Chapter 20: Escaping the Legacy
In the stateroom, Jim and Rose revealed to Captain Amelia and Delbert about what they overheard about Silver as the pirate captain, the mutiny, and Scroop as the true murderer of Mr. Arrow. The captain was horrified to learn the truth of Mr. Arrow's death, but she was furious to discover the crew were pirates.
"Pirates on my ship?! I'll see they all hang!" Captain Amelia yelled, opening the cabinet and loaded up a gun. She tossed it over to Delbert. "Doctor, familiar with these?"
Delbert caught the weapon and hesitantly held it between his fingers, until holding it in his hand, unaware it was powering it up. "Oh, I've seen… uh… well… I've read…" he stammered, until the gun shot off a laser and shattered a lantern next to the captain, with a wide-eyed expression.
"Uh no, no. No, I'm not," the Doctor admitted, sheepishly, making the Captain roll her eyes in annoyance. She held the sphere of the map within her clawed hand and Morph gazed at his reflection.
Then a sizzling was heard and the teens turned back to see the lock on the door, turning from a polished gray to hot red and sparks appeared. The pirates from outside were attempting to break in.
"Mr. Hawkins," Captain Amelia said. "Defend this with your life!" She tossed the map to Jim, only for Morph to catch it with his mouth.
"Morph, give me that!" Jim yelled, playing tug of war with the blob. He managed to free the map and put it in his pocket.
Outside, the pirates were aiming their guns at the Captain's door and shooting lasers to break down the door. Silver shoved his way through and halted their shots.
"Oh, you're taking all day about it," he said, impatiently.
The cyborg transformed his arm into a cannon, loaded it, and shot down the door, creating an explosion. After the smoke cleared, the pirates entered the stateroom to find it empty. Silver looked around until his eyes noticed a hole on the floor, created by a laser gun.
"Oh, stop 'em!" he yelled, throwing a crewmember, Greedy down the hole.
Captain Amelia led the way, with Jim, Rose, Delbert, Morph, and Artemis following after her. Jim and Rose ran through the passages with ease, while Delbert was running clumsily, nearly slipping, and caught up with them. They turned to a corner with the stairs in view and hurried down them, Delbert yelled and leapt down the stairs.
The crew: Hands, Dogbreath, and Mackriki ran through the passages and were gaining on them. Amelia grabbed Delbert and threw him to safety. She pulled a lever that slammed a door on the crew as they were getting closer.
"Thank you!" Delbert cried.
The captain pulled out her gun and began to melt the lock.
"To the longboats, quickly!" she called and ran after them.
Jim, Rose, and Delbert arrived at are where the longboats were stored. The brunette boy helped the auburn-redhead get in a boat first, and climbed in. Delbert clumsily got into the boat and landed on his head.
Captain Amelia pulled onto a lever, opening the hatch below for the long boat to fly out. Jim and Rose looked down, hoping their escape would be quicker. At the door, the pirates began to melt down the door with their laser guns from outside. The captain sprinted to the boat, flipped and yelled. She landed in the boat next to Delbert and cocked her rifle.
Seeing Jim distracted, Morph snatched up the map from the boy's pocket and flew away! "Morph! No!"
The teenage boy leapt out from the boat and landed on the scaffold. He looked ahead to see Morph flying away with the map. Outside, the door broke down and Hands, Dogbreath, and Mackriki entered and began to shoot with their weapons at the captain, doctor, and the girl. Rose ducked down in the boat and covered her head with her hands.
"Chew on this, ya pus-filled boils!" Amelia yelled, firing back at them.
The pirates began to make their way towards the longboat. The captain ducked behind the mast of the sail; Delbert, hesitantly and nervously, stood up, placed his left finger on his ear and held up his gun and fired a laser towards the ceiling. The laser broke off a piece of the hanging lantern and broke through the board! The impact caused Hands, Dogbreath, and Mackriki fall out of the ship.
The captain glanced down and turned to the doctor. "Did you actually aim for that?" she asked, clearly impressed. This too, amazed Rose.
"You know, actually I did?" Delbert said, amazed by his action.
Captain Amelia immediately ducked into the boat, pushing Delbert by his head, as lasers were fired towards them. Silver arrived, with a sinister smile, and pulled the lever, closing the hatch.
"Oh no!" Rose gasped in terror, realizing that they wouldn't escape.
"Oh, blast it!" Captain Amelia growled, before turning her head to the ceiling to see the boat attached to the rope. "Doctor when I say 'now', shoot up the forward cable, I'll take this one!" she ordered to Delbert, and he nodded in agreement.
"Stay down, Rose," she ordered, and the girl nodded obediently. She ducked down, but peered her eyes over the edge to watch Jim chase Morph.
"Morph, here! Morph!" Silver heard Jim's voice and turned around. The boy spun around to catch Morph and the map.
"Morph!" the blob turned to the cyborg. "Morphy, come here!" Silver called, whistling to the shape-shifter as if he were a dog.
"Morph! Morph! Bring it here," Jim called, beckoning to the blob. "Morph, come here."
"Come here. Come here, boy. Come to your dad. Come here, boy," the ursid persuaded his pet, only to make the blob hesitate on whether to give the map back to his master or the cabin boy.
"Morph! Come on! Morph! Morph, here!"
"Morphy!"
"Morph!"
Frustrated, Morph dove into a pile of rope to hide with the map. Then, the map began to float and break apart into pink blobs to reveal Morph, laughing. Silver made his way to the ropes, only to trip and clutch his injured leg. He crawled over, reached his robotic arm for the map with a grin, only for Jim to snatch it.
