As the pirates looked on at the thief who had just stolen their bag of very hard-won ingredients they had spent the past several days collecting, Jake gave a sharp gasp and pointed at the culprit: "It's you!"
The thief, another pirate, smiled on as a falcon came to rest on her shoulder.
"Oui! Me!" She gloated as she looked down, literally, at the others. "And with ze 'elp of my precious Fast Claw, you 'ave just been 'Le Beaked' by ze one, ze only…"
"Beatrice Le Beak!" The pirates, big and small, exclaimed. And it was here that Sharky and Bones took out their instruments and broke out into Sneaky Le Beak's theme song:
There's no bigger sneak than Beatrice Le Beak!
If she wants your treasure, it's gone in a wink.
She'll creep and she'll slink
And before you can blink,
You have just been Le Beaked
By the sneakiest of sneaks!
En guard!
Le Sneaky Le Beak!
"Zat's right!" Beatrice bowed after the lengthy introduction. "I wish I could stay and congratulate all you buccaneers for impressing even me, but now, if you will pardon me, I must be off with zis!" She held up the bag again before putting it on her shoulder and getting ready to run off.
"Wait, Le Beak!" Jake shouted before she could leave. "You can't take that bag! It doesn't have any treasure in it!"
"Oh, my leetle junior pirate," Beatrice tsked as she shook her finger at Jake as if he were a naughty child. "I know exactly what's in zis bag. Ze three ingredients, oui? For Captain 'Ook's Neverland Flu Bug bite?"
Once again, all the pirates looked at her in shock as they struggled to comprehend what she had just said.
"Hey!" Skully spoke up. "How do you know about the ingredients?"
"And how do you know about Hook's bug bite?" Cubby added.
"And just 'ow do you zink I know, you no-brainers?" Le Beak said. "It took months of planning, and now, it's finally paid off! 'Ook is now out of ze way, and with me literally holding ze bag, zis assures zat he stays zat way!"
"Wait a minute!" Izzy gasped. "It was you?! You sent the Neverland Flu Bug to bite Hook?!"
"Ah, my petite femme pirate, you give me, 'ow do you say, too much credeet," Le Beak shook her head and gave Izzy a look of false pity. "I am good, oui. In fact, I am ze best! But alas, I am not zat good!"
With that, Le Beak cleared her throat and launched into her story.
"About sometime ago, I was in ze deep woods when I noticed a woman sneaking around ze bushes and shrubs, holding an insect net and a sack full of somezing, and dressed for ze hunt. As I watched her I noticed two zings, zat one, it was Captain 'Ook's mama and two, she was searching for Neverland Flu bugs!"
The pirates big and small all looked at each other. They had each remembered Mama Hook explaining that she had hunted the bugs so that Hook wouldn't be in danger of being bitten by one.
"Even I 'ave to admeet, 'er technique was amazing. Even watching 'er as I did. I still cannot figure out 'ow she was catching all zose insects. But it was zen zat I remembered what 'appens if one is bitten by ze bug. It was a huge risk, but as you know, life is full of zem, and sometimes, ze bigger ze risk, ze bigger ze payoff!
"So I 'ad Fast Claw distract 'Ook's mama by swiping her net and teasing 'er with it. And when she was not looking, I went to ze bag where she dropped it, and swiped a jar with a bug in it. Et voila! A Neverland Flu Bug was now mine!
"Still zough, I did not use it right away. I was very cautious and kept looking over my shoulder for ze next few weeks. I even 'ad Fast Claw scout an area ahead of me wherever I went. I kept waiting for Mama 'Ook to show up and demand her bug back. I zought for sure she had counted all ze jars and noticed one meesing. But, to my surprise, she did not show up. I relaxed and bided my time, waiting for ze perfect time for 'Ook to be alone.
"And finally, months later, opportunity, 'ow do you say, came knockin'! I saw 'im leaving 'is ship by 'imself with a treasure map and followed 'im zrough ze woods. Zen, ze perfect moment arrived, even I couldn't have planned it better myself! While 'Ook was engrossed in 'is map, I took out ze bug with tweezers, irritated it enough to make it angry, stuck my hand out ze bush where I was hiding and success! I seemply placed ze bug on 'Ook's hand and it bit him! Of course, ze bug flew off afterwards, but I 'ad what I wanted. And it did not take very long for ze seemptoms to kick in."
