The Caged Crow (U5, Quill, UD, and Double)

Re: The Caged Crow (U5, UD, Double, and Quill)

Harry makes himself some tea as Mac mans a large wheel steering the ship. "Ah. A good cup of tea is always a good thing." Harry sips on his tea as he walks over to Mac. "Oh...where are my manners. Would you like a cup Mac?"

Mac looks over to Harry and replies, "Thank you for your offer Captain, but I'm good." Mac returns her gaze to the skyline that once had the shining bright orange sunset, but now had dark storm clouds brewing. "The hell? Where'd this storm come from? Orders Captain?"

Harry takes another sip from his tea as he looks out into the dark clouds. Lightning strikes in the distance with a loud crash as Harry replies, "Try to avoid it if you can. I don't think that the other passengers will like the choppy waters."

"Aye Captain." Mac turns the wheel to steer the ship out of the course of the storm, but the clouds advance quickly and rain starts pouring on the ship. "What's with this storm?"

Harry opens his mouth to say something as the ship jerks to one side as waves start crashing against the ship. "Well this isn't good...I lost my tea." Harry looks into his now empty cup and he turns it over as another hard jerk rocks the ship. "...what was that?" Harry looks around for a little bit.

"Captain! The engine's cut out! We're drifting with the storm. SQUAWK!" Mac and Harry get tossed about the bridge as more and more waves crash against the ship. "I've gotta get to the engine room Captain." Mac says using the wall to help herself up.

"Right. Hm...what's the quickest way?" Harry says to himself as he helps Mac up and the two make their way down to the engine room. Mac and Harry make it down to the engine room without too much hassle from the waves. Once in the engine room Mac grabs some tools and opens a compartment of the engine.

"Captain...I'll need some...Look out Captain!" Macs points to a large pipe that had broken loose and was swinging towards Harry.

"Hm? What's wron..." Harry turns around right into the pipe. The pipe hits Harry square in the face knocking to the ground. "Captain!"

Garvan took to the halls, though he had not the slightest clue where he was going. Where was his room, again..? The relentless pitching and rocking was not helping matters. He would try to get his bearings only for the waves to throw another fit, as though watery fists raged against their little vessel, determined to capsize it.

Soon the walls around him became unfamiliar, mechanical. Garvan had not yet seen this section of the ship, though the workings of it intrigued him. He'd have loved to examine them to see what sort of metals they were made of, and how they worked, but now seemed a rather inopportune time to do so.

Eventually, after some more wandering he found himself looking at their hapless captain being smacked in the face by an insecure pipe. That looked like it hurt, and apparently it felt so judging by the fact that it had floored the man. The goron went forward a little bit, then gripped the pipe with one hand, re-aligning it with the area it seemed to have sprung loose from, as he offered the other to the fallen captain. Hopefully this thing wasn't transporting anything too important, since he wasn't sure how it would react to being broken and then forcibly re-placed.

"Hmm... could you help me get this repaired more properly?" he asked the rito crew-woman. "And maybe tell me what we're going to do about this storm? It looks pret-ty nasty out there."

Dustin heard yelling from another area of the ship. Was something going on? Dusin thought for a moment, then decided to go check it out. Careful not to lose his footing a third time, Dustin slipped out of the room. He walked along the dark passages, which were illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning, and followed the sound of the voices. As he got closer, the shouting began to end, but he could still make out voices talking. Finally, he approached a room, larger and more well lit than the other ones.

It seemed that everyone on the ship, with the exception of the odd one who had thrown their bags on board. What was his name? Dustin realized for the first time that he had never been properly introduced to him. He made a mental note to do that later, then remembered why he had come to the room in the first place. "Hello." Dustin said, scanning the room. "This is an awful storm isn't it? If you don't mind me asking, is something wrong? I thought I heard yelling earlier."

