This story is a work of fanfiction. As such, it owes a great debt to the creators of the characters used herein: Rumiko Takahashi, Matt Bozon, Erin Bell Bozon and the creative teams of Kity Films and WayForward.
( ｡◕ シーンブレイク ◕｡)
Chapter 10
Risky Boots
(Tentatively, Time Traveler)
"Twenty years...?" Sky muttered in shock.
"She got to be bluffing," Ukyou replied.
The pirate lady pulled out her scimitar taking a stance similar to that of a running start. Her eyes were blazing with thirst for battrle.
"Don't block‼！" Shantae shouted with such desperation and terror in her voice that most of the company reacted instantly, without thinking. Especially as the half-Genie threw herself flat to the ground, risking to slide off the bridge as the guardrails here consisted of a square wooden beam.
Ranma jumped up, letting a blurry trail of bluish afterimages pass harmlessly underneath. Ryouga dodged deftly, not forgetting to jerk Akane aside by the scruff of her gi. Nabiki made a slow but over-cautious jump off the bridge towards the shore, already spinning her whip up to catch the guardrail. Sky was pulled aside by her parrot who proved so powerful she got wrapped around the guardrail on the seaside, barely arresteding her tumble over the edge. Mimic was pushed aside by that unfamiliar guy with a spiky ball on a chain. Xian Pu made a beatiful tumbling jump upwards.
And only Ukyou shielded herself by reflex with her combat spatula, crouching behind it.
The blurry streak swept her away with a clang, sparks flashing, to catapult her away without even slowing down. Crossing twenty more meters it collapsed back into Risky, turning back smugly while replacing her scimitar.
"U-chan!" Ranma shouted, in the process of landing, her eyes wide.
The spinning top of black, dark blue, metal and chestnut was heading in an arch ending at the fronts of the wall of buildings over the bay. The spinning then slowed sharply as Ukyou started screaming, trying to slow her flight with her spatula by wrapping herself into a tight ball around the end of its handle.
That ended in partial success. Partial because the spatula turned at an angle, like an one-bladed propeller, making the girl soar up like a maple key, accompanied with her pulsating "AAaaAAaaAAah".
"Ouch!" Xian Pu cringed in sympathy.
Rotational momentum ran out. Ukyou could finally get her bearings and began screaming twice louder as she found herself high in the air, higher than even the tallest towers! Luckily, the okonomiyaki cook kept her wits. Hollering something about "not ready yet" she spun her spatula around herself in eights and loops and other zig-zags which looked similar to padding or the flight of a one-winged bird.
Still, that slowed her fall from "would splatter" to "fracture would be compound".
"U-chan!" Ranma shouted, itching to run to the rescue but seeing there was no way she'd get there in time.
"Wrench!" Sky threw her attack parrot. He zipped to intercept like a pink-and-blue lighting and—
And they were denied the opportunity to see how it ended.
"Men! Flank them!" Risky barked aiming her pirate pistol in a deliberately slow motion.
Tinkerbats leaned from the boat's prow, aiming pistols as well. Though most were just waving their scimitars for effect.
Ranma rushed the pirate lady without thinking, itching to get revenge — both for U-chan and for her earlier humiliation. Xian Pu, of course, ran after her.
Sky and Nabiki exchanged glances and ducked lower, hiding behind the railing outside the bridge, across each other, where the railing consisted of low stone wall continuing the bridge pillar.
Shantae let out a battle cry as she rushed to board the boat.
Akane only hesitated for a moment. Casting a frustrated glance towards Ranma and Risky, she ran after the dancer. Ryouga, of course, headed to protect her, overtaking her as he readied his finger which wasn't boding well for the little ship.
The unfamiliar guy stayed to cover the old man, spinning his spiky ball while Mimic was reading some sort of scroll under his breath.
Shantae was in front of the boat in a second because tinkerbats were shooting rarely, their shots going wide.
Akane slowed, unsure what to do: Shantae's head barely reached the bottom. There were huge mechanical legs shifting ahead, slightly reminiscent of duck ones. Such a wooden foot could step on a horse without noticing, one had to have a siege engine, not hair, to assault them.
The boat, though, leaned down opening its flath-toothed maw wide. Shantae deftly pushed off the jaw with her foot to hang, having snatched the bowsprit with her hair, while Akane found herself in the way of a huge anchor barfed up by the boat. Shrieking in panic she jumped almost to the deck height. Which was four meters up.
Ryouga growled, becoming angry. Dodging the anchor he dashed along the chain trailing it. He jumped right into the open maw, into the wooden insides of the boat, dropping his pole which was too long for the confined space. A large barrel rolled at him, immediately receiving a "breaking point" and—
And turning out to be stuffed with explosives. The boom was deafening, blast wave nearly knocking Shantae off the bowsprit — luckily, she had grabbed it with her feet — and throwing Akane away.
Ryouga flew fast but low, almost clipping a ducking Nabiki, then splashing down in the bay.
The boat stood straighter, its maw half closed, winding the chain back with rattling and clanking. The anchor was scraping across the cobblestone pavement.
Mimic — whom the anchor had missed thanks to the spiky ball guy jerking him away by the scruff of his coat — finally finished reading his scroll. A spiky ball began orbiting him, quite similar to the one the guy wielded. The old man immediately threw something at the vessel, a small but dense cloud of white smoke obscuring its bow.
Akane, meanwhile, jumped up to the railing, then jumped higher from there to punch the boat in its right eye. It jerked, squinting. The motion threw the tinkerbats off their feet. Shantae grabbed at the opportunity to climb up onto the deck while they were disorganized and could not threaten loping her hands off.
