Ownership should be mandatory

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Pirate's Cove

Ok, so here' s the deal:

This is a story I wrote for EL (Enhanced Learning.) Everyone there liked it and I know that the family likes to read my stories so here it is.
If you don't like it, that's fine too.
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Frederico was not like other pirates. For one thing, few pirates are cursed and live to tell the tale. For another, few pirates have seen death face to face; but perhaps the most incredible thing about him was that in a very dangerous job, he had survived for a long time.

This was in part thanks to the Flying Dutchman. However, he wouldn’t have the Flying Dutchman if it weren’t for Black Nathaniel. And he wouldn’t have had to worry about Black Nathaniel if he were a normal sailor. And he might have been a normal sailor without his father’s death.

So let’s start there. Frederico’s father was a pirate, and I haven’t been able to find out why. Captain Jack McClellan liked food, fight, and…mostly food. His ship was the Silver Blade, and his main target was “Chick House: For All Your Grocery Needs!” The sales ship went by every now and again, and Jack was usually waiting for it.

His son, however, did not share his father’s enthusiasm for piracy. He thought it would be much more exciting to be a regular sailor. However, he changed his mind the day they saw the red sails.

The red sails were a trademark of Captain Black Nathaniel, the most evil pirate ever. His Code of Conduct was: “Do as I say, WHEN I SAY IT!!” He had lost his left hand, but instead of using the traditional hook, he used a dagger in its place! His ship was the Dark Patch, which presumably meant eye patch. Little was known about Black Nathaniel. All a pirate really needed to know was: If you see red sails, RUN!

Now, back to Frederico. The Black Patch came upon them and rammed into their side. The Silver Blade, having only three cannons and a harpoon launcher, surrendered. After being completely looted of all gold, and rum, Black Nathaniel said,

“This be what happens to them what defy the Black Patch!”

Then he killed Jack McClellan.

Frederico’s feelings were impossible to describe if you have not lost a loved one, but Black Nathaniel didn’t feel a thing as he jumped back onto the deck of The Patch. “See you later!” He said as he sailed off into the fog.

Frederico stood there speechless until the First Mate, Red Ethan, said, “Don’t worry! At least some good has come of this for you! According to your father’s Code of Conduct, you’re the new captain!”

Frederico stormed off to his cabin and didn’t come out that day.

* * *

Now, Frederico did become the captain and found he enjoyed a pirate’s life! There were some problems at first (including no less than 5 failed mutinies,) but eventually things settled down.

It is now about 12 years later. Frederico had just returned from Port Royale. “Beggin’ me pardon, sir,” said the new first mate, “but what were you doing there if you came back empty handed?”

Frederico took out a map from his pocket. “Getting information,” he said. “I have discovered that Black Nathaniel, the villain who murdered my father, has been sighted off the coast of Montaria. We shall go there and avenge my father!”

So they did. What they found there would haunt them for the rest of their days. “Look!” said the first mate, “that must be his ship!”

It was a ship, all right. The Flying Dutchman.

A huge, 10 cannon ship with seaweed hanging from the figurehead and tattered sails. There is more to say about the Dutchman, but I shall let the reader figure it out at the same time as Frederico.

Now, Frederico was a bright pirate, but pirates aren’t really at all bright. “That must be Black Nathaniel’s ship!” he cried, “seize it!”

Then he jumped onto the deck and said, “I, Frederico McClellan, declare this ship to be…MINE!”

They didn’t stay for long. They headed North in hopes of escaping Black Nathaniel. They didn’t even realize that the ship didn’t have red sails, do it couldn’t be his!

Of course, they did have other things to worry about. The new ship seemed to be steering itself! It headed away to a mysterious unknown murky swampland.

When they got there, Frederico said, “Any volunteers for an exploring party?”

No one volunteered. Frederico rolled his eyes, pointed his cutlass at three men and said, “You volunteer!”

The reluctant exploring party went deeper into the swamp, when they heard a voice say “Frederico McClellan?”

Frederico jumped! His men, deciding that their volunteer time was over, fled back to the ship. “Calm down. I just want to speak to you, Frederico.”

Two men stepped out from the swamp. They had a strange glow to them and one of them had a starfish on his face. The starfish-less one said, “I am John Robin and this is my cohort, Mr. Thomas Gibbs”

Starfish face nodded. John Robin continued, “It is our duty to tell you these things, since you are the immortal captain of the Flying Dutchman.”

“Immortal?!?” said Frederico.

“Yes, have ye not heard the pirate legend of the Flying Dutchman?” asked John Robin.

“Uh, no.”

“Well, you’re immortal nonetheless. But there is a catch…”

“What? What is the catch?”

