Chapter 3

"Move over twerp."

A pale-faced human boy with gelled light-brown hair, about the same size and height as Jim stood before him, a glare and a nasty smirk plastered on his face. Behind him stood a larger Tipocan boy, and neither of them looked very friendly. Jim was well aware that getting into a fight before he even set foot in the Academy was most certainly not a good move, and was fairly sure that the good Captain would get wind of any misbehavior, but it simply wasn't in his feisty character to let himself be pushed around. Silver's words on learning how to pick fights echoed in his head, and he fought back the urge to punch the boy in the face.

"Why should I?" He challenged instead, stealthily reaching into his pocket to prod Morph for help in case he needed it.

"Because this is my spot, loser. And I can easily make you move if you won't do it by yourself."

"Try me."

With that the Tipocan launched himself at Jim, just as Morph transformed into a rope, tripping the burly being, causing him to fall flat on his face, making the deck shudder momentarily.

"Gee, you really should get a less clumsy bodyguard" Jim smirked, before jogging off toward the rooms again, leaving the fuming arrogant kid staring after him open-mouthed as the rest of the deck's occupants crowded around the fallen Tipocan, eager to see the cause of the commotion.

Jim felt particularly accomplished, having just won a fight and got off scot-free. Well technically Morph won the fight for him, so he whipped out a few of Morph's favorite chocolate bars for his pink friend to munch on. As he reached the room at the end of the corridor once more, figuring that Jade ought to have a study break after almost three hours, he noticed that she once more had company. A lanky human boy with streaked blond and brown hair was chatting animatedly, but apparently having no more success in having a casual conversation with her than Jim did. He turned immediately as Jim entered, visibly relieved at the prospect of a more intelligible conversation partner, and mirrored Jim's expression of surprise that there were so many humans in one batch of Academy intake.

"Hi! I'm Jeff, Jeffrey Orion Nova actually but everyone calls me Jeff. You must be… Jim Hawkins!" He cried excitedly as his eyes widened considerably.

"Did Jade say so?" Jim asked, confused as to how he could possibly be recognized.

"EVERYONE in my part of the galaxy knows about Treasure Planet man! The pirates from your crew go for rehab somewhere in those parts and the story spread like wildfire, you are FAMOUS dude! Not to mention I hear you're wicked with the solar surfer." He finished with a wink.

Jim brightened considerably upon hearing this last part, and they launched into an intense play-by-play of all their escapades, exchanging building tips and stunts, while Jade rolled her eyes and continued to study, occasionally perking up whenever they discussed the engineering of their surfers, contributing some of her scientific knowledge in this area. Jeff turned out to be a pretty nice guy, similar to Jim in many ways, although his parents were more on the wealthy side and he had had an older brother at the Academy before.

About an hour before the ferry was due to arrive at the Academy, lunch was sent around to all the rooms, and thankfully it wasn't bonzabeast stew. The three humans continued chatting amiably over their sandwiches and purp juice, speculating what their experience at the Academy would be like. Even Jade, with all her reading up, wasn't entirely sure how the place was run, but supplied interesting facts on the Academy's history, along with famous captains who had graduated from there.

"We only have forty-five minutes left, you two better change into uniform too," she stated, breezing out of the room as soon as lunch was done. Only then did it dawn on the two boys that they were expected to be in their formal attire for the first day of school, which were in their suitcases in the cargo hold. Panicking, they dashed off to find the hoverbots that had brought their luggage, and succeeded in extracting their uniforms after a good half an hour of begging.

They returned to the room to find Jade wearing an incredulous yet slightly smug look, looking very prim and proper in her uniform, which was cut slightly differently from the boys' although it also consisted of a cream jacket and pants. She had already packed her backpack, which she reminded Jeff to do so as well. Jim didn't have one, as he didn't see the need to have anything with him on the Ferry ride.

The students began crowding on the deck to get their first look of the Interstellar Academy, situated on Huxxub in the heart of the galaxy.