The war of the island soon reached the inside as the mass of liberated slaves pushed through towards the mess hall.  The horde of Ganon's forces tried to push back but through the combined furore of freed prisoners, magic and gunfire they were pushed back on their heels enough that they began to disperse.  Some of them struggled to run back to their quarters and lock the doors hiding in hope they would survive the takeover.  Others fought to the bitter end against blazing fireballs and laser shots only to be trampled by the slaves in their ascent.  At the sight of the kitchen Jane spotted two familiar faces.

        "WAI-WAIT, STOP LOOK IT'S ADE AND BOSE!"

        "Really, where?!"

The staff in the kitchen raised their hands upon facing the mob now tearing through the mess hall, turning tables and spilling chairs all over in the ruckus.

        "DON'T, DON'T WE'RE NOT ENEMIES!" cried Bokonette.

        "We don't wanna fight!" clamoured Liz.  "We surrender, we're just cooks!"

        "EY, GUYS!"  Ade and Bose waved towards them with beaks dripping of juice.  "Krnch-MMMPH, these guys are great!"

        "Yeah!" muttered Ribose chewing on meat.  "Shum bird rishcued ush-GLLK, now we're just here eatin' away, you guys really came to save us?!"

        "Course we did!" replied Jane.  "You're our friends aren't you?"

        "I-i mean, yeah I just...well...th-thanks.  Thanks for coming."

        "I am glad you are safe," said Oddclaw before turning to the kitchen staff, "are you Chihlo's friends?"

        "We are!" said Bokorie clapping her hands.  "Goodness you ARE a strange lot aren't you, and I'm so happy to see you freed all those slaves!"

        "You got anymore food goro?!" cried the goron from the group.  "We can't fight on an empty stomach!"

        "OH yes of course right away, Nette bring out that boar would you!?"

A small moment of reprieve was given as the slaves were fed individually, plates being offered amidst the seventeen starving mouths with the newcomers having some smaller portions for themselves.  They all introduced themselves to each other before Liz rubbed his head with rubber gloves nervously.

        "So uh, Chihlo an' Mohberra headed off to grab that book that Yigahnim took."

        "They gonna be okay?" asked Shantae.

        "I sure hope so, it's not like Yigahnim's a pushover, guy's a cruel son of a bitch."

        "What about the weapon you guys have, you know where that is?"

        "We can take you to where it is," said Bokorie, "we've never been up there since it's all restricted but if you are ready we will take you.  I'd like to know what it is too."

        "The sooner we shut that thing down the sooner we can leave," said Andrea, "we all wanna leave this island."

        "You and me both dear, I'm sick of these bloody rocks too."

They sated their stomachs with renewed strength before ascending to the top of the island where very few enemies stood left to fight.  The door that marked itself as restricted was barely an obstacle as the goron punchslammed it open to break through to a large bowl-shaped caldera.  In the midst of it was a an odd shape like a crumbling pile of runes and clay with bold yellow imprints upon dark metallic surfaces.  The last of the yiga were frantically running round this hunk of debris before noticing the horde.

        "SO, it seems you've finally made it!" cried one superior.  "But now your revolution is at an end once this thing activates!"

        "Ain't nobody stopping us now!" cried Shantae in retort.  "Drop what yer doing and we'll let ya live!"

        "I think not, you have no choice but to surrender or DIE once our guardian has awakened!"

        "G-...g-g-GUARDIAN?!" gasped Lizanaich.

        "We...w-we really did have...a guardian all this time?!" whispered Bokorie amidst the trembling slaves cowering from the mention.  "I-i thought they made that up, I swear I thought they made it up to frighten us!"

        "WHY WOULD THEY MAKE THAT UP BOKORIE?!"

        "I DON'T KNOW!"

        "So what's the big deal?!" argued Shantae stepping forwards with a hefty swagger.  "More like guarding a hunka junk, now either fight us or come quietly, your boss already fled like the coward he is!"

        "If we cannot keep this island," proclaimed one of the yiga, "then I shall scour your remains from the face of this earth!  ACTIVATE IT!"

There came a sound that made all the Hyrulian natives cringe with a new horror beyond belief, their spines tingling like piano keys in the minor chord of fear.  A strange hum of a machine that sounded like a computer booting itself up, the pile of scrap shuddering behind the yiga clansmen before it stood upon all four feet, using two thick arms to push itself upright with a huge sword in one and a giant shield in the other.  The beast stood like a colossal centaur, reaching up to 20 feet high with a flowing mane of purest blood-red behind its head.  The beast turned its body towards them.  It had no face, but for a single eye of piercing electric green that honed on them with a blinking targeted laser.

        "Oh-"

        "Fuck," murmured Jane with Andrea.

        "Why, does EVERYONE have a stonebeast?!" ranted Odd.  "I am so TIRED of these stupid things!"

        "W-w-we can't fight THAT!" cried one Hylian.  "Bad enough it's a guardian but a FREAKING LYNEL TOO?!"

        "Welp it's been real guys," said Liz turning himself round to leave, "I got a pot roast to make and then eat before crying myself to sleep so you go get 'em-"

        "LOOK OUT!"

The beast shot forth a devastating lance of solid lightning towards them.  The world exploded in a sizzling burst of craterous shock as the dust scattered from what remained, ashes on the wind misting over a dead silence.  In the midst of this was Shantae, struggling to stand beneath her tarnished bubble shield which fractured partly from the burning gash left upon its surface.

        "I hate...ONE THING more than anything else in the world, and you know what that is?  A bully."

Both her allies and the yiga stood shocked at the girl's defiance before she spirited away her shield and conjured up three flaming orbs from her fingertips.

        "No matter where I go, or what world I'm in, all you bullies are the SAME!"

She whipped a fireball straight at one of the yiga's chests punching them hard into the wall.

        "FIRST you kidnap a buncha people an' make them do your dirty work, THEN you try to force a girl to be your hostage an' exploit her family!"

A second blasting shot recoiled straight into another clansman's face with scorching rip across his shrieking mask.

        "And THEN you gang up on people who just wanted to study, WELL YANNO WHAT I THINK?!"

Her third projectile zipped like a pinball to ricochet off the guardian's leg, then the back wall and slam with such force into the last yiga's rump that she screamed feeling her coccyx almost shatter from the impact as her legs crumpled beneath.

        "I think...you all need to learn that bad guys never win, and just fer whut you did, I'm gonna teach you all a LESSON!"

She stomped one foot behind her into a pose befitting a martial artist as the dust fumed in a thick circle round her body.

        "DON'T, MESS, WITH MY FRIENDS!  NOW COME ON GUYS, LET'S TAKE THIS TRASH HEAP OUT!"

        "ORRYYAAAH!"

