(Disclaimer: I do not own Pintel and Ragetti.)
Just the Way it Should Be
At first, the boy thought he was suffocating.
His lungs weren't working. There was no air left inside of them, and try as he might, he couldn't get himself to breathe back in. Then suddenly, a tiny wisp of replenishment snuck down his throat, and Ragetti ceased his floundering as he began to realize what'd happened to him.
He was up on the quarterdeck, where he'd landed flat on his stomach. Something had thrown him up there, an explosion of some sort, but it'd happened so fast that he couldn't remember it. All he could remember was Pintel…
Tears stung his eyes, and Ragetti quickly shook the thought away. It couldn't be true. It was the explosion. The explosion had him confused. Pintel hadn't said that awful thing to him; the blast had just mixed up his little head and was making him think Pintel had said it. That had to be what'd happened.
But somehow, Ragetti knew that it wasn't.
That was when the rest of his senses kicked back in, and he immediately became aware of the other men around him, fighting. He saw that Rub fellow off to his left, sparring against a man with a badly burned scalp. On the main deck nearby, he could see Yager and Wood's heads, standing back-to-back as they each faced separate enemies. Below him near the steps of the quarterdeck, Ragetti saw two men that he didn't recognize. One of them was obviously an Urchin crewman, as the pair was dueling violently, and he guessed it was the one with short black dreadlocks; that fellow wasn't grinning menacingly like the Scarborough crewmen, and his opponent was. Curious, the lad stared at them, awaiting the outcome of their struggle.
Less than a minute later, the show was over. The grinning pirate fiercely knocked his adversary's sword arm to the side and finished him off with a zealous upward stab to the gut. Ragetti gawked at the unlucky crewman, bobbing his head slightly as he watched the lifeless body topple to the deck. Then his bulging eyes darted back to the unfazed victor, who, seeing that his adversary was now disposed of, turned around to glare up the steps. Ragetti gulped and recoiled, but it was too late to hide. The invader had spotted him.
The boy immediately stumbled back and onto his feet. His new pursuer was already prowling up the steps after him, and Ragetti was alone and unarmed; the only thing left for the young stowaway to do was run. And so he cringed and swiftly backed away from the threatening figure, too frightened to turn his back to the man.
The enemy pirate sneered sadistically. "Come 'ere, yeh snivelin' little rat!"
But Ragetti continued to scoot away from him. He had to keep moving, had to keep backing away and stay out of reach…
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the unpleasant feeling of hard wood behind him, and the antsy lad jumped. He whipped his head around then to see the ship's stern rail staring apathetically back at him. Realization hit him at that awful instant, and Ragetti felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. He was cornered.
Ahead of him, the enemy pirate swung his sword.
WHOOSH!
…And Ragetti ducked.
SMASH!
The blade connected sharply with the rail, splitting the rotted timber in two and sending chips of wood flying. Ragetti darted to the side and sprang to his feet, frantically running past his attacker. As he did so, the man lashed out with his foot and kicked the boy's feet out from under him. Ragetti went down, but his momentum carried him a short distance before he actually hit the deck. One of his arms slammed against the ship's wheel—which was oddly unmanned—and as he fell, he unintentionally clutched the steering instrument and turned it a sharp ninety degrees to the right.
The enemy pirate continued to pursue him. Ragetti scrambled away from the wheel on all fours, keeping his eyes locked onto the unfriendly blade behind him. Unfortunately, the lad was so preoccupied with watching his foe that he failed to see where he was going, and an instant later found himself tumbling down the same set of stairs that had separated them before. Even so, he hit the main deck fleeing.
Ragetti heard his attacker laugh at the mishap, and he turned again to see the man barging down the steps after him with his sword held above his head. The boy tried to run further, but a strange force suddenly swayed the ship and threw off his balance again. The deck tilted to the left, sending the unlucky child toppling to his knees. Then his chaser finally caught up to him, and with a triumphant smirk, prepared to finish off the little runt.
But the steering wheel had been turned, and the ship was still responding accordingly.
Ragetti's eyes bulged with horror when he saw the danger coming, and he instinctively dove down with his arms covering his head. Seeing this, the enemy pirate stopped in his tracks and turned, wondering what had earned such a panicked reaction from the whelp.
The boom swung rapidly towards him, giving him the answer he'd been looking for.
BAM!
