Catching a Genie
Sequel to 'The Genie and The Alchemist'
by DJlurker
(F/F/F, tar, PG-13)
Shantae, Guardian Genie of Scuttle Town, was flying across the desert on her magic carpet, an angry scowl on her face. Of course, when your uncle's lab is sabotaged and blown up, with said uncle being laid up in bed because of it, you'd be angry too. And Shantae knew *exactly* who was responsible...
(Parace L'Sia, chemistry professor and master of the four classic elements- Earth, Air, Water and Fire,) the young woman thought to herself. (Of course it has to be her- Risky Boots would have just blasted the place to pieces with her steam-powered Tinker Tub. But instead, the chemicals that Uncle Mimic was working with were modified... with explosive results! Thank goodness he only got some burns and a bump on the head...)
Soon, she reached the small building in the desert that she recalled from their first encounter... Making sure to set down right next to the building to avoid the hidden quicksand, she walked inside...
(Crud, looks like no one's home...) But then, Shantae spotted a piece of paper on the desk with handwriting. Picking it up, she read:
I thought this might be the first place you looked for me, but as you can see, I've moved to a new address. I await your arrival on Mud Bog Island. Try not to keep me waiting...
-Parace L'Sia
P.S. Is your uncle doing well?
Shantae growled as she read the last line, crumpling the letter into a ball which she tossed away. "I'll show you, Parace... beating up Bolo for wrecking your experiment is one thing, but this crosses the line!" With that, she returned to her flying carpet, taking off for Mud Bog Island...
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Shantae, a familiar bird was doing its best to follow her...
As she approached Mud Bog Island, Shantae recalled what happened last time she was here... (The monsters were horrendous... and then there was the Village of Lost Souls, where I encountered...) Her train of thought came to an abrupt halt as she saw the very person she was thinking of standing at the dock- The human (soul) form of her zombie friend Rottytops! (Wait, what's she doing outside the village?) She brought her flying carpet to a halt in front of the woman in question. "Um, hello..."
"Hi there! Nice to see you again!" Human Rottytops exclaimed happily. "You know, I've been dreaming about you an awful lot lately when I sleep... It's kinda surreal to see you in person again." She looked just like Shantae remembered- Short, grayish-brown hair held in place by a yellow headband, red-rimmed glasses set over deep blood-red eyes, a short-sleeved white button-up blouse with a green collar and breast pocket, along with a green plaid short skirt.
"You don't say?" muttered the half-genie as she got down from her carpet before stretching her legs. "Nothing naughty, I hope."
"Oh no, nothing like that!" the human soul shook her head. "Just usual, friendship stuff... though I think I might've played a prank or two on you. Nothing too bad, though, I promise!"
(Sounds about how Rotty and me have been getting along lately...) Aloud, Shantae spoke, "So, what are you doing all the way out here anyway?"
"Well, actually..." Human Rotty dug the toe of her shoe into the ground slightly. "A lady scientist came and set up shop here, and kinda hired me as her assistant." She shrugged. "Though it's been mostly helping carry stuff around... I know I wear glasses, but that doesn't automatically make you a genius, y'know?"
"Oh, I know, believe me," Shantae nodded. "Just as long as Parace isn't running you ragged, I guess..."
"Huh?!" the other woman gasped. "How'd you know her name? I didn't even tell you!"
"She invited me here," Shantae put it bluntly.
Human Rotty snapped her fingers. "Ooohh, so you're the special guest she sent me out here to greet! Yeah, I'm supposed to escort you to her lab..." She then looked down. "Except, the monsters kinda beat me up a bit on my way out here... I'm kinda surprised I made it here without a scratch."
(Probably because you're already dead,) the genie girl mused.
"So, can you take care of those monsters so they don't beat me up on the way back? Please?" Rotty pleaded.
"OK, OK..." Shantae sighed. "I figured something like this was gonna happen anyway..."
The monsters were just as tough as Shantae remembered, but her previous experience served her well, not to mention she now had access to her dancing transformations again... The goo monsters were easily run down by her elephant form, for example. Soon, the two girls arrived at a bridge over a wide pit in the ground.
"OK!" Human Rotty nodded. "Just gotta get over this bridge, and we're there!"
