Darn, I just missed the end of August. Oh well, Summer vacation's still going strong for me, but it dies out on Tuesday...
Note: The pikmin that dies in the last chapter, died because of extreme hypothermia. The body stops shivering because it has given up on trying to keep itself warm. Just though I'd say that.
Thanks to all my reviewers, this fast update is for you!
Target
No pikmin can escape death, it is inevitable. You will all die, sooner or later. All pikmin will die. Join me and you will not suffer……join me…
More voices, clouding my mind, obscuring everything else. I shook my head, hoping they would go away. But they wouldn't leave; they probed their way in, speaking softly yet fiercely.
You won't have to worry about a thing…
I tried to focus on my surroundings. I hoped it would push the voices out, yet I was completely disoriented. I couldn't keep my head straight.
Go willingly…
I found myself lying down. I was warm and snug; I didn't open my eyes but tried to remember anything, just to get rid of the voice.
Escape everything else…
Where was I?
I'm lying on the ground, in the forest.
Why am I lying down?
Sleeping? No….I am doing this to prevent myself from freezing to death.
Death can come in other ways…
Concentrate harder…
What am I?
I am a mushroom pikmin.
You are mine…
Frustrated, I sat up. I found myself breathing heavily, I must have fallen asleep but I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure about anything, I felt disoriented and confused. I needed to focus on something, get my senses in order. I gazed at all my surroundings, to find something that would keep me focused.
I was in the clearing of the forest. It wasn't as cold any more, and the snow was now gently falling. The storm and the freeze had passed. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, sparkling white, glinting as it reflected the sun. Yes the sun was out! I looked up and I saw it high up in the sky. Judging by its position it was late in the day, though the sky was still a dark rich blue. The huge tree branches and their needles all gleamed white. It looked like a completely different world. It had transformed into something breathtaking. I didn't even notice until later that the voice was gone.
All the other pikmin were still lying down in the bed of fur, all of them probably asleep. I didn't want to bother them so I traversed to the far end of the clearing. The snow felt cool on my feet, not cold. I was feeling alright, except that I realized I was hungry.
I looked at the nectar pile. I wondered if the blocks were unfrozen, which meant I wouldn't need a scratching stone. Eagerly I jogged over to the nectar pile and grabbed a small piece. It felt warm in my hands, which comforted me. Eagerly I shoved a corner of the piece into my mouth.
A sweet taste immediately filled my mouth, radiating my tongue with a mellow flavour. Happily I bit down on the end; it detached from the main piece and floated into my mouth. I felt it dissolve and delicately slip down my throat. All my worries disappeared, and with every bite I became more indifferent to the outside…..
"You shouldn't be eating that."
I paused and spun around to see the yellow budded pikmin standing there. I look of anger flickered onto my face, I remembered the argument earlier today. The yellow budded pikmin seemed to remember it too as he mirrored my angry face.
"Trying to get up early and sneak off with some eating?" The yellow pikmin shook his head. "We won't have enough nectar to last two more days if this keeps up you know!"
"I'm not stupid!" I shot back. "I'm not going to eat the whole freaking pile!"
"You can't just go around eating privately," snapped the yellow budded pikmin. "We need to eat as a group! We need to ration our supplies!"
"Well then I'm eating my ration!" I shouted, "And here's yours!" I threw a piece of nectar at the yellow budded pikmin. It glanced off his shoulder and landed at the ground in front of him. The yellow budded pikmin picked it up carefully, as if it were broken, and lobbed it back onto the pile.
"I know you still have that leader conversation still in your head," the yellow pikmin said. "But let us put that behind us."
"This isn't about the leader, I didn't even mention him," I broke out, even angrier that he would mention that.
"Oh come on, I know it's all about that. But try to get over it all," the yellow pikmin sounded like he was starting to plead. "It's in the past. Let us worry about now."
"The past is one thing I'm trying to run from. But I know it is catching up," I said.
"Don't think you're the only one who's had it harsh," the yellow budded pikmin replied.
"Well don't think I've had it easy," I snapped.
"I never thought you've had it easy, you've probably have had it worse than most, but that's no reason to be selfish or arrogant," the yellow pikmin said.
"It's also no reason to think we should go back to the leader."
