Chapter 4 Memories
I woke up to see that it was already light outside, and when I got up, Yeralla was missing, but not Eden.
"Yeralla?" I called out in a hushed voice, not to wake Eden.
Nobody answered, and so my mind started jumping to conclusions. Did other mushroom pikmin come and take her away? Did some monster eat her? But if either of those happened, Eden would be missing as well.
She probably is just sitting outside, because she couldn't sleep well, and she was just fine, but too far away to hear me calling her, well I was being really quiet.
I slowly got up and poked my head out, to see if she was there. When I turned to the right I saw her, or at least I think I saw her. I couldn't tell, but assumed that the tiny bit of yellow I saw disappear into the grass was her, and the rather tall grass to be said.
I hastily made my way over to follow, because who knows what could be in there?
When I poked my head through, I was relieved to find it really was Yeralla, but was startled by a new face, of a red, he was sitting on a log, shivering. And he seemed awfully pale.
"Do you need any help?" Yeralla asked him, and his face was oddly familiar, so I made sure to hide. He looked up at her, just staring at her, like the question she asked him was hard, before shaking his head.
"No." He said, and she crossed her arms.
"You're dying! You need help!" She argued. I stared at him, trying to remember where I saw him.
"I want to die though. She's gone, because of me… And I could have grabbed her and we could have run away, but I let go of her and now she's… she's… gone…" He said, the words almost brought tears to me. Funny, because I wanted to die too… But for a different reason.
"Yeralla? Do you know him?"I asked, completely forgetting that I was hiding for a reason. Because as soon as I stepped out, he fell over unconscious.
"Hey! I thought you were asleep! Now look what you did!" She yelled at me. I crossed my arms, not caring about stupid words anymore. I had enough of the 'hey, I don't want you to even exist.' Thing.
"You know what? I hate you! I hate Eden, Kt, everybody! I just want my life back, and all you guys do is yell at me, like I don't belong. Like what you said yesterday was a lie! You make me feel like this didn't happen for a reason! You make me think that I'm just some screwed up pikmin!" I yelled, and before she could stop me, I started to run. Run as far from them as possible, as far away from life. Even trying to run away from myself.
"Wait! Don't go, I-
Forget it, forget life, wake up tomorrow and start over, wake up and-
I stopped running and slowed, now my tears were all gone, and I realized something.
He said something about letting go and running without someone. I thought. And a vivid memory showed up, it had a red pikmin letting go of me to get away from something in the cliff, and… my creator…
I grabbed a rock and chunked it as far as I could, it went very far, the grass was not growing right here, and just ahead was a lake…
I walked forward, and leaned over the water, then looked at my reflection. Not the reflection of the yellow pikmin I once was… A stranger… A stranger that ruined my life… A stranger that was me…
But then that memory popped up again, and I stiffened at the sight of it.
"Wait… That doesn't mean it's him…" I mumbled. But the memory was just too much, bugging me no matter how hard I tried to keep the thought away.
I had to prove it wasn't him.
I couldn't believe myself. I was turning around and running back over there, even though I just said I hated Yeralla, and everybody else, which was true. Because I hated myself too, it was only fair.
When I stepped back over to the place Yeralla had been, she was gone, as well as the red pikmin. I cursed at myself for leaving them because of my poor control.
I walked on until I was near the spot we had slept.
Nobody there either.
I cursed at myself a lot more now.
They left… great…
I started off to where we were when we got the nectar. When they weren't there either I started over to the cave. But then after a few seconds I started jogging, then I was sprinting as fast as I could.
When I got to the spot near the black's camp I turned and watched silently, creeping past them now.
And when I saw who was with them I nearly passed out.
Great, they were sitting there being held captive...
I just stared at them as they were being held there against their will, the black pikmin held up weapons at their necks. The red one, I guess he finally left with her, and also woke up, didn't seem any bit frightened. His face was blank, and he just stared at the black who I by now could tell was their leader.
"Now, now, it's nice to have some friendly visitors here for once, huh?" The black pikmin said to them, Yeralla spat on the ground.
"Let us go, we were only passing by." She said, Eden nodded.
"Yeah, we didn't do anything!" He said. All the blacks, who now seemed a little bit on the lunatic side to me, laughed at them.
"What do you want?" Yeralla hissed. The black pikmin laughed.
"Besides seeing you guys dead, nothing." He said, and then his eyes turned into razor sharp. "We don't like trespassers around here, and you guys were on our land. So now… I get less trespassers and some entertainment. Seems like a win-win to me." He said. And I, having enough of his stupid 'murder = happy' thing, burst out into view, surprising everybody.
"Let them go, or I'll make you." I ordered. Yeralla just stared at me, with joy, and sorrow. I swear a small speck of hope showed up in the red pikmin's face. Eden gasped and looked ready to collapse with happiness.
"Hey, no name! Just in time!" Eden said, I gave him a look that said shut up, because I'm pissed right now looks. And the black pikmin holding him gripped tighter on his neck.
"Oh, you're that mushroom pikmin that decided to just go off on some vacation, aren't you?" The black said, I grinned.
"It wasn't really a vacation, it was more like, moving out." I said, causing him to shift from the lack of fear on my face. "Now let them go, before you suffer the consequence." I said, his eyes turned to the ones he put on before when he was talking to them.
"You're not my boss." He said, I laughed.
