A/N: I was having trouble with certain aspects of this chapter, but I think it turned out alright. Comments are greatly appreciated; I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4
Morty gasped.
Coughing, struggling to catch his breath, Morty weakly opened his eyes. At first, he saw nothing but a bright, blinding light.
Am I dead?
Morty picked his head up and looked beneath him. No, he wasn't dead; he was lying on red sand. He closed his eyes again, dropping his head back onto the sand, moaning slightly. His body felt as if Mike Tyson had punched him five hundred times.
Summer.
Morty's eyes flashed open, everything coming back to him at once. The Federation ships, the planet, his sister, the crash…
With a determined grunt, Morty pushed himself off of the ground, the world righting itself around him as he stood, slightly wobbly, on his two feet.
Where's Summer? Where's the ship?
Morty checked himself over, making sure he had no serious injuries. A couple bruises here and there, but he seemed to be okay. Bruises he could handle. His sister being dead he could not. He knew he needed to find Summer.
He turned around, eyes scanning for the ship or his sister. There, about a hundred feet behind him, was the pink spaceship. He had clearly been thrown from it. He quietly thanked a God he didn't believe in; he could have been much worse off.
But what about Summer?
Morty stumbled towards it, going as fast as his aching body would allow him to. He stopped before it, his heart sinking.
The ship was completely mangled. The formerly pink spaceship was now black and brown, smoke rising from its devices. The warp engine was utterly fried, biofluid leaking a thin green trail over the red sand. The windshield was completely smashed and shattered, a clear indication of where Morty had gotten thrown out of. One wing was tossed a hundred feet away, with other parts of the ship scattered around the red sand. Morty swore silently to himself, fear gripping his heart; he didn't want to look inside the seats. What was he going to find? Was he going to find his sister, mangled and dead inside? Would he find blood? Morty didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to look- but he knew he had to.
He gulped, trying to mentally steel himself against what he may see. Morty stepped closer and looked into the seats of the ship.
Nothing.
Morty let out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding. Summer wasn't definitely dead; maybe she was flung from the ship like he was? Yes, that had to be it.
Morty turned around, his eyes searching for his sister. There seemed to be nothing around him but the red sand hills and the bluish, purplish sky above.
His heart clenched, panic rising in his throat. "Summer!" He yelled. He called her name again. Nothing.
Frustrated and scared, Morty hiked a few paces away from the crash site. He peered down one of the sand valleys, eyes scanning the hills—there!
His sister lay at the bottom of the trench, motionless.
Morty's heart leaped and tightened at once. He teared down the hill, ignoring his body's protests, falling to his knees beside his sister. He watched her chest, eyes wide in fear.
It rose and fell. She was breathing, but unconscious.
However, there was a fair amount of blood underneath her left leg; her white pants were sliced, her calf cut open underneath.
Morty grabbed his sister by the shoulders and lightly shook her. "Summer! Summer, y-y-y-you gotta…you need to wake up! Summer!"
Much to Morty's relief, Summer groaned, clenching her eyes tighter. "Ugh…Morty…?" She opened her eyes, blinking blearily. "What…happened?"
He sat back on his heels. "Th-th-the ship, we crashed-"
"Ow, shit!" Summer hissed, grabbing her sliced calf. She pulled her hand back, sticky blood covering her palm. "Goddammit! Here, Morty- help me up."
Morty wrapped one arm under his sister and helped her stand as she leaned on him, favoring her good leg. They slowly made their way back up the hill to the ship, Summer wincing and limping along the way as their feet slipped and slid in the sand.
"Morty, are you okay?" Summer asked, looking at her younger brother with genuine concern.
"In better shape than you, that's for, for sure."
The siblings finally overcame the top of the hill, the pink ship still sitting mangled in front of them.
Morty felt Summer let out a breath as she leaned more into him. "Shit."
The two of them moved closer until they were standing right in front of it. "My ship's completely ruined. Shit!" Summer huffed, grabbing her injured calf.
"H-here, Summer, sit down." Morty helped lower his sister onto the ground. She removed her arm from around his neck and grabbed her bleeding leg, staring at the ship with frustration in her eyes. "The fucking Federation blew us out of the sky!" She looked upwards into the purplish atmosphere above them, eyes searching. "I hope they think we're dead, otherwise," she looked seriously at her brother. "They'll come down here and we will be dead."
"Yeah well, we're going to die anyways if we don't figure out what to do! Oh, jeez! Now we're stuck on-on-on this sand planet, with a-a-a-a completely ruined ship! How are we going to get off this planet?! We're gonna die here!" Morty felt his panic rising. This had never happened with Rick when they had traveled; Rick always knew what to do and how to handle it.
But Rick wasn't here.
Summer pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Ugh, Morty! Will you shut up for once in your life, you turd? Let me think!"
Morty twisted his hands together in nervousness and sat down beside her. Neither of them were super geniuses like their grandfather; they couldn't just quickly fix the ship and keep going. Neither of them had portal guns, either, so they couldn't just portal home. Morty knew it- they were going to die here, on this planet.
