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The wind howled through twisted branches, bringing a chill along their shoulders. Lightning flashed from a storm brewing overhead, and somewhere in the distance, a cackle could be heard coming from above.
“…well, the castle definitely looks just as creepy in real life,” Sky shuddered, looking up at Hypno Baron’s former lair as she recalled her time in it - well, at least the version of it in Shantae’s memories. “They couldn’t have done at least a little redecorating?”
“Can’t blame ‘em for keeping it if it works,” Bolo shrugged. “I mean, if I had a cool castle lair, I’d probably keep it the same…”
“And they did redecorate; I actually helped Abner with a poster during the whole Dynamo thing!” Shantae supplied to her friend. Sky blinked, a bit surprised at the new information, but nodded and let the half-genie continue. “Now, c'mon, let’s go in! I want to see what Rotty wanted to show us!”
“Alright, alright…” Sky, seeing her friend’s enthusiasm, smiled and knocked at the door, turning her head to address Shantae after. “I know you don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting.”
“That doesn’t-” Shantae began to protest, her cheeks reddening, before the door flew open and she was pulled into a hug by a very enthusiastic zombie, causing her blush to increase tenfold.
“Snackcakes!” Rottytops pulled back a bit with a large grin, giving her girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek before letting go. “Sky! Bolo!”
She pulled the other girl into a more casual hug, then walked over to Bolo to give him a fist bump. With greetings out of the way, she turned to face them all. “Glad you guys could make it!”
“So, uh…” Shantae tried to refocus, still blushing a bit as she shook her head. “What did you want to show us?”
“It’s a surprise! So come on in already, unless you want to get soaked,” Rottytops gestured to the inside of the castle as thunder cracked above them.
The three glanced between each other for a moment, then quickly ran in, the zombie girl closing the door behind the quartet.
“This 'surprise’ isn’t too far in, is it?” Sky asked, looking warily down the hall.
“It is, but you don’t have to worry, becauuuuseeeee…” Rottytops paused, walking along the wall for a moment and inspecting every brick before stopping at just the right one. With a grin, her knuckles lit up with black and purple sparkles as she rapped it against the wall. Runes flashed, and with a rumble, part of it slid out and to the side, revealing- “Ta-da! A shortcut!”
“…There was a shortcut?” Shantae muttered, peering into the previously hidden passageway with wide eyes.
“Oh, yeah. Abner figured Hypno Baron didn’t want to deal with the stuff he set up for anyone trying to break in, so he went ahead and started hunting for it after redecorating,” Rottytops explained, leaning on the doorframe. “Real pain to find, lemme tell ya-”
“Has every evil villain had a secret shortcut all this time!?” Shantae held her head in her hands, staring blankly at the ground as she took in this new revelation.
“Oh. Uh…” Rottytops looked to the side as she realized Shantae’s distress. “I mean, I don’t think everyone did - do you really think Squid Baron could manage that? - and hey! Look on the bright side! You’ve been getting a lot of cardio through your adventures, so that’s nice! Also, this shortcut does require a bit of dark magic to activate, so I don’t think you could’ve managed to use it anyway.”
“Oh. Yeah…” Shantae slowly nodded, pulling her head up as she regained her composure. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Rottytops nodded, before looking down the passageway. “Let’s get going before you have any other world-shattering revelations, okay?”
And with that, the four friends went into the depths of the castle, briskly trekking down the path in silence. After some time, Rottytops stopped the others, taking a moment to inspect another piece of the wall before repeating her trick from before. With another rumble, part of the passageway slid open, and she quickly slid in place to block the view of the entrance.
“Alright, you ready to have. Your. Minds. Blown? Because here it is…” With a dramatic flourish, Rottytops spun on her foot like a ballerina, stopping in front of the mysterious object before throwing out her arms in front of it and doing jazz hands. “Ba da da da, da da da da daaa~!”
Shantae blinked, walking into the room. “It’s a…box?”
“Kinda looks like that monitor we saw at Siren Island,” Bolo idly observed as he looked over Shantae’s shoulder.
“Yeah, that’s a pretty good comparison, actually,” Rottytops nodded her head. “But first! Bit of context. So, my brothers were doing some interdimensional spelunking-”
“Interdimensional what now?” Sky peered at the zombie, disbelief tainting her voice.
