Those Good Ol' Smugglers

by fly_guy7

     "Are you trying to get us in trouble?!" they said robotically, as if they say it all the time.

     "It's not like your going to get caught... I mean, the Neopets Staff has no care at all about you doing this!"

     "... are you trying to get us in trouble or something?!"

     So we left. "What is up with those Smugglers?" asked Fly (what I call Fly_0072).

     "I dunno," I answered. That is my most common answer to anything. "Maybe they just feel they have to be extra careful..."

     "Or maybe..." and so it began. As soon as Fly says, 'Or maybe' we always head into a giant conversation about the subject. About an hour after we start, the real far-fetched ideas start rolling in. However, I actually was able to shut Fly up for a little bit by saying "Maybe they aren't worried about the Neopets Staff..." that got him thinking.

***

"I want to find out what else the Smugglers are afraid of!" complained Fly.

     "Not today."

     "Please?"

     "No."

     "What do I have to do to make you come with me, or at least let me go?"

     "How about this... make me a great dinner, I don't feel like take-out tonight."

     "Done!"

     "Your joking right? You don't know the first thing about cooking!" I laughed.

     Two hours later, I wasn't laughing. Fly had actually made something edible... nice, juicy fish. I guessed he went swimming... he is a Jetsam after all... and saw the fish. So I had to keep my end of the bargain. "Alright, we can go interview the Smugglers or whatever..."

     So we went to the Smugglers Cove... and it was empty! Nothing for sale, no sign of smugglers... and worst of all, their ship was still at dock... they hadn't left to go out to sea...

     "...well this is weird..." I exclaimed. "Really weird."

     So, being dragged by my moronic Jetsam, we boarded the ship. It was quite. And night was almost upon us. And that's when we saw it. It was a note, pinned to the side of the lifeboat.

     It's him! It's him! If any friends see this letter, head to the Ruins of Maraqua! It's hi

     ... "That's all it says." I said to Fly, who looked deep in thought.

     "Well, you know what we have to do, right?" asked Fly. "Yep! Go home and finish that fish!"

     NO! We have to help the smugglers!"

     "WHOA! We have to go and help a bunch of criminals?! No way... we could get way to deep in the Poop Deck here Fly."

     "But what if..."

     "NO!"

     "Look at this!" he exclaimed. And he held up a battle plunger. "They must have been using it to defend themselves..."

     "Lets keep it!" I exclaimed.

     "No, it's not the right thing to do... and he was about to throw it over the side of the ship until I cried, "I'll come with you to help the smugglers for it!" Fly agreed enthusiastically. So, now I was stuck with my witless and "fearless" Jetsam on a wild and incredibly dangerous adventure. Just dandy.

     "So, just how are we going to get to the Ruins of Maraqua, Fly?"

     "Take this ship, of course."

     "Of course!" I said sarcastically, "Why didn't I notice it before! But how are we to get to the actual ruins? I mean, I can't breath underwater as you can... how can I get there?"

     "With this conveniently placed Scuba Gear, duh!" I still find it funny to think that the tools we would need to get to the ruins were right there to aid us.

     And we were off... sailing into the great unknown or whatever. It seemed like it took no time to get to the spot above the ruins in the ocean. I later learned that I had fallen asleep... a good reason for "no time." So I put on the Scuba Gear while Fly jumped overboard. And we swam, and swam. It was dark out above water, and even darker below. Luckily, we had some waterproof flashlights. We carried them because one time Fly was swimming in the dark and crashed into a rock, because he couldn't see... he got both achy head AND watery eyes from that... and I had to pay for both the magic goop and onion balm, since the Water Faerie wasn't kind enough to heal fly.

