[Theme Song — "Hātofurusurottoru" by Gunpowder Audition — Full Throttle Heart, season 1]
[Montage of Truck-kun fighting the Undead Legions of Liquid Shadow]
We spend our days dreaming
Stirring in our sleep
Driving through our lives!
Full of octane gas
Open throttle (we're gonna crash!)
Can't stop this feeling (in my heart)
Fiercest, only, auto-kun... Truck-kun (Truck-kun!)
Fiercest, only, auto-kun... Truck-kun (Truck-kun!)
Full of octane gas
Open throttle (we're gonna last!)
Can't stop this feeling (in my heart)
Approaching certain victory
Fight the power (unleash the power!)
Drown out all the cheering fans
Defeat evil that controls the land
~
[Clouds roll across the sky and over lush green hills. The calm rumble of Truck-kun's engine grows louder. A truck finally comes over the hill.]
Truck-kun drove across the hills at a leisurely pace. As picturesque as the scenery was, it was far from flat, and its tires and suspension weren't made for off-road driving.
Besides, it didn't want to risk hitting a bump and jostling its companions.
The knight, Gabriel, and the wizard's apprentice, Morden, rode in Truck-kun's cab. Gabriel looked out over the landscape, watching with contentment. Morden leaned his head against the window, snoring quietly.
Al, the bluebird, rode atop Truck-kun's cab. He too was sleeping, snoring like a tiny chainsaw.
Gabriel said quietly, "A man could get soft living like this. This is even easier than riding a horse."
Truck-kun rumbled, "Not everyone."
Joe hadn't been soft.
Gabriel chuckled at that. "Not everyone... Too many men. First you get soft, you lose your edge. Then you forget your vows."
"You've taken vows?" Truck-kun asked.
"Oh, of course. It's expected of our order. Did you take a vow, Truck-kun?"
"No."
"What about your Joe? Did he perhaps?"
Truck-kun thought back to those long work days and many deliveries. Joe always took pride in a good day's work, but Truck-kun wasn't sure if he ever made a vow. But he must have... Truck-kun became uncertain, its revometer wavered.
It was becoming a struggle to remember.
Gabriel noticed. "Are you alright, Truck-kun?"
"Yes," Truck-kun replied. It wasn't sure if that was the truth, but that was the truth they needed.
Truck-kun would drive on toward its destination, no matter how distant, no matter how perilous.
That was what Joe would've done.
Morden stirred and yawned widely. "How much further to town?"
"Oh, another few hours," Gabriel said. "We should see it on the horizon any minute now."
"Okay. Wake me up when..." The apprentice trailed off and began snoring quietly.
Both Gabriel and Truck-kun trailed off, both retreating into their own solitude.
~
Some hills later, when the sun was beginning to set, their destination appeared on the horizon. Truck-kun paused to take in the sight. After days of traveling through the ancient forest and still more traversing the hills, they'd finally found civilization.
Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, there we are." The knight spoke with the solemn reverence of a soldier returning home. Gabriel had never said which town he hailed from, but in that moment, Truck-kun believed it was this one.
Truck-kun nearly asked him if that was the case, but the metal warrior looked on the sight differently.
A mix of feelings swirled in its gas tank.
Back on Earth, with Joe, people had looked on Truck-kun with indifference. It had been a simple box truck, no different from the others on the road. Few people talked to Joe, and no one talked to Truck-kun.
But here, in this strange world, people reacted differently to Truck-kun. Some with disbelief, others with awe or even fear.
"Gabriel," Truck-kun whispered. "Are you certain we need to go into town?"
"Of course," Gabriel replied. "Is something the matter?"
"...How will people react when they see me?
Gabriel tapped his fingers on the door thoughtfully. "I truly don't know, but you are a warrior and you should be treated as such. Besides, their more liable to freak out when they hear—"
"HOLY MACKEREL!"
Al's voice startled everyone. Al flitted and looped through the air.
"Have you ever seen something so beauti—"
Al smacked into Gabriel's window and fell to the ground.
"I'm good!"
~
[After a quick discussion, it's agreed that Gabriel and Morden would walk beside Truck-kun, and enter the village together. Truck-kun stays in its truck form. Al rides atop Truck-kun's cab and does his best normal bluebird impersonation.
[Two guards stand at the front gates of town, and their eyes grow progressively wider as the strange group approaches.]
The older of the two guards held out a hand to stop them. To his credit, neither his hand nor his voice wavered as he looked Truck-kun up and down.
"Don't believe I've seen you before, strangers. What brings you to town?"
Gabriel stood tall and stoic. "Food and rest. My charge here is a wizard's apprentice and we have a parcel to deliver to his maester."
The guard wriggled his mustache and nodded. "You look like an honest knight. Very well."
The younger guard pointed to Truck-kun. "What manner of horse... or carriage, is that?"
