Chapter Text
It was a quiet day. Louie was happy to get home after another trek of paying off the President’s irresponsible spending, happy to see his grandma, his father, his auntie.
His father and aunt came out of their house upon his arrival, wearing black robes and teary faces. “Oh, Louie!” His aunt squeezed him in a death grip hug. “I’m sorry we’re such messes, dear… deaths are the worst.”
Louie dropped the work communicator in his hand, eyes wide. “She…”
“Grandma’s gone,” hot wet tears stain Louie’s space suit. “We didn’t have it in us to email you such sad news, especially when word came out that your freight ship was wrecked by PNF-404’s wildlife. This would only bring you down…”
They need me to support their exorbitant lifestyles, Louie slumped. “I wanted to say goodbye…”
“You wanted to what?!” Auntie shook her head, smacking the side of his head. “You need to help finance a new ship and GET OUT THERE!”
Louie nodded, searching his communicator for her gravesite.
“Good evening,” scientists went down to greet them. “Can I get your registration number?”
“PNF-404,” Alph’s face grew hard to read. “We found more than enough.”
The scientist grins. “I’ll let my supervisor know.”
“I thought I was the supervisor…” Brittany let out a dejected sigh. “I can’t imagine anyone taking my place in the Botany department!”
“You’ll get your position back,” Charlie pat her back. “Let’s focus on getting the seeds prepared for future plant life.”
The scientist popped back in. “Sorry, it looks like Porto isn’t in today.”
“Can I see your pad?” Brittany crossed her arms. “I was supervisor when I started this expedition.”
“Sure,” she shrugged, “be my guest.”
Brittany typed at the KopPad, a smirk on her face as she logged in. “My boss’s boss won’t believe this!”
“Brittany?” Alph saw her furiously type away at the tablet. “…what are you doing?”
“Reporting our results to the government,” Brittany cackled, “…with some added detail, of course. How could I forget about the Food Thief, Captain’s rubber ducky or the tireless work you did to keep this ship running nominally? We can’t forget our Pikmin Pals!!!”
“You can go,” the scientist gestured sheepishly. “No need to wait here for countless hours while she writes.”
“I should add some details too,” Alph chortled. “She’ll forget about the TWO TIMES we incorporated lost PNF-404 tech into the ship and increased our scanner range, and how many times Charlie had to SHOWER before he got the stench of a Koppaite-eating creatures stomach off him!”
“How could I forget about that?!” Brittany cackled, bumping Charlie’s shoulder. “We’re telling D the moment they get his ass over here. The stench, how many showers you had to take, how many cleaning cycles your suit went through before we could repair it! He’s hearing it ALL.”
“What I find important is that I made it out of there alive,” Charlie shook his head, fond smile on his face. “I thank the stars every day that you found me when you did.”
Brittany cackled, her KopPad ringing from one with a green bowl cut. “Ok, you sentimental wollywog!”
“Is that?!” Charlie answered the pad, smile beaming. “Damien!!!”
“ Charlie?! ” D cackled, grin wide and dopey. “ You’re back! Thank the stars, you’re back!!!”
Brittany nudged Alph’s shoulder, shit-eating grin on her face. “We’re at Bay 3,” she wheezed. “We have all kinds of things to tell you! I’m certain I can tease your man to death in 15 minutes.”
“ I’m certain you can, ” D giggled. “ I’ll walk over there in a moment.”
“I’m so glad to hear that,” Charlie tears up. “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!”
“ I missed you too, Charlie.” D put his KopPad in his pocket, fast steps all they heard. “ Please don’t go to the outer reaches without a way to communicate again.”
“IM NOT DOING THAT AGAIN, HONEY!” Charlie’s eyes water. “NEVER AGAIN!!!”
Brittany snatched her KopPad, hitting the hang-up button. “We’ll need help bringing all these seeds to the botany department.”
The scientist froze. “…can’t you use this ship for that?!”
“It belongs to Drake,” Brittany growled.
“He’s gone, and his will hasn’t been declared yet!”
“Then let his grandson keep the damn ship, lazy. You’re grabbing your pals and we are going to walk ten minutes to the botany department.” The scientist rushed off, Brittany fuming. “The nerve of that guy! …We aren’t keeping the Drake, it should stay in your family. I have an inkling he’ll give it to you.”
“Me?!” Alph shook his head. “I’m not going to be able to preserve it. I’ll build things based off it but there’s no way I’ll keep it museum worthy! I’m an engineer!!!”
“The history of that ship is best preserved with Drake’s legacy,” Brittany shook her head. “He knew that, Alphie.”
“Brittany…” Alph shook his head. Tears spilled out of his eyes, hands shaky. “He can’t be gone. I swore I’d tell him how great of a mission we went on, tell him our planet is saved!!!”
“We’ll verify the information once I’ve got the botany area set up. …I’m sorry, Alphie.”
“…” Alph looks at a photo he’d took the night he got his KopPad, a week before he left for PNF-404. His grandpa laid in a hospital bed, one he promised to get out of, and smiled as Alph took a selfie with him. The last time Grandpa Drake saw him was before he met his end. Alph tries not to think the worst, but he was dying to tell Grandpa that he did save Koppai. …He didn’t even get to do that.