Pirates!

Ben and the gang are enjoying themselves at Hostile Coasts Theme Park, when suddenly three pirates attack seeking to claim the park's profits for themselves!

Plot
The water twists and turns rapidly, the circular wooden boat spins near uncontrollably along the artificial river’s path. Ben and Gwen sit inside, cheering, as the ride takes them down a long straight portion of ‘rapids’ through a tunnel. A huge wave of water splashes over the banks of the river as the boat, if you can call it that, reaches the bottom. The tunnel widens out, turning into a sprawling cave system decorated with Jolly Rogers and burning torches.

The river continues to turn unpredictably through the dark, slowly descending before reaching a large cavern. One one side of the lake sits a small faux village built out of wood in an almost Wild Western style at odds with the massive pirate shipwreck sat in the middle of the cavern, piles of gold coins billowing out of either side.

The boat drifts through a shallow lake, its path dictated by rope barriers either side, before arriving at a small pier. The boat has now drifted onto a conveyor belt but is held in place by a member of staff while Ben and Gwen climb out, still cheering. The boat empty, the employee lets go and the boat disappears into a hole in the cave wall to return to the start of the ride.

Employee: “Congratulations on facing the challenge of the Doomed Galleon, you have discovered the wreckage of the lost Scot’s Fury. You are the first to lay eyes on her since she ran aground centuries ago.”

Her voice was utterly dead inside. She hears someone coughing behind her, and she smiles.

Employee: “Yarr!”

She sounded no less disinterested, only slightly more upbeat.

Ben: “If we’re the first how did you get here before us?”

Gwen: “And what about those kids over there?”

She points at a small group ahead of them, walking up a set of stairs that lead through an opening above the cave back to the surface. The woman kneels down so that she is at head-height of the two children.

Employee: “Listen kids, they don’t pay me enough to answer questions like that.”

Supervisor: “Casey can I talk to you for a moment?”

She turns around, and moans as she is dragged off to the side. Ben and Gwen carry on.

Ben: “Aww, that was so cool! We should do it again!”

Gwen: “Have you seen the stairs up? It’ll take us half the day to get up there, go again, and then get back up.”

Ben: “Well good thing you have the master of flight right by your side!”

Ben carefully makes his selection on the Omnitrix dial before slamming down. He instantly turns a deep, translucent cyan as his outline begins to fade. A red, metal-like shell instantly forms around him to contain his now-liquid body.

Gwen: “That’s not your **master of flight.**”

Overflow: “No, but it’s good enough for second place. Climb on!”

Overflow puts his arms down in front of himself and Gwen grapples up and lays on his head, holding onto the water canisters tightly. With two powerful, sustained blasts of water Ben launches the pair of them high into the air and they easily clear the top of the ravine, as well as the fences blocking it off. They land, and Gwen jumps down. Overflow looks around confused as to where he is.

Max: “Hey kids!”

Gwen: “Grandpa!”

Grandpa Max approaches the pair while holding three ice cream cones, but Gwen runs over to meet him halfway. Overflow follows shortly.

Max: “I got you both some ice cream!”

Gwen: “Thanks!”

Overflow: “Ice cream?”

He glows red as the Omnitrix times out, restoring him to his human form.

Ben: “Awesome! Thanks!”

Gwen: “How did you find us anyway?”

Max: “It wasn’t hard. All I had to do was find the most exciting-sounding ride here and wait near the exit. I don’t exactly need to keep a close look out when one of you keeps turning into monsters all the time.”

Ben: “Aliens.”

Max: “I know. So how are you two enjoying Hostile Coasts theme park?”

The trio are stood in a large open space next to the fenced-off ravine in the middle of a. Across from them is a series of kiosks selling merchandise and snacks. The skyline is dominated by impressive rides of all shape and function. From roller coaster to swinging galleon to huge towers that drop you from a height, all adorned in a mid-1800s Caribbean aesthetic.

Ben: “I still say that’s a terrible name for a theme park.”

