Author's Note:

Intense action sequences, HURRAY!

Chapter 32: Let's Get Out of Here

A feeling of dread came across the passengers of the RLS Legacy as they each thought of their imminent demise.

Jim thought for a moment, more on an escape plan rather than impending doom, and glanced back at the triangular portal behind them. Of course, why hadn't he thought of it before? Flint's portal could take them anywhere in the Etherium… and anywhere was definitely looking better than the present state of Treasure Planet.

"We gotta turn around!" Jim exclaimed.

"What?" Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia demanded.

"There's a portal back there." He pointed to the triangular doorway above the precipice with its hologram map. "It can get us out of here!" Jim explained.

"Pardon me, Jim…" Doctor Doppler sighed calmly. "But didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?" His calm evaporated as he shouted the words 'raging inferno'.

"Yes," Jim climbed down to the main deck, hurried over to the site of the masts' crash and began dismantling the crushed laser cannon. "But I'm gonna change that…"

The young man pulled out a flattened piece of metal that was slightly taller than him from the wreckage and dragged it towards the starboard railing.

"I'm gonna open a different door." He emphasized his point by slamming the metal board against the starboard railing.

"Captain, really, I don't see how this is possible-" Doctor Doppler looked at the injured woman sitting behind him.

"Listen teh the boy!" Silver hollered, hobbling down to the main deck to help the brunette teenager. Ariah followed him, intrigued by the contraption that Jim was attempting to construct in mere seconds.

"One minute, twenty-nine seconds 'til planet's destruction!" BEN called out to those who were still listening.

"What do yeh need, Jim?" Silver asked, limping over to the young man's side.

Jim pulled over an engine-like section of the laser cannon and placed it at the base of the propped up board. "Just, some way to attach this." He gestured to the cannon.

"All right. Stand back." Silver ordered, switching cyborg arm from a crutch into a welding flame. "Stand back, now." He warned Jim.

Silver cranked up the arc of bright blue-white fire and he fused the engine to the board expertly.

"There yeh go..." Silver switched his mechanical arm back into its regular hand as the white-hot metal slowly cooled off.

"OK." Jim exhaled, preparing to use his makeshift surfer. "Now," He gulped. "No matter what happens..." Jim glared determinedly at the cyborg. "Keep the ship heading straight for that portal."

"Fifty-eight seconds!" BEN yelled fervently.

"Jim." Ariah quickly pulled the leather chain from her neck. "For luck…" She stated as she placed it around Jim's neck.

Her copper-brown eyes were brimming with tears and she feared that she would never get to see the young man ever again.

Jim nodded briefly with a slight smirk. "We'll need it." He leapt off of the railing of the RLS Legacy with the makeshift solar surfer at his feet and blasted out towards the portal.

Silver sighed and turned towards the helm. "Well, yeh heard him!" He shouted. "Get this blasted heap turned 'round!" The pirate captain ordered.

Doctor Doppler glanced helplessly at the feline woman, who sighed.

"Doctor, head us back to the portal." Captain Amelia stated firmly.

"Aye, Captain." Doctor Doppler turned the wheel to the RLS Legacy and began following the speeding teenager.

Ariah thought for a moment and looked down at his solar glider's shoulder straps. She knew that her invention had too many bugs in it to be any safer than the makeshift solar surfer Jim had created. But perhaps it could be of some help to them, as the RLS Legacy still needed some additional thruster power to reach the portal.

She quickly scaled one of the few shrouds that hadn't been knocked off or incinerated by the two masts' collapse. Ariah grasped an empty boom, as its coordinated solar sail had been torn to shreds from the explosion, and she swung over to another rigging.

Agilely, Ariah climbed the riggings until she arrived at an area where there were some bare wires running the length of the shattered mainmast. From here, she could access the RLS Legacy's main generators. Ariah sat on a fixed boom and peeled off her solar glider.

She pulled on her work gloves and began modifying the solar glider so its power would convert into the RLS Legacy's main system instead of its rockets. After a bit of tweaking, Ariah attached the solar glider to the wires running up mainmast and lashed the invention to the great pole with a spare length of rope.

Ariah pulled off her gloves and tossed them aside, as they were now next to useless to control the altered solar glider, and manually unfolded the wings of her solar glider.

The solar cells of the glider's wings charged with the light energy emitting from the planet's core, and it began to function coherently with the RLS Legacy's system. Ariah smiled proudly and quickly made her way down to the main deck before some flying object could pick her off.

"Thrusters improved to 35.5% capacity." BEN stated. "Manoeuvrability increased!"

After implying the augmented chance of evading the flaming shrapnel, the bow of the RLS Legacy was struck, jostling all persons on the main deck and at the helm.