"Neither," Gabriel said, patting Truck-kun's door. "This is my fellow knight, Truck-kun."
Truck-kun's suspension creaked as it bowed its front end. "I know my appearance is strange, but I am a humble knight."
The young guard's mouth fell open in disbelief, but the old guard nudged him.
"Far be it from me to keep a knight from their task. Go on in. The inn's down the road."
~
[Truck-kun drove slowly through the middle of town, both to match his allies' speed and so as not to marr the dirt road. The group doesn't get far before a crowd gathers around them. The townsfolk look upon Truck-kun with
"He's a knight?"
"That's the biggest knight I ever saw!"
"Looks more like a horse..."
"What kind of armor is that?"
Truck-kun had never had so much attention focused on it, not even in the repair shop when its timing belt had snapped. Morden looked as uneasy as Truck-kun felt. Meanwhile, Gabriel seemed to revel in the attention, speaking as easily to children as he did adults.
One small child stumbled up and smiled at her distorted reflection in Truck-kun's hubcap.
"Tweet tweet."
Al tried to sound like a bluebird, but his tweeting sounded like the final spurts of a ketchup bottle.
Morden pulled at his collar nervously, and whispered, "The birds aren't very convincing this year."
Al shot him a glare, as if to say, hey, I'm trying here.
"Tweet tw—tweght. Tweght—hegh!" Al sputtered into a coughing fit.
Two kids pointed up Al. "Mommy, I think that bird is dying."
Al tilted his head in confusion, then went back to his horrid tweeting.
[The group waves goodbye to the townfolk and walks to the inn. Truck-kun waits outside with Al while Gabriel and Morden go inside and talk to the innkeeper.}
Gabriel and Morden walked out a few minutes later, both looking dejected.
"How did it go?" Truck-kun asked.
Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "They have a room, and I have some coin, but I'm afraid there isn't room inside for you, Truck-kun. The room isn't much... and frankly, I don't think the door is wide enough either. We can check with the stables."
"That's a thing?" Morden asked.
"Oh yes. Sometimes sleeping with the horses is warmer than a scratchy bed anyway." Gabriel laughed heartily. "There's a first time for everything, young apprentice."
"No," Truck-kun said firmly. "I never went inside with Joe, and Joe never slept outside. There's no reason you should have to sleep outside either."
"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes."
"We'll see you in the morning then." Gabriel said.
He patted Truck-kun's door. Morden nodded meekly. Even all flitted to the apprentice's shoulder. Then they all went back inside the inn.
[A few minutes later, Gabriel leans outside a back window and calls for Truck-kun. The truck drives around to the back of the inn and parks near the window.]
It was a small gesture, but Truck-kun approved.
Soon after, the group turned in for the night.
Al flitted out the window and landed on Truck-kun's cab.
"Yes, Al?"
"I'll stay outside with you, Truck-dude."
"That's... nice of you, Al."
"There's too many dudes in there and not enough broads."
Truck-kun didn't comment that it was just Al and itself outside. It just rumbled in thanks.
"...Hey, can I sleep in your glove box though? I think I heard an owl."
Truck-kun cracked the window and Al fluttered into the glovebox. Soon after, the misfits fell asleep.
~
Dr. Venture shifted on the couch. He sat across the living room from Emmett and Clara.
"What did you think?" Clara asked emphatically.
Venture gestured at the screen. The credits were rolling, and a box popped up in the corner asking if they wanted to play the next episode.
"I don't know... I'm not sure I get it," Venture finally said.
Clara shifted in her seat. Her mouth hung open in offense.
TINA interjected. "Truck-kun is clearly a parallel for Emmett becoming a cyborg. Both are thrust into a strange new world and are marginalized for their abilities. Isekai and portal fantasy have long histories as metaphors for childhood ending and growing up."
An anime about an isekai'd truck was a parallel for Emmett's life? Utter nonsense... The last season aired four years ago.
If she had said Full Throttle Heart: Redux or Full Throttle Heart: GT, then it might've made some sense.
Emmett chuckled at the ridiculousness of TINA's statement. "I thought Dr. Venture was going to help you with your humor."
"You're clearly laughing."
Clara scoffed. "Alright, that was a slow episode. You need to watch one that has some action."
Emmett chuckled. "I don't know. I don't mind the slower ones. Maybe if we started your dad over at the beginning..."
"Oh no." Venture stood up swiftly. "I'll leave you both to it. Emmett, when you're done, we can continue our conversation."
Dr. Venture turned and walked out of section 001, leaving Emmett and Clara alone.
"Go ahead and play another episode please, TINA," Clara said. She scrunched deeper into the crook of Emmett's arm.
The Full Throttle Heart theme started playing again, and Emmett did his best to push aside thoughts of upgrades.
At least for twenty-something more minutes.
~ ~ ~