This story's coming to an end... Not quite yet though! Still a couple more
chapters! And this is a very long chapter - don't say that I don't treat
you well!
Chapter 12 - Leverage, plans and dramatic arrivals
Jack's ship had landed next to Barbossa's ship. They were about to go onto the island and deal with whatever lay on it, but before Jack had assembled them for one last discussion of the plan. "Now girls," he began.
Tanuki cleared his throat.
"And boy."
"A-HEM," said Will, glaring at Jack.
"And piratey blacksmith."
Mako blinked at him.
"And strange girl who is without classification." Mako smiled contentedly. "We don't know what Barbossa and his crew need to do to lift the curse, or what the girls have to do with it."
"You don't think they're going to kill them, do you?" said Tanuki, trying to get in on the heroism and dashing masculinity, and doing very well.
"Well, we can hope not. So everyone get out your handfuls of sand, and let's hope they're not expecting us."
"What if they are?" said Danielle.
"Any other questions?" said Jack, purposefully looking the other way.
"What if they all have guns out and kill us all?" said Kathryn.
"Any at all?" said Jack, voice risen a couple of octaves.
"Tell Will not to do anything stupid," said Ariana.
"Good point," said Jack, "Will, nothing stupid."
"In which case, he may as well just stay on the ship," said Brandi, "Everything he does is stupid." Kathryn, Mako and Danielle glared at her, fingering their sword hilts.
"Uh, no," said Jack, "Besides, it's a matter of leverage."
"WHAT?!" said Will, getting a look of fear in his eyes not unlike to Frodo Baggins.
"I'm just messin' with you, Will," said Jack, grinning and slapping him on the shoulder. As Will ran off to get his lucky sword, he turned to the girls and said "Seriously, girls, leverage. Lev-er-age."
"Hee hee hee," said Brandi happily.
"But that's not nice, is it?" said Alex, "How can this curse be connected to Will?"
"It's not," shrugged Jack, "But if it comes down to a choice between Will and Ge- the rest of the crew, Will would prefer you to save them. Besides, he can get out of anything."
"With such regularity that it's almost irritating," agreed Catarina.
"What is?" said Will, emerging from below, now with lucky sword, which he had christened Stabby.
"Uhh... rising in rum prices," said Becky.
"She speaks the truth," said Jack, with heartfelt sincerity.
*****
Barbossa's crew led all nine of the girls and Elizabeth into yet another cave, very much like the cave in the film, except instead of a treasure chest full of coins, there was a large diamond on a pedestal.
"Ooooh," they all said.
"It's big," said Diana.
"It's pink," said Jackie.
"It's pretty," said Hanna.
"It's cursed," muttered Mro.
"It's a diamond," said Elizabeth, "The Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond!"
"Please, Lizzy, we'd all figured that one out," said Frankie despairingly.
Yilantri sidled up to Barbossa. "So, Barbossa, what's this all about?"
"We're trying to lift the curse," said Barbossa.
"Um, I gathered that," said Yilantri, "What do you need us for?"
"Well," said Barbossa, getting into his scary-curse-legend-explaining voice, "The Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond has a curse on it."
"You don't say."
Barbossa glared at her. "Anyway," he continued, "We decided that we wanted this big diamond-"
"How thick can you get?" said Cirfia incredulously.
"Can I please go TWO SECONDS without being interrupted??" shouted Barbossa.
"Sorry," said Cirfia.
"Anyway, we tried to take the diamond, we get cursed. And the only way the curse can be lifted is if we get a pirate beside ourselves."
"But none of us are pirates officially," said Jackie, "We're just some girls who wanted adventure and to be on a ship with Jack and Will for a month or so."
"Yes, but it stands to reasoning that at least one of you must be descended from a pirate," said Barbossa.
"He's right, you know," said Gemma, nodding.
"You're not supposed to agree," muttered Frankie, elbowing Gemma in the ribs.
"What do we actually have to do?" asked Diana.
"Well, we don't know," said Barbossa, "Considering that the instructions are right at the bottom of that pool over there."
"Icky water," winced Gemma. It was - at the back of the cave was a deep pool of water, about five foot, and the water was a murky sort of brown.
