#wss366 06/05 #league
*****Return to the FATE GEAR *****
**** Chapter Five ****
**** Toriko Tigers ****
*** Part 2 ***

While she tried to work up the nerve to ask another question, Captain Mina climbed to the poop deck, hit a bass note on her guitar, and announced, “‘The League of Free Buccaneers’ has set sail to topple the Ultimate Tyrant—God. Prepare your instruments. We have many leagues to go. The wide open sky awaits our glorious ascent on the most noble mission of our career. Proletariat, intelligentsia, adventures, scum of the earth, freebooters, pirates—every one of you! Are you with me!?”

The crew roared. “Oi, oi, oi.”

(“I hate it when she gets like this,”) the ship muttered.

“Me too,” NANA said.

“I can’t hear you,” Mina shouted.

“Oi, oi, oi,” the crew yelled louder.

(“Why can’t she just say we’re sailing?”)

“Throw off your chains! Take back the excess value. Eat the rich!” Mina was warming to her speech.

(“Benimori, the captain forgot her meds this morning. Bring them to the Poop right away.”)

“Oi, oi, oi.”

“You have nothing to lose but performance reviews!”

“Oi, oi, oi.”

“Arise, the 99%, and strike down your oppressors!”

“Tiger! Fire! Cyber! Fiber! Diver! Viber! Jya Jya!” The crew started tigering like crazy.

Toriko beamed. “Come on, Sorawo, the idol mix is fun!”

“Tiger! Fire! Cyber! Fiber! Diver! Viber! Jya Jya!” The crew, plus Toriko, screamed.

“Wow, that was something,” Toriko said.

“What was that?” Sorawo asked. It was almost as bad as those Minecraft-inspired stories. Worse, even. Toriko was in on it.

“It’s something you do at idol shows. I’ll teach you.”

“No, thanks,” Sorawo said flatly, not hesitating. She thought, “That was weird. Toriko and idol shows—I can’t picture it. What if she ran into the Akihabara idol mirror?” Another story rose unbidden, the one with the cursed encore loop. “No exit. No audience. Just encores.”

Mina started ranting, reeling off slogans: “Black Lives Matter, Trans Rights are Human Rights, No Justice! No Peace!”

Benimori arrived just in time, carrying a glass of grog and a handful of pills. The captain swilled both without breaking stride.

“She gets like that off her meds,” NANA said.

NANA turned and barked, “To your stations! You heard the Cap. We’re sailing!”

Yuri struck a note on her keyboard. The turbines roared to life, and the crew launched into “Super Sonic Samurai.”

The ship explained the music to the mystified pair, Sorawo and Toriko. (“We have harnessed the power of metal.”)

Youtube: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SlsOe67JPp0
Sound link: https://song.link/us/i/1573875214

#microfiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #OthersidePicnic #UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #UraPiFanFic #FATEGEAR #Metal #Jmetal #PoliticalSatire #ReturnToTheFateGear #NMRTTFG
@yon @Kingu

#wss366 06/01 #Heaven
*** Return to the FATE GEAR ***
Chapter 4
Storm the Heaven’s – The Plan

Sorawo paused, carefully considering Captain Mina’s offer: (Escaping the brig had been easy. Did the ship help? FATE GEAR probably holding a grudge. Won’t be so easy this time, Sorawo thought. Brig, or orders from Captain Mina. Or... stay and keep looking at Toriko’s outfit. Brig or Mina.)

Unlike Sorawo’s careful calculation, Toriko went straight for the most important question. “Is Benimori the cook?”

Benimori saluted her with the spoon, leaving a batter stain on her forehead. (As well as flinging batter in the air that splattered the deck, resulting in the anti-grav turbine revving in protest again.)

“That sounds like HEAVEN!” Toriko said. “What are you making tonight?”

“Fufu cakes with maple syrup, stewed fruit, and American-style bacon,” Benimori answered. “We have lots. We’re fresh from looting Emperor Muskrat’s third-favorite air yacht, the Doge III.”

“Loaded with corporate welfare (‘and worthless crypto’),” Nana said as she joined Mina and handed her an anti-grav ball. “You left this in the mess, Cap.”

(“Capitalism never dies,” Sorawo thought, “it just floats higher and gets a better view.”)