The call of battle incensed the group as Shantae led the charge towards the great beast.  With firey mane swishing in the breeze it came down upon them with its sword, crushing the earth beneath in a crumbling snap as they dodged fast.  Jane and Andrea took one group of seven people, whilst Shantae herded the second group of eight leaving Oddclaw with eight of his own troops.  In the midst of this, the half-djinn was on point with commands utilising everyone to their places as she scanned across the metallic monster for any weaknesses.  Some tried to fire their arrows at its face, but the creature blocked with its shield impenetrable to all elements, even to Shantae's magic when she tried to volley flames towards its eye.

Jane and Andrea skirted round with guns firing off along the side of the centaur's face, distracting it from attacking Shantae as it turned with a robotic snarl that trembled through the earth.  It suddenly charged with crushing hooves, trampling one of the slaves in a horrid crack of bone and blood before slashing its blade through another poor hylian, severing intestines trailing behind its gigantic weapon as bile sprayed across the plateau.  In panic Jane fired at the eye missing most of her shots, but one scored dead-centre by luck causing the Lynel to shudder in flinching.  Andrea followed up with more precise shots, firing three straight at its weak point that was enough to disorient it for their escape.

Those who tried to keep distance from the beast were met by a blinking target on their bodies, honing its eye upon them as they frantically rushed to and fro to shake it off, but it was no use.  Three men were turned to ash by a single explosion burning away every trace of their bodies, a charring scorch of electrified bursts that popped through their skin and boiled their blood moments before disintegration.  Even whilst it moved it continued to track, running a half-circle with mighty gallops of thunderous fury that shook the world beneath.  The trifecta of freedom fighters were hard pressed to even find safety amidst the powerful godly machine's advances.

With each swing of his sword there came a gale-force wind that threw people across the land, and any shots the people fired would be guarded mostly by its shield which slamthrusted other poor fools out its way.  The guardian made a full circle around its stomping grounds whilst everyone gave it a wide berth, waiting for some opportunity whilst it in turn scoped out the weakest group to attack.

        "JESUS CHRIST," shrieked Jane, "WHAT IS THIS THING?!"

        "I DUNNO!" shouted Andrea.  "JUST KEEP MOVING AN' FIRING!"

        "I CAN'T TAKE THIS!  I CAN'T FIGHT THIS THING!"

        "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!"  She grabbed Jane's shoulder and shook her vigorously.  "We're all fighting together just follow my lead and we'll be fine!"

        "But, b-but it's HUGE!"

        "So what, Thomas Kevin an' Oddie took down a robot TWICE as big, and we got more numbers just keep shooting at its eye!"

        "Alright, alright I-...g-g-god I HATE sodding guns."

        "I know, but we're almost done so let's keep at it."

Bracing themselves for when the beast would turn towards them, Jane and Andrea fired off in synchronised shots, the more accurate Dixon pumping her cartridge full into the lynel's orbular face as it stuttered and snarled with roaring frenzy.  Jane hardly managed to hit the beast even before it pulled its shield up to defend against her shots, but it was enough to blind the beast and give their group time to escape from its rushing advance.  During their hasty retreat Oddclaw saw an opportunity, rushing towards the back of the giant's legs and clambering on to ride it by the saddle.  He grabbed the hair of its synthetic mane as it responded with vicious kicking force, bucking like a wild horse as he clung on desperately for life.  It was enough a distraction for the half-djinn to start making a decisive plan.

        "Hey uh what's your name?!" she asked the goron.

        "Borrok, nice to meetcha goro!"

        "Shantae, so!  I'm thinking we need to take down its legs."

        "Need me to slam into 'em?!"

        "Sounds good, we just need to get 'im when he's turning, that'll teach 'im!  Follow my lead everyone!"

Taking the role of commander Shantae navigated her group around to get a good view of all four legs amidst the guardian's frantic bucking fury amidst Oddclaw's hold on his mane.  The raptor wobbled and gripped his claws fiercely with head yanking back and forth violently.  The lynel turned and tossed its body with ferocious strength, whilst the rest of the slaves did their beast to strike and hammer away at its underbelly in desperation amidst crushing hooves turning back and forth.

        "BORROK, NOW!"

        "MAKE WAY FER THE AVALAAAAANCHE!"

The goron rolled himself up and hurtled straight towards one of the back legs of the colossus, clanging sharply as its knee buckled enough to stop it from tussling, giving Oddclaw enough time to swing forwards on the mane and swing out his shotgun with two blasts to the face.  The guardian shivered with violent fits as it tried to steady itself, cracks beginning to form in its electric eye but still whirring with a deadly sound as the raptor jumped off its head.  Addison and Dixon kept firing after Oddie leapt out of harm's way to keep pressure onto it.  The beast targeted with its tracking laser upon the women as they hurried with their group, panicking as the beam intensified with a sharp crackling of light tingling across their skin.  Before the guardian fired they saw a rush of red in front of them before an explosion devastated their field of vision.  Shantae stood before them with bubble shield reformed, taking the brunt of the lightning as her arms rippled against the shock and burned up her wrists.

        "NNNNNGH!  N-not...this time."  She severed her defensive spell with dissipating burns.  "I'll give you something to REALLY aim for!  TRAAAAAANSFORM!"

With a dance of brazen passion in front of the giant lynel, she grew a swift pair of wings and transcended her body into a feathered plume despite still retaining a human face.  Legs stretched into spindly talons as she flew up to the sky shooting feathers upon the guardian's skull.  The beast roared to the heavens as he aimed his laser upon the half-djinn harpy, who circled above like a hawk to swoop past its shrieking electric arcs before clawing straight at its eye.  The vicious talons scraped across the glassy pupil as the rest of the squadrons wailed upon it with swords and spears, trying to find a chink in the armour or some other point of weakness.  The lynel thrashed with frustration and stomped its hooves everywhere around it, slashing at every creature that it saw as the people struggled to evade its psychotic frenzy.

Two more people were unfortunate, crunched to a fine paste beneath iron hooves despite Shantae's best efforts to distract the monster with her harrowing strikes.  Borrok tried to keep people safe either by guarding with his hard sculpted back, or rolling straight into the machine's legs to send it off-balance partially.  The only ones who didn't participate were Bokorie, Bokonette and Lizanaich who stayed on the outer fringes of battle, trying to help people out of harm's way or using what supplies they had as basic medicine.  People flew across the crater from hard boulder-strength kicks or just barely evaded the sweep of the sword and yet still become scarred enough to stagger bleeding on the ground before the kitchen staff rushed over to heal them.  Oddclaw was one such unfortunate beast, judging the guardian's shield poorly when it slammed with such speed into his face he crumpled into a rolling fall before the beast rushed at him.

        "ODDCLAWWWW!"

Jane's voice shrieked as she started running across the battlefield towards him, faster than ever she had done in her life with her feet pounding into the rock before she dove towards his body.  She grabbed his arm and threw him out of harm's way before the cleaving sword struck its razor tip against her elbow.