Max: “I meant the rides.”

Ben: “They’re great. Thanks for bringing us here!”

Max: “Sure, no problem. Hey, look! A live performance is about to start!”

Max points over to the entrance of the Doomed Galleon ride. Ben and Gwen turn to look, before a loud explosion echoes through the park.

Bearded Pirate: “Ahoy and Avast! ‘Twas us behind that loud ol’ blast! Me, Smugglebeard, and my Pirate Crew, Here to take your gold from you!”

Three pirates stand outside the ride. Smugglebeard is wide and strong with a magnificent black beard covering most of his torso. To his left is a tall, thin man with no hair. One of his legs is missing, with a chainsaw in its place. The third is a large woman wielding a smoking cannon. An eye patch covers her right eye.

Lanky Pirate: “Sir, I appreciate the effort you put into ya’ art but poetry’s not exactly intimidatin’.”

Smugglebeard: “Interrupt me again, Pegleg Pete, and you’ll walk the plank. For we’re only here to make mad bank!”

Ben: “Well they’re not very consistent. What kind of pirate says ‘mad bank’?”

Gwen: “What kind of actors use explosives that loud?”

Max: “The kind that aren’t actors. Which sounds like a job for us! Come on!”

Smugglebeard turns to the employee running the ride while the crowd waiting in line runs in fear.

Smugglebeard: “Aye matey, we’re here to conquer yer challenge and claim yer gold.”

The boy behind the counter hesitates. The woman aims her cannon at him.

Smugglebeard: “Come along lad, before I have Loose-Eye Lucy turn ya into chum.”

Ben: “Stop right there!”

Smugglebeard: “Ay? Be that the sound of defiant adolescent I hear?”

He turns to face Ben, who runs over towards the trio followed shortly by the other members of his own trio.

Smugglebeard: “Yarr, would appear I was mistaken. ‘Tis but a child.”

Ben: “I’m not just any child, I’m Ben Tennyson!”

Ben brings his red-glowing Omnitrix to bear.

Smugglebeard: “Ben Tennyson aye? Can’t say the name rings a bell, though I do appreciate the repetitive syllables. Now stand aside small child as we claim ‘ar riches!”

Smugglebeard returns his attention to the rides attendant.

Ben: “What riches? This is a theme park ride!”

The Captain turns back to Ben, slowly, almost dumbfounded by the question.

Smugglebeard: “Do ye have any idea how much money a theme park makes, boyo?”

Ben: “I dunno. At least thirty dollars per person?”

Smugglebeard: “At least! The candy! The gift store! THE MERCHANDISE! This park is a gold mine! And ye know how much I like me gold.”

Ben: “I've known you for five minutes.”

Smugglebeard: “Pete! Tell ‘im how much I like me gold!”

Pete: “Aye he does like ‘is gold he does.”

Smugglebeard: “Oh how I like me gold! So beautiful and yeller! Come on lads! We have riches to claim!”

Loose-Eye Lucy steps closer to the employee.

Lucy: “Ya best get movin’ lad.”

He obliges hastily, and runs over to the side of the ride. He grabs a long pole, which he uses to drag one of the round boats from a storage pool onto a conveyor belt at the starting area of the ride. He holds it still while the three pirates climb in.

Ben: “That didn’t answer anything!”

Gwen: “Unless… He means the gold decorations at the bottom of the ride?”

Ben: “Aren’t those made of plastic?”

Gwen: “I thought they were.”

Max: “Whatever they’re after, they’re willing to hurt people to get it. They need to be stopped.”

Gwen: “So what’s the fastest way down there?”

Ben: “Back down the exit stairs!”

Max: “No. We have to keep the stairs clear so people can get out.”

Ben: “Then we have to go down the ride again!”

Gwen runs over to the employee as the three pirates slowly drift along the conveyor belt, before the boat is carried away by the artificial river’s current.

Gwen: “Get us a boat quickly!”

Employee: “I’m fairly sure letting two boats down so soon violates health and safety, but so does carrying an actual cannon through the park.”

