Hey! Mutiny time! And a long chapter!
Gahri sat miserably in Fung's mom's basement. He had tried his best to speak to Shifu but they were off on a mission that would take them a month. One of his friends sat next to him.
"He'll come back, I know he will," he assured. Gahri flicked a coin absently in his misery, but had to agree. 'Sometimes' Fung is always able to get himself out of any situation, that's why he is a bandit leader.
Stay safe out there, Fungy, he thought, sniffling, laying his head on the table.
Fung had dreams that night while on his hammock, dreams of the past, including being a reluctant minion of a giant demon dragon, Ke-Pa or whatever the guy's name was, sometimes tossing in his bed until a noise woke him, and he blinked sleep from his eyes.
"Morph, come on, it's too early for this," he heard Jim say, and Fung knew he was still on the Legacy, far away from his gang at home.
The croc watched as Jim's boot kicked Jim from behind, and raised his brow. What had that little shapeshifter been up too?
"Ow! Hey, Morph!" Jim yelled, and his boot blew a raspberry before turning back to normal, and Fung smirked a bit, getting out of his hammock.
"That little guy's getting the better of ya again?" He snickered, Jim glaring back playfully and nodding. "Took my boot, let's get him!" He said, and the two raced after the pink blob who still had Jim's boot.
They chased him to the closed lid of the galley, Jim catching his boot, but Morph wasn't done as he changed into a blowfish, squirting the two. Fung grunted, rubbing the water out of his eyes.
"That's it, you little squid!" Jim said playfully, trying to hit Morph with his boot while Fung tried with his tail. Morph repeated Jim's lines while turning into miniature versions of his head through the grate, until he didn't show again.
The two went into the galley, Fung casting his eyes about for the mischievous blob, and then their eyes landed on the nearly empty purp barrel. They looked inside, and both grinned when one of the purps had eyes, giving a small yelp when he tried hiding.
"Nice try!" Fung laughed, as he and Jim jumped in and tackled him.
"Busted!" Jim shouted, catching Morph with his hands, tickling him, until voices came from above, and the friends froze, listening.
"We're sick of all this waiting!
"There's only four left!"
"We are wanting to move!"
It was the crew. Fung was wondering what was going on, until he saw a familiar metal hand.
"We don't move 'till we got the treasure in hand!"
The friends stared at one another. What was Silver doing? And why was he acting mean and greedy?
Fung felt nervous when he saw Scroop there with Silver. "I sssay we kill 'em all now!" He hissed, and Silver grabbed his throat.
"I'd say what's I'd say! Disobey me orders like that stunt ya pulled with Mr. Arrow, or so help me, ye'd be joinin' him!" He roared, throwing Scroop against the barrel, Fung grunting softly as his head hit the side of the barrel, cold realization ripping through him. So it really wasn't his fault, Silver was right! It was that Spider Psycho's fault! He murdered Arrow!
Scroop pulled himself up, glowering. "Sssstrong talk, but I know otherwissse," he hissed menacingly, and Fung had to stifle a yelp of fright as Scroop's claw went into the purp barrel, almost hitting his old scar. He trembled silently, sweat coming down, the claw mere inches away from poking his chest until Jim held up a purp that he took in his talons.
I definitely don't want him cutting me again! Fung thought with rising nerves, breathing silently with relief as the claw went back up.
"Yeh got something ter say, Scroop?" Silver asked, as Scroop grinned knowingly.
"It'sss that boy and reptile...me thinks you have a sssoft ssspot fer them," he hissed, poking a hole into the purp in front of Silver's face, and he looked nervous now, as the crew muttered in agreement.
"Now, mark me the lot of yeh! I only care about one thing and one thing only: Flint's Trove! Yeh think I'd risk it all fer the sake of some nose wiping little whelk, and a failure of a croc bandit who never accomplished anything of value in his life?" Snarled Silver.
Those harsh words of betrayal sliced through Fung like a knife; Silver, the one person the croc thought he could look up too almost like a second and better dad, was squashed like a dumpling.
