I had always known that there were more kinds of pikmin than the familiar five. There had to be. It was well-known through oral tradition that purples and whites were discovered through Changing Flowers and not Onions, so if two pikmin could exist in such an unconventional manner, then certainly others could as well. My time away from the Onion confirmed this with, dare I say, flying colors. Within a matter of days, I had learned of oranges, blacks, and greys, and despite ongoing events, I was perpetually excited at the prospect of finding more.

However, what I wasn't prepared for was a literal flying color.

"You two are strange," the pink said, which was quite possibly the most ironic statement I had ever heard. "We're the strange ones? You have wings!" I exclaimed.

"And you don't," it said, circling us to get a look at our backs. "Why do you look this way? And why the lack of wings?"

Hoo boy, this would be difficult. "Um, I hate to break this to you, but we're the normal ones by pikmin standards. You're the only kind I've ever seen that can fly."

"Kind?" it asked. "Is there more of you? Like, more that are red with long noses? And more that are white and small?"

"Yeah, obviously! There are other flying pinks like you, aren't there?"

"There are, but…" It hesitated. "I've never seen a not-pink before. Like, one that's like me, but not like me. I thought my kind was the only kind of…"

"Pikmin? Yeah, I can tell."

"…Is that what you call yourselves?"

Yep. This would be incredibly difficult. Before my frustration could build any further, the white cut in. "Let's not get bogged down on irrelevant details," she said, stepping forward. "What I'd like to know is what you're doing out here."

"I'm just exploring," it answered. "I'm supposed to be foraging, but all I want to do is explore the forest."

"So your Onion is nearby then?" I asked.

"It is! Well, for a flyer, that is. If I had to travel on foot…" It trailed off. "I don't normally go off on my own like this. We don't come to this forest often, so I wanted to look around while I still can. But I didn't think I'd find, er, pikmin like you! Or those terrible creatures that attacked you…"

"You… You saw that?" I asked. Then my eyes widened with realization. "Wait just a damn second!"

"What is it, Red?" asked the white.

"It was you! You were the shadow from earlier!"

The pink's stem drooped. "I don't understand?"

"You've been stalking us! I thought it was a creature, but it was you all along!"

The pink couldn't muster anything more than a wordless stare. After a brief silence, the white put her hand on my shoulder. "Red, it's the afternoon, we've got stuff to do, and frankly, I find this character suspicious. Let's get back on track, shall we?"

"N-no! Wait!" it pleaded, alighting on the ground. "Yes, I was following you! But it was just out of curiosity! I didn't mean to scare you!"

The white crossed her arms. "Then why did you wait until now to talk to us?"

"Because I was afraid. I didn't know what would happen." Its stem drooped even further.

I looked the pink in the eyes, then glanced at its feet. I had only known the fellow for two minutes, and yet it already felt strange to see it standing. "Well, now that we're all acquainted, my friend and I have some business to attend to. You should probably go back to your Onion."

"What's the business?" it asked.

A sigh begged to escape my mouth, but I held it in. "If you must know, we need to find a Dark Demon. It's a very dangerous creature."

"Dark… Demon…" it muttered. "Dark as in black?"

"Come on, Red. Let's just go," said the white, already walking away. I glared at the pink before turning to follow her. "Sorry, Pink, but time is of the essence. Good luck foraging."

"Does it have red spots?"

We both froze when we heard this. "What was that?" I asked, turning around.

"Red spots? Does the Dark Demon have red spots?"

I blinked in surprise. "It does."

"And a big mouth?"

The white and I looked at each other, then back at the pink. "Have… Have you seen it?" I asked.

"I have! Just today!" the pink confirmed, its voice filled with excitement.

"What?! Where?!" we asked in unison.

The pink burst into giggles. "Come on, I'll show you!"

In a swift motion, the pink launched off the ground and flew in the opposite direction, traveling between the trees with remarkable speed. "Hey, wait!" I called.

The pink didn't slow down, so we were forced to chase after it. I swung my arms and strained my feet, but no matter how fast I ran, the pink remained a fleeting dot. The white, however, seemed to be steadily gaining on it, and soon she was a dot as well. "Oi! I'm falling behind!" I hollered.

