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As a baby Mynci stood looking out over the shores near Neopia
Central, his mind raced back to the time when he was the great Pirate Captain
Bananarama, tropical scourge of the Neopian High Seas aboard his wonderful galleon,
the Blue Mist. Together, he and his jolly crew of scallywags had enjoyed
many a nautical mischief… until that fateful day.
Bananarama (for he was no longer
a Pirate, let alone a Captain), still cursed the day bitterly when his crew
and he had taken the task of smuggling contraband wood from the Mystery Island
to the Tyrannian Furniture Shop, where they were to be paid a princely sum of
gold.
Just their luck for their journey
to have fallen upon the same day as the destruction of Maraqua…
With the Blue Mist finding
itself hopelessly caught in the path of the all-consuming whirlpool, Bananarama
had ordered his shipmates to abandon ship before it was too late. This they
did with heavy hearts…for they had no choice but to leave the brave Captain
to go down with his ship, as was tradition. The last thing Bananarama remembered
was being hit heavily on the head as it broke off in the chaos…
Then, somehow, he had found himself
washed-up against some unfamiliar shores (which just so happened to be the same
bay he was standing at now), with no sign of the Blue Mist… or of his
crewmates.
Then, to make matters worse,
some weeks into the tragic accident, Bananarama had an unlucky encounter with
an all-too well known pink Bruce. It went, if not briefly, something like this:
“Arr, no…”
“Boooochi!”
ZAP.
~**~
But today, Bananarama reminded himself with stern suddenness, was not a day
for sad remembrances, but for celebration! For today he had finally decided
to come out of hiding at long last. Today, he had finally realised that just
because he looked like a baby on the outside, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t
the same old pirate Bananarama inside. Even Boochi (“may his beak drop off
an’ bite his toes”) couldn’t make him change who he really was.
“An’ if anyone be havin’ a problem
with a baby as Captain,” he muttered in self-assurance. “Why then, they be all
for a long walk off a short plank, a-har…”
~**~
As the Blumaroo Shopkeeper saw the baby Mynci enter the Usukiland shop, her
immediate reaction was that of instant adoration. Aww, how cute! she
thought cheerfully, as her face creased into a soppy smile. The little fellow
seems to know just what he wants!
And she wasn’t that wrong, either,
for the Mynci marched straight up to the counter, grunted as he leapt up onto
the top of it, where he stood and stared menacingly at her with his childlike
eyes.
“Ye’ll be selling the itsy-bitsy
get-ups, aye?” it snapped gruffly.
The Shopkeeper, for once in her life,
was at a loss of what to say to this child. “I-I-what?”
“The get-ups, missy!” the Mynci cried
in exasperation. “Ye know ver well what I be on about! Thar be some displayed
in yon window, so thar be!”
“Win – oh, you mean the costumes!”
the Blumaroo twittered happily. “Why, of course they’re for sale, dear boy…
this is a shop,” she added, laughing gaily at her little joke.
The Mynci just gave her a piercing
glare. “Arr, I be hearing better jokes from barnacles,” he muttered wearily,
before carrying on. “Oh, ver well! Fine, I’ll be havin’ the Pirate one in the
middle, to be sure!”
Resisting the urge to ask ‘to
be sure of what?’ the Shopkeeper produced another copy of the Pirate costume
from under the counter. “That’ll be 652 Neopoints, please,” she said icily.
She had all too soon grown a terrible dislike for the child, and wished to be
rid of the brat as soon as possible.
This same ‘child’ eyed her with a
confused slant in his eyes. “Arr, so this be where we be getting’ about barterin’,
aye?”
“652 Neopoints, please,” the Blumaroo
repeated through pursed lips.
“600!”
“610 and no lower.”
“450 and a barrel of Juppie Juice!”
the Mynci cried desperately.
“…do you have any?” the Shopkeeper
asked after a slight pause, her curiosity piqued.
“Well,” the Mynci muttered embarrassedly.
“Now that ye happen to mention it…”
“Then it’ll be 610 Neopoints, and
go before I call the authorities!”
~**~
“Arr, she were a strange lass, that one,” Bananarama muttered as he put on
the Shiver Me Timbers Usuki’s costume, before chucking away the doll. Pausing
to view himself in another window, the Pirate was surprised at just how authentic
he looked. With an eye patch over his left eye, he wore a red polka-dot cloth
cap, white ruffled shirt and blue jeans.
