==Lap 42=
Silence surged throughout the base as always. Each door in the hallway was closed, Mauser and Siberia were sleeping in Earl's old bedroom, and the Red Dove had now been restored to optimal condition, though still required bodywork. For once, the lights were off in Seppuku's office, as he was going about his own mission away from his companions. Chiya and Earl were left to enjoy their last day at the base, as they would be leaving yet again to a planet that neither of the two had any information on. With any luck, Chiya hoped that this would be their final off-planet mission for a long time, as she was growing frustration from being away from home for so long. Ironically, this frustration was exactly what was about to start the day for the loving couple.
Chiya opened the door to the lobby slowly, she blinked a few times and raised her eyebrow curiously. Alone, Earl sat at the end of the dining table with some papers sitting flat. He was punching in numbers onto a calculator; a slightly disgruntled expression was clearly visible. The lobby was very dark, as for reasons unknown, Earl had left only one light on.
Earl continued to punch in numbers and look down at his papers with a heavily concentrated look. This concentration was suddenly impaled as Chiya switched on the light switch, thus bringing life back into the lobby. Earl widened his eyes and turned towards Chiya, then grinned at her.
"Oh, you're up."
It was only natural that Chiya was curious to see what Earl was doing. Without greeting him, she crossed her arms behind her back and tiptoed her way towards him.
"Whatcha doing?"
Earl's grin disappeared after having been asked this. He looked down at the papers, then back at her. Setting the calculator down, he pointed towards her usual chair and raised his eyebrows, "Take a seat."
Chiya pulled her chair out and pushed it close to him, she immediately sat down and put her hands on the table, "Are you paying the bills?"
"No, thank God we're done with that for now…" he blinked at her and held up the papers, "I've been meaning to do this for some time now, but I keep pushing it off. Now's a better time than ever to discuss this serious matter with you."
A sigh launched out of Chiya's mouth before lowering her eyelids, "Why am I always faced with serious stuff now? Can't we ever do anything fun?"
Earl disregarded the question and bit his lip as he gazed down at a sketched out line graph, "I've been recording our weekly income at Good Odds, trying to determine if we're in a surplus or deficit."
Surplus or deficit..?
She beamed heavily and nodded, "I see!"
"I'm basing my results off of how much we make a day, subtracted by the food, litter, water, and electricity it takes to keep Good Odds open. For whatever the reason, we're not being asked to pay for property tax-which we agreed to do. So I guess we'll just call that a bonus for now."
"I see…"
Earl stretched his arms and rolled his eyes slightly, "And, well, if I had to guess…" he closed his eyes and sighed, "I'd probably say that Good Odds is in a deficit by a small margin."
Silence ensued, Chiya merely sat with a surprised look on her face. Earl had a questionable look, but Chiya was left with a slightly quizzical one.
"That's good?"
"No, Chiya. That's bad. That means we're losing money. Even more than we were before we opened up the pet shelter."
Now a heavy frown had been built, Chiya dipped her head down and dropped her arms like noodles.
"So, we have to shut down Good Odds and kick all of those sad animals onto the streets…" she frowned even more widely upon thinking about this.
"Well, not exactly. Mind you, I said that we're likely in a small deficit. One that could be fixed with ease. Personally, after counting, I think I see what the problem is."
Chiya swatted her hands down on the table with widened eyes, "Well, come on, what are you proposing we do?"
Earl pushed the paper of statistics over to her and pointed at the line graph, "You tell me. What seems to be wrong with the line graph?"
It didn't take Chiya a single second to identify the crucial problem. The line graph detailed how much money was made on a daily basis, however, several days brought the line down to 0. Three days showed a consistent line dropped at 0, indicating that no money had been made in 3 days-the days that were spent on Mysteria. Aside from this, many days were at 0 because of their travel to Port Town, and some days missing because of the fact that Good Odds wasn't opened on weekends.
Lowering the paper, Chiya widened her eyes in amazement, "Wow, we're really missing a lot of days here…"
"Exactly. If we were only present at Good Odds on a daily basis-like we should be-we would likely find ourselves within a great surplus."
"So we need to find a way to become more available…"
Earl snapped his fingers and nodded, "Which brought me to my next thought." Chiya turned her head towards him with a curious look, "I'm thinking that we hire someone from the Lower City to take over."
After gasping, Chiya glared at him, "No way! I love working at Good Odds!"
"I'm merely proposing that we hire someone to look after Good Odds for us. By all means, we should still try and show up at Good Odds on a daily basis. But let's face it. With Seppuku dragging us around the universe, a constant F-Zero schedule to attend to, and your bad sleeping pattern; we really need the extra hand."
"I don't know. This just sounds like a bad idea…" she opened her eyes and quirked her mouth, "Wouldn't we just be wasting even more money by paying someone?"
"I'm proposing that we take a bum off of the street and offer him or her minimum wage. They won't be making much at all, but hey, pet shelter assistant is better than wrestling for meat, eh?"
Chiya crossed her fingers together and sighed, "What about the payments Captain Falcon-"
"Don't get me wrong, twenty-thousand is great pay. But we only have three races left. We won't make it an entire year simply off of sixty-thousand credits."
