Pirates of the Caribbean: Live Dog's Quest

Balto was standing on the aft deck. He was looking out over the ocean taking in it's beauty. The slight creaking of the helm (the large steering wheel on ships) was the only thing that broke the silence. The majority of the crew was lounging around on the deck soaking up the sun.

Balto was a cabin boy of 11 years of age and currently had nothing to do. He had been on this ship his entire life and had never known his parents.

“Hey boychick. What is you doing?”

Balto turned to the goose who was standing beside him. “Nothing right now. Just enjoying the view.”

“It is beautiful. I could stay at sea my whole life.”

Balto chuckled. “I didn't know you liked the sea that much.”

“I don't. It seemed like the right thing to say.”

Boris had found Balto as a pup eleven years ago in the streets of London. Boris had felt sorry for Balto and managed to convince the captain to let him bring Balto along with him.

Balto looked back out over the water. One of the other vessels in the convoy caught his attention. Balto was on board a vessel in a convoy of three trading vessels. The boat he was on was in the middle and there was a boat to the right and left of him.

Balto pointed towards the one on the left. “I wonder what the crew on that boat is doing.”

Boris looked over as well. “Probably the same thing we're doing right now.”

“And what about the other...”

Balto turned his head just as a loud cracking noise reached his ears.

He saw the entire ship get pulled underwater in a spray of water. He was too startled to speak.

Boris quickly shouted as loud as he could to their crew as well as to the sailors on the other boat “KRAKEN!!”

The sailors started jumping up and looking for spears or rifles. Anything they could get their paws or wings on.

Balto stood at the edge of the deck looking into the water. At first it looked like ordinary water, but then he saw something moving down there. And he saw it very clearly.

The first thing he saw were tentacles. A lot of them. Then the rest of the Kraken came into view. Balto had never seen anything so big in his life. It seemed to take an eternity for the thing to swim by.

Then he saw it's eyes. And they actually stared right back at him. Balto realized with horror that only a very small section of the Kraken had actually swam by. He heard shouting from the other boat and when he turned to look, the Kraken had it's tentacles wrapped around it and was dragging it to the bottom. Then he felt his own ship shake. He heard the sound of wood splintering. The deck pitched downward and Balto started to roll down the deck. “Grab my wing!”

Balto looked and saw Boris holding his wing out. Balto reached out and grabbed hold. He looked down and saw the front of the boat going under. All of a sudden he knew what was happening.

The Kraken had grabbed the boat by the front and had started to pull down, lifting the back of the boat out of the water. Balto looked at the front of the boat again. The whole front end was under the water.

“Why isn't the boat going down?” he asked Boris.

Boris looked at him grimly. “The Kraken is holding us. And...” Balto watched theimpossible. Boris turned whiter than he already was. His eyes bulged and pointed at something. “Don't look Balto.”

Balto looked, and wished he hadn't. A huge thing of greenish flesh burst out of the water. It went up and up and up. Then Balto saw the thing that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The mouth of the Kraken.

At first it was around five or six over sized teeth. Then the mouth opened fully and Balto was greeted to the most horrible stench imaginable. But the view was even worse. Row after row of teeth went down the beast's throat. Balto wished he could close his eyes but for some reason, he couldn't. He saw almost the entire crew roll down the deck and into the Krakens maw. When the Kraken realized that nothing else worth eating was going to roll in, it closed it's mouth and submerged.

Balto voice shook as he said “Is it g... gone?”

“I don't know” Boris replied. Then the ship shuddered again. Boris shouted to Balto “Hold on tight Balto!”

“What's going on!?”

The Kraken answered his question. The entire shipraised up out of the water. The Kraken then threw the whole ship. It sailed thru the air for a few seconds, then crashed onto some rocks. Balto opened his eyes for a second. Then he fell intounconsciousness.

“Hey come on Balto, wake up!”

Balto opened his eyes and was surprised to see that it was night. “How long have I been asleep Boris?”

“I'd say around five hours. You hit your head pretty hard. Listen, there's a ship out there! I'm going to try and get it's attention.”

Boris sucked in a large breath and shouted “Hello! Over here! Ahoy!”

No response.

Boris tried again. Still no response.

He turned to Balto and said “Come on. Lets get closer.”

He helped Balto up and the two of them started walking towards the ship. “Where are we Boris?”

Boris said “We are on a rock formation. When we were attacked by the Kraken, it threw the ship and it crashed on these rocks. That ship over there must have seen the wreckage and came over to help.”

As they got closer, Balto started to feel uneasy. He couldn't explain why. They finally got close enough to the ship to see who it was. It was a British frigate that must have been patrolling the area.

