B-14. Dark Triumphs Light

Negaverse; Ydnic's House

"AAAAH!" Cindy Cortix fell out of a dresser mirror. When the redheaded girl recovered, she viewed around and saw she was in a bright and cheerful room, full of stuffed ponies, elf dolls, teacups, and a bed with a rainbow backside. "Hi there!" said a perky voice that sounded like Cindy's. She looked at the owner of this atrocious room: a girl with shiny, smooth orange hair, no nose, a pink dress, white leggings, and pink strap-on shoes. Her smile was creepily big. "You must be my Positive."

"Y- You're whuh…?" Cindy stared closer at the girl. No nose, dark eyes, she did kind of look like… "N-No no, that's crazy." Cindy shook the thought off. "There's only one me, and even if there were more of me, they would be more like me, not some…some…" She looked sickeningly at the Negative, gesturing with her hands, "whatever THIS is!"

"Hee hee hee!" Ydnic giggled. "You're really silly! I bet we're going to get along great!"

"What am I even doing here?" Cindy asked, helping herself up. "Did you tell that giant snake to pull me in here?"

"No she didn't. I did." Both girls turned to the room's entrance. Medusa entered, possessing her human body. "For a while, I was afraid that it would take some extra work to locate Ydnic's Positive. How convenient she was looking at the same dresser."

"Who's this creepy lady?" Cindy asked.

"She's Lady Medusa!" Ydnic introduced brightly. "She wanted us to be together during an important plan of hers."

"And who said I wanted to be part of some plan?"

"Because, you ignorant brat, I'm about to give you a place in Pirate History!" Medusa declared.

"What do you mean?"

"Weren't you complaining, just moments ago, about how your own mother has doubt in your relentlessness and fortitude? I want to give you the chance to make her see differently. And this will be how: You know about Davy Jones, correct?"

"Davy Jones? Of course I know him. My mom saw Davy Jones himself. She wasn't afraid of him, so I'm not, either."

"Oh, your mom saw Davy Jones, how nice." Medusa feigned interest in her voice. "But how would you like to take it one step further? How would you like to be with Davy Jones…" her eyes narrowed viciously, "as he falls into depravity!"

"What?"

"Cindy, you own your own ship in the Boogey Fleet, correct?" Cindy nodded. "Take your Negative with you back to the Posiverse and follow these coordinates." Medusa gave the girl a map. "I'll meet you there." The goddess vanished in a Dark Portal. Cindy stared at the map, which had an "X" marked in the Indian Ocean.

Posiverse; south of Indian Ocean

"Oh, Em, Gee!" Ydnic Xitroc stood on the keel of Cindy's ship, which was aptly called the Boogey Pool, much smaller than Mandy's flagship. A gentle breeze was blowing the Negative's hair, and faint sunlight poked through the cloudy sky. "The Posiverse is so wonderful! I never thought air could smell this nice, especially on the sea! Hey, but won't your mom be mad at you for taking one of her ships?"

"This is MY ship!" Cindy snarled; her spiteful expression and dark armor made her greatly contrast with Ydnic. "Not my mom's! And no one's gonna rat me out because the only pirates on this boat are dead animals. YOU!" She shot a Scare Stare toward the undead black licorice hyenas. "Make the boat go faster!" Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed quickly scampered off to follow their order.

"You like animals, too??" Ydnic gazed at her with bulbous eyes. "You and me have soooo much in common!"

"DON'T be silly! Animals are slobbery… icky… messy… THINGS!" As Cindy said this, a little skeleton dog trotted over, panting happily at her master. "Even if you don't make saliva anymore, Saliva. Go hang out on the sails with Milkshakes."

A pink skeleton cat was frightfully clutching the top board of the mast sail. "Mew."

"Well, in case you're interested, I'm a member of DNK Sector -W." Ydnic said. "I actually joined a month ago, it was a little after the DNKG thing. One of my cousin's team members turned traitor, and I wanted to fill her shoes! Ha ha ha!"

"Hmph. My cousins all work for the KND. But I don't really care. I don't work well in teams. It's easier just to order people to do everything with fear. My mom always said fear was the strongest element."

"Sure, it's easy to make people afraid of you." Ydnic frowned for a bit. "But the better solution is to make them do what you say with LOOOOOVE." She folded her hands and swayed her hip, making a goofy smile.

Cindy puked over the railing. "Please… never do that again."

The ship made it to the island that Medusa had marked. It was a deserted, jungle island, and a set of arrow signs directed the girls to a hatch in the ground. They entered this underground chamber and saw Medusa standing next to a chamber machine. "So glad you girls could make it." she said. "You're probably wondering what this is. Well, this is a time machine used by the Big Mom Pirates not so long ago. And I set its coordinates to take you back 300 years. Before Davy Jones lost his humanity."

"Yeah, so what?" Cindy asked.

Medusa smirked. "You lovely young ladies will be the deciders of his fate! Cindy's dark soul and fearbending contrasting with Ydnic's bright and ironically-positive outlook is a perfect conflict between Light and Darkness! I want Davy Jones to be swallowed in the middle. The side that is most influential will decide the fate for him, and all of his hapless future victims!"

Ydnic gasped loudly. "You want us to alter the TIMELINE?! Medusa, is this part of the deal you promised Nerehc?"

