"BOLO!"

The feminine voice travelled across the field and reached the boy's ears, and upon hearing the anger in that voice, he knew he had done something wrong. Preparing himself, he turned around to face the music.

"Hey Sky-"

"DON'T 'Hey Sky' ME," the frustrated blonde screamed back, slapping the screwdriver Bolo was holding out of his hand and pointing her finger at him threateningly. Her usually friendly and warm brown eyes were furrowed into an angry scowl, daring the young man across from her to talk back.

"THIS IS THE FOURTH, I REPEAT, FOURTH TIME YOU'VE MESSED THIS UP! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO SCREW UP THE FIRST TIME, LET ALONE FOUR TIMES!?" The furious girl was indicating to the mayor's lounging chair, which Bolo had constructed with the umbrella upside down as the table, the chair's back on top of the umbrella stand, and the table where the chair seat would be. The actual chair seat was half screwed onto one of the table sides.

"I dunno Sky, it's pretty hard to do without instructions. And everything is blurry with these glasses on, I honestly thought that table was the chair seat." Sky stared him down, her mouth opening and closing trying to say something, but finding it so unbelievably stupid she couldn't decide what to say. Bolo, the one who was talented enough to get half of Scuttletown's buildings back to their previous state within a few days (partly with Shantae's genie powers doing most of the work for him), was struggling with a chair, umbrella, and a table. Giving up, she yelled at Bolo to undo everything and get it right this time, storming off to where she was tending to the destroyed foliage, doing what she could to return them to their previous state.

"AND TAKE OFF THOSE STUPID GLASSES, YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS IN THEM!" Sky shouted behind her, not caring whether Bolo heard her or not. She just had to get that out. "Okay, Sky, calm down,' she thought to herself, 'you can take care of your back in the bath later, just pull through and—'

"Excuse me –"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M IN THE MOOD FOR NEGOTIATIO- oh." Sky quickly clamped both hands on her mouth to stop any more words coming out, her face turning as red as Shantae's clothing. That wasn't Bolo.

That was Rottytops.

The zombie reeled back, eyes wide, clearly startled by Sky's extreme reaction, before crossing her arms and looking to the side.

"Well that's just rude," Rottytops grumbled, focusing on a cloud in the distance, faking hurt.

"Sorry," Sky squeaked, silently hoping that the ground would open up underneath her and save her from the embarrassment she was going through, covering her face with her hands. It had only been a day since Rotty came to Scuttle Town, and the two hadn't had much contact between then and now. Leaning back against the convenient fence, Sky shook her head slowly as she thought about how she had made a terrible impression of herself and how she had ruined any sort of friendship forever. While she decided how she was going to say sorry, she felt oddly warm hands pry her own hands away from her face, and Sky's brown eyes met vivid red.

"You alright in there?" asked Rotty, a slightly worried expression on her face.

"You look like you're going to faint. Do you want a drink?" Rotty's voice was sincere and Sky scanned her face, looking for any signs of deceit.

"I'm fine, thanks, I… I just… um… Sorry for yelling at you," Sky apologized, hoping that the zombie wouldn't hate her.

Or eat her.

"That's not the first time I've been yelled at, and it definitely won't be the last," Rottytops giggled, flashing a grin at Sky. Rotty let go of Sky's hands, and Sky felt the odd, undead warmth fade away. She hadn't even realized that they were still holding hands until that point.

"I've actually come to ask you a favour. Well, as long as you don't mind. Judging by the way you yelled at him, I don't want to be on your bad side," Rotty continued, pointing at Bolo, who seemed to finally be building the chair correctly.

"Uhh… when?" Sky asked," my back is really sore from lifting too much and I don't think I can do much more today without collapsing." She was beginning to feel more comfortable around the undead girl, even though they had talked for… literally three minutes, according to the clock tower. There was just something that clicked with Rotty, something she had only felt with Shantae and Bolo. And those two were now her best friends.

"…is that ok with you?" Rotty's voice penetrated her mind and Sky realized she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice what Rotty was asking.

"I wasn't—I wasn't listening, sorry. Could you repeat?" Sky's voice died out as the zombie deadpanned her, arms folded once again. So much for not embarrassing herself again. Sighing, Rottytops rolled her eyes and began once again.

"I was asking if you could help me set up a new home here, help me and my brothers find a place to grow coffee beans—"

"Coffee? Why coffee?" Sky interrupted. She was quite sure zombies ate brains, not drink coffee. But then again, zombies usually didn't have enough brain left to speak and act like a normal human being, let alone be friendly and currently asking for favours. Well, that was the vibe that Sky got from those romantic action books she totally didn't keep under her bed.