A second later tinkerbats began flying off the smoke-shrouded deck one after another, tumbling erratically through the air. Letting out a battle cry, Shantae was using everything she learned at the Tendou dojo: sliding all over the deck sowing confusion in the enemy ranks, grabbing the poor midgets with her hair to throw them overboard or into their brethren... In short, she was mowing them down.
(Image: search for
Shantae Hair whip by rongs1234 DeviantArt)
( ｡◕ シーンブレイク ◕｡)
Ranma and Xian Pu's fight went sour right off the bat. Shouting "Seeker" and launching a small swarm of homing projectiles, the woman in the fancy hat succeeded in pretending overconfident and unprepared — only to throw herself under the girls as they pounced, sliding beneath them on her back.
She did not just slide, she pulled her scimitar out to wave it around, making them twist at the limits of their flexibility to avoid the sharp blade. This let half of the remaining projectiles hit them. Ranma weathered this indifferently, she was though, but Xian Pu received a couple that she felt.
When the two girls could restore their balance and smash the rest of the missiles, Risky was ready. She almost hit them as she blurred towards the wharf.
Xian Pu dodged as she glimpsed the scimitar's point at the front of this bluish streak. Ranma dodged easily, attempting also to trip their adversary. She just hurt her foot and was thrown off the bridge for her effort, it felt like she tried kicking a freight train. To add insult to injury, her body was smashed through the railing beam in the process.
Turning around, Risky ran at Xian Pu at lazy pace. She was holding the scimitar — the amazon could see it now — in a deceptively relaxed grip. Cussing elaborately in Chinese, Xian Pu began backing away, dodging the deceptively simple sword swings and cursing the loss of her maces. If only she had something, even a stick! She had met similar swordsmen in the past so she was wary of fighting this one bare-handed: at her skill level it was fraught with quick and ignoble loss of body parts. All she dared to do was dodging and occasionally slapping the flat of the blade aside.
But then Ranma was back, soaked and thirsting for a re-match. Risky didn't even try turning to face her, just ascended atop of her cannon as suddenly as sudden was Ranma's pounce at her back. The first explosion threw the two martial artists away but they kept their footing. The following ones just pounded the bridge. Three, four, five and then Risky was hanging at unreachable height, floating down on her hat so slowly it was pretty clear there was magic at work.
Xian Pu barely had time to feel relief that both of their opponent's hands were occupied when the pirate pistol appeared in Risky's hand. Somehow, she held it at the same time as the hat's edge. Or was the hat hooked around the handle? Either way, she begain raining magical bullets on the two girls. These ones flew straight but were much more powerful, like arrows of white fire striking dust from the cobbles with bright bluish flashes.
Ranma and Xian Pu were twisting ant tumbling: miss one such projectile, and you're done for! Shantae was right when she had told them the pistol could bring her down in one hit. But the rate of fire! This looked more like some sort of blaster than a pirate pistol!
Xian Pu was exercising the finer points of Chinese vocabulary. Ranma was simply giving promises in the vein of just you wait, you'll float down and I'll show you. Then the redhead got bored with this show so she slammed a "tiger domineering" into their barely moving opponent.
Risky got surprised. Then the charge of orange overconfidence slammed into her like a wrecking ball.
And then they saw her, barely scuffed, hanging very, very high in the sky. And laughing. This laugh was irritating like nails against chalkboard, despite the distance.
"Ranma." Xian Pu sighed. "You just outdid my most idiotic plans for catching you. Outdid them far. I am even wary now of the fact that we are destined for each other!"
"How could I know she's that tough!" the other girl whined.
And then the barrage resumed, but now dodging was harder because they could barely see their opponent's hand and the direction she was aiming at.
( ｡◕ シーンブレイク ◕｡)
The boarding was going well. Shantae had cleared the deck and was now whipping the bulkhead door, chips flying. The spiky ball guy joined her: his weapon proved to have hidden tricks, he could make the chain longer and use it as a grappling hook. Akane got the gist of dodging the anchor and was busying herself punching the eyes in turn, jumping onto the railing to reach them, making the boat squint and back away. Mimic and Nabiki were left without anything useful to do. Sky was gesticulating animatedly with one hand, trying to dissuade the seagulls who wanted to join the fun:
"No, no and no! Did you see how tricky her pistol is? Bullets chase the target on their own! Don't even let yourself be seen until we take it from her!"
When a soaked Ryouga climbed back onto the bridge, narrowed his eyes and cracked his neck it became clear the boat was done for.
And even Nabiki got distracted so much that the volley of explosions rolling among them caught everyone by surprise.
Deafening booms, smoke, ringing ears, disorientation — and Risky Boots who appeared, judging by her laugh, right in front of the boat!
"Stop, you parasite!" Ranma yelled, arriving just a tad slower only to catch a cannonball exploding in her face. "Stop and fight" She chased Risky again as the woman rode her cannon in the other direction trailing yet another barrage of powerful explosions.
"Ranma, you fool!" Xian Pu's conclusion could be heard from that direction.
"Ev.. everyone all right?" Nabiki asked, coughing and waving the smoke away.
"I am," replied a knocked down Akane in a singed gi. "Oww..."
"I fell into the water," Sky's voice reached from below. "How should— Watch out! Tinkerbats!"
Familiar shapes of black midgets in baggy red trousers and red kerchiefs began emerging from the dissipating smoke. How did they get there? Had Risky sowed dragon teeth?
A few of them ganged on Akane making her grow nervous and back away from opponents brandishing sharpened steel.
Two were already wrapping ropes around the old man, who was out cold.
About five of them had the misfortune of rushing the singed, stumbling, head-shaking Ryouga.
Three went for Nabiki. Assessing her chances, she turned her back on them, took aim and jumped off the bridge. The tinkerbats followed her hastily.
