When we returned to the nest, we were greeted by the female yellow.
"Thank goodness you're both alright," she said, wrapping her arms around me and my red friend.
"You can thank the white for that," I replied. "Though I don't think my friend here was ever really in danger…"
"I wasn't," said my friend.
"And neither was the white," said a stern voice.
I looked over the female yellow and saw the blue. I could tell by his expression that he wasn't pleased. The male yellow was standing next to him and shaking his head, like he knew this wasn't going to be pleasant.
"She was surrounded by hungry demons. You really think she wasn't in danger?" I stated flatly.
"She's done this countless times before."
"It's true. I have," she said. She sounded apologetic, likely because she wasn't supporting me.
"I don't care. You were under attack by predators, so I lent you a hand. How is that a bad thing?"
"It's a bad thing because you could've died," said the blue.
"She could've died too," I retorted.
"She's been living out here for seasons! You, on the other hand, haven't even been with us for a whole day!"
"So what? My friend and I managed to survive long enough for you to find us, didn't we?
"Stop! Please!" the white pikmin pleaded. There was a pause before she continued.
"Listen... I appreciate you trying to help, but the leader is right. I didn't need it."
I glared at her questioningly.
"So what are you saying? That you expect me to leave you behind every time something like that happens? What if I got ambushed by a bunch of demons or hoppers or something? Would you just stand back and let me take my chances?"
"No, that's not what I-"
"What she's trying to say is that your tenacity is going to be the death of you," said the blue.
"And just what's wrong with his tenacity?" my friend interjected with a surprising amount of force.
"Isn't it obvious?" asked the blue.
"No, it isn't! In fact, if it wasn't for his 'tenacity', I'd be a pile of crawler crap right now!"
I was confused by his statement at first, but then I remembered how I had saved him from a bunch of crawlers the night we were left behind.
"That's not-"
"You know what I think? I think being away from your Onion has made you lose sight of your community values!"
His accusation was followed by a dead silence. The blue stared at him in disbelief.
"…You think I don't have community values?"
My friend nodded at him.
"And you think it's because I left my Onion?"
He nodded again.
The blue placed a hand on his temple and shook his head. He didn't seem angry, but exasperated.
"We can debate about my sense of community later. Right now, I think the other misconception is more important," he said.
"The Onion part?" my friend asked.
"Yes, that," he said as he walked up to the exit.
"Come with me. I'm going to show you exactly what kind of 'communities' the Onions harbor."
The male yellow took a few steps forward, giving the blue a look of disapproval.
"Don't do this," he said.
"No. He needs to learn," said the blue.
The male yellow sighed.
"You're welcome to come along too, if you're still in doubt," the blue said to me.
I nodded before following him and my friend out of the nest. As I left, I glanced back at the other pikmin. The male yellow looked at me worriedly, the female yellow was visibly frightened and the white muttered "good luck" in an unsettled tone.
We walked in silence. Along the way, I wondered what it was exactly that the blue was talking about. We both knew what it was like to live in an Onion, so what could he show me and my friend that we didn't already know? How would he even go about showing us?
We traveled a considerable distance before he finally spoke.
"We're almost there," he said, pointing at the ground. I looked to where he was pointing and saw something that confused me even further.
It was the corpse of an orange pikmin.