The Return of Shantae

The Domain of the No Return: Castle Hypnos

Korah managed to retrieve most of the pieces to fix his way out of Necropolis but one, and he can pretty much guess where the Hydro Engine might be. He looks in the back of Roman and sees a silhouette of a mountain which then a bolt of lightning reveals it to be the island's castle. Roman wondering what he was looking at, he turns his head 180 degrees and panics at the sight of the castle. He grabs Korah out of water and shakes him furiously out of fear.

Roman"Have ya gone bonkers!?"
Korah becomes irritated and points at the castle and his boat, interpreting that it's the last place where we can find a Hydro Engine.
Roman"Kid, I'm not sure if a barnacle got caught yer pointy ears but I like to reiterate myself-" He settles him back in their water and fixes his collar after clearing his throat, if he had one. "Anyone goes in, no one comes. Dead- or- ALIVE. Ya undah stand, boy!? ... Boy?" Little did he know that Korah was already gone from the scene as he witness a shadow in the water going up the moat straight into the castle waters. "Well... He's a goner." He looks back at his family photos, regret what he did in his afterlife. "Forgive me Winnie... I shouldn't have push there with our boy..." He depressingly climbs onboard his ship and sit inside moping for the loss of his family.

At the castle's bridge, two giant eyes were placed on the bridge for surveillance of any intruders, being charged with closing the gates when necessary. One can say that the bridge itself was in fact a monster charged as a guardian, it's sight was perfectly keen enough to spot the shadows of the waters and trigger the lockdown. The monster bridge will shine its surveillance lights over the shadow in the water until it leaves, unfortunately for it tentacles sticker out and flash searing luminescent lights powerful enough to blind it.

As the tentacles sank back down, Korah bobs his head to see if it did anything, which it did and made the bridge creature blind and open its gates. He swims inside in stealth and proceed to find ways further inside the castle. Going stealth was second nature for him, and he's been adapting well in his form thus far. But out of Team Pincer, Click was deemed the stealthiest due to his weird habit of scrounging around for junk and parts without being notice, Maxine was second stealthiest because one of her roles was sniper meaning that she needs to stay hidden. And Korah's third, he's only stealth as long as he's still moving around.

His temporary wanderlust and lost in reminiscing leads him bumping into a large sewage pipe, perfect for him to enter and find an engine for the ship. He swims up its waters undetected by the monsters prowling around the perimeters. As he enters the pitch black sewers of Castle Hypnos, all he could do is make some light with his hair-tentacles and try to figure out where he should start looking. Any potential enemies he'll see, he will just initiate a stealth takedown and drag them into the water and drown them for items and clues.

After much searching, he finds an stairwell leading to the upper levels, though he fears at he'll die of dehydration if he crawls around in this state. But he had no time and had to make his way up by tentacle climb. It was difficult for him to walk without water, to him it was life a very cold desert at night. Once he made to the top nearly ragged and dried up, he slow peers through the door for lurking enemies. Korah finds that he's in some sort of old library with swinging chandeliers and bats sleep on the rafters.

With one tentacle on the rug, the chandelier above him broke loose and fell on Korah, but missed him as he dodges it. The flames from the chandelier caught the rug on fire with Korah too weak to even slither away. Though he tried his best to move away, the flames caught up with and burn him alive. Anyone would think the was the end of squid boy Korah, but they'd be wrong. While he was screaming in pain, the flames burned off his skin and flesh, transforming him into his Ifrit Form once more in a magnificent roar.

After a brief rest, Korah looks upon him again learning that he's now in another form he's sort of familiar. His hair was long and a flowing blaze of flames, his ears are pointy, his skin's tan once more and still shirtless, he's gained black claw, there's fiery fur around his wrists and ankles, his legs are wolf legs and and least he has some pants even though there burned, he has a lion tail with a flame at the end, and he as a short dog muzzle. Korah wanted to get a better look at himself and finds a finely polished suit of armor nearby. Seeing his form's reflection, he finally remembered; his brother Sorin mentioned that he was this beast when he fought the Mega Mermaids. "So this was what Sorin was talking about before." He thought to himself. "Huh... Am I some sort of... Dog?"

Korah"Hehe, me look weird-" he covered his mouth and was surprised of what came out of it, saying incomplete words and tripping over them. "Wait, what what did I just?" He puzzled, "Can't... Make... Words right!?" "What's wrong with me!?" "What. IS. Wrong. With. Me?"

His distracting depression nearly got him killed as the suit of armor almost cleaved him in two if it wasn't for his reflexes. He steps back to witness his attack prepare for another chop of his battle axe, but due to it being stationary Korah went for the chance and gave that murderous set a strong left hook to teach it some manners. Yet it seemed his punch was a bit too strong as it broke and scattered all the pieces everywhere, leaving behind a vapor of spirit.

The awkwardness of that scene was rather daunting, so he moved on while whistling at tune away. Anyway, he advanced further and further into the castle looking for any engine functional enough for the ship to even move while encountering various enemies and monsters which ends in his pyres, solving tedious puzzles that lead him further into the unknown, and finding massive amounts of treasure to line his pockets. That is until he finds the dungeon of the castle and hears the moaning of people echoing inside. To him, they must be the missing victims that never came of here, probably due to the complexity of the castle itself having so many placed to get lost and opportunists to get capture, made sense.

He looked around the cells seeing if anyone was in there, yet every cell he looks into was empty. He still hears the moaning of freedom from torture, but it went further down until he finds a locked skull shape gate. There was no lock to pick nor did he have any lock picks with him, so he's at a loss and no people to be seen. But suddenly all the noises he was tracking down were luring Korah to a vent right next to the gate, where he's able do see and hear everything.
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To those who're wonder what happened to Shantae, I will put up a chapter about her and what happened while he was gone. Don't worry! I got this. Later.
-Kanadzuchi

P.S. I couldn't find a good picture for the scene, deepest apologies.