Entertaining house guests!

Risky chewed on a nail in thought. The transformation stuff was pretty funny, but now it seemed there was an unexpected player in her little game. A zombie girl that she had dealings with in the past.

Still, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try and play with them both at the same time, if anything to get some good reactions out of the stupid brain-eating brainless ditz of an undead bimbo.

After all, the Half-Genie runt and her entourage of nuisances called "friends" all deserve an invite to this show of cathartic retribution.

In other words...

Shantae and anyone in association with her is on the chopping block.

But that left the question of how to proceed. That rotten-brained airhead practically waltzed into the playset, but Risky didn't need the zombie to slot time out of the day to be toyed with. Night or day, zombie or genie, if the pirate queen desired it, Rottytops would be ready and willing to join in.

With this ring, she's practically the god she always knew she'd be.

And gods can do anything.

So since she can do anything...

"What should I do...?"

The Tinkerbabe currently scrubbing Risky's feet stopped mid-scrub to share her opinion on the matter. Around her the other Tinkerbabes agreed, those massaging their queen's shoulders and the ones fanning from a distance all nodded in agreement. To them, it seems like their Queen-Captain was doing jack all to actually do anything other than talk to herself, so maybe she should do something to actually mess with them.

"Eh?" Risky's constantly idle finger chewing ceased, she drew her hand back and frowned. "I should mess with them? Wow! Incredible! You're a genius!" The pirate queen mocked the minion with bright beady eyes and a squeaky vocal pitch. "Of course I'm going to mess with them! Who asked you?! Idiot!" At the roll of her eyes, she kicked the Tinkerbabe at her feet.

It tumbled down the many steps to her throne and skidded over the slick, glossy tile below. That remake left Risky too annoyed to notice the ring glowing on her finger, though from that moment on, the Tinkerbabe that had been kicked felt much more intelligent than she had before.

She was wise enough not to inform Risky that she, in fact, was the one 'who asked.' Instead, the Tinkerbabe used her newfound intelligence to quickly leave the throne room, and thus the wrath of a pissed off all-powerful pirate queen.

The other Tinkerbabes didn't share such cognitive awareness, though; they all began to mutter among themselves right beside Risky.

"What?" The queen raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I suppose I did ask. Well, whatever. I wasn't actually looking to take suggestions from you idiots. I was just... speaking aloud.."

It was clear they weren't buying her haphazard excuse for being called out on her shit if the look in their dull unamused glowing eyes were anything to go by. But one powerful shout to "GET BACK TO WORK!" got them all back in line.

As they worked, Risky sighed and leaned back into the pleasing pressures her minions made on her shoulders. A good massage should really get the creative muscles flowing.

"So why were you a sexy little lamp!?" Rotty brushed past Shantae without a care in the world and plopped her cute rump right on the genie's bed.

Shantae saw the zombie chick shuffle into a criss-cross sitting position, boots and all, getting some of the outside dirt on her sheets.

"Tsk~ really?" she grumbled audibly.

Rottytops followed the trail of Shantae's blue eyes and glanced down. "Huh?"

"Do you really have to bring your messy boots in here?" Shantae's eyelids narrowed, and she leaned closer, "Is that mud- were you jumping in muddy puddles?"

"Hey!" Rotty waggled a finger, "What I do in my free time is none of your business."

Shantae placed her hands on her hips, "I think when you barge into my house uninvited, TRACKING IN DIRT! It becomes my problem."

"I don't see what the problem is. These are my indoor boots. The outdoor boots are still outside on my outdoor legs~"

"...Then why were you wearing them outside?" Shantae challenged the zombie with a raised eyebrow.

Rottytops opened her mouth, closed her lips back together, and swallowed. "You're changing the topic!"

"What?"

The zombie leaned back and then jumped feet first off Shantae's bed; she landed near the bronze-skinned genie and stretched an arm around her shoulder. "I never knew you transformed into sexy lamps when no one's around."

That was enough to erase Shantae's annoyance; in replacement, though, was embarrassment that formed a blush on her cheeks. "N-No! I don't do that!" She shoved Rottytops off her, and the zombie chick staggered back.

"My eyes beg to differ!" Rotty flashed bright teeth and snickered. She tapped the side of her temple below the yellow hairband, "This brain may be filled with more cavities than a sugar addict’s dentures, but it doesn't forget!"

"Yeah, right." Shantae rolled her eyes, "You forget everyone's birthday every year, but you'll remember that."

