Yay fast update. It's time to find out what the not so exciting cliffhanger was. Enjoy.
A vast desert stretched out before us. Dunes could be seen all the way to the horizon, rippling the ground. Gold sand sifted across, carried by gusts of wind. Occasionally a dust devil would form, lazily spiraling across, picking up lose bits of sand. Dead vegetation littered the area trying to grow on hard patches of earth, still nothing edible. The air seemed to blister with heat.
There were cries of despair among the pikmin. I knew what they were thinking, death was all around us. If we went back we were surely dead. If we tried to cross the desert, we would probably die. The cliffs on either side were too high to climb.
As my mind racked for ideas to escape the inevitability, a pikmin spoke up, "I say we cross the desert", his words were strong and encouraging.
"Why?" argued another pikmin weakly.
The first pikmin countered, "Okay, lets say we go back and die fighting those monsters, honestly I'll take my chances out there", pointing to the desert, "than meet that gruesome fate that happened to our friend".
I shook my head, memories burning through me, but I spoke up "There might be a way", I said "If we stay close to the cliffs, we'll be under their shadows and stay cool. We also might be able to find another pathway out".
Most of the pikmin liked the idea, nodding their heads in agreement. The first pikmin spoke up again "That would be our best chance of survival".
The second pikmin was still stubborn "But if we go back…." he started to say.
"There is no going back!" I snapped at him "If you go back you will die!"
The pikmin immediately quieted, nodding his head in agreement.
A looked at everyone "Does anyone else have a stupid idea, which will lead to inevitable death, because I'd love to hear it", I said sarcastically "Come on, enlighten me!
A pikmin rested his arm on my shoulder; it was the first mushroom pikmin that I had spoken to, the one that said that we would die. "Easy mate, just calm down", he said.
"Why! Why should I. Why should any of us be calm!? You're the one who said we were going to die!" I screamed at him.
"Because you showed me hope", he answered simply "And a stubborn 'min always dies". And with that he entered the desert.
I watched as the other pikmin slowly filed out behind him. I lowered my head in shame following them from behind.
We followed my plan, staying under the cliffs. The long shadows cast upon the ground cooled us and the cliffs were so tall it eclipsed the sun. The sky was already beginning to darken, turning the atmosphere into an explosion of colours. Orange, indigo, violet, and scarlet. The desert also began to swiftly cool.
I absently traced swirling lines into the sand with my needle; I kept my thoughts to my self and never uttered a word to anyone. Every now and then I looked across the vast expanse of land. It made me feel tiny and exposed. I could see for miles and miles until the land disappeared over the horizon. The sand in the dark looked like a deep purple, cool and welcoming.
As the sky turned into a dark shade of blue one of the pikmin spoke up "We need to take a little rest".
Everyone else agreed, I was tired and hadn't slept in a long time. I lay my head down on the cool sand, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep as the gems emerged….
When I awoke it was still night and the sky was littered with gems. It was cool, at least compared to day time. I looked around, most of the pikmin were asleep, and only one was awake, sitting quietly on the ridge of a dune.
I realized we should be getting ready to move on, it was cool and we should try to cover as much ground before the sun rises.
I then looked back to see how far we had come and saw a major mistake we had made. The ground was full of our tracks, tiny dots that went as far as I could tell. The creatures would easily be able to track us, if they had been foolish enough to follow us. On the bright side it seemed that we had covered a lot of ground yesterday.
Realizing that we needed to move in order to stay ahead of the creatures, I shouted to the other pikmin awake "Help get the rest of these guys awake, we should get moving!"
The other pikmin nodded and slid down the dune and gently nuzzled a pikmin awake. The pikmin and I did this until everyone was awake and rubbing their eyes tiredly.
"Time to get a move on, before the sun rises", I said simply, and began to head along the cliff side.
Everyone quietly followed.
We trudged through the sand along the cliffs. Once again everyone was quiet and there was barely a murmur. To my dismay I saw that the sky was getting lighter already and most of the gems had disappeared. There was no vegetation that could be seen anywhere, and we were all hungry.
The sky was increasing in brightness rapidly, until finally the sun made its appearance. It was like suddenly everything became colourful again. The sand was golden and the sky was its own spectrum. The sun itself was a giant red ball bearing down upon us like an evil eye. I stared at it from the top of a dune feeling the heat rise rapidly.
