Right, about the ship illustration… never mind that, it didn't take long for me to realize that I suck at drawing ships.
The feline figure punched here and there, landed shots up and down, and evaded any incoming attack forward and backward. Amelia was a master class in the situation, whilst the others were trying to imitate her, or to survive, at the very least.
Her slender arm supported her weight on the floor as she arched her back, evading a swing of arm. In the end, she felt two hands catching her by the shoulders, which pushed her back right up. It was Jim!
"Hawkins! Reach for the wheel! Head this ship downwards! Reduce our altitude by half!" She commanded. Even in the middle of the chaotic fight, Jim managed to hear the command and nodded.
"Aye Aye, captain!"
In an instance, he rushed towards the wheel of the ship. Using his bare foot, he kicked some men and aliens in his way to make his way down. But, something stopped him. Jim stopped at a scene involving his mother, Ben, and a bulky alien with four arms. Both allies were pinned down by the monstrous alien, with its ugly face inching towards Sarah's, which was completely the opposite.
Jim reached for his gun, and shot the alien on the back. Little did he know, the shot landed on an armored part of the back, resulting the laser to bounce upwards.
"Hrmph?!" The alien turned to Jim. "You dimwit!"
Charging towards the male with wide steps, Jim saw his opportunity. He charged towards the alien as well, and slid under its steps, and landed a punch where the sun never shone.
"OOF—"
"Oh man, I barely felt anything there," Jim mocked, helping his mother and Ben stand back on their feet. With a dab, he cleaned her attire from the dusts of the battle. He then realized her unusual attire.
"Mom, you look great!" Jim complimented, seemingly not caring about the battle around him.
"Save it for later," she was about to cock her rifle until she noticed something crucial. "Wait, Jim! Have you talked to Ariel?!"
He let out a groan. "Save that for later," he took a firm grip on her rifle and cocked it, making it ready for the next shots.
"But Jim! It's really important!"
The boy cared none, instead, he dashed through the crowd towards the captain's quarter. His mother planted a hand on her forehead, she knew this was going to be hard.
"Ben, make sure my son gets out of this alive," Sarah commanded. "The least important person on this deck is me, so make sure, especially my son and Ariel, make out of this alive."
Ben noticed the not-so deliberate pun, but he knew this was not the time to point it out. "Aye aye, Sarah!"
The robot 'motored' his way to Jim's direction, and soon already finding himself in a problem when two men wielding swords were blocking his way.
"You wanna fight, lads? Go ahead!"
On the captain's quarter, where the steering wheel of the ship lied, a fight between Amelia's crew and who seemed to be a man as large as mountains was taking place. He had dark blue skin, and half of his muscular body was exposed, as he was only wearing a pair of trousers. Amelia's men were circling the mountain-like man with rifles. They thought they had the advantage with fire power, but before they could even pull their triggers, the gigantic man grabbed collected their rifles in a blinding speed, and bended the end of them with a muscle.
"I can do the same to your bones, gentlemen," the man said in a deep, raspy voice. He then proceeded to use the crooked rifles to knock out every single man circling him with a single swing. Jim spectated in shock, he was clearly no match for the enemy in front of him.
"Oh, you're next?" The man spotted the boy. He soon walked towards him, and in desperate, Jim tried to find a solution for this situation. After coming up with one, Jim charged towards the man, his hand ready on his pistol. In the middle of the track on a certain speed, he slid himself, aiming for the space between the man's legs. It was the same trick he did previously, but little did he know, it wasn't going to work as he'd imagined. The man caught Jim by the head before he could even slide under him. The man gave an intense pressure on his head, and Jim screamed on the top of his lungs as response. Even in the middle of his pain, Jim tried to point his laser pistol to his enemy, but he knocked it away with a mere flick of a finger.
"Playing games, huh? I must say… I'm terrible at games," the man added more pressure, and Jim's skull was on the edge of breaking point. But soon, the breaking point was away as the man threw the boy into a group of barrels. His back was the first part that received contact when he hit the barrels.