"Listen damn it, I'm just trying to keep us alive and help everyone out! Not just myself! While you're to stubborn to even listen to me!" The yellow budded pikmin was now screaming.
"Oh I am listening to you, but all I hear is the same crap coming from you, it's all about the damned leader!"
"I am not; I'm trying to reason with you!"
"Well stop trying," I said icily. Then I turned my back to him and began to walk away.
"Where are you going?" The yellow budded asked in an icy tone.
"I'm going to find food; someone has to do that, am I right?"
Exiting the clearing, I decided on a random direction and began to trudge through the snow. I realized we had never exited the clearing to explore the surrounding landscape. No wonder we were running out of food.
I stayed close to the trunks of the trees that towered above me. The snow was much shallower near the tree trunks making it easier for me to maneuver. At first, finding nectar was merely an excuse to get away from the yellow budded pikmin. Now, though, I realized it was very important, we needed food.
I was traveling very far and every place seemed to look the same. I was so small and this forest was huge. Luckily, because of the snow, my feet left small tracks in the snow. They would be easy to follow back and they would lead me to the clearing.
I continued to walk, that is when I heard a soft noise. It sounded like something buzzing and slowly it began to get louder. I looked around frantically hoping to get a look at it, to see if it was an enemy.
From my left, the producer of the noise came into view, soaring around a tree trunk. It was flying through the air on two transparent wings, which were very small compared to its bulging brown body. I stared at the ridiculous looking creature as it soared above me, and then saw something that gave me a spark of surprise. Was that?
I spun around to get another look at the creature. It was! Wedged between its two crooked limbs, the creature was carrying a blue pellet. It had found food!
Anxiously, I traced the creature's course. It had appeared at the third tree on my right. This was the only lead I had, but it was certainly better than nothing.
Rounding said tree, noticed a slight rise in the ground. It was a small hill but it took a lot of effort to climb up it due to the deep snow. At the top, the hill started to slope down immediately, opening into a valley below. I glanced down, maintaining my vantage point. I looked for any signs of vegetation. Suddenly I noticed something that didn't match in the sea of dark brown bark and glistening white. I squinted harder and there, in the shade, was a dozen pellet producing flowers.
And a small group of cyan pikmin harvesting the pellets…
I threw myself down upon the ground instinctively, getting over the initial shock of it. My face was buried in snow so I cautiously looked up. A mound of snow was in my way so I nervously brushed it away and gazed down towards the cyans.
I stopped breathing. They seemed to be looking right at me, staring as if they had noticed my movements. A few moments passed by before they resumed harvesting pellets. To my mild surprise, there seemed to be some cyan coloured pellets growing off of some of the plants. The cyan pikmin obviously harvested these. They also harvested the other usual pellets too; red, blue and yellow. They destroyed the plants holding the pellets in a rather unique way. They curled their whip like stem around the upper part of the plant. Then with a sharp tug, the plant's stem broke in two and the pellet fell from above.
That is when my senses perked up. It took me a moment to realize it…someone was behind me.
I wheeled around, springing to my feet, mushroom flinging through the air. And with a twist of my stem, the mushroom hit… the yellow budded pikmin.
He landed on the snow with a soft thud, a startled look upon his face. I mirrored his look, before my face turned into one of disdain. "What are you doing here?!" I asked in a sharp tone.
"I saw that creature too and that it was carrying a pellet, so I knew that there must be food somewhere," the yellow budded pikmin replied. "I want to help the rest of us."
"I might need some help, but there seems to be a few problems," I replied mechanically.
"Did you find food?"
"Yes, but a few cyans' beat us to it."
The yellow budded was interested by this and glanced over the mound to take a look. The glance turned into a long stare, a look of concern developing across his face. "They, ah, they don't seem to be there," he breathed.
"What!" I said quickly, and then I took a look myself. "They left all of their pellets."
The yellow's stem stiffened in alarm, seeing a great danger in this. "We need to go, now!"
We sprinted down the hill, stumbling through the thick snow. My mushroom pulsed with energy and I was breathing hard. The yellow pikmin looked as scared as I did, he led the way. He remembered to follow the tracks that we had left on our way here.
Still running we reached the first tree, but we didn't dare to stop. We needed to get away from here, get back to the others. That's when I remembered something…the stones.
"Get behind the next tree!"
"What…why?"
"Flingers…..just do it, damn it!"
