"..." = Speech
<...> = Thought
---
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Shantae immediately began shouting as she backed away from the genie apparently named Harmony while making an x with her arms. "I barely remembered I had one sister recently; what do you mean I have seven more of them!?"
"Wouldn't it be six since she included you in the number?" With that Sky announced her own presence as she waltzed through the door with her arms crossed and Hatchet upon her shoulder.
Immediately Shantae became red in the face and stomped angrily. "T-That's not important!"
Sky just chuckled in response.
"Hahaha, Sultana is indeed the only one who you directly share blood with yet bloodline isn't too important to us genie; to us if you are of the same generation then you are a sister." Bring a hand down to rest atop of Shantae's head. "I'm a little surprised you aren't aware of the rest of us sisters, though."
Even though the action easily could have been seen as dismissive - the larger guardian's hand brought a strange warmth that brought a blush to Shantae's face. One that she found herself okay with letting linger as she looked up at Harmony.
Meanwhile Sky just silently squeezed past the pair.
Watching with her own warm smile.
Simply watching what felt like a reunion despite Shantae having no memory of the woman.
"It's strange, you know, I've watched both Plink and Vera grow up but I swear it was just yesterday when I held you in swaddling cloth. Yet here you are - a heroine who saved the mainland from one of Risky's schemes." The pride in her voice was unmistakable to everyone there.
She then turned toward the Mercenary King with what could best be called an awkward but polite smile as her eyes studied him. "I also see that you are here and, I hope, to share the truth?"
The man opened his mouth as he raised his hands.
Cautiously looking at Shantae who was still enjoying head pats.
Yet Harmony cut him off before he could say anything; shocking Shantae a little when she found herself dragged in front of the older genie by her shoulders.
Left facing Albert as Harmony spoke in a far more stern voice. "Shantae is already clearly a fine adult, but even if she wasn't, she deserves to know about her own history no matter what you feel. We can partly be blamed for not immediately telling you however it is us who need to take responsibility for that."
If she didn't already figure things out Shantae may have been confused. However - she now found herself more focused on her "new" sister - her eyes filled with awe as she looked up at the sharp chin from below with a blush across her face.
Sky (who also knew the truth) could only cover her mouth to prevent herself from awkwardly laughing.
The last thing she wanted was to make a bad first impression on the closest people to Shantae…
Only to turn down slightly to see Shantae with stars in her eyes.
Eventually Sky decided to break the awkward scene for everyone else - who was forced to simply watch - and especially so for Mimic who looked like a broken automaton. "Shantae seemed a bit distracted so let me just add something. Her majesty already shared with Shantae who her father is."
Hearing that made both of them turn toward the blonde as things got increasingly more awkward between the powerful genie and human. Although it seemed to please Aria who let out a silent giggle. That bell-like laughter left both unable to do much else other than rub the back of their necks in a unified surrender.
"W-Well I am mildly impressed that Sultana actually did something like that, she isn't exactly a people person even if she is kind, I half expected her to leave you in someone's care. Only to then lose track of time; quite rude of me I know hahaha." Her boisterous laugh should have helped ease things…
Yet everyone in the room just looked between themselves as if wondering who should tell her.
Except for one little gremlin.
"Oh, no, from what I heard the genie brat didn't even know she had an older sister till she stood in front of the broad in charge." The little relic hunter scoffed.
That got Harmony's brow to twitch.
Moving her fingerless-glove adorned palm to knead the top half of her face.
"I suppose that does explain your lack of knowledge…" Shaking her head as she spoke. "Honestly I should have expected this considering the only elder sisters you will have ran into would be Sultana who has the emotional skills reminiscent of a sledge hammer, Hermit who is stuck in her books and Risky who would rather shoot herself than have a nice family moment."
"Well there is no doubt that she has their personalities down to a T." Sky helpfully added.
Yet Shantae flinched particularly at one name. "Erm is incest a bad thing for us o~r?"
That made her palm fall from her face as she just looked at the sheepish girl with wide eyes that occasionally tried to blink away that surprise.
