A/N: Well, here it is...Chapter 3. Hope everybody likes it. I've been in a bit of an updating frenzy lately on a few of my other stories, but I may have neglected this one. Sorry! Anyway, please read and tell me what you think of it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of its various settings, plots, or characters. I have also recently noticed that a certain scene in this chapter resembles one from the book "The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm" by Nancy Farmer. I do not own that book either. : )

Jack Sparrow stood up. It wasn't as easy as it sounds.

Slime stretched all around him and pooled around his ankles. With every step he took there was a brief moment of pull as he freed his boot from the sticky, mucky stuff. He made a face, sticking his tongue out.

"This is disgusting mate. Ought to brush those teeth once in a while too." He commented as he slogged his way through the inside of the Kraken. "'Course, it'd be a bloody long job, cleaning them all." He added, as he approached the rings of sharp teeth that marked the Kraken's mouth. He eased slowly along the edge of the sharp rows, trying to avoid both impalement by Kraken tooth and stepping on the enormous tongue, all the time making his way towards the light that glowed up ahead.

"This," he told a particularly nasty looking tooth, "is a fairly ridiculous situation."

Only a few moments before he'd been sitting, feeling rather defeated (and more then a bit thirsty) when he'd noticed something. At first he hadn't been able to put his finger on it, but he knew something was different. Something had changed.

He had looked around him, mystified. Not much could change here. The Kraken swallowed a few more fish occasionally, but that was about it. The light always stayed the same -- dim at best. And what else was there to see?

Then, rather suddenly, it had occurred to him that there was a noise missing. The noise of rushing water.

Always, when the Kraken was on the move, there was the sound of the ocean flowing by outside. The water rushed relentlessly onward, flowing around the enormous beast, but there had been a sudden absence of this noise. And therefore, he assumed, a sudden absence of movement.

"Have we made port then mate?" He'd called. He waited for a moment. "Not a very chatty fellow are you? Right. Time for a change of lodgings, I think."

And so Jack Sparrow had stood and began to make his way toward the front of the Kraken.

Now he peered out from the edge of the enormous mouth and took in his surroundings. The Kraken had not chosen a particularly welcoming spot to make berth.

They were in an enormous, damp, cave. The water lapped against the rock, and the walls were grim and dark. The system of caves seemed to go on and on -- certainly as far as Jack could see -- and the water cast eerie reflections and patterns of blue-black light onto the walls and ceiling. Unwelcoming perhaps, but it had a large advantage over the inside of a Kraken -- that was to say, it wasn't the inside of a Kraken.

Jack dove out of the mouth, narrowly missing a huge tooth, and hit the water swimming. He didn't think the Kraken would bother to pursue him now. He was one lone man, and Davy Jones thought he was dead. But he wasn't taking any chances, and his pace as he swam was a far cry from leisurely.

His knees banged against solid rock and he stood, wincing slightly and once again looking around.

Jack didn't particularly expect to find much rum in a series of abandoned caves, but he was, after all, Captain Jack Sparrow, and so he set off to look, one hand on his sword.

His boots made a faint squelching noise that echoed through the empty caves. He wished idly for a candle -- the light here was dim at best. There was a faint noise of dripping water that echoed through the caves in a disorienting way, the sound rebounding off the rock walls and flying through the air as an almost palpable thing. The Kraken's breathing rushed through the caves, a heavy, rhythmic, whooshing noise. The caves truly did seem to stretch on for an eternity. Just as Jack had decided to call a halt something caught his eye and held it.

There was an opening in the rock to his left, and from it a very faint glow emanated, only visible because of the poor quality of the surrounding light. Jack moved stealthily toward it, sticking to the cave wall, his hand gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white. But when he peered around the edge of the opening a grin spread across his face.

Spread out before him in the cave was treasure. Vast mounds of it, enormous piles. Gold glinted in the faint daylight coming from a hole in the ceiling, jewels of all kinds sat scattered amongst the coins and cups and necklaces. He took another step and bent down to pick up a gold coin.

Suddenly there was a slight clinking noise and a slight movement to his left. He whirled to face the source of the noise only to find that it was coming from all around him. The treasure was shifting, and rising out of it like wraiths from the sea came the figures of men.

The coins slid off of them as they stood, slightly stooped. Quite a few of them were uncomfortably close, and Jack took a step backwards even as more and more of the figures emerged from the hills of sparkling gold.

Their clothes were in rags and their bodies so emaciated that the outlines of bones could be seen, but each and every one of them drew a sword and pointed it directly at Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Ah," said the Captain, bringing up his sword to fend off a blow from the man who was nearest to him, "this presents a complication."

Sheer practicality demanded that he run, and so he did. They outnumbered him, and they had the advantage of surprise. And anyway there was something about their eyes...Jack shuddered. He was in no position to fight a horde of what seemed to be treasure guardians, so he ran as fast as he could, simply hoping that he was faster then all of them.

But there was no pursuit.

Curious Jack chanced a glance back over his shoulder only to find that there was no one there. Two men stood in the entrance to the treasure cave, their rags hanging off of them as they watched him flee. He decided not to question his good fortune -- at least, not until he had put large amounts of distance between him and the armed men -- so he ran on, back to the cave in which the Kraken had stopped.

At first he saw nothing. Calm water without a beast -- deadly or otherwise -- in sight. But the bubbles on the surface of the water gave away the Kraken's presence. The creature was submerged but still there.

Jack settled himself back against the wall of the cave, hopefully out of the Kraken's reach, but close enough so that he could see any passing ships. Though the ocean outside the cave was unbroken by any sight for miles -- ship, island, or even seagull -- he was taking no chances.

Then, once he was satisfied with his location, Captain Jack Sparrow set himself to the task of drudging up all his memories of pirate lore, of tales of the high seas, and of mutterings that had reached his ears that concerned the Kraken and where it made berth.

It was high time he discovered just what he had gotten himself into this time.

A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. I realize it was a bit short, but it necessary. Please let me know what you thought!