How the Kid Cooper Gang Met 0

Prologue

"So, I take it you're not in love with me anymore?"

"How can I still be in love with you if you keep me away from my job??"

"I keep you away from your job?? Oh pu-lease! You keep me away from everything!! You keep me away from my reputation, you keep me away from my shipmates, hell, you even keep me away from my own son!! Now that's just bad parenting!"

A married raccoon couple was on the verge of ending their relationship with each other. One of which was the infamous pirate thief, Henriette 'One Eye' Cooper. The other was Jack Polaris, Henriette's so called 'great and supportive' husband. She was starting to hate the guy, and he was feeling the same exact thoughts about her.  The argument had begun when Henriette had informed him that she never got to be with her crew-mates anymore, and that she didn't get to do anything she enjoyed or lived for as much as she would've liked. Jack had replied with the line, "tough luck". Then the giant mess started.

A large, deafening gunshot suddenly filled the quiet air. The two raccoons cocked their heads to the side, where they saw the cause was – the couple's one-year-old son Tennessee who was toying around with Henriette's pistol and accidentally fired a shot. He smiled in amusement and giggled a little.

"Ha. Talk about bad parenting," Jack exclaimed. "What kind of mother lets a one-year-old play with a pistol??"

"He happens to be real interested in it," Henriette snapped back. "What do you know about kids, anyhow??"

"I know that normal parents don't give any kind of weapon to  0-to-10-year-olds! He's gonna shoot somebody!"

"Don't even think about telling me what to do with my kid!!"

"I'm not telling you what to do, I'm stating a fact!" Jack stated. "Just take the pistol away from him for the sake of the people on Blood Bath Bay!"

"You mean for the sake of you!" Henriette yelled, and started pushing Jack towards the edge of her ship.

"What're you doing??" He questioned in shock.

"It's a little thing called MUTINY!!!" Henriette answered harshly, and kicked Jack off her boat. "Look it up."

"You're crazy!" Jack shouted as he surfaced from the cold ocean waters below. She didn't pay any attention to him, and picked Tennessee up off the floor, slowly pulling the pistol away from him and holstering it. "You can't raise him by yourself!"

"Oh yeah? Just watch me." Giving one last glance at him, Henriette headed over to the helm of the ship and put Tennessee down by her feet. "Lets go tell Uncle Ez and Basher the news," she said to him. Sighing, she turned the boat around and headed for Blood Bath Bay, leaving Jack behind.

As much as she hated to admit it, Jack was right – she had no idea how to raise a child, especially with no husband to help her. Over the years, her father, Rioichi Cooper who had invented the Ninja Spire Jump, had explained to her that the Cooper family had a huge glitch in it. All kinds of different nationalities had made their way into the line, and started to screw things up, even though all the Coopers married races within their countries. From Egyptian to English, from Scottish to Japanese, the problem seemed endless. It caused all the Coopers to move away from their home country and move into the designated place the son or daughter turned out to be from.

And now the glitch was taking place again. And with no one but her trusted crew of two, whom she hadn't seen for what felt like forever, Henriette didn't have anyone to turn to for help. Her father was back to living in Japan, and she couldn't exactly sail over there in a few hours, get answers, then head back. Sighing deeply, she pulled her ship up to the dock, and walked off.


Henriette walked into her safe house, Tennessee safely cradled in her arms. "Hey," she greeted dully to her comrads as she slumped into a chair. The two shipmates turned to her, a look of curiosity embedded in their eyes.

"Where's Jack?" Ez, the brains of Henriette's team, asked, sounding disappointed. Ever since he had heard of Jack's proposal to Henriette, he had gone into a deep depression – though he kept it to himself, not wanting to bother his friends. He knew that Jack was a selfish jerk ever since he had met him, and had mentioned to  his captain about it dozens of times, trying to save her from the misery in the future. Ez's depression levels rose even higher on the day he noticed she was pregnant with Tennessee. His love life had gone before he even had a chance to experience what it was like. Ez loved Henriette, but was too afraid to tell her, for fear of rejection, just like everyone else he had tried to help out in the past.

"That idiot's out of my life."

Ez's eyes immediately widened, and his heart felt like it was about to bulge from his chest. He searched for the engagement ring on her finger, and noticed it was on the same finger, but on a different hand. Basher, the brawn of the crew's ears also perked up in interest. "Ya mean ya dumped him?" he questioned in shock. Henriette just nodded.

"I don't know what I was thinking. Without him, I got nobody to help me raise Tennessee, let alone, help me decide what country he's from," She sighed. Ez and Basher quirked their eyebrows at her. "You guys have heard me talk about my family's big glitch before. No matter how close we are to marrying someone from our own nationality, the generation always seems to jump to another. And its posting a problem 'cause I don't know where Tennessee could be from."

Ez sat up quickly and faced her. "Have you noticed any specific behavior or cravings from him? Maybe it could help."

Henriette's attention turned to the new Cooper, who was desperately reaching for her pistol. "Little guy's in love with my pistol," she answered. Ez thought for a moment before answering.

"My guess would be American."

Basher's interested expression soon turned into a stunned one. "Woah, wait, what? Ain't America on, like, the other side of the world?" he questioned.

"Yeah, so?"

"Ain't that far away?"

"Not that far, actually. Your point?"

Henriette rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Guys, just – just stop talkin' for a minute. If I have to go to America, then I will. All of my ancestors have done it with their kids, so why should I be any different?" Basher and Ez silently nodded their heads, understanding the situation. The rest of the day, Henriette packed her stuff, while Ez and Basher set up a map for their captain to follow. The next day followed quite quickly, and Henriette already found herself loading all of her stuff onto her ship.

Ez explained to her that he and Basher had no problems going with her, but she refused, saying she didn't want to get them into any trouble. He thought for a moment, and finally stated that they'd visit whenever they could, and to send a note whenever she needed help. She nodded and smiled at the gesture. Basher came out of the ship, Tennessee in arms, and informed her that all her stuff was on board, and that she was ready to go. Henriette smiled and hugged her shipmates, telling them that she'll miss them and she hoped to see them again soon. Taking Tennessee into her arms, she boarded her ship and headed to the helm, slowly watching the two wave goodbye as she sailed away to America.