"Eilonwy," said Alex. "We're gonna need some light."
Eilonwy nodded and held out her hand. Her bauble shot out and illuminated the cave, though there was still no sign of the stone.
"Alex?" Ariel spoke as they searched for it.
"I know," said Alex. "I've got this very eerie feeling. It's as though a dark presence is inside this cave."
"Probably the Leviathan," Jim suggested.
"No. Something more evil. Worse."
They continued looking for the stone when a screech was heard. They looked and saw a small monkey holding a blue, egg-shaded stone the size of a jar while screeching at them.
"THE STONE!" Alex shouted.
"MONKEY!" Jack shouted as he lunged at the monkey. It just scampered away with the stone.

Chapter 34: The Dragon Stone of Ice

"Well, well, well, Jack," a cold voice came behind them. They turned and saw another pirate emerge from the shadows. "Hook told me ye were still alive. I had too see it fer meself."
Jack sneered in hatred. "Barbossa."
"Good to see ya too, Jack," Barbossa continued. "Ah was also told that ye made yerself some new friends. Here be the proof."
"Do you two know each other?" Ariel asked.
"How did you get here?" Alex asked him with anger and curiosity.
The monkey suddenly jumped on Barbossa's shoulder and handed him the Dragon Stone of Ice.
"Thank ye, Jack."
All eyes turned to Jack who just shrugged in confusion.
"No not him. We named the monkey 'Jack'."
Eilonwy looked at him in terror. "You…I saw you…you attacked my home…YOU KILLED MY FATHER!"
Barbossa grinned as he saw her. "So, the princess of Prydain. This is indeed a rare pleasure."
Jack had enough. He took out his pistol and aimed it at Barbossa.
"Hook may've stole the Pearl, but you began the mutiny. I've saved this shot just for you."
Barbossa just stared calmly. "Fire then, if yeh think it'll do ye any good."
Jack just stared at him, holding the pistol at him, but not pulling the trigger. After a moment of silence, Jack suddenly raised an eyebrow.
"There is a curse? That's interesting."
Barbossa laughed. "Aye. So tell me, Jack. Where is it?"
Everyone stared at the two pirates, wondering what Barbossa was talking about. Jack just shrugged as he put his pistol back.
"Don't know what you're talking about."
Barbossa growled. "Ye know what I'm talking about! Where is it?"
Jack just shrugged.
Barbossa stared at him in frustration, but then smiled. "Well then. Perhaps yer no good to me then. GENTS!"
Several pirates emerged from the shadows, laughing as they pointed there swords at our heroes. Ariel looked to her left and saw a short, fat, bald pirate and a tall, lanky one with messy hair grin at her.
"'Ello poppet," the fat one, Pintel, said to her as the tall one, Ragetti, puckered his lips.
Ariel groaned in disgust then swung her staff at Ragetti's head. She gasped in horror when Ragetti scowled at her, but had his right eye missing. He then felt his empty socket and shouted, "Me eye! Where's me wooden eye?"
He then bent down searching the ground for his wooden eye. Pintel just rolled his eyes over in disgust.
Barbossa shouted to his men. "Kill Jack and the pretty boy! Do whatcha wish with the others!"
The pirates snickered as they advanced towards them.
Alex suddenly got an idea. "Everyone, hold on to me!"
Jack, Ariel, Jim, and Eilonwy made no objections and held on to him. Alex quickly jammed his sword to the ground and a sudden force threw the pirates back. Barbossa, however was still standing. He pulled out his own cutlass and walked towards Alex.
"Quite the parlor trick, boy. My employer told me ye would be trouble."
He swung his sword at Alex, but the Disney Warrior blocked the blade with his sword. The two began to go at it.
"You're working for the leader then, aren't you?" Alex said as they fought.
"He made me a little promise," Barbossa told him. "Fer these stones, and yer life."
Alex's blade finally found it's mark and Alex stabbed Barbossa in the chest. Barbossa just stared at the blade and Alex looked at him in astonishment. Barbossa wasn't dead! He looked up and saw the clouds began to shift. Barbossa made an evil snicker which became a louder laugh as the moonlight entered the cave. Barbossa's flesh suddenly vanished and Alex was starring at a laughing skeleton. Alex screamed.
The whole crew suddenly turned into skeletons. Ariel screamed as skeleton versions of Pintel and Ragetti snickered at her. Jim also screamed at the pirates. Eilonwy looked at them in terror but screamed as a skeleton version of the monkey jumped in front of her and screeched.
Jack just stared. "That's very interesting."
Barbossa's laughter died down. "Ya see, boy? Ya can't beat me. Ya might as well surrender now."
Our heroes just glanced around the undead pirates surrounding them, too terrified to do anything.
But the pirates stopped dead in their tracks (no pun intended) as a loud moaning sound echoed through the cave.
Everyone looked around in horror and confusion.
"What the devil?" Barbossa muttered.
Suddenly, a large metal lobster claw broke through the wall and water began filling the entire cave. As the claw removed itself from the cave, an enormous whirlpool sucked out everyone.
Alex quickly touched his sword and his fins reappeared. He searched frantically for his friends but instead was face to face with an enormous mechanical monster. The Leviathan!
"WHOA NELLY!" Alex screamed as one of the monster's claws nearly missed him. The Leviathan's eyes then shot blue lightning at him. It missed but blew a nearby rock into rubble.
It reached for him with one of its claws again. Alex swung the Disney Blade at it, but the force of the sword against its metal body just bushed him back, luckily before the claw snapped at him.
"What now?" Alex said to no one in particular. "I can't even scratch that thing!"
It's surrounded in water, Xela's voice spoke in his head.
"So?"
Dragon Stone of Ice at three o'clock.
Alex looked to his right and saw the Stone. Barbossa must've dropped it when he got sucked out.
Then it struck him! He could use the stone to freeze the water surrounding the Leviathan, thus trapping it in ice.
Alex swam for the Stone. After dodging another shot of the Leviathan's lightning, he finally grabbed it. He felt a cold sensation as he shot an ice beam at the mechanical monster, and from its back a blanket of ice was slowly covering its body. It struggled to break free but as the ice reached its front half, it was no use. The ice finally covered its head and the Leviathan was nothing more than a giant, frozen statue.
Alex's shoulders dropped as he sighed with relief.
"ALEX!"
He turned and saw his friends in their Mer-forms swimming to him. Ariel swam as fast as she could and hugged Alex so tight he could barely breathe.
"Thank goodness you're alright!" she cried with tears in her eyes.
"I'm fine, Ariel. I'm just glad you're alright."
"Gave us a fright there, mate," Jack said as he patted him on the shoulder.
Jim and Eilonwy stared at the frozen statue in shock.
"What'd do to it?" Jim asked in amazement.
"Just cooled it off," Alex joked. Everyone laughed.
"Well I've had enough thrills for one day," Eilonwy said. Everyone agreed and they swam up until they reached the surface and swam to the Black Pearl. As they climbed aboard, Eilonwy had a thought.
"What do you think happened to those pirates? Do you think they drowned?"
"Not likely," Jack spoke up. "They can't breathe, so it wouldn't matter if they were underwater or not. That's how they managed to get there."
Everyone looked at Jack with suspicion.
"You know an awful lot about this," Ariel said to him.
Jack looked at her and nodded. "Aye."
Alex crossed his arms. "Then I think you have some explaining to do."