"Oh, what wasss that now? 'You got the makings of greatness in yeh!' And 'it wasn't your fault Arrow died!'" Taunted Scroop, quoting Silver's words. The cyborg's eyes flashed.
"Shut yer yap! I cozied up to those two to keep them off our scent! I ain't gone soft!" He snarled, right as Onus shouted, "Planet Ho!" The pirates all looked excited, leaving the galley, and two heartbroken friends behind.
Fung was hiding his face in his hands. How could he have been so stupid to trust Silver? He should've known it was all a lie! Silver never believed in him or Jim!
Jim pulled one of his hands away gently, guiding him out of the Purp barrel. "C'mon, Fung, we gotta warn Amelia and Delbert," he said in an urgent voice. Fung nodded, still feeling hurt from the betrayal but followed.
Just as they were about to leave, Silver cornered them from the entrance. "Jimbo, Fungy. Playing games, are we?" He asked, walking slowly down towards them threateningly. Fung bared his teeth, he and Jim backing into the table nearby.
"Yeah, we're playing games!" Jim snapped, while Fung felt around for any weapon, until his hands grabbed a knife.
Silver nodded. "I see, was never good at games, Always hated to loose." Fung thought he heard a clicking noise behind Silver, and knew now was the time to strike.
"Yeah, guy? Me too!" Fung snarled, taking Jim's hand, and using the knife to slice Silver's prosthetic leg. Silver howled behind them as they kept running for it, to Amelia's cabin, hearing Silver whistling the start of the mutiny.
"Change in plans, lads! We move now!"
Amelia was quite startled as Jim and Fung burst in, both out of breath from their escape.
"What in the universe has gotten into you two?" She demanded.
"P-pirates! Mutiny! We need to scram!" Fung gasped breathlessly. Jim nodded. This news startled Delbert enough to have him drop his books.
"What?!" He screamed, while Amelia glared hard before going to the closet, pulling out laser guns.
"Pirates on my ship? I'll see they all hang!" She tossed Delbert a gun. "Doctor, familiar with these?"
Delbert shrugged. "Well, I've seen, well I've read-." He accidentally shot the gun, destroying a lamp. He blushed sheepishly. "Uh, nope no I have not."
She rolled her eyes, and handed the map to Jim. "Mr. Hawkins and Fung, defend this with your lives!" Morph then snatched up the map in his mouth. "Hey! Give it here!" Fung shouted, pulling it out of the shapeshifter's mouth and handing it back to Jim.
Amelia blasted a hole in the floor, guiding everybody down into it, just as the pirates busted the door down. Silver growled at the hole.
"Stop them!" He yelled, tossing one of the crew down.
Fung ran for his very life down the hallway with the others into the boat room, occasionally shooting blasts at the pirates, even hitting one in the face. But before he had a chance to get into the longboats, sharp familiar claws grabbed him roughy, scaring the croc.
"You won't get away, reptile!" Hissed Scroop's voice in his ear. Fung panicked, struggling to get loose. "Jim—!" He screamed, getting cut off as Scroop covered his mouth. He grunted, squirming.
"Ssstay ssstill!" He growled, pulling Fung into the shadows.
"Let me go!" Fung yelled in a muffled voice, wincing as the claws dug into his hands.
Jim was going after Morph who stole the map again, but to his horror he spotted Scroop trying to drag his friend away. Spotting a piece of metal Jim picked it up, taking careful aim, and tossing it at Scroop's head, making him growl with surprise from the distraction. But it was enough for Fung to escape, and Jim continued to go after Morph after that.
He bit Scroop's arm, making the demon bug shriek with pain, and Fung also kicked him, freeing himself.
"Not today, Spider Psycho!" Fung taunted, running to the longboat. The door was just opening, and Delbert helped Fung in.
"You okay?" Delbert asked, and Fung nodded. "Yeah, the spider tried to use me as a hostage, but got away!" He said, nodding.
But then to their horror the doors began to close, all Silver's doing.
