Author Note: Hello again here a new chapter. Im really proud of this chapter because this is the first adventure in my story. The idea for this chapter was made by my friend Rufus T. Serenity and written by ratchet the whambulance. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Morty idly stared up at the smooth white expanse of his ceiling. One of his legs hung off the edge of the bed, swinging back and forth to an imagined tune. Downstairs he could hear his mom yelling at someone on the phone. He guessed that it was probably someone from work based on her tone, but he couldn't be certain. He could also hear the radio in Summer's room blasting out some of today's top hits. His dad was most likely sitting in front of the T.V., and where exactly Rick was at was beyond him.

Speaking of Rick, these past few weeks had been… interesting to say the least. He had been forced to explain everything to his high school friends. He closed his eyes and thought back to the days following what they now called "The Incident". His friends had obviously all been extremely worried about his safety, and they were quite shocked about just how violent the situations he often wound up in were. He closed his eyes and thought back to his meeting with Dawn. She had originally asked him over to speak about how stressed he seemed, but their conversation had taken a different turn after recent events.

"Morty, I had no idea what you went through with your grandfather was so… so dangerous! What if you had gotten hurt, or what if you… Oh Morty, I've been seeing a lot of dark blues and greens in your aura lately, so I knew I knew you must have been struggling with something, but I didn't think it would be this bad." Dawn had sounded near hysterics. She wrung her shaking hands through her golden hair, and her eyes were watering. Morty knew nothing about auras or any of that other spiritual stuff Dawn seemed to love, but it was apparent that he wouldn't be able to lie about his emotions to her. Morty felt incredibly guilty and tried his best to console his friend.

"I-it's not so bad, and somebody has to do it, right?" He had cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder, still unsure of how to console others. He muttered a quiet 'aw geez' under his breath, already afraid that he might mess this up and make her feel worse. "Besides, not every adventure has that level of life or death. They can be pretty cool sometimes!" he then told her a bit about some of his less dangerous adventures with his grandpa, Rick.

"I-if you say so. Just promise me you'll stay safe, okay? And talk to me, Morty. Doing this type of thing can't be good for you, yeah? I'll be keeping an eye on your auras, and you should come to me if you ever need any advice for handling your emotions better." She rubbed at her eyes to stop any tears from falling before placing a comforting hand over Morty's. Morty blushed at the contact, but he was glad that he was able to calm Dawn's worries a bit. He'd never put much thought into his own health, and, quite frankly, neither did his family most of the time, so he was glad to have friends like Dawn who looked out for him.

Morty hadn't even thought that The Incident was actually that life threatening, but he knew that if he'd never been exposed to such things before, he would probably think it was dangerous as well. The mall had been completely destroyed in the span of a few minutes, and laser beams had been flying through the air as he and his grandpa traded shots with the invaders. Alien carcasses had littered the ground before Rick went back and rid the scene of evidence. His friends might have only watched from a distance, but to them it had to have seemed like a war zone. Morty could remember the first time he held a gun, how terrified he had been the first time he needed to use it, and while killing still bothered him, he'd become… numb to the situation.

Morty opened his eyes back to the white of his ceiling. After all of the worrying and fretting had been taken care of, his friends had even more questions for him. It was a bit stressful to be bombarded with so many questions at once, but Morty understood that if he were in their place, he would have behaved the same way. After all, it wasn't every day you saw aliens (real aliens!) show up and try to conquer the world.

He rolled over onto his side before slowly getting up out of bed. He was meeting up with Kitty again this afternoon, and he knew he had to get up and get ready to head out soon. He briefly wondered if Kitty knew what had happened to him at the mall. It had been all over the news and in the papers that week, but a lot of the specifics were left out thanks to Rick staging a fire. In the end, the whole thing had been blamed on a kitchen fire. Morty was glad for his grandpa's quick thinking in situations like this.

Morty shook his head as he rummaged through his closet. While digging through some of his t-shirts, he thought back to Harold's reaction about The Incident. Like Dawn, he had been troubled about Morty's safety and well-being. After he had been reassured that Morty was definitely unscathed, the conversation had taken a lighter turn. Harold had asked if they would ever get to join him on an adventure with Rick. Morty had had this conversation with them a few times before, but now they understood just how dangerous they could get. He looked at Harold's hopeful gaze and listened as he rambled on about how cool space must be, inserting a few Star Wars references and goofy sound effects.

Morty grinned. Harold was always good at lightening the mood, and that was something he desperately needed at the moment. He promised Harold that he would eventually let them come along, but he needed to wait for a less life-threatening adventure before he'd ask Rick if they could join. Rick would undoubtedly complain, and possibly even say no, at first, but Morty was sure that he could get his grandpa to warm up to the idea eventually.