The white came to a halt and looked back at me, but then the pink yelled, "Don't stop now! We're almost there!" After giving me a few additional seconds to catch up, the white took to her heels once again, pursuing the pikmin that I could no longer see. I hopped over roots and swerved around rocks as I fought to keep up, but before I knew it, the chase had ended. I stopped to find the white standing before a sizable mound of dirt, with the pink hovering just above its peak. "About time, slowpoke!" it teased.

"Why did you go so fast?" I growled, not the slightest bit amused.

"You yourself said that time is of the essence," it said with a shrug. "Now get up here."

I rolled my eyes and climbed the mound, with the white right behind me. Upon reaching the top, I found myself overlooking a small hollow. The earth was raw, and the space was occupied only by a bush and a

Dark Demon.

I stood speechless. The beast was lost in a deep slumber, and its chops were coated in a blue fluid. "What is…?" I began to say.

The white made the connection immediately. "Red. The berries."

I shifted my gaze to the bush. Most of its branches were decorated with blueberries, but its lower portion was conspicuously barren. Of course. It all made sense now.

"Well, I guess that explains why we couldn't find it," I said. "Should we throw something at it?"

"No, it would just go back to sleep," said the white. "It's already eaten everything within reach, so when it's hungry again, it'll go back on patrol."

"We probably can't expect that until tomorrow though, huh?"

"I'd say not."

I crossed my arms and stared at the Demon. "At least we know it's still alive."

"My colony calls them Gobblespots," said the pink, seemingly ignoring our conversation. I had forgotten it was even there. "I wonder what my Brothers and Sisters would think of the name, "Dark Demon"…"

I turned to the pink. "Is that what you call yourselves? Brothers and Sisters?"

"Yup. If you're a He, you're a Brother. If you're a She, you're a Sister."

"So which of those are you?"

"Brother," he answered. "Do other sikmen have genders too?"

"Pikmin. And yes, we do. I'm a He, and White's a She."

"Huh. I don't know why, but I thought it would be the other way around."

"Yeah, well, anyway," the white began, "we're very grateful for your help. But we must be going."

I glanced at the white, then nodded to the pink. "She's right. We have other matters to attend to."

"Is time still of the essence?" he asked.

I nodded again.

"Okay, but one last thing: Why did you want to find the Gobblespot in the first place? If it had been awake, it wouldn't have thought twice about swallowing you."

I took a deep sigh. "We're under threat by some… enemies. Enemies that are driven not by hunger, but by greed and malice. We can't deal with them by force, so we have to rely on strategy to defend ourselves. And the Dark Demon is part of our strategy."

The pink tilted his head. "This "Demon"… You want it to eat your enemies?"

"That's right."

"And this is your only hope?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, we did plant a bunch of sour berries to keep them away."

He raised his brow. "Sour berries?"

"They have a powerful stench," I explained. "It can repel just about anything, so we made a wall between our territory and theirs."

The pink's eyes widened, as though something had just occurred to him. I half-expected to hear a useful idea, but instead he just said, "That's clever."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Too bad they don't last forever."

The pink had nothing to offer but a silent gaze, so I decided to change the subject. "Anyway, we really should be going. I do appreciate your help finding the Dark Demon."

"Yes, we couldn't have done it without you," said the white. "And hey... If you ever return, you should come find us. My colony would love to meet you."

The pink smiled, but my face tightened. Something about this situation was uncomfortably familiar…

"You've got it!" said the pink. "I'll even bring my Brothers and Sisters so we can all meet each other!"

"Sounds good to me," said the white. "Let's go, Red. We have a lot to report."

"Indeed we do," I said. "Goodbye, Pink. Until we meet again."

"Goodbye, Red! Goodbye, White!" the pink said with a wave. He then turned and flew off, vanishing within the forest. Once he was out of sight, the white and I exchanged nods before heading home. I was glad that we had at least made some progress with the plan, but I could also feel an uneasiness crackling within me. If or when the pink returned, what would happen when he inevitably discovered the deserters' philosophy? It hadn't been the best experience for my friend and me, so the thought of the naive pink—or possibly multiple naive pinks—undergoing a similar affair was a haunting one. One that I did not want to become a reality.

But I couldn't let myself dwell on these thoughts. It was like I had said before: time was of the essence