Me: Chapter 12, coming right up!
Readers: Yay! (fireworks shoot off, setting the roof on fire)
Me: Ack! Call the Fire Dept!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Treasure Planet, just the OC, but it's still a cool movie!
An old man boating watched as a blonde-haired teen soared by on a scooter, his head covered with a deep-blue cap, wearing a black leather jacket. What the old man didn't realize that this 'boy' was actually a girl, let alone the daughter of Jim Hawkins, in disguise to avoid being recognized by others. I hope this boy disguise works. she thought. It had better, otherwise cutting my hair would have been for nothing… She shook her head, focusing on her mission rather than the makeover she gave herself with her pocketknife.
Tesoro watched as her home planet, Gogala, shrank into the distance as she veered off into space. She felt awful about leaving her mother behind with nothing but a note with her explanation, but she just had to help find her father!
Now I know how Dad felt before he left. she thought sadly. She turned away and looked ahead, resisting the temptation to fly back home. I've got to find him!
She took out her compass, which glowed to life. Several years ago, she had BEN help her fix it to point in the right direction. They had tinkered with it, making it so the holographic compass points glowed within the mechanism's screen, rather than popping up like a jack-in-the-box. BEN had even added a color-switch, so the lights could be whatever color she liked (though she kept it at blue, her favorite color). But no matter what they did with it, it would point in an entirely different direction.
Like it was doing now. Tesoro knew she was heading North-East toward the Spaceport, but the compass was pointing South-West. "What is up with this compass?" Tesoro muttered grimly, shaking the compass furiously. She was about to throw it, when a familiar voice said in her head:
I'll be with you, no matter where you go. The words her father said to her the day he gave her the compass, as proof that he believed she could 'chart her own course' and become a sailor. She sighed and put the compass into her duffel bag. It was a piece of junk, but it was the piece of junk that she had left of her father.
Dawn approached as Tesoro arrived at the Spaceport. That's when the problem hit her: How was she supposed to know where the ship for her dad's search was? In fact, she didn't even know the name of it! Darn! I've gotta start thinking these sort of things through… She scorned herself.
A couple of sailors were passing by, and Tesoro couldn't help but overhear their conversation:
"A search for the MAELSTROM?" One of the sailors gasped. "But that was lost near Xenta! Who'd be crazy enough to go look for it?"
"Whoever's captaining the SLR DESTINY," The other sailor grunted.
Well, that was convenient. Tesoro thought, a smile spreading across her face. She stepped up to the two sailors and cleared her throat, catching their attention. "Excuse me, gentlemen? Could you help navigate me toward the SLR DESTINY? I'm needed for the voyage."
"3rd port to the left," The first sailor said, then looked at Tesoro quizzically. "Say, aren't you a bit young to be-"
"Thank you!" Tesoro zoomed off on her scooter before either sailor could say another word. That was close, she thought with relief. Though, she felt agitated that they mistook her for a younger age. "I hate being short."
She arrived at the port, and her jaw dropped when she saw the SLR DESTINY. Its bough, flanks, and stern were pure, marble white, making it glitter in the morning sun's beams; its sails sparkled with various colors as they absorbed solar energy, shining brightly in the wind; on the front was something like a mermaid, but instead of a fin and shell bra it wore a long gown- it, too, was a pearly white. The beams were a golden color (or was it solid gold? $Ka-ching!$) and glowed as well.
Tesoro would have stood there, mystified by the sight, if a large, bulky gray alien didn't push her aside. "Watch it, runt," he grunted with a gruff, low voice. He had dark-blue hair, lime-green eyes, and stood to be at least seven-and-a-half feet tall (for Tesoro, that was almost intimidating). He walked up onto the DESTINY.
"Jerk," Tesoro muttered, walking aboard the ship. "Okay, now to find the captain…"
"Looking for the captain, eh?" A feminine- and very familiar- voice said behind her. She turned around and gasped, seeing a short-black-haired felinid standing behind her, wearing a red tunic and black, baggy pants, and a maroon bandana with black corduroy marks on it. It was Valerie Doppler, the rambunctious daughter.
Tesoro snapped herself out of her shock. "Um, yes. …I'd like to join the search for my- er, I mean for the MAELSTROM."
"Come with me. I'll take you to my sister, Elizabeth," Valerie said, motioning Tesoro to follow. "She's the head of this ship."
Tesoro's eyes widened. "Elizabeth is the captain of her own ship?" Then she clapped her hands over her mouth, afraid that she had given herself away.
"Actually, it belongs to our mother, Amelia Smollet." Valerie said, seeming unaware of Tesoro's fluke. "She, along with my brother, Eric, and my other sister, April, were trained in the Academy to sail ships like this creaking heap,"
"Creaking heap?" Tesoro found it hard to believe that Valerie could call such a magnificent craft a 'creaking heap'.
