A/N: Thanks to y'all who have alerted, reviewed, and favorited this. It makes me happy. What? What do you mean I haven't updated in four months?

Episode 5 - The First of Many

"Righ' then, since everyfin's 'ere, we's best be 'eadin' back to the 'ideout," Captain Fish 'n Chips said, closing the chest. "Lambskin, Freckles, y'all is gonna carry it." Freckles and Lambskin nodded and picked up the chest together while Barnabas gathered the shovels.

The four pirates and Sealand all began to walk back to their hideout. "So where did you find all that stuff, big brother?" Sealand asked, glancing over to Fish 'n Chips.

Fish 'n' Chips shrugged. "Jus' around. When yeh sail the seas as much as I do, ya pick up stuff like this all the time."

"Did you steal it?" Sealand glanced up at her brother, and in return her brother glanced down.

Sealand's older brother smirked. "Yeah, I did. Why look fer treasure yerself when yeh can just take it from the suckers who did?"

Sealand blinked. "I guess that makes sense," she muttered. "Who did you take it from?"

"Yer full of a lotta questions, li'l sista," said Fish 'n' Chips. "If ya gotta know, I took a lotta it from Cap'n Nathan."

Sealand's eyes widened. "Really? Nathan?" Her brother nodded. "Well, I guess that makes sense. In our world, you used to always from Nathan when he was returning from the New World."

Fish 'n' Chips grinned. "Tha's awesome to hear," he said. "Ah, 'ere we go." They'd reached the cave.

"We're back!" Barnabas called happily. "We gots the treasure!"

There was no reply within the cave. Fish 'n' Chips frowned. The five of them walked into the cave. Sealand gasped. Cody and Willy, the two pirates who had been left behind, were lying on the sandy ground.

They had been skinned alive. By whom it was no mystery: Skin Taker.

Well, "skinned" is used loosely. Everyone here, excluding Janice and Skin Taker, were made of felt and filled with stuffing. Cody and Willy's stuffing was everywhere, as were their pirate clothes. Sealand stood rooted in her spot, staring blankly and the four pirates gaped. Despite whether it seems completely bearable, the scene to such a young girl was horrifying beyond belief.

After what seemed like an eternity, Fish 'n' Chips murmured "No..."

Again. "No..."

And again. "NO!"

Fish 'n' Chips was down on his knees now. He repeated that word again and again.

Sealand slowly knelt down beside her brother. "Big brother... I'm sorry."

Her brother cursed Skin Taker's name. "HOW DARE HE! HOW DARE HE KILL THEM!"

"Big brother-"

"THEY WERE MY FAMILY!" By now, Fish 'n' Chips had started crying. His tears were blue strings dripping out of his green button eyes.

Sealand glanced back at the other three pirates. The treasure chest had been dropped. They were all either close or were actually crying as well. Sealand was surprising by all of their reactions. she didn't think they cared for each other that much. It touched her so deeply she felt tears filling her eyes too.

The five of them cried for minutes until a voice behind them appeared. "Janice? What's wrong?"

It was Captain Nathan.

All of them had taken notice of his voice. They turned almost simultaneously. "S-S-Spain..." Sealand sobbed.

"W-What do yeh want, ya moron?" Fish 'n' Chips growled angrily, forcing himself to calm down.

Nathan was frowning. "Er... I was talking a walk, since my ship had stopped for supplies, and I heard screaming and then sobbing... I wanted to see if everything was okay."

Fish 'n' Chips was now standing up. "CLEARLY EVERYFIN' IS OKAY IF WE'RE CRYIN'!" Nathan flinched. "LOOK! LOOK WHAT THA' MONSTA DID!" He was shaking with anger.

Nathan at first did not move. He remained very still, clearly analyzing the situation at hand. He slowly began to walk into the cave, and it wasn't long until he saw it too. "Oh my... oh my goodness..." he whispered, a hand clamped over his mouth. Nathan looked as though he would be sick. "Fish 'n' Chips, I'm so... so... so sorry."

"Oh, yer sorry?" Freckles hissed. All of the crew members of Fish 'n' Chips were standing up too. They had left the phase of sadness for their friends and had one to irrational anger. "Yer sorry? Ain't that cute! Sorry ain't bringin' 'em back!"