Chiya fought the idea of hiring someone to look after her business, but she simply couldn't win the fight. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the pros outweighed the cons. Hiring someone was indeed the most fiscally wise decision to make, as this would create consistency in the hours that the shelter is open. There was little more Chiya could argue on about, so she decided to nod and trust Earl's recommendation.
"Very well, let's hire someone…"
Earl grinned at her and stacked the papers back up, "Excellent. That should solve everything. And think about it, with someone working around the shelter, you and I will have more time to spend doing other things."
The two stood up and began to walk towards the garage door. Both held hands as they walked.
"Let's hire someone good looking," Chiya proposed before closing the door.
Deep in the gorges of Red Canyon, loud chattering filled the area. About 20 campfires were up with many pirates conversing amongst each other, food was distributed around the camp. Around the biggest fire sat Samurai Goroh and Antonio Guster; alongside high ranking pirates. Goroh was picking warm rolls of sausage off of a metal plate, while Guster remained still with his arms crossed.
One pirate that was sitting near the two raised his switchblade up and chuckled, "I've been honing my blade throwing skills."
Guster turned his head slightly, "We don't need none of those silly tricks, we need someone who's handy with a shotgun!" he scoffed loudly.
In agreement, Goroh nodded and threw a sausage into his mouth. Several of the pirates watched in disgust as the juices of the meat practically sprayed out of his mouth. He chewed on the sausage before looking up at the lone pirate.
"Guster's right. In this day and age, an opponent will almost always draw a gun. A knife will never match the power of a gun."
Another pirate raised his hand with a puzzled look, Goroh acknowledged him by nodding, "But what about you, sir? You carry around that sword, don't ya?"
With a smirk, Goroh took his katana out and thrust the blade into the fire. Everyone but Guster widened their eyes. With full concentration, Goroh held the blade perfectly still in the fire, after a few moments of waiting, he retracted the blade and blew on it.
"I have a talent that not many others have. I can sense where a bullet is going to fly, and I have animal instincts that tell me when to swing. A bullet could fly right towards my face, and I'd still block or dodge it." He waved the sword around in the air, followed by a prideful chuckle, "This sword is practically indestructible. I'm proud to say, too, that it's the only weapon to have ever bested Lieutenant Seppuku…"
The entire camp had suddenly been alarmed as a massive gust of wind hit every pirate. Goroh lowered his eyebrows and stood up instinctively, Guster cocked his shotgun and stood up as well, realizing that this wasn't ordinary wind. As if Goroh had provoked and summoned the beast with his comment, the Red Dove had performed a powerslide in front of all the fires.
"Huh!?" Goroh grunted in awe. The cockpit opened, and Seppuku immediately slid out of his machine with an assault rifle, Goroh's look of shock momentarily turned positive upon seeing the darkly clothed man, "Oh?"
The tip of Goroh's katana struck the ground, Guster took aim, and most of the pirates in the camp equipped a weapon of some sort. Disregarding the many armed pirates, Seppuku continued forth towards Goroh. Seppuku lacked any look of fear, even as two pirates had leapt in front of him with guns.
"Yaa-argh!"
Without stopping, Seppuku grabbed both heads and slammed them against one another. Both pirates fell and lost consciousness. The attack on the two pirates was overly provoking to Goroh, but he was resisting the urge to attack for once. Seppuku approached Goroh and Guster, but stopped at a fair distance.
Goroh slammed his foot down on the dirt and growled, "You have some real reactor mights to come back here after what you pulled!"
Seppuku smirked and raised an eyebrow, "After what I pulled? I took my stolen machine back."
"You stole the machine I paid for!"
"Take it up with Zoda, I'm not here to talk about the past…" he tilted his fedora in a greeting fashion, "I'm here to talk about the future."
Guster swung his finger forth and growled, "Let me tell you about the future, Seppuku!" he pointed towards the ground and smirked, "In two days, Chiya Flower will be lowering your casket into the ground!"
"Cute."
Goroh nodded approvingly at Guster, "You went straight for the dark humor, I respect that…"
"If you two are quite finished?"
Goroh spun around and held is katana up, "Either way, you were a fool to come here! When I'm through with you, I'll have looted your purse and put your legendary scarf into my collection!"
Seppuku held his assault rifle up and lowered his eyebrows, "I wouldn't do that, I've come in search of a posse."
Guster laughed mockingly and rolled his head, "If you think we had one, do you really think us men would all be sitting around a fire doing nothing!?"
This took Seppuku a few moments to take in, he lowered his weapon and got a puzzled look, "Wha- what? Idiot, I said I'm looking for a posse-a crew!"
"For what?" asked Goroh.
Finally, Seppuku lowered his weapon completely. Surprisingly, even Goroh found himself lowering his katana. Guster remained vigilant, unlike his counterpart.
"I've come with an offer. If you and your men help me, there'll be a big score in the end."
Everyone-including Goroh-immediately began to converse amongst each other about prize money. Seppuku remained still as he waited for the pirates to finish discussing this. After a few more moments of chattering, Goroh turned towards Seppuku with an angered expression.
"Let me get this straight. You want us to help you with something?"
"Yes."
"Even though we're enemies?"
"Well, let's be honest. I would rather sit around and listen to Chiya talk about her day at that pet shelter, than work beside you. But alas, I only have a day to pull this off, so I need someone."
