6225/Sail The Open Seas With Me

Sail The Open Seas With Me
Date of Scene:	14 May 2021
Location:	Danger Room
Synopsis:	The scenario is not at all fair and it is entirely possible that Kurt's notion of a fun Danger Room session needs a little work. But on the bright side everyone ends up on the beach at the end.
Cast of Characters:	Kurt Wagner, Remy LeBeau, Rogue, Talia Wagner, Kitty Pryde, Scott Summers

---

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It is a beautiful day to be sure, or at least a lovely facsimilie of one given just where they are.

The X-Men's Danger Room is a marvel of technological brilliance, the ability to holographically recreate almost any environment or situation an amazing asset. The training potential is virtually endless, whether it is running through combat and rescue scenarios in a safe environment -- that still comes as close as possible to replicating the real problems of work in the field -- or maybe to recreate crimescenes for closer study, or recreate past battles to study and better understand their own tactics and those of their foes.

Or you can do what Kurt prefers to do and turn it into the ultimate video game to live out his love for pirates!

Yaarrrrrrrr.

Is this the best use of time and resources like this? Debatable. To put it mildly. Does Kurt care? Not in the least! Life has to be about more then work, no matter how important that work might be. Work hard yes, put that is only the more reason to play even harder!

So the fuzzy blue mutant stands on the deck of a faithful recreation of a seventeeth century Pinnace. Bright, warm sunshine beats down on the wooden decks that creek ever so slightly underfoot, as the wind catches sails lashed to the mast. The sound of water lapping at the hull is ever-present, those crystal blue waves glinting brightly under sun, silvery highlights added to every rolling ripple on those enticing waters.

He grins, there behind the helm of the ship, leaning indolently against that wheel as he peers out over the ship, the crisp tang of salt air filling his senses and the breeze rustling through that indigo fur. "It's such a lovely day. I almost hate to spoil it all," he says with a sigh, that poofy white shirt billowing a little, the sea breeze picking up. "But this would hardly be an adventure otherwise. I hope everyone has had their fill of sun!"

The world seems to flicker, just a little bit, just for a moment. And while the sky remains lively and bright overhead, a tapestry of soothing blue with fluffy white interludes, the western sky turns dark and ominous. Dark masses of roiling clouds spark and flash with bursts of lightning. Definitely not the sort of place one wants to sail into. But as if on queue there is a cry from the mast overhead. "Three score sail to the east captain. The Armada has caught up with us. The practically stretch as far as the eye can see," comes the panicked words from aloft. And sure enough, a fleet of ships bear down on them from the east, leaving but one direction to flee.

"We're surely off the map this time..."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Nothin' to it." Remy says as he turns to the barrel of armamemnts, and with both hands he pulls out a singular black ball, and carries the thing over to the nearest canon on deck. The shirtless ruffian is living the life his several great grandfather lived but with nearly zero respect for what was actually going on and how rough that life might have been.

    The ball in the canon is primed and ready to fire after Remy stuffs down the fireing wad and the fuse is set just right. The cajun then turns his bare arm and shirtless chest towards Kurt with a grin and a thumbs up. "We're armed and ready for a fight, but y'know, most Cap'ns didn't man the helm..." Remy says with a wink of his black and red eyes before he looks away from Kurt and hops up onto the canon, and then uses it as a step onto the railing with a hand grabing some of the rigging to keep himself from falling overboard even as he stands halfway over the water. Remy's free hand lifts to act as a shield from the few sun rays reaching them before they enter the storm. "Ah, cap'n... Ah know it's your boat, but... the ocean, she doesn't take prisoners..."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is at the front of the ship that Kurt is on, she's wearing what used to be the finest dress a maiden of the port could buy, but it's since been... rogued.

The dress is now torn and tattered, the front of it having become mostly a loin cloth that splits in to many different flowing segments down her font while revealing her thighs. She's wearing tall leather boots that are laced up haphazardly over her long legs, and over the dress she has a leather bodice cinched up nice and tightly, leaving the low-cut fabric of the once-fancy maiden dress slim fit to her form.

Her hair is unruly and wild against her bare shoulders, only kept out of her eyes by the pirate hat that adorsn her head. She's got a sword in one hand and a pistol strapped to her exposed right thigh via a makeshift holster made of leathers and ropes wrapped around said thigh.

"Captain! We got trouble!" Rogue shouts from her perch on the pole that spikes out ffrom the front of the ship!

Talia Wagner has posed:
This actually feels like home. Kurt running a pirate scenario in the danger room is not something she would want to miss out on. So when the opportunity presented itself she was an enthusiastic "Hell yeah." about participating in some piracy.

Because the more some things in the multiverse change, the more some things like her dad loving pirates stays the same.

Talia is wearing a pair of sick but still pirate 'theme' black leather pants, a blood red pirate blouse, and a bandana on her head helping keep her hair back and managed. Her belt is rigged with two flinkt lock pistols and of course she has a swashbuckling sword.

She had been sitting on a rail enjoying sun and sea air when it changes. "Man this reminds me of the last time I had to kick Namor in the nuts..." regardless she hops down. "Three score, thee Armanda is not messing around it seems." she calls up to Kurt "You really pissed them off this time Captain!" getting into it.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
This would certainly be the proverbial rock and the hard place -- if they weren't in the middle of open waters at least.

That storm looks menacing indeed. While it might be midday with the sun high in the sky, that heat given relief only by those ocean breezes, to the west it looks black as pitch. Those flashes that briefly illuminate that inky mass of cloud cover do not provide any reassurance either. No sane capatain worth his salt would even consider sailing into that nightmare.

Then again, no sane captain would likely have near sixty ships bearing down on them -- nearly half of them ships of the line. Double decked frigates, each one packing twice as much firepower then their own ship with enough swift escorts to cut off any avenue of escape to the north or south.

So fight or flight. All risk, no reward here, that much is for certain!

