"Captain Crocodile!" Junior exclaimed.
"Glad to see you remember your former underling, Junior." The Captain smiled nastily, "You've grown since I last saw you."
"You...you're dead!" Peter stammered, pointing a finger at the Captain.
"No not yet, dummy." The Captain snarled, stepping further into the room. "Thanks to a tree and Howie's gallant sacrifice, I'm still alive." The Captain took another step into the lounge. "And ready to start a new game!"
Suddenly, the Captain lunged, grabbed Junior by the collar of his shirt and pulled the boy to him. Junior tried to get away, but the Captain then put the knife to his throat.
"Nobody move!" The Captain shouted, his voice on the edge of hysteria, "Or I'll kill him!"
"Let him go, now!" Mister Pinter shouted.
"You're through giving orders, Pinter!" Captain Crocodile screamed, "Now I'm giving YOU an order! I want one million, no TEN million dollars ransom, or you'll never see your little brat again!"
"Give it up it's over, Captain!" Mike exclaimed, "We survived your game and you lost!"
"I never lose!" The Captain shouted back, "I will have my revenge on all of you for ruining me!"
By now the Captain and the crew, hearing the shouting, were at the door.
"Get away from the door." Captain Crocodile ordered Pinter's captain and crew. They slowly backed away as the Captain dragged Junior out the door and onto the deck.
"Take me instead!" Mr. Pinter said, following them "Let Junior go!"
The Captain just laughed and continued to drag Junior over to the rail.
"I'll let you know where and when to leave the money, Pinter." The Captain said, "And if you radio the shore authorities ahead of me, your son will regret it."
"How are you going to leave?" Micky asked.
"I'll use my own powerboat." The Captain replied, "I used it to get here and sneak aboard while this incompetent crew were working on the winch."
Sure enough, there was a another powerboat docked next to the ladder.
"And as for you, you miserable Monkees, you long-haired freaks! You're not off the hook!" The Captain yelled, "Oh no, I'll be back after you again! Someday, somehow, when you least expect it, POW! You'll feel my wrath!"
But it was nature who decided to unleash its wrath instead. Just then, the tectonic plates beneath Boring Boring and Krackatoe shifted. It caused a tremendous underwater earthquake which could be felt by everyone on the yacht. The earthquake caused a tidal wave which suddenly heaved up beneath them, pulling the anchor out of its mooring and knocking the yacht around like it was a toy boat in a bathtub. Everyone, including the Captain and Junior, were soaked by the water, knocked off their feet and thrown to the deck.
The bouncing deck caused Junior and the Captain's knife to slide in opposite directions. The Captain managed to climb to his feet and grab his knife, which almost slid into the water. He tried to go after Junior again, but found it was very hard to keep his balance on the swaying, bouncing yacht. The Monkees saw what the Captain was trying to do and grabbed Junior first. Micky and Mike pushed him back into the safety of the lounge, while Peter and Davy tried to block the Captain. The Monkees then shut the door and planted themselves in front of it to prevent the Captain from following.
With a look of pure hatred at the Monkees, the Captain stumbled over to the ladder for his powerboat...only to find it had come detached from the yacht and was now floating several yards away. Desperate now, the Captain ran for the Pinter's powerboat still floating and attached to the yacht by the winch wire. One of the crewmen made a grab for him, but the Captain slashed his knife at the crewman.
"Let him go!" Mr. Pinter ordered as everyone got to their feet.
The Captain slid down the wire and onto the powerboat. He undid the wires connecting the boat to the winch and then fired up the engine.
"I'll be back!" He shouted, "There will be a re-run of this episode!"
The Captain put the powerboat in gear and it began to zoom away.
Again, the Captain's words were prophetic. Another underwater earthquake happened, stronger than before. This time it caused both Boring Boring and Krackatoe to erupt, plus unleash another tidal wave.
The occupants of Pinter's yacht were knocked down again, but it was much worse for Captain Crocodile. His little boat was tossed end over end by the wave, and he was thrown into the water.
