Chapter 7: The Destination

The next couple weeks aboard the Black Pearl went by extremely slow. Every morning, Jim was summoned by the captain to read the map and then sent back below deck. After a few days, Barbossa finally realized that his third prisoner had vanished and took it out on Jim. The scars from the whip were close to being completely healed and he could almost lay down on his back again. He didn't regret his decision. Alice and the rest of his family were safe and that is all that mattered. Well, that and keeping himself and the queen alive. Jim thought of Alice's warning about Scroop and kept his eyes open, but he still had not seen him once. He thought she must've imagined it, but he wasn't ready to let his guard down just yet.

"How much longer until this beauty finds land again?" Jack asked his jail mate.

"We'll probably be there by tomorrow," Jim replied as he used Jack's knife to carve into a piece of wood.

Jack smiled and leaned back against the bars of his cell in silence.

Jim looked over at his acquaintance and wondered what was going on in his head. "So what's your plan, Jack?" he asked, hoping he wasn't a part of it. Even though he did agree to help Jack before, he wasn't in the mood for another whipping if they didn't succeed.

Jack looked up and grinned. "That's for my mind only, Hawkins. You'll find out soon enough."

Jim glanced at Morph, who had been resting on his shoulder, and they shrugged at each other. As long as he wasn't part of Jack's plan, Jim could care less what the old scallywag did.

"B.E.N. where are they?" Alice asked the robot for the umpteenth time over the past few weeks.

B.E.N. checked his navigation device that he was using to track both Jim and the I.S.U. and gave Alice yet another update. "They're close to Jimmy. Judging by their velocity, they should arrive in Never land tomorrow. Then Jimmy will be home before you know it!"

Sarah came over from the stairs to the table where the two were sitting and gave Alice a small, reassuring hug. "They'll bring him back, Sweetie. I know it. And even if they don't, Jim will find a way back home with or without them."

Alice smiled back at her mother-in-law as she watched her walk to the kitchen to cook dinner. Sarah was right. The I.S.U. almost always succeeded on rescue missions. There were only a few instances that resulted in failure but other than that, they were reliable. Jim would come back. She had to believe that, not only for herself, but for everyone else. Besides, stress couldn't be good for the baby. She smiled and looked down at her belly as she thought about what was growing there. "If your daddy doesn't come back soon, Momma's not going to be happy," she whispered. She then joined Sarah in cooking dinner and pushed all of the doubt from her mind.

"Land ho!" Barbossa yelled from bow as he peered through his telescope. The crew cheered and hustled to their stations, preparing to land on the new planet. Jim heard all of the commotion and readied himself to be retrieved again to open the map.

"They should just give you a key, Mate," Jack said jokingly.

"I know right," Jim agreed.

Sure enough, the familiar aliens came down the steps of the brig with the keys to take Jim to the captain. As they took a hold of Jim's arms, more forceful than necessary, Jack took the distraction to his advantage and stealthily swiped the ring of keys from the fat aliens pocket. He waited until the brig was vacated before he unlocked his cell door and snuck onto the deck.

"You there!" Barbossa said, forgetting the alien's name. "Fetch someone else and go get the mermaid out from my cabin."

"Aye, aye!" the alien replied with a salute.

Barbossa then caught sight of one of his prisoners approaching him.

"Hawkins," Barbossa ordered as the ship landed smoothly on the planet. "Lead us to the fountain." He then chucked the map at Jim, which he barely caught, and waited for which direction to go.

Jim opened the map quickly to reveal they're destination. "We need to head west, Captain," he informed. Barbossa then took the map from the boy and shoved it in his pocket.

As the longboat made its way toward the shore of the familiar planet, Jim took notice in what little change had occurred since the last time he had come here. The water on this planet was as crystal clear as ever, revealing the strange creatures that lurked beneath. The white sand on the beach ran all the way up to the vast jungle which contained carious types of plants and animals that he had encountered last time. Just beyond the tops of the palm trees, Jim could just barely spot Father Time's blue castle which was disguised to blend into the sky. He could see it now, since he knew where to look. It took him what seemed years when he had to find it before. He then wondered if Father Time knew that he was there. Probably. He looked up and noticed how fast the sky was changing in the area that they were headed. This triggered the most vital memory of this dangerous planet. In some regions on Never land, time slowed down, and on others, it sped up. No one knows how much time has really passed until they leave the planet. That was what worried Jim the most. How much more time would pass before he would start his journey back home? That is, if he survived.