Shantae could make out what appeared to be a large stone building on the other side. "I dunno... the bridge doesn't look up to code..."
"It's fine!" The other girl insisted. "I've crossed it lots of times, and it hasn't collapsed or anything!"
"Well then, how about you go first?" Shantae offered.
"OK," Rotty shrugged, before starting across the bridge, Shantae cautiously following. (Seems to be solid enough so far...) But when they reached the halfway point, a familiar woman appeared in front of the two with a *brrzhing!* She had white hair, dark skin, red eyes and pointed ears, and a bosom that would make Risky Boots jealous... Her attire consisted of a single piece of white cloth that covered her crotch, splitting higher up to cover her breasts, along with white thigh-high boots, white arm-gloves, and a off-white cape with pointed shoulder guards.
"Parace L'Sia!" Shantae exclaimed, an angry scowl on her face.
"Hello, Shantae. We meet again," the alchemist greeted with a haughty smirk. "Lolly, thank you for bringing her here."
"Lolly?" Shantae blinked in confusion.
"Um, yeah... Since I don't remember my name, Miss Parace nicknamed me 'Lollipops', cause I'm just so sweet, or so she says," the glasses-wearing girl blushed slightly.
(Lollipops... Rottytops... close enough, I guess,) the genie mused, though she kept a close eye on Parace.
"By the way, Miss Parace... why are you dressed like *that* for?" 'Lolly' asked.
"You might say this is my 'battle-mode'," Parace replied as she summoned her four elemental gems, Shantae taking a defensive pose in response. "Though I have no intention of fighting today..."
"Just what is that supposed to mean?" the half-genie growled.
The Arcana of Life just chuckled. "You *do* realize where we are... on a rickety bridge over a wide chasm..." Shantae's face paled, as she immediately turned and ran back the way she came...
But it was too late, as Parace picked up 'Lolly' with one arm, floating above the bridge as she induced her Fire gem to cause a small explosion that broke the bridge in two, Shantae screaming as her footing dropped from under her, gravity doing its thing. "Oh craaaaaaa-"
*SPLUDGE!*
The genie had landed on her rear, her arms and butt sunk into some viscous, sticky substance that rippled from her impact. "Oh gross..." Attempting to stand, her feet and knees sank under leaving her trapped waist-deep in a sitting position. "Crud!" She tried to pull her hands out, but the sticky goo pulled back with such force that she only succeeded in sinking herself deeper. "Geez, what is this stuff? It's like tar or something...!"
"It *is* tar... functionally, anyway," stated Parace as she floated down, having safely deposited her assistant on the other side of the chasm. "In the sense that it's black, bubbly, and sticky... too sticky for a mere human to escape. Or a genie, for that matter..."
"Functionally?" Shantae grunted as she continued to tug at her trapped arms.
"Indeed, for you see, actual tar is a nasty petrochemical that's toxic for your skin, among other things," the alchemist lectured. "While one exposure probably wouldn't kill you, if you don't get it off fast enough, those toxic chemicals may leach into your bloodstream, and... well, need I say more. That being said... the substance you're stuck in right now, is more akin to some *very* sticky mud, though there are some unknown compounds, of which my analysis so far has been inconclusive, at best..." She looked down at Shantae, who was now sunk to her ribcage. "Also, I wished to test just *how* sticky it really was, and seeing as I didn't want to use Lolly as a test subject..."
The genie's eyes went wide as the implication hit her. "Oh no... That's why you attacked Uncle Mimic..."
Parace chuckled. "Exactly. I knew that injuring someone close to you would allow me to take advantage of your headstrong nature... and you swallowed the bait, hook, line, and sinker. And I also learn from my mistakes... I'm certainly not floating close enough for your ponytail to grab me this time. Although, you probably can't pull it out from the tar now, either..."
"Rrrrgghh!" Shantae growled in frustration as she continued to struggle haplessly in her sticky entrapment, which only resulted in her settling down to her bosom, the tar-like substance now clinging to her top. "Oh no... I'm really stuck..." (And it feels so... warm...) She stopped squirming in order to catch her breath...