"Davy Jones is one of the Thirteen Darknesses. In order to awaken himself, he must be deserving of the title. His Dark Side must prevail. And to ensure that it does, I must prove that Darkness conquers Light. You two are the perfect candidates for doing that."

"Fine!" Ydnic declared with passion. "Not only will I show you that good triumphs over evil, I'll teach Ms. Sour Face here that, too!"

"Hmph. We'll see about that." Cindy scoffed.

"So you both accept my challenge, terrific. Step into the time machine, if you will." Medusa stepped aside.

The two counterparts entered the chamber, and one of Medusa's snakes activated the device. In a surge of blue light, the girls were transported.

Somewhere on the sea; 340 years ago…

A battle was taking place at high noon. The ship's cannons boomed incessantly, rounds after rounds of gunfire striking the monsters that threatened their vessel. One of these demons – a seaweed-colored seasnake with a skull mask – wrapped its body around the ship and screeched loudly. One of the crewmen – a man with a squished flat nose and slit narrow eyes, wearing a hat that looked like a hammer – leapt up and headbutted the snake's skull mask with enough force to break it. The creature dispersed into dark particles.

First mate of the Flying Dutchman

MACCUS the Hammerhead

Maccus looked to the portside and saw a massive two-headed barracuda, both with skull masks, speeding toward them. "CAP'N, we 'ave two on the port! Er, one! Er, maybe it's one-and-a-ha-"

The captain jumped at the railing, whooshed his arms right, and sliced a huge line of ocean water to cut both the monster's heads and destroy it. The captain turned back to his mate with a smirk. He had eyes blue as the sea, pale blonde hair, and wore a brown jacket. "Spend less time counting and more time smashing, Maccus-ah! Hah ha ha ha!" He spoke with a Scottish accent.

Captain of the Flying Dutchman

"Heart of the Sea"

DAVY JONES

A crewman with bloated cheeks lashed twin spike whips to slash away skull-faced swordfish that leapt at the deck. "Captain, they're beginning to swim away."

Navigator of the Flying Dutchman

"Puffy Cheeks" KOLENIKO

"Do not be fooled, Mistah Koleniko." Jones said. "Direct your eyes beyond the bow."

The swarm of monstrous dark fish were molding into a dark glob. A single, gigantic skull mask faced the little ship with eerie blank eye sockets, and black tentacles emerged. "I'll load the triple guns!" Ogilvey, a man with a grey beard and mustache, and red neckerchief, shouted.

"Not necessary, Mr. Ogilvey." Jones replied. "They have fallen for my trap."

The ship sailed a little closer as the captain jumped onto the keel. Waving his arms in circles, two columns of water began to rise under his bending. He directed the columns to tie around the dark octopus. His hands glowed, and the water turned gold. The octopus screeched as its body dispersed into particles of light. The particles floated to the sky and vanished in the sunlight.

Davy Jones jumped back on the deck as his crewmates approached him with praise and admiration. "Ay've never seen that before, Captain!" Clanker exclaimed. "Where would you learn a fancy lightshow like that?"

"The Fairy Princess taught it to me." Jones replied, smiling nonchalantly.

"The blue lass? She's the one who taught it?" Koleniko asked.

"Well, she gave it to me." Jones stared at his right hand. "It's called spiritbending. It's an advanced form of the healing powers she grants to waterbenders. It scatters dark spirits into light so they may be reborn anew in the Spirit World-ah."

"Sounds a right fair deal." Morey the Eel said. He was a long-necked human, from the Bermuda Triangle's Snakeneck Tribe. "With all the Hollows that've been appearing lately, we need a new way to trim them down."

"'ey Captain, isn't tomorrow the ten-year mark?" one of Two Head's two heads asked. "Where we going to make land?"

"I am thankful you asked, Mistah Sack." Jones said as he pulled out and opened a chart. "I remember seeing an uncharted island in this quadrant." There was an "X" marked on a spot a little southeast from Iceland. "We will see what its land has to offer."

"That little piece of land?" Maccus asked. "Wouldn't you rather hit a town, Captain? Fetch a decent meal and drink with your mates in a pub? You'd get as much shrub from that jungle as seaweed on the seafloor!"

"In an eternity of sailing, there is only so much land you can see in all the worlds. Had we limited our choices, we would not have discovered Mr. Morey's home now, would we?" He looked at the Snakeneck human. "We will mount an expedition over this island in search of what riches it may bare. Besides, Lord Kyogre is looking for good places to hide his Ocean Talismans, in case he would need to."

At the designated island; the next morning

The Flying Dutchman docked at the cliff shore of what would one day become Bully Island. The plank was dropped to serve as a bridge. Davy Jones crossed the plank, and set foot on the island. The sailors ventured into the jungle, which seemed to grow darker the further they got. The ground and trees were almost covered with fungi that emitted a visible, bluish-pink gas. "What do you suppose that is, Cap'n?" Maccus asked.

"Do not get too close to it, boys." Jones threw water over one of the mushrooms and pulled it over while encasing it in ice. "Only one is needed for careful observation-ah. Spread out and search the rest of the island."

Davy Jones trekked up a hill in his thick black boots. The frozen fungus was stashed in a pocket under his coat. The path was hard to see through all the flora and the dark shroud that seemed to be covering this land. Then, with a few more meters of hill in his sight, a faint red light touched him. He saw an odd shape in the center of the light. The jungle's shroud made it indiscernible, but with a closer look, it appeared to be… a woman.

