Chapter Text
Alph grumbled a bit as he climbed up from the Drake’s engine room. They had just escaped PNF-404 a few days ago, and were now well on their way to Hocotate to drop off Olimar. Recently, however, the ship has been making strange noises. Trying to find the cause of them was driving Alph insane , as everything appeared to be running just fine.
The noises had actually stopped that morning (or at least, what the Drake’s assumption of morning was), but that wasn’t going to stop Alph from searching. Problems like that rarely fixed themselves. But it was getting to be late now, and Alph simply couldn’t search forever. He’d have to come back again tomorrow.
“Still can’t figure it out?” Brittany asked.
“No.” Alph grunted. “Where’s the captain?”
“Uh, in his room. Why?”
“Need to report all this to him.” And with that, he made his way to the Captain’s room. Along the way he grumbled as he stretched. Damn, I’m only twenty-three and this job is already giving me back problems . He really disliked the others worrying over him, however, so after another good stretch he put on a brighter expression and then gently knocked on the metal door before him.
“Oh! Um, now is a bad time.” The captain’s voice rang out.
“Sir, it’s important.”
“Oh! Uh... okay, make it quick then.”
And with that, Alph entered the room.
“It’s about the Drake, sir. I know the noise seems to have stopped, but I still can’t find what was causing it.”
Charlie frowned, looking away a bit. “I see. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though.”
“Why? Charlie, it could be something serious .”
“Well, I...”
It was then that Alph saw something on Charlie’s bed move.
“Charlie, what was that?” he asked, stepping closer.
“Nothing! Nothing at all!” the captain insisted, moving his arm out to hide whatever it was. It then became clearer to Alph - a lump under his covers was moving around. It moved out from behind Charlie and crawled around aimlessly until Charlie gently stopped it with his hand. The captain looked up, face red like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar.
“Charlie, what is it ?!”
“... promise not to tell the others?”
Alph couldn’t help sighing a little. He respected the captain a lot, and had even grown to genuinely like him as a person. But even he had to admit that the captain... wasn’t the brightest man. Even still, he cared for Charlie a lot, and there was a level of trust that could only be forged in situations like their own. “Alright, I won’t tell.”
Charlie motioned for Alph to step closer, and when he did, he pulled back the covers. Sitting there, now dazed from the sudden light, was a yellow pikmin.
Alph just stared at the pikmin for a moment, and then at Charlie.
“Look, I didn’t bring her on board. I just found her this morning - I think she snuck in some time before takeoff... I also think her crawling around the Drake is what was making those noises.”
Alph began to rub his temples. “And so now we need to turn the ship around and return-”
“Well, no, not necessarily.” Charlie cut him off, talking uncharacteristically fast. “I was thinking that I could, you know, bring her home to Koppai and have her live with me!”
Alph stared at him for a moment. “ What .”
“I mean... the pikmin did so much for us. And they’re all so sweet. And when I found her – she fell on me after dropping out of some vents – the first thing she did was crawl up and snuggle against me. And I mean... look at her!” He picked up the pikmin, cuddling her as if she was a child. She stared at Alph with wide, almost pleading eyes.
“I sincerely hope you know what you’re doing here.”
Charlie frowned a little. “No, no not really but... I feel attached, okay! I’m sure I can take good care of her... I even named her already.”
Alph sighed and smiled a little. No, Charlie wasn’t very smart. But what he did have was so, so much heart. “What’s her name?”
“Duckie!” he replied with a goofy, but still genuine smile.
“That’s adorable.” Alph giggled a bit. “But... could I suggest my own?”
Charlie looked down at ‘Duckie’. “Okay, share it.”
“How about Marigold?”
Charlie hummed a bit. “I like that a lot, actually. But I also like Duckie...”
“One of them could always be a nickname!”
Charlie thought for a moment. “Alright. Marigold it is. And she’ll be a little duckie too.”
Alph giggled more. “Well then, congrats on being a dad now!”
Charlie tensed a bit. “A dad ?” he looked down at little Marigold, who responded by reaching up and grabbing his nose. “I... I guess so...” he relaxed as he sighed a little, gently pushing the pikmin’s hand away from his face.
Alph smiled as he stood up to stretch again. “Take good care of Marigold, okay?”
“You know I will.”
The two looked at each other for a moment, a strange feeling building inside Alph’s chest. Before things could get awkward, he nodded and left the room.
Alph didn’t know how long Charlie could manage to hide the pikmin away from the others. He didn’t know how well she could adjust to life on koppai – or if Charlie would even be allowed to take her home. All he knew was that he saw genuine love and determination in the captain’s eyes. All he could do was hope for the best for the both of them.