He grabs another boat.

Employee: “Go ahead.”

Max: “You two go on without me, I’ll help people evacuate in case they decide to fire off their cannon again.”

Ben: “Right!”

The two cousins climb into the boat, and the employee sets it on its way. It bounces slightly as it hits the water proper. Their journey begins. The boat rocks them side to side vigorously.

Ben: “Wait what was the plan here again? We can’t get there first when we’re on rails like this!”

Gwen: “No, but we can catch up to them!”

Ben: “How?”

Gwen: “We can build speed where they lose it! See that corner up ahead? When I say so, lean to the left of the boat!”

They near a round sharp turn in the river. Distant ‘yarrs’ can be heard from ahead. Either side of the river is lined with foliage, boulders, and tall palm trees.

Gwen: “Lean!”

The jump to the side of the boat, and stay on that side long enough to help the boat turn the corner despite its constant rotation. It works, and where the boat would normally slow as it changed direction instead it careened around at high speed.

They repeat this several times along the ride, maximising their speed, until they can see the pirates just ahead of them, losing sight every time they turned a corner ahead. They hear the pirates cheer up ahead, the rapids were near.

Ben: “We’re not gonna catch up to them before the ride ends! We need more speed!”

Gwen (cheering): “XLR8!”

Ben: “Overflow!”

Ben shoves the Omnitrix dial down, transforming instantly into a large, rotund, white alien with yellow plates protecting his back. The boat shakes as he falls over backwards, losing his footing under his unexpected new weight.

Gwen: “Okay so what now?”

The boat approaches the rapids, and they see the pirates at the bottom of the decline as they disappear into the caves. Ben looks off to the side of the ride. Just beyond the foliage, between the decorations and the walls of the cave, was a gap. Putting two and two together, he realised this meant there was a staircase on the other side to allow safe access to the enclosed parts of the ride in case of emergency.

Cannonbolt: “I’ll see you at the bottom!”

Carefully waiting for his side of the boat to swing closer to the bank, Cannonbolt jumps out and trips over the rocks hiding the stairs. He quickly folds himself into an armoured ball. He slams into the wall of the cave, bouncing onto the stairs but being held off of them by the railings either side. He spins, sliding down the rails at great speed and overtaking Gwen and the boat.

The stairs open out into the displays at the bottom, the campfires and flags. Cannonbolt smashes into one of the walls as the river turns a corner, bouncing off onto the next leg of his journey. He spins wildly as he approaches the trio, before shooting straight past them further into the cave system. He passes decorative skeletons and fake abandoned weapons before rolling rapidly into the opening at the end of the ride, the bottom of the ravine that Max was waiting at the top of.

Cannonbolt skids along the surface of the lake before he crashes into the water with a red flash of light. He swims to the surface. No one in sight, they’d all gotten to safety. He looks up to see Max waving down at him

Max: “ BEN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? ”

Ben raised his hand and was about to respond, but hesitated at the loud distant sounds of the approaching pirates-bordering-terrorists. He turns around and sees the sunken galleon -the Scot’s Fury- and swims over to it. He climbs up the spilled gold, now knowing it was just plastic, and hides within the faux ship.

His opponents enter the room with a splash.

Smugglebeard: “Aye I haven’t enjoyed myself like that in years!”

Their boat is carried to the dock by the rope barriers.

Smugglebeard: “Pete, cut us a path to the galleon!”

Pete: “Aye aye Captain!”

Pegleg Pete pulls a cord in the side of his artificial leg, and the chainsaw in place there revs into life with a sputter of smoke. He dangles his leg off the side of the boat, cutting away at the rope holding them in place while Lucy held onto the rope to prevent them from drifting closer to the dock. Once a hole had been cut, Smugglebeard and his mates pulled the boat past the rope barrier and out of the stream that had been propelling them thus far.

Smugglebeard: “Onwards! To the ship!”