Morty pulled on one of his favorite band tees, opting out of his usual yellow shirt this time. He slipped on his usual pair of blue jeans and laced up his sneakers. Walking down the hall, he carefully dodged Summer's room so that she wouldn't see him. She made it a habit recently to tease her younger brother about his new "girlfriend", and Morty was getting a bit sick of it. Honestly, why couldn't she just lay off and let him be? He certainly didn't bother her about anything.

Walking downstairs confirmed that his mom was indeed on the phone with work, and his dad was laying on the couch, his hands buried in a bag of chips. Morty figured that he could just walk to Kitty's house today rather than ask his family for a ride. He called out that he was leaving before grabbing the spare house key and heading out the door.

On his way, Morty briefly wondered if maybe he should pick up a snack or something to take to Kitty's. He decided that today would be the day he told her everything about Rick and about what had really happened at the mall. He didn't want to have to lie to her about any of it, especially since he knew she'd eventually find out one way or another. Aw geez, he only hoped that she'd be just as understanding and interested as his other friends. Would she believe him? Would she ask to come with him like Harold and the others had?

Morty nervously shoved his hands into his pockets. Hmm maybe he'd forgo the snacks. He didn't want to eat anything with his nerves this high. He looked down at his sneakers, keeping his eyes down and internally trying to calm himself. He only lifted his gaze when he knew he had finally reached Kitty's house. Well, here goes nothing!

He knocked gently on the front door, almost wishing that they wouldn't hear his hesitant knocking. He realized he wasn't so lucky as the door swung open to reveal a smiling Kitty. Her hair was pulled back into her signature pigtails, and she was wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts. Morty recognized the symbols on her shirt as something from a video game, but from which one he couldn't quite remember. Strange, he didn't know that she plaid video games? He'd have to ask her about it eventually, but right now he had more important things to tell her. He needed to focus!

"C'mon in, Morty!" Kitty reached out to give him a quick hug before pulling him inside. Her parents called out a cheery greeting from inside the kitchen where they were both chatting happily with one another. Her mom was standing at the sink cleaning the dishes from breakfast, and her dad sat at the table thumbing through a newspaper.

"How are you, Morty dear?" Her mom asked, setting the dish towel down on the countertop. At the table, her dad set down his paper to glance over at Morty as well.

"Oh, great! Thanks for asking."

"That's nice to hear. If you kids need anything, just let us know." Her dad added before Kitty lead him away from the kitchen.

"Emma's upstairs, so we can hang out down here if you'd like? I know we usually study and stuff, but I've got a totally great new movie that I just know you'd love!"

"U-um, maybe later? I'm sorry, but I've actually got to talk to you about something. I-is there somewhere more private that we can sit down and talk?" Kitty's smile briefly faltered, but she quickly brought the smile back and nodded her head.

"Y-yeah! We can go sit up in my bedroom again if you'd like? Is everything alright?" Her concern shined through in her voice, and Morty was once again left feeling guilty. Aw geez, why did he have to keep worrying his friends? At his shallow nod Kitty led him up the stairs and to her bedroom. Emma's door was closed, but Morty could still make out a quiet tune playing. She must have been studying again.

"Alright, spill. What's going on, Morty?" Kitty sat down at the foot of her bed, gently patting the spot beside her. Morty sat down, nervously glancing around her bedroom. This situation was familiar, yet he still couldn't think of the best place to start.

"O-okay, well, you've probably noticed how weird I've been acting recently?"

"That's one way to put, I guess, but yeah."

"Um, and you've heard about the mall being destroyed?" A nod. "Okay, this is going to sound totally insane, but hear me out. It wasn't a- a kitchen fire or whatever. It was actually… Um…aliens." He whispered the last part, so quiet he didn't even know if Kitty heard him. He wrung his hands together again, looking anywhere in the room but Kitty's eyes. After a long pause, Morty finally forced himself to look up.

Kitty's head was tilted to the left in a quizzical manner, and her eyebrows were drawn together in what Morty could only guess was utter confusion. Oh no, this is exactly what he was worried about! He would have to actually explain everything to try and get her to believe him, and he wasn't at all prepared to do this now!

"Y-you see, my grandfather? Y'know, that guy that showed up to pick me up that first weekend? Well, he's actually this crazy scientist who-" a quick rap on the window drew his attention away from what he was saying, but he must have been imagining that sound, right? Morty brushed it off and turned his attention back to Kitty "who goes into space and travels to different dimensions, and I know this all sounds totally unbelievable, but you gotta-" The quick rap was now a loud bang that made both teens jump.

