Janet and Jane: The Case of the Rough Waters: Part One

      "N o no no no no!” I shouted as I stomped my foot on the wooden deck. “We are not taking a case here!”

      “I'm sorry, Janet,” Jane said calmly as she flew off the ship and landed next to me. “We're already on the case and there's nothing that you can do about it.”

      “Well did you have to tell me we were going on vacation and that we were going to Mystery Island?”

      “If I didn't, then we would be having this same conversation back at Neopia Central.” Jane began to walk to the gangplank. “Besides, this was the last ship coming to Krawk Island for the week.”

      “Why's that?” Natia asked as she almost hopped off the boat (she barely set foot on the gangplank).

      “I don't know. Ask Governor Gavril MaGill if you want to know.”

      “What's the big deal, Janet?” James asked. He walked down the gangplank, taking our bags with him. “Why don't you like this place?”

      I crossed my arms. “Let's just say that the last time we were on Krawk Island, it didn't end well.”

      To be honest, I didn't like Krawk Island even before our last case here. I was never fond of pirates. Pirates were literally anyone who did a crime at sea, and Krawk Island was full to the brim with them. The fact that almost nobody did anything about it just bothered me. Yes, this place was kind of like a safe haven for pirates, but the way pirates flaunted this was just terrible in my eyes.

      Our last case here went the opposite of well. Jane and I almost didn't make it back to Neopia Central. Oh, it was terrible! In a nutshell, Jane and I had to find out who was putting the shops on Krawk Island against each other. We found out who was doing that, and that was where things went bad. The crew actually captured Jane and I. We were so close to walking the plank. Luckily, Natia was there to help us out.

      The reason why we didn't come back to Krawk Island for over two years was because we didn't exactly keep things calm while working. When we tried to interview the Little Nippers shopkeeper, we accidentally let out all of the Petpets. We we tried to talk to suspects in the Golden Dubloon, Natia started a food fight (in her defense, the suspect we were talking to threw food at her first). When we went to Smugglers Cove due to a tip leading us there, Jane and I got captured. Yeah, it wasn't fun.

      “You don't think anyone will recognize us?” I asked.

      “I'm sure,” Jane answered. “It's been over two years. I don't even think anyone remembers us, let alone recognizes us. Even if they do remember us, I think we'll be okay, since we changed a lot in those years. You grew out your hair, I cut mine, Natia's not blue anymore, we grew–”

      “I get it, we changed.” I crossed my arms. “You don't have to explain it.”

      “Besides, those big bad pirates are where they belong now,” Natia said to me. “In the brig!”

      Great. She was already talking like a pirate. It took her a week to get her to stop last time. At least it'll help her fit in. I still remembered the pirate lingo I had to memorize a couple years ago, but it'll take a while for me to get used to it.

      Between the four of us, we had about three thousand Dubloons. That was a lot, but we needed to make sure we made it last until we were done with this case. If we got robbed, then we'd be in some major trouble. While I hoped that would not happened, it was possible.

      It was getting a little late. It was around time for dinner. The Golden Dubloon wasn't so far away, so we could have dinner there. The walk wasn't that bad. Nobody really bothered us on the way there.

      In the restaurant, however...

      “Crusty Clam Surprise? Bilge Rat Madeira? Squid on a Stick? This stuff sounds horrid!” I commented. Thankfully, nobody cared to listen to me.

      “If you don't want that, don't order that,” Jane said to me, not looking up. “Get used to it. We might be eating this stuff for a while.”

      One of the waitresses came up to our table. She was a pink Aisha. She was wearing the uniform the waitresses were wearing and her hair was in a ponytail behind her.

      “Good evening,” she said. “My name is Loretta and I'll be yer server for tonight. Can I start ye off with-” Loretta stopped. She examined us, mostly me. “Hey, aren't ye the Kacheek who came and caused chaos here a couple years ago?”

      I shook my head. “Nope. That's not me,” I lied.

      “No, I remember ye.” Loretta slammed her notebook for taking orders on our table. “Thanks to ye three, I was stuck cleaning up this place for two weeks.”

      “We really didn't mean to cause trouble,” Jane informed. “It was an accident.”

      “Yer accident cost this place a lot.” The pink Aisha began to walk away. “I'm telling the manager.”

      “Wait,” I said before she left. Luckily, she stopped. I grabbed a Twenty Dubloon Coin from my bag and offered it to her. “How about a little deal? You keep quiet and you get this.”

      If I knew one thing about the residents of Krawk Island, they often took bribes. Loretta was no exception. She snatched that Dubloon out of my hand faster than I took it out of my hand. Loretta gave a sly smile and said, “I'll be back with yer drinks.” She walked away.

      “Janet, what were you thinking?” James asked.

      “I was thinking that we would get in a major amount of trouble if I didn't do anything,” I replied. “Just be glad that I did something.”

      “So you were right about others recognizing us,” Jane informed, still not looking up from the menu in her hands. “But what are we going to do about it?”

      “Why not get disguises?” Natia suggested. “Y'know, dress up like pirates.”

      I scowled at the idea. I wasn't crazy about dressing up as pirates and going around Krawk Island, but it looked like it was the only option. Besides, it would help us fit in better. Pirates trusted other pirates, anyway.

      “I don't like it, but I think it's what we have to do,” I said, sounding bummed. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

      The rest of dinner went alright. Nobody else recognized us, so we were in the clear for there. Our little group kind of scurried to Krawk Fashions to get some pirate clothes. It was pretty empty inside (which I didn't mind). We got some supplies there as well. You know, weapons, a map, etc.