Loft roamed through the rocking halls, mindlessly munching on a candy bar he had lifted from the lounge's supply. He had grown bored with the deep stuff and decided to roam around the halls of the ship for something interesting to do. He was walking through the hallway when the ship made an especially violent rock, and the door to the Goron's room slammed open. Loft peeked inside, and saw a room much similar to his own. He giggled and sneaked inside, matching the swaying of the ship. He pulled out a Deku Nut and slipped it underneath the Goron's pillow.

He ran out, and stopped at the pigeon-dude's room. He pulled the door open, swinging it against the wall of the hallway. He pulled out another Deku Nut and grinned. He ran inside room and tied a piece of string to the inside knob of the door. He knotted it to a coatrack five feet directly to the knob's left, and then finally to a outcropping nail on the ceiling two feet inside the room. He wrapped that string around a Deku Nut, tied it firmly, and left the room, being sure to close the door carefully behind him.

He heard voices and decided to investigate. On his way there he passed the lounge. He gasped and dashed over to the window. He climbed up on his chair and stared out the window. His heart raced. His eyes widened. He screamed with delight and pushed off the chair and ran out of the lounge. He headed towards the voices and burst into the room where the others were.

"Guys," he said loudly, "guys, guess what? The storm's over and there's a pirate flag! Isn't that awesome?" When he had looked through the lounge window, the skies had been clear of any storm clouds. The horrible weather had disappeared suddenly and completely, leaving the sun shining brightly in the sky. However, not much of the sky had been visible. There had been a large ship beside the window, and flying from its mast was the unmistakable, universal symbol of pirates. A skull and crossbones flag fluttered in the clear air. Pirates were here.

"Pirates?" Mac's eyes widen, but her pupils dilate as she draws her twin scimitars, from their sheaths crossed behind Mac's back just above her hips, and spins them around in her hands. "Where? Nevermind. No pirates on my ship." Mac charges out of the room as Harry stands back up his face bleeding a bit.

"Why are you being so loud?" Harry grips his head with both hands. "So loud...quiet down!" Harry stumbles out of the engine room and down the hallway. Harry squints as Mac fights off some pirates further down the hall. "So much noise...stop!"

Mac holds her own against the pirates who had boarded HER ship without permission. Well technically it was Harry's ship, but she had built the thing and was the chief engineer. She knew the ship inside and out, so it might as well have been hers. Mac dodged an axe that embedded itself into the wall next to Mac's head. Mac brought one of her scimitars up through the pirate's arm slicing it about in half then on the returning swing completely removes it. Mac smiles as the pirate screams in pain. Suddenly from nowhere a ball of ice hit the wall right in front of her face. Mac turns to see Harry stumbling down the hallway holding his head in his hands. "Cap...!" Is all Mac can get out of her mouth before she gets clubbed over the head by another pirate knocking her out.

Harry looks up just in time to see pirates rushing down the hallway clubbing him in the face as well. Harry flies back a bit before hitting the floor of the hallway out like a light.

Garvan was not pleased with this interruption. The fellow passengers he forgave, at least they had a right to look for this. The pirates? Not so much. Their rather brusque greeting left very little to convince him that talking was an option.

Given the less-than spectacular day the goron was having, his course of action became obvious and understandable. As they had rushed past the rock-skinned man, evidently not seeing his as a threat because his hands were preoccupied, he simply let go of the pipe. It promptly sprung back and clubbed one sorry man in the head, sending him sprawling. He wound back his arm and, with a fiery swing, bowled over another man. There still seemed a good few men in the boarding party, though...

"Someone check on those two!" Still more men flooded in, and Garvan struggled just to hold his ground, let alone push them back.

Suddenly, pirates began pouring onto the ship, having emerged from the storm. The sounds of combat filled the air. Dustin pulled out Grazia and went into a defensive position. He was aware of a pirate running towards him, but he remained still, waiting for the man to come to him.