The fuzzy blue elf flashes a grin at his alternate dimension daughter and her enthusiasm. Some one has clearly played these games before. "That won't find us easy prey!" he calls back before nodding Rogue's way. "That we do. We'll make a run for and skirt the storm. Lets see if how brave their captains truly are! Raise the storm sails! Bringing us about," he adds. "Ready those guns Mr. LeBeau. If this doesn't work they won't find us unprepared!" he adds as the virtual crew leaps into action, the sailing ship beginning to alter course towards the monster storm...

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy rolls his eyes, but the smile at his lips is impossible to miss. "Aye." Is all he gives before he spins, pulling back in to the boat and dropping off the rail onto his bare feet.

    Wearing only pants it seems, stripped with brown and red, Remy quickly patters over to the barrel to get another canon ball. The shakles on his ankles, showing that he did somehow escape some form of law before he got on the boat, jingle with every move. Ball in canon, wad in the barrel, and wick just barely above the housing.

    Remy does this process several times before the entire side is loaded, making sure another of the crew had been arming the opposite side of the boat. "Orders Cap'n?" Remy requests as he spies Rogue and the man's mouth drops open slightly, but he shakes his head to regain his composure. She might have broken him...

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's right hand is wearing a brown leather glove that is dirty and ragged like the rest of her outfit. She's holding on to the rope that ties the mast to the nose-pole-thing she's standing on. She looks back at the other sand just has a big grin on her lips as her wild two-toned hair flows around her shoulders in the wind, along with the tatters of her white and blue dress.

She just hangs from the rope as the ship starts to turn, not a care in the world... happy as can be even with the ominous cloud sand dangerous enemies on the horizon. "They don't know what they're gettin' themselves into!" The Belle of the Sea shouts out with a uproarious laugh. She cuts her laugh off when her hat almost flies off of her head, whcih has her jumping to keep it on with her free hand!

She pulls herself up to stand straight and tall on the pole and then turns to quickly walk down it back to the ship's deck where she lands with a little jump!

She spies Remy getting a cannon ball and moves to where they are stored. Moments later and the Belle is standing next to Remy with two cannon balls held in either hand in front of her chest. She's smiling at him. "Brought you two more." She says, because she's being silly. "Grab'em if ya dare, ya Scurvey Dog."

Talia Wagner has posed:
Most of her childhood was actually spent on virtual pirate ships it feels like sailing the high seas through so many adventures.

She actually heads to do the rigging work, working those rope like an old hand and helping the virtual crew raise the Storm Sails and bring her about. "Aye Aye Capt'n!" she calls back towards Kurt.

It very much is times like this that she is happy she can pretty much attach herself to a ship and the riggings, even if they are wet from the ocean spray. Going into a storm like that it will be very helpful.

A glance towards Rogue and Remy gets a snort laugh.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shortly after the armada has been spotted closing in, the cabin door opens and Kitty Pryde stumbles onto deck. She's trying to walk and belt on her cutlass, which catches between her leg resulting in her briefly losing her step. She's wearing brown pants with boots that turn at the top, a white blouse with plenty of pirate poofy sleeves, and a hat which is sitting lopsided on her head like she just tossed it on before working on the belt.

"Sorry I'm late. Saw the fleet and had to change into my brown pants," she says as she gets the belt squared away and then rights her hat as she looks about for where another hand is needed on deck.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
The ship all but skims the waves as it turns away from the approaching Armada, beginning to pick up speed, rushing towards that storm that grows ever closer, ever more ominous, filling up the horizon in front of the merry band of pirates. A roiling mass of black clouds, lightning bursts and choppy seas. Indeed, the water is already turning rougher, the ship rocking as it cuts through the chop.

While they speed towards the storm and begin to put some distance between themselves and all those warships on their tail, that fleet continues their pursuit, no signs of turning back or giving up the chase. No simple bluff is going to shake them!

"Take the helm!" Kurt says with a grin for Talia. Hey, he would surrender the wheel of his ship -- even a virtual one! -- to just anyone. But truthfully, she probably has more hours logged then he does. One of the many strange things about having a 'daughter' who is only marginally younger then himself. He hefts himself over the rail, dropping down to the midship with a wink for Kitty as she joins them out on the deck. "A wise choice Ms. Pryde. We might all wish we made the same one 'fore this day is done!" he says, far too cheerily for someone facing imminent death. But he is an eternal optomist.

Reaching for a tube that has been tucked into his belt, he pulls it out, removing a sea chart and before the wind can catch it he turns towards the cabin door, holding it against the weathered wood there and pins it in place with a dirk he draws from his side with that agile tail, the blade still quivering. There location is marked, right near the western edge of the map that looks to go no further then where the storm lies. Glancing over the rail, still grinning at Rogue and Remy's shennanigans he checks out just where they stand.

And it's not good. The faster ships of the Armada are cutting them off. They won't be able to run parallel to the storm for long. There's only one choice.

"Into the storm Ms. Wagner. And may the sea take those blackhearted devils for forcing this on us," he says cheerfully.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "No one handles my balls like you do." Remy says with a boyish grin towards Rogue and he leans forwards for a quick peck of her cheek, knowing the pain will be brief but SO SO sharp. He has to take a step back and catch himself with a foot before he shrugs it off with a big show and a smile. "The last two canons, one ball in each of them." Remy notes as he steps past Rogue to get the ram rod with the wads on the end so he can put them into the barrels of the canons.

    With a hand on his jaw to try and soothe the pain hopefully away from prying eyes as he follows up behind Rogue and rams the charges and then sets the wicks on the last ones. "Good work Rogue, you're taking to this like ... well a fish to water, but dat ain't cute."

Rogue has posed:
While holding the two cannon balls up in front of her chest, Rogue catches movement out of the corner of her sight and she looks over to see Kitty stumbling on to the deck and putting her clothing on.

"Made it through the lower deckhands already, have ya, Shadowcat?" Rogue calls out to her friend, teasing her in ever the most unprofessional sort've way! Almost like a pirate!

