**EPIC BBHQ PIRATE ADVENTURE ~ AGAIN!!!** The Extraordinary Voyages of Cap'n Basil Blackheart ~ Part Nine

Welcome to 

Featuring a rerun of our bonkers time-travelling pirate adventure

The Extraordinary Voyages of  Cap'n Basil Blackheart and his Motley Crew 

aboard

The Crimson Revenge

Arrrrrr and greetings, wunderpurr pals

Welcome to the 9th and penultimate episode of our fabulous pirate adventure rerun, and just in case mew missed anything or forgot what happened, here are the links for the last 8 astonishingly spectacular episodes:

Part I  ~  Part II ~ Part III ~ Part IV ~ Part V

~ Part VI  ~ Part VII ~  Part VIII

A quick recap from the last episode:

Smoke billowed up towards the sky, and flames engulfed the ship.

Effurypawdy stopped firing, and it seemed eerily quiet as we watched the pirate ship sink into the azure sea.

"Wow!" I said when the crew assembled on the deck. "That was purretty intense!"

Smooch was glowing with pride. "I did it, Basil! I did it, Basil!" he beamed. "I blew those flaming balls into hell!"

"Mew did a great job, Private!" I said. "Truly stellar, all of mew were pawesome!"

Humphrey took off his earmuffs and gave me a quizzical look. "So how come we had to fend off the Kraken with hot sauce, when if mew'd told us about the ship we could have just bombed that mother freaker into the netherworld?"

I knew that this was coming. "Humphrey, mew, Amber and Posie defeated the most feared sea monster of all time with nothing more than your sheer ingenuity and your lethal hot sauce," I answered. "Doesn't that make mew feel good, like really, really good?" I paused. "Mew didn't need any fancy weapons, no modern tech, and mew blew that mother freaker into oblivion and toasted its tentacled ass, mew are one serious, hardcore panfur!" 

Humphrey thought about this for a moment, his taught expression cracked into a broad smile, and he cried out. "HOOAH!"

"Besides, mew can't have a secret weapon if it's not a secret, can mew?" 

The crew laughed.

"Shame about the pirates," Posie said. "NOT!"

I gave her a look. "Posie, there could be survivors, and I think we should go see."

Amber tapped me on the shoulder and pointed towards the water.

"Ahhhhhh ... no survivors then ... too bad I always fancied making somepurrdy walk the plank," I said, taking in the multitude of sharks that had clustered offur the site of the sunken ship. "Sushi, anyone? Then we'll have a big clean-up and head back to shore in the morning."

*   *   *

Horice had seen the entire skirmish and stood thoughtfully pondering the possibilities.

"This changes everything," he murmured and wandered into the jungle. 

"AND CUT!"

So hold ye fast, mateys, as we're in for another wild ride today.

Aharr

Part IX

The Map of Deception

"And Action!"

The Crimson Revenge sailed closer to the shore, away from the wreckage of the newly sunk Filthy Pearl.

The sharks had done a damn fine clean up of the Filthy Pearl's crew and had subsequently swum off to find another meal.

"It's a shame there were no survivors," I muttered irately. "They really could have helped me with the treasure map." 

"Treasure map!" Smoochie and Parsley squealed with delight.

'Oh bugger!' I thought. Clearing my throat, I said. "Yes, we have a treasure map; however, I'm not sure what kind of treasure it is or even if we're in the correct location to retrieve it."

The crew scrambled to view the crinkled, antique map as I unrolled it on my desk.

"There's a treasure chest," Posie said, pointing at the centre of the aged document.

"Gold," Smoochie squealed. "We're going to be rich!"

I smiled inwardly as the crew talked animatedly amongst themselves about gold, silver and jewels.

"I'm getting my own tank," Posie declared.

"I'm going to build a mega tree-house lookout and get it weaponed up to the teeth," Smooch said gleefully.

"Well, I'm going to get my own purrsonal butler," Humphrey smirked.

"Mew are all so pathetic," Amber chided. "I'm going to get my own castle, with the biggest library in the world, and it'll have a moat that has crocodiles in it."

I stood listening to their banter and finally said loudly, "Stop right there, everypawdy." 

Silence filled the room, and I continued. "If we find any treasure, we are going to use it for good causes, savvy?" I gave them my very bestest 'don't mess with me stare'. "We are rich beyond imagination in our lives, we have a home, we're loved, and we have food in our dishes, what more do we need?"

