Alright... Things will turn away from the original plot line in this chapter... So don't expect everything to stay the same as it was in the film. :) And sorry it is taking so so long between updates... I probably shouldn't have started posting three different stories right before the end of the semester...

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Chapter 3

The ship had been sailing for about an hour. Shrek and Arthur were standing in uncomfortable silence when Arthur finally spoke up.

"So... I guess this is really real then..." he said.

Shrek nodded, "Sure is," he replied.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Arthur smiled, "Do you think tons princesses will all want to marry me?" he asked.

Shrek looked down at the boy. He seemed very immature, but Shrek really didn't want to be the king, and surely Arthur wasn't as immature as he seemed. Maybe he was just short for his age... He had to be at least fourteen at any rate, since he was at a high school, "Yeah," Shrek answered, "They'll be lining up to meet you."

"Wow," Arthur said dreamily, "I'll have tons of girlfriends... and money... No one will tell me what to do... I mean... I know it won't be all fun and games..."

"It really is all fun and games, actually," Shrek cut in, wanting to say anything he could to keep the boy from changing his mind. Arthur was a teen-aged boy. Naturally, he was more than excited about becoming a king, but he would likely become scared away from the idea just as easily at any mention of the responsibility which comes with being king.

"I'm not stupid," Arthur looked up at Shrek, "I know there's responsibility involved. But I think it will be worth it."

"Of course it will," Shrek assured him.

"Indeed," Puss began, "it is a very glorified position. You'll be responsible for leading the entire kingdom."

Arthur nodded.

"In times of peace, and war..." Puss continued.

Arthur began to look nervous.

"But there is never war there," Shrek cut in, "You probably won't have to worry about it... Surely you won't... yeah... most definitely you won't need to worry about war..."

Arthur didn't look convinced.

"You'll be safe though, señor," the cat assured him, "You will have your own body guards, and royal food testers."

"Food testers?" Arthur asked, "what do they do?"

"They taste your food first... to makes sure it's not poisoned," Puss informed.

"Poisoned?" Arthur asked, looking more and more worried by the second.

"Or... too salty," Shrek added, giving the cat a death stare. Shrek turned his attention to the cat, turning his back to Arthur, "are you trying to scare him?" he asked.

The cat shook his head, "no, señor... I am simply telling him how his life will be. Wouldn't you want him to be aware of the dangers of being king in addition to the advantages?"

"No!" Shrek muttered, "That's the whole point... I don't want to be king, so I need him to do it... You cannot just scare him off like that... Someone has to be king, and I sure don't want to-" Shrek was cut off as the ship jerked violently, knocking everyone off their feet.

He looked back at the wheel, where Arthur had taken it upon himself to begin turning the ship around. Shrek quickly made his way back to where Arthur was standing, pushed him out of the way, and turned the wheel back in his desired direction.

Arthur quickly grabbed back onto the wheel, "let go!" he yelled, as he found it impossible to turn the wheel with Shrek holding it in place, "I don't want to be king!"

"You have to!" Shrek yelled back at him, easily keeping the wheel from turning, though Arthur continued pulling at it, "It's you're obligation. It's not something you can run away from!"

"If it's such a great job, why don't you do it?" Arthur yelled back.

"It's your job, and you're going to do it!" Shrek yelled, "unless you want to go back to being a loser!" he said, trying one last tactic to convince the boy that being the king would be better than going back to the high school.

This comment only made Arthur angry. He frowned and kicked Shrek hard in the leg. Shrek let go of the wheel when Arthur did this. Arthur took this opportunity to grab the wheel and turn it as quickly as he could. Then Shrek grabbed it again, pulling it the other way, knocking Arthur to the floor in the process.

Arthur knew it was no use trying to turn the ship just yet, as Shrek was much too strong to overpower, so instead, he kicked at Shrek's shins, "you can't make me be king!"

