"Hey, it's been a while since Zap's ran off; don't you think, Gill?" Chihiro asked as she ducked a twisted tree branch overhead.

"He has," Gill Grunt said with a gulp, "and where Zap's concerned—"

"That's never a good thing." Chihiro finished Gill Grunt 's sentence for him as they both stared at each other, then to the rear of the group. Chihiro gazed over the back path and clasped her hands, as if she contemplated going back and looking for him. "I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he is, Chi. We'll just have to look for him—maybe he just a little lost."

"Okay, get yourself together, Chihiro." Chihiro took some short, quick breaths and looked back at Gill Grunt. "Looks like we'll have to split up. Gill, retrace our steps, see if he went back. I'll look up here and see if he went ahead of us."

Chihiro and Gill Grunt shared an understanding nod, and parted ways for this time but hopefully not the last. After Gill Grunt went back down the trail they once followed, Chihiro trekked across the dirt floors and trembled the whole time she moved. Eventually, the trembling grew so bad that she just sat down on the earth and prodded at the ground. She was clearly in one of those moods when every single worst-case scenario flashed in her mind—like him getting kidnapped, or seriously hurt, or drowning…

“Wait, he's a water dragon! He can't drown!” Chihiro stood up and closed her eyes, then balled her hands in fists. "You can mope around later, Hatsuki. First, you need to find Zap."

She ran forward, and dodged past scenery which thankfully noticeably lacked in the pirate department. All she saw were trees, and hills, and oceans, and stone… Wait…

"Wait, where'd all the pirates go?" Chihiro asked herself as she slowed down and swerved to her left while her brown eyes skimmed the premises.

She slowed down her run to a cautious walk, and stepped forward without realizing it only to immediately regret that decision—for she stepped in a murky bog that drenched her boot.

"EeeeeEEEE!"

Chihiro’s eyes practically bulged out of her head as she realized that she had just stepped in the cold, murky waters of the bog, but nonetheless she gingerly placed another foot inside the dirty seas.

"Hey, Chihiro!"

Chihiro could hear Gill Grunt's faint voice in the distance and whipped her head around, and her wide eyes blinked furiously as Gill Grunt jetted towards her.

"Did you find Zap?" Chihiro asked.

Gill Grunt only forlornly shook his head, and Chihiro's face fell immediately.

"I retraced his steps as far as I could, but still no sign of Zap." Gill Grunt placed a fin on her shoulder. "I know, I'm worried about him too."

Silence resonated between the two, but Chihiro clenched her fist and stomped along. "I'm sure he probably just found some secret shortcut and ran ahead of us." Chihiro's tone warbled, and her words more confident than she was. "He must've, that sounds exactly like something he would doOOOOO!"

Chihiro felt a sharp pain in her foot, and knelt down to find a strange, yellow blob with a chainsaw-looking thing where its mouth should've been! It dutifully hacked away at her foot with a small, bleeding gash across her heel already accomplished. Chihiro's frown deepened as she plucked the strange creature out from the waters and glared down at it. She held her palm a few inches away from its bladed mouth, created bolts of aqua lightning, and shocked the monster out of her hand.

"That'll teach those things to attack me."

Chihiro stormed ahead as her anxiety faded away, and Gill Grunt silently trailed behind her with a frown spread across his scaly face. She may have not said anything, but surely she hoped Gill Grunt couldn't tell that she was rife with anxiety and anger. It was understandable, considered all of the possible scenarios that could have been occurring right then and there, but she had a mission to perform—she couldn't break down right now.

For the next few minutes, they silently trudged across the bogs. No sounds could be heard but the crickets, their footsteps, and of course, the slosh of the grimy bogwater.

"And I thought my marsh of a backyard was bad," Chihiro grumbled with her head hung down low. "If worrying about Zap doesn't kill me off first, these swamps probably will."

"Did you say something, Chi?" Gill Grunt gave Chihiro a confused stare.

"Oh right, I bet you don't mind. After all, you're a Gillman, you guys were practically made for these kinda things. Humans, on the other hand, yeah." Chihiro looked down for a new moments as a trembling frown formed on her face, looked up and flashed a genuine smile. "Hey, I think we're nearly there!"

Chihiro leaned forward as her eyes guided her towards the faint trace of torchlight, and with a snap of her fingers, she summoned a magical pair of binoculars and looked forward.

There, right in front of her, was a small island covered in trees and lanterns! It had several small houses planted on its surface—though why anybody would want to live in a place that's a regular pirate paradise was beyond guessing. But above all, it was blocked off by a wicker gate guarded by a lock puzzle, much like the ones Chihiro had solved many times before.

"Another puzzle?"

Chihiro walked up and examined the lock puzzle, jiggled it a couple times, and watched as it unlocked and landed straight on her foot. Of course, it took a few seconds for Chihiro to register that there was currently a lock puzzle on her foot, but the minute she peered down and did, well…

"OWCH! Why does that keep happening?"

Chihiro peered down at the puzzle, but it vanished and left behind a throbbing, aching foot. Poor foot. As Chihiro sat down and massaged her foot, Gill Grunt sped up to her side and peered at the now-open gate.

"This place looks so quiet. There's nobody here, but all the lights are on." Chihiro stood up and gazed over at the empty town. "They must've been in a hurry, but, all at once?"

Gill Grunt's face twisted into a frown. "Something about this feels off, Chi. Watch your step."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine, Gill, I mean, what's the worst that could be here? A few of those weird slashy thingies?"

Chihiro stampeded forward, and climbed up the trees and peered into the houses' windows.

