First of all, yes, it has been a good bit of time, and I apologize. I really don't have any sort of excuse, except that a relative came to visit, and I had to show him all around the hometown (D.C., by the way. Go Nationals, Skins, Wizards, n' Caps).
The other reason I haven't updated in a while is because I actually started my own story, which is not fanfiction—it is entirely original. Its sci-fi…I guess I'll post it somewhere sometime.
So, as a present, I took the next two chapters and made them into one. …It's a good thing I did too, because the chapter is still pretty bloody short.
The large pikmin convoy suddenly stopped as Dorunot pointed to something in the distance, near the foot of the rapidly descending canyon that they were following. "There," He said, "Begins the land of the parasite."
There was a pause. "Parasite?" Yeer asked him.
"Indeed; the territory in the control of the coral pikmin is truly a place of mystery," He said. "Even the sondrum tend to avoid it, for that forest holds superstition that even they may fear."
The convoy slowly continued to move again, nearing the end of the canyon, and opening where the rock walls suddenly halted. "Be on your guard when we enter," Dorunot warned. "The parasites are fast and quick. If they mean us harm, they will strike when we least expect it."
"How do you know?"
"I have been in this forest before. Hopefully, they will not see us as an ill prescence…" Yeer noted that trees towered over the walls of the canyon know, casting deep shadows over what appeared to be a thick underbrush of weeds and bushes. They were at the very foot of the canyon now; a few more steps and they would be inside the shadowy undergrowth. "We must go through the Hallowed Forest if we are to continue. We will head west upon entrance and make for the fastest exit," Dorunot said grimly.
And, a few minutes later, they were surrounded by shadows. Visibility among the multitude of plants was low, and they had to push many leaves out of their way. The sky was almost completely blocked out by not only the tall bushes and weeds, but also the trees that were high in the air. He could hear faint calls of creatures, ranging from squeaking to buzzing.
And slowly, Yeer began to get the impression that his mind was playing tricks on him. A faint flicker of movement here, or a rustle of a leaf there…Once he even thought he saw what looked like a small, red and white body move by in the faint distance.
"This place gives me the creeps," Lear said worriedly.
"Lear, everywhere gives you the creeps." Lek joked, trying to lighten up the mood. It didn't help.
Suddenly and randomly, Dorunot stopped walking. Yeer, standing nearby, almost bumped into him. "What is it, Captain?" Yeer asked, growing more and more afraid. The caravan continued moing at a slow pace, any conversations cut down to murmurs. They had been close to the front, and the caravan continued moving even as they stopped.
"They know we're here. They're watching us." Upon hearing this, Yeer began looking around into the thick brush. "Stand firm. They sense fear, you know…" None of the things Dorunot said were reassuring, but sure enough, Yeer stopped, and slowly began scouring the distance with his eyes. The shadows cut his visibility, and he was having a hard time seeing any—what was that!?
Nothing…or at least, whatever it might have been, it was nothing. Could that have been a pair of eyestalks he had seen for a brief instant, staring right back at him.
"Hold," Dorunot said loudly, but calmly. "Stop in your tracks, pikmin." They all heard him and halted, noting that something must be up. "Quiet, now." There was total silence, except for a growl of annoyance from Geer, who also knew from years of hunting that he himself was being watched, perhaps to be hunted…
"Parasite, listen to me, now," Dorunot said, raising his voice, as many pairs of eyes turned to him. "You know of our trespassing, and we know you are watching. Know that we come with no ill towards you. We mean you and your forest no harm, be assured. Please allow us passage through your forest."
There was silence as pikmin began to turn back to the under brush. The silence was complete, consuming all…for about thirty seconds.
At its end came a high pitched series of squeaks that made several pikmin jump in surprise. However, there was now underbrush in the forest around them, though it was aboundantly clear that something was monitoring their progress. The yips were met with a somewhat deeper single bark, followed by a high pitched nose similar to a 'meow'. This was met with two more quiet, deep barks. This was followed by the rustling of undergrowth—then, suddenly, there was a flash of movement.
It was not towards the pikmin, but it was clear that whatever it was that was watching them was on the move. The parasite—perhaps parasites—had bolted. Leaves moved slightly as creatures dashed past them, though the creatures themselves went unseen.
There was a thirty second pause, and then Dorunot spoke up to his compatriots, "Come, let us continue." This was followed by coughing.
--
"Flewow, I kind of wanted to ask you something."
"Yes?"