"Agh, blast it!" Amelia shouted in frustration, glancing around for a solution. But then Fung spotted the cables, and got an idea.
"Amelia, you and Delbert can shoot the cables to get us out of here!" He shouted to her, making Amelia a little surprised at Fung suddenly coming up with an idea, but nodded, telling Delbert when to shoot.
Jim finally returned with the map, and Fung saw Silver raising his gun at his friend.
Don't shoot him, please! Screamed Fung silently. Silver's hand trembled, then fell down, much to the Croc's relief while getting Jim into the boat.
"Now!" Amelia shouted, she and Delbert shot the cables, the boat dropping from them at an alarming speed, hitting the edge of the doors before managing to slip out. Amelia started the engine up, flying the boat down towards the planet.
An explosion sounded above them. "Captain! Laser ball at 12:00!" Screamed Delbert. Fung looked up, eyes widening with terror. They tried swerving out of the way but too late as the laser struck them. Fung's head hit the sides of the boat, getting dizzy, as the boat fell towards the earth.
They crashed, And Fung felt himself sliding into unconsciousness right there.
Ugh, my head...darn it, Fung thought groggily, struggling to open his eyes, finding themselves on the ground at last.
Jim looked him over worriedly, while he struggled to stand.
"J-just a headache, but I should be okay," he muttered, rubbing his head.
Delbert and Jim seemed fine, but Amelia was a different story, for she appeared to have been hurt badly in the crash. Delbert came to help her, but she did her best not to seem weak.
"Oh, don't fuss. Slight bruising, that's all. A cup of tea and I'll be right as rain. Mr. Hawkins?" She asked, looking at Delbert. Fung raised his brow. Noting her mistake, she turned back to Jim.
"The map if you please?"
Jim pulled it out, sighing in relief, but to their surprise it turned into...Morph, who laughed his head off.
Fung balled his fists. "Morph!" He yelled furiously.
"Where's the map?!" Jim yelled, and Morph showed the map still hiding in a pile of rope. Fung's mouth dropped. That was bad news!
"Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!" Jim shouted, trying to catch Morph. Amelia growled. "Stifle that blob and get low, we got company."
But the longboat wasn't quite so defensible, so Amelia told Jim and Fung to scout on ahead for shelter, then collapsed in pain.
"Steady, steady," Delbert said gently. "Let's have a look at that."
Fung and Jim both stepped foot into the dense jungle of Treasure Planet together, holding their guns up.
Fung gazed around warily, sometimes sniffing the air for rivals, not liking this jungle one bit. At one point in anger he kicked a rock, pretending it to be Silver's shin. Jim noted his action.
"It's okay to be angry at him, Fung, and we will get out of here," Jim assured when Fung let out a small sniffle.
"Y-yeah, I just thought that-that I can see him as a second daddy," he said sadly. Jim was about to reply when there was rustling in the bushes.
"Keep your gun loaded," he ordered, as Fung nodded, cocking his gun and loading it.
Fung was unprepared for this as a rusty old robot jumped out of the bushes, tackling Jim while he leapt out of the way.
"Oh, this is just fantastic! Two carbon-based life forms have come to rescue me at last! I just wanna hug ya and squeeze ya, hold ya close to me!" He shouted in a shrill annoying voice making Fung wince. Jim shoved him off, but the robot clung onto Fung next.
"Gah! Get off me you walking pile of junk!" He snapped, pushing him away. The robot looked rather sheepish. "Sorry, sorry." He then leaned on Jim. "I've been marooned for so long. Don't get me wrong, solitude's fun for heaven's sake, but after 11 years, YA GO A LITTLE NUTS!" He screamed, eyes going cross eyed before laughing.
Fung just shook his head, thinking at how much this robot had lost it.
"Sorry. My name is...my name is...ugh..." the robot said, holding his head, trying to remember his own name.
Fung chuckled softly when Morph turned into the robot with a cuckoo bird coming out of his head, and he closed his hand on the lid, turning Morph back.
"B.E.N! Of course! I'm B.E.N! The Bio Electronic Navigator!" He introduced, as a piece of his front fell off.
