I've been busy all summer, but (finally) here it is!
Also note that there's nine pikmin left (not including the unconcious mushroom pikmin).
Disclaimer: I own pikmin. Sue me.
Kidding..hehe
I awoke to a tidal wave of cold. I lazily opened one eye to look around, the light was dim and there wasn't much to see. Gazing up I looked into a sky blanketed with grey clouds, no yellow, warm sun in sight.
Desperate to get some warmth I piled more of the creature's fur over my frail body. Each of my breaths condensed in front of me, forming a miniature icy cloud. Wanting to keep my head warm I buried it into the ground, only to get a face full of snow. Frustrated I used an arm to brush it away, causing some of the fur that arm had been grasping to fall off my body. Ignoring that I continued to brush away the snow only to reach ground that was colder than the snow or the chilly air.
Now knowing that is was going to be impossible to get anymore sleep, I slowly got up on my feet and rubbed my eyes. Snow was heavily sprinkled everywhere, though you could still see the ground poking up beneath as if it was fighting this new opponent that was on top of it. Looking around I saw a few other pikmin awake, all of them were at the nectar pile.
That's what I need, some nectar. To warm me up.
My entire body felt heavy, and I stumbled around other pikmin with great difficulty. I tripped over a rock hidden by snow and almost fell. Now with a hurt foot and too tired to walk properly I limped the rest of the way. Getting there I ignored the few other pikmin and grabbed the nearest chunk of nectar. It was too big to put in my mouth so I tried to break it in half.
Frozen solid.
Frustrated, I shoved a corner of it into my mouth and tried to taste anything. Nothing at all, I took the block out of my mouth and saw a puddle of saliva where I had tried to suck on it. I put the corner in my mouth again and tried to bite down. My teeth chipped against the nectar with no success, just more saliva. Shaking my head in disbelief, threw it on the ground then started searching around for a sharp rock, an idea forming in my head. Almost immediately I found a decent rock for my purpose, fumbling with it I brought it back to the chunk of nectar. With a feeling of smugness I started to scrape the rock against the nectar and watched as small flakes of nectar chipped off the main block. I also noticed that my puddle of saliva was already frozen. Jeez that was fast, it reminded of how cold it was and I started to shiver.
Eager for some warmth and food, I placed the few flakes of nectar in my mouth. They were freezing, rock hard and had no taste and I considered spitting them out. Slowly but surely though they softened up and that sweet taste I was familiar with filled my mouth. I grinned and continued to chew. Immediately I stopped shivering and a growing warmth developed inside me. I felt like I was glowing. I happily grabbed my rock and started to scrape for more.
A few minutes later my white pikmin friend came and joined me. He was shivering a lot too. He eyed me and noticed my clever way of nectar extraction and immediately stooped down for a rock of his own.
"About time you woke up," I said grinning.
"I wasn't sleeping," the white pikmin replied before popping a few flakes into his small mouth.
Half surprised by this I asked: "Where were you then?"
"Well I found something you see," the white pikmin said. "This something that belonged to the cyans."
I frowned when I heard about the cyan pikmin, remembering about yesterday's encounter, "Something valuable?"
"Something quite clever," The white pikmin answered. "Here I'll show you." He got up and gestured to me, keeping his stone with him.
Reluctantly I got up and followed him out of the clearing. I shivered as I went. I wondered why we had gone from the scorching heat of the desert to the dull cold of this forest. Was there no comfortable place in the middle? My body wasn't accustomed to this temperature and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.
The white pikmin led me around the trunk of a tree where we came to a small dip in the ground. Snow had pooled into here and it almost looked like a white pond. The white pikmin began to scan the area, vermillion eyes piercing through the fog.
"This whole place looks the same, impossible to find things," the white muttered before he suddenly pointed to the ground where a small object lay and exclaimed: "Ah there it is!"
He led me over to the small object and picked it up gingerly. I could hardly believe he called this thing "clever". I was basically a piece of brown cloth like material, in a diamond shape. Except the vertices of the diamond were curved and smooth and it was longer than it was wider. The cloth sagged in his hands and seemed limp and powerless.
The white pikmin gently placed the stone in the centre of the diamond cloth. Then he got the two long ends of the cloth and grasped them in his left hand. The stone swung gently at his torso side, secure in the cloth.
"Wow a pouch," I joked, smiling at him.
The white pikmin smiled back but shook his head "Not quite you see remember those stones the cyan pikmin threw?"
I nodded before grimacing; I could remember the red pikmin's head smashing open.
"Good, now remember the velocity they were thrown at? Now it's obvious that there is no way any pikmin can throw a stone that fast." As an example he picked up another stone from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. I watched the stone fly through the air, it didn't seem that it was able to smash a head open.