Boris tried yelling to it again. “Ahoy! Over here!”

Balto could see the sailors on the boat look over and they started pointing towards Boris and Balto. Then it looked like the Captain of the ship walked up on the deck and shouted back.

“Are you all right? What happened?”

Boris said “We were attacked by the Kraken! It destroyed three ships.”

The Captain actually started to laugh. “There is no such thing as the 'Kraken'. I'm sure there is a logical explanation as to what happened.”

Boris was about to argue with the Captain when he heard something. By the look on the Captains face, he heard it too.

It sounded like rushing water. And it sounded as if there were masts creaking. “Boris, what is it?” Balto asked, afraid that the Kraken was coming back.

“I don't know Balto.”

Just then the water over to the left of the frigate exploded loudly and as hard as it may be to believe, a ship came up out of the water. It was larger than the frigate.

As it came closer, Balto saw the name of the vessel.

'The Flying Dutchman.'

The legendary ghost ship under the command of Davy Jones, ruler of the ocean.

The Captain of the frigate began shouting orders to his crew but it wasn't soon enough.

Two cannons popped out of the front of the Flying Dutchman. Each cannon had three barrels on it and they started to speak.

Within seconds, the frigate was being bombarded with cannonballs. These cannon balls must have been made of some new material because they ripped thru the frigates wooded hull as if it was paper. The ship began to sink rapidly.

Boris had pulled Balto out of view and they watched as a boarding party materialized onto the frigates deck. But they were not ordinary sailors. They looked like they were part fish or something. One had the head of a hammerhead shark, another one was covered in coral. The crew of the frigate quickly surrendered.

Balto began moving closer. He actually got close enough that he could see the deck of the Flying Dutchman as well as the prisoners that the crew lined up. He took a closer look at the ship. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. Barnacles encrusted the hull, the wood was rotten, the cannons were rusted over, and perhaps the oddest thing was that the sails had stuffgrowingon it. Balto was wondering what was about to happen when he heard something that made even the ocean go quiet.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

It sounded like someone with a peg leg. Then Balto saw the man.

If you could call him that.

The,thing, was around 6 feet 10 inches tall. It wore a large hat, coat, and pants. With only one boot. The left leg didn't need one.

It was a crab leg.

It's left arm was that of a crab pincer and it's right hand had five fingers with an extremely long index finger. And they were all tentacles. The same as his 'beard'.

The face was hard to describe. It had the texture of a squid or octopus but it was very much a mans face. Except for the tentacles hanging from it. As far as Balto could tell, it had one time been a man but a man no longer. It was a creature of the sea.

It was Davy Jones. Captain of the Flying Dutchman and ruler of the seas. And not supposed to exist.

Davy Jones leaned in front of one of the prisoners smoking his pipe.

He took his pipe out and said “Do you fear death? Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare? Are ye ready, for your final judgment? I can offer, an escape. One hundred years of service, before mast and ship. What say ye?”

“Don't listen to him!” one of the prisoners said.

Davy Jones whirled around and walked over to the prisoner. He looked at him for a second, then turned to one of the crew standing behind the prisoner. “To the depths” he said.

The crewman picked the prisoner up and threw him over board. Davy Jones turned back to the prisoner he had been talking to and said “Well?”

The prisoners voice shook a little bit. “I...I will sir.”

Davy smiled “There!”

Davy then started to go to each prisoner giving them the exact same offer. Balto jumped when something laid it's self across his shoulder. He looked to see who it was and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing it was only Boris.

“Come on Balto” Boris said quietly.

They sat watching the Flying Dutchman for a while. Finally, Davy must have finished talking with the prisoners because, even though they were quite a ways away, they heard his crab leg thunking across the deck. Within minutes they heard a loud organ playing. The Flying Dutchman started turning and sailing away. Now it was Boris's turn to breath a sigh of relief. Balto kept watching the Dutchman and started pointing wildly towards it saying to Boris “Look! Look!”

Boris looked and watched in amazement the Flying Dutchman actually dived into the water and disappeared from sight.

“What do we do now Boris?” asked Balto.

Boris put his wing around Balto. “We wait Balto. We wait. Someone will come and rescue us.”

Balto relaxed a little bit. “I just hope there aren't anymore surprises.”

'Me too' thought Boris.

Balto fell asleep before too long. Boris stayed up and stood guard just in case anything else happened. He felt very sorry for Balto. No 11 year old should have seen what Balto had seen that day. In fact, no one should have seen what they saw.

