Episode 7: Here Ye Be Pirates
Part 4
A young woman stood at the railing of a cruise ship, the wind blowing gently through her auburn hair as she looked out at the tossing of the waves. “I’m flying…” she whispered to herself before she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and a light kiss on her cheek.
“Hello there,” she smiled as she turned around to kiss the blond man back. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Yeah, well, I would’ve been here quicker, but, to tell you the truth, I spotted this gorgeous girl across the deck earlier, and I just had to see her.” He smirked.
“Oh, really… and what did this girl look like?”
“Hmm, well, she had reddish-brown hair and these bluish-green eyes that just totally knocked me out.”
“I see…” She smiled, eyes sparkling, as she looked back at him before turning herself around. “And what exactly did you and this beautiful mystery girl do?” She wrapped her arms around his neck as she waited expectantly.
“Oh, we didn’t do much…” he trailed off as their faces drew closer and closer. “We did a bit of this for a while…” He leaned in and kissed her while pulling a small box out of his pocket. “And now, I’m getting ready to give her this.” He handed her the box, and she gasped as she slowly took it from him and opened it. Inside was the most amazing necklace, a large, heart-shaped blue diamond pendant necklace encrusted with white diamonds. “The Heart of the Ocean, the only necklace worthy of the girl who owns my heart. You make me feel like I’m king of the world.”
“But… I thought they said this was lost at sea when the ship sank?” she asked breathlessly.
“Well, baby, I went down and got it for you.” He smiled. She pulled him into another kiss just as fog started to roll in.
“What the–” he started, looking around at the haze now surrounding them. “Where did this fog come from?”
“I don’t know, Joe,” she said, pulling Joe closer, “but I don’t like it…”
“Don’t worry, Lily,” Joe replied as he protectively wrapped his arms around her. “I won’t let anything hurt you.”
Just then, they heard the sounds of someone running. A tall man with a long, brown beard and brown hair came running up to them, shouting, “SEA MONSTER, STRAIGHT AHEAD!”
Lily and Joe screamed as the boat shuddered violently, as though something had appeared alongside the cruise ship. The two lovers scrambled to find the door they both remembered seeing nearby while the tall man ran over to the railing. A large creature attached itself to the ship, then crawled up the side, suctioning its tentacles to the hull.
“Hello, beastie.” He smiled at the creature, moments before one of its large tentacles swung up and sent him flying across the ship. He pulled out a flask from his pocket and took a swig as he shouted, “AT LEAST I HAVE MY RUUUUMMMM!” Lily and Joe cringed as they heard the loud crash his body made on the other side of the ship.
The sight of large tentacles slamming down onto the deck grabbed their attention back. Then, to their horror, a massive, sickly green figure rose up out of the water, its enormous black eyes staring them down menacingly before tilting back to reveal a large opening filled with rows and rows of sharp, knifelike teeth. Lily and Joe ran for their lives, still blindly searching for the door back to the interior cabins. Meanwhile, the mouth of the kraken swung open with a mechanical hiss, and a man wearing an enormous pirate hat appeared inside.
“Gents… take a walk,” he said, grinning as a large group of men dressed as pirates ran past him. They poured out onto the deck of the cruise ship and scattered in different directions.
Two of the pirates, a tall one with scraggly, dirty blond hair and a shorter one whose stringy brown hair was balding, managed to find Lily and Joe as they desperately continued their search for the door to safety. Lily screamed as the pirates crept into her line of vision.
“Hello, Poppet,” the short, bald pirate said to her as he reached to snatch her necklace. Joe shoved him away from her and punched him in the face. Suddenly, Joe found himself in a struggle with both pirates as Lily backed towards the railing, horror-struck at the scene before her.
“Lily!” Joe shouted as he punched one of the pirates. “Go on! Grab a lifesaver and jump!”
“No!” Lily cried. “Not without you!”
“I’ll be alright! Listen, I’ll be fine — I’m a survivor, alright? Don’t worry about me. Now go on — just jump, and you’ll be safe.” He nodded at his love before she obeyed his wishes and jumped, clinging tightly to the lifesaver with one hand and caressing the beautiful necklace hanging over her heart with the other.