"You see this thing here," the white pikmin said pointing at the cloth in his hands. "This is how the cyans' are able to throw their stones so fast. Watch closely."
It happened so fast that I could hardly see it. The white pikmin seemed to look like he was throwing the cloth itself. But then the cloth was at his side and the stone was a dark blur bolting through the air. In less then a second the stone had hit a tree trunk with a sharp crack, the trunk was quite a distance away.
I stared in disbelief before saying, "That was a good scratching stone."
The white pikmin grinned, "There are better stones out there."
I looked at the deadly piece of cloth in his hands, "That's quite a handy tool we've got there," I remarked.
"I call it a flinger; the cyans' were pretty smart to invent such a thing." The white pikmin admitted.
"You were pretty smart to figure out how it worked," I replied.
"Oh it's easy," he said. "All you do is grab the two ends like this so the centre piece with the rock is down below you. Then you swing it very hard over your head and before it's directly vertical above your head, let go of the top end of the flinger. It will unravel and the momentum will "fling" the stone at a high speed. Here you try." The white pikmin said handing the flinger to me.
I defensively put down my scratching rock and selected another one from the ground. I placed it at the centre of the flinger and grabbed the two ends. Lining myself up I chose the same trunk the white pikmin had hit. Then I swung the flinger over my head and let go of the top end…….
……….the stone landed with a dull thud in the snow very close to me.
I frowned in annoyance. The white pikmin was sincere though. "You're letting go of the top end too late," he explained. "Don't worry it took me a couple tries to get it myself…….
….CRACK!!
My second stone had hit the tree with such a high speed the frozen bark had splintered.
"Whoa," said the white pikmin.
We returned to the clearing a few minutes later. The flinger was fun to try but tired us out easily. I was now very accurate with it and knew it would make a good useful weapon.
It was beginning to get cold though, very cold. And prior to returning to the clearing, we immediately headed to the nectar pile. Most of the other pikmin were all crowded around there. A lot of them were using my method of extracting nectar from the frozen blocks. The reds had also found a good use for their sharp noses, chiseling the nectar into smaller chunks to pop in their mouths.
Me and the white pikmin picked up our own block of nectar and sat away from the rest of the pikmin. I scratched away at my end of the block and put the flakes in my mouth. It was a repetitive process and after a while I felt as if I was only dulling my scratching stone. I wanted more then little frozen chips; I wanted to tear of a nice soft chunk and stick it in my mouth, feeling a mellow, honey colloid slip down…….
…I shook my head and threw my stone away in frustration. I glanced down at the block; a good quarter of my side was gone, scratched into small flakes. But I was still hungry.
And cold.
And tired.
Annoyed.
Frustrated.
Hungry.
Cold.
The white pikmin glanced up at me, "Everything going all right?" He asked, dropping the flakes that were in his hands.
"Nothing is going all right," I said, shivering all the while.
"Well we should be grateful," he said. "It could be worse, a lot worse." Even he sounded doubtful, as he started to shiver again.
"You don't sound grateful," I shot back.
He glanced at me blankly with the red eyes. He hesitated for a moment than said, "Listen I know it's hard. I'm as cold as you are, and as tired. I want to get through this too. Just as much as you do."
I felt sorry for being so negative and I knew I should be fortunate. I've survived a lot of things. Even if I am miserable, I can't bring it on my friends. Not when they're just trying to help.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I am letting the elements get the better of me, I shouldn't be miserable."
The white pikmin gave me a small smile and nodded.
I blurted out again. "In fact we've been awfully lucky. We survived the giant creature and the cyan pikmin attack. We also have a lot of nectar to last us…."
"I wouldn't be sure about that," A grave voice said.
The white pikmin and I turned around to see the yellow budded pikmin behind us. He wasn't carrying any nectar with him and his bud seemed to droop behind his pale, sharp face.
"What's wrong," the white pikmin asked.
"We've used up a third of our nectar supply," replied the yellow budded pikmin. "In one morning, it's not even afternoon yet."
"And you're only telling us?" I said. "Shouldn't you announce it or something?"
"I knew I could tell you two," he answered. "You don't seem as cocky as some of the pikmin."
I nodded, remembering how overconfidence had led to the mushroom encounter. "The other pikmin should realize it soon enough," I said. "They've all stopped eating now."
"I don't know, I think we might have to start conserving more," said the white pikmin.
"We could take up leadership roles," suggested the yellow budded pikmin.
"No one's going to listen to us," I said. "We don't have any power. We've pretty much remained leaderless throughout this whole time."
The yellow budded pikmin paused, absorbing the words I had said. "Makes me wonder if we were ever meant to be out here," he spoke out.