        "AAAAAIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

Oddclaw turned his head to see blood fly across his vision.  Human blood, thick and red as he watched Jane's body almost spin through the air from the raw power of the guardian's swing.  Her body collapsed as she clutched her arm, only to find it was no longer there, feeling a porous thick swamp of crimson smother her fingers hotly.  She looked to her left.  She couldn't even recognise her arm now fifteen feet away at the end of a bloody trail.  She did not move, frozen beneath the great lynel's storming hooves as it reared itself back for a mighty stomp.

        "JAAAAAAANE!"

She heard a raptor's screech.  With swiftest feet behind her, Oddclaw leapt upon her back to vault himself high before the monster's face with shotgun out before him.  Time slowed itself briefly in the heat of adrenaline as Oddclaw pumped two shots direct into its crackling eye, roaring a mechanical shriek of fury as there came a shattering glassy rain from its cornea.  The beast staggered back with wounded rage, falling upon its haunches with a muted groan as Oddclaw rushed to Jane's side, picking her up with an arm around his shoulder and hurrying her towards Lizanaich.

        "HELP HER PLEASE!"

        "A-AAAAAAARGH, JEEEESUUUUS!"

        "A-AUGH SHIT!" The lizalfos struggled to hold her amidst the screaming.  "S-SOMEONE HELP ME WITH THIS!"

        "I'M HERE!"  Andrea came rushing through as they lifted Jane together.  "COME ON GIRL DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!"

        "A-AAAAGH, GOD M-MY-A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The lynel recovered during their frantic escape in escorting Jane out of its domain, piercing its target beam upon the back of Oddclaw's head.  He turned sensing the danger as the ground started to crackle with the dull vibrations of an electric arc.  He ran from his friends quickly so as to draw its line of fire, but then came a shadow from above swooping upon the lynel just before it finalised its shot.  Divebombing like a spinning drill, the harpy half-djinn clasped her talons together into a single point and tore through the monster's eye, shattering the cornea fully to expose its innards.  As the golem shuddered nearing the point of a fatal error, Shantae reassumed her human form with a powerful kung-fu stance.

        "I TOLD YOU BEFORE!"  She charged towards the beast and leapt upon its face with a glowing fist reared back.  "DON'T!  MESS!  WITH MY FRIIIIENDS!"

Burning righteousness shuddered through her arm as she held the sun in her grasp.  With slamdunking fist she pulverised what was left of the guardian's steel sclera and plunged deep into its circuits.  The lynel roared with a shuddering bellow, its voice looping and tweaking like a broken record before the legs suddenly fell apart.  A light started piercing from its body, then two then five until its crumbling carcass was consumed in a heavenly blue.  The half-djinn backflipped off with a twirl of her hair snapping back, landing on her feet with feline grace and her back to the explosion.  The last defence of the Yiga Clan was now no more, much to the gasping shock and cheering cries from the survivors.

        "OH MY GODDESS!"

        "WOW SHE DID IT!"

        "WHAT A HERO, WHO IS SHE?!"

        "HER NAME'S SHANTAE-GORO!" roared Borrok the goron with a fistpump.  "SHE AN' HER FRIENDS SAVED US!"

        "SHANTAE, SHANTAE, SHANTAE, SHANTAE!"

        "UH, th-th-thank you!" she blushed with arms behind her back and a tweaking twist of her toes into the dirt.  "B-b-but, I didn't do it alone, you should thank all my friends too!"

        "SHANTAE'S FRIENDS, SHANTAE'S FRIENDS, SHANTAE'S FRIENDS!"

        "THEY HAVE NAMES PEOPLE JEEZ!"

In the midst of the freed slaves' frantic jubilation, Liz, Bokonette and Bokorie were swiftly applying bandages to Jane's severed stump in their best efforts to staunch the bleeding.  She fainted from the shock much to Andrea and Oddie's fear whilst propping her up and keeping her stunted limb above heart level.

        "We need our people here now," said Dixon, "I dunno how long she'll last."

        "We'll do our best," said Bokorie taping the last of the bandages tight, "is there a way you can signal for your people?"

        "You got any flares, or anything to send fires up into the sky?"

        "Uhhhh hello," waved Adenine from the door passage, "you got ALCHEMISTS here?"

        "Yeah did you like forget about us?" said Ribose almost insulted.

        "Sorry," replied Dixon, "can you help us make some flares to signal the base?"

        "I have a better idea," replied Oddclaw, "remember when I almost died and the flyers took me to you?"

        "Can you contact one to come here?"

        "I can, we just need to bring them close with the right bait."

The sun glinted just above the water's horizon at Chihlo's back as she faced Yigahnim.  The sounds of battle were faint but could be heard on the other side of the stone cliffs as the slaves continued to fight for their freedom straight to the top.  The master of the island stood with his back towards his fortress and sword fully drawn towards her, whilst holding the book in his other arm cradled like an infant.

        "All of this," he began, "all of THIS...comes down to you, you dragged strangers from another world into your private conflict, into your insipid little fantasy, because you refuse to accept something so basic as your birthright.  Do you know what's happening to your so-called friends right now?  They are dying beneath the wave of my forces, and if they are not now, then they soon will be."

The clan leader paced calmly to his left, his broad chest become a burning red from the sunset hue as Chihlo balled her fists, turning her body to face him always as he walked a quarter-circle round the rito.

        "I have heard your kind embody confidence, but it appears that foolishness is a more apt quality when you come swooping back after the taste of freedom.  You had every chance to escape, even within this other world beyond Hyrule you had a chance and STILL you insist on your petulant crusade!  I only ask you...why?"

He stopped when both of them had the edge of a cliff behind them.

        "Why did you come here?  To prove a point?  To be a hero or a thief?"

        "You wanna know why?"  She spread her wings simply.  "You REALLY wanna know why?"

        "I must entertain my morbid curiosity before I end you, little bird."

        "Hm, fine...it's because I'm looking for my song."

        "Your...song?"

        "Yep."  She tented her fingers as if hatching a scheme.  "See, my granpappy once told me that, everybody sings their own song but, some of us are just given the wrong instruments that don't fit us see.  Since I was a kid, I always had this instrument...this."

She spread her arms once again with fingers dipped to her waist.

        "This thing that I never knew how to play properly.  Even when I tried to tell my mom or dad or my brothers an' sisters they just didn't get it, they said I was just being stupid, that I was too lazy to learn to sing properly or dress myself right, but granpappy understood.  He understood, because he didn't care about what you're SUPPOSED to play, but what your HEART wants to play.  And the only way I can finish my song, is to get that book."

        "What could this tome possibly have that would interest you?!" barked Yigahnim.  "You're not a scholar nor a sheikah, you're just a stupid feathered boy who wraps himself in fantasies!"

