by Dolphy
Chapter 7 :
Later that morning Jim and Dolphy sat in the cafeteria eating their breakfast which consisted of some kind of bread with an odd-looking colour,exotic fruits and purp-juice.
„Heck,why don`t they give us coffee!?“ asked Dolphy slightly annoyed as she tiredly chewed on a piece of the bread.
„Maybe the teachers are worried that we wont`s survive the lessons when we`re fully awake?“ suggested Jim with that typical innocent smile of his.
„Yeah,sounds logical to me.“ grinned Dolphy as she rubbed her chin in thought.
Suddenly she raised her head and gazed at the entrance where her former roommates where just entering the cafeteria.Stella and Vivian were scratching their faces while Meena had what looked like tears in her eyes.
„What a shame.“ sighed Dolphy. „Seems they`ve warned each other after they`ve realized what`s going on.I hoped that everyone of them would be scratching and crying now.“
Jim raised an amused eyebrow at her.
„Hey,don`t be so pessimistic.It worked,didn`t it?“
„Yeah,sure,it`s just-„
The girl stopped as she noticed Carren coming towards their table.
"Great,we`re gonna die now.“ she thought but nevertheless couldn`t prevent herself from snickering when she saw the bald spot on his head.
To Jim`s and Dolphy`s surprise Carren didn`t do anything else except of shooting them a sinister look as he walked by.
„Now,that was weird.“ said Jim rather dumbfounded. „He usually attacks us without any reason and now he nearly ingnores us?“
He gave Dolphy a questioning look but she just shrugged with her shoulders.
„I don`t trust him...he`s planning something,I can feel it-„
„Hey,Jim,look!“ meant Dolphy excited as she bent down and took a sheet of paper which was lying on the floor.
„What`s that?“
„It`s an...advertisement,I think.There`s a big market at the Crescentia spaceport today...“ she told him while reading the rest of the text.
„A space ferry will leave the academy in about two and a half hours and bring us back in the afternoon...if we`re interested.“
„And what is it you wanna say with that?“ asked Jim suspiciously.
„Awww,come on,Jim.It`s gonna be fun!There will be lots of cool things to buy!Imagine all those figurines and collectables and other stuff from everywhere of the universe!And the best of it,there`s no annoying teacher who´ll go with us and get on our nerves.“
„Well,...but I can`t stand those immense crowds of people.“
„Neither do I,but how often do we get the opportunity to leave this stinking prison?“
„Ooh,that was harsh.“ grinned Jim.
„I know.So...will you go with me?“
„I don`t know...“
„Did I mention that there`s a solar surfer-exhibition,too?“
They boy suddenly looked at her with big eyes and ripped the advertisement out of Dolphy`s hands.
„Woa,cool!“ he grinned excitedly. „Some of the best solar surfers will also be there and tell people some of their tricks.“
„I guess this means that you wanna go with me to the market?“ asked Dolphy expectantly.
„You can bet on it!“ meant Jim enthusiastically and took her by the hand,dragging her out of the cafeteria.
„Jim,what are you doing!?“
„I don`t wanna be late.“
„But the ferry`s not gonna leave in less than two hours!And I haven`t finished my breakfast yet!“
„You really wanna eat that stuff?“
„Uhm,well...you won.“
The two teenagers were so fascinated about the market that they didn`t notice Carren observing them all the time.When they had left,he turned to Lenaro,Rakitan,Stella,Vivian and Meena who were sitting at his table,a menacing grin on his face.
„Let the show begin...“
9 : 49 am ; landing station of the space ferry :
„Geez,I haven`t thought that there are so many students who wanna go to the market.“ said Dolphy to Jim as they made their way through the crowd of people.
„Well,seems they don`t like spending their Sundays at school,either..Ouch!“ explained Jim
as he felt someone`s elbow pushing in his stomach.
„Ouch!“ yelled a voice from the pocket of his jacket.
„Morph,be quiet!“ he hissed and immediately put his hand in his pocket,patting the little blob to calm him down.
He couldn`t see who it was who hit him,there were just too many students around.Dolphy complained some times about somebody stepping on her feet but eventually they had managed it to get into the space ferry.
„Great!We`ve survived the first part.I can`t wait till we arrive at Crescentia!“ said Dolphy impatiently.
„Me,too.“ agreed Jim,looking forward to the solar surfer-exhibition.
They became so absorbed in their anticipation that they didn`t notice Carren and his two friends entering the ferry among a bunch of other students.They seated themselves at the farthest spot away from Jim and Dolphy to make sure they wouldn`t see them.
The ride to the Crescentia spaceport didn`t last more than half an hour ´cause it wasn`t too far away from the planet the Interstellar Academy was located on.
„We`ll leave at 3 pm and no minute later.Be in time or you`ll stay here!“ announced the pilot of the ferry as the students were leaving the vehicle.
„Wow!“ was all Dolphy managed to say.
She had never been on Crescentia before and was overwhelmed by the hundreds of solar galleons which were sailing in the sky above them or resting in the docks.There were aliens of all existing species (at least it seemed like that) and a huge crowd of people who headed in the direction of the market which started some blocks away.
„Morph,you can come out now.“ said Jim.
The words hadn`t left his mouth when Morph flew out of his pocket and greedily took in some deep breaths of the fresh air.Jim and Dolphy excitedly grinned at each other and quickly made their way towards the market,Morph dashing off after them.
„Look at all those stalls!“ exclaimed Dolphy when they had arrived the market.
