"..." = Speech
<...> = Thought
---
"So… Are you still in one piece?" Sky cautiously asked as the genie waltzed back into the throne room.
The always composed Sultana of Sequin Land just walked by them to sit upon on her large (yet incredibly tiny for her) throne without even acknowledging the group. Although the dancing hero didn't exactly have the same mental fortitude as her way bigger sister. Instantly huffing before she replied with her usual energy; even if in a different direction than the overflowing joy she usually emitted.
"I'm lucky I didn't gain a fear of heights!" Throwing her hands up as she animatedly grumbled about her brief foray into wingless flight.
Causing the bird tamer to sheepishly turn away while scratching her cheek.
Sadly there was another far more brutal woman waiting for them to get on with it. "Shantae, dear, you don't have the required facilities up stairs to develop mental trauma."
Tapping her forehead as she cooly spoke.
Those words instantly caused the smaller genie to physically recoil in pain at the piercing assessment.
"Either way I feel it is time for your adventure to continue once more. Sequin Land needs you to rally with my knights to open the labyrinth, for which our good professor finds himself trapped within, so make haste to rescue the eldest and most knowledgeable of the relic hunters before it is too late." She commanded with a hand outstretched.
The heroes' party nodded with conviction - they hardly needed convincing - all of the prior ribbing vanished with a serious energy taking over. Although that didn't stop their apparent leader (Shantae) from having that iconic grin reforming on her face. "No need to worry when Sky and I are already on the case!"
Though something about those words caused Albert to confusedly blink while pointing at himself as she questioned her. "What about me and Aria?
Aria nodded alongside her husband.
Yet there was no immediate answer.
Instead a stifling silence dragged on between them.
"Well… What about you?" Shantae asked in return as she awkwardly fiddled with the end of her ponytail with her eyes almost definitely moving to avoid looking at the man. "Your mission was to get to the palace in order to deliver that fana thingy to the Sultana; you've done that so congrats?"
Even with the silence being briefly disturbed - nothing happened about the suffocating feeling - a palpable awkwardness radiating from between the two who were each legends in their own rights. Sky, who wasn't in the know yet was in the middle, couldn't help sweating as she looked between them.
"They called it a falna, with those under the divine being a familia, and just because we've arrived doesn't mean we can't help further when you are clearly in trouble." Stepping forward with a hand on his chest.
His face firm with conviction as he announced his intent to continue giving them aid.
Although Shantae uncharacteristically huffed, blowing her fringe up, with arms crossed. "Well I'm not in trouble; I've already beat Risky at her own game so this will be easy to do with a bit more help!"
It was hard for Sky to not flinch at that one.
Biting her lip.
Being the one flying them everywhere had given her some confidence - only when hearing it in her friend's own voice did she realise the actual truth. She was a glorified compass. Shantae had no need for a guide last time and she already had the ability to fly all by herself thanks to her dance magic.
The only thing that held Shantae back was her inability to read a map yet Sultana could no doubt guide her to where she needed to be.
Albert also didn't immediately reply however, unlike Sky who was devastated at the announcement, he merely stood there. Refusing the back down while also not pushing the annoyed girl. Simply remaining as a sturdy sentinel of support whether she liked having his help or not.
"Hmm, I suppose it will take a while for the other genie to arrive, if what Shantae told me is true then this knowledge is vital to them. But our precious mercenary king finds himself free time regardless; there is another geo-based hunter that he could pursue if he is so inclined." Closing her eyes as she rested into the hand holding her cheek.
Almost appearing as if she was going to nap if she was not still so intimidating while doing it.
"If he is so important then we shouldn't send him out where he could get ambushed by some stupendously scary scaly monster!" Flailing her hands around.
It was Albert who replied. "We aren't as weak as you seem to think we are, Shantae."
