The Pint-Sized Pirates III: Back to the Beginning

Back to the Beginning

NOTE: Some of you reading this might not remember or even KNOW that there has already been a Pint-Sized Pirates 1 and 2, but there has and here's where you can find them:

A New Beginning (Issue 141)

A Reunion With the Past (Issue 144)

It's best if you read those two first, since it has been some time since we last heard from the crew of the Blue Mist. When you've done that, read on for the third and final installment in the Pint-sized Pirates trilogy!

     ~**~

Out in the endless blue oceans of Neopia, all was still, the surface peaceful. A heavy fog drifted aimlessly, limiting any possible vision. All was calm, all was…

      "C-9!"

      "Sorry, Cap'n, you're jus' makin' waves."

      "Curses!"

      "My turn…how's about C-9?"

      "Argh! May ye guts turn to jellyfish! Ye sunk me Main Galleon, so ye did!"

      This heated game of Battlin' Pirateships was finally interrupted by an uncommonly fat Skeith banging two pots and pans together, yelling loudly over the raucous clatter they created. "Grub's up below deck! Come an' get it before it grows a skin -- oh, too late Shipmates, it already did. Curse this weather!"

      "That would be meaning it be Porridge Day, then," the baby Mynci, dressed in a Shiver Me Timbers Usuki's costume and a Captains hat, reasoned as he set down his half of the game with a disgruntled snort. His opponent, and Eyrie with an ancient Eyrie longsword replacing one of his arms, took the opportunity to peek at the Mynci's set of ships, causing their "Commander" to go into a terrible fit of rage. "Aaar! It be the plank for ye, Hawkeye!" the infant Neopet roared in dismay as he swept the game into a pile. "I don't play with lily-livered cheats!"

      "I didn't really need to look, Cap'n Bananarama," the Eyrie laughed nervously as the pair made their way to the ladder below deck. "Ye were literally tellin' me where they all were, guessin' the same coordinates an' all!"

      "Aaar, I guess ye right, me old Shipmate," the baby Mynci sighed deeply as he waited for the Eyrie to climb down (which isn't particularly easy with a great big unbending sword for an arm). "It's jus' this whole bein' a baby! Does strange things to me head, so it does!"

      "Cheer up!" Hawkeye called up from below deck as his Captain hopped down the ladder after him. "Remember what day it is?"

      "Thursday? Laundry day? What of that?"

      "Have ye forgotten already, Cap'n?" the Eyrie asked in disbelief as he retrieved two quivering bowls of lukewarm porridge from the canteen table. "Today be the day we go huntin' for Boochi…and for ye to be restored to ye good ole self!"

      How could Bananarama forgotten? He'd only dreamt about the day ever since the Baby Bruce and his accursed ray gun had changed him into the child he was today. "We have a plan, then?"

      "Er,…we nab him and make him turn ye back?" the Eyrie asked hopefully. Masterminding schemes weren't the strong point of a pirate.

      "That's it?"

      "Er…aye."

      "Good," Bananarama growled as he began to eat his porridge. "Exactly the same idea I had…"

     ~**~

     Later that morning found the crew of the Blue Mist in a remote part of Neopia Central, quite apart from the hubbub of the main shopping center. They stood in a circle, Bananarama pacing up-and-down in the middle of them.

      "Right, are ye all clear on ye parts?" he asked them. Even though most of them nodded, he thought it best to recap just in case. "Most o' ye will hide in these bushes wit' nets whilst I lure Boochi into this clearin', then ye'll all jump on 'im and bag IM up! Agreed? Oh, and Second-In-Command…?"

      A yellow baby Gelert jumped at the mention of his crew name (Bananarama didn't know his real one and, in all honesty and truthfulness, Second-In-Command had quite forgotten it himself). "Yes, Cap'n?"

      "What did I last tell ye?" the Captain snapped. "Start sayin' 'aye,' or I'll tie ye to the top o' the flag post! Anyways, ye'll go now an' fetch that Helpful Zafara woman, okay? If she knows 'everything about Neopia,' then maybe she be knowin' Boochi's one-word language…well? Get a move-on, lad! We can't do nought with him 'til she's here."

      As Second-In-Command saluted and hurried off to carry out his orders, Bananarama signaled for the rest of the crew to get into their positions. After making sure that not a single part of a pirate was showing (Hawkeye's blade made a mean-looking branch until he got it concealed), the baby Mynci strode back into the clearing, coughed and began to shout in his usual gruff voice.

      "BOOCHI!!! Get ye 'orrible pink butt 'ere now, ye smelly sea zucchini!"

      Silence. Nothing stirred except the odd rustling of bushes as some of the crew squirmed uncomfortably.

      "Okay," Bananarama announced to his crew remorsefully, "so maybe I'm thinkin' the direct approach isn't going to work after all. Any suggestions, me buckos?"

      "Mmplegragthothplg!"

      "What was that, Hawkeye?"

      "I said," the Eyrie repeated, pushing it's big feathery head out from between two blossoming flowers and spitting out the petals. "How's about acting on his personality? Pretend ye don't want to be zapped Baby. Reverse psychology, I think it was called…"

      "Ye been at the Neopedia again?"

      "Er, aye Cap'n."

      "Good, jus' checkin'…ye think he'll really fall for that?"

      "Why not?" Hawkeye asked with a sly wink. "Ye sound forty-five."

