3 Sea Island 4

Polly had many fantasies about how her life as a pirate would be, but none of them came quite close to reality. For starters, she had no crew, and despite a few hands-on practices, she was far from being a pro in the matters of ship steering. Upon acquiring The Birbalinda, Polly had almost immediately packed her bags, loaded the ship, written to her parents, friends, and other relatives, sold her cardboard box by the trade route, and set sail.

She honed her piloting skills for a few weeks by sailing over, into, and through the BRB Cut Sea before taking a bittersweet leave from her home island and sea and moving on to the Eht Sea. However, being a one man crew was no slice of pecan pie.

Polly guessed she lost more weight manning The Birbalinda than she did when she was a young sprout and had tried her hand at counting calories. That wasn't saying much though, for in those days of old she had about as much self-discipline as an embryo. This led her to decide losing five pounds would be a waste of time and effort only moments after she had decided that she would lose five pounds if it were the last thing even if it killed her.

As of now The Birbalinda was slowly drifting towards Sea Island 4, the island closest to hers. Polly was in the kitchen beneath the deck cracking a cold can of iced tea looking over her map. From her infrequent studies, Polly knew that Sea Island 4 was what could be described as a jungle island. The terrain there was mostly of gargantuan flora, but the fauna there was of average size, or so she assumed.

Her plan was to pop by the island, do some exploring, pick some flowers as mementos, maybe scavenge something that could serve as food, and then sail on to Sea Island 5.

Polly emptied the can. It was getting late, and she had mopping the bathrooms set for the morrow, so there was no way she was staying up any later than necessary. In a matter of moments darkness had swallowed The Birbalinda and Polly had crashed on the couch.

x x x

The morning brought with it the fresh screams of seagulls. Unlike fairy tale princesses who had the fine pleasure of using singing doves as alarm clocks, pirates had no such rights to animal labor. Instead, they got gulls screeching like it was a pirate who killed their family, ate their dog, stole the dirt off their great-aunt's grave, and ignored their grandma's birthday invite. Polly rolled out of bed, didn't brush her teeth, and popped up to the deck. Somehow, despite the fact she had left Sea Island 7 literally six days ago, she was already able to see the unmistakable neon green of Sea Island 4.

After confirming her suspicions that her destination was in sight by checking her map and her Island Encyclopedia, Polly headed back down, performed her morning routine (including brushing her teeth, which is something all civilized folk should do), ate half a bagel, and waited for her ship to drift closer to Sea Island 4.

It was far too early in the morning for her to be doing any hard labor (in her opinion), such as ship steering, so she decided she might as well enjoy the free manpower that was the morning wind. However, Polly quickly tired of lounging in her kitchen snacking away, so she decided to walk to the island. It wouldn't take long, it would be good exercise and practice, and it wasn't even that hot.

Really, what could go wrong?

So, being the jolly young lass she was, Polly jumped ship and began strolling on the cerulean waves of the Eht Sea. Soon, after an hour of casual walking that had Polly sweating so much it looked like she went swimming instead of walking, she was there.

Sea Island 4 was even brighter close up than it was from a distance. When you were an hour's walk away, you could pretend that the fluorescent flora didn't make you want to claw your eyes out, but when you were standing face to face with a garishly green tree, well, there wasn't much one could do.

The island would have been tolerable if it wasn't just green that popped out at you from all four corners, except that it was. There was not a shade of brown, or pink, or white, or even red to be seen in that disgustingly vivid place. Polly could hear her vision crying in pain and it hadn't even been ten minutes.

Polly refused to turn back and scavenge her ship for a pair of sunglasses, because her pride and lack of stamina simply wouldn't allow it. The lass moved deeper into the island until she could no longer see the blue of the sea and was surrounded by a sole color. Strangely, the farther she walked the brighter and quieter it got. It would have been an okay setting for a forest ambush if it wasn't for the fact there weren't supposed to be any people on this island to do any ambushing.

The pirate paused mid stride to evaluate her state. Back on deck she would take a nap around this hour, so she saw no reason why she shouldn't do so now. After all, plenty of rest is an important factor in adolescent growth and Polly was desperately trying to transition from bean sprout to beanpole. She found herself a nice patch of grass and laid down for some quality rest.

A shrill caw interrupted her snooze just after she had settled down. She cracked open an eye, just as she would a can of soda only to find a fluffy bird bigger than her head staring her right in the eye in a manner that could be described as challenging.

"Hoo are you?" it squawked.