There were three splashes.
"I have... to work on... my shape..." Nabiki huffed climbing her whip wrapped around the railing beam.
Finding her courage, Akane began fighting back against the tinkerbats swarming her and even pushing them back, dodging deftly or parrying with strikes at their wrists or the dull edges of their scimitars.
Those that attacked Ryouga... Their story was as sad as it was short, their lament for not having wings profound. Then those backing from Akane followed their fate. She pouted, offended by his lack of belief in her ability to handle this by herself.
Ryouga wasn't discouraged, though. He switched to the boat, already raising his finger. One "breaking point" later the metallic jaw was sporting a... small pockmark? Ryouga frowned, concentrating. There were lots of breaking points in the jaw. Too many, in fact. His second attempt only led to the ship losing one flat tooth. The metal at the break turned to be porous like solidified foam.
"Ack!" Sky shouted from the water. "They are swimming after me!"
The seagulls refused to be kept back this time. They began diving at some concealed but pretty obvious targets on the sea side.
Nabiki started. Leaning over the stone-wall part of the railing she saw the trio of her pursuers climbing up the bridge pillar. There were more swimming in from the water, maybe even those Shantae threw off the boat earlier.
Checking her back nervously if someone was sneaking up on her, Nabiki put her whip to work knocking the enemies back into the water. She shouted over her shoulder: "Shantae! we are being swarmed with tinkerbats!"
"I can't!" the half-Genie shouted back from the deck. "There are hordes of them inside! They crawl out faster than I— Eek! Take that! And that!"
Ryouga tried to switch to the bowsprit but just froze in puzzlement: "This tub doesn't have any breaking points at all! Is it a living thing?"
He tried smashing wood with his fists, but even that was barely working: the boat was resisting damage like it was enchanted. It was just backing away in discomfort.
"By the way..." Nabiki stopped for a moment to take a look around. "Aren't we forgetting someone? With a long beard and a green coat?"
The four tinkerbats, who were trying to sneak away carrying tied up Mimic along the top of the railing on the boat's left side, froze with a start. Their heads were slowly, fearfully turning towards Ryouga.
It would've served them better to look up: the spiky ball guy jumped onto them from the deck where he had been helping Shantae. Four smacks later, he was dragging the old man away in the same direction: there was no time to untie him. Passing the stern he hopped off the railing and disappeared from view.
Judging by the sounds of intense battle and the ever-slowing stream of tinkerbats flying off the deck, Shantae met difficulties.
Then, after yet another series of explosions from the direction where Ranma and Xian Pu were fighting, closer to the town, a figure with long, sooty hair, in scraps of a waitress dress, tumbled away in an arch leading away from the bridge. Managing to tell Risky what an unnatural and anatomically impossible thing she should do with her cannon, Xian Pu splashed down in the bay. One combatant lost.
Tearing out of the ruined fabric, the cat began swimming across the bay, towards the shore where the bathhouse was.
Lightning flashed a couple times from the deck, then Shantae jumped down, forced to retreat: "Is the entire inside there full of these summoning pots? Where are these hordes coming from?"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho!" Risky laughed sliding over them on her hat. "It's best for you to not know!" She landed on the deck already festooned with aggressive tinkerbats.
"Whatever you think," Nabiki said rolling her whip up, "I'm out of here."
Casting a glance around the bay to memorize the positions of swimming tinkerbats, she jumped off the bridge ramrod straight, holding onto her hat. Hitting the water, she disappeared from view: was probably going to swim underwater for how long her breath lasts.
And so they were four, against a slightly scuffed Risky Boots on her slightly scuffed boat full of warlike minions.
"Men!" the pirate lady commanded. "Distract those three, I wish to... converse with the half-Genie brat tet-a-tet!
Then she pulled out her pistol, making Shantae slide away from the boat under a barrage of bullets shining like bluish fire, aimed to miss — barely, only if the dancer dodges away.
"Fight me, you scum!" Ranma roared, appearing on the deck in an instant, taking a shot on her crossed arms then slamming her right leg into her opponent's left side.
To her own surprise, it worked. This was the first solid hit she landed on this clever, slippery bugger!
Risky was thrown off the deck with a muffled huff of pain... Only to rise higher with two shots of her cannon and continue by sliding over the bay waters on her hat. While keeping shooting at Shantae!
"Tiger Domineering!" Ranma launched her orange ball of overconfidence, quite wimpy one as she was mostly feeling helplessness and frustration.
Risky dodged easily, by simply switching to her cannon to jump over the ki-blast.
"Shantae is Akane's friend," Ryouga began hyping himself up while absent-mindedly punting tinkerbats away. "Akane would be sad. No, she would be stricken with grief! She would be suffering! Liooooon... Roaaaaar..."
Either Risky was that sharp herself, or Ranma's nasty grin hinted her, but she hastily put her hat back on her head to begin plummeting.
Ryouga, though, took lead on her: "Blaaast!"
The mighty ball of swamp-green depression streaked over the waters making waves part with its mere proximity, leaving a foamy trail.
Already falling onto her back, Risky managed to mount her cannon upside down, practically slamming herself into the water. The telltale column of water was instantly swept away by the blast of depressive ki.
Alas, Shantae was the only one who was far enough to the side to see that trick. The view for the martial artists on the deck was obscured by the ki-charge itself. They were about to celebrate when they realized the direction the four-meter blast was going. Both gulped nervously.
Thankfully, "lion roar blast" did not hit the town as it slammed into a round stone tower rising out of the water. The same one Shantae told about of being demolished by Risky in the future. The tower tilted and began sinking.
"Gack!" Ryouga commented nervously. Looking around he saw the redhead and proclaimed accusingly: "Ranma, it's all your fault!"
