Chapter 9

Manny, Sid, and Diego were locked in a staring contest with the natives for a couple of seconds. Even though there was seventy of them, they felt they could take them on if necessary, considering that they were so small. That gave them a little comfort, as they felt somewhat intimidated, from getting stared at by all of them.

Then, the leader of the natives stepped forward; he was a little bit taller than the younger natives, and had greying hair, wrinkled skin, and brown eyes. His clothing was the same as the others: dark brown fur tunic, dark brown furry pants, and he was barefoot. Only difference from the other natives was that he had a cloak around his shoulders, which was light tan in color.

The leader of the natives spoke to them in a strange language they could not understand. It was a mixture of hoots, clicks, grunts, and other vocal noises. When hearing the leader speak, Manny and Diego looked at each other with uncertainty. Sid, on the other hand, seemed to understand what they were saying.

"I wonder if they know how to speak English?" Diego asked.

"Uh, maybe I can-" Sid was about to say.

"No, I'll handle this." Manny replied, stepping in front of Sid. "Last thing I want, is for you to mess this up by doing something stupid."

Manny then walked up to the leader of the natives, and then got on one knee, so that he wouldn't seem like a threat to them.

"Uh, me… Manny." said Manny. "You… natives. You can… help us… get to ship. We'll help you… free your people… if you help us…"

The leader stared at Manny for a few seconds, as he was trying to understand what Manny was saying. He then turned to one of the natives and spoke to them in his language, to which the native produced a mango and offered it to Manny. Manny was confused by this; that wasn't what he wanted.

"Nice try, Jungle Jim." Shira spoke up, sounding sarcastic.

"Okay, that didn't work." said Manny. "Uh, let me-"

"Let 'me' do the talking." said Sid, pushing Manny to the side. "Just leave this to the professionals."

"The 'professionals', Sid?" Diego asked, his tone somewhat comical. "You sure you got this?"

"Yeah, I know what to say." Sid replied, cracking his neck like he was preparing for a fight.

Sid then paused for a few seconds, looked at the leader of the natives, and then began letting out a couple of hoots, clicks, grunts, and other vocal noises. The leader of the natives, along with the other natives, responded well to this, and they began making noises of approval.

The leader of the natives then motioned for the others to quiet, and began speaking to Sid in his language. After finishing, Sid turned to Manny and Diego.

"So, this guy is the leader of these natives." Sid spoke. "I told him how we're from the mainland, and how the earthquakes have messed up everything. I also told them that we mean no harm, and that we're just looking to get back home. You should be thankful, Shira; I had to convince him that you weren't a threat."

Shira let out a low growl; she was not amused.

"How do you know how to speak to the natives?" asked Diego, his tone confused.

"I took speech classes back home, before the whole land started breaking up." Sid replied, his tone somewhat proud. "I'm not entirely dumb, you know."

"What did he tell you?" asked Manny.

"He says that there are over two hundred natives on this island, and they've been living here peacefully for quite some time." Sid replied. "Unfortunately, Gutt and his crew arrived a couple of days ago, and captured about thirty of them to build his ship. Not only that, but the island's pretty large, so there are many resources. Of which, Gutt is taking with him on his new ship."

"Okay. Tell him that we'll help free the prisoners, if they'll help us take the ship."

Sid nodded in reply, and then began making the vocal noises. The natives responded well to this, and then the leader replied with the same vocal noises. When he had finished, Sid turned to Manny and Diego to give them the translation.

"He asks if you have a plan." said Sid. "And if you do, he, along with the men of his clan, will help with taking the ship."

Manny thought about this for a few seconds, before snapping his fingers and replying with a smile, "Yes, tell him I have a plan."

Sid then turned back to the leader of the natives, and made the vocal noises. Upon hearing what Sid had to say, the natives let out cheers! The leader then gave his reply, a noticeable excitement in his vocal noises.

"Okay, he'll go and get the men from his clan!" Sid said, sounding excited. "They're also going to bring food for us, so we won't get hungry!"

"Yes!" Manny cheered. "We're going home! Good work, Sid!"

Diego smiled at that, and then looked over at Shira. She had a scowl on her face, like she was told that she was going to be killed.