Boris was just about to nod off when he saw a light off in the distance. He rubbed his eyes thinking that it was just his imagination. He looked again. It was real! Coming fully awake he started shouting for all he was worth. At first he thought that they hadn't heard him. Then he realized, they didn't hear him. They had seen the wreckage and had started to come over. As they approached Boris started yelling again.

This time they did hear him. The ship dropped a rowboat and came over. They quickly loaded him and Balto on and took them back to the boat. Balto slept thru the whole thing.

'Boris what's going on?”

“I don't know Balto.”

“Look out!”

Balto woke up. The same nightmare that had been haunting him for nearly 18 years woke him up once again. He wished that he could forget that day when he had seen Davy Jones. It was nearly sunrise so Balto decided to get out of bed anyway. Him, Boris and a few other dogs worked at a local blacksmith not a block away. After they had gotten back home after their 'shipwreck' several years ago, Boris found a job for the two of them at the blacksmith.

Balto rolled out of bed and walked downstairs into the main room of the inn that he lived in. The owner of the inn was already in the kitchen getting the food prepared for that days customers.

He smiled to the lady. “Good morning Miss Dixie.”

The little dog looked up and smiled. “Oh good morning dear. Off to work already?”

“Yes. I woke up early and thought that I might as well head over. Might get an extra pound or two.”

“That sounds good. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what made you get up so early?”

Balto didn't really like talking about that much but he decided to tell her. “I had that nightmare again.”

Dixie walked out of the kitchen and told him to sit down. After he did she sat down beside him. “Are you alright?”

Balto nodded. “Yeah I am now. I just wish that it would go away.”

Dixie stood back up to her full 5 foot height and said “I'm sure it will eventually.” Just then there was a knocking on the door and Jenna walked in. Jenna had been working for Dixie for several months now and her and Balto were good friends.

She was surprised to see Balto up so early. “Oh, hello Balto. How are you?”

Balto stood up and said “I'm okay. You?”

“Same.”

The three of them sat around for a little bit talking. Balto had never told Jenna about his experience and was glad for it. Jenna tended to over dramatize things and to talk about it a lot. He looked out the window and noticed that the sun had gone up a far bit.

“I'm sorry but I have to go now. See you all later.”

“Bye Balto.”

He grabbed the lunch that Dixie had made him and then headed toward work. The door was still locked when he got there but he luckily had a key. He walked in and built a fire for later in the day. He had been working on a shovel the other day and thought that it would be a good idea to finish it. He got the fire going nice and hot and started working on the shovel. He tried to hammer it quietly so as not to disturb the owner of the smith who happened to live upstairs. But hammering a piece of metal is not quiet. The noise woke up Kaltag who came down grumpily.

“That has to be the most annoying, disturbing...”

Balto rolled his eyes. Kaltag was always grumbling about something.

“Balto what do you think you're doing!?”

Balto held up his hammer and said “Working.”

“Humph. You could at least try to do that quietly.”

“I did. Banging on steel isn't quiet. Besides, Star is expecting it this morning. He said that if he didn't get it, he wouldn't pay for it.”

Kaltag narrowed his eyes. “He did hmmm? Well, if he comes by here, I'm going to hit him on the head so hard he'll fall over!”

Balto ignored him and went back to working.

Several hours later Balto took a break for lunch. He sat down at a table with Kaltag, Boris who had arrived an hour after Balto, and the twins Muk and Luk. Muk and Luk also worked at Kaltags but they didn't actually do any smithing. Only Balto and Kaltag did that. They went around town advertising Kaltags all over Port Elizabeth, just a few miles north of Port Royal.

As they sat around eating, Star came walking up the street. Balto pointed him out to Kaltag. Kaltag groaned. Star always interrupted him! Neither of them would admit it, but Balto knew that they were the best of friends. “Good morning to you all” Star said as he walked up. “I am here to inquire as to the status of my spade.”

Kaltag wiggled his finger around in his ear. “What's that Mr. Star? I can't understand all of those fancy words.”

Star seemed to think for a second then said “I want to know if my shovel is done yet you idiot.”

Kaltag brightened up. “Ah! Much better! Yes your shovel is done.” Kaltag reached around behind him and picked the shovel up. “Here you are sir.”

Star reached into his pocket and paid Kaltag for the shovel. He was about to leave when Muk spoke up and said “Would you care to join us for lunch?”

Star smiled. “Yes thank you. It sounds very nice.”

He sat down and started to help himself. They sat in silence for a little while. Boris asked Star “Where are you headed today?”

Star looked up from his plate and said “I am on my way to the club. Tonight, we are actually playing a game.”

Luk spoke up. “A game? I love games! What is it?”

“It is a fibbing game. Quite childish really but very fun. What you do is say some outrageous thing. Whoever says the craziest thing wins 10 pounds.”