Everyone on Pinter's yacht got to their feet to see what had happened to the Captain. Junior ran out of the lounge and over to his parents.
"Is everyone alright?" Mr. Pinter yelled.
"All accounted for, Mr. Pinter." The yacht's captain replied.
"What happened to him?" Junior asked, "Where did the Captain go?"
Everyone looked in the area where he had been heading but saw nothing. Then Davy noticed a human figure on the water.
"There he is!" Davy exclaimed.
Mister Pinter trained his binoculars to where Davy was pointing.
The Captain was bobbing up and down on the choppy water. His powerboat had been sunk by the waves. He was frantically waving for help.
"Help! I can't swim!" He screamed over the roar of the volcano.
"Hard to port!" Pinter's captain told his crew, "Let's pluck that crocodile out of the water."
"Aye sir!" A crewman replied.
As Captain Crocodile watched the yacht move toward him, he laughed to himself.
"Oh yes, you all think you've won, haven't you?" He said giddily, "I'll play the remorseful and sorrowful figure for you...I'm such a good actor, aren't I, Howie?" He looked around, "Oh that's right, I killed him." He sighed, "Dear me, and he was my biggest fan too."
Suddenly, the Captain felt something tug at his tattered pant leg.
"Is that you, Howie?" He asked, "Oh it can't be, he's dead, they're all dead, except for the Monkees..."
Another tug on his leg, this time harder.
"What's going on?" The Captain asked, then saw the shark fins in the water. "Oh no! Go away!" He shouted, "I can't be bothered by you! I have to plan my triumphant return to television!"
But the sharks, disturbed by the heaving water, were grabbing at anything that moved. The captain splashed around in the water, trying to drive the sharks away.
"No, go away, leave me alone!" He shouted more and more frantically as the sharks began to bite him.
On board the yacht, Mr. Pinter spotted what was going on through his binoculars.
"Hurry! There's sharks out there!"
"We're at full speed sir!" A crewman replied.
Then to everyone's horror, the Captain gave a horrible scream as he was suddenly pulled underwater...and he did not resurface. Seconds later, there was a pool of blood where he once floated.
Grace Pinter quickly turned her son's head away from the awful scene. Her husband slowly lowered his binoculars and turned away too, along with everyone else.
Looking at the floor, Mike said quietly, "Game over."
Another eruption from Mount Boring Boring broke the somber silence. Also, the ash, rocks and debris that had shot skyward earlier was now beginning to fall to earth. On the island, a pyroclastic flow, similar to what buried Pompei, charged down the mountain, destroying all in its hot, fiery path.
The yacht's captain shouted up to the bridge, "Get us out of here, full speed ahead!"
"Yes sir, full speed ahead!" The crewman shouted back.
The yacht's motor rumbled, but the yacht just wobbled and didn't move forward.
"What's going on?" Mr. Pinter demanded.
"The waves tossed us onto a sandbar, sir," A crewman replied. "We're caught."
The yacht occupants watched the pyroclastic flow whip across the island, destroying the Ocean View Resort. In seconds, anything in its path was either blown down by hot gasses or buried in ash. Anything left standing was on fire. Then the hot flow of gas and ash began to spread out over the water as well...toward the trapped yacht!
"Oh no, we're gonna fry!" Peter cried.
The yacht's captain sped up to the wheelhouse and fired the motor all the way. Just then, a lucky wave raised the yacht up high enough to free it, and the yacht zoomed away from the island.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A minute later, Pinter's captain came over to him.
"I've radioed the Coast Guard to warn them about the possibility of tidal waves, sir." He said, "They said they'll put out a warning for those living near the shore to evacuate."
"Very good, Captain." Mr. Pinter replied sadly, then gave Junior a hug.
"I'm so sorry about this, Junior." He said quietly, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Dad." Junior replied, "The Monkees helped save me."
"Yes they did." His dad smiled, looking at them, "Thank you so much."
"Yes, thank you." Grace Pinter added, giving her son a hug too."
"It was nothing." Micky replied.
"Let's all get dried off, and we can talk some more." Mr. Pinter replied.
