South Down: Who knows?
Before long, Stan, Kyle, Ike, Jimmy and Timmy had reached where Stark's Pond usually would've been. When they arrived, the boys had discovered that Jimmy was right; instead of a pond, it had been replaced by a large sea of water.
"Holy shit, dude!" Kyle shouted out in shock.
Stan squinted his eyes at the sea, staring off into the distance. Though it was so far away it was practically a speck in his vision, he could just barely make out a tiny island in the center of the sea. Where the cave hiding the map was, no doubt.
However, something else caught his eye. It was a pirate ship, heading right for the island and halfway there. He knew immediately it was other gamers, trying to get to the island and take the map.
Turning to Timmy, he said, "Alright, Timmy, do your thing."
"TIMMY!" Timmy shouted in reply. Rolling towards the edge of the water, he flipped through his phone and tapped onto the screen. A flash of blue enveloped him, and when it vanished, he had transformed into Pirate Ship Timmy.
Quickly, Stan and Kyle pushed him into the water before hopping in, Kyle pulling Ike in as well. "What about you, Jimmy?" Stan asked once they were all in.
"I'll only slow you down," Jimmy told them. "Meet me when you get b-b-back."
"Alright," Kyle said. "Come on, Timmy, let's go!" With that, the boys set out to sea.
As they went, Cartman, Butters, Dougie and Scott rushed out of the woods, pushing a small rowboat towards the sea. "Come on, you guys, we can't waste a moment!" Cartman told his allies. "We can't let them get to that island before us!"
"Oh, hey fellas!" Jimmy called out to them as he saw them push the boat into the sea.
"Shut it, Jimmy!" Cartman snapped as he and the others crawled into the boat. Quickly, they began rowing after Pirate Ship Timmy and his occupants.
"Treasure map, here I come," Cartman said, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
"How close are we to the island, captain?" Swashbuckler Red called out on the larger pirate ship.
"Less than a half hour away, Swashbuckler Red," Captain Wendy replied, scoping the island with her spyglass from the crow's nest. "We can cut that time in half by setting up the sails."
"On it, captain!" Annie quickly shouted up at Wendy. Unlike the other girls, she wasn't wearing a pirate costume; instead, she was wearing her "warrior" suite, though it made her look more like a fairy.
Wendy stifled a groan. "Well, actually Annie, you don't need to-" But Annie was already heading for the sails.
"Alright, captain, what do I do first?" Annie called out for instructions.
"Um, pull on the halyard to hoist the mainsail up," Wendy instructed.
"What's a halyard?" Annie asked.
The other three girls groaned. "Just let me do it!" Buccaneer Bebe shouted, rushing next to Annie and pulling the halyard, hoisting up the mainsail. Quickly, the ship began to pick up speed.
Annie looked down, dejected. "Sorry," She mumbled out.
"There's no need to apologize, Annie," Wendy reassured her, swinging down the crow's nest via a rope. "Just wait until we get to the island."
Annie bit her lip. Glancing up, she saw a large black figure in the sky and said, "What are those?"
Wendy and Bebe looked up at the large, writhing figure as it flew over their heads. "Those look like. . . mosquitoes?" Wendy asked. "What are they doing out at sea?" As the three watched, the mosquito swarm flew past them and towards the island. As soon as it got there, the swarm almost seemed to vanish into thin air.
"Odd," Wendy whispered.
Meanwhile, Red was at the deck, looking back at the mainland. "You know, it's a good thing we chose now to pick up speed," She pointed out.
"Why?" Bebe asked.
The moment she asked, a loud explosion filled the air, and the girls all stumbled across the ground as a violent force hit the ship, causing it to shift. "What was that?!" Bebe shouted in alarm.
Wendy was the first to recover, rushing to where the ship had been struck. Looking down, she saw that a large hole had been made in the side of the ship. Looking up, she saw a small figure a distance away; using her spyglass, she inspected it closer and saw it was Pirate Ship Timmy, along with Stan, Kyle and Ike, sailing after them.
"Send another at them!" Kyle ordered. Quickly, Timmy fired another cannonball at the larger ship, piercing right above the first shot. The force of the blow send all four girls tumbling onto the ground once more.
"We're under attack!" Wendy shouted. "Return fire!"
Scrambling towards the steering wheel, Wendy grabbed hold of it, struggling to regain control of the ship. Groaning loudly, she managed to get the ship on course for the island.
Bebe rushed towards the side of the ship. "You stupid assholes!" She shouted. Unveiling her pistol, she quickly began to fire at the smaller pirate ship and its occupants. The arrows lodged themselves in the side of the smaller ship.
"Hey, they're shooting at us," Stan said, ducking as one arrow soared over his head.
"TIMMY!" Pirate Ship Timmy shouted, firing another cannonball, this one aimed at the deck where Bebe was standing. The blast send her flying off the deck and onto the afterdeck.
"Come on, those cannonballs aren't gonna do much damage," Kyle said. "We have to get past them, somehow!"
"Wait, I think I have an idea," Stan said. Whipping out his phone, he quickly began to swipe through his cards. As the screen landed on his desired card, however, a shot from Bebe's arrow pierced his shoulder, causing him to scream out in pain and tumble off the ship and into the sea.