"Mine?" she retorted, offended. "Why—"
"Help!" Akane's panicked yelp interrupted them.
Both jumped off the boat aiming at the voice. Down on the bridge, tinkerbats were practically swarming, pressing on the desperately fighting girl from all sides, bristling with a ring of blades. She was still unhurt only thanks to the thick fabric of her gi soaking up glancing blows. But it was already sporting cuts and tears.
Ranma and Ryouga mowed this mass down in an instant, not shy of striking hard. On a side note it turned out that a dead tinkerbat dissolves into black jello-smoke like those manifested curses after the battle at the Tendou dojo. The surviving ones backed away to a safe distance, torn between wariness and the need to press on.
The boat stared at the three martial artists, crossing its eyes to see them standing right in front of its bow. Shifting from foot to foot nervously, it began opening its maw.
Ryouga glared at it so hard the tub clamped its jaw shut, backpedaling.
"Shantae-chan!" Akane shouted in alarm, making to run towards the other girl.
Ranma and Ryouga turned around in puzzlement... A soaked Risky Boots, her pants sticking to her legs, rivulets running off her hat, was strolling towards the half-Genie, her gait predatory and menacing in its dance-like smoothness. The pointy-eared girl was backing away.
"Why, you‼！" Ranma roared, dashing at the enemy. This was personal. The rare tinkerbats parted before her, pressing against the railing.
"But it was full-power!" Ryouga grew angry, frustrated by his ki-blast having no visible effect. He dashed after her.
The parting tinkerbats first shuffled with cautious side-steps, then boldly rushed Akane all as one. She eeped taking a defensive stance... and only her danger sense let her avoid the anchor aimed at her back. But the dodge cost her balance and the black midgets exploited the opening. Had Ryouga return a second later she'd be a head shorter.
He mowed those down. New ones leaned from the boat to begin shooting. The boat began winding the rattling chain back, its mouth only half-opened so that no one could jump in there. It was also actively backpedaling.
Akane was trying to help however she could, but four at once were her limit while the parasitic things tended to press her with numbers all the while fleeing from Ryouga. While he was moving the black scum on the deck, the boat opened its maw wide to barf a dozen more right at Akane. He rushed back to her, scythed through those. The unfinished ones from the deck began firing again. He tried tearing the boat's jaw off. It was creaking, bending, but not breaking, clearly fortified with either ki or magic. Tinkerbats, meanwhile, were climbing onto the bridge over the railings, trying to flank Akane.
( ｡◕ シーンブレイク ◕｡)
Ranma was backing from Risky who proved to be an unexpectedly hard opponent. Kunou with a real sword? Dangerous, but only because he comes out of the blue. Mu Su with blades in his sleeves? Oh, please. A master swordswoman of a completely unfamiliar school...? Houston, we have a small problem.
Shantae tried to help at first, but after hitting Ranma instead of Risky with her lightning two times in row — this bugger was seemingly able to read her moves from a kilometer away — she excused herself and was gone. Ranma was too focused on her opponent to pay attention.
There was a predatory grin on the face of the woman in purple, her eyes shining with such intense battle-lust it was scary. No, Ranma himself loved to fight, and he was quite indifferent to crippling blows when the opponent is guaranteed to dodge. But wrapping a decapitating strike in two layers of feints...? The redhead twisted away at the limit of her speed, bending back so sharply her vertebrae popped while her chin felt the cool breeze of a passing blade. No, this wasn't your normal desire to fight. This was some psychotic blood-lust. Thankfully, the woman wasn't trying to lick her blade. Yet.
Using the received kick at her abdomen to break the distance, Ranma began backing again, dodging deceptively simple scimitar swings. Had she been demanding to fight fair, face-to face? Oh yeah, she was screaming for it. So here it is. She asked for it. Now, how to handle this jerk!
Oh no, Risky was both weaker physically and slower. But the relatively narrow bridge and the unfamiliar school of kenjutsu were negating Ranma's advantages. Try hitting the sword arm or trip...? May work, but is fraught with loss of body parts.
Honestly, what should have she expected from a notorious pirate? That she'd be a weaksauce wimp?
Ranma kept analyzing, trying to read her style. It wasn't working. This was a mix of everything and a kitchen sink, matching Anything-Goes in its unpredictability, glued together with real combat experience. If only she had a stick, Ranma was confident in her ability to pummel her opponent with her speed and strength alone.
There was also the sure-fire dirty trick of a point-blank "tiger domineering" but Ranma was wary of using it, leaving it for the last resort: this.. psycho would undoubtedly take offense and switch to ranged fighting. Been there, seen that. Cannon, hat, pistol — and you are darting around like a cockroach under a hail of slippers and gnash your teeth because you got nothing to get her.
..a stick...?
Breaking rapidly from her opponent, Ranma began looking around searching for that wooden pole thingy Ryouga had been brandishing before the fight. Finding a piece of it, she picked this improvised club to turn back to Risky with an arrogant grin.
The woman replied with a grin of her own, baring teeth, making Ranma's bravado evaporate. The martial artist attacked swiftly but cautiously, primed to dodge if anything goes wrong. She batted the scimitar aside with the stick in her left hand... And barely twisted away, doubling over, when the blade — but it's one-sided! — went through the piece of wood on its return swing like it was empty air, trailing purplish afterglow.
How...?！
How did she manage reversing her grip in mid-swing?
Risky, meanwhile, took a nauseatingly familiar stance reminiscent of a running start. Ranma tried tripping her in this brief moment of motionlessness. But from her awkward position, she was a fraction of a second late. She was thrown aside, her feet bruised, while Risky streaked away in a bluish trail of after-images.
