Surprise! I'm posting a day early cuz I've got no school tomorrow!

And Double Surprise: this chapter's got both Maria's AND Liz's points of view!

Chapter 14 - Temporary shelter - on both sides

"Y'know, I've been hoping to ask you something this entire trip," Jim suddenly remarked, breaking the silence.

"Hmmm?" Liz looked up from where she had been peering through a small bunch of reed-like plants. "What's that?"

"What got you into this whole 'Heartless' war thing in the first place?" Jim gave Liz a curious look. "I mean, people wouldn't have trusted a girl to do that kind of thing."

Liz paused. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm not good enough, you know," she snapped. "I can hold my own against those things just as well as Sora can." As if to prove her point, she brought out her sword and slashed away at she reeds she had been looking through, but nothing appeared.

"I'm not saying you can't," Jim replied quickly. "It's just that...well, it's kinda odd. Do people let women fight where you come from?"

"Well, yeah," Liz replied. "Anybody who can walk and talk at least knows they can punch and kick and scream when they're in danger." She turned and glared at a tree that looked pretty slender and easy to cut and raised her sword.

However, she was stopped short when a rusty robot with a compass on its chest burst out of the trees with a scream and hugged Jim tightly.

"A carbon-based life form here to rescue me at last!" the robot exclaimed, hugging Jim all the tighter. "Oh, I just want to hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me."

Liz smirked at the words, and wondered if Jim had ever heard of the Looney Tunes.

"All right, all right! Would you just let go of me?!" Jim demanded as he tried to push away the robot and get out of its grip.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," the robot said as it released Jim. "It's just that I've been marooned for so long. Solitude's fine, don't get me wrong, but after one hundred years, YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!"

The last bit he yelled in Liz's face, which got him a rather angered look from the girl.

Realizing what it had just done, the robot backed up quickly. "I'm sorry, am I...I am, um... My name is, uh..."

Liz and Jim exchanged looks while the robot fumbled with its words, looking like it had lost something on the ground and fiddled with his fingers as he tried to look for it.

Morph transformed into a miniature of the robot and made cuckoo noises, the compass on the chest of the miniature popped out an in like an old cuckoo clock's alarm device.

"B.E.N.!" the robot suddenly burst out. "Of course, I am B.E.N." He tapped the compass on his chest, adding in a short explanation, "Bio-Electronic Navigator."

The compass suddenly popped out, held in the air by a spring coming from B.E.N.'s insides. The robot pushed it back in.

"And you two are?" B.E.N. asked, looking at the two humans expectantly.

"Jim," Jim replied.

"Liz," Liz stated.

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy, Lizzy," B.E.N. said.

"It's Jim and Liz," Liz corrected, annoyed.

The robot started to speak again. "Anyway-"

"Look, we're in kind of a hurry, okay?" Jim interrupted, annoyed. "We've got to find a place to hide, and there are pirates chasing us."

"We're kind of in a hurry," Liz repeated for emphasis.

"Pirates!" B.E.N. exclaimed, startled. "Don't get me started on pirates. I don't like them. I remember Captain Flint. That guy had such a temper."

"Wait - you knew Captain Flint?" Jim asked.

"Who's Captain Flint?" Liz asked, frowning. "I've heard you guys say that name a few times already."

"He's only the greatest pirate to ever sail the seven galaxies!" Jim replied, excited. "That's who the treasure on this planet belongs to!"

"I think he suffered from mood swings, personally," B.E.N. continued, ignoring the conversation. "I'm not a therapist, and anyway..." He trailed off. Looking at Liz and Jim, he said, "You let me know when I'm rambling, will ya?"

"If he knows who Captain Flint is, then that means..." Liz looked at Jim, who realized where she was going with the statement.

"You should know about the treasure, then," Jim said to B.E.N., a determined expression on his face.

"Treasure?" the robot repeated, blinking.

"You know, Flint's trove? The loot of a thousand worlds?" Jim prodded.