“Stop interrupting! The catch is this: you have to defend this key and this map with your immortal life,” John handed these things to Frederico.

“What are these for?”

“This map leads to a spot on an island on which there is a treasure chest that can only be unlocked with the key,” said John Robin.

“You do get the ship,” said Mr. Gibbs.

“What’s so great about the ship?” asked Frederico.

“We’ll show you,” said John Robin.

They headed back towards the ship. “Not enough cannons,” murmured Mr. Gibbs, “I’ve always said that.” They stepped onto the deck. All the crew wondered who these strange men were, especially starfish face there, he looks suspicious.

“Come on, come on!” said John Robin, “Haul to! Raise anchor! Swab the decks! Prepare to set sail! I will tolerate NOOO laziness!”

“What’s our bearing?”

“Up!” said John Robin. Everyone wondered what that meant, but not for long, because as he said, John Robin tolerated NOOO laziness!

Soon they were heading out to sea. John Robin, Gibbs, and Frederico stood on the main deck, Gibbs steering the ship. John Robin spoke, “when you’re the captain, you can harness the power of the Flying Dutchman to, as the name says, fly!”

As he said this, John Robin concentrated. “Fly, Fly, FLY!” Then, suddenly, the ship splashed out of the water and flew into the air. It was the most spectacular thing Frederico had ever seen!

But Frederico was puzzled. “I thought I was the captain of the Dutchman”

“You are, but there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me. I have power beyond even yours, but I got it at a price. Set sail for Pirate’s Cove!” yelled John Robin.

It flew up, into a spot where the clouds were shaped like an “X”. The Dutchman flew straight into the center of the X.

It surfaced on a patch of land that was red and dry. There was no water anywhere around, and some strange, misshapen plants as tall as a building.

“Ah,” said John Robin, “the so-called land of Pirate’s Cove.”

“Home of cursed ground that can only be gotten to with a cursed ship,” said Frederico.

“And the cursed treasure,” said Mr. Gibbs.

“Ooh! Treasure! I like treasure!” said Frederico.

“Well, this treasure turns you into an evil undead creature,” said John Robin

“Sort of like being the captain of the Flying Dutchman,” said Frederico.

“Ha ha. No, the captain of the Flying Dutchman may do as he please so long as he also guards the treasure.”

“Which treasure?”

“Ok, how’s this? Treasure 1: you have to guard with your life. Treasure 2: turns the owner into a zombie.”

“Got it. Treasure 1: Good; Treasure 2: Not so good.”

“Finally.”

While John Robin and Frederico were discussing treasure, Mr. Gibbs had gone elsewhere. Coming back, he said, “the treasure’s gone.”

“Which one?”

“The cursed one.”

“Ahh. Treasure 2.”

“what?”
“Never mind.”

“Why is the treasure gone?” asked Frederico.

“Someone stole it,” said Mr. Gibbs.

* * *

They returned to the swamp. “Well, see ya,” said Frederico to John Robin and Gibbs.

“What do you mean?”

“I guard Treasure 1, remember? Not Treasure 2. So I think I’ll just...”

FREDERICO McCLELLAN?

Frederico turned nervously. John Robin and Gibbs were gone. Come to think of it, so was the ship. All that was there was a white fog and a strange figure in a black robe, hovering.

“Y-y-yes?”
DON’T STAMMER, MORTAL!

“Yes, sir. Eh, who are you sir?”

YOU MIGHT SAY I AM WHAT MAKES MORTALS…MORTAL. I AM DEATH!

“But, sir, I always heard Death had a scythe.”

SCYTHES ARE INCREDIBLY IMPRACTICAL. I HAVE A CUTLASS, BUT I LEFT IT AT HOME. I AM NOT HERE TO TAKE YOUR SOUL, BUT TO TALK TO YOU.

“Well, go on. Please?”

IT IS TRUE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO PROTECT THE CURSED TREASURE. AND I CAN’T FORCE YOU. YOU ARE IMMORTAL, AND THUS UNKILLABLE. I HATE IMMORTALS, AND THAT TREASURE WILL MAKE MANY MORE THAN THERE ALREADY ARE. I CANNOT KILL YOU, BUT I CAN MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE IN WAYS YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY IMAGINE. GO AND Get THE TREASURE. IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND, I BELIEVE.

“Alright, alright! I’ll go after the cursed treasure!”

“Good,” said John Robin, standing on the deck of the Flying Dutchman next to Mr. Gibbs.

“But there was-Death was-but hooie-“

“Stop stammering! Mr. Gibbs, go and get our ship,” said John Robin.

Soon after, the Golden Pearl, John Robin’s ship came from the swamp. It was a large ship, but what really caught everyone’s attention was the number of cannons. 50 cannons, 25 on each side! You may not know this, but that is a huge amount of cannons on any ship, pirate or otherwise!

