Walk the Plank: Part One

      The opponent, a Pirate Aisha, recoiled and ran away, tail tucked between legs.

      "Arr, it be good to be Darkwing, scourge o' the seas, master o' all that be on the ocean--"

      "Diran!" The pirate ship and seas were fading out. He blinked, and the scene was replaced by his room, with his sister leaning over him. Diran groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers back over his head.

      "Mooooooorning..." he moaned, strongly disliking whatever pet it had been that had decided to make neoschool start so early in the morning. Immediately he decided not to go today. Trying to look convincing, he feigned several coughs and sneezes. "Oooooh... I feel siiiiick... Tell our owner that I'm not going today." He squinted his eyes shut and whimpered.

      "Well... Okay, if you say so," said Diran's sister, still sounding slightly unconvinced. He turned and left to find their owner to report the news.

      Diran rolled over and grunted with contentment. Now he could go back to sleep!

      Sleep was one of the pet's most favorite things in all of Neopia. It was such a relaxing thing, and it was a great way to escape from reality into a world where anything could happen. Almost as much as Diran loved sleep, he loved to dream. Even when there were other things he should focus on, he loved to stare into space and pretend he was someone else, somewhere else, doing something else. Dreams were usually better than whatever was going on in the real world. Daydreaming was mostly sufficient to helping Diran escape, but dreaming was usually better when sleep was attached to it. It only had one drawback to it. If you were dreaming while sleeping, you couldn't simply escape out of dreams whenever you felt like it. In order to exit the dream, you had to wake up. Diran could recall several nightmares he'd had in the past that he hadn't been able to sneak out of immediately. He shuddered.

      Soon, sleep washed over Diran. Unlike usual, it didn't bring the familiar sensation of dreaming with it. In fact, he didn't dream at all, which seemed quite strange to him.

      He wasn't sure how long he had slept or what time it was, but Diran found himself waking from his sleep. Groggily he rubbed his cheek against the pillow. Strangely, the material was much rougher than he had remembered, and the room smelly strongly of salt water and fish. The first glance around the room cause him to yell a loud, "What?!" The voice was not of his own. It was deeper and more raspy. He looked down at his paws. Now they were covered with grey scales. Looking over his shoulder, he realized that he now had wings sprouting out his back. What was going on?

      Frantically, Diran jumped up from the bed and paced around the small chamber. No mirrors were in the room to view himself in. All that was in the room was the bed and a small table.

      The bed was of simple design. It had a wooden frame and a single, thin, white mattress, which was covered by a greyish sheet that Diran suspected had once been completely white. On top of the table was a large hat, and a small pile of clothing rested next to it. Disregarding the hat and clothing, he raced out the door.

      After running out the doorway, Diran found himself in a long, narrow hallway with wood flooring and wooden paneling on the walls. At this point he didn't care which direction he ran. He simply wanted to find someone to explain what was going on.

      Taking a right turn down the hallway, he soon came to a staircase. Wasting no time, he sprinted up it. Upon reaching the top, he burst onto what appeared to be the deck of a ship. The sun, hot and bright, beamed down on the deck and all of the surrounding ocean.

      "What is the matter with me?" he tried to yell, but it came out as, "What be the matter with Cap'n Darkwing?" He stopped. Again, he said the first half of his sentence. Same as before, it came out as, "What be the matter... " Dumbfounded, he stood there and repeated the same sentence several times in a row, trying to get his intended sentence to match his spoken one. Not after long, one of the many Pirate Krawks came over.

      "Captain Darkwing! What's the matter?"

      "Darkwing... you... "

      "Err, why are you in your underclothes, Captain?" He stifled a laugh, then jumped and gasped as if he had done something horrible. "No! I didn't laugh at you! Please spare me, Captain!"