She sees Kurt drop down on the deck and post that map on the wall, she narrows her eyes but can't see it from here then looks back to Remy...

... just as he sneaks a kiss. She huffs indignently "You're gonna get yourself in trouble, ya Rapscallion..."

The Belle looks toward the storm on the horizon then and she widens her eyes. "That..." She looks back up to Talia and then to Kurt. "Can this hunk'a'junk even survive goin' in to that storm??" She shouts over the winds.

Talia Wagner has posed:
It is mutually odd. That much is easily true. Though she has one advantage of having met several versions of her 'dad' in her travels so she has had more time to adjust to this current situation really.

Still when he orders her to take the helm she stops helping with the rigging and leaps up that way, catching a line, flipping up onto the railing and then leaping down to take it right as Kurt moves to step away.

It looks like they choreographed it honestly. "Aye Aye." she notes chipperly.

She holds it steady with ease and familiarity, running the ship along the edge of the storm as the others do their things.

That order though from the Captain makes her frown towards the storm. "We should batten all the hatches and secure the canons to the deck if we intend to sail into that monster Captain." she calls back. It isn't at all that she thinks about disobeying the order, just that she has opinions about ship safety in a storm like that.

She starts to turn the wheel and bark out some commands to the crew about trimming the line and changing the heading into the storm. She still takes them at an angle into the weather pattern not head on like some idiot though.

"We are about to find out Anna-Marie. We are about to find out. I'd suggest getting a good grip on a line." which several of the crew are doing as they lash down the canons.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde surveys the armada visually, then turns as she hears the jibe from Rogue. Kitty gives a quiet scoffing laugh. "Just helping them pray and review their holy texts, as you can tell by the number of 'Oh Gods' heard through the walls," Kitty fires right back at her former roommate.

"Cap'n!" Kitty calls to Kurt. "I'll head up and see if I can spy anything ahead in the storm!" She pushes her hat down more firmly, brown hair spilling out around her shoulders from beneath it, and then runs to the deck railing, planting a foot in while in motion and jumping up to catch the rigging over head. She begins deftly climbing up the rope rigging towards the crow's nest overhead.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It is a fair question, Rogue's. That is one serious looking storm bearing down on them and the ship is increasingly swaying as it bounds over those swells that seem to be growing increasingly large. Even here on the fringe of the storm they are being tossed about and it seems impossible that the pirate vessel can survive.

Kurt, however, looks positively delighted, practically beaming at Rogue. Why? Because he does so love it when someone sets him up so nicely. It's not exactly thematic, but it still fits under the circumstances. "Don't worry!" he calls back, the wind and the sound of the sea making it difficult to hear. "She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

For her part Kitty gets a grin and a nod. "Wouldn't trust anyone but you up there Ms. Pryde. I know that you'll see us through up there. Apparently the crew has plenty of faith in you as well," he notes, the corners of his mouth twitching. And then he is turning, one hand placed on the deck above, grasping it as he pulls himself up with a little hop, agilely flipping over that rail to join Talia by the helm.

"You heard her! Batten down the hatches and fix the storm lines. Secure the cannons and be prepared to bring down the main sail on my mark," he calls out as the virtual crew leap to obey, pulling on oilskins as the rain begins to fall, a gentle spray at first, but quickly growing into a hard pounding rain.

The orders are good ones, just an instant too late. One of the booms swings free, swaying erratically in Kitty's path. Likewise one of the deck guns slips free of it's moorings, skittering wildly as the holographic crew leap about, trying to avoid that large cannon as it rolls it's way towards Remy and Rogue.

And then, like a veil of shadow falling over the world they are in the storm proper...

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Good thing I just made 'em all heavier." Remy says as he drops the chalks behind each of the canons and then ties a rope to each of the canons and the railing. Locking his side in place and with a whip of his hand towards the other side of the boat, Remy has the oppsote crew member do the same. "You have other side, get it done, we don't want to loose a canon into the ocean, or I'll send you in after it!" Remy says with a sharp tone to his voice. Sharper than Kurt, or Talia. Seems he's got some hints of leadership in his background that don't appear on the surface much.

    Remy gets back to his feet, shackles rattling as he moves over towards the rigging for the storm sails and undoes the knot but holds the rope fast, waiting for the signal from Kurt to drop it and do his duties as a crewman.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is looking back toward the storm that Kurt is directing them toward and a big gust of wind takes her hat off of her head and blows it over the edge of the boat. She doesn't even react to it, its a KiA loss now. Her hair goes wildly in the wind all around her shoulders now, getting all poofy in the thick humid ocean air.

"Fantastic." Rogue grumbless, but when the NPCs start to shout as the cannon goes loose and rolls toward them, she turns and walks toward it, intercepting it and catching it from going any further. One hand on the cannon, she looks at it, then hears Remy barking orders which has he rlooking over at him again.

"Ooo, you just gave me chills." She says at him in a flirty sort've way. "Where's that side of ya been all my life?" She sasses further before she pushes the cannon back to where it belongs, her legs pumping on the deck as she runs across it and helps the NPC Crewmen put the cannon back in place.

"Get that tied down, ya ... Foamy... Squirrels?" She's running out of pirate insults.

Lightning. Thunder. Hard Rain.

"This is gettin' ridiculous!" The Belle of the Sea shouts!

Talia Wagner has posed:
TJ shifts her footing and plants herself a bit more steadied and braced now behind the wheel of the ship. She can tell from the feel of the ship under her hands and what her eyes are telling her from the storm ahead that she is going to be fighting the storm for control.

"Not fast enough Captain." she says mournfully as all hell breaks loose.

Still she holds them steady as the sky darkens and the storm crashes over them. "Someone secure that boom... fix the lines!" crap on a cracker. Evidently this Kurt likes the challenge of crews being less seasoned.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde makes her way up, moving steadily despite how the gusts of wind swing the rigging about making each climb farther upwards precarious at best. At one point that wind tries to steal her hat, which Kitty grabs at with one hand and pushes down further onto her head to help keep it in place.

