Gamelover41592: Thanks.
Matt (Guest): Possibly true. But he also could be so ragingly stupid.
Me: Okay, I really need to work on another chapter since school is starting up soon!
Also me: Bug Fables is so freaking good! Can't stop playing!
And now you know why I haven't updated in forever. Anyways, let's continue.
"And I thought that Spiderweb Island was creepy…" Jasmine mumbled upon arrival at the next island. It was certainly not a welcoming place.
"Land Ho!" Risky exclaimed. "Welcome to Mud Bog Island!"
"It smells kinda of bad…" Shantae noted. Jasmine noticed that as well. It smelled like something died there.
"We've cut off three fifths of the Pirate Master's power," Risky continued. "He's sure to have noticed by now. Even from the grave, he'll attempt to impede our progress somehow! But enough of that. We have something more to discuss." Jasmine raised her eyebrow. Risky never wanted to talk to them about anything.
"Oh?" Shantae asked.
"I think I've figured out the origin of the dark magic," Risky admitted.
"How?" Shantae exclaimed.
"Better question, what?" Jasmine asked.
"To answer both questions, by process of elimination and when the genies defeated the Pirate Master, they had to drain themselves completely to get the job done. They reduced him to mere ash and bone. Without magic to sustain them, the genies faded from this world. No more genies with their light magic. No more Pirate Master with his dark magic. Just the former half genie."
"Me?" Shantae asked, confused. What could she have to do with any of this?
"When I borrowed your magic to suit my purposes…" Risky began.
"You stole it," Jasmine bluntly replied.
"Nevermind how I got it!" Risky snapped. "All that matters is that I made a wish, remember?"
"We very much do," Jasmine answered.
"You took over my magical half...and used it for evil," Shantae began, slowly connecting the dots herself. "So...you turned into dark magic!"
"That's right," Risky said.
"But we destroyed it after that!" Jasmine pointed out. "How could the Pirate Master use it!?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Risky cryptically replied. "It's more likely you two scattered the magic."
"Why would you say that?!" Shantae asked. Jasmine stayed quiet. She had a feeling Risky had a point here. Or at least, a reason for telling them this.
"Because...magic can never be truly destroyed, can it?" Risky asked.
"We...don't know," Jasmine admitted. Even in all her studies, she never found much information on magic. Heck, she found even less than her possible origins.
"Not long after that encounter, the curse placed upon my men began to take effect, indicating that a new source of dark magic had been found," Risky continued.
"So, in other words, this whole mess is your fault," Jasmine snarked. Risky just glared at her, but said nothing before continuing.
"Whatever the magic's origins, we can worry about it later," Risky said. "You've got another den of evil to find." As soon as they were out of Risky's earshot, Shantae turned to her sister.
"Could it be true? The Pirate Master's using my magic?" Shantae asked.
Jasmine sighed. "I know about this bloke as much as you do. We can't rule out anything yet. Let's just get moving. This place smells really bad."
If anything, the smell was a warning sign of what was to come. The rest of the island was even less welcoming. Monsters were everywhere and were horrible abominations. There was no sign of friendly life anywhere on the island. And it seemed to be permanently either night storming. Finally, the girls reached a dead end. Standing in front of it was a strange skeleton creature with one eye, mandibles and dressed in a cloak.
"What are you?" Jasmine asked.
"...hhhhhhhhhhh….I am a Hexer…" It replied. "Beyond this gate...hhhhhhhh...the Village of Lost Souls…"
"Lost Souls?" Shantae asked. Jasmine had heard a little about the place, but even then, it was only rumors or campfire stories.
"It's a place...hhhhhh….separate from those who are living...and those who have moved on...hhhhhh….you two may not enter this place…" He began, only to cut himself off when he noticed something in girls's possession. "What's this….?"
"Forgot about this!" Jasmine realized. "With a smile, she placed a special mask she had found on Tan Line Island over her face. She had Mimic take a look at it when they last stopped in town.
"...sssss….stop...I sense something new….hhhhhh...I did not detect it before...you suffered much in life...and caused the suffering of others as well...hhhhh...your burdens are heavy indeed…" He told them.
"We get it, we're horrible people," Jasmine said with her arms crossed.
"...You may enter the Village of Lost Souls...you will forget your suffering and your misdeeds...hhhhhh...and remain there for all of time…" He explained as he opened up the monster skull behind him. Jasmine and Shantae warrily entered.
"Let's finish this quickly. I don't want to lose my memory," Shantae said.
"I agree," Jasmine said as she took the mask off. That could come in handy later. Inside the skull was a strange place. Everything seemed to be made out of crystals, with housing carved into spots on larger ones. Finally, they started finding people. First were three monsters that wanted colored coins and then was a strangely familiar girl. She had black hair, a headband, glasses and was dressed in a school girl outfit.
"Welcome friends, to the Village of Lost Souls!" She greeted the girls as they walked over to her.
"Nice to meet someone friendly," Jasmine said with a grin.
"What's your name?" Shantae asked. "You look familiar somehow…"
"I have no idea who I am," She admitted. "But thank you ever so much for asking!" The dots connected almost instantly for Jasmine and Shantae.
