[Maverick Hunter Zero]

< Mari, it is time! Select which character you would have befriend Shantae. >

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After her third attempt at fighting in the arena proved more bountiful, Shantae had thought that she had the battle in the bag, but sadly she earned her first actual loss in that battle against Captain Falcon, the pain of her defeat at his fists was at least more bearable than the blows he had dealt to her with those fists, and the punches actually left bruises that it took her three hours getting back to her house from the arena, said house was actually a lighthouse that was surrounded by a large pond, luckily it was situated in the park and she was used to places like that.

When she got onto the roof of her house, she would fall asleep, letting the breeze soothe her body though it would be quite a while before the bruises were gone. The one thing that she hoped to never have happen was for Arle or Ashe to have seen the fight on TV... That alone would be very embarrassing to live down. "that was a bit jarring, even for me. Who would have thought that he was that tough..." Shantae said to herself with her eyes closed, trying to ignore the pain she had endured.

[Mari]

Like neither of them would want ot be their themselves to pamper you Shantae. If only they knew how you felt or didn't happen to be busy at the time.

Instead, a luscious head of hair poked her head out from around the curve of the lighthouse's rooftop, just kinda curious as to whose voice she was hearing. She'd been up there climbing--just for fun, y'know, that thing everyone does--when Shantae returned home and happened to meet up with her. Speaking of which--Hey, that was Shantae! "Oh!" Iris blurted out, moving to crawl over the roof toward the other. Had... Had she climbed up here in that frilly pink dress? "Hey~! You must be Shantae! My name's Iris." she introduced. "I saw some of your fights on SSB!" Iris went on to explain, referring to the Sunshine Stadium Broadcast channel of course. She plopped down next to Shantae's side. Shantae could feel Iris' eyes scanning her body, picking up on her wounds. "I mostly watch to check out all the really cute monsters, but I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed watching you dance!" Iris went on to explain.

"...So--um, some tough guy really roughed you up, huh?" she asked in mild concern, becoming aware of just how much it looked like Shantae should be in pain as she continued observing the other's body.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Shantae's thoughts were placed to the back of her mind when she heard the voice of a young girl. "I see I have some company, it's a pleasure to meet you, Iris." Shantae said, not getting up because if she did, the pain she was enduring from her fight would hurt more than talking about it. "Oh dear... my dancing was indeed good, but the fight itself was rough. And the name you might be looking for would be Captain Falcon, trust me; you do not want to get hit by those punches he pulls, they hurt like crap." she added, her eyes focusing on the young Dragon trainer before she placed a hand on Iris' cheek.

[Mari]

Iris looked somewhat taken aback. Woah. Shantae had said a bad word! ...Must be serious. "That's Captain Falcon?" Iris asked in mild disbelief. Nope wait--misdirection. "I thought he'd be a bird, like Falco or Storm Owl." Iris went on to muse aloud. Her attention, however, was drawn by Shantae reaching out to cup her cheek. Huh? What was this?? The seemingly affectionate gesture caught her off guard, maybe even confused her a bit, but Iris was a very 'physical' person with very little sense of personal space. She watched Shantae curiously for a moment as she tried to decide how to respond. Playfully wrestle the other?! ...No wrestling people who were hurt was bad. It took her a moment to resolve the feelings in her heart, after which she smiled brightly and shifted a bit closer, closing what little distance remained and playfully brushing up against Shantae's hand as she did so. "That's okay--I've got some medicine. I'll nurse you back to health like my Mom used to do for me~!" Iris chirped light-heartedly, fishing out a potion and spraying it on a little cloth. She then leaned over and began gently massaging the cloth into Shantae's various visible bruises, unafraid to return the favor and get a little hands on. The potion stung for a brief moment, but the stinging was likely quite mild compared to the bruises themselves. After that moment passed, however, there was a soothing and cooling feeling as the potion began to work, easing some of Shantae's pain. Everywhere Iris could find exposed skin was fair game--Shantae's belly, arms, shoulders, neck, and face would all be the subject of some healing touch. Finally, she stopped to hold Shantae's cheek, her smile widening as she returned the gesture from earlier. "I hope that feels a little better..."

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Shantae was slightly astounded by the fact that Iris was being kind, though the prospect of being hurt more by wrestling was something she would dread, at least until the potion came out and a cloth was used to rub the medicine itself on the half-genie's body.

