Chapter 2: Electric Scootaloo (DISCLAIMER: NO SCOOTALOO.)
“Ngh...“Mal! Mal!”
“Urgh...” Mal’s head was pounding... no, practically splitting at the seams as he woke. Intense pain shot through his entire body, to the point where waves of nausea washed over him with even the slightest movement. The room was spinning, and Mal felt as if he were falling straight forwards, before realising that he had been lying on his back the entire time. Hang on... somebody was talking to him. The pain in his ears gradually reached his brain, as Mal noted with some annoyance that somebody was shouting right into them. He opened his eyes, but shut them immediately afterwards as sharp, painful light drove directly into them.
“Oh, thank god! Mal! Can you hear me?!” Again with the ears.
“YES! Yes, Wash, I can hear you!” The sudden shouting caused an immense pain to spike up in his chest. Mal feared that he had crushed something.
Wash had apparently noticed the grimace of pain on his face. “You okay?”
Mal inhaled, slowly. “Wash.”
“Yes?”
“I was attacked by Reavers. Twelve, Reavers. Then we got ambushed. BY MORE REAVERS. The right thruster has been torn off of my ship, along with a considerable portion of the hull. You have crash-landed my ship, head first, on an unknown planet which apparently wasn't here not so long ago. It is more than likely that those same Reavers will come after our wreck of a ship and skin us all alive. Not only that, but I have most likely broken a bone or five. Now after all that, you gonna ask me if I’m feeling fine?!”
Wash visibly blanched as Mal spoke, and could only stare for a moment, before remembering how to speak again. “Erm... I, well... Yes?”
“Wash.”
“Yes?”
“Get Simon, please.” Wash immediately hurried to his feet to fetch Simon. Mal was hurt bad, even if it didn’t look like it.
Mal lay back. God, how had it come to this? He could barely breathe, Serenity was inoperable, and those damned emergency lights were going off again.
“No wonder Inara’s leaving...” He muttered to himself.
He felt like he should do something, and was about to see if he could at all move, but footsteps on the metal stairs heralded the approach of Simon. He rushed to Mal’s side, blue medical scrubs stained slightly with specks of blood.
“Mal, how’re you feeling?! What happened?”
“The ship crashed, I went forwards into the window and blacked out. Think I mighta hit my head, too.”
Simon was already holding a small flashlight up to Mal’s eyes, alternating his own gaze and the beam between the individual eyes every few seconds. “How long were you unconscious for?”
Wash was standing behind Simon, beyond Mal’s line of sight. He probably would’ve gone unnoticed if he hadn’t spoken up. “Actually, it was only a few seconds after the crash that he woke up. Couldn’t have been longer than a full minute.”
Simon nodded, still not taking his eyes off of Mal. “How is your head feeling? Any headaches, pains, dizziness at all?”
Mal shook his head, surprised to find that he could move it at all. The initial pain had left, except for his arm and chest. Those were still hurting like hell.
“No nausea or disorientation?”
“Aside from when I was crashing into a planet headfirst, no.”
Simon directed his attention away from Mal’s head and down to his torso, systematically inspecting every part of his body. Mal let out a gasp of pain as Simon prodded at his ribs. Simon glanced up, then carefully pulled up Mal’s shirt, before examining his torso.
After a few too many pokes and gasps of pain, Simon seemed to have reached a conclusion. “Well, it’s nothing fatal, at least. I think. At least two ribs looks to be fractured, or broken. Your arm is definitely broken, too.”
Mal made an attempt at a grin. “And the bad news?”
The corner of Simon’s mouth twitched upwards, before his face became a mask of seriousness yet again. “I’d recommend that you stay off your feet us much as possible, for now.”
“Simon, were you here for what just happened? We’ve just got ourselves stranded on an unknown planet, being hunted by Reavers, and you think I’m just gonna let my crew stroll around without me? Or would you rather we just wait here for them to find us?”
