Well, I was supposed to be spending the day getting ready for my Winter Wonderland Sweet Sixteen party, but what do you know, Mother Nature gave me an actual winter wonderland. There's so much snow that I can't get up my driveway let alone down the mountain to where my party was supposed to be. Ironically, the exact same thing happened on the day I was supposed to have my thirteenth birthday party. Same place, same DJ company, same snow problem. So, I'll be spending my day in the house writing, doing homework, and some other stuff. And now...
Superfan44: thanks and you guessed right
mchap1154: is this soon enough for you? and thanks for the compliment, in return I give you your favorite character
LuluCalliope: well congratulations and right you are about the person in the bushes. also, I totally agree that lasered should be counted as a real word
anna the viking XD: well I'm not one to disappoint, so here he is
toxicswallow: because I'm evil and enjoy giving Jim and Siria a hard time. lol I'm just kidding, but I promise it will come... eventually
tpfanforlife: aw thank you. just hearing that makes my day
Silver and Gold: aww, you're gonna make me cry. I love having kind and supportive readers like you
Guest: thank you for correcting what I said. I assumed she said something like that, but when I couldn't hear it, I just wrote down what my ears picked up on
flipper887: well I too love a good butt-kicking once in a while and I'm glad the chapter was worth the time it took to write it
Rachelle: thank you so much
And now on to the most important part before the story *phone rings* Um, hold on just a second. *picks up phone* Hello? "This is the writer for the real Treasure Planet story! You don't have any right to this plot! This is my story! Mine!" I know sir, that's why I always include a disclaimer saying I don't own the plot or the characters of Treasure Planet. "Oh, well...this is embarassing...carry on then."*hangs up phone* If that doesn't count as a disclaimer, I don't know what does.
Oh, two more things. First, thank you for the birthday messages and second, my older brother just got a fanfiction account. Check him out, Blindluck92, don't forget.
"AAAHHH!" a robot face hollered from the bushes.
"AAAHHH!" the two teenagers screamed.
A rusty robot jumped on top of Jim and Siria and yelled, "Oh this is fantastic! Carbon-based life forms have come to rescue me at last!" The boy and girl managed to get the robot off of them and stand up, but not for long because they were immediately pulled into a death hug. "I just wanna hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me!"
The robot squeezed a little too close with a surprisingly strong grip for such a frail-looking robot, cutting off Siria's airflow and at the same time strangling her midsection. "Choking. Not breathing," she coughed out in a half-joking, half-serious tone.
Jim, aware that Siria still hadn't fully recovered from her last suffocation, pulled the robot's arms off of them. "Alright! Okay!" The robot continued to wrap his arms around various parts of the boy. "Will you just let go of me?!" Jim snapped after untangling the robot's clingy arms from around his legs a third time. Siria chuckled to herself as she rubbed her throat with her hand to regain blood flow.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry," the robot stammered, realizing that he had completely shattered both Siria and Jim's personal bubbles. "I've been marooned for so long," the robot explained as he stood between the two teens with an arm around each of their shoulders. "I mean solitude's fine, don't get me wrong... for heaven's sakes, after a hundred years... YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!"
Siria raised an eyebrow as she sarcastically thought, "A little?" Jim caught her expression and looked warily at the arm around his shoulder, with a face that meant hopefully that the robot's insanity wasn't contagious and then looked back at the robot skeptically.
The robot took the hint, brushed off their shoulders, and apologized again before sticking out his hand in introduction, "I'm sorry. I am, um... My name is, uh..."
While the robot concentrated on recalling his name, Morph, who was hiding behind Jim's shoulder, shifted into the robot with a cuckoo bird popping in and out of his head. Jim smirked before he closed the top of the fake robot's heading, changing it back into Morph's regular shape.
"BEN!" the robot shouted suddenly, like he just made a mental breakthrough. "Of course, I'm Ben. Bio-Electronic Navigator." He looked out at his hand as he moved it across in front of his face and then pushed on his built-in compass to demonstrate, which was a fail because his compass popped out, embarassing the robot. "Oops."
Jim and Siria looked at each other in disbelief, his more irritation, hers more amusement.