All because Summer couldn't stand to not be able to get off-world.
Morty felt a twitch of anger at his sister, but he didn't say anything.
"Okay, I have a plan." Summer turned to her brother. "How about we go for a walk? There were Federation ships outside this planet's atmosphere; there's gotta be some kind of civilization here somewhere." She started to stand up, putting most of her weight on her good leg. The blood had completely seeped through her white pantleg.
Morty bolted up, gently grabbing Summer's elbow. "Summer, your leg-"
She waved him off. "I'll be fine. Civilization can't be that far."
!
The two siblings walked for what seemed like hours. They stumbled along, Morty half dragging Summer with her injured leg. The sun was beginning to set; the two moons of the planet were rising.
Both of the kids were tired, hungry, and thirsty, and Summer could feel that her calf was beginning to fester.
It was getting dark quickly. The darkness of the sky was beginning to blend with the red sand dunes; Morty was having trouble telling where the horizon was. Another fear dawned on Morty; though they hadn't seen any signs of life yet, what if this planet had nocturnal creatures? What if this planet had nocturnal creatures that would eat them? If there was one thing that Morty learned on his adventures with Rick, it was to never underestimate an organism's appetite for, well, anything.
"Wait, Morty- what's that?" Summer narrowed her eyes; out in the distance seemed to be dancing lights.
"I-I-I think it's civilization!" Morty said, relief flooding into him. Both him and Summer suddenly felt a new determination fill each of them up; now, they had some sort of destination in mind.
The temperature dropped quickly as they stumbled their way to the light source. It grew brighter and brighter as they neared it, and they realized that the lights were coming from a small settlement.
The settlement had about twenty dome-shaped tents, with lights on the inside and outside. Organisms were moving about; however, Morty and Summer weren't close enough to tell what exactly they looked like.
"Wait, Summer-" Morty said in a hushed voice. "We shouldn't just go b-b-barging into their campsite. We don't even know what species this is; what if they try and eat us?"
Summer rolled her eyes. "Morty, there are Federation ships posted in this planet's gravitational field. I highly doubt anyone's going to eat us."
"All the more reason to be cautious about this!" Morty protested.
Summer glared at her brother incredulously. "Look you little piece of crap, we are stuck on this dumb planet with no ship, and I'm injured. I'll take my chances with these things." She pulled Morty forward as she limped.
"Oh jeez," Morty muttered as he helped her walk.
The siblings made their way into the center of the settlement, looking for some sign of help. The alien creatures around them paid little attention to them; the organisms were humanoid, lizard-like bipedal creatures with green skin and bulging muscles.
Morty saw a bunch of these alien creatures going in and out of one tent; music and alcoholic drinks in hands were coming out. "Summer, I think th-th-that might be a tavern, or-or-or something," he said.
Summer nodded, agreeing. "Let's try and at least get some water. I'm dying to sit down."
With her arm still around Morty's neck for support, the two made their way to the tavern. Morty pushed open the curtain door. Inside, there were many lizard-like aliens sitting at a bar and on couches, listening to strange music coming from an unknown source. At the bar, creatures were being served drinks in shallow bowls. No one even glanced at Summer or Morty.
Morty and Summer hesitantly sat down at two seats at the bar. An alien came over to them and began speaking in a strange language, looking at them expectantly.
Morty quickly thought back to Rick's terrible lessons of the Common Language popping up in his mind. Rick had taught Morty a couple of generic phrases to use; most species in the galaxy spoke a common tongue to make communication easier, though for whatever reason, English seemed to be well understood on some planets as well.
Morty thought hard. "Do speak you the Common Language?" He asked shakily a different tongue, his voice making the sounds of a language he was hardly familiar with.
The creature looked at him, confused. It spoke again, once again in its native tongue.
Morty looked at his sister, exasperated. "Summer, what do we do?"
"Ugh, I don't know! Here, try again!"
Morty turned back to the alien, but the alien spoke again, this time in a language Morty completely understood. "Oh, you two speak English! Man, you should have said so! What can I get you guys to drink?"
Morty and Summer glanced at each other. "Uh, w-water please." Morty said.
"Comin' right up." The alien left them.
Summer looked at her younger brother. How many times had he been stuck somewhere with their grandfather? She remembered being stuck on the Gazorpazorp planet with Rick; that time, he hadn't found a way out. She had. This time, she needed to find a way out for her and her brother.
On the other side of the bar, out of Summer or Morty's line of vision, was a creature that had taken notice of them. He peered at the humans. He hadn't seen hide nor tail of their species since…
He realized he must speak with them.
The creature stood up and casually wandered down the bar, taking the empty seat next to the female human. The male human glanced at him. The female, evidently noticing the male's diverted attention, looked beside her.
The creature made eye contact with the red-headed female. There was something eerily familiar about her sharp gaze.