"Please, calm down-"

Fish 'n' Chips swung a punch directed at Nathan's face. It hit him hard and the Spanish captain fell back. "Do ye know wha' it's like losin' someone that's basically yer only fam'ly? Tha's been wif ye since the very beginnin'?"

Nathan sat up. he was now angry as well. "You think I don't know? You think Skin Taker didn't kill my crew? When he destroyed my ship I lost all my crew except for Kent! Whether they drowned or Skin Taker took them aboard and personally killed them, I don't know, but either way it hurt! It hurt worse than anything!"

The British captain searched for a reply. "Well..." he began, "...er... sorry."

Nathan was silent for a moment or two. "...it's- it's fine."

"Eh, li'l sista, why don't ye go wif Nathan fer a li'l bit? We gotta take care of Cody 'n' Willy," Fish 'n' Chips said.

Sealand sniffled. "Okay, big brother." Nathan took one of Sealand's hand and walked out with her.

Fish 'n' Chips sighed. "This is a sad day fer the crew of The Bloody Crumpet." He removed his feathered hat.

~Candle Cove~

As the two approached The Laughingstock, they saw that Poppy was directing the crew members as they placed barrels of assumed food and drink on the ship. "Come on then! We have to get going!" Poppy said to the crew members, his back turned to Nathan and Sealand. He 'tsked'. "Where is Nathan?"

"Present," Nathan said softly.

Poppy looked over his shoulder and noticed Sealand. "Janice?" he said in disbelief. "...Janice!" Poppy grinned and headed over to where the two were standing. "What made you want to come back?" He then noticed their grim expressions. "What happened?"

"Skin Taker killed two of Captain Fish 'n' Chips' crew members," Nathan explained. "They wanted to bury them and all that, so they sent Sealand away for a little bit."

Poppy paled. "Skin Taker is getting bolder," he said. "This is bad. Very bad. But, please, to the best of your abilities don't tell Percy!"

"Don't tell me what?" Percy asked nervously, walking towards them. He saw Sealand and gave the same reaction as Poppy. "Janice! You're okay! I thought they had done something to you!"

Sealand shook her head. "No. I'm perfectly fine, Italy," she said as cheerily as she could.

Percy glanced at Poppy. "Really, don't tell me what?"

Poppy shifted his eyes. "Er-"

"You got us," Sealand said in fake defeat.

Percy gasped. "You're going to kill me?!" he said in shock before Sealand could finish.

Sealand's eyes widened. "No way! We were... just gonna throw you a party for being such a great captain!"

"Oh... oh! Yay!" Percy exclaimed, regaining what little calm he usually had.

The little girl looked at Poppy. "Germany, shouldn't we get moving?"

Poppy nodded. "Yes, yes. Thank you, Janice."

The four of them boarded The Laughingstock. All the crew members of said ship celebrated Sealand's return. Hungary hugged her, Austria shook her hand, Thailand patted her on the head, Bulgaria again hugged her, and Turkey hugged her like Hungary and Bulgaria. Kent B. Trusted kept his distance and had a guilty look on his face. The Laughingstock even greeted her with actual emotion. "It is so good to see you Janice-chan!" the ship said.

"Aw, thanks Japan," Sealand said, touched by Japan's actual showing of emotion towards her. "It's so good to see you guys again! I know it's only been a little bit since I saw you, but I really missed you!"

"Now what's all this commotion about?" asked a new, but still familiar voice.

Prussia came out from below decks, dressed in what looked to be clothes incredibly similar to the suit he actually wore.

Sealand gasped. "Prussia!" she exclaimed. She hadn't even thought of him existing here.

Prussia narrowed his eyes. "What? Prussia? I'm the awesome Milo, thank you very much," he said indignantly.

Germany placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and mumbled something to him. "Oh...? So you like calling us weird names, huh?" Prussia asked.

"They aren't weird!" Sealand replied, annoyed.

The elder brother rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He walked towards her, with his hands on his hips. "So this is the famous Janice, or, as Nathan calls her, Sealand." He leaned down to be face-to-face with her. "Nice to meet you, little girl."

Sealand blinked. "Likewise?"

"What brings you hear, little girl? I thought you'd left your friends here," Prussia said.

"Two of my brother's crew members were killed by Skin Taker, and him and his remaining crew wanted to be alone to bury them."

The crew members gasped. Poppy slapped his forehead. he had said not to mention it in front of Percy, and the captain had indeed heard it. The petrified look on his face showed it all.