"Hmhmhmm... If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're almost enjoying yourself," Parace teased mockingly. "Not that you have any choice in the matter. Not even your genie dances can save you now." The genie glared up at her, though she said nothing. "No witty retort? I thought not."
To her surprise, Shantae seemed to realize something, then smirked. "Actually, Parace... I think I'm the least of your worries right now... Lookie up yonder."
"Huh?" Parace instinctively glanced up... and saw nothing.
"KE-YAAAAAH!" That was because the large bird actually dive-bombed the Arcana of Life from behind, sending her falling down, her hands plunging almost up to the elbows in the sticky black goo as she tried to break her fall.
"Agh! Oh, no!" In a panic she tried to yank her arms out, only to feel the tar swallow her legs and buttocks, her cape spreading over the surface as she continued to writhe and struggle... then she became aware of Shantae's triumphant laughter.
"Hah ha ha ha ha! Good one, Wrench!" the genie complimented Sky's pet bird, who was hovering several feet in the air above, about where Parace had been before. "Now, go back to Sky and get help, OK? I can't get out of this stuff by myself!"
"Ke-yaahh!" Wrench acknowledged, flapping its wings harder to rise up and out of the chasm, before setting off for Scuttle Town.
"You stupid avian pest!" Parace screamed after the war bird as it departed, her own bosom now pressing into the sticky surface. Further struggling only caused her to settle into an upright position, chest-deep, her arms firmly stuck at her sides.
"Who's the test subject now, Parace L'Sia?" Shantae taunted.
"Watch your mouth, genie. I can still use my elemental gems to make life very miserable for you..." Indeed, said gems were still rotating above the alchemist's head, forming a strange halo... Shantae wisely clammed up.
But then... "Miss Parace, I'll save yooooooouuu!" A voice echoed from above...
"Huh?!" The two women looked up-
*SPLUTCH!*
-just in time to see Human Rottytops fall down in front of them, plunging past her waist into the sticky goo in an instant. The human soul then looked down, then up at her trapped companions. "Uh... hee hee... oopsie..."
Parace's expression turned incredulous for a second, before reverting to anger. "Lolly, you *idiot*! Just what were you expecting to accomplish?! I rescued you from the bridge for a reason, you know...!"
"Ummm..." 'Lolly' slowly twisted back and forth in the tar as her face heated up. "W-well, I saw that bird fly down and attack you, and then you got stuck... I guess I panicked..." She tried to push herself up, only for her hands to sink past her wrists in the ooze... "Crap!" She struggled more, only succeeding in miring herself just as deep as the other two. "Ugh, this stuff is sticky beyond belief! How are we gonna get outta here?!"
"Calm down!" Shantae instructed. "I sent Wrench back to get help! We'll just have to sit pretty until they get here..."
"So that's your bird?" Parace inquired.
"Well, actually, he belongs to a friend of mine," the genie explained. "But he's smart enough to obey my commands, too... B-but just to be clear, I didn't order him to dive-bomb you- he did that on his own!"
"Is that right..." Parace muttered, as she eyed a large bubble inflating in front of 'Lolly'... which then popped, spattering the human soul with black dots.
"Agh! It got all over my glasses! Yuck!" 'Lolly' yelled in disgust. "And I think a little got in my mouth, too! Pfftthhhtt! Ptooey!"
"Pfffff... hee hee hee.. ah ha hahahahahahaha!" Shantae couldn't hold it in any longer, as she laughed aloud at 'Lolly's' antics. Parace began to chuckle as well, and soon, all three were laughing uncontrollably. That broken bubble seemed to have broken the tension between the trio...
"Heeheehee... S-sorry, Rotty, er, Lolly," Shantae gasped out. "I couldn't help it, you were just too hilarious right there..."
"Hee hee... It's OK," 'Lolly' answered. "I don't mind a good laugh.. even if I'm the butt of the joke." She then sighed in contentment. "Besides, this stuff actually feels pretty nice... and *warm*... whenever I'm outside the village, I always feel so cold, and I can't seem to warm up..."
(Cold as death, perhaps?) Shantae mused.
"Hmmmm... It *does* feel rather nice, doesn't it?" sighed Parace, closing her eyes as she gently squirmed in her sticky entrapment. "At least we can enjoy ourselves while awaiting rescue..."