She turned around with a pout - preparing to once again break out into an argument with him - only to not see the angry face she had expected. Instead there was a quiet strength within those faintly upturned lips which spoke of his absolute confidence. As if knowing that he did not need to brag since he had no need to prove himself to.
"Already has my blessing." Aria finally spoke up as she draped herself over the broad shoulders of her husband; planting a chaste kiss upon his cheek. Even if he tried to remain a stout figure it was hard to take it seriously with the blush that now painted his face a shade of crimson.
"There we have it." Sultana said without allowing Shantae time to broker another complaint. "We will have you travel to the museum for that womanizer while these kids travel to the bog."
But when she turned to Sultana a shiver went down her spine.
It was also then that she remembered she was the one currently dating and very sexually active with the little sister she seemed subtly protective of…
"Now away with you all." Waving them away with a flourish of her hand.
An action that caused a veritable wall of wind to pass over them.
---
"So, I might die…" Sky mumbled atop of hatchet as they soared through the air.
It was so sudden that the genie, whose mind couldn't help wandering due to earlier events, found herself almost falling off the bird in shock at the announcement. "W-What do you mean by that?"
"I'm ploughing the sister of the terrifying Sultana so well that she may be pregnant." She announced with a surprising amount of calm as she looked out toward the horizon. Apparently finally accepting her reality only to find serenity in place of the previous worries.
Shantae could only sputter for a moment as she unconsciously clenched her thighs together. Blush overcoming her face as she moved her hands to rest on her flat stomach instinctively. "I guess I haven't really thought about it much with everything else that has been going on…"
"Well, what is going on?" Resting her chin on Shantae's shoulder as her eyes turned to meet the genie's.
The girl in question tilted her head. "Huh?"
Sky sighed only to get an "eep" out of Shantae as she grabbed the girl's chest from behind; dropping a quick kiss on her cheek. "Are you going to pretend you acted normally around Albert?"
She didn't want to give false hope to the girl.
"Ah… Well, it strangely feels different to have a feeling that a guy may be related to your dad and having it flat out confirmed he's your father by your sister. I agreed that I didn't need to act any differently around him but I guess it's harder than I thought?" Letting out a rather forced laugh.
Although the pleasant feeling from her chest being played with suddenly vanished (eliciting a pout) as Sky found herself truly baffled by the evolving drama. An unfortunate spectacle she found herself smack dab in the middle of.
Holding a hand over her eyes as she let out a long drawn out sigh at the absurdity.
Accepting the advances of Shantae somehow made her life far more complicated.
"OH MY!"
---
When they touched down Hatchet looked mildly annoyed while the girls jumping down seemed to have sparkling iridescent skin.
"Being on the edge really helps bring you to the edge~." Shantae giggled with a smirk, poking the greatly pleased Sky's side, and using the back of her thumb to wipe the corner of her mouth. "It was way cleaner to use our mouths as well!"
"You'd think it was delicious with how you were acting." Shaking her head with a sigh.
Although Shantae just grinned with mischief. "Oh it was~♥"
"*sigh* you are such a pervert." Sky complained only to be hit by an instant retort. "You already told me I was your "little pervert" when you grabbed my ponytail, right~?"
At that point she decided Shantae had too much ammunition so closed her eyes to wait out the storm.
"Weren't those knights meant to meet us here, they didn't move off because we took too long visiting that labyrinth's wishing fountain, right?" The genie asked with a confused air as she waltzed through the mud bog that looked every bit as pleasant as she remembered it being. Tapping her chin with a finger as she turned her head around to take in the sights.
It didn't take her very long to find a familiar set of red armour; instantly making Shantae's face light up as she headed through the gnarled underbrush. Yet that merriment quickly faded as she saw a woman in familiar revealing bat themed armour hovering behind. Draped over the man's shoulders.
That BatGal wrapped that helm in a hug that pulled her up and enveloped the back of his head in her sizable funbags. "Heh~ looks like the captain was right about you~."
