"..." = Speech
<...> = Thought
---
"You really weren't lying about how amazing Wrenches mom is!" Whistling as they soared high above the clouds - making the once gigantic towns appear more akin to mere ant hills. "How long is it going to take for our little tough guy to grow up to be as big and strong as mama Hatchet?"
Tilting her head back slightly to look toward Sky who was currently sitting behind her; taking advantage of her extra height to rest her chin atop the smaller girl's head. Sadly her hands were too occupied with guiding the massive hawk to feel up her best friend with benefits. Although neither seemed to mind.
Both seemed quite content with just existing in each other's personal space.
Sky (of course) was more than happy to answer Shantae's question. "Technically he may manage it any day now; since his species can learn to alter their size and I've been training him to do just that."
"Oh… So momma Wrench isn't actually this cool normally?" Her disappointment was obvious.
Though a powerful squark followed by a stink eye from the giant bird made the genie flinch.
Seeing that made Sky let out her own chuckle as she tried to sooth the colossal war hawk by gently brushing her hand through Hatchet's crest. "Oh, no, this is her admittedly impressive normal size."
That got a very pleased call from the bird in question.
"However - that doesn't mean Wrench will be getting to her size any time soon - he is still decades out from growing to her size." Lifting her shoulders in a shrug as a silence fell between them. Making their attention instead fall to the rocky river filled jungle passing on by below them.
"Are we sure this guy is the relic hunter we are after?" Shantae asked her partner.
They didn't just decide to fly in a random direction, after all, but had investigated the new location their town happened to find itself in so that they could place it on a map. From there they relied on Sky's geographical know-how to relocate where Scuttle Town's original position was. Since there was not a zero chance that the abrupt change would coax in one of the very relic hunters they wanted to find.
Funnily enough she had managed to (potentially) find that very person's location. "Can't say for sure but, at the very least, the man they described practically screamed relic hunter. We also don't have any other clues about these geo-experts so we don't exactly have any choice except to investigate this."
Letting out an audible groan over them going in blind.
Resting her head into the crook of Shantae's neck; the genie in question just light-heartedly laughed.
"Seems a clearing that we can land in is coming up - so get ready to begin exploring - there is also an old labyrinth in the area that you could check out." Sky said while growing a bit more serious.
In response Shantae merely massaged her chin with a thoughtful hum. "It does sound exactly like the kind of place that a relic hunter would find himself in; you know I'm always red-2-go into a dungeon~! Although are you sure you don't want to come with me to explore the place a little?"
Giving the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.
Although all it did was make Sky close her eyes in a poor attempt to fill the pit growing in her stomach with the darkness that filled her vision.
Staying that way until she had to open them in order to guide Wrench's momma down into the clearing.
The sudden dive downwards caused the unsuspecting genie to let out a cute "eep".
Finding herself falling (literally) deeper into Sky's embrace.
Soon enough they touched down on the floor of the jungle's elevated floor - being made from a series of hill-based platforms of varying heights. Trees all around them. Meanwhile, as Shantae clutched at her bikini top as she tried to get the heart in her throat back down into her chest, Sky answered her question.
"I… I can't, I'd only massively slow down your adventure, so I will just stay here in the clearing to watch over Hatchet. That way we can take off to our next destination as soon as you find that old cook or discover some new clue we can chase after." Her voice came out as more sigh than sentence.
She also used that as a chance to jump down from the colossal warbird before reaching a hand out to the now calm Shantae.
Yet she didn't look as excited to venture out now.
Part of her wanted to deny that she would be held back by Sky coming. However, it was certainly true that the bird tamer couldn't do much about the monsters they'd encounter. "Guess you have already done most of the leg work so it'll be a good break... Oh~ but - with my monkey & harpy form - it shouldn't take me too long to investigate every inch of this forest and discover the old man's traces~!"
Pumping her fist with her positive energy quickly exploding outward for the world to feel; overjoyed when she remembered just how quickly she'd be able to traverse these kinds of places.
Fortunately that kind of joy was quite contagious.
Still she could at least admit to herself that it was the same goofball who had helped waylay what worries she had found herself harboring about her competency.
"EEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIII!" Although that panicked high-pitched screech brought many more.
Even the massive bird couldn't help become alert and turn toward the screaming Shantae…
Or, more specifically, monkey Shantae.
"What's wrong!" Of course Sky couldn't stop herself from running up to the cute little thing and protectively standing in front of her while glaring at just about everything in the forest. Completely forgetting that the creature was so much stronger than her that she was previously having an existential crisis around it.
