The entire ride was uncomfortable. The dirt road was bumpier than it appeared, and I would be thrown to the side whenever the wagon rode over a bump or a ditch. The ride was hours long, and if fabric could bruise, it would have turned into a lovely assortment of purples and yellows. I stared outside, absolutely bored with nothing to do but to stare at the dirt clouds that sprouted from the wheels. My eyes began to lose focus as I started drifting to my happy place of make believe.

I half stared at the dirt clouds; little colors jumped before me amongst the brown, which confused me. I thought to myself… sparkly blue and green specks were not common in dirt. The colorful specks rose into the air and would immediately dissipate before I could make out what they were. I refocused my eyesight on the little random specks, but I was unable to make them out for I was too far away. Unfortunately for me, as a plushie, I was stuck in my current location, but then suddenly, the wagon hit a pothole, which sent me towards the edge.

Lucky me eh? So, once again, I refocused my attention on the little green and blue dots, but they did not appear any bigger, but in fact, smaller. Eventually, I gave up, but admittedly, I was appreciative that something distracted me for about 5 more minutes. I grimaced at the thought of how much longer the ride would be.

My mind began to drift once again to a little place high in the mountains, where it was freezing cold and snowflakes fell gently on my shoulders. Of course, I am able to move in my daydreams, and in this particular one, I was scavenging for hidden artifacts hidden in the legendary cave, hidden by a curtain of frozen water. It used to be a waterfall, but during the ice age, it ceased to flow. I had my hand pressed up against the ice, when suddenly, I was sent back to reality quite suddenly when the wagon drove over another ditch.

Now, I was already on the edge at that time, so this new hole sent me tumbling out of the wagon and onto the dirt path. It took me several seconds to understand what had just happened, for in my mind, there was an avalanche, and I thought I was dead... but nope, it was much worse. The only one I have known and loved left me behind. I watched the wagon wheel away and out of sight, leaving nothing behind but just a cloud of dirt.

{Chapter Three – Taken}

If I were able to cry, I probably would have shed some tears. Actually, I probably would have cried a whole ocean. Even though I spent the last several years alienated by Ketarue, I still was going to miss him.

I looked around to see where I have landed. All around me were trees, trees, and more trees. Everything looked identical on this road, except for perhaps a misplaced leaf. As I continued scanning my surroundings, something caught me by surprise. The little blue and green dots appeared before me once again, and they were larger. They danced before me, entrancing me at the same time.

Suddenly, a twig snapped, ruining the silence of the forest. The source of the snap was out of my peripheral vision, so I could not see what was there. Could it be the evil pant devil that stole many of Ketarue's old toys? Perhaps it was Dr. Sloth, zapping everything in his way into sludge. I did not want to be sludge!

I tried to go to my happy place with the calming seas washing over the shore of a little island. I tried to imagine the hot sun shining upon my face, and the sand surrounding my body. I listened for Ketarue's voice telling me one of this favorite tales, but I heard nothing. All I could hear was a pounding like sound in my ear, and all I could feel was fear on what could be coming my way.

From behind, I felt someone's hand reach out for my tail. Then, without warning, I was jerked into the air and left dangling from my tail. I twirled in the air, as the mysterious neopet had a hold of my tail. I tried to get a good look at the neopet, but I kept twirling and twirling. All I could see was a long black cloak and a big pointy hat that hid the face with shadows.

While holding me at an arm's length away, the mysterious neopet walked off of the dirt road and into the thick trees. Tree branches tugged at my fabric, and I could have sworn my foot ripped a little bit. If I could, I would have given this guy a scolding. I tried to look at him so I could think about giving him a death glare, when I noticed he was covered in green and blue dots. They bounced off of him like little aggravating petpetpets that wanted to bite him.

For the rest of the trip, I was quite confused… What does this guy have to do with the dots, and what in the Neopia are they? The mysterious neopet walked for a long time, until finally, he stopped in front of a dreary mountain. The trees here were so close together that no sunlight could penetrate the treetops. I was set down on a jagged rock next to the mountain, and my abductor began speaking gibberish. Great, I was taken by an insane neopet.