"And you are?" Ben asked, gesturing toward the boy.
"Jim," he answered flatly as he reached down to pick up his laser pistol, which he had dropped when they were "surprise attacked".
"Oh what a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy!" Ben exclaimed, stopping Jim from reaching his pistol by grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously.
"It's Jim," the boy responded rudely, yanking his hand out of the robot's grip and picking up his gun. Siria chuckled softly at the annoyed teenager's new nickname. She would have to remember that so she could tease him with it later.
"And who might you be?" Ben asked the girl politely.
"I'm Siria," she replied nicely. "Nice to meet you."
Ben took her hand, but rather that shake it until it fell off, he said, "Enchante, mademoiselle," and kissed her hand. Siria giggled and blushed slightly, as she had not recieved this type of formal greeting in such a long time that it seemed almost unfamiliar to her (two years ago, just before her fifteenth birthday, Siria had gone with Silver to a French colony planet where pretty girls were swarmed by men and aliens of all ages with obvious intentions).
Jealousy made Jim's blood boil as he watched their exchange. "How dare he kiss my girl's hand! Wait, where'd that come from?! Siria and I aren't together, even though she did kiss me on the cheek last night... Ugh, snap out of it Jim." Jim shook himself out of his thoughts and glared at Ben. "Look, we're kinda in a hurry, okay? We gotta find a place to hide and there are pirates chasing us. Come on Siria." He grabbed the girl's hand somewhat possessively and started to pull her in the opposite direction of the robot. Siria was slightly put off by Jim's negative reaction and sudden forwardness, but did not object.
"Oh pirates! Don't get me started on pirates! I don't like them!" Ben cried out, either not noticing or just ignoring the fact that Jim was trying to get away. "I remember Captain Flint. This guy had such a temper," Ben continued, leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed.
Jim and Siria froze midstep. They both turned around and saw Ben in a new light. "Wait, wait, wait. You knew Captain Flint?" Jim inquired.
Ben sat down on a rock and kept babbling, putting his arms behind his head, "I think he suffered from mood swings, personally. I'm not a therapist in any way, but I - you let me know when I'm rambling."
Jim opened his mouth to inform Ben that he was rambling, but Siria put her hand on the boy's shoulder and shook her head to stop him from doing so, knowing that the robot would probably end up rambling about his rambling. She turned to Ben and instead asked, "So that means you know about the treasure?"
"Treasure?" Ben looked at them in confusion.
"Yeah, Flint's Trove... you know, the 'Loot of a Thousand Worlds'?" Jim clarified. Morph turned into a treasure chest filled with gold to emphasize on what Siria and Jim said.
"It's well - it's, it's, it's all - a little fuzzy," the robot mumbled as he stood up from the rock.
If robots could drink alcohol, Siria could have sworn that Ben was drunk. That or just very loopy. The girl leaned over to Jim and whispered, "I think somebody needs to cut down on the motor oil." Jim chuckled at her joke as the robot tried to recollect his thoughts.
"Wait. I re-re-re-remember," Ben stuttered. "I do... TREASURE! Lots of treasure! Buried in the centroid-centroid-centroid of the mechanism! And there was this big door opening and closing and opening and closing!" Pictures appeared in Ben's eyes to illustrate his story. Siria and Jim looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes, both grimacing at the robot's lack of stability. "And Captain Flint wanted to make sure nobody could ever get to his treasure so I helped him - " The wires hanging out the back of Ben's head short-circuited, cutting him off from what he was about to say. "AAHH! Data inaccessible! Reboot."
"Ben," Siria said in a slightly loud voice with her arms crossed.
"Reboot!" Ben hollered again, his head popping in and out.
"Ben!" Jim repeated, his voice a little louder than Siria's.
"REBOOT!" Ben cried out again, more high-pitched than before.
"BEN!" both teens exclaimed before they both decided to fix the robot by slapping him...hard. It worked and Ben was back to normal, which wasn't much of an improvement to flipping-out-Ben.
