"Fine work, Jimbo. Fine work, indeed." Silver sneered.
Jim jumped up in shock. He looked around the hideout.... The pirates started to circle around us. Bloody pirates... Jim looked over and saw Doppler and Amelia, both bound and gagged, being held by several of the pirates. I felt angry. No one touched Amelia and got away with it. ((except doppler, cuz i had a feeling there was something there between them, if ya know what I mean! I'd talk to her about that someday.)) The pirates circled closer around us, and I went into a fighting stance.
"Thanks for showin' us the way in, boy!" cackled one of the pirates, and I wanted to hit him.
But I didn't. They had Amelia. She was my adopted mother, for cripes sake... I couldn't let anything happen to her. Jim looked around at the pirates, then suddenly tried to run for it, grabbing my hand, intending to take me along. The pirates caught us easily, and held us as we struggled. Morph bit down on Meltdown's tail. Meltdown shouted and slammed Morph into the ground. I looked to Morph apologetically, mentally thanking him for being so brave. Morph squealed in pain and flew into Jim's pocket. B.E.N. started to come into the hideout, but Birdbrain Mary caught him and held a dagger to his throat.
"What's this sorry stick o' metal, then?!" Birdbrain Mary asked.
"Not the face!!" The robot exclaimed.
Silver, the caniving little --....-- came up to Jim and took the map out of his hand.
"Yer just like me, Jimbo." Silver looked at the map and grinned. I glared disgustedly at him. "Yeh hates t' lose."
Jim continued to struggle as Silver grinned at him. Silver then looked at the map again and tried to twist it open. When he fails, he rolled his eyes and his cybernetic hand turned into a scanning device that probed the map. This too failed, ha ha, and Silver finally turned his hand into a vice. What would happen if he broke it? I had no idea how fragile it was... I'd never messed with it.
"What the devil's the--" Silver began, straining to open the map. He attempted to force the map open, but this also produced no results. Silver glanced at Jim, who was smiling and shaking his head.
"Open it." Silver ordered. He thrusted the map into Jim's hands. The pirates let him go, but Jim simply glared up at
Silver.
I saw Jim's glare slowly transform into a sneer, something I had only once seen before, and didn't care to see again. Silver rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and his cybernetic hand flipped into a flintlock. He pointed it at me, and I felt my heart rise in my throat. I didn't know what to wish for... be selfish and wish for my life, or be the hero and wish that Jim wouldn't hand over the map.
"I'd get busy." Silver ordered.
Jim shot a desperate look at me, then glared up at Silver again, quickly pressing several buttons on the map and twisting it. He did it fast enough so that the pirates wouldn't catch what he'd done. Whoohoo! Go Jim! Score! The map clicked several times, whirred, then opened. Cool-looking green pixels flew out of the map. Bloody hell! There was simply one beam of green light, blinking somewhat, and leading out onto the planet. The pirates all gazed up in wonder. It reminded me of a movie saw when i was little called A Bug's Life... 'Don't look at the light'! 'I can't help it! It's so beautiful!' They were all staring at it as if it were the secret to life, while I was looking for an escape route.
"Oh, th' powers that be, would yeh look!" Silver shook off his daze, then he gestured towards Jim and I. "Tie 'im up! An' leave 'im with th' others 'til we-- what--"
The green light was suddenly sucked back into the map. Silver looked around at Jim, who was still glaring at him.
"You want the map? You're takin' us, too." He motions towards me.
Silver looked at Jim for a moment, sizing him up. I wanted to seriously -hurt- that stupid old cyborg. He shook his head, laughing at bit, then, still looking at Jim, his decision made.
"We'll take 'em all." Silver said.
They lead us to a longboat, in which fits the entire crew. -Everyone-. From fat old Meltdown to skinny little Birdbrain Mary. The longboat flew silently as we followed the beam of green light from the map, which Jim had called back out. Doppler and Amelia watched from the back of the skiff, concerned. Jim looked angry, B.E.N. looked worried, and the pirates, including Silver, all looked eager. I was probably the only one not really feeling anything ... I actually only felt like throwing up, to be honest...
I guess an uncertain future does that to you... makes you numb and calm, but makes you sick. Cause I had no emotions racing through my head... My heart was blissfully blank. I knew that there was a sharp pain square between my shoulders, but I was sure that was where one of the pirates held me at gunpoint. The longboat continued to fly for a while, leaving me to ponder, but then it stopped. Silver pulled Jim out of the longboat, the robot and I following. All of the pirates, except for Meltdown, also got off after us. The group consisted of Birdbrain Mary, Turnbuckle, Pigors, Oxy, and Moron, along with Silver, Jim, the robot, Morph, and I... We began to followed the green light on foot.
