Disclaimer: I only own the cover art, everything else is not mine.


Chapter 10 Pirate's Curse Finale

Risky and Shantae walked onto the dock of the island that housed the grave of the Pirate Master. Risky let out a hearty laugh, a laugh which grew in intensity, freaking Shantae out.

"What's so funny? You're creeping me out!" Shantae said, curious as to why she was laughing so much.

"Those Guardian Genies sure did a number on him!" Risky said, remembering watching the defeat of the Pirate Master, and laughing at the place the Pirate Master was buries. "The middle of no place... perfectly hidden from prying eyes."

"There's even some sort of magnetic anomaly here that boggles the compass." She added with more of a laugh. "It was almost perfect. Almost." She sighed.

"Well, He probably knows we're here." Risky added with a shrug. "I'm going to have a few words with the good captain." She said, cracking her knuckles.

"After that, we rig the place with explosives and blow it sky high!" She explained.

"Can he really hear us?" Shantae asked with worry.

"There's nothing to fear. Not anymore." Risky answered, putting Shantae at ease.

"Whew..." The Keyblade wielding former half-genie sighed.

"However." Risky said making Shantae gulp. "Should anything go wrong...I want you to destroy the ALL the dark magic. Got that?" She ordered.

"Huh? Risky, didn't you say-" Shantae was about to object.

"THAT'S AN ORDER!" Risky exclaimed, not having the patience for this.

"... I got it." Shantae sighed as she looked down.

"Ok then. I'll prepare some powder kegs for the Pirate Master's Final Farewell." The pirate woman said as she started to walk back onto the ship. "Don't wander off." She said.

Shantae stood around for several minutes, but she decided to walk further into the island, not much further seeing how small it was, as she did she noticed Risky following her, she must've been done quickly.

"There it is." She said, looking at the grave, it was large and even had a jolly roger flying next to it. "Silent as a tomb." The pirate woman sighed in a joking manner.

"Without Dark Magic to draw from, He's vanished into the eternal abyss." Risky added. "Too bad, really!"

"After all, what good is a victory if you can't rub your enemy's face in it!?" She added with a sneer.

"Be on your guard.. there is still some dark magic swirling about the tomb." Shantae heard a voice say ad she prepared her keyblade for a fight.

"Risky... Ventus is warning me.. we might want to stay back." The purple haired girl said.

"Nonsense!" Risky laughed.

"VOOOOOO" A noise sounded off startling the two, Shantae getting into a fighting stance.

"What was that?" She asked as she looked around, worried. Not even a moment later a surge of purple and green smoke rose up around them.

A flying specter of bones and dark magic arose from the grave and floated down just above the two of them.

"H-H-HO HO HO!" The specter laughed as it looked at the two, though Risky didn't look surprised.

"So! You've managed to return after all!" The pirate woman yelled at the specter, which must've been the pirate master. The pirate master laughed more, rejoicing in his return.

"Aaaaaugh! He isn't human!" Shantae yelled, worried since she expected him to be just a powerful human. But the Pirate Master ignored Shantae's existence for a moment.

"RISKY BOOTS!" The Pirate Master shouted. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME!" He approached Risky, looking like he was about to strike.

"You're nothing but a shade. I'm through taking orders from you." The woman said, not really impressed.

"You watched and did nothing as I fell in battle!" The specter shouted at her more. "You stole my ship and crew!" He began listing offenses.

"And now you destroy my agents, and disrupt my flow of Dark Magic!" The Pirate master exclaimed.

"Actually I did that..." Shantae said, interrupting the Specter's line of dialogue.

"YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THIS!" The Pirate Master yelled, ignoring Shantae.

"There's no reason to get all worked up, Captain." Risky said nonchalantly. "See this girl?" She pointed to Shantae, the Pirate master's gaze following to look at the girl.

"She's the offspring of the one who imprisoned you." She said. "The genies are the real enemy." She said, winking at Shantae while the Pirate Master was distracted. "Take her and we'll call it even."