"You really think you can beat me, heh?" The man said, cracking his fingers. He took steps forward to the boy, but several steps away from him when he felt pain on his back. Pain that was accompanied with a sensation of heat, which could only mean one thing, laser shots.
Ariel turned out to be the shooter. She kept shooting at the man with her rifle until she had to cock the rifle for the next shots, and it wasn't something that she had mastered yet. The man was consumed with fury as he found out that a mere girl was causing harm to him, that he decided to go after her first. Jim saw this, and reacted immediately. He stood back on his feet, even with the pain he was suffering. Almost aimlessly, he jumped on the man's back, and locked the man's neck with his arms.
Jim applied as much force as he could, but it was never enough. The man simply freed himself by pulling the boy's arms, and lifted him on the air. He smiled dirtily, until it was dirtied more with a kick from the boy on his face.
"Gah!"
Jim's feet met the floor once again. With not many times left, he took the rifle Ariel had and cocked it. He aimed for the man's head with his wobbly muscles, and pulled the trigger. His shot landed on the man's neck instead!
The shot made the man collapse. His hand desperately attempted to cease the blood from flowing, but the severe wound that the shot left was too much.
"You brat…"
And that was the man's last words. Seeing his obstacle cleared, Jim turned around to thank the girl who'd helped him. Her expression halted him. She was petrified. Ariel had never seen such a blood bath in her life, and it left her even more terrified that she just helped Jim take a one's life away.
"You're… okay there?" Jim asked.
Ariel rolled her eyes up to see the boy. She shook her head, "I-I'm not sure…"
He soon realized her problem. Jim grasped the girl on the shoulder. "You saved me, and I thank you for that. He could've killed me, and I don't think you'd want that."
She shook her head even more rapidly at the statement. "I wouldn't want that."
"Right, help me a bit, will you?"
The boy approached the wheel of the ship and manned it. On his right, there was a lever that adjusted the amount of power the thrusters would provide. On its right, another lever was there, which controlled the altitude of the ship. Clearly, he needed one more hand.
"Right, Ari, I need you to listen to me very carefully," Jim said. "I need you to grab this lever, and gently…"
As he explained more and more about what she had to do, she wasn't particularly paying attention to his explanation. It was all because of one thing, which was the fact that he called her 'Ari', her nickname. Her eyes were locked onto Jim's, her mouth was agape, her brain was hinting her that he might remember. She was very much on another realm.
"Right, do you understand?" Jim asked
She snapped back into reality. "You do remember me!"
He cocked a brow. "What?"
"You just called me Ari!"
His eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?! Right now?! Have you been listening to me in the whole time?"
"Oh, how hard can it be?" She placed her hand on the lever which controlled the thrusters, and pushed it. Jim didn't have time to react, and was thrown back a little after the thrusters of the ship thunderously moved the ship forward. The ludicrous acceleration made every single living being onboard fall onto the floor, ceasing the fight for a few moments.
With every bit of his power, Jim stood back on his feet and reached the lever. He minimalized the amount of power flowing, which slowed down the ship right away, and reduced the altitude with the other lever, and manned the wheel.
"Ah, I can do it by myself, after all," Jim smiled proudly before turning around to the female. As gently as possible, he helped her stand back up.
"Right, Ari, I need you to listen to me," he grasped her forearms. "I'm sure that… you're facing a great problem right now. What's the deadline again, sunset?" Jim looked up to see where the sun was, and it was on the western sky, inching into the horizon slowly. "I really want to help, but… I can't. I just don't happen to have the—"
"No, Jim, we've been friends, great friends, your mother knows, even Ben!" She gripped his sleeves. "There must be something that can trigger your brain to—"
The wooden floor under them suddenly cracked, and its sound was so loud, it put the conversation into a stop. The crack spread between the boy and the girl, until it led to the empty space right next to them, where the remaining unconscious Amelia's men were lied on. The crack spread and spread, and a hole was made. Amelia's men fell into it, and one figure created an entrance out of it.
A man, dressed in a black cloak. His face hid under his pirate hat, except for one shining object, which turned out to be his left eye. A mechanical whirring was heard as he pulled out his arm. Jim gasped at the sight. It was a robotic arm. His other robotic features were soon revealed. Prosthetic leg, a hook on his other hand, and the most surprising, his head that featured a prosthetic lower jaw and a robotic eye.