She starts back upwards, when one of the booms gets away from the deckhands who were about to secure it. It swings towards her, hard enough if it hits to maybe break a few ribs, and likely send her flying into the ocean!

She lets go and drops, falling a good ten feet before a hand snags at a horizontal rope. The boom slams into the rigging above her, sending her further jostling and swaying back and forth. Finally she manages to get her feet back on the ropes. "Ya scurvy lot! Nearly sent me down to Davey Jones' locker!" she yells at the crew responsible for letting it get away from them. "No prayer meetings for you the rest of this trip!"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
While Rogue's hat might be the first casualty of the evening it appears that others have anticipated this. Someone is definitely cheating. The tricorn perched jauntily atop Kurt's head doesn't so much as shift despite the winds that are increasingly moving towards gale force, blowing wildly, fiercely. Even with the noise of all that wind it is still possible to hear the creaking of wood as both the mast and the deck it is anchored to creaks loudly under the growing straing. The sails billow, urged to fly free by that wind as ropes strain to hold them in place.

"It's time Mr. LeBeau. Bring down the main sheet. We're at the mercy of the seas now, hard hearted wench that she may be!" he says. And the illusionary crew leap in, glancing towards Remy for their orders, securing lines with haste -- or perhaps it's Kitty that they want to impress -- and beginning to haul down those sails before they rip the ship entirely apart.

Lightning flashes, briefly illuminating the sky, illuminating those swells that seemto rise higher than the ship itself, rocking crazily to and fro, worse then any roller coaster could possibly be. All the while that beautiful, sunny day, those warm tropical breezes are all forgotten. For... this?

It's possible there might be just a little something wrong with Kurt's sense of fun.

Nor, apparently, is all of this enough excitement for him. In the growing dark, with everyone focused on their task no one might notice. No one, except their precariously perched watch-woman in the rigging above. But a massive dark shadow of a shape moves beneath those wild waves, cresting the surface just briefly, at least a portion of the beast. A fraction of a fraction. All green and leathery and covered in seaweed.

And on a collison course.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "AWAY SAILS!" Remy shouts into the winds as his short hair waves in the wind faster and nearly as harshly as the waters around them, his broad chest slick with rain and salt water, giving the cajun an appearance that he's capable of working a hard day and living by the sweat of his brow. And the sweat of the ocean herself it seems. "Not now woman, You can be wooed by my masculinity when we're not tumbling overboard for the elf's misshapen sense of adventure." Remy hollars towards the bicolor haired woman with a smile on his face even as the weather beats him. "I blame Scott for that."

    Remy shifts his hands quickly hooking the rope to the rigging and braces as he looks back towards Kurt and gives a thumbs up. "I'll assume the robots got the hatches below, cause I don't wanna miss what happens next." Remy says with a grin as he wiggles his eyebrows and looks up towards Kitty and the pounding rains, hoping for more too.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is near the front of the ship again with the men who are securing the cannon back in place at her behest. She holds her sword in her right hand and keeps a grip on the old leather wrapped handle. She starts to glance back over her shoulder with a grin toward Kitty and her words, but somethicn catches the Belle's eyes and she looks forward in to the giant waves that they're crashing in to.

Water pours across the deck, her dress is flowing against her and behind her (How is it even staying on her!?! It's so tattered! And yet still keeping all her dignity!)

She walks to the front of the ship, the water rushing past her ankles across the deck and back off in to the sea.

"Something's out there!" Rogue shouts, pointing her sword and looking backward as she holds on to the side railing. "Somethin's in the water!" She shouts, her wild hair covering her face when she looks back against the wind.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia Wagner is very aware of the level of adrenaline and adventure junky that her 'dad' is and is prepared for it. The pirate bandana instead of a hat for their pirate outing - check. The thing is she doesn't have the altitude that Kitty does to see the latest danger.

Add that to the fighting the wheel and keeping them all intact even with the sails being mostly hauled down. She just misses it for now.

To Remy and Rogue though "This is actually pretty mild adventure."

Which is about when Rogue calls out that there is something out there in thew water. "Oooh. There it is..." she notes amused.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde makes it to the crow's nest, straightening her hat and then peering down at the land below. She pulls a spyglass from where it was tucked into her belt, using it to look a quick 360 degrees about, then lowering it to look more closely.

She turns to peer ahead of the ship, checking or reefs or islands or anything that might put the ship in peril. She leans forward, grabbing the edge of the crow's nest as she looks down through the inclement weather.

"Cap'n!" Kitty yells down towards the deck. "You know that part of the map that says 'Thar Be Sea Monsters Here'!? Well I think we just reached it! Something coming in fast towards us!" she says, pointing the direction out.

Scott Summers has posed:
There is something in the water. It's Scott trying very much to look like a pirate in his bandana, buccaneer shirt, and tattered trousers, but with those ruby shades, he pulls off more of an 80's professional wrestler vibe. Having been late to the simulation, he has chosen to introduce himself in a way that might present an extra change to both himself and the wayward crew.

He's in a beat up wooden dingy, drenched as he pumps the oars with determined rhythm and discipline. He cuts his own dashing figure, sea water running down his training honed physique in rivulets. The oars dip into the water, a mighty draw launches the boat forward. The process repeats itself. He chants in his labor, "Stroke... Stroke... Stroke..." Yes, Scott can even boss himself around.

As he nears the ship, he cups a hand to corner of his mouth to yell "Permission to come aboard, captain."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Be careful of what you wish for!

For all of Kurt's background, of his schooling and belief and faith in religion he is not much of one for lessons in his stories. They are the ends themselves. If there are themes or morals fair enough. But there do not need to be. Sometimes the value of a good story is simply that it is entertaining. That it /is/ a good story. But be careful of what you wish for might apply here to be sure.