"What the hell?" Morty leapt up to his feet and ran over to the window. Throwing the curtains open, both Morty and Kitty were surprised to see Rick hovering outside of the window wearing a jetpack. He was in his usual disheveled state, eyes unfocused and hair poking out in every direction. Kitty ran over beside Morty to help him open her window, allowing Rick to fly right in. "Grandpa!? What are you doing here, and why couldn't you use the front door!?" Morty was beyond mortified. Why did his grandpa have to just fly into his friend's bedroom like this!?

"L-listen *urp* Morty and, uh…you."

"It's Kitty!" Kitty crossed her arms and frowned at the taller man. Morty frowned, noticing that she was upset by the sudden appearance of his drunk grandfather in her room.

"Aw geez, I'm really sorry about this, Kitty." Morty quietly murmured to her.

"Sssh, stop talking, both of you! L-urp-listen, I fucked up, Morty. I fucked up big time." Rick stumbled over to his grandson, spindly fingers grabbing his t-shirt. "I-I *urp* might have pissed off the wrong guys, okay? H-here, take this." Rick shoved what looked like a fake I.D. into Morty's hands. "You gotta take this and we need to *urp* we need t-to get outta here a-and lie low for a while." Rick looked like he was going to say more, but a shift in the atmosphere cut him off. Looking over Rick's shoulder, Morty was shocked to see a cosmic rift opening up in the middle of Kitty's room! He didn't even have time to warn Rick before all three of them were sucked up.

"Ugh, what the hell?" Morty scrunched his eyes shut in pain, trying in vain to try and stop the ringing in his ears. His head was pounding and his stomach flipped uncomfortably. What happened? He'd just been sitting down and talking to Kitty when… when his grandpa had appeared. Morty groaned forcing his eyes open and looking around to try and find his grandpa and Kitty. Why was it that every time his grandpa showed up, some crazy shit had to happen? Why couldn't he be like any other drunk grandpa? And where had the cosmic rift even come from!?

The sun on this planet was almost blinding, but he was still able to spot Kitty scrambling to her feet a few yards away, and his grandpa pacing back and forth and cussing up a storm. Aw geez. How was he going to explain this one to Kitty? He wasn't ready for this!

"M-Morty, what happened? How did we get-? Where are we!?" Kitty looked as if she were on the verge of having a panic or jumping up and down with excitement (maybe both?), and Morty quickly stumbled over to check and see if she was okay. Her knees were a bit scraped up from the landing, and a few strands of her hair were loosened from her pigtails and hung down in her face, but other than that she appeared unscathed.

"A-are you okay? People u-usually get sick the first time they're sucked through one of those things." Or every time in his case.

"Okay? OKAY!? I just got sucked up through a portal to… to another planet? I'm ecstatic! We were just in my bedroom and we were like teleported or something? This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me! Just look at this place, Morty. It's like we're in Ancient Egypt, but it's all futuristic. Omg it's like we've been teleported to some cool cyber-punk version of Ancient Egypt! Is that what this is? C'mere, we've gotta take a picture!" Kitty's face lit up as she spun around to take in their surroundings. She quickly turned back to Morty and pulled him up against her side before snapping a few photos. "Oh wow, this is so cool! My phone even works? Awesome!" Morty was relieved to see she was more excited than anything about their situation. However, the sound of approaching footsteps alerted Morty to oncoming danger.

"U-um, I'm glad you're not freaking out as much as I am, but you won't be so excited when they get us!" Morty pointed toward a group of aliens that were marching over toward them. Kitty glanced over her shoulder to see where he was pointing, squinting over at the arriving aliens in confusion. Oh no, Morty hoped his grandpa was actually prepared for this situation. Had he even brought a gun with him? Who was he kidding, Rick always had some sort of techy weapon on him. Morty grabbed Kitty's wrist and pulled her behind Rick before one of the aliens tried to grab one of the two teens.

The… aliens, or whatever they were, were some of the most bizarre creatures he'd ever seen. The first thought through Morty's mind was that they resembled some of the gods and goddesses worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians, but they were all backwards and messed up. They all had human bodies, and they were draped in fine linens and shining armor. Some of them had decedent jewelry and headwear, but where an animal's head would usually be there were strange animal limbs or other body parts! They also carried what at first glance appeared to be ancient weapons, but upon further inspection were actually weapons charged with electricity and combined with advanced technologies. History wasn't exactly his strong suit, but Morty was positive that he'd never seen something like this in a textbook or on the History channel.

The beings looked awkward and grotesque, and Morty wasn't sure if he was terrified by them or if he should be laughing at them. He valued his life, so he chose to remain silent rather than risk making them even angrier. Looking over at Kitty he saw a mixture of fear and fascination, and his grandpa just looked mildly inconvenienced.