      Once Jane and I were in our pirate disguises, I took out a compact of white facepaint. If others could recognize us as shadow, how about skunk? I painted the stripe on my head and tail like a skunk Kacheek's stripe would look like. I only had to do this two times before (please don't ask), but it seemed to work. Jane didn't even try it once yet. When I was done, I gave the compact to Jane so she could put on her fake stripe. While she did that, I checked on Natia and James.

      “What's with the stripe?” James asked.

      “Ooh, are you going into your skunk Kacheek disguise?” Natia added.

      “Yes, but don't say that out loud again,” I hissed quietly. “The last thing we need is attention.”

      “Should I maybe do something with my look?” James said.

      I shook my head no and replied with, “Natia, Jane, and I were here last time. Not you. You shouldn't have a problem.”

           “But you and Jane are doing it. I feel like I should, too.”

      “Natia's not doing it. She doesn't need to.” I brushed my new shirt with my hands. “Don't worry about it, James. You'll be fine, okay?”

      “But–”

      “Guys, the store's closing soon,” Jane said as she almost ran up to us. “We need to get going.”

      And that was what we did. We left Krawk Fashions and walked along Warf Wharf. I was greeted with the smell of fish (something I really didn't like). I tried my best to ignore it while Jane led us somewhere. It was getting late. I was hoping that this place Jane was going to was somewhere to sleep.

      “Jane, where are we going?” I asked.

      “No clue,” she replied. The Korbat put some of her hair behind her ear.

      She didn't have a clue?! “Then why are you walking around?”

      “I'm trying to find somewhere where we can stay.”

      “You mean to tell me that you didn't plan on anywhere to stay?”

      “I tried, Janet.” She crossed her arms. “I couldn't find anywhere and we had to come here today.”

      This was when Natia began to join in. She said, “Why don't we, I don't know, go camping? Camping is fun.”

      “And where are we supposed to find somewhere we can camp?” James asked.

      “I remember seeing a cave on the way to Warf Wharf. We can spend the night in there.”

      The idea of sleeping in a cave didn't appeal to me. I'd rather sleep somewhere that was meant for Neopets like us. Besides, we didn't even have the supplies for camping. I would suggest something different if I could think of something.

      We ended up going to sleep in the cave Natia mentioned earlier. I argued against the idea, but we had no other option. While Natia led the way to some random cave, I thought about alternatives to sleeping in a cave. How about under the dock? Nah, the salt water will splash. Hmm... That was pretty much my only option. Maybe sleeping in a cave wouldn't be so bad. What could happen?

      Remind me never to ask that question again.

      “Ta-da! May I present the cave!” Natia said in a show off-y voice. She held her arms out to the cave. How would I describe it? Oh yeah, it was just a regular cave. Why Natia was showing it off, I did not know.

      “So we really are sleeping in a cave,” I muttered. Nobody heard me.

      “How big is the cave?” James asked, looking into the cave.

      “How should I know?” Natia asked back. “I never went inside the cave.”

      I was pretty sure that this was me, but I heard a growl. Was it coming from the cave? I sure hoped not.

      “Janet, I know you're not happy about sleeping in a cave, but there is no need to growl about it,” Jane said. Alright, I guess she heard the growl as well.

      I looked into the cave and said, “That wasn't me.”

      “What do you mean it wasn't you?” Jane flew up to me and landed by my side. “I know it wasn't Natia or James.”

      “I'm serious. It wasn't me.”

      The shadow Korbat crossed her arms. “Well if you didn't growl, I didn't growl, and Natia and James didn't growl, then who did?”

      I shrugged. I was going to say something, but another growl went through the air. This time, I was a bit more worried. I had the feeling we weren't alone. Actual shivers rolled down my spine.

      “Alright, what on Neopia was that?” Natia asked, her voice sounding irate.

      James walked up next to Jane and looked into the cave. The Bori said, “I think it's coming from in there.”

      Finally, Natia came up next to me and looked in with us. “You think it's coming from the cave?”

      Suddenly, while all four of us were looking into the cave, two glowing eyes appeared and stared back.

      I was usually cool in situations like this, but not today. I lost my nerve and ran away. The others followed my example. We didn't stop until we were positive we were a good distance away from that... that... whatever that was!

      “Okay, so maybe we shouldn't stay in that cave,” Natia said like nothing ever happened. She didn't even sound out of breath.

      “What on Neopia was that?” James asked Jane and I. He was reacting the most scared out of all of us.

      “Relax James,” Jane said calmly. “Probably just some overgrown Petpet. Don't worry. I know a couple Neopets who can handle it.”

      Hold on, a couple Neopets who could handle this? Oh, she meant them. Great

      “No no no no no!” I shouted. “It's bad enough that I have to be here. Now you want to bring them here? More specifically him?”

      Jane knew exactly who I was talking about. She replied with, “Janet, I know you don't like him, but we need him to take care of that thing that's in that cave.”

      “If you don't mind me asking,” James began. “Who are they? Or the one Janet doesn't seem to like?”

      “I'll explain later,” Jane told him. “So Janet, do you want that thing in that cave?”

      “No,” I simply said.

      “So we need them here. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to.”

      I crossed my arms and pouted. There was no way I could talk her out of this. I just let her go on with that, but I wasn't happy about it.

      To be continued…