        "You're not a musician, you're a murderer so I don't really care what you think.  I care about living my life the way I want to, not like some puppet in THIS!"  The rito gestured to herself in disgust once more.  "I can't play THIS, I never could, no matter how many times people want me to play this I just can't.  Not because I'm lazy, not because I'm stupid, but because I can never make a song with this body that is worth ANYTHING to anybody and the only one who understood that was the only one who EVER CALLED ME HIS GRAND, DAUGHTER!"

        "Then he is a bigger fool than you to incentivise your delusions!" argued Yigahnim.

        "YOU CALL THIS A DELUSION!?" she roared back with shaking finger to her face.  "THIS is flesh and bone, feathers that you keep licking your lips over like some FREAK, you want this body?!  Well you can have it cuz I am DONE with this, I am done with this GARBAGE MEATSACK OF A BODY, AND FOR ALL THE SHIT YOU PUT ME THROUGH, I TOLD YOU BEFORE YIGAHNIM, I AM THE LAST MISTAKE YOU WOULD EVER MAKE!"

        "And if I toss this book into the ocean now?!  HMMM!?"  He swung his hand out with book over the edge.  "What will become of you?!"

        "Then I will make you wish the Goddesses were here to stop me...from what I will do to you."

She pulled out an arrow to notch in her bow.

        "And even if I never find the instrument that I truly want, the one that'll let me sing with the voice that I truly have...I'm gonna sing my damn heart out...everytime I shoot those like you in the face, no matter what day it is and no matter how old I get."

        "Hmph," he shook his head tittering at her, "spoken like a child truly."

        "Says the old bastard who got tricked by a girl with a bar of soap."

        "Well then it is time to end THIS-"

        "CHIHLOOO!"

Stomping from the ledge above there came a blur of brown as dust scattered across the stone plateau.  The shape rose from its knees much to the shock of both duellists as Chihlo gasped:

        "M-m-...Mohberra?!"

        "What are you doing here?!" barked Yigahnim.  "Return to your post at once!"

        "I'm here to fight," he replied with his weapon drawn from his kilt, "I'm here to finish this."

        "What?!  R-really?!  YOU of all people are going to...WELL!"  He strolled over to the cook with a firm pat on the back.  "I have to say I am immensely proud of you, to think that I thought you were some sort of pacifist but here you are to show your loyalty-"

        "I'm not here fer you."

        "Wha-...p-pardon?"

He pushed the yiga's hand away to walk over to Chihlo.  Both of them were shocked as he stood by her side with trusted skillet out and shielding across her belly.

        "Yer not my master anymore Yigahnim...haven't been fer the last few weeks."

        "Are you...a-a-are you actually REBELLING against me?!"

        "Sure looks like it.  Sorry sir."

        "D-DON'T APOLOGISE!" snarled Yigahnim shaking his sword at them.  "You don't just apologise for TREASON you spastic pig!"

        "It don' matter whut you call me.  I'm not here fer you, I'm here for her."

        "JU-YOU-BU-...oh...ohohohhhh don't tell me, are you truly THAT stupid?!"

        "Why's everybody callin' me stupid cuz of this?"  The moblin squinted his eyes with a gentle cock of his head.  "I'm makin' my own decision aren't I?"

        "A rather foolish one founded in blatant ignorance, did you just call that thing a HER?!"

        "YEAH CUZ THAT'S WHAT I AM YOU FAT SHIT!" roared the bird back at him.  "Yer makin' me reaaaal eager to kill you everytime you open that big mouth of yours which looks like a fish that keeps biting at the hook!"

        "SILENCE YOU FEATHERED STAIN!" roared the shogun with shivering blade swishing out to his side.  "I cannot believe I have to deal with both a crossdresser and the ONE FOOL that fell for it!"

        "He didn't fall for anything, he's my friend because he CARES about people, not like you murderin' your own troops just to scare me with your toxic crap!"

        "Damn right!" retorted Mohberra.  "I'm not an idiot, I just knows whut I hear an' I knows whut Chihlo is!  I know she's my friend, an' if that's all she ever wants to be then...then I-i'm okay with that!"

        "YEAH-wait, what?"

        "What in Ganon's name are you blithering about you oafish reject!?"  Yigahnim swept his hand out with cringing fingers.  "Why are you risking everything, your own life and soul against ME, the one who gave you a purpose in life just for this pathetic runt?!"

        "SHE'S NOT A RUNT!" he roared back.

        "WELL WHAT IS SHE TO YOU THEN?!  Even you aren't so stupid to throw your life for some FRIEND you met a month ago-"

        "CUZ I LOVE HER ALRIGHT?!  I LOVE HER DAMMIT, AN' I DON'T CARE WHUT YOU SAY, CUZ NUTHIN' YOU SAY MATTERS ANYMORE SO LONG AS I CAN HELP HER!"

        "Wh-wh-...what."  Chihlo's voice turned flat as she reared her head back in shock to turn her gaze turning towards the moblin.  "Did...d-did you just say-"

        "I'm sorry."  He turned his head to her with folded ears almost shameful.  "I know that...you ain't interested in me like that but...b-but I don't mind!  I know it's weird, s'just that I...I just wanna see you happy and maybe s-still be...my friend after all this."

        "M-...Mohberra are you...serious?"  She put a hand to her chest stumbling over her words.  "You...you actually like, LIKE me that...much?!"

        "I do.  I...s-since I first saw you...my heart hurts.  Everytime I see you my heart," he clutched at his chest, "it thumps fer you.  I don't know why...but it does."

        "I...I-i don't know what to say...I-i mean, I'm, sorry I don't j-jeez this has really thrown me."

        "Yeah I-i know, I'm sorry but-"

        "No, I'm just, I...okay."

She clasped her beak between her hands and took a deep breath.

        "I'll be honest, I'm not interested in you like that."  She put a hand on his shoulder smiling with tears flickering at her cheek.  "But I do love you as a friend, and I want to be your friend still, that okay Mohberra?"

        "S-sure, that'd be great yeah, I'd love that thanks!"  He took her hand in his with a gentle squeeze, sighing as his heart lifted within pure joy.  "Thank you, Chihlo."

        "Ohhh for Ganon's SAKE!"

The clan leader thrust his book into a crevice of the slope behind him before pointing his sword at them both.

        "I am TIRED already of this turgid play that you two are weaving, YOU are a degenerate whore and YOU are an imbecile, and I am putting this sodding book away to retrieve it, AFTER I have exterminated both of you!"

        "AND YOU'RE JUST A COCKEYED SON OF A BITCH!" crowed Chihlo as she pulled her bow ready to fight.  "A fat little thug who's gonna taste the dirt right here, RIGHT NOW!"

        "DAMN STRAIGHT!" shouted Mohberra twirling the pan in his hand.  "Ganon ain't never coming back, an' neither will you after we toss yer body down into thuh sea!"

        "Youhuhuhuhuu THINK that both of you can face MEEE?!"  The clan chief raised his sword into the stance of a samurai.  "ME, THE SHOGUN OF THE YIGA CLAN?!  You shall regret ever facing me, and I shall swear here and now that my name shall be the LAST thing you both ever breathe when Ganon takes your soul and RIP YOU TO SHREDS!  Just as my sword shall do to your worthless corpses."