     So anyway, we swam in the dark and chilled water, with our feeble flashlights showing us the way. Then, we came across the Ruins of Maraqua. It was an erie sight... a bunch of destroyed buildings and homes... and of course the home of Maraqua's former leader... this place especially intrigued me. I signalled to Fly, and we went into the ruins of this building. We were both extremely surprised to see what we did! After we pushed through the door, we rose... up to air! We hadn't risen to the surface... we had risen to an air pocket in the ruins of the building. Inside this air pocket, we found loads of priceless treasures, and some of the smugglers loot! We examined all this stuff, and then I saw something in the corner of my eye... a door! And it was part of the air pocket... at least I assumed it was because water wasn't leaking through the cracks of the door. So I went inside. There I saw two struggling Neopets bound and gagged in rough edged cords. They looked at me and a look of panic went into their eyes. But, as a sign that a meant them no harm, I rid them of the cords around the Lenny's mouth. The reaction surprised me. That stupid Lenny attempted to bite my finger off! As soon as that Lenny could talk, though, he began yelling.

     "So what are you?! Whatever you do, we wont tell anything!"

     "What are you talking about? We came to help you!" Fly cried.

     "Help destroy us?"

     "No, rescue you, dumdum."

     "Only a smuggler would come and help us!"

     "We saw your note on your ship..."

     "YOU WENT ONTO OUR SHIP?!" yelled the Lenny, "ONLY SMUGGLERS ARE ALLOWED ON THE SHIP!"

     "Well, we're here to rescue you... unless you'd rather have us leave you here..."

     And the deed was done. I untied the Bruce and Lenny, and they stood with several cord marks on their arms.

     "So what happened?" I asked.

     "Err. wha?" the Bruce replied, stuffing food that we had found into their mouths.

     "How did you get here?"

     The Bruce and Lenny glanced at each other, and the Bruce replied grimly "HE came."

     "Whose He?"

     "Oh, right, you guys aren't smugglers... well, He is none other than the Black Pawkeet... the old sea captain which the game Buried Treasure is based on."

     "That's real? Coooool" gawked Fly.

     "Yes, it's real, do you think the just made that up?"

     "Uhh..."

     "Well, He came, and tried to take all of our precious artifacts..."

     "That you took in the first place?"

     "FLY!" I exclaimed.

     "As I was saying," continued the Lenny, "he came and took almost everything... except for maybe a Battle Plunger and a Sponge Shield which he overlooked.

     "Oh... so why did he come and attack you?" I said, not wanting to say I took the Battle Plunger.

     "Because he wanted our loot..." I felt that the Lenny wasn't telling everything.

     "Well, what do we do now?" asked Fly.

     "Well, we've come this far." I said, "Lets find the Black Pawkeet!" So we went. For once, it was ME that felt like going on an adventure. The Bruce and Lenny decided to go back to the Smuggler's Cove, and left us the lifeboat to use above the Ruins of Maraqua. We decided we would look around the ruins before departing. It was in the room we originally came that we found the map.

     "What's this?" I said.

     "Looks like a map," replied Fly.

     "Of course its a map, but where it's leading is what I'd like to know."

     "It looks like Krawk Island."

     "I KNOW."

     "It says to go..."

     "I can read a map Fly. It says to go to Fungus Cave..."

     So we went back to Krawk Island. We had to make a stop at Mystery Island though; rowing all they way to Krawk Island was very hard. Anyway we finally made it to Krawk Island. We came up behind the Smuggler's Cove, and found the two smugglers telling hundreds of NeoCivilians that Smuggler's Cove would be temporarily closed. When they saw us, they came over.

     "I don't think you should go through this crowd, come and take our other Exit," said the Bruce.

     And they led us around the plateau that Smuggler's Cove and Fungus Cave was on. When we got around, we went back on top of the plateau, and entered the left cave... Fungus Cave.

     "Not much to see here," said Fly.

     But we continued on anyway. However, we had no idea which path to take... Fungus Cave was littered with many tunnels. Then...

     "Hey, look at this!" I cried.

     There was a note behind a little bit of fungus. It said:

     To my followers,

     We have moved our hideout to the small island south west from the Golden Dubloon and Krawps building. We will be in the abandoned ship on the island.

     "That's all there is," I said.

     "Well, lets go then!"

     Going back to the smugglers we used the lifeboat and sailed to the small island. It didn't take long to get to. As we drifted ashore, we began to hear voices coming from the ship washed up on the island. We crept closer.

     "So, my comrades, we shall find my ancient treasure!" yelled a voice inside the ship, "I now know it is somewhere on this island of Krawk Island! We do not have to worry about my previous crews' heirs, that foolish Lenny and Bruce... not a surprise that they are smugglers; they were always criminals. Now that we have robbed them of all their possible and gainable weapons, even if they escape, they cant stop us!"

     It was that moment that the door swung open, and there stood the Black Pawkeet and 5 scruffy looking Neopets... 2 Krawks, and 3 Pawkeets. They looked down on us in surprise.

     "Take them inside!" ordered the Black Pawkeet.

     But we weren't going in so easily. Pulling out my new Battle Plunger, I blasted 2 Pawkeets and a Krawk with a giant water attack! They were pinned against the opposite wall, and were greatly shocked and surprised at the power of a plunger! Next, the remaining Krawk and Pawkeet tried to tackle me. I managed to send the Pawkeet flying 75 feet into the air as I fell backwards, but the Krawk pinned my arms down and I couldn't aim my plunger. Just then, Fly actually did something useful. Using his metal robot teeth (Fly is a robot jetsam after all) he bit the Krawk's long (and sensitive) tail with all his strength. Yelping, the Krawk let go and began to run to the ocean, and then dipped his throbbing tail in the water. Next, grabbing the thrown aside Battle Plunger, he blasted the Black Pawkeet with it. And wouldn't you know it. He did probably the best hit you could do with the plunger.

     However, the Black Pawkeet wasn't going to give up so easily. He was much stronger than to be taken out by one hit from a Battle Plunger, no matter how strong. Using his own weapons, he nailed Fly across the head, and sent him flying through the washed up boat the Black Pawkeet had used as his hideout. I still can see the Jetsam shaped hole in the side of the ship in my mind now. However, Fly wasn't done yet. Suddenly, a blast came through the hole, and when I looked up, the Black Pawkeet was frozen on the spot! Fly had used his ability, Diamond Dust, and frozen the Black Pawkeet.

     So, after freezing him, I picked him up, and we headed to the Smuggler's Cove, and tied up the Black Pawkeet. When we arrived at the Smuggler's Cove, we went to the Lenny and Bruce. They had just managed to get all of the crowd away, and then turned around. The first thing they saw was the Black Pawkeet, still frozen. The instantly jumped, and then fell over, and looked frozen themselves. Then they saw us.

     "What are you doing with him?!" cried the Lenny.

     "D-dont hurt us please!" exclaimed the Bruce.

     "Are all you smugglers dim-witted? Fly and I defeated the Black Pawkeet... he's frozen."

     So, after the smugglers' heart rates went back to normal, we began to thaw and tighten the cords on the Black Pawkeet. When he was thawed, he looked surprised to see us AND the smugglers. "I demand to be let out of these cords!" yelled the Pawkeet.

     "No," said the Lenny.

     "Yes!" "Why should we? First, you are going to tell us what you did with our equipment."

     It took a long time to get the answer out of him. His answer was mostly no. When we finally got the answer out of him, he look exhausted.

     "Okay, it's all in the lake on Krawk Island... I think your Earwax Chias are ruined though."

     "Well, there goes 50 Dubloons"

     "They only cost 50 Dubloons?" said the Black Pawkeet.

     "50 Dubloons each," replied the Bruce.

     We left the smugglers and pirate and went to go get the loot at the lake.

     "Wow, this lake is shal..." I said, and then suddenly got to the center of the lake. Instantly, I fell into a very deep hole. Activating my scuba gear and turning on the flashlight, I saw that this hole was VERY deep... I couldn't see the bottom. Fly suddenly then landed on top of my head, wondering where I had just disappeared to. After a bunch of furious hand signals, he finally understood that we were going down into the hole... obviously the loot was down here. As we descended, we began to see some twinkling at the bottom... and we guessed that it was probably a Metal Wand or two reflecting light... wait, reflecting light? How could light be down there?! Yet there was no doubt about it, there was some type of light down there. Finally, we reached the bottom... or more, we fell through into a giant bubble!