The pirate, believing he had caught Dustin off guard, lowered his concentration as he attacked. This was a mistake. Dustin jumped out of the path of the pirate and sliced at him with Grazia as he stumbled forward, trying to stop. The pirate recovered himself, now more cautious of Dustin, and stabbed at him with his sword. Dustin was able to jump backwards again, but this time a counter-attack wasn't possible, due to the shorter reach of his weapon. Dustin assessed the situation in his head. He was a lot faster and lighter than the pirate, who was a pretty big guy, but he was also much weaker, and one good hit on him would do a lot of damage. He dodged another attack and then made a few quick slices at the pirate with Grazia. It didn't do a whole lot, but it was clear the injuries were starting to slow down the pirate a little.

The pirate swung at him again, this time brushing the weapon against his side. It stung, but it didn't do any real damage past a scratch. Dustin managed to stab him, at last knocking out his foe. Still, it had been slow and clumsy compared to others. If he had his heroes charm he'd be a lot more helpful, Dustin thought. Unfortunately, it was in his bag back at his room, so he'd have to fight without it.

Loft dashed past the Goron and the pigeon-dude. They were doing alright on their own, and he doubted they would need his help for anything. It was getting too cramped in the little room for Loft's liking, so he ducked under a pirate's outstretched arm and danced out into the hallway. It was much easier to find his footing now that the storm had passed. The floor was still covered in toiletries from the open supply closet, and Loft had to watch his footing to keep from slipping. One pirate, though, wasn't so lucky. He stepped onto a scented ball and lost his balance. Loft capitalized on this by chucking a nearby plunger at him. It hit the pirate on the head and the hostile man fell onto the ground, his head knocking into the wall. He hit the floor, unconscious and possibly concussed. Loft shoved him through the door to his room, which was right next to his head. He would be safe in there.

Loft closed the door and danced down the hallway. He could see Larry and the pretty bird lady, who's name he had since learned to be Mac (a pretty name deserving of an oil-splattered gear-spinner), and his heart leaped. Oh, how her hair glimmered greasily in the light! She danced out of the way of an axe, graceful as a pirouetting Moblin, and brought her scimitars down onto the pirate's arm. Beautiful and strong! Loft felt his heart flutter like a clipped Keese.

Loft's face fell. Mac was distracted by Larry, who looked like he was hung over, and because of it another pirate got revenge for his dis-armed friend by clubbing her in the head. Loft blamed Larry. She was totally too awesome to get otherwise- why had he distracted her? Oh well. He would thump the man on the head later. The lady was unconscious, her mouth hanging open (quite attractively, too). Loft started forward, but the pirates were already lifting her and an equally unconscious Larry over their shoulders. They disappeared into the crowd, and Loft was promptly distracted by another attacking pirate.

Garvan wasn't entirely sure how many pirates he had punched out or otherwise smacked around but there was certainly quite a crowd. He's swing one way to ground one man, then step back to allow the next to come at him, and repeat the process to leave a small stream of pirates getting floored. After a few reps, they started to catch on and come in pairs, so Garvan drew his zweihander. This seemed to give them pause.

The Goron was glad for that, since in these spaces it was difficult to use wide swings properly. If they came in groups it would be difficult to stop them. And so they did. He was incapable of stopping them all and got nicked a few times by the rabble. Still, he managed to swipe a couple of them and turned to punch another. It was then he witnessed the pirates taking an unconscious Mac and Harry. Garvan wanted to assist, but the man he punched sprang back up to fight again, pinning him down. He used a downwards swipe to try and incapacitate his foe, but the pirate was quick enough to avoid losing a hand. Garvan had to focus. If he got distracted and failed to get past this pirate he wouldn't be of help to anyone. He tried to push him back, swinging this way and that...

Dustin let out a sigh of relief. He had managed to sneak out of the room in the chaos, and gotten into the lower parts of the ship. Dustin decided he'd try to make his way back to his room and get the Hero's Charm. He wasn't useless without it, and in fact was quite skilled, but against enemies like these pirates, he'd have a harder time fighting. As he wandered through the ship looking for his own room, Dustin's mind began to wonder. He wondered where they were going, and how he had gotten into such a situation in the first place. He saw from a window a rock raised over the waves of the ocean, and his mind drifted further. What was going on back home? How was his family? His mind often wandered to home while he was confused or upset. His trance was interrupted by a rough voice.