***
“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me,” Nick sang as he, Jay, and Emerald floated along in their dinghy. “We pillage and plunder, we rifle and loot, drink up me hearties, yo— OW!” Nick yelped as a mysterious object hit him in the head. Jay caught the object as it fell into the dinghy, identifying it as a flask. He shook it to try and estimate the contents, then opened it up and turned it upside-down.
“Bloody empty,” he grumbled as he tossed the small flask over his shoulder.
“Hey, be careful not to throw that overboard!” Emerald exclaimed. “It’s obviously a lucky flask — it got Carter to shut the hell up!”
“Bite me, wench!” Nick snapped as Emerald stuck out her tongue at him and flipped him off.
“Shut up, you two, so we can check out what’s going on over there,” Jay said, pointing over Nick’s shoulder. They watched as a strange, thick fog engulfed the cruise ship they’d spotted in the distance, perhaps a quarter of a mile away from where they drifted. They maneuvered the dinghy closer and saw the kraken climbing up the side of the cruise ship.
“Shitballs…” Nick murmured, eyes wide with a mix of fascination and horror.
They watched as the pirates spilled onto the ship, losing sight of most of them, as the fog was too thick for them to see any farther. However, they did witness two of the pirates corner an innocent couple and attack them before the young woman grabbed a life preserver and jumped overboard.
“We need to move closer!” Emerald shouted. Jay and Nick nodded, then they rowed as close as they could safely get to the girl, who unknowingly neared them. They flagged her down and managed to pull her aboard their dinghy.
“Oh, thank god…” the girl choked, coughing up some water. “I was out on the deck of the ship with my boyfriend when, all of a sudden, there was this fog, and then this big monster came and killed this poor man, and then these pirates tried to-” She blurted this all in one breath before Emerald calmed her down.
“It’s alright. You’re safe now,” Emerald told her.
“Now we need to get you out of here,” Jay said, frowning when she shivered.
“No!” the girl cried. “I have to wait for my boyfriend, Joe! He- he promised he’d find me.”
Jay sighed, opening his mouth to speak before he was interrupted by a loud, booming sound. The girl cried as the fog cleared. Large chunks of the ship floated in the water, then slowly sank. “JOE!!” she screamed and tried to leap off of the dinghy, stopped only by Emerald and Nick grabbing hold of her.
“I’m sorry for your loss, but we need to get you to safety,” Jay repeated as the girl curled up into a ball in the middle of the dinghy and cried. He took out his phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Pearl, can you lock onto our coordinates and get someone to send a rescue team?” He paused to let Pearl respond. “We have at least one survivor; she’ll be waiting here for the search party. We need to catch up to the kraken before it gets away.” He paused again. “Thanks, Pearl,” he said, telling her goodbye before he hung up.
During Jay’s phone call, Emerald inflated one of the spare dinghies. She and Nick climbed in and sat on opposite sides.
“Okay, we have to leave you now…” Jay trailed off, realizing he never got her name.
“Lawson. Lily Lawson,” she replied quietly.
“Right, Lily.” Jay nodded, smiling gently. “Lily, we have to go hunt down those pirates now. Help is on the way to you. Just promise you’ll stay here so they can find you. Can you do that, Lily?” Jay asked her. She nodded silently, tears streaming down her wet cheeks.
After Jay climbed into the dinghy, he, Emerald, and Nick paddled along past the ship’s wreckage. Jay sighed as he looked back at Lily and saw her take off her necklace and drop it ceremoniously into the ocean. “I’ll never let go, Joe,” he heard her murmur. “I’ll never let go…”
As they floated past the wreckage, Jay read aloud the name of the ship he saw prominently featured on a large piece of the hull floating on the surface of the water. “The S.S. Gigantic…”
Nick snickered. “Overcompensating there, matey?”
Emerald rolled her eyes. “You’d know all about that, huh, Carter? Oops, I mean Blondbeard.”
