HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

The Easiest Ambush of All Time

I stood on the edge of the large rock outcropping, sweat dripping down my face and into my shirt as more and more of the hot, stale air whipped at me, threatening to push me off of the small mountain that I had climbed. I held the spyglass up to my eye, scanning the horizon for the Silent Serpent, but so far there was nothing.
"Goddammit, I hope we're not too late." I said to myself.
I clicked the spyglass back into its place, resorting to scanning with my naked eyes, and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bow of a ship peek out from behind a volcano, and as the ship got farther and farther out from the volcano, I began to get a better look at it, and my heart sank. The ship was a double decker man o war, with many cannon ports on the sides of the ship, and all over the hull and sides of the ship, there were metal and wooden spikes that were stuck into the side of the hull, giving it a very good defense against boarders, and a nice benefit for the attackers that were aboard the ship. Alongside the railing of the ship, there were many miniature cannons and swivel guns for taking out the crew of an enemy ship, and as I kept looking over the size and power of the ship, my heart sunk lower and lower, until I saw the tackle blocks and rope anchor points on the side of the ship, which, true to Marine's words, were very, very exposed, giving us a single advantage. And boy, did we need it.
    I looked out over the deck of the ship, and I saw that there were a lot, lot more crew members than what we had. And while they didn't look too much better off than us, I noticed that most of their weapons and cannons were gleaming in the lights of the volcanoes around us. They were much, much better armed, and they were armed with better weapons. My heart sank lower and lower as I saw all of the advantages that we had against them, but as the aft of the ship came about, I noticed two other weaknesses that Marine had failed to notice. For starters, the booms of the mast were far, far lower than ours were, so maybe we could grapple them to pull the ships together easier. And secondly, and most importantly, I saw that the top of the rudder was peeking out of the hot water, meaning that with a really, really well placed (and probably lucky) shot, we could kill the rudder.
    "We're all gonna die." I said, clicking the spyglass back while slipping it onto my tool belt. "But I guess that's the beauty of it."
    I turned as the Silent Serpent got closer and closer to the ambush point, and I took off in a sprint, trying my hardest get as far down the small mountain, as fast as possible without busting my ass on a rock. I skated and slid down the side, trying my hardest to push for every ounce of speed, and after rounding a corner of the mountain, I saw our ship, with our crew, preparing for the attack as I sprinted farther and farther down the mountain. Another of the volcanoes exploded, farther and farther away, and as I saw the shockwave from the explosion coming, I leapt off the side of the mountain and into the bay, about forty feet below.
    As I fell farther and farther below, the wind screamed louder and louder in my ears, and I saw the water below racing towards me, until I plunged below the surface of the waves. Instantly, I was racked with pain, almost like I had smacked straight into concrete, and the second thing to hit me was the sheer heat of the water. It didn't burn horribly, but it still stung from the heat, and I started frantically kicking my way upward, trying to get to the surface of the water as soon as possible. My eyes burned as I kicked and paddled, and thankfully, after only a moment of kicking and clawing at the water, my head broke the surface, I shook the water off of my face, trying to get the hot water out of my eyes.
    "Guhhhh, I hate this place so fucking much." I cussed.
    I paddled through the water, getting back to the ship, and when I looked up at the ship, I saw Marine and Jansen standing at the railing, staring at me and getting ready to throw me a rope.
    "They're here!" I yelled up as hot salt water splashed in my face. "Pull me up, I got stuff to tell ya!!"
    "Aye that!" Marine yelled.
    They tossed the rod to me, and when I grabbed onto the rope, they started pulling me up as I climbed my way up the rope, trying to get out of the water as soon as possible. Thankfully, through the combination of the pulling and me climbing, I broke out of the water and hauled myself aboard the ship, my clothes sopping wet and dripping all over the deck of the ship.
    "Alright, I got some good news." I said, wiping my face dry with my hands. "The tackle isn't the only weakness. The booms of the mast look easy to hook if we throw hard enough, or fire the grappling hooks, so we can use that to hook onto instead of the hull. And most importantly, the rudder is very, very exposed. If we hit that, the ship can't turn, and we can sail right up alongside the ship and keep out of their cannon fire."
    "Aye that." Marine said, pulling the rest of the rope back up onto the deck. "Just don't blow too many holes in my ship, and I want Ackner alive."
    "Man, I can't wait to see that look on his stupid little face." Jansen said, wiping his dagger clean of grime and rust. "Having our ship taken back by the very people he mutinied."
