You are a spacer. You fly around the settled systems, doing odd jobs for whomever will pay. Your latest job was smuggling some contraband for a pirate group. As payment they gave you three of their slave girls. You brought them onboard and sat them in the crew lounge, each of them filthy and battered from their time in captivity. You assume they have survived some horrors.
There's Bones, a Martian woman who is busying herself rolling a joint with slender fingers. She is willowy, perhaps seven feet in height, with long, thin arms and legs. The pallor of her skin emphasizes the black of her almond shaped eyes. Her mouth is curled in to a small smile.
Malia, a tough as nails mercenary, stands at attention with her hands clasped behind her back. She's has the physique of a body builder. The tattered remnants of her fatigues no longer contain her buldging muscles or ample bosom. She meets your gaze with a cool confidence.
Six, a small, nevous woman, sits fidgiting on the couch as her eyes dart between you and the other two. The pirates mentioned she'd been some sort of genetic guinea pig for a mad scientist, leaving her a little skittish.
The three women await your orders, Captain.
"mortal Earth is being threatened by spirit Earth, specifically a great and evil being known as Wamahands. Wamahands has started brainwashing some of the good spirit clan leaders into commiting evil. Wamahands has also been hosting festivals with their evil minions. There is a tournament that will decide the fate of mortal Earth we need to win. We have evil spirit warding taiko drums to help us."
You take a deep breath, looking at each of them in turn. "Alright ladies," you say, with more confidence than you feel, "I'm going to level with you. I'm not really a spacer. Or at least, that wasn't the job I was hired for." You shrug. "My real mission is to stop an evil spirit named Wamahands from taking over Earth. We have some taiko drums that should help us in this fight. What I need from you is loyalty and trust. Will you follow me into battle?"
Bones looks at you with a cockeyed grin, her black eyes glinting with mischief. "Well, spacer captain," she drawls, exhaling a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke, "I've never been one to turn down a good fight." She pauses for a moment, regarding you seriously. "And I can't think of anyplace I'd rather be than Earth. So count me in."
Malia narrows her eyes, considering your words carefully. After a moment she nods once. "
As much as I hate following orders, and being someone's slave... I don't have anywhere else to go," She says softly. "I won't let Wamahands take Earth without a fight."
Six hesitates for a moment longer than the other two before slowly nodding. "I-I don't want to die here," she stammers, looking at each of you in turn. "And... and I don't want Earth to suffer. So..." She swallows hard. "... I'll fight with you."
"alright. Let's start with a tutorial level to learn the basics of how to fight using the drums. The enemies are mostly a one hit kill type. It'll get more difficult the further we go."
You lead Bones, Malia, and Six into the ship's training bay, where you have set up four of the taiko drums in a square formation. "Each of these drums represents one of the cardinal directions," you explain. "By striking them in sequence, we can summon powerful spirit attacks."
You demonstrate by smacking the drum to your left first, then the one behind you, then the one on your right, and finally the one in front.
"there's a screen that shows arrows in specific directions rolling up. We hit in those directions at the right time to the music in order to get a good score."
"Okay," you say, nodding toward the display screens above each drum. "As you see, there are four lanes on each screen. When you see an arrow pointing left or right, that means you need to hit the corresponding drum. If it's moving upwards, you should strike the top of the drum; if it's going down, the bottom."
You cue up a basic training exercise on one of the screens and step back, watching as Bones, Malia, and Six each take their place at a drum.
Music plays loudly and we dance dance revolution!
The music begins to play, a thrumming beat that echoes through the training bay. Each of your new slaves seems to know instinctively what to do, striking their assigned drums in time with the music. Bones is a whirlwind of motion, her pale limbs flashing as she switches between drums with practiced ease. Malia grunts with effort as she pounds on her drum, her muscles rippling beneath her tattered uniform.
Six is the least coordinated at first, but she slowly begins to find a rhythm, her small hands striking the drums with determination. As they play, faint tendrils of blue and yellow energy coalesce around their drumsticks, flowing upwards to form a shimmering aura around each of them. It's then that you realize they aren't just ordinary slaves... but rather, spirit warriors in the making.