"Jim?" I looked up at him, suddenly realizing just how much danger this situation put us in. I was terrified, "I'm scared." I whispered.
"It's okay, Sasha. . . it's okay." he said firmly, and I could tell he was only putting on his brave face, "I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you or die trying."
"Jimmy, I-I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see my life. . . PASS in front of my EYES!" the eccentric robot exclaimed. "At least, I think it's my life! WAS I EVER DANCING WITH AN ANDROID NAMED 'LUPE'?!!
"B.E.N., shh!!" Jim ordered. Jim quieted B.E.N., the robot, down, then looked back to the pirates. "This isn't over yet." he whispered.
Silver looked up at the green, pretty, glowy light. It'd begun to pulse regularly by that time, causing Silver the sleeze to grin. Jerk. JERK!.
"We're gettin' close, lads!" Silver exclaimed.
Jim sighed and turned away, and I knew he was disappointed. I willed Silver just to back out of all this and apologize to Jim for hurting him, but instead Silver just grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him along. I stared up the sky. Somewhere out there was a destiny waiting for me. I didn't want to miss that... I didn't want to screw up. I know how broken hearted I was when I found my dad and he let me down... I couldn't imagine how Jim could feel.
"I smell treasure awaitin'!!" Silver smirked.
He laughed as the pirates cheered. I reached over and squeeze Jim's hand, realizing we were suddenly on a cliff. The glowy thingy that came from the map pulsed gently but suddenly stopped. The pirates all looked around, confused. I felt my heart start to beat faster again. No treasure. That would make the pirates angry. They held my, Amelia, Doppler's, and most importantly Jim's, lives in their hands. I didn't want to make them mad.
"Where is it?!" Oxy asked impatiently.
"I see nothing! One great beeg steenking hunk of nothing!" Onus said angrily.
The map suddenly snapped shut with a loud, metalic clack.
"What's goin' on, Jimbo?" Silver demanded. None of the pirates seemed to happy at this point. Jim worked at the map desperately, knowing our lives depended on it.
"I dunno! I. . . I. . . I can't get it open!" he admitted, frantic. "Sasha, can you think of anything?"
I snatched it from him and started to finger it nervously. Surely there was some way to open it again!
"We shoulda' neva' followed these two!" Birdbrain Mary spat, jumping up and knocking me down. I caught myself with my hands.
"Oof! What the....hey, that was rude, you freak!" I said, rubbing my arm.
"I suggest yeh get that gizmo goin' again, and fast!" Silver scowled.
"Let's rip her gizzard right out--" began Turnbuckle, but I covered my ears, not wishing to hear morbid, gross details.
"Throw 'er over cleeff!!!" Onus suggested a little to eagerly.
" Right now!" Turnbuckle backed him up.
The pirates continued to make angry noises of indignation. Meanwhile, I noticed and indentation in the ground. I wiped away some moss, to see if there were any instructions with it. I squinted at it and saw.. a semi-sphere dipped into the ground! The markings in it matched those on the map! Who-hoo! YE---AH! I looked at the map, then shoved it into the indentation.
Suddenly the whole planet shook a bit, and pretty green lights started leading from all over it up the cliff face and into the spot where I just put the map. Jim grabbed my arm and yanked me up and away from the map. The pirates all were silence for a minute (first time I'd ever heard that they didn't have anything rude to say) as the map began to rise from it's spot high into the air. A giant beam of green light rose with it. I watched, entranced and enthralled at the awe-inspiring sight. Suddenly it split into a triangle, revealing a funky-looking portion of space that couldn't be anywhere near where we were at. A green sphere, much smaller, rose to about waist-level. Silver looked at the portal in wonder. Jim glanced over at me, then gently shook my shoulders, making me snap out of my trance.
"Oh, have mercy!" Silver said in shock.
Jim stared at the blue space, different from the local green.
"The Lagoon Nebula?" he stared at it.
"But that's. . . half way 'cross the galaxy!" Silver breathed.
Jim looked at the triangular portal, then at the green sphere full of tiny symbols. He touched one, and the portal closed and opened again, revealing a new location. Jim changed the portal several times I didn't see what kind of kicks he got out of it. Oh well, never question boys. Their minds function differently.... or not at all... oh, that was mean, bad Sasha...