"Oops! And you two are?"
"Jim."
"Name's Fung."
B.E.N shook their hands enthusiastically. "Ah! What a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy and Fungster!" Fung growled a little at that nickname.
"Just call me Fung, guy."
"I prefer Jim."
"Anyways..." B.E.N said, leaning on Jim.
"Look, we're kind of in a hurry, okay? We've got to find a place to hide, pirates are chasing us—."
B.E.N looked scared. "Oh, pirates! Don't you get me started on pirates! I don't like them! I remember Captain Flint! This guy had such a temper..."
Fung and Jim halted in their tracks at B.E.N's words. "Whoa, guy, you knew Captain Flint?!" The croc gaped, hardly believing that. B.E.N leaned on a tree. "I think he suffered from mood swings, trust me I'm not a therapist. But anyway, ya let me know when I'm rambling!"
Jim now was getting excited. "So that means you got to know about the treasure?" He asked as Fung nodded, hoping the bot would remember.
"Treasure?"
"Yeah, guy, Flint's trove, the loot of a thousand worlds?" Fung persisted, while Morph turned into a treasure chest.
B.E.N struggled for a moment. "Well, uh, It's all a little-little-little fuzzy. Wait! I…I r-r-r-remember. I do. I- Treasure! Lots of treasure! Buried in the centroid – centroid – centroid of the mechanism!"
Fung and Jim both stared, a little put off by this, wondering if the bot was alright.
"And there was this big door opening and closing and opening and closing! And Captain Flint wanted to make sure nobody could ever get to his treasure so I helped him—!" B.E.N then grimaced, sparks coming from behind his head and screamed.
"Aah! Data inaccessible! Reboot! Reboot!" He shrieked, his voice getting higher pitched.
"B.E.N? B.E.N!" Jim yelled. To compromise, Fung slapped B.E.N, snapping him out of it.
"And you two are?" He repeated, completely forgetting their introduction, making Fung groan and roll his eyes.
"No, wait! What about the treasure?" Jim asked.
"I wanna say Larry and Irwin," B.E.N said.
"You said it was buried in the centroid of the mechanism or something!" Fung shouted, losing his patience.
"I'm sorry, my memory isn't what it used to be. I lost my mind! Ha ha! Lost my mind!" B.E.N admitted, much to the despair of the friends. A robot with no memory? Just great! Fung thought, facepalming himself while B.E.N moved his hands along Jim's pockets.
"You haven't found it, have you? My missing piece? My primary memory circuit?" He asked.
"Look, B.E.N, we really need to find a place to hide, so we're gonna be moving on," Jim said to the robot, pushing Fung to get him moving, which he was more than happy to do.
B.E.N suddenly looked upset. "Oh! Oh...so I guess...this is goodbye? I'm sorry I'm so dysfunctional." He slumped to the floor miserably.
"Just go ahead, I understand, I do. Goodbye..."
Fung groaned a little, shaking his head at the miserable scrap of metal before him. He looked so pitiful.
Jim also sighed, giving into the robot's whims. "Alright, fine, but you have to stop talking!" He said, and in two seconds, the bot was happy again.
"Huzzah! Hahahaha! Oh this is fantastic!" He jumped into Jim's arms again. "Me and my best buddies out looking for...uh..." he noticed Fung's death glare and gulped. "Being quiet," he whispered, but kept touching Jim.
"And you have to stop touching us!" Jim snapped, and the bot let go.
"Touching and talking! Those are my two big no-nos!" He snickered.
Jim and Fung began to move on forward. "Okay, I think we should—." Jim started before B.E.N interrupted.
"Listen, before we go off on our 'big search', could we perhaps make a quick pit stop at my place? Kinda urgent," he said, pulling back bushes to reveal an oddly shaped building before them.
Jim and Fung both glanced at one another, grinning. "Robot guy, I think you just solved our problem," Fung said, slapping the bot on the shoulder.
"Aww, shucks. Uhhh, what did I do?"
Longest chapter in this short story! Next time!