Guster and Goroh exchanged glances, Goroh immediately turned towards Seppuku again and chuckled, "Lieutenant Seppuku needing help on something? There must be a catch…"
With the immediate tension now at a halt, Seppuku decided to approach the two by the fire. After sitting down, Goroh and Guster did the same. By now, most of the pirates were calm and simply watching the rivals talk.
Seppuku held his hands up, "Since I was a member of the Federation at one point, I know the location of Jody Summer's colonization base."
"Colonization base?"
"Yeah, Jody has a massive warehouse in central Japan with a massive stockpile of supplies. The supplies are used in the colonization of newly discovered planets."
Goroh smirked, "There must be some pretty good stuff in there."
"Unfortunately, a special Federation keycard is needed to get inside," Seppuku smirked and swiftly held up a plastic card, "Fortunately, however, I happen to still have my card."
"Cut to the chase! Just what is it you want us to do, help you raid the place for supplies?"
"Pretty much. I have personal interests I wish to collect from the warehouse. If you help me, you can help yourself to whatever you'd like."
"I'm liking this proposal so far…" Goroh said in a deep tone.
"The challenge, however, is that I need you guys to refrain from killing any security guards."
Guster slammed his fist down in the dirt and barred his teeth, "How do you raid a place without killing!?"
"I'm still trying to redeem myself in the eyes of the public. I can't risk giving Summer more ammo by murdering security units."
"Yeah, but like Guster asked, how do you propose we avoid killing?"
"Leave that to me. I just need some help carrying the goods out of the warehouse and getting it back to Red Canyon. Even I have to admit, I'm assuming that I'll have a bit too much to carry."
"So, raid, loot, and run. That's it?"
Seppuku stretched his arms and nodded, "Simple, and believe me, this warehouse has quality stuff. You want to get your hands on it while I'm still available."
Goroh and Guster remained silent for many seconds. Both continued to exchange glances, wondering if this was a deal worth accepting. Seppuku could immediately sense the looks of nervousness that both Goroh and Guster had. To lure them in, he decided to play a more frustrating game.
"Unless of course, you're not competent enough to pull off such a simple raid," he scratched his chin with a devilish grin, "I suppose there are other gangs I can request help from…"
"Samurai Goroh can do anything!" shouted Goroh.
"So, you can help me raid a simple warehouse and fill a crate with goods?"
Guster turned towards Goroh, prepared to express his concern, but Goroh had slammed his fist down loudly before he could speak, "To prove how competent my crew is! Just give us the card, and we'll get everything for you!"
"That won't be necessary. I need to come along and ensure that I get everything that I need."
Guster grabbed Goroh's arm and lowered his eyebrows, "Goroh, this aint a good idea…"
Completely disregarding Guster's concern, Goroh launched himself up and reached his hand out, "Well, come on! Let's get onboard our ship and head off to this warehouse!"
Seppuku launched his finger up and raised his eyebrows, "Ah, but first…" he rubbed his hands together and quirked his mouth, "Do you by chance have any extra clothing lying around?"
Goroh dropped his fist and raised an eyebrow, "We have a tailor tent…"
A few minutes later, Seppuku stepped out of a large colorful tent with a completely different appearance. Goroh grasped his waist and raised his eyebrows.
"How do I look?"
Goroh smirked and shook his head very slowly, "Like some Arabian pirate…"
Seppuku was now dressed completely different. He had a full head wrapping with sunglasses, a dark shirt with a leather duster, a pair of dirty jeans, and two brown leather boots. Ultimately, there wasn't a single distinctive part of Seppuku anymore, he was merely a tall intimidating pirate.
"Why are you dressed like that?" Goroh asked hostilely.
"Because, I can't let anyone know that I'm the one raiding the warehouse. And if someone does die in this operation, I can avoid the blame and pin this whole thing on you and your crew."
"Sounds perfectly reasonable!" Goroh barked in response.
The two rivals walked towards Samurai Goroh's ship together, which was landed out in the distance. Seppuku was looking over his new clothing with slight interest, surprised that he had done such a good job designing his pirate disguise.
"Alright, you're going to land the ship near the warehouse, we'll go in and loot the place, bring the goods aboard the ship, and take off before the military can react."
Goroh nodded, "After this, we go back to being enemies. I'm just accommodating your plea for help merely because I'm going to make some serious cash off of this!"
"Definitely…"
At that moment, Seppuku made a different turn, now walking back towards the Red Dove. Goroh came to a stop and raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"
Seppuku continued to walk, but looked back while doing so, "Getting the Red Dove."
"Why?" he asked demandingly.
"Trust me, I have a plan…"
Chiya bent over and began to pour a massive bag of cat food into a bowl. She was struggling to hold the bag up on her own, but a happy mood was inspiring her to remain strong. Many cats began to swarm around the food bowl as she did this, thus making her even happier. Within a few more seconds, she was completely surrounded by her feline companions.
"That's right, feed, my babies…"
As she did this, many of the dogs were left staring at her blandly. Every food bowl for the dogs were empty, but Chiya was taking her time in filling all of the cat bowls. There was an obvious biased treatment of cats over dogs when Earl wasn't around. The feline population of Good Odds were beginning to understand that Chiya's presence always meant good news, any other animal, unfortunately, found a fair amount of neglect.
