A pale white fog hung ominously over a murky blue water at night. The Cowpoker glided across it seamlessly, but two of Sugar's men remained at the edge of the boat, making sure it didn't crash into rocks.

Tony the Troutface shivered in Elise's arms. "Gee, I dunno bout dis pally! I got a bad feeling down in my fish bones. Tonight may be da night!"

Sincirce massaged her bare arms and glared at him with cold purple eyes. "For what exactly, fishboy? It's foggy out. Not exactly walpurgis night!"

Elise gave a gap tooth grin. "Maybe he doesn't have the foggiest idea what!"

"Exactamundo, pal!" Tony said, flipping in her arms. "Now dat I'm a fishy, it's in my blood to know when something isn't right with the currents."

Sincirce rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't expect someone as unfashionable as you to know what's current!"

"Enough with the puns," Archibell cried dramatically. "I already have to deal with an irrate cowgirl from my past ..and if she doesn't get her way I'm going to get..."

"Punished?!" Tito asked with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Agh!" Archibell cried dramatically. "I walked into that one!"

"Yoo-hoo!" Sugar cried in her sauteed southern sea voice. "Oh ghost bait! My men tell me we are entering the Fleet's Grave and you know what that means! It's Ghosthunting time and you're my tasty living morsels for the reaper!!"

"You hear that, crew?" Archibell said sternly. "We're on the graveyard shift!"

He slapped his forehead. "Great. Now ya got me doing that too!"

The ship sailed into an open cove, and upon entering, the fog dissolved, revealing the skeletal remains of battles long past. Crows nests and masts rose from the water like sinking hands grasping for help. Capsized ships with their bows split in half ebbed from the ocean. Skeletons lay on the half submerged battleships, picked clean by death herself.

Elise squeaked in fear. She hid her eyes behind Tony's fishy form. "Hey now, pal," Tony shouted. "D-d-don't hide behind me! I want to hide behind you!"

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"But those skeletons are so scary!" she cried.

"W-we gotta be brave, kid," Archibell said, ruffling her head. "If we want the trident to save your pops..."

Sugar glared at him. Archibell flinched like a seadog. "Yowza. I mean, if we want to save Sugar's daddy!"

Tito nodded. "Yes, save this mean old cow lady's dad and not your dad, Elise!"

He winked at Elise and she saw he had his fingers crossed behind his back. She grinned showing off her gap teeth. "That shrimp scampi," she sighed. "He's so manly when he's deceitful!"

Sugar rubbed his smooth chin. "Now why the devil isn't there any fog in this cove?! This is where it should be the foggiest, don't y'all agree?!"

"Exactly," Archibell nodded. "I'm gonna agree with anything that doesn't make you want to kill me!"

"Good!" Sugar gloated. "I do love a man who's whipped. Especially when I'm doing the whipping"

There was a soft moan on the edge of the cove. "Do you hear dat?" Tony asked.

Sincirce smirked, putting her hand to her ear. "I do believe it's our captain's pride."

"Gee thanks," Archibell said.

Elise removed her glasses and rubbed them on her sundress. Things were getting foggy again. "Uh g-g-guys," she whimpered. "Do you see that?!"

"What?!" they all asked.

A shriek rang in the night, sounding like a banshee in heat. A night black ship sailed out of the fog. It traveled on pale blue ghost fire and the mast was in the shape of a skullface. "T-t-the ghost ship!" they all cried.

"Just as planned," Sugar smirked, rubbing her hands together and grinning boldly. "Now y'all gonna help me get that trident or you're gonna die at the reaper's hand."

The deck of the ghost ship cruised beside the enormous Cowpoker. Both decks were level, but unlike Sugar's ship, the moldy floorboards of the ghost ship carried no crew. Instead, the soft moan and frigid temperatures made the hair on their necks stand erect.

"Well," Sugar said, extending her gloved hands. "It is time for y'all to cross from the realm of the living to the land of the dead! And do some plundering in my name."

Elise shivered and started to whimper. The only other chill she had felt like this was when they encountered the sea reaper on that ghoulish island. She wasn't ready to face the collector of souls.

"Are ya gonna git on there like a chicken on a skillet?!" Sugar demanded, looking angrily at Elise.

"I...I..." Elise said timidly.

Tony turned around and opened his big trout mouth. "Come on, pally. Your poppa will be so proud of ya! Do it for him!"

Elise took a deep breath. "I'm gonna save my dad, even if I have to go to shell and back!"

"Aww dats so inspirational, kid," Tony said, sobbing. "I'm so proud of ya!"

Elise marched over to the side of the boat. She grasped hands with Sincirce, Archibell and Tito. Together they all took turns saying who or what they were doing this foolhardy task for.

"For my poppa!" Elise said.

"So I can become a man again!" Tony said

"For my diamonds!" Sincirce exclaimed.

"For my village!" Tito announced

"So I don't get whipped by a crazy cowgirl!" Archibell said at last.

Together, they jumped all the way to he deck of the ghost ship. Upon landing with a tumble, they watched in horror as the Cowpoker and the Fleet's Grave vanished into darkness, leaving them floating in a void atop the reaper's steed. There was no turning back now!