CHAPTER XIX
THE LOOT OF A THOUSAND WORLDS
Sora couldn't take his eyes off of the wooden ship sailing ahead of him. The majestic sails rippled in the darkness of space. The flag soared – a beautiful white flag with a blue and white symbol…
Sora only realized how long he had been staring at the flag when it started to descend down the flagpole. He was keeping the ship at a far enough distance so that the crew didn't see them and become wary…but he thought he could make out the shape of an interesting little alien climbing up the flagpole. But what was it doing up there? Suddenly his question was answered when instead of the white flag, a black flag flew in its place. The flag bore a skull that looked like it surely belonged to an alien, with rings around it. At first glance, it looked like the skull and crossbones of a pirate flag…
"Pirates?" he said to himself on the bridge. But he wasn't alone, he soon realized.
"Hmm? Pirates?" Kairi asked, stepping up behind Sora's chair.
Sora jumped as he turned to see Kairi so close to him. He backed up into the computer terminal awkwardly and managed to speak, "ye…yeah, they look like they just raised a pirate flag on the Legacy…but it's not the flag they were flying before…"
Kairi looked concerned. "Do you think the Legion member somehow boarded the ship and took it over?"
"I don't think so…I've been watching that little Legion ship pretty closely, and so far it hasn't budged," Sora thought back to how much time he wasted staring at the flag of the ship. "Well…at least I don't think it moved. Anyway, do you think one member of the Legion could take over an entire ship?"
Kairi bit her lip. "Stranger things have happened."
As if waiting for a cue from Kairi, the large pirate ship on the view screen opened up a hatch on the underside of the ship – a small hole, large enough to fit a gummi ship half as large as the Barrett inside. But instead of something going in, something came out – a large longboat with one solar sail. The boat looked just like any boat in any lake in any world; except for the propulsion engine and the glowing yellowish solar sail, that is. The boat dove downward toward the nearest planet, a planet none of them had noticed at all due to their fascination with the ship.
The planet was a large green sphere with glowing green rings. Almost surreal, it seemed to have strange…patterns all over it. Circles and lines leading into other circles – kind of like a strange, looping system of crop circles. The planet certainly looked odd, but very impressive.
The longboat was flying frantically away from the pirate ship. It came within fifty yards of the Barrett on its frantic course to escape – at the longboat's closest arc to the Barrett, Sora caught a glimpse of it's motley crew of passengers – a young man of about Sora's age, wearing a rat-tail in his dark hair; what looked like a cat wearing a naval officer's uniform; and what had to be a dog with an upturned nose wearing a strange red and white 18th century suit.
Sora was about to say 'weird' when he looked behind him to see Kairi, Donald and Goofy. He chuckled to himself and went back to checking on the situation.
It had gone from strange to dangerous – as Sora turned back to the viewscreen, he saw a giant black ball, coursing with energy waves hurdling straight at the longboat. With a sickening crash, it tore through the back end of the longboat, sending debris out into space. Sora would have kept watching, but Goofy had grabbed the controls and was taking evasive maneuvers. Through the viewscreen, Sora could now see more laser balls flying in their general direction. Goofy dodged them all with minimal difficulty.
"Those guys need our help!" he yelled at Goofy, pointing toward the planet. "They got hit!"
"Already on it, Sora!" Goofy affirmed. Indeed, the ship had been turned back and was zooming on the tail of the longboat. Suddenly up ahead, the terrain of the planet had become more apparent – the area they were crashing in was a giant forest of strange trees. It looked very organic and slimy…the trees were twisted and gnarled, and beneath them was a bog with a disgusting muck filling it. The tops of the trees didn't look like the trees Sora was used to – instead, they were almost like balloons.
Sora realized quickly that if they didn't intervene, the ship would probably crash into one of the trees, ending their rescue attempt immediately. "Gotta mow down those trees!" he blurted out, taking the rungs of the ladder to the laser station three at a time. He had left his goggles downstairs…he didn't need them, he decided…he grabbed firmly, palms sweating…
The longboat was nearing the tops of the trees…if they got too close, they'd surely crash into them…
Sora aimed, squinting, trying to lead the longboat with enough space to fry the trees without harming the crew…he found a good spot…steadied…and squeezed the thumb triggers.
A bolt of laser energy cut through the trees in front of the longboat, clearing out a fairly decent landing zone for the longboat.
"Okay…up to you guys, now…" Sora said, praying for the unknown crew of the longboat.
Goofy put the Barrett down on the soft, loamy ground in the forest about one hundred yards from the crashed longboat. The longboat managed to hit the water at a fair skid, slide off into some muck and stop when it hit a wall of moss. A little bumpy, but certainly better than other options…
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Kairi stepped out of the Barrett, looking around cautiously. Suddenly, a young dark-haired man with his hair pulled back in a rat-tail jumped out from behind a pile of moss. He was holding a decent sized scimitar…the kind of weapons pirates used. He had an earring in one ear, giving him a rugged look. His clothes completed that rugged feel – grey pants and blue jacket over a grubby looking yellow shirt.
"Whoa! Put that thing away! We're here to help!" Sora said, defensively.
"Was it your ship that fired that laser just now?" the boy asked.
"Yep!" Sora said, proudly.
The boy with the rat tail stomped on Sora's foot with his strange looking boots. Donald put his fists up and Goofy raised his shield.
Kairi stepped forward, angrily. "What was that for?"
"That was for scaring the purp juice out of us. And this," he grabbed Sora's right hand with his, pulling him in close for a deep, heartfelt handshake, "is for saving our butts back there." He shook him hard, slapped him on the back a few times and finally let him go.
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Kairi looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Sora smiled and turned to the boy. "Well…you're welcome. I…I think," Sora chuckled. "You know, you have a real strange way of saying thanks…" he rubbed his injured foot with his other.
"Sorry about that. Just have a real hard time trusting people…I've been double crossed too many times," the boy said. "Jim Hawkins. Pleasure to meet you, friends. Actions speak louder than words…and since you saved my butt, I'm in your debt. Uh…who am I in debt to, exactly?"
Sora stepped up and shook Jim's hand again. "I'm Sora, and these are my friends Kairi, Donald and Goofy. No payment required."
Jim smiled coyly. "Oh, when you see what I'll be paying with, you might change your minds. Welcome to Treasure Planet."
