The Great Magical Mishap

Chapter 3 - Cloudy with a chance of tentacles

"It's useless!" he shouted, before realizing that sounded horribly demotivating.

One sailor was indeed horribly demotivated by the words of the wise master of magic and decided to act on it by jumping overboard.

"Stop shooting it, you buffoons!" Harrold decided to shout instead, hoping his voice would be heard over the cacophony of panicked shouts and heavy storm, "Focus on the tentacles! Cut the tentacles!" 

The remaining sailors either couldn't hear him, were busy jumping overboard, too panicked to listen or declined to listen due to the quite offensive and unnecessary buffoon remark. They kept reloading and firing their muskets wildly with little effect. Harrold fell once again as the kraken tightened his grip on the ship. Pat was the only one that seemed to get the message as he left the Captain's side and quickly made his way towards the tentacles with sword in hand. The slightly dazed Harrold remembered that Pat had once asked him to name the sword, because, as Pat explained, every hero needs a cool and unique sword name. He couldn't quite remember what he came up with though. 

As Pat stood next to the tentacle he raised his sword high in the air, the lightning reflecting of the metallic blade. Harrold would never admit it and he wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real, but the sight was truly befitting a hero. That moment he saw what his friend could become... or, more realistically, what he could have been had he not been so unlucky in the gene pool. In that one moment, he saw Patricklus the Great in all his glory. "You will die at the hands of Patricklus the Great!" he would shout, as only a hero could. Harrold looked in anticipation. Was his friend actually capable of becoming this? Becoming such an inspiring and powerful figure? Was there more to his simple friend? 

"PRIIIIIIIICK!" shouted Pat, his voice breaking, before hacking away at the tentacle with an effective, but not particularly impressive looking, fury.

Ah, right. Prick. That's what I called the sword. 

Harrold got up and tried his hardest to maintain his balance. His clothes were completely drenched and he had a hard time keeping upright. The ship kept being rocked by both waves and the monster. They needed the help of the others. Patricklus the Great might've been able to do this on his own, but not plain old Pat. He slowly made his way over to the helm. If my voice won't reach them, maybe his will. 

"Captain!" he shouted as he came closer, "Tell your men to focus on the tentacles! It's trying to crush the ship!"

The Captain quickly did as asked, using the most passionate, motivating and confident voice he could muster, "Men! Cut that filthy monster's tentacles! Teach it why no one dares touch the 'Bon Voyage'! No one, indeed!"

Harrold wasn't sure if the Captain simply had no meaningful bond with the sailors or if the, now somewhat ironic, name killed any chance of it working, but his words had as little effect as Harrold's had. The tone wasn't bad though, solid attempt overall.

Leading by example, Pat did manage to convince several of the sailors to join him in his efforts. Harrold, feeling even more useless than usual and somewhat willing to put in effort to save his own life, asked the Captain for his sword and made his way over to Pat.

"Everyone focus on the same tentacle!" he shouted as he arrived.

He raised his sword high above his head and clumsily swung it down, missing the giant tentacle entirely and wedging his sword into the deck. This time the deck fully had the right to creak and complain, though the single sword cut was the least of its problems. Even Peggy and the remaining sailors on deck had now joined them in their effort. They kept hacking away at the tentacle, trying to keep their balance as the ship was violently shaking. Soon their efforts paid off as the kraken had enough of the annoying sensation and pulled back its tentacle.