Tired of Arthur kicking him, Shrek turned to face the boy. He could see in Arthur's eyes that he was both angry and nervous. The boy didn't know the ogre at all, and for all he knew, angering him could lead to his death. Even though Shrek could tell he was somewhat frightened, Arthur stood his ground, staring at the ogre, even when the ogre grabbed his shoulders.

"There's no turning back now, kid," Shrek yelled, "it's you job."

Arthur scowled, "don't you have some babies to eat? A village to massacre?" he asked, trying to make the ogre feel like as much of an outcast as he felt, "why don't you just leave me alone? Get someone else to be the king."

Still holding firmly onto Arthur's shoulders, Shrek continued the repetitive conversation, "people are depending on you now, Arthur," he said, "what will they do if their king won't do his job?"

"I don't care!" Arthur yelled, finally trying to pull away from the ogre's grasp, "Let go of me!" he yelled.

Shrek was going to say more to try to convince him when he noticed Arthur's eyes grow wide, and his struggling increased. Arthur wasn't looking at Shrek, but rather over the ogre's shoulder. Shrek glanced over his shoulder as well, seeing the ship heading toward some very sharp rocks, which were quickly becoming closer to the ship.

The ogre let go of Arthur, pushing him to the side and rushing to the wheel, turning it as quickly as he could. However, the rocks were too near. Shrek couldn't turn the wheel fast enough and the ship collided with the rocks. The collision was devastating to the ship, causing it to sink within a few minutes. Fortunately they were close to an island, and swam ashore.

Shrek, with Puss in Boots clinging to his back, swam ashore, with Donkey swimming behind him. Arthur swam a distance away from the others, as he was presently angry with Shrek for not allowing him to turn back, and ultimately crashing the ship, though he was partially to blame as well.

Arthur wasn't a great swimmer, but managed to make it to shore. He coughed a few times and then laid down in the sand. The water was cold and the air was not much warmer. He breathed in, glad to be on land instead of in the ocean.

Shrek glared over at the boy. Puss in Boots laid down on a fallen tree, licking his fur, as Donkey stood next to Shrek, "He's going to be king," Shrek muttered, "whether he likes it or not."

"Aww... come on, Shrek," Donkey suggested, "why don't you just cut him some slack? He's not gonna want to listen to you if you're all mean to him and stuff."

"He needs to take responsibility for this," Shrek argued, "it's his responsibility..."

"It's your responsibility," Donkey reminded him.

Shrek glared down at Donkey.

"Maybe you should make sure he's okay," Donkey suggested, "he isn't moving."

Shrek sighed, walked over to the boy, and kicked his foot.

Arthur opened one eye and looked up at Shrek, "What do you want?" he asked in a very rebellious teenager sort of tone.

"Come on," Shrek ordered.

"No," Arthur protested, "just leave me alone. I'm not going with you; you can't make me."

"I'm not just going to leave you here," Shrek told him, "Even if you won't be king... which you need to do... I can't just leave you out here all alone, because Fiona would kill me."

Arthur laughed, "Whatever. Fiona doesn't care. I don't think she even knows who I am... I sure don't know who she is."

"Come on," Shrek said again, "I mean it... I'm not going to ask you again."

"Ooooh," Arthur mocked, "what are you gonna do?"

Shrek raised his eyebrow, reached down and picked Arthur up.

"Hey! Put me down!" Arthur yelled, grabbing at Shrek's fingers which held tightly onto his waist. He tried to pry the ogre's fingers away, but it was useless.

"I'll put you don't if you agree to come with me," Shrek offered.

Arthur scowled at him, "Fine... Whatever."

Shrek put him down. Arthur immediately started to run off, but Shrek quickly grabbed his arm, holding onto him tightly.

"Ow!" Arthur cried out, "You can't make me go with you!"

Their argument was cut short as they both noticed a very large ship approaching the island. It looked like a pirate ship.