A little while later, while walking over to the Monkees' room, Junior Pinter and his Dad were stopped by their captain.
"I just got another message from the Coast Guard, Mr. Pinter." He said. "They've sent out the warnings and said they were just on their way to Boring Boring to look for our guests when they got our message."
"You told them they're ok?" Junior asked.
"Yes, it looks like they had gotten into some sort of mess with that Captain Crocodile guy."
"Thank you, Captain Kirk." Mr. Pinter replied, nodding his head.
He and his son went down the hall and knocked on one of the doors. Micky answered it.
"Can we come in?" Mr. Pinter asked.
"Sure, we're just about dried out now." Micky smiled.
Mister Pinter and his son came into the room. The other three Monkees were just sitting around, wearing borrowed clothes, their hair still damp.
"Hi, Mr. Pinter, Junior." Mike said, "What can we do for you?"
"I just wanted to say how sorry we are for what happened." Junior said, "And I wanted to thank you for saving me from the Captain."
"It's the least we could do." Davy replied, "You rescued us when we were ready to be eaten by sharks."
"We'd like to make it up to you." Mr. Pinter put in. "How would you boys like your own weekly TV show? You can have full creative control. You can do your songs, or maybe comedy."
The Monkees looked at each other, not sure what to say. The TV station owner saw their hesitation and said, "If you don't want the grind of a weekly show, how about a one-hour special?"
That sounded a lot more agreeable to the musicians. They nodded their heads.
"A TV special sounds fine to us." Mike replied.
"If it does well in the ratings…and I don't see why not." Mr. Pinter replied, "You can have the option of doing two more."
Everyone shook hands at the deal, and Mr. Pinter said, "Is there anything else I can do for you gentlemen?"
"You can do something else for me, Dad." Junior replied.
"What's that, Junior?"
Junior Pinter took a breath and said, "I'm fourteen years old now...and I would like to stop being called Junior. Call me by my name of Joseph."
His dad considered his son for a long moment, then nodded his head.
"Yes, Joseph, I think I can managed that." He smiled.
Not long afterwards, the California coast came into sight. The Monkees stood at the rail of the yacht watching the shore come closer.
"Never thought I'd be so glad to see California again." Peter said.
"Got that right, shotgun." Mike replied.
Several Coast Guard boats came over to escort them back to the mainland. Once back on land, the Monkees were taken to the hospital for treatment. They were all treated for exhaustion and exposure. Mike needed seven stitches where the shark had cut him. Their hospital bill was paid for by Mr. Pinter.
The tidal waves caused by the two volcanoes fortunately tapered out significantly before they hit the California coastline. Damage was minimal with no loss of life.
Several days later at the pad, the Monkees were paid a visit by none other than Agent Modell of the CIS. The group had met him before when they had tangled with the Dragonman, a Chinese spy leader.
After interviewing them about their ordeal, agent Modell told them what had happened. After Judy came out of surgery, she told him the Captain shot her and about his plan to get revenge on the Monkees. A raid of the Captain's apartment turned up a list of his backers, complete with addresses where to send his completed `show'. Many of the names on the list were of millionaires with too much time and money on their hands, but several others were known criminals. The CIS, along with the FBI, used the info to capture several of them. Agent Modell thanked them for once again helping bring criminals to justice.
The Monkees went on to do a one-hour show for KXIU television. Produced by Joseph Pinter and Joseph Pinter the second, (as he was now called) it was entitled `33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee'. It was about an evil scientist who tried to use the Monkees' music to brainwash the world...and was a huge hit. The Monkees did two more shows and found themselves much more in demand after that.
Judy Smith was fired from her job at KXIU. Several months later, her trial came up. Although she denied knowing just how far the Captain's plan went, she pled guilty to conspiracy. She received a one-year prison term, along with probation. She later married a mailman, moved to Arizona and formed a children's television watchdog group, advocating for quality children's television.
The bodies of Captain Crocodile, Howie Needleman and John and his mercenaries were never found.
THE END
Chapter 17
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