as he stumbled around like he couldn't keep his balance. And, before anyone could do anything about it, the serviceman was struck directly in the chest with a *KATHUNK* of an impact that sent him flying back into the wall near the destroyed Tinker-Portal, where he just BARELY missing being thrown out into the freezing Sequin Land Sea through the hole. "No! You're gonna PAY for that, Risky!" Shantae hollered, the Light Magic in her body amplifying on impulse as Risky Boots landed and charged at her. With another monumental *KRAKKACK* of their fists, Shantae and Risky engaged in another vicious brawl the likes of which the two archenemies had never engaged in before. *THWACK* after *PLOCK* after *THUMP*, the half-genie and the Pirate Queen traded blows heavy enough to level buildings as they rushed around the arena.

"That's it, brat! Your very life depends on this battle, so you'd better fight your heart out before I end you!" Risky taunted, dodging a flurry of rapid punches and a running roundhouse kick from her enemy. The brutish buccaneer attempted a counter by ducking under the missed kick to hammer the other girl's stomach hard enough to make it burst with a Dark Magic-charged uppercut. However, with another *PLAKLASH*, Shantae managed to block the incoming attack with one Light Magic-infused hand.

"Hrrraaaah!" Shantae shouted, firing off one of the most explosive haymakers she could manage. With a devastating, fiery *THRACK*, she scored a direct hit on her adversary's face, which she followed up on by latching onto Risky's wrist with that same hand and pulling her off to the side while Risky attempted to resist. And, with another devastating *WHACK*, Shantae kicked Risky in the back of the head while still holding the Pirate Queen's wrist. Following up, Shantae brought that same leg backward, the second *PLOMPH* of which sent Risky plummeting toward the ground while the half-genie shifted the positions of her legs while they went down. With a collective *PLOP* onto the partially submerged ground beneath them, the girls found themselves on the ground with Shantae quickly locking in what appeared to be an armbar. Crossing her legs over Risky's chest and face, Shantae pulled Risky's wrist back with both hands.

"Gaaaaagh…!" Risky groaned, a sharp, unfathomable pain shooting through her shoulder as Shantae applied pressure as best as she could. "Haagh…! Agh…! Let go of me, you wretched little tart!" she demanded, charging a ton of crackling Dark Magic into her compromised arm to try and break the hold.

"Give up already, will you!?" Shantae demanded, suddenly finding it much harder to keep her grip on Risky locked as she committed herself to engaging the armbar. As a result, Shantae was hit with an involuntary boost in her Light Magic as she fully committed herself to the brutal submission hold. "This battle's gone on long enough, and you know how it's gonna end!"

"Yeah, it'll end with you begging for mercy once I've beaten you to a bloody pulp! Hrrrraaaaaaaaagh!" Risky screamed, another massive rush of dark energy pouring out of her as she gathered up the strength to begin pulling her arm out of Shantae's hands.

"Hrrrgh…! No, my grip's slipping…! Come on…!" Shantae urged herself, squeezing Risky's wrist harder while hastily jutting her hips upward to increase the pressure of the painful submission hold. Even with her strength boosted by her magic, however, she would find her raw physical strength outmatched by Risky's. The lady pirate, against all odds, tore her arm out of the half-genie's grasp with all her might. Her superpowered countermeasure, unfortunately, would ultimately prove detrimental. Just from the way she forcefully wrested her arm free from Shantae's grasp, Risky's shoulder popped with another grotesque, debilitating *CRACK* that could be compared to someone snapping a wooden board in half... by swinging a baseball bat at it at full force. Nevertheless, Risky ignored the excruciating agony as she hurriedly rolled back to her feet.

"Darn it...! She shouldn't have been able to break free like that...!" Shantae complained as she rolled in the opposite direction and scrambled to get back up. By the time she rose to her feet, Risky was already standing before her, shrouded in Dark Magic and ready to go for yet another one-on-one round.

"Enough fooling around! Taaaaaaaaah!" Risky Boots shouted, blasting off into a mad dash at Shantae, who'd hurriedly got into position to defend herself. And with a crackling, resounding *KRAKRAASSH* of the girls' forearms against one another that may as well have rivaled a grenade's explosion, they were at it again. *PLOCK*, followed by *CRACK*, followed by *THWOCK*, followed by stone-crushing *THRASH*, Shantae and Risky Boots traded titanic blows like they were demolishing skyscrapers with every strike. Swinging away at each other at faster than the eye could conceivably follow, the adversarial women barreled all over the crumbling arena, their sporadic, yet devastating attacks on one another shaking the ground beneath them. Early on, Risky picked up steam as she landed a crushing *THWACK* of her elbow against Shantae's face, followed by her violently throwing knees, side kicks, and wild, vicious swings of her fists at her opponent. Shantae remained as calm as she could as she was being pushed back, however. Reminding herself that she still had a chance to turn things around as she reiled on her agility and adaptability to dodge and block most of Risky's relentless assault, the half-genie searched for the opportunity she was looking for. And, with a *WHACK* of another elbow strike from Risky against her bracelet, Shantae found it. "Grgh...!" Risky was heard grunting as she winced in pain for a split second, though she continued with her merciless onslaught.

"Gotcha! HAH!" Shantae yelled as she swiftly weaved past a speedy incoming uppercut thrown at her by her opponent. Immediately after, she threw a haymaker of her own that landed with a *THOCK* against Risky's injured shoulder.

"Daahagh!" Risky yelped in agony, her momentum stopped dead as she was sent stumbling back while clutching her badly aching shoulder.

"Now's my chance! Tyyaaaaaarrraaah!" the determined heroine proclaimed, her body engulfing itself in Light Magic as she raced toward Risky faster than you could say the word 'rush.' And before Risky knew what hit her, she found her face blasted with another horrifying *PLOCK* of Shantae's incoming hook. Stumbling back further as she absorbed the impact of the crippling strike, Risky did her best to wake herself up and counter. By the time she turned and looked in Shantae's direction again, however, the cumbersome half-genie was already well into her next strike as she vaulted through the air with her legs extended outward.

"Wha-!?" Risky was about to remark before a steel-crushing *KATHRACK* of her enemy's foot came crashing down on the back of her head. The unfortunate Pirate Queen was immediately hit with another *KATHWOCK* of Shantae's other foot slamming into the back of her head while she was recovering from the first kick. Almost floored by the half-genie's unexpected Butterfly Kick, Risky pressed her hands to the ground to avoid being knocked down. However, when she pushed herself up to a stand, Shantae was once again right in her face, charging forth with a flame-bathed fist cocked behind her. Once she closed the distance, Shantae crouched low, digging her foot into the ground as she unleashed the full wrath of the flaming punch she was charging.

"Take THIS! PHOENIX UPPERCUT!" Shantae announced the name of her incoming attack as she swung her fist upward at Risky's jaw. With a most DESTRUCTIVE, flaming *KRAKAPLAAAASH*, Shantae rammed her fist hard enough into Risky's jaw that she sent the Pirate Queen hurtling into the air with a trail of black smoke following her. Right after following through with possibly her most epic solo attack yet, Shantae's aura shrunk once again as the flames surrounding her fist dissipated. "Whew... Hah... Now, if that didn't knock her for a loop, I'm honestly not sure what will..." she murmured, massaging her aching hand as she took the moment to catch her breath. She would not get the break she thought she had earned, however. Risky Boots, despite being launched sky high by one of the most brutal combos she'd ever been made to endure, remained conscious enough to correct her position and land back on her feet and one hand with the grace of the world's most agile, most ferocious feline. Beyond furious, she glared at Shantae with such intensity that just her glowing-eyed look threatened to blow up the entire base in an instant. Her jaw was aching like someone had clocked her with the world's hottest mallet and her hair had begun messily falling out of her bandana as she panted with seething rage, but she was in NO condition to give up. Desiring Shantae's ultimate destruction with every fiber in her malevolent being, Risky Boots immediately blasted forth, sprinting at Shantae while she was busy trying to recuperate.

"GRRRRAAAAAH, I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THAT!" Risky Boots roared loud enough to possibly break the sound barrier, hungrier than ever for payback.

"What!? No way!" Shantae remarked in shock as she almost didn't see Risky coming. Adapting as best as she could, she narrowly, NARROWLY ducked under the incoming *SWOOSH* of a monstrous hook thrown by Risky Boots. "Whoa!" she bellowed, alarmed by Risky's unprecedented speed as she tried to pull back. Risky wouldn't have it, however, as she lunged forth and snatched the half-genie by her tank top. "Wha-!?"

"KAAAH!" Risky yelled again, reeling Shantae in with all the might she could muster into one hand as she cocked her head back. And with bone-crushing *THUNK* of an utterly barbaric shot to the half-genie's cheek, Risky headbutted her adverary as hard as she could before letting go of her. Risky wasn't finished there, however. "HaaaaaaRYAAAH!" she further screamed as she tucked one leg into herself while stepping into her next attack with her planted leg. With another gruesome *THRASH* of her foot against the heroine's exposed abdomen, Risky kicked Shantae backward. Shantae went skidding across the soaked cavern floor like she was sliding across oil before she came to an abrupt stop.

"Ghaagh...! Ow...! Shoot, she's still got so much fight left in her...!" Shantae observed, feeling every bit of the monumental agony that came with taking such unbelievably brutal hits from none other than the notorious Risky Boots. Trying to shake it off as she caught her breath, the half-genie found herself a bit slow to get up. And that was exactly what Risky was counting on as she very angrily pressed ahead with her animalistic onslaught.

"Oh, no you DON'T!" Risky shouted as she, while holding her aching shoulder, dashed forward and delivered a horrifying *CRASH* of her knee against the half-genie's face, catching her right in the nose.

"Gaahagh!" the poor half-genie bellowed, stumbling back and clutching her face with both her hands as she tried to register the burning pain radiating from her nose. Risky didn't let up there, however, as she came running in to blast the half-genie with another burning, energy-infused *THWACK* of her fist against Shantae's face while she was vulnerable. She followed up with another *THUMP* of her knee against the ponytailed heroine's stomach. She added another trio of dirty Dark Magic-fueled haymakers that Shantae couldn't have hoped to dodge, all three of them connecting with *THWACK* after *THUMP* after utterly TERRIFYING *WHAPLOCK*. During one of those haymakers, however, Risky flinched in agony as the shock from the sheer intensity of her attack ripped through her arm.

"Grrgh…! Darn it, you messed up my shoulder something fierce…! You despicable little pipsqueak!" she complained, revealing that Shantae had managed to badly injure her in the midst of their battle. Growing exponentially more frustrated at this development, Risky charged a heavy flow of Dark Magic into her foot while Shantae was busy trying to recover from the Pirate Queen's horrible onslaught. As the half-genie panted to recover her breath, she peered past her hands, only to see Risky's foot swinging toward her face with enough force to possibly slice through reinforced steel. And, with an awful, AWFUL *KAPLACK*, Risky Boots kicked Shantae hard enough in the face that the poor half-genie was sent speeding across the arena, spiraling like a football. With no conceivable way to stop herself, Shantae soon hit the ground with a *THUD*, sliding and tumbling across the wet, stony ground as she continued to tightly clasp her hands to her face.

"Ghaaaagh…! Ow…! Ow…!" she groaned, hastily climbing to her feet, though she remained hunched over in unthinkable agony as she clutched her face.

"Gah…!" Tayshan, who'd slowly been regaining his senses as he remained seated where Risky floored him, grunted as an overwhelming wave of dread hit him right in his aching gut. In his time being incapacitated by Risky's underhanded cannon shot, he couldn't get a read on what was happening. His vision was slow to return to him, as he'd only been able to see faint, blurry afterimages of his surroundings. His hearing was slower to return to him, as that irritating ringing noise seemed to have no end. However, the second this wave of dismay hit him, his senses came rushing back to him… just in time to see Risky Boots sauntering toward a badly injured Shantae, who'd been hunched over, clutching her head in severe pain as though it would come off her shoulders if she let go of it. The instant he saw the half-genie in peril, he knew right away that he needed to do something. And in that moment, as his anger at Risky Boots found itself compounded by his intense worry for Shantae, his body became awash in a dangerous mixture of Light and Dark Magic as he, through rapid, burning stings of pain, rose to his feet and prepared to intervene. He would find his approach hindered by nagging pains coursing throughout his body, however, as Risky's attacks in conjunction with his unstable magic impeded his mobility in the moment.

"That's right, you filthy little peasant! Take in every ounce of the pain you feel right now as you finally realize that I'm DONE playing games with you!" Risky shouted, reaching forth and grabbing Shantae by the ponytail and yanking her upward as hard as she could.

"Gaaaah!" Shantae yelled, reaching one hand up toward her hair while secretly hiding the other one behind her back. Risky, however, found her attention drawn more to the half-genie's bleeding nose, frazzled hair, muddied clothes, and blackened eye. Reveling in the fact that she seemed to have the upper hand, Risky cackled in sadistic delight.

"Hah! Look at the pitiful state you're in now… Oh, how I've waited so long for the day to come…! The day where I finally destroy you once and for all!" she bragged, using her injured free arm to pull out her scimitar once more, evidently wanting to give it another go on being Shantae's unwanted barber.

"Sadly for you, that day won't be today…!" Shantae countered, her voice strained as she opened a glowing blue eye and glared directly at Risky. "Haaaaraaah!" she shouted, acting almost entirely on impulse as she flung a fireball directly into Risky's face. Risky, not expecting the sneak attack, turned her head away as she watched the projectile come rocketing toward her And, with a scorching *PWAAASH*, Shantae scored a direct hit, causing Risky to stumble back, letting go of Shantae's hair. Her cheek smoking as though someone had pressed a torch directly to her face and held it there, Risky hurriedly rubbed it with her hand to try and mitigate the awful sensation as best as she could.

"Daaaarrgh…! A dirty little trick from a DIRTY LITTLE GENIE!" Risky shouted at Shantae as the heroine fell to a knee for a moment, catching her breath. Seeing that her advantage hadn't quite disappeared yet, Risky tried to rush toward her hated adversary to punish her further for her inconceivable insolence. Risky would soon realize, however, that such a rare opportunity to defeat Shantae often came with a not-so-rare occurrence of something messing it all up. And what could she attribute to the loss of this opportunity? The outraged soldier flying in from the side, his body engulfed in an intense mixture of Light and Dark Magic as he extended his foot with the intent to kick the living daylights out of the Pirate Queen.

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" Tayshan shouted, the roar of his voice sending rippling shockwaves throughout the cave as he soared in, ready to clean Risky's clock.

"You impudent dog! What will it take for you to go down and STAY down!?" the Pirate Queen complained, halting her advancement on Shantae to try and counter Tayshan while she had the time to do it. She dodged the incoming kick by leaping out of the way as Tay landed with a *PLACK* of his metal boots on the wet ground. Looking to take advantage as quickly as she could, she immediately charged at him, sword at the ready as she slashed at him with an upward *SCHWING* of her blade that Tay was forced to jump to the side to dodge. Risky, determined to literally cut Tayshan out of the picture, took another horizontal swing at him, causing him to perform a graceful acrobatic backflip to avoid it. Just as he planted his hands on the ground, he could feel the stone-cold *SWISH* of the blade just BARELY missing his back. Hurriedly, he rolled over and planted his feet back onto the ground as Risky prepared to strike him down.

"Not a chance, Risky!" Shantae shouted from the side as she sent a *KRAKAZAAP* of an electric bolt zipping right at the Pirate Queen. With a startling *KRAZAPLOCK*, Risky found herself temporarily, not to mention very painfully immobilized just as she was about to take her next swing.

"Gaaahagh...! Despicable cheap tricks...!" Risky grumbled as Tayshan rushed toward her while the opportunity was golden.

"Drop the sword!" Tay yelled as he grabbed the sword, though he wound up grabbing Risky's wrist when she tried to move the blade out of the way as the paralysis effect from Shantae's lightning strike quickly began to wear off.

"Get your filthy hands off me, you-!" she tried to demand, slowly regaining her strength as she got set to pull herself away.

"I said DROP IT" Tayshan more fervently demanded as he employed a diamond-crushing death grip on her wrist to try and disarm her.

"Aaargh…!" Risky groaned in a sudden, sharp agony as she failed to find the strength necessary to snatch herself out of the soldier's grasp. Rather than wait for her to let it go, however, Tay followed up by throwing a world-shattering haymaker to Risky's face that landed with a dense, crackling *KATHOCK* that sent the compromised Pirate Queen reeling back. Tay, intent on disarming Risky at all costs, twisted the lady pirate's wrist outward, causing her to buckle under the immense discomfort as she was nearly brought to a knee. In desperation to gain an edge of some kind, she charged up a supply of Dark Magic to pull herself out of his grip. Before she got the chance to do anything more, however, Tay pulled her forth with all his might as he cocked his knee all the way back. With a gut-blasting *KOPLURCK*, Tay drove his knee hard enough into Risky's stomach that not only was she lifted off the ground for a moment, one could see the imprint of his knee protruding from her back. Risky's sword dropped to the ground with a *KAKLANG* the second he landed his attack, though Tay finished his combo by letting go of her arm and letting it rip with one more brutal *THWACK* of another haymaker that sent Risky skidding across the wet floor toward the entrance of her ship. Just as Tayshan finished repelling Risky's advance, Shantae regained just enough of her composure to hastily rush toward the soldier, grab the sword, and toss it as far behind her as she could, where it hit the wall and floor with another series of *CLANGs*. Though he acknowledged the sounds behind him for what they were, Tay found himself momentarily distracted as he breathlessly stared at his own hands for a moment.

"...Gah... Even now, it just doesn't feel right in the slightest bein' this aggressive against a female opponent..." he morosely murmured, a strange sense of harrowing discomfort welling up inside him. "Even with everything Risky's done... Shoot..."

"Don't let that stop you from giving it your all against Risky, Tay," Shantae warned him, still panting heavily as she recuperated from the entirely chaotic encounter she had against her most recurrent foe. Snapping out of his dissonant daze, Tayshan immediately turned around to see Shantae trying to catch her breath.

"Shantae...!" he worriedly called to her, approaching her and taking a knee to inspect her condition.

"I'm good. Just need to catch my breath," she assured him, though she did not resist it when he pressed his hands to her shoulders. "But listen... If you're having doubts about fighting Risky because she's a woman, then remember what she's done to you... Remember what she's done to me and the rest of our friends, as well as all the other people she's hurt... And don't forget about all the people and monsters alike who were robbed of their chance to live because of her and her Tinkerbats' senseless invasions and ambushes across Sequin Land... Remember that, no matter what gender the enemy is, we can't allow them to cause harm without facing the consequences."

"Right..." he agreed, nodding as he sighed away some of his inner discomfort. "You're absolutely right. I reminded myself o' that earlier, but I guess it's still hard t' come t' grips with it. It shouldn't be, but it is..."

"That's okay. That just means you're still as considerate as you've always been," she assured him as she laid a hand on his shoulder while they looked each other in the eye. "But, weird as it might sound for me to say it, Risky Boots is the last person you need to be considerate to. We don't have any other option on taking her down, and she made it that way. She brought this entire battle on herself."

"You ain't lyin' about that. You're right... I'll keep my eyes on the prize here," he readily agreed, reminded in full that regardless of Risky's gender, she still held the reputation of being the single most heinous and vicious individual on the face of the planet. As such, Tay steeled his resolve and kept himself focused on the goal of stopping Risky's plot of conquering Sequin Land in its tracks. "That said, this ain't goin' as smoothly as we hoped... It just seems like no matter what we throw at her, she won't go down...!"

"For better or for worse, we've still got the upper hand, Tayshan… Thanks for the assist, by the way," she commended with as big a smile as she could manage as she stood tall, though the black eye and nosebleed did its fair share of tampering with what would otherwise have been an image of unrivaled beauty. That observation alone greatly worried the soldier. The fact that Risky Boots was the cause of Shantae's injuries only served to infuriate him as he tended to the half-genie he loved. He hurriedly pulled out a pair of Falafel Wraps and handed one of them to her. "Just what the doctor ordered," she cheered, practically inhaling the delicacy with an appetizing *CRUNCH*. Tay followed suit, basically downing his Falafel Wrap in a single bite, ensuring that the both of them would receive at least some additional health. "Thank goodness Al made those for us… I feel so much better already," the half-genie cheered as Tay wiped the blood from under her nose with his thumb before hugging her. "Ooh! Heh, I'm okay, babe... I promise," Shantae assured him as she returned his embrace for the moment.

"I'm so sorry I didn't come back in sooner…" Tay apologized, backing up a bit once the hug ended, though he held her in his arms as he rose to his feet and scanned her face. Still feeling the frustration-borne rush of energy racing through his body, he took deep breaths to temper himself before it overwhelmed him. Of course, the sight of Shantae in any form of pain or discomfort caused by Risky Boots was all the motivation he needed to keep fighting at his half-genie lover's side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm still in fighting shape, hon. Trust me, I am. I'm even better now, thanks to you," Shantae assured, caressing his face with her hands to assure him that she was telling the truth. "She got me good a couple times, but she hasn't even come close to getting the edge on me. I'm more worried about you, though. She hit you with that flashbang grenade and then shot you right in the chest with another cannonball coming in at full speed while you were blinded. How are your ribs not crushed right now?"

