Treasure Planet II: Cursed Man's Riches

Tunnel Race

It was hard for Jim not to think of the worst-case scenario, how could he not? Long Ben was a fearsome pirate, and an even more callous murderer. He was known to have murdered his best friend when he turned to piracy and killed several allies, he'd have no problem in harming Sophie. He clenched his fists and swallowed the thick lump that was bothering him, he didn't want to think about it but the thought was at the forefront of his mind. Jim followed Amelia with heavy feet, as if he didn't want to be there, yet his heart yearned for an answer. He didn't realise that Silver was carefully watching him with his own saddened thoughts, far too worried that he'd say the wrong thing and set Jim off. The cyborg's eyes travelled to Hallie, barely holding her head up as she dragged herself after the group, then to B.E.N who was quieter than his usual, whacky self. Silver found himself to be half-surprised with Amelia's behaviour, she was almost charging ahead, her eyes set in determination to get the result that she wanted and nothing less. He expected Amelia to show some weakness, but instead he internally agreed that he had seen stone weaker than the captain. However, Silver knew that he couldn't bear the silence any longer, with a deep sigh he caught up to Jim, firmly grabbing his shoulder, "What?" Jim snapped, trying to pull away to no avail, the struggle capturing everyone's attention as they stopped to look. "Ye all need to hear this, especially you, Jimbo." Silver spoke strongly, his tone thick with emotion, Jim's eyes narrowed briefly before they softened – as if he were a small child looking up to his sullen father. "Believe in Sophie. If ye can't keep yer faith in her then how do ye expect her to believe in herself? I'll be damned before I stop believing in her, throw me to the unknown reaches of the galaxy and I'll still believe in Sophie despite whatever I face! If you lot are giving up on her then go back to the ship now."

Now and again, Sophie could hear a faint chiming sound as if delicate glass bulbs were lightly brushing and tapping against one another in a light breeze. If she made too much noise then she wouldn't hear it again for several minutes, the sound she could hear made Sophie feel at ease, as if she hadn't ever been worrying about Long Ben, Scroop or any pirates. Morph chirped happily in the crook of Sophie's neck, his playful mood dampened by his tiredness. Sophie's eyes narrowed gently in thought, wondering why she hadn't even heard of creatures likes the one she had just encountered. They had brought a comforting calmness and she didn't want to let it go, not without knowing what they were. A faint glow of orange and yellow light greeted her tired eyes as she neared another corner, a feeling of warmness enveloped her – as if she were home once again. "Think we've found them, Morph." She whispered, so quietly that she could barely hear herself however the tinkling stopped momentarily once again, a grin spread across her face – things were going to get better, she could just feel it.

"I always thought Captain Flint was the most fearsome pirate in the galaxy?" B.E.N questioned as the group came to a clearing, Jim rolled his eyes and began to wander off – he wasn't in the mood to talk and Silver's speech earlier had struck a chord in him, the words played heavily on his exhausted mind so much that he felt that he was turning into Sophie by finding different meanings behind Silver's rant. "Are you still living in the past?" Hallie snipped as she gestured with her hands, "He was the most scary dude in the universe, but the old codger is more dead than my grades right now!" Silver couldn't help but release a small chuckle at Hallie's reply, he understood why Jim and Sophie had made such a good friendship with her. "Yeah, but this Long Ben fellow... I've never heard of him." B.E.N stuttered back nervously, Amelia rolled her eyes to the back of her head before returning to scout the general area, she had the feeling that Sophie had been very close by. "That's because you were on Treasure Planet and it's not something that people randomly talk about!" Hallie exclaimed running her hands through her untamed hair, releasing an un-human screech when her fingers got stuck, again Silver couldn't help himself and began to loudly laugh at her predicament.