From the coarseness of the voice, I could tell the insane neopet was a male. After a few seconds of nonsense talking, he snapped his fingers. His snap echoed, and a low rumbling sound emerged from the mountain. The ground began to shake, and I fell off of the rock. I lied there on the ground, staring in wonder at the new cave entrance in the mountain

{Chapter Four – Potion Brewing}

He picked me up off of the ground and walked into the dark cave. I was facing the cave entrance so I was able to witness the doorway gradually fill itself up as dirt climbed up into piles by itself. When the last hole was blocked, it was pitch black in the cave, but only for a moment for my captor lit torch.

The fire emitted a soft glow that twisted eerie shadows along the wall, but I admit the shadows were better than absolute darkness. From my position, I could see books, books, and more books. The whole cave was covered in books, and at that moment, I no longer thought of my captor as an insane neopet, but as an intelligent one. On a thin, long table, glass bottles held liquids of all sorts, from clear to cloudy to solid and all the colors to exist in Neopia. It was a rather magnificent collection.

I was placed on a wooden stool where I had the grand view of a wall. I no longer felt fear however from the anticipating unknown. I felt excitement, for all the potions reminded me of the enthralling story of Kayla the Zafara. Perhaps my mystery captor was like Kayla who made potions for the greater good of Neopia!

I heard glasses clinking and water boiling. I waited for what seemed like forever until finally, all the noise ceased. Who knew potion making could take so long? At last, the mystery neopet turned me around, so I could be facing the room once again.

Unlike before, the room had become a complete mess. Spillages marked the floor, and broken glass was piled together in one corner. Many books were flipped open and lied on the floor, some discoloring from the spilled liquids. Then, alongside a wall, I noticed a black cloak, lying there like a sleeping grarrl.

I immediately turned my attention to the 'not so mysterious anymore' neopet. He had a deformed appearance marked by scars and tarnished fur. Tufts of fur were pulled out all over his body, and his color varied from dark green to blackish brown. He reminded me of a poor acara who had a misfortunate encounter with some ravaging meepits.

I was so entranced by his grotesque appearance that I had no realized he was talking to me. With his incredibly low voice, he spoke, "…I am Akuroe, and as you can tell by my humble home, I am a potion maker. Now, I have been searching for a plushie for quite a while to experiment with. All my previous ones have been complete failures, so I was quite delighted when my little helpers found you riding all alone in the back of a wagon and set all those potholes for me ahead of the wagon…"

As he continued talking, I concluded once again that he was indeed insane. He was talking to me, a plushie, as if a real neopet, and although I could understand what he was saying, that was really beside the point, for it was quite silly of him to expect me to be able to. But then again, who was I to say that there were not other plushies just like me, desperate to communicate? Perhaps this Akuroe character knew something…

."… And this may hurt," he continued to say, "but I have never tested on myself so I seriously would not know. Oh well, you are a plushie, so chances are, you will not feel a thing."

Did he say hurt? Well, it is not like I would know that feeling, but the way it is described in books, I really did not want to know. While I was contemplating all the stories where an unfortunate character deals with pain, Akuroe surprised me when he drenched me with whatever liquid he was holding in his hand.

The feeling was strange… It did not hurt, which was a good thing. Then again, if I were to hurt, I probably would not know how it felt, but since the feeling was not all that irritating, I made an assumption. On the contrary to what Akuroe believed, I felt quite relieved… It was a pleasant feeling… as if all my worries were fleeing my body. It also felt like I was being hugged tightly, as if whoever was holding me was afraid to let me go, and that feeling definitely was comforting.

…But then I was let go and quite suddenly too. There was none of that release feeling you get when you let go of a hug. It just ended. I wondered if that was supposed to happen. All that time he spent on the potion, and the results were just an abrupt, invisible hug? What a waste of time, right?

I looked up at Akuroe to find him watching me with curiosity. He simply stared at me for several minutes, silently, until all of a sudden, he knocked me off of the stool and screamed in frustration, "Why won't you explode?! I read the book several times, and I measured everything SO carefully, and I KNOW I did everything exactly correct, so what did I do WRONG? Ugh, and the potion of detonation is suppose to be the easiest potion to make. Yeah right!"

