As the gate came crashing down, Olimar grew elated. He knew that the Secret Safe laid behind the wall, within the circular, sand-covered arena, waiting for him to reach and grab it. It was true that the safe didn't actually have anything to do with flight, and Olimar could probably leave any time he wanted. Still, there were a lot of personal belongings in that safe, a lot of memories. They weren't something he was just going to leave behind, even if there was a chance that the safe could be recovered later. Besides, the auto-repair was designed to work with the whole ship – even if such an 'insignificant' part was missing, its programming would be unable to adapt, and hence be unable to repair the rest of the ship properly. It was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, the planet had been his best vacation yet. Aside from the lethal air and the monsters intent on eating, squashing, or otherwise killing him.
The Emperor Bulblax was also elated. It was primarily the Monster of the Depths that had destroyed the pikmin population, but her ancestors had done their fair share. With the Depths... done away with, she was the head of the pikavores, though that didn't mean much after the pikmin were extinct.
But then oh high and mighty 'Captain Olimar' came along. For all the Onions' strength, with the jamming field the pikavores had been given, they were brains without limbs. That is, until they changed the equation. Let Olimar tell the pikmin what to do, and only tell the pikmin what he means. At first, the Bulblax welcomed the challenge, as it allowed her to actually exert some power over her 'subjects'. Ordering his strongest men to guard that which Olimar sought, the Emperor was certain she could thwart the rising pikmin threat. It seemed she was wrong, and Olimar was more than capable of outhinking her less-than-genius minions. Now it was just her, Olimar, and his 500-some pikmin.
As Olimar stepped closer to the green mound, the Emperor sprang up. Upon seeing the carrot-like ants, the Bulblax's instincts were triggered, unleashing a river of drool. The Emperor, though, knew she'd need to maintain as level a head as possible to defeat his alien foe. But she would prevail. Olimar was smart, the Bulblax gave him that, but she was the Emperor. There was no way some pip-squeak old fart could hope to challenge her.
Olimar leapt back in surprise. The creature (something like a slug on two legs, drool spewing out of a gaping mouth) that popped out of the ground was simply huge, and it looked pretty well-built. But, it seemed to be just another bulborb. Olimar had fought pirates, Space Bunnies, and lawyers. No bulborb was going to take down the great Captain Olimar.
Olimar ran to the bulblax's green, moss-covered back, and began to toss pikmin on them. It was all the Emperor could do to keep from laughing as the pikmin bounced off harmlessly. Olimar was a little frustrated, but remained undeterred – his very survival may have depended on that which he knew the bulblax had swallowed. He turned to the beast's feat, and swarmed with his squad of 20 red pikmin. The Emperor actually did chuckle this time as he lifted her feet up, allowing her massive girth to come crashing down, crushing most of the squad below. As Olimar went to grab more pikmin outside, he knew he would have to break his rule. He would have to attack the beast's head.
It wasn't something Olimar was looking forward to, and he looked around for some sort of alternative. He found one near another gate. The Hocotatan tossed five pikmin onto it, and attacked the Emperor with his remaining twenty. The bulblax shot out her slobber-coated tongue, and managed to get around five pikmin before Olimar had moved to the side. Then she got five more as she shook her tongue around. Olimar then moved back to offense, throwing four of his remaining troops onto the brute's face. The Emperor attacked again, but Olimar was now knowledgeable enough to steer clear of the attack. The Emperor plopped down again, tossing the offending pikmin to her side, which Olimar quickly retrieved.
As Olimar noticed his squad of 5 pikmin had completed knocking down the eastern gate, he went to call them back. He left the area, finding it a little painful to retreat. Still, his strategy required yellow pikmin, but he had only brought red pikmin to destroy the wall guarding his safe. It was only for a minute, anyways, it wasn't as though he was just going to give up and try to blast off now.
After crossing the two bridges back to his landing site, Olimar called out 10 yellow pikmin, and 20 red pikmin out of their motherships, 'Onions'. He then traveled back across, bringing the pikmin in tow. He continued into the arena, finding that the bulblax had reburied itself. It wasn't of much concern.
Olimar walked through the eastern gate, and approached the tin can nearby. Several rocks were scattered nearby. They were something Olimar had grown familiar with. The 'Bomb-rocks', so called, held hocotatium 111 encased in a complex, unstable molecule. Enough of an impact could trigger the decomposition of the molecule, and release the hocotatium into the rock's center, where it would quickly grow to critical mass. In essence, the bomb-rocks were natural, mini nuclear bombs. Yellow pikmin possessed an electric field, which allowed them to somehow stabilize the compound holding the hocotatium – hence, they didn't seem wary of picking them up. The habit had served Olimar well, allowing him to destroy many an obstacle and defeat many a creature. And it was going to help him take down the bulblax.
