Treasure Planet 2: The Legend of Captain Flint

by SpelCastrMax

Okay, anyone who's ever read anything of mine before will know I'm very into secrets and exploring a character's past and those fun plot devices which I always end up using without realizing it. Even so, I'm rather proud of the new character in this to I've decided to post it. thanks for reading!

Note: Here's some trivia (I'll be putting a lot of that in here). Most of the new characters have names barrowed from Robert Louis Steveneson's other books and his life. There is a mention of the names Jekyll and Hyde (an obvious reference), Katherine de Mattos was who Stevenson dedicated The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to, and Lucy's last name is taken from the main character in the book Kidnapped not to mention that it was Stevenson's mother's maiden name. I know lots of useless stuff.

Chapter One: A Prologue with a New Legend

"And vanished without a trace. We all grew up with the stories of Captain Nathiel Flint and Treasure Planet, but a part of the legend that has never been elaborated is the part concerning Captain Flint's life. According to some sources, he had a backup stronghold that even his men did not know the location of. My research has lead me to believe..."

"That Captain Flint is just an old bedtime story," a warthog like young man in the front row of the classroom snickered.

Standing her ground at her place in front of the screen the professors protected the lessons onto, the nineteen year old human rolled her eyes. "It's not just a bedtime story."

The professor, a half-Canine with tentacles for arms, entered the conversation. "Indeed. Obviously some of you did not hear of the discovery several years ago. Captain Amelia Doppler, a Feline who graduated from this very academy, and her crew found Treasure Planet." The teacher nodded at the young woman to continue.

"Thank you, Professor Jekyll," she said with a sigh. After sticking out her tongue at the boy in the front row, she faced the other forty students (all different species and ages) and went on. "As I was saying, it's my theory that Captain Flint had a side business as you might say. What he earned from this other life he stored in the secret spot on another pla..."

Once again, she paused to due interruption. Jim Hawkins had walked and, without a thought, slammed the classroom door. He shrugged at her apologectically.

More determined than before to finish, the young woman only shook her head, cleared her throat and in a louder voice said, "Captain Flint stored a private treasure of goods and we..."

Professor Jekyll rose from his desk. "I"m sorry, but it's time to go. Ms. Balfour, why don't you finish up tomorrow."

She nodded politely, but grumbled as she went to her own desk in order to collect her books. The rest of the class quickly herded from the room, a group of them pausing to tell "Ms. Balfour" that would see her at lunch.

Jim attempted to move away from the exit as they all rushed out. He overheard two boys mutter, "She's so wierd."

The young man paid no attention and went to the teacher's desk with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his uniform. "You wanted to see me, Professor." He was handsome and clean cut like all the other future spacers at the interstellar academy. However, Jim had a certain air about him that the young woman could point out just by watching his movements. He had an unarrogant sense of self confidence and didn't care what anyone thought of him.

"Miss Balfour, please come here for a moment." She did as she was told. Proffessor Jekyll waved a tentacle between the two students. "Mr. James Hawkins, I would like you to meet Ms. Luchia Balfour."

Jim shook her hand. "Hi there."

With her eyes widening a little, all she said was, "You saw Billy Bones die." Coming to her senses an instant later, Luchia glowed pink. "I mean...nice to meet you."

Wrapping a tentacle around each student, the professor explained why he was arranging this introduction. "Proffesor Hyde was telling me about your struggles in his subject, Miss Balfour. Well, he and I were thinking that if Mr. Hawkins could tutor you, you could let him in on your independent project. He needs some extra cericular activities."

Simutaneously, the two began to list the reasons why they'd be too busy for tutoring or extra work. However, one sentence from Jekyll issued their surrender, "I suppose if niether of you are concerned about your futures, then..."

Letting out a deep breath, Jim reluctantly turned to Luchia, "I guess we're partners."

"I guess so," she replied mimicking his unhappy expression, "Let's get started. Off to the docks." She swept up her books and started into the hallway.

Jim chased after her. "Docks? That's right! Hyde is the flight instructor."

"How could you forget? He's the meaniest teacher here!"

Jim explained, "I'm exempt from that class. I have been ever since my second term."

Luchia let out a loud groan. "Oh great! Now I'm even more embarressed and you haven't even seen my driving yet."

As they left the building and headed down the crowded campus paths towards the docks, Jim surveyed the young woman. She was near his age, maybe a year's difference at most, but with the way she wore her hair in one long braid made her seem younger. Her skin was a sandy brown color, most likely natural, not caused by the sun. She wasn't thin, but in no way overweight. She was somewhere in between, a healthy size for her frame. Like all the other female spacers she wore the school uniform - a short red jacket with slick blackk boots and trousers. Her eyes were dark, almost black. The only jewelry she had on was a red marble looking stone on top of a gold ring. Peeking out from her hair were her small, although oddly shaped ears, which drooped a little making Jim realize that she was not fully human.