"If I was a normal zombie, you would be dead by now," Rotty giggled, "my brothers told me not to eat people who are alive, since that's apparently considered rude, so we live on coffee now. But don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some brains every now and again, and I've been eying the brains of a blonde bird tamer for a while now," she finished, an evil glint in her eye. Sky yelled out in fear and tried to back away, but backed into the still conveniently placed fence and ended up flipping backwards over it. Rottytops burst into laughter while Sky dusted herself off and got up, watching the undead girl clutching her stomach from the laughing.

"That was so – haha – worth it!" The zombie exclaimed, before falling into another fit of laughter. Sky just watched her, raising an eyebrow at the scene.

"What was worth it? Are you going to eat me or not?"

"No! I was just kidding! Hahaha!" Rotty managed to get out before laughing again, but not so intensely. 'Cheeky bastard. Just like Shantae when she was younger,' Sky thought, before hopping over to the other side of the fence, but not without banging the sore spot on her back against one of the poles. Hissing in pain, Sky rubbed the area but was surprised to feel hands that were not her own there.

"Are you okay? I can go get you a potion if you want," Rottytops offered, so serious it was hard to believe she couldn't breathe from laughing a few moments ago.

"Please get off me," Sky quipped, batting the zombie away.

"What were you going to say after the coffee bit?" She asked, as her back started to give her trouble again.

"Oh. Well I just… you're not angry at me are you?" Rottytops prodded. She didn't want to be on Sky's bad side, witnessing what had just happened to Bolo earlier. When Sky shook her head and gave her a weak smile, Rotty felt it was safe to continue.

"Awesome! I wanted to know if you… if you would let me stay at your place for a bit while we set up a new house. My brothers don't have the space to fit me in at the cave they're using for now, and my 'Trailer of Secrets' has too much stuff in it for me to do anything properly. So, could I stay over for a bit?" Rotty finished with a smile, using her charm to convince Sky. Sky, however, was a little bit stunned. She barely knew the girl, and wasn't even sure if she could cover payment for both of them. Assuming, of course, that Rotty had no gems or intention to get any legitimately. But aside from that, she was also a zombie, and who knew what she would get up to in the night.

"Please, Sky?"

But on the other hand, she did seem quite friendly, if a little mischievous, and didn't seem to have any harmful intentions. Plus, Sky felt more comfortable around her than she would've liked to admit; she seemed to have the qualities that attracted Sky to Shantae and Bolo in the first place.

"Fine—"

"YAY! THANK Y—"

"BUT," Sky said firmly, pushing the undead girl off of her, "it's my house and my rules. You'll have to follow them if you want to stay. And aside from that, you'll have to pay for your own things. I can barely cover myself without the odd support from Shantae. And please give me personal space when I ask. I'm not used to living with anyone else but Wrench."

"Of course!" Rotty gleefully agreed, clasping her hands to the side of her head. Sky wasn't even sure that she had listened. The next moment, Sky found herself in a hug, and she reluctantly returned the favour until her back panged again. Squirming out of the hug, Sky held her tongue, not wanting to sound in pain lest Rotty get all touchy again, before asking her when she would come stay over.

"I was hoping from tonight," she said, the smile never leaving her face. 'Of course she wants it from tonight.'

"Very well," Sky replied, fatigue getting the better of her. "I'll meet you outside the bakery around four."

"Okay! See you then, bird girl!" Rotty giggled, walking off to tell her brothers that she'd found a place to stay.

'What did she just call me? "Bird Girl?" Is that normal or is she trying to flirt with me?' Sky pondered, but her back once again interrupted anything she thought of.

She could not wait for that bath.

Or to play with Señor Quackles VII once more.

Sky does not the seem like a girl that you want to get angry.

I decided to take a break from Shantae and Risky to focus on the other two girls that I definitely do not have plans for in the future. This is the last chapter I can write without being forced to play HGH and Risky's Revenge, even though I tell myself nearly every night 'I'm gonna play it.' Procrastination wins again. I have no idea when I'll get around to writing the next chapter, that depends on whenever I play another one of the series and get some inspiration. I am on school holidays however, so it shouldn't be too long. But don't count on that, the homework I receive is ludicrous.

I'm finding it a little hard to keep the personalities of the characters in line with where I want to go with the story. I was originally going to add Poe in this chapter but couldn't quite get a conversation that suited his personality. Hopefully I didn't go too off course with Rotty's or Sky's, but I'm not sure how long I can keep that up for - with all the characters. I also had to rewrite this chapter about three times before I was happy with it, but no doubt there is an inconsistency somewhere. Sorry about that.

Feedback and criticism would be appreciated, and as I most likely won't post before then, have an early Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S. Chapter Names are hard.

P.P.S I'm going to try and make chapters this length from now on. Keyword: Try.