Nearly two months. Tsk, tsk I can do better than that.

I woke up to a ripple of pain. My head ached, my back was sore; my mushroom felt like it was on fire. Groggily I opened one eye and immediately sunlight shone through. I squinted in pain and tried to get up but something was crushing the lower half of my body.

The huge body of the black and red creature was on top of me. I looked at its face, judging by the blank look in its eyes it was probably dead.

I killed it. On my own.

Well not exactly on my own as I saw the splintered half of the needle sticking out of its skin between the eye stalks. The needle had probably driven right through the creature's skull and hit its nerve centre.

I gradually shimmied my way out from under the creature and used all my strength to get up. I immediately fell to the side and landed on the ground in a heavy thud. I was exhausted.

Looking to the right though I saw the oasis and the remains of some of the shredded plants we had eaten earlier today. If it was still today. Judging by the sun it was afternoon.

I gradually made my way towards the chewed up plants. When I got there I quickly grabbed a red leaf and chewed on it. Immediately after swallowing the sweet leaf some of my energy seemed to renew. Satisfied I chewed more and drank some nectar and my energy rose up. I was able to stand up properly now and I could walk.

I looked back at the black and red creature and remembered about the battle that had taken pace just over the dune. I hobbled back towards the creature and tried to pull the splintered piece of needle that was jammed between his eye stalks. Blood frothed from the wound but the needle wouldn't budge. It was a waste of energy, I guess I would have to say goodbye to the weapon.

I then turned and walked up the dune hoping that we had won and my fellow mushroom pikmin were waiting for me on the other side. Reaching the top I looked down and saw….

Chaos.

Bodies of numerous pikmin were littered all over the place. None were directly intact. Huge splashes of purple liquid which I guessed used to be pikmin stained the sand, along with blood, lots of blood. Both of the red and white creatures were dead and lay down upon the sand. They looked as bad as the pikmin carcasses. We had won, but where were the survivors?

I skidded down the dune for a closer examination. The bodies of the creatures had numerous purple welts on them and dried up blood was splattered across their cracked faces.

Then I saw the footprints. I realized they were my fellow pikmins' footprints because they were just tiny dots spidered across the sand. Following them I realized they headed back up the dune and back to the oasis.

But they weren't at the oasis. They must've moved on across the desert, they couldn't have stayed here forever.

I needed to follow them immediately. I couldn't survive on my own, not for a long time anyways. Pikmin were meant to work as a group.

With increased vigor I began to head back up the slope. That's when I heard the moans. They came from behind me, somewhere in the bloody mess of the hellish carnage. They were a pikmin's cries for help.

I headed back towards the massacre and scouted around, trying to locate the source of the moans. Every thing seemed dead, but that certainly wasn't the case.

I found the pikmin behind the carcass of one of the creatures. He looked as dead as everyone else here, but he wasn't. The pikmin had long gashes digging deep across his torso. One of his arms had been ripped off, and the missing limb lay several meters away. One of his legs had been badly twisted. He was still alive though.

I kneeled down to his face "Mate, you okay?" I said.

His answer "Ahhhh………………….." His body slumped to the ground, limp.

Was he dead? I wasn't sure. The other pikmin had probably mistaken me for dead but I had been alive.

I lifted the pikmin up, putting his one arm around my shoulders. I hobbled back to the oasis, the other pikmin's limp form dragging beside me. I also noticed that the other pikmins' numerous tracks were scattered around the oasis. They had obviously eaten before they had left.

I laid the other pikmin's body beside a puddle of nectar and began splashing it on his face. After a minute when I began to fear that he had passed away he suddenly coughed. His eye slowly opened and he looked at me.

"I….should be dead", he gasped. The pikmin was obviously still in great pain.

"Don't talk, it'll waste energy", I said, pouring more nectar into his throat.

It took me ten minutes until the pikmin finally said he was full. I got up, brushed my self off and told him the plan. "The other pikmin have moved on, I don't know where but luckily their tracks remain. We need to follow them".

"N..nooo….you go on…", the other pikmin gasped. He began to cough up nectar mixed with a clear fluid. I knew all to well what that fluid was.

"No I got to take you with me", I persisted. I wasn't gong to leave him here.

"I'll…stay here...and eat some more", he stuttered "Then…I….I'll catch up…..with…y….you".

"You're in no condition to get there alone, you can't even walk properly", I replied, gesturing at his badly, twisted leg.

"…..fine", wheezed the other pikmin.

"Listen, we can also take some of the food with us", I said and grabbed a handful of leaves "We should be fine". Hardly the truth.

Before leaving I ate as much as I could without feeling too full. I then picked up the handful of leaves and soaked them with nectar. I was careful not to get any sand in the nectar as it would ruin the whole thing.

"Okay here, put your arm over my shoulder", I said to the other pikmin as I picked him up. Vaguely he curled his arm around me, and then slumped backwards. I groaned trying to keep him upright and was successful. I supported him with one arm the other arm carried the pink leaves. They were all scrunched up so I could carry more. It would be hard going.

