Resupply. Come up with a name for the ship. Hotly debate it. Chaos ensues.

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Chapter 14: Setting Sail For… Fallen London

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"Well, our first voyage was a big failure," Kim announced once their ship docked at Wolfstack docks.

Maka gave the girl a frown. "That's not true."

"It isn't? Let's do a recap…" Kim raised up both hands and began listing their ports, taking down a finger for each port. "First, we spooked the Captain of the Lightship. Then we had to fight off cannibals, then we got into a fist-fight with a bunch of random sailors, then we didn't visit a port for some inane reason, then we got brainwashed by who-knows-what, then some of us almost got our heads bitten off by tigers, then we ended up surrounded by swimming corpses, then some guy told us a bunch of nonsense about Gods of the Zee and what-have-you, then we ended up in an empty port and finally we reached London with no progress on why we ended up here or how we're getting home." She took down both hands and gave Maka her driest look. "What level of reality do you have to be operating on to call that a success?"

"We made it through all that in one piece though," Maka protested.

Kim scoffed. "Ah, plain good old survival. The achievement you cling to when you managed to do nothing else."

"And we gathered information. We have a better understanding of how the Unterzee works. We have a better pinpoint at the locations we wish to head to. And, the more rumours we know about this place the better. All myths have an inkling of truth in them."

Kim looked utterly unconvinced by these arguments. "Sure, I guess. Whatever makes you sleep better at night."

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Maka was glad that she was good with math, she thought as she looked at a few advertisement leaflets from a few companies in Wolfstack docks that sold naval equipment.

They hadn't encountered any terrifying zee creature yet -and Maka suspected it had something to do with Kid's 'all-sane-animals-avoid-me-because-I'm-literally-Death' presence at their ship. Still, there was the possibility that they'd encounter pirates or some other hostile presence in the zee. It never hurt to be prepared. Not to mention that they would have some extra funds and fuel soon, courtesy of Harvar planning on turning their port reports at the Admiralty as they had been advised to do so earlier. They also planned to visit the Scholar, in case they could get any extra funding by retelling their adventures, both in Neath and back in their world.

Even then though, they were operating on a budget. Despite the Scholar's generous funding, their costs were significant. Fuel and Supplies were prohibitively expensive out in the zee, and their lacklustre stockpiling had put a dent in their budget. Maka also had to allocate a portion of funds for extra costs and maintenance, and in case they had to do some urgent purchases. Not to mention that the best guns were also the most expensive, and Maka felt as if she was a newly-hatched fish trying to swim against a strong current.

Just as she was debating if calculus that needed to calculate the rate of the ship's costs over time, with the others gathered on deck, each doing their own thing, Black Star showed up and slapped the railing with urgency, with Soul following after in a much calmer manner.

"We need to find a name for our ship!"

Maka ignored Black Star, looking back again at the leaflets and debating whether buying a faster engine with a higher fuel consumption rate would be economically sensible in the long-term.

"We agreed on a name," Soul said.

"The Unsinkable 3!" Black Star continued.

"What happened to 1 to 2?" Ox asked.

Kid looked up from his chart. "If we're going to stamp a random number on this ship, can it be 8?"

"But then what happened at the Unsinkables 1 through 7?" Maka asked dispassionately.

Black Star gave her a bright grin. "That's part of the mystery Maka!"

"What mystery? You're talking nonsense," Maka muttered and looked back at the leaflets. Would they need a bigger light for their ship? The one they had wasn't very bright, and Soul Perception only detected souls, not reefs or rocks or other potential hazards.

"Oi Kilik! Pass me some paint, I'm gonna write the name of our ship on the side-"

Wait no, they were taking this a step too far. "Hold on, I'm the Captain of this ship and I didn't say you can name it!"

"Come on Maka, don't be a buzzkill," Soul whined.

"Have a vote with your officers then!" Before Maka could object, Black Star clung to his Weapon partner, like a kid begging for a cookie. "Tsubaki, please?!"

"Um," Tsubaki said in discomfort "I… vote to name the ship… Unsinkable 3…?"

"I don't," Maka said still not looking up from her leaflets. This vote would get them nowhere.

"I agree with Maka," Ox said and crossed his arms. "The fates of the other Unsinkables are a giant plot hole."

"Told you so," Maka said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"If we're going to name the ship it has to be a proper name! Victoria, or Kim or Thunder Commando-!"

"What, no!" Maka protested. "That's even more ridiculous!"

"I vote yes on the Unsinkable," Liz said with a shrug. "I mean why not?"

"Me too!" Patty agreed.

"You're both gunnery officers so you get one vote," Ox said. "So far, the vote is a tie."

Maka turned to Kim as if she was the only sane person on this ship. "Kim?"

Kim huffed, playing with a strand of her hair. "I abstain. Whole thing's stupid."

"Uh…" Soul looked between Maka and Black Star. "I abstain too!"

"Soul!" Maka and Black Star said with betrayed looks.

Soul put his hands up in defence. "Hey, that's why I abstained."

Ox placed his hand on his chin. "So that means the only one left to vote is…"

They all turned to the Grim Reaper, who was still agonizing over a mostly empty chart.

"Kid," Black Star said in a serious voice.

"The tiebreaker," Soul added.

Maka let out a triumphant smirk. "Hah! Kid will side with me! He won't agree to name this ship a stupid name-"

"Come on Kid, you can't not support giving this ship a beautiful name!"

Kid paused in thought. He gave Black Star a serious look. "Only if we name it Unsinkable 8."

Maka looked at Kid. "What."

Black Star flashed him a grin. "Deal."

Maka looked at Black Star. "What?"

"Then yes."

Maka's hand itched for a book. A particularly heavy one, with iron-studded edges. Maybe with spikes on the side. "What?!"

Black Star put his hands in the air and let out a triumphant laugh. "We have the majority!"

"The Unsinkable 8 rises!" Soul whooped. On his side, Tsubaki clapped timidly.

"Long live the Unsinkable 8!" Patty yelled.

"Let's get the paint-!"

"You traitors!" Maka said with a huff, her cheeks flushed a bright red. "This is mutiny!"

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When they left port, their ship's side read as 'THE UNSINKABLE VIII' with big, red letters.

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Feedback for individual chapters is cherished.