At this time, Ariah had just reached the bottommost boom on the halved mainmast. The unexpected jolt caused her to slip from the boom and land back first on the main deck.

"Ow…" Ariah grumbled, more from annoyance at her increasing amount of injuries than actually from the pain of the landing.

"Ariah." Silver lumbered up to his only child. "Are yeh all right, darling?"

"Yeah…" Ariah inwardly groaned. She took Silver's human hand and was pulled to her feet. The young woman rolled her shoulders. "At the rate I keep getting hurt, I'm going to get senile really fast." She sighed.

Silver chuckled at his daughter's antics while Morph double-checked that the young woman was all right.

"Go to the right… the right!" Captain Amelia yelled to the doctor.

"I know, I know!" Doctor Doppler shouted back at the feline with equal zeal. "Will you just let me drive?" He demanded.

"Twenty-five seconds!" BEN hollered.

Jim weaved through fissures of magma and abruptly rising chunks of metallic terrain with amazing finesse. The blast of hot air kept reminding Jim of his objective and only strengthened his resolve to get his friends and himself out of this dangerous situation.

Suddenly the tip to Jim's solar surfer began to dip downwards as the rocket short-circuited. The makeshift solar surfer was falling towards a rather deep ravine.

"No, No, NO!" Jim's light blue eyes widened as he fell down into the deep crevasse. He was losing all power, and all hope.

"Seventeen seconds until planetary explosion!" BEN called out. The timers across his eyes were slowly ticked down as they edged closer to their demise.

Morph cowered frightfully at Silver's shoulder from the thought of incinerating.

"Come on, lad." Silver whispered under his breath.

Ariah gripped to the side of the Legacy and kept her eyes glued on the ravine where Jim had dropped down. Her knuckles turned white from the tension. "Jim…" She breathed.

The RLS Legacy continued its directed heading towards the triangular portal, which still displayed the hellish core of the planet. They needed Jim's help, or they'd all be doomed.

Jim plummeted down the side of the ravine, towards the bubbling magma core of the planet. The heel of his boot slammed down on the booster of the makeshift solar surfer to no avail; the rocket simply wasn't working.

The young man looked at the walls of the ravine. Metal…He glanced at the short-circuiting cannon and thought profusely. Metal on metal makes heat and sparks… this model of the laser cannon is powered by a combustion engine; which means that it needs heat to warm it, and then a spark to ignite it.

With a yell, Jim slammed the back of the solar surfer into the side of the ravine. Sparks flew from the contact of metal on metal, letting out a high-pitched screech.

The metal of the cannon's barrel began to glow a bright orange as it heated up. The rocket finally fired up and Jim slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

The young man boosted himself out of the ravine and sped straight for the triangular portal at top speed with the RLS Legacy only just behind him.

Ariah nearly yelled with joy the moment she spotted Jim's appearance from the ravine, but then she realized that there was still little time to escape.

BEN counted down morbidly. "Five… four…"

Jim stretched his arm and managed to hit a small moon at the far left of the holographic map; the RLS Legacy was right behind him.

"Three…"

The triangular portal rapidly switched from Treasure Planet's detonating centre to the familiar galaxy's spaceport and they all plunged through the invisible field.

"Two…"

Just nanoseconds after the Legacy exited the portal; a massive explosion destroyed Treasure Planet, jarring the people on the main deck only slightly as the triangular portal collapsed upon its self.

They coasted through space from the waves of the explosion. Flint's legendary trove of a thousand worlds had become yet another asteroid field floating around space; glorified only by stories.

"Yeah!" Jim hollered in triumph, there were echoing cheers coming from the Legacy's upper and lower decks.

"You've done it, Jimmy!" BEN leapt up and down on the spot excitedly.

"Yeh done it, boy! Ha, ha, ha!" Silver waved his hat at the successful teenager.

Morph exploded into clouds of confetti and brightly coloured fireworks.

"Didn't I say the lad 'ad greatness in him?" The cyborg stated simply to the survivors of his former pirate crew, whom were all tied up in the RLS Legacy's brig.

The survivors cheered loudly, exhilarated that they hadn't been incinerated.

Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler hugged each other, paused to realize their forwardness and smiled as they then realized they didn't care.

Jim spun around and then grinded the railing of the RLS Legacy with the tip of his makeshift solar surfer.

The brunette teenager hopped off of his solar surfer, letting it fall out into space, and landed relatively gracefully on the deck. He merely staggered when Ariah ran up to him and gave him a rib-cracking hug.

"Jim! You did it! I can't believe it, but you did it!" Ariah laughed aloud.

"Guess you're luck rubbed off on me." Jim laughed weakly from the lack of air.

Ariah looked up at him with copper-brown eyes that completely radiating with joy. She smiled brightly and kissed the taller teenager fully on the lips.