"A big door. . . opening and closing!" Jim said, as if something suddenly dawned on him. Uh, Jim? Reality check. Jim stopped pressing symbols and looked up at the green sphere. Let's see. . . Calyan Abyss. . . Montressor Spaceport!" he grinned and pressed a small crescent-moon-shaped symbol. The portal closed and opened again, revealing Crescentia. Jim's grin widened. He started pressing more symbols.
"So that's how Flint did it! He used this. . . portal to. . . roam the universe, stealing treasure!"
Silver pushed Jim aside and began pressing symbols much more rapidly than Jim had been doing. Goof.
"But where'd he stash it all?!!" Silver clenched his teeth and uttered a word I cannot repeat with each new location that appeared and was a failure. "Where's. . . that. . . blasted. . . TREASURE!"
B.E.N.'s face suddenly lit up. "Treasure. . . treasure! It's. . . buried in the--"
"--buried in the centroid of the mechanism! What if. . . the whole planet IS the mechanism! And the treasure... is buried in the center of this planet!"
Then it hit me all at once.
((Flashback))
I was pretty little, just after Dad left, when Mom hadn't lost her mind. I was in a purple lacy nightdress, standing barefoot in the cold tile kitchen. I was looking out the window. The stars and moon were out. I remember standing on a chair to open the window as I stared at the constalations dreamilly.
"Sasha? Why are you up?" I heard my mother's gentle voice behind me.
I turned around so fast I fell off the chair. The tile really hurt, and I'd hit my head. I started to cry and Mom pulled me into her lap, running herslim fingers through my long hair. I calmed down and stared out the window again. Mom looked worriedly down at me.
"What's wrong, Sasha?"
"Hm?" I looked up to her, "...Oh. I just had a scary dream, that's all."
"What about?"
"A man who looted a ship like ours! He had lots of eyes and he looked mean. I think he was... a... a..." I lowered my voice worriedly, as if fearing someone would hear, "Pirate."
"That was.... Your father's grandfather. His name was Nathaniel Flint. Your father's ...mom's.... dad." she explained with a little difficulty.
((a/n: if you're a little confused, Flint met a girl named Ella, got married to her and had a daughter named Lori. Lori got married to a man named Chris, and she and Chris had a son named Marcus. Marcus married Nina and they had Sasha. Make a little more sense now? Soon I'll be writing the pre-pre-prequel, yes, cause I skipped two generations between the stories, so it has two extra pre-s added on. So anyways, I'll be writing the pre-pre-prequel to this, how Flint and Ella met! Yay! ))
"Where's Daddy anyways?" I demanded, putting my small hands on my hips, sticking out my bottom lip. Remember, I was only seven or eight.
"He's... gone. On a long trip. He'll be back someday."
"But where did he go?" I asked with exagerated patience.
"He went to go find Captain Nathaniel Flint, the pirate you dreamed about.... or at least find where he lived."
"Treasure Planet, Treasure Planet!" I squealed, suddenly remembering the faerie tale she told me. "My favorite story!"
I remembered it by heart.... 'On crystal clear nights such as this, when the winds of the Etherium were calm and peaceful, the merchant ships carried the Mocarian Solar Crystals. There was the notorious Captain Nathaniel Flint, and, with his band of renegades, raided the ships. They swooped in out of nowhere, and, gathering their spoils, vanished.... without a trace. Captain Nathaniel Flint gathered his riches, the loot of a thousand worlds, and stored it in a place called Treasure Planet'.
"It's real! It's real!" I laughed happily.
"Not all of it, sweetheart. There's more. But that's written down, and it will be handed down to you when you're ready."
"What do you mean?"
"That was part 1 of the faerie tale. There's a part 2, but you have to be older to read it." she smiled faintly at me.
"What's it called, what's it called?!"
"....I don't really know, Sasha."
"Well, what do you think it's called?"
She thought about it. "This Ghost of a Smile."
"Why?"
"Because something scary happens, and after that, the main character finds it hard to smile."
"Oh. When can I read it?"
"I'll let you know when you're old enough, honey."
"Awwww, Mom...."
"You need to get to sleep." she picked me up and carried me to my room, tucking me in. My room was purple. Purple walls, deep purple carpets, purple bedspread and purple curtains. Guess what color I had been obsessed with?