“Fufu cakes! Bacon! HEAVENLY! You bet I’m joining! We eat good tonight!” Toriko had made her choice.

All the timbers of the FATE GEAR groaned, but the ship kept quiet after Yuri typed in, “Be quiet! This be the cap’s call.” It did sound “Tinkle Tinkle Little Star” on the galley steam whistle, signaling the rice was cooked and calling Benimori back to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Sorawo frowned but had come to the same conclusion as Toriko—though for different reasons. (“Shouldn’t have insulted the ship,” Sorawo admitted to herself. “It probably logged it. Probably reads minds, too. Why didn’t I study up on sentient ships? I meant to read about the Yamato. Brig’s going to be reinforced with extra spite this time.”)

But to be safe, she asked, “What are you currently doing, Captain?”

“We shall unseat the pan-ultimate tyrant. The crew of the FATE GEAR sails for the HEAVENS! Let trickle-down begin!”

“Down with tyrants! Oye. Oye. Storm the HEAVENS! Oye. Oye.” The crew shouted and then broke into song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjiGGFW7jBE&list=PLghYzmkF89GlIUtG0vYqyludt0ZQYUTxj
https://song.link/us/i/1573875212

“We’ll join,” Sorawo muttered, hands clamped over her ears as the singing reached its second verse—one she suspected violated at least three Geneva Conventions.

“Welcome aboard, mateys,” Mina said. “Now scrub the decks, ya lubbers. Solidarity doesn’t exempt you from chores.”

#microfiction #NMPrompts #NMV366 #OthersidePicnic #UraPi #Steampunk #Pirates #UraPiFanFic #FATEGEAR #Metal #Jmetal #PoliticalSatire #ReturnToTheFateGear #NMRTTFG
@yon @Kingu

#wss366 5/20 #Serve #MastoPrompt #Vessel

“PDA, PDA — how rude,” FATE GEAR screamed, scandalized by Toriko’s handsy behavior. Her old-fashioned rigging was taut, and anti-gravity engines whined.

“The pirate VESSEL’s voice was excruciating. It bypassed the ears entirely and bored straight into the brain.”

Everyone on deck clapped their hands over their ears — uselessly, except for Sorawo. Toriko might be dexterous, but her hands couldn’t be in two places simultaneously.

(Truth be told, Sorawo was a trifle disappointed. No, she wasn’t! People were looking.)

Only Yuri, the keyboardist, didn’t flinch. Ringing in her ears or not, she was already hammering her keyboard. “STOP IT! How often have I told you not to yell? Do it again and I’ll MUZZLE you until needed!” FATE GEAR usually obeyed Captain Mina, but the keyboard was the only way to make her comply.

“Sorry, very sorry.” Came a restrained reply. FATE GEAR’s rigging sagged. “I exist to SERVE.”

“Hogwash,” Captain Mina said. “You exist to torture us!”

“I’m hurt.” FATE GEAR’s voice was petulant. The ship directed her words only to the captain.

“Put on your big girl panties. A pirate ship needs to be tough.”

“I don’t wear panties, and I said, I’m sorry! I remembered what happened the last time those two disasters showed up. They let loose a sorceress, who threatened the existence of reality, and that assassin woman, the Thorn Princess. I was upset.”

“And who abetted them? You!”

“Uh… are you talking to yourself?” Toriko asked, her face slightly amused.

(Impressed, Sorawo thought, “That’s my girl, nothing ever fazed Toriko.”)

“No, the ship. (Worthless piece of junk.) Anyway, what are you two doing here? I hope it’s not like last time. You made quite a mess of things.”

“A friend, Benimori-san, invited us to a costume party, but we ended up here,” Toriko said.

“Benimori-san,” Mina bellowed, and in a few minutes, the diminutive woman in question appeared, a chef’s hat on her head and a large mixing spoon in hand.

“Yes, Captain?” she said, as batter dripped from her spoon onto the deck. FATE GEAR was not pleased. The engines rumbled in protest.

“Did you invite these two dufuses?” Mina asked Benimori.

“No, they invited me; only I landed on your ship.”

“Otherside shenanigans,” Sorawo whispered to Toriko.

Toriko nodded. The Otherside had tricked them again.

Captain Mina scowled theatrically. “Your fighting impressed me last time. So here’s your choice: SERVE under the #pirate flag, or rot in the brig.”