Rottytops was completely unphased. “Interdimensional spelunking. Opening up random portals and pulling stuff out of it. Abner and Poe have been doing it for months.”
“…why,” Sky crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow as her expression turned deadpan.
“Money, duh,” Rottytops shrugged. “I mean, how many other places can say they have stuff that you can’t get anywhere else and mean it? And since me and my brothers are the most adept dark magic users in Sequin Land who aren’t downright evil, we might as well make the most of it, right?”
“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Sky begrudgingly nodded, shifting to a more neutral stance as she gestured for Rottytops to continue.
“A-ny-way…my brothers were doing interdimensional spelunking, when they ended up pulling this through,” Rottytops gestured to the strange monitor. “Which was weird enough on its own, but the real crazy thing was this.”
Her hands went to the small stand the monitor was placed on, searching in a drawer for a bit before pulling out a strange, smaller monitor a bit bigger than her hands. Pulling out two devices from the drawer, she snapped them to the sides of the monitor, before pressing a button and letting it light up. With a quick flip, she showed the screen to her friends.
“Wow…” Shantae stared at the screen in awe, before looking up at her girlfriend. “What is it?”
“I have no idea!” Rottytops grinned. “The labelling on the back says it’s called a…nein-tehn-do switch, though. Weird name, but I guess it must work in whatever dimension this comes from. Here’s the important thing, though - it lets you play games!”
“Really?” All three guests looked down at the “Switch,” trying to figure out how it could accomplish such a thing.
“Well, I guess games isn’t quite accurate, it’s also like a stage show or something…but uh, yeah, I tested it with this one!” Rottytops pointed to one of the squares on the screen, letting her friends look at it.
“'Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion,’” Sky read out loud, squinting her eyes to try and see if she missed something. She didn’t.
“Hey, it sounded funny to me,” Rottytops shrugged. “I wanted to see the adventures of a weird food criminal, and I got what I asked! Also weird glowing green stuff, but I don’t know what that was about. Must be a different dimension thing.”
“Maybe that’s what it runs on?” Bolo pondered, scratching his head as he thought about the inner machinations of Rottytops’ surprise.
“Oh, I was about to get to that, actually, thanks for reminding me! Hang on…” Rottytops cleared her throat, setting the “Switch” to the side. “The one problem we found with it was that it ran on electric power. Thankfully…”
She went behind the monitor, and with a grunt, pushed something out that all of them were able to recognize - a generator. “We got that covered too!”
Bolo whistled. “Dang, your brothers really got the motherlode of stuff, huh?”
“Huh?” Rottytops blinked, looking confused, before snapping her fingers. “Ooooooooh, you mean the generator! No, that’s something I scavenged from the wreckage of Ammo Baron’s airship months ago. Got my brothers to help fix it up and everything. They had to call in a few favors, but we got it done. I felt really proud of myself when it got up and running up until I realized I forgot what I was planning to do with it in the first place. So, it just kinda sat there for a while. But hey! It’s getting used now!”
Bolo and Sky nodded, but Shantae looked down at the ground, lost in thought, before looking back up at the zombie and pointing out, “I don’t want to put a damper in all this, but…you do realize you probably could’ve just asked Uncle to help, right? He would’ve been cool with it.”
“Oh,” Rottytops looked at the generator, suddenly looking a bit embarrassed. “…yeah, that probably would’ve been easier than bringing in all those people to try and figure out electric power…”
“To your credit, it is pretty impressive that you managed to get it working without the tech expert on call,” Sky offered, patting the zombie on the back. “But I think you were going somewhere with this?”
“Right! Right, I didn’t even get to the best part!” Rottytops snapped back to her perky self, and stepped back to the monitor. “See, with a bit of finagling…”
She slid the strange devices off of the “Switch” and onto an oddly designed holder, before putting the strange little monitor back where it once was. Suddenly, the large monitor lit up, showing what they’d been seeing on the “Switch” moments before. “You can get it to show up on the big screen!”
“Woah,” Sky’s eyes widened, genuinely awed at the display.
“That’s so cool, Rotty!” Shantae grinned, lighting up at the various possibilities in front of her. “Are we gonna take turns playing games or something?”
Rottytops chuckled. “Not quite…want to take a look to the left of Turnip Boy?”
Shantae tilted her head, a bit confused, but obliged, reading the name of the game out loud. “'Mario Party Superstars’?”