"Yep! So what else can you transform into?" Rotty beamed her ruby eyes, looking more alive than most humans.

Shantae brought both hands to rub her temple, "Ughhh~ I can transform into a monkey."

Rottytops rolled her eyes, "No, I know that one already! What funny things can you become? The monkey was cool, like... the first two times."

That response left Shantae feeling genuinely offended, "Wait. What's wrong with the monkey? I'm a cute monkey." She crossed her arms below her patented Risky-themed bikini top, bunching up her boobs in the process.

"Sure..." Rottytops agreed with a shrug, "But! You're a sexy lamp!"

Shantae felt an eye twitch. It was like Rotty came by just to rub this transformation nonsense in her face. What's worse is she doesn't even realize why her magic is acting up. A carpet was one thing, but a lamp!?

The fact that not even her classic monkey form isn't working is a problem.

"I was..." Shantae sighed. Rottytops would be the last person to take something seriously, but there might be something majorly wrong going on. "I was trying to calm down and do some Transform Practice. I do it all the time. But I think something is wrong. I keep turning into random things!"

"Like sexy lamps!"

"Ugh…Rotty!" Shantae stamped her feet. She wished she could tell this to Aunt Mimic, Sky, or anyone other than Rottytops; the zombie-chick only takes problems seriously when it's already too late. "This is serious! I'm not trying to become objects!"

Rottytops stopped mid-laugh, "Objects? Like, you became other things too?" her eyes shone brighter, "Show me!"

Shantae ignored Rotty and kept insisting, "Look. I've been having these weird dreams and... gut feelings... I really think something terrible is happening. Something strong enough to mess with my magic!"

"That's cool, but do you think you can become a bikini? I need a new one." Rotty cupped her boobs below the Risky-theme skull bikini. She bounced her chest and jumped twice to make them jiggle, "My boobies have been growing! I know, zombie, right? But it's true! I've been drinking a loooot of milk, and..."

"Boobies..." Shantae found herself saying. That word sent a kick to her head when Rotty brought it up.

Her suspicion has only deepened with all of these botched transformation attempts, and it really feels like her consciousness is trying to warn her of something. Maybe something magical is afoot, and her genie half is struggling to combat it.

"Yeah, boobies." Rotty said, "So do you think you could try to warp into some bikinis? I just want to test out different sizes. I promise I won't wear you out, or forever, heehee~"

Shantae stared at her friend's rack, the skull on the girl's bikini looked back at her. "Boobs..." she muttered, her eyes narrowed. "That…bikini...wait, wait, wait...wait!"

The genie blinked a few times, then for a second, she could see her vision blur. That gut instinct of hers seemed as though it was cheering her on as she tried to focus her eyes on Rotty's cleavage. "Rotty... I..."

Her vision remained fuzzy, but in it, she could see what looked to be two contrasting realities flickering between each other. One where her friend was wearing her usual ripped purple tank top, and another where she was wearing the attire all women wore, Risky-branded bikinis, naturally. But trying to focus on one was much harder than seeing the other. Every moment she lost focus, the bikini would return to the focal point of her vision.

"Woah, maybe all this transformation tired you out." Rotty said, her cheery demeanor only faltered for a moment, "I think you could take a breather, yeah?" She stepped forward to give her friend a hard pat on the back.

"Hold on- don't-" Shantae's focus faltered from her friend's hand; the initial pat caused the fog to mostly settle back to normal. But Rotty shared another hit that entirely knocked Shantae's focus out of orbit. "No! No!! Rotty! I was- I was actually figuring out something!"

"By staring at my rack and looking like you're about to pass out? Nice try, Bola tried that excuse last week~" Rottytops looked on with a smirk.

"No, okay- I know for sure...there is something wrong here. Our reality is being screwed with. My genie half has been trying to warn me this whole time!" Shantae shook her head, "Gah~ I feel like an idiot! This whole time I've been messed with like a-a-a freaking toy! We all have!" She glared to her side, eyes staring out the circular window high up on her wall. "But I think I know exactly who we need to beat up to fix all this."

Rottytops blinked, "We? Hold on. You're not making any sense! Why are you staring at queen Risky's castle?"

"Just trust me Rotty," Shantae said, booking it for the door, "And hurry before she tries to reset me again, I think those ‘dreams’ I had were real, and this isn't the first time I've figured it out. But now we have the element of surprise, so-" Right as Shantae stepped out of the front door, she froze in place and, without a second of warning, began to move backward.