Smooch grumbled. "Another .50 cal would be nice." 

I laughed. "Smooch, I have a spare .50 cal in the bunker back in Mewton-Clawson, if mew really need one, mew can have it, ok?"

He grinned at me and nudged Parsley. "I'm getting my furry own .50 cal, how cool is that?"

"Can we share?" Parsley asked tentatively.

"Of course," Smooch answered. 

"OK, crew, we have work to do. Snowie mew scan and input the map into the computer, and then we'll send a drone out over the island to map it and compare the two. The rest of us need to continue with the clean-up, so let's get to it."

*     *     * 

Meanwhile, Horice had returned to the temple with much haste.

Amsted was meditating as Horice reached the altar deep within the Temple of the Secret Pagoda.

"Amsted," he said quietly. 

The orangutan's eyes popped open. "Horice," he answered calmly. "Cap'n Basil and his crew 'av thee map."

"They be also 'aving weapons aboard their vessel of thee like I 'av never seen," Horice imparted.

Amsted thought for a moment. "We can't be 'aving the treasure discovered, it can never leave the island, you know the cost if it does."  

Horice nodded solemnly. "Aye, that I do."

"Cap'n Basil will have to be stopped if he gets too close."

Horice sighed deeply. "This saddens me acutely as I thought we'd found your successor to take care of the island, even the Creator ordained it, so what went wrong?"

Amsted shook his head. "I know not, but ye have to stop them finding thee treasure otherwise thee whole world will cease to exist."

Horice nodded and promptly left the temple.

*     *     * 

The drone flew noisily over the island, going back and forth all day.  

I went to find Snowie late in the afternoon. "How are we doing?"

"Nearly there, a few more passes, and we should be good to go," Snowie replied.

Returning to the deck, The Crimson Revenge looked nearly as good as new, well, nearly, as best it could do after a close encounter with a 40-tonne Kraken wrapped around it. We had repaired the masts, new sails were hung, and all the debris had been cleared away. It's truly remarkable what five cats can accomplish if they put their minds to it.

"Good job, crew," I said as they came and sat on the deck in front of me. "Snowie says a few more passes, and then we'll collate the data for a comparison with the map, but while we wait, I think we've earned a tea break."

*     *     *

Horice was deep in the jungle, heading back to the beach, as the light began to fade, when he heard a strange buzzing sound. He raced to a clearing and looked up.

"That be the biggest mosquito me eyes 'av ever witnessed!" he exclaimed as the noisy thing buzzed overhead at speed. "And it be 'aving some serious speed about it."

A short while later, it flew back again. Horice watched the giant mozzie for some time before he realised it wasn't what he thought it was, and he picked up a coconut with his trunk and hurled it towards the mechanical flying demon with all his might. Two seconds later, they collided, and the mechanical demon fell to the ground with a clatter.

He moved in for a closer inspection, nudging the flailing metal arms with his trunk; the hydraulic joints whirred and vibrated. They jerked one final time, then closed around its body like a massive dead spider, and the strange eye-like device mounted at the front blinked several times with an audible clicking sound. He suddenly backed away when it started to buzz with a rather high-pitched whine and subsequently burst into flames.

"Well, that be the end of that," he said, stomping on the jungle floor to put the flames out, and he continued on his way.

*     *     *

"Basil, Basil, Basil!" Snowie called from the control room.

I slid down the fireman's pole and landed with a soft thwump.

"Are we ready, Snowie?" I asked, thinking the drone had completed mapping the island.

"Er, no," she replied as the rest of the crew slid down the pole and joined us. "We've had a little hiccup."

I raised an eyebrow. "Little hiccup, how so, the drone was programmed to fly 30 feet above the ground, and mew can see exactly what it was seeing."

"Yes," she answered and pushed a button on the console panel. "I think mew'd better watch this."

We stood and watched the footage.

"Hmmmmmm.... that was rather unexpected," I said, watching the demise of the drone by Horice's trunk and a rather deadly coconut.

"Wow," said Smooch. "That was a terrifically pawesome throw, and such an accurate aim."

"Indeed," I concurred. 

"Why would Horice wipe out our drone?" Humphrey asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm sure, but mew can bet your stash of catnip that there's more going off, on that weirdo island than we could ever know."

"For sure," Amber agreed.

"But what do mew think is going off?" Posie asked.