The sun gleamed down across his katana with cruel indifference as the sounds of a guardian rumbled from the island's mountain amidst screams of fear.  Mohberra tightened his grip upon his steel wok, whilst Chihlo pulled the string of her bow with bracing feet to jump.  They both nodded to each other as they waited for him to make a move.

        "HRRRAAAAAARGH!"

He swung his blade viciously with a deadly slice, the air shivering as both of them dodged apart from each other to leave a gouging crack through the stone floor between them.  The bird fired fast, shooting her arrow from the left which Yigahnim blocked with his sword's flat edge as Mohberra rushed from the right to whallop him across the head.  The shogun blocked him with the hilt of his sword, smacking it against the flattened pan and following with a hard elbow to his former minion.  Chihlo shot towards his foot as he strafed fast, her arrow barely missing his toe as he made a charging swipe with his blade horizontal forcing her to duck between shots.

        "HNNFFF!"

The rito punched him straight in the crotch by instinct, his stance weakening slightly but just enough for Chihlo to draw her blade and slice across Yigahnim's chest, cutting the cloth to reveal some of his armour underneath.  She followed with a stabbing thrust as he slammed his fist down against her wrist, slashing forwards with a diagonal cut that just missed the tip of her feathered scalp.  The rito stood back up with a defensive stance, stepping one foot back to lure the human closer as he came with an aggressive double slash, X-crossing in front of her as she swerved her body back to spin out of harm's way and slash at the arm of her opponent.  Her reach wasn't enough to gouge deep but she managed to cut the cloth and reveal part of his bloodied bicep, much to Yigahnim's mocking chuckle.

        "Hmhmhmhm, I thought you were a hawk, not a kitten little bird!"

        "Just gotta get a taste of yer blood first!" she retorted.  "Now come on, try and kill me!"

        "RAAAARGH!"

With lunging stab he thrust his katana towards her as she struck with her scimitar to block it to the side, the clan leader turning his sword to cut sharply to the left and slash across her shoulder.  Blood streaked down her wing as she bared her beak with gritted muscle and waited for the next attack, slicing down diagonally before reversing its direction to startle her.  One, two, strike he came putting her on the ropes as Chihlo parried with her shortsword to deflect him partially.  One, two, strike again as she danced and dodged in a circle around him, lining him up so he wouldn't see Mohberra attack from behind.

The moblin slammed his skull hard causing Yigahnim to stagger as Chihlo backflipped with a double kick into the clan leader's face, cracking his mask partially as his head became violently whiplashed much to his shuddering groans.  He turned to see Mohberra readying another attack, slicing his sword sharply across the bottom rung of the frying pan as sparks shrieked between them.  Chihlo tried to run and stab him from behind but he heard her flighted wings and spun with a backfist straight across her beak, cracking his knuckles on her face as she fell hard towards the edge of the cliff.  She stopped herself barely from falling over it witth scrabbling fingers as Mohberra saw her hanging.

        "CHIHLOOO!"

He fought hard against, using all of his strength to overpower his master with heavy blows of his kitchen tool, swinging like a bear's claws at least seven times with such force that Yigahnim's sword shook and sang with a dull pain through his wrists.  He grabbed Mohberra's throat crushing his fingers against the windpipe, but the moblin tightened his neck hard before sputtering out a thick snort of mucus into the cracks of the swordsman's mask.

        "A-AAARGH YOU DISGUSTIN-G-GUUUH!"

Headbutting him hard with his horn-and-hat striking against the shogun's forehead, he shoved Yigahnim with a heavy kick to the stomach forcing him to bend double-over with wheezing gasps before the moblin rushed towards Chihlo's dangling body.  He grabbed her arm and hoisted her up with shaking muscles pulling her close.

        "You alright?!"

        "Y-yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, "you know I can fly right?!"

        "Wha-...w-well I, d-doesn't matter you coulda been-"

        "LOOK OUT!"

She turned him towards the clan leader who swept his sword out before him as the moblin ran forwards with skillet in hand.  The samurai braced himself for a devastating cut, a soulful wind that would cut through flesh as he summoned his darkest chi.  His Soulcleaver hummed with a potent evil, whispering sharp flames of lurid green that turned his sword into a jade artifact.  He swung towards the charging moblin, a slicing strike that none of them would hear, not even the world itself would know.  Chihlo couldn't pull out her bow in time to stop him.  But the moblin was ready.

        "WH-...WHAT!?"

        "H-HOLY GODDESS!"

The sword had been blocked by the hard-cast weapon that Mohberra wielded, his frying pan gleamed in the sunset with almost holy spirit.  The blade burned with an odious greed, a hungering rancid flame that demanded his blood be spilt.  But the moblin's hand remained firm with his other hand in the actual pan blocking twofold against the ronin's strength.

        "H-HOW...HOW DID YOU KNOW TO EVEN DO THIS?!"

        "I didn't," snarled the cook, "it don't matter if I know or not, I'm NOT lettin' anythin' happen to her."

        "HOW DARE YOU DEFY MEEEE!"

Both of them struggled against each other's force, arms quivering as blade versus skillet creaked with sharp screeching metal upon steel.  The bird took aim with a cautious shot, waiting for the slightest falter as Mohberra moved his head.  Her arrow flew straight and true into Yigahnim's mask.

        "A-AAAAARRRRGH!  YOU, WORTHLESS HARLOOOOT!"

Staggering back he clutched at his mask where an arrow now pierced, lodging its pointed head deep into his eye causing soupy white and red to come trickling down its shaft.  Mohberra came forwards with a hammering whack across Yigahnim's chin like a baseball bat, sending him backwards as Chihlo rushed forwards to stand beside him ready once more.  The mask had now become chipped around its jaw showing the scarred reddish-black mouth that they had seen many times before.  But it was the first they had ever seen his true anger by how his lip curled into a pale ridge, tightening the cheeks as they pulled back to form a scream of vengeance.

        "GRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!"

He rushed forwards with a monstrous cut almost the length of his own body, whirling into a double spinning strike as he torqued his entire body into one vicious scything lariat.  Both moblin and rito backed off sharp but Yigahnim was quick, slashing the first layer of skin off of Mohberra's belly as he roared with wincing pain before turning towards Chihlo.  She frantically stepped back  as he started to swing violently with chopping blows back and forth, slicing for her shoulders and throat despite her sharp retreating feet, dodging like a boxer with swerving head before she grabbed at the arrow in his eye and forcefully yanked it.  The clansman bellowed with wrothful anguish as she ran past him, but in the violent midst of his rage he turned fast and grabbed her right arm with a murderous snap.

