The Return of Shantae

The Maneating Waters: Cerci Lagoon

Korah wakes up to find himself in an familiar place, the town of Scuwa. It wasn't ruins anymore but it still felt lifeless, stalls without keepers and no one was walking around. The place was surreal and monochromic in bland color, except for the girl running about on the buildings. "Wait, that girl. Is that?" It was a girl with purple hair, the echoes of the motherly voice rang through his memories. That information alone drove him into chasing her, wanting to know who she is. Though he gave chase, he still can't see her face which made him even more interested.

After running every twists and turns jumping from roof to rafter following the tail of her tied ponytail, he found himself at the lighthouse once more, except it was intact. Once he approches it with caution, the door slowly closed itself giving him the impression that she went inside. As he opens the door all the way, he was welcomed by the an ominous scenery. On top of a cliff at night, a gypsy woman lies dead and a black cloaked stranger holds a baby towards the moon during its final lunar eclipse. The baby was set on fire while still crying and its eyes gleamed golden turning the surface of the moon into the skull that glared over the city, there by cursing it.

The hooded man slowly turns around with the burning child in his arms and stares down at Korah with eyes of searing red flames with the most demonic laughter, one that could haunt him for days to come. His gaze then triggered a mess of disturbing images of abnormal creatures fighting with humanity that soon led to the silhouette of the girl in the view of the red moon crying in tears away from his site. "Hey... Hey wake!" He than wakes up back into the waking realm and back with is team. The slumber ridden boy rubs off the morning glory from his eyes as he stretches his limbs for relief with a good grunting yawn.

Sorin"Focus Kor! You're the one leading today, remember?"

Korah"Yes, of course. Sorry... 😩Yawn, dozed off a bit there. Are we close?"

Sorin"Almost. Just pass the ravine and we'll be there."

After showing off his etched back to Maxine and his stepdad, she shuffled through the research and documents to find a legend about of the Djinns. To her, it seemed that his markings are connect for the Djinns of Ancient Times, showing some of their monstrous and unsusal depictions have markings similar body marks to his. The legend is still sparse due to its obscurity of literature and relevance to human society, but from what Maxine picked up on from her findings from other informations of the scholars, their said to be quite similar to Genies in magic prowess.

Legends say that Djinns were born from the fires of men, they seemed mischievous around humans but not generally malicious in nature. Though their magic is on pair with the Genies, they had an overwhelming ability over them, but tat information is still missing. As per their next mission, Cliff sent Team Pincer to travel to the locations marked on the secondary map and investigate them for more clues. It was mandatory for Korah to go as well, for his mysterious skin etching might lead them to something interesting. And if it leads more information about the Dreary Century or it's connection with these Djinns, then it will become more imperative.

Their next expedition leads them to their first marker; the Octopus Marker pointing over Cerci Lagoon: a place where vicious monsters hide in the cover of nature born with the tendency to attack any human in the blink of an eye, even the water shallows are dangerous to sail through. Anyone not raised or survived in this area will never return; dead man tell no tale when it comes to this lagoon. The only inhabitants aren't the friendliest bunch either; the Bones Tribe are a bunch of savage people who will hunt down any living creature just to sink their teeth into some flesh, even other humans are free game to them.

For their team to start their search, they were informed of a strange and abandoned factory left to rust and crumble for decades. It was mentioned only in the recollection of history involving the lagoon that this was an underground factory involved in the Black Market, once built by a weirdo name the Techno Baron who was manufacturing "fake mermaids" out of kidnapped or enslaved maidens in order to sell to said black market. He was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, his bones thought to have been in the ancient dungeons of the Middle East, but there was no information on who stopped his crime rink and exposing him for his lechery.

Korah"I wonder why there wasn't anything on Techno Baron's arrester?"

Maxine"I was quite baffled myself deary, I even asked the scholars about this. And anything about the hero who stopped this madman has seemed to be redacted somehow."

Click"How's that even possible? It seems rather suspicion if I say so."

Maxine"So do I, but the scholars are trying their best to figure it out during the meantime." 

Once they've reached their destination on the map, they started their search from there by hovercraft over the lagoon's waters, unaware of what was following them in the depths. After some time searching around the proximity of the marked location, they found an old sunken opening to the factory near the lagoon's beach. Click and Wallis assigned themselves to watch over their hovercraft and its crew for safety, and Korah, Sorin, and Maxine went on ahead into the opening which led to a decrepit flight of stairs. It may look old but sturdy, the three cautiously went down into the abandon cavern factory  pack with essentials as the remaining team members building a temporary defense line out of their hovercraft.

Click M'digator wasn't an engineer for nothing, he was able to build any trap, defense, or machine needed for the job just out any junk, scrap metal, or debris made of metal. People try to ask if he was related to anyone from the Inspirational Age before the Century, but he was private about his past and just keeps to himself. Most people see him as a shady character due to his hidden face under those wraps and bandages. He's mostly interest in treasures or junked machines left behind by the past. The other members don't really mind about his past and are just as open as he was passionate about machinery.

And for Wallis "The Fat-bulous" Johansen, he had two jobs he loved doing before and after the Century curse began, one involved fighting and other eating. Before, he was a professional in martial arts; mostly in wrestling and "death boxing" until the Century hit the city hard for a decade and crowds went to a depression. After the entertainment business nearly died out, the poor fat lummox had to hang his Iron Gauntlets of Honor and began his passion as a connoisseur of competitive dining. His calling was fighting and his passion was eating good foods, so Clifford gave him a job offer as a monster hunter where he can fight for new foods for the people of Gearton to eat.

Click manages to set up some bolt turrets around the hovercraft for offenses and a tripwire system to slash away at anything lurking in the sand and dirt, while Wallis keeps his peepers at the lake in case of sneak attacks, while doing so he cracks his knuckles and opens his  fighter's senses for any disturbances. And speak of the devil, he spots some large objects randomly appearing in the waters. He whistles  his fat fingers at Click to get ready as he comes to the deck with more parts for more automated turrets, ready for what's about to come out of the dreaded lake.
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There, a bit of backstory for Wally and Click, do you guys think I should've put more descriptions about them? Leaving a comment if you can a wait for the next chapter as we see what happened to the other half to the team.
- Kanadzuchi