B.E.N. looked nervous at Jim's questions. "Yes, well, it's-it's-it's a little-little-little fuzzy."

He looked at Jim, the stutter continuing through his voice. "Wait. I-I r-r-remember! Treasure! Buried in the centroid-centroid-centroid of the mechanism. And there was this big door opening and closing and opening and closing. And Captain Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could get to his treasure, so I helped him-"

The robot started to splutter, sparks flying from the back of his head. "Warning! Warning! Inconsistent data! Reboot! Reboot!"

"B.E.N.?" Jim asked. "B.E.N.!"

The robot sagged, then looked over at Liz and Jim with a blank look. "And you are?"

"Wait! What about the treasure?" Jim demanded, sounding somewhat panicked.

"I'd like to say Larry," the robot muttered to himself, making Liz sigh in annoyance.

"The centroid of the mechanism!" Jim shouted at B.E.N., hoping to jog the robot's memory. "Don't you remember? You were saying something about it a minute ago!"

"I'm sorry, but my memory's not what it used to be," the robot said with a sigh. "I've lost my mind. Ha-ha! Lost my mind." He looked at Liz. "You haven't found it, have you?" He turned around and pointed at some colored wires poking out the back of his head. "My missing piece? My primary memory circuit?"

"Look, B.E.N.," Liz said with a sigh, "we really need to find a place to hide. So we're gonna be, y'know, moving on."

B.E.N. blinked at the girl, then let out a sigh. "Oh. I guess this is good-bye, then, huh? I'm sorry that I'm so dysfunctional. So go ahead and...I do understand. I do. Bye-bye." He waved, then turned and started back into the forest.

Liz, Jim, and Morph looked at each other, gauging the others' expressions. Eventually, Jim let out a reluctant sigh, then muttered something in a defeated tone.

"Look, if you want to come along, you're going to have to stop talking," Jim muttered.

B.E.N. turned around and suddenly grabbed Jim in another bear hug. "Oh, this is fantastic! Me and my best new buddies are looking for a..." It saw the look on Jim's face. "Being quiet," he whispered, ducking his head slightly.

"And you have to stop touching me," Jim added in a strained voice.

B.E.N. released him from the hug. "Talking and touching, my two big no-nos." he laughed lightly, as though he had just made a joke, but then pretended to zipped his mouth shut.

"O.K., now that that's settled, I think we should head -" Liz started.

"Hey, before we go on our big search," B.E.N. interrupted, "can we make a quick pit stop at my place?"

The robot pulled back the reeds he had popped out of, revealing a giant "building" made of earth, sitting on a hill in a clearing into the middle of the forest.

"It's kind of urgent," he added with a nervous chuckle.

"B.E.N, I think you just solved our problem," Jim said, blinking in surprise.

"I'll go get the others," Liz volunteered. She turned around and ran back to the longboat as fast as she could. "I won't be long!"

Time Break

"Uh, pardon the mess, people," B.E.N. apologized as Liz, Jim, Sora, Kairi, Doppler, and Amelia stepped into his home, which truly looked like a miniature junkyard. "You'd think that in a hundred years you'd tend to dust things more often...but when you're batching it, you tend to, uh, let things go."

He chuckled lightly, but no one responded.

The robot caught sight of a look that passed between the captain and the astrologist as Doppler placed Amelia gently on the ground, with her upper body leaning against a sloping wall of the hut.

"Aw, isn't that so sweet?" B.E.N. grinned at Liz. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?"

Before Liz could answer, the robot had turned around and disappeared, reappearing moments later with some rather unusual-looking cups, one of which was blowing bubbles.

"Drinks for the happy couple?" the robot inquired, cocking his head slightly.

Doppler and Amelia looked a little surprised at the question, then both said at once, "No."

The two then looked at each other in surprise and blushed, quickly turning away.

"Thank you, but we don't drink," Amelia stated.

"And we're not a couple," Doppler added.