“Why did they make the guy in front old enough to be my dad?” Sky asked, looking at the mustachio’d man hitting a dice.
“No idea, but the important thing is, this really is a party, because you can play with multiple people!” Rottytops pulled out the drawers of the stand, pulling out multiple devices like the one she held in her hand. “Ta-da! You see where I’m going now, right? Come on, what could be more fun than playing a weird game from another dimension with your friends?”
“Well, when you put it like that…” Bolo tapped his chin in thought, looking down at the various controllers in consideration.
“Honestly, I thought this was going to be weirder. I’m game,” Sky smiled, giving her zombie friend a thumbs up.
“And I won’t turn down an opportunity to hang out! Let’s do this!” Shantae pumped her fist.
“Alright, glad to hear it!” Rottytops stepped back to let her friends access the devices she laid out. “Just pick the one you like, sit down…”
“Wait, just…on the floor?” Sky asked. “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to have some pillows or something?”
“I…didn’t think about that,” Rottytops, looked down, a slight frown crossing her face as she considered Sky’s question. “I mean, there’s a couch over there, but that’d take a while to-”
She was interrupted by Shantae cracking her knuckles, looking at the couch in question. A sly smirk crossed Shantae’s face. “One second…”
One dance and a trumpet later, the couch was moved into place. Shantae took a few lumbering steps back, the ground shaking under the weight of her elephant form, before turning back in a puff of smoke and dusting off her hands.
“Have I ever mentioned what a great girlfriend you are?” Rottytops remarked, putting an arm around Shantae’s shoulder. “Because you are. You’re the best.”
“Aw, thanks!” Shantae beamed, giving the zombie girl a quick kiss before turning back to her friends. “Now, let’s go play!”
“Uh- yeah! That, that sounds good…” Rottytops muttered, suddenly finding herself in a very similar position Shantae’d been in when she’d first arrived. “Just pick whatever, press the two buttons on the back, and you’ll be in…”
The three nodded, and went ahead and grabbed their controllers. Sky grabbed the one that seemed like a completely different device altogether, a more complete version of what the holder of Rottytops’ devices was trying to imitate, Bolo picked the one that was just one of the devices by itself, and Shantae picked the one to match her girlfriend.
By the time they picked, Rottytops had somewhat recovered, moving over to grab her controller with a grin. “Okay, cool! You got that covered. Thankfully, I went in and dealt with the boring things beforehand, so we can jump right into the good stuff…”
With a press of a button, the square showing Mario Party Superstars shook, and the screen transitioned into a selection of ten figures. “Pick your guy! Except purple. I called dibs on purple.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll let you have that one,” Sky side-eyed the character in question - a strange, lanky man in purple who looked rather shifty; Waluigi, according to the text on screen - before her eyes landed on a character around the middle with a slight grin. “Oh, I like her.”
With a click, her character was chosen.
“'Rosalina,’ huh? Seems like your type,” Bolo nodded, before turning his attention back to the characters. He looked at the various options in front of him, eyes lingering on the red man they’d seen before - apparently, the titular Mario - before… “Actually-”
He flicked the stick to the right and clicked. “I think I’m going with him.”
“'Luigi’?” Sky looked at Bolo’s choice, mildly confused, before going back to him. “Why Luigi?”
“I dunno, it’s just - that Mario guy has front billing, right? He’s on the front of the square and everything,” Bolo pointed out. “I just think that being right behind him has gotta be a bit hard. Might as well give the guy a bit of appreciation.”
“Hmm…yeah, that’s a good point,” Sky nodded, accepting Bolo’s logic.
“Alright, I think I’ve got my choice…” Shantae looked just above Rosalina - a princess in a pink dress. Her finger hovered over the A button-
“Waitwaitwaitwait! Shantae. Pick yellow,” Rottytops pointed to the right, and Shantae followed her finger to see a man in a yellow shirt and purple overalls, matching the shifty-looking man Rottytops picked.
Shantae looked to her girlfriend. “Why?”
“Because then we’ll be matching! Come on, please?” Rottytops gave Shantae her best puppy dog eyes. “Pleeeeeeaseeeee? I’ll pick orange to match pink next round!”
Shantae took a moment to consider it, looking up in thought. “…you know what? Alright, just for you.”
She flicked over to “yellow” and selected.
“Wario!” The yellow-clad man exclaimed.
“Alright!” Rottytops cheered.
