I awoke and saw a blurry face standing over me, so I did the thing any rational person would do. I punched it as hard as I could. “Ow!” Hanin shouted. “Good grief, you have a wicked right hook.” “Thank you.” I replied, sitting up. I wasn’t going to apologize, he deserved it. I was in a prison cell, with iron walls and steel bars. I saw that my knife was gone, and That I was the unfortunate soul who had to share a cell with Hanin. I turned to him. “How long was I out?” He shrugged. “Two, maybe three hours? Its hard to tell when you’re in space.” “That’s too long. How do we get out of here?” “Good question.” “Thanks.” I replied flatly. “Real helpful.” I turned to the cell doors and looked around for some way to escape. “Have you figured out the shifts of the guards? Approximately how many times they walk by our cell?” “Woman.” Hanin replied, “I have been here FIVE HOURS. And you expect me to have figured all this out?” “Well what else have you been doing in that time?” I responded, annoyed. “Well, I had a very competitive match of tic tac toe with myself; spoiler alert, I won; I ate some disgusting prison food, convinced one of the guards to play rock paper scissors with me, and took the best nap of my entire life. So, I’d say I was very productive.” “You mean to tell me that you DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?” I screamed. “Getting a pirate to play a game is no easy task! He threatened to break my good pinky.” I wanted so badly to follow through on the stranger’s threat. A door on the end of the hallway opened. I heard the scraping of rust against metal as the guard clunked towards us. He was more machine than man, his entire head was covered by an elaborate mask, and his armor looked like an outdated factory assembly line had been torn apart so that he could wear it. Gears creaked and steam whistled each time he moved. He came to a halt at our stall. “Hey Wrenchinator! How’s it going? Back for a rematch in rock paper scissors?” ‘Wrenchinator’ let out a sigh of irritation and steam emitted from a small piston near the place his ear should have been. Hanin had that effect on people. “It’s Gastrovian.” He said. “What is it with pirates and weird names?” I whispered to Hanin. “I know right? I think it must be part of the requirement to join. ‘You must change your name to something impossible to pronounce if you want to be in our crew.’ Maybe they want to torture guest teachers.” I stifled a laugh. Wrenchinator/Gastrovian let out another sigh. Then he looked up at us. “The captain wants to see you.” “Hanin or me?” I asked. “Both of you.” The huge pirate grabbed us both, me by the arm and Hanin by the collar of his shirt. “Wow your captain must really want to see me. But who can blame him?” he flipped his hair. “I’m gorgeous.” The pirate and I groaned in unison. He dragged us down dark hallway after dark hallway, until the steel floor turned to nice tile, and the dim sparking lights, turned to fancy chandeliers. Finally, Gastrovian took us to an ornate golden door, etched with intricate pictures of the oldest pirates who used to sail the seas, plundering, sword fighting, and stealing. Wrenchinator grabbed the handles, which looked like solid gold sword hilts, and swung the doors open. *secret code for contest, Blueberry*
Inside was the most lavish room I had ever seen. The floor was covered completely in satin, the walls were solid silver, with curling traces of gold lacing through the walls like vines. Piles of treasure were heaped all around, and in the very center of the room was a very, very fat man with a huge scraggly bush of a beard sitting on a throne made entirely of diamonds. Each of the many gray hairs that streaked through his hair was gilded at the bottom. He wore about twenty rings on each hand, made of jewels and silver and gold. His clothes were very similar the garments of the old English kings. In fact, they were the clothes of old English kings, which he had simply bought with his stolen gold. They seemed to be several sizes too small for him, and they stretched at the seams, outlining his massive potbelly. He was sleeping, which made it even harder to be intimidated by him. “Sir, I have the prisoners!” Gastrovian said. The captain responded with a resounding SNOOOORE. “Sir.” Gastrovian said louder. The captain didn’t stir. “SIR.” Wrenchinator shouted, getting irritated. He still didn’t move. “CAPTAIN!” Gastrovian screamed. The captain awoke. His circular frame rolled upward in his seat, trying to look regal, but looking more like a beach ball. “Captain XXXXXL, good to see you.” Hanin said. “Its XXXXXXXXL thank you.” The captain replied, sounding proud, for reasons I didn’t understand. Hanin gasped. “I’m so sorry to have disrespected you, lord weightiness.” The captain chuckled. “You’d do well to put on a few pounds yourself. You look like a toothpick.” “I suppose I don’t bounce as well as you do.” The captain smiled. “As much as you haven’t lost your charisma, you still need to work on your manners. You haven’t introduced me to your accomplice.” “I sincerely apologize.” Hanin replied with a bow. “This is my sidekick- “ “I’m not his sidekick.” “-My tormentor Caci Willow. She is a bounty hunter sent to capture me.” The captain laughed. “I feel bad for her.” “You certainly should.” Hanin and I said in unison. The captain and Wrenchinator exchanged smirks. Hanin blushed. “What was that about?” I demanded. Hanin considered me for a moment. “You seriously have no idea?” I was getting impatient. “Does it look like I understand?” Hanin snorted. “Wow. Just wow.” “Dude!” I shouted. “Stop being a butt! Just tell me what it means.” Hanin shook his head with a smirk. I turned to Gastrovian. He gave me a knowing smile. I turned to the captain. He coughed something that sounded like “ship” but remained otherwise silent. “Anyway,” Captain replied, “we have more serious matters to address. Hanin, where’s my money?” “Cap, the jewel I took was worth fifty bucks, tops. You are a freaking trillionaire. Why do you even care?” “Because you and I both know that jewel’s true worth lies far beyond economic value.” “What are you talking about?” I asked, becoming frustrated with this feeling of being the only uninformed person in the room. “You and I both know that you shouldn’t have stolen it in the first place, and it belongs exactly where I put it.” Hanin replied. It was the first time since I’d met him that he’d ever sounded dangerous. I suddenly became aware of his clearly large muscles, flaring nostrils, and realized that he probably knew how to fight. I wondered if we’d accidentally brought his serious twin in his place. "How did a rock make Hanin so mad? WHAT IS GOING ON?" But the captain wasn’t worried. He laughed. “Hanin angry. Now that’s something you don’t see every day. But you and I both know that your rage is no match for my crew. Even with your new, ah, friend, you won’t get more than ten feet before we catch you again and beat the answer out of you.” “Luckily I have an incredibly high pain tolerance.” “Maybe.” The captain replied with an evil smile. “But does Caci?” “of course I- “suddenly I was cut off by Gastrovian grabbing my leg and lifting me into the air. I swung helplessly, trying to punch his half cyborg face, but getting no where his head. His metal hand suddenly glowed with an evil orange light, and even from here I could feel heat radiating off that thing. Slowly he began to bring it toward my face. “Aw crap.” Hanin and I said in unison. That wraps up chapter four! sorry bout the cliffhanger. (but also not.) hope you don't hate me! see you in chapter five! first chapter: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/876637826/ previous chapter: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/930708481/ next chapter: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/966909166/ bounty studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/33676802/ I made a contest about bounty: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/911692829/ tags: #Sci-Fi #Stories #fantasy #Bounty #books #novels #pirates #space #humor #romance #random #fun #funny #art #howdotagswork #Sci-Fi #Stories #fantasy #Bounty #books #novels #pirates #space #humor #romance #random