The boy glanced at the cyborg for a moment with a glare and ran away. Silver switched his arm to a gun and powered it up to fire at the boy. But then, he dropped his gun, sighed in hesitation, and didn't have the heart to shoot the boy. Rose grew confused, if Silver had betrayed both of them, why didn't he shoot Jim?
Rose watched Jim jumped into the boat and her adoptive mother yelled, "Now!"
Captain Amelia and Delbert fired their guns at the cables and they snapped, freeing the boat from the ceiling. The boat fell back and landed on the hatch. Jim grabbed the boat and hung on the edge.
The longboat fell out of the ship and Jim barely managed to hold on as the wind rushed pass his ears.
"Jim!" Delbert called. He grabbed the boy by his shirt on pulled him in.
Captain Amelia yanked down a rope and released the sail on the mast, halting the boat from falling.
"Parameters met! Hydraulics engaged!" she yelled, pressing a few buttons. The longboat powered up and flew away from the ship as fast as it could.
Back on the ship, Meltdown was sitting at one of the cannons and was aiming towards the longboat. "That's it, come to Papa!" he said.
Silver ran towards the cannon and attempted to push it away.
"Hold your fire! We'll lose the map!" he yelled. Even though the cyborg cared about the map and betrayed Jim and Rose, he still couldn't help but be concerned for them. It was too late, Meltdown already fired and a laser ball was flying straight towards the longboat.
"Captain! Laser ball at 12 o'clock!" Delbert shouted, pointing at it and braced himself.
Hearing the doctor's call, Amelia attempted to maneuver the boat to avoid it, but the laser ball struck the back of the boat and made an explosion, injuring the captain.
"Mother!" Rose cried. Then she screamed in terror at the large flames and wrapped her arms around Jim.
The explosion destroyed the ship and the engine and the boat began to fall towards the ground. After hitting a tree, Amelia struggled to guide the boat to avoid crashing in other trees. But the boat went straight into one and it struck on the ground, Jim hugged Rose to protect her from injuries and she closed her eyes. Then the boat flipped upside down and came to a stop.
A few seconds later, Jim lifted the boat up and rubbed his neck, "Ow…"
Rose got on her knees and pushed her hair behind her ears. She was dizzy and shaken up from the landing. Artemis crawled out from the boat and chirped to her mistress. The auburn-redhead picked up the chameleon and held her close, before groaning, "Rough landing."
"Oh, my goodness," Delbert said, adjusting his glasses. "That was more fun than I ever want to have again."
Captain Amelia smiled and chuckled at Delbert's comment. "That's not one of my…" she stood up, "gossamer landings."
Then she felt pain on her left side, winced in pain, and fell to her knees. Jim, Rose, and Delbert hurried to her, concerned.
"Captain!" the doctor exclaimed. He placed a hand on her back and the teens came up to her.
"Mother, are you okay?" Rose asked, worried.
The three helped the captain to stand back up and she brushed their arms away. "Oh don't fuss," she said. Amelia stood up and swayed for a moment, but fell back and Delbert caught her with his arms.
"Slight bruising that's all, cup of tea and I'll be right as rain," Amelia insisted, pushing her hair back to appear professional. The petite girl grew concerned for her mother and worried that her injuries could be serious.
"Mr. Hawkins," she said, turning to Delbert. Then she squinted and realized it wasn't Jim. She looked at the teenagers. "The map, if you please?"
Jim pulled out the map from his pocket and held it in his palm. He sighed and smiled with relief that it was safe with them and should get to the treasure before the pirates. Then, the map floated up, confusing him and Rose.
"Um, does this map have the ability to float?" the girl asked.
The map dissolved into a bunch of pink goo to reveal a familiar shape-shifter laughing hysterically.
"Morph! Morph where's the map?" Jim exclaimed, as the blob flew around. Morph transformed into a bundle of rope and the map jumping in.
"What?" Rose gasped.
"Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!" Jim yelled, pointing to the sky.
After turning back to his original form, Morph laughed nervously and realized that Jim was mad. Now the group was back in square one, with a broken longboat, they won't be able to retrieve the map and the ship was taken over by pirates.
Morph flew around Delbert and Rose as Jim tried to catch him. As he finally caught the shapeshifter, Captain Amelia heard an engine sound, looked up at the sky, and glared.
"Stifle that blob and get low!" she growled. "We've got company."
Another longboat with pirates was flying over the planet, searching for the survivors. The quartet hid underneath their boat and waited for it to pass. Captain Amelia poked her head outside with her rifle and looked at the sky.
"We need a more defensible position," the captain pulled out a gun and offered it to Jim. "Mr. Hawkins, Rose, scout ahead."
The boy took the gun, looked at it, and said, "Aye Captain."
Amelia attempted to stand, but the pain became unbearable. She let out another cry and Delbert helped her lie on the ground. Rose gasped and grew more worried.
"Mother!" she hurried to the feline's side. "I can't leave you here."
"Rose, go on without me," she said, firmly. "You must help Mr. Hawkins."
"But you're injured and I have to help you."
"Don't worry about me!" she snapped, making Rose flinch. Then she spoke calmly, "I'll be fine."
The auburn-redhead nodded nervously and apprehensively. As much as she didn't want to leave her mother's side, she had to help Jim. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned back. Jim gave her a comforting expression.
"Rose, we have to find a safe place where the captain can recover," he said. "Delbert will stay here and help her. Let's go."
"All right…" she said, softly.
Captain Amelia tried to sit up again, but felt another wave of pain and yelped. Delbert gently made her lie down.
"Steady, steady," he said. "Now, let's have a look at that."
Jim and Rose took one last look at the adults, and walked away with Morph and Artemis towards the forest to find shelter.