Davy Jones marched up and saw her up close. She was a woman with purple hair drooped over her eyes, a purple dress, and bare feet hanging over the edge of a murky pool. Davy Jones slowly reached his right hand over to move her hair aside. She had a smooth and flawless face, except for a black design around her left eye. Her eyes were sharp, green, and snakelike, and she had sensual purple lips. The woman looked up into Jones' cool blue eyes. They reflected her image like mirrors. Davy Jones stared at her longingly… he saw himself reflected in those shiny dark pupils. He had never seen a human so… lovely.

"If you were looking for the perfect place to molest somebody, I'd say you've found it." The woman told him softly.

"Oh!" Jones blushed and backed away. "I'm… sorry… My name is Davy Jones. Servant of Lord Kyogre and Ferrier of Souls. I chose to explore this island on my once-a-decade expedition. I did not expect to find anyone here, much less a…" He couldn't decide between 'woman,' 'angel,' or 'goddess.' "Who are you?"

"Something… Nothing…" The woman looked away. "A being that was…"

That mysterious response was sexy, Jones thought. "Wh… Where are you from?"

"Somewhere… Nowhere… The darkest reaches of the cosmos…"

". . ." Jones didn't understand why he heated up at such a vague response. "Then can ya tell me why… you're here?"

The woman remained silent and looked up at him. Jones felt himself lost in her gaze. "Have you ever looked in your own reflection," the woman said, "…and saw something awful?"

When Jones blinked, the reflection in her pupils was all wiggly, slimy tentacles. He shook his head, and this reflection vanished. "I do not understand." Jones said. "If you are referring to yourself, I do not see what you see. You are… a beautiful woman…"

"Are you certain?" she asked. "Come… let me show you something…"

The woman led him to a cliff that overlooked another region of jungle, and the sea beyond it. The sky and sea were purple, lit up only by the white sun. Davy Jones was drawn by this change in color, and the woman sensed this. "The mushrooms on this island emit a noxious gas that misleads the senses. Deep down… I have always pictured myself as beautiful… And this island, this… horrible rotting island… In its midst, I can see that beauty in me. It's so… grotesque." She turned to him. "Davy Jones… Have you come here because… you sought beauty?"

"N-No, I… I've already found beauty." Jones smiled. "It is the sea. It is…" The captain reached an arm toward the purple horizon, "an absolute freedom. To sail the waters, over and under… for eternity. I collect souls who are lost and guide them to the next world. I meet a great many people in my adventures. All of them were troubled souls… up until the moment they drowned. No matter who they were or what they had done… it brings me joy… to offer them an escape… To offer them freedom…"

"Freedom?" the woman questioned. "Then let me ask you… what is freedom, in your eyes? Is it being untethered? Sailing a ship across worlds for all eternity? Is it… not being bound to anyone or anything? Do you… have that sort of freedom?"

Jones couldn't think of a response. True, he was working under Kyogre, collecting souls that were lost at sea, cleansing them before they became Hollows. "Because I do." The woman said. "I have nobody… I have nothing… Only myself in eternal solitude… And every day, I feel my soul greying… Freedom… is lonely…"

Jones gripped her arm in his left hand, as hard as a crab claw (obvious foreshadowing :P). He looked at her firmly in the eyes. "Freedom is more than that. It is not being unbound and untethered… it is the happiness I feel in sailing. All of the time in the world to do what I love, forever. If you came with me, I could show you."

"…" The woman stared at him, as though touched by the passion in his words. There was an inviting aura about him… She wanted to take his offer… "No." She turned away, tears streaming her face. "I…I mustn't!" She jumped off the cliff.

"Wait-ah!" Davy Jones jumped after, grabbing a jagged rock with water tentacles to slow his fall. The sailor chased the woman through the thick shrubs, able to see only part of her in this darkness. He heard a splash up ahead, and when Davy Jones arrived at a coast, his instinct was to jump into the sea. He swam like a merman, skimming the underwater for a trace of that maiden. There wasn't a trail of bubbles or waves on the surface, so Jones swam aimlessly in his attempts to find her.

Davy Jones finally resurfaced. The ocean was very foggy, he had no idea how far he swam. He lost any hope of finding the maiden, began to think she was just an illusion.

Upon one summer's morning, I carelessly did stray

Down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay

Then he heard her soft voice. He saw where it was coming from. A figure's shadow, sitting on a lone rock.

Conversing with a bouncing lass, who seemed to be in pain,

Saying, William, when you go, I fear you will ne'er return again.

Davy Jones swam closer. It was the very same maiden, swaying her trim, flawless legs in the water. The captain could have assumed she was a siren… for he swam closer at the luring sound of her voice.

My heart is pierced by Cupid… I disdain all glittering gold…

The woman stared down at the man in the water.

There is nothing… can console me…

Jones gazed up at her lovely figure.

…but my jolly… sailor… bold.

Jones lightly clasped her legs… He pulled himself up… clasped her arms… put his foot on the side of the rock-

"AAAAAUUUUHHH!" Searing pain coursed through him as he fell in the sea. He shook to recompose himself and resurface. The woman bore slight shock on her features. "My… is that the limit of your freedom?" she whispered.

