After two hours, Tails and Sonic had gathered several people who wished to become pirates. When they arrived, Marine had dressed in a more 18th century-pirate style. She looked quite impressed at the new sailors.
Well, mates, I’m Captain Marine. I’d like to welcome you all to the Purple Kitsune. I’d like to get to know you better, so let’s start off with your names.
“I’ll start” said one. “I am… Long John Silver!!!”
“Nice try, but I know that “Long John” is not part of your name” Sonic chuckled.
“Shut up, Iblis Trigger.”
“It’s Sonic.”
“Whatever.”
“Okay, who’s next?” asked Marine.
“I’m Blaze. I’m a friend of Silver’s.”
“Okay, mate. What about you?” she said as she pointed at another one.
“I’m Rouge the Bat. Sonic and Tails already know me quite well. I’m quite experienced at thievery, so I figured that this will be cool.”
“Okay, mate. Who else have me got?”
“Well, you can count on me, Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form.”
“Shut up Shadow” said Sonic.
“You shut up, faker.”
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” said a voice. Everyone turned and saw Knuckles, who was tied up to the Master Emerald. “If I was loose, I’d beat up both of you!”
“Well, you aren’t, so calm down so we can count you as part of the crew.
“WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO COME?!!”
“Because your Emerald is useful, duh.”
********************************
On the Diamond of Night, Cosmo was slowly adapting to a life of spatial piracy. However, because of her low self-esteem, she was extremely susceptible to other crew members’ insults.
“HEY, LETTUCE HEAD!!! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!!”
“GET BACK TO WORK, YA STUPID SALAD!!!”
“HEY FLOWER GIRL!!! HELP US WITH THIS!!!”
By the end of her first day, she was struggling to avoid crying. Jack saw her in a corner, shivering and looking into space.
“Cosmo? Are you okay?”
Cosmo looked at him and said “I think they hate me.”
“What makes you think that?”
“They all call me names, and they keep making me do things that are really complicated.”
“Don’t worry about that. Some of the others I know had that same problem when they first joined the crew, and they adapted to their life perfectly well. I’m sure you’ll be fine once you get used to life on board.”
“Are you sure?”
“Perfectly sure.”
“Well, thanks Jack. You’re really nice.”
“No problem, sis.”
Cosmo thought for a few moments. She couldn’t remember the last time she had had someone call her “sis” or “sister”. She kept thinking as Jack walked away, quietly singing “We’re devils and black sheep really bad eggs, drink up me hearties, yo ho.”
********************************
The Purple Kitsune had just taken off a few minutes ago. Tails was wondering where they would go, and what adventures awaited them as they sailed into space. He barely minded having to work hard, because the excitement of living the life of a pirate was indeed exciting.
On the first day on board, he was amazed when he saw something he had never seen before… As the ship flew out of a nebula, Tails looked, and saw something. It didn’t seem to be a nebula, or an asteroid, or anything else. After looking, he realized that it was a living creature. It was at least as large as the ship, and it was a dark green color. It had long, tentacles, and along its tentacles, it had large, luminous spots. The head was long, and also had several spots that gave off light. As it swam near, he became frightened, and alerted the crew.
HEY, GUYS!!! Look at that!!!
Marine arrived and looked with her telescope. As she lowered it, she seemed speechless. The others arrived, and were equally stunned. The squid like creature swam nearer, and Tails saw Marine become frightened as well.
“Uh oh… SAIL AWAY AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, MATES!!!”
The crew quickly got into their positions and sailed as far away from the creature as they could. As they sailed away, another spatial vessel approached the creature, and their crew was completely taken by surprise as the leviathan grabbed it with its huge tentacles. The crew of the Purple Kitsune watched as the other ship was completely devastated, and heard the screams of the fallen crew members. Finally, all that was left was splinters.
There was silence for several minutes, before Sonic finally asked “What the hell was that?”
“I know that creature” answered Silver. “That was a monster known as the Spatial Kraken.
“Spatial Kraken?” everyone asked. No one had heard of such a creature, except Marine, so Silver continued.
“Haven’t you ever heard stories of the terrible monster known as the Kraken in old European myths?”
“I have” said Shadow.
“So have I” said Knuckles.
“Well, this is the same, except that it dwells in the darkness of space. It prefers to inhabit dark nebulae to creep up to its victims unnoticed until it’s too late. It can give of light to make captains think they are approaching another ship or spaceport, which leads them into deadly traps. Their attacks leave behind nothing but destruction. They say that their breath has the reeking odor of a thousand rotting corpses.”
“That sounds disgusting” said Blaze.
“Let’s just try to stay away from it” Marine said loudly.
********************************
Cosmo’s second day on board was not so bad, but it wasn’t a bed of roses either. She managed to cope with most insults, but not all of them. She had to work hard so that the rest of the crew could see her as an equal. However, she also enjoyed the sight of spatial creatures, many of which resembled marine life.
“They’re incredible, aren’t they, mate?” said Captain Hector at the end of the day.
“Yes they are” answered Cosmo. “But I don’t understand; if they live out here, then why couldn’t I see them when I was in other ships?”
“Because the motors used by most kinds of spacecraft scare them off. Spatial vessels use solar sails, so we can see many types of creatures we couldn’t see otherwise. It also makes us harder to track, so we can sneak up on ships unnoticed.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Yes it is. Now we should go to sleep. I can feel that tomorrow will be a great day for us.”
“If you say so” answered Cosmo. She yawned, and went to the mast, where she liked to stay for some reason. She fell asleep, and dreamed of her old friends, who she believed to be gone, and of pirates.