Sorry about the cliffhanger, and about taking so long to update! How many of you figured out what time period they're in?
Disclaimer: I own Pelaganti Mori, Krolos, Hiuctay, and Nuctuth, but I do not own Artemis Fowl or PotC
A brightly colored parrot landed on a stump next to Holly. "Don't eat me!" it squawked.
"We're not going to eat you," said Holly.
Artemis popped open the trunk from inside the pod. "Next time we should dress before exiting, in case someone sees us." He pulled out a puffy blouse, a vest, and a tri-cornered hat. "We appear to have arrived during the 1700's."
They quickly dressed, pulling the costumes over their jumpsuits.
"We look like pirates!" Holly exclaimed. She buckled a sword and a flint-lock pistol to her belt. "It's not exactly a neutrino. We better not get in a fire-fight."
"I don't think we need to worry," Artemis observed, glancing around at the surrounding forest. It was totally empty. "We should head to the beach, that's where any civilized people ate likely to be."
They set off in the direction of the roaring waves. When they got there, they were surprised to find a huge, renaissance-style sailing ship beached on the sands. It had heavily patched black sails and long ropes tied it to pegs stuck in the sand. Footprints led across the sand, and as they watched a small boat appeared in the waves.
Holly, ever the tactical soldier, gestured for Artemis to hide in the trees. From this point they watched as a large dog paddled ashore with a pair of keys in its mouth. Soon after, the boat they had seen was capsized by a large wave. Its occupants came ashore and proceeded to climb the ropes up to the ship.
"Pirates," muttered Artemis.
Just then the pounding of drums sounded from the hills on a different part of the island. Artemis frowned for a moment, listening to the throbbing patterns.
"Pelagostos," He whispered. "But that isn't a normal pattern. There's some sort of ceremony going on." He listened again, then gasped. "Pelaganti Mori," he muttered. "They're going to eat somebody."
"Don't eat me!" Holly quoted. "I wonder who they're going to eat."
Nuctuth arrived just in time for the festivities. He grabbed from his hut the knife and fork he had found on the beach, then ran to the feast circle. He got there just as they tied the foreign chief to the spit and lifted him over the fire.
"Aaa, Fy Fy!" cried Krolos, the ceremonial leader, covered in black and white skeleton paint. He lowered his torch to the kindling just as Nuctuth's friend, Hiuctay, ran up screaming that the captives had escaped.
There was a moment's pause, then the god said, "well go on, go get them!" With a huge ruckus, the tribe ran off. Nuctuth stayed. He wanted to eat, not chase after captives.
He watched in amazement as the god tried to blow out the flames dancing underneath him. Then the god escaped. Nuctuth wondered why the god would do such a thing. Didn't he want to be released?
The god saw Nuctuth just as he was untying himself. With a loud yell he charged at the boy. I better tell Krolos, he thought as he ran off.
Holly and Artemis watched as six men, one even shorter than Holly, came running from the forest towards the ship. As they ran past, a particularly cavalier lad hollered "Wait! What about Jack? I won't leave without him!"
What a nice friend, thought Holly, with a touch of sarcasm.
"OY!" called someone down the beach. A man with dreadlocks and lots of face paint was sprinting wildly down the beach. Everyone stopped to look at him, then resumed running when they saw the angry horde of Pelagostos following him.
Finally everyone reached the ship. "Farewell my children!" the man called as he boarded. "This is the day that you shall always remember as the day that you almost-"a giant wave washed over him "-Captain Jack Sparrow."
Suddenly, the dog started barking. The Pelagostos turned to look at it, then took off after it. Artemis almost started laughing at that. This is like a movie he thought. Then he noticed that Holly was running across the beach towards the ship.
"What are you doing?" He hissed, following her.
"Come on!" she called. "AHOY!"
The man with the dreadlocks peered over the ship's side. "Ahoy! Castaways? Come aboard!"
Holly grinned at Artemis before climbing nimbly up the rope ladder hanging from the ship. Artemis scowled before following, slightly less gracefully.
"Welcome aboard the Black Pearl!" a man with an unusual graying beard greeted Holly and Artemis.
"And just who might you be?" The man with the dreadlocks swaggered over.
"I'm Holly," Holly (Duh!) said gruffly. "And this here's Artem-I mean, Arty." Artemis winced at the nickname, because his father called him Arty, but understood that Artemis was hardly pirate material. "We've been shipwrecked," Holly continued. "Our ship hit the reef."
"Well, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow," The man paused, expecting some sort of reaction, then continued. "My word is law on board, savvy?"
"Of course," Holly decided it was safer to agree.