Luk was literally jumping out of his seat with excitement. “Can we come mister Star? Please, please, please, please...”

Star held up his paw in an attempt to stop Luk. “I don't see why not. Would all of you like to come? I'm sure that the rest of the club won't mind.”

Kaltag looked around the table. “Sure why not? It sounds like an easy way to earn ten pounds.”

The six of them got up and made their way to the club.

They were quite surprised by the jolly atmosphere of the place. There were dogs and geese and bears all over laughing as if they were half drunk. Star was very disappointed in them, having very strict manners.

The six of them walked into the 'fibbing room' and found a place to sit down. Balto couldn't help but laugh at some of the lies being told. Some of them were as follows,

“I went to Tortuga once and managed to leave without getting drunk.”

“I was stranded on an island out at sea and I got off by tyeing three turtles together like a raft.”

“I am the most handsome dog in town!”

And so on.

It finally came Luks turn and he blurted out without thinking “My friend Balto here came face to face with the Kraken and then saw Davy Jones!”

For a second, the whole room went silent. Balto lowered his head into his hands and Boris sent Luk a look that made Luks fur stand on end. Then the room burst into laughter.

Balto won the pot. He gave it to Boris to split up between the six of them and walked home. It wouldn't have been so bad if the dogs had started laughing instantly. What annoyed him was the fact that half the animals in the room had believed Luk. He had gotten out as fast as he could before anyone could come up and ask him any questions.

He looked up gladly at the sign that showed him that this is the inn he wanted. He opened the door and walked in.

Jenna came from the kitchen and almost had a heart attack from fright.

“Balto! You need to learn how to knock! You almost scared me to death!”

“Sorry Jenna.”

She noticed that something was wrong so she put down the plate she had been carrying and asked him “What's wrong?”

Balto sighed. “You don't want to know.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don't.”

“Yes I do.”

“What's going on?” Dixie asked, walking out of the kitchen as well.

“I don't know.” said Jenna.

“You don't want to know.”

“Yes I do.”

Jenna turned to her and said “Something is troubling Balto.”

Dixie looked at Balto alarm spread across her face. She also quit what she was doing and walked over to him. “Is it what I think it is?”

Balto just nodded.

Jenna asked Dixie “You know whats wrong?”

“Yes I know whats wrong.” Dixie looked at Balto and said “Do you want me to tell her? You can't keep it a secret for forever you know.”

“Yeah I know. And it no longer is. That's the problem. Luk just blurted it out to a room full of dogs, geese, and bears.”

Dixie growled. “I am going to skin that chubby ball of fluff. He would make a great rug...”

Jenna was now thoroughly confused. “Okay so what is going on?”

Balto turned to her and said “Everything I'm about to tell you is true. It may not sound like it but it is. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Balto then told her about everything. The Kraken, the Flying Dutchman, and Davy Jones. “So far, the only people me and Boris have told about this are you, Dixie, Muk and Luk, and Kaltag. But now, half of Port Elizabeth knows it!”

Jenna put a paw on his shoulder and said “Don't worry. I bet the majority of them don't even believe it. You should go get some rest.”

Balto agreed and walked up to bed. He fell fell into a dreamless sleep for once.

He woke in the middle of the night to the sound of someone banging on the door. He got up out of bed and lighted a candle. He went down and opened the door. Five soldiers stood there. “May I help you gentlemen?”

The soldier in front spoke crisply. “You are summoned to meet with the Governor on a very urgent matter. You will come with us.”

“Hold on a minute. I don't have to come with you. I'm not in any sort of trouble.”

From the way the soldier shifted from foot to foot, he was not used to people talking back to him. He was used to people stopping whatever it was they were doing and listening to him. “Sir, you are being summoned by the Governor. You must come with us.”

Balto folded his arms across his chest. “I don't think so.”

The soldier turned to the one standing behind him and nodded. Balto saw a rifle butt coming at his face, a hard blow, then he went back to sleep.

He woke up slowly as moving his head any hurt. He tried to reach up so he could feel his head but his arms would not move. He looked down and saw that his paws were handcuffed to the chair. 'What's going on?' he thought.

“Good. You're awake.”

Balto looked toward the person talking. The Governor was sitting behind a large desk with an Admiral. Then Balto remembered what had happened. “You have no right to hold me sir.”

The Admiral laughed. “We have every right to do so.” The Admiral walked up to Balto and said “We have received news that you have survived an encounter with both the Kraken and Davy Jones.”

Balto thought up an excuse quickly. “You believe that? The bear was drunk when he said that. I don't even know what the Kraken is.”