“Huh. Now that I hear him, something about that guy seems familiar, actually. Wonder why?” Shantae thought, examining the man more closely before shrugging. “Eh, probably nothing.”
“Okay, let’s get the party started!” Rottytops selected Waluigi, and the screen shifted to a different kind of selection.
“Are these…boards?” Sky observed the odd locales, taking note of the various marked spaces.
“Oh, yeah, I think this works like a board game or something. Let’s see here…” Rottytops started clicking, shifting through the options. “We got the melons, space, cake, woods-”
“Wait, back up,” Shantae interrupted, and Rottytops obliged with the half-genie’s request, switching back to the cake. “There’s a cake board? Oh, that looks so good…I’m feeling hungry just looking at it!”
“You want to do the cake board?” Rottytops asked, to which Shantae nodded with enthusiasm. The zombie looked to the two humans in the room. “Any objections to the cake?”
Bolo and Sky shook their heads.
“Cool! We’re doing the cake, then!” With a grin, she hit the A button.
~~~
“Come on, come on…” Bolo watched the dice spin.
They’d settled on just going with the default settings after the board was selected, not sure what the game had in store for them. From there, they listened to the “Toad” explaining the rules (as much as Rottytops wanted to play blind), and had rolled to see the turn order. Unfortunately for Bolo, he got a 2, and therefore went dead last.
It seems his bad luck wasn’t going away anytime soon, either, because he ended up getting a three.
“Ah, geez…” He groaned, watching as Luigi walked along the board.
“Hey, I’m sure you’ll get a high roll next turn,” Shantae reassured, patting her friend on the back. “Besides, you get to plant a strawberry! That’s good, right?”
“Huh?” Bolo turned to Shantae in confusion, then looked back at the screen to see the prompt. “Oh. I guess I can. Sure, why not? Can’t hurt.”
With a click, everyone watched as the flying turtle accepted Bolo’s payment, taking a second to throw down a seed that grew into…well…
“That’s not a strawberry,” Shantae numbly stated as she watched the teeth-bearing plant monster slink into the depths of the cake.
“Oooooo, that looks nasty,” Rottytops commented, looking over Bolo’s shoulder before raising her hand with a grin. “Good one!”
Bolo hesitantly completed the high five, unsure what to think of what just happened.
“Hey, looks like we’re going to figure out what a 'minigame’ is,” Sky pointed to the screen, with the other three now realizing that it had shifted to some kind of roulette wheel.
“Oh, good! That really kinda confused me back there,” Shantae remarked, recalling her earlier experience after the board was chosen. “I mean, they called this thing a switch, so I’m not too confident on how well things translate from whatever dimension this is from to ours. Like, mini game? What the heck could that even-”
With a little jingle, the minigame was chosen, and the screen shifted to an explanation.
“…oh. It’s a game inside the game.” Shantae blinked, watching the demonstration.
“All things considered, that’s pretty straight-forward,” Bolo commented.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s see…” Rottytops skimmed over the text on the screen. “So, we just press the button to jump? That’s it? This is easy! I mean, it’s jumprope, so that makes sense, but-”
“It’s also made of fire,” Sky pointed out.
“So? What’s a little fire among friends?” Rottytops looked between the others. “I don’t think we need to practice this one, right?”
Shantae, Sky, and Bolo took a moment to consider. Shantae and Bolo ended up shaking their heads, and while Sky initially nodded, she switched when she saw she was outnumbered.
“Cool, cool,” Rottytops hit start. “Just don’t take this personally, alright? Because this may just be a game, but I. Play. To. Wi-”
Luigi, Rosalina, and Wario jumped as the flames rushed towards them, but it was too late for Waluigi.
“NO!” Rottytops cried out, reaching out a hand as Sky laughed. “I didn’t-I didn’t think it’d start that early! Can we get a do-over?”
“Maybe try not to talk yourself up so much next time, miss 'We Don’t Need Practice,’” Sky smirked as she kept Rosalina jumping.
“You shush!” Rottytops sent Sky a mock glare before looking to Shantae. “Shantae! Avenge me!”
“I’m trying!” Shantae’s focus was split between her controller and the screen. “Trying to adapt to a weird game from another dimension is not the easiest-shoot!”
“Six rounds, not bad,” Bolo remarked as Wario was sent flying off the screen. “If it helps, it’s kind of a…rhythm thing? You just gotta keep pace with the rope, and-oh. Good game, Sky.”