The natives then left, heading back to gather the males of their people. Tonight, they would plan out the strategy, for the attack on Gutt and his crew!

…

Night fell over the island, and the male natives had gathered to listen to Manny's plan. A couple of yards away from them, Shira was no longer tied to a tree. Instead, she was placed in a makeshift cage that the natives had built, under orders from Manny and Sid.

She was leaning against the back wall of the cage, her head back and her eyes closed. Upon hearing a twig snap, her eyes came open and she quickly got up from sitting! However, since the ceiling of the cage was kind of low, she got into a crouching attack position. However, her tension eased upon seeing who it was that snapped the twig. It was Diego, carrying a small, wooden bowl filled with fresh water.

"Easy, sweetheart." said Diego, coming near the cage, and placing the bowl down in front of it. "Water, you need it."

Shira stared at the bowl of water for a few seconds, and then pushed it away from the cage.

"I don't need anything from you." Shira replied, her tone annoyed.

"Fine, die of thirst." Diego spoke, his tone sarcastic. "That'll really impress me."

He then picked up the bowl of water, and was about to walk away, when Shira stopped him.

"Wait…" said Shira, now sounding remorseful, but still annoyed. "I'll take it."

With a sly grin, Diego put the bowl of water back down, and slid it in front of the cage. Shira then picked up, and took a sip from it.

"Thank you." Shira spoke, her voice cold sounding.

"You know, you have a way of saying 'thank you', that makes it sound like you're saying 'drop dead'." Diego replied.

"It's a gift. And what about you? You're pretty soft, for an Assassin…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not soft, okay? I'm a remorseless, relentless, hardcore punk!"

"Oh, Diego!" said Sid, suddenly appearing, with some coral necklaces around his neck. "Hey, I made you another coral necklace!"

He then draped a coral necklace around Diego's neck, much to his chagrin. A snarky grin appeared on Shira's face; she rested her case.

"He keeps losing them!" Sid giggled, turning to Shira, before continuing on his merry way.

"Yeah, I can see why you aren't part of a gang." Shira spoke, her tone snarky.

"Look, I left my gang behind, okay?" Diego replied, sounding annoyed.

"Congratulations, warrior princess; I left my gang behind as well."

"Really? Wow… how about that…"

"What?" Shira asked, no longer sounding sarcastic.

"Nothing. It's just that I know how that feels, leaving everything you know behind like that." Diego replied.

"Oh great!" Shira's sarcastic tone resumed. "We going to braid each other's hair now?!"

Diego gave a sarcastic laugh in response to that, before asking, "You know what's the difference between you and me?"

"I wouldn't still be wearing the coral necklace?" Shira fired at him.

"Ugh!" Diego groaned, ripping the coral necklace off. "No. We both wanted something different from being in a gang, but I traded it for something better."

"And what did you trade it for?"

"I traded it for a family."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that we look out for each other, and we always have each other's backs."

"Gutt has my back!" said Shira, her tone annoyed. "I'm his first mate!"

"Really?" Diego asked. "Because I don't see Gutt sending out any search parties for you."

Shira was about to fire something back at Diego, but stopped. She realized that Gutt hadn't sent anybody to come and find her, nor were they there to help her when the ship went down. This small group of misfits had been helping her, treating her right, and were not hurting her in anyway. Of course, she was trapped in a cage, but that was so she couldn't run from them. Maybe, there was difference between being in a pirate crew, and having a family…

Deciding to change the subject, Shira then said, "You know you're not going to win. Your giant friend over there, he has no idea what Gutt can do."

"Yeah, well neither does Gutt." Diego replied, looking over at the meeting.

The meeting consisted of Manny, using a large piece of wood and some charcoal, drawing out a picture of the plan. He was speaking english, and relying on Sid to be his translator for the plan. The male natives, plus their leader, listened intently to what Manny was saying. Tomorrow, they would be going into battle against Captain Gutt and his crew!

Hopefully, the plan would work…

Author's Notes: Sorry if this chapter seems like a short one; I'm trying to save up for the battle scene in the next chapter. Still, hope you've enjoyed this one! And don't worry; they'll be more chapters!

R&R,

Heroboy005