When he looked up to the two, it surprised him a little to see such an unusual pair of people raiding his ship. But, he was more intrigued to Jim.
"Hawkins… you must be the Hawkins," the man said through a speaker planted at the base of his throat, his mouth flashing orange as he spoke.
"What do you want from me?!"
"Well, he misses you, perhaps? But I can't tell for sure," he pulled the sleeve on his humanoid arm. "Perhaps there's more under his sleeve, but one thing is sure, all of you have been disturbing my rest."
A mechanical whirring was heard from his feet, which was readying torque for a rapid move forward. In a speed that Jim and Ariel could barely anticipate, the man tried to reach for the two's heads with his arms. The two ducked in unison, and rolled away from the threat. Again, having more interest in the boy, the cyborg landed a blow towards him, but landed it on the wooden floor instead, which shattered right away. His power was beyond his league, and Jim learnt that at this moment. So, to brawl the man, he tried to shoot for the mechanical arm first with a hope that his shots would disable it. He pointed his rifle at the cyborg's arm while kneeling, and shot it. Even with the speed of a laser projectile, the cyborg turned his arm into an armored plate acting as a shield.
"I suppose he'd prefer you asleep when I bring you to him," the cyborg transformed the shield into his arm back, and grabbed the boy by the shirt. He landed a punch on his cheek, and threw him onto a mast on the center of the ship. When he landed, he was still conscious, barely. He knew this was not the time to be defenseless, so he fought for it.
"JIM!" Ariel yelled. Filled with worry, she made her way down to her beloved cabin boy.
The sight that he'd never seen left the cyborg speechless for a moment when he saw what's happening on the main deck. Every single of his crew was circled by the crew that belonged to Amelia. They were outnumbered, with no hint of where the rest of the crew were at. Being the captain onboard, weakness disgusted him as he found out that his crew were surrendering. They were kneeling, head facing down, signing nothing but defeat.
Amelia, who was pointing her weapon to the men in front of her, noticed the cyborg's presence. She turned around.
"You must be the captain!" Amelia exclaimed. Her exclamation caught the cyborg's attention. "Very odd of you to not see the prisoners that you've kept for days."
"I needn't to look, I'd already know how they'd look like," he replied in a very humble tone.
"Shut your bickerin' lad, me eyes know a bickerer when they see one!" Silver threatened with a rifle pointed right at the cyborg. The captain noticed his presence, and mouthed an 'ooo' in awe.
"Ah, free parts," He spoke.
"Parts?" Silver asked. "Ya really think you can lay a finger on me parts, lad? Surrender now! Be smarter like your crew!" He gestured to men and aliens behind him. Every single gun was pointed at him. With the remaining of his humanoid muscle, he smirked under his hat.
The cyborg soon lifted his cyborg arm, which was already in a shape of a large plasma blaster. He pointed not to Amelia, nor Delbert, who was stood behind her, nor Jim, who was under the care of Ariel, nor even Amelia's crew. But he pointed his blaster to his true enemy in his eyes; his own crew.
The cyborg blasted a large ball of plasma, and when it struck his target, a purple light blinded every single eye onboard. Its blast radius covered every of his crew. Once the light subsided, they later found out that his crew had disintegrated into nothing.
Neither of anyone onboard had any idea what the captain of the ship was thinking of. Although, it was a simple principle of his; to fight or to die with honor, no third option.
The captain pulled a lever on his blaster, and the inner parts of his arm was exposed, letting out steam in the process. Once cooled down, he let go of the lever, and returned his arm back to its normal form.
"Please," he bowed down, stepping down on the steps to the main deck. "Entertain me lads."
Feeling disgusted, Amelia stood back on her feet, and raised an arm at his direction. "ATTACK!"
Hearing the command, Amelia's crew charged towards him. Some tried to shoot at him, but every single shot that was shot at him was blocked with his cybernetic arm. Once a man or even two trespassed his space, the captain used his skills in close combat to prevent any single swing of arm from reaching him. He was a man who knew what he was doing. Not one living being managed to even hurt him at the very slightest. Flawless would be the word to describe the punches and kicks and cuts he'd delivered at Amelia's crew.