Ranma jumped onto her feet to see: Risky, having stopped right in front of the boat. Clouds of dust over the fresh hole in the stone wall railing to the right. And legs in greenish gi flipping over the railing to the left, the bare feet flashing momentarily. Also, Shantae who finally got Risky with her lightning from her right hand, together with tinkerbats from her left.
Akane!
He knew, he knew this psycho could cut the dancer to ribbons if she just fancies to. He knew how this could end — but he jumped after Akane anyway.
Cool depth, greenish murk, deeper, green-tinted darkness, why the demons it's so deep here, the bay was shallow! Desperately, to and fro. Where! Isn't here. Isn't here either. Where is she! What a bad luck, for the second time this day. Faster, she'd drown... Not here... Not here either... Here she is!
Throwing the uncute one out of the water so that she catches the edge of the bridge, the redhead flew up the bridge pillar, already turning to face the opponent. Risky's back was twenty meters ahead, she was pressing the rapidly retreating Shantae.
A girl able to hold her own against Akane. Facing an opponent as good as Pops if not the old freak, armed with a bladed weapon.
It was clear as day that the pointy-eared girl was only alive because the bluish psycho was amused playing with her. Swinging her scimitar lazily, she was ghosting through Shantae's blocks as if they weren't there, making the girl jerk and jump back - but always too late, always after the strike was deliberately stopped short.
Gritting her teeth, Ranma stayed to punt away tinkerbats who rushed the helplessly hacking Akane. She had to hurry! Who knows what thought crosses this woman's head? Crazy like ten Kodachi, dangerous like ten Kodachi. Ranma could attack her any moment. And she was almost sure the woman would be glad for the challenge. But would she switch to fighting Ranma right away, or would first lop the half-Genie's head off? And who would be there to cover Akane? What was taking the swine so long‼！
Finally Ryouga climbed back onto the bridge. Instantly leaving Akane to him, the redhead rushed to help.
Judging by Shantae's eyes, wide in terror, it was clear she was keenly aware her opponent was playing with her like a... meowing hell-spawn with a mouse. Seeing Ranma approach she tried breaking away by sliding back vigorously.
Risky wasn't going to let her. Closing the distance as sharply she at the same time struck in a wide upward arch, so fast that even for Ranma's eyes it looked like a blur.
Something arched away, trailing red. Shantae shrieked, then she continued parrying with only one hand.
Akane, who was following on her fiancee's heels, had time to feel frost along her spine, her hair moving. Then she saw Shantae's top on the bridge cobbles. The red fabric was intact, but the golden ring was cleaved cleanly in half. Obviously, Shantae deemed preserving her modesty more important than defense and was now covering herself with her left hand.
Risky tsked disapprovingly as she sped her blows up smoothly, keeping even with the dancer back-sliding in panic. The two martial artists were rapidly catching up to them, Ranma far ahead.
"Seeker!"
Off-hand, holding the pistol in her left hand pointed straight up.
And Ranma had to stop and back away to smash at the swarm of homing bullets going for Akane like rabid wasps.
Risky, meanwhile, was swinging her scimitar faster and trickier by the second. Shantae was dodging by the skin of her teeth.
"Stop covering yerself!" Ranma shouted receiving a surprised glance from Akane who caught up with her. "She wants you fighting at your fullest!"
Whatever you think, Ranma was afraid that Risky may decide Shantae wasn't regarding her seriously. And to the hell with these girly sensibilities!
Alas, Shantae interpreted the redhead's words differently. She attacked with a battle cry of terror, but still keeping her charms covered with her left hand.
With lazy grace, Risky dodged several awkward hair slashes: Shantae's school required both arms to be free, acting as counter-balances. Then she made an off-hand swing with her scimitar, trailing an arch of purplish afterglow.
Gold flashing in the sun, the tiara flew apart, cleaved. Akane gasped and pressed forward, almost overtaking Ranma.
Panicking, Shantae began continuously sliding backwards, deflecting the blows with her bracer. But again only using her right hand. The two combatants were about to move from the bridge to the wharf and Ranma hissed through her teeth noticing a small step where these two met — not big enough to be obstacle to pedestrians or carts, but big enough to knock the blindly backing Shantae off her feet.
Disregarding the risks, the redhead accelerated, dashing full-tilt. And again Risky threw her right arm with the pistol out , this time aiming backwards, her aim slightly off... At Akane again! And it was not going to be a wimpy homing bullet, but a real, powerful one! Her feet sliding on the cobbles, doing her utmost to arrest her movement, Ranma threw herself backwards, turning around in mid-flight to collide with Akane hard, knocking her down. They only felt the bullet by the gust of air ruffling Akane's hair. But both the girls, already slamming into the ground, saw what they just dodged. There was a powerful explosion nearly knocking Ryouga off his feet.
So was this woman able to shoot cannonballs from her pistol as well?
Risky didn't even look back, speeding up until her scimitar blurred. Shantae yelped like a wounded bunny. Some bits and pieces were flying in all directions — Akane desperately hoped, from the clothing. The golden bracer was sparkling, crumbling. Thin strands of hair were floating away on the wind.
And still Shanate refused to use her left hand.
"Shantae-chan!" Akane screamed in desperation when the dancer's dusky skin began marring with red streaks. Jumping to her feet she made to the rescue, not looking, not thinking.
Ranma arrested her movement jerking her back by her hand: "Jump into the water as soon as she pulls out—"
"Let me go!" Akane tore her hand free to dash forward. Ranma could only overtake her for half a step and keep there hoping to react in time. Punting the headstrong tomboy off the bridge would be easier and safer than reasoning with her.