“I told you that your ship didn’t have enough cannons!” yelled Mr. Gibbs.

“Where are we going?” asked a pirate from Frederico’s ship.

“To the other side of the island!” said Frederico.

John Robin was about to say something, but the look Frederico gave him made him be quiet.

* * *

The other side of the island was, surprise, surprise, still swampy, if not even more so. On it were strange, howling creatures.

“Banshees,” said John Robin, “that can’t be good.”

“They remind me of Death,” said Frederico.

“Me too,” said Mr. Gibbs, which made Frederico wonder even more about John Robin and his cohort.

After the banshees, the water was to shallow for the ships to go on, so Frederico, John Robin, Mr. Gibbs, and some “volunteers” from Frederico’s crew crept forward on foot. What they saw chilled Frederico to the bone, and this being the guy who had just seen Death face-to-face.

They saw…humans? Not exactly. These humans looked were literally only skin and bone, their face being mere skulls, the rest of them having very little skin. These were, of course, zombies. They were charging towards an island house, led by a zombie with a tricorn pirate hat and a skeleton wearing a bandana.

Frederico gasped, “The one wearing the tricorn hat?”

“What?” asked John Robin, busy looking around

“That’s Black Nathaniel! The man who murdered my father! CHARRG-“

John Robin slapped Frederico and held him back. “No! He’s just as immortal as you, perhaps more so! We need that treasure!”

“Which one?”

“It’s obvious! Treasure 2, the zombie maker, is missing. Then you get a tip from Death that it’s on the other side of the island. Then, on the other side of the island, we see a group of zombies led by Black Nathaniel. Therefore, Nathaniel took the treasure! So all we have to do is find it.”

“There it is!” pointed a crewmate “volunteer”.

“Ok, here’s the plan,” said John Robin. “You, the volunteers, attack the zombies. Frederico, Mr. Gibbs, and I shall try to get the treasure while everyone is distracted.”

Now, pirates generally are all for sacrificing lives…as long as it’s happening to someone else. However, after much prodding with three separate cutlasses, they agreed to this suicidal plan.

“CHAAAAARGE!!” cried the first mate as the pirates attacked.

Now, if there’s one thing on Earth dumber than pirates, its zombies, so it took them a moment to figure out what was going on. Meanwhile, the pirates were fighting at their hardest, and were actually winning…at first. However, having both the advantage of numbers and, um, immortality, the zombies soon had the upper hand.

While all this craziness was going on, Frederico, John Robin, and Mr. Gibbs crept sneakily towards the treasure. They were doing good, but, as the reader might have guessed, Frederico blew it. “Yes!” he said, alerting Black Nathaniel to their presence.

“ARRR!” cried Black Nathaniel.

“Oh great, another guy who talks in fonts,” said Mr. Gibbs.

“ARRR!” said font-speak again. “YOU SEEM TO HAVE MY TREASURE! I SHALL ENJOY KILLING YOU, BUT FIRST, WHO ARE YOU?”

“I am Frederico McClellan. You killed my father, and now I shall kill you!” yelled Frederico in a fit of fury over his dead father. He leapt out and attacked Nathaniel, who soon engaged with him in immortal combat.

“These guys are crazy,” said John Robin, turning back to the treasure.

“Definitely,” said Mr. Gibbs, “so, how shall we destroy this thing?”

“I don’t know. I wish someone would hurry up and invent the gas lighter.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that. Well, shall we rub two sticks together.”

“Nah, let’s just use that fire spell.”

“Alright, but I just hope that Frederico can keep ol’ treasure-stealer away while we cast it.”

The pirates v zombies battle was still going strong. Oh, who am I kidding, the pirates were exhausted by now and were getting picked off one by one. The only place where any real fighting was going on was the battle between Frederico and Black Nathaniel, which, since it was between two immortals, could go on forever. Unless, that is…

“Ah- ha!” cried John Robin, holding the flaming treasure in his hands, “Death to all zombies!”

And at that moment, every single zombie in the place screamed. A scream like had never been heard before, a scream that burst all of the remaining pirates’ eardrums, except for the immortal ones, that is. An awful, terrible scream.

And none screamed louder than Black Nathaniel.

After two hours, every zombie there had been reduced to ash.

* * *

“Well,” said Frederico McClellan, “before I go off on my adventures, I just want to know one last thing.”

“What’s that?” asked John Robin. The two of them were standing on the deck of The Flying Dutchman, saying their goodbyes.

“Will I ever know the truth about you and Mr. Gibbs?”

John Robin laughed, then said, “Never, Frederico, never.”

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Moving

Moo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooving