Angel: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, my best friend who recently recovered from COVID had me worried sick because she didn't answer the phone and I thought something happened to her. But she called me this morning and she's okay, and I'm super relieved. But she will get a lecture when I see this weekend lol. Anyway, because the story is almost over, I figured to just upload the last two chapters in the same day.
Once they recollected themselves from the explosion, they ran over to the portal, jumping out of it. Jim turned to Silver.
"Silver, you gave up?"
"Just a lifelong obsession, Jim. I'll get over it. And, uh...maybe it's enough to let bygones be bygones, lass?" He asked the girl, who just stared at him. She wasn't sure now if she could really forgive him, but he did save her life, so that did count for something...
Morph rubbed at Silver's face. "Aloha, Jimmy and Ari!" Ben called out and they looked up as Ben had arrived with the Legacy. "Hurry, people!" He pointed to his compass, which was now a clock. "We got exactly two minutes and 34 seconds till planet's destruction!"
They looked at each other in a panic.
Amelia was still clutching her side as she was sitting behind Delbert, who was steering the ship. Because of her injury still, she couldn't drive it herself, and no way was she trusting Ben to do it, so Delbert was her last option. "You're doing fine, Doctor," She assured him. "Now ease her over gently—gently!"
The boat rammed into the side of the cliff, making the three stagger back a bit. The tied-up looked scared as they screamed.
"We were better off on exploding planet!"
Jim and Ari leaped over the ship, followed by Silver as they pulled him in. Amelia looked up at Ben. "Take us out of here, metal man!"
"Aye, Captain!" He saluted to her, pressing some buttons on the panel. He then pulled down some levers and they took off.
Silver tipped his hat nervously to Amelia, since he could imagine a part of her was still sour over the earlier uprising commanded by him. "Captain, you dropped from the heavens in the nick of-"
"Save your claptrap for the judge, Silver!" She snapped at him and he chuckled anxiously from her response. Jim and Ari stared at him, and when he glanced at the girl, she just closed her eyes and shook her head. She knew that whatever she said, it wouldn't make up for the fact to the Captain that because of the uprising, Amelia got injured...
One the main sails was suddenly ripped off by debris, all of them looking up in a panic. The mast fell on one of the ship's jets, which sputtered and then died. They started moving slower than before.
Ben checked the damage from the controls. "Mizzen sail demobilized, Captain! Thrusters are only 30% of capacity."
"30%?" Delbert asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "That means we're...we'll never clear the planet's explosion in time."
Jim and Ari looked over the edge behind the ship to see the portal, but the map was still back there. Ari looked down at the broken thruster and her eyes darted around in thought. She suddenly gasped in realization.
"Dad was always working on ship engines, doing all kinds of repairs. And he taught them to me. I can fix the thruster." She whipped around to Jim with wide eyes. "I can fix the thruster!"
He looked down to the jet and saw that it was still operable. "We gotta turn around," Jim jumped down to the main deck. Ari followed suit, Amelia walking over to the edge.
"What?" She leaned over to look at them.
"There's a portal back there. It can get us out of here!" Jim called out in explanation.
"And I can boost power to the engines so we can move faster!" Ari added in, Silver blinking in realization. He used his cyborg eye to scan closer to the portal, seeing the explosions going on from the inside of the planet.
"Pardon me, Jim, Ari, but didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?!" Delbert shouted at them.
"Yes," Jim grunted as he pulled out a large chunk of metal. Ari meanwhile slid over to the edge where the thrusters were. She grabbed the edge and jumped off, but still held onto the edge. She looked over at the slow power. "But I'm gonna change that. And Ari's gonna give us more power too. I'm gonna open a different door, and she's gonna figure out how to get us back at 100%!" Silver's eye zoomed in on the map.
"Captain, really, I-I just don't see how this is possible-"
"Listen to the kids!" Silver interrupted Delbert, walking over to the deck.
"One minute, 29 seconds till planet's destruction!" Ben called out and Ari looked at the four thrusters, noticing the flames.
"Let's see, the valves inside still work...I know this one!" She swung herself back onto the ship, racing over to the engine room.
"What do you need, Jim?" Silver kneeled to Jim.
"Just some way to attach this," He gestured to the jet and metal, holding some rope and trying to do it that way.
"Alright. Stand back. Stand back, now," Silver's robot arm turned into a torch and he melted the two metals together. "There you go." They lifted up the makeshift solar surfer.
"There you go!" Morph chimed in, Jim jumping onto the board.
"Okay. Now, no matter what happens, keep the ship heading straight for that portal. Ari will get the ship running," Jim informed Silver, who gave a worried look.
"58 seconds!"
Silver frowned in concern, but Jim slammed onto the pedal, and the board took off.
Ari climbed down into the engine room, seeing the levers and valves. She glanced around and saw the power source. She crawled behind it, removing a valve and making it upside down. She then glanced around and found a toolbox. She dragged it over with her foot and started using a wrench on it.
Silver watched him leave and turned to Delbert. "Well, you heard him! Get this blasted heap turned 'round! That girl's your First Mate, you know," Amelia's ears perked up, as that reminded her to have faith in Ari, even if the task given to her seemed impossible.
"Doctor, head us back to the portal."
"Aye, Captain," He spun the wheel around.
A few stray bolts were scattered around the floor from Ari's repairs and she stood up, going over to the levers. She pulled it and nothing happened. "Huh? No, no, no!" She retried the lever several times and still nothing.
Jim flew through debris and explosions. The jet sputtered and then died. He slammed his foot on the pedal to restart it. He made it spin and it went over chunks of metal. He then swerved the board, focused up ahead.
He swerved around more walls, scraping the board against once.
Ari tried the lever one more time and she perked up as she saw power being restored. "Yes!" She cheered, running out of the engine room. The ship started to go faster, Amelia having to brace herself. She looked up in awe.
"She did it..."
"100% for thrusters!" Ben reported happily.
"By God...Ari actually pulled it off," Delbert blinked in shock.
"Go to the right! The right!" Amelia screamed at him.
"I know, I know!" He yelled back. "Will you just let me drive?!" He maneuvered around the debris.
"Twenty five seconds!" Ben reported to them.
Jim's engine died once more and he slammed the pedal, but it wouldn't restart. His face fell as he looked back at it. "No! No!" He slammed the pedal numerous times as he started to fall towards the lava.
Both Silver and Ari watched him disappear. "Come on, lad," He groaned a bit.
"You know you can get out of this, Jim. Just think!" Ari pleaded to herself.
Jim was still trying to restart it.
"Seventeen seconds!"
Morph whimpered and covered his eyes.
Jim looked at the wall and slid to the right. He turned his board around so that the jet was facing the wall. He then scraped it against the wall, sliding down further towards the lava. The jet heated up and became operational again, allowing him to fly back up. The boat flew over him and Jim raced over to get to the map.
"Seven!" Delbert flinched at the inferno from the portal, but still kept flying the ship. "Six, five, four, three, two," Jim tilted the board and leaned over, reaching out his hand. He pressed the Montressor spaceport.
All was silent until the ship emerged out of the portal, a big explosion occurring behind them. Ari looked up and laughed in relief. Jim flew past, hollering.
"Wow! Yeah!"
"You done it, Jimmy and Ari!" Silver cheered for them.
"Yeah!" Jim flew over to him and Ari.
"You done it, boy!" Silver and Jim shared a high-five and Morph turned into fireworks. "Didn't I say they had greatness in 'em?"
The crew down below cheered for their survival, despite the fact that they would be turned over to the authorities after this. Delbert and Amelia shared a big hug. They turned to each other wide-eyed, smiling.
Jim slid off the edge of the ship, Ari running over to him. Morph licked at his cheeks. "Jim, you did it!" She jumped forward and hugged him.
"I couldn't have done it without my First Mate Ari," He told her and she looked up in shock before smiling. The two leaned in for a kiss when Delbert and Amelia joined them. They immediately pulled away in embarrassment.
"Unorthodox, but ludicrously effective," Amelia grinned at the two. "And we can't forget the quick thinking skills of our First Mate. I'd be proud to recommend the both of you to the interstellar academy. They could use good people like you. And I must ask, Arianna, how did you get our thrusters back to normal?"
"Oh, that was an easy fix. I just recycled power from the valves by reversing them. My dad always did it to ships that had power problems on a weekly basis," She revealed with a smile.
"Brilliant! I never would've thought of it."
Arianna leapt forward and hugged Amelia. She flinched but then smiled at the embrace, hugging the girl back.
"Just wait until your mother hears about this!" Delbert smiled at Jim and then he dropped it. "Of course, we may downplay the life-threatening parts."
Jim chuckled at him and Ari grinned knowingly, letting go of Amelia. "You sure she won't be able to tell you're lying, Delbert?"
"W-Well...y-you see..." He stammered nervously since he wasn't a good liar. "Sarah will understand...eventually..."
"Jimmy, Ari, that was unforgettable!" Ben cheered at them. "I know you don't like touching, but...get ready for a hug, you guys, cause I gotta hug ya!" He laughed as he hugged them tightly. Jim picked the both of them up, spinning them around.
"Okay, okay!" Ari called out in glee and he put them down.
"Hey, you hugged me back," Ben pointed out happily. "Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry..." He started sobbing anyway and Jim patted his back.
"It's okay, Ben," The girl smiled in amusement, shaking her head. "We're alive, and you ended up getting your memory back, remember?"
Jim glanced to the side, surprised to see Silver no longer standing at the staircase. "Ari," He spoke up, jerking his head forward. She looked up and saw the same thing he noticed. The two glanced at each other curiously, wondering where he could've gone...
"Does anyone have a tissue?"
Ari bit her lip as she debated something in her head. Silver did cause all this trouble, but...she could tell that he wanted forgiveness for his actions. There were some things she couldn't forgive him for just yet, but...she didn't see him as an enemy anymore, neither as a friend however.
"Amelia," She spoke up, getting her attention. "I'd like to request...a pardon for Silver." Everyone turned to her in shock that she was the one asking for it. Mostly because she was the one most biased against Silver. "I mean...yes, he wanted the treasure, but...he gave that up to save our lives, and he helped us escape. If it wasn't for him, Jim wouldn't have gotten to the map in time. And...I trust that he'll make up for what he's done."
"Hmm...I see..." Amelia rubbed her chin, seeing Jim. She hadn't seen much of both of them during the whole trip, but she could tell by his look that Silver...meant something to him. In the same way that Arianna had grown on her. "Very well. Your request is granted."
The girl grinned and Jim smiled at her. The two then left to go see him.