The strange bird perplexed Polly for a solid few reasons. First off, it was not an owl. It looked more like a kiwi. Secondly, it talked? Polly had seen many things in her day including toddlers pencil lining their brows, but such birds were unprecedented.

"Polly. And who might you bee?" Polly was practically buzzing with excitement over this bee-ing.

"It's no matter to you 'cause you ain't seeing me ever again. Get outta our island miss. We don't want your kind here," snapped the bird.

"My trusty sources told me that this island has quality spices and especially exotic birds? Is that true?" asked Polly in a desperate bid to start a conversation.

The bird looked at Polly quizzically and asked, "Are your ears out of order miss?"

Polly was aghast. "What would lead you to such a conclusion?" she gasped.

"I asked you to get out and you're still here. Maybe that's why," snapped the bird. "But if it'll get you scramming any faster, then yes our beloved island has bunches of rare birds, like me. I'm a precious jewel if you must know. Also, all the best chefs in Meemonia were trained here so it's natural they would appreciate the fine herbs of this island more than the bland trash from your part of the world."

Clearly, the bird was not one to mince its words.

"Right," mumbled Polly, quite taken aback though she really shouldn’t have been. After all, she was no Herman Cortes, the conquistador who could get a warm welcome from the natives despite invading their land.

The pirate rose and began walking out when she paused. It was just too green and the forest might as well have been a desert, for it was that hard to tell directions. Marking her path had not even crossed Polly’s mind.

The bird was apparently able to sense this. Maybe it could tell that Polly was more than ready to leave because honestly, Polly was a sensitive soul, and being shooed out in such a frank manner did not bode well with her. The bird was equally as desperate for Polly to be gone, so with a huff it squawked, "I'll walk you out."

Together, the two began tromping their way out, when Polly caught a flash of brown, a similar shade to the feathers of the bird she was following. Now might be the time to mention the bird was the first non-green thing Polly had seen on this monochromatic island.

"Are there more birds here?" questioned Polly. Now that Polly gave the idea a semblance of a thought, it was more than a tad strange she had only seen one living creature that was not a plant here. Not even a fish in the waters or a bug in the leaves for that matter.

"Do you have anymore annoying in that tiny frame of yours," retorted the bird. Polly couldn't remember the last time she'd been shut down so fast. Actually, she could, less than 10 minutes ago when she had first met the bird.

There was a noise that could have been a really quiet chirp from the direction of where the brown splotch had been seen. The bird frowned and clucked something to itself that Polly had no hope in understanding. She didn't even know how to read lips, so of course reading beaks was out of the question. Of course there are some who level up without defeating the first boss (not really but one can dream), but Polly wasn’t one of them.

As they journeyed on, the chirps became louder and louder until they reached the point Polly could 98.6% guarantee she was hearing other birds. Her guide seemed more than displeased, and in fact quite peeved, with the increasing noise. When a chirp loud enough to cause a lone leaf to flutter down resonated through the plants, the duo came to a stop.

"I have something to attend to," declared the bird. "Wait here."

The bird hopped away and Polly was left with the choice of being a morally righteous human being or being an edgy rebel teen. The choice was quite obvious. She plopped down on the soft grass and closed her eyes to escape the bright colors for even the shortest of moments. Her eyes were closed for probably less than a minute when she felt a beak poking into her shoulder. Thinking that it was the vaguely intimidating bird who was escorting her off the island, the lass shot up only to find that it wasn't.

A bird a tad smaller than the one that was escorting Polly was looking at her with something that could only be described as desperation in its eyes.

"Our forces have managed to distract The Dictator for now, but she won't be gone long," chirped the bird. "My name is Wiki and I'm part of L.O.L, Leaders of Liberty. The Dictator has been terrorizing our people for three years and you're the only foreigner that's come since then. You have to help us."

"There's been no other adventurers or chefs in training?" questioned Polly.

"Not since her. We don't know how, but it seems The Dictator put up a barrier around the island so that no ship can pass. That's deterred more than a few guests.

Polly felt a small earthquake ripple through her mind, as her thoughts were shaken. She wasn't sure if she could trust the bird, but Polly wasn’t one to leave behind a fella in need.

"What can I do to help?"

By some miracle of nature the bird's beak lifted into what could be vaguely described as a smile.

"Follow me, but try to be quiet about it, though I know that isn't your strongest suit. The Dictator could be back any moment now. Unfortunately for us, she's nowhere near as stupid as we would like

her to be."

"Right," replied Polly despite feeling a tad stung from the rebuke. She didn't even know if it was intentional.

And so, the two vanished into the neon green foliage.