I don't own these characters; Disney does.
16: Gone Fishin'
Yori had no problem with joining up with the Possible Company. She signed the Articles of Agreement on Ron's word and wasted no time helping the ship run properly and orderly. She fit right in with the crew. After all, there was almost no way not to fit in with the group.
It helped since she knew what life was like on a ship. One of the best things for her was the fact that no one made mention of her time with Monkey Fist. They just went on as if they picked her in a market or at any port… or even as if she fell out of the sky and belonged with them. It was a great comfort to her, but she did not mention it because it would involve her having to bring up that she had not just been picked up at a market or fallen from the sky.
"I think we might need to find some place to park the ship," Kim commented out of the blue.
"Is that the nautical term?" Monique teased the captain, knowing it was not and Kim was always the first one to get on their cases whenever they used terms that did not belong on a ship.
"I think what the captain would like is for us to careen the ship as soon as possible," Shego chimed in, chuckling a bit as Kim blushed at her blunder.
They had only careened the ship once before. It was not a pretty sight since half of them had never done it before. Hell, Monique and Bonnie did not even think it was possible to pull the ship onto the beach. Once the ship was on the beach, Monique and Bonnie were then confused on how they could tip the ship and even if they did, they did not understand how they would get the ship back up and into the water. Bonnie then complained throughout the whole process of cleaning the hull of the ocean muck and also how badly everything smelled, including the things that they used to patch the boards and coat the hull. They all silently hoped careening the ship this time would be less of an exercise in not killing each other and just a simple, necessary task to keep them on the water.
"I'm not as nautical as I pretend to be…" the redhead confessed. "I haven't been on a ship as long as it seems," she added. This was safe to say because Bonnie was below decks, sleeping like a baby.
Shego and Monique laughed a bit. Kim knew Shego would tease her about it later, probably make some crack about teaching her how to live on water (it was actually turned out to be a joke about what to do when wet, which Kim barely got). Attention was drawn from the captain when Ron and Yori emerged from below deck.
"Hey, Ron, you got Yori all caught up on our situation?" Kim asked, turning to the cook.
"She's up to speed on everything and she's still on board with us. So, how close are we to the end of the map?" Ron inquired.
Kim laughed. "Same place as before, Ron. We're going to retreat to the islands in order to careen the ship. If we don't do that soon, we're going to floating on pieces of the mast."
Ron chuckled. "Since I don't swim that well, that doesn't sound too good." Rufus nodded with that; apparently, he did not swim too well either. Really, it was not too much about not swimming well, but about swimming in the middle of the ocean.
"If we go to the islands, we can get help with it, too," Monique pointed out. She did not want to spend as much time careening the ship as they had before. It was a chore she truly hated. Between the smell and just the stuff they needed to learn, it was enough to make her projectile vomit, which she was not interested in doing.
"That was my plan. I'd like to check on our hard work, too. Never know, the New Islanders might need something and we could be able to help them," Kim added in.
The New Islanders were the freed slaves, whom they rescued from slave ships and brought to the islands. Some of the New Islanders had taken a few ships the Possible crew salvaged from their prizes and took those back to their homeland. But, some stayed on the islands and made that their new home, complete with a few villages and leaders. Kim and her crew checked in on them from time to time and also led new people there every now and then. It had to be well over a thousand people living on the islands by now.
"At least we'll be on land for a couple of days," Monique said, which was always something to look forward to as far as she was concerned.
"Yeah, that way you can really keep Bonnie out of our hair, right?" Shego remarked with a smart-aleck smirk on her face.
"I shouldn't have to if you keep the captain properly entertained," Monique shot back with an equally smart smile.
Shego laughed a bit, learning to enjoy at least some members of the crew. Yori looked between them, certain she missed something. She turned to Ron for an explanation, but he just shook his head.
"I'll catch you up on that later… After I figure out what exactly happened," Ron said. He was not sure how, when, or even why the female crew members turned to each other for intimate companionship. The best he could come up with was it was lonely out on the sea, but even that did not cover Monique and Bonnie in his opinion. In fact, he believed Monique should be granted some type of medal for being able to put up with Bonnie on anything beyond a professional level. Actually, he thought the same should be said of the captain with putting up with Shego. These were seriously tough women, and by that he meant Kim and Monique.