"Please!" Jones propped his feet on the ground under the water, so his upper half was visible. "Tell me… what are you…"

The woman fell in the sea and floated away on her back, her arms outstretched. "Like I said… I'm something… I'm nothing… I can't define what I am…"

"You are a lingering soul!" Jones trudged across the water and stood over her. "I can feel it… the energy in your body… but you are… different… There is a different presence about you…"

The woman stood and moved her face close to his. "Tell me… what that presence is…"

"I…I do not know…"

The woman became sad. She hugged her chest and turned away. "Oh… forgive me… I just thought… someone would actually know the answer…"

"I…I want to know the answer!" Jones reached his left arm to her. "It's there… on the palm of my hand… but I cannot…"

She turned to him with a smile. "I believe you… And if you're able to come up with the answer… I want to meet you again…" Then she drifted away beyond the mist.

Davy Jones stared at the blank gray where she had gone. The mist started to clear, and the captain felt something make waves behind him. "OIIII! CAPTAIN!" Jones turned around and looked up at his Flying Dutchman. "What in blazes got into you?! Jumping off the island, whaddid you trip or something? You know you only get ONE shot at land every 10 years! What sort of spirit possessed you to waste it like that?"

My heart is pierced by Cupid… I disdain all glittering gold…

Jones looked at the horizon.

There is nothing… can console me…

…but my jolly… sailor… bold.

"Captain?" Maccus noticed his blank expression. What in the world was wrong with him…

Although the crewmen couldn't hear it, Davy Jones sailed the ship in the direction of the voice. They came upon the shore of a dark, dead swamp, where the woman's notes echoed from beyond the mist. "Captain…" Maccus spoke once more.

Jones reached his left hand and clutched the air. "Wait for me…"

9 years and 360 days later…

Cindy Cortix and Ydnic Xitroc finally materialized from the time warp. "Cindy?" Ydnic looked down.

"Yeah?" The Positive cocked a brow.

"Do time machines give us the ability to float?"

"That's the most ridiculous idea ever."

"I was afraid of that."

"AAAAHHH!" The standing-in-midair girls took the fall into the sea. After resurfacing, they felt a shadow fall over them, cast by a great ship with a mouth of sharp teeth on the keel.

"'ey, there's some wee lasses over the starboard!" Morey yelled.

"Pull them up!" Clanker ordered.

A rope was thrown down for the girls to grab onto, and the sailors hoisted them onto the deck. "What's all this?" the captain's sturdy black boots clanked the wood as he stomped past his crewmen to view the salvaged girls. Still lying down, Cindy and Ydnic gazed up at the captain's imposing, authoritive figure. The sun hung directly above and highlighted the Scottish man.

Cindy jumped to her feet and drew her sword. "Don't try anything! I'll cut every one of you up, I swear!"

The sailors exchanged laughter. "Oi, wee lass thinks she's a pirate!" Koleniko exclaimed.

"Maybe she's one of those Linlin blokes!" Jimmy Legs cackled.

"I MEAN IT!" Cindy shouted. "Just who the heck are you drunken idiots?!"

"I should be asking you that, children adrift in the middle of the sea." The captain smirked. "You stand before the crew of the Flying Dutchman-ah. I am Captain Davy Jones, the Ferrier of Souls."

"Davy…Davy Jones?" Cindy wouldn't have recognized the sailor's human appearance.

"Are you guys pirates, too?" Ydnic questioned. Her cheeks puffed as she said, "I HATE pirates. They're always being so mean, attacking villages just to steal beer or money or… vegetables."

"Then why are you still hanging around me?"

"Because you're my Positive, silly!" Ydnic pinched Cindy's cheek. "Even though you act more negative."

"We are not pirates-ah." Jones answered. "Under orders of Ocean King Kyogre, we sail the waters and ferry lost souls to the Underworld."

"Otherwise, we're just your typical guys who like sailing." Jimmy shrugged.

"So who are you two kids?" Maccus asked. "You look a little too lively to be lost souls."

"I am Cindy Cortix, a feared member of the world-infamous Boogey Pirates!" the girl announced. "This is some girl who thinks she's my twin."

"Boogey Pirates? Well, I've never heard of them." Jones shrugged. "And I'd certainly never expect a couple of children to pose as pirates."

"Well, I AM a pirate! And I'll make you fear me! LIKE THIS!" Cindy unleashed a deafening Fear Scream, the sailors stumbling back and clamping their ears shut.

Once she stopped, Jones looked at her with interest. "You're a fearbender?"

"Oh, NOW ya've gone and done it." Koleniko remarked.

"This is perfect!" Jones said excitedly. "The universe really is seeing in my favor-ah!"

"What do you mean?" asked Ydnic.

"Well, ten years ago, the captain thinks he saw this fair wench." Maccus explained. "'e said 'e heard her singing from the Haunted Marshes. He's been waiting ten years to be able to scour that land."

"It's said that swamp is flowing with Fear Chi." Koleniko said. "More than a man can handle. You would need to have a fearbender with you to cross it."

"We ain't gonna bring you kids on such a silly expedition. You probably wanna get back home to your mommy." Morey followed.

"HEY!" Cindy yelled. "'Mommies'! Plural!"

"Hold on, why does he need to cross the marshes again?" Ydnic asked.