I was shocked to find out I was suppose to explode. This acara was definitely no Kayla, for I was sure that making me explode would not help the greater good of Neopia. Akuroe replaced me onto the stool and then left me to began digging through the books ferociously, while muttering through clenched teeth. The green and blue dots that followed him around while he walked drifted over to me. I decided to call them his failure dust instead of little dots, because first of all, they are small like dust, and second of all, they belong to a failure. Pretty clever huh?

The failure dust began to cover me, from head to toe. Perhaps since I was now a failure too, they were going to devour me to join them as dust. Some failure dust began to bounce around on my nose, and it incited the most strange reaction I have ever experienced. It was irritating, tingling, and felt like I really was going to explode.

I could no longer contain myself, and with an "Achoo!" I exploded. Everything turned black, and I felt myself fall onto the ground. I heard Akuroe stop rustling and call out, "Who is there?" I wondered why he asked that for it was obvious that he succeeded in making me explode.

{Chapter Five – A New Way Of Living}

Several seconds passed by before Akuroe continued searching through his books. As I lied there, dead, I wondered how long it would take for me to become a ghost or a zombie. Then I realized, perhaps the reason why I was still having these thoughts was because I already turned into a ghost or zombie! I just wondered how to get out of the darkness though.

Nearby, I heard someone speak. It was not Akuroe though, for unlike his, the new voice was high pitched and female. She spoke, "Hello? Open your eyes!" I wondered whom she was speaking to when I felt an abrupt shaking. "Open your eyes silly!"

It took me a while to realize she was talking to me. I thought to myself, 'how could she touch me if I am dead? I must be a zombie then! …And to open my eyes? Well, I had never been able to even close them when I was a plushie. I must have gained the ability of blinking after the explosion!'

It did not take me long to learn how to open my eyes. It was like a simple reflex. I was so glad to be a zombie instead of a ghost, because as a zombie, I could somewhat live a normal lifestyle! I would be able to touch things and hold things! Oh, how excited I was to think I could finally live! I adored how ironic it was to become alive through death.

For the first time, I truly smiled. I was able to move! I looked at my body, which was in okay condition with a few small tears and dirt stains. I touched my face, my tail and my wings. It was just so hard to believe. I was so ecstatic! I stood up and turned around to be face to face with a green moltenore and a breebly. I was excited to try speaking, so I asked, "Are you zombies too?" with a lot more enthusiasm than I probably should have used when referring to such a sensitive subject.

I was shocked by my high pitched voice, but it was better than none. I smiled, waiting for the reply from my two new companions. They looked at each other for a second with a look I recognized as thinking, 'Is he crazy?'

The tiny breebly spoke to me first, "We are not zombies, and neither are you." I recognized her as the female who spoke to me earlier. I was confused by her statement though and asked, "Then… Am I a ghost?" The moltenore snorted, while the breebly replied slowly, "No…" I was then frustrated by confusion, and asked angrily, "If I am neither zombie nor ghost, then what am I? Why am I able to converse with you two? And how am I still whole after exploding?"

Exploded? You did not explode though. The potion was a failure. Well, not a complete failure… I mean, look at you! You are acting as if… real. Akuroe must have mixed up the potion's recipe. He never was organized…" replied the moltenore, who evidently was male. The breebly chuckled at the last statement and whispered, "Because of us."

The moltenore and breebly started giggling, but I was still confused. "Then what happened while I was on the stool?" I asked slowly and unsurely. The breebly and maltenore shared a glance before bursting out in full out laughing. They hushed each other really quickly and looked around at Akuroe, who was completely deaf to our conversation and continued rummaging through books. I frowned at their response and waited for a reply. The breebly laughed quietly again and apologized, "I am sorry, but you thought you died because you sneezed? You sneezed! That is all. You are not a zombie nor a ghost, and now, you are a very much alive plushie."

I remembered all the times Ketarue got the sneezles and how he frequently he would sneezed. Wow, I could not believe I sneezed! I stared at the two with my mouth hanging open and filled with disbelief.

It took me a while for me to realize that the breebly was talking. Actually, I needed the moltenore to flick me in the head to realize. I believed that was the first time I felt pain, and oh boy, was that exciting!

