Coco, Bentley, and Penelope stared around at the inside of the lower levels of the skull keep. The dank stone walls arced drearily over them, and the intermittent drip of water echoed through the tunnels. Shackles hung from the stone, clinking and clanking idly from the passage of air. Devices of torture lay against the walls and on tables, showing recent use. Blood dripped from the rusty metal points, mixing with the puddles of water that filled divots in the stone steps from frequent transit, filling the air with the stench of mold, mildew, and pain.
Coco staggered a bit as it assaulted her. "Stronger senses are a double edged sword," she muttered, struggling to hold down her nausea so as to not add the scent of vomit to the mix. The nausea stopped as Penelope slipped an oddly-configured, beak-like mask over her muzzle, filling her nose with a pleasant rose and daffodil scent. "...thanks?" she asked in surprise.
"Plague mask," Penelope explained as she tied her own on after giving one to Bentley. "Picked them up back in Galleth's period. They thought the sweet scents warded off the plague evils. It doesn't work, but makes for great low-tech gas masks if all you want to do is filter out scents."
"And we definitely want to here," Bentley agreed. "Don't suppose you've got the robes, too? Would make great disguises."
"Unfortunately not," Penelope admitted. "I only have so much room in hidden pouches in this bodysuit."
"It'll do," Coco allowed, trying to feel the structure with her magic through her hooves. "Down leads to a dead end, while up opens up to the roofs. Since the roofs were guarded, we should check down first."
"Lead the way," Bentley agreed, following along carefully as he walked his wheelchair down the stairs after Coco, doing his best not to splash too much.
It didn't take long for them to reach the bottom, and the single cell holding a still-living occupant. The fox chained to the wall looked filthy and bedraggled, as well as partially soaked. His military coat was torn and stained with what looked like some form of booze, and he was chained to the wall to the point he couldn't move a muscle.
"I'm going to guess that's Admiral Flametail," Penelope observed carefully. She found herself blushing slightly at the sight of just how muscular he was under the torn coat. "I see why Henriette went for him."
"Penelope!" Bentley whined.
"Hey, I'm over hunting muscle heads," Penelope promised as she laid her hand over Bentley's. "I've got my guy." She then glanced slyly at him. "Besides, I caught you eyeing Henriette when she wasn't trying to dislocate your shoulder through the wheels of your chair so she could use you as a bludgeon to get past Murray."
Bentley looked down, glad the plague mask hid his blush. "Fair enough."
"If yer just gonna talk..." the fox slurred, opening his eyes blearily, "...can...can ye do it elsewhere? 'm tryin' ta sleep..."
"We're here to bust you out!" Coco spoke up quickly.
"Fat chance o' that," Flametail muttered. "These chains and shackles got no keys. 'm welded here. Gonna be stuck here long as the keep stands, just t' keep Henriette in line...stupid LeFuck, if I were free I'd soon show him...but no, he caught me off guard, welded me here, and...*hic*"
Bentley blinked in surprise. "Why would you deliberately keep a prisoner drunk?" he asked Penelope in confusion.
"Because that plus this kind of security is necessary to keep him from busting out?" Penelope offered. "If we could get him off the wall, we could take him back to the hideout and work on breaking the chains."
"Do...do ya think ya could gimme another drink?" Flametail asked hopefully. "The casks...over there..." He gestured to several casks against the opposite wall. "Jus...dun wanna face the world a failure..."
Coco carefully examined the casks...then grinned widely. "I think I can get him off the wall. Penelope, can you get the cell open?"
"Sure," Penelope agreed, easily opening it. "So what are you going to do?"
"How come you're called Flametail?" Coco asked curiously as she stacked the casks against the stone wall of the cell.
"...mongst other things, 'm fireproof," Flametail offered.
"How are you with explosions?" Coco continued as she pushed her magic into the stone, feeling the structure.
"Ask Henriette!" Flametail joked, chuckling drunkenly.
"Fire in the hole," she said softly, dashing to Bentley's wheelchair and tossing one of his bombs in among the casks before ducking behind the stone. Bentley and Penelope ducked with her.
The bomb went off, and the tightly packed alcohol in the casks exploded alongside the one cask of flour Coco'd managed to load with them. The stone wall burst apart, leaving the chained up Flametail blinking as he found he could move as the smoke cleared. "So...about that drink?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry," Coco offered apologetically. "No drink."
"None?" Flametail asked in upset. "But...it was all there. Why is the rum gone?"
"I had to use it to shape the blast," Coco explained. "Otherwise I might have damaged the structure-"
"But why-" Flametail's body flexed, the chains and manacles shattering off of him with the one inch of movement he had to flex in. "-is the rum-" His eyes blazed as three extra tails unfurled from underneath his torn coat. "-gone?!" he shouted, slamming his clenched fist into the wall. White light raced through the wall, and the entire thing exploded outward with the force of an earthquake.
