General Grawl x Captain Charles

The Drive

Grawl growled to himself as he got in his car and drove to the Korplog house, his right hand on the steering wheel while the other was propped on the side of the window, holding his head upright. His thoughts continued to race in his head, alongside jabs at himself for even offering the astronaut to stay with him to begin with. He disliked every part of this, and wished that Captain Baker was back in space. At least then that would've allowed Grawl time to put his mind at ease from this alien fiasco.

As he pulled up to the house, he spotted the astronaut immediately, as well as the Korplog kid and a couple of his friends. Grawl recognized them almost instantly; they were the ones that snuck into Base 9 and helped their subject escape. As irritated as he was at them for trespassing and destroying the military property, he couldn't ignore the feeling of astonishment. He was impressed that they even managed to sneak into the Base, let alone even find it. A smart lot, they are.

Grawl pulled over and parked on the curb. He took a heavy breath and then got out of the hovering car, seeing that Chuck had a great pile of things on the Korplog's lawn. Lem, Skiff, Neera, and Eckle (who came by shortly after hearing the news), turned to face the general with uncertainty. He wasn't going to interrogate them, was he?

"Ahhh, Grawl!" Chuck said in a surprisingly positive way. "There you are! I was starting to wonder if you ran off or something..."

It was hard for Grawl to remain professional, almost nearing a snarky remark. No, he wouldn't go that low. "Absolutely not," he said in his commander-like voice. "I am a man of my word."

"Except when you tried to experiment on Chuck, right?" Skiff suddenly said, smiling and laughing at his little joke. It was only when everyone else side-eyed him with still expressions that his laugh dragged on until it became an awkward silence, making him scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Chuck cleared his throat and started picking up his stuff. "Welp, I guess we better be on our way, huh General Goo?"

Grawl narrowed his eyes. "It's Grawl..." he said lowly.

"Right! Sorry!"

Grawl glared at him and turned away, hiding his eyeroll.

The kids stayed close as they watched Chuck grab the last of his stuff and walk over to the floating car. As Grawl stood by the driver's side, waiting for him, Chuck then asked, "Where shall I put my things?" hulking all of his suitcases and belongings under his arms.

Grawl gestured to the back of the car with his thumb. "Just in the trunk is fine."

"Trunk?"

Grawl grumbled and walked over to the back of the car. He then pushed a button and a latch was open: the empty trunk. As Chuck loaded his stuff into the car, Grawl started to wonder if there were even cars on Earth at all.

Finally, Chuck slammed down the trunk and followed Grawl into the car. He waved at Lem and the others and smiled. "See you guys later!"

"Bye!" Eckle said.

"Good luck!" Skiff said. Lem waved back.

Then they drove away.

The men sat in silence except for the engine. Grawl's hands were sweaty and his heart pounded quickly in anxiety, while Chuck just sat awkwardly beside him, trying his best to distract himself by the outside views. They passed the main part of town, and Chuck attempted some small talk with the green alien. "So, uh, how're you doing?"

Grawl blinked out of his thoughts, not hearing him. "Huh? What?"

"I said how are you doing? Since yesterday? You know, with the explosion and everything?"

"Oh." He had a lot to say about that. In fact, Grawl might as well blame Chuck for basically getting him fired. (Well, he was temporarily released, but still...) Yet, even despite all of the damage that was caused, Grawl reminded himself that this man did save his life, and seemed kind in general, or at least from what he's seen. Perhaps he should let his guard down too, just a little. "Yes, I'm doing fine."

"No broken bones or anything?"

"No."

"Good."

Silence.

"Hey," Chuck said. "What did you think about being up there in space? Pretty cool, eh?"

Since the explosion, it had all been a blur, like time was moving but he wasn't. It took a moment for Grawl to picture being on the ship with the astronaut and the others, floating off into orbit. Grawl had heard of space before, and of what it looked like and consisted of with all of the conspiracies and whatnot going around. But he'd never actually seen it for himself, and apparently, neither have any of the others on his planet. He remembered sitting beside the astronaut and looking outside of the window, seeing a sky of stars that seemed to go on endlessly, a golden ball of light and fire, and their planet right before his eyes. What a sight indeed! It practically took his breath away. It was impossible to even think that he was up there in the stars just hours ago. In fact, it all seemed like a dream. As scary as the unknown was, Grawl longed to be up there again...

"You know," Chuck said again. "It feels kind of surreal being back here. I mean, I should be going back home. It'd probably be a third of a way back to Earth by now, if only the engine didn't explode."

"And that is just what the military is going to help you with," Grawl replied. "You will get back on that ship in no time."

"Yeah, I hope so," Chuck said, folding his arms and resting back in his seat. As great as this place was, he wanted nothing more than to be back in his own bed. Be back in his own year, as a matter of fact.

Grawl then pulled into a driveway and turned off he car. "Here we are."