Shrek didn't know much about pirates, but he did know they were often unfriendly. Keeping ahold of Arthur's arm, he pulled the boy along with him, followed by the donkey and cat, further into the forest of the island. All the while, Arthur was trying to escape his grasp.

When Shrek felt they made it far enough, he turned to Arthur, "it doesn't matter if you are still insistent on not being the king... I think it would be pretty stupid of you to run around alone on this island and be captured or killed by pirates."

"What are we supposed to do then?" Arthur asked, "just all stand here together in the middle of the woods forever?"

"Well... maybe someone lives around here..." Shrek wondered aloud, "we can look around... maybe they'll help us... Now, are you going to run off? Or can I let go of you and trust you to not get yourself killed?"

"I won't run off. We're on an island, right? I couldn't get far anyway," Arthur told him.

"Good," Shrek let go of his arm, but kept an eye on him as they walked around, searching for any occupants of the island. After about twenty minutes, they hadn't found any sign of life.

"We're gonna die aren't we?" Donkey yelled out, clearly starting to panic, "those pirates are going to kill us!"

"Shh, Donkey," Shrek assured him, "we don't even know if the pirates are on the island... The ship may have gone right by... and we don't even know for sure that it was a pirate ship. So you don't have to worry about anything. Let's just keep looking for-"

Shrek stopped in mid-sentence when he heard Arthur gasp from behind him. He turned around to see what looked like a tree had grabbed ahold of Arthur. Another tree grabbed Puss in Boots as the cat threatened it with his sword.

Shrek narrowed his eyes. Yet another tree reached for Donkey, who dove out of it's reach and hid behind Shrek.

Arthur and Puss were both struggling to escape, but the tree-like creatures held them tightly.

"Wait just a second!" Shrek yelled out, trying to reason with the creatures, "Who are you?"

Before the creatures could answer, a man walked out of the forest and began speaking. He was dressed like a stereotypical pirate, "They, like meself, be workin' fer Mr. Charming... He's set ta be the new king of Far Far Away, an' needs ta make sure no one stands in 'is way."

"Then let me go!" interrupted Arthur, "I don't want to be the king, so you don't have to worry about me! If someone else wants to do it, then let them!"

Shrek glared at Arthur, but before he could say anything, the pirate continued.

"Ye are all ta be taken into custody, as prisoners of the new king," he informed them.

At this, Shrek considered the fact that Fiona had remained in Far Far Away, and with Charming attempting to steal the throne, Fiona might be in trouble. He scowled at the pirate, "Where's Fiona?" he asked.

"She's fine... A prisoner as well," the pirate informed him, "no one is ta be harmed as long as Charming gets what's rightfully his... Well... no one except you an' this guy," the pirate added, gesturing towards Arthur and chuckling to himself.

Arthur looked worried and shocked at the same time, "what!? But I said I don't care! He can be the king! I'm not going to fight him.... Just let me go!"

"And how be I suppose'n ta trust yer words, young lad?" the pirate countered.

Arthur frowned, "I... I don't know..." He looked down, as if giving up. He was used to not having any say in such matters. When he had thought going with the ogre would beat staying at the school, perhaps he had miscalculated. It seemed people outside of the walls of the academy were going to bully him just as much as the students within the school.

The pirate, who had a sword drawn already, pointed the sword at Arthur's chest, "Ye'll come willingly, ogre, or yer friend'll get what's comin' to 'im."

Shrek noticed Arthur looked almost sad, as though he expected the ogre to let the pirate kill him. Shrek didn't exactly get along with the kid, but he knew just because he was scared to be king and a rebellious teenager didn't mean he deserved death. The ogre followed the tree-creatures and the pirate, willingly, back to the pirate ship, all the while keeping an eye on the pirate, who kept the sword pointed in Arthur's direction. Shrek was looking for an opportunity to catch the pirate off guard, but no opportunity came.

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Thank you for reading. :) I'll try to get the next chapter up faster next time. :)