Prussia's skin grew whiter, if that was even possible for him. "S-Skin Taker?" he echoed. "Skin Taker has started killing again?"

The little girl nodded. "Yes. He's been trying to kill me for a while now."

"So I've heard," Prussia mumbled. "We-Well, we'll get rid of Skin Taker forever... r-right, West?"

Germany gave him a curt nod. "Of course we will."

All the crew members mumbled agreements. Italy fainted comically, which made Sealand crack a small smile. "Skin Taker can't be that hard to defeat, right?" she asked, trying to cheer them all up. "But we don't have to worry about him right now. How about we all just celebrate that I'm back and that... Italy is a great captain!"

Several crew members raised their eyebrows, and Sealand added, "Just go with it. I told him we were going to throw him a party for being a great captain." She laughed nervously. "I wasn't supposed to let him know that Skin Taker had killed... sorry Germany..."

Germany shook his head. "Look, let's just get the party ready. There's nothing we can do about it now." The crew members began to prepare food and drinks from the barrels they had recently brought aboard.

During this, Sealand spotted Romano Trusted shifting in the corner. The guilty expression that Sealand had not seen was even worse now. "You didn't come say hi to me," she said.

Romano jumped when she spoke. "Er- sorry. I... I didn't want to get in everyone else's way..." he lied, voice riddled with guilt. "Sorry about your brother's crew members. I wonder how Skin Taker knew..."

Selanad cocked her head, frowning. "You're acting weird. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Romano snapped.

Sealand searched him for a second before something clicking together in her mind. No... that couldn't be... "Did... did you tell Skin Taker where I was?"

Romano shook his head violently. "No! No way! I'd never-"

"Yes you did!"

"No I-"

"YES YOU DID!"

Everyone on the ship froze.

Sealand was glaring at him. "Big brother lost two men who were like brothers to him!" She looked at him, hurt. "How could you?"

"Sealand... what's wrong?" Nathan asked, slowly approaching her.

"He's working for Skin Taker," Sealand simply said.

Romano stood in his corner, eyes widened and frozen almost in time.

Spain came closer. "What?"

"HE'S WORKING FOR SKIN TAKER!"

A simultaneous gasp arose. Italy screamed loudly, apparently having just woken up, and then fainted again.

Romano glared at them. He had just gained his tongue, his courage. "What do you want from me?" he growled. "Skin Taker is unstoppable! Why fight against him when you know you're going to lose?"

Several emotions were trying to free themselves in Romano all at once: anger, fear, guilt, shame, and sadness. "I'm sorry, but I have to stick with Skin Taker."

Germany now was frightfully angry. He drew his wooden sword, as did the other crew members (excluding Percy and Nathan). Nathan stood still, gaping.; He was completely shocked by the revelation. "You're not leaving here scott free, not after what you did," he hissed. "Prepare to fight!"

Suddenly, a fish-shaped boat known as The Rubber Fish came into view awfully fast and America Horrible's laughter filled the air once more. "Listen to me and my total villain voice, guys! Fine China, I choose you!"

As The Rubber Fish sailed closer to their ship, China (or, "Fine China"... get it? It's a joke!) jumped onto The Laughingstock's deck. Fine China was brandishing several porcelain items and began throwing and flinging them at Germany and the other armed crew members. Eventually they were all knocked out, every single one: Sealand, Nathan, everyone.

A plank was set across the side of each ship so Romano could climb across. "Good to see ya, bro!" America Horrible said, flashing Romano a piano-key grin and twirling his bushy, comical mustache.

Romano grinned back, anxiety, guilt, and shame on his face. "Y-Yeah."

"Come on, Fine China!"

Fine China reboarded the ship using the plank as well, and the ship took off.

Half an hour or so later they all woke up. "Those scoundrels!" Germany exclaimed angrily. "Curse them!"

Spain sat up. "I thought I could trust Kent... he meant so much to me... I was such a fool..." he murmured. Kent had hurt him so much.

Sealand hugged Spain to comfort him. "Spain... I wish it wasn't like this..." she whispered. "I loved Romano a lot too."

"I can't say I don't appreciate you exposing him, though," Spain told her. "If he had kept on passing info to Skin Taker, we'd all of been dead sooner of later."

A/N: Yay, this story is kinda going somewhere! I want to write more but maybe tomorrow! MAYBE.