Simon remained silent. Mal pulled away from him to set his back against the wall, bracing to pull himself to his feet. He let loose a small grunt of pain as he bent over, but he pushed the sensation away, as he staggered upwards for a brief second. He was still light-headed, but it was nothing he couldn’t cope with. Simon followed Mal up with a roll of bandage in his hand, lifting up his shirt to awkwardly wrap it around his torso
“Simon, I’ll *wince* be fine. I've-gah! ...I’ve coped with worse!” He flinched again as Simon tightened the wrappings. “Did I ever tell you about the piece of shrapnel I got lodged in me back durin' the war?”
The doctor finished by tying a knot in the sling Mal’s arm now lay in. “Mal, this isn’t just some flesh wound. If you hadn’t thrown your arm up like that, you could’ve easily been kill-”
Knock, knock.
It was loud and metallic, and hollow. Something was pounding against the hull of the ship.
Knock. Knock.
Something strong, and hard. The impacts were more distinctive this time, more demanding, as if whatever creature there was outside had grown impatient.
“...Mal?”
The knocking repeated, bringing Mal back to his senses.
“Simon, stay with Jayne. Try and get him up on his feet, if you can.”
“But-”
“Does nobody listen to me anymore?!”
Simon sighed, but hurried out regardless, leaving Wash and Mal together.
“Wash, you're with me on this one. Think you can handle a weapon?”
“Uh, I guess?”
“Good. Get down in Jayne’s quarters and see what you can find for yourself.”
It didn’t seem possible that a man’s face could turn more pale, yet Wash managed it. “From... Jayne’s room, Captain?”
Mal groaned, only mostly due to the pain. “He’s unconscious, and somehow I don’t think he’ll mind too much, considerin’ the circumstances.” At this point, Mal just wanted to get this over with so he could lie down.
The thing outside seemed to share his opinion.
Knock-knock-knock-knock.
They were frantic now, desperate to break through the metal of the ship. But they had stopped just as suddenly as they had begun. Horrible silence reigned, before Mal heaved himself out into the corridor of the ship, Wash tailing behind before stopping at the hatch to Jayne’s room.
Mal flung open the door, and rushed out into the dining room, colliding headfirst with a wall of questions.
“Mal, what’s happening? What happened to your ar-”
“Mal, what’ve you done to Serenity this time! You keep treatin’ her l-like this and I-”
“What was that knocking on the ship earli-”
“Mal.” The voice was no louder than the rest, yet the command it carried drowned out the rest easily.
“Okay, Zoe, you first.” Mal spoke wearily. Though he was thankful that Zoe had silenced the babbling, he still wasn’t ready to answer the slew of questions that would inevitably follow. He just needed rest.
“Where’s my husband?”
“He’s fine. How's everyone else holdin' up?”
Shepard Book stepped forward. "We... are a little shaken, maybe a bruise or two, but we'll be fine. Barring yet another deadly Reaver assault, of course."
"Right. How 'bout you, Kaylee?"
Kaylee turned away from Mal, clearly angry. "Mal, hùn zhàng! You can't pull off a single stupid salvage mission without breakin' every bone in Serenity, can you?! Honestly, why I put up with your luh-"
"Kaylee, now is not the best time!" He turned to his first mate. "Zoe, you're with me. Us three are goin' down to the bay."
Shepard Book stepped forwards from where he had been sat with River “‘Us three’?”
“Yeah, ‘us three’. Me, Zoe, and Wash. We got ourselves some Reavers a’knockin’, and I’ll be damned if I, the captain of this ship, am not present to see them off.”
Zoe seemed to let up just a bit. “Fine. Then I’m going to fetch my gun... again, and while I do, you’re going to describe everything that happened from the moment you stepped on board that derelict, to the second you walked in here.”
God, women could be cruel.
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i.imgur.com/ElQI3.jpg
Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!
I know I promised all you guys this chapter sooner, but I just... I just got bogged down with stuff. I tried to get in a few paragraphs here and there, but writing a paragraph a day isn’t so great for quality and continuity...
So I re-did this whole chapter, and got back into the swing of it by writing a long description of Serenity. I felt better after starin’ at her for a while (double entendre fully intended).
Don’t worry through: I don’t plan on having this on hiatus at any point. I may lose the swing of things, and I may fall down from time to time, but I’ll keep on pushin’. Just gotta keep the momentum, is all.
I personally didn’t feel too proud of this chapter, but from what more I’ve written that I’m keeping from you, I think it’ll get better.