"L-listen, I know you guys a-are pissed or *urp* whatever, but y-you've got t*urp*the wrong guy! Er-guys!" Rick cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the two teens standing behind him.

"We know not of what you are speaking of, earth creature! You are trespassing on our planet!" The largest of the group shouted before motioning to the other to continue their advance. "Oh…W-well, *urp* if that's how you wanna do it." Rick pulled a gun, and Morty shrieked when all of the aliens started charging toward them. Rick just jumped out of the way, rolling behind some nearby cover.

"Rick!?" Morty stepped in front of Kitty, taking the whole weight of an alien as he was tackled to the ground. He tried his best to fight back, kicking and clawing at the alien, but as soon as his focus was taken away from her, another alien jumped kitty. Surprised by the attack, Kitty too was quickly down and pinned to the sand beneath them. "R-Rick, do something!" Morty cried out, voice quivering with panic. The alien had a large beak instead of a head, and Morty was struggling to keep it from snapping down on him.

The alien above Morty suddenly grunted, before going limp and falling down on top of him. Morty struggled for a moment beneath the dead weight before shoving it off of him. He rolled over, spotting a large gaping wound on the alien's back. Looking around he saw a few other downed aliens, and his grandpa choking another out with their own staff.

"S-someone help!" Kitty yelled from somewhere to his left. Morty quickly looked over, and gasped in horror. One of the aliens had one of the large talons protruding from their shoulders wrapped around Kitty's throat, dangling her several feet up in the air. Kitty's knuckles were white as she tried in vain to pull the massive fingers away from her neck, mouth opening and closing as she tried to gasp for air. Morty looked around for a weapon that he could use, but before he could do anything Rick ran over and delivered a pretty powerful drop-kick to the alien's ribs. The creature screeched in pain before dropping Kitty and focusing instead on Rick. Before it could take another step, Rick quickly drove a glowing dagger into its chest, quickly downing the alien. Morty scrambled over to Kitty's side as Rick went about killing the rest of the aliens. Morty made sure that his body shielded Kitty so that she wouldn't have to see any of it happening.

"A-are you okay?" He asked, gently rubbing her back as she coughed and gulped in more air. Kitty nodded her head, pressing her forehead into the sand as she grounded herself. Morty looked back up and saw Rick kill the last of the aliens before he ran back over to his grandson.

"Q-*urp*quick! Grab her and l-let's get out of *urp* here before more of them show up!" Rick helped Morty get Kitty to her feet before they quickly fled the area. Rick looked like he might have an idea where they were heading, so Morty just followed his lead, allowing Kitty to lean against him before she recovered. Luckily, it took the other teen only a few more minutes before she had caught her breath and was able to keep up with their pace.

"W-what is this place, and what were those things?" Kitty whispered, once again looking around at all of the different structures around them. There were tall columns and statues littered all over the place. They were covered in hieroglyphics, but the carvings glowed and the columns were wrapped with thin strands of wire. The sculptures were a bizarre combination of old stone and new metal. They looked as if they'd come to life any minute and give chase. Were they infused with some sort of AI, or were they just lifeless statues? Turning his attention back to Kitty's question, Morty discovered he actually didn't have much of an answer for her. He was just as confused as she was!

"I-I think they might be the aliens that, uh, helped build the pyramids? At least, i-if you believe all of that crap I guess. I mean, look at all of the similarities!" Morty tried to explain. There had to be some sort of connection, as there were just too many coincidences and similarities between the two cultures to ignore.

"Oh p-*urp*please! Only fucking conspiracy nuts *urp* believe that crap. Fucking conspiracy nuts, Morty! The aliens didn't create a-anything, *urp* they were j-just inspired by it or some bullshit." Rick griped from ahead of them. Morty winced at his grandpa's blunt language, casting another look over at Kitty. She didn't seem fazed by it at all. In fact, she just laughed a bit, biting her bottom lip to try and cover her smile.

"Don't worry about it, Morty. It's not like I've never heard someone curse before!" She laughed, playfully punching Morty's shoulder. She then looked back out at the structures around them. Kitty sighed in awe, taking out her phone and snapping a few more pictures along the way.

"H-hey, you can't, um, show those pictures to anyone, alright?" Morty mumbled. He averted his eyes again, afraid that he might upset Kitty. He just didn't want even more people knowing about all of this stuff. It was bad enough that his friends and Kitty knew about it, but he didn't want the whole school to find out! Aw geez, he didn't think he'd be able to handle all of that attention…

"Duh, I know that, but I wanna be able to remember all of this stuff, y'know? I don't wanna wake up tomorrow morning and think all of this was just some crazy dream or something." Kitty rubbed nervously at the back of her neck before brushing some strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear. Morty watched her hand, face heating up once again. That tended to happen a lot when he was near her.