“Jus’ like the good ole days,” he murmured happily,
and set off towards the Coffee Shop. Truth be told, the lie about the Juppie
Juice had made him incredibly thirsty… that and it also happened to be the closest
thing Neopia Central had to a good tavern.
Upon entering, he spied the Shopkeeper. “A-harr!
Morin’ Shopkeep!” he cried raucously, slamming down some Neopoints. “Here be
my money… now how’s about a pint o’ ye best grog?”
“You what, love?” the Shopkeeper, a Shoyru this
time, asked incredulously. “Are you alright, son? You seem to be dressed-up
all funny… here, are they Usuki clothes?”
“No, they be my clothes – I’m a Pirate,
missy, can ye not tell? And where is me blasted grog?!”
“O-only got coffee here,” the Shoyru stuttered,
completely taken aback. “I suppose you could try some Purple Juppie Java if
you like, it pack quite a wallop… and you can always pretend it’s grog, right…?”
The Shopkeeper’s voice trailed off under Bananarama’s
imperilous glare, before the Mynci finally relented. “Arr, go on then… but it
won’t be the same, mind ye!”
“O-of course not, sir… there you g-go… on the
house,” it added, suddenly remembering that it had cups to clean down the other
end of the counter.
Taking his coffee into the far corner of the
room, Bananarama pulled up a chair a took a sip from his piping hot cup.
So, he thought slowly to himself. Today
is the start of the new Pirate Captain Bananarama… for a captain I shall be,
one way or the other! But how to be going about a new ship? Or, for that matter,
a crew? Can’t be Captain without a crew… and who would put up with a baby Mynci
such as I for a Captain, without fear of mutiny…?
And, slowly, over a long time spent in hard thought
(and more free coffee, needless to add), Bananarama came up with his amazing
plan…
~**~
“Uuh… ‘scuse me, mistah Pirate man?” a lone voice called hesitantly.
Coming out from behind the back of the small
boat he’d only just finished painting, Bananarama gave the motley bunch of Baby
Neopets standing before him the once over. “Aye?” he answered casually.
“Is you Mistah Banananarama, sir?” the same baby,
a yellow Gelert as it just so happened, asked in disbelief. “And is you really
Pirate?”
“One, aye, but with one less ‘an’ if ye will…
and as for two, what does it look like, ye silly dog?”
“So it was you dat put this note on da Notice
Board?” the Gelert asked again as the other three Babies just stared at the
Mynci pirate, handing over the piece of paper Bananarama immediately recognised
as his own:
“Ahoy and Avast, Hearties!
Are ye of Baby Style/Color?
Wanna be a real PIRATE?
Then ye best be reporting to the bay,
ASAP!
-Pirate Captain Bananarama”
“Aye,” Bananarama muttered with a nod of his
head. “This does indeed be my note… and what ye be, hmm? Pirate Material, say
ye?”
The small group of Babies, which included the
Gelert, a Grundo and two Eyries, exchanged unsure glances for a good two minutes.
“Err…I dunno, Mistah Pirate Captain. What does
Pirate Material look like?”
“Never ye mind… but can ye be a scallywag?” Bananarama
asked quickly, changing the subject. “Can ye be bold in the face o’ danger?
Can ye give me an ‘Arr’?”
“Uhm,” the Gelert hesitated, before clearing
it’s throat bravely. “Er, ahhhhh?”
“Arr, it could be usin’ practise… an since ye
seem to be the head o’ the bunch, ye can be Second-In-Command! Welcome aboard
the Blue Mist II, me hearties! Long may we adventure the Seas!” Noticing that
the paint had finally dried, Bananarama signalled for everyone to jump into
the ship, which he pushed out to sea before jumping in himself.
When they were well out of the bay, Second-In-Command
coughed politely. “Er… Mista – I mean, Captain Bananarama…?”
“Aye, lad?” Bananarama called down from the front
of the boat where he was watching the fast approaching horizon. “Somethin’ botherin’
ye?”
“Well,” the Gelert started slowly. “We was jus
wondering why the boat – ship, sorry. Why the ship had been called the Blue
Mist II? Why not jus Blue Mist? Was there a first one? What happened to it?”
“Arr,” Pirate Captain Bananarama, tropical scourge
of the Neopian Seas, sighed wistfully. “Now that be a long story…”
THE END
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