"Going somewhere?"

Two large Hylians walked over from a nearby room. Both were armed with large heavy swords. One was a little shorter than the other, and had brown hair, while the other had black hair. Both however, towered over Dustin.

"Well well well. Look at this. We went to find treasure, and scored ourselves a bird instead." The brown haired one said drawing his blade. The black haired one laughed in response.

"It seems we have! What's wrong little birdy? Afraid to play rough?" He taunted Dustin, drawing his own blade as well.

Dustin drew Grazia and took a deep breath. He should have known something like this would happen if he went off on his own. He had been fighting poorly that night already, and to be trapped, alone, and outnumbered was a worst case scenario. Still, He lunged at one of them with Grazia. Dustin put up a fight for a little while, but soon he began to show signs of weakness as they carried on fighting. Then there a heavy thud of metal on his head, and everything went black.

There were too many. This was what was running through Loft's head as he was running away from the pirates. Larry and the Big Mac were gone, Pigeon-Dude was nowhere to be found, and the Goron had his large rocky hands full. There were at least a dozen pirates on board, and Loft knew, as he slammed a Deku Nut onto the floor and smashed a dazed pirate over the head with a nearby metal pot, that they would eventually be overwhelmed. He darted through a door and slammed it shut, locking it and sprinting away from the sounds of beefy hands hammering on the door. There had to be some way of purging the pirates from their ship...

Loft pushed through another door and found himself in the engine room again. He worked his way through a complex of hissing pipes and squiggling dials, and eventually he stood next to a large hulking mass that was louder than a snoring Goron.

"Well, well, well," a taunting voice said, "look at this poor little baby, all by himself." A man, his face tattooed and his ears pierced, grinned broadly down at him. Flanking the tattooed man were two hulking bodyguard pirates, each holding a wicked scimitar, and each leering down at Loft.

Loft's dagger whipped out, but instead of pointing it at the man, he touched it to an indent of the loud hunk of metal. "I stab," he said, "and we go boom. Leave, or be blown to bits."

"He even talks like a baby," the man said, roaring with derisive laughter. "Put the dagger down, little baby." He pointed his scimitar at Loft and grinned. "I'll make it quick."

Loft gulped. So much for that bluff. He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud voice cut over the din. "Let's go!" A gruff voice roared. "It's a dump! Everyone out! Now!"

The tattooed man leered down at Loft and grinned. "Some other time, little baby." He and his fellows retreated, laughing, and Loft exhaled shakily. Remembering the Big Mac, he hastened to follow. The pirates bore their unconscious comrades aloft as they headed back up the ship to the deck. They ran up the boarding plank and onto their own, much larger, ship. With a jolt, Loft realized that they bore more than pirates over their heads. Big Mac and Larry were both being born up into the pirate ship, along with... was that the Pigeon-Dude? What was he doing? Sleeping, by the looks of it, just like Big Mac and Larry.

Loft blamed Larry for getting Big Mac captured. Big Mac was just too fabulous to be overcome unless Larry messed things up; it was obviously all his fault. Pigeon-Dude... well, Loft didn't know about him. Poor Big Mac, all alone with the pirates!

"Super-Loft," Loft said, watching as the pirate ship took off for parts unknown, "to the rescue!"

Garvan was having trouble keeping the others off of him when some sort of clarion call sounded and recalled the pirates. Apparently they had decided that there was little of worth on the ship and that there was no point in antagonizing whatever survivors remained. They were a ragtag crew to start with; why go to the trouble of taking them all out?

Garvan tread through the ship after they left. It seemed visibly disheveled, and many things that had not been physically attached to the hull were either taken or otherwise abused in a mad scramble to gain its plunder.