"And you are?" the robot asked, staring at the two unfamiliar teenagers in front of him, the boy frowning and the girl with her arms crossed, her left hip sticking out, and her eyebrow raised
"Wait wait wait! What about the treasure?!" Jim pressed.
"I wanna say Larry," Ben replied, looking at Jim with an almost-guilty face. "And I'm gonna guess you are Molly," he continued, pointing at Siria. The girl looked away, sighed in frustration, and threw her arm out to the side before putting both hands on her hips.
"The-the-the centroid of the mechanism, er?!" Jim tried to explain, his arms flailing all over the place.
"I'm sorry. My-my memory isn't what it used to be. I've lost my mind. Hehe, I've lost my mind!"
While the robot did crazy hands, Siria muttered so that only Jim could hear, "He said it, not me."
"You haven't found it, have you?" Ben questioned, turning Jim around and starting to check Jim for something.
"Uh," was Jim's reply.
The robot started to check for whatever it was he wanted on Siria, but one glare followed by a warning finger and a commanding, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, look but don't touch, Benny-boy," stopped his search. "What are you trying to find?" she asked.
"My missing piece?" Ben responded, turning around so the teenagers could see the stray wires on his head where a small device should have been. "My primary memory circuit?"
"Can't say we have. Sorry," Siria apologized, sympathizing with the antiquated robot. She knew what it felt like to be missing something important in life; for Ben it was memory, for Siria...it was both her powers and her family. They had a lot more in common than one would think.
"Look, Ben...we really need to find a place to hide, okay? So we're just gonna be, uh, you know, moving on." Jim started walking away again. Siria took one step to follow him before she made the mistake of looking back. What she saw made her want to cry.
Ben pouted as he stammered, "Oh, uh, so well, then...I guess, uh...this is goodbye. I-I-I'm sorry I'm so...dysfunctional." The robot sank to his knees and look down at the ground in sadness, which wasn't hard since he was less than two feet above the ground. His apology for his lack of usefulness was pushed Siria over the edge emotionally. "So, uh, go ahead...I do understand, I do. Bye bye." Ben began to slowly wheel away on his knees.
Jim had stopped, but he hadn't turned around. Siria, determined not to abandon the lonely robot, grabbed Jim's shoulder and whirled him around to face her. "Jim Hawkins, I can't believe you!" she whisper-yelled at the boy. "Whether you like it or not, deep down you feel a connection with Ben and so do I! How would you feel if you had been left alone on a planet for a century with only half a memory?!"
"But Siria-" Jim started before the arumentative teenage girl cut him off.
"Don't you 'but Siria' me! If you don't do it for Ben, at least do it for me...please." Jim groaned and she knew she had him cornered. Nobody ever said no to the famous "Siria puppy dog eyes."
Jim sighed in irritation and defeat, but he couldn't deny Siria with her big eyes and Morph's sympathetic blubbering. He also took notice that during that argument, it seemed like he was fighting with two different people. When Siria started whisper-yelling at him, her gold eye seemed to flash like light from a fire; when she switched to her guilt-trip method, her silver eye seemed to shimmer like ripples in water. A scorching temper and a sharp tongue followed by a gentle wisdom and soft depth. She really was a perfect mix of fire and water.
If Ben had turned around during their whisper-argument, he would have seen the angry faces and flailing arms, but even without hearing the dialogue, it was clear who had surrendered to whom.
"Look if you're gonna come along, you're gonna have to stop talking," Jim said in a tone that sounded like he was regretting saying anything.
"Huzzah! Hahahahaha!" Ben cheered joyfully before jumping into Jim's arms bridal style. "Oh this is fantastic! Me and my best buddies, Jimmy and Cici (pronounced like Cece), out looking for a-" Ben stopped talking when he notice Jim's death glare. Siria shrugged in approval of her new nickname. "Being quiet," the robot whispered, pretending to zip up his mouth piece. However he continued to be annoying when he started hugging Jim's head.
"And you have to stop touching me," Jim growled, barely keeping his temper in check.
"Touching and talking. These are my two big no-no's," Ben insisted, hopping out of the boy's arms, a good three feet away.
"Okay, well I think that we should head-" Jim started to suggest a direction before Ben interrupted.