Lucy and Pete glance at each other. Now that they were in (relatively) open waters they had no way to propel themselves closer to the galleon. Making the most of what they had available to them, they start paddling. There is a loud splash behind them as Gwen enter the caves.

Smugglebeard: “Yarr! Scallywags behind us! Arm cannons! Fire!”

Lucy picks up her huge cannon, holding it in both hands, and aims for Gwen. Gwen squeals and tries to hide beneath the rim of the boat.

Ben: “No!”

Lucy: “Eh?”

The pirates turn towards the source of the noise.

Smugglebeard: “What? How’d the lad get ahead of us?”

Although Lucy had tried to keep an eye on Gwen, until two flashes of light force her attention towards the half-sunken wreck. Amidst the light Ben once more assumes his Cascan form Overflow, before the light turns a bright cyan as his body in engulfed in grey rock and he gains to huge cannons of his own above either shoulder.

He aims his two shoulder cannons at the ground, launching himself into the air of the open cavern. Lucy aims her weapon at the incoming threat and fires, but loses balance in the rocking boat and sends herself overboard with the recoil.

Thinking fast, Smugglebeard and Pete jump overboard as well before Overflow crashes through the boat and destroys it. He swims back to the surface.

Gwen: “Ben! Are you okay?”

Overflow (OE): “Yeah. This wasn’t what I had planned today.”

Gwen: “Me neither.”

Gwen’s boat shakes and she almost loses balance. Behind her, Pegleg Pete had begun climbing into the boat. Ben submerged into the water and propels himself to the boat using his cannons.

Pete: “You ‘n that monster should stick to yourselves instead ‘a gettin’ involved where ya don’t belong!”

He steps towards Gwen, but is stopped when a strange black hand grabs his ankle. The hand pulls him into the water, slamming his head into the rim of the boat as it does. His movement not limited by the water, Ben swiftly pummels Pete before throwing him out of the water and over to the docks.

Smugglebeard: “ YARR! ”

Overflow pops his head out of the water.

Gwen: “Ben, the boat!”

Overflow (OE): “On it!”

Overflow launches himself back into the air with his cannons, straight towards the Scot’s Fury. He lands on the top deck, overlooking the rocky ground that the ship was crashed into. Below stood Smugglebeard and Lucy as the Captain laments over the fake pirate booty.

Smugglebeard: “Garr! Tis nothing but cheap flexible plastic!”

Overflow (OE): “Well, yeah. Why would they use real gold? That’s way too expensive?”

Smugglebeard: “Where else would they keep thar’ gold?”

Overflow (OE): “The bank?”

Smugglebeard: “The bank?! Of course! Tis’ the natural home of capitalist landlubbers! With me Lucy, we’re off to visit the bank!”

The two pirates turn and begin walking away casually.

Overflow (OE): “Yeah no.”

Ben jumps down to their level before firing two icy blasts from his massive cannons, freezing the two in place from the neck down. He then uses them to boost-jump over the pair to face them from the front.

Overflow (OE): “You three are way too dangerous, I’m not gonna just let you go. You can wait here until the police arrive and confiscate your cannon.”

Lucy: “No! Never!”

Smugglebeard: “Listen, laddy. Do ye know why they call me Smugglebeard?”

Overflow (OE): “Cos you can hide things in your beard?”

Smugglebeard: “How right ye are!”

Smugglebeard’s black beard parts as a large muscular arm emerges from within. He strikes down with it, shattering the icy prison instantly.

Overflow (OE): “Agh! Why do you have a third arm on your chin?”

Smugglebeard: “Aye the thalidomide was not too kind on me mother.”

He turns and shatters Lucy’s ice with his third arm as well.

Smugglebeard: “But enough about the past, I want you presently pulped! Lucy!”

Lucy: “Aye aye Captain!”

She quickly draws her cannon and fires, but the projectile flies straight over its target.

Overflow (OE): “Woah! Lucky miss!”

Smugglebeard: “Miss?! How’d ya miss? he’s massive!”

