✿ Return to PNF-404 (A "2-Player" Pikmin 3 RP for Whiteh and Misteh) (Yes, you may watch if you wish; see first post) ✿

"If we do, you know that I won't just let you fight for your life on your own," Charlie reassured. "What kind of captain would I be if I treated my crew that way?" After giving Alph a friendly pat on the back, he set off into the unexplored area.

"... You do have a point, captain." Alph responded with a quick nod of his head before heading after Charlie into the stretch of unexplored territory along with his squad of Pikmin.

After an enjoyable, uneventful exploration of the area, the sun began setting noticeably.
At the time he noticed this, Charlie was just about to send his entire squad of Pikmin to knock down a dirt wall. "What a shame; the sun's setting already... I was really looking forward to seeing what lies behind that wall!" With a blow of his whistle, his Pikmin instantly dropped anything they were doing at the time and surrounded him. "Alph, you have the task of locating and rounding up any stray Pikmin that may have been left behind earlier in the day. You're up for the job, I assume?"

When he noticed the sun beginning to set, Alph instantly called back a small group of his Pikmin that had been persistently digging up a large Yellow Pellet. "Aww... We seemed to be getting somewhere, too." He noted, staring at the dirt wall before them. "And of course, captain," Alph started, turning to face Charlie. "I'll start gathering up those Pikmin right away...!"

"Good; I'll head back to the Drake for the night, myself. I'll be awaiting your return; be careful out there!" After giving a small thumbs-up, Charlie turned around and began running back to the Drake, looking back every so often to make sure that no Pikmin were being left behind. To him, leaving any number of Pikmin behind at the end of the day was unacceptable.

"I will, captain...!" Alph called out to Charlie, waving his hand as he watched the captain departing. He then pulled out his trusty KopPad once more to scan the map for any stray Pikmin, which were indeed present in a few locations. Standing up tall, he set off to retrieve them with his present Pikmin marching right along.

Back at base, Charlie and his entire squad of Pikmin arrived, unharmed. "Great job out there, Pikmin!" The captain blew his whistle, pointing at the Onion, and every last one of his Pikmin scurried up its "legs" and into their nest, safe for the night. Stretching, he himself headed into the Drake, ready to settle in.
When Charlie entered the ship, just as he was about to announce his arrival, he noticed something which instead caused him to stay as quiet as possible. Brittany, who had been here the whole time since she last spoke to the others, was curled up, sound asleep. Nearby, there sat not just a partly-eaten strawberry, but also a green grape in similar condition. That's odd, Charlie thought to himself. I don't remember anyone saying anything about bringing any Dawn Pustules back to the ship... Where did that come from?

After quite some time had passed and the sun was very close to setting, Alph had finally made his way back to the Drake, all of the previously stray Pikmin now safely reunited with the rest of his squad. Right before he returned them to their Onion for the night, he stopped and turned to face the small creatures with a smile. "You did great out there." He praised. Then, as he blew his whistle, they all quickly scurried back up into their nest.
A few moments later, Alph entered the Drake, stretching and yawning with tiredness from the day's expedition. As he was about to announce his return, he noticed the peacefully sleeping Brittany and decided to stay quiet, just waving his hand in greeting instead.

Charlie bowed his head in greeting to the last one of his crewmates to arrive, smiling warmly. "All Pikmin accounted for?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yep; every last one," Alph whispered back with a smile. "Looks like I returned just in time, too..." He noted, staring out the window and into the now mostly-dark sky.

"You did cut it close, for sure," Charlie chuckled softly. As he casually pressed a button, the Drake's engines fired up with a roar, propelling the ship skyward, and stopping once the three were in orbit. Just as it used to, the Onion followed the ship the whole way.
Despite the roar of the engines and the noticeable rumbling of the entire ship during takeoff, Brittany continued to sleep soundly. Not even when the half-eaten grape rolled over and lightly collided with the side of her head did she stir.

Once the crew were safely in orbit, Alph settled down with a small piece of one of the strawberries they had collected earlier that day. Sinking his teeth into the refreshing morsel, which tasted especially delicious after a long day of exploring, he sighed with contentment.

Soon, Charlie joined his crewmate in eating the fruit. "Good thing there's plenty left for the both of us," he commented, taking a large, somewhat-sloppy bite of the juicy red fruit. "Though there is something I've been wondering ever since I came aboard tonight... Where did that Dawn Pustule come from?" He motioned to the peeled, half-eaten grape lying somewhat nearby. "Did you find and collect it, Alph?"

"Yeah..." Alph responded between bites, thoroughly enjoying his share of the strawberry. His attention was taken off of the ruby red piece of fruit, however, when Charlie motioned to the nearby grape. "... I don't recall collecting any of those today, captain." He noted, staring on at it confusedly.

"Ah..." Charlie took another peaceful bite of his fruity meal. "I guess it must have been Brittany, then. Funny how she didn't mention it at all, though."

"Maybe she just found it at some point when we weren't present, and just forgot to say anything about it..." Alph suggested, appearing somewhat deep in thought.

"Probably," Charlie agreed. "I think I can imagine her doing that... Stumbling across a beautiful fruit, getting excited, and completely forgetting to tell anyone about her find."

"As can I," Alph responded, quietly chuckling in amusement as he finished off the rest of his strawberry piece. "There's another good thing about our food supply being more plentiful, this time... Stuff like that isn't as much of a problem."

"That's true." For a few moments, Charlie stared at the remaining piece of strawberry in his hand before shoving the entire morsel into his mouth at once. "Even if someone were to secretly take a small piece of fruit exclusively for themselves, it wouldn't matter too much... Though I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen. I may very well be wrong, though, of course." Saying this, something clicked in his head concerning the mysteriously-appearing grape, causing him to suddenly chuckle.

"Maybe..." Alph trailed off, looking rather thoughtful. A moment later, he came to the same conclusion as Charlie, beginning to chuckle with the captain.

"Well," Charlie announced, stretching, "I guess I'll put that Dawn Pustule somewhere safe on its own for tomorrow morning, put away the rest of the fruit for the rest of us, jot the details of our day down... And then I'll finally turn in for the night."

"Okay..." Alph responded, his voice trailing off into a yawn. "Would you like any help with that?" He offered, getting to his feet as he tried to ignore his tiredness.

"No; it's quite alright... You just go and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." Smiling, and with a single nod, Charlie turned and went to work getting everything organized.

"Alright, captain... See you tomorrow." Alph responded, smiling tiredly as he headed off to get some rest, just as his captain had told him to.

Once everything was in its place, Charlie headed to his own resting area, though not before writing another entry for the log.

Day 1-
This morning, for the first time since our last mission here, our ship touched down to the surface of PNF-404. Alph handled the entry perfectly, and, despite some violent turbulence, nothing was damaged or lost. Not even anyone's lunches! Ha...
This first day returning to the planet wasn't exactly uneventful, however; we nearly lost poor Brittany to a hungry Whiptongue Bulborb! We arrived at the scene just in time to save her from the beast, however, and she's perfectly alright. As for happier events, we managed to gather quite a lot of fruit, including one that I was very surprised to find; a Firebreathing Feast!
Here's hoping that tomorrow, we'll see even more progress on our quest for even more fruit... And that nobody else will nearly be eaten by hungry predators, of course!
-Captain Charlie