"She's not betraying you, trust her." Ventus' heart spoke to Shantae, and she got the gist of it, but she feigned ignorance.

"Risky!" She shouted pretending to be appalled by the "offer." However, the Pirate Master turned and laughed, looking back at Risky.

"THAT CAN WAIT, you're the one I want." He said, his anger from Risky's Betrayal was immense. "I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR DISLOYALTY!"

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR BLASTED ORDERS!" Risky shouted at him. "YOUR TIME HAS PASSED!" She added. "GO BACK TO THE GRAVE WHERE YOU BELONG!"

"FOOL! You belong to me!" The Pirate Master shouted, grabbing her with a hand of dark magic, trapping her and lifting her up.

"Risky!" Shantae shouted in shock, her body moved on it's own, and she attempted to strike the Pirate Master with her keyblade.

"What's this?" The Pirate master knocked her away as he looked closer at Risky. "YOU DARE TO WEAR MY FACE LIKE SOME KIND OF TROPHY!?" He asked, taking the bones from Risky's outfit.

"GIVE ME THAT!" He ordered as he took his face back anyways, putting it back on as he continued to speak.

"First I will take the PALACE!" He said with a grin. "And then, when my strength has returned... You will witness THE END OF YOUR WORLD!" He exclaimed happily, laughing as the bones floating around him slowly reformed, revealing a large skeletal figure.

He cloaked himself in a pair of pants and a Jolly Roger flag while he laughed and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Oh no! I've got to warn everyone!" Shantae said as she rushed back to the ship, she remembered how to pilot it thanks to Risky teaching her, and she Rushed her way to Scuttle town, the journey took a good one and a half hours.

The whole town was empty when she got there, they must've ran as soon as the rain clouds circled the island. She had no time to wait and find out anything else, she ran all the way to the Palace.

She had to fight off several monsters and several heartless that had appeared, most likely due to the Darkness emanating from the Pirate Master's heart itself.

The palace guards were unconscious and the halls were overrun with twisted gore which seemed to have appeared due to the Pirate Master's control over the place.

She had to climb all the way up the main tower, fighting more heartless on the way up. Everything was strange and distorted, she felt like she needed to puke just from seeing all the twisted gore that grew along the walls.

Flesh, and organs clung to the walls, bones protruded from the twisted flesh while giant eyeballs hung from their optic nerves like rope.

Shantae was going to need a hot bath and some therapy after all this, but thankfully her journey brought her to a large court-like area on the roof.

The pirate master was there, waiting, while Risky was chained down like a prisoner, hair poking out of tears in her do-rag. She looked uninjured though, which was a good sign, for now.

"You've arrived!" The Pirate Master said, his raspy voice filled with sinister glee. "The daughter of the Genies, Maybe you noticed... I gave your palace a little makeover." He laughed.

Shantae summoned her keyblade and prepared to fight as he continued his monologue.

"Now that I'm back in physical form, I'm growing stronger by the second!" He exclaimed as he cracked his bony knuckles.

"He's a monster! Keep your distance!" Risky warned, only to be kicked in the gut by the Pirate Master.

"SILENCE YOU!" He shouted. "Why did you come, girl?" He turned back to Shantae.

"Certainly not to save this traitor?" He said as he walked closer. "Maybe you wish to fight, and fill your mother's shoes?" He asked, teasing the former half-genie.

"Let Risky Boots go free, or else!" Shantae yelled at the Pirate master, her face showing determination, causing the man to laugh wildly.

"Or else what?" He asked, humoring the girl. "You're going to unleash your half-breed magic on me?" He joked.

"Hm.. which one was your mother? That fire spouting hothead?" He began talking of the genies. "Or maybe the songbird?"

"I.. I don't know." Shantae said, not remembering much of her mother. "I never knew her because... BECAUSE OF YOU!" She pointed her blade at the Pirate Master.

"You want to take a swing at the Captain, Eh?" He asked with a grin. "Why not. I could use a warm-up!" He laughed.

