Asha vs Shantae

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Introduction

These two heroes are Arabic-influenced females with some similar aesthetics. On one hand we have Asha, someone who desires to become a warrior and bring peace back to Monster World. The other, Shantae is a half-genie with the ability to transform into various forms by belly dancing. But, which one of them has what it takes to come out on top in a death battle? Let's find out!

Asha

Wiz: Welcome to Monster World!

Boomstick: Is...that it?

Wiz: That's what the sign says.

Boomstick: What sign?

Wiz: That one...the one right next to you.

Boomstick: Oh.

Wiz: Anyway, Asha is a human being born with no natural ability with the exception of being able to hear the voices of the spirits of Monster World. With this, she is able to start her adventure to bring back peace and uncover the mysteries of the invader's reign.

With a sword and shield in hand, she is able to best every foe in the game by observing their movements and striking at a weak point. Asha herself has no known magic, but she does have a critical blow that is able to be unleashed once her weapon is fully charged; the Magical Hit!

Boomstick: A critical hit she can control? Sounds pretty deadly to me!

Wiz: That's not all, in order for it to charge, it must first strike an object. Even if a foe is blocking, the Magical Hit is able to build up gradually, and it builds even faster (or slower) depending on which weapon she has equipped. The most powerful of her weapon arsenal is the Legend Sword, a weapon of mass power that was so strong that otherworldly forces would travel to Monster World in hope of retrieving it for themselves.

Boomstick: That looks a lot like the Master Sword to me! Let me guess, does it banish evil?

Wiz: Actually, yes. This sword has been passed down for generations from hero to hero. The Legend Sword is eight times more powerful than Asha's normal sword and up to sixteen times with a Magical Hit, which can be charged after a mere four attacks.

Boomstick: Interesting! Anything else we should know about this weapon, Wiz?

Wiz: Nope. That about wraps it up for the Legend Sword, but let's move on to the next bit, the Legend Shield.

Boomstick: There's a SHIELD now?

Wiz: Let me explain. Like the Legend Sword, this item is the ultimate shield. It protects against ALL attacks. When it is equipped, the chance of a protective barrier appearing over Asha when she is attacked increases to an unknown potential.

Boomstick: So not only does it block attacks of all types, but it creates BARRIERS now?

Wiz: That's correct! When this barrier appears, Asha takes no damage and is able to continue the fight as if nothing happened. But that's not all for Asha's defensive capabilities. Asha is able to equip several bracelets that vastly increase how much HP she has.

Boomstick: Let me guess...a Legend Bracelet?

Wiz: Good guess! While this bracelet does exist, there is one more powerful than that, the Miracle Bracelet. This magical piece of equipment increases Asha's HP to the max and grants her the ability to bring back her Pepelogoo at any level.

Boomstick: Pepe-wha?

Wiz: A Pepelogoo. It's a mysterious creature Asha uses that is immune to magical properties, can carry her to act as a hang glider and allows her to double jump. You can toss the thing in lava to turn into a platform, use it to rise out of water or even freeze it in an ice cube, which it can shatter on its own simply by being called to.

Boomstick: A loyal, Swiss Army knife, huh? I like it! Wait, if you say it can rise Asha out of water, does that mean she can't swim?

Wiz: You're getting ahead of me there, Boomstick. Asha is a powerful hero, but the only weakness she has is that she seemingly can't swim. She sinks like a rock and depends on Pepe to pull her out of water.

Boomstick: Oh boy! Well, whether she can swim or not, a personal lifeguard is pretty darn cool, wouldn't you say, Wiz?

Wiz: Agreed.And that about wraps up Asha. Let's move forward to her opponent, Shantae.

Shantae

Wiz: When the infamous lady pirate, Risky Boots attacks Scuttle town, there is only one who can stop her, the belly-dancing half-genie hero, Shantae. Shantae's main method of attacking is using her hair to whip along with a wide variety of magical spells.

Boomstick: She is able to attack with her hair!? That would take a lot of winding up to do, do don't you think?

Wiz: Normally, yes. But, with the right shampoo, Shantae is able to whip even faster. It isn't exactly powerful, but it adds up. On top of her usual ability, Shantae's most useful is the ability to transform into different forms by...belly dancing.