Eventually she gave up as she leaned back to let out a bellowing laugh.
Meanwhile Albert could only silently watch on as a stone statue who had no idea what to do or what to say while his entire world came crumbling down. His relations with Shantae had been acknowledged yet nobody seemed to care. Instead it turned into some kind of comedy routine.
Him not even being a foot note.
Though he did soon feel a small yet unmistakably warm hand clutch his own; carrying a hidden strength that one wouldn't expect.
Looking back behind himself to see Aria looking up at him with those big blue un-expressive eyes that somehow contained more strength than any other. Her voice left her lips soft but nevertheless held a resolve that could convince water it was oil. "It will be okay."
"... Yes, yes it will, thank you." Giving his best smile to the woman he loved as she simply nodded her head with a little "Nn" before turning her gaze back to the rest of the group.
Of course, she didn't let go of his hand just yet.
---
"Wait, so your power is to control vibrations big sis Harmony?" Shantae asked as her little team walked toward their destination.
Risky was located not too far away from Scuttletown so they decided to simply walk there.
Saving mommy Hatchet from needing to lug around the massive group.
Also letting Shantae ask Harmony as many questions as she liked.
The patient mature genie was obviously more than happy to cater to her youngest sister's curiosity with a warmth they had all come to associate with her. "That is exactly the case - I inherited it straight from my own mother and its destructive potential is only below Sultana's plasma. My transformation is also that of a frog and I can teach it to you later if you would like.
"I do remember yours being a transformation, right?"
"Yeah it is, I already upgraded my most used while having learned a bunch of others, I can also whip monsters with my hair!" More than happy to share her own abilities in turn. "I also learned some magic from a friend then did a crash course on invulnerability when I went to the palace."
Grin on her face as she confidently rested her hands on her swaying hips.
"That is certainly impressive; I believe only Hermit and Sultana are able to use that magic." Stroking her chin as she nodded in appreciation of Shantae's talent.
She turned to Sky who was calmly following behind with Albert & Aria in front.
Humming softly as she recalled her meeting with the girl.
"Hm~ are you sure it is a good idea for you to come in the cavern Sky; it'll probably already be swarming with monsters and we plan to blow it up afterwards." Of course Shantae completely misunderstood her sister's look for something else. As such she was quite surprised when Harmony replied instead.
Having a knowing glimmer in her eyes. "I think you'll be quite surprised with what that one has managed."
"Huh~ I guess she is smarter than me, and you seem confident, so I guess it'll be fine…" Shantae gave in.
Easily convinced by both of them thinking it was fine.
Meanwhile Harmony also got the chance to easily confirm something else by sheer coincidence.
Freezing for a second.
Shaking her head of that for a moment as she decided to simply let it go for the moment (as much as she'd like to) she shouldn't baby the young genie.
As sad as it was… She was already her own woman so had to make her own choices.
Whether trusting this "friend" was a mistake or not was irrelevant.
Soon enough they arrived at a very familiar hole. "Yeah I kind of expected this, we really did not need the guide from team Merc, since this is pretty much just outside of Shantae's house. I suppose we at least got confirmation that team Boots is here?"
"Ah…" Albert flinched at the confirmation that the home team was already one step ahead of him and the fact she put a positive spin only made it worse…
Although his mood quickly improved to the confusion of Shantae and the others.
All except for Harmony.
Albert walked up to the hole before crouching down while throwing his backpack over his shoulder to land in front of him. Quickly pilfering through what was inside to pull out a hammer and nails. Following that out with a rolled up rope ladder that he quickly got to work fasting into the edge of the hole.
While he did that the others made a perimeter; without speaking they formed a barrier around him as he prepared their method down.
Of course, especially for Shantae as well as Aria, that just meant standing around.
Neither particularly needing to get into much of a stance before attacking.
Although Harmony got into a boxing stance and Sky tightened her own stance till her heels were touching with only her elbow jutting out as she held two fingers over her heart.
Meanwhile, her other hand came to rest in front of her lips with those same fingers raised.