Le Beak shook her head in utter amazement at this point.
"I 'ave to admeet, even I could not believe 'ow easy it was! 'Ook was so engrossed in zat map zat I could 'ave walked up to him and placed ze bug on 'is nose and 'e would not 'ave noticed."
"'Fraid that be soundin' like the cap'n alright!" Sharky muttered as he gave a little chuckle.
"Oh, aye!" Bones agreed with a smile. "You could fire twenty cannons around him and he wouldn't take his nose off his map!"
At that point, Le Beak continued her explanation.
"Once I saw you all take 'Ook back to 'is ship, I would 'ave left, but I figured, just in case, I would sneak up and listen in. And believe me, it's a good zing I did! Like you all, I zought zere was no cure for a Neverland Flu Bug bite too. But when I heard zat old woman talk about it, I knew I 'ad to make sure you did not get ze ingredients! So I 'ad Fast Claw follow you all zroughout Neverland, to keep an eye on you all in case you succeeded. She was not to interfere, so zat, on ze very low chance you did succeed, you would not know until too late about my plan. And you didn't!"
"Aw coconuts! So I was right!" Cubby whispered to his friends. "I felt that we were being watched back at Ch-ch-chilly Canyon, but I didn't say anything because I didn't see anything. And it turned out to have been Fast Claw!"
"And it must've been Fast Claw who knocked me down and took the bag," Izzy said. "Which she then gave to Sneaky Le Beak."
"Alright, Le Beak," Jake turned to the female buccaneer before she could sneak off again. "You explained how you got Hook bitten by the bug, and how you followed us throughout Neverland. But what we want to know is: why?"
"Why else, puny pirate?" Le Beak gave a little, high-pitched laugh. "So 'Ook would not be in my way while I look for treasure, such as zis!"
With that, Le Beak stuck her hand in one of her pockets and pulled out a treasure map, holding it out for all to see.
"Crackers! I recognize that map!" Scully said. "That's the one Hook dropped at the front of the Kooky Kokonut Grove!"
"Hey, yeah! I recognize it too!" Cubby chimed in.
"Hmm, come to think of it," Izzy said. "I don't remember seeing that map when Jake and I walked in the grove. Fast Claw must've grabbed it and taken it to Le Beak after Scully came to get us and Cubby had his back turned."
"Zat's right!" Le Beak confirmed. Putting the map back in her pocket, she continued. "And now zat I 'ave proven 'ow brilliant I am, I must be off! I 'ave treasure 'unting to do, while you explain your failures to 'Ook and his mama. So, Au Revoir!"
And with a backflip, Le Beak was gone. So was her falcon, Fast Claw.
"Shiver me timbers, Jake!" Izzy exclaimed. "We can't let her get away with the bag! Hook won't be cured without it!"
"But even if we caught up to her," Bones said. "That falcon of hers is too fast for any of us to get past."
"I know," Jake said, thinking. "But mateys, we've already proven that by working together, we can accomplish anything, including getting the bag back from Sneaky Le Beak!"
"Crackers, Jake!" Scully said. "Does this mean you have an idea?"
"Yup, I have an idea!" Jake confirmed. And with that, everyone huddled closer to Jake while he whispered out the plan.
A short time later, Sharky and Bones were jogging along the trail of footprints that had undoubtedly been made by Le Beak. After a few minutes, Sharky stopped and grabbed Bones' arm, forcing him to halt as well.
"Now, wait just a minute, Bones," Sharky said. "Why should we be the ones doin' all the hard work and chasin' Sneaky Le Beak while Jake and his friends are off somewhere else layin' the trap?"
"Um, cause that was part of the plan?" Bones confusedly answered his friend.
"Well… yeah," Sharky said. But, ya know what's gonna happen right? We get Le Beak to chase us, we lead her to the trap, the sea pups get the bag back and we get back to the Jolly Roger, where they get all the credit and we're stuck swabbin' the decks again once the cap'n is cured."
