First Mate Fangs took a deep breath and went to a bush
to relieve himself when he thought the galley slaves were gone. He picked a
green apple out of one of the bags and began eating it. Nothing was left of
it when he was finished. What's taking those galley slaves so long? From nowhere
came a deep rumble. Fangs began sweating uncontrollably. What is that sound?
He reached for his sword, but it wasn't there!
Uh-oh! Then he saw what was coming. It was the
galley slaves! And the red one had his sword!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" he screamed and
began running. "Don't let him get away!" screamed Syrekia.
They chased Fangs down a hill and didn't realise
where they were. "Help me Cap'n!" Fangs shouted. Instantly, all the pirates
were off the ship and ready to intercept the galley slaves. They outnumbered
the galley slaves. Gohan fought long and hard. He used his chain by wrapping
it around the sword of a pirate and pulling it towards him, grabbing the hilt.
The standard sword for pirates must have been the Sword of Domar. He ran the
sword through the Skeith he had been fighting and ran to fight another pirate,
but felt the sting of the fire whip hit his back.
He fell to the floor and the sword landed five
feet away from him. Slowly, he tried to crawl to it, but the laser hit his back
five times, burning through his fur. A club conked his head and everything went
black.
***
When he woke up, he had a damper collar on and both of his wrists were chained
to the floor. He looked around and everyone else on the bottom row beds were
the same way. The boat was rocking back and forth in the water. They were out
to sea!
"Are you okay? Looks like you took a hard head
to the head back there." Gohan turned his head to see who had said that and
it was Mekka-man. He had a long scar running from his cheek to his lip that
looked as though it had been treated but was still healing. "I'm okay, but what's
going on? Why haven't they fed us yet?" I inquired, feeling a deep rumble from
the pit of my stomach. "Yeah...Uh, after you were knocked out, Syrekia was caught
and our little army fell. We were collared and chained to our beds. The captain
said that only we were to have half food rations. So... we don't eat too often."
"How'd you get that scar?"
Mekka-man looked up proudly, and said, "I was
fighting Second mate Skeith claw and I had one of the clubs. I tried to hit
him on the head but he cut the club in half. Then he sliced me in the face."
"Did it hurt much when they treated it?"
"No way!!" Then Syrekia jumped into the conversation,
"You forgot the part where you fell to the floor, screaming and got dragged
back here and cried like a baby when the doctor took the ointment out of his
bag."
"Hey!!" Mekka-man said looking furious. I laughed
sooo hard. Mekka-man turned over and went to sleep. I turned to Syrekia and
gazed into her eyes. Maybe she's finally opening up. "Uh... that was a good
plan you had back there. You even inspired everyone to help you. I would have
fought until the end-" Gohan stopped suddenly, realising he said too much. He
was glad it was dark because he was turning red. You don't fool me, Gohan, Syrekia
thought. "Ya, well..." she began, "I really would have liked to get out of there
and go home, not lead a bunch of galley slaves to rebellion."
"Hey!" Gohan managed to say. "Gohan, you just
don't know what it is like at home. Free! No one to tell you where to go or
what to do! I was my own owner, my own Shoyru! A wild Shoyru As a matter of
fact, I'll tell you what happened. I was out gathering fruit for my parents,
who were getting old. Up in the tree, picking some red apples, when I heard
something. I jumped out of the tree and grabbed my spear.
I searched around with my eyes and felt a sharp
pain in my lower back. I felt dizzy for a second and felt what was there, a
tranquilliser dart. I pulled it out quickly, trying to fight its poison, but
I felt a little dizzy. Suddenly, all these humans were around me. They were
closing in fast and I was getting EXTREMELY dizzy, so they caught me pretty
easily. When I woke up, I was strapped down to a table in a lab and there where
a bunch of Chias looking down at me. They had a bunch of different tools and
it looked like they were planning to cut me open!
Just as I screamed, they froze. There was barking,
and it was getting closer. They ran out of the lab and suddenly there were a
swarm of Lupes. One cut the straps open with its claw as it jumped over me.
I flew out of the building and was almost in the safety of a forest when I was
zapped by a huge force field around the chains of labs.
Some fur wearing Neopets picked me up. I guess
they were going to skin me. They put me in a cage. It was a bumpy drive; they
drove past the force field into a desolate area. The only thing in sight was
an abandoned warehouse. They pulled me out of the cage and tied me up as I struggled.
A Mynci knocked on the door and gave a password.
They walked me through the door and we went down some stairs. Underground, a
sign said 'Welcome to the Neopian Black Market.'
There were rows of tables on both sides with
people and Neopets selling stolen goods. We walked towards the back of the underground
warehouse to where First mate Fangs -war, Second mate Skeith-claw, and Third
mate Tiger-man were crowding. I heard the fur traders and pirates talking and
eventually my ropes were taken off and I was put into a net. They dragged me
here and I know for sure my parents are dead."
At her last words, a tear came into Syrekia's
eyes. Gohan felt sorry for her. It wasn't until then that they realised they
had been holding hands throughout the story. They both looked down and quickly
snatched their hands back as if the both had been touching a Fish Pop. A wave
of embarrassment fell over Gohan and Syrekia. A few moments later, Gohan spoke.
"That's awful. Maybe if you don't want to live
in the wild any more when this is over, you can come live with Flamehead2k214
and me."
