Task:

The restaurant which was once filled with joy, various loud noises, and an all around good time was dead silent. Nothing could be heard save for the dripping of water, from table to floor coming from a cup that was dropped over. The civilians in the the establishment, the family that ran it all looked over in the direction of the marines, specifically Commander Richards who just looked over Joey as his hands rest in his pockets. Majority of the people here were confused about what was going on, but the family was worried. They recall Joey earlier claiming himself to be a pirate, they recalled how they stumbled upon him before, being chased down by some Marines. The parents were also worried for their son, Charles who was sitting at the same table as Joey. Charles on the other hand wasn't worried about himself, but Joey. Joey just looked up at the Commander, before slowly taking another bite.

"Ermm, can I help y'all with something?" the country boy asked with food in his mouth. The Commander simply chuckled before saying, "Don't talk with your mouth full...it's unsanitary." with a shrug. "You might be able to help me out however..." the Commander said, backing up a bit from the table. "I got word of some kid causing a brawl down at the entrance of Logue Town yesterday. He ran from the scene when my marines showed up, and even assaulted some of them." the other people here gasped while others started to recall such events. "Oh, and he also declared himself to be a pirate...who fit your description." Richards added, as Joey just continued to eat, his eyes glued on the marine. "You wouldn't happen to anything about that, would yo-"

"Yup, that was me!"

The place once again fell silent with a lot of people now sporting various dumbfounded looks on their faces including the Commander. ".....Er.....Well..." he fixed his glasses which dropped a bit. "I guess this just makes things a lot more easy then, Mr.Jojo." he claimed with a shrug before he went to draw his sword....

Joey was now staring down the end of the commander's blade. All eyes were on the young man who returned the look in a bit of confusion despite knowing fully well what was going on. "You are under arrest, Mr.Jojo." is what Richards said. Joey attempted to clench his fists, considering punching his way out of this mess, but at he tried clenching his left fist, he winced a bit which was something Charles picked up on as well. Joey's arm was still injured from his previous bout with Captain Lenny. His head wasn't also doing too well. Fighting not only these marines, but this commander as well would be suicide at this point! Why did they have to come up here now? Why did they have to ruin his damn feast!? Joey looked over to Charles, then to the rest of the people before coming up with something....something stupid.

"Uhhh, sure." Joey would say before getting up which was met with all ten rifles from the other ten marines here facing him along with the commander's sword. "Joey, what are you doi-" "Charles, hush your mouth..." Charles' father would intervene, not wanting his child to get into any trouble. The father along with the rest of the family didn't like it neither. Joey helped them, but in the end he was still a criminal. "Thank you for your cooperation." As Joey was about to raise his hands up, he grinned slightly before pressing his hands against the under part of the table, flipping it over to shield him, and Charles. As the happened, all hell was about to break loose with the marines about to shoot only to be stopped because of the sheer number of civilians in here. Said civilians began to panic with some running around, dropping stuff while others pushed, and shoved each other towards the exist all while Joey managed to sneak behind the counter with Charles behind him!!

Some of the Marines caught eye of Joey, and yelled, "Don't let him get away!!" as they started running in that direction, Commander Richards simply watching with a sigh. "Well, doing this the hard way then..." he said with a shrug before sheathing his sword.

Chaos! Everything was in utter turmoil in this restaurant! Customers were running left, and right, trying to get out of the establishment. Most weren't trying to get shot of course while others wanted to get away from the supposed pirate. Once Joey made his way behind the counter, he left Charles there with his family who also were hiding back there. "Well, this was fun, but it looks like I gotta jet!" the country boy said with a grin before running into the kitchen. "Joey!" Charles attempted to go after him, but his father stopped him. He didn't want his son getting hurt of course, but Charles knew that Joey was in more trouble. The blond still hasn't recovered completely from his injuries back on Dawn Island, and the Commander was no pushover!

"Joey you say?" Commander Richards commented with a curious tone as he came up by the counter, his ensigns running in front of him to try, and apprehend the criminal. Charles, and the rest of his family all looked up towards him in fear. Richards never looked in the direction of the family, but stood there until the rest of his marines passed him. "It'd be wise to listen to your father. People who claim themselves to be pirates, or any other criminal can be dangerous. Can't have anybody getting hurt now." Richards claimed as he started his walk towards the kitchen.

"YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT JOEY! HE IS NO CRIMI-"

Charles' father quickly covered his son's mouth just as Richards stopped. "Keep...your mouth...shut..." Charles' father demanded in a low, but aggressive tone. Charles couldn't believe that his father, his mother, or even sister would just sit there, and not say anything about this, after all the help Joey has given them! Charles looked up to his dad, sporting a furious expression only for it to change as he saw the tears falling from his face...the tears falling from the rest of his family's faces. It's not like they didn't care....they just didn't want one of their own to get into any trouble. There was a possibility that they could've lost him once, they didn't want it happening again. Richards had his back towards them still, giving a small silent smirk before walking off.

