In Another Galaxy

By FlikFreak

Part Six: Setting Sail

Jim and Sora arrived on deck to find the rest of the crew running about, climbing up the rope ladders and loosing the sails. It took a bit of maneuvering to avoid some of the rushing crewmates (Sora ended up bumping into one, but fortunately he only got a glare in response). Mr. Arrow barked an order, and the sailcloth lit up in various hexagonal patterns that Jim recognized as being similar to the ones on his own Solar Sailer. Sora gawked at the display. "Wow…"

Several seconds later, Jim felt his feet leave the ground. His eyes widened and he glanced downward; the ship was high enough to be out of Crecentia's gravitational field. It was difficult to keep composure when he was weightless. Sora, on the other hand, seemed to be doing just fine.

"You seem used to this," Jim commented.

Sora shrugged. "Used to no gravity? You could say that."

Not five seconds later, artificial gravity was engaged (accompanied by a loud metal clang that Jim could only discern as Delbert's clumsiness). Jim was able to land without injury, on his feet with one hand near the ground in case he tripped, and Sora simply landed on his feet and stood right back up. With another command, the ship sped forward, accompanied by another crash (no doubt, it was Delbert again).

Both boys couldn't help but gawk when they saw their new surroundings. Countless candarian zapwings soared past the ship, later followed by numerous large, galactic orcas.

"It's beautiful," Sora breathed.

Jim only nodded.

Shortly after the orcas passed, an enormous nebula could be seen, and the sky was dotted with stars. This seemed to pull most of Sora's attention, not to Jim's surprise. Sora sighed. "If only Riku and Kairi could see this…"

"Who're they?" Jim asked.

"Some friends of mine from home," Sora replied as he climbed down from the rope ladder that they had been standing on. "Riku's kind of like our leader, and he's really good at sparring. Kairi, well…she's special."

"Special how?"

Sora began to answer when Silver's voice interrupted. "Jimbo! Sora!"

Great, another question unanswered. Regardless, both boys glanced up, Sora far more enthusiastically.

Silver grinned at them. "I got two friends I'd like yeh to meet."

"Really?" Sora exclaimed.

"Aye," Silver replied. "Say hello to Mister Mop…" He tossed a mop at Jim. "…and Missus Bucket!" Sora deftly caught a bucket in his hand. Silver chuckled merrily, but the boys scowled.

"I don't like his sense of humor," Sora grumbled.

"I don't like him," Jim replied.

Mr. Arrow tilted his hat politely. "My apologies for the delay, Captain; you wished to see me?"

"Yes," Amelia replied. "Did you receive the papers I requested before we took off?"

"I did," Arrow replied, handing Amelia a small folder of paper.

Accepting the offering greatly, Amelia flitting through the papers. Ever since she had first heard from Delbert Doppler about Sora, she had been suspicious. While the scholar was highly trustable – several in Montressor knew him and respected him highly in spite of his oddities – she couldn't help but notice that of all the information he gave about the two boys coming along on the trip, Sora Roxas remained a large enigma. Hardly anything about the boy was known aside from the fact that he was a foreigner. Out of the file, she pulled out the file Delbert had written to allow Sora to go on the voyage.

He had a first name, not a last. No listed hometown and no parents to speak of. In fact, the only things really known about Sora were his name, age, and gender. Amelia stared at the paper in front of her. Just who was this boy? She pressed her lips into a firm line. "Mister Arrow…"

"Yes, Captain?"

"I would like you to keep a close eye on Sora Roxas. While I find him entirely trustworthy, he has been keeping many secrets from everyone."

Arrow furrowed his eyebrows. "You mean Mister Roxas…?"

Amelia nodded. "In the papers Doppler gave us, he did not list Sora's surname. This boy is truly an enigma."

"I agree. I'll report anything suspicious."

"He isn't a bad seed, Arrow," Amelia noted. "I'm simply worried about him. If you learn anything new about him, please notify me right away."

"Yes, Captain."

Sora hadn't mopped since he was in the Benbow, and he only did it there because it was far more enjoyable to do (after all, it helped Sarah a great deal). Here he had to deal with people staring at him lowly. Jim was mumbling every few seconds on how much he hated cleaning, and the two eventually came to an agreement: swabbing sucked.

One of the larger crew members was passing by, and Sora couldn't help but stare. He was about to correct his mistake when he was noticed. The sailor growled at him. "Watch it, twerp."