Ragetti lifted his head just in time to see his screaming, airborne enemy sail out of sight over the Urchin's rail, and to hear the loud splash that followed.
Then the boy leapt up and continued running.
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Pintel was buried in combat.
Swing here, stab there, kick this man, beat that man. He wielded two weapons now; the metal butt of his empty pistol was round and heavy, and he was gripping the device by its barrel and brandishing it like a club. His trusted sword was still grasped tightly in his other hand, its blade now dripping with dark blood. A mad, vicious light blazed in his yellowed eyes.
A Folly crewman lunged at him just then, and Pintel accepted the challenge with a sneer and another swipe of his sword. His foe raised his cutlass as well, blocking the blow, and the two stumbled to find their footing. For several seconds, they knew nothing but the sound of clashing weapons and the blinding glare of the blades.
Then just like that, their swords were locked together again and their faces were just a hand's width apart. Somehow, the sight of his adversary's superior snarl snapped Pintel out of his warrior mode, and the stocky pirate abruptly remembered how terrified of battle he really was.
His sword started to waver slightly; the other man's blade was inching closer. Both of Pintel's hands were preoccupied with this bizarre arm-wrestling contest, ruling out the option of bludgeoning his enemy with the pistol butt, and so he allowed his anxious gaze to wander for the moment as he grappled for an idea. His searching eyes immediately lowered, and a thought came to him. The other pirate's legs were wide apart.
Pintel bared his teeth again, bluffing ferocity, and as soon as he regained his opponent's full attention, the balding schemer swiftly drew up his leg…and kneed him square in the groin.
The challenging man's face suddenly didn't look quite as intimidating as he keeled over forward. Finishing him off was hardly even a chore after that.
No sooner had Pintel disposed of his foe than Wood's fiery red hair flashed into view, followed closely by Yager's green bandanna. The pair was on the hunt, and seeing their fellow crewman, they both skidded to a halt beside him.
"How many men have we lost?" the older of the two asked. Pintel was a bit surprised to hear Yager speaking to him at first.
He looked around then, as if he was trying to take a quick count. "Don't know," he answered. "I seen two at least. Gill an' Burby."
"We've got to get the crew together," Yager went on. "We're out-numbered as it is—casualties are only gonna hurt our chances."
Pintel frowned and thought back to the near failure in his last battle encounter. "We can't keep this up fer much longer."
Yager looked at him urgently. "The way we see it, we won't have to if we can take out the right person."
Pintel just stared at him, too dazed from his fighting to think. "Wot d'yeh mean?"
"Cut off the serpent's head and the body dies," Yager elaborated slowly. "We kill Scarborough, and his crew won't know what to do. They'll have no orders to follow."
Pintel's expression was one of utter shock. "...'Ow would we do it?"
"Go onto his ship and kill him!" Wood jumped in. "It isn't far!"
yager nodded. "All we need is some backup, but we're gonna run out of it fast if we put this off for too long."
By now, the balding man could feel another wave of panic coming over him. Go onto Scarborough's ship? It was crazy! It was suicide! Only this brain-dead duo could think that would work! There had to be a way out of it. No suicide attempt was completely fool-proof after all!
Finally, he stammered out, "Cap'n Pellinore ain't gonna sit wif that plan, you know."
"Too bad he's not here to tell us that himself," Wood said snidely. He nodded towards the quarterdeck. Pintel turned to follow his gaze, and to his surprise, saw that the spot was completely unoccupied.
He squinted up at the empty wheel, then scanned the crowd around him. The captain was nowhere in sight. "Where is 'e?"
"None of the places we've looked in, that's for sure," Yager replied darkly.
Pintel was frozen in thought. No captain. No leader. There was nobody in sight to take charge of the crew's desperate situation; no authority figure. What'd happened to Pellinore? He couldn't be gone, could he? It didn't seem likely. A smart fellow like that had to have some sense in battle. And yet…there was no sign of the Englishman anywhere on deck.
For a moment, Pintel thought nothing. He was too confused to. There was no bloody captain! But then, something else dawned on him. If he was really this lost with a captain that was just missing, then a crewman with a dead captain…well, that was clear enough even unsaid. He paused and studied Yager and Wood's determined faces. Maybe they really were on to something.
Pintel finally nodded then, looking down. "Aye. We try an' kill Scarborough."
Yager's face gleamed with silent anticipation. "Let's find some more of the crew then."
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Soon to be updated!