The dog stared him right in the eye. “I have reason to believe differently. You were there that night. A vessel was attacked the same night you were. One of the crew survived. Of course, his mind is not altogether. But he saw you walking down the street one day and recognized you. He came and told us everything. You saw both of them. He unfortunately has died of a sickness recently. Now I want you to come with me on an expedition to find and destroy both Davy Jones and the Kraken.”

“And why the sudden urge to do that?”

“Within the last ten years nearly 26 vessels have been destroyed by unexplainable causes. Well over half of them have been broken in half by something massive. Now we know what it is, and we want to get rid of it. And you are going to help us.”

“I don't have to.”

The Admiral walked over to a stack of papers on the desk. He held them up to show Balto. “Do you know what these are?”

Balto looked closer. “I believe that they are a list of laws.”

“Very good. I brought these to show you one law in particular. Ah, here it is. It talks about about one withholding information about a criminal. A very serious crime.”

Balto couldn't help but laugh. “A criminal? If I remember all those story's correctly, Davy Jones is the ruler of the Ocean. Sounds like he can do whatever he wants to do.”

The Admiral glared at him. “Not when he is messing with my ships! I will find him and destroy him. And as I have said already, you are going to help me. Otherwise, I am going to take this before a judge and when he finds out that you have been interfering with the capture of a criminal, well, time to go to the gallows.”

Balto gulped nervously but said “If you did that, you would be killing an innocent person. I don't know anything about Davy Jones.”

The Admiral started walking around Balto. “I didn't say that you would be the one going to the gallows. I have information concerning a certain goose by the name of Boris.”

Balto tried to jump out of the chair at the dog, but the cuffs held him in place. “He hasn't done anything!”

The Admiral chuckled. “Not yet. But I can, arrange things, you might say.”

Balto looked over at the Governor. “Are you going to let him do something like that?”

The dog behind the desk nodded. “I want that accursed Davy Jones gone as well.”

“So what do you say Mister Balto? Are you going to come help me find Davy Jones or are you going to condemn your best friend to death?”

Balto knew he was beat. “Fine. I'll go with you. But how are we supposed to find Davy Jones? The ocean is a very big place.”

“I have my ways.”

The Admiral started to make his way out of the room when Balto called to him “What's your name?”

The dog stood in the doorway. “Steele. And from here on out, you are going to do anything I tell you to.”

“Can I tell my friends what's going on?”

“No need” Steele said. “We left a message saying that you were called away on urgent business.”

Steele turned to the two soldiers standing guard. “Take his cuffs off. We leave immediately.”

Balto was relived to have the cuffs taken off. He rubbed his wrists to get the blood flowing back to his paws. Early the next day, he followed the two guards out to the dock. He was impressed with the ship. It was huge. He counted the cannons down the side of the ship. There were around fifty cannons. That meant that this ship had 100 cannons on three different decks. And if he remembered what Boris had told him about his days in the navy, one of these ships could carry over 500 ordinary sailors not including Captain and officers. They even had their own small army of 130 marines.

Balto looked around the dock and realized that it wasn't just one of these ships. It was a fleet of five ships! So all in all, he was part of a military expedition of five hundred cannons, five massive warships, and an army of over six hundred. Not bad. 'We might even stand a chance' Balto thought.

He was pushed onto the ship rather hard and was brought to the Admirals room. Steele was sitting at his desk with a load of maps and charts figuring out which heading to take. He looked up as the soldiers brought Balto in. “Ah good. Our guide. Please sit down.”

Balto preferred to stand.

Steele sat back down in his chair and said “I want you to tell me everything you know about the Kraken, the Flying Dutchman, and Davy Jones.”

Balto thought for a second, then said “The Kraken is big, the Flying Dutchman is big, and Davy Jones would not win very many beauty contests.”

Steele glared at him. “Anything else?”

“I guess you should know about his crew. All of them are part sea creature. Including Davy Jones. And from what I saw, they are very talented with weapons. And the most dangerous thing they can do is suddenly appear on board.”

“What do you mean 'appear on board'?”

“Say the Flying Dutchman is right over there. We lock the doors to this room. The crew of the Flying Dutchman would suddenly appear in here with no trouble. You can't predict where they'll come from. One could come out of the wall and another one could come out of the topgallant mast.”

Steele was making notes in a little book. He looked up from it and said “What about the Kraken?”

This is the one thing that Balto did not what to talk about. He remembered all too well the day that, if it would not have been for Boris, he would currently be digesting in the Krakens stomach.

“The Kraken is huge. I can't stress that point enough. It is probably ten times the size of this ship. It's tentacles are very long and it can break a ship in two as you found out. And I pity any poor soul that sees that beasts mouth. I think that me and Boris are the only two who have seen it and not been eaten.”