Boomstick: *Starts dancing*

Wiz: Boomstick, what are you doing!? Boomstick!

Boomstick: Eh? I'm trying to transform into a stick bug; a BOOMstick bug...get it? Heheh...heh...

Wiz: *Sigh* Are you done? We're in the middle of a presentation here.

Boomstick: You're no fun!

Wiz: Anyway, where were we? Shantae has can gain new physical combat moves depending on what she buys across Sequin Land's many shops such as a shoulder charge and a diagonal twister kick. She also has a backdash that can quickly evade some attacks.

Boomstick: That's quite a lot of options! But aren't you forgetting something?

Wiz: There are a couple of things actually. That's right, the pirate gear and fusion coins. With these, it is possible for Shantae to become more versatile with movement options such as the Newt Dash and Pirate Hat. However, while Shantae may seem powerful based on her abilities, there are some weaknesses.

Boomstick: Really!?

Wiz: Shantae is quite naive and can only transform into her forms by dancing; some dances take a little while to execute. Her hair is only able to whip in one direction at a time which leaves her vulnerable to an attack at any angle while it is being drawn back. If it were to get tangled on something or cut off, it wouldn't bode well for her.

Considering that she also is a belly dancer, that means she won't be wearing much to cover her defensive side unless a magic or physical shield is not present. When damaged by a harder hit, she is easily knocked down due to how light she is and unless she pulls off a recovery backflip, she'll be floored long enough for an opponent to make a swift strike.

Boomstick: I suppose someone with all of that power had to have some drawbacks. And with that said, it's time for a Death Battleeeee!

• Death Battle

The stage is finally set, worlds will collide in the desert city, Rapadagna.

Asha is standing on the cliff when all of a sudden, the spirits begin to tell her of a threat at the palace. Using her magic lamp, she immediately heads to the city of Rapadagna. Shantae sees them approaching, assuming that Asha is a villain using the genie against its will and attacks in an attempt to "free him".

Shantae charges at Asha without warning, but Asha is prepared as she bashes Shantae with her shield so hard that she flies into one of the palace pillars with a loud thud. There is a moment of eerie silence when Shantae gets up with fire in her eyes. She stares at Asha and starts to dance.

Asha is confused by this at first, but is startled when Shantae charges a second time at Asha, but as an elephant. Asha quickly calls for Pepe and double jumps over her in this new form, making Shantae ram her head into the pillar Asha was in front of. She quickly lets go of Pepe and stabs Elephant Shantae in the back, making her squeal in pain with an elephant noise that could be heard across the city. She then exits elephant form and does a refresh dance to heal some wounds.

Shantae: You're a q-quick one, aren't you? I won't let you use the genie's power for evil!

Asha, with a dead focus in her eyes looks at her opponent and says nothing. Shantae then uses her Monkey form to climb up the pillar quickly and uses a Monkey Bullet towards Asha, but it is intercepted by Pepe who serves to protect its owner. Frustrated by nothing working so far, Shantae switches it up by using some of her magic. Hoping the fireballs would help, Shantae begins using them at a rapid pace. Asha however remembers dealing with something like this at Handera Volcano and runs towards the fire balls with her shield raised making it useless.

When Shantae began to notice this, she cranks it up a notch and uses her flamethrower. The Legend Shield is not fazed by this in the least and Pepe gets in the shield's way to absorb the flames as it is immune to them. This shocked Shantae as it seems that this weird creature could shake off magic. While distracted by Pepe, Asha shoves the shield to her left and delivers three horizontal slash on Shantae's stomach, which makes her flinch. Asha's Magical Hit had been charged. Shantae attempts to do a second refresh dance, but Asha unleashes it in time to send her flying across the courtroom and into the city. Asha gives chase as Shantae rolls down the stairs, but eventually uses her backflip recovery!

With the power of the Legend Sword, it was apparent that Shantae would not last long, she had to find some way to change the tides. She consumes a potion and is able to barely fight again as Asha approaches. Shantae notices that her hair is dirty from the fall and complains that she just washed it today! That was when it came to mind that she had her hair as a weapon and it could whip faster! As Asha approaches, she is somewhat taken by surprise when Shantae's hair whip strikes her. It didn't feel like much, but there was some pain in Asha's torso.