With directions on where to go, Shego put the ship on the path for the islands. She figured once they careened the ship and made sure it was sea-worthy, it would be a straight run for the end of the map. Kim believed the same thing, too. They just needed to make sure the ship could and would make it that distance. Of course, they would still take prizes on the way.
For the trip, Kim decided to get to know Yori better. She found the black-haired woman was not as open to talk with anyone aside from Ron, no matter how much Ron assured her it was safe to be carefree around Kim and the rest of the crew. Shego knew what to do about getting Yori to talk, though.
"Hey, Princess!" the helmsman called to the captain.
"Shego, I have asked that you not call me that," Kim stated. Not bothering to point out she had asked Shego not to call her that when the pale woman first started, but never anytime recently.
"That's not what you said last night," Shego purred, teasing smirk adorning her face.
A blush instantly flared onto Kim's face. "Shego!" she sort of squeaked, which made the older woman laugh aloud. "Cut it out," the redhead ordered in a hiss as she stood next to Shego. Seeing that command was not getting the amused look off of Shego's face, Kim resorted to another tactic she had learned from Vivian. "Or there'll be no more of what there was last night," she added.
It was Shego's turn to squeak and a frown quickly replaced that smile. "You wouldn't dare!" she growled, but that look in those olive eyes totally contradicted her.
"Try me," Kim said. "Now, what did you call me over for?"
Shego continued to scowl. "If you want to get Yori to take to you like everyone else in this crazy crew has, try speaking another language she speaks. One that you and I talk quite frequently."
For a long moment, Kim was lost. Shego was thankful that despite things the captain was still quite innocent because she would have been pissed off if Kim's mind went to the gutter. But, it was easy to tell that a dirty thought never even crossed Kim's mind… however, another realization eventually dawned on her.
"You're right, Shego!" Kim declared. "Thank you!" The suggestion earned the helmsman a kiss on the cheek.
The brief kiss kept any smart remarks from escaping Shego's mouth and Kim was off. Before long, Kim and Yori were sparring with each other. As Shego predicted, the fighting session helped Yori feel more comfortable with Kim and they were able to start a dialogue between them. By the time they landed on one of the larger islands, Kim and Yori were almost as close as Kim and Monique.
Shego shook her head. "Is there no one on Earth that Kimmie can't befriend?"
"Bonnie," Ron reminded the plasma-wielder.
"Doesn't count," Shego waved it off and glanced at the aforementioned brunette. "She's not human."
"You're one to talk, you green—" Bonnie was cut off.
"Hey!" Kim chimed in. "For once, I would like to not seem like the schoolmarm in a class of delinquents!"
Shego made a mocking face, but was smart enough to not let Kim see. They managed to disembark without a further incident. They walked the short distance to one of few villages on the island. As they always were when they came back, they were impressed with what the New Islanders were able to do with their new home in such a short amount of time. The village was larger than they recalled and the huts seemed to be reinforced and much sturdier than before.
It was not hard to enlist help with getting the ship pulled onto the beach. Kim had suggested the ship should be careened in a nearby lagoon because it was easier, but there were several objections to that from the New Islanders. The Possible Crew thought that was weird because the lagoon would have been the easiest place to lay the ship its side to get to the hull since there was plenty of space there.
"What's the problem with the lagoon?" Ron asked since he was always against anything that was not the easiest way possible.
"And why do they keep saying 'monster'?" Shego inquired. Spending enough time around the New Islanders, she had picked up a little bit of a few languages they spoke, but nothing to carry on a conversation.
"Apparently, there's a monster at the lagoon and that's why they don't want to go because the monster has killed several people and turned a few into monsters. Those… killed themselves…" Monique translated as best she could, sounding somber in the end. It was a little hard to figure out what they said as they talked over each other about the lagoon. Not to mention, they spoke in more than one language. Monique could only follow the one she knew.
Shego scoffed and rolled her eyes. "They actually believe nonsense like that!"
"Says the woman with green skin who throws fire from her hands!" Monique retorted with an insulted snort. "Is a monster in the lagoon less believable than that?"
Shego's eyes narrowed. "Touché," she conceded.