Alas, that delay was enough for the dueling combatants to reach that step of doom. Shantae fell onto her back, her left hand still pressed against her chest. Risky pounced immediately, straddling her. She grabbed the half-Genie's right hand with her left, then put the scimitar in her right hand against her throat unopposed. And leaned close over her bloodied, terrified prey, whispering something with passion. Shantae froze.
Ranma and Akane froze as well, having been just five meters late. Both were afraid to even breathe.
"..think that preserving your modesty would be more important to you than your life," Risky continued her monologue. "I'm very disappointed." Her voice was filled with real, unfeigned disappointment. "I guess in all those years I haven't noticed myself as I replaced my memories of you with an idealized image." She sighed pressing the scimitar a little harder. A drop of blood rolled down the blade. "Such a crazy adventure, and all for naught... Well, at least the world would fall into my hands like an overripe fruit. None of those sorry losers is prepared for my true pow— Gah..."
Shantae's left hand was clutching a dagger handle sticking from her opponent's side. The half-Genie was shaking from fear mixed with resolve. A few more drops of blood rolled down the scimitar edge.
"Hoooh," Risky drawled in an approving voice. "You say I was right to believe in you...?" She pulled the blade away from her downed opponent's throat to stand up in a little awkward but still catlike-graceful motion. Glancing with satisfaction at the dagger handle still sticking out of her side, she... gushed: "Right in the liver, just like my wee daughter!"
"You... have... a daughter?" Shantae asked, breathing heavily. She tried standing up, which proved hard to do as she was now hugging herself forcefully with both arms. Her right bracer was all cut and banged up. There were red rivulets seeping down her sides.
"She's almost grown up!" Risky replied proudly as she shook her scimitar clean and sheathed it. "She had even made her first attempt at my life! I'd show the scar but I'm afraid you stuck your pocket knife right into it." She glanced behind Ranma and Akane's backs. "Well, I shall be going. Don't forget to bring the three magical seals."
Ranma took a look back as well. At the other side of the bridge — when have they crossed it? — the bug-eyed little ship had moved from the bridge to the shore and was now kicking away at the crowd of Nerimans, Shantae's friends and town guards surrounding it. Ryouga holding onto the tongue chain was impeding the Tinker Tub's movements greatly, but tinkerbats swarming the deck were able to repel any boadring attempts so far, swinging their scimitars and shooting her magical pistols.
She made a smooth step forward. Missing this opportunity would—
"Stop!" Shantae halted the redhead with a sharp shout when the edge of her palm was centimeters from Risky's neck. The woman didn't even flinch. Ranma shivered shuffling back to a safe distance. This Pirate Queen was making her wary, even severely wounded and with her sword sheathed.
"As you are from the future," Shantae said, her voice strung with unyielding resolve, "you must know what is coming..." She was shaking a bit.
Akane helped her onto her feet, doting over her and gasping at the multitude of shallow, bleeding cuts.
For a moment the opponents stood staring each other down, seemingly unaware of their wounds.
"Don't worry," Risky said patronizingly. "I will not be sucking your magic out of you. But I—"
"That won't help!" Shantae interrupted her. "I had several dark magical creatures sucked into the lamp... Then the lamp... the lamp had returned to where it was. So the magic it held is surely scattered. This time he will awaken sooner...!"
Ranma had the dubious pleasure of seeing the face of a mighty opponent, who had laughed at everything thrown at her, distort with fleeting fear.
What sort of thing was that Pirate master of theirs, that even she, as strong as she was now, was afraid of him?
"Is that so...?" Risky drawled. "So the Ammo Baron's cannon may be not there... Right! This is going to be a risky adventure! I'll head to shake Hypno Baron now while you, kiddies, gather the rest of the seals. Just don't get in my way, I'd gut you like a fish." She offhandedly plucked the dagger out of her side.
Both opponents, as if on some invisible cue, brought red bottles of healing potion to their lips. All the blood disappeared from Shantae's body by magic, her ruined right bracer becoming whole again. Her tiara, though, haven't returned. As well as her choker. And her top. Shantae sighed, still covering herself with her left hand.
"Are you going to just let her go?" Akane asked, more offended for her friend than the girl herself.
"There's no helping it." Shantae shrugged, her eyes still firmly on Risky. "We had worked together, and will do it again. The Pirate Master is the end for everyone. Truce?"
"She will backstab you before his cadaver falls to the ground," Ranma warned eyeing the pirate lady suspiciously.
"Of course she will!" Shantae replied, unconcerned. "Been there, done that!"
Risky laughed, clearly amused: "Ho-ho-ho, so be it." Then louder, a bellow that rolled over the port: "Truce! I won't touch your lousy Scuttle Town while Shantae doesn't meddle with my heinous schemes!" She turned towards her boat and stuck two fingers in her moth to whistle deafeningly: "Men, we are leaving! Go, go, go, move it!"
Backing away, the scuffed little ship began walking into the water, still trying to pull in its chain tongue. Ryouga was dragging after it with much resistance, playing the role of anchor which he had lost somehow.
"Drop the chain!" Risky shouted. She then jumped up onto the railing to instantly accelerate, blurring away in a streak of after-images. Cannon, cannon, cannon, hat, cannon again, hat again. She was flying over the sea with incredible speed, arching gently to the left.
The boat opened its maw wide, making a motion like it was barfing. Ryouga fell onto his back, clutching the now free chain. The boat splashed into the sea stern-first backing from the shore hastily. Risky dramatically landed right in the crow's nest to erupt with an especially loud and irritating laugh.
The town defenders were shouting at them, waving their weapons menacingly. Xian Pu was sporting a pair of scimitars she got somewhere. The silent tinkerbats were replying from the deck with victorious sword- and pistol-waving, some even pulling their lids down.