The hunt was on.

Passing through the door, Joey was now in the kitchen. There were still things cooking on the stoves for the feast that was sadly cut short. Oh, the sadness! It was such a waste. Joey stopped for a moment, and looked at one of the pots, sniffing up that delicious aroma. "Man, I hate it when food goes ta waste....." Joey admitted with a sigh before hearing footsteps, and a loud "HEY!!" Coming from the marines which was the country boy's cue to get to running again.

As he continued running down the kitchen, Joey started to turn empty pots, and pans over onto the floor to try, and slow these guys down. It tripped up about four of the ten marines, but it wouldn't do much as they'd just regain their footing, or get back up. He was tempted to just turn around, and fight them, but not only was he not in the best shape for fighting, but there was that commander guy trailing behind as well. Joey didn't know much about this stuff, but he could tell that Richards wasn't just an ordinary marine soldier. "AH-HA!" Joey exclaimed as he saw the backdoor. If he could get out of here, perhaps he could get to that boat at the docks. The one he, and Charles used to get to Dawn Island, and back! He had no plan on where to go, maybe back to Dawn, or anywhere so long as he could lose the heat!

Once he made it to the door, Joey forced it open with his bad arm which was a....bad idea. The door flung open, and Joey jumped out now holding his arm, but with a grin on his face. "No sweat. Just need ta find that boat, and...." Joey turned around to see how far behind the marines were, but would notice that there was one standing beside the door. As the door slowly closed back, he'd notice a second one as well, but he quickly fell to the floor due to being hit by the door once Joey forced it open...."Freeze! Don't move!" the ensign that still stood demanded with rifle facing Joey. The blond did the complete opposite however, and just kept booking it, causing the ensign to chase after him. The other ten poured out of the door with two of them going to attend to the downed soldier while Richards walked behind them for a bit. "Hmmm..." he stopped, and looked over in another direction, before a small smile developed on his face. Instead of following his marines, the commander wandered off in another direction, having other things planned...

Maneuvering around various buildings, and people, Joey followed the path that he took to get to those docks the first time with the marines, now nine of them still trailing behind him! He was unaware that Richards was no longer with the group, but even if he was that wouldn't stop him! As Joey continued maneuvering around people, they started to wonder what the fuss was about. Some were clueless while others recognized the boy. He was that teen from the other day who picked a fight with some pirates! Just then, the marines were now making their way past the civilians, making it even clearer as to why the guy was running.

Passing some trees, Joey was almost there to the dock. With a wide grin on his face, he could smell the freedom! Unfortunately, as soon as he was able to see the docks, his grin would turn to shock as FIVE more marines were loitering around. "Aww, give me a break..." he'd groan. Instead of going down, Joey turned to the right. The five marines didn't notice him at first until they heard the yelling of their fellow soldiers, alerting them to the blond's presence. Much to Joey's dismay, those five now joined in on the chase making it fourteen with Joey screaming, "COOOOMMEEE ONNNNNNN!!!" at the top of his lungs.

Where the hell was he suppose to go to now!? After a few seconds, the amber eyed teen would have a eureka moment! There was the other rowboat, the one he used to get to this island in the first place by the docks towards the entrance!! That was his only shot! The chase went on for a bit, but Joey was able to keep up with his running, having good enough stamina. Though some of the marines were starting to catch up to him. Joey looked to his left then his right. Not having any time to stop for these guys, he instead shoved some over with his elbow, or tripped them up causing some to fall over or slow down. After some more maneuvering, Joey was able to lose these guys for the time being, standing behind a building as he breathed heavily. The blond looked up to see that sign hovering over the entrance of the island, signifying that he was close to the other docks! After catching his breathe, Joey ran back out, going past the sign while saying, "Ohhh, Logue Town!" finally figuring out the name of the blasted island....

Finally reaching to the other docks, Joey's running would slow down, turning into walking until he just came to a complete halt, still breathing in, and out hard. His face was just filled with dread as he saw him....Commander Richards sitting on the side of Joey's rowboat. "Guessing this belongs to you?" Richards asked, rubbing his hand against the side of the boat without making any eye contact with Joey. "Y...Y...Yeah..." Joey answered, trying to catch his breathe. [color=#000066]"I can be a pretty lazy man, I'll admit that."s said out of nowhere, causing Joey to tilt his head. As Richards stood up from the boat, Joey immediately went in a fighting stance, but a sharp pain coming from his head would creep up, causing him to wince. Richards caught that, and raised an eyebrow, fixing his glasses a bit. [color=#000066]"Heck, I didn't even answer the calls about you until I was done with my nap...Even thought I could catch a few z's until you showed up." the marine claimed while rubbing the back of his head. Joey stood on guard, despite him not being any match in his current condition. "Tell you what! If you can get past me, get in that little boat of yours, and sail off, I won't go after you. Hell, I won't even alert an other marines about you until ummmm a day perhaps. Give you a little free time." "W-wait, reall-" "IF you can get past me that is, Joey." Joey remained silent.