And indeed it stung, Shantae slightly winced as every inch of her exposed body was gently rubbed with the potion coated cloth, which then became as soothing as being in a nice hot bath. When the rubdown was complete, Shantae would feel Iris' hand on her cheek. Shantae would then gingerly sit up to test the waters, indeed the pain was gone, but her first loss to a man like Captain Falcon would not abate: which meant that Shantae knew she'd have to become stronger, though to throw a monkey wrench in the man's victory over the half-genie, at least one of the rounds from her flintlock pistol caused his protein drink to be drained rather quickly as a result. "Thanks Iris, I needed that. I'm guessing you climbed up here with a little help from one of your dragons, though I could be wrong if you didn't." Shantae said with an inquisitive look, however it was not the look that would make someone look like they were being X-rayed, but a look that told Iris that the half-genie was curious and wanted to know.

[Mari]

"You're welcome! Princess Peach taught me to take care of a sister in need." Iris replied, striking the Rosie the Riveter Girl Power pose and winking at the other. "...Huh?" she then asked in response to her other question, shifting back to sit on her legs as Shantae sat up. She glanced over her shoulder, back the way she'd came. "--Oh! No. I climbed up here all by myself~" she quickly added, quite proud of herself. It did seem like a heck of a reckless climb. Sheer vertical surfaces without much places to grab and a sharp, probably lethal drop if one fell--provided they were just normal humans and couldn't send out a pokemon to catch them, of course. "It saw it while I was going past and realized it looked kinda taught to climb. That's when I knew I had to try it~" she explained, readying her balled fists in a rather enthusiastic pose.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Shantae was bewildered, Iris actually managed to climb up the outside of her Lighthouse abode and succeeded in reaching the top. "Wow, I never thought of that. At least you got to have fun though." Shantae said with a giggle, giving Iris a hug in respect to her climbing skill.

Shantae then began to ponder, sure she had her genie magic, but that was only useful if she could manage to actually land a successful hit with just her fireball alone, she did have some form of offense to compliment her magic, but if her adversary had any form of speed it would be pointless to keep going all out until she managed to wear them down. But against someone like Captain Falcon, who managed to come out on top by way of managing to use her strategy in dancing against her she would have every right to want to mess with him at some point... But not today, and most certainly not until she managed to get stronger. "I guess it would be time for me to consider getting a bit stronger, now that I know that Captain Falcon could get a win against me, I will need to train myself just to keep up." she said as she looked out to the horizon ahead of her, the sun was still out and there was always that one opportunity to learn new things.

[Mari]

Iris was hugged! She was taken entirely off guard, which resulted in her being tugged off balance and getting a face full of marshallowy heck. It was definitely not the first time she'd been smothered by another girl's bosom. Shantae might pick up on some heat coming off of Iris' cheeks. A little blush had formed. Luckily, she was a touchy, hands on kind of person and she seemed to appreciate the unexpected intimacy, slipping her arms around Shantae's waist and returning the embrace after just a brief moment's hesitation. She seemed to accept her fate, leaning into the other and laying her head against Shantae's chest instead of trying to free herself. Shantae could feel the tension dissolve from Iris' muscles. This seemed to soothe her. She'd always found it calming to listen to someone else's heartbeat. It made her feel like she was tuned into someone else's emotions the same way she tuned into her pokemon's. It would probably come as no surprise to Shantae that hugging Iris revealed a firmness to her figure. She had some respectably toned muscles to speak of, considering they didn't show much on her appearance.

"Thanks~" she softly murmured. The moment they shared was brief, but powerful. When she was let go, Iris moved to scoot next to Shantae, eagerly snuggling up to her side in an attention seeking manner. It seemed like she was feeling very amiable at the moment. "That's the spirit! You've just gotta keep training! I know you can get strong enough to defeat Captain Falcon if you put your heart into it!" Iris replied, beaming at the other slightly. She then turned her attention to the horizon.

"...Every challenge is another stepping stone to getting stronger. Princess Peach and Cynthia helped to teach me that love was an important part of being strong. Love for my pokemon. Love for myself. ...And love for my sisters~!" Iris mused aloud, flashing Shantae a bright smile at that last part. "Honestly, I wish I could use my hair like a whip. That looks really cool. But Princess Peach told me that's hard to do with love magic. It's an 'advanced technique'. My heart isn't strong enough to do anything like that yet." Iris explained. "There are lots of cool things I can't do. It's kinda fun having something to strive for, though! Are you thinking about learning a new fighting style too?"

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Shantae felt the hug being returned, and could also feel the toned muscles within Iris' body, the slight blush from Iris being hugged by the half-genie wasn't lost on Shantae, breif and powerful that moment was. "You're welcome. Shantae said kindly, returning the smile that Iris gave her in a form of mutual respect.