"Yeah," Shantae breathed out, "I think you're right..." Another bubble then popped, this time spattering Shantae with black dots. "Gah! It got me, too!"
'Lolly' started giggling again, while Parace observed, "Oh dear... does that mean it's my turn next?" She then heard another bubble pop behind her, a few dabs of 'tar' now spotting her white hair and cape. "I suppose that answers that question..."
"No fair! How come you only get spattered from behind?" The half-genie half-heartedly protested.
Parace shrugged, sending a ripple across the black shiny surface. "Just lucky, I guess." The Arcana of Life then leaned back slightly, sighing in contentment as she enjoyed the 'tar's' warm clinginess... Meanwhile, 'Lolly' was slowly bobbing up and down in her entrapment, sending more ripples through the sticky muck... Shantae closed her eyes and moaned softly as felt the 'tar' jiggle around her submerged body from the human soul's actions...
A few minutes later...
"Shantae!" A voice called from high above, waking the half-genie girl from her reverie. Looking up, she saw her friend Sky, hanging on to Wrench's talons as she slowly descended down to them... "My gosh, you three are really stuck, huh?"
"Yay! Someone's come to save us!" 'Lollipops' exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, but how? Got any ideas, Sky?" Shantae asked.
Sky bit her lip. "That's a good question, actually..."
"I have an idea," Parace spoke up. "But it's going to require your friend to get a little dirty, if you catch my drift..."
The blonde's face briefly contorted in disgust. "Well, that depends on what your plan is..."
"Just follow my instructions," stated the alchemist. "First, I'll need you to drop down in here so that you can reach both Lolly and myself... And please, for goodness sake, try not to get your arms stuck..."
"O-Okay..." Sky levitated to the spot Parace told her, before letting go of Wrench, swiftly sinking to her waist in the tar-like substance. "Ugh, this stuff is so thick and sticky! No wonder you three couldn't escape..."
"All right, now try and grab a hold of me and Lolly," Parace instructed.
Sky hesitated for a moment. "You do realize there's only one part of your bodies I can really grab..." As she said this, she tentatively reached out, her hands resting on both women's bosoms...
"Hehe, I don't mind!" 'Lolly' giggled, her face flushing slightly.
"I'll make an exception just this once," said Parace. "Now, see if your bird can pull Shantae's ponytail out of this tar..."
"Oh, I think I see what you're doing..." muttered the genie girl as Sky ordered Wrench to do as Parace suggested. Thankfully, with a little pulling (and pain), Shantae's hair was freed, allowing her to curl it around Parace's left arm tightly. Wrench then alighted on Sky's shoulder, tired out, which caused the blonde to settle down to her chest in the sticky goo.
"Ugh, gross!" Sky's face contorted in disgust. "If you're going to do something, Parace L'Sia, do it now..."
"Just be quiet so I can concentrate," Parace ordered, before closing her eyes and focusing...
*BRR-ZHING!* The four ladies (and one bird) instantly reappeared on the ledge opposite from Parace's lab, all but Parace herself falling on their butts from gravity reasserting itself.
"WOAH!" cried Bolo, who was standing nearby. "Didn't expect that to happen..."
"W... we're free!" cried 'Lolly' jumping to her feet in joy. "You did it, Miss Parace!"
"Hmhm... of course I did," Parace chuckled, though she was careful not to cross her arms, still covered in black goo from the chest down, as were the others...
"Yuck!" Sky groaned, "Not an experience I want to repeat..."
"Me neither," Shantae agreed.
"Yeah, looks like you ladies all need to go get cleaned up," Bolo observed. "How'd you just appear like that, anyway?"
"Teleportation," Parace deadpanned. "I remember you, the naive idiot who made me mess up my measurement..."
"Huh?" Bolo blinked in confusion, before his train of thought checked into its station. "AAAHH! YOU! Please don't beat me up again! I'm sorry!" He cowered away...
"Not on my watch," muttered Shantae as she stood to her feet. "You leave him alone, Parace..."
"Fine by me," the alchemist shrugged. "It's clear he's learned his lesson, anyway..."
"Well, you certainly haven't!" the half-genie countered.