"Tie 'er up lads," Barbossa ordered as he exited the boat onto the sandy shore. The aliens tied the boat up to a near by tree and then took hold of the mermaid's tank and carried her over to the captain.

Jim followed the oblivious captain as he strut up the beach and into the jungle, clueless of what to expect amongst the trees. About an hour went by before Barbossa made Jim check the map again. They had made several wrong turns and a few of the crew members fell into animal traps or got stung by killer wasps. Jim knew where to avoid these things, and somehow, the captain didn't have any trouble either.

The sky was getting dark when a cannon shot was heard from back in the direction of the ship. "What was that?" Jim asked. Three more shots were heard from that same direction before Barbossa looked around and saw someone missing.

"Where be Jack?" he yelled at the crew. "Who was supposed to fetch Jack Sparrow from the brig?"

The entire crew turned their heads to the pair of aliens that Jim was so familiar with. Barbossa walked slowly up to the idiot creatures. "Why didn't you get him?" he asked as he pulled out his pistol.

"We-uh-we didn't know you meant both of them-uh-Sir," the fat one tried to explain.

"We thought you only meant Jim, Sir," the little one said.

"Oh you did? Why would I let The Black Pearl's former captain be left alone on my ship while the rest of us hiked through this bloody jungle, giving him all the time in the world to take it back?" Barbossa challenged.

"Uh-I don't know, Captain," the taller one said.

"We are sorry, Captain," the short one pleaded.

Barbossa cocked the pistol and raised it up to the idiots. "Well I'm not." He then pulled the trigger twice and both aliens fell to the ground lifeless.

The crew was silent. The only sounds audible were coming from the ship that was a couple miles away. Barbossa put his gun away and turned to face the crew. "The next time one of ye' disobeys my orders, you'll end up like these buffoons."

"Aye, Captain," was heard from every crew member.

"We are going back to the ship," he ordered. No one moved out of fright. "Now!" Barbossa yelled and the entire crew basically sprinted through the jungle back to the beach.

Relief flowed through Jim as he noticed that the cannons weren't coming from The Black Pearl. They were coming from another ship that was pursuing The Pearl. It was The Dauntless. One of the I.S.U.'s ships, the same one that Jim would've been captain on, had this little escapade not happened. He was going to get his life back. Jim turned his attention to The Pearl. He knew that Jack was on it, but he didn't see him anywhere on deck. What was he doing?

All of the sudden, The Dauntless stopped firing at The Pearl and slowly turned, facing it's cannons at the shoreline.

"Take cover!" Barbossa yelled as the cannons were being fired at his crew. Sand was flying everywhere around them as the weaponry was being fired. Jim didn't hesitate as he ran toward the jungle hoping for safety. He turned from behind a tree to witness the scene. Cannons were still being fired at the surviving crew members as they tried to gain shelter and not trip over other alien bodies lying dead on the sand.

"You!"

Jim turned to find Barbossa only three feet away staring straight at him, his gun aiming at Jim's forehead. His heart was pounding. He wasn't sure if he could take Barbossa on in a fight again, especially when he was sober. 'This is it,' he thought to himself as Barbossa inched closer, resting the tip of the pistol against his forehead.

"You led them here didn't ye' boy! You're going to pay for this-"

All of the sudden, a large, bright red claw, wrapped itself around Barbossa's neck and cut off his sentence. The gun dropped to the ground as Barbossa tried to pull the claw loose from his throat. It lifted Barbossa up a few feet in the air before it twisted and snapped his neck, quickly killing him. Jim watched in horror as the captain's body dropped to the ground with a thud and revealed the claw's owner.

"We meet again, Cabin Boy," Scroop said with an evil sneer.

Jim had to think fast. How in the world was he going to fight Scroop? He was barely able to defeat him before on the way to Treasure Planet. He was screwed. He looked down and saw Barbossa's pistol next to him. He swiftly picked it up off the ground and turned to find that his opponent had vanished.

