HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Tavern Tussle

"BLUUEEHGG!" I burped, my voice resonating through the screaming and yelling of the tavern around us.
At this point, Marine, Noel, Amelia and I were all seated on the second floor of the tavern, on a table near the balcony. Out over the railing of the balcony, there were a ton of sailors, soldiers, and disguised pirates just hanging around and having a good time, as well as much, much more suspicious figures that haunted around the edges and corners of the tavern. And, on a small stage, if you can even call it that, against the far wall of the tavern, a small band of hurdy-gurdies, violins, and accordions all played a jolly sea shanty that I, sadly, didn't recognize.
"Micheal!!!"
Suddenly, Marine's voice snapped me out of my daze, and I tried to focus my drunk eyes on hers.
"A-Aye?" I said.
"What are you looking at?"
    "Just those weird guys in the corners." I said. "Whats up with them?"
"Oh, they're part of a loose faction called the Dark Water. Just ignore them." Amelia said.
"Kinda hard to just ignore them, honestly." I replied. "What's their big deal?"
   "Well, if you must know, they're part of a faction of Dark Magic users, and their meeting place and hire spots are in taverns. Always just the taverns."
    "Oh, so they're a bunch of wizards?"
    "Well, something like that, aye."
   "Micheal, pass me another rum!" Marine said, tapping the table with the butt of her spoon.
I grinned.
"Aye that!"
I passed her another of the rum bottles, and Amelia looked at us incredulously.
"How do you people drink all that?"
"Well, uhh, I've been around at quite a few parties, so I'm just kinda used to it."
"Aye, an' its the only thing to drank on the seas!" She said, dragging her words drunkenly. "And I'm...uhh...what's it call when you con't get sack?"
"Sick? Thats called being immune." Amelia said, wiping her mouth of goulash. "Which you clearly aren't."
"Oh, but I is have that!" She retorted, slamming the bottle of rum down on the table way too hard. "It got no effect on the great Ciptain!"
"Sure, but the great captain needs to sober up." I said.
She turned to me, but, this time, she squinted her face and stuck her tongue right at me. I giggled at her, then, I reached out, with my spoon, and I took a big gulp of her goulash before she could react. As soon as I sat back down, her jaw dropped, and she slammed her fist against the table.
"Th-tats not fair!!" She slurred. "Cime on Micheal! You can ate my food!"
"Oh, I can?"
And, using her own drunken speech against her, I reached out and took another spoonful of the goulash, and she pounded her fist again, more upset this time.
"Micheal!!!!" She whined.
I was about to reply with something witty, yet, the doors of the tavern swung open, cutting off every single conversation, along with the music from the band. All of the heads in the tavern turned, and there, in the entrance, strode in a well-tailored officer, flanked by four knights.
"May I have your attention, please?"
"NO!" Some random pirate yelled.
The officer ignored the outburst, and he held up a small scroll, unraveled it, and began to read from it.
"Over three hours ago, the notorious pirate Marine Houshou entered the town, and she was last seen at this tavern. Her whereabouts are needed, as part of your civic duty!"
    "Whats the reward?" One of the disguised pirates in the seat closest to the officer said.
    "The reward is the feeling that you helped the Kingdom of Humans to capture a notorious, filthy pirate."
    Right at that comment, I stood up as the pirate sneered, and I grabbed the goulash bowl, poured the rest of the rum in it, and I threw it straight at the officer.
    "HEADS UP!!!"
    And, with a stroke of genius luck, the bowl of goulash and rum splashed ALL over him, dirtying and staining his stupidly clean uniform while the wooden bowl struck him in the face.
    "GET HIM!!!" The officer yelled.
    He aimed a pistol right at me, and Noel tackled me right as he fired, the bullet ricocheting off of the wood of the tavern and striking one of the shady figures in the corner of the room. Out of the corner of my vision, he doubled over, clutching his stomach, and he laid against the ground, a cherry red pool of blood spilling from him. Another of the Dark Waters ran over to the fallen wizard, and, after just a moment of stunned silence as he shook his deceased friend, he stood up, his hands glowing red. His hood still hid his face, but he held his glowing red hands up into the air as he yelled.
"You'll pay for that, filthy knights!!!"