"Y-yeah, I get that." Morty had lost count of how many times he woke up after an adventure thinking the whole thing had just been a dream (or a nightmare in some cases!). He wished he had taken photos to keep as a reminder, but more often than not it was a new ache or pain to remind him that what happened had been real. "D-do you mind sending those to me? I-I think I'd like to keep them, too." Kitty smiled at him before giving a quick nod of her head.

"H-hey! If you *urp* if you kids a-are done making eyes at each other, how about *urp* we start moving a little f-faster here!" Rick glowered back at the two teens lagging behind him. "W-we need to *urp* to break into their base of operations a-and steal a ship to get the fuck outta here." Rick pointed ahead of them to a large pyramid like shape. The pyramid loomed over them, and Morty shivered involuntarily as they stepped beneath its shadow. The shape was definitely that of the pyramids back on earth, but rather than large stone blocks, the whole thing was a shiny chrome.

"Um, Rick? W-why can't you just teleport us out of here?" Now that he thought about it, why hadn't his grandpa just immediately used his portal gun to bring them home the second they had landed? Why go through all of the trouble of finding and stealing an alien ship to fly back home?

"Well geez, Morty! I would i-if I *urp* could, but they've got some sort of dampener on this planet. Th-the portal gun is *urp* useless until we can get off-world." Well shit. Morty took a deep breath, trying to stave off his panic. Of course the portal gun wasn't working, and on the one mission they could really use it! What if Kitty's parents or Emma noticed that she was missing and they freaked out!? What if they called Morty's parents and they tried to forbid him from any more adventures with Rick!? What if he couldn't hang out with Kitty anymore!?

"It'll be alright, Morty." Kitty must have sensed his rising panic as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. She looked ahead to Rick before glancing up at the pyramid. "So what's our best way in? I don't see any drainage pipes or anything, so I'm guessing from below is not an option. I don't see any other access points besides the main entrance either, but there might be a back door? There's never only one way in and out, that's just, like, poor planning." Morty's jaw dropped, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Rick actually looked pretty impressed, but the look was quickly replaced with his usual level-headed disinterested face.

"Hmm s-smart thinking. We'll head around the *urp* back of this thing and look for a s-second entrance. Try to k-keep *urp* up this time!" The three broke out into a light jog, ducking behind and around any plant life or pillars. Morty saw a few more of the aliens walking up to the pyramid before a large section broke away to reveal the main door. It looked as if an entire ship could fit through there! There was definitely more to this place below the surface, but Morty didn't really want to spend too much time exploring any of it. He just wanted to get out of here! His grandpa had finally pulled out an actual laser gun, carefully checking around each corner before they made another push forward. Kitty had a more serious look on her face, and the second she found a large enough stick, she took hold of it like a weapon.

As they rounded the back of the pyramid, Morty spotted another entrance into the building! It was covered by brush and a few trees, but the outline of the door was obvious. Rick immediately went to work trying to open the door without the use of his tech, and in the end just shooting it down seemed to be the best option. Morty cringed at the sound of the metal door ripping away from the frame.

"Let's *urp* let's get a move on b-before someone comes to investigate th-that noise." Rick whispered, taking off into the building. He quickly dodged around a corner at the sound of footsteps nearing, and the two teens narrowly made it out of the hall as a group of armed aliens came charging by. Rick made a motion with his fingers to get the two to follow him. Morty thought the place was like a maze, and he didn't quite know how they were supposed to find their way out of this situation. The more corners they turned and the more hallways they ran down, the more lost he felt. Rick looked like he knew where they were going, so Morty had to believe he knew what he was doing and wasn't just leading them blindly into more trouble.

Morty briefly turned his head to take in their new surroundings. The walls were covered in the same hieroglyphics they saw outside, and electric wires ran along the ceiling.

"Hey, y-you should take some pictures in here, too. Maybe we could try to figure out what this all says?" Morty quietly suggested to Kitty.

"That's, like, totally a great idea! This would be really neat to try and decipher." Kitty slipped out her phone, sneaking a few more pictures.

"Hey, Rick! Do you think we'd be able to translate this?" Morty questioned his grandpa. At his grandpa's lack of a snarky response, Morty looked down the hall to where his grandpa was standing. "Aw geez, Rick?" Morty didn't dare speak up above a whisper in fear that they'd be discovered. Where had his grandpa gone!?

"Don't panic, Morty. There's a door down the hall, maybe he went in there?" Kitty suggested.

"M-maybe, let's go check it out." The two teens hesitantly walked over to the large door. Morty cast Kitty one last worried glance before reaching out a shaky hand and opening the door. They carefully waked into the room, but save more a few pieces of crumbling pillars strewn about the room, it appeared to be otherwise empty.