Lightning flashes across the sky once more, crackling and dancing in amongst the black clouds overhead and for a moment the world is lit up once more. A half dozen bolts leap from the heavens, creashing down to be lost among the roiling seas. But in that instant the latest threat that Kurt has apparently programmed into the scenario waits for them. Huge and hulking under the waves, already practically ontop of them.

Thanks to Kitty and Rogue they have an instant of warning. It's not much, but it's better then nothing. "Brace yourselves!" the fuzzy blue elf screams out over the pounding rain and howling gale that has enveloped them, just before his voice is lost beneath that rapid crack of thunder from all about them.

Then the ship heaves, not as if rolling with the storm swells. Heaves as if it just ran aground. There is an audible crack of wood shattering and an instant later a half dozen huge, slimy tentacles emerge from the deep, covered in seaweed and heaving themselves over the rails encircling the deck. One slides to wrap around the main last, starting to creep it's way up higher and higher even as it threatens to snap that thick spar like a toothpick. Three others snatch up some of the holographic crew, their piteous cries for help almost lost in the maelstrom while another lashes it's way towards where Remy and Rogue stand, crashing down on the deck with a thunderous impact.

"IT'S THE KRAKEN!"

The last of them sweeps toward Kurt and Talia, flailing about wildly in the air. In that chaos it would be easy to miss the lone voice coming from the stern, but the fuzzy blue elf does not, motioning for Talia to follow him. "I won't leave any man to drown in seas like this. Let's haul him up Ms. Wagner. Let the ocean take the ship where it will," he adds, sliding across the deck and hurling a rope over the side towards Scott.

"Heave! Heave!"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    "Oh. My. Go-" The boat slams into the monster, or the monster into it either way, Remy is sent tumbling onto the deck, head over heals a few times. The world spins rapidly until he slams into the main mast and is slowly getting back to his feet, bruised and a mouthfull of blood is spat onto the deck to be washed away almost instantly.

    "Ow."

    The cajun pauses as he wipes at his face with the back of his wrist. With a few wobbly steps he finds the barrel with the canonballs and pulls one out. "Rogue!" He shouts and presses the metal ball between his shoulder and neck, holding it with one hand, "Take me out over the monster!" With a serious look in those red black eyes.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue stands at the fore-starboard side of the ship and looks over the railing. She's not able to hear Scott's approach as he's all the way back on the aft port side. No, her eyes are on the sea monster out in the waves. "Good god, what even is this?" She asks.

She's not a pirate expert like some people onboard the ship. Sure she's learned a lot, but she was a much bigger fan of the pirate taverns where there was booze and singing, and... dancing and stuf. The actual ship stuff was where it got whacky, like... well this.

"Are you kiddin' me?!" Rogue shouts over her shoulder as tentacles rise up out of the water. "YOu better not be watchin' them Japanese cartoons again, Captain!" The Belle crassly shouts as one slaps down on the ship beside her. She jumps out of the way as the NPC Crewmen are picked up and scream while taken away.

"We're not usin' our powers right? No powers??" She grunts as she swings her sword at the tentacle beside her!

When Remy appears beside her, Rogue looks over at him, her hair drenched now to the point that it's plastered down behind her back, leaving her face and shoulders all wet from the rain. "What? Oh, screw it."

She grabs his hand with her one gloved hand and lifts up in to the air to take Remy where he wants to go, flying high iin to the stormy sky!

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia was surprisingly well braced for it, there is even a slightly manical laugh of enjoyment from her as she holds onto the wheel through the impact.

Yeah she has really missed all of this.

The tentacle that sweeps towards her gets nimbly leaped over and then ducked. It is pretty wild in it's flailings and isn't nearly as dangerous as some models of Sentinels after all.

She doesn't miss the order to help tjpigj amd jeads quick after Kurt and then grabs the line that was tossed to Scott below. She will start helping haul him up once he or Kurt have called that he is secured.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The boat shudders and rocks from the impact, and the heaving motion of the ship is greatly exaggerated at the top of the mast. The crow's nest heaves over and Kitty goes flying over the edge of it and falls. From that high up and whipped that hard, it's hard to say whether she'll hit the deck or the water.

As it turns out, neither. The young woman plummets down from above, just as a tentacle is rising up and waving in the air menacingly. Kitty grabs hold of it for dear life, wrapping her arms and legs around it. The Kraken seems to sense her as it starts waving the tentacle around trying to dislodge her. For the moment it seems like all that Kitty can do to hang onto it. The Kraken makes a bucking bronco look tame!

Scott Summers has posed:
The waves are not kind to Scott. His challenge becomes a combination of not getting seized by grabby tentacles, being smashed against the hull of the ship by a wave, and managing to time the rising waters to put him in grabbing distance of Kurt's lowered rope.

Scott's not successful the first time he makes a grab for the rope. The second time, he has to abort to smack a tentacle out of his path with an oar. The third time, he goes for broke, and leaps managing to catch the rope with a single clenching hand. He hangs being dashed against the ship side by a rush of water. There's a moment where he almost loses his grip, but in a yell of defiance, he tugs and manages to grab the rope with his free hand. He rights himself, plants his feet against the hull, and then calls up, "Hoist me up!"

Eyebrows raising over his glasses as a tentacle makes another grab for him, he tightens his grip and runs along the side of the hull, narrowly evading slimey constriction. "Faster please!"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
While Kurt has been known for gently chiding those who 'cheat' in his scenarios, clearly this is not exactly a historically accurate program. The fact that they are fighting a Kraken, in the middle of an impossibly large and powerful storm while a massive Armada waits for them just beyond kinda gives that away. While no one is likely to have the spare time to glance at the map that the fuzzy blue elf pinned to the cabin door with his dirk, anyone who did sneak a peek would quickly be able to tell that the seas they are sailing do not exist anywhere in the real world.

So not only is power use not frowned up, it is probably entirely expected. Oh course, it still might be a competition to see who gives in first mind you. But Rogue has taken care of that.