The crewmen looked at Davy Jones, expecting to once-again hear his crazy story. The captain approached the starboard railing and stared out at the horizon. "In my whole life, I have never imagined anything more beautiful than the sea. I loved the sea… and I thought, if I were one with the sea, if the sea was all I had, then I would be free and happy forever. And yet…" Jones put a hand to his heart, "ever since I met that woman… I cannot stop yearning for her. Never had I encountered a soul so… clouded inside. Our meeting… my thoughts… I feel as though we are bound by fate. …I want to meet her again…"

"That's sooooooo romantiiiiic!" Ydnic sang. "A lonely sailor goes to meet his beloved after teeeen loooong yeeeaaars of seasickness! Cindy, we HAVE to help him!"

"Hmph…" Cindy could care less, but this was probably part of the experiment Medusa had in mind. "All right. I'll use my fearbending to help you."

"I'll get you ALL spick and span for your big date!" Ydnic said cheerily. "Just pick up that toothbrush, hop in that bathtub, get a good night's rest on your bed, and your lady won't WAIT to kiss you!"

"What's a toothbrush?" Maccus asked.

"What's a bathtub?" Clanker asked.

"What's a bed?" Two Head asked.

"Captain, are you sure you want to try to find this woman?" Koleniko asked. "Even if she's real, why would she still be hanging around that filthy swamp?"

"There must be a reason we were fortunate enough to sail upon these children." Jones replied. "It was fated that I should meet her again. Mastah Legs, chart a course for the Haunted Marshes. I expect to be there within five days. Young ladies, do make yourselves comfortable."

Two nights later…

The twin girls were treated friendly by the would-be Dutchman Pirates, and their bright spirits greatly contrasted with the tales Cindy has heard. The girls were told a first-hand iteration of how their captain came to have his position: when sailing in a region they had dubbed the "Haunted Cove," his ship was wrecked and destroyed, and Jones became a spirit. His soul was rescued by Ocean King Kyogre, who took pity and gave the sailor a chance to sail forever:

Jones was given a Gigai, an artificial human body that had the same attributes as a normal body, but it wouldn't age. Complete with the Water Chi he had once possessed, Jones was free to sail the seas, and in return would ferry other fallen souls to the Underworld. The crewmen on his vessel were other souls who had desired to sail forever, so they were given their own Gigai. The only limits placed on Davy Jones' eternity were that he couldn't step on dry land but once every 10 years. Otherwise, a searing but non-fatal pain would course through him.

"If ya ask me, I always thought Lord Kyogre was jealous of the Light Goddess, Palutena." Maccus remarked to Ydnic, who sat at a cabin table with some crewmen. "She has her own Nimbi servant, so he wanted one. And rumor has it mermen are real sour with Nimbi!" The mates cackled.

"It's not just a rumor, it's real!" Ydnic spoke up. "They're always so mean to each other! All the Nimbis' waste falls in the ocean, then the merpeople fly up in their ships and start bombing the Nimbi, it's so awful!"

"What kind of twisted tales does your mommy read to you??" Koleniko questioned.

"Social studies textbooks!" Ydnic replied more perkily.

"In my opinion, Kyogre's got loneliness issues." Morey said. "He's got, like, no friends besides the captain and that Ocean Fairy. I walked in on 'em when we visited the palace once, and he was practically begging her to dance for the guards' kids. Hah, it was silly."

"He's so desperate for friends, he'll trust anyone!" Two Head's heads said at once.

"That's not really a bad thing." Ydnic replied. "It's important to be able to trust people. When you're trusting, you're more open, and you can make more friends that'll help you when you need them. Even if I was a king like Kyogre, I wouldn't wanna lose any of my friends. Because sooner or later, I would want someone to hold my hand and say, 'I'm here for you.'" She cupped both hands over her heart.

"That was…" Two Head's right head, Sack asked.

"-beautiful…" The left head, Flour was tearing.

"Mates, this girl is delightful!" Clanker plopped a hand on Ydnic's hair. "I say we keep her in our crew!"

"Don't be silly, we're only takin' 'em with us so the captain can find that girl." Maccus replied. "Where is the captain, anyway?"

"Last I saw, he's takin' a smoke on the deck." Clanker said.

The sky had a few clouds, which were highlighted by the stars and crescent moon. Davy Jones stood on the bow of the ship, holding the Grand Compass that pointed directly ahead. The magic compass that would lead him to what he most desired. He put the compass in his pocket and took out a pipe, which he lit up before smoking. The breeze blew the smoke behind his left. He turned in its direction and saw Cindy sitting at the railing, her legs hanging over the side.

Davy Jones approached the frizzy-haired child, who was a little green in the face. "You look seasick for a self-proclaimed pirate-ah."

"I can feel my 'twin's' happy radiance." Cindy said. "It's sickening."

"You share your own spiritual bond with someone."

"Yeah, right…" Cindy looked up to face him. "So, Captain Jones… have you really only been thinking about one person for 10 years? A random woman you met only once?"

"She was not just some 'woman.' And, for a long time, I was not sure what to call her. I did not know the answer. But now… I am ready to tell her."

"Hmph… And you think she would wait for you to tell her some 'answer' after 10 years, in which time she could've easily found out herself? My mom only knew about her fearbending for three years before she made Logia."

"I would love to meet your mother in the future." Jones said. (A hunchbacked crewmate made a drumroll.) "And part of me feels… she does already know. …But I want her to hear it from me."

"Yeah, well… Be prepared for disappointment."