Lucy: “Aye so’s me blind spot.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cave, Gwen’s boat approached the dock. She climbs out onto the wooden platforms as quietly as she can, unnoticed by Pegleg Pete who was busy searching for a getaway.

Thinking fast, she picks up one of the boat-dragging rods the employees would use and wacks the oblivious scallywag’s good leg.

Pete: “Ah, me good leg!”

He hops for a second before collapsing.

Gwen: “I’d like to see you get back up with just that chainsaw!”

Pete: “Aye, so would I.”

His voice is shaky. He curls into a ball, holding his intact leg tightly.

Back over to the more interesting fight scene where Ben is doing so many awesome things why did you want to know what Gwen was doing? Lucy is sent flying back by a strong blast of water, knocking the cannon out of her hands. Using his powerful third arm, Smugglebeard picks up a crate and throws it at Overflow. He blocks with both arms and the crate shatters on impact, scattering its foam peanut payload everywhere.

In return, Overflow aims his cannons once more and prepares another icy volley. Smugglebeard blocks the attack with all three arms, now frozen together. He struggles only briefly before pulling his arms apart, now each covered in a thin layer of ice. Smugglebeard charges at Overflow, but Ben hydro-jumps over him to reach Lucy. He picks her up by the legs, spins in place, and tosses her over to the docks.

The Captain seizes this opportunity to jump on Overflow’s back. He climbs up and starts pummeling one of the barrel-shaped shoulder cannons that had caused him so much trouble in this fight. Ben aims his forearms overhead and fires blindly, soaking the already wet Smugglebeard before a current of electricity suddenly jolts through the flow- stunning him and causing him to fall off.

Ben turns around and grabs Smugglebeard’s third arm, before firing both shoulder cannons at the ground to lift himself up again. He throws the final fighter over to the docks with the other two, before flying over there himself and timing out. Two police officers suddenly appear from the staircase leading to the surface, followed shortly by Grandpa Max. The two officers are holding guns.

Officer #1: “Freeze!”

Ben and Gwen both raise their hands.

Officer #2: “Not you two!”

Ben: “Well those three aren’t going anywhere.”

As he says that, Smugglebeard climbs to his feet with his third arm now hidden away again.

Smugglebeard: “Ah, hello officers! It would appear there has been a-uhh misunderstandin’.”

Officer #2: “We were called in for a terror threat.”

Smugglebeard: “Oh you mean the explosion? A pyrotechnic mishap I assure you. Nothin’ ta fear.”

Officer #1: “Pyrotechnics? You three work here?”

Smugglebeard: “Aye.”

Lucy slowly picks herself up off the ground. Pete tries to as well, but struggles to find sure footing. Lucy leans down and picks him up into a bridal carry.

Officer #1: “Then why were you all on the floor?”

Smugglebeard: “Part o’ the act!”

Max: “It wasn’t an act I saw you aim a loaded cannon at an employee!”

The pirate Captain looks down at a watch that he isn’t wearing.

Smugglebeard: “Oh wouldya look at the time! Our shift ended five minutes ago. Keep up the good work officers!”

Smugglebeard and Lucy, with Pete in arms, begin sauntering over to a set of staff-only double doors before breaking into a sprint.

Gwen: “So are you two gonna...?”

The police officers run off after them.

Gwen: “...Yeah.”

Max: “Are you two okay?”

Ben: “Yuh-huh. I think I’m done with water parks for today though.”

Noteworthy Events

 * Smugglebeard and his crew make their debut

Characters

 * Ben Delta
 * Gwen Delta
 * Max Delta
 * Hostile Coasts Employees
 * Casey
 * Casey’s former supervisor (she was fired RIP)

Villains

 * Smugglebeard’s Crew
 * Captain Smugglebeard
 * Loose-Eye Lucy
 * Pegleg Pete

Aliens Used

 * Overflow (x2, first time intended alien was Stinkfly, second time was cameo)
 * Omni-Enhanced Overflow
 * Cannonbolt (intended alien was Overflow)