Author's note: The only new thing that I own in this chapter is the Goonami. Also, for the first time, I request reviews regarding the Goonami, as it is in my opinion one of my better ideas for a monster.
Pikmin Worlds: Day 9
Go With the Flow
For the third time, the Porpoise and the five Pikmin Onions descended into the Goolix Gardens. Olimar looked out the window and smiled to see the Goolix repopulating the landscape. However, he had work to do, so he headed towards the blue Onion upon leaving the ship.
"As you may recall," stated Olimar to his family, "yesterday I said that I wanted to explore that lake more closely. The reason I want to do this is because the computer has been receiving odd sound waves emanating from the bottom of the lake. This phenomenon has never been witnessed before, and I believe that a new species is lurking in the lake. I do not know what to expect, so I believe we should bring a full party of one hundred blue Pikmin."
The family withdrew the blue Pikmin and headed towards the lake. Many Goolixes dotted the path to the water, but fortunately they were placid enough to leave the Pikmin alone. Upon entering the water, Olimar made a new discovery regarding the Pikmin.
"Wow, this is new," he stated, pointing at the Pikmin swimming on the surface. "Normally, blue Pikmin walk on the bottom of bodies of water. The high concentration of solutes in this lake must be allowing the Pikmin to float on the surface." Olimar scribbled this down in his notes, which happened to be waterproof. Continuing onward, the family walked into deeper water, and the Pikmin dove down to join them.
The bottom of the lake consisted of a few boulders, layers of muddy sediment, and a small basin in the middle. Strangely, not a single animal or plant was to be found, which puzzled Olimar. According to his scanners, the water was perfectly suitable for life, yet he could not find anything at all, not even the Mamutas that had been washed away yesterday. It was then that a very low-frequency boom was picked up by his spacesuit's sensors.
"The noise is coming from the basin," said Olimar. "The animal that we are looking for has probably buried itself under the lake bed." Cautiously, the family continued, with their Pikmin swimming overhead. Olimar noticed that the booms were becoming more frequent as they neared the basin. Soon, the sediment in the lake started to stir.
"The animal is emerging, family, so be ready with the Pikmin in case it attacks."
Slowly, a glowing pink form began to twist its way out of the basin. The entire creature was spherical in shape and covered in fleshy lumps. Olimar started to take notes right away, immediately recognizing the creature as a new species of macrokaryote. However, his note taking was cut off by another loud boom as the pink blob pulsed its body, and two of the lake's boulders began to lift from the ground. Olimar could only think to run as the boulders came hurtling towards his family.
Chip, who was more than willing to battle the swollen creature, commanded twenty of the blue Pikmin to attack it. He immediately regretted the idea, however, when all twenty were electrocuted upon touching the surface of the lake monster.
"Dad, blue Pikmin don't work against it! We can't win!" Chip cried as he dodged one of the boulders. Sadie and Julie, meanwhile, were gathering the Pikmin in order to retreat. Olimar thought very hard as to how the macrokaryote could be beaten. He looked at the Pikmin, then at the creature's body, then at the boulders. Suddenly, the solution came to him.
"Everyone, order the Pikmin to attack the boulders!" Julie and Sadie did just that, and all eighty blue Pikmin headed to one of the boulders. The creature seemed to take no notice as the Pikmin whacked the boulder into submission. However, Olimar noticed that the other boulder was heading towards the Pikmin, obviously intent on grinding them down. Quickly, Olimar ordered half of the blue Pikmin to redirect their attack to the second boulder. Soon, the Pikmin had the two boulders under their control.
Olimar asked his family to stand aside and let him and the Pikmin handle the beast. The Pikmin swam towards the macrokaryote, this time with the two boulders in tow. At Olimar's signal, the Pikmin brought the two boulders onto opposite sides of the pink blob, and then started swimming towards each other. The odd creature started to make convulsions as it was sandwiched between its own boulders, producing more loud booms in the process. When the two groups of Pikmin had almost reached each other, the macrokaryote exploded into a mass of pink bubbles, leaving an odd, flat, rubbery apparatus to sink to the bottom of the basin.
"Well," said Olimar, "we don't need to worry about him anymore. Julie, Chip, Sadie, you bring that odd item back to the Porpoise while I finish up my notes. As the family gathered the blue Pikmin and their oddly-shaped trophy, Olimar finished up his notes for the day.
Day 9: Goolix Gardens
Today we explored the wide lake located near the gardens. Inhabiting this lake was a sole macrokaryote, which I have appropriately named the Goonami (Chaos Flumen). Apparently, the Goonami is made up of only a nucleus, and instead of cytoplasm uses lake water to support itself. The Goonami requires a great deal of nutrition to support itself, and therefore eradicates all other forms of life in its pond in order to eliminate competition for resources.
At first glance, the Goonami seems to have some sort of psychic control over the water and boulders in the lake, but closer examination reveals this to be false. The Goonami releases tiny eggs into the water, which attach themselves to hard objects in the lake. These eggs sprout cilia, which the main nucleus can control with electric pulses. This behavior explains the fact that it can seemingly cause boulders to levitate, and also explain the loud booms that it emits.
Tomorrow I plan on checking on a more familiar landscape, the Forest Navel.
Olimar put his notes away and went back onto dry land, where the family was having trouble getting the Porpoise to accept the yellow object.
"Honey," said his wife, "the Porpoise's computer says it lacks the software needed to collect stray objects, and it asked me for its permission to connect with the President's Pod. Is it alright that I said yes?"
"I guess so," mumbled Olimar, who knew what was about to happen.
Sure enough, when the ship's speakers came on, the original deep voice of the Porpoise's computer was replaced by the buzzing voice of the Pod's computer. "Olimar, how could you go on another mission without me? I'm obviously the best ship on Hocotate for the job. How can you possibly stand riding in a ship with no personality?"
"I'm very sorry, I wanted to ride you," lied Olimar, "but you only have room for two people, and my family has four."
"BRRZZTT! Apology accepted. So, do you need my superior item-scanning abilities? Here, let me beam up this yellow thing you found." The Porpoise, under the Pod's control, released a bright flash of light. "Scanning … I have decided to name this object the 'Primitive Propulsion Mechanism'. Its design and color remind of a Wollywog's foot. I'm willing to bet that if a pair of these was placed on your feet, your swimming ability would be greatly enhanced. I will send four pairs right away."
"Thank you very much," replied Olimar. "I'm sure we will find a good use for them the next time we enter a waterlogged area. Porpoise, please terminate the link with the Pod."
"Wait a minute, I wanted to ask …"
After the Pod's connection ended, the family put away the blue Pikmin and boarded the ship, bound next for the Forest Navel.