"Say, listen, before we go out on our big 'search'," Ben said using air quotes on 'search', "um, would you mind if we made a quick pit stop at my place?" The turned-in bent knees and the slight bouncing made it pretty clear what Ben needed. The robot pulled aside some bamboo-type plants to show the view of what looked like a very large, overgrown piece of machinery. "Hehe, kind of urgent," Ben insisted, smiling bashfully.
"How does he even...never mind. I'm not even gonna try to ask," Siria mentally asked and answered, the cringe visible on her face.
"Ben," Jim exclaimed calmly, "I think you just solved our problem."
*Ben's place*
Later that day, around sunset, the two teens, the captain, the doctor, and the blob had found their way to Ben's "house".
"Uh, pardon the mess, people. You'd think that in a hundred years I would've dusted a little more," Ben joked apologetically, picking up a chess board off of an overturned barrel. However what disturbed Siria was the giant pair of pink bloomers with red hearts draped across the table. The robot also seemed embarassed by the parachute-sized underwear because he hid it behind him and quickly changed the subject. "Aww, isn't that sweet?" he cooed as he adressed the doctor carrying the injured captain in his arms like a husband would for a wife. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" At these words, Siria glanced toward Jim before she looked away and blushed. However, Jim didn't notice because he was staring at some random markings on the wall. "How about drinks for the happy couple?" Ben offered cheerfully, pulling out a tray with two cups filled with gasoline and motor oil, each decorated with either a wrench or a gear. The doctor looked up at the refreshments after he laid the captain down against a slanted/spherical equipment piece.
"Ooh, uh, no thank you...we don't drink...and uh, we're not a couple," the doctor declined politely, looking down to the captain with a small smile as he took off his coat. The captain responded with a small one of her own. The doctor then noticed the decorations all over the building. "Look at these markings. They're identical to the ones on the map. I suspect these are the hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture."
"Mr. Hawkins, Miss Silver, stop anyone who tries to approach," the captain ordered before the pain was too much for her.
"Yes, yes, now listen to me," the doctor insisted, folding up his coat before resting it behind the captain's head. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds. Lie still."
"Very forceful, Doctor," the captain chuckled. "Go on, say something else." Siria could just see the love in the doctor's eyes growing as he look at his beautiful, feline captain.
"Hey look! There's some more of your buddies!" Ben hollered, pointing down the hill from his position at the door. "Hey fellas! We're over here fellas!" The menacing pirates took aim and started shooting lasers at the nieve robot. Ben did a little dance to avoid the shots before Jim and Siria grabbed on to his arms and pulled him down and away from the open fire. The two of them took fire on the enemies, which was hard to do when there were so many of them.
"Eat laser, you buttheads!" Siria taunted. One of her favorite parts of battle was the trash-talking, and over the years she had gotten pretty skilled at it.
"Stop wastin' yer fire!" a familiar voice yelled to the pirates. Behind the door, Siria and Jim both reloaded their pistols and poked their heads out from behind. "Helloooo up there," Silver sang to the five hiding inside. The boy and the girl caught sight of a ragged white flag waving up from behind the hill. "Jimbo? Siri? If, uh, it's alright with the Captain, I'd like a short word with ya." Silver's metal cane did not go unnoticed by Siria and a small lump of guilt formed in the girl's throat. "No tricks, just a little palaver (found it on script-o-rama)," Silver assured them.
"Come to bargain for the map, doubtless, pestilential," the captain started to sit up again as she insulted Silver (and yes I look up pestilential and yes it is a real word).
"Captain..." the doctor scolded in a warning tone.
"That means that he thinks..." Jim smirked, looking to Siria, hoping that the girl would catch his drift.
"That we still have it," Siria finished, the sly grin on her face making her look like a fox...a fox with blue hair
*on the hill outside Ben's place*
Jim and Siria walked down the slope together, Jim holding Siria's hand because he knew how hard this conversation would be for her. He and the doctor had tried to advise her against going through with it, but she argued that having her there would help to exploit Silver, knowing that no matter how much he denied it, Siria was Silver's weak spot.
