[Theme Song — “Hātofurusurottoru (Synthwave Instrumental Remix)” by Gunpowder Audition and Truck-tronic — Full Throttle Heart: Special Delivery: Final Cut]

  [[There are no lyrics—

  [Only high-octane instrumental awesomeness]

  ~

  MAIN MENU

  [Title appears while Theme Song plays on repeat.]

  Full Throttle Heart: Special Delivery: Final Cut

  “First there was a show.

  “Then there was another show.

  “And then there was The Movie.

  “Then there was the Director’s Cut.

  “And now there’s the Special Delivery: Final Cut.”

  SETTINGS

  LANGUAGES

  ENGLISH → JAPANESE (WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

  BACK TO MAIN MENU

  SPECIAL FEATURES

  DIRECTOR COMMENTARY

  BACK TO MAIN MENU

  PLAY MOVIE

  [The movie opens with a scene of Al the Bluebird as a young fledgling.

  [Al lives in his parent’s nest. He’s the runt of the clutch, and early on he nearly gets shoved out of the nest and into the garage. Al makes the best of it though. He practices his singing, and is teased incessantly by his brothers and sisters.]

  [Al’s voice actor adds commentary over the footage.] “Why the hell do I have to talk first?”

  [Muffled voices.]

  “Because I have the first scene… Oh boy. Why don’t you get those [expletive] writers on here to explain why the first ten minutes are following Al the Bluebird and not Gormangach or Truck-kun or Joe? They’ve got narrative arcs. Al’s just a [expletive] bluebird. Those guys didn’t even keep the romance between Al and Phoebe the phoenix! [Expletive] character assassination… What?]

  [Muffled voices.]

  “The Movie’s PG-13, don’t talk to me about language. You’re lucky you snuck this super special Director Commentary [expletive] into my contract.”

  [Muffled voices.]

  [Al’s voice actor chuckles.] “No way! That game is still a thing? …It grossed what last year?! [Expletive.] I knew I should’ve gotten royalties for that…]

  SKIP SCENE

  SKIP SCENE

  [Scene of Truck-kun waking up in the new world. Its high beams cut through the dark forest, casting eerie shadows. Despite being alone, Truck-kun drives fearlessly onward, driven by the need to get back home.]

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  [Truck-kun’s voice actor adds commentary over the footage.] “Now we’re in the new world… What initially drew me to this story is Truck-kun’s arc, which—in the movie—is a classic Hero's Journey. That’s one change that I agreed with the writers on—”

  [Interrupted by muffled voices.]

  “Oh, no spoilers for the original show. Okay. Hmm… Well, either way, I think this is the perfect way to introduce Truck-kun to the new world. It’s a little on the nose, but I’m glad the writers didn’t try to improve upon it.

  “And, as I’m sure our audience is aware—every scene has to do something. Preferably two somethings. Move the plot, show character growth, etcetera. You might be able to get away with scenes like that in a novel or TV series, but in general, superfluous scenes are killers of momentum, especially in a short format.

  “For example, here we introduce Truck-kun, the forest, the new world… It’s all very economical. Soon, we’ll introduce Al—Will Dan be present for the commentary?”

  [Muffled voices.]

  [Truck-kun’s actor chuckles.] He’s really got to start reading those contracts.”

  MOVIE PLAYBACK ERROR

  RETRY?

  SCENE SELECTION

  MOVIE PLAYBACK ERROR

  RETRY?

  [Canceling Request]

  ~ ~

  TIMESTAMP ERROR DETECTED

  APPROXIMATELY +0.10.4 POST-INCIDENT

  That night, Mod climbed into bed with Clara. She scooted over, pulled the covers across him, then wrapped her body around his.

  Mod nestled his face in her shoulder. Even though his skin was synthetic now, he could still feel her against him.

  He needed her, in so many. But it wasn’t until Mod was wrapped by Clara and their blanket that he realized how much he needed Clara.

  Mod centered himself, focusing on his breathing and Clara’s warm skin.

  “...How was therapy with Athena?”

  Mod kept his eyes closed. It sounded like Clara already knew how he was feeling. It was a testament to their relationship that she could still see through him so easily.

  Mod shrugged. “Therapy helps. I think. I know it helps—it should help—but…”

  “It still sucks.”

  “Yeah… Yeah, it does. You know, I feel like almost everyone I met in college didn’t like most of their family. Especially the ones from out of town. They went to college to get away from their family.

  “It always caught me off guard. I like my family. I love them too, but I felt weird because it seemed like I felt like the only person that actually enjoyed spending time with them… That actually missed them.

  “That was actually one of the things that Lock and I bonded over. Well, about our siblings, anyway. He talked a lot about his sister. Not much about the rest of his family.”

  Mod took a breath. “I expected after college that I’d move back home for a bit. But then I became a super, and… And now I’m cutting them out of my life, maybe forever.”

  Clara squeezed his shoulder. “You don’t know that for sure. …Did you tell them that you weren’t coming back?”

  Mod shook his head slightly. He searched his memories and replayed his last exchange with Darryl…

  Mod hadn’t said goodbye. Neither had Darryl.

  He rewound the memory further.

  No one had said goodbye. Mom and Dad had said they loved him. Antony told him to take care of himself. But no one said goodbye.

  Maybe they all knew, but no one wanted to say it out loud. Saying it out loud would make it real.

  “No. I didn’t tell them,” Mod finally said.

  He didn’t have tear ducts anymore, so nanites built up behind his eyes. Just a reflex left over from his human body.

  Clara reached up and wiped the corner of his eyes before holding him again. Mod could already feel the nanites reabsorbing back into his body.

  Cutting off his family felt like cutting off a piece of himself. He’d already changed so much—all his upgrades and mods, culminating in an entirely new body. What was one more thing? …Why did cutting them off hurt so much more than all the other things he’d given up?

  Mod pushed the thought away.

  He had to stop seeing them. To keep himself safe and to keep them safe. But maybe he was thinking about it wrong. Maybe cutting off his family wasn’t the way to think about it.

  Maybe he was just partitioning them, like partitioning a hard drive instead of dividing up a room.

  Clara was right. It might not be forever.

  But for now, Mod couldn’t see them.

  He pulled back enough so that he could look at Clara. Mod wasn’t sure if Clara could see him at all in the darkness, but she smiled softly. He pushed aside all his other research and all the other data from his visual feed, and focused on what was right in front of him.

  ~ ~ ~