The food bowls were filled, and Chiya could finally set down the bag of food. She did so, then wiped her forehead after exhaling. The many cats of Good Odds were now enjoying a satisfying meal of hard food, and not a single cat was left unthankful. Chiya was left standing with a very radiant smile, but then lowered her eyelids and sighed.
"Alright…" she muttered before groaning loudly.
Chiya walked over to the corner of the room and wrapped her arms around an even heavier bag that contained dog food. Her eyes shot open as soon as she lifted the bag up, finding that this was unsettlingly heavy. She grunted constantly while moving towards the metal food bowls, but then her next problem came.
BARK!
Chiya widened her eyes and glanced to her left, the dogs were now staring her down with hungry looks. In response, she narrowed her eyebrows hostilely.
"Yeah, yeah, hold on!"
One dog continued to bark at her as she lowered the bag towards the bowl. It wasn't until she had officially begun to pour the food, that the dogs all charged towards her. She continued to pour, but her concentration had been abruptly brought away from the food as the dogs all began to swarm her.
"Whoa! Hey! Stop it!"
Most of the dogs were trying to get into the food bowl, but some were beginning to climb onto her boots. Her glare became much more personal, but she continued to pour food into each dish, which was successfully drawing some dogs away from her.
"Wh- what's wrong with you people? The food's in the dish!"
Regardless of her complaining, some dogs remained around her, some even looking up at her. She finished the last bowl and quickly threw the bag aside, but even then, some remained. She backed away from a white and brown dog and began to wave her hands frantically.
"Okay, that's it, you've invaded Chiya Flower airspace!" looking up at the many cats, she let out a loud whistle, "Kitties! Help!"
A grunt was momentarily released from her, the dog in front of her began to pant excitedly. Slightly disturbed, her eyebrows lowered. "If that's supposed to be a dog's version of purring, I want nothing to do with it…"
It was at that moment a violent shock went straight through her body. The dog slightly opened its mouth, revealing a very long tongue. Chiya's jaw dropped in utter shock, leaving her completely stunned as the dog's long tongue fell far underneath its chin. Immediately, Chiya began to flap her arms around while panicking loudly. She got on one foot and brought her leg up to her waist in absolute horror.
"O- oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"
The door to the play area opened, and just as Earl entered the room, Chiya screamed loudly. Chiya's scream left Earl startled, especially after seeing her stance.
"What's wrong!?"
Chiya closed her eyes and pointed down at the dog while trembling, "That dog's tongue! It's so long! What the Hell is wrong with it!?"
Earl's eyebrows went back into regular position, the dog turned towards him and began to wag its tail-recognizing Earl as the dog lover. He immediately approached the dog and knelt down to pat it on the head.
"That's normal. Dogs have long tongues, Chiya."
Chiya's eyes shot back open, "What!?"
Earl closed his eyes and smiled while patting the dog, "What's wrong? It's just a tongue. I think this dog is pretty cute."
"If by cute you mean scary tentacle monster in disguise, then, yes!"
Earl lowered his eyebrows with a slight smirk. As much as Earl cared for Chiya, and as much as he knew about her-her interest in animals would always be a mystery that eludes him.
"Alright, well, I'm not going to have the classic Feline vs. Canine argument."
Chiya looked down at the dog again, specifically at the dripping long tongue, "Blimey, there really is no argument to make…"
Earl walked towards the door and pointed at Chiya, "Hey, come on. I brought three Lower City bums in that were interested in a job."
Chiya very slowly lifted her head. A gulp couldn't be stopped, as she had sudden concerns about what kind of bums they would be dealing with. Earl had gone out searching for Lower City citizens that would be interested in work, and in total, he found three that liked the idea of veterinarian.
A few minutes later, Chiya and Earl sat behind a desk, with a man in simple dirty clothing in front of them. The man appeared nervous, but confident. Chiya crossed her fingers together and smiled at the man.
"What's your name?"
"Hun."
Chiya looked at Earl, then back at the man with a puzzled look, "Hun?"
"Hun."
Earl nodded very slowly, then pointed at him, "Okay, Hun. Why do you want to be a veterinarian for the famous Chiya Flower?"
Chiya giggled and swished her hand at him, "Oh, stop!"
The man nodded swiftly, "I need money, a lot," he answered in a slurred accent.
"I see, a lot of people down here are in need of money."
"I want some money."
Chiya and Earl remained silent, but Chiya's smile remained firm, "Okay, but about the pet shelter?"
"I do anythings for money," the man stood up and slammed his hands down on their desk, "I do anythings!"
Earl grunted and grabbed Chiya's hand, "Uh, okay, thank you, Hun. We'll notify you if you made the cut…"
The next person appeared much more promising to both Chiya and Earl. A woman with chestnut colored hair sat in the chair with her legs crossed. Chiya blinked at her a few times with a smile.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Sabrina. And I'd like to start off by thanking you for offering me this job."
Earl beamed at her, "Oh, you're much more literate than most Lower City citizens."
"Well, I was actually born in the Upper City. I lost all of my money in debt, and generally had no other place to go…"
Chiya raised her eyebrows and nodded, "Why do you want to be a veterinarian for us?"
