Submission (#1391) Approved

Words: 759

Pirate Side!

Donning a foam sword and one ridiculously sized pirate hat, Tsunami was a storm of movement as he knocked merkebs back into the ocean’s embrace, right off the bridge of Callaway’s ship. He might have his own gills and a fish tail, but he was a pirate through and through. The pirates were no plunderers, but instead the innocents that were attacked by the creatures of the deep. They were surrounded and it was up to him and the pirates to win this battle.

He laughed loudly as he tripped yet another merkeb off their feet and back into the water. He was on a roll and more than a little confident that this game was already the pirates.

Suddenly he turned, a burst of water barely missing his head as it damped the ship’s deck. Tsunami looked up in shock and who was this keb that nearly caught him unaware?

It was his best friend, Octavia!

She was grinning fiercely as she held what looked like a mini water cannon, her sea glass teeth shining in the sunlight. “Well if it isn’t little Tsunami the pirate! Before you admit defeat, you’ll have to say merkebs are better than pirates!”

Tsunami snarled playfully, adjusting his grip on his foam sword. “In your dreams, Halifax, pirates never admit defeat!”

“Last names are we, Storm? Fine by me, I never wanted this to be easy!” She fired the water cannon again, laughing wildly as Tsunami ducked out of the way.

Tsunami knew this wouldn’t be easy, Octavia took this game as seriously as he did. For each merkeb he defeated, he knew Octavia defeated a pirate.
He charged for her, almost tripping over himself as she dropped the cannon back over the edge of the ship and welded her own foam sword. “Not much of a merkeb weapon of choice!”

She laughed, “What can I say you bring out the worst in me!”

They clashed then, foam sword to foam sword. Tsunami was faster than Octavia, at least on land, and managed to avoid each blow of her sword. However, each hit she landed and struck his sword with, he was reminded she was much stronger than he was. He had to dig his paws into the deck, bracing himself as she almost toppled him over.

He growled frustrated, “How do you get stronger every year?! We were the same strength when we were kids!”

She smirked, “It’s called motherhood! Lugging Elword around is great for upper body strength, you should try it!”

They continued their fight, with her strength and his speed, they were evenly matched. Each laughed as they ran all over the ship, passing by other pirates and merkebs locked in battle. They even passed Callaway and Charybdis, the hub leaders chuckling as they watched the pair fighting. Tsunami and Octavia were exactly what this event was about, the fight between the pirates and the merkebs, but they also showed how much fun the event was for each side.

Even now, Tsunami was having more fun than he’s ever had in this event, maybe it was the fight, but it was also the fun of being a pirate with his best friend joining in as they both roared with laughter. At the end of the day, the event was great but the fun they had was worth more than the win.

Unfortunately, Tsunami got distracted when something hit his leg and he swiftly tumbled back on the deck. “What the…Mayday?! Octavia that’s cheating! You can’t have your pet axolith here!”

Octavia snorted, leaning down to pick up her axolith. “What do you mean? Mayday is part of the merkeb team, therefore he can take out pirates too.”
Tsunami groaned and laid back on the warm wood of the ship. “Ugh, taken out by a pet. How embarrassing.” His groan only got louder as a voice rang out, declaring that the event’s winners were the merkebs. “Dang it, I really thought we were going to win.”

Octavia laughed and offered her hand, putting her best friend to his feet. “Aw come on Tsunami, this was fun! You guys will definitely win next year, I was barely holding on.”

He smiled, laughing as he shook his head. “Fine, fine, I guess it was pretty fun. That was the closest I’ve gotten to defeating you.” He grinned, “Next year you won’t stand a chance!”

Of course, Tsunami would have preferred to win, but he wasn’t going to lie and say this wasn’t a blast. He already couldn’t wait for next year.