Yikes. Sora wasted no time in getting back to mopping.

Jim gave a few nearby sailors a wary look. "I think I'm starting to see Amelia's point," he whispered. "These guys aren't exactly friendly."

"Think it's because we're swabbies?" Sora asked.

"No," Jim said, scowling. "They just seem a bit suspicious if you ask me…"

A few audible clicking and hissing sounds caught the boys' attention and they glanced up to see a spider-like crewman approaching from a rope ladder. Large, yellow eyes glared at them sternly. "Cabin boysss should learn to mind their own bussinessss."

"Why?" Jim replied. "You got something to hide, bright eyes?"

Sora's jaw nearly dropped. He's got a lot of nerve, talking to someone that intimidating…

The spider's eyes narrowed and he hissed in protest, grabbing the collar of Jim's shirt. "Maybe your earsss don't work ssso well…"

Jim jerked his head away, coughing. "Yeah, sure…too bad my nose works just fine."

"Why you impudent little-!"

The spider slammed Jim up against one of the poles, and he dropped his broom entirely, forgetting the task at hand. Sora's eyes widened. Geez! His mouth is going to get him killed! Without thinking and ignoring the rukus around him, Sora summoned the smallest of thunder spells that he could manage and sent it at the spider. "Let him go!"

Jumping at the shock of the thunder spell, the spider spun toward Sora and began to snap at him when his eyes widened. "You…!"

Sora kept his face stern, but inwardly he was surprised. Wha…he recognizes me?

The surprises hadn't ended yet. A familiar clamp closed around the spider's free claw and jerked it downward. On the other end of the clamp was none other than Silver. "Mister Scroop," He began, his mouth full of purp fruit. "Ever see what happens to a fewsh-picked purp…when you squeeze it real hard?!" He twisted the spider's claw backward, causing a shriek of protest.

Jim crumbled to the ground, gasping for breath. Sora was next to him in an instant. "You okay, Jim?"

"Yeah," Jim replied, rubbing his throat. "I'm…fine."

Mr. Arrow, whom had just emerged from the stateroom, did not look pleased with the scene. "What is all this?!" he bellowed.

The crew immediately lined up, and Jim made to do as well but was still staggering a bit. Sora winced and helped him to his feet, slipping in a cure spell and hoping it would go unnoticed. "C'mon, Jim."

"You know the rules," Arrow continued. "There will be no brawling on this ship. Anyone caught disobeying this rule will spend the remainder of the voyage confined in the brig." He paused, glaring at the spider. "Do I make myself clear, Mister Scroop?"

Scroop began to retort, but he hesitated, instead hissing, "…transparently, sir."

Nodding in approval, Arrow continued. "Mister Roxas."

Sora repressed a wince and stood. "Yes, sir."

"I would like to remind you that Captain Amelia would like a word with you when you have time."

The statement was soft, obviously not to be announced to everyone. Sora nodded. "Understood, sir." He glanced at Jim. "I think I'd better go ahead and do that before she gets impatient. I won't be long, promise."

For some odd reason, Jim didn't seem to want Sora to leave, whether it concerned his share of work or the fact that he had helped Scroop get off of him. He sighed and nodded. "Alright, go ahead. Don't worry, I'll save some of the deck for you."

"And where might ye be goin' so soon, Sora?"

Sora swallowed when he saw Silver staring down at him. "Um…Captain Amelia wanted to speak with me if I had time, sir. I didn't want to keep her waiting for too long, so-"

Silver crossed his arms. "I gave you two a job, and here ye are pickin' fights. If ye have time to do that, then ye have time to clean this deck spotless, and 'eaven help ye if I come back an' it's not done yet!" He turned to the little pink blob following him. "Morph, keep an eye on these two an' let me know if anythin' else happens." With that, Silver stalked off, leaving Morph to watch Jim and Sora closely.

Jim sighed. "Looks like seeing the Captain will have to wait, Sora."

"I was afraid of that," Sora moaned, picking up his mop and thrusting it into a water-filled bucket. "Well, back to work. The quicker we work, the faster this gets done."

Below deck, the crew had gathered and was chatting restlessly. Silver calmly strode down the stairs. "Well, now," he began. "We're all here then. If ye don't mind me speakin' plainly…" His cyborg hand shifted to a blade. "Are ye all stark-ravin', totally blinkin' daft?! All that work to get us hired as an upstanding crew, and ye want to blow the whole mutiny before its time?!"