"Well! I actually studied veterinary work throughout my entire childhood. I took several classes in high school that dealt with animal treatment, and I took a semester in college that deals with veterinary work," Chiya and Earl beamed at each other excitedly. "Unfortunately, I was unable to complete college because of financial issues. But believe me, I still hold great knowledge."
Chiya grabbed Earl's hands and beamed at him, "Let's hire her..!" she whispered swiftly.
Earl nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a plan to me."
Chiya turned towards Sabrina and clapped her hands together, "So, you really like animals then?"
"Oh, most certainly!" Chiya blinked at her a few times, "Except for cats."
Chiya's smile immediately fell apart, "Come again?"
"Oh, I love all animals. But I don't like cats. There's a lot of animals that I could never bring myself to euthanize, but cats are another story. If I were offered a job that deals solely in euthanizing cats, I would be quite fine taking it." She slapped her knee and laughed loudly, "I mean, they're bats without wings, right?"
Chiya now had an extremely disgruntled look on her face, but Earl was still left somewhat impressed by her background.
"Next," said Chiya.
Both Sabrina and Earl widened their eyes, "What?" asked Sabrina.
Earl grabbed Chiya by the shoulder, "Chiya, come on…"
"Next, please."
Earl lowered his eyebrows and sighed, then looked over at Sabrina. With a slight grin, he shrugged and sighed, "Next…"
"And what's your name?" asked Chiya.
"Azhul!"
In front of them, sat a very optimistic man. He had a slightly darker skin color, black hair, and a yellow dirty shirt on. Earl rubbed his chin and hummed, "You sound pretty excited."
"Oh, I am! I have never gotten a job offering before!"
Chiya smirked at him, "Do you know who I am?"
"Chiya Flower, an F-Zero machine driver!"
"Excellent."
Earl nodded approvingly at the man, "Tell us, Azhul, why are you interested in being a veterinarian?"
Azhul dipped his head down and frowned, "I will not lie to you, I want the job because I am poor, and no longer have a family, or a home."
Chiya frowned, "You don't have a family?"
"As a teenager, we were mugged in an alley. I ran with my brother, Opali, and never saw my parents again," Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly, "Then, two years later, by complete coincidence, me and my brother, Opali, were mugged again. I ran, and never saw him again."
"Oh my God…" muttered Earl.
"I have lived in this area of the Lower City for years, sharing food with the other homeless families."
Chiya rubbed her chin with a smirk, "Azhul, Opali, I've never heard of those names before…"
"I am from India."
Earl snapped his fingers and nodded, "Ah."
The man shook his head frantically, "I have little knowledge on taking care of animals, but I can learn. I am asking that you consider me, as I have nothing in life."
Earl exhaled with a grin, "Well, so far you're the only person to have come in without some problem…" he folded his hands together, "Let's say that we did hire you, about your pay…"
"I would gladly work for free, as long as I can live in here and have some food."
Both Chiya and Earl widened their eyes, Earl was immediate on rejecting this offer, "Um, no, no. That-"
He was then interrupted as Chiya slapped her palm over his mouth, "Excuse us…"
Chiya turned Earl towards the wall, then turned with him. Earl looked into her eyes, finding a sudden look of excitement had overtaken her, "Earl! He'll work for us, you know, for free..!" she whispered loudly.
"No, Chiya, we can't accept that offer. That would be free labor…"
"What? No it isn't, we're still buying him snacks and a bed!"
Earl lowered his eyebrows, "I mean, yeah, I get that. But people work for money, not living standards."
"Think about it, Earl. We would have someone living here, we wouldn't need to worry about him being late for work, he would be here everyday-thus fixing our money problem, and all we need to do is buy him food and a bed!"
Earl sighed loudly and rubbed the back of his head, "It's still free labor, that-"
"At least it's not slave labor. Come on, you and I both know that he would just use the money we give him to buy food anyways."
"I guess…"
"Let's give it a shot..!"
Earl appeared skeptical and unsure of this. Deep inside, he knew that she was proposing that they scam him and keep the entire income for themselves. Even though they would be bringing a bum off of the streets, he simply didn't feel that this would justify their actions. Regardless of his feelings, the two spun around towards Azhul.
Chiya beamed at him excitedly, "You're hired!"
Azhul beamed back at her, Earl nodded at him with a slight frown, but he soon managed to smile, "Yeah, we'll just teach you how to run the place before we close up for the day…"
Azhul launched out of his seat and shook both hands, "Thank you, Boss and Boss!"
Chiya and Earl exchanged glances as they shook, Chiya had a look of excitement, while Earl had a mixed look of excitement and guilt.
Far out in Japan sat a large compound with electric fencing. The sun was slowly beginning to go down, leaving an autumn orange appearance upon the terrain. The sun was setting, but Seppuku was preparing to rise.
The door to Goroh's ship opened, Seppuku stood in front of Goroh and many other pirates as they gazed out at the massive warehouse they would be raiding. Seppuku adjusted his sunglasses before cocking his assault rifle.
"Let's go."
Seppuku took some initial steps out of the ship, and Goroh immediately ran up to him. About twenty other pirates were following the two closely from behind, Guster being one of the few who decided to stay in Red Canyon. Guster smelt a trap, therefore, declined the offer to assist Seppuku in his mission. Goroh, however, could foresee great fortune by the end of the day.
The group began to climb up a hill, where the compound sat. Goroh raised his eyebrow as Seppuku swiftly pulled out his personal handgun and held it up sternly.