Our progress was slow. The other pikmin stumbled a lot and I always had to shove a new leaf down his throat as he used up a lot of energy. We also avoided dunes going around them and finding the tracks of the other pikmin again. Luckily the other mushroom pikmin had seemed to avoid climbing up the huge dunes. They towered above us, a wall of golden sand.

One thing I wondered was why the other mushroom pikmin hadn't returned to the cliffs, were there would be shade. I could've returned there also but I had decided it was best to follow the tracks.

The other pikmin barely said anything at all. He just quietly limped along quietly. His breathing seemed rasped, as if he had swallowed sand. The desert continued to show no mercy. The sand was so hot it seemed to turn to glass, reflecting the sun and hurting my eyes. The sky had no clouds in sight, only the sun. Sometimes I thought I saw things up ahead; metal treasures that the evil Leader would get or sometimes plants. When I got to close though, they just melted into the air.

It was impossible to tell how far we had traveled. The cliffs behind us were all but gone, now fuzzy lines behind us like the horizon. At last when I thought we had traveled for a very long time, I stopped. As soon as I stopped my feet seemed to lose all strength, causing me to tumble over. A second later the wounded pikmin fell down beside me, the sand muffling his fall.

I checked to see if the leaves were good. They were so I shoved one in my mouth. I savored every bite. I then gave a couple to the wounded pikmin. He grabbed them with his one arm and sloppily chewed the down. I couldn't blame him, he was too weak.

That's when I heard the noise. A faint hissing, a distant roar. I wondered if my hearing was okay because the noise wasn't going away. There had been barely any noise, no wind, and no animals. Nothing. Until now.

The dust devil tore over the dune. Its column of sand cascaded down upon the other pikmin and me. Dust ripped into my open mouth, into my eyes. I buried my head into the dune trying to keep the dust away from the leaves. It kept finding ways though. It seemed alive twisting, turning and unleashing its hell upon me. It was the dominant, this was its territory and I was an invader.

As quickly as it had begun it was over. The dust devil moved away, towards the cliffs. Slowly I opened my eyes, blinking multiple times to get the sand out, and looked around. The other pikmin was still alive beside me, gently moaning. The leaves were worst off; sand had stuck to sticky nectar, completely covering the leaf. This made them inedible.

"Damn", I cursed and threw the leaves down upon the sand "Damn, damn, damn".

I kicked the sand, trying to vent my frustration. I cursed and cursed again. We were stuck in a damn desert, with no damn food, because of the damn dust devil.

More sand showered into the air. Gently floating with the light breeze the dust devil left behind.

Aimlessly

Like me

What's the point, in continuing? How can a pikmin find peace, find purpose?

The green and yellow body of the creature gave one final croak before the life drained out of it. One blue pikmin, his leaf soaked gasps for breath. It was his third day and he was getting bored, combat after combat. The first day was good, a bit confusing, but now he was exhausted. A shortage of blues had caused him to be used three days in a row. Sure he had nights off but those passed in a speedy blur.

Desperate he says aloud "Will we ever stop doing this, collecting treasure and fighting all these creatures?"

Another blue pikmin, flower crowning its stem said "Why should you care? We must serve the Leader"

"Why?" asks the blue pikmin.

"It's our purpose", says the flower pikmin.

"Purpose?"

"The reason why we were created", says the flower "and that reason is to serve the Leader"

"There has to be something more", the first persists.

"No, there isn't any other reason", the flower pikmin seems very indifferent about the whole conversation.

The first frustrated says, "So what's the Leader's purpose?"

The flower pikmin simply shrugs. With a shrill of the Leader's whistle he proceeds to help carry the green and yellow creature's body back to the onion……

The memory that had been plucked from my mind slowly drifted back into my conscious. I began to think about the whole basic concept of the conversation.

Our purpose is to serve the Leader

That can't be right. It couldn't be right; the Leader was wrong, trying to take us over like a bunch of slaves. A false god. A fake, someone that has taken advantage of us, tried to control us. All for his own good will.

There had to be something bigger than that. The other pikmin had only served the leader and thought that was its purpose, he had no other idea. There could be something bigger, something better than that.

The wounded pikmin groaning brought me back to my senses. I needed to find the trail again, had to. If I didn't we would starve and die, but if we found the group again we had a chance. If the group was still alive.

It took me a long time to find their tracks again, but it was worth it. The dust devil had blasted sand all around us in a wide diameter. The tracks had faintly reappeared 20 metres away.

Without further ado I helped the wounded pikmin up onto my shoulders and began to follow the tracks again. The day had passed into late afternoon and the sun was at a very steep angle. It had a tint of beautiful citrus on its edge.

I also wondered why my fellow pikmin were wondering aimlessly into the desert. It made no sense, were they following something? It didn't seem that way as there were no other tracks.

The tracks now seemed to be more prolonged. Were they running? It seemed that way. As if they were eager to get somewhere or racing each other.

Feeling that they were close I began to run too. My very long shadow ran beside me and the wounded pikmin seemed to give his best effort in helping me.

Coming over one last ridge I looked down into a rocky valley and saw a large white flower……

C-c-c-c-cliffhanger!!