He clenched his good fist, but the one that was still injured wasn't doing too well. Despite the stuff he was feeling, Joey ran straight towards Richards only to move a bit to the side to try, and get to the boat. With a small smirk, Richards drew his sword, and without warning, he slashed Joey's chest, not hard enough to kill him, but to do some damage. Joey winced, and groaned, stopping in his tracks in front of Richards before nearly dropping to his knees. "Man, if I were you, I'd just surrender. Would be so much more easier for you, and a lot simpler for me. Nooot that poking holes into you isn't hard enough already..." Richards commented. "N-No..." "Oh?" "I'm...I'm a pirate. I won't just..." Joey attempted to lunge at Richards, but was swiftly kicked to the side. "Pirate?" the commander chuckled before looking over to the kneeling Joey. "You call yourself a pirate, but yet you have no jolly roger, no ship? Have any crew mates?" Joey's breathing would slow down as he looked at the ground. What the commander was saying, closely reflected what Joey himself said to the Captain of the Lenny Pirates. "I'm....I'm a..." Joey managed to struggle his way back to his feet, and attempted his way to the boat again. "If anything, you're just some criminal. If I were you, kid I'd try finding some of that stuff I addressed earlier, maybe get yourself caught up in other illegal activities before claiming yourself to be a pirate? Hate to burst your bubble, but you are no pirate....nor will you get the chance to be one." he said as Joey walked past him. Once Joey managed to get a foot into his boat, he was met with another slash to the back, again not life threatening, but it was still bad, causing Joey to fall face first into the boat.

Turning fully around to face Joey, Richards shook his head before shrugging. Well then, time to take you in I gue-"

WHACK!!!

Commander Richards suddenly groaned as he was surprisingly hit in the back of the head with a board, causing him to throw his sword, losing it in the water. Joey weakly turned around to look, and saw with his eyes now widened, Charles holding a board. What the heck was he thinking!? He would get in trouble!! "Of course..." Richards said as he looked towards the water, a bit upset about the loss of his sword. He turned around to Charles as he fixed his glasses. "Stay away from Joey." Charles demanded. "Ch-Charles...." "Joey go now! You're not safe here!!" "B-but..." "Oi oi, I should've saw this coming..." Richards interrupted, causing Charles to focus on him again. The commander slowly walked up to the other youth while Charles continued to move back in response, clenching the wooden board he held tightly. He'd here footsteps behind him, and turn to see twenty-five ensigns pointing rifles in his direction!! Gritting his teeth, Charles didn't no what to do. He couldn't let them get to Joey, after all he has done for him and his family! Without even thinking, Charles recklessly charged at the commander while screaming at the top of his lungs. Before he could do anything, he was quickly subdued by some of the marines, causing the guy to struggle only to keep on getting overpowered.

Watching this in disbelief, Joey managed to sit up, and was about to go to his new friend's aid, only for Charles to look in his direction while shaking his head, gesturing the blond to go! Joey hesitated. He wanted to help his friend, but....but he couldn't, not only was he riddled in injuries, but...he was scared. Scared for himself...scared for his friend. What if he gets involved, and Charles ends up losing his life. He'd never forgive himself. Charles' family would never forgive him. He wouldn't forgive himself if he just left him....but it was the better choice. Still having enough strength, Joey started to row away. "HE'S GETTING AWAY!!!" one of the marines said, some of them pulling their rifles up. Richards turned to face the boat, and raised a hand up, signaling them not to fire. "A deals a deal!" Richard's yelled out, keeping up his end of the bargain, but with a smile on his face. The smile was taunting. Richards knew just how Joey was feeling both physically, and now mentally, and it was amusing to the marine.

Joey hesitated, stopping, but would look down while biting his lower lip, eyes closed shut. This was shameful. This was not how he thought this journey of being pirate would turn out, if he could even call himself a pirate...."Now...to come up with an excuse for the captain. She could be a real witch..." Richards claimed with a sigh, turning around to face the other marines, and Charles who was still subdued, looking up at the Commander. "Well, looks like you're under arrest, kiddo."

Once far enough out at sea, Joey finally stopped rowing, and opened his now tear filled eyes as he looked over to the island, barely seen due to being far, and the tears. He just sat there, letting the tears out. He was no true pirate....nor a friend. His actions....it was because of HIS actions that Charles was put into this. What was the purpose to all of this!? He slid an arm across his face to wipe his tears, sniffing before he continued rowing. It was better to just go back to his hometown, unsure what to do next. The poor cook was just...

Broken.

-Exit-