"I know, it's all beautiful, blah, blah, blah… But it's not really what I wanted. I don't know about my siblings, but I didn't want to become a spacer. Too much traveling, too much work… if it weren't for the threats of space, I'd abandon this ship right now. I'm only here because my parents insisted… and I have to watch after my brother and sisters."
"What did you want to do instead-"
"Hey, Liz!" Valerie called to her sister, avoiding Tesoro's question. "This kid wants to join! Should I let him?"
The second Doppler daughter, Elizabeth, turned sternly to her sister. They looked exactly alike, except that Elizabeth's hair was red and longer, pulled back behind her head, and Valerie was a bit more muscular. The redhead felinid dressed in a blue uniform, with a brown, yellow-trimmed triangular hat. If it weren't for her yellow eyes, she'd look exactly like her mother.
"For the last time, you are to address me as 'Captain' or 'Ma'am', is that clear?" Elizabeth scorned her sister, who rolled her eyes with a shrug. She sighed, annoyed, then looked at Tesoro, who was in fear of being caught. "Aren't you a bit young to be sailing, dear boy?"
"Since when is there a limit on sailing?" Tesoro asked. Elizabeth glared at her, and she- while changing her voice to a deeper tone- coughed innocently and said, "I mean, I'm old enough. I mean, just because I'm short, doesn't mean I'm too young."
"That's what the other one said," Tesoro heard Valerie scoff quietly.
Elizabeth eyed Tesoro, as if seeing through her disguise (at this point, Tesoro is thinking 'Oh, crud! She's discovered me!'), then smiled, (which relaxed Tesoro a bit). "I suppose we'll need all the help we can get." Elizabeth said. "We do need a cabin boy…"
"Another cabin boy, you mean,"
"Well, yes… Valerie, come with me to my quarters. We need to have a discussion,"
"It had better not be on respecting authority. You know I'm not good at that." Valerie trudged toward Elizabeth's quarters.
Elizabeth turned to follow her, then looked behind her shoulder at Tesoro. "Oh, and Tess? You can lose the 'boy' act. It's not fooling me." With that and a wink, she walked away, leaving Tesoro standing there, stunned in astonishment.
"How did she-" Tesoro wondered aloud, then shrugged. "Must be the high intelligence trait." She turned to walk away, bumping into a blonde felinid in a pink blouse and light-blue pants, with matching pink clips in her hair, easily identified as April, the third Doppler daughter. Tesoro's cap fell off during their collision, and April gawked at her.
"Tesoro?" April gasped, recognizing her friend easily.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Well, when you dress like a boy all the time, it's not hard… though your short hair almost threw me off. Yeesh! It looks like it was cut with a pocket knife!" Tesoro blushed, pulling her hat firmly back on her head. "Wait, what are you doing here?"
"Your sister hired me to assist in the search," It was only half the truth, but she didn't want to alarm April. "She's putting me in as a cabin boy,"
"A cabin boy? We've already got one! …Besides, you know more about sailing than the rest of the crew, I bet. You should be a sailor."
"I know…" Tesoro sighed, now disappointed with her position, but she brushed away her sorrow for now. "But it doesn't matter what my position is, as long as I find my dad."
April's ears bent back in sympathy. "Oh, yeah… he was the captain of the MAELSTROM, wasn't he?" Tesoro nodded, solemnly. "Gosh, sorry… but don't worry! We'll find him! But, right now, I'd better take you down to the galley to meet Tyson and Jonesy."
Meanwhile…
"Can you believe Tesoro thought she could fool us with that disguise?" Valerie laughed. "Now, if she really wanted to convince us, she should have dressed like a girl-"
"Valerie!" Eric snapped at his sister. He looked exactly like his father, only without the glasses and his hair was shorter, yet spikier on the top, and rather than a suit, he wore a white shirt with a brown jacket with a pair of darker-brown pants. "You know better than to talk about Tesoro that way! …Even though she does dress like a boy once in a while."
"Once in a while? More like every waking-"
"Hush, you two!" Elizabeth snapped. "Forget about Tess and focus on the mission!"
"I still think it's preposterous to allow the young girl to join us," Eric muttered. "Isn't she a bit young to be traversing the galaxy to Xenta?"
"Bro, she's 17! I think she can handle it." Valerie scoffed, leaning back in Elizabeth's chair and putting her black boots on her desk.
"It doesn't matter," Elizabeth said, angrily smacking Valerie's feet off her desk. "As long as she keeps out of trouble, she'll be fine."
"Ironic, since you're allowing her to get into trouble anyway." Eric huffed.
"I believe she's in trouble anyway," Valerie said. "She's obviously ran away from home. You think she'd disguise herself to join us by accident?"
Eric and Elizabeth looked at their sister skeptically, then at each other, their eyes filled with worry. "She wouldn't!" they said in unison.
She did.