There were only several men left, and the cyborg captain took his time. He waited for them to charge into him mindlessly. The rest of the available men were too feared to even inch forward, seeing the pile of possibly soulless bodies around him and the ones in the sea didn't help much.
"Two things that I'm noticing right now," he said. "One, you reflect my crew. Too scared to dare. Two, a pussy move!" He exclaimed the last part, "to send your crew ahead, without you charging in as well—"
His sentence was cut when Amelia dropped onto him from the nets above him without noticing. Her legs wrapped the man's neck and choked it, and to worsen the suffering, she elbowed him on the head multiple times.
"Pussy move, you said?" She elbowed him again, "Delbert! Now!"
"O-Okay!" Delbert responded. He aimed his rifle onto the captain, and shot multiple times. The shots successfully landed on the target, and they weakened the cyborg severely. And it wasn't going to end there, as Silver stepped forward. He grabbed the captain on the collar as Amelia hopped off. With a strong swing, Silver threw the man a punch, and another one, and Amelia joined in. However, when they thought they were winning, the captain held both Amelia's and Silver's fists in unison. He twisted them, and it made Amelia spin horizontally since she had the cybernetic arm holding him. As for Silver, it gave him a tremendous pain on his wrist.
"GAH!" Silver winced in pain.
"Free parts," he whispered, and took a strong grip on Silver's cybernetic arm, and ripped it off.
ARGH!" Silver screamed, and collapsed. His prosthetic arm had wirings attached to the host internally, so some wires had a connection with veins and muscle tissues, and having them disconnected with brute force would only result in a severe bleeding. And it was happening, blood was gushing out from his armless shoulder, weakening Silver as time passed.
Both Amelia and Delbert spectated the bloodbath in shock, while the captain in proud, although, he was particularly looking at the 'free parts' that he had just claimed.
"YOU SICK BASTARD—" Amelia charged towards the hostile. The captain stepped backward once, and caught the charging feline by the shoulder. Using the kinetic energy she had developed by running, the captain spun the feline into another direction, and tossed her with a push onto the floor. She violently kissed the wooden floor.
All left onboard was Delbert, who didn't have the guts to fight back. Seeming to be blocking his way, the captain raised Silver's mechanical arm to threaten the doctor. It didn't take long for Delbert to move away.
But then he realized the oddity. There was only Delbert onboard.
His eyes flared in rage. " WHERE'S THE BOY?!"
"Come on, hurry!"
Commanded by Amelia without the cyborg captain knowing, Sarah led Ben, Ariel, and her son back to the secondary boat bay. Jim was still in the process of recollecting himself after the amount of concussions he'd had in the past hour. Almost like a drunken man, he rushed himself down the stairs to reach the lowest level of the ship. Once they reached it, the metal floor the quartet were stepping on didn't help them in keeping a low profile, so the captain heard their loud steps while searching for them on the main deck area.
Sarah led everyone to the boat they just arrived on, and headed to the control panel to open the hull below the boat. With a press of a button, the hull opened ever so slowly.
"Oh god… can't it be any faster?" Sarah complained. She irritatingly started bashing the panel with a fist in impatience, but then her eyes spotted something more important to deal with.
"Sebastian, you still there?" Sarah rushed to the boat to find the crustacean.
Sebastian was observing the boy's looks when she called his name. "Right here, Sarah!" Sebastian answered, who was onboard with the others. His expression turned into a concerned one when he spotted things all over the woman's outfit.
"My Neptune, Sarah, you're—"
"No time for chit-chat, how sharp are your claws?" Sarah asked.
"My claws?" He examined them. "Enough to make an adult male scream on a high note, why?"
"I need you to cut that rope right when I cut this one," Sarah gestured to the rope that tied the right side of the boat and jumped onboard. "Ben, take care of Jim and Ariel."
"Aye Aye," both Sebastian and Ben replied.