Not as though she was purposely walking backward; that would make more sense. No, instead, she was literally moving in reverse. The exact motions she made to leave the room replayed themselves in the opposite direction. To make it even more strange, Shantae also began to talk in reverse as well.

"-os ,esirprus fo tnemele eht evah ew won tuB .tuo ti derugif ev'I emit tsrif eht t'nsi siht dna ,laer erew dah I 'smaerd' esoht kniht I ,niaga em teser ot seirt ehs erofeb yrruh dnA."

Shantae said all while she moved in reverse, even talking her gibberish into a position that Rotty wasn't even standing at anymore. And, while this was funny for the zombie-gal to see, Rottytops couldn't lie to herself. After what Shantae had just told her, seeing this was a bit odd, if also somewhat unnerving. Especially since she knows that she's the one that pulls the pranks, not Shantae; the genie wouldn't use her magic to do something like this.

Also, is this even something Shantae can do?

"Shanteeee~ This is cool and all, but are you doing this on purpose? Or..."

",yttoR em tsurt tsuJ" Was Shantae's response, as if that meant anything.

"Ha~ ha~ ha~" Rottytops rubbed her green arm, "Okay, cool, I'm going to... hit up Sky and the others for a second and let them see this."

Rotty watched Shantae glare to the side, saying, "siht lla xif ot pu taeb ot deen ew ohw yltcaxe wonk I kniht I tuB."

That made Rotty stifle a chuckle, despite the situation. So it obviously seemed like something was screwing around with Shantae, since this happened as the genie was about to run out and confront Risky.

Was Queen Risky really behind this? It wouldn't be the first time the pirate tried to use magic for nefarious purposes. But looking down into her cleavage, Rotty couldn't for the life of her see anything wrong with her Risky-themed bikini. All women wear them.

Rotty shook her head, "Keep goin' in reverse, m'kay? I'll be back with some help before you know it! Then you can help me try out some bikinis!"

"!evah lla eW !yot gnikaerf a-a-a ekil htiw dessem neeb ev'I emit elohw sihT !toidi na ekil leef I ~haG" Shantae continued on her reversed venture.

Rotty watched on, grinning at the interpretive dance of her friend ‘s reversal, pretending to be the transformations, all the way back until Shantae begins getting dressed for the morning, Rotty gasping with a glimmer in her eyes seeing her friend essentially stripping.

Then, right as Shantae removed her clothes and the pajamas were about to be grabbed, she staggered forwards, as if suddenly allowed to move. Shantae was now in full control of her movements, making a shrieking noise as she immediately covered herself from the hungry-eyed zombie.

Unlike last time this happened, she was fully aware that she was moving backwards, struggling to stop herself from moving in reverse. Something or someone was messing with her, and she has to get to the bottom of this.

“Rrgh! Stop staring, perv! Something’s been messing with me all day and I can’t stand it! I have to find out what’s causing this!” She says to Rotty, as she makes a move to get dressed again. As she tried reaching for her pants, Rotty picked them up and held up the rear to Shantae’s face, smugly grinning at her theory she was about to tell her, “Maybe it’s Risky Boots? You know, the queen that butts heads with you all the time, maybe she’s got something on you right now~”

Hearing this, and seeing the “Property of Risky Boots” written on her pants, Shantae; after snatching the pants, had everything click into place in her mind. “Of course!” She cried, slipping the pants on, “She’s been messing with me, I’m sure of it!” She always wondered why she had the words stuck on all her pants, but now in this context, it made sense, Risky must be behind this!

She dragged Rotty out of her house, and began marching over to the palace where the queen hides herself, ready to give her a piece of her mind.

Rotty Tops however, decided to tag along even as Shantae let go of her, not really questioning this sudden new vigor in her friend, merely going with the flow like she normally does, wondering if she’ll do anything funny along the way before she bails when they reach the gates. Guards don’t exactly treat zombies like her nicely, after all.

Meanwhile, at Castle Boots, Risky was a little annoyed with the Zombie in her playthings’ presence. She thought it might be fun to see her react in shock or second hand embarrassment, but no, she’s just playing with Risky’s toy. Ah well, nothing she can’t handle with just a truth bomb or two.

“Let’s see. On the way to my castle, Rotty keeps getting in the way of Shantae, making her bumble around into erotic and embarrassing positions!”

With that, she watched the mayhem of the journey, deciding to get up and stretch a little, and to get ready should she finally arrive, the Tinkerbabes in charge of massaging her scrambling back to work, cleaning the place in a sweeping dervish of brooms.