"R-rick? Are you in here?" Morty called out.

"Who dares enter my room!" A deep voice bellowed out. The two teens jumped back in surprise, but before they could flee out the door, a large tentacle slithered out and slammed it shut. Morty let out an embarrassing shriek, and Kitty grabbed his arm to pull the two of them away from the appendage. At the other end of the room, a large gelatinous blob rolled out from behind one of the pillars. Its many tentacles flailed and writhed around, and Morty spotted several of them wriggling closer to them. One of the tentacles suddenly shot out, and before Morty could react, latched onto Kitty's leg and tore her jeans away like a sheet of paper!

"Yesss, what beautiful young flesh!" The alien gurgled and hissed. Despite the pounding in his chest and fear running through his veins, Morty knew he had to do something quickly! He couldn't let anything like this happen to Kitty!

"I-I won't let you hurt her!" Morty put on his bravest face, pulling his elbows inward and getting into his best fighting stance. He didn't have any weapons, but dammit, he could still fight!

"I was talking about you, maley!" The creature laughed before another large tentacle shot out and wrapped around his ankle.

"Wait, wha-" Morty didn't even have enough time to process what was going on before he was yanked up into the air and shaken around the room. Morty couldn't focus on anything as he was being swung about except for his own screaming and clawing at the tentacle wrapped around him.

"Don't worry, Morty! I'll help you!" Kitty called from down below. She watched, dismayed, as Morty was carelessly flailed around the room by the blob. There had to be something around here that could help them? Kitty frantically looked around the room, spotting a gun lying on the ground a few feet away. Kitty dove for the gun, dodging several tentacles as they tried to stop her. Kitty grabbed the gun and shot at the tentacles trying to grab at her. She aimed at the tentacle holding Morty, but it was moving too erratically. She didn't want to accidentally hit Morty! There had to be another way.

Taking a closer look at the alien's main body, Kitty spotted some large sores atop its head. That had to be it! One of the sores was red, and the other was a green color. There was no way this was a coincidence! If her videogames had taught her anything, it was that the most obvious answer was always the wrong one, which meant… it had to be the green sore! Kitty closed one of her eyes and took aim, but before she could pull the trigger, another gunshot sounded out from behind her. The alien squealed in pain when the sore atop its head exploded. The tentacles all dropped and the alien lied there on the ground, dead. Morty slammed onto the ground, letting out a grunt of pain upon making contact with the hard metal.

"W-what the *urp* hell do you think you're doing?" Kitty and Morty both looked up to see Rick standing in the doorway, gun in hand. "Y-you can't just *urp* shoot your way out of everything. You gotta *urp* you gotta look for their weak point and take advantage of it! Fight smart and all that shit." Rick griped, waving his gun around in the air. Kitty frowned up at him, wondering if he understood the hypocrisy of his own words.

"Well, I didn't see you around when Morty was grabbed. He could have been seriously hurt!" She shoved the gun underneath her arm before running over to help Morty to his feet.

"It's not my *urp* it's not my fault. I-if you two would have kept *urp* up, you w-wouldn't have gotten lost." Rick narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Kitty poked her tongue out at him as soon as he turned his back before leaning down and grabbing Morty's hand.

"Th-thanks, Kitty. You did, um, really good. Don't listen to Rick, y-you would have definitely taken out that alien had my grandpa not come in at the last moment." Morty tried to console her. His grandpa could be a real dick sometimes. Couldn't he see that she knew how to handle herself?

"It's fine, Morty. Besides, it wasn't all bad! What do you think!" Kitty struck a dramatic pose and winked at him. Morty was suddenly reminded that she was just standing there in her underwear. Aw geez, he didn't want to say something dumb and embarrass himself! Thankfully, he didn't even have time to open his mouth before the sound of rushing footsteps approached the door. Rick stepped back just as the door swung open to reveal a large group of the Ancient Egyptian aliens.

"Capture the primitive earth creatures! They have caused enough trouble, and our leader needs to speak with this one." They motioned to Rick. The aliens quickly surrounded the three humans, knocking their weapons out of their hands, before grabbing them and shoving a bag over their heads. Damn! How were they supposed to find their way back out of this place now?

"You earth creatures just don't know when to quit, do you?" One of the aliens hissed as they lead the prisoners down the hall toward their leader. "We've met your kind before, back when you were more… primitive. It looks like not much has changed since our last visit." The aliens laughed at that. Rick cursed and Morty heard a whump and a grunt of discomfort from one of the aliens. Well, at least that helped fill in why they had so many similarities to the Ancient Egyptians. Apparently this was not the first time they had had a run in with mankind.

