Shantae: Fight Club - Round 0: Prologue

As the years go by without a threat to Sequin Land, Shantae finds her boredom overtaking her...but when she takes up boxing as a way to stay fit, one of her friends stakes his claim as Scuttle Town's resident champion pugilist.

Life had changed.

Ever since Shantae had returned from Paradise Island, boredom had begun to creep its way into her life. As if she had never existed, her arch-nemesis, Risky Boots, had disappeared. But as opposed to the normal stretch of time where the small port town of Scuttle Town felt peace, soon, days, months, and then years passed. The only times where Shantae felt like a hero was when she was carrying out the odd errand for the townspeople...but other than that, she felt like she was going insane from the lack of any action.

She had even tried to seek out advice from her best friend, Sky...although with how Sky acted, if you had happened upon them in conversation, they seemed more so like bitter acquaintances.

Sky had always been in a hurry to grow up. She had no time for childish endeavors such as 'adventure' and 'heroism'...to her time was better spent looking for a man to marry and settle down with, or looking after the war birds under her care.

The blonde birdwatcher made it clear that she had nothing for Shantae, although with how much she had spoken, you'd think the opposite.

"Maybe this is your sign to take my advice and do something actually fitting of your age," Sky chortled, almost haughtily.

As much as Shantae respected Sky...she was the wrong person to ask. Sky seemed to sense as much, taking offense without anything having been said.

"...if you're looking for something to do, maybe you should track down the no-brainer," Sky said, almost muttering as if to hide the mere mention of said no-brainer...a zombie named Rottytops.

"Why couldn't you have just started with that?" Shantae asked exasperatedly.

"Because she's trouble, that's why!" Sky met the half-genie with a retort almost instantly. "With all those eggs she threw at my house, you'd wonder who the actual bird trainer is."

Sky's relationship with Rotty was a...tense one. Shantae figured that after all this time, they would've tried to see eye to eye, but even after all this time, there was no such luck.

"As I was saying..." Sky continued. "I had traveled abroad for a spell before then, and I had managed to run into her of all people. Wearing padded gloves, and that boring excuse of a swimsuit. But I can't deny, she..."

Sky seemed apprehensive for a moment.

"She what?" Shantae noticed Sky's apprehensiveness.

"...she...was putting on quite a show against the poor guy she was fighting."

Shantae rubbed it off as Sky not wanting to give Rotty a compliment. But this was the first she was hearing of it. From Sky's description, it sounded like Rottytops had taken up boxing in the meantime, and had gotten pretty good at it.

It was something...and honestly, Shantae would take up whatever hobby she could just to stave off the boredom she had been feeling lately.

"...why do I get the feeling I've given you a bad idea?" Sky asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not a bad idea! Surprisingly," Shantae rebutted. She could tell Sky was on the verge of lecturing her about how dangerous it was, but she wasn't about to hear it. "I don't plan on fighting anyone. I just need something to do...anything!"

"...you promise you aren't going to fight anyone?"

"As if. My hair's a lot stronger than my fists anyways!"

Sky was certain this wouldn't last long. Knowing Shantae, this would go from a hobby to something else...she wasn't even sure why she had told Shantae about Rottytops anyways.

As she started to think about it, she hardly noticed Shantae already planning her leave.

"Try not to hurt yourself. I wouldn't want to say 'I told you so'."

"You've been waiting to say that since we were kids."

And with that, Shantae left Sky's hatchery. The birdkeeper, although she hadn't shown it, had been keeping something buried inside...and just thinking on it made her clench both her teeth and hands in embarrassed anger.

"Just you wait and see, No-Brainer...I'll get back at you...!"

TWO MONTHS LATER

Shantae had been making to most of her free time...and she had a lot of it.

Fighting in this way wasn't exactly popular anymore. People much preferred seeing flying carpet races, and if they were feeling particularly adventurous, they could just head to an arena to see a brave soul try to brave the many monsters Shantae had become accustomed with. So Shantae hadn't exactly worried herself with what would happen if someone were to challenge her.

Something she should've thought about as she (quite literally) bumped into another one of her childhood friends, Bolo.

To most, the young man was both lazy and adventurous in equal measure. He always desired to prove himself to everyone around him...and much to his chagrin, no one took him seriously. Despite teaching Shantae how to fight, it wouldn't be too far off to say that he wasn't considered the hero he aspired to be.

"What are you doing here?" Shantae asked,having already suited up. Her workouts had been fairly uneventful, so she wasn't expecting to see him here.

"I'm training," He answered, quick and to the point.

"I can see that...but I didn't think it would be here of all places," Shantae replied. First Rottytops, and now Bolo...maybe her hobby wasn't as unpopular as she had thought. "Out of all of us, I didn't think you'd need to stay in shape. Lugging that ball and chain of yours around is practically a workout in itself!"

"It's not for staying fit," Bolo explained. "I've been fighting now and again. I think it's the one thing I'm pretty good at, if I do say so myself."

"Really?" Shantae's interest was piqued, equally compounded by her doubts of Bolo's accomplishments. "Care to list any opponents?"

"Well, I gave that Bran-Son a good beatdown. He did the whole mid-fight transformation sequence, but I was still able to take him down!" Bolo seemed pleased with himself. So pleased, in fact, that Shantae was inclined to believe him. But...

"Bran-Son?"

"...you know, the cyclops guy?"

"I know a lot of cyclops guys."

"The cyclops guy with the fake sword, the way too long catchphrase and the over-the-top deep voice?"

"Oh, him...was he tough?"

"Not really."

"Hmm..."

Shantae began to feel something well deep inside her. It wasn't something she had felt before, not by itself. It was always preceded by a desire to save her town, her friends, her people...but this time, not so much.

She wanted to fight.

She had promised Sky she wouldn't, but...hitting the bag time and time again felt like she was depriving her gloves of their purpose.

"Well, if he wasn't that tough, maybe you need a real challenge." She smirked, an air of competition emanating from her.

"And you're that person?" Bolo wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but if there was one thing he understood, it was a call to action. By the way the look of determination on her face mirrored his own, he took that as a yes. "You're on. I've been waiting for a chance like this...you're always the one being praised as a hero. But once I beat you, maybe people will realize I'm just as capable as you are."

"Aren't you jumping the gun a bit? I've been hit by cannonballs, massive mummies, and snake ladies with swords...I won't go down without a fight."

The two stared each other down with intense smirks on their faces.

And just like that, boxing became something much more than a hobby to her.