HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Practice makes Perfect

Clang!! A shower of sparks sprayed over me as our swords met, and I pushed forward, a fierce expression growing on my face. I pushed Marine back, and I struck forward with my sword, attempting to find a weak point, but she blocked my sword and parried, striking me in the shoulder and cutting a decent sized gash in my skin.
"Ah jeez!" I said, gripping my shoulder.
"You let your guard down again!" Marine said, taking a look at my injured shoulder. "You have to keep your guard up, even on an attack."
"Easy for you to say!" I said. "I've never dealt with a sword before."
"Aye, it shows."
I scoffed. We had been dueling for a few hours now, just to pass the time, and no matter how hard I seemed to try, she always seemed to get the leg up on me, like with the parrying of my strike. Now, there were little knicks, cuts, gashes and bruises all over my body, a product of Marine "teaching" me, although most of her teaching involved either slapping me with the face of the sword, or just straight up jabbing or slashing me with it. I looked back at Marine, then hefted my sword again, ready to correct the mistakes that I had made.
"Ready to have another go at it?" I asked.
"Aye."
This time, she charged forward, attempting a stab at my gut, but I blocked and knocked the sword away and regained my footing, keeping myself parallel to her at all times. I stepped to the side, then feigned a strike to her head and slashed down near her side, attempting a strike at her abdomen, but she blocked my sword and parried yet again, striking out at me. However, this time, I dodged out of the way of the strike, brought my sword in a large arc, and slammed the blades together so hard that more of the sparks rained down on the two of us as she struggled under the force of the strike. I pressed the attack, pushing her back across the deck, and now, our faces were mere inches apart, both of us wearing the same fierce expressions. She looked me straight in the eyes as I pressed on, but suddenly, she smiled.
And she blew a kiss right at me.
Immediately, I stopped as I froze in shock, but she took the opportunity to slam my sword away and strike at me, lightly cutting me across the forearm.
I groaned under the pain, then gripped my arm as I dropped my sword, my mind reeling from what just happened.
"You let your guard down again!" She said, offering me the hilt of my sword.
"Yeah, well, I kind of wasn't expecting you to almost kiss me." I said.
"Gotta be ready for anything, aye?"
"Yeah yeah." I said, brushing off the comment. "I think thats enough practice for today, mind if I go and check on the others?"
"Not a problem!" She said, sheathing her sword. "Well, if you want more practice, I'll be in my cabin, aye?"
"Alright, thanks Marine."
"You're welcome." She replied, then turned around. "And Micheal?"
"Yeah?"
"Honestly, that was really awesome. Back in the hurricane, when you went and steered us in? That was really brave."
I gave her a nod.
"Thanks. I'll uh, I'll keep that in mind."
She gave me another of those beautiful smiles, then turned towards the aft castle and walked off, leaving me by myself. I sheathed my own sword, then walked down the stairs to the gunnery deck, scanning to see if anyone I knew was there. And there, at one of the dark tables, was Jansen and Noel, sitting across from each other as they both enjoyed a nice, candlelight dinner. As I scanned the gunnery deck, Noel let out a big, hearty laugh, and I saw her slap at Jansen's hand playfully. I decided to just leave them alone, and I kept going around the gunnery deck, until, when I got around one of the dividing walls, I saw Botan sitting amidst a pile of cannonballs, staring at the ground with a blank expression on her face.
"Hey, Botan, you okay?"
She looked up at the sound of my voice, and once she saw me in the light of the lanterns, she relaxed.
"Hey Micheal." She said. "I'm alright, I just don't want to be on the top deck."
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No, its just...the water."
I paused.
"You're afraid of water?"
"I'm half lion, Micheal." She said. "I mean, I can tolerate it, but I just don't like it, and the Rift is making me anxious."
I nodded, and I knelt down next to her.
"You know, if you ever need to talk about it, just let me know, okay?"
"Thank you Micheal." She replied. "I might try and get some sleep."
"Aye that." I said, standing back up. "I'd recommend the bed, since sleeping on a cannonball might not be very comfortable."
She giggled, then got up and walked off towards the lower deck.
"Hey Botan?"
She stopped in her tracks and turned around, the shadows from the lantern casting an almost scary look over her already intimidating form.
"If you see the Storyteller, can you tell him to come and see me? I haven't talked to him for a while."
"I think he's talking to Chloe at the moment. They've gotten pretty close over the last few days."
"You noticed it too?"
"Yeah, I mean, they're not very good at hiding it."
I nodded, and Botan yawned, then, she made a face like she had just stubbed her toe, but as she made the face, she didn't cry out or anything. Instead, after just a second or two, she let out the funniest, softest baby sneeze that I've ever heard.
"What was that?" I asked, trying to keep myself from laughing.
"I sneezed!!" She said, sounding quite defensive. "I know, my sneeze is weird."
"Its like a baby sneeze." I said.
"Oh shut up!!" She said, her fluffy ears twitching. "I'm off to bed. Have a nice night."
"You too."
She turned and walked down the stairs to the crew quarters, and soon, she was out of sight. Jansen and Noel were still having their nice little candlelit dinner, but as I looked at them, I noticed that Noel was watching Jansen almost dreamily as he told her stories about the biggest plunders that he scored. I moved to the doorway of the room that I was in, and I pressed my back against the blind spot, allowing me to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"So what was in the hold of the galleon?"
"So many artifacts. Paintings, magical sculptures, antiques, and golden statues. There was so much treasure in the hold that it took us two days to carry all of it out."
"Is this what you all do? All the time?"
"Well, not all the time." He said. "We try and help people where we can, and we never rob poor or unfortunate people."
"Why is that?"
"Its the Pirate Code."
"What's the Pirate Code?"
"Well, its a list of rules that we have to abide by, or else they send the Pirate Guards after us, which is sort of like a militia for us." He said, sipping a little bit of the rum in the mug in front of him. "The basics of the Code is just don't steal from other pirates, don't steal from slums or orphanages, and don't participate in the slave trade."
"Oh." She said. "And the Guards come after you if you break the rules?"
"Aye. They'll come after you and take you down."
"Have you ever broken the rules?"
"No. Never. The only people I steal from are the filthy rich, merchants, and pretty ladies."
"Why pretty ladies?"
He put his hands up as if to say "I don't know," and as he did, in his hands was one of the rings that Noel always wore.
"Just got a weakness, I guess."
Her jaw nearly dropped to the table, and she reached across the table for the stolen ring.
"Jansen! Give it back!"
He stood up from the table, and he held it in the air, right out of her reach.