"Oh, don't listen to her!" Ydnic stated, having come out of the cabin. She clutched Jones' hand and looked up at the captain. "You should follow your heart, Captain Jones! I may be a Negative, but I'm positive this woman will be glad to see you again! Whether or not you have the right answer!"

"BLUUUEEEH!" Cindy threw up over hearing that pun.

"Yes… you are right." Jones said, feeling his spirit lift. He touched his heart. "I know she is waiting for me… and I will tell her my answer…"

The captain returned to his cabin to rest. Ydnic came to sit by Cindy, grabbing the rail while her feet hung over the side. "See, Cindy, positive words lead to positive feelings, and positive feelings lead to brighter and stronger spirits!"

"I don't even care, Ydnic. I already know how this story's going to end. Every pirate in my universe knows. You can't change the past, even if you go back in time. If it's already happened in the future, all we're doing is helping instigate it."

"But maybe those time-travelers just haven't tried hard enough to make a difference. If a person is strong enough, they can beat fate, and make the future brighter."

"Even if you could change Jones' fate, it would hurt the future for other people. Like that Ocean Princess would never marry that human boy. Not that I would care. Either way, Jones' fate will be the same, and I won't have to do a thing."

Ydnic stood up and told her firmly, "We'll see about that!" She marched back into the cabin.

That night, Davy Jones slept while holding the Grand Compass to his chest. The needle was spiraling rampantly.

A misty coast, three days later

The day of Davy Jones' ten-year mark had come. The Grand Compass led him to this dark and eerie shore. He jumped down and marched up onto the shore. Cindy and Ydnic joined after him. The purple mist made the sky appear dark. They stood before a graveyard with dead trees. "So how long are you allowed to stand on land, exactly?" Cindy asked.

"Twenty-four hours. But if I step in any water, I cannot climb back on."

"Wow…" Ydnic spoke sadly. "That-"

"Sucks, I know."

"Can you at least jump?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, because technically, I'm still bound to the land's gravity."

"That's good!" Ydnic beamed.

"The compass will lead us to her." Jones said, holding the item up. "I trust you ladies to do your duties."

"Just don't leave us to do all the fighting." Cindy said. (Play "The Swamp" from Zelda: Four Swords Adventures.)

Stage B-11: Haunted Marshes

Mission: Find the woman Davy Jones longs for.

There were lanterns floating midair around the graveyard, and they seemed to throw their selves at the girls when they approached. Cindy furiously slashed her sword at one of the lanterns, but it easily dodged and punched her in the face. "You silly, violence doesn't always win battles." Ydnic said. "Sometimes, you have to have fun!" She threw powder puffs over the lanterns, exposing the Poes that were holding them. Cindy and Davy Jones used their blades to slice the ghosts' bodies, so their lanterns fell, broke, and exposed the purple flames which were their souls. Davy Jones decided to catch the souls in some bottles. "Poe Souls are excellent beverages to spirits." he said.

A small moat divided the graveyard into two halves, so Jones jumped over it. A deeper moat separated them from a forest path, and was too wide to jump. Thankfully, a tall stone slab was propped up on their end, so Cindy rolled against it to knock it down and create a bridge across. On this forest path, there were giant pine cones, and when the trio approached, Morphs jumped out (one-eyed black balls with spikes) and latched onto them. The explorers were weighed down, so Keese seized the chance to flap down and attack them. Cindy shot a Fear Scream to scare the bats away and make the Morphs scatter, then she proceeded to slice the Morphs in half.

The path led them above a short cliff overlooking a purple gooey river, which stretched down several meters to their left. "You know, can't you just bend that water away?" Cindy asked.

"The water is poisonous." Jones said. "It conflicts with my waterbending-ah."

"Terror of the seas, my ass. Well, how do you plan to get across?"

"The wall looks rugged enough for me to climb across."

"And me and Cindy will float down the river with my Plainford the Small Blue Cat inflatable!" Ydnic pulled out a blue deflated balloon. "Which is ironically bigger than his name would imply."

Ydnic puffed the floatie to a large size, and it withstood the poisonous water as it floated the girls across. Davy Jones (who would've been too heavy to ride it) climbed across the cliff on their left. An eyeball connected to a purple oozing stem came out of the swamp, staring at the girls, but one look with Cindy's Scare Stare forced it to retreat. Keese flapped in Jones' direction overhead, so Cindy coughed Fear Spheres up to take them down. Ydnic warned her of anymore Swamp Lurkers coming up, so Cindy could scare them before focusing back on Jones. Two Poes appeared in the girls' path, so Ydnic threw powder to expose the ghosts, Cindy cut them, then she shot down more bats coming for Jones.

At the end of the river, Jones could step onto safe ground, and the twins could disembark, with Ydnic deflating her giant floatie, cleaning the swamp water off ("Hurry up, already." Cindy told her), then stuffing it away. They accompanied Davy Jones down a new path, where a Pols Voice ambushed them. It was a large, yellow, blob-like thing with rabbit ears. Cindy's Fear Scream was enough to stun it senseless, then she cut it up.

They came to a field where pairs of two logs were lain around to create a maze. They questioned if it was safe for Jones to touch them since ships were made of wood… he figured if this wood had soil on it, it wouldn't be leaving land. There were Dark Chuchu around the maze, and since they couldn't be cut and Cindy's screaming jiggled them, Davy Jones splashed water over the blobs and froze them. On the other side of this maze was a pool of poison water. To cross it, they had to throw the frozen Dark Chus inside and make ice platforms. Since they couldn't throw the frozen Chus on the ground without them shattering, they were forced to maneuver around the maze to get to the pool before the blobs unfroze.

