Lucas Lloyd stepped out of the school bus and raced across the street toward his white house. Today was Friday, and high school was finally over until next week. And best of all, Lucas has no homework to complete over the weekend. Sure, his test was a pain, but it was worth it when the school bell rang. With freedom over the weekend, Lucas has plenty of time to play Skulls and Crossbones. What a relief he could continue his adventure.

When he reached the door, he knocked on the door, and his mother opened it.

"Welcome home, dear," she said, "how did your exam go?"

Lucas smirked as he stepped inside. "I think I did fine, mom. The results will not show until next week."

"I hope you did well." His mother closed the door behind him. "Remember, your father and I are going on our business trip this weekend. Our flight will leave tonight."

"Okay, mom." Lucas knew his parents were flying to Tokyo for a long meeting with their corporate sponsors. Something to do with a computer product their company was investing to sell. But it was a good thing his parents were leaving him alone at his house for two days. That will give him plenty of time to play.

"I will order you pizza before we leave," his mother informed. "There is still plenty of food in the fridge."

"Thank you, mom." Lucas rushed up the stairway and through the hall toward his bedroom. His mother and father will leave around 4 pm. He still has enough time to check out the map before he says goodbye to his parents.

After shutting the door, Lucas threw his backpack onto his bed and removed his shoes. He sat at his computer desk near his window and booted up his system. It only took a few minutes for him to wait, and then he logged into his Skulls and Crossbones account. Then he selected his avatar, Captain Flipper.

He liked penguins, and he believed they were the most ruthless packs of creatures on the planet. All his friends at school kept telling him penguins were weak and vulnerable to predators, sought as polar bears and killer whales. Not even one pack could take down a hungry seal in the Arctic.

Lucas wanted to prove them wrong by playing as a pirate penguin in the game. Although his penguin pirates were fictional characters, they proved to be strong in numbers and very hazardous to their enemies.

Lucas had spent one month building up his character to become the strongest pirate in Nassau. But hunting down ships and destroying towns weren't enough to reach the top player list. He needed to find the legendary dungeon on Ghost Island, which contained the rarest gear to improve his status. Once he finds the rare loot, nobody would dare insult his character for being a penguin. He will become the greatest penguin pirate of all!

Lucas clicked his character and placed his FIG (Full Integrator Gear) headset on his head. With his eyes closed, the gear buzzed on his head.

A stream of blue lights glided through his vision as if he was rushing through hyperspace. After a flash, Lucas appeared on a dock near a town under a sunny sky. His ship, the Ruthless Peaker, floated on the ocean surface in front of him. A glorious vessel coated in armor plates across its hull with three sails. It was a brigantine type ship, big enough to hold a crew of one thousand penguins. Twenty cannons and two harpoon guns to catch any helpless ship to raid. Captain Flipper gave it the name, Ruthless Peaker, for its giant drill built to sink an obstacle in its path. With the drill, he broke through an iceberg and sunken five ships together as he crushed through them. Nothing could survive his drill.

After he destroyed Oyster Haven, Flipper left his ship at Matlock, a neutral place for pirates. Keeping a pirate ship at a seaport was a good place to keep it safe from thieves. All seaports provided invisible barriers around the ships owned by players. It doesn’t protect NPC ships since it wouldn’t be fun if the players couldn't steal them. If Flipper left his vessel in the open sea or near an uncharted island, other pirate players could take it. He spent ten thousand gold to buy the brigantine and hundreds of unique crafting parts to strengthen it. Basically, that costed more than his father's car. Losing his ship would make his day furious.

Flipper walked up the boarding plank. On the main deck, two penguins greeted him, Baffy and Daffy. Both were twins, except Baffy was muscular and taller, while Daffy was shorter and fat like a beach ball.

None of them were players, which was better for Flipper's quests. Having players for a crew could cause a lot of trouble, but NPC crewmates were obedient and available. Most players preferred to go solo with sentient programs to have better experiences. NPC crewmates were easy to collect and useful in many ways. But sometimes they could screw up based on their personalities.

"Aye aye, captain!" Baffy saluted. "Ready to set sail?"

"Not yet, mateys," said Flipper, sinking into his alternate role-playing personality. "I need to check my map and head back to town. But we will sail out later. We will find Ghost Island in no time."

The two penguins saluted again.

"Yuppie, captain!" Daffy barked.

Captain Flipper chuckled and entered his quarters inside the back of his ship. He sat behind his desk and unrolled the map. "Huh?"

Flipper stared closer at the map. The image of Ghost Island was at the right corner, now it was on the center among the charted islands.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm." Flipper rubbed beneath his beak.

The island could be disappearing and reappear in random seas. If that was true, then traveling to the island would take forever.

Captain Flipper took the map yesterday and memorized its location before he had to log out to get some sleep. Perhaps the island changes locations after the next day.

"What a pain." Flipper will figure it out after his parents leave and he eats pizza. He won’t play the game on an empty stomach. And virtual food and rum don’t count.