General Grawl x Captain Charles

Putting Things Straight

Lem had never seen this many people at his house in his life. If no one had heard of the news by now, a passerbyer might think that he was throwing some huge party.

It wasn't long until the commotion woke up his parents. His mom wore a robe and his dad was still in his underwear, too shocked to get dressed. They found Lem and were extremely concerned. "Lem, what in the world is going on?!" his mom asked.

"Answer your mother, son!" his dad exclaimed.

"And why is Chuck back here?" his mom asked again.

"Mom, dad, calm down!" Lem said defensively. "Something is wrong with Chuck's ship, so he had to crash here to see what was going on. And then all of a sudden all of these people started coming, and now there's news people, so more and more people are coming!"

"This is absurd!" his mom shouted.

"We're on TV?" his dad asked, to which his mom then elbowed him.

"Dear, please be serious! Lem, get these people to leave!"

But it was just impossible. It seemed like every minute, more and more people crowded into the backyard to see the returning astronaut, full of questions. It wasn't long until the military started coming in, but instead of there being General Grawl, the second-in-command alien led the soldiers onto the lawn, and put a divide between Chuck and Lem's family, and the townspeople.

"What're you doing back here, earthling?" the second-in-command asked. While he wasn't pointing his laser gun on Chuck, he still had it in his grip.

For what seemed like the millionth time, Chuck explained what had happened to his ship while in space, and why he had to return to the planet. "If I hadn't, I probably would've died," Chuck said.

"So...instead of deciding to land in a remote location where you can fix your ship, you decided to return here to Glipforg. Why?" asked the captain alien.

"I-um-well-"

Suddenly there was a diversion in the crowd along with some outbursts and murmurs, and everyone turned to see General Grawl pushing his way through, breathing hard. He must've ran all the way here, without so much as stopping to take a look in the mirror, as his medals were all crooked and the collar of his uniform wasn't even. The captain of the military put his hands behind his back and faced Grawl with a raised chin. "Ah, Mr. Grawl. What a surprise. And in your uniform, at that."

"What is that--" Grawl started before correcting himself. "What is he doing here?" he asked, panting and pointing to the astronaut.

Chuck sighed and rolled his eyes. "Do I really have to repeat myself again?"

"Save yourself the trouble," the captain said, putting up his hand. "We all seen and heard the news now. Going back to my previous question..."

"Right," Chuck said, and then he cleared his throat as he tried to explain. "The reason why I came back here is because I thought that possibly you all would be able to help me."

Everyone, the military especially, were surprised by this. The captain nodded his head. "Go on."

"I mean, I've seen all of the different kinds of technology and equipment that you've developed, and even though you guys are kind of a 'blast to the past' from what I'm used to, a lot of the gadgets you created could be extremely helpful to me in fixing my ship. I know that I certainly don't have the tools that I need to repair it, but you do." Chuck sighed again and then rubbed the back of his head. "I guess what I'm trying to say is...please, will you guys help me rebuild my ship? The more help I have, the quicker I get to repairing it and the faster I'll get back home and out of your hair." He then started chuckling. "If that's not a win-win scenario, I don't know what is!"

The aliens then looked at each other, shrugging or whispering comments to each other. Chuck, Lem, and Skiff waited nervously for their response. Even Grawl, who towered over the majority of the crowd with his arms folded over his chest, even glanced around hesitantly.

Finally, after a moment of quiet discussion, the captain of the military nodded again to the astronaut. "Okay. We will allow you to stay in Glipforg, and we will help you repair your ship to the best of our ability."

Chuck gave a sigh of relief, and Lem and Skiff looked at each other and smiled.

"However," the captain added. "If you are to stay here, you must understand that it will take time to investigate, plan out, and rebuild the necessities of your ship. Which means that you will need a place to stay."

"Oh, well that's okay. I can just stay here with Lem and his family!" Chuck announced.

As Lem was about to agree, he turned to his parents to see his mom shaking her head in disapproval. The captain shook his head too. "While I trust that you will be fine with the Korplogs," he said, "I would suggest that you stay with someone else, perhaps a single person, and we will also move the ship to a better location. For the stress and sanity of the family, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, earthling."

"Ah." Chuck put his hands on his hips, trying to understand. (And not be offended, which he kind of was.) "Alright."

"Now, let's leave it up to the people of Glipforg." Turning around, the captain asked, loudly, "Who will be willing to let the astronaut stay with them?"

No one answered, let alone murmur to each other. Chuck felt a little queezy on the inside; he'd much rather stay with someone he was comfortable with, like Lem, but it seemed like that wasn't a possibility. Even if he wanted to stay with Skiff, he was sure that that wasn't a possibility either, as he also had a family like Lem.

Finally, someone raised their hand.

It was General Grawl.