"You sure you know what you're doing, pal?"
Seppuku nodded, "You let me do all the hard work, I just need you and your men to make me appear more intimidating."
Chuckling, Goroh shrugged and looked up into the sky with pride, "Personally, I couldn't care less if you get your head blown off here. I'm just looking after my own skin!"
"I could say the exact same thing, buddy…"
A security guard was standing at his post with a bored expression. All he had was a handgun and taser, but had an assault rifle available in his booth. His job was to guard the only entrance to the colonization warehouse. The entrance was in the form of a checkpoint. Sniffling slightly, the man rubbed his nose and quirked his mouth. He slowly moved his finger away from his face while still staring at the tip; as he did this, a shocking sight had quickly confronted him.
He dropped his finger and blinked a few times, Seppuku came walking towards him slowly with the handgun up in the air. His head wrapping made it impossible for the guard to make out Seppuku's hair or skin color.
"H- hey! This is a restricted area!" the man swiftly pulled out his handgun and grinded his teeth, "Turn back, now!"
Seppuku grinned very brightly, but this grin couldn't be seen. Coming to a stop, Seppuku grasped his waist and chuckled.
"Drop your weapon," demanded Seppuku.
The guard glared, but then widened his eyes and gasped as the sight of twenty pirates momentarily made their appearance. Even more intimidating to him, was the fact that Samurai Goroh was accompanying them. Without a single second of further hesitation, the guard dropped his weapon and put his hands up.
"Whoa! Whoa! Okay!"
Goroh grinned and looked over at Seppuku, "We might just pull this off…"
"Of course we will, you stupid inept pirate. Instead of raiding a place by killing, we're doing so through intimidation." Goroh lowered his eyebrows and growled, Seppuku approached the guard and patted his back firmly, "Now, tie and gag him."
"What?"
"Do it!"
About five minutes later, a loud pounding could be heard at the main entrance. Several security guards turned their heads with shocked looks, some had already pulled out their weapons. A blonde guard immediately leapt beside another guard while trembling.
"Wha- what's happening!?"
The other guard grunted with a very frantic expression, "Sounds like someone's trying to beat the door down with a tank!"
At that very moment, the massive metal door was kicked down to the ground. Seppuku lowered his foot as the metal locks fell to the ground. Goroh held up his hand cannon, while the twenty pirates knelt down and took aim in a line formation. The guards were left speechless, as they were outnumbered by about fifteen.
"Who the Hell are you guys!?"
Disregarding the question, Seppuku threw his arm straight and took aim, "Drop the weapons, and no one gets hurt!"
Some guards dropped their weapons, but the one speaking kept a tight grasp on his, "Y- y- you guys cannot be in here!"
"Wow, did you hear that, Goroh? We're not supposed to be in here."
Dismissing any fear of being shot at, the pirates began to move into the main entrance. The guard continued to grunt loudly as the pirates slowly began to encircle the guards. Seppuku and Goroh came walking down the center, prepared to strip the guard of his weapon by force. The guard dropped his weapon, but quickly pulled out a device and pressed down on a button.
Goroh gasped and took a step back, "What is that!?"
Seppuku grunted and swiftly whipped his handgun up, taking a shot, the device was instantly pierced and destroyed by the bullet. The guard shouted and fell to the floor, having been struck by Seppuku's bullet.
Goroh continued to panic, "What was that!?"
"A communication device. He just sent out a distress signal…"
"To who?"
Seppuku growled slightly and grasped the back of his head, "The redheaded dragon…"
The guard got on his rear and gasped, he found that a stream of blood was coming out of his chest-but not his back. He had been shot, but the bullet hadn't pierced through his back. Seppuku took notice of this and briefly approached the man.
"Someone, ditch this guy somewhere near the entrance. He'll survive until the Federation gets here." A pirate leapt in front of him in a maid-like manner, then picked the guard up. Seppuku crossed his arms and pointed at the other disarmed guards, "As for the rest of them…" Goroh raised an eyebrow at Seppuku, "Tie and gag them."
With the guards all tied up and being closely watched by the pirates, Seppuku and Goroh were completely free to proceed into the supply room. Goroh was watching in puzzlement as Seppuku constantly slammed his foot against the door, no matter how many times he tried, the door wouldn't budge.
"Need a hand?"
Seppuku looked up at Goroh and shook negatively, "Do I look like I need a hand?"
"We're still trying to get inside, so-o…"
"Hey, relax. I've kicked open the door to your mom's house thousands of times before, I think I can open this one."
Goroh smirked and shook in disgust, "How mature of you. And I didn't know you were into-"
Beyond all logic, the door momentarily fell down after another kick. Seppuku clapped his hands together and smirked, "See? It's like I always say. If you bang something long enough, you'll get results."
Seppuku took a step inside, but Goroh immediately shoved him aside, deciding that he wanted first grabs on anything he wanted. A heavy grin overtook him upon spotting various machines and tools that would be used for colonization-specifically construction. Firing his hands into the air, Goroh laughed deeply.
"Ho, ho! We've struck gold!"
Goroh and his many pirates immediately began to swarm the room in search of valuable goods. Seppuku remained still and silent as he scanned the room for what he wanted. Finding spacesuits was difficult because of all the pirates that surrounded him, he was mostly finding all things relevant to construction-but no spacesuits.