More of those massive, green tentacles begin to wrap around the ship and more timbers aubibly snap under the increasing pressure. Those that already have crew members in their clutches haul the poor, virtual reality characters over the side, their cries and screams for help just as chilling as that constant downpour.

Does Kurt hear Rogue's complaint over the howling gale? Does he smirk just a little? Who's to say. Either way, as she takes flight to scoop up Remy and haul him out of danger and into position over the rolling waves that flailing tentacle pursues, reaching, reaching, reaching... for just a moment the tip of it touches the Cajun's foot before they are out of reach. But not, apparently out of danger as a half dozen more leathery appendages leap out of the stormy waters, providing a flailing obstacle course of sucker-encrusted flesh for the pair to navigate.

Nor is Kitty given any time to catch her breath either as the Kraken's tentacle flails about wildly. She should be so lucky to be riding a bronco! That slimy limb twists under her grasp, seemingly trying to turn, those powerful suckers creeping closer and closer to latching on even as it starts to withdraw, to pull back towards the ocean. And the massive beak-like maw that crests the water's surface, snapping hungrily.

At the stern of the ship Kurt and Talia work together, trying to haul the incredibly brave -- or incredibly foolhardy -- Scott up onto the deck while also trying to dodge that flailing limb that batters the deck around them. A portion of the rail is pulled away, flying off into those dark skies. The tentacle slams down, narrowly missing the pair before raking down the back of that ship. It flicks the rope, for a moment sending Scott swinging wildly before smashing the rowboat beneath him into about a million toothpick sized bits of flying lumber. No going back that way. "We've got you!"

It's not like anyone has a lot of attention to spare of course, but up ahead, there seems to be a break in the storm. The black clouds simply seem to... stop, cut off like a giant blade slides out of the sky to part them. But something seems just a little off, the currents and the wind carrying them inevitably towards that anomaly...

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy doesn't talk about it much, or ever, as he starts to tense up as Rogue lifts him off the boat. She can feel it in the way his muscles don't swing as loosely as they should. He doesn't say anything about it either as he clenches his teeth and presses his cheek also against the huge metal ball he's pressed into the crook of his neck like a shotputter would.

    "Drop me above it's main body." Remy says loudly over the sound of the winds and the rain against the two high in the air. "I don't think we could afford to miss." Remy says with a cocky smirk and a wink as the ball in his hand, starts to grow a faint pinkish purpleish color, and Rogue should have a pretty good idea of what that will mean.

    "Don't miss."

Rogue has posed:
From 16 to 18, Rogue had very poor control over her flight power that she took from Carol. Even with Carol's internal dialogue trying to take command of Rogue, when she flew back then she was scared to death of heights and hated rapid flying turns.

Things have changed since those days. Since coming to Xavier's and using the Danger Room, as well as active missions, to hone her flying skills... She's quite good at it now.

The tentacles in the air have her ducking, doging, diving, and doing all kinds of moves to get around them and deliver Remy where he shouts to. "Are you seirous?" She shouts back down at him, but does it anyway. She sweeps under a leathery appendage and looks back over her shoulders at it before she takes Remy toward the Krakken's maw.

She sweeps in low and puts him where he asked, then takes to the skies again to defend him from the creature's arms! Now she's free to do what she does best, and deliver powerful punching blows to the sucky sucky tentacles!

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia hasn't given in yet, maybe she knows the score. I mean it could be argued her agility and ability to stay on her feet is using her powers. Or how the dark of the storm is still clear as day to the young blue lass. So at least she hasn't used her flashier powers.

Once Scott is pulled aboard one of her flintlocks is in her hand and she fires blowing a hole in the tentacle that was about to grab him back out to sea. "Watch yourself Mr. Summers. The waters in these parts are dangerous."

She is enjoying all of this much to much. The flintlock is tucked back away and her cutlass is in her hand as she dartrs off to save a couple members of the crew now.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The tentacle that Kitty Pryde is hanging to whips back and forth. Trying to get those suckers on her body where it grabs her instead of the other way around. She finally loses her hat, brown hair flying about her wildly in the wind and the thrashing of the tentacle.

She locks her feet together at the ankles with her legs wrapped around the tentacle, letting go with one hand to pull out her cutlass.

"Cursed sea monster! Get back down into the briny deep!" she yells at it, lopping the tip off the tentacle which results in green icky blood spurting out onto her.

The loss of the tentacle tip doesn't seem to stop her from being dragged over towards it's beaked mouth. Kitty lets go with the other hand, just holding on with her legs now as she draws a flintlock pistol from her belt. "So glad I wore the brown pants!" she shouts and then aims the gun towards the Kraken's mouth, cocking it and firing it into the gaping maw.

The tentacle goes thrashing about and Kitty loses her leg-lock on the creature. She goes flying through the air and then splashes into the water. Glug glug.

Scott Summers has posed:
"Thanks!" Scott calls up in response to the effort of Talia and Kurt. His mouth sets into that all too common grim line of determination as the tentacles flail around him. Noting Rogue taking flight, he twists his left arm around the rope a few times, clenches, and then uses his right hand to grab his glasses. He lifts them to fire off a quick series of blasts at the onslaught of tentacles.

The beams strike slimey flash and in most cases swat them out of the way of his allies. A few hit center of mass enough to sever the appendages, sending them splashing into the waves and spraying ichor into the salt spray.

Finally, Talia and Kurt get him close enough that he can grab the deck through the gap in the rail. He hauls himself up, offers a head nod to the pair. "Thanks, Captain."

Soon after, he points toward Kitty as she splashes down, "Woman over board." Next, Scott takes up a higher position on the deck and begins providing overwatch, blasting tentacles as they come too close to flying Belles, reckless Cajuns, and water-logged geeks.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
This isn't just any pirate ship. This is Cap'n Wagner's pirate ship. Storms? Naval Armadas? Sea Monsters? They laugh in the face of those sorts of threats.

