As the Moonshadow's tentacles held two knives at Chloe's throat, he bragged of his victory over the demon pirate queen. "Once I accomplish this deed, the cloaked man will return me to who I once was. I've waited so long for this moment."

Upon seeing the wicked look in his pupil-less eyes, Chloe found herself overcome with emotion. "Wasn't it you who told me that a pirate has no ruler?"

"Huh?" The Moonshadow responded, raising his eyebrows.

"You told me, a pirate lives by his or her own code and the laws of the ocean," Chloe said, "Nothing else. You had convinced me of that until now."

"B-but," the former assassin stammered. "You don't get it...I…"

"I get it perfectly!" Chloe shot back. "You're not a pirate anymore. You're a lily-livered mollusk with no backbone."

"Literally," Rosemary laughed in her head. "Even I know those sea slimes are invertebrates!

All the while Chloe spoke, the hissing and steaming of a burst pipe echoed around the room. But it didn't hiss and steam as much as the Moonshadow himself. "Kid...you don't get it. Put yourself in my shoes!"

"I don't have enough shoes for that!" Chloe laughed pointing at his eight tentacles. Growling, the octoman raised his blades high in the air, ready to puncture Chloe. Her hand extended itself towards the pipe and with her veiny strength, she clobbered the octoman in the face.

"Gah!" he screamed as he slipped backwards towards the burst pipe.

Chloe leaped to her feet and lunged, smacking him again and sending his straight into the jetstream of steam. Upon touching it, his body wrinkled and withered. "Ahh! I need moisture," he screamed and he rushed around on his tentacles towards the tank.

But it has shattered and he threw himself on the puddle of water and glass, flopping like a helpless fish. "Sorry honey," Rosemary exclaimed with glee. "Octospa day is cancelled."

As he gasped hard, Chloe stood over him, not feeling as triumphant as she once did. "I'm sorry I had to do that, you scurvy scoundrel," she said with remorse. "But you left me no choice."

The withered octoman panted and sputtered, until he finally spoke to Chloe. "No...you were right, kid. I was consumed with greed for a life that no longer belonged to me. That robed man, he tricked me."

"He tricks us all," Rosemary said, a rare trace of remorse in her voice.

"But…" the Moonshadow said at last. "I may lack a backbone, but that doesn't mean I can't go out like a man of the sea."

Chloe kneeled on the ground. She placed her hand on one of his tentacles. He wrapped his inhuman appendage around her arm. It was soft and squishy.

The Moonshadow closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he once again had dark pupils that looked up at her. "It seems," he said softly, "That now I've learned a lesson from you."

"This Fienmond," he said, picking up the black spiral shell with one of his other arms. "I think his plan involves these demollusk shells. They have otherworldly powers and...you can see what they do to people."

Chloe looked at all the tanks. Perhaps these deep sea abominations were also humans who had been corrupted. Some of the creatures looked at her with eyes.of great sadness, though others looked like they wanted to tear her apart.

"I entrust you to avenge me," the Moonshadow said. "For now I can chart my destination in the next life.."

"That's right," Chloe grinned. "You're captain of your own destiny. Just like I am with mine!"

"Thanks...Chloe…" the Moonshadow said and he closed his eyes for the last time.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Perhaps you truly are the queen of the pirates…" he sighed with his last breath.

Tears trickled out of Chloe's eyes as he departed from life itself.

Rosemary snickered. "I didn't think the big tough queen of the pirates would cry like a little girl."

"Shut it," Chloe snapped, brushing her tears aside. "He was the first pirate to ever call me queen. I can't help but be sentimental..."

"Best you leave before we end up like him," Rosemary advised.

After a few more tears, Chloe tentatively picked up the shell. "What are you doing with that?" Rosemary asked.

Chloe gazed at it. She could have sworn she heard the ocean reverberating deep within it. "I want to ask someone what this really is. Maybe a scientist or something. What is a demollusk and why are they part of Fiemond's plans?"

She pocketed the shell and ran to the garage like exit. But around the corner, Chloe heard Nurse Kutter dishing out orders to her men. "We will capture the escaped queen if it's the last thing we will do. The minister demands it if we are to have a sturdy kingdom."

Chloe gasped as she heard the marching of feet. Turning her head, she caught a gimpse of ared button on the wall. As the asylum guards spotted her, she slammed it and the garage closed on them, leaving her alone in a room with several demollusks.

"Come out, little queen!" Nurse Kutter called out. "Surrender yourself now and I won't pry your eyeball out with my bare hands!"

Chloe looked around helplessly. "I know this isn't befitting of the queen of the pirates...but...HEEEELP!"

Her voice echoed so loudly, that she could only hope that someone, somewhere would hear her pleas.

***

"Ay dios mio,"Monica Monero muttered sitting at the bottom of a filthy jail cell. "I cannot wait til I'm out of here!"

"I can," Ramone remarked nervously. "because we'll have our heads on the chopping block. They might even take me behind the shed and execute me barnyard animal style."

"Aye," Monica replied. "That won't be so good for you. But me? I'm getting outta here."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Oh…" Monica said her voice deepening. "I have my ways."

Gazing out across the dungeon, the swordswoman spotted a guard with his legs perched high on a wooden table. He read a parchment copy of the Island Herald, which featured the headline, "Queen Annabell Chime? Unfit to rule? Interview with her trusted minister."

Monica coughed loudly but in a very feminine manner. "Oh jailer...oh jailer…" she moaned. "I don't feel so good."

"Eh…" the naval guard said, lowering the newspaper. "What's the matter?"

Ramone watched cautiously as the guard, his face obscured by a pink and white helmet, drew his sword. A ring of two keys jingled on his belt--the pathway to sweet freedom.

Monica hastily brushed her long, conditioned hair and then threw her hand to her head. "Yo soy enferma. I'm very sick."

"Oh really?" the guard asked. "Were you out in the rain too long?"

"Well that and…" Monica said slyly. "I got a bad case of Lovin-You-itis."

"Lovin-You-itis?!" the guard exclaimed. "I gotta get out of here before I catch it!"

"It's not a disease," Monica Montero said sharply. "It is more a passion for you."

"Passion...for me?" the guard asked. "Egads! Nobody's ever had a passion for me. Not even my mother."

Monica rolled her eyes. "That's probably a good thing. But anyway, come closer and you can hear why I feel these crazy feelings for you…"

"Ok…" the guard said and he slowly approached her cell. "Why?"

"You 'ave a very nice pair," Monica said.

"Oh yeah?" the guard smirked beneath his helmet. "Well I've always thought of myself as the manliest knight in the land."

"I meant your keys!" she whispered, her eyes slightly twitching over the visual image.

"Yeah," the guard said. "They are very nice and shiny and HEY! Wait a minute, you just want them to get out!"

"Duh," Monica smirked and she reached through the cell, slammed his head so hard it was jammed in the bars. She grabbed the knight's keys.

Quickly inserting the key in the lock, she opened the cell and smiled. "That'll do."

"Hey," the knight complained. "I thought what we had was special."

"It was," Monica remarked. "You're still clearly head over heels for me."

The guard looked down and found that his jammed head was indeed in front of his feet. "Wow…" he remarked. "So this is what love feels like!"

From one of the pipes in the ceiling a voice echoed down. "HELP!"

"Queen Annabell!" Ramone said with his hooves to his face. "That's her voice. I hope they aren't doing anything bad to her!"

Monica looked at the keys on the ring. Ramone pleaded with her. "Please. You have to set me free. I need to save her."

Monica shook her head. "You can do that if you want, cabro, but I need to leave…"