      "But I'm nay over twenty-eight!"

      "There ye go then…" was all the Eyrie would say before pulling his head back into the bush.

      "Well, if you're sure," Bananarama sighed, seriously beginning to doubt the plan's effectiveness and if it would even work. Clearing his throat, the baby Mynci slowly paced the clearing once again. "Arr! Glad t' be an adult again! That Boochi turned me into a baby, but now I'm back to me good ole self! I jus' hope I never meet Boochi again!"

      Close by, who should be passing but the very same Neopet Bananarama was ranting about, who at this time of day was looking to have some serious fun and mischief. And what was this…? Someone who had managed to get themselves turned back? He couldn't have that and besides, it had been positively ages since he'd last re-zapped anyone…

      "Boochi!" he hollered his war-cry as he leapt into the clearing, pointing his Baby Ray Gun at Bananarama…who was still a baby. "Boo…chi?"

      "Aye, ye can't zap me again, can ye?" the baby Mynci told him sarcastically as the little Bruce scratched his head with the barrel of the gun. "But ye can zap them…if ye happen to be really fast."

      "Boochi?"

      "Behind ye, fuzzball," Hawkeye growled from where he had been standing behind Boochi for the last few seconds. When Boochi spun round and fired-off a shot, the Eyrie lazily deflected the bolt with his sword-arm, sending it ricocheting into a bush (all the leaves on which instantly reverted back to their buds which in turn shrank back into the wood). When Hawkeye next swiped his sword down, it was to knock the Ray Gun out of Boochi's hands. "Get IM, lads!"

      "Boochi?!"

      From ever bush came a pirate, blocking-off any hope of escape, two more edging forward with a burlap sack. The sack went over a very disgruntled Boochi, the string drawn firmly at the top.

      "Cap'n!"

      Just on cue, Second-In-Command arrived with the Helpful Zafara, who looked pretty worried now that she was surrounded by pirates that weren't babies.

      "Wh-what do you want from me?" she asked, her whole body quaking with fear.

      "Tell us what he says."

      "What who says…? Who have you got in that bag, you brutes?!"

      "I thought we were supposed to ask you the questions?" Bananarama snapped impatiently as he bent to pick up the Ray Gun from where it had landed. "And anyways, in answer to ye questions, that be Boochi in there…"

      "S-sure!" the Zafara laughed nervously.

      "Ye see this ray gun?" the baby Mynci asked, pointing it at her. She flinched, and he laughed dryly. "Aye, I see that ye do…ask him how to change it back."

      "Boochi?" the muffled voice asked from inside the sack.

      "Er…he says 'change what back?'"

      "This! Me, the whole Baby thing!" Bananarama snapped.

      "Boochi!"

      "He says you can't…" the Help Zafara muttered sadly.

      "Are ye sure that's what he said?" the Pirate Captain asked, pointing the Ray Gun back at her.

      "Boochi! Boochi, Boo-Chi! Boo…chi!"

      "He said he's sure! There's no reverse button - it's impossible! You either change back some other, more dangerous way…or you grow up normally."

      "Oh," Bananarama muttered glumly, "so there's no other real safe way to change back?"

      "Boochi…"

      "He says -"

      "It was rhetorical! So…I can't change back, I'll just have to grow up all over again, younger than me old shipmates. Watch them grow old, old and die, unless…well, I guess I have no other choice; there's only one thing to do, isn't there?"

      The baby Mynci looked at all the pirates staring sadly back at him in wonder. He looked at the ray gun in his paws, looked back at his crew…

      And fired the gun.

     ~**~

     The endless ocean stretched out before him like a huge blue blanket that he felt more safer to sleep and explore in then any other city in the whole of Neopia. Okay, so calling the sea a big blue security blanket was a bit lame, but it was his big blue security blanket…and he was only a kid, after all. He hadn't been an hour ago, but he was now, so he was allowed to make stupid descriptions.

      "You is right, Cap'n," the baby Eyrie announced happily as he turned away from the ship's rail and back to the baby Mynci who was seated on the deck of the Blue Mist. "It does look so different through a child's eyes."

      "Aye, so it does, Hawkeye," Bananarama sighed pleasantly as he looked out on the endless blue horizon. "Are ye…are ye okay with what I did?"

      "Hmm? Oh, aye, Cap'n…not a lot you coulda done, given da circumstances."

      "An…an' the rest o' the crew?"

      At this, both the Mynci and the Eyrie looked at all the other baby Neopets working hard aboard the ship. "Can't say I think they notice the difference much, Cap'n," the baby Hawkeye answered evenly, flexing his claws.

      "Good, good…Hawkeye? Where'd ye Longsword go?"

      "Well, I guess since I still had me hand when I was first a kid, I got it back now…should be easier for climbin' down da ladders, and I ain't complain' none!" Hawkeye added with a thoughtful nod. "Game o' Battlin' Pirateships, Cap'n?"

      "Aye," the young Bananarama muttered as he gazed back into the horizon. "Why not…? No cheatin', mind!"

      And, as he and the baby Eyrie set-up their boards, Bananarama began to think about something. Boochi wasn't that bad really, he reckoned. It just depends how you think of him…

      THE END

Author's Note: So there you go! The final installment of the Pint-sized Pirates trilogy is now completed. Hope you enjoyed reading the journey of the infant Bananarama as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Neomails are welcome as always, and see you lot around!