Coco, Bentley, and Penelope could only stare. Eventually, it was Penelope who found her voice. "You know...I'd wondered how the more 'magical' seeming of the Cooper Techniques worked..."
"So how are we going to get him back to the hideout and Henriette with all the attention that's going to draw?" Bentley demanded. "We still need to try and find her hook!"
"Oh, you mean this?" Flametail asked, reaching into one of the extra tails that had sprouted and pulling out the hook in question. "LeFwee was down here bragging and showing it off to 'torment' me, and he never noticed my extra tail swiping it out of his pocket. Picked up a few useful skills from Henriette in addition to information."
"You...don't seem as drunk as a minute ago," Coco observed carefully.
He gestured to the hole he'd made. "The rum in my blood had to go somewhere."
Ha. Pirates of the Caribbean references.
that guy is scary.
...Oh sweet Celestia, he’s Marine Pyro Jack Sparrow. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
..... so many answer, yet it just brings up even more confusing questions....
8490102
Marine Pyro Whitebeard Jack Sparrow.
8490102
Marine Pyro Jack Sparrow KITSUNE. We are going to BURN.
Don't suppose you've got the robes, too? Would make great disguised
1. Disguises.
Guess Flametail is now ready to rum-ble.
If anyone managed to fourtail how they pulled off this break out, kudos to them.
He must've drank a hole lot of rum to make it that big.
8490112
Portags D. Ace meets Kurama
Love the poc reference
Paradox: "hey, just calling to make sure you actually have the hook."
LeFwee: "Of course, it's right...um..."
P: "...anything you want to add or are you going to take care of business?"
L: "B-BUSINESS, DEFINITELY BUSINESS!" *dashes out of room*
P: "...why do I have a feeling I'm going to have similar, if not worse calls..."
Oh look. A kitsune
8490134
Meets Bender. (Because he's fueled by alcohol.)
8490112
Oh god!
So Captain Jack is in the Cooper family. And he's a Navy man.
So... where exactly DID he find the Gura Gura no mi?
When will he get a jar of dirt??? Will he feel sullied and unusual? So many Jack Sparrow references to make! But Henriette needs to smack him at least once, especially if he oogles Carmelita for a moment to long, so he can do the, "I may have deserved that one!" line. Also, is it wrong I can see Henriette and Flametail raising a pirate fox version of Naruto and said Naruto getting involved with a rabbit version of Hinata as a noble daughter and romancing her???
8490220
I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do for you now...
The Puns are too strong.
Is that how the pirate-navy do romance?
8490362
Did you honestly expect anything different?
8490370
I thought of sword playing and drinking contest.
So a British officer of Japanese decent. Part of me wonders how that happened. But then again, the Cooper line is more fox than ring tail at this point, so that thought is easy enough to shut up.
Kitsunes are freaking awesome.
Also, I only noticed the joke on the names of the pirate chapters now
8490383
With this family? Don't be so mundane!
So he's a Kitsune with the personality of a Sober Jack Sparrow. Neat.
8490112
I also detected some Captain Haddock in there
8490112
Now all he needs is a theme song. Good thing I've been listening to one that would work well.
8490112
That’s even worse!
Bravo, sir.
Amongst this one, there's so many delicious references
hahaha!
Gurarararararara
8490403
Good lord he's a multi-tailed fox.
I wonder if that this is something Sly could develop, considering all the fox he clearly has in his ancestry.
8490112
Wait.
Are the Coopers going to steal Time and make their own version of heaven where all Coopers gather?
Ha Ha! Hoist the mainsail!! It is time for revenge against the cheating LeFwee!! YAR!
Oh boy. If Flametail and Henrietta get it on, everything in a 5 block radius will become a blast zone.
8490516
Nah, this works much beater.
8491053
Reminds me of the ending for Like Water for Chocolate.
That was an odd book.
8490220
why would we fix someone who's obviously having a blast?
I knew there was going to be a Pirates of the Caribbean reference. Just not where I expected it.
The Admiral's a Kitsune? Did not see that one coming.
8491053
i think u might be under estimating the blast zone...
And here I'd assumed that his last name was purely figurative.
8491722
I was quoting Cooler from one of the many TFS movies
8492676
Its actually Hellsing Abridged, which is why I got confused. You're right it is TFS just not DBZ which I forgot wasn't their only project.
But why is the rum gone?
It decided it wanted to rum away.
8494491
I gotta admit...I never saw that coming.
(Someone had too)
LOL
Of course he makes a Pirates reference. His method of un-drunkening is also pretty cool. I wonder if it's reusable...?
8499727
Hey guys I found the rum! It's with that one guy on the left.
So the family has kitsune blood?