Although. upon turning back towards the monkey…
She found the fuzzy brown beauty was clutching a wonderfully fuzzy tail longer than their torso.
Or at least wonderful where the fuzz remained. "My tail has been stripped bare after that villainous pirate chucked me across the bay of her stupidly large robo-tinkerbat; I'm absolutely hideous!"
Seeing her monkey-fied friend crying over her lost fur, Sky could only sigh.
When she opened her eyes again, she found that she apparently hadn't controlled all her instincts, as she found herself looking down at a sniffling Shankey who was still clutching her tail. She had apparently already picked up the little creature and was actively cradling it.
"Don't worry - you look fine - I'd say there I haven't found a monkey more beautiful than you. Honestly. it is silly that you think anyone could be cuter than you!" Rubbing her head into the furry little scalp as she embraced her instincts fully.
As well as the wonder that was her partner's hair-care routine.
Apparently those expensive alchemical hair products she had spent a small fortune on (or maybe the entire fortune) had their effects carry over during her transformations.
Meanwhile, that cute little face turned to look up at the one holding her crying form, those big sparkling eyes caused Sky's poor heart to beat so hard she almost keeled over. "D-Do you mean it? Like do you really really really mean it?"
"Yes of course I do; how could I ever lie to this fuzzy little face?!" Once again diving head first into fuzz.
This seemed to greatly please the prideful primate; though that joy did slowly become confusion as Sky didn't seem ready to release her yet. "Sky… I still need to check that labyrinth."
"... Um, yes, I guess I should put you down." She replied after a quite noticeable moment of hesitation before she got down into a crouch to safely let Montae down. Except she didn't actually release her fuzzy friend despite remaining crouched there for an entire minute.
"So you planning to let go any time now?" She asked with a no small amount of teasing in her voice and across her big smile - being called out so directly even caused the usually cool Sky to clear her throat to try to abate the growing blush. "Yeah, I'll do that now…"
Slowly but surely putting the monkey down on the floor.
"No need to worry; I'll quickly make diet monkey chow out of this place and return with a relic hunter wrapped up in my tail with a nice bow on top." Throwing her little fist into the air.
With that she turned around to leap at the rocky pillar behind them.
Quickly shooting up before vanishing behind the edge.
Sky just stood there looking up at where Shantae once was. "Guess I'll just wait."
---
Almost immediately after clambering over the cliff; Shankey discovered a very familiar face down below.
"Hmpf you sure that those foolish Muck Lords actually locked up the three pesky relic hunters instead of some random posers?" Risky asked a tinkerbat who just silently looked up at her.
"..."
Although that seemed to be enough for her. "Yes… I suppose it doesn't matter much."
Turning around with her hands crossed behind her back.
"With my Tremble Engines scattered around, forming a complex network with my tremble core at the center, there is little that can be done to stop me…" Despite saying that she still stood there silently while glancing at a machine Shantae could only assume to be a Tremble Engine. "Still, I don't like those no good know-it-alls running around and figuring out some bullshit way to stop me in my gold lined tracks!"
"..."
Once again she was met with only the unblinking stare of a TinkerBat. Yet she simply scoffed with a level of dismissal that it truly couldn't come from anyone but the real Risky - waving her hand toward the silently staring TinkerBat. "Please, is that not why I have you here to protect the engine?"
"..."
"You still think I should send some BatGals - or at least some form of backup - since if it is activated the labyrinth where the muck lord is hiding will be unearthed again?" Raising a brow before snorting again at her crew member. "Please, you will be more than enough, plus the Muck Lords are like the brothers I never stabbed in the back so they can handle it even if they get exposed."
Starting to walk away; only to pause. "I suppose the fact I only committed my own rebellion after they had already got jailed for trying their own; then forgot all about them till I needed the extra help could possibly cause some tension… Eh~ I'm sure it'll be fine."
With a familiar "Yo~HoHoHo~!" she leapt away.
"Well, I guess I know what I'm going to be doing…" Mumbled Shantae.
Tilting her head as she thought about the one-sided conversation.
This led to another realisation.
Leaping down from the proverbial top rope to give a surprise swipe at the poor TinkerBat who was left scraping his scalp all by his lonesome. That monster pirate didn't even have a chance to realise what was happening before he went up in smoke. This time quite literally; leaving naught but a gem behind.
Wrapping a tail around her newly gained gem before depositing it in her furry chest fluff - having it vanish into her magic chest. Afterwards, she looked up at that tremor engine. Shrugging her monkey shoulders and jumping atop its suspiciously pressure plate looking top.
