Hullo, fellow fanfiction people. I've decided to show you another one of my Rick and Morty stories. I wrote this and another one in November/December and have been putting off publishing them - this one because I'm lazy, and the other one because I'm not sure about how it will be received, even though I put a lot more heart into it... Maybe that's why I'm so unsure about it, because I poured so many feelings into it and the thought of showing it to people makes me scared. This one should be fine though... So you can read it.

The Rickest Rick

Summary: An alternate version of Rick steals Morty and takes him on an adventure to harvest science resources. Though this version of his grandfather is even more reckless, careless, and even more violent than the Rick he knows, Morty still has no idea the man he's with is not his grandpa... Morty's real Rick will not be pleased when he discovers what's going on...

Author's Note: I wasn't going to inform readers that the Rick in this story is not the usual Rick... It was going to be a sort of plot twist a couple chapters in, but I wrote him as quite a bit more harsh and careless when it comes to Morty - even though our Rick is pretty harsh and careless sometimes, I do think the Rick I wrote here is noticeably worse and don't believe our Rick would be so mean. I didn't want anyone to start reading and think I accidentally wrote Rick tremendously out of character... It's not him... It almost is though... Morty doesn't know... So, shhh... Also, the real Rick will be in this story too, so don't let his absence turn you away from the story. He'll be here... Just bear with me.

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Chapter 1

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It wasn't often that Morty was able to sleep for a full eight hours at a time anymore. He frequently didn't even manage to get four. Ever since his grandfather Rick had come back into his life, the old man woke him in the middle of the night to go off on some crazy adventure more often than not and by the time they finally returned home, Morty's mind was usually racing and traumatized, making him unable to sleep even in his state of exhaustion.

Because of his past experiences, Morty was not at all surprised when his bedroom door slammed open in the middle of the night and the old man excitedly rushed in, yanking the blankets off Morty's bed, and Morty along with them, so the boy landed painfully against the floor.

"We gotta go, Morty!" Rick's voice sounded urgent. If not for the man always acting like everything was a dire emergency, Morty would have been concerned. "Get up, Morty. Let's go."

With a groan, Morty pulled himself halfway up. "Geeze, Rick..." He frowned, rubbing the back of his head where it had knocked slightly against his bedroom's floor. "You know you can just, you know, wake me up like a normal person..." He grumbled. Rick knew Morty never told him no when he demanded that the boy accompany him on one of his insane missions. There was no reason to be so forceful about it.

"Come on, Morty." Rick grabbed him by the arm and tugged him rather roughly up off the floor.

"Ow!" Morty frowned, but didn't try to shrug out of his grandfather's grip as he attempted to balance himself on his own feet. "Where are we going? Can't I get dressed first? Y-you keep waking me up in the middle of the night-"

"Come on." Rick interrupted, ignoring his grandson's questions as he pulled a portal gun out of his coat and shot it straight ahead, revealing a sight quite common to Morty by now - a glowing, green portal.

Morty yawned and looked back toward his bed with a frown as Rick dragged him through the portal. As soon as they were on their feet in whatever new place Rick had decided he urgently needed to visit, Morty looked around.

The sky here looked purple, with an occasional flash of orangeish lightning. Dark, winged creatures flew quickly through and in front of heavy, grey clouds. On the ground, everything looked very flat, with little vegetation. What plant-life did exist looked withered up and mostly dead. The dry, cracked ground appeared to be full of large holes, which could either be a good way to fall to one's death or a good place for some horrific creature to live. Morty didn't know which, and wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

With a nervous gulp, Morty shrunk down slightly behind his grandfather as he continued staring with wide eyes at the landscape around them. Usually even the most dangerous of their adventures took place in worlds or dimensions that were at least not so terrifying to look at.

Without a word, Rick grabbed Morty's arm again and started dragging him across the dark, eerie plains.

"What is this place?" Morty wondered as he allowed Rick to pull him along. "W-what are we looking for?" He wanted to help, both because he enjoyed being useful and feeling like he was brought along as more than a shield, and because he kind of wanted to get the hell out of here sooner rather than later. The quicker they found whatever they'd come for, the sooner they could go home.

"Don't worry about it." Rick answered as he continued walking briskly forward, still gripping Morty's arm in a tight fist.

"Rick..." Morty frowned as he finally tried to pull his arm away. His grandfather didn't usually ignore his questions to this extent. "What's going on?" He was starting to get worried.

Rick tightened his grip and yanked Morty's arm forward quite harshly as he continued his quick pace.

"Ow!" Morty complained as he stumbled forward and pulled at his arm again. If Rick had pulled much harder he could have easily dislocated Morty's shoulder. "You're being a little rough, Rick." Morty frowned as he practically jogged to keep up with his grandfather. "You know, you don't have to keep secrets... I always have to help you anyway." Morty scowled up at him. "It-it's not like I have a choice. You don't need to, you know, grab me so- so hard, Rick..."

His grandfather continued to ignore Morty's words as he dragged the boy along. His grip was so tight Morty could feel a bruise forming beneath his fingers, but Rick still refused to let go.

"If you just tell me wh-what we're looking for," Morty began, "I could help look. I mean, you know, you're probably gonna make me go get it when we find it anyway, right? There's a reason I'm here, so l-you know... let me help..."

Finally, Rick stopped abruptly, yanking Morty's arm hard so that the boy stumbled ahead a step and stood facing him. He put his other hand on Morty's shoulder and scowled down at him. Both of his hands were so much rougher than usual as he squeezed Morty's arms tightly, almost threateningly. "Will you stop fucking whining for a god damn second?" The old man growled.

Morty frowned and shrunk down. "I just-" He hesitated. Rick seemed a lot more angry than Morty was used to. Ordinarily, the man seemed more annoyed or frustrated than actually pissed off.