"What are two humans doing here, on Dosne?" The creature said.
Summer glanced at her brother before turning in her chair to face the creature. "Is this the planet we're on?"
"Yes. Dosne. Now, what are you two doing here?" He said, not unkindly.
"Our ship c-crashed, sir." Morty said. "M-my sister, s-she's injured." He pointed to her leg. "You wouldn't happen to have any medicine, would you?"
The creature looked down at her leg. "Actually, yes." He looked back up at the siblings. "What are your names again?"
"I'm Summer, and this is my younger brother, Morty." Morty gave a meek wave of his hand.
The creature's gaze snapped upwards, fixated on both of them, seemingly startled. He glanced around the bar. "Here, let me buy you two drinks first." He waved down the bartender. "Give me three sploogies, and put it on my tab." The bartender nodded, scurrying off. "Now, kids- I want you to tell me your entire story."
Morty blinked. "U-um, well, we're from the planet Earth-"
"Wait a minute, Morty. Who are you?" Summer asked the creature. The bartender returned, delicately placing the bowls of liquid in front of the siblings.
The creature let out a haughty laugh. "My apologies, children. My name is Adalric, and I believe I know your grandfather. I can see traces of him in each of you."
Morty stared at Adalric, shocked. "Y-y-you know Rick?!" His heart leaped.
"Rick Sanchez?" Adalric laughed again. "Yes, I do! We were buddies during our Freedom Fighter days."
Morty and Summer stared at each other in disbelief before looking at Adalric. "What?!" they said in unison.
Adalric looked back at them, surprised. "What, did Rick not tell you? He fought with the F.F. during the Galactic Civil War, when the Federation was gaining more power. Now, of course, the Federation has most of the power, but there are still pockets of the F.F. that are working underground." He smiled, his grin toothy.
Summer and Morty stared incredulously at him. "I-I-I can't believe that! Rick's a selfish old bastard, he wouldn't fight for something like that. I mean, yeah, he hates the government, but why would he risk his life-"
Adalric laughed again, cutting off Morty. "You don't seem to know your grandfather as well as you think you do. Yes, Rick fought against the galactic government in an organized group. Shocking, I know." He took a sip out of his drink. "But that is a story for another day. Now, children, please tell me your tale as to how you ended up here. Then, after you finish, I will give you medical aide, Summer." He added, gesturing to Summer's leg.
Summer took a deep breath. "Okay, well, like, I guess it all began about a month ago, when we were at a wedding between Bird Person and Tammy."
"Wait, Bird Person got married?! That sonofabitch, he finally settled down!" Adalric laughed, slapping his knee.
Morty frowned. He didn't know Bird Person had fought with Rick and the other Freedom Fighters as well. "Y-yeah, he did. But then it t-turned out that Tammy was an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation, and there was a huge fight that broke out, a-a-and Bird Person was killed, and Rick was arrested."
Summer rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Morty- I was literally just getting to that."
Adalric's face dropped. "Bird Person's dead?" He looked into his drink, swirling it for a moment, silent. "And Rick was arrested. Damn, I never thought…"
"Well, there's more to it than that," Summer began. She launched into the whole story. She and Morty together told how Rick had abandoned them on the small planet, and how at first they had thought it was because he was running away, but instead he had given himself up to the Federation in exchange for their freedom and protection. Adalric didn't seem shocked. They told him of how they managed to get back to Earth, and how the Federation had completely taken over Earth. Adalric asked how Rick's daughter was holding up; they told her she was surviving. They informed him of the tests they needed to take to be able to get off-world, and how Summer had passed, but because of her relation to Rick, the Federation wouldn't allow her nor Morty to ever leave Earth. However, Summer told Adalric that she had received a spaceship from Rick on one of their previous adventures, and she and Morty used the spaceship to get into space, until a couple of Federation ships caught them and shot them down, where they crashed onto Dosne.
"Well, you're a long way from home, that's for sure. About 8 systems away. You guys are really lucky, too- if I had been one of those Federation goons, you'd be dead." Adalric took another sip out of his drink. "Well, we should probably get you two some help. Come on." He stood up, offering his arms to Summer. "I can carry you if you'd like." Summer didn't argue, allowing Adalric to scoop her up. She was thankful for the help.
Morty, Adalric, and Summer ducked out of the tavern, making their way over to a cluster of ships. Adalric pulled out some keys, beeping one of the silver ships. "Here, go ahead and get in."
Morty opened up the side door of the ship, climbing in. Adalric placed Summer beside her brother. "W-where are we going?" Morty asked as Adalric sat down and started up the ship.
He turned around, smiling. "I'm taking you back to rebel base. I'm sure everyone will be happy to meet the grandchildren of the one-and-only Rick Sanchez."
A/N: Thanks for reading! What do you guys think of Adalric? I know it can be hard for some people to accept an OC. Comments are greatly appreciated! Next chapter is coming soon. Stay Schwifty!