Chapter 2: Whatever Can Go Wrong…
"The ship! Oh, thank the stars!" Mars cried in relief.
Jim fell against it, gasping for air. "Did… Did we lose him?"
"Yeah… I… I think so…" Caze, equally winded, replied.
Mars sat down, panting. "Now what do we do?"
"I… don't know… I need… to get home…" Jim said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"There you three are!"
The said three looked over at the ship's door where a teacher had leaned out. "Get in here! You're late!"
"Aw… we wasted our whole trip running from that guy!" Caze whined, getting heavily on his feet.
"Sorry…" Jim muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and getting on board.
"Honestly, I'm ready to leave," Mars sighed. "…sort of…"
-
Jim arrived back at his home by the time the sun was setting. He was exhausted and confused, and it had placed him in a sour mood.
Upon entering the Benbow Inn, he found the room crowded with several loud, talkative people.
Morph floated down the stairs and greeted him gleefully. Jim pet him and let him float around his hand. "Hey, Morph," He said sleepily.
"Jim, good, you're home," Sarah, his mother, greeted. "Would you…" She looked at him. "Jim, you look worn out!"
She led him to a chair, and he sank into it. He sighed. "I am worn out. I spent almost the entire day running around Crescentia… literally. Mom… some guy… this lizard-thing attacked me!" He exclaimed.
"Attacked you?" She gasped. "Why?"
"He claims that I stole his family's treasure, betrayed them, and killed his father! That doesn't make any sense!… but he even knew my name, and he said the one who did it looked like me! I spent the rest of the day running away so I wouldn't be gutted by his sword."
"You should have gone to the police," She told him, rubbing his back a bit to sooth his nerves.
"Yeah, I know…" He replied, sighing, "but I was concentrating on running away from him… Man… I'm so tired… I think I'll head up to bed…" He cringed when he stood, that kick from earlier coming back to bite him.
His mother helped him up the steps and into his room.
As soon as she left, he shed of his uniform's jacket and boots and collapsed onto the bed. He was asleep before he even knew what hit him.
-
Rays of sun fell against the side of his face, slowly pulling him out of his slumber. The sky outside his window was bright without a cloud.
He moaned as he rolled onto his back, a dull pain in his stomach. The man could kick hard, but at least it didn't feel as bad as yesterday.
Getting to his feet, he sighed in relief at the realization that he didn't have to go to school today. That was good, because he had better things to do.
Changing out of his clothes from yesterday, he showered and switched into casual clothing… the same outfit he had traveled to Treasure Planet in. To think it was still in good shape after that… Maybe he was just lucky… then again, lucky guys didn't have lizard men out for their life.
When he looked in the mirror after brushing his teeth, he noticed a bruised on his face where the man had punched him.
He stomped down the stairs, hands in his jacket pockets. As he entered the main room, he could hear the bumbling Doctor Delbert Doppler with his wife Captain Amelia-Doppler chatting it up with his mother. B.E.N. could be heard causing trouble in the kitchen.
This was perfect. It was Dr. Doppler that he'd wanted to speak to in the first place.
"Hey, Doc!" He said, approaching.
Morph made a giggling noise, floating up from watching the sleeping babies in their basket. He found a spot on Jim's shoulder and molded himself there.
"Ah! Oh, why, hello, James! How are you this fine morning?" Dr. Doppler asked, smiling.
"Actually-"
"Where'd you get that ghastly bruise?" Captain Amelia-Doppler asked without a hint of sympathy. Whether she sounded like it or not, he knew she cared.
"Well, that was what I was going to talk to you about-"
"Good gracious! It looks like you got hit in the face!" Dr. Doppler exclaimed.
"I… I did get hit in the-"
"Come now, Hawkins, if you got in a fight at school, you should be able to fight back," Amelia stated firmly.
"-but I didn't…" He sighed and sat down. "Can I speak without being interrupted please?"
They both stared at him for a moment.
"Look, I need to talk to you, Doc. See, yesterday, the Interstellar Academy took a field trip up to Crescentia. While I was there, some lizard guy attacked me and claimed that I betrayed his family, stole their treasure, and killed his father… any ideas?"
"Hm…" Doppler seemed deep in thought. "Do you know any shape shifters?"
"Only Morph," Jim said, watching Morph form into a miniature version of himself.
"Morph, Morph, Morph!" He chirped.
"Odd… is there anyone out for your life?" The Doctor asked.
"Now that you mention it… Yeah, the lizard guy!" He shouted, growing irritated. Doppler was intelligent yes, but sometimes he was so frustrating.
"I'll have to go home to my library. I'll look into it, all right?"
"Thanks… well, I'm going out," He said, standing.
"HEYYYY, Jim, where're you going?" B.E.N. asked loudly, as he often tended to. He set dishes on the table for Doppler and his wife.
"Just around, why?" He asked, getting a bit defensive. Why did it matter?
"Could you pick up some eggs while your out? Oh, and some sugar too! I was gonna make cookies, but I burned the sugar we had so I need some more. I know I'll get it right if I try again. Am I rambling?"
"I think you need another brain tune-up," Jim suggested, reaching under the stairs and grabbing up his solar-surfer.
"Ha? You're gonna use that thing?" B.E.N. asked, not hearing the comment about his brain tune-up.