They all met in Jack's cabin.
"Hook, Barbossa, and I were partners in pirating business. We each managed our own crew and performed everything from stealing to smuggling."
"Doesn't surprise me," Eilonwy interrupted.
"Eventually," Jack continued, "we learned of a hidden treasure on an island that can't be found EXCEPT by those who know where it is. I learned from Tia Dalma where it was and we all set sail for the Isla de Muerta. Barbossa came to me and said that everything should be in equal share, including the location of the treasure. I told them, and they threw me overboard. Everything was in equal share, though. Barbossa and his men got the treasure, Hook got the Pearl, and I got myself in a fish's stomach. The rest of that story, you already know."
"That surprises me even less," Jim mocked.
"But what exactly happened down there?" Alex asked. "One minute they looked like normal pirates, then the next…"
All was silent for a moment, then Jack continued.
"When we went for the treasure, we paid little interest to the history of it. The treasure, you see, was Aztec gold in a chest given to Cortes to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon the Aztecs with his armies. But Cortes' greed was so great, the heathen gods placed a terrible curse on the treasure. Any who remove a single piece will be cursed for eternity.
"Barbossa and his lackeys took the gold and spent them on food, drink, and prostitutes only to discover that they couldn't taste the food, couldn't enjoy the drink, couldn't feel any warmth, and no woman in the world would fulfill their lust. They can walk this world forever, but nothing can satisfy them anymore."
Ariel spoke up. "Meaning they can't eat, drink, feel, and, most importantly, they can't die because they were punished for their own greed."
Jack nodded. "Aye."
"Then I say they deserved it," said Eilonwy.
"Maybe," said Alex. "But that doesn't make it easier for us. The Dragon Stones and the return of my old rival make this adventure tough enough. Add Barbossa to the mix, things are just more complicated."
All was silent. Then…
"Has anyone seen Stitch or Iago?" Ariel asked.

Stitch climbed up to the Crow's Nest and saw Iago in a small birdbath wearing a shower cap and holding a shower brush while taking a "birdbath" and singing.
"B-b-bird! B-Bird's the word. A well a b-b-bird! The bird is the word…HEY YOU MIND?!"
He swung his brush at Stitch and he crashed on the ship's deck.

Meanwhile, on Hook's sip, Barbossa went inside the Captain's cabin and looked into a mirror. The leader's face suddenly appeared.
"Everything's goin' as yeh said it should."
"Good work, Barbossa. I knew I could count on you."
Barbossa nodded. "Now about me payment?"
"You'll get it in due time," the leader replied.
Barbossa slammed his fist on the desk. "NO! I've waited too long. Too long have I been parched of thirst yet unable to quench it. Too long have I been starving and haven't died. Too long have I longed for the taste of wine and apples, the wind on me face, the spray of the sea, the warmth of a woman's flesh. I want this curse lifted and I WANT IT LIFTED NOW!"
"I promised you what you need to lift the curse and you'll get it," The leader replied calmly. "If you insist on going back to finding it yourself, be my guest."
The leader's image faded and Barbossa scowled.

Elsewhere, after his talk with Barbossa, the leader turned to Jadis who was mixing some ingredients in an enormous cauldron.
"Is it ready?" he asked her.
"Nearly. This will work perfectly. My sister's magic has never failed."
the leader grinned. "Except once."
Jadis sneered at him as she took out a beating heart and threw it in the mix. "Now only one more thing."
The leader smiled as he took out the lock of hair the Headless Horseman sliced from Ariel and dropped it into the cauldron. A huge explosion erupted and the entire room was engulfed in smoke. As it cleared, a figure emerged from the cauldron.

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My writers block was sooooo bad that my co-writer Dan Man had to write the last two chaps, so thank him for helping me get this dog of a story updated, thanks man, your a real lifesaver...