Chasing The Pretty Pirate: Pt. 1

Chasing The Pretty Pirate - Step Up 3 Fanfictional: Pt. 1

Chapter One - Luce, The Truce, And Moose

'Luce, come on baby girl. Get up.'

Luce found herself being shaken awake by Anala. She groaned and rolled over, facing her back to Anala, who laughed.

'Luce, seriously, girl. Don't make me drag you outta bed. Because ya know I will.'

Luce groaned and face-planted the pillow. 'I don't wanna get outta bed.'

'Wahey. It talks,' Anala said sarcastically.

Luce lifted her hand up and flipped Anala off, her head still buried in the pillow. Anala laughed.

'Come on. Get up.'

Luce lifted her head up from the pillow. 'I can't believe I'm gonna have to get up this early for the next two years. I mean, what's the point this morning, anyway? It's only orientation.'

Anala pushed her shoulder. 'Hey, you'll get used to it. I went to NYU when I was your age. It's really not as bad as you think. And anyway, orientation is important.'

Luce rolled over and sighed. 'Alright, alright. I'm getting up.'

She groaned and sat up before climbing out of bed.

'I hate you,' she added to Anala with a smirk before heading through to the kitchen. The Santiago Twins were already in there when she walked in.

'Hey, Lucinda, how are you dis morning?' one of them said in his strong Argentinian accent, clapping her on the back.

'It's your first day of NYU isn't it?' the other added.

Luce nodded. 'Yup. Well... orientation, anyway. I'm dreading it, though.'

'Why?' one of them asked.

She shrugged. 'What if I'm not as good as the rest of the guys taking dance?'

'Ah, you'll be fine,' Anala said, walking in. 'Honey, we've all seen your dancing. You're BFAB, remember? Just like the rest of us. That's something you hardly see with those guys at NYU.'

'Speaking of which,' one of the Santiago Twins said. 'I think Luke was going to go with Luce down to Central Park dis morning for her orientation so he could try scouting for some new dancers.'

Luce looked between him and Anala. 'Why do we need new dancers?'

Anala's eyes widened as she looked at him, silently warning him not to say anything else.

'Anala...' Luce started.

Anala sighed. 'Look, I'll tell you later, okay? Right now, I can't.'

'Why not?' Luce asked, eyebrows raised. 'I'm not a kid any more, y'know? I can handle these things.'

'Look, you will find out, alright. It's inevitable you will. But I'm not allowed to tell you. That's Luke's job.'

Luce shrugged. 'Fine, fine. Now what food do we got in?' she asked to anyone in particular as she started to scout through the cupboards.

She grabbed a box of Pop Tarts and put them in the toaster just as Luke walked in.

'Morning, guys.'

'Hey Luke,' Anala chirped happily.

'Mornin' Luke,' Luce said.

Luke sat down at the counter. 'So, what we talking about?'

'Nothing much,' Anala said before Luce had the chance to say anything.

Luke shrugged. 'Fair enough,' he said as he began to fiddle with his camera. 'Hey, Luce, can you do me a favour?'

'Sure,' she said, turning to face him.

He held the camera up. 'Tell me, why do you dance?'

Luce frowned. 'Why?'

He smirked. 'I asked first.'

She smiled. 'Fine. Okay... why I dance. Well, when I was growing up, I never really got to say what I wanted to say. There were so many of us it was hard to get a word in. So, I tried expressing myself through dance instead. It helped me say the things I wanted to say. It's what I live for.'

He nodded. 'What else?'

She laughed. 'You need more? Okay, um... It's helped me out of a lot of tough spots. When I begun my teenage years, a lot of the other foster kids were going out stealing and taking drugs and that kinda stuff, solely because there was nothing else to do. But I didn't steal. Or take drugs... I danced.'

Luke smiled. 'So would you say dance saved you?'

She smiled. 'Dance made me... forget saved. That was what you did. But, then again, you brought me to this crew so that I could live out my dream of dancing, so... yeah. Dance did save me.'

Luke smiled softly before turning off the camera. Luce tilted her head to the side.

'So... what was that for?'

He grinned. 'You have to wait and see.'

'Aw, come on! That is so not fair!'

He laughed. 'Yes it is. Besides, I don't have the time to tell you. You're supposed to be at Central Park in an hour and you haven't even eaten anything yet.'

Just at that moment, Luce's Pop Tarts popped out of the toaster. She grabbed them and smirked at Luke before heading upstairs to get changed.

