The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Coup de Main

The very next day, after having breakfast with his friends and Taggak had left to join his cousin, Amaruq talked to Atsuguk. He told him of the pirate's dream and everything he found out. Atsuguk couldn't believe his ears. His friend had the power to control dreams? Now that was scary. No one had enough mental fortitude to prevent that. "So... now what are you gonna do?" He asked his bald friend, who thought about it. "I have a plan. But first, we need to tell our ill-informed friend," he said. He was talking about Taggak of course, who was probably busy hanging out with Blackfur. So the two waited for an opportunity to talk to him. Which took ages...

It did come, thankfully, when Taggak excused himself to go to the ship's head. After he was done using it, they caught him before he went back to join his cousin. "Hey, Taggak," Amaruq called him. "What's up?" He replied and came over. Woah. Amaruq was not expecting that. That was weird. Whatever. "I have something to say to you," he said. "What is it?" "It's... umm... it's a little sensitive. Can we take this conversation somewhere private?" He asked. The elder was bewildered, but he complied anyway. So they went to their room. Well, more like Amaruq's and Atsuguk's room. Taggak slept in the captain's quarters.

"So... now can you tell me what this sensitive secret of yours is?" He asked. The other two exchanged a look. And they told him everything, taking turns when the other was out of breath. Soon, the story was told. They glanced at Taggak, gauging him for a reaction. He mulled the information over in his head. After torturing his friends with his silence, his voice sounded through the room. "It might not be true," he said. "What? What do you mean? Of course, it's true! People don't lie in dreams!" Amaruq rebutted. No way the old man was lying! "Well... you said it yourself. It was a dream. And people do weird stuff in dreams. Stuff they wouldn't do in real life."

The alien couldn't believe what his friend was saying. Sure, there was that possibility of the captain not being himself, but that was highly unlikely! Pesky Dust already manipulated him! But no matter what he could say, he knew the black wolf would only think of a way around his words. Tsk! It was no use. He wasn't going to help them. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some captaining work to do," Taggak said confidently as he strode out of the room, leaving the two alone. "Well, great. Now what do we do?" The younger asked. "Now... we just do the plan without him," the other replied, not sounding very upset about it.

They waited for days, for the perfect chance to conduct their plan. And it came. Amaruq smirked as he saw the maritime vessel through the curved lenses of his spyglass. "Sail, ho!" He uttered down to the hands under the crow's nest. Hearing the commotion from outside his cabin, Captain Blackfur came out of his quarters to see what all the fuss was about. Then he saw the huge ship on the horizon. "What flag they be flying?" He asked the lookout (Amaruq). "Uhh... I think that's the French Navy?" He said. He wasn't too sure, since he didn't really memorise ship flags. Just regular ones for countries. He was only answered with a "Tch!"

"Man the cannons! We won't be going down that easy," he ordered his hands. "Aye, aye, captain!" They replied, saluting before moving to their established positions. Now was the time for Amaruq to act. He jumped down onto the ship and met up with his hybrid friend. "Were they part of your plan?" His friend asked, referring to the three navy ships. "Mmhmm," he nodded. "I contacted them with my watch. Told them our location. Pretty basic police stuff," he explained. His friend agreed, because that sounded about right. They waited until the ships were close enough and there was an all out battle waging on.

"Fire!" The captain said as they themselves were returned fire by the French. "Now's our chance!" Amaruq signalled to Atsuguk, who pulled out his dagger and severed a vine next to the main mast which was tied to a weight. The vine was holding up a net, also made of vines. Since the vine holding it up was rent apart, the netting fell on the majority of the pirates on board. Whilst that was happening, Amaruq split into three. "Cyclone Veil!" Cyclone said as his wind made everyone cover their eyes. The rest were tied up by Thorn while they were blinded.

Suddenly, a figure rushed Thunderstorm from the side. Startled, he blocked the incoming stab aimed at him. It seemed the captain wanted to tango with him. Very well then. The captain kept making efforts to cut Thunderstorm in half with his cutlass. And every thrust of his was parried by the elemental with surprising ease. It looked like the lighting-sword wielder was experienced in fencing. He must have been fighting with it even since he was a kid. Unbeknownst to the pirate, what he was thinking was true. Thunderstorm had been fighting using a sword ever since he was Lightning, the First Tier, when he was five.

After battling with many opponents, he was extremely skilled in using it. He was used to its heaviness as well, the metal sword much longer than he was tall. He was getting tired of parrying the captain's strikes. "Thunderstorm Vortex!" He said as he spun his double-bladed sword rapidly, forming a fan-like vortex. When Blackfur's own blade struck the circle, he was promptly electrocuted by the electricity coursing through the swords, his cutlass acting as a conductor between the vortex and his body.

After being shocked for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds, the gruff cousin of Amaruq's friend fell unconscious, his fur puffed up into a ball due to the zap. He was swiftly tied up by Thorn as well. Satisfied, Thorn and Cyclone went back into Thunderstorm as Amaruq assessed the situation. The crooks were all tied up, but there was still a major problem. The French ships raining fire upon La Concorde. "We have to signal them stop!" Atsuguk told him. He knew that! The problem was how? He looked up at the nautical flagpole and had an idea. "Do you have a clean rag?" He asked his friend.

A few minutes later, Cyclone sighed as he replaced the Jolly Roger with a white flag. What a brilliant idea it was. The opposing vessels recognised it as the symbol of truce and ceasefire. Not too long after, they made contact and the head ship boarded La Concorde. Turns out that navies capture pirates, so Amaruq and Atsuguk were all too happy to hand the criminals to the Marine Nationale. Only Taggak did not feel the same as his friends. He almost looked a little sad to see his cousin go.

"Hey," he greeted his bound relative. "Yarr. What do ye want?" The captain reciprocated, his voice rather down. Taggak was silent for a lengthy period. It was now or never. "Is it true... that you wanted to abandon me and my friends? To maroon us?" The captain looked surprised, before looking sad again. It must've been the bald one who figured it out. Crafty little feller he was. "Aye. It be true. I woulda marooned ya sooner or later. There can't be more than one Blackfur in the seas." Well... Taggak didn't really take offence. He could live with that knowledge. "I take 'tis goodbye, yeah?" The elder said.

"Yeah. Goodbye... uncle," Taggak said softly, before turning and making his way back to the others on the ship. "Well, that took longer than expected," Amaruq said. "What did?" The one who just arrived asked. "Defeating these pirates, of course. What else?" Amaruq explained. Taggak looked away.  "Nevermind," he said. "Anyway... come on! We gotta get this ship moving and fast!" The alien urged. "What? Why?" Atsuguk asked promptly. "So that these Frenchies don't notice us stealing the pirates' ship!" He explained. With that, he went to the mast and hoisted the sails, Atsuguk went to turn the tiller and Taggak went to the helm.

"Set sail for Hawaii!" Amaruq cried out. "Aye, aye, captain!" The youngest of the trio answered happily as they set a course for the archipelago.