I turned my attention to the breebly, who was still talking. "…Akuroe is training to be a wizard like the powerful Gelert Wizard. However, we do not want him to become a wizard for this life of solitude is quite dreary. We hope failure will discourage him. That being said, you must leave now. He cannot know he succeeded in doing something. Come follow me, and quietly too so as to not draw any attention to yourself."

I followed them back to the cave wall where there use to be an entrance. The moltenore quietly began reciting the same gibberish Akuroe did earlier and gave a pitiful attempt at a snap. Slowly, but surely, a tiny hole began emerging in the wall. Gradually, it got larger until it just stopped, barely big enough for Hyper to fit through. The breebly giggled at the somewhat failure, but the moltenore merely shrugged and replied, "I am not the one training to be a wizard."

Before I escaped through the hole, I had to ask them one question, "Is Akuroe insane? He spoke to me as if I understood him." The breebly shrugged before replying, "Well, from the sounds of it, you did understand, didn't you? We use to think he was insane from the way he talked to all his plushies, but after meeting you, I guess not really."

I said my goodbyes and squeezed through the small hole. As soon as I reached the other side of the wall, the hole gradually filled itself with dirt. My last sights of the moltenore and the breebly were of them dissolving into the little green and blue dots before fleeing to attend Akuroe. Soon the hole was entirely gone, leaving the mountain looking whole and solid. I had been given a gift, and I must put it to use. I decided to go searching for Ketarue.

{Chapter Six – An Icy Friend}

I looked around at my options. I could go through the scary forest where I may encounter a monster like Balthazar and meet the demise of my short lived life, or I could climb the mountain which surely should be easier since there are more stories of successful mountaineering than trampling through dark, scary forests. I could pretend to be the famous Hannah, climbing mountains successfully with ease.

I climbed the mountain, which despite its great height, was not hard at all to climb. It was as if the stones were laid out purposely as steps. Towards halfway up, snow began to fall upon me, drenching me with frostiness. Climbing also became more difficult as ice formed on many of the rocks. It started to be quite unbearable, and I needed to rest, and to my luck, I found a cave just a few steps farther.

While shivering and exhausted, I climbed into the cave, immediately feeling relief at being able to relax and sit down where no snow could touch me. I use to love snow, but after that climb, I instead felt hatred. Who knew that something so beautiful could be so evil?

I closed my eyes, ready to feel what sleeping is like for the first time, but I only managed to have them closed for a few seconds for I suddenly felt a big gust of wind. It was not really the wind that startled me, but the fact that the wind was warm when it was suppose to be chilly like the outside weather.

I opened my eyes warily, for I was so not in the mood for any surprises. When I opened my eyes, I saw one of the most horrifying, yet amazing sight of my life. I have only heard stories about this mystical beast, and Ketarue always talked excitedly about the treasures this beast possessed, but also how it was too dangerous for me to meet him. I was in front of the Snowager himself.

His home was famous; his blasts were famous; his whole existence was famous, and I was very honored to be sitting before him. Although icy mist seeped from his nostrils, I felt not a drop of fear in my body. To the surprise of the Snowager, I jumped up and ran over to hug him.

I clung to him like Ketarue use to hold me. The snowager looked so uncomfortable by my sudden display of affection, and that made me giggle. He tried to shake me off, but it had appeared I had become frozen to him. After all, he was made of ice, and I was soaked from the melted snow. Snowager was not very friendly, but I did not mind, and I started to chatter a speech about how wonderful he was.

."I have heard endless amounts of stories about you Mr. Snowager!" I started, "I have always wanted to meet you and it is such an honor to finally be here… with you! Ketarue was never allowed to meet you because of your hostility to intruders, and Ketarue never ever would let me out of his sight, or at least he use to never. Well anyways, I finally am here next to you! Stuck to you! Frozen like best friends! Do you know what I admire the most about you? You fend for yourself! With all your treasures, I am sure you could hire some guards to help protect everything, but no, you fight everyone off yourself. Of course you do not always succeed, but oh boy, do you put up a great fight with your icy blast and everything. You are an inspiration! …"

During the middle of my speech of admiration, the Snowager suddenly comes down at my head with his mouth wide open, ready to bite me.

