The Loud House – Off the Charts
Chapter 9 – A Thief's End
Darrel, Lincoln, Lori, Luna, Lynn, Bobby, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne enter the cave on a small dingy with the leader of the mercenaries as their guide. Inside the cave, Darrel sees the one thing he was searching for the whole adventure. Captain Henry Avery's lost ship. Darrel stares at it with his jaw dropped, knowing that his grandfather's stories were true. "Oh my god, that's literally Avery's ship." said Lori. Bobby holds her hand out of shock and amazement. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne sat close together along with Clyde. Luna and Lynn grinned at the sight of amazement. The sarge smiled a bit seeing their faces, 'That was my reaction when I first saw that ship.' he thought.
He brings the kids to the starboard side of the ship and gave them instructions, "I'll be waiting for you guys at the dock not far from here." he points to the dock he's referring to. "I'll swing by once you get the Lichrich's out of there. And be careful with gathering treasure, this boat can't carry it all out of there." "The only treasure I'm looking for is Elizabeth." said Darrel. "Everyone else, be careful with what you take." Lincoln and the others nodded. Darrel climbed up, with the others following him. The sarge brought the boat to the docks like he said he would, and waited for them to come back.
On board the ship, Darrel and the others were excited. "I can't believe this!" said Clyde. "We just made history as the first few humans ever to set foot on Avery's ship." "Well take it in while you can Clyde." said Lynn. "Cause we're not going to be here long." "Lynn is right." said Darrel. "Let's find Richabod and get out of here." As they look for a way to find them, they find that Avery's quarters are blocked, along with a few holes left by cannon fire. Eventually, Luna and Lincoln find a way down and lead the others. As they enter below deck they find something that they've been searching for.
Inside the ship were piles of gold and money, what stood among them was the treasure of Libertalia. Lori and Lynn were fascinated at how much gold they are seeing right now. Lincoln, Luna and Clyde smiled knowing their journey is complete. But Darrel looked at the treasure in disgust, knowing that this large amount of money brought destruction to a grand pirate utopia. "Was it all worth it, Avery?" he asked himself. He takes a small handful of coins and put them in his backpack. "Are you okay, dude?" asked Luna. Darrel looked down, and Luna realized that this treasure killed a lot of pirates. "I'll be okay once we get them out of here." said Darrel. Then, the group look around for any sign of Richabod or Elizabeth.
Darrel opens a hatch door that leads to Avery's treasure room, and finds Richabod laying in its riches. He throws some coins in his face to get his attention. "Enjoying all that glory, Richabod?" asked Darrel. Richabod, was shocked to see him, "Olingway? I thought I shot you!" Darrel pointed near his collar bone. "You did. The only mistake you made is using rubber bullets." Richabod climbs down from the hill and stands toe to toe with Darrel. "I'm getting you and Elizabeth out of here." Richabod stood his ground. "That's not going to happen. What do you think, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth climbs into the room with a few scratches and bruises. Seeing as how much trouble he's pushed his daughter through, made Darrel angry. "You've lost it." he said coldly. "You drag your daughter into this, you abandon your only crew that's protecting you-" "They were protecting my daughter!" said Richabod. "She was going to betray me just so she can give my claim to them!" "You don't know that!" said Darrel. "Your paranoia is messing with your head!" shouted Elizabeth. "This all started the day you brought this idea into my head. I went with you because I love you!" She walked up to her father's face. "But now look at yourself! You're bankrupt, and your pride is what holding that shell you call a body. I don't recognize you anymore." Richabod wasn't having it, "All this treasure is mine Elizabeth, don't take my happiness away from me."
While they were arguing, Lincoln and the others sneaked to the door to watch the fight. "What will it take to convince you you've lost it?" asked Elizabeth. Darrel took a deep breath and clenched his fists. "I know." He walks over to Elizabeth and holds her hand. Then out of nowhere, Elizabeth and Darrel kiss in front of Richabod. That moment made him snap, "What is the meaning of this!?" The two break off the kiss and confront the paranoid Lichrich. "I love Darrel Olingway." said Elizabeth. "And I love Elizabeth Lichrich." said Darrel. "And we are leaving this god forsaken ship."
Elizabeth looks to a couple of skeletons and points at them. "Unless you want to end up like them." Darrel, Richabod and the others look at the skeletons. Some with shocking looks on their faces, and some with displeased looks. "What about them?" asked Richabod. "Don't you have any idea who those two are?" asked Darrel. "It's Avery and Tew." They stare at the skeletons with impaled swords in their chests. "Anyone obsessed with this treasure, gets what they deserve." said Darrel. "You're right." Richabod said in a evil tone. "I'm not going to enjoy one of these coins, knowing that you are still sucking air."