"Look, guys! I found a crate full of batteries!"
Seppuku turned his head towards Goroh, then gasped as he lifted up the crate. Behind Goroh, stood a rack full of spacesuits, along with many oxygen tanks. Seppuku smirked and nodded, but before he could begin moving towards the suits, something else had caught his eye. In the corner of his eye, was a wired phone hanging on the wall.
"Ah, right…" he muttered softly.
As Goroh and his men celebrated and began to lift up boxes and crates, Seppuku made his way to the phone. Being very careful, he hid behind a crate and picked up the phone. Goroh turned his head towards the entrance, surprised to see that Seppuku was nowhere in sight. Regardless, he continued to bask in glory at their findings.
Seppuku dialed a number and crouched down. The phone rang for a few seconds, all the while, Seppuku found himself staring at the spacesuits. The next question was how he would get the suits back to Goroh's ship without getting shot at by Federation officers. After a few seconds of waiting, the phone picked up.
"Galactic Federation HQ, Jody Summer speaking."
Seppuku held the phone up to his mouth, then slowly tugged his wrapping down to his chin, thus revealing his mouth. "Hello, Ms. Summer. This is an anonymous caller, with a very important tip to give you…"
Minutes had passed, and nearly every pirate now had their hands full with crates and boxes. Goroh was empty handed, merely because he knew that someone needed to be available to shoot a gun. Seppuku had loaded nearly twenty oxygen tanks into a crate and placed it inside of a large box. He was down to the final part, storing the spacesuits.
"Come on, Seppuku! Let's get out of here!"
Seppuku ignored Goroh and continued to stare at the spacesuits. He was making a decision on what color to give everybody. Stroking his chin, he hummed and poked a suit.
"On one hand, red is cooler than blue, but on the other hand, blue represents heroism…"
Goroh was watching him from the entrance, alongside his pirate gang. Impatiently, Goroh stomped his foot down. Seppuku shrugged and picked three blue suits off of the rack. Carefully placing each suit in the box. He prepared to close it, but at the last second had a thought cross his mind. He hesitated to put the last suit inside of the box, and he found himself looking back up at the rack of suits. Goroh's stomping became much louder, but Seppuku had decided to make a last second change. After sighing, he put one blue suit back and picked out a pink one.
"Better to just avoid the inevitable complaining…"
"Seppuku! Get off your ass or we're leaving!"
Without a moment to lose, Seppuku lifted up the heavy crate with his inhuman strength. He approached Goroh and tilted his head to the left constantly. Goroh grinded his teeth and cracked his knuckles at the tilting.
"What does that twitching mean!?"
"Go out the other exit, it'll get you back to the ship much faster."
Goroh and his men all began to exchange confused glances, Goroh being the one who was most confused, "What are you going on about!?"
Sighing, Seppuku lowered the crate and placed his hand respectfully on Goroh's shoulder, "Goroh, I feel that you and I have connected a lot today. I feel that we might actually have something going here, imagine if you and I worked together as pirates-we'd be unstoppable!" Goroh lowered his eyebrows as Seppuku rubbed his hand along his shoulder, "Despite the immature crap I've given you before, I need you to just trust me…"
Goroh continued to look into Seppuku's sunglasses, soon finding a somewhat respectful look on his face. Ultimately, Goroh grinned and pointed to his rear.
"You heard him, get the plunder to the other exit!"
Seppuku gave him a thumbs up and began walking the other way. Goroh quickly spun around and raised his eyebrows, "And where do you think you're going?"
Lowering his wrapping, Seppuku revealed a grin, "To go get the Red Dove."
"Why?"
"Remember? I said I had a plan…"
Goroh gazed at Seppuku for several moments, then nodded affirmatively, "Alright then."
A few minutes went by, Seppuku had somehow managed to sprint back down the hill towards the hidden ship. Having immediately entered the ship's loading bay, Seppuku stored the crate inside of the Red Dove and quickly signaled for the cockpit window to open. He ducked his head and looked outside, but found that no Federation officers had spotted him, let alone the ship.
"Excellent…"
Jumping inside of the cockpit, Seppuku plugged the key into the ignition and smirked. He looked back at his crate of supplies, then nodded to himself with a proud grin. The machine turned on and lifted into the air, followed by the slowly opening ramp to the ship.
"Alright, let's do this…"
Goroh was stomping his foot down constantly as every pirate desperately looked for a way to get the rear exit open. However, the rear exit was actually a massive hangar-like door.
"Come on! How hard can it be to get a door open!?"
"We're trying our hardest, Goroh!"
Goroh grinded his teeth furiously, but just as he reached the peak of his fury, a bright glowing red light could be seen in the corner of his eyes. He raised his eyebrows, then face palmed roughly.
"Press the button, you morons!"
Each pirate turned their head towards the glowing red light, one pirate got a silly smile and approached it.
"Oh, there it is!"
"Idiots…"
Upon pressing the button, the light switched to green, and the massive door began to open. Goroh was still shaking his head negatively, disgusted by the incompetent nature of his crew. Each pirate picked up their packages and prepared to exit, where they would need to make a quick run for the ship. This didn't go as planned, however, as what was behind the door greatly surprised even Goroh.