{Chapter Seven – A REAL Pirate!}

Before his teeth could sink into my delicate fabric, I shouted out, "Woah woah woah WOAH! What are you doing? Are you going to eat me?" The Snowager stopped himself and replied as if annoyed, "I will if you keep talking. I do not live to be admired, so stop your compliments. I do not want to hear them."

I frowned at his response and immediately washed away any awe I felt towards his grandness. I crossed my arms and huffed, "Fine. Then what are we going to do? I do not want to stay here forever with someone as unkind as you."

The Snowager smiled at this simple insult and shrugged. He responded, "I suppose we could just wait for someone to come here and steal my treasures. I will promise not to blast them, if they promise to defrost you from me."

For someone to come… For anyone to come… I then realized, Ketarue's family visited the Snowager daily, and when his father would show up, he would be able to take me back! I waited with excitement, for I was positive his father would show up any second. When seconds passed, I waited minutes, and soon hours, with my patience never wavering.

Hours later, in the distance, I saw a shadow creeping up into the cave. The excitement inside me boiled as the shadow came closer and closer. The Snowager seemed to have dozed off, so I began tapping his stomach in attempts to wake up. I have succeeded, and as his response to the tapping, he blasted at the cave entrance. All the clear-ish blue crystals rushing out of his mouth like that was beautiful. His roar that accompanied the crystals was magnificent and echoed in the cave. Unfortunately for the snowager, a little bit of admiration from me was reigniting.

."Arrggg, avast *{stop}! It be I, you twit! I ain't here to steal yer booty *{treasure}," shouted a voice I did not recognize. The Snowager squinted his eyes at the slowly approaching figure and responded, "Vems? What are you doing here? And could you please not speak in your nonsense pirate talk? You know it annoys me."

As soon as Vems walked out of the shadows, I was able to see him. He was a pirate zafara with an actual, real eye patch. I stared at him with awe as he limped closer to the Snowager. Perhaps Vems was like legendary pirate Long John Kiko who caused havoc in the blue seas, or maybe he was like Captain Limebeard who kindly taught Neopia the importance of fruit. I waited with anticipation for him to speak again.

Vems coughed arrogantly before speaking, "I be talkin' like a pirate whether ye be likin' it or not. However, I be lyin' when I said I ain't here to steal yer booty. Truth be that the Smuggler's Cove be failin'. Thar has been no swaggy *{ship for looting} on the seas. They all be busy with the Altador Cup or somethin'. We pirates be needin' yer booty to sell, or we be disgraces to piracy. Could ye be a good friend and loan us something mighty grand?"

The Snowager sighed and began to respond, but I decided to speak before him, "You are an actual pirate! Are you like Long John Kiko? Or Captain Limebeard? I assume Long John Kiko because you said you practice piracy. Nevertheless, you are remarkable! Do you raid treasure off of defenseless boats? Oh wow, that is so cool…"

The Snowager snarled at me for cutting him off and snapped at Vems, "If you can remove this annoying plushie from me, then yes, I will lend you some of my secret treasure to sell. Just get this thing away from me now!"

Vems chuckled at the Snowager's anger and knelt down so he was face to face with me. "This may be hurtin' a little," he told me as he suddenly began tugging me to pull me off of the Snowager. I screamed in fear, "Nooooooo! I will tear! Please do not pull!" Vems stood up and frowned, stroking his chin with his finger.

A second later, he raised his hand into the air and exclaimed, "I be knowin' the solution!" From his pocket, Vems pulled out a steaming cup of borovan. The Snowager immediately moved away from Vems and shouted, "And what in Neopia do you plan to do with that!?"

Vems raised an eyebrow as if it was the obvious and stated, "To melt ye a bit. What did ye think I be doin'? Drinkin?'" The Snowager hissed at him, "And what made you think that I would allow you to melt me a bit?" Again, Vems looked at him as if it was obvious and asked, "Ye be wantin' this guy off ye, right? Besides, ye be snow. Ye can be fixed easily. It only be a bit of ye really."

The Snowager looked down at me, and I looked up at him with my charming smile. He groaned and looked at Vems with a stern eye. "Fine, but you will be the one who needs to patch me up," he said. Vems shrugged his shoulder and knelt down to slowly poured the cup of borovan where I was stuck. Thankfully, the borovan was not scalding hot, but it was still oddly uncomfortable. "I be done!" shouted Vems. He picked me up, and then spoke to me, "Ye be mighty cute. Want to be me hearty *{shipmate}?"

