Full Throttle Heart — 5 — Truck-kun’s Package

[The scene continues beside the forgotten ruins deep in the ancient forest. Truck-kun, Al the bluebird, and Lilith the demon are all three gathered around a large-sized package.]

Truck-kun stared in disbelief. Its headlights illuminated the package with an ominous glow. Al and Lilith stared with similar apprehension.

It still remembered that fateful day… Waiting for Joe to deliver packages to the coffee shop. It was a cold afternoon, but Truck-kun kept its engine on and the cab warm for when his friend returned.

Still remembered the shock as the rogue box truck slammed into its side, and the slow realization that its frame was crumpled, its driveshaft broken, and its fluids were bleeding onto the pavement.

Somehow, Truck-kun had been transported to this strange, new world without Joe and without its packages… Everything was gone—

Everything except for this one package.

This was all Truck-kun had left of its home, of Joe.

It was no ordinary package. It hummed with a strange power. At first, it reminded Truck-kun of an air compressor or a massager, but as the moment stretched on, Truck-kun knew that the package wasn’t something so simple.

Truck-kun felt deeply that this package was linked to its transportation to this strange world.

Lilith crept closer to the box, her enormous bat wings quivering with anticipating. “Such power! I can feel it even now. Let me have your package Truck-kun…”

“No,” Truck-kun rumbled defiantly. “I cannot. My package is special. Besides, it is too big for you. The box states that two people should carry it.”

Lilith tapped a finger to her lips. “Surely there must be something I can offer you, Truck-kun. Surely there must be something you desire! If not you, think of your tiny friend—”

Al’s voice rose like a backfiring carburetor. “I’ve got desires!”

Lilith smirked. “Then the bird shall have his voice…”

“The voice can wait, lady. I’ve got blue—”

Truck-kun interrupted with flick of its high beams and a sharp rev of its engine. “No one will have my package!”

Al and Lilith ceased their bickering, and the rest of the forest fell deathly quiet after Truck-kun’s proclamation.

“This package is my only link to my world. I can’t part with it… Not even for you, Al. I’m sorry.”

Al grumbled. “It’s okay, Truck-dude. Say no more. Birds before broads, and all that.”

Lilith glanced at the two of them, a look of defeat in her eyes. “Fine. I can tell that you are both decided. Your package is magical, Truck-kun, and you are right that it is the link to your world. But I cannot tell you more because it is beyond even my magic. You must find one who can unlock your package.”

Al grumbled. “Lady, listen, I can’t turn any bluer than I already am.”

Truck-kun steeled its resolve. “Can you show us the path?”

Lilith drew herself up to her full demonic height. Light seemed to drain from the ancient ruins, diminishing even Truck-kun’s headlights. All flitted to Truck-kun’s cab and shivered in distress. Again, her voice deepened like it was a great echo coming from beneath the ground.

“Listen, metal one, and listen well. You who were born from another world and do not belong seek answers from the tainted and undying. There is no simple answer, save that you seek a practitioner of the highest order. One who has dedicated their mortal life to the study of magic.

“I cannot tell you how many there are in our realm, save that they number fewer than the souls standing among us. And if you seek them now, you will be denied. For you who are of metal heart and unflinching steel are not worthy…” Light returned to the ruins, and Lilith’s heaving breasts slowed. “You are not worthy… yet.”

Al whistled, the sound coming out like crumpling paper. “Less than three wizards that can take you home… That’s rough, buddy.”

Lilith’s lips rose into a smirk, one that stretched until it became cold and evil. A flicker of her true, demonic ways bled into her sultry form.

Realization overcame Truck-kun, and a cold chill settled into its frame.

“Even less,” Truck-kun rumbled stoically. “Lilith has no soul… Her prophecy means that there is only one wizard that can get me home.”

Truck-kun changed into its warrior form and picked up the package. Then it changed back into its truck form, enveloping the package safely back into its cargo box as it did.

The flicker of evil disappeared from the demon’s face and was replaced with something else. Lilith looked almost sad.

“Before you go… Be careful who you show your package to, Truck-kun. It’s a powerful artifact. There are many who would use it for their own ends.”

Truck-kun nodded slightly. “Thank you for your wisdom. Farewell.” Truck-kun drove away, keeping Lilith in his rearview mirrors until it was certain she wasn’t following them.

Truck-kun and Al drove off into the ancient forest again, this time in search of somewhere else to rest for the night. Inside his cargo bay, the mysterious package hummed with power. As they drove, night closed in through the trees.

Al shivered atop his cab.

“It will be alright, Al,” Truck-kun said, reassuringly.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Truck-dude. Do you really think we can find this wizard?”

“We have to.”

“And my voice too?”

Truck-kun rumbled, “Yes.”

Al settled down for the journey atop Truck-kun, and thankfully, didn’t defecate on him again.

“Truck-dude?”

“Yes, Al?”

“Do you think I had a chance with Lilith?”

Truck-kun chuckled at his desperate friend and the low rumble echoed through the forest.

[Outtro — Slow, Instrumental version of Theme Song — “Hātofurusurottoru” by Gunpowder Audition while the End Credits play.]

[The camera fades to black as Truck-kun and Al disappear into the forest behind a wall of trees and gloom.]

[Al’s voice comes through over the music.]

“You never answered me, Truck-dude… Do you think I had a chance? Truck-dude… Can you hear me?”

~

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