"Posie, honestly, I have no clue, but somethings a-paw, that's for sure," I replied.

"But mew still didn't tell us about your orb-all experience," Parsley said.

I pondered this for a moment. "That was something quite extraordinary, but now is not the time, I promise I will tell mew all, but not today if that's ok with mew?"

The crew nodded, and I took the opportunity to return the conversation to the issue at paw.

"Snowie, use the footage we have and begin the mapping overlay process, and let's just see what we've got," I said.

Snowie began to tap on the console. The mapping programme was initiated, and we all stood there with bated breath as we watched the screen, comparing the two images. A few minutes later the programme finished the comparison, and we could see without a shadow of a doubt that the map and the island were the same place, even though a third of the island was missing from our footage, it was obvious we were in the right place. 

"Well, that's the good news, we're in the right place," I said. "The bad news is, we don't know how much the final third of the island has changed and that's the bit we need, and more bad news is, we don't have another drone to complete the mapping, so basically we're as blind as a newborn kitten."

"There must be a way to get the final footage," Posie said.

"Even if we had another drone, who's to say Horice wouldn't destroy that one too?" I said.

"Very true," Humphrey agreed. "There must be something they don't want us to find, that much is obvious."

I nodded.  "But why is it so important that we don't find it? That's the question we need to be asking."

We sat in silence, pondering the possibilities.

*    *    *

Horice emerged on the beach and watched The Crimson Revenge from the shore. He could see no activity aboard and took the opportunity to call on some fishy friends. The mystical orb shot out from the tree line and hovered in front of him.

A few minutes later, his call was answered.

"I be needing ye to go and spy on Cap'n Basil," Horice said to the dolphin. "I'll be waiting on ye return post-haste."

The dolphin dove back into the water, and Horice watched as his friend closed in on The Crimson Revenge.

"I 'av to stop Cap'n Basil finding thee secret treasure," he muttered anxiously. "Otherwise Amsted will be 'aving an execution again ... I like Cap'n Basil too much to be letting this fate befall him and his crew."

*     *     *  

I paced the deck as the sun began to set offur the horizon. Back on the beach, the palms swayed in the cool breeze, and I took a long, slow breath, the salty ocean air invigorating my senses.

via GIPHY

Lost in thought as to why Horice took out our drone, I suddenly heard a splash next to the ship and raced to the side and peered towards the water. The light was fading fast, and all I saw was a lone fin sink beneath the inky surface.

"So many questions and not enough answers!" I mumbled worriedly. Something didn't sit right deep within my gut, and I just couldn't put my paw on it.  

I did wunder if it was the dodgy Kraken Sushi we ate earlier, causing the odd sensation!

I was just about to go back to the control room when Smooch called out from the crow's nest.

"Basil! Basil! Basil!" he cried loudly.

"What's your boggle, Smooch?" I answered.

"Basil, something's wrong on the island!"

"How do mew mean wrong?" I asked.

"There's a really weird green light, quick look!"

I spun around and was amazed at the light show that seemed to encircle the entire island in a rather disconcerting green glow.  

via GIPHY

"What madness is this?" I murmured as an odd sensation crawled all over my skin, as my fur stood on end and quivered with an energy I'd never experienced before.

"AND CUT!"

As each episode passes, there are still so many questions, such as:

For fluff's sake mew guys really attract some weirdos into your life, how do mew do it?

What's the issue with the treasure?

If mew took it, would it really be the end of the world as we know it?

Oh hang on mew guys don't know that bit yet, do mew? MOL

Is Horice going to pay mew back for destroying your drone?

BTW that was one seriously cool drone, where'd mew get it from?

Is Amsted really that much of a nutter that he'd execute mew for trying to take the treasure?

So Horice is really on your side, well, maybe he's just a little conflicted, right?

But seriously, he's got your back, right?

And, how are mew going to get home? 

If mew want to keep reading this epically exciting adventure, we'll be back on Purrsday with Part 10. 

The grand finale will be live on Purrsday and will probably be a furry long post so batten down the hatches, get the nip rum in, the nip cookies and recline in your hammocks until then ... no edges of seats, or tables or that matter - get a bit of comfort happening before the final roller coaster episode as mew know it's going be wet, wild, and probably completely off the planet as that's how we roll.

Hearty purrs!

Until then...

Cap'n Basil & the Crew of The Crimson Revenge

Click here to go to Part X - Link coming later

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