"Right, any time now…"
When the hull provided a space wide enough for the wind to fill the room, the wind immediately engulfed Jim. It's a sensation that he had always adored. It's the smell of freedom, and awakening, as he peeled his eyes fully. The first thing he noticed was the stains his mother had on her attire. Not just any stains, they were caused by blood. It made him gasp when he saw a dash of blood on her cheek.
"Mom… you're bleeding," Jim spoke. Sarah looked up, and let out a single chuckle, although it might have not been the most appropriate reaction.
"They're not my blood."
The boy's eyes widened. The tense moment was interrupted by the appearance of Morph, who happened to be next to him. With its squeaky voice, Morph transformed into a mini version of Sarah, and mimicked her fighting against pirates.
"I simply did what had to be done," she said, taking over the control of the ship. When she was in her spot, loud steps were heard from the staircase. Of course, it was the captain himself. Jim noticed the threat, and pushed his mom away from the control. "Let me, mom."
He turned on every essential needed for the flight, and the rope securing the boat was the only one left. He noticed a crab sitting right on the edge of the boat, just next to the rope.
"Do you talk?" He asked. The question was an odd one for Sebastian.
"Yes, why?"
Jim wanted to consumed that first, but with the limited time, he didn't.
"Cut the rope!"
"But the hull is not fully opened yet!" He gestured to the hull below them which was only half opened.
"Just do it!"
"… Right away!"
With that, the crab cut the rope, and Ben did the one on the other side simultaneously. The captain attempted to reach the boat, but he didn't make it. He watched he boat fall, being pulled by gravity, and its front half knocked the hull lid, making it to fall with the back of the boat facing down.
In mid-air, Jim looked behind to see how fast he was reaching the water. What he spotted was a mess; some men, belonging to the evil captain and Amelia herself, desperately trying to stay on the surface. But there was nothing he could do, even with the sudden build of empathy that came out of nowhere. When they were close enough, Jim retracted the sails, which instantly powered the vertical thrusters. They floated in silence on the serene scenery, which wasn't necessarily filled with the nicest objects to look at.
"Are we running away right now?" Jim asked the others.
"Yes, we are. Amelia told me to do that, let's go!" Sarah replied.
"Oh, come on! That captain wanted me for a reason, and have we uncovered that yet?!" Jim complained. "Besides, we just need some more…"
Jim proceeded to complain more, with everyone listening. Sarah would love to argue with his idea of going back to fight, but two things stopped her. The sunset was on its way to an end, and she heard a thruster being turned alive above her.
It was the cyborg captain, descending fast.
"JIM! GO! GO!" She pointed upwards, and Jim saw the change of situation. Seeing it, he pushed the levers on his left and right, accelerating the boat away. With the sudden departure, the cyborg captain had to match his speed with his target, and match his course with his target. He lifted the nose upwards to gain altitude from the descending maneuver that he was performing to chase his target. His target was flying on a low altitude, compared to his higher one. So, using the advantage, he stood on his feet on the moving boat with a rifle. The captain aimed using his cyborg eye, which was more like a lens than an eye. Its zooming capability gave him a clearer sight. He shot a fire, and it pierced through the sail.
Jim noticed the laser, which almost hit Ariel after it pierced through his sail. The damage reduced the amount of power the thrusters were giving by a tad, but they couldn't afford more. To counter this, Jim gained some altitude with the hope that his boat could shelter his sail. He looked behind to see his enemy's altitude, and attempted to overshoot it. Like an arrow shot upwards, the boat lifted and lifted. The captain noticed the sudden movement, and prevented them from having a higher position by gaining some altitude as well.
One thing that the captain learnt and Jim never did was the fact that Jim's vertical movement made him an easier target to shoot at. So, he took his time to while they ascended on a same speed. He shot, shot, and shot, and landed each shot perfectly on the sail. The shot weakened the boat's power, and the Hawkins found his boat descending eventually.
"No, no, NO!" With frustration, Jim grabbed a rifle and stood on his feet, aiming at the captain's boat. He fired a couple of shots, and almost like the boat had a soul to notice the presences of the incoming laser shots, it evaded each shot seamlessly. Of course, the man behind that was the captain himself.
