The planet started to go up fast.

"Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure, so he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite!"

The lasers dropped into the treasure and made a sinking chasm. All the gold started to disappear right before their eyes.

"Run, guys!" B.E.N. screamed. "Run for your life!"

"You two go back and help the captain and Doc! If I'm not there in five minutes, leave without me!"

"I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy!"

B.E.N. pulled on Jim's legs and Jim gave him a very, very fierce glare.

"Unless he looks at me like that! Bye, Jim!"

The robot took off through the portal to go back to the skiff.

"Yeah, well, I'm not leaving you!" Danica yelled over the roar of the planet's activity. "Not after all of this!"

Jim and Danica started putting together wires to start up the ship. After some work, the cannons fired up and Jim started to steer it to the portal. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Danica, we are so out of here!"

"Ah, Jimbo! Danica! Aren't you both just the seventh wonder of the universe!"

They spun around to find Silver boarding the ship. Jim grabbed a sword and aimed it at him. "Get…back!" he growled.

Danica didn't have a sword, but she did have her fists and they had gotten her far in her life. She stood next to Jim in a fighter stance, ready to take down the man she had once looked up to.

"I like ya both, but I've come too far to let ya stand between me and my treasure."

Silver approached them menacingly, but before anyone could do anything, a laser hit the ship sending them all over the edge. Silver managed to grab onto the ship, but Jim and Danica weren't so lucky.

Jim got thrown roughly overboard and he managed to hang onto a piece of metal jutting out of the wall before he was sent into the fiery abyss below.

Danica held on to the edge of a slanted platform, but there was nothing to grab onto and she could feel herself slipping. She managed to turn her head and saw Jim dangling from his perch.

"Jim!" she screamed. She attempted to pull herself up so she could help him, but each attempt failed.

Suddenly, she felt Silver's hand on hers and he roughly yanked her up.

"Grab him," he ordered.

She nodded as he took her foot and leaned out over the platform she had just been hanging on.

"Jim!" she screamed. "Grab my hand!"

He extended his hand as far as he could, but there was too much space between them. "I can't!" he screamed back.

He fell further after the piece he was hanging on retracted into the wall.

"Jim!" Danica screamed again. "Silver! I need to go lower!"

Silver looked between Jim and the ship. "Oh, blast me for a fool!" he yelled. He released the ship and sent Danica far enough to grab Jim just as the piece he was hanging on retracted. Silver flung the both of them up onto the platform and they watched as the ship exploded, destroying the last of the treasure.

Jim grabbed Danica's hand and the three of them all raced back to the portal.

"Silver!" Jim cried. "You gave up—"

"Just a lifelong obsession, Jim," Silver answered. "I'll get over it."

The Legacy touched down right in front of them.

"Hurry, people!" B.E.N. yelled. "We've got exactly two minutes and 34 seconds till planet's destruction!"

The three of them boarded the ship and set off. Suddenly, the mast broke off and destroyed the cannons. They were working at 30% capacity. Which meant it was impossible to get off the planet for it exploded.

"We gotta turn around," Jim said.

"What?" Amelia asked.

"There's a portal back there! It can get us out of here!"

"Pardon me, Jim," Doppler said. "But didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?"

"Yes, but I'm gonna change that! I'm gonna open a different door!"

"He's right, Doctor! Trust me!" Danica screamed. She and Silver ran over to Jim.

"What do you need, Jim?" Silver asked.

"Just some way to attach this," he answered.

Danica put together that he must be making some kind of surfer to get to the portal in time. "Alright, stand back!" Silver's hand turned into a welder and he fused the two pieces together. They loaded it onto the side of the ship.

"Okay, now no matter what happens, keep the ship headed straight for that portal!"

"Jim, wait!" Danica yelled. She took his shirt in her hands and threw her lips onto his in a rough kiss. "Come back to me."

He nodded to her and took off on his makeshift surfer.

"I'll talk to you about that one later," Silver said to her. "Well you heard him! Get this blasted heap turned around!"

Danica watched as Jim flew faster and faster back to the portal. Then he ran out of engines and started sinking.

"Jim!" she cried.

"Come on, lad!" Silver urged.

She looked up at Silver with fearful eyes and he grasped his hand in hers. The ship kept going for the portal but it would be pointless if the door wasn't changed!

Just as the ship floated over the place where Jim sank, he flew back up and changed the portal a millisecond before they got there.

"YES!" Danica shouted as they arrived at Montressor Spaceport. "HE DID IT!"

"Didn't I say the lad had greatness in him?" Silver exclaimed.

Jim landed back on the ship and Danica ran over to him and crashed into him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Unorthodox," Amelia said as she came over. "But ludicrously effective. I'd be proud to recommend you to the Interstellar Academy. They could use a man like you."

Danica smiled at him proudly.

"Just wait until your mother hears about this!" Doppler exclaimed. "Of course, we may downplay the life-threatening parts."

"Jimmy, that was unforgettable!" B.E.N. said. "I know you don't like touching, but get ready for a hug, big guy, cause I gotta hug ya!"