Once she was upstairs, she held the Pop Tarts in her mouth and walked over to the wardrobe to pick her clothes.

Luce shared a room with Anala, and their style in clothing was pretty much the same. Add to the fact that they were both the same dress size, and Anala and Luce had found themselves making the mutual agreement that they would share each-other's clothes.

Luce picked out a pair of faded jeggings, a white All Time Low t-shirt and her purple NYU hoodie. She wasn't sure what they'd be doing today, so she picked out something that was suitable for both everyday wear and dance.

She spent a few minutes wolfing down her Pop Tarts, before she put on some stripey socks and black leg warmers. Finally, she tied her chestnut brown hair into a ponytail, put on her trademark high tops and headed downstairs.

Every member of the Pirates had their own trademark trainers or high tops. You earned them by proving yourself as a worthy Pirate, usually by helping in winning a dance battle, with the promise you'd stay as a Pirate.

Luce rememered she had chosen her kicks on the first day of coming into the Vault, and the entire conversation that had happened between her and Luke at the time.

...

"So," Luke said, turning on the lights. "Here we are. Take your pick."

Luce stared in awe at the shelves upon shelves of trainers and high tops there were, in just about every colour possible.

She walked over to the shelves and began to choose. Eventually, she settled on a black pair of Nike high tops, with the detail in dark red, with white on the inside. As she picked them up, Luke spoke to her.

"Don't get too attatched yet. You gotta earn these babies before you can wear 'em."

She turned round to face him, the high tops still clutched in her hands. "What do you mean?"

He folded his arms. "When we spoke earlier, we talked about you becoming a Pirate, right?'

She nodded.

"Well, you gotta prove you can handle yourself in a dance battle. That you're a worthy adversary for any other crews we might come across. And most importantly," he said, stepping closer, "you gotta prove to each and every one of us, that you're a person we can trust."

She nodded. "I won't let you down, Luke."

"Good. Now let's introduce you to the rest of the crew."

...

Luce smiled as she recalled the memory. Luke had shown her on that day the Pirates were not a crew to be messed with.

Not to mention Luke had also shown her a very important lesson that day: When you lived at the Vault, the Pirates weren't just your friends, they were family. No matter where you came from, how old you were, or what style of dance you specialized in, you were treated like equals.

Even if you left on good terms to go do something else after a few years of being in the crew, you would always be welcomed back as family.

Luce walked back into the kitchen, but there was no-one in sight. Just as she began to wonder where all of them had gone, she heard loud, thumping music coming from the direction of the speaker room.

She smiled to herself and waked back out of the kitchen in the direction of the music. Sure enough, as she walked in, all of the Pirates were in the speaker room, freestlyling as usual.

At the moment, the Santiago Twins were doing their thing, and Luce couldn't help but laugh to herself at their amazing ability to keep in time with each other. Sometimes you could be tricked into believing it was one person and their reflection.

Luce grinned and pushed the door open before walking though. Jacob turned round and saw her walking over.

'Hey, Luce. You alright?'

She nodded. 'Yeah, I'm great. What y'all doing?'

'Dancing, obviously,' Anala said, laughing.

Luce pushed her playfully. 'I know that. I meant how come you're all in here at this time. Normally it's either just me or Luke in here at this time on a morning. Is something going on I should know about?'

Luke tilted his head back and sighed. 'Okay, I guess I can't hide it from you for much longer, can I? Come on then. I'll tell you on the way down to Central Park.'

'Ah, ah, ah. Hold up, Luke. Do you really think I'm going down there without dancing in here for a few minutes first?'

He smiled. 'I like the way you think, Luce.'

Luce stepped in and began to do some street dance. Everyone began to cheer her on as she twirled round, before finally doing a backflip and landing on her feet.

Jason clapped her on the back as she walked back to the edge. 'Do you have any idea what you do with your dancing?'

She laughed breathlessly as he continued to talk.

'No, seriously. You're amazing. I mean, I can't understand how you make street and hip-hop look so good, and yet be so graceful at the same time. Man, it's no wonder you do ballet.'

Luke smiled and put his arm round her. 'And that's exactly why she's one of us. Because we only have the best dancers. Right?'

Everyone nodded and agreed, huge smiles on their faces.

'So,' Luke said, looking at Luce. 'You ready to head off?'

She sighed. 'Ready as I'll ever be.'

...

'So, anyways,' Luce asked five minutes later as Luke drove her to Central Park. 'What is it that everyone's so excited about that I don't know about.'