"What's your independent project?" Jim tried to sound uninterested, but his curiosity was taking hold of him.

"I'll tell you later," she replied, "If we survive this flying lesson."

They wasted no time in signing out a sloop available to the students for practice. Jim couldn't help being eager to get the entire event over with since his mind was on something else...or to be more exact someone else. However, his date would have to wait.

Luchia sat by the controls as Jim seated himself on the starboard side. With a great deal of nervousness, she pushed a single button and the solar sail shot up. She jumped at the object's speed. Jim tried not to loose patience as she searched the controls for the second button.

"You have done this before, right?" he grumbled.

Luchia glared at him, but still hesitated before chosing another switch. "Is he still watching?" she hissed.

"Who?" Jim searched the docks for some shady character.

"Professor Hyde!"

Jim's eyes fell on the part squid professor who was moving back and forth along the dock on his dog-like paws. Jim laughed, "You're scared of a teacher."

Hyde came up to them. He was chuckling. "Hawkins. If you think you're going to teach that one, you'll be here all afternoon. She's hopeless."

Luchia was obviously not the kind to talk back to professors. She sat by and tried to ignore the verbal beating. Jim was less tolerate, but kept his temper. He moved into the seat next to the young woman and stated, "Actually sir, she's showing a good, clear head. She was just asking if I could show her how I usually handle cast offs so she could try it my way." As Proffessor Hyde opened his mouth to comment, Jim pressed three buttons. The jets roared and the long boat shot into the etherium.

Hawkins laughed as he manuevered the longboat away from the shocked Hyde. His laughter stopped when he saw the frown on his partners face. "Look, Luchia if you get in trouble for that tell me and I'll explain that it was all my fau..."

"My name is Lucy," she interrupted. A smile began to form on her face and in a second she had wrapped her arms around his neck in a half hug. Pulling away she matched his laugh with one of her own, "That was brilliant! I wish I could do things like that."

Surprised by her embrace, Jim coughed out the question, "Do you want to try flying now?"

"No, I'd rather learn by supervising for a little while," she replied, "Besides, I'm ready to tell you about my project now." There was a complete change in Lucy. It was as if Jim had stumbled over some secret code that relaxed her. "You know the story of Captain Flint right...what am I saying? Of course you know the story of Captain Flint! I mean, you're the guy who found out how he always got away, for Pete's sake! My new theory comes from these old documents that my father left for me..."

"Your father is gone?" Jim questioned in a quiet tone.

"Yes and no. My parents have been divorced since before I was born. And my birth father didn't exactly leave me these documents, becaue he doesn't even know I exist. My mother just took them from him. Same with this ring I'm wearing. It was Captain Flint's...well, in his family, anyway. My father was a Flint fanatic. I'm not sure where he is now. I have a step-father who raised me so I use his last name." Lucy paused and offered Jim a empathatic smile, "You don't have a father around, do you."

"What?"

"Sorry, it was the way you asked. Sort of gave it away."

"Hey I do alright," he casually responded, but Lucy didn't buy it. "Okay, let's just say that it doesn't bother me in the same way that it used to. But finish telling me about this theory of yours."

Lucy leaned in a little and lowered her voice, as if someone was was hiding out in space waiting to hear her secrets. "I'm sure that you've heard about how most pirates held trading posts and honorable businesses as a cover for their well...piracy. In more than one of these documents, I found mention of a trading post that dealt in priceless artifacts and an ancient weapon that was fabled to have destroyed entire worlds with the flip of a switch. In every one of these documents, they name the owner of the post as one Captain Nathaniel Flint."

"But Captain Flint was out plundering space," Jim argued, "When would he have gone to this trading post?"

"He was only there once every few months. I never said he ran the trading post, he just owned it. His wife was the proprietor That's whose ring this actually is." Lucy's eyes shined as she leaned against the side of the long boat. "My dad...my step-dad, I mean, he's a spacer on a merchant ship. He's promised that he's going to find me a captain to take me to the places talked about in those documents. Then, I'm going to find that trading post."

It was strange, but Lucy seemed to take another form as she casually sat there as if she had known him for years. Where Jim had originally thought her to be a ditz, she was acutally an intellegent detective. "So you're a treasure hunter," Jim smirked.

"No. I'm not a big one for money. I just love a good mystery." Glancing back at the docks, she asked, "Should we fly back now?"

He thought for a moment. Somewhere near the dorms, Katherine de Mattos was probably twisting her hair around one finger and tapping one foot impatiently. Still, Jim wasn't in a hurry. "But I haven't actually tutored you yet." Jim released the handles he had been steering with. "We better switch seats."

"You heard Professor Hyde. I'm hopeless...at this. He's wrong if he's saying I'm hopeless at anything else." She nervously set a hand on the controls while Jim tried not to laugh.

"You really are wierd, aren't you," he blurted out.

"And proud of it."

And that was how Jim Hawkins and Lucy Balfour became friends.