But then the friends noticed Shantae hugging herself and ran towards her. Sky and that spiky ball guy were ahead. After them, slower, Mimic, an armed Xian Pu in a towel top and some patched up short shorts and a gloomy Ryouga. Town guards and other people were behind them.
Ukyou walked out onto the wharf, limping and using her spatula as a crutch. Wrench was sitting proudly on her shoulder. Noticing her friends she waved at them causing a joyous shout of "U-Chan!" from Ranma and relieved smiles from Akane and Shantae.
A whip snapped catching the railing beam. Half a minute later a soaked Nabiki climbed up onto the bridge.
"Are you all right?" Sky ran up to Shantae, hugging her briefly. "You did it? We won...?" She noticed Ukyou and her passenger. "Oh, I'm so glad! Wrench, you're one of a kind..."
"So, you beat her so hard that she agreed to leave out town alone?" the spiky ball guy added with blind boyish faith.
"We have... not exactly won," Shantae corrected them self-deprecatingly. "Risky turned to be..." She shivered hugging herself tighter. "I never though she'd be able puting as much dread into me as the Pirate master did."
The locals gasped. The old man had to be kept in an upright state by hand.
"So, you say," Ranma grew curious, "that her words about twenty years weren't bluffing?"
"Probably..." Shantae frowned, shrugging. "Maybe. Or, maybe, not. She is always... hard to deal with." She jerked her arm, in an unconscious motion to scratch her head that she arrested just in time. "Does someone have anything to cover myself with? I feel so awkward standing half-naked in public.
The gathering of people exchanged glances.
"Let me lend you my shirt," Ranma suggested grabbing the hem.
"Ranma!" Akane hissed in panic, afraid of the worst.
Simulating deafness, the redhead made a spectacle of taking her shirt off over her head... To reveal she was still wearing the white-and-blue striped bikini top. Showing her tongue to Akane she handed the shirt to Shantae.
"Umm..." the other girl drawled twitching her elbows.
"Let me." Unrolling the shirt, Ranma pulled it over her head. Then Shantae herself, wriggling inside, pulled her hands and head through corresponding openings: "So unfamiliar!" She pulled her ponytail free, rolled the sleeves up to free the bracers and straightened the shirt.
The shirt was reaching her mid-thigh, as it did for girl-Ranma, hiding her pants where they were most form-fitting. This resulted in Shantae head to toe in loose red silk only hinting at her curves beneath.
"So, Risky could be from the future?" Sky returned to the topic of importance.
"Oh, she is without doubt from the future!" said Shantae. "She had mentioned the second Tinker Tub and the Tinker Slug, both of which shouldn't be even existing yet!"
"Or these tinker devices were already existing in her plans," the Uncle injected, "and she concocted up a clever story after overhearing that you were from the future."
Shantae gasped: "You may be onto something!" The pointy-eared girl frowned with a thoughtful expression, looking up at the sky. "Although... She was so... She rushed into battle against me with such thirst... It was so unlike her! It was like she... Like fighting me was her long-time dream! Like she... was missing me...?" Shantae blinked in confusion, taken aback by her own conclusion.
"Some `missing` it was!" Ranma said indignantly. "She almost cut you to ribbons!"
"Oh, look at yourself." Ukyou retorted, having limped up to them, "Don't you and Ryouga greet each other is such a way that someone from the outside could think you have a blood feud that was stewing for three generations."
"That's different!" the redhead disagreed. "Ryouga doesn't try taking my head off. Well, not with such persistence."
"Maybe Risky is really from the future," Shantae continued. "She appears too strong. She didn't show any new tricks, but everything together... And by some reason she was missing me so badly she nearly cut my throat." She nervously rubbed at her neck.
"And this." Nabiki said handing her something hidden in her fist. "It's a good thing these healing potions are so efficient, isn't it?" She opened her fist a bit.
Seeing what was in there, the half-Genie gasped, grabbing it nervously and hiding in her ki-pocket so fast no one was able to glimpse it. "Thank you. Otherwise some kids could have found it. They shouldn't see such things. When did she...?"
"What was it?" Ranma intruded, curious "A finger of an ear?"
Akane smacked her upside the head.
"Ow." The redhead rubbed at the lump. "Why am I asking. Had it been an ear, you'd be missing one earring now."
"Enough of this, all right?" Shantae hinted. "Although... What should I do with it? Pickling it for posterity would be too macabre. Maybe feed it to Rotty, let her have some fun...? Why, that's a good idea...! Wait, no, it's a horrible idea! Appetite, they say, comes during the meal."
"Rotty?" Akane asked, puzzled.
"Rottytops," Shantae explained. "She's my another friend you haven't met yet. She is always trying to eat my brain."
"Eeeeh?" Akane was taken aback.
"Let's better talk Risky," Ukyou suggested. "I, for one, only saw the end of the battle."
"Risky was... in rare form today," admitted Shantae.
"She also said she `replaced the memories of you`," Nabiki added. "Correct me if my language knowledge is failing me, but it could only mean one thing: in the future from which she came, you were gone for a while."
Shantae gasped throwing her hands to her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as saucers.
"What?" Nabiki stared back at the people staring at her. "By pure chance I found... cover right under the last bridge arch, so I heard everything."
"The sky..." Shantae whispered, her pupils shrinking into dots. "The sky is on fire!" She hugged herself with both hands. "Spiky lianes are clutching at my body like claws. I can't get free!" She bent over, swaying from side to side and hyperventilating. "The burning sky is falling! There is no escape...!"
"Shantae-chan!" Akane shouted in alarm grabbing the other girl's shoulder. "Are you all right!" She glared at Nabiki over her shoulder. "What did you do to her, Big Sis!"
"We are with you, Shantae!" Sky squeezed her other shoulder. "We won't abandon you! We stand for each other and together we will win!"