"You just what?" Rick yelled, tightening his grip around Morty's arms and shaking him slightly.

Swallowing a lump his his throat, Morty shrunk down. "Nothing..." He winced.

With an eye roll and a scoff, Rick turned back to walking, but kept one hand tightly wrapped around Morty's wrist.

Morty pouted and looked down at his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm as Rick dragged him along. All he'd done was try to sleep through a whole night. He'd never asked to come along on this quest, and now he was being treated like more of a nuisance than an asset. He hoped whatever his grandfather was upset over would be forgotten soon, because right now he felt like the victim of misplaced anger.

They walked and walked and walked and walked. Occasionally, a shriek, growl, or grumbling noise echoed in the distance, causing Morty to shrink closer toward his grandfather. Even if Rick was being a little mean right now, he was still the only source of safety around.

It felt like they'd been walking forever and Rick's grip hadn't loosened one bit. Morty's feet and legs ached from walking and his wrist hurt where Rick's hand squeezed too tight. Even as he stumbled after Rick, Morty felt his eyelids drooping as he struggled to stay awake.

"Are we-" Morty hesitated, unsure if he should really be asking questions after Rick's previous outburst. He wasn't sure what else to do, however. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if he passed out from exhaustion. "Are we almost there?" He completed his question with a tired exhale.

"Almost." Rick answered, finally acknowledging Morty as though the boy were an actual person, but quickly offending him all over again with an added, "You're gonna need to stay down and out of the way."

Morty frowned. "What are-"

"Shhh!" Rick slapped his free hand over Morty's mouth for a second to silence him. "All you need to know is this: Stay down and out of the way. You know what that means? Out of the fucking way? Is that something your little mind can wrap itself around?"

With a pout, Morty yanked his arm out of Rick's grip and stopped in his tracks, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling up at his grandfather. "Why did you even bring me here, Rick?"

Rick turned toward him and his expression appeared to soften. Morty could see annoyance and frustration behind the man's forced smile, however. "I need your help, little pal." He said in a too-sweet-to-be-genuine voice as he knelt down patted Morty's head.

"Just what exactly do you need my help for, Rick?" Morty wondered as he swatted his grandfather's hand away. "Other than me being a human shield f-for you?"

Rick stood back up and stared down at him with an annoyed frown. "God damn it, Morty." Rick shook his head.

"I'm only here to function as a cloaking device. You don't even want my help!" Morty accused. "I-I have feelings too, Rick, you know? I'm not just a tool you can use whenever you want... I'm... I'm a person, Rick. I don't need this!" He started to turn around to head back the way they'd come, but then realized he had nowhere to go. His only way home was the portal gun Rick was in possession of.

"You need me, kid." Rick spoke in an even, emotionless voice.

"No, you need me, Rick." Morty countered as he turned back toward his grandpa. "I could live my whole life without you. I've got plenty of practice. I was doing fine before you came back. You've gotten a whole lot more out of this relationship than I have. I keep you hidden from... you know... whoever..." He kind of forgot what the whole human cloaking device was really for... Who was Rick even hiding from? "But what do I get out of it? Nothing. Just failing grades at school - nearly getting killed all the time. You need me more than I need you!"

"You're right and wrong, Morty." Rick stared down at him. "You don't need me on a normal day. I don't need you either - in particular... I just need a Morty. I don't care which one. Maybe I need to trade you in for a Morty who doesn't ask so many damn questions... Here I thought Mortys were as dumb as rocks... Considering you're supposed to be stupid, you're a little too smart for your own good. Never thought I'd be wishing for an even dumber Morty." He added with a shrug.

Morty frowned, unsure how to take that half-insult half-compliment. "Well... Well, for someone who's supposed to be smart, Rick... You-your a little too stupid for your own good." He replied. "You can't expect people to go along with your- with all your crazy ideas when there's nothing in it for them. You know... You know, Rick... Wh-why should I even-"

With an exasperated sigh, Rick rolled his eyes and snatched at Morty's wrist again as he interrupted the boy. "Could you stop being a whiny little prick? Your job is to do what I say. You come with me; I do whatever shit I need to do; I take you home. The end. That's how it works. You don't have to like it. You just do it."

Tugging at his wrist, as Rick walked along and dragged him after, Morty shook his head. "You're grabbing me too hard." He spoke in a small, defeated voice. Rick was kinda right. Morty didn't have a choice. Rick was his only way home. That didn't mean the man had to be so rough and forceful. "Rick, let go! Y-your hurting my arm..."

"Stop being a little bitch, and I won't have to." Rick told him.

Morty frowned and stopped even trying to shrug out of his grandfather's grip. The man was too strong and only squeezed his fist tighter when Morty fought back.

"And you do need me, Morty." Rick scowled down at him, but didn't lessen his harsh grip. "Unless you want to live the rest of your short life here. I doubt you'd last long."

Morty swallowed and looked around as Rick finally stopped walking, and thus stopped roughly dragging him along. He definitely didn't want to get stuck here.

"So," Rick exhaled, "As I said... Stay down, and out of the way." Rick shoved Morty rather harshly so that he fell forward, catching himself somewhat painfully with his arms and knees. Rick walked a few steps away toward one of the many large holes in the ground. This one almost seemed to glow. "You better still be there when I get back." He called as he hopped down and disappeared into the hole.

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Sorry if the punctuation within the quotes is wrong. I've been working on learning how to do that right and for some reason my stupid brain just can't quite grasp it. I kinda think I almost understand it, but I also was editing this and ALL of it was what I now believe is wrong, so I changed it kinda quickly and may have messed it up worse or missed some of the errors. I need to just look it up and teach myself for real. I was always so good with grammar in school, but I'm still not even sure how commas work, so how I got such good grades is fucking beyond me.