“Thanks,” Sky nodded, looking on as the game showed her total - 13. “So, practice next time?”
“…yeah, sounds good,” Rottytops nodded, glancing at the saddened Waluigi lamenting his place.
~~~
“You got a star!”
Sky sat back, putting her arms behind her head. “Nice.”
It was turn four of fifteen. A clear pattern had emerged: Sky was good. Really, really good. Rottytops was close behind once she started to focus on actually winning the minigames, and Shantae and Bolo…they tried. They really did.
Sky watched in satisfaction as Rosalina moved forward the remaining two spaces, then turned to Rottytops. “Your turn.”
“Don’t get a six, don’t get a six, don’t get a six…” Rottytops muttered as Waluigi’s turn came around, closing her eyes as she hit the block. She opened them, and… “Dang it!”
A nine. Waluigi strolled along, ignorant to his coming plight, and as he finally approached that long-awaited star-
“ONE coin! ONE coin off!” Rottytops groaned, watching as Toadette informed Waluigi of his predicament and sent him on his way. Fuming, she turned to a smug Sky with crossed arms.
For the sake of curiosity, Sky had planted a “strawberry” the turn before. As Rottytops had the misfortune to discover right after, it turned out the ravenous plant stole coins, leaving Rottytops a bit short of change.
“I totally could’ve gotten that star if there was a way to haggle in this game…” Rottytops grumbled, letting out a huff.
“I’m sure you could’ve, but you can’t, so,” Sky shrugged, completely unbothered as Waluigi landed on a Lucky Space. “Tough break.”
“Seriously, how are you so good?” Shantae asked as her turn rolled up. “Like, I’m the one who goes on adventures all the time; my reflexes are great! But you beat me and everyone else every minigame!”
“Ever try to raise a dozen birds at once?” Sky asked in response, pointing to her gloved hand as she flexed her fingers. “Gotta get quick with your hands fast, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Shantae nodded as she hit the dice. “Just saying…me and Bolo aren’t doing great, but we’re still getting coins. And Rotty was really close to getting that star up until your plant stole her coins! So you might not want to get so comfy yet…”
“Well, obviously, it’s only the fourth turn,” Sky remarked, stretching a bit as Bolo’s turn came around. “I’m not comfy just yet…but I do think there’s a pretty good chance I can keep this going. Even when you do get some stars of your own, I’m still going to be ahead - I mean, what are the odds that you’ll just…I don’t know, find a star out of thin air?”
“Hey, why’s it not moving to the minigame?” Bolo suddenly asked, looking at the screen in confusion as Luigi looked up in the air, seemingly at nothing. But then, a golden brick appeared above him, dazzling and utterly pristine.
“Oh, hidden block!” Rottytops perked up. “I just got a card for that, actually. I think it just gives you more coins.”
“More coins is always good,” Bolo nodded, hitting the A button and watching the screen in anticipation. Luigi hit the block…
“You got a star!”
And everyone watched the screen in disbelief.
“What were you saying, Sky?” Rottytops smirked, thinking back to her hidden block card with a newfound glee as Sky looked to Bolo with wide eyes.
It seemed luck had a bit more to do with this game than she thought…
~~~
“What the heck is Chance Time?” Rottytops questioned, scratching the back of her head as the screen faded to a new scene.
It was turn 7. Shantae had managed to get a star of her own, and Bolo had been close to getting his second, but Sky had stalled with a Cursed Dice - which was just enough for her to get back in front of him. As for Rottytops…the hidden block card had only given her coins, much to her disappointment, which only grew as she found herself facing Bowser (some sort of giant turtle, as she soon discovered) thanks to picking the wrong seed. She did perk up a little as she realized she had a shorter way around, but it didn’t really do so well when she was rolling low.
Now, she found herself staring at a set of slowly spinning dice, utterly befuddled.
“Did the mushroom guy say anything about this?” Rottytops looked to Sky.
“Can’t remember…” Sky frowned, looking over the screen. “Looks like he’s saying something about it now, though, so-”
“Eh, whatever, I’ll just see what happens,” Rottytops dismissed the text, then let the center dice roll for a bit before hitting it. “Ooooo, coins! What’s with the arrows, though?”