"Well—"
"Will you two shut up? I'm getting an ominous vibe from this place, and if those things are still watching us, you're not helping the situation."
"Sheesh, sorry, Lear," Yeer said, talking much more softly before continuing, turning back to Flewow. "What is the history in between blue pikmin and red pikmin?" Not only was Yeer curious about the subject, but he also wanted to break some of the tension of strolling through the seemingly haunted forest.
"…I'm afraid I'm not quite sure where to begin," Flewow said after a few seconds. "They are…they've had mixed times.
"You see, the blues used to be the most powerful part of the pikmin color spectrum. And after they found their promised land, which is Sanras Varninor, they holed themselves inside it and grew fairly xenophobic. Still, due to growing populations, they did expand into a few nearby areas. The reds, however, expanded a lot faster; they were completely obsessed with the creation of different colonies all over the known lands. They were also the most common—and still are the most common—color in terms of population. Since there were so many of them, they would often accidentally or purposefully settle on territory that belonged to other colors. This led them to several problems and disputes, but no real fights, at least until they tried to settle in land that belonged to the blues. This angered the blues greatly, and when no compromise could be reached, they entered a war.
"It was a very bad one, with many deaths on both sides; however, the reds repopulate so quickly, they weren't really affected by the losses. The blues, meanwhile, were suffering from the war. Even with some help from a few other colors that were somewhat angry with the reds, they could not prevail. Still, they could rarely be beaten on the defensive. At one point, the blues even declared the conflicts to be a Holy War, and released the deadly Zealots on the red heathens. Never before or since, except for maybe once, had they used their religion as backup for a war…and they were never so feared, even by allies."
"Zealots?"
"Zealots were a type of blue soldier that were the best of the best, and were also religious enforcers; they sought to find a perfect balance between civilization and chaos, calm and rage, and so on. The war seemed to be a bloody stalemate with no true winners, and eventually the other pikmin nations stepped in to stop the war.
"The Treaty of High Ground, also known as the Treaty of the Steppes, was the end of the war. It almost didn't work, as several red emissaries and representatives staying in the blue capital not only got into fights with blue negotiators, but were targets for blue xenophobic extremists. Still, they eventually came to a rather forced agreement that stopped the Expansion War. The blues agreed to stop fighting as well as disband their Zealot units, and the reds agreed to stop the war and not expand on the territory of any other color. This lead them to explore in other areas, like the Barrens—where they apparently found the ants. The two colors have never completely gotten over the war, even though they've fought together on numerous occasions.
"Its hard to believe that the reds would have held to their side of the bargain if their numbers had kept rising so quickly, but they encountered the puffstools shortly after the war, and have been in a war with the zombie pikmin ever since. This has kept their numbers relatively balanced, as they have never come close to winning or losing."
"That was…a lot."
"Well, they do have a very long history, Yeer."
"Wow, that is pretty intense…"
"Lear, weren't you just telling us not to talk a few minutes ago?"
"…Quiet, you."
A short way off, a single pikmin frowned, after having overheard the entire story. Red bastards…Hope we don't see many of them…
A series of harsh coughs erupted from in front of them from another pikmin who had heard them talking. "If you want to hear of any of the atrocities they committed, yellows, ask me later," Dorunot growled through the coughs. "Know this, comrades," He said, turning around with an expression that Yeer had never seen on any pikmin's face before. "Our kind will never, I repeat, never, forgive the crimsons. They started the war, they set two of our seed-pods up in flames as a message not to fight with them, and we would still be smashing them into the dirt for it if the rest of the spectrum had not objected." He coughed harshly before commenting, "Honestly, if they were all indoctrinated by the sondrum," he paused again, coughing, before finishing, "…I wouldn't much care."
The three yellows looked at him, rather stunned by the remark. A distance off, Urdnot smirked rather darkly. Geer, also nearby, turned to the three yellows and said loudly in his hissing voice, "Do not be so surprised. There was a time when my ancestors and your ancestors felt the same way."
Some yellows and greens still do, I'm sure, Yeer thought. This brought him to wonder exactly what would happen when (or perhaps if) they arrived back in the Brush with greens in their company. The Brush… Ah, how much he yearned to see his old home again…
--
Hopefully, this filled in some questions about reds and blues, and also got some people excited about the parasites, which we will see more of, I can assure you.
I actually made a pretty big dictionary of not only the blue language, but also a short document concerning the history of every pikmin color. I'll probably post both of those at some point.
Reviews would be beyond awesome. Remember that snowball.