Chapter 4
The wreck of The Albatross.
"This was an awesome idea, Zack." said Wiki as he stuffed his face with more fried fish. The gang had hauled the fried carcass of the giant fish back to the camp and had began eating it's succulent meat.
"What can I say," boasted Zack. "I'm a genius."
The gang had made a meal fit for a king. Smoked fish, Sushi, Fish fries, fish soup, you name it.
"More sushi?" asked Zack as he passed the sushi to Johnny.
"Nah, I'm good." answer Johnny, as he poured fish sauce over his fish loaf.
"Yep," said Wiki as he leaned back. " at this rate, we'll find that tablet thingy in no time." he said proudly.
"IF it even exists." muttered Rose as she took another sushi roll.
Zack let out a loud yawn.
"Well," he announced, "Time to hit they hay, we'll load what's left of the fish on the boat in the morning."
Rose had built her self a banana leaf hammock between two large trees. She climbed in and smiled. She was in total comfort.
Johnny jumped into the barrel he had found and immediately started snoring.
Zack found a large pile of soft, silky, moss and layed back on it. Wiki curled up on top of Zack's head and fell right to sleep.
Meanwhile:
The attackers had began searching the canyon.
In a few hours of hard work, they finally came near the small clearing.
"WE FOUND EM!" yelled Barbarous.
Maddy jumped on Barboros's back and put his hands over his mouth.
"Pipe it!" he wisperd. "They'll hear us!"
"Right," agreed Barbarous. "I'll go snoop em out, then the rest of you go in for the kill."
Slowly, ever so slowly, Barbarous creped toward the clearing, preparing to strike. When he was near enough, he gave a cry of "Hi Yah!" and lashed out with his jockey whip. He lunged, stabbed and parried, screaming with all his might.
"Die Zack, die!" he yelled as he struck a tree. He finished the assault by blasting a tree to smithereens with a blast of dark energy from his fist.
He stood there, panting. He scanned the area.
"They aren't here!" He growled in rage. He threw his wip on the down in frustration.
"Look what I found." Dimmy called out. He was holding a piece of white cloth. One of the goons tackled him and snatched the cloth.
"This is a piece of Captain Rose's coat!" he exclaimed. The goon statred kissing the cloth but the other goons tackled him, each in an attempt to get the piece of cloth to himself. While they were wrestling for the cloth, Maddy walked up and simply snatched the cloth from the current owners hand.
While the goons were busy, still fighting over the cloth that none of them posed, Maddy examined the cloth.
"Loafery!" he called out. "Bring me my supplies."
Loafery brought Maddy a small brief case and set it down near him. Maddy with drew a strange object after opening it. It was a pair of sun glasses, but with a digital camera tapped on the left lens. A wire connected the camera to a little, metal, box that made strange beeping sounds. Maddy put on the strange object and held the cloth up to the camera. He pushed a button on top of the camera, there was a flash and the little metal box began to shake. There was a soft "Ding!" and 4 little photos of the cloth came out of the little metal box. Maddy examined the photos, the others watched curiously.
Finally, Maddy muttered "No." and tosed the pictures aside. He then held the cloth back up to the camera. He turned a little nob on the top of the camera, pushed a button, and there was another flash and 4 more little photos came out of the little metal box. The photos that came out were zoomed in on the cloth. Maddy examined each.
"Would you hurry up!?" yelled an impatient Barbarous.
"A house wasn't built in one day, Barby." answerd Maddy as he examined the photos. He frowned and muttered "No." again and tossed the photos aside. He reached into the brief case and pulled out a small bottle of green liquid. He unscrewed the cap and squirted 3 little drops of the liquid onto the cloth. Maddy took a minute to let the green substance soak in, the he a gusted the camera and tapped a button, and the cloth was bathed in an eerie green that spouted from the cameras view finder. Maddy turned of the flash, and took 4 more pictures. The 4 photos dropped from the little metal box, and Maddy examined them. The others waited impatiently, wondering what would happen next
Maddy looked over the photos, muttering stuff like "Mmmm hmmmm." and "Interesting." He finally took off the glasses and packed up his equipment in the brief case.