"Oh my gosh you're…" Shantae began, only to trail off.
"Uh, that's…" Jasmine tried to reply as well, only to trail off herself.
"How did you come to be in this village, friend?" Shantae asked, grateful she could finally speak clearly.
The girl sighed. "I don't know. Nobody knows how they got here. We're all just here. All I know is that I'm alone."
"Sorry about that, mate," Jasmine said, her voice full of sympathy.
"I'm only truly happy when I'm asleep," She explained. "When I sleep, it's like I'm transported to another world where I'm with my family. But when I wake up, I can't remember them anymore. If only I could remember…."
"She needs help," Both sisters thought. One look at each told them both all they needed to know. That the other was thinking the same thing. With that, they started their search through the village.
With all they need to find, Jasmine and Shantae ended up splitting up. The coins were easy to find, as was the game they needed to win. They were given a locket, which they handed over to the girl.
"Does it look familiar?" Shantae asked.
"Yes...it does somehow. I'll open it." The girl said before she opened the locket. "Oh! Look at this! My brothers! I have two brothers! I can remember them so clearly now! Him, the one on the right. He's so tall and handsome! He's my big brother. Ha ha, and this guy on the left, he's such a goofball. He's older too, just...not by much. They always looked after me. But...hmm...there should be two more…"
"No problem!" Jasmine assured her.
"Just describe what you remember!" Shantae added in.
"Well, in my dreams...they both come and go. They are both brilliant and smart, and I want to be just like them! They are my very best friends in the whole world! But whenever I reach out, I always manage to…" She began to explain before trailing off. Shantae and Jasmine could both see her eyes watering.
"To what?" Shantae asked.
"I don't know…" She admitted. "Something always goes wrong. I upset them somehow. One of them is the older sister, and she always gets really mad if I upset the younger one. I just want to tell them how important their friendship is...and I try to grab on...but they run away or snap at me. Then I wake up and I'm right back here." Shantae and Jasmine looked at each other. They knew exactly who was being described. And they knew without a shadow of a doubt who they were talking to.
Rottytops's human body and soul.
Finally, Shantae spoke up. "We think we understand."
"You do?" Human!Rotty asked.
"Yes!" Shantae exclaimed.
"And we promise to find your friends and tell them exactly how you feel!" Jasmine added in.
"Oh my gosh, thank you!" Human!Rotty exclaimed. "You know...I think I could really leave this place someday! But for now, I'll stay here…and dream about our adventures together! Oh! There's someone else here that could use your help! He'll appear if you use this light to summon him. Don't be afraid when you see him, okay? " With that, she handed the girls a flame and they left, still smiling all the while. Although...once everything was over, they had some things they needed to say to a certain zombie.
"Out of all the ways to go to Hell, this is just about the strangest one," Jasmine joked. The Oubliette of Suffering was where the next den of evil was. But because they were both too pure(well, Shantae was. Jasmine was noted to be a little aggressive sometimes) they need to use the musk of the last guy they helped to get in. It somehow worked.
"Let's get moving!" Shantae said as she rushed ahead. If anything, the place looked even worse then the outside island. It was full of lava, monsters, spikes, tortured screams and what looked like suffering creatures. It was a very fitting place for a den of evil, that was certain. After searching for a while, they managed to find Risky's...boots.
"Was she named for these?" Jasmine asked. "Ugh, they stink worse than outside!" She then handed them to Shantae, who managed to get them on over the shoes she was already wearing.
"What do these even do?" Shantae wondered before starting to run ahead. Suddenly, she had a massive boost of speed. "Whoa! No wonder Risky could always get away from us!"
"I don't even think my cheetah form could keep up with you!" Jasmine admitted.
"Let's find out!" Shantae offered. Jasmine quickly shifted forms and the two started to race their way through the dungeon.
"I think we're about even," Jasmine said as the two walked into the chamber where they were due to fight a monster known as Dagron. With a roar, a large skeleton-like dragon lowered itself down. Dagron was tough. He could breathe fire, smash things with his mace like tail, and was already hard to hit, but the two sisters were rather tough themselves. In the end, the dragon fell. On the way out, the two found another Tinkerbat.
"Another one of you rats!" Jasmine exclaimed as she tried to use her boomerang to hit it. It missed, alerting it to her. It ran, dropping another map.
"Another map...hmmm…" Shantae said as she grabbed it. They knew the routine by now as they made their way back to the ship.
"You're back. Apparently, you made it through," Risky said in a tone that showed she was actually impressed.
"By the skin of our teeth," Jasmine said.
"We found your boots...Risky Boots," Shantae added in.
"Hilarious," Risky deadpanned. "And the source of the Pirate Master's evil?"
"We took care of it," Jasmine replied.
"Then let's clear out of here!" Risky ordered. "There's no time to waste!" With that, Shantae handed over the next map. They were off to yet another island.
So this was kind of a bombshell when we first played it. The backstory with Rotty was more then a little surprising(and had a bunch of shipping fuel if you liked them together). Anyways, see you next time!...back to Bug Fables for me!