Chapter 2: Sunshine part 2

Sadly, Hercules got called off on a job overseas, so I wouldn't have his tug's power on the day I would need it most. Ten Cents went to see him off, still looking for Sunshine.

"Ah, Ten Cents, Nice to see you," Hercules said in his smooth voice, "How are things?"

"Eh, alright," replied Ten Cents, "Hey, you haven't seen the new guy anywhere, have you?"

"Afraid not, old sport," Hercules said as he drove out of port, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find him eventually. Sorry I can't stay any longer, but I need to get going. Look after the Duchess for me, will you?"

And with that he was gone, leaving Ten Cents no closer than he was when he asked. Just then OJ came up to him.

"Eh, Ten Cents," he said, "If you're looking for Sunshine, I just saw him enter port, heading this way."

"Okay, thanks OJ," Ten Cents replied, and left to go find him. Unfortunately, he wasn't looking at where he was going, and ended up hitting a boat he had never seen before. The skipper was younger than him, and looked rather eager.

"Oh, uh, sorry sir," replied the stranger, "I'm in a bit of a hurry. You haven't seen a Ten Cents anywhere, have you?"

"You just bumped into him," Ten Cents said, "Don't worry about it, I wasn't watching where I was going. Now come on, we got a lot of work to do. The rest of my fleet is towing in The Duchess this afternoon, and if we get finished early, we can watch.

"Aye aye, sir."

"Look, in the future, only call Captain Star sir. I'm just Ten Cents."

"Oh, uh, alright si- I mean, Ten Cents."

Over at the harbor entrance, Zorran and Zack were looking for ships to tow in when they spotted a familiar figure on the deck of a tramp steamer. It was Izzy Gomez, a ship captain for San Juan Bananas. Old Izzy was a bit of a cheapskate, always trying to get in to port for free or a reduced price.

"Aye, if it isn't the Zero fleet," he mumbled to himself, "Hey, how about a tow into port, eh? Can't let these bananas go to waste, can we?"

"Sorry, Izzy, but we can't take bananas as payment," Zack said, laughing at his own wit.

"Well, how about I trade a tow into port for some information you might find of interest."

"What kind of information?" Zorran asked, skeptical that Izzy had anything of use to them.

"Well, The Duchess is coming in this afternoon, non?"

"No duh, dummy," Zack said, "If you want a tow, you're either going to have to pay up, or do better than that."

"Well, turns out that she be coming early," Izzy said, "Heard it over the radio, told everyone to clear the shipping lanes. Now I stuck here with rotting bananas."

"This is big news," Zorran said, "Come on Zack, we need to tell Captain Zero."

"Hey, what about my tow?"

"Go tell it to someone who cares, you Mexican cheapskate!"

And with that, Izzy was left alone.

"I knew I should've gotten the tow first. Now I'm going to smell like rotten fruit for a week. My boss will kill me."

Captain Zero was pleased with the news, and told his tugs to make sure my fleet was incapitated by the time the ship arrived. If only we knew what they were planning, we could've prepared for what lay ahead.

Meanwhile, Ten Cents and Sunshine were delivering fuel to the seaplane hangar, located right next to Lucky's yard, where all boat repairs were undertaken. They were talking to Sally, a pilot of an old seaplane that was used to advertise upcoming events.

"Hi, Ten Cents," she said cheerfully, "Who's your friend."

"Sally, this is Sunshine," Ten Cents responded, "Sunshine, meet Sally. She's a good friend of mine."

"H-hello, Sally," Sunshine stammered, clearly enamored by her. Sally just chuckled and waved in response.

"Thanks for the fuel, fellas," she said.

"Well, I wish we could stay and chat, but we got more work to do," Ten Cents said, "Bye, Sally."

Unbeknownst to Ten Cents and Sunshine, Zorran, Zip and Zug were nearby, but far away enough to be out of hearing distance.

"Alright, since Hercules is away, it's time for us Z-stacks to play," Zorran said, "Since Big Mac has the next strongest tug, he'll be our target."

"But he's bigger than us, and so is his tug," Zip complained.

"He's towing barges, knucklehead," Zorran groaned, "Just push his tug onto a mud bank. His route is closest to the mudbanks, so he'll be easy to get rid of."

"Alright Zorran, if you say so," Zip said, still unsure.

Meanwhile, Warrior was back at the harbor entrance. Izzy, still trying to get into port, saw him.

"Eh, Warrior, give me a hand, would you compadre? I'll give you a hundred dollars. That's the normal fee isn't it?"

"Sorry, Izzy, but I don't have time to give you a tow," Warrior said, "Captain Star wants us to be ready for The Duchess."

"Well, you better hurry it up, then," Izzy said, "She's coming in early. Might be here within the next hour or so."

"What?" Warrior asked, surprised, "Sorry Izzy, I got to go tell Captain Star. I'll be back as soon as I can."

And he left without saying a further word.

"Aye aye aye, why did I have to tell him that? I need to keep my big mouth shut."

Zip and Zug were waiting for Big Mac as he traveled up the Estuary.

"Eh, Big Mac, need a hand?" Zug asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"No thanks, Zug," Big Mac said gruffly, "Gotta get these barges into port as quickly as possible."

"You sure? You got a lot of barges there. It'll be easier if we work together, no?"

"Yeah, what he said," Zip agreed. Big Mac agreed, not wanting to bother arguing with them.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. Unbeknownst to him, he played right into their trap.

It was just a few minutes into The Duchess arrived. Thanks to Warrior we managed to get ready in time, but Big Mac was still missing.

"I dare say, where is that Big Mac?" Top Hatt asked impatiently, "The Duchess will be here any minute."

"I'll go find him," Ten Cents said. He didn't have to travel far. There, lodged up on a sandbank, was Big Mac's tugboat, with Big Mac leaning agains the wheelhouse.

"Big Mac, what happened?"

"It was Zip and Zug," Big Mac said crossly, "I should have known they were up to no good."

"Wait right here, I'll go get Mighty Mo and his crane."

"There's no time for that. The Duchess will be here soon. Just give me a ride into port and we can sort it out with the coast guard."

"But we can't pull her in without your tug. Mine isn't strong enough."

"Get sunshine to help as well. At this point it's our only chance."

And with that, Ten Cents sped off, with Big Mac on board his tugboat. Sadly, nothing could prepare us for what happened next.