"They want us to stay away from the lagoon," Monique continued to report and then she threw her hands over her mouth when she realized what she said. Eyes from the Possible Crew all shot over to their captain. Kim was already walking away. "Should we flip to see who goes after her?" Monique inquired with a sigh. She could not believe she actually slipped up and said they should stay away.
"We really should just stop taking her places. The buffoon gets into less trouble with left on his own," Shego huffed, motioning to Ron.
"Hey!" The blond and Rufus both took offense to that comment.
"Don't look so upset. I do recall our last step off the beaten path was because of you," Shego reminded him.
"Nobody asked for your help," Ron grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
"Uh… guys, as much as I know we all love a good argument, Kim is gone already," Wade pointed out, thumbing in the direction that Kim had been in.
The whole crew, minus Bonnie, groaned aloud. They stomped off, leaving Anything's Possible in the trusted hands of the New Islanders. A minor hold up happened when Monique had to come back and drag Bonnie along.
"Have you no sense of honor?" Monique hissed in anger, holding Bonnie tightly by the hand like a disobedient child.
"She walked off on her own. She probably can handle it anyway," Bonnie dismissed the whole matter. She did not let go of Monique's hand, though. Sometimes, she thought she did not know how to let go of Monique's hand, which did not bother her.
"Still, we need to be there. Just in case she can't handle it. She's as human as the rest of us…" Monique trailed off, realizing how weird that sounded with the company they were with. Sometimes, she thought they might actually be the only humans among the group. Hell, she did not want to share that she thought Bonnie was a little odd with the way she had taken to the guns and was such a crack shot with them so quickly and easily. Even that seemed a little unnatural.
"Fine," Bonnie sighed dramatically, as if it pained her to follow along with the rest of the crew. "She can probably handle it, though," she grumbled. Captain Kimmie had proven she could hold her own and more in a fight, after all.
Monique did not argue that and just tugged her lover off to the rest of the crew. They were able to catch up with Wade, but Shego had left everyone in the dust. She complained for the whole time she moved forward, but she never noticed she was complaining to herself.
"Damn it, Princess, always gotta be impulsive and save the world and everything! This gets us into so much trouble and you just run off and do it anyway!" Shego huffed, running at full speed to get to the lagoon.
She pushed branches and leaves from her path. She had to go through the thick jungle to get to the lagoon. It was faster than traveling the length of the beach. She did not even notice the New Islanders had cut a path from the beach to the lagoon, but she came onto it sometimes and veered off of it thanks to her worry.
"Can't let you out of my sight! Knowing you, I'd blink and you'd be caught by the Navy and wearing one of their best ropes by the time I opened them again!" she snorted, drawing closer to the lagoon.
"Shego!" Kim called out, letting the helmsman know Kim heard her griping.
"I'm coming, Kimmie," Shego replied. "I'm kicking your ass when I get there, too! You gotta stop taking off like that!"
"No, Shego, stay away! Don't come any closer!" the redhead tried to warn her crewmate. Only after the words left her mouth did she realize they would assure Shego would come closer. She might as well beg Shego to join her, she thought. Hmm, this is probably how Mo just felt.
As expected, Shego emerged from the woods and immediately caught sight of Kim. The captain was pinned to a tree, but Shego could not clearly see how. Charging over, despite the fact that Kim kept warning her away, the pale warrior saw Kim was stuck to the tree by some substance that appeared to be dark green tar. It smelled a lot worse than tar, though.
"Princess, what happened here?" Shego inquired with a teasing grin. She would let her captain hear about this for weeks to come. She then flexed her claws, planning to cut Kim free of her prison… after making fun of her.
"Damn it, Shego! Listen to me and get the hell out of here before it's too late!" Kim hollered.
"It is too late!" a male voice declared.
Before Shego could even consider who or what the voice was, she found her arm pinned to the tree right next to Kim's head with the same substance keeping Kim hostage. Screaming in frustration, she tried to pull her limb away. Kim glared at the older woman.
"See! If you just listened to me…" Kim huffed.
"Now is not the time for I-told-you-so, Princess!" Shego pointed out. "Now, what the hell is going on?" Grunting, she tried to pull her arm free.
"I don't really know the answer to that," Kim confessed.
"You're trespassing is what happened!" the male voice proclaimed, and then Shego was struck with more of the sticky goo.
