I do not own any characters involved in this story, which is also not my idea. Jaqulin Strife belongs to me!


Chapter 4: The Adventure Begins

The rain died down and the moon came out, giving little light. Jaqulin and Aerith stayed with Jack in his home—which was filled with ghost hunting contraptions and of other strange objects. But his library (not like he used his books, though) was warm and comforting beside the fireplace.

Aerith sat in Jack's red reading chair as the fire roared with life and warmth. Jaqulin placed a blanket carefully on her mother's shoulders without a word.

"I just spoke to the constabulary," Jack said, his voice echoing off the large walls of the library. "Those darn pirate-like guys left without a trace." He placed a blanket on Aerith's shoulder's and knelt down so he could look the woman in the face. "I'm sorry, Aerith. The old Kingdom Hearts Inn has burnt to the ground."

Aerith didn't answer. She only wrapped the blanket closer about her shoulders, her head lowering. Jaqulin wanted to say something, but decided against it and went to lean against a table away from Aerith and Jack. She took out the pink sphere to examine it.

Jack cleared his throat. "Well, uh, that was a lot of trouble caused by that little ball, huh?" he said. "Those markings on it are crazy!"

While Jack went on, Jaqulin was pressing the little circles present on the odd little ball. Something clicked and Jaqulin grinned. She started pressing more buttons and turned the ball many times before its sides shot out and a purple light soared from inside.

"Hey! I was gonna solve that!" Jack exclaimed.

Jaqulin's jaw dropped open as the lights created a dome-shaped grid over everyone's head. Little planets appeared around them.

"A map! It's almost like my Ghost Zone one! In fact, just like it!" Jack cried, grinning. "Oh, wait! Look at this. It's our planet Disney!"

"If it's planet Disney, what are you doing here?" Jaqulin asked, folding her arms.

"Questions later, Jaqulin." Jack reached with his finger and touched the bright planet. Suddenly, all the planets rushed at him, like they were leading somewhere. "Hey, that's my home planet! Planet Nickelodeon!"

Aerith stepped forward, amazed. A planet hit Jaqulin's stomach, broke apart, then formed itself again when it passed her.

"Planet Cartoon Network, Planet Fox, Planet…okay, I'm bored." Jack's head shot up. "Wait, what the heck is this one? Oh…it can't be…but it is! It's…it's…" A large green planet with a ring surrounding it hovered above them.

"Treasure Planet," Jaqulin breathed.

"No way!"

"That's Treasure Planet!"

"Grievous' little trove thing? The loot of a thousand worlds?" Jack asked himself. "Do you two even know what this means?"

"It means…all of Grievous' treasure is just a boat ride away," Jaqulin remarked, tossing the sphere into the air and catching it.

"Man, whoever brings back all that gold and shiny stuff would be on top of all other explorers in the world!" Jack exclaimed, excited. "He would be able to experience…" The map disappeared and the lights flashed on. "Whoo! What just happened?"

Jaqulin strode over to Aerith, sphere in hand. "Mom, this is it," she said. "This is the answer to all our problems."

"Jaqulin, there is no way…" Aerith began.

"Don't you remember? All those stories?"

"That's all they were: stories!" Aerith cried.

"Think about it, Mom!" Jaqulin pleaded. "With that treasure, we could rebuild the KH a hundred times over!"

"Well, this is…it's just…oh, my…Jack, would you please explain how ridiculous this is?" Aerith said, turning to Jack.

"It's absolutely nuts!" Jack exclaimed. "Going around the galaxy by yourself…it's…well, it's dumb."

Aerith smiled triumphantly at Jaqulin. "Now we hear some sense!" she said. Jaqulin frowned at her mother.

"Which is precisely why I'm going with you."

Aerith whirled around. "Jack!"

Jaqulin looked up with a surprised grin as Jack scurried around packing up his things. "I'll use my savings to pay for the expedition," Jack said to himself. "I'll commission a ship, hire a captain and crew…"

"You're not serious," Aerith remarked, watching her friend

Jack climbed up a pile of unread books to fetch his toothbrush, grabbing it and stuffing it into his suitcase. "All my life I've been waiting for something like this to happen and here it is screaming, 'Go, Jack! Go, Jack! Go!'"

"Okay, okay, you're both grounded!" Aerith screamed, ending Jack's excitement. She sighed and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Mom…look," Jaqulin reasoned, approaching her mother. "I know that I keep messing everything up. And I know…"—Jaqulin sighed—"that I let you down."

Aerith relaxed a little when she heard her daughter's words and she gazed at Jaqulin.

"But this is my chance to make it up to you." Jaqulin looked pleadingly into Aerith's blue eyes. "I'm gonna set things right."

"Aerith?" Jack whispered, pulling Aerith aside. "I have somethin' to say. You told me today you've tried everything. There's much worse things that can done than a few character-building months in space." Jack waited for Aerith's answer. Aerith glanced over her shoulder at her beautiful daughter, then back at Jack.

"Are you saying this because it's the right thing, or you really want to go?" Aerith asked, giving Jack a knowing look after the last question.

Jack clasped his hands together in a begging way. "I really, really, really, really, really, REALLY wanna go," he whined. "AND it's the right thing."

Aerith turned completely to face Jaqulin, her face sorrowful. "Jaqulin…I don't want to lose you," she murmured, brushing her hand along Jaqulin's soft cheek. Jaqulin grabbed her mother's hand gently.

"Mom…you won't," Jaqulin responded confidently with a smile. "I'm going to make you proud."

Aerith returned the smile, but it wasn't given whole-heartedly.

"Okay then," Jack said. "There you have it. We'll make preparations right away! Jaqulin, my girl, pretty soon we'll be off to the spaceport!" He pointed to the crescent moon in the sky, which was actually the spaceport.


Jack and Jaqulin walked through the crowded streets of foreign aliens selling their goods and calling prices out. Jaqulin was in her usual green belly tank-top, khaki capris, green and black shoes, and black vest with a knapsack slung over her shoulder. Jack, on the other hand, had worn his white and green ghost-fighting suit called the Fenton Peeler. Jaqulin said nothing about it even though she really wanted to.

"Well, Jaq, this should be a good opportunity to get to know each other, eh?" Jack said, hugging Jaqulin from the side and squeezing her a couple times with his massive arm. "You know what they say! You can't trust what you can't see! Oh, wait…that's for ghosts. But I'm sure…"

"Jack, let's just find the ship, okay?" Jaqulin suggested, trying hard not to laugh. She continued walking toward the docks. She approached a mouse and duck cleaning a window to ask for directions.

"Second berth on your right!" the duck quacked.

"You can't miss it!" the mouse added.

"Great. Thanks, Donald! Thanks, Mickey!" Jaqulin said with a wave. Jack finally caught up with her, clanking all the way.

"It's the suit, isn't it?" Jack asked. "I didn't know what else to bring and I didn't know if there was gonna be a ghost attack at some point and…" Jack bumped into Jaqulin, who had stopped. The teen gave him a tired look. "Oh, Jaqulin! I think this is our ship! The R.L.S Mickey!" Jack kept on walking while Jaqulin stared at the enormous ship.

"Whoa," she said to herself before following Jack.