The halls seemed oddly lonely now, and Garvan felt as though the silence had somehow wrapped all his limbs and weighed them down. Yes, he had escaped relatively unharmed. But it was a bitter and unsatisfying victory, if it could be called that. Everyone seemed to be gone, and the pirates had left on their own terms, not from any action he had taken. A thought flashed through his head, Just like at Death Mountain, but he cut it off. He emerged onto the deck as they sailed away. The Goron had not seen either of the two Ritos who had left with them, nor of the captain. Loft, however, seemed to be all right. Hearing his proclamation, Garvan let out a single smile laugh. "Oi, Super-Loft," he called. "D'ya know how to steer this thing? We gotta get our crew back!"

"Of course!" Loft said, darting across the deck and towards a giant wooden wheel. Thankfully, the pirates hadn't taken the time to break it. It was whole and shiny, its dark brown wood the color of chocolate. Loft licked it. Nope. Not chocolate. "Deceiver!" Loft said, grabbing the wheel and turning it so that the ship pointed at the retreating pirate ship. Through the storm and the pirate attack, the ship had never actually stopped moving. The engine had always been chugging, and Loft was glad that he didn't have to go below decks and fiddle with complicated machinery. While it would be fun to pretend to be a ninja in the pipes, he doubted that Goro-man would approve.

"Full speed ahead!" The boat sliced through the calm waters like a knife through soft, blue butter. They chugged along after the pirate ship, and it looked like they were too far away for them to notice, because the ship made no signs of turning to attack them. Loft decided to increase the distance a little, not wanting another raid. He sent the ship through a series of zig-zags until the pirate ship was far enough away to warrant no worry. He straightened their course and sent them after the small ship. Loft glanced around at the endless waters and looked at the Goron, the sole remaining member of the crew. "Any idea where they're going?"

Dustin finally began to awaken from his slumber. He put a hand to his head, which was still aching from earlier and opened his eyes. It didn't do much good though, as the room he was contained no lights and was pitch black. Dustin felt to his waist, where Grazia was kept. Sure enough it was gone, no doubt taken from the pirates. He felt around the room to try to get an idea of where he was. His hand came to a thin barrier, followed by empty space in a horizontal pattern. Bars. Apparently he was held in some kind of cell.

Dustin didn't have time to explore the area much more because at that point, a large bearded man holding a torch slammed the door open. Dustin covered his eyes partly to avoid the bright glow of the torch. "Get out. We're here." He commanded opening the gate to his cell. Dustin took a moment to look around the room as he was forced out. It was very bare, with wooden bars and floors, and no windows or lighting whatsoever. The pirate lead Dustin out of the room and onto the ships deck. As he left, another pirate entered and head towards a cell in the back.

The deck was also wood, but was much cleaner and more well kept than the cells. Not exactly clean, these were pirates they were dealing with after all, but still cleaner than he would have expected. A full moon was out, and searchlights were constantly scanning the island that the ship was docked at. A huge, castle like structure dominated the skyline, giving those who looked upon it feelings of fear and awe. Dustin didn't have too much time to look at the building though, as he was forced along again by the pirates, none of whom were too nice about it.

Inside, the fortress was surprisingly filled with activity. One or two guards patrolled each room, with only a few exceptions, and the rooms were well furnished. These pirates were unlike any Dustin had ever seen. They were far more organized and professional than other pirates he had encountered. Dustin was led through more long halls and large rooms, until he was brought to one that contained cells. Unlike the one on the ship, this one actually contained enough light to see, as well as basic furnishings. Unfortunately though, there was little in the form of entertainment, so it looked like he would just be waiting around. What he would be waiting for he didn't know.

"In you go!" The pirate who was guiding him said, tossing him in the cell roughly. The pirate locked the cell and walked off. Dustin decided to take the moment to look around the cell. It was mostly bare, with little in the way of furnishing. There was a bed and some shelves with a few pots in the corner. Dustin tried to think of how he might escape, but he couldn't find anything. The cell was very secure, and his escape looked unlikely. Well, he thought, let the waiting begin.