"That settles it." he said. " Dimmy, are there any rivers nearby."
"There's one," Dimmy answered. "But it forks, one way leads to a waterfall, and the other leads deeper into the jungle."
Maddy smield.
"They headed down river 2!" he confirmed. "Let's go!"
*************
Rose woke to the sound of the river.
She sat up and yawned. It had been a cold night. Probably around 36 faireinheight or something like that. She scaned the area. It was morning. The jungle was quite, but she could scence life ever where. Rose turned a saw the biggest moth she had ever seen in her life, resting on one of the trees that she had tied her makeshift hammock to. She screamed and tumbled out of her hammock. The moth flew away, making a sound with it's wings that sounded like a bald eagle's wing beating. Rose got up and looked around. Wiki was still asleep. Johnny was still inside his barrel, his ears sticking out.
The attackers must've covered some decent ground Rose thought.
She began shaking Johnny's barrel.
"Johnny, wake up!" Rose yelled. "It's time to get this show on the road."
Johnny didn't wake up. "Just 5 more minutes Mommy." he muttered in his sleep.
Rose kicked the barrel over and Johnny tumbled out.
"Jeez, Rose!" he said sheepishly. "Can't we put it off till morning?"
"It IS morning!" scolded Rose. She looked at the dead fish. They had only eaten the head last night so there was plenty meat left.
"Wiki, wake up!" she commanded. Wiki jumped and fell on his back.
"Whoozit, huh?" he snored.
"I want you and Zack to-" Rose began. She stopped, and looked around.
"Where's Zack?" she asked.
There was a loud "Plop!" and Zack's head shot out of the side of the dead fish. He was cover in blood and fish guts.
"You rang?" he said.
Rose turned around and saw him.
"AIYEEEE!" she screamed,. She jumped back 5 feet and her face turned green in disgust.
"Oh, this," said Zack as he climbed out of the fish. "I got cold in the middle of the night so I climbed into the fish to keep warm.!"
"Like in Star Wars!?" Wiki asked "Awesome!!"
Zack nodded. He took one of his shoes of and shook some fish guts out of it.
"It doesn't smell as bad as it sounds." he said.
Rose pinched her nose.
"That is the most disgusting, gross, uncleanness thing I've ever seen in my life!" she moaned. "Johnny, Wiki," she continued. "Help me load the rest of the fish on the boat."
Johnny and Wiki began cutting up the fish into smaller chunks, and wrapped them in banana leaves.
"What can I do, Rose?" Zack asked nudging her.
"Eyue!" mutterd Rose as she poked him away with her goon staff.
"You," she said, pinching her nose. ", need to go find a stream, and wash off."
Zack ran off into the jungle without a word. He searched until he finally found a mini water fall. The ones that come of the edge of very small cliffs. The water was only up to his shin, but didn't matter. He fell on his back and rolled around in the water to wash the gunk off. When he was done, he sat up and smelled his armpit.
"Whew!" he said. Pinching his nose. "I cant go back smelling like this, the others won't let me on the ship."
He looked around and saw some beautiful, golden colored flowers. He sniffed them. They smelled great. He picked one and rubbed it under his armpit. Zack heard a rustling in the bushes. He looked up and froze.
The Growlin Goblins were back! And this time, their true leader was with them. King Growl, the giant apelike creature toward over Zack, his snake like eyes fixed on him.
The king of the jungle let out a tremendous growl and beat his chest, then returned his gaze to Zack.
"Human." the king growled, his breath stale.
Zack stood frozen in fear.
"That's the one, your majesty!" growled the goblin chief. "The one who violated the sacred stew!"
Growl let out a loud roar of rage.
"Humans have no place in jungle" Growl rasped, moving toward Zack.
Zack had delt with this beast before. The trick to beating him was to keep your distance away from him and that's what Zack intended to do.
*****************
Rose, Johnny and Wiki had began to load the fish on board the ship.
"Don't drop the my food, Wiki!" Rose called out.
Just then, Zack shot out of the bushes, waving his arms, screaming. He was running twoard the ship.
Rose turned and spotted him.
"Oh, Zack." she said. "Did you wash the fish guts off?"
