Disclaimer: if I owned pikmin, I would be SUPER happy!

Chapter 8: golden form

I woke up to the jolt of the ship landing again. "Good morning!" May said

"Morning" I replied.

She picked me up and took me outside. When we got outside, it looked like we were on a tree stump. There was a path wrapping upwards around a tree, and there was a path leading down into an arena like area.

"This is the Formidable Oak" Alex said, walking up "ready to meet the Plasm Wraith?"

"Yea" I replied.

"Just be warned that she might hurt you" May said "no one really knows what her intentions ever are…though she seems to have a thing for Olimar" she giggled as she said it.

I heard Alex mumble something, but I couldn't hear it. We walked up the path that went upwards. I made the mistake of looking down once, and saw how far from up we were. Little said, I didn't want to be dropped.

We jumped into a small, circular area. There was a geyser nearby that I knew we could use to go back, but the only other path was a cave opening.

"Again?" Alex asked "why do we always have to find her?"

"Because she likes toying with us" May said, rolling her eyes "and I'm pretty sure she's still angry at you"

"Hey! If I have to protect my brother, I'm going to do it in any way necessary!" Alex said.

"And I respect that" a new voice chimed in. we turned and saw the Plasm Wraith in its humanoid form. I'd describe it to you, but it's not exactly easy. She watched us closely "and I don't feel anger, not enough to torture you for it at least."

"I find that hard to believe" Alex said.

"That's beside the point" she said "where's your friend?"

"Well…that's why we came to you" May said "we kind of need her to grow"

The Plasm Wraith let out what seemed like a laugh "you want my help?" she asked "even though you refuse to let me see the person I'm helping?"

"We didn't refuse to show you her" Alex said "you just didn't notice"

The Wraith seemed to look closer, then she tilted her head "a tiny person…that's who you want me to help?" she asked.

"I know you aren't likely to help us, but we really need it" Alex said

"You know who you're asking, right?" she asked.

"I told you she wouldn't help" Alex said.

"Oh, I'm willing to help" the creature said "you just have to present the right conditions"

Alex rolled his eyes "ok, what do you want?" he asked.

"There's several things I want" she said "be more specific"

"We can't give you what you want" May said.

"Well, then I won't help you" the Wraith said.

"Fine, let's get out of here" Alex said.

"Not so fast" the Wraith said, blocking our exit "I don't just let visitors go"

"Fine, tell us what you want" I said.

The Wraith stared at me "you talk…" she said "hmm…I think I know what you can trade"

"We aren't giving up the girl we want you to help" May said, putting her hand around me defensively.

"I won't hurt her, I just want to talk to her" the Wraith said.

"Then talk" May said, putting me down "but don't touch her" they stepped back a bit, and the Wraith shrank to my size.

"Hello" she said, walking up to me. She stopped a good distance away "you're Lilly, correct?"

"Yes" I said "I got stuck this way because of one of Alex's machines, in case you're wondering"

"And you want me to help you return to normal size?" she asked. I nodded "well, I can help, but I expect something in return"

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Freedom" she said "that is all I want"

"Well, I don't see why that isn't possible" I said "after all, you don't seem as bad as the others say"

"Good, then we're at an agreement?" she asked. I nodded, and she returned to normal size "I will help Lilly return to normal size"

"Really?" May asked "what did Lilly tell you?

"That's up to her to tell you or not" the Wraith said "the berry you want is called a growth berry, as the name implies, it will grow the animal that eats it up to 50 times its normal size"

"That's why so many creatures are so big!" May said.

"The thing is, it's almost identical to the shrink berry, which will make a creature 50 times smaller than normal." The Wraith continued "most creatures can determine the difference between the two based on their size, so you'll encounter creatures that are the size of flowers near the berries, the berries are too small to support anything bigger than the flowers. That's how you'll know you're getting close"

"So, grow berries are bigger than shrink berries?" Alex asked.

"Yep, so you should be careful what you feed her" the Wraith said "bye!" she then went into the cave, and we left using the geyser.

The sun was setting by now, so we went into the ship and took off. May had put me down by the window, and it almost seemed like the Wraith was waving at the ship as it flew off…though it could have just been my imagination.

Alex gave me a small piece of strawberry "here, I figured you might be hungry again" he said.

"Thanks" I said, eating it immediately.

"What did you tell her you would give her anyways?" May asked.

I yawned "I'd rather not talk about it right now" I said.

Alex picked me up "ok, you can tell us tomorrow, we need you to be awake" he said.

He put me into my bed, then walked out. A couple thoughts went through my head that night, the main one being why the Wraith wanted freedom when she could already travel anywhere. I shrugged it off and fell asleep quickly.

Yay! Another chapter done! Not much to say about this chapter… anyways. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!