Steele was scribbling away in his little book again and he didn't even look up when he said “Yes, thank you. Go away now.”

The soldiers escorted him out of the room and assigned him to work in the rigging of the ship.

Balto complained about it. “I don't know how to do anything with sails!”

“Well then you better learn. Get up there.”

Balto hated being on boats. Just looking into the water made him uneasy. He remembered the time he looked the Kraken straight in the eye. Now, not only was he on a boat but he had to work up in the sails. He was afraid of heights too. “This just keeps getting better and better” he grumbled as he climbed up.

After ten minutes of climbing, he finally reached the fighting top (a platform halfway up the mast). He climbed in it feeling very seasick already because of the increasing of the ship rocking.

“It'll pass after a while” a voice next to him said. He turned to see a young dog standing beside him. “Oh, I'm Kodi by the way.”

Balto tried to reach out and shake the dogs paw but felt like he would fall if he let go of the rail. So he merely said “Hi. I'm Balto.”

Kodi smiled at him. “You must be new to sailing. You sure got seasick fast.”

“Well I used to go to sea a lot but after a, bad experience, I never went on a boat again. I'm afraid of water and heights.”

“Then you are in the wrong place my friend.”

“Tell me about it.”

The ships set sail.

Over the next couple of days, Balto learned a lot about what went on in a ship. He learned how to work the rigging, furl and unfurl the sails, clean the deck (whee), he even learned how to load a cannon in case one of the guys doing it got killed.

And every couple of days Steele would call him into his room and would rake him over the coals again. Balto was really getting tired of it.

One day when Steele called him Balto asked Steele “So when are you going to do something about Davy Jones? We've been out here for over a week and nothing has happened. Have you given up and realized that you won't find him unless he wants you to?”

Steele stood up from behind his table and said “I have not given up. And today is the very day I plan on doing something.”

Balto folded his arms across his chest. “And what is your brilliant master plan?”

“Follow me.”

Balto followed Steele out onto the deck. Steele turned to one of the soldiers and asked “How much farther until we are in position?”

“Not much longer sir. See, there are the rocks.”

Balto looked to see what the soldier was talking about. There was a large rock formation out in the distance. It looked like the one him and Boris had been stranded on. “What are you doing Steele?”

Steele smiled. “Patience. You will see soon.”

With that, Steele walked back into his room.

Balto went back up into the rigging and started talking with Kodi. After an hour or so, Kodi stood up and looked ahead. “Hey Balto look. We've arrived at the rocks.”

Balto stood up and walked over to the railing. It looked like a large mountain in the middle of the sea. “What do you think we're doing Kodi?”

“Don't ask me.” Kodi looked around for a second. “Where's the 'Dauntless'?”

“The what?”

“The Dauntless. It's one of the ships in the fleet. And, oh, there it is.”

Balto looked around for a second. “Where is it?”

Kodi pointed it out to him. “Over there. I wonder what she's doing.”

Balto looked around at all the ships in the fleet. “Oh, no.”

Just as he spoke those words Steele walked up on deck and Balto could see him say an order to one of his lieutenants. Balto was too far away to hear what the Admiral said but he had a pretty good idea as to what to it was. The ship proved him right. Every ship in the fleet, besides the 'Dauntless', opened fire. Balto hoped that they were shooting at something else. But then he saw the clouds of smoke and the splintering wood. Kodi stared in disbelief. “What is he doing!?”

Balto knew. “The idiot is attempting to 'call' Davy Jones.”

Kodi was speechless. The two of them climbed down the rigging back onto the deck of the ship. Balto practically ran at Steele. “You fool! What do you think you're doing!?”

Steele stared at him with ice cold eyes. “If I remember the stories correctly, Davy Jones appears at shipwreaks so he can 'recruit' the survivors of the boat and add them to his crew.”

Balto couldn't believe what he was hearing. “You just killed and wounded who knows how many of your own men!”

Steele smiled. “Just as I had planned.”

Balto felt an anger rising in him that he could not control. Ignoring the consequences of what might happen, he punched Steele in the face. The soldiers quickly grabbed him.

Steele picked himself up off the deck. “You have just made a very large mistake.”

“I don't think so. You are the one that's made the mistake, firing upon your own ship.”

Steele walked past him and started to fiddle with something behind a crate. “Put him against the mast and hold him there.”

Steele walked up with a thing of rope. “The punishment for talking back to an officer is five lashes. But hitting him is fifteen. So you get the privilege of twenty lashes.”