Seeing that strange pose instantly caught Shantae's attention.
"Eh~ what's that about?" Not bothering to be subtle about her investigation as she just directly asked the woman in question without any attempts to hide her intentions. It wasn't as if she was malicious; simply curious about seeing a side that she had never seen from Sky before.
Seeing that made Sky subtly grin.
For a moment she contemplated not answering yet she decided it was probably best not to hide her skills when they were about to jump into danger.
"Well, as you know, your wish with Risky resulted in me essentially becoming more like a genie which also resulted in magic starting to flow through me. I figured I could probably do something with that power and this is what came from that." She said before showcasing a little demonstration.
Widening her stance while at the same time shooting her top pair of fingers down in a smooth line; in response a small but accurate bolt of lightning erupted out.
Due to little build up it didn't actually do much damage.
Though Sky was quite pleased with what it did - scorching the surface of a boulder a couple meters away.
If Sky was pleased then Shantae was veritably vibrating with excitement - her eyes sparkling as the only reason she didn't leap at her partner was due to needing to protect her father. "Wow, that was amazing, way faster than my Lightning Puff. Nobody would be able to react before BAM they're shocked!"
Nobody hated hearing praise from someone they loved and Sky was more than happy to soak in the evaluation from a proven combatant.
It also wasn't just Shantae who decided to comment.
Harmony nodded at her sister's assessment before adding her own. "I must admit I was worried about how useful something that required charge up would be in combat but I see now that I was greatly underestimating your new technique. It clearly possesses both power and speed."
"Only one or the other at the moment but I imagine not a lot of things can shrug off even a small amount of electricity flowing through their skulls." Sky added to receive a nod from both genie.
She returned back to her first stance once more as they waited for Albert to finish.
Fortunately it wasn't his first time exploring a massive underground cave system so he finished quickly.
Standing up once he firmly secured it before kicking the other end of the ladder down into the abyss.
"We should be ready but I think it best I go down first followed by Aria who can fly herself down while protecting me from enemies. Last should probably be Harmony who is the most important part of the plan as well as the next most experienced fighter." He announced with a more serious air.
No longer did he have the silent goofiness hidden behind an aloof front.
Now he felt every bit the Mercenary King he was.
The girls promptly nodded and allowed him to take charge with Shantae's thoughts on it being shared with her allies.
So with that they went with his plan.
A few bats did try their luck as he climbed down but a few wind blades from a tornado engulfed Aira was enough to make them pop.
"Guess it'll be best if I also transform and help out a bit; could transform into a bat however I think it's smarter to go with ol' reliable!" She said as she began to dance. Yet before she could finish she suddenly felt the entire continent below her feet tremble.
An audible rumble filling their ears as they were suddenly tumbling about just in front of a definitely not bottomless but very dangerous pit!
Mercifully Harmony was nothing short of an expert when it came to keeping her balance during quakes.
Her own power leading it to be a requirement.
She not only remained on her own feet but hurried to grab the other two girls to prevent them from falling over the edge.
When that shaking ended she released the two younger women with her smile completely gone.
Walking up to the edge to look down only to shake her head. "It would seem Risky was ready for us as those two have been kidnapped; we'll need to rush if we want to make it in time. Shantae, would it be quicker if you took us down in your flying transformation?"
"Er, yeah, it's a harpy so I may have struggled bringing you up with me but, yeah, me gliding down should be way quicker than climbing the ladder." Momentarily stunned by her sister taking charge yet more than happy to fall into line. Not waiting for the confirmation before once again starting to dance.
"Miss Sky I think it'd be best if we both went down together as long as Shantae is willing and able; I'll leave the regular monsters to you when we're down there." Turning to the bird tamer.
Although Sky wasn't fully convinced she still agreed. "If the monsters aren't defence focused I should be able to handle them quickly enough. Makes sense that you two save your energy for whatever Risky is hiding down there so I'll try my best to lighten your load."
"That is all I can ask." Turning back to her hole as she replied.
Tightening her fist as she mentally prepared for whatever tricks her devious sibling had schemed up.