        "AAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"

Blood started bubbling up between his fingers as he cracked her wrist, hard crushing fingers crippling her right arm as she frantically dropped her bow to pull out her scimitar and stab his hand.  He released her with only the slightest cut across his palm before she stumbled from him, shrieking agony throughout her arm as she took a deep breath and tried to swallow the pain.  He charged towards the rito, his sword up high as he dragged himself forwards for the final blow and swung with such fury that the sword bent against flesh and bone.

        "RRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!"

She felt Yigahnim's roaring behind her followed by the KREKK of a sword bent so far that it would finally snap.  Her body shook with the force that she almost thought it was her own now finally come to an end.  But she felt no sword slice through her body, no sharp steel upon her bones but she did feel one thing.  Someone's breath, and their shadow upon her.

        "Wh-wh...what in Ganon's name..."

Standing between the yiga and the bird was Mohberra, who now faced towards her with arms spread and his back straight with shivering gasps in his throat.  Half of Yigahnim's sword had shattered off its hilt, now buried within the moblin's spine which gaped exposed through the carved flesh towards the clan leader.  Blood poured effortlessly down Mohberra's body from the gaping fissure in his back and finally spill a thick growing puddle that coated his feet.

        "H-hoh...n-no," whispered Chihlo.

But Mohberra said nothing.  It would hurt too much for him to speak with his last vestige of strength needed to save itself for when he turned towards Yigahnim and pulled his paring knife from his kilt.  The grand shogun couldn't process what happened before the cook shoved his smallest blade into the human's throat, forcing all of his might into that little glint of steel as the clan leader started choking on his blood, dripping red down the moblin's fingers as his arms became limp.  He would die slowly, suffocating even when he hit the sea bed when the moblin shoved his body off the cliff, his broken sword-hilt still clasped in his hand with the rest mangled inside the cook's vertebrae.  Soon as they heard the body of Yigahnim splash into the ocean, so too did Mohberra fall when his legs succumbed to death, crumpling upon the hard earth of the stone cliff.

        "MOHBERRA!"

Chihlo stumbled forth, her mind struggling also to process what had happened as she brought Mohberra onto his side.  His voice was weak, his eyes glimmering and his hand failing to reach up to her.

        "I'm sorry," he murmured, "I couldn't...c-couldn't let him hurt you-"

        "N-no, no no you-you're gonna be...o-oh GODDESS NOOO!"

She pressed her head into his shoulder as tears of shock started to flow, breaths shivering hotly on his hairs as his breaths became softer on her neck.

        "You...th-this...th-th-this wasn't worth it...this wasn't worth you dying for."

        "I said I would," he gasped between flitting coughs, "s-said I would help you."

        "NOOO!"  She pulled back to sneer upon him with dire frustration.  "YOU DIDN'T NEED TO DO THIS YOU IDIOT, I WANTED TO HELP YOU, I WAS GONNA HELP YOU!"

        "You already did."

        "WHAT?!"

        "You...h-hhhhh...you made me feel...I had a choice fer thuh first time in my life."

        "Wh-wh-...what does that even mean?!"

        "I wanted to help you...cuz I love you.  I don' care if you don' love me like that...I won't make you...I just wanna be yer friend."

        "Y-y-you are, you are my friend g-goddess DAMMIT why did you have to-..."

She brought her uninjured wing to her face, shivering with tears that dripped down her fingers.  He waited politely for her to speak in the few seconds he had left.

        "I...I-i-i wanted to do this, MYSELF, I didn't want anyone to die for me!"

        "I'm sorry," he rasped.

        "STOP APOLOGISING!  Wh-why...I-i-i just...y-you were one of the best people I met c-cuz you LOOKED at me, s-saw me for what I truly was, th-this isn't FAIR, IT'S NOT FAIR!"

        "I know it's not...but...we chose to do this right?"

        "Wh-wh-what?"

        "I didn' hafta do this...you woulda gotten out on yer own anyway, right?  I never...when Ganon wuz around, I never got to think fer myself...I never thought...'til you Chihlo.  You...heh...hhhheh huh huh huh...s'like you...you freed me as well after I helped free you."

        "Don't."

She curled her fist with seething rage and sorrow blending into her heart, burning to direct it at someone and having nothing to fight.

        "DON'T...do this...p-please, please d-d-don't go."

        "I don't wanna go either...but I hafta sleep.  I'm tired...I wanna...sleep-"

        "NO, N-NOOO PLEASE MOHBERRA, YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!"

        "You didn' deserve this either...but here we are...we hafta help each other right?"

        "N-n-no...noooo please..." her voice became choking fits, "I-i-i wanted to h-help you."

        "Okay...I...c-can I ask you sumthin'?"

        "Yes, yes please anything."

She knelt closer towards him, letting his hand touch her neck close enough to kiss.  But he never did, instead he whispered his weakest words.

        "Don't...d-don't take me back."

        "What?"

        "H-hyrule...I don't wanna go back."

        "What, wh-why?!"

        "N-no...b-blood moon again...i-if Ganon comes back...s-scares me...let me sleep i-in this world...p-promise."

        "I......I promise.  Thank you, for everything...Mohberra?  M-m-...Mohberra?"

She felt his last breath across her cheek.  She cried his name again but he no longer heard her as she howled with sobbing tears upon his face, clutching him tightly with her wing as her voice screamed across the ocean, burning in her cheeks until her throat would break.  The sound of hurried footsteps came a few minutes later as a small group watched her mourn from the cliff's slope.  She walked over towards them, grabbing the book that remained still within the cracks of the slope and walked through them quietly.  Not a single word was said between them.

Ribose and Adenine had set up a flare signal using chemicals from the kitchen, concocting a bursting flame that also carried the scent of fish to attract the nearest flyer.  Stonesea would come and he soon relayed a message of urgency for a larger member of his tribe to transport Jane to safety.  The slaves had been freed but were given time to mourn the loss of their comrades, whilst those of Ganon's forces who had not been killed would surrender upon hearing that their master Yigahnim was dead.  Lizanaich took charge reluctantly, calming the forces with assurance that perhaps a new life of freedom would be good, now that they were far from Ganon's influence.  Most if not all of the remainders agreed that they had no reason to return to Hyrule, and so began a pilgrimage towards the new land.  They even remembered the one who had been sitting inside the Petrie who was frankly overwhelmed by everything that had transpired, but still he followed regardless, shocked and dissolute.

Oddclaw and Shantae joined Chihlo whilst Andrea, Ade and Bose returned with Jane back to their homebase and explain what had transpired, as well as warn them of the incoming migrants from Hyrule.  The slaves however remained within the breadth of Akkala region, sitting within the husks of Nabooru village and awaiting their journey home once Dixon explained as best she could what would happen, along with Shantae breaking it down in simpler terms.  But the funeral was most significant for them as Lizanaich, Bokorie, Bokonette and Chihlo along with the bulbous Chuson led a procession towards a deep grove within Oddclaw's lands after finding a perfect place for Mohberra to rest.