One of the dogs ripped open the back of Balto's shirt and quickly stood back. Balto braced himself for the coming lash.

Whack! Whack!

After the fifteenth lash Balto began to lose consciousness from the pain. He fainted after the seventeenth, not feeling the last three.

He woke an hour or so later with a stinging feeling in his back. He opened his eyes and looked behind him.

“Oh good you're awake” said Kodi. “I was just putting on some ointment to help with your scars. Sorry if it stings.”

“The stinging is nothing compared to the actual lashing. Has anything happened?”

“No. Steele hasn't made any move to help the survivors of the 'Dauntless'.”

Balto hung his head sadly. “I wish I could leave here.”

Kodi put aside the rag he had been using on Balto's back and said “Why are you here?”

Balto looked at him in surprise. “You don't know why I'm here?”

“No.”

“I'm here because I am one of two people that has actually seen the Kraken and Davy Jones and survived.”

The fleet waited two days for something to happen. Nothing.

Around noon on the third day, Balto walked up to Steele. The soldiers, remembering what had happened last time, blocked Balto's path.

“What do you think now Admiral? Are you going to accept the fact that Davy isn't going to show up? Are you going to finally go and rescue those injured sailors?”

Steele turned around and walked up to Balto. “Are you going to shut up? Or do you want another lashing?”

Balto was now quite fed up. “You're hopeless. No, you're obsessed!”

But just as the words were leaving his mouth, one of the lookouts shouted to Steele “There is a vessel! And it is approaching!”

Steele quickly forgot about Balto and dashed off to get things ready for the showdown with Jones. Balto slumped. 'Great' he thought. 'Just about time for us to leave and Davy decides to come now.'

It took almost ten minutes for the ship to be close enough to see clearly with the naked eye. But it was the ship that the whole fleet had been waiting for.

The Flying Dutchman.

Steele ordered the ships to unfurl their sails and to pull out from behind the rock formation. The fleet came around and soon had the Dutchman in their sights. “Hold your fire until we are closer” Steele said.

To Balto's surprise, the Flying Dutchman just sat there as if it was expecting them. The fleet came within 200 feet of the Dutchman when Steele gave the order to fire. Nearly 250 cannonballs flew at the the Flying Dutchman. Balto had managed to grab hold of a telescope and focused on the side of the Dutchman. The hull was covered in barnacles and the wood looked so rotten that it would crumble if you squeezed it.

Then moments before the barrage of cannonballs hit, the barnacles on the hull opened. It formed a layer of 'armor' just as the cannonballs hit. And every single cannon shot bounced off.

Before the fleet could send another volley, the Flying Dutchman turned and sailed away at a surprising speed.

Steele went into a fit and ordered that the fleet drop anchor. They waited for the rest of the day and into the next.

The day was bright, warm, and calm. The entire crew was simply lounging around and soaking in the sun. Balto stood near the front of the boat and looked out over the ocean taking in it's beauty. Much to his surprise, Steele walked up and stood next to him. They didn't say anything. Just stood there.

Balto was about to say something when he felt a vibration thru the water. At first he thought it was his imagination. Then he heard a noise that had happened in his nightmares. It sounded like rushing water and a creaking mast. “Um, Steele? There's something I forgot to tell you about the Flying Dutchman.”

Steele looked at him. “What?”

“It can travel underwater.”

Just then, the front of the boat off to the left of them rose out of the water. There was something underneath it! Balto saw with shock and horror that the Flying Dutchman had just rammed the vessel from below. The Dutchman pushed the vessel to the side as it came out of the water. Only this time, there was a slight difference with the Dutchman.

It was nearly twice as big as the Man O' War that Balto was on!

'That's not right!' Balto thought to himself. 'Unless... unless it's another Flying Dutchman! He has two of them! A big one and his more common one.'

Before the Flying Dutchman had come fully out of the water, Balto saw the crew turning a large, something, on the deck of the Dutchman. The thing rose steadily higher and higher in the air. Then, it suddenly dropped.

The shock wave that it generated was enough to knock some of the dogs off their feet.

'I wonder what that's for' Balto wondered. His thoughts were interrupted when the cannons started booming. He ran over to rigging and was about to climb up when something caught his eye. Off in the distance he could see a wake or wave made by something moving thru the water. His blood froze when he realized what it was. He ran over to Steele, hoping a cannonball wouldn't hit him. “Steele! We have a problem! The Kraken is coming! That big hammer on the Flying Dutchman enables Davy Jones to call the Kraken!”

Just then he heard a loud groaning/roaring noise. He looked over and saw tentacles wrapping around one of the ships in the fleet. Steele saw it too and drew his sword. Only he ran at Balto with it.

