(Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this unless otherwise noted.)

(Note: Unlike most 'cast replacement' fics, I will not be showing the cast list at the beginning, to maintain some semblance of surprise in the progression of the story. Sorry!)

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
THE CURSE OF THE BLACK EMERALD

Prologue: A Pirate's Life for Me

Pirates.

Cosmo Petali wanted to meet pirates. She wanted to pillage and plunder and swashbuckle alongside pirates.

Because she was bored.

Bored, bored, bored.

The HMS Typhoon, while well-armed enough to withstand any attacks from a pirate ship of any size – or so she was told by Lieutenant Hedgehog – was also very slow.

Irritatingly slow.

She wanted the ship to get to her new home at Port Royal, Jamaica, as quickly as possible.

So the young plant girl would often entertain herself by skipping about the deck, telling jokes that she found entertaining to the perplexed crew around her, looking into the bottoms of empty barrels, and picking up the ropes of the rigging and giving them a tentative tug. Of course, this latter had gotten her into a spot of trouble when Mister Knuckles caught sight of her activities. She'd never seen him getting so angry before, going on and on about how going even slightly off course put them at risk from pirate attack.

So Cosmo contented herself with sitting down on deck and watching the crew go about their business; watching her father, Governor-to-be of Port Royal, Lucas Petali, talking with Lieutenant Silver the Hedgehog about matters she knew she was too young to comprehend; watching the movement of the sails as the wind filled them; watching the helmsman adjusting the heading as ordered.

Cosmo then decided that she was bored just sitting there, and walked to the prow of the Typhoon. She wanted to see if she could see Port Royal from there. Reaching the prow, Cosmo stared out into the fog ahead. Was Port Royal just beyond, awaiting her and her father?

Entranced by the smog, Cosmo soon found herself singing a children's song she'd learned back in England,

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot

Drink up me hearties, yo ho

We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot

Drink up me hearties, yo ho

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me

We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack

Drink up--…

She never got past that verse, as she felt a large mitt grab her shoulder. So caught up in her own world, Cosmo hadn't heard the person approaching. Spinning with a gasp, Cosmo stared into the wary purple eyes of the crimson echidna everyone knew as 'Knuckles'.

"Quiet, Miss Cosmo!" he said, looking cautiously ahead of the Typhoon. "Cursed pirates sail these waters. You don't want to bring 'em down on us now, do you?"

Cosmo's honest reply would have been 'yes', anything to break her out of her boredom, but before Cosmo could say so…

"Mister Echidna, that will do," said Lieutenant Hedgehog sternly, wearing his lieutenant trappings like a prince would his crown; behind him, Cosmo saw, was her father. Lieutenant Hedgehog's golden eyes were currently giving Knuckles a cross look that Cosmo knew told the red echidna to leave her be.

"She was singing about pirates," Knuckles said to the silver hedgehog defensively, indicating Cosmo. "It's bad luck to be singing about pirates with us mired in this unnatural fog, mark my words."

Lieutenant Hedgehog seemed to smirk, then commented, "Consider them marked. Be on your way, Mister Echidna."

"Aye, Lieutenant," said Knuckles, walking off to find some other person to pester, it seemed. He seemed to be muttering something to himself, which Cosmo only caught little pieces of bitter mutterings, like "bad luck", "bring a woman aboard", and "miniature one", before he took a drink from his canteen.

Cosmo had always wondered what Knuckles was drinking from it.

"I think it would be rather exciting to meet a pirate," Cosmo remarked, almost to herself, still a little shaken from Knuckles' sudden appearance at her shoulder.

To Cosmo's surprise, Silver actually smiled amusedly at Cosmo's statement, taking a few steps across the deck to stand beside Cosmo at the prow.

"Think again, Miss Petali," he said, not looking at her. "Vile and hedonistic creatures, all of them. I can never dream of their absolution. And it is my role in life to see to it that anyone who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves…"

At this, Lieutenant Hedgehog paused. Cosmo looked up at him, wondering what it was he felt pirates deserved.