It was an unspoilt peace of heaven, a small glade at the foot of the Greatbeast's Spine that Oddclaw remembered from the past year.  The place brought a chill to him remembering the phantom that he and Freya fought, but now it stood as a sea of tranquility where soft motes danced within the shining moon as they laid him to rest.  In respect to their fallen comrade who had kept them always full and never starved, a group of moblins and lizalfos buried him within a deep pit beyond the reach of the wild beasts that foraged the land.  Chihlo allowed them the grace of their people's ceremony as they played makeshift instruments in the form of hollow-skin drums, along with an ethereal chant from their deeper throats.  Once it was over Chihlo asked:

        "So where are you guys gonna go?"

        "Thinking about someplace round here," said Lizanaich, "Lotsa nice forests, some marshes, lotta food we can get round here."

        "Would you not like to be with the humen?" asked the raptor.  "They have a big home, they would like having new friends."

        "You told us yeah but we decided we wanna be our own group, maybe set up a village or sumthin'."

        "And we finally get our beach house," simpered Bokorie, "it'll be so lovely to find ourselves a place to live."

        "Same here," added Bokonette, "I'm just glad to finally have a LIFE yanno."

        "I agree."

The mother sighed with hands clasped tight as she pulled Chihlo into a hug.  The rito couldn't hug back due to one arm carrying the book and the other wounded with a broken wrist as Bokorie continued.

        "I'm so sorry about everything dear, I truly am.  Mohberra was a wonderful friend."

        "I-i know," Chihlo said struggling to hold herself from weeping a second time, "he...h-he did everything he could."

        "I never thought he'd go this far," said the lizalfos with a hand on her shoulder, "but you got your book...that's all that mattered to him."

        "Was it really?"  She pulled the book against her waist much more tightly.  "Do you think it was worth it?"

        "Mohberra made his choice.  I know that sounds cold, but we knew him too."

The sound of gurgling postulate could be heard from their feet as Chuson made a solemn but sweet-hearted series of utterations that, despite having never understood what he said, the tone of his intentions came through to Chihlo as she petted him.

        "Th-...thank you.  So you...n-none of you are mad at me?"

        "Why would we be mad?!" cried Bokonette rubbing a hand on her back gently.  "You're our friend.  Mohberra was too, we've known each other long enough that we're good."

        "I-if you say so.  I guess...all I gotta do is what I came here for and then just...get back home."

        "Alright then.  Guess this is goodbye."

The lizard and the mother and daughter hugged her one last time before leaving.  Oddclaw politely approached as Shantae walked with Chihlo back towards the edge of Hyrule's landmass.

        "The humen will arrive at their ship on the mountain," he explained, "you can wait there and Andrea will tell you what to do."

        "Alright.  Thanks, I'm sorry for dragging you away from your family."

        "No no, I came because my friends were in danger, I should thank you for keeping them safe.  I hope you find peace back home with your family Chihlo."

        "Thank you.  You take care alright?"

        "I will."  He shook her hand politely before turning to Shantae.  "Thank you as well for helping me Shantae."

        "No problem!" she replied hugging him tightly.  "It was great meeting you, I'm just sad we didn't get more time together but I really don't wanna make my friends worry back home."

        "I un-derstand.  Goodbye Shantae, goodbye Chihlo!"

        "G'bye now!"

As the raptor headed off awaiting his own ride home from a waiting Stonesea, the bird and the half-djinn walked their way up the mountain to where the verge between worlds stood at the crashed Petrie ship.  Night had now fallen as the moon reached high above both worlds amidst a calm tropic wind that skirted round her feathers.

        "Here."  She handed Shantae the book almost thrusting it at her.  "Thanks...again for doing this."

        "It's alright," she replied rubbing her arm nervously, "I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't be able to revive him, I know-"

        "It's fine.  You said that's impossible to do."

        "I mean it's ALMOST impossible unless you got like a whole buncha people that know deepest magic, but not something I can do.  I know this is difficult."

        "You mean you know what it feels like to know someone who loved you, only to have them taken away from you minutes after?"

        "Yes."

Chihlo looked up with a muted surprise at the girl's solemn face.

        "Really?"

        "I do...I know how hard it is, but I also know that in the end people make their choices just as you do.  All we can do is keep on livin', not just for our sakes but for their sakes too!"

        "I get that...I just, he...he didn't have to die for this, for me, I didn't want anyone else to suffer because of what I wanted, because it's MY problem."

        "That's the problem about friends," said Shantae opening the book carefully, "they kinda have a mind of their own and they'll do anything to help you.  Cuz you would do the same wouldn't you?"

        "Y-yeah...when you put it that way I...guess."

        "Alright, so..." she stopped upon the page that Chihlo had bookmarked previously, "I know the answer to this already but I need to ask...are you SURE you want thi-"

        "Yes," replied the bird without a moment of hesitation, "I want this.  I need this, and if I didn't need it then I have to because otherwise people will have died in vain for me-"

        "NO!"  The half-genie closed her book with finger accusing at her.  "Don't.  Don't make this into some kinda weird punishment, I know you feel guilty about what happened because all you wanted was to be who you should TRULY be, but that's not your fault!"

        "I know it's not!"

        "Well stop acting like it is, you're hurting and that's fine, it's awful what happened to Mohberra and I wish it hadn't happened too but we're here and he was your friend, and you got to accept that your friend gave everything for you because he WANTED to!"

        "ALRIGHT FINE!" shouted Chihlo stomping her foot.  "I'm tired of waiting for this, just make it happen!"

        "I want you to be happy for this, this is what you always wanted!"

        "I AM HAPPY, BUT I'M UPSET AND I'M ANGRY TOO, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO FEEL ALL THREE EMOTIONS AT ONCE!"

        "Right...right, alright I'm sorry.  Stand before me."

She opened the book again as Chihlo stood waiting, bracing herself mentally for the greatest event in her life.  Shantae read from the book, not knowing its language but able to sense its magic as she narrated the intrinsic properties of its pages.  Magic at its core was like air to her, in every world it operated the same at its most basic level and once she could see that, she could read how it moved through the words as it guided her to speak in Chihlo's tongue.  The words were ancient, the grammar odd and the structure imprecise, as if she were hearing the ruins breathe with hallowed prophecy.  But she understood it nonetheless, a story of a princess whom many centuries ago had transformed her body in such a way so as to become a completely different person.  But with a great enough magic, one could either wield it to change between genders, or completely become the other in fullest form if needed.

Shantae felt her hair stand up above her head, lifting like a cobra's hood as if ready to strike in dancing with arcane knowledge that swirled around her tongue, bore beneath her eyes and whispered through her ears.  The more she spoke, the stranger Chihlo felt, her body turning faint as the energy sapped from her limbs and her heart started to still its beats.  What she felt was something that very few could comprehend, and even fewer would ever experience.  Some parts of her became lighter, some became heavier.  Her mind sharpened and clouded in the same breath, her eyes trembled and her muscles twinged in fluctuation.  Pain  consumed her, hot internal pains like her bones were being set on fire, her body rising towards the heavens as Shantae's magic cloaked her with a warm simmering sheen.  She had never done this sort of spell before, and it took all of her magic even after recovering from the battle just to commit to it.  Words tore through the rito's body like knives, sculpting her anew, slicing, cutting, severing, adding, subtracting.  Her tears glinted like falling stars from her cheeks but she refused to scream, burning her frustrations inside knowing it would not matter after this night.

Then it stopped.  The spell had completed itself in its permanent state as the rito fell back to earth.  Shantae stepped forwards with exhausted feet, her arms shaking and her breath rasping from the pain inside her chest.  She clutched herself feeling like she had run a marathon, legs twitching to collapse as she knelt over the bird.

        "Are you alright?"

Chihlo looked up.  The night remained still above their heads as she whispered:

        "I-i'm alright...I feel...h-huh?"  She clasped her throat.  "My...m-my voice is...h-hhhh!"

It felt lighter than before, somehow more natural to speak.  Before this she had always had to focus her voice within her throat, not from the chest like her body willed it to.  It was strange and disturbing to not feel the muscular tension she had to force in her voice before, like forgetting how to blink.  She stood up staggering towards the ship, staring upon her reflection in the smooth hull as she gazed upon her new body for the first time.  No.  Her true body.  Her dream become real so much more than she thought it could.  Her wing had also healed itself through the magic of Shantae's reformations as she put her hands upon her mirrored image.  What little words could be used to describe the torrid emotions that swirled within her heart would be an insult to what she truly felt.  Joy, balance, perfection, sorrow, grief, anger and frenzy.  Everything burned together inside as she sunk to her knees and started to weep, becoming overwhelmed by her true self.

        "Th-thank you...th-th-thank you."

The girl hugged her from behind calmly, gently rocking Chihlo's body as she sobbed ever deeper.  Soon morning would come as the two slept within the Petrie, having talked with the two pilots who kept the ship safe from all intruders hence.  The T.E.A.R. group would arrive with the help of some robotic friends to help repair the ship and lift it up back into the sky before signalling to the base on their comms when they were ready to send Chihlo and Shantae back home.  The rito with book in her satchel hurried back towards Nabooru to rejoin the former slaves so as to guide them back home after hugging Shantae one last time.  The humans watched both the piece of Hyrule and Shantae fade back into the gap between dimensions, a cold force of reckoning that severed and twisted the reality around them and soon there was naught but ocean before them.  During all of this Oddclaw was narrating the story to Moonclaw best as he could upon his return home.

        "And then I returned with Stonesea," he finished sitting beside his mate and their three eggs.

        "What about Jane?" she asked fearfully.  "Is she alright?"

        "I do not know, but I am sure they will keep her safe.  I may go to the Shining Mountain in a few days to see her, I want to know how she is."

        "That is fine, I hope they can heal her...they managed to heal you."

She nuzzled him sweetly with a soft lick as he smooched her back, cuddling down together as they clutched their eggs close to keep them warm.

        "At least there shall be no more starbeasts," replied Oddie with Moonclaw's head in his lap, "another one-and-a-half cycles yes?"

        "Indeed," she replied licking at his scarred belly, "our children will be born and you will have to stay at home with us."

        "Ohhh nooo," he whined mockingly, "however will I cope?"

        "Hhha ha ha, you cheeky shit!"

The mother-to-be nipped at his chest teasing him as he started cackling from her ticklish teeth, both of them hugging tightly beneath the paling moon amidst the trilling coos of their sleeping tribe.

The smell of the salty sea greeted Shantae as she arrived back home, landing upon her feet which sank into the pale sands.  A lighthouse could be seen along the arching coast, the sounds of the waves and seagulls crying above until she squinted to hear the faintest voices of a desert town behind her.  The bustling crowds and familiar denizens of many colours within pockmarked stone buildings of old cannon wounds and magic scars lanced across the brickwork.  The half-genie felt disoriented, her body cycle out of sync from the fact that she had gone from nighttime in one world to the late afternoon back in hers.

        "Ugh...freakin' jet lag, I feel like I missed a whole day even though I-wait...is it still jet lag if I cross over through dimensions?"

        I would say it counts.

Her body stiffened up at the monotone voice that crept through her skin.  She had heard that voice before as she rubbed her fingers nervously.

        "Aaaah h-heeyyyyyy..."  She turned towards the shadow between the palm trees of the beach.  "Uhhh listen I uhhh, I sorta got sidetracked with some other people who needed help an-"

        I know.  Do not worry, I am not angry.

        "OH, you're not?  But...but I lost track of the spirit you wanted me to-"

        It is fine!  Everything is perfect.

        "Wait, how is that perfect?"

        The spirit is now exactly where I wanted him to be.

The girl gasped with relief yet a part of her was still confused as she approached the female voice.

        "Where you...WANTED him to be?!  Like, for real?!"

        Indeed...I had not expected this, but my original plan was to bring that phantom to that specific world.

        "But, why?"

        To help him of course, did I not tell you before?

        "You...diiiid but you said it was a plan and I kiiiinda don't trust people who say plans or schemes, that's kinda what villains do."

        Hmhmhmhm!  Very true, then let's call it my quest, would that be better?

        "Yeah, actually that's good, villains never have quests that's great!  So uhhhh..." she put her hands behind her back with licking lips, "was that all you wanted me to do?"

        Yes, Shantae.  Thank you for all your help in finding him, you have done more than enough.

        "Are you sure?  Cuz I feel like I haven't done enough, all I did was help you track down this one guy, what about healing him or helping him find peace like you wanted?!"

        He will find peace.  I will make sure of that, I must repay my debt to him.

        "What sorta debt?" she asked.

        A personal debt.  That is all I can say but again, I thank you for all your work Shantae.

        "No problem!  You uh, you take care alright uh miss-"

But the shadow was gone before she knew, slipping back behind the tree as she rushed forwards.  Not a trace of her presence remained as she sighed and walked back towards her hometown with exhausted drooping head.

        "Uuuugh I need to hit the spa, maybe go to bed for like a week after all that...hooo...I sure hope uncle hasn't blown anyone up while I was away-"

Almost right on cue something blew up from the coastline behind her.

        "AAAAARGH FOR PETE'S SAKE!"

The voice of an older man bellowed out as smoke seethed around the lighthouse, coiling like a serpent as she turned with shoulders slumped.

        "Nnnnrrrrrrrgh!"  She slapped a hand to her face and pulled at her eyes in fatigue.  "Ooooof course, hokayyyy wait up uncle I'm coming!"

It seemed there was no rest for the half-genie, but she simply smiled and jogged over the sands towards her uncle's place.  Just another day for the guardian genie of Scuttle Town.