I looked at him, confused at what he had said. "What do you mean?"
"Well maybe it would have been better if we had stayed……stayed with the Leader you know…."
"No definitely, absolutely not," I immediately cut in.
"I'm just saying….."
"No, why would you even think about doing that!?"
"Come on just let me say something……"
"The Leader abandoned us, abandoned you. Why would you want to stay with someone who controls you? Makes you do whatever it wants. And what's the benefit of it?"
"Well……"
"You die! You die a horrible death to some damn creature, while the Leader collects his giant metal treasures. The "Leader" doesn't care a single damn about you! That's why he left you to die in this damned forsaken hellhole!" I yelled the last words and gestured to the bitter, cold air and fog that surrounded us.
The yellow pikmin looked at me calmly before saying: "Look I know you're a mushroom pikmin and all but that doesn't mean…."
"Even if I am a mushroom pikmin I've experienced enough! I know for a fact that I would have died if I had stayed with those Leaders! You're only saying what that cause you've actually managed to survive what the Leader's put you through!"
"You're only saying what you're saying because those spores have infected your brain!" The yellow budded pikmin shot back.
A ghastly silence snaked through the air between us. We continued to glare at each other and said nothing. Finally the white pikmin broke the tension.
"I'm ah going to check on that other mushroom pikmin," he said, and then he looked at me. "I think I'll need your help."
I followed the white pikmin away from the yellow budded pikmin. I didn't bother to look back.
After grabbing a couple pieces of nectar. The white pikmin and I went to the edge of the clearing where the hair of the creature remained in separate piles. Each had been used as a bed for a pikmin. On one of these piles laid the unconscious mushroom pikmin.
I was glad the white pikmin hadn't brought up the Leader argument. I didn't want to talk about it anymore. Any mention of the Leader made me angry.
I glanced at the nectar blocks in each of our hands. "Going to feed him?" I asked.
The white pikmin snorted, "I doubt anyone else has bothered too."
He was probably right; everyone else seemed too occupied with themselves. The white pikmin had been very thoughtful to take care of this mushroom pikmin.
The white pikmin got beside the mushroom pikmin and went down on his knees. "Okay, you scratch some nectar flakes off with a stone. Then place it in his mouth while I keep it open."
"Okay," I replied, then, finding a good stone on the ground, I started scratching.
It was after a while when the white pikmin paused, seeming to notice something. He immediately closed the mushroom pikmin's mouth and started looking over his body.
"What's going on?" I questioned.
"The mushroom pikmin…he, um, seems to be stirring. I think he may be waking up." The white pikmin answered.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah look his arm's twitching!" The white pikmin pointed to the mushroom pikmin's left arm, which seemed to shake uncontrollably.
"Is this natural?" I asked. The shaking seemed to disturb me.
"Well this is what happened when the mushroom……."
The white pikmin stopped as the mushroom pikmin's arm went into spasms. It rose up and slammed into the ground again and again, disturbing the snow beneath it. The white pikmin reached over and tried to restrain it. But that's when the mushroom pikmin's eyes shot open.
The effect was so surprising I sprang back in shock, my mushroom stiffening in alarm. The white pikmin had abandoned the arm and stood up beside me. He wasn't really shocked, but a look of deep concern was sketched across his face. Then the mushroom pikmin started to talk in a deep hollow voice.
"Bow before me. Worship me, the master of all. I am your ruler and if you…"
I gave the white pikmin a look of shock. "The…mushroom!?"
The white pikmin nodded gravely. "It's using this pikmin as a mouthpiece."
"…kneel down and bless me. I will grant you eternal happiness, and you will join me on our quest to vanquish the leaders that poison our land. This land was meant to be ruled by pikmin, and all pikmin will rule if they accept me…"
The mushroom pikmin was cut off. The white pikmin had clubbed him across the face with the scratching stone that we had used.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked. I was still glad he had done it though.
"He might get up and try to attack us," the white pikmin replied.
Even though the white pikmin had hit the mushroom pikmin, it still had one more thing to say. Those final words were the ones that disturbed me the most.
"I will come for you, child."
"I'm not going to feed him again, I'm sorry"
"I understand."
"Oh gosh, I can't believe it; I just can't go near him anymore. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry it's fine."
We were sitting in the clearing, pondering on those words the mushroom pikmin said. We had brought some of the creature's fur with us so we could stay warm.
The cold wouldn't go away though, it seemed deep inside me. Running like sharp teeth through my insides. I was shivering violently, and other pikmin had gone to the pile of fur to copy our idea.