"Show us some of your magic tricks, Genie!" He shouted before he jumped back a few feet, sending balls of dark energy at her. Shantae dodged them as best as she could, charging him.

He dodged her own attacks, he got a few hits of course but he looked completely unfazed by it all. He kept laughing and laughing, finding this more amusing than anything.

Shantae resorted to trying to use Risky's weapons which she found in all the dens of evil, but he was even more amused by that. The keyblade wielding girl had enough of his laughter after fifteen full minutes of trying to fight him.

"SHUT UP!" She shouted, pointing her keyblade at him she sent a firaga into his chest, which admittedly did scratch him a bit, but not much.

"Your keyblade isn't even a match for me! You don't know how to properly use it against someone who thrives in darkness like I do!" He jeered.

"Face it! You're not even using your genie magic! You're using that pathetic blade and my own weapons! You wouldn't even have gotten this far without them!" He said as the weapons were suddenly pulled towards him.

The hat now resting on his head, the scimitar and gun at his hip, the boots on his feet, and the cannon on his shoulder, he laughed.

"NOW YOU'LL FACE MY FULL STRENGTH!" He shouted as he grew larger, growing to be taller than the palace he floated above the ocean, his feet having disappeared.

The battle resumed, the Pirate Master now used his weapons against Shantae, he launched cannon balls which bounced around the roof before disappearing, he shot at her with his pistol, and he tried to skewer her with his Sword.

Shantae had to dodge and weave through his attacks as best as she could, blocking what she could with her keyblade. She landed hit after hit on him as well.

Each wave of attacks would have easily knocked Shantae around if she didn't rely on her reflexes. But still, the pirate master looked unfazed, nothing was working. He stopped his attacks to gloat happily, happy in his assured victory.

He let out a hearty laugh before he looked back to Shantae.

"GENIE GIRL!" He shouted, "I hear you've got a whole lot of Dark Magic in that lamp of yours hand it over, or I crush this Has-Been beneath my heel!" He said, motioning to Risky.

"What's it gonna be?" He asked. "The dark magic, OR HER LIFE?"

"If I hand over the dark magic... you promise not to hurt her?" The keyblade wielding girl asked.

"I swear it on my own grave!" The Scourge of the Seven Seas shouted.

"He's a filthy liar! Don't give it to him!" Risky shouted, but Shantae had no choice. So, she produced the lamp.

"May your heart be your guiding key." She heard Ventus' voice echo inside her mind, she remembered that Risky said that this magic might be hers.. so.. maybe it could've been purified.

"Here just take it! But let Risky go first!" Shantae shouted.

"I knew you would see things my way." The Pirate Master laughed as he let Risky go, her chains disappearing. Risky got up and ran away once she had the chance, she looked at Shantae for a brief moment, noticing a light shining from the lamp.

She laughed quietly to herself and kept running as she had to get back to Scuttle Town, that long range cannon would be great help.

Shantae released the dark magic, and just as she thought, it was purified, it was now pure light magic.

"What is this nonsense!?" The pirate master asked, "Bah! Light magic!" He shouted, recoiling in anger.

"I've no use for this filth." He said.

"Sorry! But this was dark magic before! However, Risky was right about one thing. It was actually MY light magic, just corrupted." Shantae said as the Light magic flowed back into her, she was now a half-genie again.

She felt power coursing through her, she felt like she could beat the Pirate Master for good. The battle begun once more and she actually began doing a lot of damage against the Pirate master.

He continued with his previous attacks, but Shantae dodged past them with ease, noticing a pattern. His body fell apart until he was only a giant skull, he floated around, dodging Shantae's own attacks.

But he was unable to dodge a volley of cannon balls that were launched into his skull. Every time a cannonball hit him his body reappeared. He tried to send a wave of dark energy to knock Shantae away, but she dodged it.

He grew weaker and weaker, shrinking back to his original size he knelt on the floor, trying to regain his energy. But he was cut through by Shantae, her keyblade sticking through his chest.