Shego found herself stuck right on top of Kim's body. If it was not for the situation, she definitely would have said something smart and sexually charged, but at the moment, she was just annoyed. She struggled against her disgusting bonds, but found she was unable to move.
"Pumpkin," Shego said sweetly, speaking to the redhead. "What the hell is going on?" She glared at Kim, eyes declaring this was another fine mess Kim had gotten them into.
"I don't know!" Kim hissed, irked that Shego could not follow orders. "You know, by the pirate code, you're supposed to listen to me in combat situations."
"How the hell was I supposed to know this was a combat situation?" Shego huffed.
"Maybe by the fact that I'm stuck to a tree! How often do you see me stuck to a tree?"
"I thought it was just some accident! You know how careless you can be!"
"I am not careless!"
"You're careless and impulsive!"
Kim scoffed. "Oh, I'm sorry, are you describing you?"
A frustrated groan echoed through the lagoon. "Could you two shut up!" the male voice demanded and then suddenly the owner of the voice appeared out of thin air.
To their credit, Kim and Shego did not appear impressed or frightened despite that the owner of the voice was some kind of frog creature. They were not entirely sure what he was, but honestly they did not care. He could communicate and seemed to have a human brain, which meant they planned to give him a very human ass-kicking as soon as they were free.
"The hell is your problem?" Shego demanded, talking to the creature. Turning as best she could, she tried her best to get a good look at him. All she could see was the deep green scales of the side of his body.
"You're trespassing on my island!" he declared.
"Your island?" Kim echoed, puzzled and pretty upset. She was not enjoying being held prisoner. She glared at him.
"Yes, my island! I'm sick of all of you humans just coming in and acting like this is your home! I own this whole thing and you'll learn that!" He snarled like a dangerous animal.
"You're hurting people and we're here to stop you!" Kim declared.
"You can't stop me. I'm going to get rid of all of those stupid humans, one way or another!" he informed them.
"We just meet all the crazies, don't we?" Shego asked.
"We sail with all the crazies," Kim stated.
"Clearly not all of them."
"Hey! Show me some respect! I've got you at my mercy right now! I could kill you if I felt like it!" the creature roared, agitated that they were not paying him real mind.
Green eyes rolled. They were pretty sure a little man with delusions of grandeur trapped them. They dealt with guys like him all the time. He quickly confirmed that as he started ranting about being a god and the humans not respecting him or his island. Kim tried not to giggle as Shego made mocking faces as the ramblings continued, but eventually that got boring for them.
"Where the hell is the rest of the crew? I couldn't have been that far ahead of them," Shego said. She was ready to go by now.
"Do you really want them to find us like this? Bonnie would never shut up about it," Kim pointed out.
"You're right."
"Hey, I'm talking here!" the creature barked at them. "Now, if you worship me as your god, the great Gill, then I'll let you go and you can help me get the rest of the humans."
"I can't see his face. Is he serious?" Shego asked Kim, who had to move a little to look directly at the frog creature.
"Looks like it," Kim confirmed.
"Great god Gill can kiss my ass," Shego proudly declared.
"Then I can just kill you!" Gill was beyond enraged by their attitudes of complete disrespect and utter indifference to their situation.
Gill took a step toward the trapped pair, not that Shego could see. Kim did not even flinch or move when he did. He raised his hands in a threatening fashion, but Kim still did not seem bothered. Frowning at the lack of reaction, Gill showed the talons on his hands, but this did not change the bored look in the olive eyes watching him.
"All you have to do is submit to me and you'll live," Gill told them one last time.
"Did he miss the 'kiss my ass' comment?" Shego asked.
Kim shrugged. "I don't think he's listening. Or smart. Maybe both."
"Oh, so like a lot of guys then."
Gill let out a frustrated cry, never having to deal with such fearless and annoying humans before. He was about to bring his hand down to cut through Shego's head when suddenly the area was surrounded by smoke. Shego almost snickered when she heard Gill let out a surprised howl of pain.
"Cavalry's arrived," Kim pointed out.
"Let's just hope it's doesn't have Bonnie in it," Shego added. After all, Bonnie would joke about this until the day they all died. And then she would also see Bonnie in Hell and have to deal with it then.