Asha shakes it off and attempts to strike Shantae with her sword, but she backdashes in the nick of time to avoid it and charges immediately using her Bonker Tortoise form. This form was fast, but due to Asha's reflexes, she blocks it and angles her shield in a way that it sends Shantae at an angle outside of the city into the desert. Before pursuing her foe, Asha prays at the statue in the center of town to heal her wounds.

Shantae uses this terrain as an advantage and uses the Gastro Drill to dig beneath the sand. Asha sprints out into the desert and sees nothing. She looks to the left and right, but there is nothing but the sound of wind and sand blowing. She hears trembling beneath the ground and hears a voice. "Look out!", said the spirit of the Wind. Asha dodges as a drill shaped object pierces from the floor in the spot she was just in and it goes back down again. With Asha's knowledge of her opponent's ability to shape shift, she immediately knows who it is and plans out a way to capture it before it strikes again.

Another tremble is heard coming, but Asha whispers something into Pepe's ears. When the Shantae appears back up for a second attack, Pepe listens to Asha's command and mistakes her for a Pepelogoo Fruit and eats it. With a now squirming object in its mouth, Pepe realizes this is not a fruit and spits it out on the sand. Shantae's shampoo was now gone, which made her hair whips slower. Angered by this, Shantae uses her pike ball magic. But, given that these move in a rotation path and they are low in number, it was easy for Asha to block all of them, but Shantae uses these as a distraction to slide underneath her and give her a flip kick and twister dive to the back which knocks Asha back a ways.

Shantae then uses this distance to try and use Risky's Sword in combination with her boots to charge at Asha, but Asha calls Pepe to her once again and easily double jumps over it. But, Shantae turns in an arc and attempts to strike again. Recognizing this move from before Asha Bashes Risky's Sword with her shield, shattering it to pieces. She then uses this opportunity to strike Shantae several times and landing yet another devastatingly powerful Magical Hit. It looks like she was running out of options. She had never faced an opponent with this much enemy intellect. But after being knocked down, Shantae pulls herself back up by kicking her legs forward and kicks Asha and she falls into a nearby body of water.

Shantae dives in even with her wounds and transforms into a Mermaid, hoping to find a way to use her bubbles, but by the time she gets into the water, she sees Asha rising up with Pepe to the surface! She swims upward hoping to catch her before she escapes by jumping out of the water like a dolphin. She swipes her tail hard to attempt to knock Asha back down, but Asha uses Pepe like a swing and angles herself right before it hits her backside. Asha then double jumps on a nearby palmtree, but sees the purple monkey climbing up. When it does, Asha angles the Legend Sword and launches Shantae in the air, double jumps and stabs downward, which allows Asha to get not only multiple strikes, but she activates Magical Hits all the way down on Shantae until she is forced through the ground enough times to reach the Underground Fort.

While floating down with Pepe in the place where Warella fell, Shantae's body laid there, silent. It seemed like all was over, but Shantae had one final trick up her sleeve. She began to attempt the obliteration dance. Asha rushes towards Shantae one final time before she unleashes the powerful magic, but a protection shield was activated upon contact, not damaging Asha at all. Shantae is utterly shocked at this and attempts it a second time, and the shield activates once more. Shantae tries a third time, but it is too late, Asha ceases the battle by slashing Shantae three times and using the fourth hit to impale Shantae. With the Magical Hit charged, Asha unleashes it while inside and slashes horizontally, cutting the half genie completely in half. Shortly after, she exploded, turning into nothing but genie dust.

Asha then uses the lamp spirit to fly away back to Rapadagna and the citizens celebrate.

Verdict

Boomstick: Now that's what I call a HALF...half-genie!

Wiz: That was quite the fight! While Shantae may have had Asha beat in overall arsenal, Shantae is not used to fighting other heroes and neither was Asha. Shantae is also more experienced, but with Asha's powerful weaponry and smarts by fighting all enemies without the use of magic or projectiles and experience of fighting wizards; masters of tricks and magic, Shantae couldn't have possibly prepared for this.

Boomstick: Simple, yet deadly. I'll be runnin' next time I see a girl with a Master Sword.

Wiz: Legend Sword, Boomstick!

Boomstick: Oh...right.

The winner is Asha!