…Okay, so I was wrong. My bad. But here's a new chapter, so, uh, yeah.
This is another transition chapter, with a lot of stuff on Lek. I hope you enjoy.
The next few days were strange for Flewow, Lear, and Yeer. The pink pikmin—Lek—seemed to be involved with at least one of them in conversation throughout the entire day, and it had taken them some time just to inform him of their mission and whatnot. Much to their surprise, Lek seemed to accept it without any degree of surprise or fear; he did not seem to respond particularly emotionally, for that matter, replying to most of the tale with 'huh,' as if to say 'interesting'.
Lek seemed to have no problem with staying inside the yellow seed-pod when it took off, which came as a surprise to all of the yellows. He also had no idea, at first, what seed-pods actually were (exclaiming "Goodness, they can fly!?" as one took off), which brought up a good deal of explanation. He did not attach himself to the side of the seed-pod's interior, so as to gain energy, commenting that 'that would simply be stealing'. This was, in a way, even more confusing, because it left the yellows clueless to how the pinks gained energy.
Geer stayed away from Lek, and since Lek was usually hanging out with the yellow leaders, it meant that Geer tended to stay away from them as well. Geer had, at one point, had a quick discussion with Yeer, but other than that he had had no interaction with yellows at all since Lek's integration.
The conversations concerning the pinks in general were viewed as awkward by the yellows and completely commonplace by Lek. Flewow, Lear, and Yeer did not want Lek to think they were prying (all they were trying to do, Flewow said, was 'expand the base of yellow knowledge'), but Lek did not seem to care one bit about any sort of personal questions.
"Do the pink pikmin have a seed-pod?" The conversation began on the second day after Lek had joined them.
Lek chuckled, and responded, "Oh, no. We simply sleep at the top of the canyon, where the predators can't get to us."
"If you don't have a seed-pod," Lear stated, "Then how do new pinks come into existence?"
"Rarely, let me tell you," Lek laughed again, and pointed to the top of his stem, which was very similar to a dandelion. "These little seeds occasionally detach from the stem and get carried across the canyon by the winds. Eventually they plant, and start growing into new pinks." There was a pause as Lear and Flewow (Yeer was helping to carry the seed-pod at the time) took in the information.
"You just mentioned some winds…" Flewow said, reprimanding himself mentally for having such poor conversational skills. This was supposed to be a conversation, not an interview.
"Oh, yes. Without them, we wouldn't be able to move around the canyon." He once again motioned to his stem, and said, "We're very good at catching updrafts, you see."
After the concept of moving with the wind had been dealt with, there was the daily exchange where the yellows discussed their home, and their ways, to the pink, who seemed quite interested by the whole matter.
At first, Yeer had been slightly worried about telling the pink so many things, commenting that the pinks could be more powerful than the yellows. "After all," He said while privately discussing the matter with Lear and Flewow, "One of those pinks didn't seem very friendly."
However,
after they learned that the whole pink population was only
twenty-seven strong, they stopped worrying. This did bring up the
question that, if the pinks were only twenty seven in number, why
would they let one of their own leave so simply?
They continued
through the canyon for almost two more days before they came to a
stop. Yeer had the feeling that, for their entire time through the
canyon, they were being watched. The pinks were probably monitoring
their progress—and Lek, for that matter.
Yeer's conversation with Geer was shortlived. Geer strode up to him, most of the yellows respectfully—or fearfully—moving out of the green Alpha's way as he approached.
"Yellow leader," He said shortly. Yeer was at a quick loss for a response.
He eventually settled on, "Hello there, Packmaster Geer."
"Tell me, yellow," Geer said, turning to walk alongside Yeer, "How far do you plan to go in search of help?"
Yeer thought for a second, and then said, "Well, the Barren-monsters are very powerful. I guess we are going to attempt to gain all the help we can."
"From every tribe?" Geer asked.
"I suppose, if we have time to visit each one."
"You do realize, however, that some colors do not cooperate?" Geer asked again. Yeer had a feeling he was talking about the greens and some other groups, not other groups and other groups.
"Well, hopefully," Yeer said, pleading that he was picking the right response, "They will be able to work together."
Geer nodded, seeming (much to Yeer's relief, and slight surprise) satisfied with the response, and stalked back over to his own people. It became abundantly clear to Yeer at that point that actually getting that to happen—cooperation among all the people they recruited—was as necessary at the recruitment itself.
It was halfway through the second day that there was a stop; a change of pace—quite literally, in fact. One of the lead greens gave a grunt of surprise as he took another step forward, and ended up ankle-deep in water.
Virtually nothing, but nonetheless…
The entire convoy paused. Yeer hurried to go and meet up with the Alpha, closely followed by Flewow and Lear. Lek looked after them, but decided to stay behind.
"…Water," Was all the Alpha said, sounding dismayed to an extent that none of the yellows had ever heard before. The looked down the expanse of the canyon that they could see, and noted that the tiny level of water was constant.
"Well, that's bad," Lear said bluntly.
"We can't turn back," Yeer stated, "And I guess this means we're getting closer to blue territory.
"If it gets to knee height, we will have to find another route," Geer said shortly.
None of them—especially Geer—looked thrilled about trudging through water. Fact of the matter was, though, that it was going to have to happen sometime.
It was a tough slog. The greens (who had been, for some time, leading the procession) ended up closer to the yellows in the convoy because their speed was far more impeded by the water. Geer himself was about halfway through the caravan, just behind the green seed-pod and just in front of the yellow one.
Lek was similarly bothered by the water, and volunteered to help tote the yellow seed-pod due to a desire for something to hang on to—quite trivial, considering the water was only ankle high. Lear, who was closer to Lek than any of the other pikmin, joined him—a pretty impressive symbol for someone so determined to avoid work.
Much to the outrage of all the pikmin, however, they were forced to come to a stop when the canyon expanded outward in a sort of circle—and became a dead end.
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That's it for this short chapter. Please review.
SMASH TOMORROW…Except not really, for those of us on the East Coast…