"Yeah… I got the urge to ride it while looking at all those solar-sails yesterday," He said smirking. "I'll be back later."
The robot just tilted his head to the side curiously.
Sarah Hawkins watched him walk out with a wave of his hand and shut the door behind him. "I really hope he's not dropping back into his rebellious phase because of all this…"
"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine," Doppler said rather nervously.
"Let me know if he does," Amelia assured. "I'll whip him back into shape, you can count on that."
"Sounds painful! Oh, I would never want poor Jimmy to get hurt!" B.E.N. cried, dancing around the room overdramatically as if he was in a play.
"Ah… how about you let me take a look at your head? Make sure a wire's not loose," Doppler suggested.
-
Jim felt a rush of energy in him as soon as he took off. It was exhilarating, though it wouldn't quite diminish his hunger for an adventure he'd so desperately been longing for.
Jim stared out at all before him, missing the endless depths of space. All planets seemed to have an end to them, just beyond the horizon, while space held no horizon.
He zoomed above the cities, not noticed by busy Montressor folk. He performed a few tricks that he hadn't done in awhile, finding a great sense of achievement in the fact that he could do them still… It was strange how school never gave him that achievement, no matter how good he was at it.
He felt a squirm from the inside of his jacket, and he glanced down momentarily to see Morph appear, looking somewhat terrified. "Morph! What are you doing here!"
Morph had squished himself against Jim's shoulder, cooing fearfully.
Jim glared at him on his shoulder. "You shouldn't have come if you were going to be afraid!"
Morph let out a loud squawk that sounded like a scream.
"Huh?" Jim looked straight ahead like he should've been doing in the first place, just in time for his solar-surfer to crash against a hover-car and send him hurtling toward the ground.
He desperately tried to restart it, but he didn't have enough time. He barely managed to get it back level with the ground and grind the stair-rail down to the ground where he flew off and fell right into the fountain in the park.
The damaged car floated down, and the man got out.
Jim spit out water and a few pennies and looked over at the man.
The blood rushed away from his face.
"I knew I was right…" The older, short man growled, his blue eyes narrowing on the sight of him.
"Oh… err… hi… Mr. Marietta's Dad…" He said sheepishly, grinning nervously.
The passenger door opened, and Marietta herself appeared, dressed in a baggy red t-shirt that was cut above her belly button, baggy blue pants with large cuffs around the ends that were held up by a black belt with a golden buckle, golden hoop earrings, a red bandana around her head, and large black boots. There was a bracelet around her left wrist. "Jim! Are you hurt?" She asked, rushing to him to help him up.
"No, no, I'm fine…" He said, shaking his hands at her, as his eyes fixed upon the damaged vehicle. "Fine until your father kills me…"
The man grunted in anger, not pleased with the fact that his daughter was at all concerned about him.
"Look…" He tried. "It… It was an accident. I mean… I'll pay for the damage and everything… It's just that Morph, he-" He pointed at the pink blob on his shoulder. Morph looked even more frightened now.
"That's just like you, Hawkins. You always have to blame it on something else," The man said, smoothing back his graying, brown-red hair.
"Dad, he's telling the truth! Jim doesn't lie!" Mars defended. "I saw it happen. It was an accident."
The man eyed Jim as if he was some sort of disgusting insect. Jim glared back at him with an equal response.
The man finally spoke. "I won't arrest you this time, Hawkins, but I expect my car paid for. TONIGHT."
He turned and headed back to his vehicle. "Are you coming, Marietta?"
"No, I'll stay…" She mumbled, displeased with her dad. The damage wasn't all that bad. She herself could fix it without it costing anything, and her father was fully aware of that. He just didn't like Jim.
He left.
"You all right, soggy?" She asked as he marched out of the fountain, unsuccessfully trying to swipe the water off of him.
He didn't look at her as he picked up his totaled solar-surfer. He was disappointed in himself. He hadn't been so stupid and reckless in a long time.
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hawkins… You holding up?"
He shoved her off and marched off down the street. She followed.
Morph was guiltily silent on his shoulder.
"I can't believe I did something so stupid," He said more to himself than anybody else, though Mars was listening intently. "I'm not supposed to screw up anymore."
"Hey, now, we all have off days," Mars told him, trying to bring up his spirit.
It didn't really help. He walked over to a bench and sat down, laying his solar-surfer over his lap. He fiddled with it, trying to fix it until he got frustrated and threw it down on the ground.
Mars sat down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself."
"I just…" He said, looking out at the people with his fingers spread, then burying his face in his hands in frustration. "It's just that everything is going wrong… All that I've done to fix myself is suddenly coming back at me, full force."
She stared at him concernedly when an idea struck her. "Hey, now…" She said, rubbing his shoulder. "How about I phone up Caze and we go have lunch together and forget this ever happened for awhile huh? I'll buy."
He gave her a half smile. "I guess… that would be okay."
She grinned. "Hah, I knew that would help. A way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
"What, are you trying to get to my heart now?" He joked, standing and picking up his solar-surfer.
She froze mid-step, cheeks flushing. "D… don't be stupid!" She shouted.
He quirked and eyebrow and looked at Morph.
"STUPID!" He chirped.