Natalie read the letter over and over, checking to see it she read it correctly, but it kept reading the same:
I've gone to help search for Dad. Don't come after me. Don't send out the authorities. Just say a prayer for us to find him and bring him home safely.
Love, Tesoro.
P.S. Don't have a panic attack after you read this letter, either.
Natalie began hyperventilating. She bolted up the stairs. "She didn't!" She told herself. She ran around the corner. "She wouldn't!" She burst into Tesoro's room, seeing that her drawers and closet were empty of her clothing, and her window was open. "She did!"
Natalie sat on her daughter's bed, her eyes filling with tears. She decided to reach the Spaceport, to keep an eye out for her sweet little girl- but she restrained herself. If she went after Tesoro, she would only get her in trouble. It was a high crime to stowaway on a ship, and she would be thrown in jail, despite her age (and size), and then Natalie would never forgive herself.
She decided to do as the note said. She got on her knees. "Dear Heavenly Father, keep watch over my baby girl. And may she return home safely with her father and my husband, Jim. Amen." She then looked out the window, worrying on what kind of horror her daughter was facing now…
Jonesy was the tallest, but Tyson was the most hansom. At least, that's what Tesoro thought when April introduced her to the two boys.
Jonesy stood to be at least 6'3", with a scrawny body. He had light-reddish-brown, shaggy hair, a slightly large nose, and sensitive brown eyes with a smile to match. His ears were a tad big too (one was triple-pierced), but his poofy hair nearly covered them. "Hello," he said to Tesoro. His voice was a normal tone, but with a bit of a high pitch mixed in.
Tyson was just the opposite. He was shorter (about 5'2"), had jet-black, short hair which was covered with a brown bandana, he was more muscular at the arms, pointed ears, and a smile just as sweet as Jonesy's, and a nose that clearly identified him as a hybrid. But it was his copper-brown eyes that really got Tesoro's attention, the way they shined…
"Please tah meet ya, Tes- uh, how do ya say 'er name again, April?" His voice was a bit gruff, but level.
"Tes-or-o." April replied, pronouncing every syllable carefully.
"Uh, huh.." Tyson turned back to Tesoro. "Would ya mind if I called ya 'Tessy'?"
"Uh, no. That's fine." Tesoro replied. She felt her face get hot, obviously meaning she was blushing. She had heard his accent before, but her mind went blank when he spoke to her.
"Well, I'm needed back up on deck," April said, giving Tesoro an encouraging pat on the back. "Someone's got to navigate this ship."
"You're the navigator?"
"Of course! Apparently, I'm the only one who doesn't start an argument about constellations. I'll see you later, Tess." April jogged up the stairs, her blonde hair bouncing with every step.
"So… you're our new cabin girl, aren't ya?" Tyson asked, stepping up to Tesoro and shaking her hand. "Well, tis a pleasure to have you on board."
Tesoro blushed harder as she shook Tyson's hand. The mere touch of it caused her heart to skip at least a hundred beats. "Well… uh, thank you, T-Tyson." She said, hoping her palms weren't sweaty. Tyson let go and walked over to the stove. "So, I take it you're both cabin boys?"
Tyson and Jonesy looked at each other, and laughed. Tesoro blushed with embarrassment (I'll say at this point, if she doesn't stop now, she's going to look like a red chili-pepper for the rest of the story!). Tyson wiped a tear from his eye as Jonesy's squeaky laugh silenced, replaced by a small gasp for air.
"Nah, I'm just the cabin boy," Jonesy said, then patted Tyson on the back. "Tyson here is our cook for the voyage… In other words, I wouldn't touch the food." He laughed again, and Tyson playfully nudged him in the ribs.
"Ah, shaddap." Tyson snapped, though a smile stayed on his face. "Keep it up and you'll be doing both yours and Tessy's half of the work!"
A whistle blew on deck, followed by Eric's voice: "All crew on deck!"
"Guess it's time to load up," Jonesy groaned. "I hate loading."
"Ah, tis just a bit of hard labor," Tyson joked. "It'll be nothing compared tah what I'll put ya through."
The two boys began walking up the steps, with Tesoro following behind them. Tyson and Jonesy went over to help hoist a crate on deck, while Tesoro helped a couple other sailors roll barrels into the storage deck. Now that she was away from Tyson's presence, it finally occurred to her…
He was the boy who had ran away 12 years ago.
A/N: And there you have it! Tesoro is off to find her dad, her mother is going to be a nervous wreck… and we may finally get some romance in this story!
Anon and OMGitsEMILY: Yep, Tesoro's gonna have a romantic interest of her own. (You're welcome!)
Kristen: Thank you for the compliment (Treasure Planet 2? Hmm, the idea seems to have a knack to it. ;D)
Glad you all are liking this story, but alas, it has just begun! Please R/R. My house is freezing, so I'll use flames to keep it warm.