"Beats me. Probably magic?" he half-joked, though he wondered how it was possible for him to take such a powerful impact like that and not suffer a few broken bones. "Compared t' when you rammed int' my chest like a torpedo in your Monkey form durin' our first sparrin' match an' shattered my ribs, those cannonballs barely tickled…"

"Tickled, you say? Goodness, you've come a long way since that day… which I'm sure we'll reminisce on later," she observed with a light chuckle, finding relief in his reply as the two ended their embrace and prepared themselves for Risky once again. However, Tay immediately noticed, Risky grimacing as she stared them down from the other side of the cave, clutching her shoulder with her opposing hand.

"Her arm looks like it's in really bad shape. But then, I never got the chance t' get close enough t' use a submission hold, an' nothin' I've done ever targeted her arms that I could remember. Do you know what happened?"

"It might be because I used a couple of moves on her that you taught me, and I remember hearing her shoulder crack on both of them. Loudly, at that. I don't know if you noticed from earlier, but she's been nursing that achy shoulder of hers long before the battle hit this point."

"Well shoot…" he commented, trying to hide his pride in her utilization of his techniques while also remaining surprised at Risky's poor condition. "I can't believe I didn't pick up on it sooner. She must've been tryin' t' hide it until this point, but there's no mistake that you made quite the impact on her. Whatever you did, it looks like she's really feelin' it now. What moves did you wind up usin'?"

"Umm…" she pondered as she scratched her head, trying to figure out a way to describe her techniques in a few words. "I used the one where you pull an opponent's arm up and backward behind their head while reaching your other hand through their arm to grab their neck and throw them on their back while their arm is wrapped backward around yours when I first started fighting her one-on-one… And then just a few minutes ago, I did the move you did to one of Bran-Son's followers in Genie's Hem where you kicked him in the back of the head and then used the same leg to kick him in the face while holding his wrist, followed by you forcing him to fall backward before locking his arm between your legs and pulling on his wrist."

"Sounds like... Shoulder Lock Chokeslam and... Slice-Hook Kick to Armbar?" he guessed, seeming to understand what she meant.

"I guess?" she uncertainly answered with a shrug. "I didn't know they had names, to be honest," she further admitted with a sheepish chuckle. "Or rather, I couldn't remember the names. I just remember you teaching them to me."

"Fair enough, but it sounds like you found use for 'em, which is good," he assured. "An' you used both o' those moves on the same arm in Risky's case?"

"I think so. She's been holding that same shoulder ever since I used the first move on her, as far as I remember."

"It looks like it, based on how much trouble she's havin'…" he observed, watching as Risky kept trying to numb the pain in her shoulder by stretching and massaging it, only for her to wince in agony at every turn. "Looks like you gave her the works on both holds, too... Either way, it looks like we're finally on our way to potentially winnin' this fight without an ounce more bloodshed… Just when I was startin' t' worry about how much longer it would take. Thank goodness..."

"You're telling me, babe…" Shantae agreed with a sigh, though she remained worried about how they would reach the conclusion of the cataclysmic skirmish. "Which reminds me... What's your health look like?"

"623 Hit Points thanks t' that Falafel Wrap, but I'm at less than half a lamp on magic… although the lamp is rapidly flashin' between light blue an' dark blue, interestingly enough…" he informed as he observed the Heart Monitor, catching his team leader by surprise. "An' now my health is down t' 614… Hmm… an' now it's down to 610… Huh..."

"What? Flashing between light blue and dark blue…? And why is it saying your health is dropping when we're not even…?" she pondered, turning her head toward him. Just by looking at him, however, she noticed a potential reason for the phenomenon. She immediately saw the sparks of both Light and Dark Magic radiating off the serviceman's bare skin like sparks as he seemed to also be experiencing some difficulty catching his breath. She couldn't make sense of it beyond what she presumed to be the constant flow of magic damaging his body with the longer they continued to battle. The mere thought of the serviceman's magic taking a progressively worse toll on him with the longer they remained in combat with Risky Boots worried her enough. The fact that, out of nowhere, BOTH forms of magic were actively surging through his body on top of his overuse of either one of them putting him at risk for destroying himself? Shantae couldn't bear to think of the consequences. As such... "Tayshan?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's wrap this up as quick as we can," she urged, turning her attention back toward Risky, who'd still been angrily trying to tend to her shoulder injury.

"We're switchin' gears now? How come?"

"It seems to me like even though we might have the upper hand now, Risky's hitting both of us way too hard for us to realistically wear her down over time like we'd been hoping. Plus, your magic seems to be hurting you more and more with the longer we drag this out. I'm also really worried about how unstable it seems to be right now… I've never seen anything like what you're dealing with right now, and it's honestly scaring me what could happen to you if we don't wrap this up soon enough..."

"Hm. You ain't lyin' there…" he acknowledged, stretching his arms as he took another deep breath to calm himself. However, the fluctuating aura remained prevalent on his skin like an ever-present flame. "I've been tryin' t' mind my use o' the Dark Magic, but I've been feelin' flashes o' Light Magic sprout up, too. An' since we started, I can't seem t' turn either one of 'em off…" he further explained, examining his hands to see one of them glowing bright blue while the other was bathed in dark purple. "I don't have the first clue o' what's happenin' here, but maybe you're right. In case this has a chance o' turnin' ugly, let's finish strong an' put her down as hard an' as fast as we can." With that statement, Tay readied himself alongside Shantae, who'd still been radiating with Light Magic herself. "I'll take the lead this time, if you don't mind."

"Hm? Are you sure about that?" Shantae asked in surprise, turning her gaze toward him. "You've been through enough as it is. I don't want you to get hurt worse than you already have been, Tay. Plus, the magic..."

"I was just about t' say somethin' along those same lines," he remarked with a slight grin as he tensed his muscles up and cracked his knuckles. "That said, I figure we've still gotta come together if we want t' earn ourselves a decisive win. An' with as hard as you've been fightin' her, it's only fair that I do my part in givin' you as much of a break as possible from here. I'll use however much strength I have left t' wear her down just a little bit more before you score the final blow, but I'll be mindful enough that I can hopefully avoid overdoin' it. I lasted this long, an' even now, I still think we can do this long before either of us winds up burnin' out. Even if we have t' push ourselves a little bit harder t' pull it off, we can still coordinate t' take Risky down."

"I hear you on that, but I don't want to sacrifice your safety for the sake of beating Risky," the worried half-genie shared, being made to recall a certain remark the Pirate Queen made about the soldier being used as a 'meat shield' as she also remained concerned about his overall condition.

"I understand," he remarked with a nod, mildly surprising her in the process. "But the last thing I want t' see happen here is have her catch either of us off-guard again. I ain't sayin' we're gonna come out o' this unscathed, but as long as we keep trustin' each other and workin' together, then... then maybe there's hope we'll at least end this before anything bad happens..." he further shared, though the very statement sent a chill up his spine. Shantae, realizing the implications of his statement, took a deep, shaky breath as a certain thought was brought to the forefront of her mind.

"R-right... Well, Tay, we're almost there," she assured him, though she wanted to protect him more than ever. "And you're right. We'll keep working together. We'll rely on each other. And we'll beat Risky. Most importantly, though... We'll both get out of this mess alive..." she further declared as she tightened her fists.

"My thoughts exactly, babe," Tayshan concurred as he and Shantae focused their full attention on Risky. "Okay, whenever you're ready...!"

"Ready," Shantae confirmed with a nod, giving Tayshan the go-ahead.

"Alright, here I go...! Hah!" the soldier declared as he took off sprinting in Risky's direction. Silently, Shantae followed suit.

Meanwhile, Risky had just readjusted her shoulder with a sickening *CRACK*, though she remained unable to lift her arm or use it to its full ability. Even after having given herself something of a health boost by consuming a Glazed Mutton, her shoulder ached like a shark was chomping down on it. The Dark Magic aura around her intensifying in conjunction with her burgeoning wrath, Risky looked toward her enemies staring her down, seeming ready to continue the battle. Rather than charge at them right away, she took a moment to consider the fact that she'd lost her sword. She also carefully considered that, without the use of one of her arms, many of her classic attacks wouldn't be usable. Improvising, the Pirate Queen whistled loud enough to where her Tinkerbats within the ship could hear her. Five of her loyal minions came rushing out, each one with a different weapon in their hand.

"Alright, boys…! I was trying to save myself the trouble of relying on you this late in the game...! Hah...! …But these miserable vermin are proving much harder to exterminate than I thought...! Much as I hate to say it, desperate times call for desperate measures," Risky wearily informed the Tinkerbats, though she wouldn't get to say much else before Tayshan came barreling in at full speed. "Grrgh…!" Risky growled, digging deep into the reserves of her waning strength and dashing toward him to avoid him attacking her Tinkerbats. With a *PLOCK*, she she blocked the serviceman's incoming kick with her forearm and countered by ramming the fist on that same arm into his face with a colossal *CRACK*. "Spread yourselves out and get into position! We're not-! Haah! We're not losing here by any means!" she ordered as she dodged a swift uppercut from Tay and began trading blows with him. Hurriedly, the Tinkerbats carried out her wishes, each one of them looking to line up around a different part of the arena to make the best use of each of their weapons.

"Shoot…! Now, she's playing dirtier than ever…!" Shantae quickly recognized, stopping her sprint almost on a dime and engaging in another bout of rhythmically sashaying her hips to initiate another animal transformation. However, the sudden *FWOOSH* of an incoming rocket interrupted her. "Darn it! Bubble!" she shouted, stopping her dance and stretching out her arms to produce another Reflector Bubble just before the explosive warhead turned her to dust on the spot. With a powerful *PLICK*, the rocket miraculously bounced off the shield, traveling right back toward the Tinkerbat that fired it. Panicking, the Tinkerbat in question ditched the empty rocket launcher and tried to flee for its life. However, as anyone who tried to outrun a speeding rocket would tell you… well, they wouldn't tell you anything, because they'd be as dead as this Tinkerbat as it went up in smoke with a fiery *KABOOOOOM* that startled its allies. Seeming to recognize that projectiles didn't work quite so well on that fiendish half-genie, the remaining four Tinkerbats improvised. As such, three of them went charging at Shantae, firing sprays of pistol and shotgun rounds at her while the other prepared a frag grenade. The fourth remaining Tinkerbat, however, directed its attention elsewhere. Shantae, not certain of what her enemies were trying to accomplish, attempted to create some distance as she dashed around the arena while thinking up a counterattack of her own.

"Give up already, Risky!" Tay shouted as he dodged a wild swing coming from the Pirate Queen, countering by clocking her with a *CRACK* of a hook to the face. He tried to follow up with a magic-infused jab, though Risky dodged the punch completely while recovering from the hook she just ate. She pursued Tayshan relentlessly, despite only being able to use three of her limbs. This apparent weakness found itself countered by her Dark Magic basically going into overdrive, however, as Risky's strikes grew rapid and unpredictable. Tay, while putting up a valiant defense in blocking and dodging most of her incoming strikes, quickly found himself nearly overwhelmed as each burning *PLOCK*, *SMACK*, and *THROCK* of Risky's fist and feet impacted his arms and legs. He was losing ground fast as Risky unleashed a light-speed barrage of punches, kicks, elbows, and knees that tore into the serviceman as he tried to retreat. "Harrrraaaaagh…!" he grunted with sheer determination, increasing his own magic as he tried to think up a way to turn the tables.

"What's the matter, Tay-Tay!? Surprised that you can't handle me at my full power, even with this handicap!?" the Pirate Queen brazenly taunted, managing to knock Tay off balance for a second with a swift low kick to his ankle that caused him to stumble backward.

"Gah! Grrgh, you…!" Tay grumbled, trying to ignore the pain in his lower leg as he saw Risky closing in on him again.

"Now, eat THIS!" she shouted again, lunging toward him to try and obliterate his face with a nasty elbow. However, Tay barely managed to restore his balance in time to catch his adversary's descending elbow with a crackling *SMACK* of it against his forearm as she landed. Thinking on the fly, however, Risky looked toward the Tinkerbat rushing toward them with a Light Machine Gun armed and ready. "Now!" she shouted as she delivered a truly detestable low blow to the serviceman… or so, she tried. Raising his knee up just in time, Tayshan blocked Risky's attempt at gaining an unfair advantage by kneeing him below the belt. However, she suddenly jumped backward, allowing her Tinkerbat the opportunity it needed.

"What? What are you-?" Tay tried to ask as he spotted the Tinkerbat in question aiming the Light Machine Gun directly at him. And, with a deafening *RATTATATATATATATATAT*, the Tinkerbat just unloaded on him. "GWAAAAGH!" Tay shouted in unbelievable agony as he was struck with so many flashing marbles in a single second that it almost seemed like his chest alone would be full to bursting with them by the time the Tinkerbat was done. Each stinging *PLOCK* of every round he was hit with felt like he'd been stung by a thousand wasps. The marbles were coming in so hard and so fast that they were actually leaving tears in his pants as he was sent staggering back. Refusing to be done in by a conniving, cowardly Tinkerbat, however, Tay somehow found the magic-boosted willpower to remain on his feet, though his legs quaked beneath him by the time the Tinkerbat had emptied its magazine. Just looking at the wisps of smoke billowing off him as he stood, trembling in unspeakable pain, though, you couldn't help but cringe at the sight of the soldier trying to register the torture he'd just been put through. Yet, it didn't end there for him.

"HRRRRAAAAH!" Risky shouted as soon as the Tinkerbat finished firing an entire magazine's worth of Light Machine Gun ammo at the soldier while Shantae was too occupied with the other Tinkerbats to lend a hand. She raced in toward him, looking to capitalize on the advantage she'd been granted. With a *THRASH* of her fist against his face while he was trying to recover, Risky sent Tayshan hurtling across the base. Soon after, she leapt high, somersaulting as she watched the badly injured soldier land flat with a *PLASH* of his back on the mud beneath him. "RRRRRAAAAH!" she further shouted, extending her knees as she descended with the speed of a nosediving airplane. And, with an absolutely abysmal *PAPLOCK* of her knees against his chest, Risky slammed the defenseless serviceman into the ground hard enough that the ground beneath him cracked with a horrible *KRUNCH*.

"HAARRGH! Ghaaaaaaagh…!" Tay wailed in misery, clutching his chest as he tried to breathe. Finding air would come as no easy task, however, as Risky utterly winded him with the underhanded maneuver. Worse yet, as Risky climbed to her feet, she followed up by stomping on his chest again with a *PLOCK* of her boot against his bare abdomen. "Gaaaaaah! Ahagh…!" he groaned, erupting into a fit of coughing as he hurriedly rolled over to avoid Risky shattering his ribs.

"Having fun now, dog!? Huh!?" Risky taunted, advancing on him as he tried to climb to his feet. As he barely found it in him to climb to a knee, the brash Pirate Queen positioned herself in front of him before cocking her foot all the way back with the intent to possibly punt his head clean off. "While you're down there, why don't you go ahead and have another taste of my boot!?" she yelled, unleashing a bone-shattering, Dark Magic-fueled roundhouse kick aimed at his face while he remained on the ground. With a *WHACK* of her foot against his glowing forearm, however… "What!? How could you-!?"

"Don't count on it…!" Tay shot back through a hushed whisper, though he would spend no more time talking to her in that moment. His magic fluctuating even more, he grabbed Risky's leg to ensure she wouldn't escape. He painstakingly lifted her leg up while she tried to pull away. Thinking quickly, Risky opted to also pull out her modified pistol to try and shoot her way out. As soon as she got her hand on it, however… "Torraah!" Tay hollered, standing up and pulling Risky forth by the leg he managed to capture. Immediately following, he stuck his foot out between Risky's legs and swung it backward, sweeping Risky's remaining leg out from under her. The astonished buccaneer tried to catch herself, though she extended the wrong arm out as she landed with a *PLAP* of her shoulder against the submerged cavern floor.

"Ghaah! My shoulder…!" Risky complained, though most of her attention was focused on escaping the compromising situation she found herself in. Tayshan wasn't done there, however. As Risky fell to the ground, he held onto her leg tightly with one arm while cocking his other fist back as he descended upon her with a fury that burned like… well, like the Sun's Wrath, for lack of a better comparison.

"HRRYAAH!" he yelled in an almost animalistic fashion as he unleashed one of his hardest haymakers to date. And before anyone knew it, the outraged soldier's magic-infused fist smashed into the Pirate Queen's cheek with a horrifying *KATHRASH* that could very well have knocked out a full-grown gorilla if it found itself in such a scary predicament. Fortunately for Risky, she was more resilient than a gorilla. Unfortunately for Risky, that merciless punch still nearly knocked her unconscious from the sheer force of his fist against her face. Even more unfortunately for Risky, he still wasn't done. Hoisting her up by her ankle with both hands, Tay went charging toward the Tinkerbat that had moments ago attempted to riddle him with holes. "An' t' think I almost felt bad about attackin' you for a hot second...! Goodness, what was I thinkin'? I almost forgot you were a demon in disguise...!" he coldly remarked to her, having been hit with the fullest reminder possible that Risky Boots was completely underserving of ANY consideration or mercy. With that comment, he turned his attention toward the frightened Tinkerbat across the way. "An' I've had more than enough o' you little freaks! Hrrrrraaaaaaaaaah!" he shouted some more, seeming ready to ruthlessly beat the Tinkerbat to death using its own boss as the weapon. Huh. Kinda reminds me of something we saw of him not so long ago... but I digress.

"Gaah…! Unhand me, you stupid dog…!" Risky demanded as Tay wound up like he was using her as a mallet. Ignoring her command, he continued to rush after the Tinkerbat, who'd dropped its empty weapon and tried to run for its life. Unfortunately for this Tinkerbat, its speed paled in comparison to the utterly maniacal human that was coming after it. And before it knew what hit it…

"Lights out!" he yelled, cocking his arms back as far as he could. As soon as he got enough momentum going for him, he put his full body into swinging Risky Boots downward as hard as he conceivably could in that moment. He got the Tinkerbat in one shot, its scraggly form being flung away and *POOFed* the second Risky's face came crashing into the back of its head. However, that wasn't the scariest part of this bizarre exchange. The scary part came when Risky hit the ground face-first with such a voluminous *WHAPLAM* that one could hear her breastplate shatter with a *KRAKLACK*, on top of the ground beneath her cracking with another *KRICKLUNK*.

"Gahaaagh!" Risky hollered in unbelievable suffering, feeling the impact throughout her entire body. Her shoulder in particular took in an alarming amount of the impact. However, Tay still wasn't quite done yet. Gripping Risky's ankle as hard as he could, he put in whatever strength he had left to turn around and fling the Pirate Queen toward the ground like she was a hammer he was using to crush bricks. During the trip, Risky's hat flew off, landing a fair distance away from its owner and leaving Risky with a messy, tattered bandana just barely covering the long, silky purple curtain of hair beneath it.

"HRAH!" he shouted once again as he reeled back and, with a forward burst of energy, he spiked the Pirate Queen onto the ground once again, another *KRUNCH* of the ground splitting beneath her back emphasizing the sheer density of the impact. Refusing to be done in despite the inconceivable pain she'd been feeling throughout her entire body by this most brutal point, Risky managed to draw her pistol and fire a few shots in Tay's direction. Of the six or seven she managed to fire as he was about to lift her up for another slam, one of them managed to strike him in the cheek. "Gah…!" Tay grunted, letting go of Risky's leg to clutch his face. Taking the opportunity to try and reclaim the advantage she had previously, she hurriedly rolled to her feet, though she could only push off of one hand to get back up. Nevertheless, Risky still pushed herself to her feet, firing another shot or two at the soldier while he was running toward her. She'd managed to hit him again with another *POCK* of one of the firearm's discharged rounds, though it didn't seem to stop him as he got in close enough to engage her in a life-or-death struggle for the gun.

As Tayshan and Risky Boots basically fought to the death, Shantae had been fiercely locked in combat with the other three Tinkerbats that had been trying to hound her into submission. As she tirelessly tried to keep her distance while maintaining her Reflector Bubble, two of the Tinkerbats were hot on her tail, firing sporadic sprays of gunfire that they seemed to know would be deflected. They'd surprisingly adapted to the shield, firing at just a slow enough pace that Shantae would be forced to keep her distance as she also spotted the third Tinkerbat staying a few paces behind while holding a grenade and a handgun. And though she was immensely concerned for the safety of the soldier fighting alongside her as she heard his shouts of agony and sensed the increasing strain on his body from the overuse of his unstable magic, she realized that acting too hastily would get them both into a lot of trouble.

"These creeps…! They're trying to stall out my Bubble while keeping me on the run, so they can gun me down or use that bomb as soon as it runs out while making sure I can't get to Tay and Risky…! I need to get them out of my way as quickly as possible… but how…?" Shantae theorized as the time of her Reflector Bubble quickly dwindled. Taking the Tinkerbats out wasn't the problem, of course; beating them while avoiding taking any unnecessary damage when she was running low on health was. Nevertheless, the half-genie maintained her agility, brainstorming on how to escape the pressure as quickly and as effectively as possible. She would get an answer soon enough, as the *plish* of her shoes as she stepped into a puddle tipped her off. "Ah! I've got it…!" she realized, somersaulting backward just one more time before coming to a complete stop. The Tinkerbats, believing her sudden stop to mean they finally had their chance to mow the half-genie down with their weapons, inched toward her while stepping into the puddle. Making sure not to give away her plan, Shantae kept her glowing eyes locked on Risky's minions. None the wiser, the Tinkerbats continued to warily march toward her, hungrily awaiting that glorious moment where her bubble burst and granted them the chance they needed to eliminate half of their opposition in the name of Risky Boots. Tensing up her left hand, Shantae charged up a handful of lightning that sparked and crackled as she held her hand behind her back.

