Barnacle let out a mournful sigh as only a pirate could as he sat on the wind-swept
beach of Judgement Day Island and looked at the burnt-out hulk before him. Once it had been a
proud and tall sailing ship which had traveled the seas with ease. Now it was nothing more than a
collection of charred and mangled timbers lying on its side on this lonely beach like the carcass of
some great beast, picked apart by scavengers and left to rot in the sun.
Back when it had been a ship, it had been Barnacle's The Lucas! -- the
greatest pirate vessel anyone had ever laid eyes on. But now, it was just a shadow of its former
self.
It sat here day in and day out as a constant reminder that its fine crew was stranded on the
deserted
atoll of Judgement Day Island. Just when Barnacle was about to get really angry with the
situation
for the fifth time that day, he heard a pair of familiar footsteps in the sand behind him.
"Hey, mon," Davey, the Bushwoolie, called out with his ever-present good
humor.
"Yeah, yeah, mon. You busy?" his brother, Jones, echoed with more of the
same.
Barnacle cocked an eyebrow (not that anyone could have seen it with his eye patch
covering it) and slowly turned to the two little Bushwoolies. With a good deal of contempt in his
voice, more than enough to counteract both of the Bushwoolie's jovialness, he replied, "
ARR, and what exactly do you imagine me ta be busy with? Ever since you two blew-up me ship,
my hobbies have been a little limited."
"Um..." Jones nervously scratched the back of his head. After that night when
The Lucas! had accidently been destroyed, Barnacle had understandably been a little
upset.
But after a few months, he managed to let it go. Now it seemed like a bit of that anger was
seeping
back to the surface.
Davey, however, quickly jumped in to save his brother. "Kracken be having
something up on the hill that he be wantin' to show you, mon."
"Yeah, yeah, mon, up on the hill!" Jones added.
"ARR," Barnacle sighed. "Very well, let's be goin'."
The two Bushwoolies happily turned and hurried across the beach the way they had
come. Barnacle rose to his feet and followed after them at a slower pace.
Back around the cliff which framed off the beach and up the steep tree-covered slope
behind, Barnacle followed Jones and Davey up a path they had all walked quite a bit in the past
months. As the hill began to flatten off at the summit, the trees thinned somewhat and then
abruptly
ended all together, opening into a clearing overlooking the beach below.
In the center of the clearing stood a huge chunk of jagged crystal which, even in the
daylight, glowed with a faint unearthly glow.
On a large rock a short distance away sat Kracken, Barnacle's human first mate, so
intently examining the crystal he didn't even notice Barnacle's entrance into the clearing until
Jones
shouted out, "Hey, Kracken, we got ya Barnacle!"
"Yeah, mon, Barnacle," Davey added.
"Thanks, guys," Kracken said to the Bushwoolies. To Barnacle's dismay, Kracken
seemed to be in quite a good mood as well.
"ARR, so what do ya have ta be showin' me?" Barnacle asked.
Kracken, leaning back somewhat on the rock, said, "I've been thinking about those
little Bushwoolies of the Apocalypse we buried in that cave down there." He pointed off to the
beach.
"Aye, a fitting end for those evil little creatures," replied Barnacle. "ARR, so what
of it?"
"Well, the way I figure it, we didn't really stop them. We only delayed them a while,"
Kracken explained.
"ARR, and why do ya say that?"
"They're supernatural beings. Just because we sealed them up in a cave doesn't mean
anything. Eventually, they'll find a way out; and when they succeed, all they have to do is come
up
here, recharge their staffs at the crystal, and then unleash their masters, the four Ponies of the
Apocalypse.
"ARR..." Barnacle said thoughtfully, "I never thought a' that. So what do ya propose
we do?"
"Simple," Kracken said, standing up at this point. "We smash the crystal. That way,
even if they do get out, they can't recharge their staffs."
"ARR, an excellent idea," Barnacle agreed. But he would have agreed even if he
hadn't thought it was a good idea. After months on that island with no excitement, anything, even
smashing a big rock, would be a welcome relief.
Drawing his massive sword, Kracken said, "Would you like the honor of the first
swing?"
"ARR, I would indeed!" Barnacle said with a smile as he drew out his own sword and
took a hack in the same motion. Much to his satisfaction, a large piece of the crystal cracked off
and fell clear and lifeless to the ground.
"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Kracken shouted and lifted his sword overhead with
both his hands for a powerful swing. Striking the crystal on its peak, the blow split it wide all the
way down to its base.
But in the same instant, the pale blue light that was shining from within the crystal
seemed to explode out in a blinding flash. The blue energies arched from the center out into
Kracken's sword and then shot out to engulf everyone present!
"Whoops!" Kracken said meekly, and then in another flash, the four pirates vanished
and Judgement Day Island was once again a deserted island.
***
The caverns were dank and cool. Except for the insistent sound of dripping water, the
silence was absolute. Brilliant crystal formations, slowly deposited drip by drop over hundreds of
thousands of years, covered every surface with their delicate beauty. Few beings had ever laid
eyes
on this wondrous sight, sealed away miles beneath the surface of the earth.
Well, until now, anyway...
With a sound like crashing thunder, a blue bolt of energy lashed out across the cave.
It lasted but a split second, but in that moment, the light reflected off all the crystal surfaces in the
chamber creating a veritable kaleidoscope of color. But, as the strange phenomenon vanished, as
quickly as it appeared, four persons found themselves standing there in the cave.
"My," Kracken said, almost nonchalantly, "that was... interesting."
"ARR! Interestin' wouldn't exactly be the word I'd be usin'!" Barnacle, the fearsome
pony pirate, exclaimed. "ARR, what just happened, and how did we end up here?"