Olimar had his yellow pikmin grab the rocks, ran back to the Emperor's battle area, and tossed a red pikmin at the buried bulblax's exposed backside. The Emperor burst out of the ground, and Olimar threw one of his bomb-wielding yellow pikmin in front of the beast. The bulblax licked his lips, and shot out his tongue. Just as Olimar was hoping. He called back the pikmin, who dropped the bomb-rock in the process. The Bulblax's tongue hit the rock, and the explosion knocked the long tongue back at her. The bulblax fell down, dazed, as Olimar tossed his red pikmin onto the creature's face.
After a while, the bulblax began to feel around 15 pikmin hitting her head. The stupid plant-animal freaks had evolved an acid, which they coated their leaves with. It rather stung. The bulblax quickly got up, and then plopped down, shaking the pikmin off of her.
Olimar tossed another yellow pikmin in front of the bulblax. She saw the bomb-rock, it knew what Olimar was up to, but she couldn't help herself. As the bulblax shot out its tongue, it silently cursed to the humans that designed her species, giving them such strong instincts. Then the bomb exploded, shooting the bulblax's tongue back at her. She blacked out, letting the pikmin attack once again.
The Emperor decided that she had had enough bombs for one day. The massive beast, with much straining, leapt quite a ways into the air, and landed where Olimar's pikmin were. That is, before he moved them. The Emperor cursed to herself, as Olimar tossed more pikmin onto her face. She would show him. The Emperor leapt once again, tossing the pikmin off of her. The she came down, right where the pikmin were. It was a satisfying squish, and around three pikmin death-moans, but she knew it wasn't enough. She leapt one last time, back where Olimar was, meaning used to be.
Disappointed, the Emperor was also hungry. That leaping took a lot out of her. She shot out her tongue again, thankful that Olimar hadn't placed any yellows between them. However, Olimar had been smart enough to back away, and thus she was unable to snare any pikmin. Olimar grabbed another bomb-wielding yellow, and tossed it down. Through the rumblings of her stomach, the Emperor fought viciously to control her instincts, but to no avail. She spat out her tongue almost involuntarily, and once again got the bomb.
Olimar's scanner informed him that the Bulblax had taken a little more than ¾ of the venom that she could stand. This had by far been his longest battle – almost half of the day had progressed. Still, he would only need one more bomb-swallowing to finish the Bulblax off.
It seemed the Bulblax hadn't wanted to give him that. The Emperor once again began a hopping fit, lasting 4 leaps this time. After the third, Olimar had went out of the entrance, and called 10 more Red pikmin. As the Hocotatan went back to the arena, the Emperor was slobbering again, clearly indicating that she was hungry. Olimar tossed down two Yellow pikmin, and lured the Emperor into another tongue-slapping. Olimar quickly tossed his team of 30 red pikmin onto the Bulblax, and watched as the meter on his foe-health scanner dropped. He silently counted to himself. Three... two... one...
The Bulblax roared in agony. She was furious. The pikmin, Olimar, they had defeated her. Queen of beasts, the Emperor had been beaten by a few plants and some bald, big-nosed guy in a suit. In a manic fit, she leaned back, and begin to sink into the sand. She regurgitated, spitting out five nectar-pellets, as well as the Secret Safe she had ingested to lure Olimar to herself. Maybe after he got that part, he would leave, and the pikmin would become vulnerable once again.
"It's the final part: the Secret Safe!" Olimar shouted, "And it's as full as ever! Now I can leave without any regrets!"
He swarmed the final part with his squad of 40 pikmin, finding that he had just enough to carry it. As the pikmin began to move it, Olimar noticed a metallic object underneath it. Normally, he would have discarded the object as trash, but it held a certain alure. He was about to leave the planet, after all, maybe he could keep the object as some sort of keepsake. And a reminder of that fierce 'Emperor Bulblax' dude. It would give him ultimate bragging rights. "And then, after all those 19 days on a hostile, toxic planet, I faced this massive Grub-Dog."
It was finally time. Olimar had found he could carry the safe with 95 pikmin, and all of them were reaching his nearly completed football-shaped starship. As the ship's Vector beam sucked in the part, Olimar hopped up, and twirled in the air. It was finally time for him to go home. Olimar walked into the light of the vector beam...
...and saw a line of pikmin staring at him. Olimar tilted his head down, and shook it side to side. He couldn't stay. Even if the atmosphere of Earth had been perfectly breathable, he had a job – family! The adventure with the pikmin was over.
Olimar stepped into the light of the vector beam, and was transported into his cockpit. He fired up the main engine, and adjusted the fuel imput. He contracted the engine valves, and lifted off. Olimar was positive that the ship was space-worthy, though he cringed every time he hit turbulence. But, his fear was unfounded. As Olimar climbed out of Earth's atmosphere, he looked back at the planet. Little did he know he'd be seeing it again all too soon.
To cure any confusion, yes, the 'Emperor' Bulblax is, in this fic, a female.I would have used the title 'Emperess', but as there is already an 'Emperess Bulblax', I decided to go with the species name.
This is not intended to be a one-shot - I'd like to take this into Pikmin 2, offering a retelling of the game, and doing the 'Bosses' side' along with it. However, I already have four other fic 'seeds' here, and I'm only going to work on one. If this one is praised well enough, if it gets votes on the poll in my fic, I might continue this.