"What are flingers?"
"DO IT!"
The yellow pikmin complied and dove behind the nearest trunk. I quickly followed suite and found myself bolted against the rough bark of the trunk, next to the yellow budded pikmin. We both were shaking, not from the cold though.
The yellow pikmin gave me a glare. "We need to get back!"
"You don't think I know that! But we can be killed if we stay in the open!"
"How!"
"Flying stones, they'll kill us!"
The yellow pikmin gave me a confused look. But then he seemed to remember something and gave a short nod. Then he edged himself around the trunk of the tree to get a look.
"No, wait what are you doi….."
The yellow pikmin was already back, looking pale in the face and breathing even harder. "Ther…there are two of them…..they are chec…checking our tracks…."
I looked desperately for a place to hide, a cave of some sort, somewhere perfect. But it was all trees and snow…
The yellow budded pikmin had gone for another look. He came back looking even more terrified. "They've vanished, I can't see them….oh they could be anywhere…"
"We need to stay quiet," I said, but my voice was wavering, an aura of fear and inevitability had come over me. A terror like nothing before.
I felt totally exposed and had the pressing urge to run, but I knew we were doomed if we did that. But were we not doomed either way?
A low buzzing sound came from above, fear turned into puzzlement as me and the yellow pikmin looked up. The same creature that had been carrying a pellet was back, hovering high above us. Scanning the terrain with red eyes……
…the rock from the flinger narrowly missed me. Instead, it hit the trunk right next to my face. Hitting it with such force that splintered bark brushed against my face. I fought against the instinct to dive to the ground. Instead I glanced towards the yellow budded pikmin, who nodded again.
Then we started to run.
Deep snow or not, we ran as fast as we could. I didn't look around at the dangers, but at the tracks that led the way to safety ahead of us. The buzzing of the creature above us was drowned out, when suddenly the ground exploded beside me. Snow showered in my face and the force of the bomb rock almost made me fall. I had to pin wheel my arms to keep upright.
The next bomb rock hit to right of the yellow budded pikmin. He yelped in surprise and moved to the left, getting away from the crater that had formed. Another explosion came from behind us, farther than the last two but still frightening.
Suddenly we were surrounded by bomb rocks exploding. I could feel the heat of each one as they narrowly missed. The noise was deafening, I couldn't hear anything else.
I…just…had…to...keep...running.
The yellow pikmin was trying to shout something to me. I couldn't hear him though, than he shouted impossibly loud. I could just slightly hear his voice through the loud blasts of bomb rocks.
"Zig-zag! Don't move straight!"
I made no sign of agreement, but just cut across the snow diagonally, away from the yellow pikmin. A bomb rock hit the snow in front of me, I slipped in the snow trying to change direction and get away from the blast. I was now running back towards the yellow pikmin. Another explosion, behind me, if I had been a few seconds slow I would have been dead.
Two bomb rocks hit the area between me and the yellow pikmin, creating a massive explosion. I couldn't see the yellow pikmin anymore and I looked fearfully through the kicked up snow. Still, nothing. But I had to keep running.
Another explosion. Boom. And I felt some thing hard hit me in the chest. I stumbled, falling down to the snow. My head felt dizzy, everything I heard was muffled. Everything I saw was a great, smudged blur.
Get up…..
Another bomb rock to my right. The heat scorching my skin.
Get up!
I pushed myself up with both hands. My head was starting to clear, but I could barely run. Something wet was trickling down my arm. I limped weakly towards the nearest tree, trying to get away. It was futile though.
In the corner of my eye, I noticed the yellow budded pikmin screaming and running towards me. Then the bomb rock hit. Boom. And the yellow budded pikmin's body flew through the air, crashing into the snow in front of me.
This time it was me who was screaming. But I couldn't hear my voice over everything else, everything that did not matter anymore. The yellow pikmin lay sprawled across the snow, eyes half open and unseeing.
I made it the rest of the way and knelt beside him. I was shouting into his long pointy ears, telling him to get up. This time I could hear my voice because the bomb rocks had stopped. All I could hear was my shouting, the buzzing off the flying creature still above, and the demented cheers of cyan pikmin.
"COME ON! Get up damn it!" I screamed. Desperately I tried to hoist him over my shoulder, but his limp body felt like a ton. I was too weak to carry him, I just didn't have it.