Jim stumbled back -a bit from surprise- but gripped Ariah around the waist and spun her around on the spot.

There were some unsubtle hoots and wolf whistles –mostly from the last of the pirate crew locked below the deck- at the couple.

The two teenagers separated from their embrace and laughed heartedly at the close call.

"Jimmy, that was unforgettable!" BEN exclaimed happily. "I know you don't like touching… but get ready for a hug, big guy, 'cause I gotta hug you!" BEN leapt up and gave Jim a huge hug.

Jim happily hugged the robot back, ecstatic from escaping the booby-trapped Treasure Planet and certain death itself.

"Hey…" BEN yelped as he was set back down onto his rusty feet. "Y-You hugged me back?" He looked up at the brunette teenager with his wide luminous eyes. "Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry." The robot sobbed loudly. "Does anyone have a tissue?"

The two teenagers laughed simultaneously at the short android. Ariah stepped aside as Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia came forward, to commend the young man.

"Well done Jim!" Doctor Doppler exclaimed, clapping his hand proudly on Jim's shoulder. "Just wait until your mother hears about this." He cleared his throat. "Of course we may downplay the life-threatening parts…"

The brunette teenager chuckled in agreement; knowing what sort of reaction his mother would have over life-threatening situations involving him. There was a slight twinge of homesickness in him, he had had his fun on this voyage… but it was time to go home.

"Unorthodox, but ludicrously effective," Captain Amelia praised Jim. "I'd be proud to recommend you to the interstellar academy." She stated.

Ariah turned away, before she could hear the end of Captain Amelia's offer. Jim's future was working out perfectly and that was it. She quite simply wasn't in it, as she was still a pirate and would ruin the overall perfection.

The black-haired teenager walked towards her cyborg father. A pang of sadness filled her, yet she was glad that at least Jim's future was coming together.

Silver sensed his Ariah's thoughts, and decided to give her a future as he had originally planned. "Yeh don't need teh stick 'round with me yeh know, darling." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeh are just as free teh go with Jimbo as yeh are teh go with me." He smiled warmly, assuring her that she had the ability to make a future for herself.

Ariah smiled weakly. "But I'm not…" She sighed. "I'm a pirate."

"But yeh-" Silver began before Ariah cut him off.

"I'm ready to live a pirate's life, because I want to stay with you, Dad…" Ariah stated firmly. "And, if I go with Jim, I lose you." She shook her head and faced the cyborg. "I don't want to lose my father, ever."

"But if yeh sail with me…" Silver glanced at the brunette teenager. "Yeh lose Jim."

"No…" Ariah sighed gently. "I've left a piece of me with him…" She looked at the group talking with Jim –likely detailing the amazing future he had waiting for him- and she smiled weakly at her father. "I won't lose him."

"Come on, darling..." Silver motioned for his only child to follow him down the steps to the longboats' dock house.

"Wait." Ariah knelt down and grasped a small bag of golden coins from where she had hidden it in her left boot. "Just one more thing…" She stated.

Silver nodded and waited a moment at the top of the stairs.

Ariah walked over to the grated window installed in the ceiling of the RLS Legacy's brig and shoved the bag of coins through one of its holes so it landed at the feet of the nearest tied-up pirate.

"Pay off the judge." Ariah ordered curtly. "I don't want to hear about your deaths anytime soon." She nodded.

The surviving crewmembers looked up at the young woman with looks of mixed gratitude and confusion.

Onus spoke up. "Why would you do this for us, Miss Clarke?"

Ariah smiled weakly. "Because that's what friends do…" She stood up from the grated window. "They help out each other."

The pirates simply kept on their masks of confusion, granting a silent laugh from Ariah.

The young woman wordlessly turned towards her father and walked away from the grated window. John Silver beamed admirably at what his daughter had done and then escorted her down to the lower decks. Ariah carefully helped the cyborg, as his mechanical leg was still damaged.

Now was their only chance they had to avoid getting hung or arrested for piracy.

"And Miss. Clarke has much mechanical finesse." Doctor Delbert Doppler stated, remembering the young woman's manipulation of her solar glider into a basic solar sail.

"Precisely." Captain Amelia agreed thoughtfully. "I'm sure that she'd be an excellent candidate for Interstellar Academy's School of mechanics and engineering." The two hybrids looked around the main deck. "But where in the Etherium is she?"

Jim lifted Ariah's necklace from around his neck and looked at it in his palm. He thought for a moment and sighed. He had a hunch what they were doing now.

"I've got to go." The young man quickly bolted across the deck towards the steps to the lower decks; receiving odd looks from the two hybrids.

Author's Note:

Hark! There art one other chapter I doth see, la-te-da…

So thanks to Whisperwings for editing this chapter!

MG#6