"True, and the lads are a bit picky about that," said Barbossa, "We did send someone down-"
"You pushed me in," said Mort sulkily.
"- and they found that the instructions were engraved at the bottom," said Barbossa. "From what Mort managed to make out, it was something to do with pirate blood, showing you're a pirate..."
"So why can't you do that?" said Krystal.
"- and killing," said Barbossa.
"Ah," said Mar, "So... you're going to kill all of us?"
"Well, that was the general idea, yes," said Barbossa.
"Crud," said Gemma.
Suddenly there was a loud crashing from the corner of the cave. All heads turned to the tunnel. Out of the tunnel came rushing Will, closely followed by Brandi and Catarina, who was trying to restrain her, then came Jack with Alex, Becky, Kathryn, Mako, Tanuki, Danielle and Ariana.
"Jack!" said everyone in the cave.
"How's it all going?" said Jack, looking effortlessly cool, as always.
"Will!" said Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth!" said Will.
"Will!"
"Elizabeth!"
"Will!"
"Elizabeth!"
"All right, cut it out," said Ariana.
"What are you doing here?" said Barbossa.
"What do you think?" said Alex, rolling her eyes, "Can you expect any less of Captain Jack Sparrow?"
"No," said Tobias immediately. Another pirate hit him.
"Well, that's alright, we can use Jack to lift the curse," said Barbossa.
"Or Will," said Becky quickly.
Suddenly there was more crashing from the tunnel. Again, all heads turned to see what was going on. Out of the tunnel came a group of pirates, all looking very angry about something.
"Barbossa!" shouted the one at the front, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Lifting the curse," said Barbossa, very matter-of-factly.
"You can't do that!" shouted one of the pirates in the new group, "We've been waiting ages to have the curse lifted! Then you waltz in, lift your curse and take the diamond?"
"Well, yes," said Barbossa.
"What, what, so it's not actually the DIAMOND that's cursed?" said Mar.
"No, it's the cave," said Mro, "If you enter the cave, you're cursed until the curse is lifted."
"Then why's the diamond called cursed?"
"Makes life easier. A person wanted to keep it for safe-keeping, and thought a cursed cave was the best place."
"But then why don't they just sell it?"
"It's exceedingly difficult to get a good price for a diamond if you're Harry Potter," said Tobias.
"Then - why not sell it at night?"
"Duh," said Mort, "All the shops are shut."
"I'm so confused..." moaned Kathryn.
One of the new pirate arrivals pulled out a sword. "You're not lifting the curse with those girls - we are!"
"Oh no you're not!" said Barbossa.
"Oh yes we are!"
"Oh no you're not!"
"Oh yes we are!"
"OK, OK, please, less of the pantomime," said Jack despairingly, "Now, if you two can't share nicely, NEITHER of you will get to lift the curse with these girls."
"Shut up, Jack!" shouted all the pirates.
Suddenly there was yet MORE crashing from the tunnel. "What now?" said Danielle incredulously.
The footsteps in the tunnel came closer. Suddenly a group of men came rushing out.
"Commodore Norrington?" said Elizabeth in amazement.
"Oh bugger," said Jack and dove behind a pile of treasure - Will had informed him of the one day's headstart.
"That was unexpected," whispered Tanuki.
"Nah, not really," said Mako.
"Two - THREE pirate crews," said Commodore Norrington, raising an eyebrow, "I'm good at this."
"Little help?" said Gemma, indicating the pirates holding onto her and the others.
"Oh yes," said Commodore Norrington, pulling out his sword. The rest of the soldier did the same, as did all the pirates. "All you pirates are under arrest. Including Jack Sparrow."
"No!" shrieked the girls.
"Bite me," said Jack.
"What?" said the Commodore, eyebrows raised.
"I picked it up from her," said Jack, pointing at Kathryn. Kathryn beamed that she'd had an influence on him.
"I'd rather not," said Norrington, "Now, I can hardly expect you all to go out and get on the Dauntless like good pirates, can I?"
"Hardly," said Barbossa.