Through eyes glazed with tears, I watched as the cyans ran towards us. Some carried flingers; others had sharpened sticks in their hands. Everything was in slow motion and I could see the flying creature dive down and snatch up two of the cyan pikmin. But it couldn't snatch up all of them. Half of the cyan pikmin turned their attention towards the flying thing, apparently annoyed. Now one of the cyans still running towards us took his sharp stick and threw it at us.
The stick flew through the air before it embedded itself in the snow. Very close to where I stood. In desperation I took the yellow budded pikmin's arms and started to drag his body across the ground. Even though I knew he was dead a part of my mind refused to believe it. It couldn't happen, not now. Another sharp stick flew by me and landed in the snow ahead of me.
The third stick ripped through the side of my neck before landing with the last one. I screamed in pain and let go of the yellow pikmin and collapsed to the ground. I clasped my hands over the gash trying to stop the fluid from gushing out. Already though the snow around me was stained a dark purple. I tried to press some cool snow against the wound. But the snow strangely melted and became water burning my neck even more. I dropped the rest of the snow horrified by the discovery.
I crawled back to the yellow pikmin, who lay there in the snow. Not caring, indifferent about the dangers the surrounded us. I grabbed another stick that had hit the snow beside us. I wanted to hit one of the cyans, kill one of them first. I tried to stand up and throw it, but my legs didn't seem to work. It was even hard to get up on my knees.
That's when another sharp stick flew through the air and embedded itself in the yellow budded pikmin's torso. The yellow pikmin's eyes seemed to shoot opened and he let out a long cry of agony. I stared at him in disbelief before saying, "Don't touch it, I'll pull it out okay?" The yellow pikmin started to pant, coughing up yellow fluid that spilled over his body. But he gave me a quick nod.
I grasped my hands around the stick, ignoring the fluid the continued to gush out of my neck. I pulled as hard as I could, but the stick would not budge. The yellow budded pikmin also curled his two hands around the stick and tried to help too. The stick started to come free…
While pulling, I glanced back at the cyans. They where right there, they would be on us in a few mere seconds. Even if I did get the stick out of the yellow budded pikmin, we were still dead. It was inevitable, we could not win.
That's when the flying creature swooped down again. A look off greed shone in its two red eyes as it snatched up two of the nearest cyan pikmin. In its flight it managed to knock down the rest as well. The cyan pikmin screamed in outrage as they stumbled back up. The flying creature meanwhile, took its two latest victims in its crooked legs and flew high up into the air. Then, with a swift motion, the creature threw them at the ground. The cyan pikmin fell at a considerable speed and punctured through the snow. Only their long stems could be seen and they seemed to be trapped.
The stick was now almost out of the yellow pikmin. The more we pulled though, the more pain the yellow seemed to be in. Finally only the sharp tip remained, it was lodged in there hard. Desperately I gave it a strong yank, but the yellow pikmin screamed in agony. Fluid had bubbled out of the wound and was dripping off of his body. I hesitated, not knowing what to do. The yellow pikmin despite in much pain gave me a hard look and said "Do it, do it or I will die."
I pulled harder and the yellow pikmin screamed. The stick edged slowly out but the yellow pikmin screamed even louder, neon fluid gurgling everywhere. It was worth it though, as the stick came free. It was soaked with innards and it had left a bad wound in the yellow pikmin.
"Can you walk?" I asked.
"I…don't know," the yellow pikmin gasped.
"We need to try, so we can…make it to cover," I replied.
The cyan pikmin had their complete attention turned towards the flying creature. The flying creature dived towards a small group of them, but the cyan pikmin dived out of the way. They began to load their flingers with fresh chunks of bomb rocks…
The yellow pikmin tried to stand up. But there was nothing to support him, so he collapsed to the ground. I tried to stand and was successful, but my legs felt so weak.
"Here I'll try to support you," I said. Reaching down, I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him from the ground. The yellow pikmin put his arm around my shoulder and tried to support some of himself. He still felt heavy and I didn't know if I could keep us upright. The yellow budded pikmin noticed this and planted his good leg into the snow. It kept us standing and using the three legs we began to hobble towards the nearest tree.