"Behold! Our great and powerful leader! Bask in his glory!" Morty winced as he was roughly shoved in front of his captor, and the bag was ripped off of his head. He squinted when he was suddenly thrust into the light again, allowing his eyes to quickly adjust. He looked to his right and spotted his grandpa glaring up at his captor, and when he looked to his left he saw Kitty, just as amazed and confused and she had been the first time they encountered these beings. Looking up to the front of the room, Morty noticed what must be their leader. The alien looked similar to these others, but he was enormous! From his neck sprouted not one, but several strange animal parts. They were even more outlandish and extravagant jewelry and fabrics, and the throne they sat atop was even larger! It was a weird meld of several cultures and technologies, most of which Morty couldn't identify. At the foot of the throne was a large pool of what appeared to be… honey? That couldn't be right, could it?

"Kneel before me!" The alien bellowed. Morty immediately dropped to his knees, afraid of pissing off even more aliens on this planet. Rick cursed some more before doing the same, and Kitty kneeled with only a quiet 'wow'.

"Are you not impressed, earth creatures? Bask in the glory of all that we have taken and created!" The leader made a sweeping gesture at all of the strange items and machines around the room. "Thousands of years ago, we visited your home planet of earth to study your species. You were lucky to have had such an amazing gift for us, otherwise your kind would have been subjugated!" The king inhaled deeply, taking long sweeping strides down to the pool of honey.

"H-honey?" Morty questioned, not noticing he had spoken aloud until the alien standing behind him slapped the back of his head with the butt of his gun. Morty winced, moving his arms to cover his head. Aw geez, had he spoken aloud? His nerves were starting to get to him. Now is not the time to lose your cool, Morty!

"Show some respect and remain silent! It is not your time to speak, earth creature!" The alien spat.

"Honey! This golden nectar is coveted by our people. You've probably never had a taste of it, have you? So rich, so smooth, so delicious! There is no substance like it in any other galaxy. It is our greatest treasure, and it is the only reason your kind are alive and standing here before me." The large alien bent forward and dipped a hand into the honey, shivering with delight. They scooped the liquid into an opening atop their strange head, moaning lowly. Morty cringed at the sight, starting to become a little uncomfortable with the alien's fascination with the honey. It was just as bizarre as their appearance! Beside him, Rick had his brows lowered in concentration. He seemed to know something that Morty didn't. Hopefully it was a way out of this mess!

"S-so you guys *urp* are just, what, just looking for something interesting t-to take?" Rick questioned, chuckling a bit.

"Interesting? You have something interesting for me? Impossible! There is nothing you earth creatures could possibly possess that we don't already have!"

"Oh please. Humans have *urp* come a long way since Ancient Egypt." Rick sneered up at their leader. "If you wanna *urp* wanna be impressed, take a look at some of these! T-top of the line technology!" Rick pulled out his portal gun, holding it up above his head. With his other hand, he pulled out one of his other little gadgets.

"Is that the best you can do, earth creature? We have all of these things already. Our tech is unmatched! These are unworthy gifts!" The leader waved their hand dismissively. The other aliens behind them laughed. Rick sputtered at their reaction, pulling out every piece of tech he had on him and tossing it on the ground at their feet. At each piece of tech, each gun and scanner, each laser tool and gun, the aliens just laughed and revealed their own identical piece of tech.

"R-rick? You've gotta have something, um, right?" Morty asked. His anxiety was increasing at the same rate his grandpa's frustration and confusion were. If Rick couldn't get them out of this mess, who could?

"Your pathetic attempts to placate me are no longer amusing. After I'm through with you three, I think I'll pay another visit to your home planet, earth. It's been quite some time since we've last paid earth a visit. Your primitive technology will not be able to stop us this time!"

"I-I'm *urp* out Morty! You hear me? We're fucked, Morty!" Rick spat, trying in vain again to fire his portal gun. Kitty glanced down at all of the gadgets strewn about his feet, pressing her tongue to the inside of her cheek in thought.

"I get it now." Kitty whispered under her breath. Morty gave her a questioning glance, but the other teen just grinned before jumping to her feet. "Wait! Before you kill us or whatever, at least let me do this." Kitty pulled out her phone and skipped over toward the head alien.

"Do you think I'm impressed with that, earth creature? We have cellphones, too. This technology is not new to us!" the leader pulled out a bulky phone and tossed his head back, laughing. Morty watched as Kitty nonchalantly flipped her hair over her shoulder, turned around, and held up her phone.

"Smile, big guy~" she lilted before snapping a selfie of the two of them. For the second time that day, Morty's jaw dropped in shock.

"What was that!?" The large alien shrieked, and Morty was certain that if he had eyes they would have been wide with fear. "What did you just do!?"