B.E.N. hugged Jim and then Jim picked him up and hugged him back happily.

"Hey, you hugged me back. Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry." He started sobbing on Jim's shoulder. "Does anyone have a tissue?"

"Jim," Danica said quietly. "Silver."

They both went to where the skiffs where and found Silver and Morph releasing one of them.

"You never quit, do you?" Jim said.

"Ah, Jimbo! Danica! I was merely checking to make sure our last longboat was safe and secure."

Danica scoffed at him. "Sure," she said with a smile.

"Well," Jim said examining Silver's knot. He undid it and made a new one. "That should hold it."

Silver chuckled. "I taught you too well."

Jim and Danica gave him suspicious looks.

"If you don't mind, we'd just as soon avoid prison. Little Morphy here, he's a free spirit. Being in a cage, it'd break his heart."

Danica looked at Jim with a sigh and then a smile. She pulled the lever to open the floor while Jim undid his previous knot.

"What say ya both ship out with us? Us three, Hawkins, Silver, and Danica, full of ourselves and no ties to anyone!"

Jim laughed. "You know, when I got on this boat, I would've taken you up on that offer in a second. But, uh, I met this old cyborg and this girl who had a really hard head. And they taught me that I could chart my own course and the only person I ever have to prove anything to is myself. That's what I'm gonna do."

"And what do you see off that bow of yours?"

"A future."

Silver laughed. "Why look at ya, glowing like a solar fire. You're something special, Jim. You're gonna rattle the stars, you are. And you Miss Danica, I couldn't be prouder of ya for stickin' up for yourself with this crew…and finally letting someone in."

Danica felt her eyes mist with tears. She looked over and saw the same was happening for Jim. Two tears made their way down her cheeks, but she made no effort to wipe them away.

The three of them shared a tight group hug as tears came down each of their faces

Silver cleared his throat. "Got a bit of grease in this cyborg eye of mine."

Danica laughed and felt another tear make its way down her face.

"It means a lot to hear you say that, Silver," she mustered out.

Morph sobbed and turned into a puddle of tears in Jim's hands. "Oh, hey, Morph. We'll see ya around, okay?"

"See ya around," Morph chirped. He flew over and rested on Silver's fingers.

"Morphy, l got a job for ya," Silver said. "I need you to keep an eye on these here pups. Make sure they don't do anything they're not supposed to. Will ya do me that little favor?"

Morph giggled and flew over to Jim and Danica and nuzzled their cheeks.

"Oh, and one more thing!" Silver said as he started to go down on the skiff. "This is for your dear mother to rebuild that inn of hers!" He tossed them up some of the treasure he must've kept!

"Stay out of trouble, ya old scalawag," Jim said.

"Why, Jimbo, lad, when have l ever done otherwise?" he laughed.

"I love you, Silver," Danica called after him.

"I love ya too, Miss Danica!"

Jim and Danica watched him go then looked at each other. Without any words, they once again pressed their lips together. Morph squealed and covered his eyes, but neither of them noticed.

Bright and early that morning, Danica and Jim disembarked the Legacy in search for Jim's mother. Jim took Danica's hand and led her through the crowds. Finally, Jim spotted her.

"Come on!" he said to Danica.

He touched his mother on the shoulder and hugged her tightly. She seemed shocked at first but then tightly hugged him back. She noticed that he seemed so much happier than when he had left, like a thousand pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Mom, this is Danica," Jim introduced.

Oh, now Sarah understood. She could see the way they were looking at each other. Oh, how she missed young love!

Sarah immediately took a shine to Danica. With the money Silver had given them, Sarah, Danica, Doppler, Amelia, and B.E.N. rebuilt Sarah's inn.

Jim was sent to the Interstellar Academy per Amelia's recommendation. While Danica was truly happy for him, she really missed him. He only got to come home every few months, and even then his visits were quite short.

Doppler and Amelia had since married and had four beautiful children.

After almost a year of working on the inn, it was finally time for its grand reopening. Everyone in town came. Jim was expected, but he did not know when exactly he would be there.

In the middle of the party after the ribbon was cut, the door banged open to reveal two officers. And then they parted to reveal Jim in a nice white suit with his hair much neater, having graduated from the Academy. Everyone cheered for him as the officers saluted him.

He ran over to Danica and picked her up and spun around with her. When he set her down, they shared their first kiss in nearly a whole year.

The crowd started dancing and formed an aisle in the middle. Jim bowed across from Danica who curtseyed and they danced together through the aisle of people.

The party went on well into the night. Danica and Jim at one point were by the window alone.

"Do you miss him as much as I do?" Danica asked him.

"Yeah, I do. But he's out there. And I have a really strong feeling that one day, we'll see him again."

Danica smiled at him and kissed him once more. He rested his arm on her shoulders and they looked out the window at the beautiful stars. They could've sworn they heard Silver's laugh as he went on the next adventure the winds took him on.

I literally had tears running down my face when I wrote what Silver said to Danica about him being proud of her. It really touched a nerve *sniff* :')

Hope you enjoyed!