"Grr what did you do to him!" Throwing an accusatory finger toward the monster girl.
Yet all she got in return was mocking laughter.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about this guy when me and my sisters have only used our wiles to wrap each one of them around our clawed fingers. Let me tell you… The sword I wield for him is just as impressive as the one he wields." Licking those pale greenish lips.
Shantae could only blink at the announcement. "Wait, really?"
"My captain, yes; felt like my neck was going to burst when he-" Leaning forward as she began to openly express what she got up to.
Only to get rudely interrupted .
"WAAAAAAIT!" Throwing her arms up into an "X" as she stopped BatGal from going on. "As hot as that thought is that isn't what I meant at all - how did you BatGal manage to hypnotise all the knights when you never did anything like this before - you can't even do magic!"
That just caused the BatGal to giggle. "Do you really think there is no magic involved in suddenly transforming into bats, then reforming into a humanoid state, or even our ability to hover?"
Instantly a blush overtook Shantae. "W-Well it isn't the strangest thing…"
Twiddling her fingers while taking an interest in the abhorrently twisted life of the mud bog.
"Heh, sure, let's go with that." Shaking her bat winged helmet as she planted a big kiss on the top of the helm only to climb up to sit on his shoulders; her thighs wrapped around like a scarf. "We were born from the captain so we can use magic just fine yet she doesn't like that crap so usually has it banned."
"Eh~ how could a genie or I guess djinn, whatever the difference is, hate using magic?" Blinking in bafflement only for the BatGal to hit her with a half hearted shrug that shared all she needed to know about the Gal's personality. Clearly she didn't care to look deeply into the logic of her captain's commands.
Yet she quickly shook that off, though.
"You're welcome to join us when we gather them all up for fun after we're done stopping you from rescuing the professor from that wing'd freak. We're gonna get all these big boys in red to glaze us like bat theme'd cream donuts~." The BatGal admitted with an excited heat in those yellow eyes.
For a moment Shantae did consider joining… Only to quickly shake her head. "Eh no, that's wrong, those guys are under your mind control so they can't even consent to any of this!"
"... Well we're pirates so consent is kind of secondary to us." Shrugging her shoulders again.
Finally pushing herself away from her helm'd champion. "If I can't order him to pierce you with my favourite sword then you'll just have to settle for his favourite sword; go get him honey~♥"
With that the knight let out a warcry.
The howl alone caused the trees(?) to shake their roots free from the blackened soil.
Fortunately she wasn't a rookie anymore so a quick side step, using the same principles of her back step technique, she easily got away. But what she saw still made her gape in awe. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT; SINCE WHEN COULD SWORDS SHOOT BEAMS!?"
"Wait, so your daddy and mommy were some of the strongest sword lovers alive, yet you don't even know you can make projectiles from touki bwahahaha~!" Completely laughing her ass off at the genie.
Shantae's brow immediately furrowed. "So everyone knows he's my parents but me and I don't know what touki is!"
That girl just laughed. "Of course I know them since we all fought that old bastard together~."
Hearing the pronoun game led the genie girl only being able to blink in confusion at the revelation that something was bad enough that pirates, genies and mercenaries all teamed up. At the same time she had other things to worry about.
With a serious face she began to dance a familiar dance, shaking her hips then bouncing on one foot with her hands pawing, transforming into a monkey in a flash.
Yet her appearance was quite different from the first time she had learned about it.
Now instead of common brown fur she possessed a vibrant purple just like her normal hair colour.
"Time to show you what upgrades I got from quickly dropping in on that well!" She said with that iconic smirk that only her monkey form was able to truly replicate.
Then… She literally turned tail and ran deeper into the forest.
"That horny bat already admitted that the professor is trapped somewhere in the bog so no reason to stay and fight them!" She proudly announced as she quickly leapt into what remained of the foliage.
With that she transformed into a harpy before taking off into the air where those knights couldn't reach her.
Probably.