BOOM
I heard an explosion behind us and fearfully looked back. The flying creature was wavering in the air, looking very unsteady. The cyan's below where cheering again as they prepared to load their slings with more bomb rock pieces. I realized that the flying creature had been hit by a bomb rock chunk. Its bloated back had been blown open and one of its wings was missing. It was trying to maintain flight, but it seemed unfocused and too weak. And with a final buzz with its one remaining wing, it fell towards the earth.
And towards the yellow pikmin and I.
"Take cover!"
In a desperate act, I threw the yellow pikmin upon the ground and then dove after him. I buried myself into the snow as the creature, plummeted and hit the ground right behind me. The ground shook as a wave of snow engulfed us. I couldn't see the yellow budded pikmin at all. I dug myself out of the displaced snow and looked around in desperation. I could see the yellow pikmin's head and stem sticking out of the snow. He began to dig himself out of the snow with my help. A buzzing sound that came from behind us told me the creature was still alive.
"Here take my hand; I'll try to lift you…"
A spindly brown arm suddenly snatched the yellow pikmin, hoisting him into the air. I felt something grab me too, and then I was lifted up into the air. The creature was trying to fly again, and it was still following its pikmin snatching instincts. I had never wanted to fly, and a dizzying feeling of nausea came over me. It was having a hard time flying, it's buzzing wing would choke and sputter. We were close to the ground and the flight was unsteady, dipping and rising in spasms. I glanced at the yellow budded pikmin, he looked as sick as I did.
The cyan pikmin were shouting behind us, but it didn't matter we were getting away. I didn't like the feeling of flight, but it was for the best. My instincts were urging me to struggle, but I fought them.
BOOM
A bomb rock it a tree that we were soaring by, bark splintering into the creature's face. I had forgotten about the bomb rocks. Suddenly the fear was back and I started to struggle, wanting to get out of the creature's limbs……
BOOM
The creature was launched forwards as the bomb rock hit it in the back. The propelling motion was so violent; it felt as though my mushroom would be yanked off due to velocity. I struggled even more, not wanting to be crushed when we hit the snow. The creature's limbs suddenly unhooked themselves from my body, and then I was in a free fall. The yellow budded pikmin was falling beside me, and then something hot and wet splashed in my face. I couldn't see, but it felt as if I was falling for miles.
Then I hit the ground.
Even with the soft snow to cushion my fall, it still hurt. My legs were crushed under the weight of the rest of my body, which crumpled as the ground pounded it like a creature's foot. Then a sharp pain erupted in my skull and I let out a scream. My body urged me to let go and drift into unconsciousness. My instincts though were perked up as high as they could be. If I let go, it was all over.
I lifted myself out of the pocket of snow and looked around. The creature had crashed far ahead of us, well what remained of the creature. Bits and pieces of smoking flesh littered the ground, dotting a path to its carcass. That's not what I wanted to see though. Where was the yellow?
I looked beside me and there was no sign, not even a mark in the snow to signify an impact. I looked to my other side, nothing there except one of the creatures's blown off limbs. Before panic could settle in, I saw the yellow budded pikmin behind me. He seemed close, but what bothered me was the cyan pikmin that were quickly closing in on us.
A jolt of adrenaline pulsed through me. I pushed myself up and started to limp towards the yellow pikmin. I could barely feel my sore foot anymore though, so I started to run. I needed to get the yellow pikmin, than get us to cover.
"Come on! Get up!" I screamed as I reached the yellow pikmin. Fortunately he was still conscious and he was trying to stand himself up, but he was too weak.
"You go…I'll stall them"
"Don't even think about it!" I yanked him out of the snow, pulling him to his feet at the same time. Then I was heading for the nearest tree, the yellow pikmin half walking, half dragging behind him me.
…I felt the rush of air as a bomb rock hissed by, inches from my head…
...A burning heat scorched my mushroom, as the bomb rock exploded beside me…
…My body was stumbling backwards, as the shockwave hit me…
And then I had reached the trunk. I raced around the curved base until I was sure the cyans could not hit us. The yellow pikmin was finally able to stand, and he was leaning heavily on the bark and panting. I pressed my back against the bark too and didn't dare to glance at the approaching cyans yet. The warm, rough feel of the tree felt welcoming as tears of pain and gratitude streamed down my face.