Unfortunately their ship isn't quite as daring and resilient. It has definitely taken a beating with the rail smashed all along the sides where tentacles have attached themselves, timbers smashed or at least cracked. There is no doubt that they are taking on water below decks. Of course worrying about that is a little like worrying about one's high cholesterol when they have a sucking chest wound. That's not really the primary concern right at the moment.

While hurt, Kurt was not wrong about his ship. She does got it where it counts. She might be bleeding and battered but her she's still fighting. And now her crew is fighting back on her behalf as well.

The tentacle flails wildly when Kitty cuts through it and while that might stop it from removing her face with one of it's suckers, it also means that she is deposited in the drink. Glug glug indeed.

"Welcome aboard Mr. Summers!" Kurt says with the sort of exhuberence that is entirely out of place in the moment. Unless one is an action junky of course. If so, the fuzzy blue elf is certainly getting his fix right now. As Scott fires off those optic blasts and Talia turns to the more mundane flintlocks the tentacles begin to recoil under the onslaught and the monster gives a great cry of anger and pain. "Defend the deck! I'll go see to Ms. Pryde. Looks like you win the bonus challenge daughter-mine!" he says with a laugh, the smile a mix of excitement and pride.

Then there is the tell-tale *bamf* and rapidly dissipating cloud of inky black smoke as Kurt vanishes, appearing in mid-air ten feet over the edge of the ship, diving towards the wild waves below. "No one left behind!".

The Kraken is not having a good time of it, and when Rogue swoops down to pound at that razor-sharp, massive beak it lets out another massive below, sea-water and slime blasting out in a burst from it's maw. That maw that gapes open wildly, right below the plunging Cajun.

This isn't going to go well for the sea monster. Every good Danger Room session needs it's Michael Bay moment. There's a good chance that this is it.

So, the hearty pirates are on the verge of victory huh? Or maybe not quite yet. The ship continues to drift closer and closer to that break in the storm, it becomes increasingly clear just what they're heading for. Not a merciful escape. They are literally heading to tne edge of the world! They really were at the edge of the map and it seems they are moments away from plunging over!

And it that's not enough? As the threat of the Kraken begins to withdraw the sky lights with lightning once more and hundreds of dark shapes are visible above, their outlines strangely familiar. But only when they grow close does it become plain just what they are.

"SKY SHARKS!" shouts a panicked member of the crew right before a frickin' flying shark swoops in on him and snatches him up in it's mouth carrying him aloft. Dozens more soar about, showing off those toothy jaws. And then dozens of bolts of lightning burst from those open mouths. It's not laser beams on their heads, but it's still pretty terribly.

It's all pretty extreme. Ridiculous even. It would appear that Kurt is fully intent on Kobayashi Maru-ing them.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
    Remy closes his eyes and takes a breath just before he slams into the water, pushing the canonball forward to hit the water and for him to make sure he doesn't let go of the thing too quickly.

    Sinking with the giant marble, Remy's eyes open under the water, taking the sting of the ocean for the sake of fighting the creature. "GARGLE GARGLE GR GARGLE!" Remy shouts something towards the Kraken as he drops the charged canonball and starts to try to swim up, figuring he might have a shot to make it maybe halfway back up before the pink explosion rocks this whole danger room. He knows it's gonna be a big one.

    The pink explosion starts deep beneath the ship off the side, and the swell is no joke, Remy gets caught beneath the water when it goes off and he's propelled upwards into the water above and then into the air where he's tumbling end over end through the air without any way to catch himself. Completely vulnerable and left relying on his team to pick up his slack, as he ragdolls down towards the deck from nearly as high as the crows nest.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Okay.

Sky sharks is something new.

"Kurt!" she yells in his direction and then well, a flintlock is fired at a shark. Lightning sharks of course.

The pistol is just thrown at a shark and Talia runs along getting under partial cover as she starts to fling explosive hex bolts.

Obviously this scenario is one of the least realistic ones that Talia has ever seen Kurt run someone through. "Sky sharks..." she mutters.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue remains in the sky, the storm all around her as she punches at the tentacles, her sword long lost to sea now, and forcing her to rely on just her hand speed! Fists balled up, the Belle is punching the tentacles as they come her way, just before Scott's loptic blasts sizzle up past her to take out two that were coming up from behind!

She spins around and starts to give chase, flying through the air while trying to keep watch over the valiant Remy down near the beast's maw. She's about fifty feet away from where he'd vanished when he gets shot out of the water like Artoo on Dagobah!

The Belle flies after him, sweeping in between...

"Sky Sharks?!" She shouts as she sees one of them soar past her. Her gloved hands reach out to catch Remy and ease his fall on to the deck, slowing it down just enough to keep him from breaking anything.

She then lets him go and moves up in to the air, and gets run right in to by a Sky Shark that grabs her in its maw and carries her down toward the water!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The sea is angry this day, my friends. Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

The ocean absorbs the graceful dive of the teleporting pirate captain as Kurt disappears below the waves with barely a splash left behind, in the same spot that cabin girl Pryde disappeared moments before.

The waves roll and crash and the sea heaves on the edges of the storm, with no sign of either of the pirates. Until those watching must being to worry that they cannot possibly hold their breaths so long.

And then suddenly something breaks the surface, surging up from the depths. Something made of wood, with Kitty and Kurt both clinging to it. As they clamber higher aboard it, it becomes clear they are perched atop a carved wooden coffin floating atop the angry waves.

Kitty brushes her wet hair back from where it's stuck to her face. "I'm telling you, with his love of the classics? It has to be the Professor editing the scenario," she tells Kurt as they balance atop Queequeg's coffin. "Let's get back to the ship!"

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott's eyebrow raises as he sees their next challenge descend from the sky. Well, it was good for the X-Men to be prepared for the unexpected. He assists Talia with fending off the flying terrors of the deep, his optic blasts joining her hex bolts.

The cogs start to turn in his mind, he starts to stitch together a plan.