Before I could reply I would love to, but no thanks for I needed to find Ketarue, the Snowager interrupted me, and shouted "Yes, oh yes! Take him away on your ship and sail far far away where he is unable to ever venture back." I wanted to stop him, but then Vems cut me off too, "Aye, ye landlubber! I be takin him far far away on me great, big ship! Thank ye for yer booty." And with that, Vems threw some snow on the slight hole he made and took me out of the cave. He was taking me away from my shot of going home.

{Chapter Eight – To A Pirate's Home}

Vems took me down a different path than the one I took to climb. While the one I took was deserted and tedious to climb halfway through, the one Vems was taking me along was simple the entire way, for it had an actual smooth, snow paved trail that unraveled downwards with busy shops crowding the sides. I looked at the bustling neopets, searching for my Ketarue.

I frowned for I failed to see any sign of him or his family. Vems saw me frown and said in a reassuring voice, "Aye, yer borovan stain. I be positive yer stain will be comin' out with me super, fantastic soap." He obviously misunderstood my frown. I sighed and began telling him the real cause of my misery - Ketarue. Surprisingly, for a pirate, Vems listened to every word I said, and by the time I finished talking, we had already reached his ship.

."Aye, I will be helping ye with yer problem," replied Vems, "but first howe'er, I be needin' ye to pretend to be a mean, ruthless pirate. Be a scalawag and all for ye too gosh darn cute, and I be the captain so I cannot be into ye cute things. Me crew will be thinking I gone soft. Okay?"

I nodded my head, even though I was not entirely sure what he had just said. From all the stories I heard about Captain Scarblade and Captain Dread, who were complete opposites of me, I was going to have to do some acting. Vems handed me his eye patch to wear and grabbed a dirty Neopian Times off of the ground. He quickly made a paper hat and handed that to me too. With a white pen, he drew a skull on my cheek and said, "Ye be needin' to remind me to redraw that." He tapped my head, which was now adorned with a paper hat, and we walked onto the ship together.

All the pirates on the ship immediately stopped what they were doing on the ship as Vems and I walked onto the ship. They saluted their captain, who curtly nodded at them. Evidently, he wanted me to be out of sight as soon as possible for he was walking swiftly away.

We continued walking to what I supposed was his room, when a loud laughing of yo-ho-ho's emerged from the pirates. "Shiver me timbers! What be that miniscule, puny thing?" shouted a very raucous voice from a pirate draik. He hovered in the air with a pirate cutlass in one hand and a polishing cloth in the other. He was missing many teeth, which made his smile somewhat hideous.

Vems growled at him before replying, "This 'miniscule, puny thing' be the most menacing, merciless pirate I know!" The draik once again started laughing his raucous laugh and shouted, "He looks like a plushie to me!", which resulted in many guffaws from the other pirates. Vems glared at them, which ceased their laughter. Vems was unfazed by that fact that I indeed was a pluahie and retorted, "Of course! How else could he be stealin' all the booty and dubloons from e'eryone. It be the perfect, most deceiving disguise e'er! He be the buccaneer *{One who should not be angered} of the crew! I saw with me eyes him stealin' from a baby!" and with that, we both left into Vems' cabin.

Once we were alone, I thanked him for all the trouble he just went through. "Aye, it be no problem. It be me pleasure to help ye find yer Ketarue!" he replied, "howe'er, you be a sprog *{untrained}, and me crew will notice. Ye be needin' trainin' as soon as we be arrivin' in Krawk Island. Captain Threelegs be my matey, so he will train ye for free, I reckon. Ye know Captain Limebeard? Me crew cannot think ye be as cheery as he. Ye understand?"

I nodded my head fervently. Pirate training? How splendid that would be, I thought! After all, pirate stories were always my favorite, so why not learn what it was like to be one? On the ship, while on sea, I spent most of my time in the cabin with Vems. Whenever someone came in, I was forced to stay hidden. I wondered what the other pirates thought I was doing. I wondered if they had even forgotten that I came aboard days ago.