With enough platforms, the girls crossed the ice—Davy Jones couldn't, since ice is water. (Sigh, this curse was nothing but inconvenient.) There was a stone ring with teeth inside it, and when Cindy screamed, it reacted to her bending and spun around, making a narrow stone bridge rise up for Jones to cross the pool. In the graveyard that followed, Stalfos wielding spiked clubs rose from the soil. Jones used his waterbending to slice their bones, but through a supernatural force, the Stalfos' bones floated up and reformed their body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Cindy blasted a stronger Fear Scream in the hopes of weakening the skeletons, but the bones had no nerves to tingle, and Jones took the blast. "Stop it!" Ydnic clamped Cindy's mouth shut. "The real way to beat sleep-depraved skeletons is with warm milk." Ydnic pulled out a glass of milk and poured it on the soil where the Stalfos came from. The skeletons seemed to calm, for they returned to their graves and sunk beneath the soil.

Ydnic approached Davy Jones, who was holding his aching head as he stood back up. "Are you okay, Captain?"

"I am… fine…" Jones panted.

The crew went up a flight of stairs to a new forest path above a cliff. Mothulas floated down from the trees – giant black moths with green-and-yellow wings, one eye, and pinchers. When Cindy used Scare Stare on them, the Mothulas retaliated by shooting Morphs from their tails. When the spikeballs latched onto them, the Mothulas swooped down to attack the humans. Cindy scared the Morphs off with Fear Scream, cut them up, then angrily sliced the wings off the Mothulas. She panted heavily after the creatures were dealt with. "Oops, did I hit you?" she asked when she saw Jones and Ydnic holding their ears shut.

The path turned left and brought them above a pool down in a rectangular pit. Cindy used a Licorope on a branch hanging over the pit to swing herself and Ydnic across. There was a stone block on the other side, which Cindy pushed into the pool. Davy Jones made a leap down onto the block, then leapt up to grab the ledge, with the girls pulling him up by the arms. They came to a field with several patches of swamp water. Hardhat Beetles (blue beetles with bulbous tops) wandered around the patches, and would use their bouncy bodies to push them into the water.

Cindy coughed Fear Spheres while Jones threw Water Slices before the creatures got too close. However, more beetles were coming out of small caves. There was a stone door sealed on the other side, and a slot where something would go beside it. On the right of the swamp, there was a small gargoyle statue. It was too heavy to lift, but Cindy could make it move by screaming. Jones and Ydnic distracted the beetles so Cindy could maneuver it around the swamp patches, finally directing it into the slot as it settled in place.

The entrance to what seemed like a ruined church opened. Vines were growing through the walls and floor panels, and the building was long since abandoned. They arrived at a round chasm, looking down to find a fallen statue of Darkrai the First partway in swamp ooze. "Weren't the Nightmare Wars ending around this time?" Cindy asked.

"Lord Kyogre mentioned the Galaxians having progress against the Nightmares." Jones replied. "What do you mean by 'this time'?"

"Don't worry about it." Cindy screamed into a Scream Ring, causing stone platforms to emerge from the left wall. They were unstable, so Davy Jones carried Ydnic and jumped across them quickly to make it across. As for Cindy, she grabbed a thin ledge along the right to climb across. Naturally, there were Snapdragons waiting in holes above the ledge. When Cindy got close, they popped out—they caused the unstable wall to crumble as they fell into the ooze below, creating a gap in the ledge. Cindy had to make a tricky swing-jump to grab the next ledge part.

She made it to her group as they followed the passage and exited the church. They faced a lake of swamp ooze, and the only way across was with a stone platform that moved using a Scream Ring. The other two had to endure Cindy's screaming while she used her power to move it. Mines emerged from the swamp, so Cindy had to constantly maneuver around. She used Scare Stare on Swamp Lurkers, and Ydnic threw powder puffs over Poes. Eventually, they made it to the other side of the lake. From this shore, they viewed a wide stone stairway across another swamp pool.

A giant three-headed Piranha Plant emerged from the pool, a hideous Diababa with teeth oozing with poison. The two side heads tried to gnash down at them, but Jones froze their mouths with waterbending. The center head, whose mouth had four sides, unleashed a deafening roar as its single eye wiggled on the stem. Cindy withstood the scream and glared at the eye, scaring the piranha as its eye stem dangled over the ground. Cindy leapt and chopped the eye clean off. The Diababa fell dead against their foothold.

The girls crossed the dead plant monster like a bridge while Jones climbed the wall along the left. Jones' Grand Compass pointed up the stairs, so he followed the girls up. Suddenly, the right head of Diababa recovered, smashing the ice on its mouth as it whipped around and grabbed Jones' right leg. "AHH!" The captain stuck his sword in the stairs to keep himself from being dragged down. The girls turned around and gasped—Ydnic ran down and began trying to pull him free. "Cindy, do something!"

Cindy tried to cut the Diababa's stem, but it was too sturdy, and it had no eyes or ears for her bending to work. The monster's teeth sunk further into Jones' leg, so with no other option, Cindy chopped the leg clean off. "AAAAAHH!" The plant's head flew back into the swamp with the leg to dine on.