Turning, he notices his team mate in the maw of the shark and promptly blasts it center mass, hoping to knock it away from Rogue, or at least change the trajectory to keep the pair out of the water.

Disregarding the chain of command, Scott falls into old habits. A plan concocted, he points to a nearby rowboat hanging in its rigging then begins to bark orders.

"Rogue. Disengage. You are our engine."

"Gambit, I want a cloud of AA explosions 5 meters above deck."

"Nocturne, with me. Repel boarders."

He yells over the side of the ship, trying to project his voice over the waves. "We are abandoning ship. Nightcrawler. Shadowcat. I want a fire below decks. Give them a parting gift. Then meet us on the rowboat."

Scott, getting way too serious for the obvious outlandish situation, is trying to turn it around. He begins to lower the boat toward the churning sea, snapping off a shot of optic blast to any sky sharks that veer nearby. It'll likely all end poorly under Kurt's impossible scenario, but X-men don't give up!

Kurt Wagner has posed:
And that is it for the Kraken.

It is unlikely it will be greatly missed, at least not by any of those present. Maybe it had a family back home, dozens of little Krakens no bigger then a starfish who will never see Daddy -- or is it Mommy? How does one determine the sex of a hideous sea monster anyway? -- again.

With that explosion the last of those tentacles fall away from the ship and the Kraken simply... drifts, proceeding them towards the edge of the storm. It seems to hang there, for just a moment, before plunging out of sight, right over the edge of the world.

One Sea Monster down. About a thousand more to go.

In the water, Kurt bobs back to the surface along with Kitty, quite thoroughly soaked and looking as least as amused as he is wet, glancing down at the 'driftwood' that has saved their lives. "Truthfully, I'm touched enough that he cares. It's the little things," he says with a solemn little nod before teleporting them both with a tiny *bamf* that is lost in the storm's onslaught.

Up in the skies above the Sky Sharks swarm, occasionally swooping down towards the sinking ships deck to snatch up helpless crew members. Other's swarm like a pack of piranha's, mobbing Rogue, snapping at her with those teeth, sending blasts of lightning whistling just over her head. And all the while the intensity of the wind picks up, increasing exponentionally, battering the flying woman, pushing her and the ship below towards that hungry, waiting abyss.

Back on the ship, Kurt reappears with Kitty in that little paff of inky smoke, standing by the shattered helm of the ship, by his alternate universe daughter and by Scott. Standing as the battered bow of the boat begins to slip out over into the void. Glancing around, Kurt doesn't smile but those brilliant golden eyes do dance merrily, even more so in the gloom. "It has been an honor and priviledge to serve with you all. A Captain couldn't ask for a better crew," he asserts proudly though his composure breaks as the X-Men's field leader snaps into action. Reaching up, he tugs a splinter of wood from his fur before offering it up to the man. "Here's what's left of the rowboat Scott," he says, a broad grin sliding over his face, just revealling a hint of white fangs as the Danger Room dissolves into a whirling patterns of flashing lights that should probably come with a warning. All plunges into darkness...

...and then let there be light! The Danger Room explodes back into view. An impossibly long, white, sandy beach. Tall trees rising up fifty or so feet in the distance, a dense jungle reaching towards the sky. And out of that jungle, at it's very heart a towering mountain with a cut off peak, the orange glow of liquid magma visible even from here. Driftwood, debris and unconscious sailors lay sprawled on the sand. Is this what the other side of the world looks like? Or maybe it's Limbo. Though not Illyana's. "Next time. Tree forts. Savage pygmy cannibals. Maybe we can make a coconut radio," he suggests slyly.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was just about to splash down in to the water when Cyclops' eye beam blasts the shark off of her form! She shoots up in to the sky again and hears his barked orders, her head nodding just beofre she feels things surround her and start biting her form all sides!

"What in the name of Jesse Ventura?!" The Belle shouts as she starts to punch at the flying bitey fishes!

Soon she's flying forward to try to out fly them, whit them chasing after her, snapping and tearing at her clothing.

How many times does this happen to her???

As the chaos only seems to be getting worse and worse, the Belle flies around the ship until it all fades away and the landscape changes to the golden beaches. Rogue is down on her knees in the sand, and is slowly standing up, her once beautiful maiden's dress is even more destroyed now, the skirt in utter ruins of tattered strands around her legs and brown leather thigh-high boots.

"Well, this is a nice change of pace." She states in her thick southern tone. "Right?" She asks, turning to look at the others as her wild hair flows behind her bare shoulders.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
As Rogue rises, she'll see Kitty standing over to her right. The young woman's clothing apparently didn't fare much better after going over the edge of the world. She's standing in her brown pants, only one boot still on. And wearing a bikini made out of two halves of a coconut.

"Is it? Is it really?"

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott catches the shard of wood and scowls before things fade...

Looking at the sandy beach, Scott rubs the back of his head and then tosses the shard of wood over his shoulder, it plunging into the surf with a 'plunk'.

Giving the closest thing to a pout that Scott allows, he murmurs, "Guess we'll save the Rogue speedboat plan for another naval disaster."

Ripping his bandana off the top of his head, he runs his hands through his hair. "So... next phase is a survival course? or is it beach volley ball? Make it a both, and we can make a 'Wilson'."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
"I for one highly approve of both your wardrobe choices," Kurt chimes in ever so helpfully. His own clothing is thoroughly waterlogged and torn and he pulls that soggy tricorn hat from his head to swat at himself, brushing away from of the sand that clings to his fur. Again the corners of his mouth twitch as he glances Scott's way. "I suspect there will be some survival involved. But mainly I just want to build an amazing tree fort and fend off the savage occupants of the island," he says, those eyes glinting merrily once more.

In the distance there is a loud rumble and the light coming from the top of that volcanic peak grows brighter. Thunder echoes in the air, almost sounding like words, that they might make sense if one just listened hard enough. "Mmmmm, but I suppose we should save that for next time. This seems a good place. Before we anger the Volcano God," he says with a firm nod and a smirk. "Close Program."