There was a huge place with masses of stalls covering it and the streets leading away from it. They seemed to sell everything you could only imagine : strange-looking vegetables,exotic flowers in all colours,clothes,figurines made of wood,stone,crystal or other materials,books about the etherium,jewelry with more or less precious stones,toys and many other things.
„When does the exhibition with the solar surfers start?“ asked Dolphy.
Jim searched his surroundings for a clock and eventually discovered a large one at the top of a high building.
„The begin is at 1 pm.It`s only 10:47 am now so we`ve got enough time for the market.“
„That`s gonna be so much fun!“ smiled Dolphy.
„So much fun!So much fun!“ giggled Morph and landed on Jim`s shoulder as the two teenagers began to go to the several stalls.
***
„Now?“ asked Lenaro his leader.
„No.“ was the cold answer. „We`ll wait till they are separated.“
***
By midday Jim and Dolphy were rather exhausted of their market-expedition so they went into a nice-looking pub for a little snack.While they were waiting for their food to be served Dolphy opened her backpack and examined the things she and Jim had bought : A dolphin plush toy,a silver dolphin-necklace,a holo-book about space whales and a bracelet with shimmering green stones Jim had bought for his mother.The trio stayed at the pub until it was time to go because the exhibition started.They went along a side street which led to another place,not as big as the one they had just visited but still big.A huge bunch of people already rushed towards the different kinds of solar surfers.Jim had never seen so many of them in his whole life!The solar sails shined in every possible colour,the boards were shaped in every form you could imagine and were decorated with ornaments or strange looking symbols,most likely words from other alien languages.Dolphy couldn`t help but grinned as she saw Jim`s eyes glowing like a solar fire and his jaw dropping open in delight.
„I`m in heaven!“ he suddenly yelled and ran towards the surfers,pushing the other people out of his way.
„Heh,men are so easily to please.“
Dolphy smiled at Morph,who was a little bit confused why Jim had dashed off like insane.
„Come on,Morphy,we can`t let him alone.“ she grinned.
„Can`t let him alone! Can`t let him alone!“ he giggled in reply.
One hour later Dolphy and Jim had arranged that she would meet him at the space ferry when it launched.Of course,she liked solar surfers very much,but after being told over and over again how they were constructed and how they worked and how they had to be used she got slightly fed up with it.And when Jim got to talk to one of the solar surfing champions who took part in the exhibition and started a discussion about which drive would be the best to use for a home-made surfer,Dolphy decided it would be better to go back to the main marketplace. Engineering just wasn`t one of her interests,she`d leave that to Jim.Morph stayed back with Jim and took a nap in his pocket while he continued with his tech-talk.
***
„Now?“
„Would you please finally shut up!?“ snarled Carren at his mate.
„But you said we wait until they got separated and it seems that they did,so-„
„Thanx for the information,you genius,but I`m not blind!And if you could make that tiny brain of yours think for a moment you would realize that we can`t push our plan through among all those people!“
„Oh.“
„Yes,´Oh`!“
Carren rolled his eyes.
„Geez,I`m surrounded by idiots.“ he thought.
***
Jim looked at the big tower clock.
„2 : 31 pm,I better go back to the landing station.“ he said to himself,considering that it would surely take some time to fight his way through the spaceport.
While the two major marketplaces were still crowded,the street which connected them was rather empty by now.Jim walked towards the main place...He didn`t notice that three figures were following him.Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and roughly pushed into a dark side alley.
„Hey,what the heck-„ he yelled as two of them violently took him by the arms and held them behind his back.
„Why,aren`t you happy to see us?"
„Carren!?“ exclaimed Jim shocked. „What are you-„
„Doing here?Well,you don`t really think you got that advertisement accidentally,do you?“
Jim`s eyes wided in realization.From one moment to the other Morph was awake and flew out of Jim`s pocket,not needing too much time to understand what`s going on.The little shapeshifter transformed into a heavy hammer and smashed himself on Rakitan`s foot who consequently yelped in pain and almost let go of Jim.In a matter of seconds Carren had grabbed Morph and threw him hardly against the wall.
„Morph!“
„You shouldn`t worry about that whatever-it-is-friend of yours.Now,let`s finally come to the fun part.“ grinned Carren and beat Jim in his stomach.
Jim cried in pain.He would have dropped to his knees if he hadn`t been hold by Carren`s fellows.
„Awww,did that hurt?“ asked Carren with a faked worried expression in his face and voice and instantly balled his fist to beat him another time...and one more time...and once more.
„What,no smart comments,Hawkins?“
Jim raised his head and stared him angrily in the eyes.
„You`re not worth any smart comment.“
„Oh,playing the hero,aren`t we?“
He punched him again,until blood was coming out of the side of his mouth.
„You know what?It`s so boring when you beat someone up who doesn`t defend himself.“
Carren gave Lenaro and Rakitan a sign to let Jim go,took him by the shoulders and crashed him against the stone wall,causing a scratch on the side of his forehead.He let out a cry and slided down to the ground.He desperately tried to defend himself but was much too weak to even stand up.For a moment he hoped that Carren would get bored and leave him alone.But then he started kicking him in his chest while he was lying on the ground.After what seemed like an eternity he suddenly stopped and bent down to him,his mouth only inches away from Jim`s ear.
„Now listen to me,freak.Either you quit the friendship with that little girlfriend of yours and make her move back to her former room or I assure you,I`ll make your life a living nightmare!“
With that last sentence said,Carren,Lenaro and Rakitan left Jim lying almost unconsciously on the cold and dirty ground.
„M...Morph?“ he whispered weakly but got no response.His friend wasn`t there anymore.