But Zack didn't answer. He was too busy screaming in fear. He was getting closer to the ship.
"Hoist the mast!!" he yelled "Time to go! Hurry! HURRY!"
Rose was about to ask him why he was freaking out, when the goblins ran out of the trees and began running toward them! Worst of all, their leader, King Growl, was bounding after Zack.
Rose dropped the fish she was holding and ran back to Johnny and Wiki.
"Trouble!" she yelled. "Forget the fish, launch the boat!"
Johnny and Wiki, looked up, saw the goblins, and let out a shriek of fear. Immediately they set to work, untying the ship from the shore, lowering the sails, and pulling in the plank.
"What about, Zack!?." Wiki asked, nervously.
"He'll be fine," said Rose. "Now, shove the boat away from shore."
"But-" Wiki began.
"Keep it together Wiki!" yelled Rose. "Now shove!"
Wiki didn't argue. Using a long plank, he shoved the boat away from shore. A gust of wind caught the sails, and the Albatross lurched forward. Wiki saw Zack being chased by the goblins. He was heading for the water. Was he going to try to swim across the river? There was no way he could fight the current. When Zack reached the bank, he leaped out at a vine that was hanging from one of the trees. He swung from the vine and leaped onto the boat. Zack smiled. They'd made it.
Then, it all happened so fast. The last thing Zack could remember was looking over the side of the boat to see King Growl carrying a large boulder. There was the swish of the boulder being sent into the air, and the defiant crack of it splitting the hull in two. Zack was thrown off the side of the boat and fell into the river. He could feel the current, pulling him under. Then everything went black.
"Zack." came a voice.
Zack opened his eyes. His vision was blurry.
"Am I dead?" he asked. His question was answered, but by a different voice.
"Don't worry, Boss." it said. "You're not an angel yet."
His vision cleared. Rose and Wiki were staring down at him.
"You're awake!" cried Wiki.
Zack looked around. They were on a log floating down the river. Johnny was holdind a long stick, he was using it as a paddle.
"The ship?" he asked.
Rose shook her head. "The depths." she answered.
Zack sighed.
"Well," he finally said, sitting up. "Were not going to get the tablet just floating here so lets--" but he was interrupted by a splash from the water.
Johnny perked his ears up.
"What was That!?" he asked.
Another splash.
"I have a really bad feeling about this." Wiki moaned.
Just then, a perch sized blue and red fish with razor sharp teeth, leaped out of the water and lunged at Zack. Zack managed to duck at the last second.
"PIRAHNAS!" yelled Zack yelled. An entire school of the flesh hungry devils were swimming after the log.
"Wiki," yelled Zack. "We need bell!"
Wiki flew over to Zack. There was a flash and in an instant Wiki was turned into a large golden bell.
Zack grasped the handle. He turned to Johnny and Rose.
"Cover your ears!" he ordered. They did as told.
Zack turned to face the Piranhas and rang the bell. All the Piranhas that leaped out of the water were instantly transformed into little totems, which fell into the river and sank to the bottom. One of the Pirahnas leaped out and bit Bell's handle.
Bell gave a cry of, "Yeowch!" and fell onto the log and turned back into Wiki.
"My Tail!" gasped Wiki. It was red, puffy and swollen from where the piranha had bit it.
"I can't go into bell form now." Wiki groaned.
"Well, looks like we have to the smart thing." said Zack, baling his hands into fists. "AND FIGHT!"
A piranha leaped out of the water. Zack gave a cry of "Hi Yah!" and punched it, sending it flying back into the water. More piranhas attacked and were sent flying back into the water.
As Zack protected the rear of the log, Johnny was using the stick he was hloging as a staff to protect the front. An unlucky Piranha lashed out and Johnny delivered a swing that sent it flying into the jungle.
"That's a home run." said Johnny proudly.
Rose….Rose wasn't doing so good. The best she could do to fend of the assault was swing her goon staff around and that was about it.
Wiki sat there, helpless, tending to his wound. In a situation like this he would normally just fly away but scence his tail was currently out of commission that wasn't an option.
Eventually, more and more Piranhas kept coming and Zack and friends were barely holding up.
