Authors note: I'll try to make the chapters a bit longer from now on so I can write multiple stories for this game y'all. There's too many different scenarios I want to explore, I'm so addicted XD Anyways, I hope you enjoy.
"Baby returned from his expedition last night." Emmet announced, reading ASTRO's text aloud, "Right as I, and everyone else most likely, thought he had perished. Which he surely could have. But regardless, he's back and in one piece. Maybe not as un-irradiated as we hoped, but back, at least."
+55 chemicals +43 minerals
The African American once again crumbled up the paper and tossed it in the corner. Bored, he rested his head in a glove, studying Mootopia's hazy yellow sky.
He could, but only for a moment before Tom's raspy voice snapped him out of his mindless trance.
"So hey big guy, how was your trip? Did you have fun? Meet any aliens?" Tom inquired to the quivering redhead across from him.
The tank-like man had woken up not long ago, sickness halfway passed and injuries decently healed. A pure miracle for their recently upgraded medkit. However, he was also completely silent, cowering in his chair and staring at the floor as if in a daze.
...Just like he was after Deedee had first thrown him in this mess. He was mute and deaf to their small-talk for 12 straight days, but no one could blame him.
Wasn't he the one who played with the toys back on the station? Emmet pondered curiously, eying the brute up and down, ...Huh.
Surprisingly, the ginger managed the courage to speak:
"There were... cliffs n' shadows everywhere. It was so dark in the mountain, the lighter helped a bit, but it stopped workin' after awhile..." He claimed in an ironically frightened voice, "I only went to the green stuff so I could get some lights. I didn't even think about the fumes."
"Oh, that explains it..." Emmet grumbled irritably, turning to Deedee, who was still restlessly washing the contaminated space suit, "That's why I told you to use the handbook for the landing. If you used that instead of the lighter, this wouldn't have happened."
"Yeah, but we'd probably be dead because we can't use minerals to craft soup. That's something I didn't think about when I first sent him out. Honestly, this was for the best." Deedee said with an unconscious sip from her empty coffee mug.
"It was my fault." Baby blubbered, looking up at her tiredly, "I just... didn't think."
The captain exhaled wearily, "It's fine Bronco, at least we have food for now. We should be grateful for that." She glanced at the corner of the shuttle, catching Tom being off-task as usual, she snorted, "Unlike some of us..."
The self proclaimed army veteran, taranchula trainer, company chef, scout leader - ect - had been rummaging behind his chair for awhile, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. "Tom, what are you doing?" She eventually asked him.
He froze a moment, visable eye going wide before he not-so-sneakily attempted to hide an item in his suit. "You're not fooling anyone." Dawkins stated, impatiently setting a hand on her hip.
The brunett turned to face her, eye half lidded in annoyance. There was a bowl full of suspicious liquid in his lap. Deedee's eyes went wide as she tried to piece together what it was,
"...Is that..."
Emmet and Baby both turned to look in unison. The black man's face scrunched up in disgust while the other's was stuck in clueless innocence. "Want some?" Thomson offered, with a full mouth of the substance, holding out the bowl generously.
"What!? No!" The captain snapped, appalled. "Suit yourself," The man replied, about to snag another spoonful of it before she slapped it out of his hands.
"Hey! That took all night for me to make!" He snapped with frustration.
"Make? Oh my God Tom, you've officially lost your mind." The blonde facepalmed in physical pain.
"What!? It's a dish! Food! Do you really want me to starve just because I waited for the next can of soup!?"
"...Wait, a dish?" The woman piped, "You made that yourself? Cooked it?" He could only nod with his hands still gestured out, obviously confused.
"Ooooooooooohhh..." Emmet and Deedee realized together, both slapping themselves mentally. They barely heard Baby murmur a jumbled, "I don't get it."
"What's with the 'Oh's'? What did you think it was!?" Thomson spared another look at his meal before scowling, "You all are disgusting. And I thought I had a dirty mind."
"But then, how did you make it?" Ellis stammered awkwardly, "There's nothing edible here but soup."
"Heh, it's a little something I learned back in training." The veteran declared, cracking his knuckles self confidently. The captain could just hear how long he took to make up that one. "What kind of training?" She tested with a raise of brow. He merely smirked, "CIA."
"And how do we know you're telling the truth?"
"You don't."
His sly smile only grew, making her want to punch him even more. But thankfully, she thought up a much worse punishment.
"Welp, looks like the expedition module's ready." She suddenly announced, dropping her greasy rag to the floor. "Already?" The ex military man gulped. "Yep! Now let's see..." Her eyes danced around the map as she sadistically brainstormed his demise. "Do you want to go to the swamp or the desert?"
"Errrr...-" He began with a hand to his chin, she gladly interupted with a: "Swamp it is." She tossed him the dirty space suit with a visable glee she hadn't shown in days.
"Hey! At least let me eat first." He spat, plucking his half-ruined dish off the floor. Dawkins merely stood there and watched, a hand over her face, shaking her head.
"Are you sure you don't want some?" He teased with a sneer, noticing her staring.
With that, she nearly shoved him, the suit, and his dish out of the shuttle - but someone's bulky arm stopped her. "Ya gotta give him something, Cap." Baby's familiar bass voice cut in, "You saw what that place did to me."
Deedee rolled her eyes stubbornly, but couldn't help but smile at Bronco's undeniable generousity. But then, she beamed, remembering her only option for an item. She handed Tom the broken lighter with a grin, "Safe travels!" She said sarcastically, waving him off.
He glared daggers at her, but saluted anyways. "I'll come back if I survive." He vaguely assured, "Remember, I have military training. I might surprise you-"
The airlock door slammed shut.
...
Before long, the crew was back at square one. Or more specifically; the game of glancing mutely around the shuttle, being deathly bored but unsure of what to say.