"Okay, Shantae… You'll only get one shot at this… Three… Two… One… Go!" she urged herself, manually dropping the shield as she rushed forth without warning. And just as the Tinkerbats tried to open fire, the also witnessed Shantae discharge a blast of lightning from her hand toward the puddle they realized they were standing in. In the time it took them to realize what she was doing, it was already far too late for the unsuspecting henchmen. With a collective, voluminous *GZZRRZRGRZZZZZZZRGZZZZZRG*, Shantae basically turned the three Tinkerbats into disco lights as they flashed and flickered, electricity ripping through them as they found themselves completely immobile. Their suffering wouldn't last long, however, as all three were vanquished in an instant. All of them were flung away, the collective *POOFs* of their bodies emphasizing their defeat. "Perfect…!" she quietly cheered with a fist pump, though her attention was quickly drawn toward Tayshan and Risky Boots.

She could tell right away by the uncomfortable feeling in her abdomen that Tay was giving it his all, however costly his efforts were. The only thing that brought her any form of relief was that it appeared Risky was finally starting to slow down as well, as her Dark Magic had started to fade. Additionally reassuring, however morbidly, was that Risky appeared to have taken a heaping boatload of extra damage as Tay ripped Risky's pistol out of her hand, the firearm sailing through the air and into the water of the cave entrance where her ship was. Worrying her more however, was the *THWACK* of Risky's fist against Tayshan's chest that sent him stumbling back, though he didn't fall.

"So much for that 'full power' junk you was spoutin' a second ago...! You're gettin' weaker by the second. No use hidin' it now!" Tayshan taunted as he dodged an incoming swing from Risky and tried to counter with a roundhouse kick. Risky ducked under the attack, pivoting as she stuck a leg out to try an sweep the soldier off his remaining foot. Tay, adapting as quickly as he could, hopped over Risky's leg as it came sliding across the ground beneath him.

"Shut your miserable trap!" Risky rancorously spat at him, recovering from the sweep with just enough time to block the hook he threw at her with a *PLACK* of his fist against her forearm. "You're in no place to talk!" she further asserted, ensnaring his wrist before he could pull it away. She was preparing to turn around and toss him over her hip, but the sudden *WHACK* of his knee against her back sent her stumbling forth as she was forced to let go of his hand. Angered more than she was hurt, Risky quickly whirled around, her crimson eyes staring daggers into the insolent alien soldier that dared to defy her as she felt a sharp jolt of electricity rip through her body.

"I'm... gah...! I-I'm in a better place t' talk than you are. That's for sure...!" Tayshan remarked, though he began to feel the debilitating effects of overusing his magic in the middle of their scuffle as he panted and clutched his aching chest. Electric jolts steadily coursing through his body, he took the fleeting moment he had to catch his breath.

"Then let's see just how much 'better' a place that is...! Tyaaaaah!" Risky belligerently challenged, racing toward him with no intent to let up. Only, as soon as she got within arm's length of the weary, battle-damaged Tayshan as he struck a grounded battle stance to prepare for her incoming assault...

"Hyaaaaaah!" Shantae shouted as she came flying in from seemingly nowhere with her foot cocked all the way behind her.

"What the-!?" Risky Boots was about to remark in complete surprise. However, when she turned to her side, Shantae's foot was already right in front of her. And, with an entirely grisly *KRATHRAAASH*, Shantae landed a whirling, airborne spinning crescent kick that struck her target across the face with the speed of a whip and the destructive force of a full-grown horse. "Khaaaagh...!" Risky grunted as she was made to stumble back a few steps before catching herself on her feet. Knowing for sure that such an underhanded attack would leave a lasting mark, Risky took the moment to brush her fist across her lip as she recoiled, only to have her suspicions confirmed. Her lip had been bleeding worse than it had been earlier, which brought her no small form of frustration at her enemies. "Grrrrrrrgh...!"

"Just in time...! You're the best, honey," Tayshan remarked in relief, shaking off the lingering bodily aches as best as he could as he readied himself for more of the grueling battle.

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world, Tay!" Shantae assured him, catching her breath herself as she, too, experienced the unsettling phenomenon of having jolts of electricity sporadically shoot across her body. It seemed like at this point, all three combatants were approaching their limits in one way or another. Nevertheless, they pressed on. "Now, let's wrap this up, shall we?"

"Let's do it," Tayshan wholeheartedly agreed as the two of them entered their respective fighting stances, determined to finally put this saga to rest. Sensing the imminent danger right away, Risky prepared herself as best as she could.

"Here goes! Kyaaaaah!" Shantae boldly declared, dashing right at Risky Boots with the full intent to give the Pirate Queen the fight of a lifetime.

"Hrrraaaaah!" Tayshan shouted alongside Shantae, following closely behind his teammate as they charged at their shared enemy.

"Figures you'd come charging at me at the same time...! Hah!" Risky mumbled, parrying an incoming haymaker from Shantae before hopping backward to dodge a low kick from Tayshan. The second she saw the half-genie charging in to try and claim an early advantage, however, Risky improvised by planting her feet on the ground before blocking a side kick from the ponytailed maiden with her good arm. She tried to counter the attack by throwing a vicious haymaker with her other fist, though it was immediately blocked with a *PLOCK* of her knuckles against Tayshan's open hand. Before she could figure out another move, Risky was hammered with a *PWAAASH* of a fireball to her chest from Shantae, causing her to stumble back.

"Shooh!" Tayshan grunted, lunging ahead and landing a startling *THRACK* of a jab to Risky's cheek, nearly sending her to the ground.

"Taaryaaaah!" Shantae hollered, following up with a Hair Whip that Risky barely had the time to dodge. Nevertheless, the sharp *THWAP* of Shantae's ponytail against the air right near her face as she weaved past it served as fair enough warning to Risky that if she didn't do something quick, she would be buried under their aggressive twin onslaught. Pivoting around the Shantae's ponytail attack, Risky hurriedly followed up by slamming the back of her fist against the back of Shantae's head with a jarring *THUMP* that sent the half-genie stumbling forth. Immediately after, Tayshan came careening forth with a jumping double axe handle that the lady pirate blocked with one arm. With a forceful *THWACK* of his hands against her forearm, Tayshan nearly brought Risky to a knee. Proving resilient, however, Risky dug deep, summoning up a flash of Dark Magic that allowed her to repel him before winding up her free hand and slamming her fist into his stomach with a nauseating *THRASH* that nearly caused him to double over, were it not for him immediately grabbing Risky by the wrist to keep her from moving.

"Grrgh, you-!" Risky was about to bark at him before she was hit from behind with a devastating *KATHRAAASH* of Shantae's foot against her back. "Khahaagh...!" Risky grunted, the sheer force of the genie girl's bone-crushing spinning thrust kick feeling as though it would snap her in half. Her severe discomfort would only be compounded by the second *KATHRAAASH* of Tayshan's knee against her stomach while she was stumbling forward. "Ghaaaaah...!" Risky groaned in agony, lifted off her feet for a second as her lungs began to feel like a cobra was squeezing the air out of them. Just then, Tayshan let go of Risky's wrist, though Risky was too busy suffering from the two-pronged attack to take notice.

"TAKE THIS!" Shantae hollered as she came racing in from the side, lunging forth again. With an electricity-infused *KATHRAKAKRAASH*, the half-genie slammed her lightning-charged fist into Risky's face, sending rippling surges of concentrated agony tearing through the Pirate Queen's body as she fell to the ground with a *THUD*. Refusing to be outdone in the moment, however, Risky regained just enough of her composure to roll back to her feet while ignoring the unbelievable pain in her shoulder. Just then, Tayshan came racing in yet again, causing Risky to brace for impact. However, the soldier suddenly stopped, planting himself on one knee instead of attacking her outright.

"Go for it, Shantae!" he shouted, planting a fist on the ground and tensing himself up, much to Risky's confusion. Before she needed to even ask what was happening, however, the wary buccaneer witnessed Shantae sprinting behind Tayshan before propelling herself forth off her feet and vaulting off his shoulders with her hands. Somersaulting through the air with her long lavender ponytail serving as a situational gymnastic ribbon as it whirled around her, Shantae performed a full twist with the grace of a professional gymnast.

"You think your silly little circus routine is gonna-!" Risky was again about to utter before she found herself cut off by Tayshan suddenly taking off with a burst of magic and ramming into her with a full-force *KABLAAAASH* of his shoulder against her chest while she was distracted. "Gahaagh...! Okay, that does-!" she tried to complain again as she stumbled toward Shantae, who had since gracefully landed and rushed toward Risky.

"Gotcha! Let's see how you like this one!" Shantae challenged, flinging her Hair Whip at her enemy and managing to strike her with a trio of the most fearsome *THWAPs* anyone this side of Sequin Land could ever have witnessed. The hair attacks sent Risky reeling back, though her torment would see no immediate end.

"Yah!" Tayshan shouted as he launched his foot forward while Risky was recoiling from Shantae's hair attacks. Risky would be pinballed again by Tayshan landing a dense, metallic *KAPLACK* of a thrust kick to Risky's back to send her tumbling toward Shantae once again.

"Now to finish it off...!" Shantae murmured, grabbing Risky by the wrists and lifting a foot up. And with an immediate *WHACK* of her shoe against Risky's stomach, Shantae firmly planted her foot in position and threw all her weight back while pulling Risky forward by her wrists. Rolling onto her back, Shantae engaged Risky in a Monkey Flip maneuver as she tucked her knees in close to her chest while keeping her grip on Risky's shoulders as tight as could be. And just as she felt her back press against the stony ground beneath her, Shantae exerted as much force as she could into propelling Risky up and over her as hard as she could. "Hrryyyyyaaah!" she effortfully shouted, releasing Risky's shoulders as she sent the Pirate Queen sailing through the air. However, Risky had other plans on how this most unscrupulous Team Attack would end. Just as she was flung upward and away, Risky reached back and managed to grab Shantae by the ankles before the unsuspecting half-genie could pull away.

"Tshhhrrrrrraaaaaaah!" Risky shouted as she, with all her Dark Magic-boosted might, pulled Shantae up and over her as she somehow managed to land on her feet.

"What the-!? Whoawhoawhoawaaaaaaah!" Shantae bellowed, having little clue as to what was happening as the cave began to spin from her perspective.

"Happy trails, brat!" Risky shouted as she used the momentum from her enemy's throw to fling her with a mighty *WHOOOOSH* across the cavern. Having little time to brace for impact, Shantae tucked herself into a ball as best as she could as she hit the ground with an unsettling *THUD* before rolling and sliding across the wet cavern floor. She found her flight short, but incredibly painful as each impact with the ground felt like she was being smacked with sacks of bricks as she rolled toward the entrance of the cave. Skidding along the ground as the momentum finally died out, Shantae eventually found herself mere INCHES away from plunging into the sea as her head and arms hung over the edge.

"Owww... Cheap move, Risky...! Cheap move..." she complained, slowly climbing to her hands and knees as she caught her breath.

"I knew you had another dirty trick up your sleeve!" Tayshan yelled, shocked and appalled at Risky's cruel and calculating reversal as he raced in and tried to blast the buccaneer with a most vicious hook. Not even bothering to turn around right away, Risky swiftly sidestepped the punch, though she could feel the radiant heat from the soldier's magic-bathed fist as it whizzed past her face with an emphatic *FWOOSH*.

"And plenty more to SPARE!" she roared at him, ducking low as she stretched her arm forward. Within maybe a millisecond, she tightened her elbow as hard as she could and, with a full-body twist, SLAMMED her elbow into Tayshan's gut with a brutally explosive *KAPLAAARGH* that sent a debilitating surge of unbridled, soul-rending anguish tearing through his entire upper body.

"Ooowaaaagh...!" Tay grunted, magic-borne electricity circulating through him as he clutched his abdomen with an arm and reeled back from the impact of the Pirate Queen's merciless strike. However, as Risky turned around and charged at him, he noticed that she was clutching her shoulder harder than she had been earlier. Even in his disadvantaged, pain-addled state, he could tell right away that her counterattack hurt her just as much as it did him. Paying no heed to this herself, Risky ran straight ahead at Tayshan, looking to punish him as hard and as swiftly as possible while Shantae was out of the way. She would find little opportunity to do so, however, as he gathered up just enough energy to parry her full-force, Dark Magic-imbued cross aimed at his face.

"Gah, you still have some fight left...!" Risky irritably observed as she recoiled from his counter.

"More than you'll ever know...!" Tay remarked, hurriedly committing himself to his next move before Risky could figure it out. With the speed of a serpent's strike, Tayshan delivered a mixed magic-charged palm thrust that landed with a *THWACK* of a direct impact on Risky's injured shoulder.

"Haaaaagh! Ow! Darn you...!" Risky cursed at him, stumbling back as she tried to process the absolute, HOWLING agony caused by the soldier's unscrupulous strike. However, Tayshan rushed forth, clocking Risky across the face with another quick *KAPLACK* of his boot against her cheek. "Haaagh...! Drrrgh...!" Risky grunted further as she was knocked off her feet. Still more than capable of recovering despite the bone-chilling impact of the attacks she endured, the Pirate Queen rolled off her back once she hit the ground with a *THUD* and planted herself back on her feet. Unfortunately for her, she found herself FAR from unscathed by her enemies' joint effort to overwhelm her. Her clothes were a complete, shredded mess, her lip was bleeding, she suffered numerous bruises across her body, and the rapid surges of purple-hued electricity ripping through her body made it all too clear that she was struggling to hold it together. One need not even mention that gruesome shoulder injury she was trying her hardest to ignore as she pressed her opposing hand to the aching joint. "Hooh... Whew... After so many times... I gotta admit... You've got quite the knack for finding intuitive ways to survive my unbridled wrath... I'm... about as impressed as I am extremely irritated by it... and trust me, Tay-Tay... I'm EXTREMELY irritated right now...! So good job getting on my nerves yet again...!"

"Flattery won't save you now... Hah... But your disapproval is always welcome..." Tayshan shot back, equally as breathless as his adversary was as he tried to catch his breath. And much like Risky Boots in front of him, the soldier appeared worse for wear. His hair was frazzled, his pants were torn and burnt in various spots, and his body was littered in bruises. The frightening image of the soldier in such a disheveled state wasn't helped in the least by the presence of all the scars plastered across his face and torso from his previous adventures throughout Sequin Land. Worse yet, crackling surges of electricity both purple and blue in color were ripping across his body like he had become a human lightning rod. Nevertheless, Tayshan and Risky Boots glared at one another, seeming to be daring each other to make another move as they reached their next incredibly tense stalemate. Each of them wanted to take the other down and claim a decisive victory; that much came without a doubt. However, with the longer this terrible, awful, grueling final battle carried on, the more it seemed to be the case that it would boil down to a war of wills above all else. No matter how badly beaten either combatant was, neither one was ready to concede to the other under any circumstance...

"Tayshan!" An equally worn-down Shantae called as she sprinted back toward her partner, seeing that he and Risky had stopped fighting and had been breathlessly, yet rancorously staring each other down. However, the half-genie gasped in shock at how badly he'd been injured. Rips and tears littered across his pants, fresh bruises forming all over his torso, the sudden appearance of a foreboding multicolored electricity shooting through his arms… "Goodness, I didn't notice how banged up you were, but now that I see it in full... Goodness... How are you holding up?"

"Not as good as I thought I would, t' be perfectly honest…" the weary serviceman shared, still trying to catch his breath. "Risky got the upper hand for a minute when she called in those Tinkerbats, an' she forced me t' burn up a ton o' the magic I had left t' regain some kind of advantage…! An' our Team Attack worked t' some degree, but even now, she's still standin'... You're lookin' pretty rough yourself after she flung you across this cave, by the way... You okay?"

"I'm as good as I can be in this situation..." the half-genie assured, though she hardly fared better than her fellow combatants. Her ponytail was frazzled and coated with splotches of mud, her pants had suffered numerous rips and tears, her borrowed tank top was torn and matted with dirt, her eye had a nasty dark ring around it, and her nose was still bleeding from earlier. And just like the others, sporadic surges of blue-hued electricity was circulating across her body, signaling that she, too was running low on magic as she panted heavily. "I won't lie, though, babe... I'm starting to get a little tired...! Hooh...!"

"You an' me both..." he agreed, taking a deep, pain-laden breath to try and regain more of his composure. "I knew this wouldn't be easy, but... I was kinda hopin' it would be, considerin' there's two of us an' only one o' her..."

"I know... This is dragging on a LOT longer than I hoped it would, and we're both taking loads of damage as we go along..." she worriedly acknowledged, immediately taking it upon herself to grab his wrist and look at his Heart Monitor. "You went down from 610 to 242 that fast!? And your magic… You've only got maybe a quarter left…"

"Y-yeah…" Tay reluctantly confirmed. "On the bright side, she's not lookin' too hot either, so it wasn't for nothin'… Plus, I should mention that I managed t' tear her gun out o' her hands earlier, so now she's completely unarmed," he further informed, nudging his head toward the heavily worn-down Risky Boots, who'd also been crackling with Dark Magic-related fatigue. The crackling was far less prevalent on her than it was on Tayshan, however, signifying that she may have had more juice in her tank than he did in his. Conversely, she'd still been trying to nurse that nagging shoulder injury that only seemed to get worse with the longer this battle dragged out.

"Don't you dare think that means you scalawags are gonna beat me quite so easily…!" Risky warned, tensing up her body and summoning forth another rush of Dark Magic. As expected, the aura that exuded from her form was a lot less prevalent than earlier, though she appeared to maintain the increased flow of it just fine as she readied herself for more of the battle. "I won't stop until the two of you are crumpled up at my feet and pleading for my favor…!"

"If that's the way you want to do this, Risky, then so be it," Shantae replied, seeing that Risky was refusing to back down, even when she was on the verge of losing. "You can send as many Tinkerbats after us as you want, and you can try to pull as many dirty tricks as your brain can hatch. The fact is, you'll only be making this worse for yourself. Of course, this battle doesn't have to keep going on like this. For your sake, give up. NOW! Otherwise, you'll leave me no choice but to beat you down!"

"Spoken like a true fool," Risky snidely remarked with a snicker. "If you really think you can take me, then come at me, little girl…!" she further taunted with a sinister grin as she tried to hide her crippling fatigue behind a well-crafted show of bravado.

"This 'little girl' is going to stop you in your tracks once and for all!" Shantae accepted the challenge, stepping in front of Tayshan, who'd immediately tapped her on the shoulder. "Hm? What's up?"

"We're still fightin' her together," he advised, getting a feeling that Shantae was going to try and fly solo.

"Not in your condition. You've done more than enough by wearing her down as much as you have, Tay," Shantae disagreed, proving Tayshan's hunch correct. "You've been giving it your all since this battle began, and I'm worried that you might be hitting your absolute limit. You deserve a break. I can handle her myself from here."

"That break will only come when we deal with her together, Shantae," Tay countered, reminding her that it would be a collaborative effort from start to finish. "An' no matter how certain we seem t' be that she'll go down, she's always got somethin' up her sleeve. She is not t' be underestimated, even in her current state."

"I know that much, but that doesn't mean I can't finish the job on her from here," the fervent heroine insisted, wanting no further harm to be brought to her partner. "Trust me, I've got this. Take a break, sweetie. You've earned it. This'll be over before you even know it."

"Shantae, listen. As much as I know you wanna look out for me, fightin' her alone has proven not t' be a good idea for you or me in the long run; even now, when it looks like she's about ready t' cave," he pressed, deeply concerned about her safety if she was allowed to fight Risky alone. "I wouldn't be makin' the case if I didn't suspect she was still up t' somethin'," he continued, momentarily casting his gaze toward the battle-damaged Pirate Queen before turning his attention back to the half-genie. "An' in case it sounds like I'm doubtin' you, I promise you that I'm not. I trust you completely, boo. It's Risky I don't trust. There's no way she's gonna make this that easy for us. If anything, she's probably countin' on gettin' either one of us alone again t' spring yet another dirty trick before we got the chance t' counter it."

"He's right, you know," Risky interjected and confirmed, still grinning at them as she found herself not even a tad concerned with Tay's observation. Just the mischievous look on her face alerted the both of them as they prepared for her next move. "Funny how he learned that lesson so much faster than you did, Shantae. Really goes to show how truly naïve you are, when a newcomer proves himself at least somewhat smarter than you in a single statement."

"If that's your attempt at turning us against each other, then it's as sad as it is useless," Shantae dismissively spat, not taking the bait on Risky's taunt this time. "No matter what we decide on, it'll only result in your defeat just like every other time we've fought," she further asserted, agitating Risky greatly in the process. "But Tay…" she called to him, turning to look him in the eye. "Are… Are you sure it's a good idea for you to keep going? I mean… Especially when we consider-!" Shantae was about to address when the shrill, ear-splitting sound of Risky Boots whistling in front of them cut her train of thought short. Immediately put on high alert, both Shantae and Tayshan prepared themselves as they suspended their conversation.

"If your concern is who's gonna be first to be beaten into submission by me, then I've got a perfect solution to that problem!" the sneaky Pirate Queen asserted, looking past her enemies to signal for another, larger group of Tinkerbats to come charging in with a mixture of pistols, scimitars, grenades, and shotguns while spreading out to maximize their potential for causing serious harm.