Rose stopped to put on some more lipstick. A Piranha shot out of the water and caught the dispenser in it jaw and disappeared into the water.
Now here's the thing. We all know Rose loves many things. Treasure, whipped cream, etc. But she loved her Rose Lip brand lipstick more than any of those things. And if it was taken by a Piranha while she was fighting for her life, well you can imagine how she'd react.
Rose paused. A mixture of shock and disbelief appeared on her face, which turned to rage. She stood up on the log.
"GIVE IT BACK!" she yelled.
And without hesitation, to Zack,Johnny and Wiki's shock, she dived into the river.
Piranhas flew out of the water, some dead, some unconscious. Then, with a splash, Rose launched out of the water and hauled herself onto the log. She had retrieved the lipstick.
She began kissing the lipstick dispenser.
"It's okay." she said lovingly. "Mommy would never leave you, you know that, right!"
She turned to see Zack,,Wiki, and Johnny staring at her.
She blinked.
"What?" she asked.
Just then, Johnny screamed and pointed towards the rear of the log.
"Don't look know," he said. "But, they're coming back!"
The Piranhas had swam up stream and were heading straight towards the log, using the current to give them a boost. They were all bunched together, leaping out of the water like a wave.
"Any ideas?" Wiki asked.
"Just one." Johnny said. He pulled his helmet over his eyes. "Close your eyes so you don't see it coming!"
Wiki, and Rose covered their eyes and waited for the impending moment.
But Zack didn't. He stood up on the log and took a fighting stance. Clenching his fist, he looked out at the approaching wave of Piranhas. Then, the moment came.
The Piranhas reached the log and lashed out.
Rose, Wiki, and Johnny waited for the moment the deadly fish would sink their teeth into their flesh and drag them down to a watery grave. But that moment never came. Wiki and Johnny opend their eyes and what they saw lrft them breathless.
"Whoa!" said Wiki.
"Are we dead yet?" whimpered Rose. She opened her eyes.
Rose gasped.
Zack had gone insane! His fists were a blur as he punched and pumbled the ongoing wave of Piranhas.
When the last fish was sluged, the Piranhas fell back and swam away.
Zack stood triumphantly.
"Oh yeah!" he said. He began dancing around. "Can you see this, see this, see this? Can you see my genius, genius?!"
He blew a a raspberry at the water.
"Who's you're daddy!?" Zack called out to the entire jungle.
Just then, a Piranha, the size of a tiger, exploded out of the water and lunged toward Zack.
Zack gulped.
"Me and my big mouth." moaned Zack before the giant Piranha clamped its jaws around him and swallowed him whole and splashed back into the water.
"Boss!" Screamed Wiki.
"Zack! No!" cried Rose
"WATERFALLL!" yelled Johnny.
Rose glared at him.
"Johnny!" she said "Zack!"
"No, look!" said Johnny, pointing ahead. "Waterfall!"
A large waterfall flowed ahead.
Wiki and Rose screamed at the sight of it.
The log lurched.
"Heads up!" Johnny announced. "Pirahnazilla's back for a 2nd helping."
The large fish circled the log hungrily. Just one of them wasn't enough. It wanted more.
"Well," said Rose "looks like it's the waterfall or Mr eats a lot. Personally, I'm leaning towered option 1."
"But, what about Zack!?" Wiki moaned. "He's still in that thing."
The Piranha leaped out of the water, barley missing the log.
Johnny thought for a moment. The without hesitation, he took of his helmet and held it high.
"Eat my helmet you big stupid fish!" he yelled.
When the Piranha leaped out of the water, Johnny hurled his helmet with great force, sending it speeding into the face of the beast, breaking sveral of it's teeth.
The Piranha screeched and splashed back into the water. It emerged on the surface, floating on it's back indicating it was dead. The helmet fell into the water.
"Nice shot, Johnny!" Rose said. "Now all we have to do is cut open the fish's belly and-"
"Uh, Rose." interrupted Wiki.
Rose turned.
Wiki pointed ahead.
Rose looked and screamed.
The waterfall was right in front of them.
All three of them grabbed onto each other, closed their eyes and screamed.
Slowly, the log began to tilt over the edge.