"Stan!" Kyle shouted out in horror. He rushed towards the end of the ship and looked out at the sea, but he could find no sign of Stan anywhere in the vast body of water.
On the larger ship, Annie had helped Bebe to her feet while Wendy continued to man the ship. "Come on, you have a clear shot at them," Annie said to the older blonde.
"I know," Bebe said, taking aim with the pistol. "Who do I shoot at, though?"
Before she could fire, however, a massive shadow loomed over her head. All the occupants of the ship looked up as a large tidal wave rose over the ship, dwarfing it. Pellets of water began to rain down onto the girls.
"Holy shit," Kyle whispered, clutching onto Ike as he gazed up in awe at the wave. He couldn't help but notice that despite the size of the wave, he and the other occupants of Timmy's ship seemed totally unaffected by it.
It was only when he saw the figure at the top of the wave that he understood why.
"Stan?!" He shouted out in disbelief.
Indeed, it was Stan standing at the top of the wave; however, he was no longer in his Program Stan form.
"Haha, puny mortals!" Poseidon Stan bellowed out, clutching his trident and raising it in the air, his white beard flowing in the wind. "I control the seas!" Twirling the trident in his hand, he aimed it at the ship below him.
"Uh-oh," Annie squeaked out.
Immediately, the wave fell upon the large ship, capsizing it. The girls all let out high-pitched screams as they were engulfed by water and thrown off the ship.
Immediately, the sea died down and the tidal wave vanished. The pirate ship floated on its side, its former occupants in the water, struggling to keep their heads above the surface.
As the occupants of Timmy's ship watched on, Poseidon Stan rode a small wave towards them before hopping back in. "That should slow them down a bit," He said, twirling the trident in his fingers.
"Wow, dude," Kyle said, amazed. "I didn't think you had it in you to do that to your girlfriend."
At that, Stan's eyes widened. "Wait, Wendy was on that ship?" He asked.
"Stan!" The boys heard Wendy shout out at them a distance away. Stan whipped his head towards the direction of the voice, seeing Wendy scrambling on the surface near her capsized ship. She was facing them, looking mad as all Hell.
". . . Oh, shit," Stan said, his skin turning pale. Quickly, he summoned a small wave that zoomed Timmy's Pirate Ship past the downed ship and towards the island, eager to get out of there as fast as possible.
"You jerks!" Wendy shouted as the small ship began to fade from view, slapping the water in anger.
A distance away, Red grumbled. "Come on," She urged, beginning to swim back to the downed watercraft. "Let's get this ship back on course."
"Yeah, then we can kick their asses!" Bebe shouted as she and the other girls followed Red back to the ship to right the capsized vessel and continue onward.
As soon as Kenny had put the headphones on, he'd found himself transported into the center of town. It hadn't taken long for him to adjust to his surroundings, as well as figure out how to switch between card costumes, though he'd decided to save them for when he actually needed them.
"(Alright, now where the heck are Stan and Kyle and the others?)" He wondered aloud to himself, his hands on his hips.
At that moment, Officer Barbrady happened upon him. "Hey, no loitering on the streets," The policeman called out to him.
"(Officer Barbrady?)" Kenny asked, surprised to see him. "(What are you doing here?)"
"Oh, you know," Officer Barbrady replied. "Since everyone's coming in here, I decided I might as well. To make sure nobody's doing anything illegal, you know."
"(Hey, did you happen to see my friends pass through here?)" Kenny asked him.
"Oh, yeah," Barbrady said. "They left town, though. They were looking for the prize, I guess."
Of course, Kenny thought to himself. "(Well, I guess I ought to go find them,)" He mumbled. With that, he headed off down the streets, no specific location in mind for where he would go next.
As he walked, he didn't notice three figures standing on the roof of one of the buildings, staring down at him.
"Yes, Kenneth, you should go find your friends," Nathan whispered coolly, smoking a cigarette and inhaling deeply. "Would be a shame if something bad were to happen to them before you did." He was dressed in a black suit and top hat.
At his side, Mimsy said, "Oh boy, this game is gonna be so much fun, huh boss?!"
Immediately, Nathan jumped up and struck Mimsy across the head. "Shut up, Mimsy!" He shouted, shaking his fist in anger.
"Sorry, boss," Mimsy replied meekly.
Nathan turned towards the other figure on the roof. "Say, boss, why did you want us to send McCormick into the game?" He asked.
The girl didn't respond. She sat on the edge of the roof, facing away from Nathan and Mimsy, holding a small purple motorcycle helmet in her hands.
Eventually, she spoke. "Let's just say there's something intriguing about him," She whispered, using a paper towel to wipe the visor of the helmet. "After all, when someone lives a life like him, there's no telling what lengths they'll go to in order to change it."
Standing up, she placed the helmet onto her head. "You've done your part," She said, turning towards the two of them. "Why don't you go and have yourselves some fun?"
"Oh boy!" Mimsy shouted. "I can't wait! We're gonna have so much fun!" With that, he headed towards the side of the building and tumbled off, landing with a thud on the way down.
"What about you?" Nathan asked.
The girl didn't look at him, instead keeping her eyes focused on Kenny as he continued walking, oblivious to their presence.
"I intend to keep an eye on our friend," She whispered coolly. "A close eye on him."
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