He's changed……..
He's now purple instead of blue, has a mushroom instead of a leaf, lost his gills, and has no pupils. He can't control himself, but he doesn't care, the spores have gone to his head. He's infected. He now serves the new Leader, a creature that he was trying to kill, to serve the old Leader. But that Leader he doesn't care about now, he can't think anymore instead his mind is filled with hatred for the old Leader, and would do anything to kill him. That's all that matters now….
"What ….. happened". I awaken to find myself lying on the ground staring at an inky black sky filled with white gems of light, what has happened to the sun? I look around for the pikmin who spoke before realizing it was me, I'm too disoriented to think straight. As I get up I notice my stem feels heavier than usual, it doesn't feel like I have a leaf anymore.
"Are you alright?" I turn around to see a pikmin walking towards me, when I see the mushroom on his head it all comes back….
Being enveloped by spores that are entering into my body, choking me. My skin changing color and my leaf changing into a mushroom. Being ordered to attack the Leader. Charging into a group of blue and red pikmin. Slamming my new mushroom into a red pikmin with a leaf. Watching pikmin fighting each other around me. Hearing the Leader calling all the pikmin to him with his whistle. Trying to run to the Leader but being stopped by another presence inside my head. Heading back to the New Leader, the mushroom. Watching the old Leader retreat back to his ship with a now much smaller group of pikmin…
I can't think of what happen after or before that, I think really hard but everything's a giant blur. I'm now a mushroom pikmin and I feel happier than ever, but what was I before? I'm not quite sure and it starts to frustrate me. Then I realize something else. Where is the mushroom, our Leader? I look around to see the dead scorched carcass of the mushroom dead. What has happened? I can't remember a thing but without the Leader mushroom how can I survive? It's just not me though there are other mushroom pikmin scattered around the clearing. But pikmin are nothing without a Leader. The word Leader reminds me of the old Leader and burning hate fills up inside me. We were his slaves he ordered us to carry around his huge metal treasures, even if it meant attacking a large monster we had to do it. The sound of his whistles echoes in my mind like ripples and I wince in pain. He didn't deserve to be a Leader, he was only a bit taller than us pikmin, yet he ordered us around like some master. Us pikmin could've easily overthrown him and we should've.
I look over at the graying body of the mushroom in sadness. Beside him is another one of the Leader's metal treasures. This one looks like a flat giant triangle. I run over to the triangle and kick it in frustration, maybe if I damage it enough and it'll be useless to that horrible Leader.
"That won't do anything"
I turn around to see another mushroom pikmin walking towards me. He sits down on the metal triangle.
"We're going to die you know", he says flatly.
I cannot reply even though I know it's true. I've never seen a pikmin give up so easily. "Maybe", I finally answer.
"The gems are beautiful aren't they?" the pikmin says.
"What gems?" I ask. The other pikmin simply points up. Following his arm I see the wonders that light up the sky at night. Small speckles of silver ignite the inky blackness giving the whole sky a bluish hue. They are so numerous they go beyond the numbers of even us pikmin. "They're……….beautiful", I say.
"I wonder why the Leader never stayed on the ground to watch these wonders", says the other pikmin.
"Probably because he's a coward, he's afraid that the darkness will engulf him", I reply sourly.
The other pikmin just chuckles. Ignoring him I look down and surprisingly see more silver gems twinkling at me. I look in shock until I realize it's just a small puddle of water reflecting the silver gems from above.
Getting closer to the puddle I see my reflection. I'm not surprised by it because I remember seeing my reflection before somewhere, but it's too blurry to remember. I look at my new purple body and I'm satisfied, I twirl my mushroom in happiness it's much better than a leaf, the only thing that disturbs me is my eyes. There is no black dot, just pure whiteness, it sort of disturbs me but the thoughts quickly go away.
"Attention everyone!" says a purple pikmin. He's standing on top of the treasure as if using it as a stage.
Everybody looks at the pikmin but no one moves closer to him, since I'm right next to the pikmin I don't need to.
"Fellow mushroom pikmin", says the pikmin standing on top of the metal treasure. "Are we just going to sit here and die? If you pikmin don't plan to, you will realize that we need food. If we can go up to the landing site we can take the pellets from the pellet posies from there. Who's with me!"
Nobody said a word. The pikmin waited for several seconds before saying "Then I'll go up there myself" he had said it so quietly, that I only heard it.
The courage of this pikmin inspired me. As the other pikmin began to walk away I caught up to him and said "I'm going with you".
The other pikmin glanced back at me a smile creeping on the corner of his mouth. "Thanks", he said quietly, he then turned around and began to walk, expecting me to follow him and I did.