Davey and Jones, the two Bushwoolie crew members, had fallen in a heap upon being
deposited in the cave and were just now getting back to their feet. "Yeah, mon," Davey said as he
helped his brother to a standing position. "This don't be lookin' like no Judgement Day
Island."
"This don't be lookin' like any place we ever been," Jones added, his thick Jamaican
accent full of wonder as he surveyed their surroundings.
"Hmm," Kracken muttered as he closely examined his sword which he was still
holding. "The only thing I can think of is that when I hit that crystal with my sword, the resulting
energy back-lash was channeled through my sword, and pulled us through a trans-dimensional
vortex."
Davey scratched his head. "Yeah, that's what I woulda been sayin', mon."
"Yeah, yeah," Jones added, equally confused.
"ARR, and ye be sayin' that like it happens all the time," Barnacle said as he sheathed
his own sword.
"Actually, only once before," Kracken clarified. "But it wasn't quite this bad."
"ARR!" Barnacle exclaimed. "Do ye be mad, man?!"
"No," Kracken said defensively, "it's kind of a... magic sword. It does weird stuff
sometimes."
"Like gettin' us from stranded to completely lost?" Barnacle cried.
Kracken threw out his hands. "At least we're not on Judgement Day Island anymore...
I think."
"ARR, but that don't necessarily make us any closer to Port Scurvy, Dream Valley,
or even Friendship Gardens!"
"Yeah, but--" Kracken was about to reply when a new voice came from out of
nowhere and cut him off.
"If I tell you how to get to Dream Valley, will you go away and let me have my silence
back?" the voice said, rather tiredly, as if he were sick of asking.
Slowly, everyone turned around. There they saw, sitting on top of a large boulder, a
figure who had been so still no one had even noticed him before now. But as they looked, they
could
see that the speaker was some kind of a feline-like creature. Apparently he walked on two legs
and
had two arms, but his face was definitely that of a cat. Leaning into a spear, he was wearing
metal
armor and was resting his chin on a crested helm. His entire body was covered in gray and black
striped fur except for a patch on top of his head and across the backs of his paws which was a
pale
orange color.
Under other circumstances, this warrior may have looked very fearsome and
intimidating, but as Barnacle and Kracken eyed him, he instead looked only weary and tired.
Davey
and Jones, however, were scared witless by the stranger.
"Aahhh! Run, mon, it's a monster!" Jones cried.
"Yeah, run," Jones agreed in a frightened tone. Each Bushwoolie took off running in
a different direction, but they only succeeded in running head-first into each other with such force
that
they fell over on their backs.
As they lay there, the stranger just sighed and shook his head.
Stepping boldly forward, Barnacle said sternly, "ARR, who are yee and what are ya
doin' here?!"
"Who I am is not important," the feline creature replied, "but, I came here to find
tranquility and inner peace in the silence-- however, someone seems intent on not letting
me."
"Wait a second," Kracken chimed in. "What did you say about Dream Valley?"
"I said," the stranger said testily, "that if I tell you how to get to Dream Valley, will
you leave me alone?"
"ARR, so you know where Dream Valley is from here?" Barnacle said.
Sighing again, he replied, "Yes-s-s-s."
"Great, how do we get there?" Kracken said, cheering up at the prospect of being able
to get out of the cave.
"There," the stranger said, pointing to a rather large passage leading out of the cavern
they were all in.
"ARR, and that be takin' us to Dream Valley? Why don't I believe ya?"
Barnacle said.
Narrowing his eyes, the stranger looked at Barnacle for the first time. "And why
would I lie to you?" he asked bluntly.
"Hold up," Kracken said, waving his arms in the air. "Everybody chill out." Then
addressing the cat creature, he continued, "So, this tunnel will take us out of here?"
Sighing once again, the anger left the feline's face and he replied, "Not directly. You
will come to a fork in about a mile. Take the right passage--"
"And that takes us to Dream Valley?" Kracken interrupted.
"No, shortly after that the passage splits into four and you must take the second one
from the left."
"And then..." Kracken hazarded consciously.
"After another half mile or so there will be a side passage to your left. That will turn
around and take you in an easterly direction."
"Hold on," Kracken said. "Does anyone have a piece of paper? I need to write this
down. So, what was that again, a left and then a right?"
"No, no," the stranger said. "A right and then the second from the left."
"ARR, maybe you should just show us," Barnacle suggested.
Pausing before replying, the stranger said, "As loathe as I am to the idea, it may well
be the only way to get you out of my fur."
"So you'll take us?" asked Kracken.
"Yes, I'll take you," the feline replied. "The screams of lost and starving people carry
far too well through these caves; I'd never get any quiet."
Standing up in a very fluid movement, the stranger let his helmet fall to the cavern floor
with a loud clang that reverberated off the stone walls. Then, as he stepped lightly off of the
boulder
on which he had sat, he thrust his spear between two large rocks. Barnacle and Kracken both
drew
their swords, fearing he was about to try something, but all he did was twist the shaft to the side
and
snap off the point.
Holding up his newly-made staff, the stranger just started slowly for the passage
leading out and waved for everyone to follow, saying, "Come on, follow me."
Barnacle and Kracken looked at each other. "Can we trust this guy?" the first mate
asked.
"ARR," Barnacle replied. "Right now, we don't be havin' much choice. Just keep an'
eye on him."
"Right," Kracken agreed and tried to follow him.
"And, Kracken, don't be forgettin' Davey and Jones," Barnacle added as he motioned
to the two Bushwoolies who were still laying on their backs, but were now pointing out
interesting crystal formations to each other.