“…wait,” Sky looked at the other dice, the pieces beginning to click into place as Rottytops walked over to the right dice. “Wait a minute…”
“And I get-Sky?” Rottytops rubbed her eyes, having a double take over the results before something clicked in her head. “Oh! Ooooooh…”
The zombie girl began chuckling as she maneuvered Waluigi over to the left dice.
“There is no way,” Sky started, ignoring how Rottytops’ chuckling grew louder. “There is no way-it’s just dumb luck! There is no way-”
“Oh, Sky,” Rottytops turned to her friend, a downright evil grin stretched across her cheeks. “Have you not heard? Have my brothers not regaled you with tales of Caravan Game Night? I,”
She twirled her controller in her hand.
“Am the QUEEN,”
She raised her thumb.
“Of DUMB LUCK!” Rottytops pressed down, and as if by magic, the dice landed on a familiar thin face with a purple hat.
“My Star!”/“YES!” Sky despaired and Rottytops cackled as the coins were exchanged, leaving Sky at seventeen and Rottytops at 42. “Feel it! Feel my pain, Sky! It may not be the same bite, but it’ll certainly leave a mark!”
“I can’t believe-” Sky put a hand up to her face, shaking off her frustration with a determined glare. “Whatever. I can come back from this. I can come back from this…”
“We’ll see about that,” Rottytops smirked, a new plan formulating in her mind…
~~~
“We’re down to the last five turns!” The mushroom-headed “Toad” explained, text scrolling across the screen for the four friends to read. “Let’s take a look at the current standings.”
“In first place, we have Rosalina!” Sky smirked, watching as her stats appeared - four stars. In a turn of events, she’d ended up finding a hidden block herself, which raised her star count by one. With another minigame under her belt, that was enough to put her in the lead when she got her star. Then she’d discovered what growing her “strawberry” did - mainly, taking a star from someone else.
“In second place, we have Waluigi!” Rottytops couldn’t help but grin as her own stats came into view. While there was a two star gap, she had the lead in coins thanks to a certain fishing minigame called Cast Aways, as well as a “strawberry” of her own. 87 coins was definitely nice to have.
“In third place, we have Wario!” Shantae wasn’t necessarily the best at this, but she’d managed to get two stars, so she thought that counted for something. Still, she couldn’t help but look at Bolo with slight remorse as his stats came up.
“And in last place, we have Luigi!” Not by any fault of his own, but a stroke of bad luck - he’d been the unfortunate victim of Sky’s grown plant creature. Not helping was a roll that had landed him directly onto a Bowser space, giving him a meeting with the talking turtle himself. It was only a few coins, but…
“Ah, man,” Bolo groaned as the text scrolled by.
“It’s not that bad,” Shantae reassured, offering her friend a small grin. “I mean, we’ve all played this game for a bit, right? There’s always room for a lucky break!”
“Pretty sure that was the hidden block from before,” Bolo deadpanned. “Definitely wasn’t last turn…”
“Hey, I was aiming for Sky!” Rottytops protested.
“You can’t aim a Warp Block,” Sky reminded her.
“I was aiming for you spiritually,” Rottytops added, unamused by Sky’s comment.
“Ah, don’t mind them,” Shantae waved the two off. “You’ll be fine! There’s always another…hey, I think the game’s giving you something.”
“Wait, really?” Bolo stared in shock, his attention turning towards the screen once more as he now noticed one of the cloud-riding turtles handing him an item. “Huh, so it is.”
“Wait, that looks like-” Rottytops squinted as the item text slid in, eyes widening as she took it in. “Triple dice? Oh, that’s good. That’s really good. Bolo, roll high enough and that’s essentially a free Star!”
“Hey, yeah…” Bolo nodded, a thoughtful look in his eyes as he gazed up.
“See what I mean?” Shantae’s grin widened as she lightly punched Bolo in the shoulder.
~~~
“Alright, minigame time!” Rottytops cheered as the roulette wheel came up again to end turn 12. “Think we can get the balloon one again?”
“Please don’t remind me about that…” Sky groaned, grimacing as the recent memories of Bowser Blast came to her head. By far her most embarrassing loss. “I still think green being safe three times in a row was a statisti-wait, why does this one have a warning?”
As the others looked to see what she meant, there was a flash behind them.