"I just took a selfie. Have you never heard of it? It's all the rage on earth right now!" Kitty brought the picture up on her phone and held it up to the alien's face. "See? It's totally amazing and I bet your cellphones can't do it."

"This is impossible! We must create our own immediately! Hurry, before we are further humiliated by the earth creatures." The aliens quickly grabbed the three humans, tossing them through an opening in the wall and back out into the sand. Morty watched as all of the aliens standing around quickly re-loaded into their ship, dragging many of the large sculptures and pillars in with them. Morty couldn't believe what he was seeing. Were they seriously just… leaving? No battle, no shooting, no anything?

"Holy shit, run! Fucking r-*urp*run or we'll be vaporized!" Rick shouted, scooping his gadgets into his lab coat before taking off. Kitty ran past Morty, grabbing his hand and pulling him behind her. The roar of the ship's engines was deafening, and Morty watched as the force of the engines destroyed the ground beneath the ship. The cloud of dust was practically on their heels!

"Quick! Through *urp* here!" Rick shouted, pointing at the portal he had finally successfully opened. Whatever had been blocking the gun's signal before must have been loaded aboard the ship or shut off upon liftoff. Morty felt relief wash over him as he jumped through the swirling green portal. Finally, they were done with this whole ordeal. On the other side, he found that Rick had teleported them right back to Kitty's bedroom.

"Ohmigosh, Morty! We have to do this again some time. That was way more fun than studying! And did you see me? I totally saved us from that alien overlord guy at the end!" Kitty was practically jumping around her room with excitement.

"Y-you did *urp* alright, kid. held your own better than *urp* M-Morty. Just do us all a favor? Pants." Rick grumbled, climbing back out of Kitty's window, grabbing his jetpack on the way out. Morty was once again reminded that Kitty was not wearing any pants. Embarrassed, he covered his eyes and turned away from her.

"That's probably the nicest thing your grandpa has said to me all day." Kitty laughed, pulling on a new pair of jeans. "Too bad my others were ripped. That was my favorite pair of shorts! It was totally worth it, though, and check out all of these awesome pics I got!" She exclaimed, holding her phone up to Morty. Morty uncovered his eyes and chuckled. Out of all the pictures she'd taken that day, the picture of Kitty with the alien leader was definitely his favorite.

He was so happy Rick seemed to approve of her, and he was even impressed with her solution (even if he didn't say it out loud. The best part was, Kitty had even had a lot of fun on their adventure! Despite his initial apprehension, Morty was now looking forward to more adventures with his friends. Not only did they make it more fun and entertaining, but they might have different ideas or solutions like Kitty did! Speaking of solutions…

"How did you know that taking a picture with the aliens would make them leave?" Morty asked, turning his attention back to Kitty.

"It was simple! All of that science-y crap your grandpa was showing them was just a bunch of practical items. Obviously they'd have similar tech because who doesn't like to make life easier, but nothing your grandpa or the aliens had was really fun! None of their stuff was used for entertainment, so I figured they must never have seen anything like it. When they showed me their clunky cell-phones, I knew for sure I was right! The most obvious solution isn't always the correct one, Morty. Sometimes you just gotta think outside the box a little~" Kitty hummed, flopping back down on her bed. "Man, I'm wiped! That adventure may have been loads of fun, but that was a lot of running around in one day. You need a lift home? My mom could probably drive you if you'd like."

"N-no, but thank you. I think I'm just gonna walk home and enjoy the peace. See you in school tomorrow?"

"You bet! Let me at least walk you to the door." Kitty lead Morty out of her room and down the hall.

"What were you two up to? I haven't seen either of you all afternoon!" Emma exclaimed, poking her head out of her own room.

"Just studying, Emma, like we usually do. There are a lot of exams coming up this month, and we've gotta be ready for all of them, yeah?" Kitty replied. Emma seemed disbelieving of the answer, but made no further comment. Kitty relaxed, glad that her sister accepted the lie for now.

"Morty, dear, are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Kitty's mom asked as the two teens walked down the stairs.

"Thanks ma'am, but I've really got to get home. It was nice seeing you, and thanks again for letting me come over!" Morty waved goodbye to both of her parents before walking out the door. After he'd stepped down from the porch, Morty turned and gave Kitty a wave, too. "See you in school, Kitty! And don't forget to text me the 'notes' from today!"

"Of course! See you tomorrow!" Kitty waved back, closing the door behind her.

As soon as Morty entered the comfort of his own home, his cell's screen lit up with notifications. A few were from his friends, but the newest was from Kitty. Opening the message, Morty saw all of the pictures she'd taken that day on their adventure. Morty smiled down at his phone. While it may have started out a bit hectic, today had turned out to be pretty great. He found himself, for once, eagerly awaiting his next adventure with Rick and, hopefully, one of his friends.