"Huh! I haven't thought about that!" Bones said.
"But…what if we were to sneak up on Le Beak and snatch the bag ourselves? Then, we can make our way back to the Jolly Roger and take the all the credit for collectin' the ingredients!"
"But what about the sea pups?"
"We'll just leave 'em where they are! By the time they realize what's happened, we'll have been back at the Jolly Roger for hours and the cap'n will have been cured!"
"And once we tell the cap'n how we collected these ingredients for him, he'll be treatin' us with more respect and not make us do so many chores around the ship!"
"Exactly! So, c'mon. Let's go get that bag!"
And with that, the two pirates continued to follow the footprints until they could see that they were about to come into a clearing. They slowed down and hid behind the trees, from where they peaked out and could see Le Beak standing out in the open with her back to them, looking at the map and still holding the bag on her shoulder. Seeing that this was the best chance they were going to get, Sharky looked to Bones, put a finger to his lips and pointed to Le Beak. Then he and Bones started tiptoeing towards her, careful not to make a sound or even step on a stick. They were just about there, with the bag so close that Sharky could feel it with his outstretched fingers.
Unfortunately, however, they seemed to have forgotten one important thing.
"Oh, Fast Claw!" Le Beak called out, with her back still turned to the pirates.
Suddenly, Sharky and Bones became aware of something (actually, several somethings) sharp grabbing the backs of their shirts and hoisting them high enough so that their toes barely skimmed the ground. In their eagerness to get the bag, they had completely failed to check to see where the falcon was. Now here they were, caught red-handed by a bird that they only just remembered having lifted an anchor once to lodge it in some rocks.
Le Beak looked sideways at them with a smirk on her face.
"Ah, my not-so-smart gentlemen!" Le Beak gloated as she came closer to them with the open map still in her hands. "Your attempt to mutiny went kaput! And now, I 'ave won yet again!"
"Not yet, you haven't!" Bones declared. And with that, he kicked a foot out until it made contact with the bottom of the treasure map, with such force that the whole thing flew out of Le Beak's hands. It automatically rolled back up in mid-air and, after spinning in the air a few times, fell back and landed on the ground some ways away from Le Beak.
The female buccaneer turned to Bones with her face becoming several shades of red.
"Huh!" Bones said in utter bemusement. "That was actually meant to rip it in half!"
"Why you big, dirty-footed…!" Le Beak started charging towards the pirates with her hands out, fingers stretched and curled like claws. Sharky and Bones braced themselves, not knowing what was going to happen. Luckily for them, Le Beak seemed to calm down at the last second and looked at her pet, smiling.
"Fast Claw, I zink we 'ave 'ung out with zese 'men' long enough. Now, it's time to make zem 'ang out some more, wouldn't you agree?"
Fast Claw seemed to get the idea and, turning around, she carried the men over to the nearest tree and hanged them by their shirts on the heaviest branch on it.
"And now, where did zat map get to?" Le Beak started looking around until she spotted parchment on the ground nearby. "Ah, 'ere eet ees! So, once again, I must be saying, Au Revoir!"
With Fast Claw on her shoulder, Le Beak opened the map and walked away to find the correct path it featured, leaving Sharky and Bones to await their fate.
Perhaps, once she found the treasure, she would find a way to let those petite pirates know about the betrayal. After all, far be it for her to leave them to believe those two still wanted their help curing Hook.
Author's Note: Ok, so I lied. It's actually two more chapters and an epilogue. Actually, I had originally planned on making this chapter and the next one all one chapter, but I figured that would be too long and confusing for you, especially for what I have planned for the next part. Which I promise, will be exciting! And I figured on making it up to you for having to wait so long by posting this chapter earlier than planned. After all, I did promise we will get to the end before the year was out.
So now we know who had been stalking our questors and who stole the bag! Did I stump you or did anyone figure it out before this chapter? Let me know in the reviews.
So, what will happen to Sharky and Bones now? Will the kids be able to get the ingredients back? Will Hook be cured? Stay tuned to find out!