Luke sighed. 'Well, before I tell you, you gotta promise you won't hate me for it afterwards.'

Luce froze before turning her head slowly to face him. 'Luke... what did you do?'

He laughed slightly. 'Promise or I won't tell you.'

Luce glared, trying not to smile. 'Fine. I promise.'

'I might have, sort of, entered us in for this year's World Jam against the House of Samurai.'

'WHAT?!'

He sighed. 'See? I knew you'd be mad.'

She exhaled. 'I... I'm not mad. I just... okay. I'll be honest with you: I think it's a bad idea. World Jam is only a few weeks away and seeing as I've just found out, I wouldn't say we're very well prepared.'

He smiled. 'Hey, don't worry. I have this all figured out.'

'See, I already have routines planned out, and the House of Samurai know we do. What they don't know, however, is that we have a secret weapon.'

'Yeah?' Luce asked, folding her arms. 'And what's that?'

'Firstly, you. Secondly, I'm using today to scout out for some new additions to the crew.'

Luce frowned.

Luke grinned. 'Let me explain: With you, you've never battled the Samurai before, so they have no idea what you can do. The same goes with these new dancers. The Samurai will have no idea what hit 'em.'

Luce held up a hand. 'Cool your engines, Luke. There's still one problem.'

'Yeah? What's that?'

'Who's to say you actually will find any dancers?'

He smiled. 'Hey, have faith in me. Besides, if we don't find any, we still have you.'

Luce smiled and shook her head as Luke pulled up in an abandoned alleyway. They got out of the car before Luke walked round to the boot and opened it up. He pulled out a sheet and covered the car with it before getting a board of wood that was leaned against the wall and he moved it to lean against the car. Luke always had a fear of his car getting stolen, so he tried to make sure it wasn't on show every time he parked it up.

Luke and Luce walked round the corner and began to make their way down the streets for a few minutes before Central Park came into sight. Luce exhaled.

'I'm still not sure about this whole World Jam thing, Luke...'

Luke put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

'We'll be fine, alright?'

She bit her lip and nodded.

Luke smiled. 'Good. Now, let's go find us some dancers.'

'Luke, I'm supposed to be meeting up with my assigned group for this orientation.'

He grinned. 'This is orientation.'

Luce rolled her eyes and shook her head before following him over to a circle of people, where a one-on-one dance battle was going on in the middle. Luke held up his camera as Luce observed.

It looked pretty simple. Two people would battle against each other, and whoever won would go against the next person who wanted to jump in, and so on.

As one of the dancers fell on to the floor, the winner of the battle looked round, daring someone else to challenge him.

Luke nudged Luce. 'Go on. Show 'em what you got.'

Luce smiled and took off her hooded top before handing it to Luke and walking into the center of the ring. A few people whistled and exchanged money, putting bets on the winner of this round.

Her opponent was a guy who looked to be about her age. He had a black floppy hair and was wearing a bright hooded top and baggy jeans.

Luce's opponent smiled. 'Hey there, girlie. Well, this should be easy.'

Luce cracked her knuckles. 'That's what you think.'

And with that, she moonwalked towards him before spinning round and dropping to the floor.

Her opponent smiled and nodded respectfully before beginning to dance. He popped and locked his body before sliding to the side and breakdancing.

Luce laughed to herself and walked forward before doing a scissor-kick and throwing her head back. She then proceeded to do a slow-motion effect before finishing with a somersault.

The move was met by loud applause and cheering. Luce's opponent scowled before being pushed out of the way by Luce's new opponent.

Luce's eyes widened as she saw who she had to go up against.

It was Kid Darkness, a member of the House of Samurai. As Luce looked round, she noticed the rest of the House of Samurai beginning to push through the crowd and make their way to the edges of the circle. Kid Darkness seemed to do a double-take when he saw her, but the flicker of apprehension across his face was replaced by his usual scowl again instantly.

Luce looked back at Luke in panic. He discreetly shook his head at her.

'Don't battle him,' he warned her quietly.

Luce turned back to Kid Darkness and smirked before shaking her head. 'Sorry, honey, looks like you'll have to battle me another time.'

She stepped back to loud groaning from the crowd. Another guy stepped in and began to battle him. It didn't take long before he lost. It was no surprise. It took a really skilled dancer to beat a member of the House of Samurai.

As another member of the House of Samurai began to collect the money from the bets, a curly-haired kid was pushed past her and into the center. He looked round, a terrified expression on his face. Luce noticed Kid Darkness turn round to face him.