"Good night, Mom."
"Sleep tight." she smiled faintly and kissed my forehead, "Sweet dreams."
((end of flashback))
So everything tied in. Everything fit. I was Nathaniel Flint's great-granddaughter. Being brough back to the present, I realized that the pirates were tearing at the surface of the planet. Were they insane?! Turnbuckle hit it with a pickaxe. It vibrated violently, jolting him badly. The pirates stopped digging and looked up to Silver.
"And just how in the blue blazes are we supposed to get there?!" Silver roared.
"Just. . . open the right door. . ." I shouldered past Silver and stood beside Jim.
I reached into the green sphere and hit the symbol at the very center. The portal openned again, revealing a closed space with great pieces of machinery pouring energy downward. Booya! It worked! Ten points for Sasha! Whee! The pirates, Jim, and B.E.N. all stared. Jim took a step forward, then looked back. He grasped my hand, then pulled me gently through the portal with him. Silver followed, reaching out and holding us back, then stepping through fully himself. We followed the rest of the way, the pirates coming in behind us. We all walked into the area and gasped,
looking around in wonder, at the massive 'centroid' of the planet, covered in gold jewels, chests, and other various things. Just like in the faerie tale.
"Th' Loot of a T'ousand Worlds. . . .!" Silver said in pure amazement.
The pirates all laughed happily and began to 'splash' about in the treasure.
"We are going to need a beegger boat!!!" Onus cackled.
Jim, B.E.N., and I began looking around while the pirates, including Silver, revelled in the loot. Jim saw an old, run-down ship, and began to walk toward it. B.E.N. and I followed him.
"This is all seeming. . . very familiar. . . I c- I can't remember WHY. . . ." B.E.N. began.
Jim looked over the ship excitedly. "B.E.N., Sasha, c'mon! We're gettin' outta here, and we're not leavin' empty-handed."
"B-but, Jimmy! Jimmy!" B.E.N. said.
Jim, ignoring B.E.N., climbed into the ship and I went after him. I turned back and saw as B.E.N. looked around nervously, then followed us.
"You know what's strange? I can't tell you how frustrating this is, Jimmy, 'cause there's-- there's just something tha--that's nagging at the back of my mind--" B.E.N. frowned worriedly.
B.E.N. fell to the deck, then looked up. Jim whirled around.
" YAAAHHHH!!!!" B.E.N. yelled.
Jim stared at what B.E.N. was screaming at. It's a skeleton, sitting in a throne-like chair and covered in old, tattered clothing. It has six eyes and alien-looking ribs and hands. But I knew what it was. That was my great-grandfather. That was Captain Nathaniel Flint, Pirate of Pirates. I stared, speechless. So this was where, techinically, my grandmother, my father, and now me, had started. A bloody, backstabbing pirate. For some reason, though, I felt deep down, in 'The Ghost of a Smile', I'd find it differently. He didn't strike me as evil now. Surely something changed him... Right?
"Captain Flint?!" Jim gaped at the skeleton of Nathaniel.
" In the flesh!!!! .....Well, s-sort of, except for. . . skin, organs, or anything that-that-that resembles flesh, that stuff there. . ." B.E.N. stammered.
Jim started to walk toward Flint's skeleton.
"Don't mess with it!" I blurted out. Jim turned around, giving me a strange look.
"Why not?"
"Because he was alive, j-jst like we are right now! Someday w-we'll be l-like that! He's m-my great grandf-father!" I suddenly put my face in my hands, overwhelmed.
Jim wrapped me in a strong hug.
"It'll be okay, Sasha," Jim said softly. He held me for a long time, but when I finally relaxed he let go. "Now, I have a reason to mess with him a little. I want to see if he has anything to start this boat with."
"And yet, y'know, it's so odd, y'know, I mean, I remember there were two horrible things Flint didn't want anyone else to know, but I-I-I just can't remember what they were!" B.E.N. said shrilly.
Jim looked at something clutched in one of Nathaniel's hands. He looked back at B.E.N.'s head, where I followed his gaze to a piece is missing and several loose wires hang out. He looked back to Flint's hand and tried to pry it open. He ended up pulling it off completely, and I let out a small squeak, a pained expression on my face. Disturbing the body of my ancestors... I shook my head. Jim pulled out a piece of metal from Nathaniel's hand and looked back at B.E.N.
"Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!" B.E.N. said miserably, making pathetic sobbing noises. I looked to Jim, who was actually grinning.