We exited the clearing and into the large mushroom valley. The pikmin seemed to know his way, but I couldn't remember so I just followed close behind. The valley was pitch black but the glowing blue mushrooms illuminated the whole area. The mushrooms reminded me of the silver gems up in the sky. This thought made me look up at the sky again, every time I looked up it seemed that all my troubles were swept away like dust picked up in the breeze.
The pikmin now headed up a ramp and I followed close behind. The ramp led away from the mushroom patch and into a lighter area, which puzzled me because the valley was illuminated but this place wasn't, but it was still lighter.
We now turned left following a path along a large body of water. The water was so still that it created a perfect mirror of the sky above. Up ahead I saw an orange glow illuminate the ground. The other pikmin also noticed this and he slowed down. Him and I both slowly turned the corner looking at what was causing the orange glow.
A large creature that I recognized from somewhere in my past was shooting large spouts of fire up into the air with its red tipped snout. It would take deep breaths before every blow, making the spout last longer. Something in my head told me not to go near this creature, the other pikmin also thought the same way.
"It'll try to burn us if we get too close, and it's right beside the ramp too", said the pikmin, thinking furiously.
Everything went pitch dark as the creature's last spout of fire ended. I could hear it taking in deep breaths so it could start a new one. Seconds later the area lit up again as the creature released more flames into the air.
"It can't see us in the dark", I said "We'll go when it's spout of flames end".
The other pikmin quickly nodded as the glow was already darkening, getting dimmer and dimmer. Then the flames stopped.
"Now!" I said, starting to run. It was impossible to see but the faintest outline of the ground, I could only make out the ramp ahead that would lead us up onto the landing site.
I hear the inhaling of the creature behind me ready for another spout. As I made it to the ramp, the world lit up in a hue of orange as more flames crackled up into the sky.
The plateau looked out at the scornful land around it. Though scornful it was a beautiful sight. One that anyone wouldn't forget. I looked out at what seemed to stretch on forever before disappearing in the horizon.
"There's what we want", said the other pikmin using his mushroom to point at two large flowers.
We both headed to a different one and instinctively I started hitting it with my mushroom. The stem cracked under the second blow and on the third it fell over. In the middle of the peddles was a circled shaped piece of crystallized nectar. It was colored yellow and translucent.
"Let's go", said the other pikmin already carrying his red pellet toward the ledge.
Quickly I picked up my pellet and headed for the ledge after him. We both dropped down into the darkness.
Landing with a soft thud, we continued quietly in the darkness not wanting to attract predators. I followed the other pikmin, only being able to see his outline and his white eyes. Again I felt disturbed looking at those white things, but the feeling quickly left.
It was eerily quiet, not a sound. I was about to say something to the other pikmin, when I heard something, a grunt. The other pikmin also heard it, immediately he stopped, his stem and mushroom stiffened, I felt mine do the same. No other sounds were heard.
After a moment I whispered "Let's go", the other pikmin didn't say anything he just starting quietly moving again. That was our major mistake.
A flash of teeth as the creature's jaws grabbed the other pikmin. It got a good grip on the pikmin and I watched in horror as the creature chomped the pikmin into a pulp forcing it down its throat. The pikmin didn't even have time to scream.
It had happened so fast that I couldn't even blink. Then I realized I was hiding behind a rock, I hadn't even tried to help, not even thought of it. Would that pikmin have fought for me, or tried?
The creature was red with white spots, except for its mouth with was tanned. Its two eyes were perched on stalks. It had two teeth, pointy, sharp, white fangs. A scarlet tongue poked out of its mouth licking up a clear liquid that drooled down its chin, the remains of my friend.
I could see it better I realized because the sky was becoming lighter, now colored a damp grey, the silver gems were now gone. I looked at one end of the horizon seeing that it was pale yellow become richer every second. The sun was rising.
My focus was directed back toward the immediate danger. The creature now had its nose to the ground sniffing at the pellet that the other pikmin was carrying. Then it looked up, nostrils flaring. It smelled something else maybe another pellet…………….the other pellet that I was carrying.
The next seconds were tense, the creature sniffed in all directions. It was about to turn away when it caught something, a disturbance in the sand.
My footprints.
They spidered back to where I was hiding and slowly the creature began to follow them.
"Drop the pellet", I thought. I dropped it, the pellet made a small thud on the ground. This made the creature pause, eyes staring at my hiding place. Then it moved swiftly right around the rock .
But I was already gone, running as swiftly as I could along the sandy path. The creature behind me let out a roar, and then it gave chase……
I know there isn't supposed to be any dwarf bulborbs in the forest naval. But it's my story, so I'll do what I want.