Suuure you aren't, Liz thought, rolling her eyes with a humored look on her face.

Doppler looked at the wall of the hut, spotting something that caused his immediate interest.

"Look at these markings," he said, pointing to the wall. "They look like the ones on the map. I suspect that these are the hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture."

Amelia started to try and get up. "Jim, Liz, stop anyone who tries to approach," she ordered. A moment later, she let out a groan as she held onto her side.

"Yes, yes, now listen to me," Doppler said as he gently forced her back to lean against the wall. "Stop giving orders and lie still for a milliseconds."

Amelia looked genuinely impressed by Doppler's sudden order. "Very forceful, Doctor. Go on, say something else."

"Hey!" B.E.N. suddenly shouted, putting a stop to all other conversation. "There's some of your buddies! Hey, fellas! We're over here!"

Laser gunfire was instantly blasted up into the house, causing the robot to start moving around quickly to avoid the shots before falling backward on his behind.

At the same time that B.E.N. landed, someone below called, "Stop wasting your fire!"

Liz's eyes narrowed as soon as she heard the voice. "Silver," she muttered.

Jim's eyes narrowed, as well.

"Hello up there!" the cyborg pirate called, not knowing that someone had just muttered his name. "Jimbo, Liz, if it's all right with your captain, I'd like a short word with the two of ya. No tricks, just a little palaver."

"He's probably come to ask for the map," Sora noted, frowning.

"Pestilential..." Amelia managed to get out before grabbing her side in pain again. Liz wondered if it hurt to breathe.

"But that means he thinks we still have it," Kairi noted, her eyes widening in realization.

Jim and Liz exchanged glances upon hearing Kairi's statement, then jumped out the "front door" that B.E.N. had been standing in earlier. Morph followed after the pair as they started down the hill.

As the pair of humans neared the leader of the rebel pirates, Morph flew over to his old companion happily, chirping excitedly.

"Ah, Morphy!" Silver exclaimed, his no robotic hand reaching up and touching the little shifter affectionately. "I was wondering where you'd gotten off to." He flinched as his false leg suddenly collapsed from underneath him.

Liz instantly caught sight of the cane his robotic hand had become in order to cope with the crippled machinery.

Silver let a groan. "Oh, this leg's been downright snarky ever since that game attack in the galley." He chuckled nervously.

When neither Jim nor Liz answered - or laughed along with him - the pirate sighed and said, "Look, whatever you heard back there, at least the part concerning you...I didn't mean a word of it. Had the bloodthirsty lot found out I'd gone soft, they'd have gutted us both." He jabbed with a thumb back in the direction to the group of pirates that were standing around at the base of the hill.

Liz frowned. Something about all this was horribly familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it... The girl decided to keep her face a mask and watch how the conversation might play out. Jim, too, kept his face a mask.

"Look, of we all play our cards right, we could walk out of here as rich as kings," Silver said quickly in a hushed voice. Morph's eyes widened eagerly when he heard this.

"Yeah?" Liz ventured, raising an eyebrow.

*Careful* something inside her warned. *He could be lying*

I know, Liz replied, suspecting her conscience was talking.

Silver chuckled, looking as kind as the old cook had been at the start of the voyage. "You give me that map and...an even portion of the treasure is yours."

Jim let out a short laugh. "Boy, you are really something. All that talk about greatness, the light coming off my sails... What a joke."

Silver looked a little worried at this sudden outburst. "Now, see here, Jimbo -"

"I mean you taught me one thing," Jim continued, his voice rising, "stick to it. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure you never see one dabloon of my treasure!"

"That treasure is owed me, by thunder!" Silver roared in response.

"Well, just try finding it without my map, by thunder!" Jim retorted.

The cyborg pirate glared at Jim. "Oh, you still don't know how to pick your fights, do you, boy? Now, mark me." He pointed at Jim and Liz accusingly. "Either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or I'll use the ship's cannons to blast ye all to kingdom come!" He turned around and started to limp back to the other pirates. "Morph, hop to it! Now!"