"Worth a try," said Norrington, and he and his comrades leapt forward, as did the other cursed pirates. Jack and Will leapt in also, closely followed by Tanuki, not wanting to be left out. The girls also rapidly joined in, not wanting to be thought of as girly. And so the biggest battle in this story, and therefore accompanied by the best part of the soundtrack, began.
*****
Archangel Genesis 9 - Glad you like it! Now you get to sword fight and be all brave and dashing and heroic! Which is always fun.
Beloved Fool - I got the question, and I've started working on that story. Haven't got all that far, don't know where my creativity's gone...
Tanuki Yasha - There are more POTC fics coming! Probably coming out soonest is 'Pirates of the Out-Of-Characterness', which is a parody of POTC, where everyone's characters are completely reversed... no slash though. That's a promise. And I know who it's going to be, but I don't know how you'd know...
Theshiz - Yes, 'chatting up' is flirting. I never knew it was just an english phrase! I couldn't update very fast because, um, I was kinda missing the next chapter, but NOW I've finished this fic, and already have ideas for a sequel!
Im a Brandybuck - I want new gloves... my ones are getting old...
Krystal&Mar - Uh, OK, right, I'm scared... Very, um, exciting review. I can't promise anything about the injuring-Legolas thing, but you do get to hit at least one of them, I can promise that.
Cat Youkai - My favourite scene was the one with Jack at the end... "The immortal Captain Jack Sparrow has such a lovely ring to it... and it's not a bad look, really..." The look on his face, hahahahahahaha... But my fave thing is the blooper reel! It's so great! "Or will it be bare breast and ankles all the way?" I crack up every time I hear that...
Tobias - (eyes widen) CHOCOLATE? I love you I love you I love you! Glad that you like being in the story so much - and you're probably going to like the next chapter very much! Let's just say there's some coconut rum involved...
Hyper-Elf - That is a funny mental image! Clay isn't my friend... it gets under my fingernails and in my hair, not to mention on my school uniform, which makes my mum mad... My sister's not particularly fond of it either, considering in the middle of her Ceramics GCSE exam her pot collapsed...
Mronimusha - Of course you're allowed to chat up female captives! Just wait for the opportune moment...
Leah - Thanks!
Have a happy Christmas, everyone!
Chapter 12 - Leverage, plans and dramatic arrivals
Jack's ship had landed next to Barbossa's ship. They were about to go onto the island and deal with whatever lay on it, but before Jack had assembled them for one last discussion of the plan. "Now girls," he began.
Tanuki cleared his throat.
"And boy."
"A-HEM," said Will, glaring at Jack.
"And piratey blacksmith."
Mako blinked at him.
"And strange girl who is without classification." Mako smiled contentedly. "We don't know what Barbossa and his crew need to do to lift the curse, or what the girls have to do with it."
"You don't think they're going to kill them, do you?" said Tanuki, trying to get in on the heroism and dashing masculinity, and doing very well.
"Well, we can hope not. So everyone get out your handfuls of sand, and let's hope they're not expecting us."
"What if they are?" said Danielle.
"Any other questions?" said Jack, purposefully looking the other way.
"What if they all have guns out and kill us all?" said Kathryn.
"Any at all?" said Jack, voice risen a couple of octaves.
"Tell Will not to do anything stupid," said Ariana.
"Good point," said Jack, "Will, nothing stupid."
"In which case, he may as well just stay on the ship," said Brandi, "Everything he does is stupid." Kathryn, Mako and Danielle glared at her, fingering their sword hilts.
"Uh, no," said Jack, "Besides, it's a matter of leverage."
"WHAT?!" said Will, getting a look of fear in his eyes not unlike to Frodo Baggins.
"I'm just messin' with you, Will," said Jack, grinning and slapping him on the shoulder. As Will ran off to get his lucky sword, he turned to the girls and said "Seriously, girls, leverage. Lev-er-age."
"Hee hee hee," said Brandi happily.
"But that's not nice, is it?" said Alex, "How can this curse be connected to Will?"
"It's not," shrugged Jack, "But if it comes down to a choice between Will and Ge- the rest of the crew, Will would prefer you to save them. Besides, he can get out of anything."
"With such regularity that it's almost irritating," agreed Catarina.