The bearded man turned to the captain. "What say you to putting as much distance between us and this accursed island, and heading out to open sea?"
"Yes to the first and yes to the second, but only if we keep to the shallows as much as possible." The captain said.
"Aye," The man strode off to relay to orders.
"Jack, Elizabeth is in danger," The young man informed the captain. They walked off towards the bow.
Holly and Artemis were left amidships. "This was your brilliant plan," Artemis hissed. "So what now?"
Before Holly could answer, the bearded guy came back. "Sorry, my name's Gibbs. Joshamee Gibbs." (That seriously is his real name.) "And this here's Marty, (short guy) Cotton, (mute guy with parrot) Pintel, and Ragetti (dumb guys from lifeboat)."
Each crew member grunted in acknowledgement of their names. Holly and Artemis nodded in welcome.
"What did you do on your ship?" Gibbs asked. "I mean, were you honest sailors or" he looked them closely in the eyes "pirates?"
"Pirates," Artemis answered, expecting that honest sailors would be keel-hauled.
"Excellent!" said Gibbs, his mood lightening instantly. "Let's see, you've already met our captain, and most of the crew, seeing as the Pelagostos dealt with the rest of them, and-"
"Who's that?" Holly interrupted, pointing to the forecastle, where Jack was convincing the young man that he wanted to find a key.
"Because the finding of this finds you incapacitorilly finding and/or locating in your discovering the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle, ol' what's-her-face. Savvy?" he was saying.
"Aye, that be young Mr. Turner," Gibbs said.
"Mr. Gibbs?" Jack called.
"Yes Cap'n?"
"We have our heading!"
(Yeah I know I got some of the events in the wrong order, but if I didn't it wouldn't work with my story, so sorry.)
"This is quite unexpected," Artemis remarked. He and Holly were on deck, while the crew of the Black Pearl worked around them to get the ship moving. They still had no idea where they were headed, or why it had taken so long to get a heading.
"Aye," said Holly with a grin. She walked up to a sailor who didn't look too busy, the short guy who had earlier been identified as Marty. "Sorry, but where are we actually going?" she asked.
"We're goin' to find this key, supposedly belongin' to Davy Jones," he said, and refused to say anything more.
"Davy Jones?" Artemis repeated when Holly reported to him Marty's answer. "As in the mythical captain of the Flying Dutchman?"
"Apparently they don't think he's that mythical," Holly observed.
"So where were you sailing from?" Jack came over to stand next to Holly, where she had been watching the sea for dolphins, which were never far from a fairy presence.
"Ireland," Holly answered, which was the country fairies felt the most divinity to.
"Ah, the Emerald Isle," Jack murmured, then frowned. "Funny, you don't have much of an accent."
"I'm not native," Holly explained hurriedly. "Arty, though, was born there." She glanced over to where Gibbs was showing Artemis how the Black Pearl was able to travel so fast.
"I see," said Jack. It was hard to tell if he cared, or if he really did "see."
"So we're trying to find Davy Jones?" Holly asked.
"How d'you know?" Jack asked sharply.
"Marty told me," Holly answered. When Jack did not reply, she asked, "How?"
"Wiv this," Jack took out a large, ornate compass. "Do you know what this is?"
"A compass?"
"Not just any compass, love," he said. "This compass shows what you greatest desire." Holly raised a skeptical eyebrow. "When William there," Jack gestured to him, climbing in the rigging, "holds this compass, it points to this key, because it will help him to save his wench, Elizabeth."
"Why do you need this key?" Holly asked.
"Ah," Jack said, tapping the side of his nose. "That's for me to know." He sauntered away, leaving Holly to contemplate what he had said.
Artemis was climbing the short ladder to the forecastle when a large tremor shook the ship.
"We must have hit a reef!" a pirate shouted. Holly hurried up to Artemis on the forecastle. They watched as a shiver darted through the water. The crew ran around them, trying to pull the ship off the "reef."
Suddenly, gigantic tentacles reared out of the water, reaching for the ship. Several went for the crew, flipping one unfortunate sailor into the water. Others went for the ship, punching large holes in the hold.
"Time to go," said Artemis, sounding unbelievably like Will, and unbelievably out of character.
Holly pulled a credit-card sized remote out of her jumpsuit. Boop Boop it beeped as she pressed the large, red button. The time machine materialized at the bow of the ship.
As the Black Pearl was destroyed around them, Holly and Artemis staggered towards the pod. Holly yanked the door open, and they collapsed inside.
"Here we go," gasped Artemis, and pushed the randomize button.
Long chapter, cliffhanger, pirates! Could it get any better than this? R&R!