"Darn it, we should've done somethin' about them earlier…!" Tay griped, fighting through monumental shocks of pain in his every limb to channel more of his mysterious, interchanging magic. "No choice, then... I'll get them, Shantae! Don't hold anything back against her! I'll rejoin you as soon as I clean up the trash! I shouldn't be long," he advised the half-genie as he dashed toward the Tinkerbats that had immediately begun opening fire on him. "You cowards should learn how t' stay out of a fight you know you can't win! Your boss is only throwin' y'all out of a fryin' pan an' into a fire! Hrrrraaaah!" he shouted at the Tinkerbats as he leapt through the air, lunging toward one of the Tinkerbats wielding a pistol. And, with another distressing series of *KABLAMs* and *BANGs*, yet another brutal one-on-ten scuffle began.

"Now that I've got you all to myself again…!" Risky began as she went speeding toward Shantae, who'd readied herself for anything Risky had to throw at her. With a powerful *THRACK*, Risky's fist crashed against Shantae's bracelet as the girls went all out on each other yet again. Just as she'd done against Tayshan earlier, Risky Boots hammered away at the half-genie's defenses by unleashing an all-consuming fury through a barrage of speedy jabs, knees, kicks, and elbows. Every attack Shantae blocked felt like Risky was swinging flaming sacks of bricks at her. Every attack she dodged felt like she'd been passed by a burning whirlwind. It was no mystery why Risky had chosen such a treacherous method of dividing her adversaries up the way she did, but that knowledge only angered Shantae as she relied on her expert agility and dexterity to deal with Risky's latest blitz.

"I can tell already that you're burning out! Give it a rest, will you!?" Shantae yelled as she ducked under a powerful swipe launched by her obstinate adversary, followed by her somersaulting backward over Risky's leg sweep and parrying an incoming uppercut. Just when she thought she had a chance to counter, however, Risky surprised her by using her injured arm to land a *THWOP* of an elbow against Shantae's stomach, causing the half-genie to falter and stumble back. However, the impact hurt Risky just as much as she winced in unbearable pain from the attack. She wouldn't let a mere shoulder injury stop her, however.

"You'd do yourself better by worrying about your own safety! Haaaah!" Risky shouted, lunging ahead and descending upon her opponent with a Dark Magic-infused axe kick. Almost entirely on impulse, Shantae blocked the incoming kick by crossing her arms over her head, where Risky's foot met them with a *THOCK*.

"For goodness sake, just STOP! I'm getting sick and tired of all this fighting, and you have no chance at beating us now! Do us all a favor and just give up already!" Shantae demanded, quickly snagging Risky's ankle and pulling her forth to strike her with a Hair Whip. And, with an echoing *THWACK*, the heroine scored her first hit with her most famous attack in what felt like ages. She knew better at this point than to keep using the Hair Attack, however, as she suspected Risky would try to counter it again. Still holding onto Risky's ankle, Shantae followed up by trying to kick her enemy's other leg out from under her.

"Hands off!" Risky yelled, finding just enough time to hop over Shantae's leg sweep with her remaining foot. Before the half-genie could figure out what Risky was up to, Risky thrust her free foot forward while she was in midair, landing a jarring *KROCK* of a kick directly to Shantae's face.

"Owaaah!" Shantae yelled as she found herself flung backward by Risky's dirty maneuver. Both women hit the ground with simultaneous *PLAPs* of their backs against the watery surface of the flooding cavern. Each of them refusing to be outdone by the other, they simultaneously climbed to their feet, staring each other down as the chaos surrounding them carried on in the form of an entirely separate battle fought between the extraterrestrial soldier and the eight Tinkerbats hounding him as he dashed toward the back of the cave. He was firing *KABANG* after *KABANG* of the shotgun he somehow obtained while escaping the *KABOOM* of a grenade going off near him. Meanwhile, the Tinkerbat squad poured the pressure on by hounding him from multiple angles and inundating him with gunfire, grenades, and sword swings.

"For someone who just promised she could take me by herself, you sure are doing a miserable job at it," Risky taunted with a malevolent grin, still brimming with Dark Magic as she readied herself to continue the battle. "What's wrong? Getting tired already?"

"You're in no place to talk! Hrrrryaaaah!" Shantae yelled, charging in and unleashing a powerful thrust kick of her own that Risky dodged. Risky attempted to counter it by whirling around and blasting Shantae in the back of the head with a vicious elbow, though the *FWISH* of her magic-bathed appendage missing her mark caught her by surprise. Shantae, having ducked the elbow, turned and socked the Pirate Queen in the face with a *CRACK* of her energy-imbued fist. Rolling with the punch, however, Risky retaliated by rocketing forth and slamming her fist into the half-genie's chest with a lung-crushing *SMACK* that sent Shantae sliding back across the ground on her feet. "Grrrah! That does it! HRRRRAAAAAH!" the half-genie roared, her temper blowing past its boiling point as she charged at her adversary and let loose a relentless barrage of punches, kicks, the occasional Hair Whip, and even sporadic fireballs and lightning attacks.

"That's right, brat, fight me like you mean it! We'll see which one of us outlasts the other!" Risky challenged, narrowly dodging a *FWOOSH* of a fireball while blocking her enemy's incoming hook with her forearm. The *WHACK* of Shantae's fist on her arm caused another burst of extreme discomfort to shoot through it from shoulder to fingertip, however. Doing her best to ignore it, she adjusted herself by dodging a hair whip aimed right for her face, weaving under it to try driving her Dark Magic-bathed knee into the half-genie's gut. But, with a crackling *THRASH*, Risky found her attack halted by Shantae's Light Magic-covered hands. "Darn it, you were nowhere near this adept at fighting up close before…!"

"I've had a lot of practice, which you're gonna keep learning about the hard way as long as you keep making me demonstrate it!" Shantae rebutted, her magic shining bright as she shoved Risky's knee down while gracefully spinning around her. Attempting to counter, Risky swatted at Shantae, who'd reacted by performing another of her stylish spinning backdashes. "Now, take THIS!" she announced, leaping forward while twirling through the air as her ponytail perfectly circled around her. Risky grounded herself, charging up as much Dark Magic as she could manage to block the attack. Only, when she did so this time, the *CRACKLE* of electricity shooting through her body made it apparent that she was overdoing it.

"Ghaaagh…! What the…?" she complained, her every muscle stiffening in that moment as she tried to figure out why her body had suddenly begun locking up on her. Before she got the chance to solve such a disastrous mystery, however…

"Yaaaah!" Shantae yelled as she landed her spinning jump kick with a ground-shattering *KATHRAASH* against Risky's injured arm hard enough to nearly SHATTER the unfortunate appendage on impact.

"Gaah! Haaaarrgh…!" the suddenly disadvantaged Pirate Queen shouted in unfathomable pain, her arm feeling like it was crushed under a ten ton boulder from the force of Shantae's monumental jumping spin kick.

"I've got you now! HaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAH!" Shantae roared once more, releasing the full force of her heroic fury upon the villainous pirate captain. Wanting to end the battle on a high note, the half-genie laid into Risky Boots as hard as she conceivably could in that moment. With *THROCK* after *THWACK* after *PLOCK* after heavy, crippling *THUMP*, Shantae hit Risky with everything she had while Risky was either trying to gather up the energy to mount some semblance of a defense strategy or attempting to dodge and escape the assault before it did her in. However, every move Risky made in that moment only caused her more electricity-borne pain as she was forced to take the brunt of her adversary's assault. "IT'S OVER, RISKY!" Shantae yelled as she continued to land full combos of punches, kicks, knees, and an unstoppable salvo of Hair Whips at her nearly defenseless archenemy. Not wanting to give Risky Boots any chance to get up and drag the battle on any longer, Shantae continuously and mercilessly beat Risky Boots all over the cave with the full intent to end the battle.

As she continuously landed blow after *CRASHing* strike after *SMASHing* hit, however, the half-genie began to feel the fatigue set in herself. Before long, her limbs began to ache and burn. She had steadily been experiencing shortness of breath. And as she hammered the worn-down Risky with another trio of haymakers and Hair Whips, she began to feel like she'd been inching toward the brink of pushing things too far. Needing to recover before she completely overdid it, Shantae made her next move.

"And here's the FINISH!" Shantae conclusively announced, stepping back while digging her foot into the ground as hard as she could. As soon as she got set, she thrust her entire body forward like there was a rocket in her shoe. And, with a monstrous *KAPLARSHK*, Shantae let out the most powerful and most explosive super kick she'd ever performed. Risky Boots, having no chance to defend herself, was sent hurtling high and far through the air. She would only be stopped by the debilitating *KRUNCH* of the wall she smacked into before falling flat on her stomach with an accompanying *PLAP* against the cavern floor.

"Grrgh…! D-darn it…! Lousy magic…! It's running low on me…!" Risky Boots groaned, every inch of her body feeling the full effects of Shantae's brutal assault as she temporarily found herself unable to move anything but her head. Turning her head, however, she noticed that she'd landed right next to the scimitar that she'd lost moments earlier. "Haaagh…! Come on…! I am… not losing here…! Not to this pathetic little wench…! Not… like this…!" she tiredly urged herself, fighting through all the pain in her body to reach for the sword. "I won't be made a fool of again...! I WON'T...! I'll destroy you LONG before you get the chance to... to humiliate me again...! I've had enough...! I've had ENOUGH...!" she urged herself, growing exponentially angrier at Shantae with the longer she was left there to contemplate her last-ditch effort to turn the battle around in her favor.

"Hah… It's… It should be over…" Shantae theorized, her Light Magic aura suddenly vanishing as she took a breather. "But-! Gah...!" she grunted, a sudden nauseous feeling welling up in her abdomen as she flinched. She knew all too well what that feeling meant, as she worriedly turned toward Tayshan, who'd still been trying to clear out the remaining Tinkerbats, of which there were two. One of Risky's minions had a grenade at the ready while the other fired a *KABLAM* of a shotgun blast at him as they had him on the defensive. Leaping backward while seeming to be contemplating a countermeasure, Tay found himself under considerable pressure as it was also made apparent he was unarmed.

"Heh, you cowards are persistent...! But you're not gettin' the drop on me. I can promise y'all that...!" Shantae heard him remark to his enemies as they doggedly chased him around the cave. However, she further inspected Tay to see the crackling strikes of blue and purple electricity circling his body as he continued to hurriedly avoid the two-pronged Tinkerbat assault. Immensely worried that this might have been that 'certain' critical point they needed to be aware of in order to ensure Tayshan's survival, Shantae made a crucial last-second decision.

"I've got to do something before he gets hurt...!" she urged herself, wanting to make absolutely sure her beloved boyfriend would be okay. "Tayshan! Hang on! Here I co-!" Shantae called out, taking the opportunity to rush to his aid before it was too late. She would only get in maybe two or three steps before the sudden *clink* of a projectile landed at her feet. "What the-!?" she was about to ask before the *KABLOWGH* of the object, a flashbang grenade, exploded right in front of her. Immediately, Shantae's senses were overwhelmed. An incessant, ear-piercing ringing noise filled her ears. She could only see flashes of white and blue. She'd been staggering around, holding her head as she tried to gather herself. She was rendered utterly defenseless in an instant.

"Huh?" Tay hummed in wonder, having heard the blast. Turning toward Shantae, he noticed that she appeared very disoriented and unaware of her surroundings as she staggered around. "What in the…? Was she hit by a flashbang?" he pondered, shifting his attention toward her as he immediately disengaged the Tinkerbats and began running toward his partner from the farthest end of the cave he could've found himself on from her. The Tinkerbats pursuing him, however, would have none of it as the one with the shotgun fired a *KABLAM* of a blast. Forced to dodge, Tay stopped and jumped toward the Tinkerbat as it was reloading. "You're in the way!" he shouted, punting the Tinkerbat with a *PLANG* of his boot against its face as soon as he landed. The other Tinkerbat, holding only a frag grenade, froze in place, realizing it was alone to deal with him. Tay, taking full advantage of the opening, dashed forth and slammed the Tinkerbat in the face with a *PLOCK* that knocked it out with a *POOF* of smoke.

"Perfect… Now, then…!" Risky Boots muttered, having since risen to her feet with the scimitar in her hand as she began to glow with Dark Magic once more. "It's time for me to finish you once and for all…!" she further stated as she tucked the sword at her side while digging her feet into the ground, preparing to use one of her most deadly attacks… if not her most deadly… the Rushing Scimitar Charge. And, as she just mentioned, Risky was set to permanently rid herself of the genie menace in the most utterly gruesome and horrifying ways imaginable. And, with a *FWEEEERSH*, Risky Boots took off at top speed, blue afterimages emanating off of her as she went bulleting toward Shantae with the intent to impale her with the sword.

"Gwagh…! Hah…!" Tayshan grunted in pain as a horrible feeling welled up in his abdomen. Suddenly filled to the brim with panic, he turned toward Shantae again to see that Risky Boots was charging directly toward her with a scimitar in her hands. He knew just from a glance that Risky was going to kill Shantae. And the mere thought of it terrified him to the point where his body suddenly found itself engulfed in a bolstered mixture of Light and Dark Magic. And, without even thinking, he turned and bolted toward the half-genie with the speed of a bullet train on two feet. "No...! SHANTAE!" he desperately called out despite knowing she couldn't hear him in that moment as she remained incapacitated and vulnerable.

He glanced at Risky on his way toward Shantae to see she was charging in at top speed with zero intent to stop. The mere sight of it caused the soldier's legs to explode with power as he raced as hard as he could to save Shantae from certain doom. He didn't have time to think about the consequences. He didn't have time to think about the circumstances. He… he didn't have time… It was either save her at all costs, or lose her forever. All he could think of in that moment was that if he lost her, he would NEVER forgive Risky for taking her away from him. And worse yet, he could NEVER forgive himself for not protecting Shantae despite the promises he made to everyone to do just that. He needn't even think of how their friends wouldn't forgive him for not protecting her when her life was practically in his hands. The constant, nonstop *PLACKs* of his Propeller Boots growing more rapid as he raced against Risky Boots to reach Shantae, Tayshan dug into the very core of his willpower as a sudden rush of adrenaline made his every nerve tingle in conjunction with the Light Magic coursing through his entire body. As he and Risky drew nearer and nearer to the vulnerable half-genie, everything seemed to suddenly move in slow motion for Tay. Not even thinking about it, he pressed on with his effort to save his closest ally from their worst enemy. And, through some miracle, he managed to just barely beat Risky there. Considering how close they were, however, there wasn't much he could do. By the time he got there, the tip of Risky's sword was mere inches away from Shantae's abdomen. With no other option, Tayshan extended his arm while rushing forth, shoving Shantae clean out of the way while she was stunned by the flashbang. And… well, reader… if this had a happy ending, then believe me, I'd have loved to tell it to you… but… the circumstances… they… ah… Th-they wouldn't allow for it… um… and… well… what happened next was… almost too terrible to describe…

"Hrrrrah!" Risky shouted, extending the scimitar as she continued to dash, though she didn't see the sudden interference of the soldier until it was too late. With a sickening metallic *SKSSSH*, the Pirate Queen plunged the scimitar into the right side of the soldier's abdomen, running the blade through him to the hilt and suddenly stopping as soon as her face slammed against his chest. The unbelievable power and speed behind the move rivaled that of a charging bull as she forced Tayshan to slide backward on his feet by at least a yard as the momentum from her vicious assassination attempt quickly petered out.

"GHHRWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Tayshan hollered out in such unspeakable, blood-curdling pain that his agonized howl could've been heard hundreds of miles away. His eyes went wide as he stood still, hunched over Risky while grabbing at her hands. He could hardly process it himself… It was almost like he'd completely lost awareness of his surroundings… of his actions… and even of the situation he was in… yet, the debilitating, nauseating, pulsating, burning, stabbing sensation in his stomach snapped him right back into reality. Glancing down, he saw Risky's hands wrapped around the hilt of her sword. He saw that the long, curved blade of the scimitar wasn't visible… but then, before he could question where the blade went, he was hit with another jarring wave of torturous, excruciating agony that rocked him to the very core. He found it incredibly difficult to draw breath due to the sharp stabs of crippling pain shooting through his stomach with every time he tried to inhale or exhale. Forced to look toward the source of the pain, he saw it… and when he saw it, he couldn't come close to believing it. The sword… It… It was stuck in his abdomen. In conjunction with the insurmountable anguish, he felt a strange, viscous moisture coating his stomach where the sword had been plunged into him… and, despite his state of utter shock, he realized it for himself. He realized that Risky, in her desperate attempt to strike Shantae down, struck him instead as he was saving the half-genie. It was then that he also realized… that he… may very well have just met with his terrible fate…

"What the…?" Risky murmured in complete confusion as she held the handle of the sword in her hands. Immediately looking upward, she saw the immensely agonized, glowing-eyed expression of Tayshan staring right back at her. "What…!? You…? When did you…!? How…?" Risky stammered, looking back toward her sword to realize for herself that she'd just stabbed him.

"Gah…! Wooh, wha…?" Shantae groaned, picking herself up off the ground as her senses suddenly returned to her. However, the sudden, terrifying rush of dread rampaging through her abdomen in that moment put her on high alert as she recognized the feeling as Tayshan being in danger. However, when she turned to see the soldier, she was immediately stricken with an unbearable wave of horror, sorrow, and anguish as she took in the sight of him… with a scimitar sticking out of his back as he appeared nearly frozen in crippling agony that his mind couldn't even begin to register… and Risky Boots standing right in front of him, gripping the hilt of the sword as it rested in his abdomen.

"TAYSHAN! NO! NO, NO, NO!" she wailed with such sorrow, panic, and gut-wrenching despair in her voice that she could hardly recognize it herself. As she clamored to her feet and hurried to him, however, she noticed him reaching toward Risky's face with one hand while cocking his other Light Magic-imbued fist back. And, before she could process it, Tayshan flung his fist directly at Risky's face, hammering her with a *THROCK* that sent the unsuspecting Pirate Queen hurtling back as she hit the ground with a *PLOP*. And, as though he was moving on autopilot, Tayshan grabbed the sword embedded deep into his stomach. Shantae wanted to tell him to stop moving. She wanted to ask him what happened. She… she wanted to know if he was going to be okay. But, as she continued trying to register the grievous sight before her, the words refused to leave her lips in that moment. Meanwhile…

"Ghhhrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaagh…!" Tayshan shouted in unrelenting despair as he pulled on the sword with all his might with one hand, standing as tall as he could while doing so. His other hand was pressed firmly into the area surrounding the sword. And eventually, with an awful, disconcerting *SHLLRSHK*, the soldier accomplished the utterly unthinkable and outright impractical. He pulled the scimitar, at this point soaked in his blood, out of his stomach, glowing with Light Magic all the way through as he kept his hand pressed to the wound. Appearing to be growing weary from the traumatic procedure, the soldier collapsed to his knees, dropping the bloodied sword as he clutched his mortal wound with both of his hands to stop the bleeding as best as he could. At that point, everything else went silent, save for the never-ending tides of the ocean outside the cave… and the constant beeping noise coming from the device affixed to Tayshan's wrist as he grimaced in extreme pain, struggling to breathe as he tried to hold his wound together. "Grgh…! Aaagh…! Hagh…!"

"…T-Tay…?" Shantae finally managed to call to him, frightfully approaching him as he turned and looked at her. Just the pain in the expression on his face brought forth a wave of tears from the half-genie as she hurried up and closed the distance between them. "Tay…! Oh, my gosh…! No…! Are… Are you…?"

"N-No…" he answered in a pained whisper, having no useful way to stop the profuse bleeding from his abdomen or even deal with the inconceivable agony that found only mild relief in the form of his stomach going partially numb as his body began to glow brightly with Light Magic. "No, I… I'm afraid I'm not okay, Shantae… I'm sorry… but… I'm glad… to at least… agh…! To at least see that you're… not hurt too badly… Thank goodness you're safe…"

"What…? Tay, how could you be worried about me at a time like this? You're…"

"…We knew this had… a pretty high chance o' happenin' when we came here… Ghhaagh… but… if I didn't act, Risky would've… sh-she would've hurt you…" he uttered, causing Shantae to realize the exact meaning behind his statement. Though she wasn't entirely aware of the circumstances, she was able to comprehend that Risky Boots was trying to attack her. And some way, somehow… Tayshan stepped in to save her life… at the cost of his own… like they had been trying so hard to prevent from carrying out… and yet…

"Tayshan…!" Shantae cried out through an anguished whisper, unable to keep in her insurmountable sorrow as she hugged his face into her chest, unable to even think about what else to do. She could hardly fathom it herself. Breaking down into a fit of sorrowful tears, Shantae hugged Tayshan as tightly as she could, her mind overtaken with worry about if he'd be okay or if he'd at least survive. "I'm sorry…! I'm sorry…! This shouldn't have happened to you…! I should've been able to protect you…! And I…" she profusely apologized, only stopping to take in a sharp, pained gasp as she let her shock and distress flow freely. Her tears trickled onto his neck as he remained nearly motionless, taking in short, quaking breaths as he pressed a hand to the wound in his stomach.