"What is?" said Will, emerging from below, now with lucky sword, which he had christened Stabby.
"Uhh... rising in rum prices," said Becky.
"She speaks the truth," said Jack, with heartfelt sincerity.
*****
Barbossa's crew led all nine of the girls and Elizabeth into yet another cave, very much like the cave in the film, except instead of a treasure chest full of coins, there was a large diamond on a pedestal.
"Ooooh," they all said.
"It's big," said Diana.
"It's pink," said Jackie.
"It's pretty," said Hanna.
"It's cursed," muttered Mro.
"It's a diamond," said Elizabeth, "The Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond!"
"Please, Lizzy, we'd all figured that one out," said Frankie despairingly.
Yilantri sidled up to Barbossa. "So, Barbossa, what's this all about?"
"We're trying to lift the curse," said Barbossa.
"Um, I gathered that," said Yilantri, "What do you need us for?"
"Well," said Barbossa, getting into his scary-curse-legend-explaining voice, "The Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond has a curse on it."
"You don't say."
Barbossa glared at her. "Anyway," he continued, "We decided that we wanted this big diamond-"
"How thick can you get?" said Cirfia incredulously.
"Can I please go TWO SECONDS without being interrupted??" shouted Barbossa.
"Sorry," said Cirfia.
"Anyway, we tried to take the diamond, we get cursed. And the only way the curse can be lifted is if we get a pirate beside ourselves."
"But none of us are pirates officially," said Jackie, "We're just some girls who wanted adventure and to be on a ship with Jack and Will for a month or so."
"Yes, but it stands to reasoning that at least one of you must be descended from a pirate," said Barbossa.
"He's right, you know," said Gemma, nodding.
"You're not supposed to agree," muttered Frankie, elbowing Gemma in the ribs.
"What do we actually have to do?" asked Diana.
"Well, we don't know," said Barbossa, "Considering that the instructions are right at the bottom of that pool over there."
"Icky water," winced Gemma. It was - at the back of the cave was a deep pool of water, about five foot, and the water was a murky sort of brown.
"True, and the lads are a bit picky about that," said Barbossa, "We did send someone down-"
"You pushed me in," said Mort sulkily.
"- and they found that the instructions were engraved at the bottom," said Barbossa. "From what Mort managed to make out, it was something to do with pirate blood, showing you're a pirate..."
"So why can't you do that?" said Krystal.
"- and killing," said Barbossa.
"Ah," said Mar, "So... you're going to kill all of us?"
"Well, that was the general idea, yes," said Barbossa.
"Crud," said Gemma.
Suddenly there was a loud crashing from the corner of the cave. All heads turned to the tunnel. Out of the tunnel came rushing Will, closely followed by Brandi and Catarina, who was trying to restrain her, then came Jack with Alex, Becky, Kathryn, Mako, Tanuki, Danielle and Ariana.
"Jack!" said everyone in the cave.
"How's it all going?" said Jack, looking effortlessly cool, as always.
"Will!" said Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth!" said Will.
"Will!"
"Elizabeth!"
"Will!"
"Elizabeth!"
"All right, cut it out," said Ariana.
"What are you doing here?" said Barbossa.
"What do you think?" said Alex, rolling her eyes, "Can you expect any less of Captain Jack Sparrow?"
"No," said Tobias immediately. Another pirate hit him.
"Well, that's alright, we can use Jack to lift the curse," said Barbossa.
"Or Will," said Becky quickly.
Suddenly there was more crashing from the tunnel. Again, all heads turned to see what was going on. Out of the tunnel came a group of pirates, all looking very angry about something.
"Barbossa!" shouted the one at the front, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Lifting the curse," said Barbossa, very matter-of-factly.
"You can't do that!" shouted one of the pirates in the new group, "We've been waiting ages to have the curse lifted! Then you waltz in, lift your curse and take the diamond?"
"Well, yes," said Barbossa.
"What, what, so it's not actually the DIAMOND that's cursed?" said Mar.
"No, it's the cave," said Mro, "If you enter the cave, you're cursed until the curse is lifted."
"Then why's the diamond called cursed?"
"Makes life easier. A person wanted to keep it for safe-keeping, and thought a cursed cave was the best place."