The crew cowered. All, that is, except one. Scroop hissed. "The boys were sssniffing about," he protested. "And one of them…"

"What of it?" Silver shot back. "We know that Jimbo's the one that found the map; quit repeatin' what we already know!"

"The other one. Sora Roxas."

Silver froze. "You notice somethin' about the spiky-haired lad?"

"He used sssomething on me earlier to get me away from Hawkins," Scroop replied. "And he was the one that fought those creatures…the creaturesss that I called on to assist in our sssearch for the map."

"I told ye I want nothin' to do with those blasted monsters," Silver replied. "No treasure is worth dealin' with the likes of them. Stick with the plan."

"And what of the boys?"

"Heh, heh…I'll run them both so ragged, they won't have time to think…"

Jim quirked an eyebrow at Morph, whom had shifted into a miniature version of his mop and was currently doing a merry little dance across the deck (mostly over his feet). Sora's own mopping had slowed, and he was staring at the sky. "So many stars…" he muttered.

"You talk about stars a lot," Jim observed half-heartedly.

Sora shrugged. "Where I used to live, we were pretty isolated, so we didn't know about other…planets. We were all alone. The legends all said that all of the stars in the sky were different worlds, so I always stared at them for a long time every night, wondering what was happening on other planets." The boy frowned, his eyes glazing over ever so slightly. "I never noticed it before, but… before I left my home, there were fewer and fewer stars in the sky as every night passed."

"It's natural for stars to go out," Jim mumbled.

Apparently not sharing the sentiment, Sora shook his head. "Not that. If the legends were true, then when the stars were going out, that meant that entire worlds were vanishing…"

Jim gave Sora a curious look. The way he spoke, he believed this legend, too. Now that I think about it, Sora knows about a lot of legends. "Just how many stories did you hear at your home?"

"Too many to count," Sora replied with a nostalgic smile. "There's tons of them that I never would have believed…but when I saw them with my own eyes, it was just…amazing." He rested one hand on his mop. "And if you think about it…that's kinda what we're doing right now, right?"

"I guess," Jim said, shoving his mop across the deck. "Could do without the spider psycho, though."

Morph, hearing this, flew up from the floor and shape-shifted into the familiar form of scroop. "Spider psycho! Spider psycho!" He chanted.

Sora grinned. "Hey, good one," he commented.

Jim shook his head. "Nah…a bit uglier, morph."

Morph let out a high-pitched bout of manic laughter and gave the goofiest imitation of Scroop's face that he could manage. Sora laughed. "Not bad!"

Moments later Silver headed up the stairs with a bowl of leftover food, preparing to dump it overboard. "Thank heavens for little miracles. Up here for an hour and the deck's still in one piece."

Jim's smile faded a little. "Silver…about earlier…"

Silver sighed. "Didn't yer paps ever teach ye to pick yer fights a bit more carefully?"

Sora shook his head. "I haven't seen my dad in two years," he replied, "And with those creatures running around everywhere, I've kind of been fighting anything that threatens me. I've never really thought about when I've met my match."

"Reckless talk comin' from a lad yer age," Silver commented. "What about you, Jimbo?"

Jim didn't reply, and returned to mopping. After a few moments, Silver quirked an eyebrow at him. "Yer pap not th' teachin' sort?"

"No," Jim grumbled. "He's more of the running off and never coming back sort."

Silver nodded slowly in understanding. "Ah…sorry lad. Didn't know."

But Jim scoffed. "Not a problem," he replied sarcastically. "I'm just fine."

"Is that so…?" Silver mumbled before grinning. "Well…since the Captain has put you two in my charge, I'm going to have to pound a few skills into those heads of yours to kep ye out of trouble."

"Who said we were…?" Jim began.

"From now on, I'm not lettin' ye out of me sight!"

"You can't be serious!" Sora cried.

"Ye won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch yer bum without my seein' so!"

Sora's jaw dropped. "What?!" he exclaimed.

"Don't do me any favors!" Jim snapped.

"Oh, you can be sure of that, lads," Silver assured, a smug smirk on his lips as he laughed. "You can be sure of that."

Aaaaand here's chapter six. Hope you enjoyed, chapter seven soon!