Jack poked his head out from inside the barrel that he had been hiding in since he didn't hear anymore cannons hitting his ship. He scanned his surroundings, the ship was completely deserted. He awkwardly climbed out of the barrel and landed flat on the wooden floor of the deck. "Ow," he muttered, his face pressed against the ground. He then stood up and looked over the side to watch the scene below. He saw The Pearl's former crew trying to outrun and dodge cannons that were being fired at them from the I.S.U. "Well, time to go!" he said to himself as he quickly prepared his ship to hoist anchor and sail far away from this planet.

Jim scanned the tree tops above him, and the bushes around him. No sign of Spider Psycho anywhere. "Where are you, you ugly bug," he muttered, his heart pounding.

"Right here, boy," Scroop said as he slapped Jim in the back of the head with his claw. Jim toppled over onto the ground, his head throbbing. He turned over and saw Scroop standing above him. "I've been waiting so long for this," he snickered as he pinched his deadly claws over and over again.

As Scroop started to lean forward to strike, adrenaline rushed through Jim and in an instant, he used his arm to knock Scroop's legs off of the ground, making him lose his balance and fall into the bushes. Jim then, ignoring his head ache, jumped up and sprinted to the beach. He knew that Scroop wouldn't be able to hide out in the open.

As soon as Jim's boots hit the sand, one of Scroop's claws wrapped itself around Jim's neck, cutting off his air supply. Jim then remembered that he still had Jack's knife in his pocket from before. He took the knife out in a matter of seconds and drove it into the claw. Scroop released his grip and held his claw while he cursed from the pain.

Jim took in a huge gulp of air to refill his lungs as he landed back on the ground. Then, Jim suddenly noticed something else in his pocket. "Morph? Where have you been? I could've used you, you know," he said frustrated. But before the pink blob could answer, Scroop swung at Jim again. To everyone's surprise, Jim dodged it just in time, leaving the attacker angrier than before. He swung again and again, but Jim ducked and jumped just before his claws could touch him.

Even though he felt that he was winning, Jim knew how much danger he was in. Cannons were still firing on the beach which made it even more difficult to concentrate on Scroop's actions when sand was flying everywhere.

'That's it!' he thought. 'I can use the cannons!' After one more swing to duck under, Jim took off into the death zone. He jumped over bodies on the ground and dodged a few cannons, knowing that Scroop wasn't far behind. His lungs were burning as his legs were moving full speed across the slippery sand. He had to end this fast. 'I need to let him catch up,' he thought to himself, hoping that his plan would work. He started to slow his pace down and waited for Scroop to come closer.

Sure enough, the big spider was at Jim's heels in no time. 'Perfect,' Jim thought as he kept slowing down. He turned and led them toward the cannons again, but this time, he stopped dead in his tracks and waited.

"You're mine now, Cabin Boy!" Scroop sneered as he raised his claw in the air, ready to strike. All of the sudden, Jim fell face down in the sand, covering his head as if Scroop had already hit him. "Huh?" Scroop said. But before he could even look up, the cannon that Jim just dodged smashed into his spider-like body and sent him ten yards back, crashing hard into the sand.

Jim slowly stood up, not taking his eyes off his enemy. He hesitantly walked up to the spider to observe the damage. He looked dead, but just to be sure, he took the knife that was still in his hand and drove it through Scroop's heart.

"Morph!" he called to his pink friend. Morph traveled over from behind a tree where he had been hiding once he heard his name. "Can I use you for a minute, Buddy?" he asked.

"Yesyoucan, yesyoucan!" he chirped and waited for his job description.

"Can you go up to The Dauntless and tell them to send a boat down here to take the queen to safety?"

Morph nodded and transformed into a rocket that took off toward The Dauntless.

After about five minutes of searching, Jim found the mermaid in her tank at the edge of the jungle. Beside the tank were two dead aliens that must've been hit by a cannon, or debris, and made it as far as the edge of the trees before they died.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Jim asked the beautiful creature.

"Yes," she said softly. "I'm alright."

"Good. The Dauntless should be sending a team down to take us to safety in a few minutes," he informed her.

Just as he said the words, a longboat carrying at least ten men landed on the shore to bring the queen and her rescuer back home.