Morph looked from Silver to Jim, a little anxious about the choice in front of him.

Silver paused and looked back. "Morph!"
The little shifter let out a small, meek chirp and backed up to Jim's shoulder, looking saddened by the split friendship. Neither Jim nor Liz made a move as though they were going to go with Silver.

The pirate glared back at the trio, then turned and limped back to the other pirates in a huff.

Spacial Rip

Maria looked around in awe as they walked through the streets of Atlantis, her eyes quickly scanning the white buildings and taking in each and every one of the carvings that she could. Kaz, who had not left either Maria or Lea alone since they had entered the city, looked amused by Maria's curiosity at the city around them.

"What's with you?" Lea asked, looking over at Maria.

"I've always had a thing for history because of my parents," Maria replied, glancing in Lea's direction. "And we're walking through a very important piece of history for this world. It gets me all excited just thinking about it."

"Geschichte?" Kaz asked, frowning. "Was ist Geschichte?" [a/n: "History? What is history?"]

"It's something that happened in the past," Maria replied, looking back at the Atlantean. "Yesterday, for instance, could be considered history. Hundreds of years ago is definitely history."

"Ah." Kaz nodded in understanding.

It wasn't long before the group of surface dwellers reached a large pair of doors located at the entrance of what looked like a palace. A pair of Atlantean guards stood on either side of the door, holding spears.

When they saw the Atlantean woman leading them, the men bowed, then pushed open the doors and let a number of the explorers through (Maria, Lea, Rourke, Helga, Audrey, Mole, Sweet, Vinny, Milo) before closing the doors again, leaving some rather irate crew members outside the doors.

Past the gates, the first thought that entered Maria's mind was that this place was actually a courtyard of some sort. There wasn't a roof, letting the "sky" show through brightly, and the stone floor had a pool in the center and stepping stones circling in it, but none of them went over to the other side of the pool. Vines grew over everything, making the area look like it had been lying in disuse. The only thing that looked even somewhat used was a lean-to-like seat, where an old man was reclining.

Maria's eyes moved over the old man quickly before looking around at the courtyard again. He wore an ornate blue and purple robe, and his face and hands were practically covered in sky blue tattoos. The oddest thing, though, was that his eyes were pure white. It made her wonder if the man was blind or just had a bad case of cataracts.

The young woman stepped forward and bowed, saying something in Atlantean.

Instantly, the old man responded in a rasping voice, laboring over each word like it was a pain to speak at all.

The woman took a step back, but then seemed to stiffen up; she retaliated quickly, motioning with her arms as though she was trying to make a point.

Maria found herself wishing that she could understand what they were saying.

Near where she was standing, Milo himself took a step back, looking a little nervous because of what he was hearing. Lea had his arms crossed over his chest, simply watching the conversation with a poker face.

Rourke, however, looked like he had just about had it with the language barrier. He started to walk forward, causing Milo to look at the man in alarm.

"Uh, I don't think that's -"

"Relax, Thatch," Rourke interrupted, glancing back. "I know royalty when I see it. I've got this." He moved his full attention to the old man and started, "Your Majesty, we're only humble travelers looking to study a piece of history..."

Something in Maria blocked out the rest of the speech, but a sense of misgivings did not leave the teenager. She moved her gaze to the old man - who didn't react at all to being called "Your Majesty" - and watched him cautiously.

The old Atlantean king - as he probably was - didn't seem to be too pleased by Rourke's statements concerning studying history.

"You should not have come here," the king rasped stubbornly. "Go back to the surface world, where you belong."

"Surely you wouldn't send us on our way without proper supplies!" Rourke replied, looking like he was trying to be as persuasive as possible. "We lost a large amount of supplies on our way down."

The old Atlanean's head turned to look at the woman, and she said a couple words in a short, annoyed manner. Maria mentally translated this to mean the yellow rock that had housed the fireflies.