    "Aye that, so what are we gonna do with him?"
    "Not too sure yet." Marine said. "I'm sure we're gonna lock him in the brig until we decide though, right Jansen?"
    "Aye!" He replied with a big toothy grin. "Or maybe we can tie him to the mast just like he did with us."
    Another smile grew over Marine's face, and she turned to the crew while reloading a flintlock musket.
    "TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!!!!" She yelled. "GET THE ENGINE STARTED!!! STARBOARD GUN CREWS, AIM FOR THE RUDDER OF THE SHIP!!!!"
    "Aye Captain!!" The crew yelled, running out the guns as the engine roared to life.
    We started to cut through the water, hoping to outpace the ship, and thankfully, as we pulled out of the small bay, I saw the Silent Serpent, already out in front of the island, and we were racing towards it.
    "Hey babe?"
    "Aye?"
    "Was your ship always this slow?"
    She scoffed at me, and since I wasn't looking at her, I could only feel the shock and sting of her slapping me in the arm.   
    "OW, what the hell was that for?"
    "My ship isn't slow." She said. "Its one of the fastest pirate ships out there, but I will bet you all the money we have left, which isn't much, that he's never beached and scraped the barnacles off the bottom of the ship."
    "Aye, thats gotta be done regularly." Jansen said. "And if the barnacles aren't scraped off the ship, they'll drag the ship through the water and make it slower."
    The ship crested over another way, and now, as we got closer to the Silent Serpent, I heard a bell dinging on the ship, and I knew that our surprise was over. The Houshou pirates crew began yelling, and I saw the gun ports on the side of the ship opening, meaning we had to act fast.
    I reached over and took the helm as Jansen loaded a rifle, and I started turning vigorously to starboard, trying to get the gunners in range. Thankfully, the ship was very, very responsive to the change, and as we turned I saw a man, a rather short man with sandy blonde hair and big thick glasses, run up the stern of the Silent Serpent and look out over our ship. When I looked at him, I saw him staring me down, and I yelled, trying to project my voice as loud as I could.
    "FIRE!!!!!" I yelled. "HIT THE RUDDER AND RIGGING MOUNTS!!!"
    Right as I said that, there was a series of rings and booms as the cannons fired, nearly deafening me as they fired. To my horror, most of them missed, but, three of them hit the mounts for the rigging, and one of them struck the rudder dead on, shattering it and causing the ship to go dead in the water. I swung the wheel back to port as hard as I could, which prompted the ship to turn immediately, allowing us to run parallel to the ship. Both ships were still moving, but with the Silent Serpent slowing down drastically, and with their steering disabled entirely, we slowly sidled up to the side of them, and I saw the crew looking over at our ship, and they were screaming at the tops of their lungs. I drew my sword, ready for a fight, but, as I watched them scream, I realized that they weren't screaming at us. They were screaming for us, holding their hands in the air with gleeful looks on their faces. And every single one of them were screaming for Marine as she stood at the bow, pointing right at Ackner.
    "WERE COMING FOR YOU!!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
    Both our crew and the Houshou pirates cheered, and when I looked up at Ackner, he had one of the biggest looks of fear in his eyes that I had ever seen in my life, almost like a rat that had been caught by an alleycat. Instantly, the ships smashed together, and I let go of the wheel, ran over to the railing, and I planted my foot against the railing before jumping straight onto the hull of the Silent Serpent, grabbing onto the spikes in the side of the hull and scampering up and over the railing and onto the deck of the much larger ship.
    I yelled a battle cry, then drew my sword and went after Ackner, but when I looked around for him, I barely caught sight of Ackner and three other crew members grabbing guns and swords and escaping into the aftcastle, before shutting both the door, and themselves, into the captains cabin.
    "ACKNER!!!!" Marine bellowed, striding across the deck with both her sword drawn and her flintlock in hand. "BRING YOUR WITLESS GUTS OUT HERE!!!!"
    I jumped down from the aftcastle as Marine got up to me, and she gave my hand a squeeze before pounding on the door.
    "OPEN IT UP!!!" She yelled as the rest of the crew of both ships crowded around the aftcastle, boxing them in.
    "NO!!!" Someone, assumedly Ackner, yelled from the inside.
    Marine instantly aimed her gun in the air and fired, the noise nearly blowing out my eardrums as it echoed over the deck of the ship.
"Next it'll be you, Ackner!!!" She yelled.