“Alright, I’m back! Really appreciate the lavender soap, Rotty,” Shantae gave a nod towards the zombie girl as she flicked off any remaining moisture from her hands. “Did I miss anything? Oh, it’s a one vs. three. And…ah, geez. Rotty, I’m sorry-”
“Hey, all’s fair in love and war, snackcakes,” Rottytops, the designated “one,” waved away her concerns with her hand. “I mean, you noticed me targeting you before in the minigames, right?”
“Well, yeah, but so was everyone,” Shantae explained as she sat down. “These kinds of minigames just feel mean…”
“Mercy is for the weak in this game; don’t know what to tell you,” Rottytops jokingly answered, patting her girlfriend on the shoulder. “How about you just go and read the rules, alright?”
Shantae gave an affirming “hrm” before looking up at the screen and letting her face scrunch up in confusion. “Why does this one have a warning?”
“Says something about not using your palm,” Sky informed, having looked over the warning in question.
“Yeah, that sounds like it’d give your hand blisters…” Bolo nodded.
“Wait, aren’t these the same controls as that fishing one?” Shantae asked, prompting all of them to take another look. While not exactly the same, there was a similar control scheme in the rotation. “Why didn’t that have a warning?”
“Huh…” Sky took a moment to think over Shantae’s question. “You know, looking back, I think…I think it did, actually, but Rottytops pulled us into practice too quick to see it.”
“You know, I thought I saw something weird out of the corner out of my eye,” Rottytops nodded, looking a little embarrassed. “Uh…sorry about that? But no harm, no foul, right?”
“Yeah,” Shantae affirmed, “As long as we don’t try it now…right?”
“Uh, sure! Sure, I can do that,” Rottytops quickly gave her girlfriend a thumbs up and a grin. A bit too quickly, judging by Shantae’s suspicious stare, but she let it slide as she pulled out practice mode.
It went by without too much fanfare - Shantae, Sky, and Bolo won all three times they went through it, but there was no palm shenanigans, so all was well. Seeing as they clearly got the ropes of it down, Shantae was satisfied enough to pull them into the real deal.
As soon as the game said “START!,” it all went downhill.
“What the-” Shantae couldn’t help but be taken aback as almost immediately Wario, Rosalina, and Luigi were close to getting eaten. A loud clicking at her side, however, was just as quick to give it away. “Rotty, no!”
Rottytops simply laughed, palm swiveling away with her joystick. “My power is unlimited!”
“Okay, normally I appreciate your humor, but I’m actually kind of concerne-” Shantae was interrupted by more clicking, and she turned in wide-eyed shock. “Sky!?”
“If she’s going all out, so am I,” Sky levelled a glare at the zombie sitting across from her. “Just try and take these coins from me!”
“That’s the spirit!” With a wide grin from Rottytops, both girls swiveled as fast as they could, a tense air between them as their hands moved as fast as they could.
“I-Wh-” Shantae looked between the two, caught completely off-guard by this showdown, before her eyes settled into a glare and she promptly whacked both controllers out of the two rival’s hands. “You two stop that!”
“Hey-” Rottytops and Sky tried to protest, only to be quickly silenced by an angry glare.
“Look, I get you two are competitive, I really do…but I draw the line at risking your hand to win a game!” Shantae crossed her arms.
“I can just replace my hand,” Rottytops pointed out.
“And I have a glove,” Sky held up her hand, pointing to the glove in question.
“That is besides the point-” Once again, Shantae found herself interrupted, but not by clicking this time. Instead, it was the cheerful victory jingle of the game, and all three turned to stare at Bolo, who’d simply kept playing the whole time.
“Uh…sorry. Probably should’ve paused, huh?” With a light blush, Bolo looked to the side. “That was not the best timing.”
“…no, I…I think that was good, actually,” Sky started, looking at Shantae with a blush of her own. “Sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me. I guess that was pretty intense for a game…won’t happen again.”
“Yeah, this is a pretty nice hand,” Rottytops admitted, looking down at the palm she used with the joystick. “So, I’ll try and dial it back for you, alright, snackcakes?”
“Good,” Satisfied, Shantae picked up their controllers and handed them back as she went to her own.
Rottytops and Sky took a glance at each other as Shantae sat down. Discreetly, Rottytops leaned her head back.
“Try again with thick gloves?” She mouthed to Sky.
Sky nodded. “Try again with thick gloves.”
At least they wouldn’t get blisters.
~~~
“Come on, Shantae, you got to pull it now!” Rottytops urged, looking at the screen. “You’re not going to get another chance!”