He held his hands away from himself, but, right as he was about to cast whatever spell he wanted, I felt Amelia grab me, and I suddenly felt sick as a wave of magical energy shot through me from her hand. Right as that happened, the Dark Water cast his hands force, and a burst of red lightning arced and rocketed through the crowd, striking everyone except for the other Dark Water wizards. As the lightning hit me, thankfully, I felt nothing, except for Amelia's strangely sickening grip. However, as soon as the lightning hit the others in the tavern, all hell broke loose. Instantly, all of the patrons shot up from their seats, and, with a chorus and wave of screaming, yelling and threats, the patrons of the tavern just started to all-out brawl with each other. Chairs flew, drinks shattered, and pirates, knights, and soldiers alike started to stumble over each other. However, thankfully, Marine, Noel, Amelia and I were all fine, although Amelia had her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
"Goddammit, I need to practice my magic." She said, panting heavily. "Its time to go, aye?"
"Aye that!" I said, dodging a flying pan as it sailed through the air. "What the hell did they do?"
"Its just one of their stupid tricks." She said. "I've seen it so many times. They just cast a rage spell, so I put a calm spell on you guys to counter the effects."
"Sweet!!" I yelled as the table closest to us got tipped over in the brawl.
At that point, all of us started shuffling and dodging our way through the brawling, drunken crowd, and out of the crowd, there came a gigantic, orc-looking pirate that was just screaming his head off for almost no reason. He charged past us, and he slammed his entire weight right into another pirate, causing both of them to tumble over the railing and down into the crowd below. As they crashed down below, I noticed that, out of the corner of my vision, three of the Dark Waters gathered around the stage while the musicians fought, and they started to play a rather jolly, fast paced tune that filled me with energy.
"Micheal!!!" Amelia yelled over the roar of the battle. "Don't listen to the music!!!"
But it was too late. Now, I pulled out of her grasp and I ran forward, straight up to two pirates that I didn't even know, and I threw one of the worst, most drunken punches that I've ever thrown. Somehow, even though the punch was awful, it still rocked the guy, sending him smacking against the wall as the other pirate turned to me on a dime, readying himself for a fight. I threw myself forward, using my momentum for the punch, and this time, the punch was much, much better. The pirate was immediately sent skidding across the surface of a table, and he hit right against the thigh of this pointy-eared girl, looking almost like an elf, and she turned around, holding a set of nunchucks in her hand.
    "You're next, punk!!" She screamed.
    She charged straight at me, flourishing her nunchucks with a surprising grace, the near deadly stick of wood cutting and whistling through the air with every flourish. As I stood there, admiring her and her skill with nunchucks, I failed to notice that she had gotten closer. And, before I could dodge her strike or react, she swung one of the nunchuck bars right into my cheek, nearly breaking my jaw as I tumbled to the ground. As my ears were still ringing, I heard Marine scream from behind me, and she charged forth, balling her fists as she swung hard against the elf, striking her in the face and sending her against one of the support beams that held up the roof of the tavern. Marine swung on her again, trying to beat her back down, and I got back up from the strike to help her. I raced over to her, dodging another set of fighting pirates, and I tackled the elven woman, knocking her off of her feet and down onto the floor, sweeping a ton of plates and mugs of rum off of the table as we went down. I held the elven woman down, trying to keep her from using her nunchucks again, and Marine lept right next to me, then slugged her, as hard as she could, in the side of the face. Instantly, the elf was knocked out, and Marine dragged me to my feet with a laugh.
"Let's go!! There's more of them to take down!!"
I gave her a loud laugh, and I grabbed her hand as she helped me up.
"Aye that!!"
Both of us charged into the crowd of bodies, the music from the Dark Water bards just coursing through our veins and filling us with excitement and energy. Another of the pirates got knocked out against the wall, and as he slunk down to the floor, I reached out and grabbed the bottle of rum that was still in his hand. It slipped out without a fight, and as the tavern was still brawling around me, I put the bottle to my lips and took a nice swig, letting it flame my throat as I drank the thing. I chugged and chugged, my throat heating up and stinging more and more, but finally, I dropped the bottle, leaned against the wall, and let it soak and broil in my stomach. As I was relishing in the moment, I saw, through my rather blurry vision, Marine tussling with another pirate, this one being a very, very large muscular black man with really nice braids. He swiped a boarding axe at her, but she easily dodged, grabbed him by the shoulders, and swung him over a barstool, tripping him and forcing him to fall straight on his butt. As he tried to get back up on his feet, I kicked off the wall and sprinted, rather clumsily, and when I got close enough to him, I wrapped my arms around his torso and grappled him, using my momentum to throw him and I against the railing of the balcony. However, right as we hit the balcony, I heard a loud set of snaps, and the railing broke free, letting us tumble right down into the mess of the tavern below.