The white pikmin wasn't doing any better than I was. His usual scarlet eyes seemed to be a dull shade of pink. His white skin was now beginning to tint grey. The pink flower had flopped down to the side of his head. We both were losing energy, and it had only just reached midday.
We were forcing our selves to stay away from the depleted nectar pile. Other pikmin were noticing the lack of food and were doing the same thing. We all had the urge though, we all wanted to eat. We all wanted some nectar now.
"Like you said, things could always get worse." I exclaimed in a humorous tone to the white pikmin.
The white pikmin tried to laugh but it came out as hoarse cough.
"Oh well, just trying to lighten up the situation," I commented.
The white pikmin merely shrugged. Then he gazed around with his large amber eyes and exclaimed, "It's going to snow again."
It did indeed snow again, but not the gentle falling snow that occurred the day before. Instead huge gusts of wind blew wave after wave of icy shards at us. They swirled rapidly in huge cyclones; the air was laced with small white daggers. I could barely see the white pikmin beside me, let alone any other pikmin. I opened my mouth to say something, but the cold air plowed in through it, stabbing the back of my throat.
I closed my eyes because I could barely see anything anymore. My mushroom was numb; I could not feel it. The edges of my hands and feet were beginning to numb also. I kept swallowing my saliva as I was afraid it would freeze. I was shivering so violently that I couldn't stand up.
Then I heard a voice again, tiny and weak against the wind. At first I didn't commute to what is was saying, and then I began to truly listen. "……need to….. co…. combine our fur in one….. big..pi pile….stay close together…..retain h..heat….."
I opened my eyes and saw a blurry image of a red pikmin in front of me. I blinked a coupled of times and saw the red pikmin more clearly.
"Come….o.. on," the red pikmin. "Get…up…or …die."
He helped me up and then moved on. The white pikmin had gotten up too. The red pikmin gave us instructions. "Put…your wait no…put your fur..in the centre..add to pile."
I gave a shallow nod and scooped up some fur. A lot of it blew out of my arms, floating away and whipping through the air. To prevent this I scrunched the fur up against my body. It felt as cold as the air around me.
It took the white pikmin and me a minute to find the others. We could hardly see through the thick snow. We finally did spot them; their dim pale forms pathetically contrasting with the wall of white around us.
The other pikmin were throwing fur into a large pile. While having a large diameter, the fur only went up to my waist. I wasn't thinking straight and I was shivering a lot but I managed to instinctively put my fur into the pile too, without it blowing away.
The red pikmin seemed to be the least affected by the cold. They were instructing everyone else on what to do. Since they were resistant to fire they managed to maintain a high body temperature. Still they were shivering too.
A blue pikmin was doing even worse then I was. He shivered in great violent spasms. Between those he would pause and seem perfectly alright, but then another series of abrupt shivering would hit him. Then it seemed the shivering stopped all together. I eyed him a concerned look and was about to ask if he was okay. Before I could to that the blue pikmin raised his hand up to his stem (which was a blank white colour, no hint of blue at all) and seemed to prod it. With a small snap, his leaf tip stemmed fell off his head and landed in the soft snow at his feet. The blue pikmin, stemless, slowly looked down at it before his whole body crumpled and fell to the ground.
I looked at the blue pikmin in shock. He seemed dead and he looked very strange without a stem. That's when a red pikmin instructed "Okay everyone lay down in the pile, keep close to each other, it will keep body heat!"
I didn't seem to care; I was too busy staring at the dead blue pikmin. I let the image burn into my eyes. A red pikmin came up beside me, looked down and said, "I'm afraid he is dead."
I would've said something but I was too tired so I only vaguely nodded. Then, without looking behind me, I fell back into the pile of fur.
I was lying sideways. Squashed between two other pikmin with only a sliver of fur between us. I was warm though, I could feel a spark of heat from a red beside me. The cold could barely reach us anymore; it would not claim another victim, I was sure of that. I couldn't sleep though, there were troubling images flashing through my head. I knew I wasn't dreaming as my senses were fully intact. But the images wouldn't go away.
Stemless pikmin crumpling to the ground
Rocks flying through the air, caused by the cyans' flingers
The leader throwing pikmin after pikmin into the maw of a great creature
A cyan stomping down on my neck
The desert and cold morphing together, creating a place of unbearable torment
The mushroom, surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of mushroom pikmin who bowed down and began chanting
Me, in front of the mushroom. Who looked down upon me before shaking his massive body causing spore after spore to envelope me
Then voice of the mushroom whispering into my ear, "You are powerless to resist me"
Next chapter "Target" (Name subject to change) should be up during September. I promise.
The "flinger" was really a sling. A simplistic ranged weapon used in ancient times, also used on trebuchets.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!