500 Words 2024/25: read a finalist's story from the 8-11 category

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This story was chosen as a top 50 finalist for 500 Words 2024/25.

Remember, spelling, punctuation and grammar are not taken into account for a 500 Words story, therefore all the top 50 stories have been published how they were submitted.

Captain's Smoothie Hunt by Holly D.

In the middle of the ocean, a crew of pirates were sailing the world looking for treasure. Their food supplies were running dangerously low.

Unfortunately, the pirates had to survive on a diet of old, dry, crumbly raisin biscuits - yuk! They had had enough. The next day also happened to be Captain Buckle Beard's birthday. He wanted a mango smoothie in a coconut shell, not biscuits. So, Captain Buckle Beard sent his crew in search of mangos and coconuts; they were not allowed to return without the ingredients and if they did, they would have to walk the plank.

The crew was told to search two island to find this new treasure. They set off in small boats to the first island, Coconut Island. Here they searched for coconut trees to gather the all-important shells. They made quick work and were soon back in their boat.

However, Mango Wango Island proved a little more tricky. Strangely, the mango trees were running about making the mango picking extremely difficult. How were they going to get the mangos? They ran back to the boat and found some much needed rope. They were going to lasso a tree and wrestle it to the ground and pick the fruit for the smoothie. As you can imagine, it was not an easy task. Several hours later, with many bumps and burses to go with it, they emerged with some mangos. Now they just had to dodge the mango trees and get back to their boat in one piece.

Thankfully, they made their escape and started rowing back to the pirate ship. They had to battle through the darkness and massive waves to get there. They only had a few hours to go until the Captain's birthday. They needed to get on board the ship and make his smoothie, fast.

Now, they needed to find out how to make the mango smoothie. Firstly, they used their trusty swords to chop the mango, narrowly missing the giant seeds and their fingers. Then, they had to remove the coconut shell which was exceedingly difficult. Eventually, they had what they needed and made the smoothie for the Captain's birthday.

By this time, the crew were very tired and thirsty after a night of adventure, and decided to taste the smoothie to see what all the fuss was all about. To their delight it was delicious - fruity and sweet. A few slurps later the whole smoothie was gone. Uh oh! What were they going to tell the captain!? Unfortunately, the Captain woke up and was demanding his birthday smoothie. To his shock, it was all gone! He was furious, shouting at them demanding an explanation. But, there was nothing left to do with this useless crew so true to his word, he made them walk the plank. After his crew had said their last words, they jumped in to the ocean. Some say you can find them on Mango Wango Island slurping Mango smoothies.

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