It was the final turn. Sky and Rottytops had already gone, leaving Shantae as the last one left. Wario was just below the top layer of the cake, five spaces away from the star. Luigi was a few spaces ahead, on the cake itself. Shantae mused over the situation, looking at her menu.
“…you know what?” Shantae smirked, looking at Rottytops as she pulled out what she wanted to see - a set of Triple Dice, one she’d gotten from a Lucky Space but a few turns ago. “Why not. It’s the last turn - go big or go home!”
“That’s my girl!” Rottytops cheered as the dice were selected, Shantae concentrating as they began to spin.
9…8…7!
“Twenty four! Nice!” The two shared a high five as Wario went forward. A star was obtained, he went on his merry way…only, there was one last turn of bad luck at the lottery.
“Noooooo…” Shantae groaned as the flower turned up Bowser. “Guess I’m getting a cake, huh?”
“Coin loss won’t be too bad - it’s the last turn, what’s the worst that could happen?” Rottytops supplied. With a begrudging acceptance, Shantae went on. Wario did indeed get a cake, and as he took those last four steps, something clicked in Rottytops’ brain.
“Hey…isn’t that-” Wario landed on a blue space with yellow arrows, and Rottytops’ suspicions were confirmed. Shantae and Sky both froze in terror as a screen only seen once before was pulled out again.
“Oh no,” The two friends muttered with dread as Chance Time came up.
“Oh yes!” Rottytops grinned, bouncing on her heels in anticipation. “Come on Shantae, aren’t you excited? This is your chance to win everything!”
“Or lose it…” With a gulp, Shantae headed to the center dice. “But, I mean- there’s all the random coin counts, right? Yeah, just some of your coins…what are the chances that I-”
She hit the dice.
It landed on a star with opposing arrows.
“Oh no,” Shantae repeated, Rottytops howling with laughter as Sky paled.
“Get Sky, get Sky!” Rottytops insisted, arms pumping with enthusiasm.
“Do not get me, do not get me-” Sky looked to Shantae, desperately gesturing for her to abort. “I am begging you, as your friend, do NOT get me!”
“I don’t know how to avoid getting you!” Shantae protested.
“Just try!”
With a hesitant nod, Shantae walked over to the right dice, and let Wario jump.
Rosalina.
“SON OF A-” Sky’s curse was cut short by Rottytops collapsing onto the couch with laughter. The human girl attempted to glare at her, but ultimately it just led into a weary sigh. “…whatever. Just - get it over with. As long as it’s not Rotty…”
“Uh…” Shantae looked to her partner for input, and after an attempt to stifle her laughter, she managed to say-
“Oh, I don’t care at this point! I didn’t think this would even show up again!” Rottytops remarked, her cheer evident as she looked up at Shantae. “Just go for it! Go-Go hit that lucky dice!”
“…aren’t you guys being a bit overdramatic?” Bolo couldn’t help but ask, looking at the zombie and bird handler as Shantae maneuvered Wario to the left. “I mean, it’s just a dice roll. It could be any-”
Wario jumped. Luigi.
“Oh,” Bolo blinked, staring as he and Sky swapped stars. “I will admit, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Honestly, you kinda deserve it, after all that bad luck,” Rottytops chimed in. “Looks like you finally got that lucky break!”
“I guess so,” Bolo nodded as the screen transitioned to his turn. With a quick roll, Luigi got a 2 - just enough for another star. He smiled. “I guess so.”
~~~
“And the Superstar is…Luigi!”
“Good game, Bolo,” Sky gave him a small smile as the screen transitioned to a static photo.
“And you did great too, snackcakes!” Rottytops pulled her arm around the half-genie. “I mean, that last-minute sightseer bonus? Who could’ve seen that coming!”
“It was just dumb luck…” Shantae looked to the side, blushing from the attention. Shaking her head, she looked to Rottytops with a slight smirk. “And you’re not the slightest bit disappointed, miss play-to-win?”
“Well, I still got another shot,” Rottytops returned the smirk, twirling her controller. “I do owe you a round as orange, don’t I?”
“Oh yeah!” Shantae snapped her fingers. “I kinda forgot about that…hey, you guys up for another round?”
Sky and Bolo both nodded.
“Great!” Shantae looked to Rottytops, and with a nod, the zombie girl began to navigate the menu. “What board should we do this time? I was thinking those islands…”