"B.E.N. . . I think I just found your MIND! Hold still!" Jim grabbed B.E.N.'s head and started to line up the piece of metal he found with B.E.N.'s wiring.
"Jimmy! You-your hands are very, very cold! Ah--"
The wires suddenly lined up with the piece of metal in Jim's hand automatically, and pulled the piece into place. Jim stepped back in a satisfactory way and watched B.E.N., whose eyes suddenly had streams of data running through them. I stared, surprised. So Nathaniel had B.E.N.'s memory!
"Woah!!" B.E.N. exclaimed. B.E.N.'s eyes cleared up and were now a bluish shade, instead of their usual yellowy-green color. "HELLO!" B.E.N. looked around, a slight smile on his face. He rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger, or the peices of metal that he had for fingers. "Y'know, uh, Jimmy, I was just thinking--" he stopped, shocked, but grinned excitedly. I was just THINKING! It's all coming back! All my MEMORIES! Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuit so I could never tell anybody about his wife Ella and the BOOBY TRAP!"
A loud explosion suddenly could be heard from somewhere in the centroid. We looked up. It hit me full force just what a man could do to booby trap a place. I had no doubt we would soon be dead.... But I'd thought that before, hadn't I? And was I dead yet? I don't think so!
"Speaking of which.... " B.E.N. said and Jim started to look around frantically, trying to think of something to do. I bit my lip. Think, Sasha, think! "Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure, so he rigged this
whole planet to blow--"
The whole planet suddenly shook and one of the energy beams sparked dangerously.
"Higher than a Calypsian kite!!!" B.E.N. finished.
The pirates looked around, worried, at the shaking centroid. Several of the energy beams had abruptly torn loose of the ports and were blasting through the treasure. The pirates got up and started to run back to the portal. I had half a mind to do so myself, but on the ship it was easier said than done. B.E.N. tried to pull Jim and I along.
"Run! Run for your life!!!" B.E.N. cried loudly and dramatically.
I laid down under the control panel of the ship we were on and started working at rewiring it. I twisted around and looked up at B.E.N.
"You go back and help Amelia and Doppler! If I'm not there in five minutes, leave without me! Jim, be careful!"
Jim reached for me, grabbing me gently by the feet and tugging me further out from under the console.
"Nope. Not leaving without you."
"We are NOT leaving our buddy Sasha!" B.E.N. said a little too loudly.
I forced myself to glare at B.E.N. darkly, still holding two wires. B.E.N. grinned nervously.
"Unless. . . she looks at me. . . like that! BYE, SASHA!" B.E.N. suddenly jumped over the side of the ship, on his way to Doppler and Amelia.
"Sasha--"
"Go, Jim. I mean it," I ordered softly. "Be careful. I love you, Jim Hawkins."
He bent down and kissed my forehead before dashing off. The centroid began to slide open violently, and the treasure fell into the massive cracks. The energy beams had almost all slipped, and were violently ripping into the centroid. I bit on the control pannel suddenly lit up and I stood again, going to the helm. The ship began to rise and I steered it the best I could. I never had been very good at this stuff, but still, I was good enough.
"Yes! Morph, we are so outta here!" I looked over my shoulder to Morph, who'd stuck with me. He burbled a happy laughter but suddenly stopped.
"Ahh, Sasha! Aren't yeh the Seventh Wonder of the Universe? Survivin' through Scroop's incident, gettin' rescued by Jimbo... Yeh get all the breaks!" he chuckled.
I stared in horror and shock at Silver as he begans to walk toward me. I turned frantically and searched the piles of gold for anything to defend myself. I pulled a sword out, holding it defensively in front of me.
"Get BACK, you traitor!"
Silver took a step back, surprised by the sword, but his look quickly darkened. He looked up at me.
"Yeh always did know to much fer yer own good, Sasha. Despite that, I had me a soft spot for both you an' Jimbo. But I've come too far to let you stand between me an' me treasure." Silver began moving closer to me, and I was gripped by despair as I looked up at Silver.
Suddenly an energy beam hit the side of the ship, knocking Silver and I off. Silver landed on a metal platform that's jutted up, but I fell past it and slid down, hitting a wall off of the platform. Silver stared at the deep crevasse which held a firey hell, the molten core of the planet. I hungs on to a protruding piece of metal on the wall, but just barely. My fingertips started to slide a little and Morph squeaked in horror. I was doomed.