    CRAAASH!!!! Both of us fell right onto one of the table, and we smashed it underneath our weight. As it was crushed into splinters, shards and dust, all of the food, ale and plates fell on us, coating us in a thick, mucky layer of pasty food and beer.
    "GEUUH!" I yelled, wiping my eyes of the disgusting food. "I'd rather eat Cookie's fucking food."
    I quickly looked around the nearly destroyed tavern, and I noticed that the officer that had issued Marine's warrant was walking menacingly towards me, holding his sword in his hand.
    "How's that goulash smell?" I sneered, laughing deliriously from the amount of pain I was in.
    He snarled at me, trying to intimidate me, but, almost like from an action movie, Marine jumped straight down from the busted part of the railing, and she stretched her right leg upward, bringing it down in an amazing, flying downward dragon kick. I was almost in awe at the sight, but, as if God, or whatever gods were in this world, wanted to spit right on my fire, Marine missed the kick by almost half a foot, and she slammed down onto the ground in a split formation. She groaned in pain, and I backed up over the remains of the table, trying to get away from the guy, but when I looked back at him, I saw that he had a near crazed expression on his face, not even attempting to hide the fact that he was enjoying this. I pulled one of the pistols out of my coat, trying to keep it as concealed as I could, and, right as he raised the sword up to strike at me, he smiled yet again.
    "Time to die, filthy pirate!!!"
    And, right as he went to strike me down, I whipped the pistol out, and I shot him straight in the chest, sending him sprawling against the ground. His arms went straight to his now-bleeding gunshot wound, and he writhed against the ground as I got up off of the remains of the table, instantly, I went over to Marine, trying to see if she was okay, but, Noel and Amelia came around us, having run down the stairs. Noel immediately started to help Marine up off of the floor, and Amelia tried to steer me towards the door.
    "You gotta get out of here!" She said. "Just trust me!!"
    I tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but, surprisingly, Amelia had a near iron grip on me as she led me out of the rowdy tavern. Finally, we came into the rather calm twilight light of the city, and as the music of the tavern was muffled by the shut door, instantly, I felt myself calming down as I slouched drunkenly against a stack of barrels.
    "Holy shit." I said. "What the fuck was that?"
    "I already told you, Micheal." Amelia said, breathing heavily as she crouched behind a wagon that held bags of sugar and spices. "Its one of the spells they like to cast when they feel threatened. Combine that with the Energy Song, and well..."
Almost as if to prove her point, one of the windows that was behind Amelia shattered, and one of the knights that had escorted the snooty officer in before the brawl came flying out of the window. He let out a scream as he hit the ground, and both Amelia and Noel winced at the sound.
"....You get that." She said. "Now, lets get the hell out of here, before—"
"MARINE HOUSHOU!!!" A man's voice roared from the street.
Instantly, Amelia whispered under her breath, and, to my amazement, her form rippled, and she vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of her. As she was gone, Noel, Marine and I turned to the street, and there were a bunch of police looking forces, and they walked straight up to us, holding muskets and pikes at the ready.
    "You are under arrest, Marine!!" A highly decorated police captain said to us. "Cease and desist immediately!"
    "Whoa wait, what done I did?" She replied, very drunkenly. "What are the—bluugh—chargers?"
    "The charges read as follows." He said, holding a scroll of paper out in front of him. "Marine Houshou, Notorious pirate, you are charged with 467 counts of theft, 75 counts of assault with a melee weapon 98 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, 56 counts of naval vessel theft, nearly 300 count of burglary, and over a THOUSAND counts of piracy, and we're not even going to mention the time that you impersonated the queen."
    Marine fell silent, and I looked at her with shock.
    "Oh." She said, standing there, nearly speechless. "That's it?"
    "No, thats the charges from the Kingdom. While in custody, we will contact the other realms and figure out what else you've done. But for now, you're under arrest."
    I stepped forward, ready to say something against them, but I felt Amelia grab me from behind and she wrenched me closer to her.
    "Don't say anything. Let them take her away, and we can bust them out when they expect it the least." She said. "And trust me, you won't win against them."
    Even in my drunken state, I still had enough sense to know that she was right. Honestly the chances of drunk, angry me taking down an entire group of armed police were very, very slim. Marine looked back at me as the police slapped handcuffs on her, and thankfully, a sort of understanding seemed to pass between us. And that made her drop her voice to a whisper.
    "You'll come for me, right?"
    "Absolutely." I said. "Trust me, I'm coming back for you."
    And, without further ado, Marine was taken away by the knights, and I turned to Noel and hopefully Amelia.
    "We have to get back to the ship." I said. "We gotta get a plan going."