Mac starts to stir after she was knocked out on the Verloc. She closes her eyes tightly putting her head in her hands. "Wha? What happened?" Mac opens her eyes slightly getting used to the light and looks around. She appears to be in a cell of some sort. Small, damp, barely furnished. After fully opening her eyes Mac sees that she is indeed in a cell. "Okay...why am I here? There was my ship...a storm...and...pirates!" Mac lunges and grabs a hold of the bars that make up the front wall and door of the cell. She shakes the bars a bit in rage.

"That isn't going to help my dear." Mac hears Harry's voice coming from the cell next to hers. Harry sticks his arm out the bars and waves. "I'm guessing by your voice that you are a female. Your voice sounds slightly avian. Are you a Rito?"

"C-captain? It's me Mac." Mac does her best to turn her head to see Harry to make sure it was him.

"Captain? Is that my name? Or am I a captain? I think I took a hard hit to the head. I can't remember anything. Well it's nice to meet you Mac. Um...where are we?" Harry pulls his arm back into the cell.

Mac looks around the cell for any way to escape. She stops the moment Harry says he can't remember anything. "You are the captain of a ship I work on. Your name is Harry. I...I'm not sure where we are, but I think it's the Forsa..."

Mac is interrupted by a very large muscular man hitting his axe on the bars of Mac's cell. "Ay. Quiet you twos. Don't want not a peep outa either o' ya." Mac squawks a bit jumping back. Harry simply leans back against the cell wall between himself and Mac.

Loft leaned against the stone wall, his reflection rippling in the ocean's water. The stone he was standing on was nearly level with the water, and behind him lay a flight of stairs leading up to the main docks. They were standing in a tiny hidden alcove at the corner of the docks, their ship resting nicely next to them. For the time being, they were safe. They had followed the pirate ship into the fortress, hoping that the lights would just think that they were the pirates' stolen vessel or something. It must have worked, because they hadn't been killed yet. The pirates had already left their big ship; they were louder than a pack of Moblins chasing a large steak on legs. Not exactly hard to miss. Loft looked at the Goron and up to the docks, where he could see beams of light slowly scanning the floor.

"Scale of five to two," he said, "how good a ninja are you?"

Garvan made a less than satisfied face when the spotlights came into view. As a goron, he wasn't the most nimble of folk, and worse, it didn't look like they were going to be able to disable those things anytime soon.

"Isn't there anything we can hide in...?" he asked softly. "I'm not the quickest fellow, so..."

He scanned the place. Some nearby barrels looked like they could hide the little guy, but he wasn't sure what he could use, if anything. He might just have to be extra careful about those beams...

"Tch." It figured that as soon as they set out they would run into something he didn't know how to deal with. It had been a while since he'd last tucked himself into a ball, but maybe that would be disguise enough. Failing that, there were many, many torches and lights here. Such decoration demanded extraordinary amounts of fuel, so maybe he could duck into a pile of kindling if they ever found one...

Three things made me decide to post now. First, there's not much of a point waiting for separate groups to post. Second, Dubs is having computer issues right now, meaning that we're messed up anyway. Third, this thread has an alarming tendency to stall. Maybe once Dubs is back we can go back to the old posting order; Lucario, I'm not sure what you want to do in his absence, since your characters are pretty intertwined at the moment, but you can figure that out whenever you like, as UD and myself are not affecting you in any way.

---

Goro-man looked constipated. Poor guy. Loft pointed a finger towards the door the pirates had gone through, and said, "if we play follow the leader, we should find Mac, no problem!" He darted off the stairs and followed the pirates' route across, except he didn't have the privilege of being known by the lights. He was force to sprint away when the search beams came in his direction, and, laughing like a boy who plays tag, he made it to the far door without too much difficulty. He leaned against the stone wall beside the wooden door and looked back across the stone floor.

"Come on, you big rock-man!" He stage-whispered. "You can do it!"