"No, that's okay. Once a wild Neo, always a wild
Neo."
Gohan told his story to pass the time. "So, I'm
16 years old. How about you?"
"18 years."
Suddenly, the door to the galley slaves' quarters
swung open. "Wake up! Wake up! Top and middle bunks file out on deck. Skeith
and Tiger will come out to unlock you." First mate Fangs-war cried out. Skeith
and Tiger unlocked everyone on the bottom row and we climbed outside into the
bright sunlight.
I squinted as I looked for a clue as to what
we were doing. The ship was docked and we were filing out on land.
Second mate Skeith and Third mate Tiger were
walking to each galley slave and putting a shiny silver bracelet on each. They
covered up the whole wrist.
These look strange, Gohan thought. Captain Hawk
gave the order to Fangs, "Activate the 'cuffs, Fangs." Fangs pressed a few little
buttons on a grid and suddenly, between each individual handcuff, a red line
appeared, holding them together, like a laser.
Then all the galley slaves started dropping like
flies. Gohan could see them falling on the floor just before he passed out...
When Gohan woke up, he still had the handcuffs
and damper collar on. He was awfully cramped. In front of him was a glowstone,
a rock the produced an orange glow, and to his sides he could see the figures
of Mekka-man and Syrekia through four inch rectangular holes. To Syrekia he
said, "Syrekia! Wake up! SYREKIA!"
Syrekia snapped her head up abruptly and looked
at Gohan. "Hi. Where are we?"
"I don't know. Let me ask Mekka," he turned to
Mekka, who seemed very pale for a green Kyrii, "Where are we?"
"At an underground Battledome. This is a place
where bad people like Captain Hawk-man go to make us slaves fight other slaves
on other teams. Right now, we're in Tyrannia battling the Dino-manges. Our team
is the Neopian Krushers. If sent up, we will fight to the death."
Gohan turned to repeat the information to Syrekia,
but she had heard, for she was also very pale. Gohan listened to the fight upstairs.
"That's it Neopets and humans! Death's^Apprentice
has won again!!!!" a loudspeaker announced. Cheers filled the stadium. "The
score still stands now, 80 to 20. Let's bring out our next Neopian Krusher!"
Mekka-man's handcuffs fell off as well as his
damper collar. The Kyrii was as pale as a white Kougra now. The platform underneath
him began rising slowly.
"Gohan don't forget me! I'll always remember
you. Take this," Mekka finished, as he slid a small blue book through the hole.
"MEKKA-MAN!" I cried. Then he was gone.
"Our next challenger, the Green Ghost!" Another
cheer erupted from the crowd. "FIGHT!"
There were a few thumps on the ground above them,
and they could hear Death's^Apprentice growl. Then a slash.
"There you have it ladies and gentlemen! Another
victory for Death's^Apprentice! Which brings our score 90-20."
I didn't want to listen anymore. I just began
crying my eyes out.
***
"I'm sorry about..." Syrekia began. We were back on the ship, in our quarters.
Eight "beds" were empty. The Dino-manges had beaten our team 100 to 20. My eyes
were red from all the crying I had done. The door opened to our quarters. It
was Captain Hawk. "That was lousy! That was the worst defeat I have ever suffered
in years! Everybody up. We're going to the training room."
Sure enough, when we got above deck, there was
a cabin up there with the words 'training room' written on it. One by one, each
Neopet went into the one-window room while the rest watched.
The Neopets fought against their own will ferociously.
Some came out battered and tired. Gohan wasn't too anxious for his turn. And
he was next...
Syrekia tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
He turned his head and she said, "I have a plan."
***
First mate Fangs tossed Gohan a sword and grabbed his own sword of Domar. Gohan's
damper collar and chains were off, leaving him to fight his best.
He stepped in fighting position and a whistle
blew. Gohan leapt towards First mate Fangs and their swords clashed. Every move
he made, Fangs blocked. Then he saw an opening. Gohan withdrew his sword and
rammed it through the Grarrl's left side. First mate Fangs' eyes bulged out
for a moment. Clang!
The sword slipped out of Fang's hands and clattered
on the floor. He doubled over, clutching his side. In an instant, he fell flat
on his face. Standing outside the window, Syrekia dropped her mouth in shock.
First of all, she didn't know he could fight so skilled! Secondly, he had the
guts to kill Fangs! Gohan quickly flew out the window, arms in front of his
face, and glass shattered all over the floor. Blood trickled slowly out of his
arms but he paid no attention. He powered the sword with his energy and flew
around cutting slaves free from their chains and collars.
Pets with wings grabbed a few (one or two) Neos
without wings and made a break for it, flying into the sky. Pets with fins jumped
overboard with a pet on their backs. Gohan took Syrekia's paw and jump flew
into the sky.
She was surprised at his assertiveness. As they
flew away, Gohan surveyed with his eyes the ship, checking for left behind slaves.
There were none, he could see the pirates scrambling all over the deck. Just
when Syrekia and Gohan thought they had enough distance between them and the
ship, a cannon roared and they heard the piercing screech as something soared
though the skies. It was a poisonous snowball and missed the two Shoyrus by
a foot. Gohan panicked for Syrekia's safety and attempted to fly higher in the
sky with her.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
To be continued... |