"You don't have… anything to apologize for, Shantae… Ergh…!" Tay tried to reassure her, though the crippling pain in his abdomen made it difficult for him to speak as he remained hunched over. "It had t' be done… No question about it… The important thing is that… is that her dirty sneak attack didn't work on you…"

"I understand that, but she stabbed you, Tay…! She still hurt you, which is no better than if she actually got me… Come on, we need to get that wound checked out," she urged, wanting to get him to safety as soon as possible.

"We don't have that option now… This… this fight still ain't… over yet…" he reminded her, coughing a bit as he painstakingly went to tap her face with his fingers… though he stopped when he noticed that his hand was bathed in red. So, he opted to instead rise to a very shaky stand, further frightening the ponytailed maiden in the process.

"Tayshan, don't move…! You might make it worse… Please…" Shantae urged him, tears running cascading from her eyes as she scanned him up and down to see just how beaten and weary he truly was. The bruises littered across his torso, the multitude of tears and rips in his pants… the giant, previously hemorrhaging slit in his stomach that had only been held together by the mysterious presence of the blinding Light Magic enshrouding the wound while also coating his body from head to toe… It looked every bit like… he was going to… like he was ACTUALLY going to…

"It… can't get much worse than this…" Tay barely managed to speak, coughing more as he gripped his aching stab wound with a hand as the wounds continued to bleed at a slower rate than they had moments ago. Just the sight of the gigantic gash in his abdomen horrified the half-genie as she caught a full visual of it. The wound had been glowing with Light Magic, signifying that the magic was doing its job of keeping him together, but the length of the puncture wound… it had to have been at least the length of a ruler… if not longer. He was still bleeding, despite his magic automatically, albeit temporarily sealing the wound shut. She shuddered to even imagine what the exit wound in his back looked like… "…Ghaaah…! Hah…! If this… If this is where I die… then I'll die fightin'. No turnin' back now… I… won't rest until we've won…" he painstakingly vowed, still struggling to breathe as he put up a fist and turned his attention toward Risky. His entire body had been quaking as he fought just to keep himself on his feet, having resigned himself to his impending fate.

Not saying another word in the wake of her overwhelming grief, Shantae reached toward him and grabbed his wrist to read the beeping Heart Monitor. And, much to her horror, it read that he was barely clinging to life with one single Hit Point remaining. 1/1000 HP… and yet, when the device shifted to the oil lamp, it showed that his Magic had been back to full… or somewhere close to it, as it steadily began draining while flickering between bright blue and dark blue to indicate the total and utter instability of the soldier's magic. And, much as she didn't want to believe it… she theorized in that moment that the only thing keeping Tayshan alive at all… was the magic that had been radiating from his body at the brightest it had ever been. This revelation did not fill Shantae with relief or hope, however… Instead, she was filled with remorse, distress… and a hot, all-encompassing RAGE as she turned and shot Risky Boots the most vicious death glare she'd ever given.

Meanwhile, Risky gingerly climbed to her feet, rubbing her burning cheek with her hand as she shook off the rampant aching in her jaw. She initially said nothing as she rose to a weary stand, her limbs crackling with purple electricity as she exchanged glances with Shantae. And suffice to say, Shantae was the absolute FARTHEST thing from happy with her. The tear-stricken, hatred-fueled death glare the half-genie had been shooting her was proof enough of that. It didn't exactly help that the ponytailed heroine had been enveloped in an explosive, swirling rush of Light Magic that told Risky right away that her archenemy was set to keep fighting. And then the Pirate Queen's gaze shifted over to the dying soldier standing next to her. He was panting heavily. He was also shrouded in Light Magic, though his aura had notably huge swirls of Dark Magic billowing from it. His hand was practically glued to his abdomen, which at this point was drenched in his own blood… which caused Risky to look beside Tayshan to see the blood-soaked scimitar resting on the ground, indicating that it had somehow been removed after she ran it through him. And yet… he stood with a magic-covered fist up at the ready, as though he intended to keep fighting despite the fact that he was on the verge of meeting his end…

"You… Of all the things you could've done with your life…" Risky began to speak to Tayshan, though she also found herself at a loss for words as she stood before the heroes. "Why would you throw it away like this? I don't know how in the world you managed to race over here without me seeing you, but look at what it cost you to save her. Was this really worth it to you?"

"Don't… waste your breath askin' such stupid questions…!" Tayshan rebutted, still wincing in unending torment as he glared at Risky. "If I didn't think it was worth it, I wouldn't have done it… An' t' be real… lettin' you hurt her was NEVER… in my playbook…" he further explained. "You have no idea how much this hurts…! You have no idea what it's like, knowin' you're not gonna survive a fight like this, yet goin' in anyway t' protect someone you love at any cost… an' you never will... but… I'd… agh… I'd do this again for Shantae as many times as I had to," he claimed, shocking both Shantae and Risky Boots as they locked their gazes on him.

"What…?" Risky remarked in surprise, both angered and bewildered by his reasoning.

"Tay…!" the half-genie whispered, suddenly stricken with a crushing sense of guilt as her eyes watered even more. "Oh, Tay…!"

"I… I'm sure I don't have a lot o' time left, an' I ain't gonna waste it explanin' myself to a lowlife demon like you…!" Tay spat in rancor at Risky, trying his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his abdomen and his back. "So come on… I'll fight you t' the last breath… You were gonna try an' kill me anyway, so if you've got the guts t' finish the job, then come over here an' see if you can… Just know that I won't go down so easily…"

"Tayshan, no!" Shantae tearfully interjected, stepping in front of him. "You're injured! There's no more reason for you to fight! Please, don't push yourself! You need to conserve the energy you have le-!"

"Hmph. You really are a fool…" Risky spat in disgust, shaking her head while cutting Shantae off. "I wasn't going to kill you unless you forced me to," she admitted, much to the surprise of the half-genie and the soldier. "Her, on the other hand…"

"What!? You…! You were really going to try and KILL me!? Again!?" Shantae shouted, appalled by Risky's admission. "You're sick, Risky! How could you!? What have I ever done to you that would make you think you need to kill me!? How could you act so calm and casual about the fact that you just IMPALED my boyfriend with a sword when you were aiming for me!? What is WRONG with you!?"

"Don't act so surprised, brat. You knew that was a potential part of the plan all along," Risky shot back, her face showing nothing but irritation at the duo standing before her. "You've gotten in my way many more times than I care to acknowledge, including right now. I'm not playing around, despite what you seem to think. This isn't some game of pretend. I've tried many other methods of getting you out of my way, and nothing ever seemed to stick. Even robbing you of your genie powers seemed to make you stronger instead of weaker. And while I might've helped you regain those abilities when we temporarily joined forces against the Pirate Master, I still planned on eliminating you if you continued to be the nuisance you always have been. You know that much from recent experience. And at this point, if scrubbing you out of the picture is what it takes to finally realize my goal of conquering Sequin Land and claiming its riches for myself, then that's exactly what I'll do; one way or another. Unless, of course, I managed to find some other use for you that didn't involve me getting my hands quite so dirty. I'm sure those genie powers of yours could still serve some use if I kept you alive, at least… you'd only know what I had in store for you after I've beaten you once and for all."

"Then it should… come as no surprise that I'd do everything in my power… t' stop you…" Tayshan wearily retorted. "You really don't hear how completely deranged you sound… agh… which, as I said earlier, is… exactly why you're in this situation right now, with you beaten down an' on the verge o' losin' yet again… There is no purpose in doin' the things you do, Risky Boots…"

"I agree. And it's absolutely DISGUSTING that you care so much about yourself and so little about anyone else that you'd go that far! And for what!? A chance to take over a whole country for your own selfish desires!?" Shantae shouted, beyond furious at Risky for what she'd done. "You hurt people, Risky! A LOT of people! Me! My friends… especially Tayshan…! Don't you understand that!? What's worse, you start every fight we get into, and every time I think you've sunken low enough, you somehow keep sinking! At this rate, you're going to end up just like the Pirate Master! We wouldn't have to keep fighting if you just gave up your evil ways! No one else would have to suffer! You don't have to keep taking your unhappiness out on everyone around you!"

"Save it for the birds, pipsqueak," Risky coldly remarked, though her response didn't shock either of her enemies in the slightest. "You know I'm not going to change because you tell me to, and as long as I've got a goal to accomplish, I'll do whatever it takes to accomplish it. I don't have to explain myself to you or your foolish boyfriend, whose pitiful reliance on you cost him his life."

"Then there's no more reason t' speak…" Tay replied, still holding his stance firm. "You've chosen your path, Risky… d-despite the fact that it's leadin' you to a dead end, like I been tellin' you… An' if you won't change your course… then your only other option… grgh…! …is t' keep goin' until you hit it… You'll have nobody t' blame but yourself…"

"…It's a shame you chose to stand against me, Tayshan. It really is," Risky informed him with an… odd somberness to her tone as she prepared herself to fight. "I could've molded you into a fearsome pirate warrior truly worthy of endless adulation and respect. You could've had anything you wanted, as long as I permitted it. If only you had shed those pathetic attachments to your worthless friends and this world that had no idea you even existed until you tumbled into it mere weeks ago. I could've given you so much more than this pathetic little rugrat could ever hope to offer you, as I thought I'd made clear to you last night. Yet, here you stand, drawing what could very well be your final breaths as you desperately cling to the dwindling hope that the friends you wasted all this time protecting will somehow return the favor. Hmph… At the very least, you're willing to die on your feet like the soldier you said you were. Even if it is for an entirely fruitless cause, I can respect that much about you. Feel honored that you even caught that much of my attention in the wake of you dying because of your genie lover."

"Sure, but for the record, Risky… I ain't dyin' because o' Shantae or because I chose t' do the right thing in protectin' this place an' its people from you," Tayshan clarified, wincing at the jolts of pain that continued to torment him. "I'm dyin' because you impaled me… with a sword that wasn't even designed for stabbin', ironically enough… I'm... I'm dyin' because you tried t' pull out all the stops... kagh...! T' get your way, only for me t' do the only thing I was capable o' doin' t' stop you... If there's anybody t' pin the blame on... it's you an' you alone...!"

"Rationalize it however you want. Maybe you'll have learned to regret your decision to stand by this brat in the next world," she callously shot back, seeming to refuse to take responsibility for mortally wounding Tayshan to the point where… where… uh… wow…

"I've heard enough! If that's the way you want to play it, then fine! Don't expect me to hold back!" Shantae declared, also preparing herself to fight as she grew increasingly frustrated with the fact that Risky demonstrated no form of regret for harming Tayshan as severely as she did. Risky's cold-hearted rhetoric about the situation at hand, in addition to all hers and Shantae's past scuffles, caused the half-genie no small amount of indignation, though she couldn't understand at all why Risky had to be the way she was… not that it mattered once Risky confirmed it herself that she was never going to stop being evil. Her towering anger was only outmatched by her devastating fear that she was going to lose Tayshan… Speaking of which… "Tay?"

"Y-yeah…?"

"Please, for your own sake… Let me handle this," she requested, holding back another wave of tears as she barely found it in herself to look at him. "It's… It's my fault this happened to you… It's my fault you're hurt… and I don't want to see you get hurt anymore. Please…!"

"None o' this is your fault at all, Shantae… Stop sayin' that… You know that ain't true, an'... an' I will not go out knowin' you were blamin' yourself for somethin' Risky did. An' with all due respect, baby… I can't back down now…" Tay wearily assured her as best as he could while also refusing to step aside.

"What? Why? What reason would you have to keep going in your condition?" she asked, not at all understanding his refusal to stand down. "You're hurt…! You don't need to fight anymore, Tayshan! Just rest… You need to conserve your energy…"

"I'd just be delayin' the inevitable if I stopped here…" Tay countered, refusing Shantae's suggestion yet again. "When this magic runs out, I'm just gonna wind up bleedin' t' death or goin' int' shock an' then bleedin' t' death. Just from the way she stabbed me, there ain't much doubt she got me good… I already know that now… An' I'm sure you do, too…"

"But Tay…"

"Like I said, I'd rather… I'd rather die fightin' at your side… Plus… I made a promise t' see this battle through t' the end, no matter what… an' as long as I can still breathe, I can still fight. I won't go out… sittin' down with the knowledge that Risky did this t' me, an' I won't go out knowin' she still tried t' hurt you while I did nothin' about it… It's my duty as a soldier t' serve an' protect… even if that means payin' the ultimate price… An' it's my responsibility as your boyfriend t' make sure nobody hurts you, no matter what. Now, come on… The faster we wrap this up, the better…" Hearing his statement caused the poor half-genie intense grief, more tears streaking down her face as she exchanged glances with him. And despite the fact that the glow in his eyes had begun to flicker as though a candle was about to be snuffed out… he still found it in himself to shoot her a wan smile. "It'll be okay, Shantae. I'll be here with you to the very end… an' even beyond that… if I die… I'll always be with you in spirit…"

"…Okay… I-if that's how you feel… then… just… don't overdo it… um… I-I… ah…!" she tried to reply, choking up as she nearly began to sob right in front of him. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't back down. She couldn't fathom why or how anyone in his condition could still find the strength to keep fighting. Even with his reasoning, she figured he had to know when to call it quits… yet, here he was, still willing to do everything in his waning power to protect her, even as he approached death's door. She really didn't want to let him keep fighting, but… she knew at this point that there wasn't much time to argue. And, just by reading the pained, yet determined expression on his face, she knew he wasn't going to remove himself from the battle, no matter what she said to him.

"Get it together, babe…!" Tay urged her, gently nudging her with the side of his hand that wasn't matted in blood to snap her out of her heavily concerned stupor. "I'm not finished yet… Neither are you… An' the last thing you want t' do is let Risky get away with what she's done because you got distracted. So come on. Let's finish this fight… together…"

"…Yes. Let's do this…" Shantae mournfully acquiesced, though her sorrow quickly turned into a boiling fury aimed all the way at Risky Boots as she lined up next to the mortally wounded Tayshan. If the heroic maiden had anything to say or do about it, then Risky would no doubt be made to feel every bit of wrath she harbored.

"Hmph. Well, if you're ready, then come…! Gaahagh…! I'll put you both down…!" Risky challenged through a pained grunt as she felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot through her injured shoulder. Without waiting, the three combatants engaged one another one last time.

"Risky, you'd better be on your highest guard…" Shantae very angrily threatened as her body began to glow with Light Magic once more and she struck her fiercest battle pose yet. "Because you are going to PAY for all the horrible things you've done! I'm through trying to reason with you! Whatever happens from here on, you ABSOLUTELY brought on yourself!"

Shantae (Distressed) & Tayshan (Near Death…) Vs. Risky Boots (Weary): A… A Terrible Turn of Events…

"F… Final Objective: Protect Sequin Land…" Tayshan announced, though he fought through an unending torrent of intolerable agony to utter his… rather ominous statement.

The final 'round' of this macabre confrontation would be a short one… Nevertheless, it kicked off with Risky Boots immediately charging forth and throwing a punch aimed at Tayshan, who'd dodged it and tried to counter by throwing a hook of his own. Risky, with what little strength she still had, managed to duck under it, only to be hit with a *PLOCK* of Shantae's knee against her chin. Though jarred by the attack, Risky quickly recovered and spun around the next Hair Whip coming from the half-genie. Risky attempted to counter with a spinning kick aimed at Shantae's face, only for Tay to intercept it by dashing in and blocking it with his forearm before countering with a jab that struck the Pirate Queen with a *THOCK* in her stomach, causing her to reel back.

"Gah…! Hrgh…! Gotta… Keep goin'…" Tay urged himself, having been stricken with another sharp pang of unbearable anguish resonating from the stab wound.

"Hrrraaaah!" Shantae shouted, racing toward Risky Boots to try cleaning her clock with a magic-infused uppercut, though she could only summon a fraction of the magic she thought she could. And while her attack landed with a *THWACK* against her enemy's jaw, Risky still managed to counter by flinging her foot upward to kick Shantae square in the stomach with a forceful *THUMP*. "Oogh…!" the half-genie grunted, clutching her aching abdomen as she stumbled back.

"Take this!" Risky shouted, running forward to grab Shantae by the hair and pull her forth. Risky's plan from this position was to drive her knee into her adversary's face while she was vulnerable. However, as she wound up the attack, she found herself stopped by a sudden *CRACK* of a certain soldier's fist against her shoulder.

"Ahaaagh!" Risky shouted in immeasurable pain, clutching her shoulder as Tayshan came racing in alongside Shantae to continue their two-pronged assault. Tay reached her first, attempting to land another hook. Risky ducked under it, countering by using her uninjured arm to throw a quick, desperate jab to the soldier's stab wound. And, with a horrifying *WHACK*, she landed it.

"Hrrgh! Gah…! Haagh...! Hah...! Hah...!" Tay exhaled and panted in extreme pain, brought to a knee from the excruciating agony as he clutched the wound with both hands. Almost completely unable to fathom the excruciating agony that refused to let up, the mortally wounded serviceman grimaced and coughed as he took in short, sharp, extremely labored breaths. "Ghah...!"

"Tayshan!" Shantae worriedly called to him, immediately disengaging Risky Boots to rush to the soldier's aid. Risky used the fleeting opportunity to create some distance and recuperate in the wake of her reaching her absolute limit. "Tay, are you-?"

"Still good, baby..." Tay did his best to assure her, though he struggled to keep his composure. He'd been tightly clutching his wound with his hand as he remained hunched over on one knee, panting heavily to try and deal with the utterly horrific agony shooting through his entire body. "A-at least... as good as it's gonna get from here... Hah...! Hah...!"

"Then let me handle it from here while you rest..." she tried once more to convince him as she cradled his face and hugged him while she tried to anxiously figure out what she could do to help him. "Your condition's only gonna get worse if you keep pushing yourself, so please..."

"Trust me, it... it can't get worse than this outside o' me actually dyin'..." he countered through strained breaths as he returned her hug as strongly as he could with one hand. After a few seconds, however, he gingerly rose to a stand, straightening himself up as best as he could while keeping his hand glued to his torso. "We worked too hard t' get here... an' if it's the last thing I do, I'm makin' sure we... agh... I-I'm makin' sure we see this to the end... I'm... not goin' out any other way, Shantae... I'm sorry if that sounds crazy... but that pirate witch has hurt way too many people for me not t' wanna do somethin' about it... even if I have t' sacrifice what little life I have left t' do it...!"

"Tayshan...!" Shantae called, a gigantic knot welling up in her throat as she tried to comprehend his reasoning behind fighting Risky until he potentially succumbed to his mortal wounds... Yet, before she could get much time to think about it, she heard Risky's footsteps as the ragged pirate captain staggered toward them.

"Grrgh...! You... you won't escape my clutches that easily, you little punks...! Whether you survive or not, I am not letting either of you walk away after destroying everything I worked so hard to achieve...!" Risky wearily barked at them as she did her best to keep her guard up. Just the sight of Risky in that moment ticked Shantae off something fierce. Then for Risky to engage in such a disgusting act as attacking a badly injured Tayshan in the very same spot where she'd stabbed him moments earlier? And then for Shantae to see her beloved extraterrestrial companion in such debilitating pain that he could hardly stand as a result? Not to mention that... that terrible feeling of unrelenting dread that continuously swirled around in her abdomen as a result of Tayshan being in grave danger with no clear idea of if he'd make it? That was FAR more than enough to send the half-genie over the edge... She turned toward Risky Boots with the most bone-chilling death glare she'd ever shot someone, another blasting *FRRRROOOOOWSSSSH* of Light Magic erupted from her being as she bared her teeth, clenched her fists, tensed up every muscle in her body, and unforgivingly locked her sights on her target...

"HowwaaaaaaaaRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM ANYMORE!" Shantae shouted in such explosive, all-consuming, seething rage that her cry could've been heard halfway across the globe as the ground quaked beneath her. Accordingly, her magic aura amplified like a hundred volcanoes violently erupting all at once. It was to the point where the swirling winds were picking up debris from the ground and flinging it in all directions, her aura had become so intense. She immediately sprang forth and delivered a mountainous *CRACK* of a jump kick to Risky's face in retaliation for her further injuring Tayshan. "HRRRAAAAAAH!" Shantae continued to roar, despair and extreme anger fueling her every move as she let loose another merciless barrage of punches and kicks that Risky found herself only partially capable of fending off. Blocking punch after punch with her one arm while dodging Shantae's swift Hair Whips and punishing kicks proved no easy task as she was forced to retreat across the base as Shantae belligerently pursued and pummeled her.

"Gaah…! N-no…! I won't fall to you again!" Risky vowed, dipping under a particularly powerful roundhouse kick Shantae unleashed with such power that the wind from it could've blown down a house. Finally finding a small window of opportunity, Risky countered by launching the most powerful uppercut she could muster… only for it to be parried as Shantae used an open hand to direct Risky's attack upward. "What!? How-!?" the bogged-down buccaneer tried to understand before another powerful, Light Magic-hardened *CRACK* sent her plummeting to the ground face down with a *Plop* against the cave floor. "Grrgh…!" Risky growled, picking herself up as quickly as she could and narrowly dodging Shantae's incoming fireball. Leaping backward, Risky tried to gain some form of distance to work with. Only, when she landed, she suddenly felt the *PLARCK* of a metal boot forcing itself into her side, knocking her back to the ground. She barely managed to catch herself, landing on her knee and her injured arm. "Daaagh! Hah…! You…!" she grunted, wincing in terrible pain as she picked herself back up while noticing that Tayshan was the one who kicked her.

