Expeditions to Proteus 1
It was a cool night out in the Etherium as passing ships and blackguard pirates roamed the skies around the rather large pirate port of Liverpool on Planet Proteus One. The stars twinkled as the rugged port no noble man dared enter teemed with life. A lone figure walked the cobblestoned streets. It was past midnight, and only a fool would dare enter such a place after dark. Eyes followed the man from hidden alleyways, waiting for the opportune moment to snag some coins jingling in the man's pocket.
There was a steady clunk and whir as the man kept his tricorn hat pulled low over his eyes, an overwhelming black trench coat concealing any other part of his body. The man was just turning toward the nearest inn when he felt the slightest of movement near his coat's pocket.
"I wouldn't do tha' if I was you," he growled out, stopping mid step and turning to face the small alien man trying to pick pocket the last of his money. The short thief scowled and pulled out the rest of Long John Silver's money, holding it in his hands.
"What's a fat chap like ya self gonna do about it?" he sneered, noticing Silver's round belly. Silver let his scowl turn into a smirk as his hidden cybernetic eye turned blood red under the shade of his hat. The thief noticed, his eyes growing wide with horror.
"I ain't gonna do nothin'," Silver replied, changing his cybernetic hand into a small dagger right in front of the terrified thief's eyes. "Now. Give – it – back," he whispered in a deadly voice. The thief trembled with fear as he passed Silver his coins and scurried off. Silver chuckled under his breath, his cyborg eye returning to its normal cheerful gold while his knife switched back to his hand in a second. Despite all the hassle his new cyborg parts had been they were turning out to be mighty useful weapons.
Silver trudged on, spotting an inn just up the road. It would be a place to rest his head if only for a little while. Perhaps he'd even scrounge up a few more allies as well. A treasure hunt was far too hard to resist for many pirates. As Silver entered the bustling pub his eyes scanned the tables, finding an empty one at last in a shady corner. There was music and drink. Lots of drink. In fact, half of the men and women were drunk, but this was to be expected when one crossed a pirate port. Silver sat himself down at the corner table, pulling out his pipe and taking a puff, scanning the crowd for any men he thought might contribute to a crew searching for the legendary map to Treasure Planet.
He hailed a barmaid and asked for a pint of rum. Silver was happy here. In normal society he was quick to evade the law with his charisma and wits. Here in an inn full of drunken fools, Silver found it easy to blend in, and he was swift to know when trouble was brewing. Silver had quite a knack for knowing people's strengths and weaknesses just by observing their behavior for a short time.
As the barmaid came back and set his drink in front of him, Silver handed her a drubloon and was just about to raise the tankard to his lips when he noticed several convicts laughing as they poked at something small locked up in a cage at a table close by.
"Look at it! Piece of scum!"
"I'll sell it to ya for eighty drubloons. Little fella does tricks too," the lead alien man smirked as he jabbed the poor creature hard with the sharp end of a fork. Silver's brow furrowed as he got to his feet and cautiously crept closer.
"What a waste of matter," another drunken man joked. "I say we rub it out, try and kill it."
"How do ya even kill pink jelly?" another snickered as the crowd hooted with laughter. Silver's cyborg eye focused on the creature stuck in the cage, trembling with fear looking battered and rather bruised from all of the cruel attention being focused on it. It was just a little gelatinous pink blob by the looks of things, with giant fearful eyes and a small mouth.
"Morph yeh stupid pet! Transform, give me mates a show," the lead alien man sneered at the creature making it cower in fear in the thick barred cage it was crammed into. Silver didn't normally experience feelings of emotional care. His personal philosophy was: "Never stick yer neck out fer nobody." But standing there, seeing the fear in the poor, innocent creature's eyes, Silver knew he had to help the little protoplasm. His eyes scanned the salivating crowd. He'd need to play his cards just right, though, lest the men think him soft and take advantage of that.
"Now this is a sight for sore eyes," he chuckled, pushing his way through the men to stand at the front. "Where'd yeh get such a creature?" he asked the man in charge, sitting on the table's surface, taking a swig out of a dirty rum bottle every few seconds.
"What's it ta you? I own him, he's mine!" the man spat, eyeing Silver warily.
"Now why would I want such a silly lil' thing?" Silver retorted. "Oye, me crewmates would think I'd gone soft carryin' around a pink pet like tha'!"
It had the desired effect. The group of men and curious women erupted into a fit of wild laughter.
"Yeh have a point. Don't even know why I keep him," the lead man sneered, giving the cage a rough rattle, the poor protoplasm squealing in terror. "He's good for nothin' I suspect." Silver rubbed his chin with his cyborg hand.