"Yep, not a soul here!” Chihiro said as she peered into a window from the palm tree she stood upon, which reflected a bedroom with a caged bluebird inside. “Except for a few birds, that is.” Chihiro peered down at Gill Grunt. "Strange, isn't it?"

"A little too strange, if you ask me." Gill Grunt gave the terrain around them suspicious glances as he turned a couple sides.

"AIEEEEEE!"

Gill Grunt's view shot up right as Chihiro slipped off a palm branch and came screeching down! As she fell down, Gill Grunt flew up and caught her in his scaly arms, slowly hovered back down, and let her back onto the earthy ground.

"Thanks for the save, Gill." Chihiro rolled out of his grasp and peered over at the other side of this creepy little town. "Hey, Gills, I think I see something over there!"

Chihiro dashed over to the other side of town and skid to a halt in front of a… Something. It looked a bit like a small portal, with its milky-white surface that sparkled in all sorts of colorful hues—bright cyans and aquas, regal purples, energetic pinks…

"What's with this thing? Is it a portal?" Chihiro whipped up a magnifying glass out of magic and proceeded to examine the strange portal, tossed her magnifying glass onto it, and watched as it was whooshed away in a flash.

"Guess that answers my question," Chihiro mumbled as she placed her hands on her hips. "Now what am I gonna do?"

"Would you look at that? A warp!" Gill Grunt said as he flew over to Chihiro's side. "You did it, Chihiro! Now let's get goin—"

"Wait, hold on. A warp?" Chihiro peered over the warp. "That looks like a like a portal to me! Well, a really small one, but—" Chihiro cut off from Gill Grunt's soft chuckles "—wait, what's so funny?"

"Well, you're not too far off." Gill Grunt placed his hand on his chin, "Master Eon talked about these things once. The magic they use imitates portal magic, but it's not quite perfect. They can only go to one place instead of a bunch, and since it's not the same thing, portal masters can use 'em all they like!"

"Wait a second." Chihiro put her hands to her chin as she gazed over the warp. "So you're saying I could use this without ripping holes in the time-space continuity or somethin' like that?"

"Well, yeah?"

Chihiro cast one last gaze at the warp, gently tapped it with her foot. With not one second to be wasted, the warp whooshed her away in a giant, pastel tower of shining light!

"WOAH!" Chihiro exclaimed before the light vanished, and took Chihiro with it.

§

Gill Grunt watched as the magic faded and adjusted his jetpack. "Well, looks like I'd better go. Let's hope—Mmph!"

Before Gill Grunt could even finish his sentence, he found himself in a massive, brown sack! He struggled against it, but it was far too thick and strong for him to cut open—yet not strong enough to mask the conversation outside.

"That's two of the Skylandees caught," said someone with a gruff voice, "but what about the lad?"

"Well, we can't catch 'em doin' what we usually do, cap'n," said another person with a notably higher voice. "After all, they're a portal master! Methinks we're gonna be fu—"

"Language, mate. We're tryin' to keep this story T rated."

"Sorry, cap'n." The higher-pitched voice adopted a bit of remorse and paused before it spoke again. "But what will we do? This lad is surely much more powerful than any of us!"

"Relax, mate." The first, gruff voice took a noticeably lackadaisical tone to it. "When the wee lad sees their Skylandees all tied up and helpless, methinks they'll come along swiftly."

And with that, the sack Gill Grunt sat trapped in dropped on the ground! As a mild pain surged through his body, Gill Grunt heard someone untie the sack!

"Hey! Who did that?" Gill Grunt shouted as he poked his head out of the sack. "Come out and face me, you—"

Gill Grunt was immediately greeted by a chorus of cutlasses pointed straight at his face and gulped.

"Yeah, keep it down, Skylandee, and maybe we won't filet ye while we have the chance," growled one of Gill Grunt's captors, a mangy seadog in a crimson-stained hat—who looked awfully familiar, for that matter.

"Wait a second, you're that pirate captain from the docks!"

"Ding, ding! Give the fishy a prize~"

The seadog captain sneered as he untied another sack just a bit and looked back at Gill Grunt. It was, indeed the same seadog—same mangy brown fur, same tattered robes, same crimson-stained captain's hat. This time, he seemed so much more malevolent and imposing than he did when they were at the docks with his narrowed eyes and bared fangs.

"That Kaos fella warned us about ye lot showin' up and pokin' yer noses where ye shouldn't. Seems like he was right."

Gill Grunt bit his lip and gazed around the area while the salty seadogs gave him suspicious glares in return. He looked to his side, and Zap's head popped out of the second sack as he gazed around as he gasped for breath.

"Zap!" Gill Grunt shouted as he looked over at Zap.

"They got you too, huh dude?" Zap asked as he gazed over at Gill Grunt with maybe a tad bit of regret.

"Unfortunately." Gill Grunt's eyes peered down at the loamy earth, and the sack he was still in. Gill Grunt tried to push against it and get out, but no dice. It was still far too tight for him to worm out.

The seadog captain said as he grabbed them both by the sack. "Come on Skylandees, we've got a special mission for you!"

"And what makes you think we'll do anything for you?"

Gill Grunt's lips narrowed into a snarl as the pirate captain sneered.

"Well, the fact that ye're all tied up with nowhere to go comes to mind." The captain grabbed a roll of slime-covered seaweed from the inside of his coat, and snapped off a few rows before he tied them around Gill Grunt and Zap's mouths. "And I don't want to hear a word about it, Skylandee."

And with their cries muffled, the captain dragged the two of them along the darker side of the bushes.