"Jim! There's no use! I suggest to just run away from him!" Ben advised. Gritting his teeth in anger, Jim nodded down, and headed the boat to a random direction, all for the sake of an escape. Of course, there was no more 'full' power, so their speed was limited, and their altitude reduced each second. With that limitation, they weren't finding themselves escaping. At one point, Jim looked back to see if they were escaping or not, but only to find out the captain's boat was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?!" Jim exclaimed. Everyone onboard turned to the boy, and looked up to the direction where he was looking at. They all came up with the same question, where was the captain?
That question was quickly answered when Ariel spotted an incoming boat from the left flank where she was seated. The boat was flying on a speed she could never even anticipate. The captain's grin gave away a hint of what he was about to do.
"Jim! There—"
He rammed his boat against his target's boat from the left. Its contact sent the ex-mermaid flying on the air. Almost like slow-motion, Jim spotted in the corner of his eye a flying Ariel. He saw her body splashing against the water like a stone skipping on the water, which was unquestionably the most frightening view he'd ever seen, with the planet destruction of Treasure Planet being on the second.
Why?
Because he finally remembered!
ARIEL!"
He hopped off into the water, abandoning the boat that was still going straight. His terrible swimming skills were overshadowed by the willingness inside him. Ariel was nowhere to be seen, and with her absence, Jim was swimming aimlessly.
"Ariel?! Ariel!"
He called for her name, and he turned to a distant noise. A red head breached through the surface, coughing out water afterwards. Jim headed straight over to her.
After clearing her throat from water, Ariel spotted the male swimming over to her. Her eyes widened a bit.
"J-Jim? I thought you couldn't swim?!" Ariel said.
"I-I can't explain that either, Ariel," he said quickly. "It's probably because…" He paused, before their hands reached each other's.
"You're okay, right?" He asked, checking her thoroughly.
"Yes, yes. I've been through worse," she replied.
"Anyway, it's probably because… I remember that," he paused for dramatic effect.
"I still have to tell you what cheese is, and why I told you to say so when I recorded you."
At first, she only crooked a brow. But then, it clicked. She gasped deeply as her hands firmly held onto Jim's shoulders, reducing the gap between their faces.
"Y-You remember me, Jim?!"
"I do! Yes—" he cut himself when he noticed a distant sound of a solar thruster. He looked to his right to spot the incoming boat on a very low altitude. A contact with the hull of that boat and it's a bitter goodbye to each other.
The captain stood proudly on the nose of the boat, smiling a smile that's often seen on the faces of psychos.
"DUCKY DUCK, YOU BRATS!" He exclaimed, hovering his cybernetic arm an inch above the water to catch Jim. Seeing this, Ariel quickly pulled Jim into the water to avoid the captain.
When they're underwater, Jim sealed his eyes to keep them out from the seawater. Ariel, clearly, was used to the seawater. She spectated the captain's cybernetic fingers cutting through the water from above the water, and once he was right above the couple, a loud boom was heard.
Later, she found out that his cybernetic arm fell into the water, not attached to the captain's body. It sunk into the depth.
The two surfaced once again, and Jim opened his eyes to see what had just happened within the last five seconds. It dropped his jaw to see the captain's boat was shattered into burning wood pieces.
"What the hell had just happened?" Jim asked, looking around in confusion. Ariel would ask the same.
But then, he spotted the ship far ahead on the crimson sky, with a feline figure manning the laser ball cannon.
"HAHA! IT WAS AMELIA! Thank god!" Jim exclaimed, clapping his hands.
Far ahead on the ship, Amelia smiled with proudness.
"Bullseye," She said. Her husband clapped in celebration.
The boy looked left and right, to see both boats heading to his direction. There was only one appropriate thing to do in the moment.
"Right… Ari, I suppose you need to—whoa"
She pulled his collar, her lips and his only an inch close. They shared a giggle, and closed their eyes as they leaned forward. In this very moment, magical chains suddenly materialized on both Ariel's wrists. Before she could even gasp, the sun was gone, and she was pulled by those chains into the water. The deal was settled, and the girl didn't seem to accomplish it.
"ARIEL!"