Then Silver looked affectionately down at Cosmo, and finished, "A short drop and a sudden stop." And with a smile, Lieutenant Hedgehog walked away to rejoin Cosmo's father.

What did he mean by that? Cosmo thought. What's a 'short drop and a sudden stop'?

Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Cosmo saw Knuckles waving his rather large hand to get her attention.

As though he'd read her mind, he looped the cord of his canteen round his throat, lifted it till it was taut round his throat, and hang his tongue out animatedly.

Cosmo gasped. A short drop and a sudden stop was hanging? Wasn't that a little extreme for a bunch of fun-loving rogues?

"Lieutenant Hedgehog, I appreciate your fervor," said Cosmo's father, Lucas, to Silver, "But…I'm concerned as to the effects this subject will have upon my daughter."

"Apologies, Governor Petali," said Lieutenant Hedgehog, walking back along the deck.

Cosmo approached her father, who smiled down at her as she approached.

"Actually," Cosmo said, "I find it all fascinating."

Lucas' face fell noticeably. "That's what concerns me," he told her as he too walked away.

And so Cosmo was alone again.

And bored again.

So she looked out across the rail on…was it the port side or the starboard side? She never remembered which was which. Either way, she stood at the rail on the right side of the ship, looking down at the water.

A parasol floated by, water splashing into it as it floated by the Typhoon.

What? That's odd, Cosmo thought as the parasol sank into the ocean. There aren't any other ships ahead of us. We must be getting close.

Looking up to see the approaching mainland, Cosmo was disappointed to see more water and fog. It looked like they still had a –

Wait! What was that?

Looking down, further out than where she'd first seen the parasol, she saw something that made her heart leap into her throat.

A small fox boy was lying unconscious on a large bit of broken boards. She couldn't tell if he was alive or dead.

But if he's alive, she thought, I've gotta tell someone about this, or he won't survive!

She turned to Lieutenant Hedgehog, Knuckles, and her father, and called out, "Look! A boy! There's a boy in the water!"

The three turned to look at her, then their eyes followed the direction she was pointing at, then ran to the rail to get a better look.

Silver turned to the crew and called, "MAN OVERBOARD! Get a rope! Throw out a hook! Haul him aboard!"

A crewman obeyed the silver lieutenant, the hook landing with a splash just past the wooden planking the fox boy was lying on, the rope splaying just beside him.

Cosmo saw the fox boy's hand slowly grabbing the rope as he felt it brush his hand, and was relieved; he was, at the very least, alive.

The Petali girl watched the crewmen heaving the rope, hauling the young boy off of the planks and over the rail. He collapsed to the deck.

Silver ran up to the boy, holding a hand an inch over the boy's muzzle. Cosmo stood beside him; was the fox boy…?

"He's still breathing," said Silver.

A wave of relief shot through the crowd. And through Cosmo.

"Mary, mother of God!" shouted a voice from the rail. All turned to look in alarm.

Knuckles looked stark-white, and even before she ran up with the rest of the crew, Cosmo could see why; with a loud gasp, she saw that there was the flaming wreckage of what was once doubtlessly a merchant ship, the smoke dancing up in black billows towards the heavens above.

Lucas gaped. "What happened here?"

"Most likely the powder magazine," said Silver, looking concerned. "Merchant vessels run heavily armed."

"Fat lot of good it did them," Knuckles said under his breath, but not enough; many gave him scandalized looks. "Everyone's thinking it; I'm just saying it," he said defensively, before muttering in the direction of the wreckage, "Pirates."

Pirates did this? Cosmo wondered. What kind of pirates would do this? Turning away, she walked up to the fox boy lying unconscious on the deck.

Cosmo heard her father stating with a noticeable quaver, "There's no proof of that. It was probably an accident."

Cosmo felt gratitude towards her father fill her. One on the Typhoon, at least, doubted the possibility that pirates could have done something this awful.

"Rouse the Captain immediately," said Silver; Cosmo turned to look; he'd begun walking towards one of the longboats. "Heave to and take in sails. Launch the boats!"

"Cosmo," said Lucas as Cosmo turned to look up at him, "I'm going to ask you to look after the boy. He'll be in your charge. Take care of him."