"Yaaaaah!" Shantae yelled, dashing forth with hardly any restraint. The second she closed the distance between herself and Risky Boots, the outraged heroine attacked with another *PLOCK* of a magic-imbued spinning kick aimed at Risky's stomach. Risky doubled over, suddenly nauseous as the explosive impact sent shockwaves throughout her entire body. She would win her no sympathy or mercy, however. Tayshan ran in from the side, attempting to grab Risky when it seemed she was open. Seeing it in the wake of her compromised state, she leapt away, kicking him in the face with a jarring *THOCK* in the process.

"Gahhgh...! Hrgh...!" Tay grunted in pain, stumbling back as he recoiled from Risky's attack. Shaking it off as best as he could while the truly unfathomable pain in his abdomen steadily grew too excruciating to ignore, he pressed on. "Gotta... keep... goin'...!"

"You two are persistent, I'll-!" Risky tried to observe, though she wouldn't even get the time to do that. Before she even got the chance to land, Shantae rushed behind Risky from below and reached her arm across her chest as she waited for her archenemy to descend. The second she did, Shantae burst forth, slamming her elbow into the back of Risky's injured shoulder with a horrifying *CRACK* that sent the unsuspecting Pirate Queen stumbling forth while gripping the injured joint. "Gaaah! Darn it…!"

"Hyaaaarrraaaaah!" Tayshan shouted, dashing forward with a fist cocked way behind him. Just as Risky realized what was happening, she found her stomach blasted with a monumental *KATHRASH* of the dying soldier's magic-augmented fist slamming into her at almost the speed of sound.

"Guhaaagh…!" Risky choked out, her feet momentarily leaving the ground as the explosive force from the blow ripped through her entire body.

"No more time for games, Risky…! Gah…! For all the lives you've destroyed!" Tayshan roared with all his might, following his gut punch with a positively DEVASTATING *THRASH* of a hook to the Pirate Queen's face that sent her stumbling toward Shantae. However, the power required to land such a heavy attack proved costly, as Tay's hand began to crackle with fatigue-related electricity. Worse yet, the debilitating pain in his stomach grew worse and more unbearable by the second. It was to the point where he began to feel nauseous as his body began to sweat profusely. His breathing had become increasingly constricted. Accepting that his untimely demise was drawing near, he resolved to carry on as best as he could.

"And for the safety of Sequin Land!" Shantae added, rushing forward and pelting Risky Boots with *THWACK* after *WHAP* after *WHACK* of her Hair Whip that struck Risky all across her body. The half-genie soon followed up with a powerful thrust kick that, with another titanic *THWOP*, sent the increasingly weary Risky Boots staggering back.

"No…! You rotten scalawags…! I can't lose…! I WON'T lose! HaaaaaaAAAAH!" she roared, summoning the last bits of the Dark Magic in her body to try and stage some form of counterattack. And, with a crackling *FWOOSH*, she barely managed to channel the last vestiges of her bolstered power into her form.

"Hyaaaaarraaaah!" both Shantae and Tayshan shouted in unison, charging Risky at the same time. Desperate to gain some form of advantage before she lost, the heavily fatigued Pirate Queen attempted to swing her Dark Magic-imbued fist at Tayshan, only for it to be blocked with a *PLACK* as a result of Shantae catching her fist in her hand.

"Not in a million years…! I will make you SUFFER for what you did to Tayshan…! I'll make you REGRET EVER HURTING HIM!" Shantae growled, her unbridled rage only amplifying as she, with multiple veins protruding from her forehead, glared at Risky with a full-fledged anger the likes of which no one knew the young heroine was capable of expressing. And from there, it was a wrap. Try as Risky might, she'd completely burned herself out trying to take the two of them on at the same time. The battle had dragged on for far too long, and she'd depleted her reserves in more ways than one. And despite her grievously injuring one of her adversaries, it somehow still proved not to be enough to subdue the indomitable duo. Despite how incredibly worn out they were, their combined resolve outmatched hers. And they were ready to remind the villainous Pirate Queen just how strong that resolve was. Simultaneously, the duo unleashed the full brunt of their collective fury upon Risky. It was nearly impossible to tell what was happening as the heroes engulfed Risky Boots in a hurricane of blows coming from nearly all angles with the shared intent to bring her down HARD.

"Everything we've got!" Tayshan announced as he and Shantae threw punch after kick after punch after knee after kick at their common enemy with seemingly no interest in stopping until she was reduced to ashes. *PLOCK* after *WHACK* after *THOCK* after *KRAKLOCK*, the two of them practically tenderized the defenseless pirate with every full force blow they landed.

"Not an ounce less! YAAAAAH!" Shantae hollered even louder, pouring all of her anger and sorrow into every punch, kick, and hair attack she threw alongside Tay. She wanted Risky to feel the pain she caused tenfold. She wanted Risky to understand what it was like to be on the receiving end of the same relentless cruelty she dished out. She wanted… she wanted to avenge Tayshan, even though he was right next to her, sticking to his guns and fighting alongside her to the bitter end. Inconsolable sadness welling up from deep within her, the half-genie exerted all the energy she could muster as the speed of her every attack grew stronger… more rapid… and more filled with such a desire to make Risky suffer that her skin began to burn as her magic continued to flow. *WHAP*, followed by *CRACK*, followed by *THRASH*, the half-genie and the soldier continued their joint assault for what seemed like a full minute before the two of them backed up while juxtaposed to one another.

"Together!" the duo declared in unison, each of them reaching a magic-bathed hand toward one another. Tay reached his left hand toward Shantae, who'd reached her right hand toward him. The two joined their hands together, interlocking their fingers to create a most awe-inspiring spectacle in the form of their hands igniting with so much magic that it rivaled, if not exceeded the sun itself in terms of its brightness. The sweltering warmth of their hands was radiant like lava from an active volcano. The shared energy between their hands seemed powerful enough to rival a nuclear explosion. And speaking of explosions… "HYYAAAAAAAAAH!" the heroic couple roared in unison, dashing toward a dazed and disoriented Risky Boots using every last bit of strength they could muster. As soon as they closed the distance, Shantae and Tayshan threw their final punch together with their hands joined like they were never allowed to separate. And, with a most conclusive *KABOOOOOOOM* of their final attack landing against Risky's abdomen, the most eagerly awaited moment of this entire saga had finally come.

"GWAAAAAAAAGH!" Risky Boots howled in crushing defeat as a series of tiny detonations began to engulf her battle-damaged form. Shantae and Tayshan watched on as the tiny explosions popping up along the Pirate Queen's body grew louder and more rapid until one final *BRABLOOOOOM* of a Boss Battle-ending explosion drew the catastrophic conflict to its close. Risky was sent hurtling across the cave, where her barely conscious body hit the ground with a frightening *THUD* near the entrance of her ship.

"…It's… It's over… It's... finally over..." Tayshan spoke barely above a whisper, clutching his badly aching torso with a hand. The pain had only continued to grow more intense as he tried his hardest to keep from passing out. However, the magic glow around his body began to die down. And as a result, the pain only grew worse and more excruciating by the minute. He'd been panting heavily as he tried his hardest to deal with the unending torment. Meanwhile, with an arcane beam of light shooting down from seemingly nowhere, the Stage Clear platform had formed behind them. The cave had gone silent once again, save for the ocean's turbulent currents and the constant beeping of Tayshan's Heart Monitor reminding him that he was dangerously low on health. "We won…!" he wearily cheered, expecting Shantae to be at least somewhat relieved. Shantae didn't look back at him at that moment when he turned his gaze to her, however. Still glowing brightly with Light Magic herself, Shantae glared at the badly beaten Risky Boots, panting heavily as she staggered toward her.

"Sh… Shantae…?" he called to the half-genie, though she didn't respond. Worried that something was up, he followed suit. However, he flinched in searing agony within a few steps as the energy in his body quickly began to leave him. "Ahagh…!" he grunted, clutching his abdomen tighter. The insufferable agony nearly brought him to tears as he winced, looking down at the wound to see that… that his vision began to get blurry… and he was starting to lose his coordination. Shaking it off for the moment, he turned back toward Shantae to see her advancing on Risky with what appeared to be a fireball in her hand. And that fireball was about the size of a wrecking ball and flaring intensely like she was holding a miniature sun in her hand. It was then that he knew Shantae wasn't okay. As such, he staggered ahead to get her.

"Ooorgh… Ghah… D… Darn it…! This… How could I fail again…!?" Risky Boots complained, barely able to move as every inch of her body ached like she'd been crushed by a stampede of mammoths, followed by a stampede of dinosaurs, followed by a crashing plane. Realizing that their leader was defeated, the remaining Tinkerbats within the ship scurried out to get her and carry her aboard. As they gathered around the defeated Risky Boots, however, the Tinkerbats stopped in their tracks when they noticed Shantae standing over them. And, much to their horror, Shantae… was holding a deadly pyrokinetic projectile in her hand. Worse yet… the anger on the half-genie's face… it was entirely uncharacteristic of her. What usually displayed jovial, hopeful innocence… instead displayed a vengeful, sorrow-addled, tearful rage that even Risky herself was astonished by. "You stupid brat…! You won already…! What do you think you're…?" Risky was about to ask when Shantae, with grief-stricken tears running down her face, raised her hand toward the downed Pirate Queen and charged more energy into the projectile. Shantae said nothing as she did this. She only glared, her hand trembling as she looked Risky Boots in the eye, seeming just about ready to do something very much outside of her norm.

"I see… Hm. If you really have the guts to do it… then do it. I dare you," Risky challenged, not at all flinching at the sight of the half-genie threatening to finish her off. Risky, even in her poor condition, knew Shantae better. She'd never actually attack an enemy when they were down. She didn't have the instinct necessary to kill an enemy in such a fashion unbecoming of a so-called hero. There was no way she had it in her… So then, why was the fireball in Shantae's hand glowing brighter as it grew in size? Why wasn't she saying anything? And as Risky saw it… she couldn't help but be shocked once again. What was that golden gleam in the half-genie's eye as she stared Risky down? Before anyone got the chance to figure it out as Risky's minions got ready to intervene, however…

"Shantae, stop…!" Tayshan urged, reaching forth and grabbing the heroine's wrist with a hand.

"Huh…?" she hummed, seeming to be shaken out of a hateful stupor as she canceled out the fireball and turned toward the dying soldier.

"You said heroes don't… get t' choose whether somebody lives or dies… no matter how evil they are… hah… R-remember...? And... and we agreed not t' lash out t' seek revenge...! D-don't… choose today t' go back on your word… You'd only wind up regrettin' it… Trust me... I-I've been there... I have you t' thank... for remindin' me o' that an' savin' me from myself before it was too late... So please... Don't... don't turn around an' make the same mistake I did..." he painstakingly reasoned, collapsing to a knee as he let go of her wrist. Wordlessly, Shantae turned toward him to take in the heavily distressing sight of Tayshan bleeding out in front of her. "We… we've gotta go… Come on… Let's… get out of here… We've done our job…" Unable to hold in her grief, the unfortunate half-genie burst into a fit of weeping as she hurriedly rushed to Tay's aid, lifting him up and slinging his arm over her shoulders.

"…I'm so sorry, Tay… I'm so…" she choked out, tears streaking her cheeks as she, with no small amount of effort from the soldier himself, lifted him to where he was barely standing as he clutched his bleeding abdomen. Before long, the two of them began to walk back toward the Stage Clear Platform. Witnessing this odd display, Risky motioned to sit up, clutching her shoulder as she did so. She didn't find herself proud of what she'd seen in the form of Tayshan stopping Shantae from potentially killing her on the spot. She didn't even find herself proud that Tayshan was bleeding out in front of her. If anything, she felt… confused. She was still furious about having lost outright to Shantae yet again, but… there was something different about this loss that… that didn't sit right with her as she watched her adversaries approach their exit. However, before Shantae and Tayshan stepped onto the platform…

"Risky Boots…!" Tay called out to the Pirate Queen, causing her to perk up, though she did not verbally respond. "Today… Today, you should've learned that you're… not as untouchable as you think you are… Not even close… Today, you should've learned that your actions have consequences… Gah…! Y-you should be so lucky we… we didn't kill you or take you t' the… the proper authorities like you know you deserve… Had you not stabbed me, you'd better believe you'd be in chains the same way you locked me up before… but you know what…? Hah… Agh…!" he trailed off, gathering just enough strength to turn around and shoot her one last enmity-laden glance. "It's alright… for now. We still won… only thing, though… is that my blood… is on your hands…! As well as the blood of all the people whose lives you ruined… Remember that the next time you think about hatchin' another one o' your greedy, misguided world domination schemes…" And with that, Shantae and Tayshan stepped onto the Stage Clear platform. They did not celebrate, however. Instead, they merely warped out of the heavily compromised hideout as it began to flood even more. Risky said nothing as she listened to the serviceman's parting words, painstakingly climbing to her feet with the help of her minions. And, as though on impulse, she looked at her hands… to find that, ironically enough, they were covered in blood. Soon after, she glanced at the scimitar lying on the ground nearby, which had also been smeared in crimson liquid… and then, out of morbid curiosity, she looked around the rest of the cavern to find that many parts of it were splattered with drips and splotches of red all over.

"Hmph…" the Pirate Queen grunted, closing her eyes and taking a deep, painful breath as she ordered her Tinkerbats to make some last-minute arrangements regarding the cavern. What those arrangements were, I honestly didn't have a clue. Most of the crew scattered around the vicinity while three of her followers assisted her onto the ship. It appeared Risky was ready to leave the harrowing reminder of her latest failure behind… but that's all I knew…

Elsewhere…

LOCATION: UNCHARTED ISLAND, WESTERN EDGE, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: OCTOBER 3RD, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 0236 HOURS

The rest of our hero troupe had been patiently camping out, crossing their fingers in hopes that this latest battle between good and evil concluded in their favor. They had witnessed the power of the Sun's Wrath. They had heard the massive collection of distant explosions occurring from within the skull-shaped cave that served as Risky's hideout. They witnessed the spectacular light show from the comfort of their campsite. They'd also heard some of the startling shouts of people (and possible animals) fighting within the confines of the cave. Yet, once everything had gone quiet, they grew concerned. Very concerned. They had no idea what to expect. They had no idea who'd won or who'd lost. They of course held out hope that Shantae and Tayshan had come out on top, but they had no way of telling what happened… yet, when they caught a glimpse of Risky's ship sailing out of the cave, their fears were intensified.

"Oh, no…! What's that pirate hag's ship doing just coasting out of the cave like that…?" Twitch asked, her heart pounding in anticipation of the result of the tumultuous battle.

"Could… could that mean they lost…?" Vinegar asked, equally as concerned as the two Ammonian commanders worriedly watched Risky's ship sail away into the distance.

"Not likely," Rottytops denied, though she couldn't help but be immensely worried about her best friends herself. "Shantae would never lose to Risky Boots, and there's no way Tayshan would let her. They could never l-!" she was about to assert when a massive, fiery *KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM* rung out, startling everyone on the island as a bright, blinding ball of fire suddenly engulfed the cave. Debris scattered in all directions, some of it landing on parts of the island the group found themselves situated on.

"Did… Did the cave just BLOW UP!?" Sky asked, her anxiety spiking through the roof as there was still no sign of Shantae or Tayshan in the wake of such a frightening development. "What…? How…?"

"You guys have to be okay. You had to have at least made it out of there alive… right?" Bolo murmured, wringing his hands in such petrified concern that he could very well have squeezed all the liquids out of his fingers as he instinctively gulped. However, the more the fire swallowed up the scattered remains of the cave and with the longer he and the rest of the group were made to watch Risky's ship sail away… the more terrified he became of the possibility that his friends were defeated in battle. They would not have to wait much longer, however, as the sudden *TWEEEESCH* of a beam of light shining down from the pitch-black midnight sky shined near the group.

"Whoa, what…?" Vinegar asked, uncertain of what the beam of light was as she and the rest of the gang studied it. Within seconds, however, the form of a red-garbed half-genie and a shirtless soldier hunched over with his arm over the half-genie's shoulders materialized.

"Shantae! Tayshan!" Sky called as she and the rest of the group rushed over to them in collective relief that the duo escaped the explosion of Risky Boots's former hideout. Their relief would only turn into a mixture of horror and devastation when they were greeted with the sight of a bruised-up, crying Shantae… and a blood-soaked, dying Tayshan as the serviceman lifted his arm from the half-genie's shoulders.

"Khaaagh…! Agh… Hah…!" Tay choked out, his voice highly strained as he collapsed, rolling onto his back and clutching his chest while panting heavily like he couldn't catch his breath. Shantae immediately situated herself on the ground, lifting his head up just enough to slip her knees beneath him. Her tears running freely from her eyes, Shantae clung tightly to the ailing soldier as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

"TAYSHAN!" Rottytops shouted in absolute heartbroken horror, rushing to the soldier's side and collapsing on her knees as the rest of the group stared in collective shock and disbelief. It took little more than a glance at the gigantic, dimly-lit gash in the serviceman's abdomen for her to know that he was hurt… badly. "No…! No, no, no…! What happened to you!?"

"…Tay-Tay…?" Twitch barely found the strength to murmur as she took in the unfathomable sight as it jarred her nearly stiff. "What…?"

"…Shantae…" Sky shakily called to the half-genie, who'd been crying profusely as she continued to hug Tayshan. "Shantae, what's… what's going on…? Are you okay? Is Tay going to be okay? Did… did you guys lose…?"

"…We won…" Shantae barely had the nerve to share, unable to look any of her friends in the eye as she cradled Tay's head on her lap. "And… I'm fine… But Risky… she… she… hurt him… I-I couldn't protect him, and she…" the half-genie tried to speak further, though it proved far too difficult to explain as she began to sob with such soul-rending despair that it hit everyone around her like a ton of bricks.

"What did she do!?" Vinegar asked, losing control of the volume of her voice as she and Twitch gathered around the serviceman, unable to process what they were seeing.

"…Sh-she… Risky… stabbed me…" Tayshan uttered, barely above a whisper as his breathing grew labored and even more strained, causing everyone to gasp in collective shock.

"Wh-what…?" Twitch asked, her tears running down her cheeks as she frightfully approached the dying soldier.

"Risky… was about t' lose… Sh-she stabbed me with a scimitar towards the end o' the battle… We still beat her… We destroyed the portal an' most, if not all o' the weapons in the cave… Against the odds, we did it… but… it looks like I'm… not gonna… be able t' celebrate with y'all… unfortunately…"

"Not going to…?" Bolo murmured, shocked beyond words himself as he found it incredibly difficult to believe that what was transpiring before him was actually happening. "Dude… You're… you're gonna be okay… right? You have to be…"

"…I'm sorry… but no… I-I think this is it for me…" Tay gravely informed, seeming to accept it for himself… "There's… no point in pretendin' that ain't the case now…"

"No! No way you're gonna die here! You can't die!" Rotty pleaded, gripping his hand and squeezing it tight as she locked eyes with him. It was then that she noticed for herself the fading glimmer in his golden irises as his eyes remained half-lidded. "You can't…!" she further pleaded, beginning to tremble as her eyes began to water and a knot formed in her throat.

"Tay...!" Twitch called, her eyes welling up with insurmountable sadness as she barely had it in her to register that Tayshan of ALL people... could be DYING in front of her. After everything they went through to save the country from total destruction. It was impossible. It was unfeasible... It was... It was...

"Twitch, come on. We have to do something…! Let's go get the first-aid kit…!" Vinegar urged, pulling her teammate by the hand and jarring her out of her horrified stupor. The blonde duo rushed toward the speed boat. As they did so, Twitch pulled out her Ammonian Transceiver and activated it with a *SKZZZT*.

"Joe! Wherever you're at, we need you to double-time it! Now! W-we've got an emergency!" she pleaded into the device, hoping that her message got through.

"What's the emergency?" the contact on the other end, Barracuda Joe, radioed in almost immediately as the whirring of an airplane filled the background on his end.

"We've got a man down! He needs immediate medical attention! We're gonna try to patch him up, but we need you to hurry! We don't have a lot of time…!" Twitch continued to plead, bursting into a fit of tears as she and Vinegar reached the boat and desperately sifted through the vehicle.

"I'm sorry… hah…!" Tay apologized to Rottytops, his anguish only getting worse by the minute with the longer his grave injury remained untreated. "I… I wish things could've gone slightly differently… believe me, I do… but look… the most important thing is that y'all are still alive t' enjoy victory. I gave it everything I had… t' help y'all out… an' it turned out t' be worth it in the end. We accomplished what we set out t' do, despite everything we had t' go through t' get here… It... it wasn't the cleanest victory at all... an' it came at a heavy cost... but... hah... we still earned it..."

"Tay…" Sky shakily addressed, kneeling beside him to lay a hand upon his upper chest. Horrified, Sky took in a sharp gasp as she discovered that the serviceman was cold to the touch. Prompted to look him in the eye, she, too, could see him fading as his eyes began to close. "Tayshan…! No…! You have to stay awake… Stay with us…! We've got a rescue team on the way… We'll get you to a hospital as soon as possible. They'll fix you up. Just hang on…"

"Trust me… I've been tryin'…" Tay affirmed, his consciousness beginning to slip as he reached a hand toward the devastated bird tamer. Sky took his hand immediately, holding it tightly as she began to break down into tears at the sight of her friend in such suffering.