      Diran was about to ask why the Krawk would worry about such a thing and assure him that he would do nothing to harm the Krawk, but the words never left him. Instead, he snarled, "Ye be makin' fun of ol' Cap'n Darkwing? Ye shall walk the plank!" He grabbed the nearby handle of a mop and thrust it towards the Krawk, forcing him to walk. He couldn't believe what was happening! Diran wasn't controlling any of it! The body was now speaking and moving on its own!

      "No!" begged the Krawk. "I didn't mean it, Captain, I swear!"

      "Well," Darkwing said finally, pushing the Krawk onto the narrow plank. "Ye should have thought o' that before openin' yer mouth." With one final thrust the Krawk fell off the plank and vanished beneath the surface of the dark sea.

      Diran gasped in horror. What had he just done? To his relief the Krawk resurfaced. As quickly as he could, Diran lowered a floatation device to the pet and pulled him up.

      The Krawk collapsed on the deck of the ship, still sputtering. "I'm sorry, Captain! I'll never do it again!" he cried, lowering himself to Diran's feet.

      "Yarr, enough o' the groveling, Bluescale. Go swab the deck!"

      "Aye, Captain!" Bluescale pulled himself to his feet and ran off.

      On the outside Darkwing appeared to be smiling smugly. However, on the inside, Diran was completely unable to understand what was going on. At first, he had thought he had been in complete control of the body, but now he was sure he wasn't. Actions happened and words were said by the body that Diran hadn't done. It was almost as if the soul of the body still resided there, but that would mean Diran was intruding. He was worried. What would happen to him if he'd anger this "Darkwing"? He'd already witnessed what he did-or tried to do-to the Krawk who merely laughed at him.

      Diran gulped but decided to search around the ship a bit more. He found his way back to the staircase.

      When staring down the hallway, it seemed to go on forever. Poking his head into some rooms he passed, he noticed that most of the rooms on the hallway were so bare that they must have been for the crew. A little over halfway down the hallway, Diran came across Darkwing's quarters again. He made mental notes as to where the room was in the hallway. He certainly wouldn't want to have to stumble around in complete darkness to find it later.

      Next to Darkwing's room was a closed door. Diran put his paw on the cool, metal doorknob of the door and looked inside. It seemed to be the ship's kitchen. A small island was in the middle of the room with two dim lights, the only lighting in the room, hanging above it. Several bowls of cut vegetables and a cutting board rested on its counter. Hovering above them was a massive Mutant Scorchio with an eye patch.

      "Aye, Cap'n!" said the Mutant Scorchio, saluting. "Today'll be the last day fer vegetables. They're startin' t' wilt and go brown. What be new with ye?"

      "Ah, not much... " said Diran, although there obviously was.

      "Anything Cook Longtail could get ye?"

      "Err... " Diran had no idea what kinds of things Darkwing would ask for. "How about some orange juice?"

      For a second, Diran thought Longtail was going to laugh him right out of the galley. Instead, Longtail nodded. "Still worried about gettin' scurvy, are ye? I told the crew t' serve orange juice at evenin' meals."

      "What?!" shouted Darkwing. "Ye told the crew about me scurvy problem?" He reached for his sword, which was stored in the sheath at his waist. Again body was taking over. Would this happen frequently? Would Diran be cursed to deal with these over takings for as long as he'd be here?

      "Arr, no need t' get hasty now," said Longtail, holding up his paws. "I told 'em nothin' about ye not wantin' to get scurvy. I only said they'd want t' avoid it themselves." Darkwing relaxed. "Arr, must get back t' makin' dinner now."

      Diran left and returned to the hallway. Several doors down from the galley was a library, full of huge, dusty books. Quickly browsing through, Diran didn't see anything that looked like it would be of any interest to him. Since he was bored, he decided to return to the deck, where most of the action was.

      Sure, there was action on the deck, but it wasn't the kind Diran had imagined. On the horizon dark clouds were rolling in, bringing choppy water and huge waves with them. Soon, the entire sky was dark grey, and the boat pitched about on the open water violently.

      "Batten down th' hatches!" yelled Darkwing as a huge wave loomed in front of the ship. Any second, it would break onto the deck!

To be continued...