"Well, she's about to," Sky interjected. "That package I delivered to the lab before I flew down should be going off right about... now." Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the stone building, followed by several smaller booms, smoke billowing from inside.
Parace's eyes went wide with horror. "No... No! My test samples! My notes! My expensive apparatus! It's all gone!" She gritted her teeth as her hands curled into claws.
"What goes around comes around," Sky stated triumphantly. "You sabotaged Mimic's laboratory, so he decided to give you a little payback, with a little something he called... a 'time bomb'."
"That's right!" Bolo exclaimed. "He told me to make sure not to pull that string in the middle until it was ready to be set off..."
"Oh no..." moaned 'Lolly'. "Does this mean I'm out of a job?"
Parace L'Sia let out a growl of frustration, as she slowly turned toward Shantae and her friends. "Well, I have to hand it to you, you've certainly managed to become quite the *annoyance*..." Shantae took a defensive stance. "Fortunately for you, you're not the ones I'm really after..."
"We're not?" Shantae blinked in surprise.
"...You might say, I come from another world entirely," The Arcana of Life explained. "But my larger-scale experiments keep getting interrupted by meddling girls over there as well... I came to Sequin Land hoping I could at least perform some small-scale experiments without interruption... But I can see that's no longer feasible. So I may as well pull up stakes and head back home."
"And what makes you think we're going to just let you leave?" The genie challenged.
Parace just smirked. "Because you owe me one, Shantae. After all... Did it not occur to you that I could have simply teleported myself and Lolly out of that gunk at any time?"
Shantae's eyes went wide with shock. "B... but why bother to save me at all?"
"As I said, you're not my true adversary," stated Parace. "You never would stand a chance against me in combat if I decided to get really serious... You're an annoyance and nothing more. However, if you let me go now, I promise to never return..."
Shantae growled in frustration. "F... fine! Just go! But you better hold to your word and never come back!"
Parace chuckled. "So be it. Farewell, Guardian Genie of Scuttle Town." With that, the alchemist teleported away, never to return.
"Ugh... so she *was* a villain all along," 'Lolly' groaned. "I'm so sorry... Shantae, was it? I never thought I was leading you into a trap..."
"It's fine," Shantae waved her off. "Forgiven and forgotten. Don't worry about it. Anyway..." she gestured to her 'tar'-covered body. "...we should go back to the dock and wash off, and then we'll escort you back to the village, OK?"
"OK!" The human soul nodded with a smile.
"By the way..." Bolo spoke up. "Maybe I'm just being stupid again, I could swear I've met you before..."
"Yeah, me too, actually," 'Lolly' agreed. "Though I strangely feel like I wanna... eat you or something..."
"E-eat me?!" Bolo exclaimed. "I'm a man, not a piece of meat!"
Sky's eyes went wide as recognition finally kicked in. Leaning over to her genie friend, she whispered, "Shantae, is that girl who I think she is...?"
"Ixnay on the upid-stay!" Shantae hissed back. "Look, I'll explain when we get back home, alright?" Then she proclaimed aloud, "All right, let's get going, everyone! The day's not getting any younger!"
With that, the four (plus one bird) set off...
Meanwhile, in another plane of existence, Parace L'Sia was seemingly floating along aimlessly, pondering her misadventures in Sequin Land... (So in the end, there really wasn't too much of interest in that world... even that supposed genie only had limited shape-shifting abilities... nothing that could get me any advantage over the Millennium Guardian or any other Arcana Maiden worth her salt... and losing that laboratory was quite a setback, too... and yet, I *do* still have one test sample...) She looked down at herself, still covered from her ample breasts to her boots in black, sticky goo. (I'll have to wash my hands off at least, but after that, I should be able to scrape more than enough of this off me to test and replicate...)
An idea then occurred to Parace. Though it had cooled down significantly, part of her was still enjoying the feeling of the tar-like substance that clung to her body... "I wonder... could I somehow *enhance* this pleasurable feeling from this sticky stuff... perhaps completely sap my opponent's will to fight...?" It would be the perfect trap, too sticky to escape, and the victim not wanting to escape anyway... A sinister smile spread over the alchemist's face. "Perhaps my sojourn to Sequin Land wasn't a total loss after all..."
To be continued... in 'A Sticky Situation'
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