It was then that Iris explained about some of the techniques that she couldn't learn through love magic. Shantae would be perplexed on this. "Luckily I had plenty of practice to perfect the Hair Whip technique that I use for taking down lesser Monsters in my realm, I'm probably the only one who can use it as a physical attack despite how advanced it might be for others to try and pull off with love magic. The only truly advanced kind of magic that I might have would probably be my ability to turn into other creatures via dancing, which I never used in combat. Other than that, Genie Magic is quite rare, kinda like searching for a Gold Rupee in terms of rarity." Shantae said softly, patting Iris gently on the head in an affectionate way. Indeed what Shantae said was true, she did have lots of practice when perfecting the trademark technique that would be become her biggest asset in a given battle, and to make it durable enough to withstand the risk of split ends, she had to maintain her hair with Shampoo and Hair Cream, the sheen and luster being similar to how a sword is drawn from it's scabbard.

[Mari]

Iris glew with joy as Shantae pat her on the head. She could tell Shantae was loving on her, and she was pretty happy with that! In return, she provided Shantae with a beautiful smile that could really light up a room. "That sounds really cool~! Me and my pokemon know how to dance, but our rhythms come from a place of ferocious dragon pride~" Iris explained, her voice becoming a bit more sharp and gravely at that last part in immitation of a dragon's pride. Accompanying this, she held up her arms and immitated claws with them. "A lot of people just say they're scary, but I think they're really cute!" Iris explained, gushing a bit over her dragons dancing abilities. She then hunkered back down and idly snuggled into Shantae's side in a rather attention seeking manner, laying her head against Shantae's chest and easing Shantae's arm around her. This one could be a bit assertive when she wanted something. Very unladylike, but it likely came from a good place.

"I mostly learned that my hips can be a powerful weapon too, and that hearts can hurt when you want them too~ Princess Peach is an awesome teacher. But... I bet my hair would be an amazing weapon if I were as skilled with it as you." Iris went on to remark, flattering the other. However, she then yawned rather loudly. Apparently climbing in the evening had exhausted her a bit. "Can I sleep with you..? I don't think I'll make it back down the tower, but I want to try once I've had a good rest." Iris softly asked, any implications in her words lost on her. She certainly sounded innocent, anyway.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

"Dragons... Kinda reminds me of a not so friendly encounter with Dagron in my world, pity I had to put him down to seal a den of evil. As for cute, I believe you, and I might want to see if I can find some way to gain a transformation based on a dragon." Shantae said, the memory of the Massively Misspelt Monstrosity still fresh in her mind. The pleasures of being with a fellow girl who wanted to learn how to use her hair as a weapon was reassuring, but with practice and time, Iris might be able to achieve theheart and willpower to be able to do such.

"I don't mind, after all I needed the company." the half-genie added, laying back down and letting Iris use her like a pillow. Shantae was tired and the rest would be able to do her some good.

[Mari]

"--Oh man~ That sounds awesome! I'd love to help you turn into a dragon~! ...If I knew how, anyway~" Iris replied, rather eager at the idea. I mean, she was pretty comfy where she was now but who was she to judge if someone else wanted to be a dragon? It seemed like a great idea to her if she had to pick a new form~! Chuckling light-heartedly, she scooted on over and laid down, at first propping her head up with her arms next to Shantae. "...I hope some day we can perform a dragon dance together." Iris softly added, seemingly out of nowhere. At this, Iris realized she wasn't all that comfortable and rolled over, snuggling up to Shantae's side and wrapping an arm and a slight bit of a leg around her, laying her head over Shantae's heart. A dress was not meant to serve as a blanket, but hers was pretty big in the skirt area, so it could serve as a half decent one.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

It was Shantae's turn for the cuddles this time, Iris could easily feel the warmth of the half-genies body as she lay there, her head over the area where Shantae's heart was. Both Shantae and Iris were nice and warm to each other, the two easily radiant as night came upon them. Shantae would also feel sleepy, though the potion worked wonders it was at least enough to sooth her body to before the brutal beatdown she had received from Captain Falcon earlier.

Shantae didn't think to look, but just out of range of her vision, a brilliant blue star had appeared in the night sky, seeing something like that had become a rare treat for the half-genie, and she wondered what might happen if she ever encountered such outside the Life Sphere... But unfortunately, sleep finally took over and she began to sleep.

---

...It was a peculiar dream, a vision of the future, or something else entirely... The presence of an entity swam through this vision, an entity of a brilliant shade of Sapphire Blue with glowing orange eyes and jems running the length of it's horns, there it stood, it's face looking over an unconscious being, viewing it as something similar to itself... A non-malicious creature unless provoked, but also viewing it as similar to the humanity that other creatures of it's classification despise. This creature seemed to acknowledge the fact that something this small had great power and potential, enough to ensure the safety of their friends, that they were willing to risk it all just to survive...

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Off in the distance, beyond the range of the Life Sphere itself, a roar could be heard... And it was unlike anything that was seen or heard before or since.

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Shantae
End Presence