REMOTE

Channel 1- The Remote Control

Momo fell asleep in class one day. And when he woke up, he found that he was suddenly on a pirate ship.

He didn't realize right away that it was a pirate ship, and the feeling of the boat rocking back and forth on the waves made it difficult for him to stand. When he finally did reach his feet, he slowly moved to the railing and looked down, discovering that there was a ship below him, and massive black sails behind him.

He was dressed entirely, fully decked out in the complete pirate garb. He stood there looking ever so quizzical, before finally concluding that he was having a crazy dream.

After all, how could he possibly trust himself enough to jump out of the crow's nest and onto the ropes that held the sails and descend without even a second thought?

Oddly enough, there was no one else around the ship. He snapped his fingers awkwardly as he wandered around. Just then, the door to the room that was obviously the Captain's Quarters slammed open, causing Momo to jump about six feet into the air, and then draw his sword as he turned around.

"Don't point your weapon at the captain." Said the person standing before him as he used his own sword to knock Momo's out of his hand.

Momo paused for a second and then looked back at this self proclaimed captain.

"…Inui?" Momo said.

Sure enough, it was Inui standing before him. Except he didn't quite look like Inui normally looks. He had on a big hat and was dressed in full pirate garb, but his clothing looked more expensive than Momo's. In addition, Inui also had a patch, but that wasn't about to stop him from wearing the same glasses.

"Come in," Inui ordered, grabbing Momo's arm and pulling him inside the captain's quarters.

Momo stood in the middle of the floor like a fool child as Inui sat down at a desk that had a map and a compass on it, among other things.

"Yeah?" Momo said.

"Don't you have any questions for me?" Inui asked.

"Uh…not really." Momo shrugged.

Inui raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you have NO questions whatsoever?" he clarified.

"About what?" Momo said.

"Hm…" Inui rubbed his chin. "Perhaps something along the line of… what's going on?"

"Oh." Said Momo with a shrug. "I guess."

"Do you mean to tell me that you are NOT wondering why we are on a pirate ship and dressed this way?" Inui said, slowly standing.

"Well…I sorta just figured it was a dream." Momo answered. "Why? Is it not?"

"No." Inui picked something up off the desk. "It is NOT a dream."

"All right." Said Momo. "In that case… why are we suddenly pirates?"

"It's this." Inui said.

He showed Momo something that looked remarkably like a remote control, except it had a little screen on the surface. Momo went to take it out of his hand, but Inui snatched it back and protected it.

"Don't touch it." Inui ordered.

"What does that have to do with it?" Momo asked.

"Well," said Inui. "I was conducting an experiment in which I would make the most superior television remote control of all time. But something went wrong. Instead of changing the channel on my television, it somehow changed the universe I was currently residing in."

Momo blinked a few times.

"We're in an alternate universe." Inui said. "In which we're pirates."

"I gathered that much." Momo said.

"And as of right now, I don't know how to bring us back to our original universe." Inui said, sitting back down and taking off his big captain's hat.

"I have a few questions now." Momo admitted.

"What are they?" Inui said.

"First off…why am I here if you were just conducting an experiment?" Momo began.

"I don't know." Inui answered. But then he held up the remote to show a big number '29' on it. "But before coming in contact with you, this number was a 30."

"So there are twenty-nine other people that you transported to this pirate world?" Momo said.

"No." Inui said. "Those twenty-nine other people were scattered across various alternate universes."

Momo stood there silently.

"That's a pickle." He said.

"Yes." Said Inui. "I believe our priority is to get back to our own universe and then find the whereabouts of the rest of the innocent people who might have accidentally been involved in this experiment."

"I have another question." Momo said.

"It is…?" Inui led.

"Why are you the captain and I'm just some random pirate?" Momo said.

"I don't know." Said Inui. "It's probably random."

"What else does that screen show you?" Momo ran to Inui and looked over his shoulder.

"It says that it is necessary for us to find some buried treasure." Inui answered, showing him the screen that, sure enough, instructed them to find some buried treasure.

Momo clapped enthusiastically. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "We have to find the buried treasure and then we get to go back home!"

Inui stared at Momo. "I figured that out like a whole minute ago." Inui said, shaking his head as if he were disappointed.

"Oh." Said Momo, looking dejected.

"And, it seems as though this map will be quite useful." Inui put the remote in his pocket and stood up once again, walking around the table. "There is a circled destination right here, and it appears as though our ship is quite close by."

"Maybe we were on our way to the treasure." Momo tried.

"I figured that out way before you." Inui said.

Momo frowned. "You know, I think we should work together instead of competing with each other." He advised.

"Sure." Said Inui, looking back at the map. "But the most peculiar thing about this map is that I know exactly how to read it, even though I have never seen one like it before in my life."

"Yeah…" said Momo. "I think I know what you mean. I climbed down the rigging of the ship really easily, even though I've never done that kind of stuff before. And I knew how to hold that sword!"

"Well I just don't know what to think about that." Said Inui.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Inui and Momo both looked at the door, then at each other and then back at the door.

"Maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away." Momo tried, but Inui gave an exasperated sigh and marched over to the door, opening it up to be faced with a vile drunken pirate.

Both he and Momo drew back and made the "EW!" sound, especially since he smelled so rancid, but the pirate flunky just belched, scratched himself in a few inappropriate places and looked totally unfazed by their reactions.

"Cap'n!" said the pirate flunky.

Inui and Momo looked at each other again, then Momo pushed Inui forward.

Inui adjusted his hat, and tried to look pleasant, which probably wasn't the right appearance for him to go for on a pirate ship. "…Yes?" he said. "That's me."

"The crew 'n' me been wondren'…" the pirate flunky went on. "When be we shovin' ashore?"

Inui only looked at the pirate like he had the plague, and surely that wasn't terribly far off from whatever diseases he probably was carrying.

"…Er…when we…reach the shore?" Inui suggested, checking back at Momo OBVIOUSLY didn't know.

The pirate only stared at Inui.

"Cap'n, we been at shore since the very beginnin's o' mornin'." Said the pirate in the way only pirates can.

Inui was still disgusted with the pirate's mere presence, so he only stood there looking like he wanted to barf, as Momo went over to the window and peered out.

"What do you know? Land isn't that far away." Momo said. And then he stood up straight. "Hey! And I know why we can't just sail the boat right up to the shore! Isn't that weird?"

"Yes…er…very weird." Inui said to Momo and then he turned back to his pirate flunky who was waiting ever so patiently. "You," he said. "Tell the crew that I plan on going to shore with my companion here…" He gestured vaguely in Momo's direction. "…And everyone else should work together to keep the ship in tip top shape for when I return."

The pirate flunky may have been slightly confused, but Inui shooed him out the door and slammed it behind him.

"Well that's convenient." Momo said as Inui turned around.

"Find something that looks like a treasure map." Inui ordered as he started looking around the room, making somewhat of a mess.

"I just had a thought, Inui," Momo said as he opened some drawers and sifted through them.

"What's that?" Inui asked.

"Well…" Momo started. "I mean, how are we going to be able to recognize people who got transported to different universes? What if we don't know who they are? For all we know, there could be more people in this universe."

"It's easy," Inui said. "Just keep your eye out for someone who appears out of place."

He lifted the large map off the table and discovered a smaller one.

"This appears correct." Said Inui as he gave it a once over. He showed Momo, and then pointed at the large red 'X' in the middle of it.

"The X marks the spot." Said Momo.

"I know." Said Inui with a slight glare.

The two of them, as inconspicuously as possible, ran outside the captain's quarters and jumped in the boat that the rest of the crew had apparently already set up for them. They lowered down into the water with their treasure map and their remote control.