Clonk!
Wiki opened his eyes.
"Well Imagine that" he muttered.
Johnny ad Rose were still screaming.
"Guys!" said Wiki.
Rose opened one eye.
"Are we dead?" asked Rose.
"Relax," Wiki replied. "It was only a 3 foot drop."
Johnny and Rose looked around. The water was in fact only 3 foot and the log was stuck, tipped, sideways. The waterfall had ended in a small pool. The water was only a bout 1 foot deep.
"Oh," said Rose, a little embarrassed. "Looks like we-"
Bonk!
Something fell from the waterfall and hit Rose on the head.
Johnny picked it up.
"My helmet!" he cried. He turned it over and spilled the water out of it then put it on his head.
"Don't you ever leave me again." said Johnny, motherly.
There was a Splash! And the carcass of the Giant Piranha fell of the edge of the waterfall.
Rose got off the log and began jumping on top of its stomach.
There was a bloosh! And Zack shot out of the mouth of the beast, covered in fish guts.
He looked mentally disturbed.
"Great," moaned Rose. "Now you have to get clean again."
Zack sat up.
"Hey," he said. "It's not my fault that Piranha found me so juicy and tender."
Rose was about to retort when Wiki called out to them.
"Hey Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! Come on, lets get this show o n the road."
They walked for what seemed like hours, finally finding a path.
The sun was starting to go down. Everyone was tierd, except for Zack that is. He kept striding on and encouraging his companions to keep moving forward.
"Come on guys!" Zack called out as he ran ahead. "We'll get to the Temple in no time."
Rose looked up.
"Oh, yeah." she said. "By the way, Zack, I've got a question."
"And Ive got an answer." The boy replied.
"How long until we get to the Temple of whatever you call it?"
Zack shrugged.
"Beats me." he said. "I don't know where it is."
Rose stopped dead in her tracks, but Johnny and Wiki walked on.
"WHAT!?" Rose yelled, running to catch up with Zack. "You're telling me, that after all this, we've been wandering aimlessly!?"
"We're not wandering aimlessly." Zack answered taking the lead. "We're heading to the Temple of Memories."
Rose stopped and allowed the rest of them to walk ahead.
"But you don't know where it is!" she said, frustrated. "And as far as im concerned, this Temple may not even exsist!"
Zack smiled.
"If it doesn't exist," he said. "then where would we be going?"
"NOWHERE!" Rose answered.
She sighed angrily.
"Why does this surprise me." she muttered. "It's your fault we're in this predicament any way!" she called out.
Zack came to a halt, and turned around.
"What did you say?" he asked with a slight tone in his voice.
Wiki, knowing what was coming, tried to avoid it.
"She, er, didn't say anything boss." he squeaked.
Zack pushed him aside.
"No." he replied. "She said something."
He walked right up to Rose, a slight glare in his eye.
"Come again," he said. "I didn't quite catch that."
"You heard me!" fumed Rose. "This is all YOUR fault!"
There was a clap of thunder, and it started to rain.
"MY FAULT!?" Zack asked. "Scence when is this MY fault."
The rain fell harder. Bigger drops began falling from the clouds.
"Scence forever!" growled Rose.
A bolt of lighting lit up the sky.
"Well," said a very angry Zack. "It's not so much as MY fault as it is YOUR fault!"
"Oh don't go blaming this whole thing on me!" mocked Rose. "You know that if you hadn't wanted to go on that stupid treasure hunt, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
She shoved Zack, sending him stumbling backward.
"I just planed the treasure hunt." Zack growled. "YOURE the one who almost got us all killed!"
He shoved Rose back, but harder. Rose stumbled and almost tripped.
"And how did I do that!?" she yelled.
The wind picked. The Jungle trees were swaying in the breeze.
"I told you that place was booby trapped!" Zack howled above the wind.
"If you had just brought a bag of sand like I told you to!"
"Guys!" Wiki yelled. "Stop!"
Rose and Zack turned to face Wiki.
"SHUT UP!" they both said in unison. They returned to yelling at each other.
"I didn't have anything to do with this!" Rose screamed.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Zack shot back.