I never knew that being a captain was so difficult. Upholding a reputation obviously was complicated and involved many secrets. I saw Vems lie countless of times in matter of seconds, without ever having a guilty conscious

When no one was around, I was taught how to speak pirate slang, which perhaps was the hardest task I had ever attempted. At least Vems was patient with me; otherwise, he might have told me to 'walk the plank' for being such a humiliation to pirates.

He would say, "Repeat after me. 'Arrrr,'" and I would give my best effort, but the reply was always the same. "Be more aggressive! Act like yer wild, and yer growlin' at someone. Yer mad cause he be callin' ye a scurvy *{pirate insult}!"

And not only did I have to talk belligerently, I had to learn new grammar and vocabulary! Vems gave me the book, Pirate Small Talk, which I had to read every night. It was nice to finally be able to hold another book, smell it, and most importantly, read it. It was not like the other books I read, which had a plot with characters, conflict and a setting, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

After about two weeks, we arrived at Krawk Island, Vem's destination. I was not ready to be judged by his crew, so Vems told the other pirates to unload the treasure and to take it to the Smuggler's Cove. Once they were all out of sight, I snuck off the boat with Vems, and we walked as fast as we could to Captain Threelegs' training academy.

Once inside, there was a long line filled with a variety of neopets from the weakest to the strongest. Even enemies such as the chias and lupes stood in line patiently together, waiting to meet the infamous Captain Threelegs for his marvelous training. I made my way to the back of the line, when suddenly I grabbed around from behind and was being marched to the front.

All the neopets in line glared at me as Vems pulled me to a door marked, "Trainin' in session. Do not disturb." Once I read the sign, I turned around to walk all the way back, but once again, Vems seized me from leaving. Vems opened the door, and when I tried to protest, he would just say, "It be okay!" and pushed me through.

Immediately upon my entrance in the room, a pirate cutlass was thrown and connected to the wall, about an inch away from my face. I turned to look at it, and when I saw the gleaming, sharp cutlass, I squeaked. Vems shouted out an apology while I just fell onto the ground in a huddle. Vems looked at me with a raised eyebrow and simply stepped over me to greet Captain Threelegs.

After talking for a few minutes, surely about my lack of pirate experience predicament, Captain Threelegs shouted to a confused red ruki, "Aye, our session be over. Ye can have an extra point of endurance for it being short." The ruki left the room satisfied, and it was at that point that I decided I was being a tad overdramatic, so I stood up and walked over to Captain Threelegs and Vems.

Since Ketarue's family never was interested in the battledome, I knew nothing about Captain Threelegs. I was therefore shocked to see one of his feet replaced with a wooden peg. I instantly had to know the story behind that so I asked Captain Threelegs. Vems groaned at my inquiry, for he had apparently already heard it countless of times. However, Captain Threelegs smiled broadly at my question and began to tell his tale with perfection, without a single pause to think, as if he told it many times before. He ended dramatically, "Rather than runnin' away like a coward, I be runnin' towards the giant krawk, and with that, he be eatin' my foot off."

I gasped and asked excitedly, "And what happened after that?!" but before Captain Threelegs could reply, Vems interrupted with a loud, startling cough and said, "That be it. We be in a hurry."

Captain Threelegs shrugged and limped over to the center of the room. The room was extravagant in size, and off to the sides were all sorts of equipment, like even more pirate cutlasses, cannons and some large, engraved dubloons hung on the wall that said things like, "Training Academy of the Year Award." The room had dull hardwood floors with many scrapes etched in and the center of the room was left empty.

Vems looked at me and whispered, "I be waitin' for ye outside," and with that, he walked outside.

Captain Threelegs stared at me while I cautiously walked to him. He looked amiable while telling his story, but at that moment, he looked slightly menacing. With a snarl like tone, he shouted, "Aye, hurry up! Ye be so slow. Ye need some movement training, but Vems be requestin' a certain type of trainin'. I do not usually agree to this type of trainin', especially for free, but Vems be me best mate. He be givin' me great deals at the Smuggler's Cove all the time, so I be needin' to help him now."