The captain and helmsman could not tell what was going on, but from the sound of things, it did not seem like Gill was winning the battle. While the smoke covered everything, Shego decided to flare her plasma and cut herself and Kim free. By the time she did that, the cover started to clear and they could see Ron battling it out with Gill.
"Not bad," Shego observed, speaking about the cook. She always thought his style was sloppy and stiff with too many holes in both his attacks and defense. Most of the time, he looked very awkward to her, but he held off Gill, so Gill probably could not fight at all.
"Better than not bad," Kim scolded the older woman. "Ron is good at kung-fu. Why don't you want to give him credit?" She knew why. Shego did not like to give anyone credit, especially if she could beat the person in a fight.
Shego snorted. "How low are your standards, Princess?"
As soon as the question left her mouth, she knew it was the wrong thing to say. Apparently, there was a lot of that going around. Kim smirked at her, mischief dancing in her eyes. Shego held up a threatening finger.
"Don't," she warned Kim. Kim shrugged and turned her attention back to Ron.
Ron held Gill off for a few moments, but then Gill suddenly vanished. Ron was on his back and bleeding seconds after that. Gill could be heard cackling, but he did not reappear. Not that he needed to.
Yori came out of nowhere, dropping out of a tree, landing right on top of Gill from what Kim and Shego could tell. The groan and body imprint in the sand made it clear she landed on somebody.
"Get off of me!" Gill ordered, remaining invisible.
"I do not think so," Yori replied, dropping down and grabbing Gill into a hold. It seemed weird because it looked like she was wrestling with herself.
"OW! Let go!"
"I think not," Yori answered, applying more pressure. He screamed in sheer agony and the pain was so intense he was forced to reappear. He could not maintain anything with the ache coursing through him now.
"Okay, she's good," Shego commented, motioning to Yori.
"Really good," Kim conceded, but she knew that from sparring with the sable-haired woman.
"Do you surrender?" Yori asked her prisoner in a very calm tone.
"I'm a god! I'll kill you!" Gill yelled.
Yori applied a bit more pressure, coming very close to breaking his arm. She was pretty sure he would not be able to use it for a few days. She was tempted to break it after hearing him go on about killing people.
"Let's get something to restrain him. Yori can hold him down for hours," Ron said, dusting himself off.
"You know, her skill level makes me wonder what the hell she sees in you," Shego remarked, speaking to the blond.
"Then I guess you know how I feel with you and Kim," Ron countered. He actually left Shego speechless for a few seconds.
-8-8-8-8-
By the time the rest of the crew showed up, Gill was tied up tight and screaming about how he was going to kill all of the humans. Bonnie was annoyed she had to run all that way, knowing she would not be needed, but then the way Monique smiled, seeing their friends were safe kept Bonnie from voicing her opinion. Gill was taken to the nearest village for them to decide how to deal with him since he was threatening them and had caused the deaths of people in their village.
The villagers threw a feast in the honor of the Possible crew for stopping Gill, but the celebration was cut short when the villagers decided to execute Gill for his actions. Kim was the one that came to his defense. She was against murder of any kind, be it in revenge or in cold blood or even an execution by the justice system. It was all the same to her.
It was agreed that Gill would be chained and locked in the hull of Anything's Possible. From there, they would take him to the nearest port and leave him in exile. Kim knew he was likely to be caged and put on display, but that was preferable to slaying him.
"Kim certainly is a remarkable woman," Yori commented, speaking to Ron later that night. The crew members had all been allotted shelter for their brief stay on the island. The best thing about it was that they all had huts to themselves, so Yori and Ron were alone in their own.
"She's a huge step up from Monkey Fist. Not like any pirate we've come across," Ron said, holding Yori close to him. They shared a large cot with a straw mattress and feather pillow.
"I agree. I am glad to sail with her. She has a sense of justice and fairness so many lack today. She does rush off too easily, but even there, I get the feeling she would have been all right," Yori said.
"Probably. You'll see more of her antics, but I know you'll get along great with her. She's already my best friend, along with you anyway. She's got a good heart and I'm happy we're with her."
Yori nodded. She trusted Ron's judgment, but she also could tell for herself that Kim was good. She could not wait to see what else was ahead for them for following such a good-natured, good-humored captain.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: the crew tries to get out of the rain and into more trouble as they come to another island "paradise."