"Come on… You'll pull through. There's no way you'll wind up dying. We've got you…" Bolo tried to encourage, a knot forming in his throat as he also took a knee next to the ailing serviceman. He'd been trembling with distress that he tried his best to keep hidden as he held out hope that they'd be able to save Tayshan. He didn't know what to do, however. He didn't know what else to say…

"Listen… I… I may as well get this out now, because I won't get another chance…" Tayshan spoke up again, using what little strength he had to tighten his grip on Sky's and Rottytops's hands.

"Tay… Please… no more… I'm begging you… S-save your energy…" Shantae finally spoke again through her immeasurable grief as she hugged his face into herself. "We… we can't lose you… I can't lose you…! Especially not like this…! We'll get through this… we'll…" she trailed off as Twitch and Vinegar came rushing back with a handheld metal container in their possession.

"Shantae… it's okay," Tayshan tried to comfort her. "I've… just about come t' terms with this… an' I know this is one o' the last things any of us wanted t' happen… but listen… we fought an incredible series o' battles together… you… me… all of us… We saved an entire country together, though I know that's nothin' new t' y'all… Sequin Land is safe again, either way… Y'all gave me a purpose when I… when I thought I lost mine after I came here t' Sequin Land… Through thick an' thin, y'all have given me a lot t' be proud of… t' be happy about… Hrgh… an' without y'all, I'd have had no chance of even makin' it this far… I… I hope that feeling is mutual… As I... As I said earlier...! Hah...! I-it's been an honor..." he confessed, his condition steadily worsening as Twitch and Vinegar rushed over to his side and sat down, prompting the others except Shantae to make room. Hurriedly opening the box, the Ammonian girls pulled out a plethora of supplies as they assessed his injury and got set to tend to the dying serviceman.

"Stay with us, Tay…!" Twitch urged, unwrapping a portion of gauze while Vinegar dabbed some cleaning solution on a rag and prepared to wipe the cut clean. "We'll-!"

"That won't do any good at this point…" Tay advised them.

"Yes it will. Just trust us. We'll take care of you until help arrives…" Vinegar countered.

"No, you don't understand… Risky Boots ran her sword all the way through me… She stabbed me in the stomach an' the blade went through an' came out o' my back…" he explained, causing Twitch and Vinegar to freeze before they even got the chance to begin. Everyone else other than Shantae could only gasp in aggregate shock as he revealed the gruesome detail of how he wound up like this. "I took it out, despite knowin' that ain't the best move t' make when you get stabbed… but the magic in my body held the wound shut for a li'l while… Even if I left the sword stuck inside me, though… the damage has already been done… I appreciate the effort, but patchin' up the wounds now… it wouldn't be enough t' save me… I've… been in this condition for too long now… It's… too late for me…"

"…No… No, no, that can't be true! Tay, you can't die! We won't let you!" Twitch argued, still opting to do something… ANYTHING to save her friend. Situating the bandages on his wound, she pressed onto it in an effort to stop him from bleeding further. Meanwhile, Vinegar assisted by lifting the serviceman up just enough that she was able to try and locate the exit wound in his back. When she found it, she brushed it off as best as she could, followed by her placing a towel under it to try and protect it from contamination.

"Gaaaagh…! I-I appreciate that, too… but fate has… other plans…" he barely managed to utter as he began to find it extremely difficult to keep his eyes open. The glow in his eyes had dimmed completely. Yet, his body began to glow as his breathing slowed to a crawl. Sensing the changes, Sky gripped his hand tighter as his grip weakened. Rottytops laid his hand at his side and began frantically searching through her inventory for something that would help keep him alive. In particular, she'd been searching for the Fake Brain she had.

"Come on, where is it…? Where is it…!?" the distraught zombie maiden asked herself, desperately patting herself down like she was trying to shake a swarm of insects off her body.

"Rotty… What are you looking for?" Sky asked her.

"My last Fake Brain," she answered, still checking her inventory to look for the healing item in question. "I'm thinking maybe if I use my Symbiotic Brain Chomp on him, it'll save him…"

"Your Brain Chomp…? But... didn't you use that on me and Bolo earlier? Or, do you have another one of those Fake Brains to use on Tay...?" the bird tamer asked, jarring the zombie girl stiff as she was suddenly reminded. She had used it already. The memory of her breaking it up into pieces and using it to heal Sky and Bolo hours earlier when they were on the boat came rushing to the forefront of her mind as she was immediately filled with terrible contemplative regret.

"…I did use it already… I used my last Fake Brain to heal you and Bolo...! No…! No!" Rotty remorsefully shouted, pounding the sand beneath her with her fist as she realized that what could've been the group's final hope for saving their fallen friend… was not available when she needed it most. Though Sky said nothing, she felt her own heart sink directly into the ground as her hopes that Rottytops could've done something were dashed. "No...! N-no…!" Rotty uttered again, another waterfall of tears streaming from her eyes as she let it sink in that there was nothing she could do…

"Tayshan! Tayshan, please, wake up! Wake up…! Don't go…! Please…! We… we need you…" Shantae begged, squeezing his face tighter as she felt the drop in temperature through the direct contact between her chest and his face.

"…I'm sorry, Shantae…" Tay apologized through a hushed whisper, finding it in himself to shift his head to look his beloved in the eye. The soul-rending sadness in her wide, tear-riddled eyes crushed him to see. The last thing he wanted to do was see the young woman responsible for giving him everything… in such terrible pain at the possibility that she would lose him. And as he continued to slip away, tears began to run down his face as well. "I'm so sorry… I wanted… so badly to avoid this situation… I wanted… t' keep livin' an' bein' happy spendin' my days here in Sequin Land with… with you… an' with our friends here… but it's okay… it'll be okay… Remember what I said earlier... Don't... blame yourself, because this wasn't your fault... An' remember... t' cherish life while you have it... Th-thank you… for everything… If you can, please grant that wish I made if… it's at all possible… If not, then that's fine… I… I love…! Ghah… Oogh… Aaaagh…" he groaned as the last bits of air left him. His eyes had slowly closed with the last thing filling his heavily blurred vision being the devastated expression of the woman he grew to love. And then… Tayshan stopped breathing. In that moment, Shantae's abdomen was hit with a crushing wave of dread as the serviceman faded from consciousness.

"No…! No, no, no…! Tayshan…! Wake up! Wake up, please! Don't go…!" Shantae cried out, sobbing uncontrollably as she hugged his face and tried to jostle him awake to no avail. "Tayshan…!" she called to him, her tears coating his expressionless face as his eyes remained closed.

"T-Tay…?" Sky barely managed to call as she felt his hand slip from hers. Wracked with shock and distress, the bird tamer gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as she began to cry… "Tay…!"

"Tayshan! Hey! You can't slip away from us! Come on, dude, get up! The help's almost here! Stay with us! Stay with us, PLEASE!" Rottytops screamed as she completely lost her composure, opting to help Shantae try to jar him awake by shoving into his torso with both of her hands through her anguished sobbing. "You're not supposed to die! You're not supposed to…"

"Shoot…! Shoot, shoot…!" Vinegar cursed, scrambling forth and pressing two fingers to the serviceman's neck to check for a pulse. When she found none, she sprung into action. "Twitch! No pulse! Start doing chest compressions! I'll try to resuscitate him. Shantae, I need you to move for me," the taller Ammonian acolyte urged, taking Tay's head into her hands. Realizing that the two were planning to try and revive him using CPR, Shantae allowed Twitch and Vinegar the space they needed. And immediately, Twitch began her rhythmic chest compressions while Vinegar sporadically engaged in the practice of pinching the serviceman's nose with one hand, holding his chin with the other, taking a deep breath, and pressing her mouth to his and blowing a rush of air into his lungs. Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops all climbed back to their feet and merely watched, petrified at the sight of Tayshan motionless on the ground.

"Come on, Tayshan…! Please, get up…! Open your eyes…! Breathe…! Do something to let us know you're still here… Please...!" Twitch could be heard begging as her tears quickly began clouding her vision as she continued to press into his chest to try and restart his heart, only taking short breaks to allow Vinegar to repeatedly perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him. When they saw no clear signs of life, the girls kept going.

Meanwhile, Shantae watched on like her friends had. Only, in her case, the rampant feeling of dread and anxiety she'd felt moments earlier had disappeared completely within seconds of Tay falling unconscious. This was not to say that she was not worried, of course. She'd still been crying, her cheeks soaked with tears as she slowly approached the serviceman to observe the faint glow emanating from his form. The dread and anxiety was entirely replaced by soul-crushing remorse and despair as she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. She knew it for herself, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. So, to get the confirmation she didn't want, but certainly needed, she walked over to Tay. She knelt beside him and picked up his arm to read the Heart Monitor, which had long since stopped beeping. And, much to her devastation…

"-173/1000 HP… and no magic left…" she murmured, too wracked with overwhelming sadness to question why the health reading on the device was in the negatives, as opposed to it reading as plain zero. Clutching his hand into her own, Shantae slowly turned to the two of her comrades trying to save him. "…Twitch… Vinegar…" she shakily called, her voice cracking as she felt almost too scared to tell them. Nevertheless, the Ammonian ladies responded by looking in her direction read the morose expression on her face. And, though it took Shantae everything she had to utter her next statement… "He's gone…! He's… he's gone…" she forced herself to say as she slowly shook her head, collapsing as she gripped his hand tighter and fell into a fit of absolute misery. Everyone else collectively felt the air getting ripped right out of their lungs as they processed the grieving half-genie's statement. Everything had gone silent in that moment, save for Shantae's mournful crying as she tried to make sense of what just happened.

"…T-Tay…" Rottytops barely spoke above a whisper, utterly devastated as she and Sky joined Shantae in grieving over their loss. Wordless and in total shock, Twitch and Vinegar exchanged tearful glances with one another as they ceased trying to revive the serviceman. Instead, the girls hugged each other as they let their combined sadness flow free.

The only one who hadn't tried to comfort anyone was Bolo, who could only stand and observe for a moment the scene that played out before him. He couldn't believe it. This couldn't have been happening. This COULD NOT have been happening. Yet, here they were… He and his allies were stranded on a beach in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with their only source of light being the waning campfire nearby as they awaited their rescue team. The howling winds were wafting through the open air, rustling the nearby trees as the Sequin Land Sea's waves endlessly crashed against themselves and the landmass they took refuge on. And here they were, either standing aside or kneeling over the limp, lifeless form of another comrade, who'd moments ago helped save Sequin Land. It felt like a terrible dream that he'd wake up from… but he remained awake, scanning the disheartening scene like he'd been trying his hardest to wish it wasn't real. Unfortunately, it was.

"No way…!" Bolo muttered through a pained whisper, his gaze falling to the ground as he balled up his fists to contain the emotional anguish that came with losing a friend in such a terrible manner. The young warrior tried his hardest to hold it back, but he couldn't. He just… he couldn't. His tears staining the sand beneath him, Bolo took in a sharp, grief-stricken gasp as he found himself growing suddenly and incredibly angry at the person who'd cost his friend his life. Risky Boots… Yet, that anger was quickly overtaken by his horror at the fact that his friend was no longer with them. "Why…? How could this happen…?"

And… in case this hasn't been made clear… um… then… it's with regret that I inform you that Tayshan… had just died. Jeez… I couldn't even believe it myself… Such a young and ambitious guy, who only wanted to discover his purpose and a way to make the world around him safer… and who'd just laid his life on the line to fulfill that purpose… Hm… I-I… wow…

…but we're not quite done yet. Um… We'll… we'll keep going. So… As the group took the moment to process their reactions to the loss of the soldier, the *Whirr* of an airplane closing in on their location, in addition to the sudden increase of waves crashing against each other signified that the rescue squad consisting of Barracuda Joe and Giga Mermaid had just arrived. Within minutes of their arrival, Joe safely landed his plane and hopped out of it to inspect the situation. Meanwhile, Giga Mermaid, whose gem appeared to have been restored to its former glory as it shined bright like a flashlight, waded near the shoreline. However, she gasped at the sight of the remains of the smoldering cavern in the distance. Her shock and confusion at this terrible phenomenon were exceeded by the utter horror she felt when she noticed her allies surrounding the lifeless form of one other human… who, upon further inspection, was another one of her allies.

"Everything alright?" Barracuda Joe asked as he approached, though he read the energy of the situation very quickly. Immediately, he noticed the unconscious form of a female Ammonian soldier lying almost motionless near the campfire the group had built. He could tell by the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, however, that she was alive. He also noticed the rest of the refugee group, every single one of them wracked with varying expressions of sadness. It didn't take him long to pick up on the reason for it, however. Upon slightly closer inspection, he noticed the lifeless form of a young man he'd only vaguely been familiar with. And with that, Joe identified that everything was, in fact, NOT alright. Taking a deep breath, he approached Twitch and Vinegar, helping the girls up to their feet. "My condolences," he apologized, taking his hat off and pressing it to his chest. "Tried ta get here as fast as I could."

"It's… It's not your fault, Joe…" Vinegar tried to offer her forgiveness, though it was draped in sorrow. Twitch couldn't even find it in herself to speak. Planting her face into her hands, the shorter Ammonian affiliate continued to cry as her heart ached immensely with every beat. "Uh… Did you bring what we needed?"

"Couldn't get any gas, but mermaid lady came along," Joe informed with his usual flat, neutral affect. "She said she can take the genie girl an' her friends home. We're gonna have ta cram if'in Nila's comin' fer the ride. That, or mermaid lady can take the boat an' bring her and it back ta the Baron Desert ta get checked up on before she drops the others off."

"That… looks like it'll have to be the plan, then," Vinegar agreed as she walked with Joe to pick Nila up, each of them slinging an arm of hers over their shoulders. "Thanks for coming for us, Joe."

"Not a problem, little lady," he expressed his appreciation for her gratitude. "What do we do with the casualty over there?"

"I… I honestly don't… Huh?" she trailed off as she looked in the direction where Tayshan's body lay. And, in some odd turn of events, the non-Ammonian soldier's body began to glow.

"What…?" Shantae breathlessly questioned, as she and her friends rose up a bit to notice the unusual development up close. As Shantae continued to hold Tayshan's hand, the soldier's body became enveloped in an arcane, bright, sparkling aura. The eyes of everyone in attendance widening, they locked their gazes on the deceased serviceman as his body began to disintegrate into glittering dust. From head to toe, Tayshan's body disappeared before their eyes. Shantae nevertheless kept her grip on his hand until even that suddenly faded away along with the Heart Monitor affixed to his wrist. Within seconds, the soldier's physical form had vanished… and was replaced with a glowing astral projection of him standing before everyone, still covered in the numerous scars he'd picked up throughout his travels in Sequin Land.

"T-Tay…?" Shantae tried to call to him as she and the others looked up at him. He said nothing, however, as he looked around to see the saddened and bewildered expressions on the faces of his comrades. There soon followed an utterly asphyxiating silence as the group exchanged mournful glances with the spirit that had manifested in front of them. The spirit of the serviceman took a second to look at his hands, at which point he seemed to realize the situation for himself. His expression bearing deep sorrow, he took one final look at Shantae, who'd stared back at him in shock. And, as the glowing ethereal manifestation of the soldier began to fade, he took the fleeting moment he had to give Shantae the most comforting smile he could muster, forming his hands into a heart to communicate a message of eternal support and appreciation of her. And then, with a gust of wind sweeping through the open midnight atmosphere, Tayshan had vanished without a trace, leaving his friends and allies to ponder the phenomenon as they continued to grieve. No one had anything to say, however. At least, not immediately. There was too much to process. Too much to realize… Too much…

"…Rest in peace," Barracuda Joe stated, any form of emotion he may have been feeling well hidden behind his stoic demeanor. With that, he glanced over toward a teary-eyed Vinegar and nudged his head toward the plane to signal that they needed to get moving. Silently, Vinegar agreed as she continued to assist Joe with carrying Nila to the plane idly sitting nearby. Meanwhile, Twitch noticed her Ammonian allies gearing up to depart, which prompted her to quietly gather up the medical supplies she and Vinegar had tried to save their non-Ammonian friend with. Taking care to clean up the area as best as she could as she wept, she breathed a heavy, shaky sigh as she packed everything up and moved to join Joe and Vinegar in getting ready to go.

"Friends… What… What happened?" Giga Mermaid asked in deep concern, capturing the attention of Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops. Bolo, through his sheer disbelief at the situation, gathered the resolve to approach Giga Mermaid, who'd read the dejection in his mannerisms. "Is… Is there something wrong…?"

"…We… won the battle, Giga Mermaid… but it… it cost us more than we thought… a lot more…" he regretfully shared, causing her to gasp. At that, Bolo and Giga Mermaid engaged in a short, yet very heavy discussion about the events of the remainder of their grand effort to thwart Risky Boots.

Meanwhile, Shantae found herself unable to move. She remained on her knees, her eyes still riddled with tears as her gaze was glued to the ground. She silently replayed the last couple of hours of her adventure in her head. Hers and Tayshan's journey from the compromised speed boat to Risky's base… The conversation she shared with him prior to them entering the base to finish the fight… Their last passionate kiss… the calamitous battle that ensued once they infiltrated the cave… They were so close to finishing their adventures alive together. They were winning, even though it took everything out of them to finally take Risky down. This was supposed to be their decisive victory to share together after weeks of journeying side-by-side through trials and tribulations of all shapes and sizes with the goal of stopping Risky Boots like she and her friends always had. This was… supposed to mark the fantastic beginning of her relationship with him. So, how could something that was going so right, suddenly go so tragically wrong this time? How could it be possible that he'd be robbed of his chance at happiness after everything he'd given up to help keep Sequin Land safe? It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair…! Why… Why did Tayshan have to die…? After everything they'd done to avoid it happening…

It was then that Shantae was hit with another devastating pang in her heart as she fell into another bout of mournful sobbing. In that exact moment, a certain terrible image sprang up in her mind… that image being of Tayshan just after he was stabbed by Risky Boots in her attempt to eliminate the half-genie. She was so… so FURIOUS at Risky for taking things that far. All she had to do was concede. All she had to do was stop fighting… but she didn't. Shantae would NEVER forgive Risky for this as long as either of them lived. Yet… her anger turned into heart-wrenching guilt as she realized she couldn't even forgive herself for letting Tay die on her… She was supposed to protect him… She was supposed to save the day like she always had, so he could enjoy the new life he chose… Yet, despite her saving the day once again… Tayshan didn't get the chance that he deserved… So… why…?

"Come on, Shantae…" Sky gloomily called to the traumatized half-genie, squatting and lifting her arm over her shoulders. "We've… we've gotta go. Let's get out of here…" Shantae said nothing to Sky's suggestion, however. She didn't resist the bird tamer's effort to lift her to her feet. She didn't even make eye contact. Rottytops, also feeling every bit of the sorrow her friends had been feeling, moved to sling Shantae's other arm over her shoulders. The grieving heroine merely stared at the sand beneath her shoes, ignoring the stings of residual pain she'd felt from the battle against Risky. Knowing that Shantae was in deep, inconceivable pain, Sky opted to hug her as she and Rotty walked her toward a crying Giga Mermaid, who'd just found out the news. "It's gonna be okay… We'll… we'll cope with this together. Come to my house tonight. Both of you. None of us should be alone after this…"

"…Thanks, Sky…" Rottytops expressed her gratitude, though she'd been unable to fight back the ocean of tears running down her cheeks. She, too, had been contemplating the last few hours of their latest clash with Risky Boots and how it could ever come to be that someone she'd made such great friends with in such a short amount of time… could be gone so soon… It didn't make sense… This was supposed to be a happy time, where they celebrated thrashing that no-good pirate diva yet again and talked about what they'd do to take a much-deserved break. Yet, this 'victory' couldn't feel more like a defeat, even if was the case that they'd lost. The zombie maiden could only think about how much she wanted Tayshan to be there with them, laughing the pain away and basking in their stupendous triumph. How much she wanted to help welcome him to Sequin Land and horse around with him in the ensuing times of peace following Risky's latest defeat… How much she wanted to hug him tight as they bolstered their newfound friendship… and yet, those opportunities would never come, as it seemed. That realization hit the poor zombie girl like a train moving at twice the speed of light as she let out another fresh wave of sorrowful tears.

"Yeah… D-don't… mention it…" Sky somberly acknowledged, choking back her tears as a knot the size of a pool ball formed in her throat. As she instinctively gulped and breathed a shaky sigh, she ruminated on the inconceivable concept that they'd lost someone so close to them in what felt like the blink of an eye. Mere hours ago, they'd been laughing, conversing with, and embracing one another as they set out to embark on what was supposed to be their umpteenth heroic effort to save Sequin Land from the likes of Risky Boots. Mere hours ago, the newest addition to their friend group… the man she'd harbored her own brand of affection and deep respect for, though she set her feelings aside to allow her best friend the chance to connect with him… the warrior from an unknown land with a heart of gold… He was confidently standing at their side, ready to take on any remaining challenges thrown at them, despite the utterly abysmal situations he'd been in prior. And now, despite the fact that the battle against Risky Boots was won, he was gone… Tayshan… was gone… The very thought of the statement hit the poor bird tamer like an asteroid coming at her from outer space, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. Sky tried her hardest not to cry, but the harder she tried, the bigger the knot in her throat grew; the more the tears built up in her eyes as she listened to the sorrowful wails of her friends beside her. Soon enough, even she broke down into another fit of tears. "…Tay…"

"…I am… I am sorry for the loss of Mr. Tayshan… May his soul find eternal rest…" Giga Mermaid tried her best to apologize as the girls approached her, though she could hardly make sense of it herself. Just when it seemed like enough innocent lives were lost in the numerous tumultuous scuffles that took place, there always seemed to be someone else made to suffer that she wasn't aware of until it was too late. None of the girls responded verbally to Giga Mermaid's condolences. Rotty and Sky merely exchanged glances with her and somberly nodded to let her know they understood. Shantae, on the other hand, kept her head bowed to the point that her hair overshadowed her eyes. One wouldn't know what she was feeling unless they looked closely and saw the cascading tears streaking her frowning face. Yet, before anyone could say anything else, the half-genie slowly removed her arms from her friends' shoulders.