"Same to you, mister "oh look, she's unconscious on the ground, let's pick her up and keep her as a pet", really, you seriously get on my nerves." I said, he looked around, like he didn't know what to say next.
"How did do you know that? You were unconscious. But then… That means that you're possessed, and that means… I've got total right to kill you. Because you just want to turn everybody into a zombie." He said, suddenly looking like he just said the smartest thing in the world.
"I am not possessed. I just… had a dream… About what happened…" I said, he sighed and rolled his eyes.
"And why would she save us if she was possessed?" Eden argued, at least he was on my side.
"Because… it would want us to be just like… her…" Yeralla said, almost sobbing. I turned to her and shook my head, almost about to cry myself.
"I'm so sorry about earlier… Really, you don't know how… how… hard it is to be… me… I just, I just had to get it out… I had to let out all those thoughts bubbling up inside me. Please, forgive me." I said, she only stared at me like I smacked her.
"No, I would never forgive someone like you," She said, and the black laughed.
"Losing friends already? Didn't even take your apology, I like this vibe coming from her." He said, then turned to Eden. "But you, you need to work on this stuff. Better yet, why not just watch him die?" Suddenly the black holding Eden brought his spear straight through Eden's stomach, and he dropped to the ground, hopefully not dead.
The other red looked up at me, then he did something that made me totally change my mind about what he was like.
He pulled his way loose of the black holding him and punched him in the face, temporarily knocking him out. Then he went and tackled the leading black to the ground.
"Kill him! Now! Before it's too late!" He screamed at me. The black just stared at this all, stunned.
Just like I was before this happened…
"I-I can't…" I said, taking a step back. The red glared at me.
"DO IT!" He said, making me actually take a step forward. I stared at the black, his shocked face, expressionless, but I knew that he knew that his life was going to end.
I just couldn't, it reminded me too much of that moment, that moment that my life was changed, turning into something horrible.
Do it!
The thoughts that weren't mine were mad at me. They were mad because I wasn't killing him, and I was wasting time. The blacks were coming closer. Holding weapons, and fast.
"DO IT!" He said again.
The black pikmin were now getting really close, and they didn't look happy.
I ran and pulled the spear out of Eden's back, then I quickly brought it down on the black's head.
And then the whole world froze.
I just stared at everybody, it was as if I was the only one who could move. And everybody else was just a statue.
A tear slid down my face as I looked at the black, who was dead, and it was my entire fault.
And then suddenly the world started back up, and the red was kicking and screaming, arms grabbing him, keeping him from moving, and more black pikmin were headed my way.
I ran forward and knocked down the blacks holding the red, and then I grabbed his arm.
But when I turned Yeralla stood right there.
"Why? Why are you trying to ruin my life?" She asked, spitting the words out. I pushed her out of the way and ran as fast as my feet could take me.
This was a nightmare.
We got as far as our feet would allow, then we collapsed to the ground, the surroundings were very different.
There was snow on the ground, and it took me a second to notice it. My head was throbbing with voices. I looked at the red. Who was lying on his back, staring at me.
"What's your name?" I asked him, he paused for a second.
"Reed." He said.
The name was so familiar, but I didn't know why.
I sat up, now shivering, but I didn't feel the cold. There were trees towering in all directions. And it took me a moment to soak it all in.
We literally had to drag ourselves in order to get underneath the tree, which held back the wind.
Reed stared at me, but he wasn't shivering like I was, he actually seemed fine here.
"They're after us now, and when they find us, they'll kill us." I said, he shrugged.
"I don't care…" Then he paused and stared me in the eyes. "You make me feel different. Like, as if I was actually with Yena." He said, and that struck a chord.
Yena… The name seemed familiar, but in a different way, not like a familiar pikmin, but just… A name that seemed to fit into somewhere…
"What was she like?" I asked, he looked at the ground.
"I have to admit, she was pretty stubborn. But that's why I liked her, and I wanted so bad to help her right when I met eyes with her. After some time, we just kinda stuck together all the time… But then… I let her… change… And ever since then I've been trying to move on and forget what I did. But it just won't stop bugging me…" He said, I frowned.
"You make me remember things that I forgot." I said, making him look up at me. "Like when I wasn't a monster, and there was this onion, and then it broke. I remember that very well, but when I saw you, and you blacked out, and I ran away to the pond, you made me remember when I got changed." I said, making him blink.
"What happened before you got changed?" He asked me, I turned away. Then I turned my attention to the memory.
"There was this cliff… And this monster… And I was so stupid, I didn't run… I just stood there like a freaking idiot…" I said, and then opened my eyes and looked at him.
"What color did you used to be?" I crossed my arms.
"Yellow, why? What difference does it make? Because I'm not that yellow pikmin anymore… I'm a monster now…" I said, looking at the ground, my eyes getting heavier. Reed's eyes brightened.
"What was your name?" He asked, I stared at him.
"I-I… Really… don't know…" I said, he frowned.
"Oh… ok…" He said, looking utterly disappointed.
"W-Why did you want to know?" My eyes were getting heavy, and I could tell his were too.
"Because I think you might be my… best friend…" His eyes slowly closed. And so did mine… Soon enough I was fast asleep, all traces of my fears and worries that they might find us gone…
HA! 4 Chapters… CHECK! YAY! So, I'm starting a forum on Sting, so you might want to check it out. You can talk, ask questions, talk a little more, get character info, stuff like that. Also, you can expect the next chapter about 2 weeks from now.