Deedee knew they all needed a distraction from the tension, so she decided to take charge. "So...uh, now that Tom's gone, I guess we can finally have some peace and quiet, right guys?"
Bronco mumbled a soft "hmph" while Ellis stretched back in his chair, messy afro and scruff obscuring his depressed expression, "Amen to that." He stated.
There was an uncomfortable amount of silence that followed, but Deedee resisted giving up the talk. "So... what did you two do for a living back on Earth? What kind of jobs?" That question, somehow, seemed to pique their interest.
Emmet was the first to respond, "I used to be a chemistry teacher back in Chicago for the past few years - believe it or not. Though I graduated from University, I...uh, didn't have many opportunities." The blonde could tell by his expression that it wasn't the only reason. Sadly, she felt like she already knew.
"I didn't earn much money working there, but it was a decent job. I had the chance to teach a few hundred students to think outside the box, at least." He trailed, looking towards the all-too-nervous Baby Bronco, "How about you? How did you wind up in this mess?"
The brute hesitated a bit, busily playing with his hands, as if mentally debating to tell the truth. "I... never really had a 'job'..." He admitted carefully, slightly avoiding eye contact with the others.
"No job? Then what did you do? Live with your parents?" Ellis asked, somehow surprised. "Well... yeah." Baby answered, a slight crack in his voice.
Something about the frightened look in the näive adult's eyes clicked something in Ellis' head. He could have sworn he'd seen them somewhere before. Have I seen him before? He wondered in the back his mind. He couldn't be sure.
"What about you, Deedee?" Baby questioned the captain. She looked up, startled, as if not expecting it. "Oh, me? Errr... Nothing special, just a waitress at a simple diner back in California."
She was ashamed of purposely skipping over the vital part of her childhood years... but she shrugged it off. What would it change? She thought bitterly. They don't need to know, it's not important right now.
"A simple life is always good." Emmet commented, "I never wanted a crazy one either, but... I guess we're stuck with one anyways."
Deedee nodded, wondering how in the world - or universe - she could forget about being 17 days in a completely different galaxy, and somehow still alive. Their lives have definetly gone downhill, she'll admit.
"Hey Cap? Do you think..." Bronco began with caution, "...anyone on Earth could still be alive? Could they find us? Save us?"
"...I... wish I knew." Deedee uttered, wishing he had asked Emmet instead. She found her eyes rolling back to Mootopia's lifeless hills,
"All we can do now is wait and find out."
...
The rest of the day was, ironically, full of forced jokes and chatter even ASTRO was starting to get sick of. But they were finally bonding, at long last. The captain almost felt bad that Tom wasn't there to enjoy the moment with them. But oh well.
It all started when she decided to switch the dreary mood, sharing her favorite knock knock jokes and mocking the computer with crude pick up lines, (most of which Baby didn't understand, which only caused her more laughter.)
But in the end, they were in a much better state than before. Deedee had even gotten a few hearty laughs out of Bronco, which she and Emmet gladly celebrated as a platinum acheivement.
...Too bad ASTRO had to ruin their cheers with a blaring red light. It puked out a series of texts, all stating the same thing: THE SHIP IS ABOUT TO BE CONTAMINATED.
If the computer did it on purpose just to ruin the moment, although highly unlikely, it was right on time. And the strange smell coming from the ventilation system only proved the message to be true.
Dawkins searched frantically for anything to protect her and her crew from the gas, eyes darting in every direction. Ellis ripped through spare shelves and lockers, but inevitably found nothing but dust and smashed soup cans.
Bronco ran around blindly in a panic, hyperventilating as memories from the station flooded through his mind. Though, a quick glint at the corner of his eye snapped him back to reality. He darted towards it, gasping as he found a perfectly crafted mask hidden underneathe broken wires.
The ginger held it up proudly, "Cap, look!" He chimed, the woman sprinted over, eyes lighting up in hope. Then, everyone paused.
"Wait. There's only one mask for... three of us?" Emmet pointed out, puzzled. The captain merely stood there, looking just as confused.
"..."
"..."
"...Should we take turns?" Baby randomly suggested among the silence.
"I mean, it works in the game, right? Game's logic? We have no other choice but to trust it in this case." The woman claimed, tugging the mask over her face.
"So me and Baby have to last like this all night?" The former chemistry teacher spoke worryingly, gesturing to the smoke-spewing air vent, "It's the only choice we have. I'm sorry, but we'll just have to see what happens in the morning." She declared with visable regret.
The two men exchanged glances fearfully, expecting the worst was yet to come.
"Goodnight." Was their captain's last half-hearted statement before the lights flickered black once again.
Authors note: (I'll leave a *few* notes of trivia here for those who are interested^^)
- I always wondered why Tom wouldn't make "the dish" for himself in the game to keep himself from starving. I feel like it's more out of character for him not to. (Not to mention the dirty joke I threw in this story, please forgive me lmao) I thought the randomness was a cool edition to those who know how he even can get the dish in the first place.
- About Emmet's backstory, there's a dark hint I threw in there about it being "historically accurate." It would make sense that racism was a key factor in preventing him from getting a better job than a teacher. Especially as in rising in ranks at the time. The 1960s was a very bad time for equality.
- Also I thought it was funny to make him from Chicago since I don't know anything about it in the 1960s lol
- Same thing with Deedee. It's confirmed that she lives somewhere around where the McDoodle family lives in the first game's DLC. But there's no information on what state or town their neighborhood is located in, so of course I just guessed California.
- There are plenty of hints to foreshadowing future events in this chapter, by the way.
- I like the idea of the characters being self-aware of themselves in this since they're no longer just sprites in the videogame. They have alot more personality to explore and there's alot more drama that can happen - and that's what I love writing most~~~
As always, don't be afraid to leave feedback!