"You're finished, Pirate Master!" Shantae said with a smile.

"Blast it! You cannot destroy me!" He rasped out, but his body glowed with light that came from Shantae's Keyblade. He fizzled away, his bones turning to ash on the breeze as the Clouds dispersed.

"That's the last of him." Shantae said, as she looked at the shining sun before gathering Risky's weapons which were left behind, no longer feeling as though they were cursed.

Before she could head back down the Palace Tower, which was now in pristine condition, she noticed a keyhole, floating in the sky. She pointed her keyblade up at it, as she felt light magic pass through her keyblade, shooting a beam of light, locking the keyhole.

She headed down the tower, and out of the Palace, healing guards on her way out. She headed back to Scuttle Town, the civilians were back, and they were celebrating.

Risky met her half way, took back her weapons and left with a single goodbye. Shantae wanted to reach out to her, but she knew that Risky had to choose her own path.

She met with her Uncle Mimic, Bolo, and Sky, they offered to take her home, but she went to visit the Mayor first.

"Thank goodness! That awful storm has finally passed!" Mayor Scuttlebutt said.

"The sky is beautiful and blue again!" Said one of the girls from Saliva Island.

"Hey girlfriend! You and that pirate lady saved the day!" The other gal said, giving Shantae a brief hug.

"I guess I did." Shantae said after a laugh. "But! I still got some unfinished business with YOU! Ammo baron!" She pointed at the Madman.

"Lemme guess. You want your job back?" He asked. "Ammo town could really use a Guardian Genie like you around!" He said with a smile.

"I can certainly vouch for her character!" The former Mayor Scuttlebutt said. "If it would make her happy..." he sighed.

"No thanks. I've got something else in mind." She said. "I'm only a half-genie... and I've never granted someone's wish before... but I think I'm ready to give it a try!" She smiled before she snapped her fingers and suddenly Scuttle Town was back to normal.

"NOOOOOO!" Ammo Baron shouted. "Weeks of hard labor! Materials! My precious resources... all gone!"

"The people of Scuttle Town are through with you Ammo Baron!" Shantae said, causing the Ammonian army aside from the two girls to turn tail and run.

"My beautiful town has been restored to "needs work" condition!" The Mayor said happily. "You'll Always have a place here as our Gaurdian! Promise me you'll never leave!"

"Aww mayor! But I gotta keep a promise.. I need to go wake someone up. I'll be back to take up the job again, There is just more danger out there." She said, remembering Ventus.


Kh3 endgame beginning, Ventus

Shantae walked home to pack a few things for the journey but she was greeted by her friends, even the Zombies.

"Abner! Poe! Rottytops!" Shantae exclaimed, seeing them.

"Gotta hand it to ya." Abner said. "You saw somethin' in that pirate gal that the rest of us missed. Just like you did with 'lil sis here." He motioned to Rottytops, giving Shantae a laugh.

"I just awoke from the most wondrous dream!" Rotty said. "I was a hero, just like you. I saved everyone who was lost and even helped them find their way home!" She smiled.

"I'll tell you all about it tonight!" She added.

"What's tonight?" Shantae asked.

"Sleep over at your house!" Rottytops announced.

"Rotty... I'm sorry but I can't." Shantae said, holding the green star charm she found all those years ago. "I made a promise to someone.. someone who has been asleep for too long." She added.

"Can't you just wish them awake?" Rotty asked.

"Hm.. I.. I never thought about that." Shantae said, and she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused on her heart, hearing Ventus' voice once more.

"I'm unsure if this will actually work, but even so.. my body has to be nearby, I've never found my way to it." His heart said, so Shantae focused on that fact, wishing for Ventus' body to appear.

A blinding light appeared out of nowhere, everyone who was watching saw as a comatose body appeared, sitting against Shantae's house.

"What the... who?" Bolo asked, looking at the comatose boy. He had blonde, windswept hair, a calm expression, and he wore strange clothes with bits armor. Shantae recognized his face though, it really was Ven.


Chapter end.