HAY GUYSE YOU KNOW WHAT WULD BE AN AWESUM SHIP?! WASHxDASH!! BECUZ THIER NAMES R SO SIMILAR AMIRITE?!1! YOU CULD CALL THEIR SHIP RAINBOW WASH, OR HOBAN DASHBURNE!11!!11!one!1!!
*Ahem* Anyway, see anything wrong, or could be better, don’t hesitate to go tellin’ me now, ya’ll hear?
TWO weeks for ONE chapter your losing me dude if you don't update sooner I'm not gonna read this
227417 I'll forgive you if you accept my offer to do art for this fic.
I feel somehow cheated at the lack of Scootaloo...
otherwise a great chapter, taking a running bet in my head on who's knocking on the door
First off, lovely title. It gives me....ideas.
Second, I caught the reference to That Film Which Shall Not Be Named. One of the few times I've seen it done well.
Third, during the question wall, I could easily identify who was asking what (Inara, Kaylee, Book) and hear it in their voice.
Don't worry about the slow updating. Get an idea, find a keyboard, keep writin'
Now for my ideas for the future:
I can see Spike asking Inara for relationship advice
Jayne+((Rainbow Dash * Applejack)/Competition) =
Book could have a talk with Fluttershy about something, maybe a "unexamined life" thingy
Kaylee will have a nerdgasm when she sees Tank's flying apparatus
227500
"Aren't you gonna stay for the epilogue?
Yeah, seriously though, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm actually working on two chapters at once... Successfully, no less.
227596
Huh? Are you talking about me or you making the art? I mean, I got an idea for the cover art, but I'm fully okay with anything you wanna do, too.
227920 Well, that's what disclaimers are for!
I'll see if I can shoehorn her into the story somewhere... Maybe I'll get the CMCs to go reaver hunting...
Also, I bet you double your bet that what you're thinking is outside is also what I think you think is outside.
227596 Sorry dude I'm horrible at art but i was really joking I don't know why but if i read a fic i HAVE to finish it or it drives me crazy
228134
Heh, thanks! Somehow, I don't think much dancing will be going on here, though...
And yeah, I can also see Spike asking that of Inara...
As for Fluttershy and Book, somebody suggested earlier that she meet with Book's "hair monster", like River. Nothing's set in concrete when it comes to this fic, though.
...That basically means that I'll be more than happy to steal all your ideas.
Care to elaborate on the "Jayne plus Dash multiplied by Applejack squared" idea? I tend to blank out after the second set of brackets.
Also, I would've thought that Kaylee would rather take it apart, stick a micro-reactor in there, put it together and watch it the turtle fly.
Whatever.
229445 Jayne is competitive by nature. You saw how upset he was that he slept through Objects in Space. Add in that both Rainbow Dash and Applejack are highly competitive, and something is bound to not go smooth. Maybe have Vera involved somehow.
And feel free to steal the ideas.
229296 I like drawing and I already sketched a number of Firefly characters with ponies
229903
Well shoot, now I'm just curious. You postin' these anywhere?
230169 I'll upload em later for ya *devilish grin*
I'm just waiting for River to meet Pinkie so the two of them can have conversations that absolutely no one else can comprehend
233376
Well, we know River's a telepath... If looking into Pinkie's endless vortex of a mind doesn't drive her insane(-er), then we'll be getting some pretty interesting insights...
How would they hear knocking. They aren't in a tin can they are in a spaceship. The exterior would be covered in metal, instruments, and other stuff. And if the ponies were knocking on the door, unless someone was in the airlock chamber, noone would hear.
Zoe calls Mal "Captain."
Aside from that, though, you've got a pretty good grasp of these character voices. I like Mal's sarcasm in the face of catastrophe, Kaylee's concern for Serenity (though it probably ought to be tempered with a bit of concern for the rest of the crew), and the advance reference to that oh-so-important bit of shrapnel from the Big Damn Movie.
768188 That depends on whether... no, wait, it doesn't. Even if the airlock chamber is kept empty and didn't crack open and get pressurized in the crash, the sound would still carry through the metal to some degree. Astronauts in space suits during EVA can hear each other without using radio if they're touching.