"Yeah," the spiky ball guy agreed. "I may not be that smart and I don't get what's going on, but I will fight side to side with you!"
Shantae nodded silently trying to get a grip on herself and take her breathing under control. "It was... Thank you, my friends! It was... A memory, I think. So crisp, like it was really happening. And so frightening..."
"It was what you see in your nightmares," Nabiki said, her eyes narrowed. "Something you don't want to remember so badly that you have a hole in your memory several months wide. It seems I jostled the root of your amnesia."
Shantae gasped straightening: "Why, this should be it! If Risky came from a future where I had died so horribly I can't even remember it and she then grew missing me so much that she went and returned to the past... Phew, it's so good to have things in order, at last!" She laughed with visible relief. "Only two mysteries remain: how I ended up in Nerima if I died, and how Risky managed to go back in time. And from how far away? Bet it was just one year and she was training her sword skills for that entire year like crazy?"
"And you are talking about such things that easily." Akane was still worrying on the edge of distraught.
"Well, it's simple enough: I just have to not die, right?" Shantae replied airily, her mood brightening again. "Let alone horribly... Besides, I know everything about Risky Boots' plan to corrupt the Genie realm and she knows that I know, so this time around everything would be totally different! All my future knowledge is now only good for finding hidden treasure and predicting what Ammo Baron would do. However, after Ranma and Ryouga visit his Battle Tower... How would he change his plans?"
"So you really returned from the future," the old man said quietly as he glanced around. "You were mentioning the..." His voice trembled. "Pirate Master?"
"Oh don't worry, Uncle Mimic!" Shantae reassured him. "It should take him a whole more month to awaken!"
The old man fainted this time so good it took two people to keep him upright.
"Pirate Master?！" Sky gulped. "The real one?"
"Don't worry!" Shantae reassured her. "Me and Risky will find a way to prevent his awakening! You saw how tricky she is, right? If he awakens, she would be caught again, relieved of all her toys and tortured by him for treason. She doesn't want that, just like I don't want to dodge cannonballs the size of a two-story house!"
The old man slumped, well and truly unconscious. His head being mostly bald, the hair of his beard was standing on its ends instead.
"That's why," Shantae continued in a no-nonsense voice, "we have to collect the three magic seals and restore the lamp as soon as possible! Ranma, Ryouga, you are the strongest. Ask Uncle what a seal looks like and how to find the Battle Tower. Besides, you are boys, you can pretend to join the army. Me, I wouldn't have risked that, they made so many sleazy comments the last time around! Or, just break a hole in the tower, or sneak in quietly. The seal is nailed to the wall in that room where the reward for passing appears! While I... I would be going to shake Squid Baron. I need to... meet Rotty and... Oh no! She will eat him!" Gasping, the girl ran away in a hurry, crossing the bridge. "Whoever goes with me, don't fall behind!"
"Where are we going?" Nabiki inquired running after her.
"Are we going to save someone?" Akane joined as well.
"Yes, we have!" Shantae called back over her shoulder, nervous by some reason. "Wobble Bell! This time..." She fell silent missing a step. "This time I won't let him perish!"
These three were going away, rapidly squeezing through the crowd that had gathered on the bridge.
"Wait, I'm with—" Sky began. "Aw, the egg! She did leave it in the bathhouse, I think?"
"I'm with you, Shantae!" the spiky ball guy shouted — what was his name, again? — as he rushed after them.
"I am honestly undecided which group to join," Xian Pu admitted. "I'd like to go with you, oh husband of mine, but you are quite observant yourself. And if you are going to infiltrate a pure male army I would only get in your way. These four, on the other hand... They'll deal with anything in their way, I believe, but I'd be able to learn many interesting things. Many of which our generous host must have forgotten to mention."
"Yeah, she's like that." Ranma sighed. "Go with them, a true martial artist witnessing their side would be useful."
"You know how to make a girl feel special." The amazon grinned from ear to ear. She then jumped up onto the railing to run after the Shantae's group, totally unconcerned of being barely dressed in a towel and ragged short shorts. She flipped the scimitars in her hands to rest on her shoulders to avoid hitting the crowd.
"Oh Ran-cha, that tongue of yours..." Ukyou sighed in frustration. "I'm so sorry I failed you, got hurt. Now until my leg heals—"
"Could someone tell me what is going on?" a tubby, middle-aged shorty demanded as he scuttled in like a bouncy ball from the wharf. "Where are the pirates? Is the invasion over?"
Dressed in white baggy pants with a red sash, an open vest and a big turban he looked quite lively. Seeing him, the guards stood at something vaguely resembling attention.
"The big boss?" Ranma inquired in a whisper.
"Mayor Scuttlebutt," the old man groaned trying in vain to stand by himself. "We have to... Oh, even thinking of this monster—" He fell unconscious again.
"He meant the Pirate Master," Ranma added apologetically.
"The pirates were driven away indeed," one of the town guards began. "And have even declared truce, thanks to the valor of our Guardian Genie."
"But the battle was merciless," another one added. "The devious sea robbers, paying no regard to fruits of man's labor nor property right, laid waste to a whole barrel of first grade dried fruits from—"
"Two barrels," someone whispered from the back ranks.
"Two barrels of dried fruits from the town funds," the reporting one corrected himself in a tragic voice.
The mayor sighed mumbling something about eating the stress over with chocolate.
( ｡◕ シーンブレイク ◕｡)
A.N.: This chapter would've been ready the last weekend (February 11th, 2018) if not me getting carried away with Terraria. I have flooded half the world with magma I pumped from of the deepest reaches of hell! Mwa-ha-ha-ha! Take that, Crimson!
The next chapter: save Wobble Bell!