“You knew this would happen!” he shouted as he knocked Balto over. Steele held the tip of his sword against Balto's throat. “Prepare to die traitor.”

Steele drew the sword back, but never got the chance to bring it back down. In the blink of an eye, a tentacle wrapped itself around him and yanked. His sword clattered to the deck.

Balto got up and fan as fast as he could to the rigging. He made all the way up to the sails in under a minute. He looked around and saw complete mayhem. The Flying Dutchman was bombarding one of the vessels and the Kraken was taking care of the rest. Balto could now see it's true size. It had all three boats, including the one Balto was on, in it's powerful grasp. Balto was relived to find out that Kodi was right beside him. “Are you okay Kodi?”

“Yeah I'm...”

Balto noticed with alarm that Kodi's fur began to lose color. Kodi pointed behind Balto.

Balto turned, and saw two massive tentacles coming towards them. Going past them. Balto was on the highest point of the boat, over 80 feet in the air. And yet, these two tentacles went at least thirty feet higher. Then they started to fall towards them.

“Uh, oh.”

Fortunately, the things didn't hit the area that him and Kodi were standing on. They just kept going down, smashing into the deck and ripping the ship in two. “Hang on!” Balto shouted.

The half of the ship that they were on started to lean over. Being up on the mast, it seemed as if they were falling at a breakneck pace. When the ship leaned over so far Balto sighed and said “Well... might as well jump.”

Kodi said “What!?”

“Jump!”

Not waiting for a response, Balto jumped from the mast. Kodi steeled his courage, shut his eyes, and jumped as well.

Balto looked down as he fell. He hadn't realized how far down it was that he was jumping. From this height a fall to the water could kill him just as a fall to the wooden deck would. He would have to hit the water straight. It would hurt like crazy but he would survive it. Now the only question left was, head or feet first?

His feet hit the water before he could make up his mind. 'Okay, feet first.'

Because of the momentum that he had from falling over forty feet he went far deeper in the water than he had expected. He looked around underwater for a second. His eyes stung from the salt but it didn't stop him. He saw the Kraken a little way off. Then something caught his eye.

The Kraken was staring right back.

Suddenly all of those old memories resurfaced and he felt a sudden panic take over him. He tried as hard as he could to get back to the surface. In his struggle, he began gulping in water and his vision started to black out. The Kraken stared at him the entire time. Then he mercifully passed out.

“Come on Balto breathe!”

Balto felt something hit him on the chest. His eyes snapped open and he sat up coughing up large quantities of water. Kodi was over him, his paw raised and ready to come crashing back down.

“Are you okay!?”

“Yeah (cough) I think (cough) so. What happened?”

“I saw you hit the water just seconds before I did. I must have gone down farther than you did because I looked around and you were above me. You started thrashing around and I realized that you were drowning. I managed to get us both up onto this large piece of wood and I started beating on your chest.”

“What about the fleet?”

Kodi was silent for a moment. “It's gone. Steele destroyed the one boat, the Flying Dutchman got another, and the Kraken got the other three. It got them all at once by the way. I watched the final moments. It wrapped it's tentacles around all three and simply pulled down. There all in Davy Jones Locker now.”

Balto found another piece of wood and started to paddle. Kodi grabbed one as well and they were soon making good progress.

“Hey Kodi. Let me tell you something. I am never to go on water again. I've been on the ocean twice and I've been attacked by the Kraken twice. It's dry land from now on!”

It took them several days to reach shore. And unfortunately, they arrived in Tortuga. Balto and Kodi parted way's there and Balto started to make his way back home.

Balto walked thru the door to Dixies Inn. Just at the same time Jenna walked out of the kitchen.

“Balto! How many times do I have to tell you too... Balto! You're back!”

She ran up and gave him a big hug. Balto's lash wounds were still a little too fresh even after several days and he winced when Jenna squeezed him. She quickly called Dixie and Boris.

“Balto!” Dixie said. “Where were you?”

Balto glanced at Boris for a moment. Boris realized what it meant and shook his head sadly but didn't say anything.

Balto looked back to Dixie and said “Oh I was just out doing something for an army officer. Nothing really.”

He went to work the next day and thought about the last week. He silently hoped that no one could ever be dumb enough to go mess with Davy Jones. He chuckled and continued to bang on a piece of metal.

Jack Sparrow stood on the deck of the 'Black Pearl' waving something around. “I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt, and guess what's inside it.”

Davy Jones growled in disgust. “Enough of this.” Several portholes on the Flying Dutchman opened their mouths. And Jack found himself staring down the barrel of a cannon.

“Oh bugger.”

The End

(Hope you liked it!)