Cosmo stole one last look over her shoulder – her father stood to stare out to the wreckage, while Silver and some of his men rowed out to check for survivors – before walking to look at the fox boy more closely.

Now that she was rather close to the boy, Cosmo could see that he actually looked rather cute. His fur, now starting to dry, was a sort of orange-yellow. His chest rose and fell slowly with each breath he took. Like most humanimals she'd seen – and she had seen many hedgehogs, foxes, minks, cats, echidnas, and other animals capable of walking and talking like humans – he only wore gloves and shoes, but his fur covered up any indecency on his part. Looking him over, Cosmo noticed that, curiously enough, he had two tails. She smiled; they looked rather fluffy, and she fleetingly imagined those tails wrapping around her in a soft embrace.

Cosmo reached down to brush his bangs out of his face.

"AAAAGGHH!"

The fox boy shot awake, grabbing Cosmo's arm roughly and holding it away from him, staring at her with his eyes wide with fear. Cosmo gasped in fright, but also in awe of his eyes. They were like sapphires.

But she composed herself; she had to calm him before he hurt himself or others.

"It's okay," she said. "My name is Cosmo Petali."

The fox boy stared into Cosmo's eyes, his tension easing significantly. For a moment, Cosmo wondered if he could talk at all.

Then he managed to stutter out, "M-Miles Prower. Everyone calls me Tails."

Cosmo glanced smilingly at Tails' tails, then looked into his eyes, and said, "I'm watching over you, Tails."

Tails took much relief from this, it seemed, because he slid down to the deck again, the only clue that he was still alive being the steady rise and fall of his breast as he rested.

A glint of brightest gold.

Curious, Cosmo reached down into his chest fur, fishing for the glint she'd seen there. Pulling it out, Cosmo saw it was a medallion of some sort. Unfastening the link at the back, Cosmo held it up into the light so she could see it.

It had a skull medallion on it.

"You're a pirate," she muttered in mingled shock and horror.

"Has he said anything?" asked Silver behind her.

It is my role in life to see to it that anyone who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves…

A short drop and a sudden stop…

Short drop and a sudden stop… Cosmo thought. Then she realized with a thrill of horror, But that means that he'll hang Tails if he sees this medallion! I don't want Tails to be hung!

She turned around, concealing the medallion behind her back, faced Silver, and said evenly, "His name's Miles Prower, but he prefers 'Tails'. That's all I found out."

Silver glanced at Tails' tails, then said to an officer beside him, "Take him below." The officer nodded, picked Tails up under the arms, and carried him below deck.

Cosmo was filled with relief; she knew, Tails would not be hung, and she would keep this medallion; she didn't want Tails to be hurt. It would have been awful if Silver had seen the medallion and discovered that Tails might have been a pirate…

Cosmo soon found herself near the helm, facing out to the right side of the ship again. This time, she found herself looking back the direction they came. The fog seemed even thicker somehow.

Then it seemed to part before her very eyes.

Interested, Cosmo looked through the parting mist…

And saw a black ghost ship sailing away, its tattered black sails fluttering uselessly in the wind. The image seemed to evoke a sensation of doom and death, even as the vessel sailed off for other victims to decimate.

Horrified by the vision, Cosmo was even more stricken when she saw the ship's colors:

A pair of crossed swords on black. A skull with a mad grin and a large mustache.

It was all too much for the plant girl. Yearning to burn the image from her mind, she slammed her eyes shut…

(Note from the Author: Well, that was an interesting thing to write. I'm sure many of you have already noticed the lack of a cast list. Well, I'm doing that on purpose, before anyone complains to me about the lack of one. Because this is undoubtedly a familiar story to most of my readers, I'm leaving a cast list out, as I already spelled out at the top of this document. I mean, I'm pretty sure many of you have heard of something called 'suspense', right? Any inquiries as to who's playing whom later on will be responded to with a cordial 'I'm sorry, I can't tell you'. This omission is what I'll do with all of my 'cast replacement' fics, in case anyone wants to ask.

Anyway, now that that's taken care of, I'd like to hear your feedback!)