     "What's this? Another air pocket?!" I exclaimed.

     We looked around. It looked like we were in a cave. There must have been some type of bubble that held the water from flooding the cave. Then we saw where the light was coming from. A hole in the side of the cave. After it came through the hole, it reflected off of several mirrors, and lit the cave. It was amusing for us to cover up the small hole, and make everything dark for a while.

     Looking around, we saw all the loot of the smugglers. Then we noticed we were leaving footprints. In fact, there were no other foot prints around here... except for a few prints that looked VERY old. Looking up, we noticed the footprints lead to a huge lumpy thing covered over by a giant rag. We then uncovered the rag. Our eyes were forced shut then by the brightness under the rag. After our eyes became adjusted to the light, we gasped! It was the Black Pawkeet's treasure! And it was under Krawk Island, not under that little island the Black Pawkeet thought it was on! Then we realized that the footprints were not Lenny footprints, or Bruce, Pawkeet, or Krawk prints. In fact, they were so old that if you touched them, they would cave in. We realized that these footprints were of the treacherous crew of the Black Pawkeet!

     Excitement flooded our body. Adrenilene filled our minds. We burst out excitedly.

     "Fly! The Black Pawkeet's treasure!"

     "I know!"

     "We found it! We're rich!"

     "We are?"

     "YES!"

     "Horray!"

     But we had a task to do... so we collected the smuggler's loot and took it back up through the water tunnel and back to the smugglers.

     "Why are you so excited?" asked the Bruce.

     Leading them over to a place away from the Black Pawkeet, we told them everything that happened.

     "Incredible!" cried the Lenny.

     "Amazing!" gawked the Bruce.

     "I'll bring it back to show you as soon as we collect it!" I declared.

     So Fly and I went back, and used the rag to collect all the coins. When we got back, they came over instantly. Still in a place the Black Pawkeet couldn't see, we showed them the treasure. Instantly they burst out laughing so hard they fell over. Fly and I exchanged glances. Then I asked what was so funny.

     "You d-didn't find t-the t-t-treasure!" laughed the Lenny.

     "You j-just found ch-ch-chocolate!" choked the Bruce through laughter.

     "What do you mean?!" I yelled so they would hear me... they were laughing loud.

     "Well," began the Lenny, "about 50 years ago, a chocolate company was placed on Krawk Island! But since so many Krawk Island children stole the chocolate, they made an underground cave, and hid all the chocolate they sold there until it was ordered and purchased! They were forced to close down, however, when a huge rainstorm flooded the building that was placed in the crater, where the lake is now... it never dried up! They assumed that the chocolate down there was now wet and no good! I guess that air bubble was just all the air that got trapped down there!"

     "But we didn't see a building over the hole going down there!" declared Fly.

     "That's because the wooden building broke apart during the flood and all rose to the surface of the lake!"

     And with that, one of the Smugglers opened one of the coins. The chocolate, he said, was stale as well. So, embarrassed, I handed the smugglers their Battle Plunger over, and we began to leave. Just as we were about to leave Krawk Island and return home, however, a Krawk smuggler suddenly came running up to us at full speed. He stopped, and spewed us with sand "The boss smugglers asked me to give this to you," he panted, and ran of, leaving a cloud of sand behind him. I looked at what he had dropped in front of us. And behold! Those two smugglers had given us that Battle Plunger back! A note attached to it said:

     Thank you for rescuing us and getting our loot back. In return, we decided to give you this Battle Plunger. We are sending the Black Pawkeet to the Krawk Island Mental Institute.

     P.S.

     The main reason that we are giving you this is because that Jetsam of yours left bite marks all over this plunger.

     "Well, we get to keep the Battle Plunger at least!"

The End

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