((This doesn't effect Dubs or Lucario, since they're in a totally different section of the Fortress. However, I don't think UD's really active anymore, so I'm going to move on. UD, you're still welcome to post whenever you come back.))

The spotlights flashed, and Loft stumbled back, falling through the wooden doors and into the room beyond. Thankfully for him, there were only two guards, and neither of them were looking his way. He fell onto a plush rug, too, which muffled the otherwise fatal sound of his body knocking against stone. He scrambled to his feet and darted behind a wooden pillar, taking a deep breath as he waited for an opportunity to slip by the guards. It was pretty easy; standing in one place and staring at the same spot on the wall was pretty boring, so the guards relieved themselves by pacing back and forth. The next room had a staircase directly to the left of the entrance, and he had a choice to go up or continue towards the guards. Naturally, he chose the staircase.

As he ascended the wooden stairs, the sound of snoring reached Loft's ears. He crab-crawled up the stairs, staring up at where the snoring was coming from. It was a big, fat, old, smelly, warty, slimy, greasy, pickled guard. His dirty, rusty scimitar was leaning lazily against the table, where the guard's chubby, pimpled face was smushed against the wood. Loft shook his perfect, amazing, brilliant, wonderful, royal, ninja head and looked around the cell. No people, unfortunately. His goal of getting a Big Mac would have to wait. Instead, there hung a map-like tapestry of the Fortress across from the cells, taunting whoever was unlucky enough to be squatting there. Loft sneaked around to look at it. Normally, he'd keep an eye on the guard, but the snoring was loud enough to let him know that he was fine.

"Cells, cells," he muttered, running his finger along the tapestry. "Where can I get a Big Mac around here? Normally there's a big M, but... hey, what's that?" His finger froze on something with a large T.' "Treasure Room?" He said, excited. "Food can wait; my free toy comes first!"

Seven rooms, two hallways, and nineteen hundred staircases later found Loft dangling from a wooden beam at the very tippy top of the treasure room. It was neater than he had expected; pirates were usually gross and dirty, but this room was spotless and ship-shape! The goodies were all separated into chests, and each had a little plaque, which revealed the treasure's name and what it did.

Loft wanted nothing more than to jump down there and take every single shiny toy in the room. Unfortunately, there were the guards to work with. Three of them, to be precise. They were marching around and around the room, but because they were three of them their eyes covered everything! There wasn't a way to sneak through them, even with massive ninja skills. Loft would have to get creative.

A scream came from outside the treasure room's door, and the pirates jumped as Loft grinned happily. His creative awesomeness was working! Thank the Goddesses for time-skips; they let him do anything he wanted, whenever he wanted! The door burst open, breaking his desecration of the invisible fourth-screen. A pirate staggered in, accompanied by plumes of dirty smoke. It floated up, closer to where he was, and he sidled away from it. If he coughed....

"Fire!" The pirate gasped. "Fire!" The others hastened to follow him out, opening treasure chests and pulling out fire-dousing things like spray bottles, clown's flowers, and a bathtub rubber ducky. Loft growled silently. He wanted that rubber ducky. The door slammed shut to protect the treasures, and Loft quickly used his awesome powers of wall-walking to reach the floor.

The nearest chest said 'Limitless Math Homework Supply.' The next, 'Magical Acne-Cream. Really works!' Loft paused at that one, then shook his head and moved on. He passed treasures for stain remover, swords that could make pancakes as well as decapitate enemies, and shields that doubled as hamburger flippers. Finally, he stopped at a chest saying, 'Bunny Hood. Warning: do not touch unless you are the Supreme Ruler of the Pirates.'

"That's me," Loft said, throwing open the lid to the chest. Inside lay a bright yellow hood with bunny eyes and equally bunny ears. It was probably one of the most adorable things Loft had ever seen, and also the saddest. It looked so alone, lying there in the dank treasure chest. Its bright yellow color even seemed dulled slightly by the alone-ness and boring-ness of the chest, and Loft felt his heart cry out to the poor little bunny hood. He picked it up and put it on his head.