A Pirate's Game

     My name is Captain, Captain Jack. I'm a Pirate Aisha—the fiercest pirate Neopet of them all. I am in charge of my beautiful ship, The Grey Aisha. My crew consists of four scurvy Neopets: Invader, a Baby Grundo, and he's much more ferocious than he looks; Sapphire, a Darigan Mynci, who is as ferocious as she looks; Shadow, a Shadow Aisha, my first mate; and Stronghammer, a Wraith Krawk, who always stands atop the Crow's Nest as my lookout. You may be thinking that my crew is too small to be a real crew, but don't you dare say it. We're the best pirates out in Neopia.

     "Aye, land be ahead, eh?" I said, sliding down the stair rails. "Full speed ahead then! We made it before nightfall." The breeze ruffled my fur, and I breathed a sigh of contentment. We would make land for the night, and take on Krawk Island tomorrow. "The Governor of Krawk Island will be no more!" I called to my crew. "We will take back what has always been rightfully ours!" I swung my cutlass, the air swooshing around it.

     The Governor may think he's the rightful new leader of Krawk Island, but I knew better. He wasn't so good. He lived in his fancy mansion, filled to the tip with his golden dubloons, while the rest of us pirates lived in our shacks and lowly houses. He was rich, richer than need be, and I was going to spread it to the common people. The common Neopets. The ones that actually deserved it. The Governor deserved none of it!

     We were the pirates for the common people—we would help those like us, those that needed help.

     Their cheers made me smile. How sure they were of me, as their captain, that I would be able to lead them to a new life of running Krawk Island. It was time for Neopets to rule it again, not one man. "Take a caulk, we have a busy morning ahead of us," I said. "We attack at dawn."

     ***

     We had landed right outside Smuggler's Cove, on the opposite side of the cove, sheltered by rocks all around us. The Governor's Mansion was straight ahead; forest was the only thing standing in our way. "Ready, crew?" I asked quietly.

     "Aye, aye, Captain!" they shouted.

     "For the love of Fyora, shush up, you scallywags! Do ye want them to be alerted to our presence, eh?" I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered about my crew. They weren't always the brightest.

     "Sorry, Cap'n," Shadow muttered, shuffling his feet.

     I sighed. "Forget it, let's just blow the man down, aye?" I smiled. I was a true pirate! "Dead men tell no tales, let's do this! Grab your cutlasses and follow me!"

     "Arrr, Captain!" Invader said with a mischievous grin. He looked off to the side, where Sapphire was standing, and prodded her with his hand.

     "Oh, right!" Sapphire exclaimed, dazed. "Aye, aye, Cap'n! Don't ye worry about a thing, we'll take him down, I know it." She gave Invader a glare before turning back to me.

     Stronghammer and Shadow tried to cover up laughter with some hearty coughs, but I heard them. I narrowed my eyes in their direction, annoyed. They were ruining it for me!

     I shook my head in irritation. "You guys, c'mon, we got to do this right! Now," I continued, as if nothing had happened, "ye all head to the forest smartly! I'll meet ye there."

     A soft breeze rustled the bushes around me as I watched my hands head off into the forest. I felt a strange sensation build up inside me—was it fear? No, that wasn't it, I wasn't afraid of anything. Excitement? Anticipation? Both? I grinned. That was it. "To the Governor!" I shouted, running off into the bushes.

     I followed behind my crew slowly, taking in the early morning sun's warmth. I could feel my body start to warm up, the excitement inside of me continue to grow and grow, fill me with such a warmth that I just felt like jumping up in the air and screaming. I shook myself quickly, trying to rid my head of these thoughts. I am a pirate right now! Stop acting like a little kid! I told myself firmly.

     I spotted the purple, pointed tail of Sapphire up ahead and plowed on forward. "Me crew!" I called to them quietly to let them know I was behind them. I flicked my tail in annoyance at the fact that they were just lazily resting in the bushes, clearly not paying any attention to their surroundings, but pushed the thought away. They'll do what I say when we get there, no need to worry about what they do now.

     "Welcome back, Cap'n," my first mate said with a yawn as I came up beside him. "The bounty is right inside there." Shadow pointed with his tail towards the window. A shadowy figure was sitting in a chair, seemingly reading a book.

     "Aye, lad, I saw," I muttered, staring into the window with narrowed eyes. The early morning dew was clinging to my fur, and my grip on my cutlass was getting weak. We needed to strike quickly. "Be ready, mateys, the time has come to fight for the Krawk Islanders!"

     "Aye, aye!" I heard Invader mutter with no enthusiasm. The others didn't sound too excited either.

     Maybe we've been doing this for too long... I thought with a hint of fear and annoyance. It was my turn to be the hero! They needed to deal with it.

     "All right, ye scallywags, grab your cutlasses and get to it! We will breach the wall ahead!" I shouted, jumping over the wall and running to the door of the mansion.

     "I see 'im," Stronghammer whispered. "He's right over there, no guards around 'im or anything. What a bilge rat."

     I nodded, and held up my paw to hold back my crew. "I'll be going ahead, follow behind smartly and quietly." I inched forward, careful not to step on any squeaky or creaky wood tiles, and dunked behind the sofa the Governor was sitting in. How he hadn't noticed us yet surprised me, but I was glad. As my crew finally made it over, I sat up and stared at the top of the Governor's head that was just visible over the seat. I got my cutlass ready, gripping it hard, and I jumped up from behind the sofa, my crew right behind me, and put my cutlass at the Governor's throat.

     The Governor jumped in the chair, letting out a feminine shriek. "Ah! What is this?!"

     Phroto, my owner, gave us a menacing glare. "What do you all think you're doing?" she demanded, throwing her book down on the table. "It's too early for you to be up and messing around!" She took in our cardboard cutlasses, eye-patches, and cardboard ship parked around the pond in our Neohome's backyard, and muttered, "Great Fyora, I must have the most insane Neopets."

     I gave my owner a small smile, waving my play sword at her. "It was my turn to pick the game, and I wanted us to be pirates! We were saving the Krawk Islanders from the evil Governor, which was you, of course." I laughed.

     Invader rolled his eyes. "I would've never agreed to this if I hadn't owed Jack a favor. Playing games is ridiculous. I'm going to get some sleep now." He gave us a shrug, and then shuffled off to his room.

     Shadow shrugged at Phroto's glare. "What? It's just a game! It was pretty fun, too."

     "Yeah, Phroto, it's okay, you didn't really get hurt, did you?" Sapphire asked, looking worriedly at our owner. Stronghammer glanced over to Phroto at Sapphire's words, clearly not wanting to be in trouble again. He was always getting into trouble.

     "She's fine!" I said with a smile. The game went basically as planned. I had a taste of what a real pirate would be like, though I knew I would never take over Krawk Island. It was actually doing fine by itself.

     Phroto shook her head. "I'm fine, but please, let me know next time you guys decide to play a game like this! I almost died of shock." Her voice was stern, but I saw amusement in her eyes and I knew we were off the hook.

     This was a great end to a pirate's game.

The End