'Yo, I want 10 on the skinny kid!' an onlooker called.

The kid stepped back, shaking his head. Kid Darkness smirked and walked back into the center. He began to breakdance in front of the kid, taunting him.

But Luce saw something in the guy's eyes. Some mental battle going on inside him, mized with wild determination. Something was going down, and she knew it.

Luce pulled out her mobile phone and held up the camera, just as the kid sighed and stepped forward before beginning to take on Kid Darkness.

'Give the kid a chance,' Luke said, before Luce even had a chance to voice her opinion.

The battle between Kid Darkness and the curly-haired guy didn't last very long, but to put it shortly, Kid Darkness got smoked.

The curly-haired guy finished off his routine by jumping off a bench and on to a balloon inflater, setting all the attatched ballons rising into the air. Luce heard Luke laughing behind her.

'Yo, who's gonna pay for my balloons?!' The owner shouted.

Just then, some cops came running up towards them. Obviously their attention was caught by the hundreds of balloons rising into the air.

'He's right here. Get this guy!' the balloon owner shouted, pointing at the curly-haired kid.

Luke closed up his camera and grabbed the kid before running off. 'Come on man, they're after you! Go!'

The kid looked around wildly before running after Luke. Luce sighed and quickly shoved her phone back in her pocket before beginning to run after him too. They ran about 100 meters when the crowd started to get really packed. Luke started running towards a hot dog cart.

'What are you doing?' the kid asked in bewilderment.

'Jump first, fear later,' Luke said, before jumping through the gap between the hot dogs and the roof of the stand.

The kid stopped in his tracks for a moment, his eyes wide, before he continued running.

As they all ran out of Central Park and through the streets before turning the corner to where Luke's car was waiting, the kid began to breathe heavily, holding his chest.

'My ribcage... I think I just threw up in my mouth... Taste burning... Hey... where are you going...?' he asked as Luke headed to his car.

'Wha-? Yo, how did you just do that back there? I mean... you were like freaking flying, man... You were like a ninja.'

'Luke,' he said, ignoring the kid's questions and holding out his hand.

The kid looked down at Luke's hand and shaking his head. 'Oh no, it's like this. You gotta blow it up.'

He made an explosion sound whilst miming his hand blowing up. Luke stopped his handshake short by doing his own. He bumped the kid's fist at the front and then at the side before clicking his fingers.

'How's that?'

Luce smiled. That was the Pirate handshake. Evidently, Luke had plans for this kid. And Luce had a pretty good idea she knew what they were.

'Alright,' the kid said, laughing nervously. 'I'm Robert Alexander III, by the way. Just, since you asked. But, you can just call me Moose.'

'I haven't seen you around,' Luke said, moving the board of wood away from his car.

'I'm just starting at NYU. I'm actually an engineering major,' Moose said, still out of breath.

'But you're gonna be dancing too?' Luke asked him.

Moose shook his head. 'No, no, no, no. I mean, dancing was cool in high school, but... I've gotta face the real world.'

Luke looked at him like he was kidding. 'You have no idea what you did back there, do you?'

Moose shook his head.

'You're BFAB,' Luke said shortly.

'What's a BFAB?' Moose asked in confusion.

'Born From A Boombox.'

Moose laughed slightly.

Luke shook his head. 'Look, some people learn to dance. Others are born to. Like Luce here,' he said, gesturing to her. Moose stepped back slightly as he noticed her for the first time. She raised her hand to him in greeting.

'And you're in New York City,' Luke added to Moose. 'The dance center of the world.'

He took down a poster from a notice board and handed it to Moose. 'Check this.'

Moose looked down at it. It was a poster for the World Jam.

'It's the biggest battle ever,' Luke said. 'There's never been this kinda prize money. Those guys in the park, they're gearing up for this. You're good enough. You should be in this.'

He turned back to his car and pulled the sheet off it. Moose put his hand over his mouth, grinning.

'That's your car? Oh... my God, that's so sick!'

Luke grinned slightly before opening the back door of the car.

'Get in. What you saw in the park today is just the beginning.'

'Luke...' Luce warned him.

He smiled. 'It's like you said to Anala: orientation doesn't matter.'

Luce smiled hopelessly and shook her head. 'Fine. Let's go.'

To view the rest of this story, please check it out on my Wattpad site by following the link: http://www.wattpad.com/story/1534402-chasing-the-pretty-pirate-step-up-fanfictio...