"At least let us replenish our supplies and send us on our way," Rourke added. "It'll only take us a couple of days."

The king didn't even take a second to consider what Rourke had said. Narrowing his eyes, he stated flatly, "One night. And then you are gone."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Milo said respectively, bowing low. He then started to back up towards the doors, never once taking his eyes off the Atlantean. The rest of the group, however, turned and started out of the courtyard with only the occasional glance back at the woman and the king.

Maria and Lea would have been the last two out, but the king called out sharply in Atlantean, causing the door to be suddenly shut in their faces.

"Hey!" Lea exclaimed. He turned and glared at the king. "What gives? We promised we'd leave tomorrow!"

"Lea!" Maria exclaimed in response, aghast at his words. Giving his arm a light whap, she added, "Be nice to your elders!"

Lea glared down at Maria. "He isn't my grandfather."

"Still!"

"Enough!" the king barked, getting Lea's and Maria's attention. Looking over at the woman, he rasped, "Go."

"But Tabtop -" the woman started.

"Go." The king glared at the woman with a great amount of force. After a moment, the young woman let out a reluctant sigh, then turned on a bare heel and disappeared from sight.

Maria blinked as she watched her go. Tabtop? Is that the king's name? No, wait - A momentary vision of subtitles on a TV appeared in Maria's head. Oh, yeah. Father. Then that means...

"There is a reason that I requested the two of you stay behind," the king stated, turning to look at Maria and Lea. His voice jolted Maria out of her thoughts. "There is a surface dweller who has been spoken repeatedly of a pair such as yourselves and his need to meet with you."

Maria and Lea exchanged glances, the former blinking in confusion.

"You may have already passed him by, for as soon as I initially dismissed him from my presence, he disappeared from the sight of my guards and blended in with my city."

"How would that be possible?" Maria asked. She quickly continued, not wanting to offend. "Not meaning to speak out against you, sir, but it's very rare to find a...surface-dweller with a...well, a complexion like your people's."

The old king inclined his head. "It seems this child has such a complexion."

Lea frowned, but a moment later a look of understanding came over his face. A smirk appeared there soon after. "I know exactly what you're talking about. Where do you think he would usually hang out?"

"It has been reported to me that one of my subjects has taken to sleeping in the marketplace. It seems likely that you will find him there." The king reached for a bright blue crystal that hung around his neck, much like the one that had been on Kaz's - and the woman's (no, princess') - neck. "However, before you go and find your friend..."

Something brushed up against her mind, and Maria felt as though time had suddenly stopped. All of her muscles stiffened, and Maria saw, out of the corner of her eye, that the same had happened with Lea.

Something directed Maria to hold out her right hand, and she did so without question, but something buzzed at the back of her mind with curiosity and annoyance.

The buzzing stopped short, however, when a bright flash encompassed Maria's right hand, instantly, her muscle control returned to her, and Maria shielded her eyes with her left hand while her legs suddenly gave out from under her. The flash faded as quickly as it had come, and Maria found that her right hand was gripping something tightly. Curious, she looked over at it, only for her eyes to widen a moment later.

Cautiously, Maria got to her feet, looking over the red staff with something akin to awe. She touched the head of the phoenix at the top with a couple fingers on her left hand just to make sure that it was actually real. She felt unnerved by what had happened, however, and it felt as though her knees were knocking together.

"OK, how did you do that?" Lea demanded, waving his Keyblade at the king.

The Atlantean did not change his expression. "There are many things that you have yet to learn, Keyblade wielder. However, they are not my secrets to tell. Now, go. You have a friend to find."

Maria and Lea looked at each other for a moment, then started out of the courtyard as the doors opened behind them. Neither one of them once looked away from the Atlantean king.

Well, that was certainly creepy with Maria - and hey, Liz found a hermit!

Next chapter, we're going back to Maria's perspective as she and Lea look for the kid that the king mentioned. I suppose you'll be able to guess who it is that's stuck there.

Until next week!