When I finally reached him, he drawled out the question, "So ye need to be a pirate, eh? Somethin' about foolin' his crew and helpin' ye find yer Ketarue? Aye, it be no easy task, but it be doable."

The training commenced soon after he said that. For ten whole hours, I worked diligently, striving to get everything exactly as Captain Threelegs wanted. First, he checked my pirate talk, which thanks to Vems, was satisfactory. I still needed to work on sounding abrasive, but overall, I had the general idea apparently.

Then, we worked on dueling, which was the most terrifying, yet enlightening experience of my life. We first worked slowly, very slowly, for I barely was able to lift the cutlass without squeaking like a coward. I was not allowed to display fear while dueling for that was the pirates' source of power.

Also, according to Vems, a pirate's reputation depended on the dueling skills, so I had already done a little bit of training with Vems. Captain Threelegs apparently shared the same ideology as Vems; therefore, we spent the most time on dueling. However, despite the fact I already had some training, I was dreadful, for with Vems, I had used plastic to duel, never an actual cutlass. The cutlass was heavier, more dangerous, and therefore I was terrible at the dueling with the captain.

The rest of the session was spent on the etiquettes of the pirates, which was basically the opposite of the etiquettes of the royals. Rudeness was actually revered in a pirate as well as the ability to con others. There were many tricks in the pirate's book, and I had to learn them all. I had to rid myself of decency, sympathy or any other quality that would defame me.

After ten long and tedious hours, the extensive training was finally over. We walked out, I was exhausted and desired rest; while Captain Threelegs walked as if he just woke up from a nice, long sleep and called out to whoever was next in line to just walk inside the room. Before following the disco ixi, into the training room, he said to Vems, "He be as ready as he ever will be," and with that, he left.

Of course when Vems and I went outside, it was already nighttime. The stars sparkled in the pitch black, and when I looked carefully, I could see the flashing lights of Virtupets. I imagined Sloth, locked alone in a room, contemplating a plot to take over Neopia again. Then again, he probably was hiding in some remote area because of his another failed attempt of taking over. This thought made me giggle. Some villains just never quit…

We made our way to the Golden Dubloon to meet Vems' crew. It was my time of trial. I would either do marvelously and be accepted or atrociously and be exiled. I stood on my toes to get a good look at the crew through the -blocked- Their drinks sloshed out of their cups as they swayed from side to side from laughter.

I looked up at Vems when he asked me the inevitable question, "Ye be ready?" I nodded my head uncertainly. Vems motioned to open the door, when I called out quickly, "Don't you want me to show you first?" but Vems shook his head and replied nonchalantly, "I trust ye," and he walked inside.

I immediately followed, which I soon regretted when that same draik from the first day shouted, "Thar be Captain Vems and his tiny friend!" Vems walked over to their table confidently, while I unwillingly trailed behind, messing with my hat nervously.

Adoptables

1. Do not remove the name.
2. Please link back.
3. Do no edit them.
4. Do not claim them as your own.

Custom Requests Closed/Open
Custom Trades Closed/Open

Set One

Blue

<a><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/stinky_p/shoyru/hyperadopt.jpg" border="0"></a>

Green

<a><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/stinky_p/shoyru/hypgreen.jpg" border="0"></a>

Red

<a><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/stinky_p/shoyru/hypred.jpg" border="0"></a>

Yellow

<a><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/stinky_p/shoyru/hypyellow.jpg" border="0"></a>

Faerie

<a><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y114/stinky_p/shoyru/hypfaerie.jpg" border="0"></a>

Customs

Hyper

Nalliye

Almnd

Set Two

Blue

<a><img src="http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6462/animacornzw0.gif" border="0"></a>

Customs

Blue Draik

Hyper

Hyper Again

Lolluh

Jedth

Ryne

Ibasi

Doku

Persephone

Myst

Pan

Dumpul

Everlies

Calvanta

Rhyzale

Naxx

Toybox

May Need To Click and Drag To See The Full Beauty

Diane	Uzag
Auqua_Marine	Candy
Vegetable	Cobbler
Zelda	bongoshortie
Madison	Horsey
Triss	Dyuve
Finxs	Sabotage
Itarasi	Tapeworm
Catie	Mystickosity
Mango	Mango
happy_likes_you	---

Link Back?

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