"CINDY!" Ydnic screamed. "Why did you DO that?!"

"If we dragged that out, the poison would've seeped into the rest of his body!"

"It is no loss… augh!…" Jones used the sword as a prop to push himself onto his left foot. "We are almost there… just a little farther… huff…"

Cindy and Ydnic helped him up the stairs, and once at the top, they viewed the ground of some ruins, with vine-covered pillars. Jones followed the compass forward, until it led him to a stone pyramid. (End song.)

The pyramid had foreign writing inscribed on it, and an eye on its top. Jones limped around the pyramid… but the compass remain fixed on it. "I do not understand-ah." The captain panted, continuing to limp around the structure. "Why did the compass bring me here? Where…Where is she?!"

"Maybe she's hiding inside it!" Ydnic said hopefully, knocking on the rock. "Helloooo? Anyone in there?"

"Don't you get it?" Cindy spoke logically. "She was never here. She was probably never real. All you saw and heard was a hallucination, and your compass was probably attracted by a magnetic field generated by this pyramid."

"Nooo!" Ydnic yelled in denial. "She has to be here! She…She's waiting for him!"

"And what evidence do you have to support that?" Cindy asked.

"Because…Because Davy Jones waited 10 years to come here and find her! He crossed a dangerous swamp, lost a leg, so he has to meet his true love! A romantic story can't end without-"

"This isn't some fairytale! In your Negaverse, you might be able to live under the delusion that life has happy endings, but it doesn't. Jones was fooling himself into believing some woman was waiting for him. He wasted his time-"

The captain lost balance on his sword and fell on his front. "No…" Jones pushed up. His face had become filthy after this journey. "If she is not real… then why…why do I feel so…" He looked up at the pyramid's writing. For some reason… the words were so clear.

Your life has been but a lie. Your free will is an illusion. Your choices are not your own. Everything is decided.

Seeing those words made him furious. Out of nowhere… immeasurable anger overcame him. "I… had… the answer…ah…" He pushed himself to his foot and sword. "I was going… to tell you… tell you… what you really are…ah…" He fell to his knees. "You were… MY SOOOOOOUUUUUUL!"

His voice was louder than any of Cindy's screams. Cindy refrained from saying how dumb and cliché that line sounded. (Of course, this was the past, so a line like that is still original.) Davy Jones gasped for breath. "And YOU…" He glared at the girls. "You children… are DEMONS… taunting me! Leave… go away… GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, NOW!" With unmatched fury, Jones slashed wave after wave of water at the kids. Cindy grabbed Ydnic and ran away, but Jones' water continued to fly at them.

"This trip is over!" Cindy activated the Return Pad and warped the two back to the present.

Davy Jones stopped himself once the "demons" were gone. He gasped, despair overcoming him. Why did his heart ache so much? Why did he feel so much pain? …The pyramid lit with a dark flame. He heard the flame brimming and looked at it. The flames flew into his body completely. He felt them lodge into his heart.

Davy Jones awakened as a DARKNESS. Only 11 more to go. (Wait, who was the first one?)

Davy Jones's tears could have flooded the sea. The only solace he could find was from the ocean. As he served Kyogre for 10 more years, ferrying souls to the next life, freeing them of their despair… he saw no point in it. His soul, even if he were to die, would drown in despair deeper than the ocean. The only way to conquer it… would be to conquer the ocean. Conquer all oceans if he had to. He had to rule it all… but to keep the pain in his heart from slowing him, Jones had to be rid of it. Lock it away where no one could find it and remind him of his despair.

Present; time machine cave

"And that was how it was done back then." Medusa said to her cohorts after watching the show on the time machine's screen.

"Boy, Medusa, you really knew how to flirt with men." Pandora smiled admirably. "All that 'Can you tell me what I am' crap was an excellent touch."

"Yes, but a hint of Dark Chi never fails to attract." As she said this, Cindy and Ydnic came out of the machine. "Girls, you're back! That was an excellent performance in there!"

"Why did you make us do that?" Cindy asked. "Ydnic sure didn't influence him. All we did was lead him far enough into the swamp until he realized it was hopeless."

"Actually, you did play a part, Cindy. Your fearbending was enhanced in that swamp, and it spread to Jones considerably. He developed a fear that he would be wrong and I wouldn't be there. He will continue to remember that fear and shower it upon his future victims. Thanks to you, the terror that was the Dutchman Pirates has made history. A fun fact, that spiritbending of his was used to turn fish into monsters and his crew into those zombie fish forms."

"But what did I have to do with it?" Ydnic asked.

"You're too bright for my tastes, Ydnic. I wanted you to witness firsthand as Darkness triumphs Light. I hope the other Negatives learn that, too."

"…Well, I don't buy it." Ydnic said firmly. "I believe Light can and will triumph in the end. I think Jones's soul could be saved. I think… even you could learn that."

Medusa frowned and stared at her. Ydnic turned and marched out of the cave. "I'm going home. It was nice to meet you, Cindy."

"…Hmph." Cindy sheathed her blade. "All love does is destroy people. I don't see why my mom could like it." She began to leave the cave. "…Even if it did make me."

The three gods waited until she was gone. "So, this is how you plan to find the Darknesses, is it?" Pandora asked. "Did you make your picks for the other ones?"

"They were already decided, Dora." Medusa smirked. "Because the Darknesses already met them."