As we continued on, the heat rose to extreme temperatures. There were no shadows to protect us. Anything a few feet away seemed a fuzzy line. It felt as if the ground itself was baking. I watched as a huge dust devil arose in the distance, towering above everything else. It spun across the desert at extreme speeds thankfully heading away from us.
The tempreture seemed to affect some of the pikmins moods.
"When will we find food", one whined, his words were slurred together.
"Do you think anyone knows?"Another snapped "How stupid can you be".
The only good thing was the extreme winds; they covered up our tracks quickly making it impossible for the creature's to track us. If they were still tracking us.
The air was dry and my mushroom seemed to droop from lack of moisture. It seemed to weigh more every second; I knew I was losing strength.
The place that had seemed so colourful at morning now seemed pale. The sky was bleached in a white hue, and the sand seemed that it had been leached of its golden colour.
In the distance a huge cloud dominated the atmosphere, it towered high into the sky, and its clouds were dark and foreboding. I looked at the base which was almost black and almost leapt back in surprise as a bolt of lightning struck the ground. The cloud was very far away though and apart from it there were no other clouds in the air.
As I looked straight ahead I noticed something that seemed to shine in the sunlight. It seemed metallic as the sun reflected off it, hurting my eyes, but it wasn't.
A pikmin who apparently had better eyesight than me saw what it really was. "Water", he shouted "An oasis, with green plants growing beside it!"
I let out a shout of joy with the other pikmin and almost gagged for my throat was so dry. We charged over the last sand dune, rushing for the oasis. The first pikmin was also right, there were plants around it.
The plants were tall and had short pink leaves on the top. They weren't pellet posies but they seemed edible and looked delicious compared to the few other plants we had seen.
As I approached a plant, I looked at the water. It seemed so still almost like a mirror, and it had a silvery sheen to it. I decided to look at my reflection, and I almost regretted it. I looked so pale; my rich purple colour had been reduced to a faint violet. My mushroom had lost its deep redness and was now mostly yellow with a light shade of pink near the top.
"I will look better when I eat", I thought to myself.
And so I did.
Pikmin around me were already breaking stems and sipping rich nectar that bubbled out. Others crunched on the pink leaves. Everyone just suddenly seemed in a better mood.
I helped myself to a pink leaf, munching joyfully. It tasted great, better than I would ever expect. I then tried some of the nectar, savoring every sweet sip. Everything else was swept away like the sand in the wind. The heat, the creatures, the sun all gone.
When we're done we sat around and chatted to each other.
"Look at the way we ravaged those plants", a pikmin said to me "It's like a beast came through here".
I laughed at his joke. I was bursting with energy and felt like I could do anything.
"I feel like I could cross this whole desert right now", another pikmin boasted.
Once again I chuckled "I'd like to see you try", I replied.
"Watch me".
For once since this thing had begun. Everyone seemed to be very happy, there was no arguing and reality escaped us.
Until it all came crashing back down.
A pikmin stood atop of a high sand dune glancing back towards the cliffs. A look of concern was in his eyes. He looked over at me and gestured for me to come over.
I climbed up to the top of the sand dune. The look in his eyes made me nervous. "What's wrong", I said.
"Those creatures, the ones that are stalking us?" he said.
"Yeah, what about them", I said, fearing what the answer might be.
He pointed out into the desert "Are those them?" he asked, his voice had a touch of panic in it.
I shaded my eyes and looked to where he was pointing. Striding over a sand dune, were the three creatures. They had their noses pressed to the ground as if following a scent. The black one was leading the other two; fortunately they weren't looking our way. I noticed that they looked unhealthy. Their eye stalks dropped and their eyes half open with a faint, glazed look. Their hides looked wrinkled and they looked skinnier from lack of food. Their tongues lolled out of their panting mouths.
"Why would they track us this far, it's suicide", I said in frustration. "Even better question, how did they track us? Our footprints were erased in the wind".
The other pikmin looked at me slowly, and pointed to my body "They must've picked up the scent of the….."
I looked down over my torso at the dried up liquid that was splattered over me, the remains of another pikmin, it made sense. "They must have good noses", I said bitterly.
"We'll have to go farther into the desert", said the other pikmin.
I realized that wasn't an option "No, we'll fight them" I said.