"Shantae…?" Rotty called as the ponytailed maiden backed up, keeping her head bowed. Rather than respond right away as her friends stared at her, however, Shantae reached into her… or rather, the red tank top Tayshan had lent her earlier, and pulled out the I.D. Tags he'd given her immediately prior to their final encounter with Risky Boots.

"…You wanted me to grant just one wish for you…" Shantae murmured as she clutched the tags in her hands. Soon after, she suddenly began to glow with Light Magic at a time where it seemed like she'd tapper herself out. Yet, the Light Magic surrounding her form grew steadily stronger… brighter… more luminous… to the point where it outshined the moon shining through the clouds. The wind began to swirl around her like it bent to her will.

"Shantae… What are you…?" Bolo tried to ask as he and the others shielded their eyes. He would not receive an answer right away, either. Instead, Shantae focused all her attention on the I.D. Tags in her hands. The *Whoooosh* of the whirlwinds whipping up around her grew stronger and more intense, causing grains of sand to be flung in all directions as she began to levitate. Her aura continued to grow brighter still as she appeared to be powering something up.

"…And your wish is well within my powers…" Shantae spoke to herself, still crying as she clutched the dog tags to her heart. "…but if I could make a wish in return, then my wish would've been for you to come back to me… somehow… some way… so we could be together, living and laughing… and loving each other like we wanted…" she further tearfully confessed as she continued to build up power. "…I'll honor your wish, either way, Tayshan… even if you're not here to watch me grant it… For the sake of all of Sequin Land, I won't let you down again… and I'll… I'll never forget you… I love you… Haaaaaaaaaah…!" she spoke once more, at which point the winds whipped up into a miniature, stationary tornado and her magic shined like a thousand stadium lights pointed at her position.

"What the heck…?" Twitch murmured as she finished helping Vinegar and Barracuda Joe load Nila into the airplane. As the Ammonian group turned and looked, they spotted Shantae illuminating the area around her, gale force winds circling her as they howled like wolves in the distance. "What is she-?" Twitch was about to ask when a sudden flash of white, followed by a gigantic *FWOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRSSSSSSSHHHHH* that swept through the entirety of the remote island they were on. Everyone else in the vicinity shielded themselves, not quite knowing what to expect as a sudden burst of air dispersed in all directions with seemingly enough force to blow down an entire forest. Yet, as suddenly as Shantae's sudden show of power had begun, it was over. Her feet touching the ground again, she took a deep, quaking, dejected sigh as she continued to hold the soldier's I.D. tags to her heart.

"What… What was that, Shantae?" Sky asked, startled and befuddled at what just happened.

"I… I granted a wish…" she solemnly shared, alarming everyone aside from Giga Mermaid, who remained awestruck at the half-genie's incredible ability.

"A wish…?" Bolo asked in astonishment. "Whose wish? I thought you couldn't do that just yet… at least, not since…?"

"Only under special circumstances, and even then, I can only grant noble, selfless wishes… and in this case…" she explained, choking up as she gathered up the courage to look her friends in the eyes. "…in this case, I granted Tayshan's last wish to make all the weapons from his world disappear…"

"What…?" Sky questioned in utter surprise. "But… if you could grant that wish all along, then…"

"…I couldn't grant any wishes before now, or else I'd have done this at the very beginning. I didn't have anywhere near enough power…" she tearfully clarified. "I… I don't fully understand it myself, but… when Tay asked me right before we went to fight Risky, I told him it might not have been possible… for me to grant his wish if I didn't build up enough magic and if I didn't have enough determination or motivation to pull it off… but now… with the way things are… my powers… they built up just enough for me to make it happen… just this once…"

"…I see," Rottytops interjected, reading the message loud and clear. "…So…. You wouldn't have been able to grant his wish if…?" she tried to ask, though the disheartening realization proved too difficult to put into words. She would not get the chance to finish the question, however, as Shantae began to cry again as she staggered toward her friends as though she'd completely used up all her energy. This alone was more than enough to answer Rotty's unfinished question of if… well, if Tayshan's death played a significant factor in Shantae's ability to grant his wish… "…Tay…"

"I've gotcha…!" Bolo assured her, hurrying toward Shantae and catching her before she fell over. Realizing right away the condition she was in, Bolo opted to squat and motion for Shantae to climb onto his back. However reluctantly, the half-genie complied, allowing the fledgling warrior to pick her up and piggyback her toward Giga Mermaid. "Come on. We'll talk more when we get home…" And with that, our weary, grieving heroes arranged themselves to be carried by Giga Mermaid off the island.

"Twitch, look…!" Vinegar pointed out in surprise as the Ammonian girls approached the speed boat. As they approached the boat located across the beach, they noticed a series of twinkling, sparkling, glittering lights emanating from the seafaring vehicle. Unable to identify it from afar, the girls rushed to the boat and peered inside it to see the last remnants of some of the otherworldly firearms left inside withering away into sparkling dust.

"The guns… they're disappearing…!" Twitch deciphered as she and Vinegar also noticed the same sparkling effect coming from within the backpacks located inside the boat. They scrambled into the boat, opening up their packs to discover that everything related to the weapons from the other dimension had begun to disintegrate entirely. The rifles, the handguns, the grenades… all of those weapons… they were vanishing right before their eyes. It didn't take them long, however, to discover the reason behind this phenomenon. "…Shantae… she must've done something…"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking…" Vinegar agreed with a sigh as they stopped searching through their respective inventories. They peered around the immediate area to see that the same glittering effect was happening from within the confines of Barracuda Joe's plane, where Nila was resting. And as they scoured their surroundings further, Twitch and Vinegar noticed an incredible outpouring of golden, glittery dust radiating from the demolished remains of Risky Boots's base. They needn't inpsect it further than that to understand that the weapons they'd been working so hard to collect were as good as gone. "If she could do this from the start, why would she choose now to do it?"

"I'm not sure… but if it's anything like when she turned Ammo Town back into Scuttle Town…" Twitch pondered, calling back to the last time Shantae was known to have accomplished such a feat.

"Yeah, but that was only because she got her superpowers back and granted the… mayor's… wish…" Vinegar began to theorize, though it dawned on her as she spoke.

"…Hm. So, someone must've wished for this to happen, and she probably couldn't do it until now…" Twitch vocalized her teammate's theory as they committed themselves to making the final preparations to depart from the uncharted island. Vinegar merely nodded as the girls put out the campfire by dumping sand onto it to smother the flames. "…Well, that's that, then…" she concluded with a clear sense of deflation as they took it in that in addition to losing their ally, they'd also be walking out of this chaotic series of confrontations empty-handed in terms of new weapons and in worse condition than when this mess began. Nevertheless, they gathered up what they needed and made their arrangements. Once everyone was set, the entire group took off either in Barracuda Joe's airplane or riding on Giga Mermaid to finally make their trips back home…

Later…

LOCATION: MIMIC'S WORKSHOP, SCUTTLE TOWN, SEQUIN LAND

DATE: OCTOBER 3RD, 16 P.G.F.

TIME: 0746 HOURS

In the small hours of the following morning, Scuttle Town remained utterly silent in the wake of its recovery from the horrible invasion it suffered the morning previous. The sun had only begun to rise, and everything was quiet, save for the ocean's ubiquitously rushing waters. Much of the port town's residents remained evacuated while the city itself remained on lockdown. It was under constant supervision from Sequin Land Palace Guards as they patrolled the streets for any potential suspicious activity. Of the few remaining citizens allowed to remain in their homes since Scuttle Town began its latest effort to recover from yet another devastating ambush was Shantae's uncle, Professor Mimic. However, he had not been spending much time recuperating from the latest ambush perpetrated by Risky's Tinkerbats. Since his niece and her friends her friends departed his home a day prior, he'd found himself worried sick about her safety. He couldn't sleep, no matter how hard he tried. He wasn't able to go anywhere without stern opposition from the guards. He hadn't a clue how Shantae and company fared since she took the Heart Monitor with the idea to place it onto a Dark Magic-infested Tayshan to reverse Risky's corruption process.

"…It certainly is quite the vexing predicament to be in, trapped in my own home with hardly a thing to do except worry about them…" he grumbled, rising from his bed while fully clothed and lit a few candles to bring some light into the workshop. Soon after, he approached his coffee maker. "I am certain Shantae has a handle on things. Yet, I can't help but wonder if everything is truly okay…" he soliloquized, tiredly cleaning the coffee pitcher to prepare a fresh batch of a warm, toasty beverage as he eagerly awaited some form of information that would assure him that things were okay. And soon enough, the *Plock*, *Plock*, *Plock* of someone knocking on his door caused him to perk up. "Oh…! I wonder who that could be…" he pondered, not-so-secretly hoping it was his beloved niece coming to excitedly tell him that she'd thwarted Risky Boots once again. Yet, when he opened the door…

"…Uncle…" the half-genie he'd been expecting was standing right there, calling to him. Only, instead of joy or excitement written all over her face, there was only extreme sadness.

"Shantae…! My word, girl what… what happened?" he asked after exhaling in shock at the condition she was in. Her hair was frazzled and unkempt. Her outfit was in tatters. She… was wearing a strange, oversized red tank top and some form of necklace with a pair of dented metal tags on it. She was covered in bruises and appeared to have suffered a black eye. And speaking of her eyes… Mimic couldn't believe how miserable she looked. Her eyes were glassy and her cheeks were soaked in fresh tears as she looked up at him with the most… dare he say, lost and disquieted facial expression he'd seen on her in a very long time. Before he could get a chance to ask her anything else, Shantae immediately planted her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she began to cry with such soul-rending sorrow that he likened it to her finding out she'd lost someone. Confused, he looked through his doorway as he held the young woman in his arms to notice Sky, Rottytops, and Bolo. Yet, they also looked worse for wear. Their clothes were messy. Their eyes… they all looked like they'd been crying. "What happened?" Mimic asked as he gestured for everyone to come in. With hardly a word, the four young heroes entered the workshop. Shantae hadn't let go of him, however. She continued to mournfully sob into his chest, hugging him for dear life. "I'm… relieved to see you all here, though I wonder how some of you escaped Risky's clutches. But then, why is everyone so low? Did you not fare so well against her?"

"We won…" Rottytops elected to speak first, though she choked up as she informed him of their victory. "…Sky and I… We were saved. We came together. We… we organized a plan to stop Risky. And against the odds, it worked…"

"Yeah…" Bolo agreed, equally as distraught as the zombie girl. "…but… um… it was a really tough fight this time around… Giga Mermaid, Twitch, and Vinegar helped us like they said they would… and now they're all back home…"

"And we managed to save… T… T… um… w-we managed to save… him… he… he also saved Rotty and me from Risky… He helped us in a huge way…" Sky tried to add, though she seemed to hesitate before finishing her statement. What appeared even more unusual for Mimic, however, was his observation that, with the more any of them tried to speak, the harder it seemed for them to resist bursting into tears. Picking up on the somber energy, the scientist realized that, despite their assurance that Risky Boots was defeated, something was wrong… VERY wrong.

"Hm… I'm not entirely clear, but if I'm hearing things right, then you succeeded in thwarting Risky yet again," he acknowledged with some relief as he stroked Shantae's head as she kept crying. Sky, Bolo, and Rotty merely nodded in confirmation. "Yet, with the way you four are behaving right now, it still seems something is amiss," he theorized, though he soon realized for himself that something… or rather, someone was missing. "…Where is Tayshan?" he asked with some hesitation. Little did he know, however, that question sent metaphorical daggers ripping through each of his guests' hearts as three of them flinched and exchanged frightened glances with one another. Shantae, on the other hand, gripped Mimic harder as her sobbing grew more intense and seemingly inconsolable. "If you managed to save him from Risky's control and he helped you defeat her, as you said, then that must mean the Heart Monitor worked, no?" he asked, though he received no answer. Sky, Bolo, and Rotty merely stared at him, trying to hold back their tears. "Hm… Okay. Well, is it the case that he made it back to his old world? Is that perhaps why everyone is so melancholy?"

"N-no…" Rottytops answered, her tone full to the brim with remorse as she suddenly cracked, breaking down into a fit of mournful tears. The zombie maiden bowed, squeezing her hands over her eyes as she took in a sharp, painful gasp and let her tears roll free through her hands. "The portal machine Risky used was destroyed…!"

"Oh… I see," Mimic understood, growing more worried about the group as their moods steadily became more collectively miserable. "So, that would mean he is stranded here. Unfortunate. But we will make the best of it. Wherever he is, we will welcome him to our world as though he always belonged here," he asserted, trying to bring the energy of the room up a bit. However, his statement had the opposite effect. Sky and Bolo appeared to wince in pain, turning their heads away and casting their saddened gazes toward the floor.

"We… we can't do that now," Bolo denied, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut as he attempted to avoid showing further signs of grief.

"What? Why not? Does he not want to celebrate with us? Is that perhaps why he hasn't come here with you?" he continued to ask as he remained confused.

"No, sir… um…" Sky spoke as she returned her gaze to the retired Relic Hunter, though her tears had been pouring from her eyes. "He… He didn't make it…" she fought through a massive barrier of her own immense heartache to try and tell him. "He… he didn't…" she tried again, though she, too fell into a spell of crying as she bowed her head and broke eye contact. It was then, however, that Mimic started to get some idea of what may have happened to the extraterrestrial soldier. Nevertheless, he had to be sure.

"Didn't make it?" he asked, growing wary as he continued trying to read through his guests' cryptic answers and their collective shows of pain and emotional upheaval. "Well, I can piece together that he wasn't able to return to his own world, but I'm… going to need a bit more clarification. Would someone mind explaining what that means?" At that point, and through her own excruciating sorrow, Shantae finally lifted her head up to look her worried guardian in the eye. The sadness in her face never left, however. If anything, she appeared more distressed than any of her friends did. He would regrettably find out the reason behind this, however.

"Uncle… Tayshan is… Tayshan is…!" the half-genie tried to tell him, though she couldn't find the strength to finish her sentence. "He…!" she tried just once more, though it seemed to hurt her like no pain she'd ever felt to even think of it. Burying her face back into Mimic's chest, she sobbed even harder. Mimic needed to hear no more, however, as the creeping suspicion suddenly became the only thing on his mind. At that, the Relic Hunter gasped with such shock that his lungs felt like they should have exploded. His eyes widened behind his glasses as his heart was hit with a sudden, powerful, sinking pang as he realized what they were trying to tell him.

"…He's dead…?" he barely found it in himself to question the possibility. The workshop went silent for a few seconds that felt like hours at his inquiry. However, as he tried to process what he'd been told in the ensuing silence…

"…Yes… He's gone, Uncle… Tayshan... he's..." Shantae confirmed through her never-ending despair, still crying as profusely as her friends had. Mimic couldn't begin to believe it. There was no way. There had to be some mistake. His difficulty with his hearing must've gotten the better of him. There was absolutely NO way these kids just told him that Tayshan was dead. It couldn't be…!

"That… that can't be…" he murmured, instinctively hugging Shantae tighter as he struggled to believe such an inconceivable notion. "No… No, that can't be…!"

"…It's… true, sir… Tay's... he... he... um..." Rotty tried to speak up, lifting her head from her hands to confirm it. The overwhelming emotional pain that came with trying to confirm the loss of their friend was too much to bear, however. The poor zombie maiden took in another sharp, intensely pained gasp and fell into a bout of sorrowful sobbing as she buried her face back into her hands. Sky and Bolo, having said nothing, continued letting their tears cascade down their faces as they tried to process the soul-crushing remorse that came along with coming to grips with the... event in question. They'd all continued to mourn, which made it all too clear that they were telling him the truth.

"Ohh… Oh, my gosh...! He was so young… and so full of energy… He deserved so much better than..." Mimic tried to reply, but he found it incredibly difficult to say anything. The news made his head spin, it seemed so unreal. "How… How could this have happened…?" he gathered up the courage to ask, though it was painfully clear that he was devastated to hear about it. "How…?"

"He saved me from Risky Boots when we were fighting her in her base together…" Shantae spoke up, looking up at him again despite the fact that her vision was blurry with her cascading tears. "She… she tried to attack me after she blinded me… He shoved me out of the way at the last second when he saw that I was in trouble… He saved me… but she…"

"Risky Boots KILLED him!?" he asked, so utterly appalled by the revelation that he immediately found himself ready to hunt the Pirate Queen down and make her pay in spades for what she'd done to that innocent lad. "Why that no-good, marauding pirate fiend! How could she!?"

"She stabbed him… She stabbed him through the stomach with her sword… but he kept fighting…" Shantae continued to explain through her tears, though she really, really didn't want to relive those tragic final moments she spent with the soldier. Mimic, even from just hearing about the event, went stiff with utter shock as he listened. "We kept fighting her together after she injured him… and we beat her together… but he… he used up so much magic, Uncle… and he was in such bad shape… and yet, he fought alongside me to the last breath… We made it out of her hideout alive after we won… but… b-but he... he...!" Shantae tried to continue, choking up as she was hit with another soul-crushing rush of sadness when she flashed back to the harrowing memory of the soldier's final moments... Taking a shaky breath as she tried her best to resist the urge to break down again, she continued. "...He died in my arms before we could save him…" she barely found it in herself to inform her legal guardian, her voice wavering heavily as she kept fighting to hold it together. Her memories of her latest battle with Risky and its cost proved too much to handle, however.

"What…!? Died in your…" Mimic attempted to ask, though his sheer astonishment at his niece's distressed explanation struck him like a lightning bolt directly to the chest. "Ohh, Shantae… You should never have had to deal with something so tragic…! This… this is just unfathomable… I can't believe..." he murmured, worriedly rubbing her hair as he resisted the urge to break down right with her. However, she continued.

"…and after that, Tayshan's body disappeared…! He turned into a spirit right after he died… He… he told me he loved me with the little bit of time he was still with us… but then right after that, his spirit vanished, too…" she further clarified, though she found it exponentially more difficult with every word she uttered to try and tell Mimic the events leading to the soldier's untimely demise. At that point, Shantae couldn't hold it in anymore. Her regretful weeping soon evolved into a full-blown spell of heart-wrenching, anguished sobbing. Her eyes overflowed with tears like a dam being shattered into oblivion. Every sharp, heavy breath she took was laced in agony. Every thought in the poor girl's head at that moment… revolved around the question of why she had to lose Tayshan… "Uncle…! My heart hurts…! He didn't deserve to die…! I want him back…! This isn't fair…! This isn't FAIR! I want him back, Uncle... I don't understand...! We tried so hard and did everything we had to do to beat Risky...! He was supposed to be right here with us...! He didn't deserve to die...! She took him away from me...! Tayshan...! I'm sorry...!" she pleaded through her despair-riddled sniffles, further descending into an endless, whirling vortex of unrelenting sorrow as it hit her all over again that Tayshan was no longer with them. Hearing Shantae's desperate pleas for her friend to return, followed by her agonized wails of intense emotional pain broke Mimic's heart as her grief filled the entirety of the laboratory… Wrapping his grieving niece tighter in his arms, he did his absolute best to console her as a knot formed in his throat. And before long, tears began to streak from his eyes as they remained hidden behind his glasses.

"…It'll be okay, sweetheart… It'll be okay…" he tried to reassure her, though he wasn't even sure if she could hear him through her mournful sobbing. Affected by the half-genie's sadness, Sky, Rottytops, and even Bolo fell into fits of tears as they tried to hold themselves together. Knowing that someone had to at least try to be strong in the wake of the gut-wrenching tragedy, Mimic did his best as he moved a hand to wipe the tears from his face before taking a deep, quaking breath. "Listen, kids… There's… a lot we have to discuss here, and we'll take as much time as we need to understand this terrible situation for what it is. Come on. Let's… give it a moment to breathe and recollect ourselves. We're gonna need to, if we expect to properly cope with the untimely death of our dear friend… May his soul forever rest in peace…" he advised, motioning to lead the four young heroes further into the workshop where they began their process.

And with that, we reach our bittersweet conclusion. Not of the story, I assure you. Not just yet. It would be inhumane to leave things off on such an awful note. I just… hope this wasn't too hard for you to push through. I'm aware you were probably expecting a much… happier ending to this harrowing conflict between our heroes and their relentless archenemy. And… I'm positive that you were expecting a certain someone to have remained alive to celebrate. Heck, even I was expecting their battles to end differently than they had. So for that, you can't be blamed. A tragic pyrrhic victory like this is hardly one to be called worthwhile. So… when we return, we'll… try to see how everyone managed to reflect on this terrible predicament. Until then… uh… I'll… I-I'll… hopefully see you around. Go on and make someone in your life smile in the meantime. We'll meet again soon. Bye…