"Ahh Morphy! I wondered where you slid off to," Silver said playfully as the little shape-shifter flew around his finger. Silver's smile disappeared though when he sat down on a rock behind him, his face contorted in pain. He switched the cane back to the regular hand and rubbed his leg. The small lump in Siria's throat grew larger until it almost blocked anything from going down. "This poor ol' leg's downright slacking since that lil attack we had in the galley." Jim narrowed his eyes at the cyborg and Siria squeezed Jim's hand to both calm him down and to comfort herself. Silver realized that his attempt at humor was a total fail, sighing in defeat before he leaned over. "What you heard back there, at least the part concerning the two of you, I didn't mean a word of it. That bloodthirsty lobster had thought I'd gone soft. They'd have gotten all three of us," he explained before putting an arm around the two teens like he was about to tell them a big secret. "If we play our cards right, we can all walk away from this, rich as kings...and a queen."
Siria built up a stronger emotional wall at these words. She knew this tactic and she wasn't going to fall for it, but what scared her was that Jim might listen. "No, he won't. We made a plan...and besides, Jim would never betray me like that...would he?" Siria thought nervously.
"Yeah?" Jim inquired curiously, rubbing his chin and cocking his eyebrow. Siria couldn't even tell if his interest was genuinely piqued or if he was just that believable.
Apparently he was that believable because Silver ate it up. "Hehe. You two get me that map and, uh, an even portion of the treasure is your's."
As painful as it was, Siria had to keep replaying the conversation she overheard earlier in her head to prevent being sucked in by Silver's empty promises.
Silver obviously saw the frown on his little girl's face because he stuck his hand out to Jim in order to shake on the deal. Silver may have fallen for Jim's act, but he was aware enough that he knew Siria was the type to hold grudges for a very long time, the shortest being three months.
However, Jim was the type to hold grudges too. "Boy, you are really something," Jim grumbled, frowning at Silver's hand. "All that talk of 'greatness' and 'sun coming off my sails'...good joke."
Silver blubbered, trying and failing to put words together into an inteligible sentence.
"Well at least you taught me one thing - stick to it, right? Well that's just what we're gonna do. And I'm gonna make sure you never see one drubloon of our treasure!" Jim gestured to himself and Siria, whose unforgiving eyes were so cold that could freeze a volcano solid.
"That treasure is all me, by tunder!" Silver shouted, his previously hurt face replaced with one of fiery rage.
"Well try to find it without my map, 'by tunder'!" Jim shot back.
"And without my talents!" Siria yelled, speaking up for the first time during their confrontation, finally realizing what the legend meant. She mentally slapped herself for not having realized it sooner. "So that's why he adopted me. To get his greedy hands on that treasure," Siria thought dejectedly. That single realization made her want to cry, but she couldn't show any signs of vulnerability in front of the cyborg.
"Ohh, you still don't know how to pick your fights, do ya boy? And lass, I thought I taught ya better than that. Now, mark me...either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons to blast ya on to Kingdom Come!" Silver turned around, expecting his little pink blob to follow. "Morph, hop to it," he ordered. When Morph didn't budge from his spot between Jim and Siria's shoulders, Silver whipped around and screamed, "NOW!" Poor little Morph shrieked and flew to hide behind Siria's shoulder, quivering in fear as he peeked up from behind her. Silver clenched hiss teeth and grunted furiously before hobbling off viciously.
Morph whimpered sadly as he watched the man who no longer seemed like his master storm off. Nobody noticed though when half-way down the hill, Silver looked back at the retreating teenagers with regret, guilt, and loneliness. As much as he wanted to deny it, Silver missed his baby girl. Nothing could ever change that.
So...whatdja think? This chapter was originally called "Bots, Bargains, and Buttheads" but it didn't feel right in comparison to the other chapter titles, ao let me know which title you like better. Oh, and that hand-holding thing was not out of romance, but out of pure friendly comfort...or so they think. Mwahahaha. Oops, sorry. Got a little caught up there. Review and Happy 21st Birthday to the best older brother in the world, Blindluck92! I love you bro. Bye everybody and I'll see y'all soon.