"But then why don't they just sell it?"
"It's exceedingly difficult to get a good price for a diamond if you're Harry Potter," said Tobias.
"Then - why not sell it at night?"
"Duh," said Mort, "All the shops are shut."
"I'm so confused..." moaned Kathryn.
One of the new pirate arrivals pulled out a sword. "You're not lifting the curse with those girls - we are!"
"Oh no you're not!" said Barbossa.
"Oh yes we are!"
"Oh no you're not!"
"Oh yes we are!"
"OK, OK, please, less of the pantomime," said Jack despairingly, "Now, if you two can't share nicely, NEITHER of you will get to lift the curse with these girls."
"Shut up, Jack!" shouted all the pirates.
Suddenly there was yet MORE crashing from the tunnel. "What now?" said Danielle incredulously.
The footsteps in the tunnel came closer. Suddenly a group of men came rushing out.
"Commodore Norrington?" said Elizabeth in amazement.
"Oh bugger," said Jack and dove behind a pile of treasure - Will had informed him of the one day's headstart.
"That was unexpected," whispered Tanuki.
"Nah, not really," said Mako.
"Two - THREE pirate crews," said Commodore Norrington, raising an eyebrow, "I'm good at this."
"Little help?" said Gemma, indicating the pirates holding onto her and the others.
"Oh yes," said Commodore Norrington, pulling out his sword. The rest of the soldier did the same, as did all the pirates. "All you pirates are under arrest. Including Jack Sparrow."
"No!" shrieked the girls.
"Bite me," said Jack.
"What?" said the Commodore, eyebrows raised.
"I picked it up from her," said Jack, pointing at Kathryn. Kathryn beamed that she'd had an influence on him.
"I'd rather not," said Norrington, "Now, I can hardly expect you all to go out and get on the Dauntless like good pirates, can I?"
"Hardly," said Barbossa.
"Worth a try," said Norrington, and he and his comrades leapt forward, as did the other cursed pirates. Jack and Will leapt in also, closely followed by Tanuki, not wanting to be left out. The girls also rapidly joined in, not wanting to be thought of as girly. And so the biggest battle in this story, and therefore accompanied by the best part of the soundtrack, began.
*****
Archangel Genesis 9 - Glad you like it! Now you get to sword fight and be all brave and dashing and heroic! Which is always fun.
Beloved Fool - I got the question, and I've started working on that story. Haven't got all that far, don't know where my creativity's gone...
Tanuki Yasha - There are more POTC fics coming! Probably coming out soonest is 'Pirates of the Out-Of-Characterness', which is a parody of POTC, where everyone's characters are completely reversed... no slash though. That's a promise. And I know who it's going to be, but I don't know how you'd know...
Theshiz - Yes, 'chatting up' is flirting. I never knew it was just an english phrase! I couldn't update very fast because, um, I was kinda missing the next chapter, but NOW I've finished this fic, and already have ideas for a sequel!
Im a Brandybuck - I want new gloves... my ones are getting old...
Krystal&Mar - Uh, OK, right, I'm scared... Very, um, exciting review. I can't promise anything about the injuring-Legolas thing, but you do get to hit at least one of them, I can promise that.
Cat Youkai - My favourite scene was the one with Jack at the end... "The immortal Captain Jack Sparrow has such a lovely ring to it... and it's not a bad look, really..." The look on his face, hahahahahahaha... But my fave thing is the blooper reel! It's so great! "Or will it be bare breast and ankles all the way?" I crack up every time I hear that...
Tobias - (eyes widen) CHOCOLATE? I love you I love you I love you! Glad that you like being in the story so much - and you're probably going to like the next chapter very much! Let's just say there's some coconut rum involved...
Hyper-Elf - That is a funny mental image! Clay isn't my friend... it gets under my fingernails and in my hair, not to mention on my school uniform, which makes my mum mad... My sister's not particularly fond of it either, considering in the middle of her Ceramics GCSE exam her pot collapsed...
Mronimusha - Of course you're allowed to chat up female captives! Just wait for the opportune moment...
Leah - Thanks!
Have a happy Christmas, everyone!