Disclaimer: I do not own Super Sentai or anything associated with it.
Rating: K+
A/N: Hi everyone! I've just recently heard about the wonderful, wonderful world of Sentai, and am doing some MAJOR catch up. I've only seen a handful of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, so I'm sorry if this story is not up to scratch. Hope you enjoy!
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Chapter 1: Princess
It was just another of Captain Marvelous' harebrained, impulsive ideas—of that Joe was sure. No doubt Marvelous had cast himself as the heroic captain, rescuing the damsel in distress. Perhaps his plan was romantic, but Joe doubted that. Far more likely, Marvelous was after some sort of reward. Joe wasn't going to point out how hard it would be to extract a reward from a family obliterated by the Zangyack army.
Joe didn't care why she was here. What he cared about was the fact he was being forced to babysit her against his will.
"It's your turn, Joe," Captain Marvelous said in his typical, authoritative tone. "She doesn't know what has happened. Someone needs to be there with her when she wakes up."
"Exactly," Luka agreed. "Otherwise she could break stuff. Steal things!"
"You don't think she is dangerous, do you?" Doc asked nervously, peering around Luka's shoulder at the sleeping girl.
"She doesn't pose any threat to us," Marvelous said, determndly. "But Luka makes a good point. She's already done her shift; it's your turn, Joe."
"What about Doc?" Joe says, sitting down on the couch and looking away. "I'm not her babysitter."
"Doc's in the middle of some very important work," Marvelous said seriously. "Preparing dinner."
"What about you?"
"As captain of this ship, I'm too busy to watch for her."
"You were the only one who wanted to bring her on board," Joe reminded him. "The rest of us wanted to drop her off at the nearest planet. She's your responsibility."
"It's your turn," Marvelous said. "Captain's orders."
And so it was that Joe found himself stuck guarding the girl—or, as Luka preferred to think of it, guarding the ship from the girl.
Joe sat very still in his chair, arms crossed, legs crossed, frown never fading. The sooner the girl woke up, the sooner the novelty would wear off for Marvelous, and the sooner they could dump her on a nearby planet and get back to usual.
"Excuse me," said a quiet, polite voice from behind Joe. The first mate spun around on the chair and saw that the girl had awoken and was sitting up in the bed. "Where am I?"
"You're on the Gokai Galleon," was Joe's gruff reply.
"Oh," said the girl, confused but calm. "Why is that?"
Joe was going to tell her straight out what happened, but her fear-filled doe eyes made him uncertain. He did not want to be the one to tell her what had happened to her home planet.
"Captain Marvelous will tell you," was all he said.
"Who is Captain Marvelous?" she asked. Clearly, asking questions was helping her to deal with her fear. Joe did not want to talk to her, but did not want to have to deal with her if she went into hysterics.
"Captain of the Gokai Galleon," he said.
"I see," the girl nodded. "And who are you?"
"Joe, first mate."
"Mr Joe, will you please take me to see Captain Marvelous?"
"Stay here," Joe said, getting to his feet.
As he passed by Luka in the main cabin, he said simply, "She's awake."
"And you left her?" Luka cried, disapproval clearly written on her face. She raced off to make sure the girl did not touch anything.
When Joe returned with Captain Marvelous, Luka was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.
"Who are you?" she interrogated the girl.
"I am Ahim," the girl touched her hand to her chest, bowing her head slightly. "Princess Ahim de Famille."
"Princess?" Marvelous and Luka exclaimed, eyes wide. Joe pressed his lips firmly together, trying to prevent another frown from appearing on his face.
"Yes," Ahim said politely. "Mr Joe tells me your lovely ship is called the Gokai Galleon. Can you tell me how I came to be aboard? Did you kidnap me?" Joe was amused by how calmly, almost brightly, she asked the last question.
"Eh? Kidnap?" Luka looked angry. "We're not kidnappers; we leave that rubbish to the Zangyack army."
"Luka, quiet," Marvelous said. "Ahim, what's the last thing you remember?"
"I'm not sure," Ahim replied, frowning in thought. "I remember that there was an attack. The Zangyacks were attacking. But I'm not too sure what happened after that, it's all a bit hazy."
"I see," Marvelous stroked his chin, bowing his head in thought.
"Dinner's ready!" Doc said happily, walking up to the others. Seeing Ahim was awake, he immediately hid behind Luka. "Is she dangerous?"
"Get away from me, coward," Luka said in a bored tone. "She's a princess."
"Hello Mr Coward," Ahim smiled at him. "I am Ahim de Famille."
"My name isn't 'Coward'," Doc stuttered as he corrected her. "It's Don—but they all call me 'Doc'."
"Doc," Ahim smiled and bowed her head again.
"Just the man I wanted to see," Marvelous said cheerfully, clapping Doc's shoulder in a one-armed hug. "Ahim, Doc will explain everything to you. I need to eat now."
"Hey?" Doc asked, wide eyes darting around at the other three who were retreating. "What am I explaining?"
"Why the Princess has joined our crew," was Marvelous' only reply.
"Marvelous! Marvelous!" Doc cried out, but none of the others acknowledged him. Slowly, he turned to face the smiling princess. This was not going to be fun.
There it is, chapter one done! I know it's a bit (read: very) rusty, so I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions or criticisms anyone might have!
Have a lovely day,
Little Goose