"I'd be willin' ta take him off yer hands. Tha' way yer not luggin' the silly thing around. He'd be useful fer me kitchen as a scrub brush." Silver internally cringed at his use of words, but he needed to appease the crowd. His charm was working. They were laughing all the harder now, and the alcohol certainly seemed to be helping. The man snickered, raising his rum bottle.
"Mmm, how much ya gonna pay me for him, ya half breed?" he demanded, sticking out his hand as if waiting for the coins to fall into his palm. Silver ignored the last jibe as he dug into his pocket.
"Twenty drubloons," he told the man.
"Fifty," the man snapped, baring his teeth in a sort of snarl.
"Forty," Silver replied, just as quick.
"Done dealio," the man agreed as Silver tossed him the desired amount of coins and the man passed Silver the small cage in return. Silver took the cage careful not to jostle the poor creature any more as he slipped away from the crowd that was now ogling over the gold the man held in his hands.
Deciding it wasn't safe for the poor creature in the tavern, Silver left to find a different place to stay. Once out in the cool night air, Silver looked down at the pet cowering in terror.
"Yeh best be worth me money, yeh lil' blob you," Silver chuckled, unlocking the cage and opening it up. Within seconds the creature shot out of its confined space, zooming around Silver's head fast enough to make the cyborg dizzy.
"Enough o' t'at, now! Yer gonna make me space sick an' I ain't even on a blasted ship," he grumbled. The creature obeyed, slowing down as it looked at Silver curiously with its big innocent eyes. "Tha's all yeh can do? Stare at me?" Silver sighed, realizing he might have been cheated out of his money.
It was then that the creature answered him at last.
"Stare at me! Stare at me!" it mimicked in a high pitched trill while it gave Silver's cheek an affectionate lick and pulled back. Silver watched in amazement as the little pink blob transformed into a tiny replica of him strutting around in midair.
"Well, I'll be," Silver laughed, holding out his hand and watching the shape shifter sit himself down there, finally reforming and letting out a little giggle. "It's not safe around this part for a little thing like yerself. How's about you come with me?" Silver grinned, tickling the creature with a metal finger. The creature cooed and giggled, constantly releasing peculiar little noises.
"Come with, come with!" it mimicked again, morphing into a small ship with a question mark.
"I ain't got a ship yet. We'll go find another inn ta stay at," Silver told him as he began walking up the street in search of another tavern of sorts. "Now I suppose I outta name ya, eh?" Silver grunted, looking down at the creature.
"Name?" it warbled.
"Aye. How about…er…" Silver trailed off, rubbing his chin. The creature morphed itself into a mirror image of Silver, even rubbing his own little chin. Silver chuckled and shook his head. "Morph. I'll call ya morph," he announced. Morph's eyes lit up at this word, spinning around Silver's finger crying out, "Morph! Morph! Morph! Morph!"
"Alright, settle down now, Morphy. Let's go find a place ta stay," Silver calmed the blob who cheerfully rested on his shoulder. By the time Silver had found another place to stay he noticed that his new little friend had already fallen asleep in his coat pocket.
"Aye, Silver," the cyborg shook his head. "How do ya get yerself inta these things?"
A/N: Well this just happened. Actually I was flipping through my Treasure Planet art book when I saw that Morph had been rescued by Silver from Planet Proteus 1 and then I remembered the movie where Silver said, "I rescued the little shape-shifter from Proteus 1." And yeah, basically this is just my take on how it happened.
Mmm, I think I started out strong, but then the ending just sort of...lost its magic I supose. *sigh* But I'm too lazy to change it so I'll just stick with this.
And do you guys think the title fits? Meh, that was also the best I could come up with.
But hey guys good news, hopefully I'll have the next chapter up for The Eternity Star soon so look forward to that! :D
To Suki: Thanks for the review! I actually can't write much about the wedding between Jim and Alice because that's going to show up in one of the main stories later on, but I can certainly come up with some cute fluff of them preparing for the wedding if that will be okay :D
And special thanks goes to lazyX1000 for the other awesome review I got!
One thing I supose I should have mentioned before though. I know it says I have like 53 reviews, but that's because those are old reviews of the old chapters I just recently took down so this story isn't that popular guys hehe *sweating a little* I appreciate the support! Thanks a lot!
Oh and one, one more thing. If, like Suki, anyone would like to see a one-shot of something just let me know and I'll see what I can come up with to make you happy! :D