"Oh yeah!?" shrieked Rose. She began poking Zack in the nose. "I'm beginning to question our friendship, mister!"
"Stop poking me!" Zack growled.
"Make me!" teased Rose.
Wiki and Johnny stood still in silence. Never had they seen Zack so angry.
Zack looked like he was about to explode with rage. He was trembling all over. But then he stopped and pointed behind Rose.
"Look!" he cried. "Treasure Island!"
Rose turned around.
"Where!?" she asked franticly.
As soon as Rose's back was turned, Zack pounced on her and began yanking on her hair. Rose winced in pain. Then, she grabbed Zack's hand and bit down hard on his wrist. Zack screamed and jumped about 5 feet in the air.
Rose saw her chance and seized Zack by the neck and began squeezing hard and shaking him. Zack kicked Rose in the stomach, making her release her grip on his neck and go on all fours. Zack jumped on her back and grabbed the sides of her head and began smashing her face against the ground.
Johnny and Wiki stood 20 feet away from the fight with worried expression on their faces.
"We have to do something!" Wiki said.
Johnny shook his head.
"No way!" he said. "I'm not getting in the middle of THAT!"
By now, Rose had pinned Zack down. Zack was trying to squirm free.
"THAT'S IT!" he yelled.
There was a loud "Whap!" and Rose was on her back with a swollen nose.
She sat up. Zack was glaring at her about 3 feet away.
"I'm out of here." he muttered. He began walking up the path.
Wiki flew after him.
"But boss!" Wiki pleaded. "You can't go!"
"Leave me alone!" Zack called out.
"Are you Bonkers!?" called Johnny. "If the guys find you, youre dead!"
Zack turned to face him.
"Id rather die than continue this adventure with my so called friend!" He said, glanceing at Rose.
And with that, he walked off.
Wiki began crying.
"What are we going to do!?" he wept. "Without Zack we're, we're.."
"Athos, Aramis, and Porthos without D'Artagnon." Johnny suggested.
"Yeah!" moaned Wiki.
Rose watched Wiki cry then turned to see Zack walking farther away.
Then, Rose felt angry, more that angry, furious.
"Fine!" she called out to Zack. "Get lost, I don't blame you, because everything was MY fault!"
And with that, Rose burst into tears. Up the path, Zack stopped.
"You heard me!" Rose called out through sobs. "This whole adventure, my fault! The reason our friends want to kill us, my fault. The reason that temple exploded, my fault!"
Rose curled into a ball and continued crying.
"Hey," came a voice.
Rose looked up. Zack was standing in front of her.
"You ok?" he asked.
Rose wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Yeah," she mumbled. "Just got, sniff, something in my eye."
Zack took of the red scarf he always wore. He handed it to Rose.
"Here." he said.
Rose took it, and wiped her tears from her eyes, and then blew into it, making a loud snorting sound.
She handed the scarf back to Zack.
Zack took it. It was covered in snot, and boogers.
"Eyuh!" he said and dropped it on the ground.
There was a moment of silence the Rose said. "Well, aren't you leaving?"
Zack smiled a big smile.
"Who said anything about me leaving?" he chuckled.
Rose's jaw dropped. So did Johnny's. Wiki smiled "Yay!" he cried.
"You faked It!?" Rose cried. "The rage, running away, EVERYTHING!?"
Zack nodded.
"Yep." he said. "I just wanted for you to admit this was your fault."
Rose stood up.
"Why I otta-" she began. But she stopped and smiled. She put a had on Zack's shoulder.
"It's good to have you back, Zack." she said.
Wiki flew up to them and put his arms around them.
"The gangs back together!" he cried.
Johnny walked up to them.
"I dought it was ever apart." he muttered.
They formed a circle. Zack put his hand in the middle.
"All for one," he said. His friend put there hands( Er, paws for Johnny and stub for Wiki.) on top of his.
"And one for all!" they all cried.
"Now, lets find that temple!" Zack said.
They began walking down the path.
"What would you do without me, Rose." said Zack.
Rose glared at him.
"Don't push it!" she said.
It might be a while before chapter 5. I'll be working on a new story for a while.
It's and Ed, Edd, n Eddy Fantasy adventure.
Chow!