Goroh lowered his glasses and dropped his jaw in absolute shock. Almost every single pirate gasped and dropped their packages as the sounds of weapons cocking could be heard.
Everyone-including Goroh-raised their hands into the air.
"Freeze! Get on your knees!" shouted Jody Summer.
Officers, armored vehicles, hovercraft, machine guns-this exit was completely locked down by Jody and her forces. There was no chance of bartering for a successful battle, Goroh and his pirates were completely surrounded. Even if they were to take down the hundred armed officers, they would still be inevitably mowed down by the armored vehicles with high caliber machine guns.
One pirate turned his head towards Goroh, having instantly reduced into a puddle of his own fear, "S- sir! What are we going to do!?"
Goroh was left trembling in absolute shock as well, but then grinned and closed his eyes. Having instantly gone from fear, to a grin, Goroh began to laugh mockingly. Many pirates turned towards their pirate leader in shock, most wondering what he found so funny in such a severe moment.
"Don't worry, Seppuku said that he had a plan!"
Seppuku was calmly driving the Red Dove down the highway, now completely away from the danger area. He had a bland expression on his face as he drove, simply staring off into the sunset as he made his way back to Red Canyon. Seppuku now had a crate of spacesuits in the back of the Red Dove, just as he had hoped to do.
He finally smirked and reached down towards the radio, putting on a station that he much enjoyed. For the rest of the ride home, Seppuku bobbed his head to the hip sound of Kate Alen.
"As always, my plan worked out perfectly."
Seppuku hit the boosters one time, deciding that he could spare a slight amount of energy. The Red Dove darted along the highway, now making its way back to Red Canyon, where Seppuku's regular clothing remained.
"Mission success…"
Much later that night, Chiya and Earl found themselves eating alone at the dining table. Both now appeared fairly optimistic about hiring Azhul, as even Earl ended up giving in to Chiya's point of view on the matter. No food had been cooked for Seppuku, as neither of the two had any idea if he would be returning within the hour. The honest truth, was that neither of the two had a single clue where Seppuku had gone.
Chiya placed a piece of finely cut carrot into her mouth with a cute smile, "He just looked so happy, though. And surprise-surprise, he's a fast learner!"
Earl nodded with a smirk, "That's for sure, I'm just wondering how he'll handle work when he's alone."
"I think he'll do great! He's a very friendly man."
Earl poked at his meat and lowered his eyebrows, "Yeah, but still, I'm still not sure if I quite like forcing free labor on him. Maybe we should just give him a little payout…"
Chiya blinked at him a few times, then lowered her eyelids with a smirk, "Yeah, but that could be money going towards Project Neptune, right?"
"Believe it or not, I've almost reached my goal. Within a few weeks, the Project Neptune budget should be complete."
Chiya groaned loudly and slammed her arms onto the table, "I want to know what it is!"
"Soon."
She closed her eyes and smirked, "Well, regardless, I'm excited to see how Azhul performs tomorrow."
"Ah, but we won't be available tomorrow, remember?" Chiya raised an eyebrow, "We're going to Silence tomorrow, so Azhul will have to man Good Odds by himself."
"Oh, jeez, that's right…"
Earl closed his eyes and shrugged with a grin, "He'll do fine…"
At that moment, the two were alarmed as Seppuku kicked open the garage door. Both looked over at the door in shock, Seppuku dropped the crate of spacesuits onto the ground and carried an additional bag over to the table.
"I'm back."
Chiya widened her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Oh, Seppuku, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be back, so I didn't make you anything…"
Chiya's eyes shot open massively as Seppuku had suddenly pulled out various boxes of fast food, "That's fine, I picked up some food at Pit Stop."
"What!? Why didn't you get some for us!?"
Seppuku placed a nugget into his mouth and shrugged, "You have a machine, do it yourself."
The three remained silent as they continued to eat. Seppuku was simply eating his food while Chiya and Earl stared at him. Of the two, Chiya appeared most intrigued. Earl was glancing over at the crate constantly, wondering what he had brought back with him.
"To answer your question, Bendek, I got the spacesuits."
Earl nodded and raised his eyebrows, "I see…"
Chiya put down her fork and stretched her arms joyously, "Well, Earl and I had a wonderful day. How about you, Seppuku, how was your day?"
Seppuku quirked his mouth and brought his vanilla shake up to his mouth. He glanced over at the crate of spacesuits, then back at Chiya, who was anxiously awaiting to hear from him. Ultimately, Seppuku shrugged.
"Eh, same old, same old..."
To be continued…
Goroh was walking down the hallway of a Federation prison lane ship, which was on its way to another planet. Goroh was now handcuffed and fitted in an orange jumpsuit, he was in a line with all of his other now imprisoned pirates as they moved in a line. The security guards were tapping their backs with batons, trying to keep them in order.
The pirate in front of Goroh bobbed his head up and gasped, then turned towards his leader, "Goroh! I just figured it out!"
With a furious expression, Goroh looked up, "Hm?"
The prisoner nodded with a proud smirk, "Seppuku's plan, was that he was going to ditch us!"
Goroh raised his eyebrows and let out a sarcastic gasp, "Wow! Hey! I've decided to promote you!"
"Really?"
"Yes, from this day forth, you will be known as Captain Obvious…"