"What are you crazy!" replied the other pikmin, panicking "We'll be killed, you even said it yourself!"
I glanced at the sharp needle in my hand "We need to make a stand", I replied. I looked down back into the oasis; there were twelve pikmin in total, including me and the other guy. Four for each creature.
"Everybody", I shouted, everyone down in the oasis glanced up at me "The creature's that are stalking us, have finally caught up and are blocking our way back to the cliffs".
Looks of fear rippled through everyone "Are you suggesting we try to fight them?" asked one of the pikmin. The others looked at him in disbelief
My answer was simple, and to the point "Yes I do".
The pikmin looked at everyone else "Even if the rest run away, I will fight with you", he replied nobly and made his way up the dune.
Everyone else glanced at each other. Figuring out what they should do. One by one they made their way up the dune, accepting the circumstances.
I looked at the pikmin who had first argued with me, he just nodded slowly.
The creature's had noticed us now and were heading towards us. They looked so small but were getting bigger by the second, I was already unsure of my plan.
I looked at the groups of pikmin "Okay you three and I are going to take the big guy in the middle. You four will take the creature on the left; the other four will take the last creature".
"Try to get behind them", I continued, "Their mouths are their only weapon and they can only use them if you're standing right in front of them. If it shakes you off get up as quickly as possible."
With a quick gesture the four pikmin on my left and the four pikmin on my right, began crawling to the sides of the dune. They would flank the creatures when they charged towards the other three pikmin and me. It was the best plan I could think of.
I looked at the needle in my hand, it was light and sturdy. I could throw it right now and probably hit one of the creature's but that would be a waste.
They were now over the last dune; they would be on us in less than a minute.
I glanced over on both sides, the pikmin were in position, their little mushrooms and heads poking over the side of the dune. I gave a gesture to hold for a bit longer.
The creatures were now at the base of the dune and beginning their ascent towards us. The black one lead, his face etched with exhaustion seemed determined. The pikmin on both sides could now attack from behind.
"Now!" I shouted, giving the signal. On both sides pikmin charged out, running up the slope, and attacked the two red and white creatures from behind. The two creatures's quickly turned around but the pikmin were all ready on top of them, grabbing on with their hooked hands, slamming their mushrooms into the red and white hides, again and again. The creatures winced with each blow, suddenly one managed to shake the pikmin off his back sending them flying every where. The creature's jaws quickly tore apart the pikmin closest to him.
I looked down realizing our mission, the black creature. It was already heading down the slope back towards the sound of death.
"Get 'em!", I shouted and ran towards the black creature, needle in hand. One of the pikmin beside me jumped from the top of the dune and tried to land on the creature's back.
A flash of teeth. Squeal of pain. Fluids and shreds flying every where.
The creature had turned at the last second, sending the pikmin straight into its jaws. It now was chewing on a ripped up bit of mushroom. The two other pikmin and I immediately faltered, slowing to avoid the same fate, I managed to keep my grip on a hard patch of earth but the other two slipped on the loose sand. They tumbled down the slope, past the creature, that ignored them. Instead its eyes were on me.
I immediately backed up the slope and the creature quickly charged up after me. I quickly glanced at how the other battles were fairing; on one, two pikmin were beating down a severely wounded creature, its eye stalk had burst, slamming their mushrooms into its hide as it had spasms of pain. The other battle had pikmin on the back of a creature. With a roar the creature suddenly reeled back, sending fountains of sand up in the air. Dust obscured my view.
I focused back at the black creature, which was coming straight at me. I climbed to the top of the dune, balancing on the narrow tip. The creature suddenly jumped up in front of me, jaws snapping. I immediately stabbed my needle down into its head, right between the eye stalks. It roared in pain; climbing up onto the ridge, it pushed me off, sending me tumbling down.
I hit the ground hard, sending sand everywhere. I looked up at the creature who was trying to walk towards me, but it seemed its legs weren't working right, they jittered in spasms instead. It stumbled and fell, rolling at me in a cloud of dust. I threw my needle but it missed and suddenly the creature, in a wave of black and red, landed right on top of me.
A loud, screaming, pain inside my head.
Then…nothing.
Wow don't you hate cliffhangers? Anyways our hero's not dead, there will be a chapter five. Hope you liked it and reviews would be nice!