At which point it swiftly depressed before a quake shook the entire jungle; the very land around her began to rotate in ways she normally wouldn't have thought possible.
In no time at all a gated entrance to a stone temple appeared just a stone throw away.
"Huh… Surprisingly that worked!" Deciding to not look a gifted monkey in the mouth as she hopped off the device before strutting toward that entrance. That grated gate happened to heave upwards with a bit of dust escaping from the mechanism as it ascended.
"Next thing you know they'll roll out a carpet for me." She snidely said in a faint amount of suspicion that didn't prevent her from charging in.
---
Heading through a labyrinth once again left the monkey-brained genie quite satisfied; leaping from vine to vine to access long crumbled doorways while cutting down the weak crabs that got in her way.
Even better was the suspicious damp earthy odor of a certain fountain not being present!
Still…
Frowning slightly as she jumped down from above to slide a key into the locked bar-door using her tail. With a satisfying click that door flew open with a little push from her paw.
Taking that chance to once again poof back into her humanoid form. Narrowing her eyes at a suspicious collection of boxes. Not only was the design clearly not matching the decor of the temple but they also lacked the fine layer of moss everything around the labyrinth possessed.
What she certainly didn't expect was a particular zombie gal to abruptly vault over those boxes to begin waving at her. "Heya Shantae~ wanna buy something from my dungeon shop!"
"R-Rottytops what are you doing in here; better yet how did you get here!?" Shantae squawked.
Although her reasonable question was swiftly laughed off. "Obviously I teleported here then opened up the front door for you; thought you would have wanted in hahaha~."
"YOU CAN JUST DO THAT!?" She erupted.
"If I've stepped foot there before, or seen it with the eyes in my skull, then yeah I can get into just about anywhere obviously~!" Lifting her hands in a shrug while giving a look that screamed "duh".
The sheer audacity left Shantae unable to do anything except blink bafflement.
How could she possibly get anything out of someone so shameless?
Then there was an even more worrying thought.
That merchant zombie actually noticed her friend's confusion as she let out a belly busting laugh that only grew as Sahntae's pouty face did. "Did you forget that the zombie caravan travels all over? There is little to do except explore and learn a new skill - so us zombies tend to do one of those!"
"Huh… I guess that actually makes sense; so you learnt magic?" Stroking her chin as she was more than willing to accept the exclamation. Of course there was the question of how a zombie was able to begin learning magic when only the spirits & their descendents could even sense the stuff…
Everyone else usually just gets a "vibe" when enough is about.
"Oh no, at least not all of the magic I know, some of the stuff I learned through adventuring through dungeons & labyrinths but most of the stuff I've known how to do since I first reanimated!" Sadly Rottytops was just as mysterious as usual.
Learning absolutely nothing was the expectation.
Being more confused was the bonus.
"Urgh~ the more I learn about you the less I feel I know…" Letting out a pained groan as she held her forehead in her hand when a startling realisation overcame her.
It was… Terrifyingly plausible.
Rottytops just laughed it off despite the concerning nature of her reply. "I feel the exact same way about myself; so I just take the punches as they come~!"
Shantae's eyes immediately shot opened
"Do ya wanna buy any of the magic I apparently know in the form of magic tomes~?" Completely relaxed atop her boxes.
The ex-guardian genie just blinked her eyes as she remembered she was currently on an adventure and thus had left her best friend out in the middle of a random forest. Still… Which girl didn't dream of learning magic at some point? "I suppose I wouldn't mind learning a spell or two from your collection…"
"Hehe~ then let me show you what I have in stock~." Reaching between her admittedly sizable bazongas to bring out a parchment; letting gravity unravel it so the list upon it was clearly visible.
Seeing her pull something from her bosom like that… "Wait, you have booby storage like me?!"
"Huh, no, I just leave it there for convenient access and style points but you can actually store stuff between those tiny tata's?" Rotty's smirk grew as her shoulders trembled.
Leaning so far forward that Shantae was worried she may fall off the box and crack her skull.
Part of her doubted that it would kill the undead… Yet she also didn't want to know what zombie brain smelt like if she could help it.
With that she dumbly nodded while Rotty broke out into uproarious laughter. "That is hilarious!"
"Hey… They'll get bigger and they are already perfectly handful-sized…" Shantae's knife-ears gained a new crimson hue as she avoided eye contact.
Twiddling her fingers like a mayor trapped in a finger trap.
"Hehe~ I'm sure they will; so what you buyin'~?" Leaning back and thrusting that parchment forward.