Jay laughed as Nick pouted. However, the amusement quickly vanished as Emerald and Nick continued to bicker until they’d finally found the kraken once again.
***
Dr. Rough looked up at the black flag flying overhead and grinned. Two swords crossed beneath the skull of his faithful friend, Dr. Twitches; it was perfect. He didn’t know why he hadn’t come up with this idea on his own, but at least he wasn’t too proud to go to the Bermuda Triangle and take over this little operation for himself. Every plan of his needed funding, and this was such an ingenious way to procure it.
The best part was, nobody, except crazy Captain Nemo, believed the survivors of the alleged attacks by pirates and sea monsters. He, of course, had known better than to dismiss the claims and had gathered his agents and a sizable amount of extra henchmen to accompany him to the Bermuda Triangle.
“Yo ho… yo ho… yo ho, yo ho, yo ho…”
The sound of singing brought Dr. Rough back to reality. Cocking his head, he listened to the hushed tones of his sailors. He was sure they were afraid that he would make them walk the plank if he heard them.
“So… try the life of a villain;
Just sample the thrill of a killin’.
There isn’t a boy
Who won’t enjoy
A-workin’ for Doctor Rough…
The world’s just not enough.
“Villian-thrillin’, chillin’, blood-spillin’!
HimTak is after Doctor–”
Smirking to himself, Dr. Rough thought them very wise to add his name into the song. What better way to show their absolute adoration of their captain than to sing about him in a catchy tune? Though the mention of HimTak made him scowl, he knew this time they would not be able to stop him, and if they did, well… his ultimate master plan was bound to be a success. Taken by the crew’s love for him, Dr. Rough opened his mouth and belted:
“As our mission is special today,
I’ll tell you what’ll happen.
All those who fight without delay,
You’ll get your blood a-tappin’.
Why, you will find your own dark side.
C’mon, join in, enjoy the ride!
If you betray, you’ll walk the plank!
The choice is up to you!
The choice is up to you!”
Together, the crew and Dr. Rough began to sing the chorus. Feeling the sudden compulsion to jig, the minions arranged themselves in two lines, facing each other, and raised their right arms, skipping across and circling each other as they sang.
“Yo ho… yo ho… yo ho, yo ho, yo ho…
You’ll love the life of minions!
You’ll relish the life of evil!
There’s barrels of fun for everyone,
And you’ll get treasures by the ton!
So come and show you’re tough…
Join up with Doctor Rough!”
The crew and Dr. Rough shouted the last line together and collapsed onto the deck in a fit of giggles.
“Dr. Rough, we comin’ up on da boats.” Drums approached him, glancing around at everyone lying on the deck. Uncomfortable coughs could be heard from the crew as they started to stand and get back to work. Drums himself looked pissed off in his pirate get-up, and the eye patch he’d started to wear over his mechanical eye had not lasted long. It was now floating out towards the Bermuda Triangle, right alongside the boat.
“Don’t call me that!” Dr. Rough yelled at his first mate. “You know very well that you are to address me as ‘O Captain, my Captain.’”
“My Captain…” Drums started.
“NO, the entire thing!” Rough shouted like a spoiled five-year-old.
“O Captain, my Captain, we comin’ up on da boats,” Drums grumbled.
“Bring me my monocular!” Dr. Rough bellowed to his henchman. Donnie responded, bringing over his gold monocular, which Dr. Rough expanded to view the watery scene in front of him. “I don’t understand how anyone used to see out of these things. I can’t make anything out!” he protested in frustration.
Drums scanned the area with his mechanical eye. “Looks like the monster be attackin’ another cruise ship, yo Captain, my Captain.”
“Move the Jolly Twitches into attack position!” Dr. Rough almost lost his balance as the ship turned to move toward the kraken and the cruise liner. Thankfully, he still had Twitches on a leash.
With the ship’s movement, the shift in wind forced the large feather atop Dr. Rough’s hat to blow in his face. If anyone on the cruise ship or the other pirate vessel had happened to look in the general direction of the approaching ship, it would have been very hard not to notice a rather short-looking fellow fighting with the feather on his hat. Eventually, he gave up, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.
***