He takes a sword from Avery's chest and points it at Darrel. "Richabod this is insane!" said Darrel as he pushes Elizabeth out of the way. Richabod swings his sword at Darrel many times, but misses. Darrel takes up Tew's sword, and the two duel it out. "I will not let you take my daughter from me!" he shouted. "Then which would you have me take: your daughter, or the treasure?" asked Darrel. "Neither!" he shouted as he lunged his sword, and pins him against the wall. "I have sacrificed everything to find Avery. And I'm not about to let a descendant of a great historian take that away from me!" The fighting continued for another three minutes, until Darrel pins down Richabod. "We're done here." said Darrel. "Now we are going to leave this ship before you get us all killed."
Then, Richabod head butts Darrel back to the ground. "You know Olingway, under all that bravado you're a sad little boy looking for existing fairy tales. I don't want you to hand all this to me, I had everything handed to me on a silver platter. Except for this, all of it." What Richabod didn't know was that as he approached Darrel slightly, he had his foot in a rope loop. This gave Darrel an idea on how to stop him. "You want the treasure, Richabod? It's all yours." He swings his sword, cutting the rope holding treasure above their heads. As the loot falls, Richabod's leg gets caught and pulls the mad man up, knocking him out in the process.
Darrel gets up and hugs Elizabeth, then looks up to his friends. "Did you guys enjoy the show?" he asked. "That was awesome!" said Lincoln. "When he had you pinned down, it was like in one of those Ace Savvy comic books." "Is he okay?" asked Lynn."Out cold, but breathing." replied Darrel. "We should get him the best help." "Thank you Darrel." said Elizabeth. "I'll even pay for it." "With the treasure?" asked Lori. "I mean, you're family's literally bankrupt." "Not me." replied Elizabeth. "I saved up my allowance and worked part time during college. I didn't want a cent from my family's wealth." "Cool brah." said Luna.
The group take Richabod's unconscious body out of the ship, and out of the mountain with only a few chests and bags of Avery's treasure. The crew outside, were happy to see that they made it out without a scratch. Everyone got a fair share of the treasure, and left the rest behind. "Tim, Joe, ready for pick-up" said Darrel's father. "Indeed we are." replied Tim. "Where are you?" he asked. "Right here." said Joe as he takes out a flare gun and shoots a flare signaling where they are.
On the plane, Darrel and the others were happy that the adventure was over. Some of the people, mostly the young children were asleep. Elizabeth and her crew were sailing back to the main land on their boat along with Darrel's old sea plane. They had Richabod tied up in a straight jacket and declared him insane. They reach the main land of Madagascar and Elizabeth's mercenaries work on fixing Darrel's seaplane. "Guess you've just made this family more rich." said his father seeing his son holding hands with a Lichrich. "I guess I have." said Darrel. "So what do we do about Richabod?" said Joe. "I'm gonna make sure he gets the best help." said Elizabeth. "As for Libertalia, I think it's best that the whole world doesn't know." "It depends on what everyone else thinks." said Darrel over looking his crew around a bonfire.
He makes his way to the bonfire and watches them sing sea shanties and dancing around the fire. "So, how is everyone doing?" he asked them. "This was the by far, one of the best adventures I've ever been on." said Lincoln. "Thanks to you, I literally have the money to pay off student loans." said Lori. "I think we have enough even for Lincoln to pay off college." said Lynn Sr. "Listen guys, after everything we just went through. And by discovering the truth about Libertalia. I think it's best if we keep this location quiet." "What? Why?" asked Luan. "Because, we've seen what greed can do." said Lincoln. "I for one, am willing to not tell anyone about this." "It's probably for the best fam." said Lynn Sr. Eventually, everyone agreed to keep the location of Libertalia a secret.
The gang return to Royal Woods, Michigan, after being gone for almost two weeks. They turn in Avery's treasure to the Royal Woods National Museum and collect a very large finders fee. Elizabeth turns her father into the Royal Woods mental hospital, and gives her mercenaries a part of her cut for their services. Lincoln's friends along with his sisters' friends bid farewell until they meet up again. The Casagrandes returned to Great Lake City, and plan to use their cut to renovate their general store. Albert returns to the nursing home with Myrtle and the Loud pets waiting for their return. The Loud family and the Olingway family say their goodbyes and return home.
Lincoln Loud, having returned to his bedroom, unpacked his belongings. He finds the pirate coin that Darrel gave him back on Libertalia, and got an idea. He heads down to the family trophy case and places the coin in front of the trophy his sisters made for him. "Hey bro. Whatcha doin?" asked Luna. "Just placing a momento in our trophy case." said Lincoln. "It's not like the others, but I still consider this an achievement." Luna smiles and nods in agreement. Eventually, all the Louds get to see the coin as well. "I must say Lincoln, that coin is literally a crowd pleasure." said Lori. "I'm so proud of you Lincoln, you made history in the Loud family." Lincoln couldn't resist and hugged Lori. As did the rest of the family.
And so, their adventure comes to an end. Lincoln, Darrel, their family and friends have discovered the lost treasure of Henry Avery. But in doing that, they have also discovered how far the sin of greed can go. So they all agree to keep the location of Libertalia a secret. After all, money can be replaced.