It didn't take long for the first cyan to get to the tree. As soon as he rounded the corner and came to the view, I got up and planted myself between the yellow budded pikmin and the cyan. My mushroom was behind my head ready to smoke the cyan if the bastard came too close.
The cyan pikmin looked at me and smiled, shaking his head at the same time. "You know and I know that you are in no condition to fight me. Give up and I'll give to you what mercy I have left."
"Stay back, stay back or I will kill you before you can even blink."
"How."
"You will have no idea…."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
I spun around to see the yellow pikmin screaming in pain. Behind him was a cyan pikmin, its steam lying limply on the ground. He had whipped him.
"Ah, you also have seemed to forget that you are outnumbered. Do you care to explain how you will kill all of us?" The first cyan pikmin asked softly.
"I will not hesitate to kill your friend here," the second cyan added. "Don't try anything, or he'll get much worse than a whippi…"
The cyan pikmin never got to finish his sentence, because the stone that had been aimed at him, struck him in the chest. The cyan flew backwards screaming in pain. Then he hit his head on the bark with such force that the screaming abruptly stopped.
I looked at where the stone had come from and there, far away, was the group of coloured pikmin charging at us. In the midst was the white pikmin, a flinger in his hand.
The cyan pikmin looked as shocked as I did. He looked even more surprised when I took the opportunity to slam my mushroom into his face. The cyan pikmin fell backwards; trying to defend himself but my uppercut still hit him square in the chin. His limp body hit the ground seconds later, and I resisted the urge to stomp my foot onto his face.
A cluster of bomb rocks, flung by unseen cyan pikmin, made a beeline for the pikmin. The coloured pikmin scattered, diving behind tree trunks as explosions rocked the ground. When the smoke cleared I could see that none of the coloured pikmin had gotten hit.
I watched as a group of cyans charged passed our tree, ignoring us, intent on the bigger threat. A red pikmin took advantage of this opportunity, stepping out from his cover with the flinger to get a shot off. If that pikmin had the flinger though, where was the white pikmin? The red pikmin's shot was successful as it hit a cyan pikmin in the thigh, disabling him. The cyan screamed as a turquoise liquid gushed from the wound.
The cyan pikmin stopped their advance; one of them with a flower ordered a leaf to tend to the injured cyan. The remaining cyan's split into two groups, one started to head to the left side, probably hoping to flank my friends. The remaining were armed with flingers, they stayed out in the open, probably to give cover fire. I noticed that two cyan pikmin carried large sacks, made from the same material as the flingers. These seemed to carry the bomb rocks.
Luckily the yellow budded pikmin and I were on the right side. We could circle around and meet our pikmin on the flank. That is if there were any of our pikmin still alive when we got there.
"Come on," I urged the yellow pikmin. "I think we can make it to safety."
The yellow pikmin nodded. When I made a move to help him, he stopped me. "I think I can…walk now."
I returned a nod and we headed right, away from the battle and towards a thick line of tree trunks. That would supply us decent cover to return to our friends. The yellow pikmin had a very weak leg and limped heavily, but he seemed to have recovered well. I was even happier to know that there was still a chance that we could make out alive.
Both sides in the battle seemed to have even ground. The small group of cyan's armed with flingers were pounding bomb rock after bomb rock into the trees that the coloured pikmin were hiding behind. The bark seemed badly burnt and beyond repair, but the trees were too thick. Bomb rocks could barely damage the tree as a whole. And the cyan pikmin seemed to have overused the rocks as they were down to only a handful of them. The second cyan group was nowhere in sight, which I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
The yellow and I had made it to the tree line. The battle was pretty far away and a sense of security began to comfort me. The sound of explosions had stopped which meant that there were no more bomb rocks in play.
"Hey! Over here!"
I looked ahead of us to see the white pikmin racing past the trees. He was happily waving to us, but his voice had sounded tense. I let a smile creep across my face as I returned the wave, the yellow pikmin behind me doing so as well.
"How did you all know to come here?" I asked as he approached us.
"We'll your friend here actually had the brains to tell a red pikmin that he was going to find food," the white pikmin explained. He made a gesture of thanks to the yellow budded pikmin, who nodded weakly. "Then we heard the explosions and we figured something bad had happened."
"Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much."
The white pikmin shrugged. "I also taught a couple of them how to use the flinger." He then pointed towards a group of cyan pikmin running for cover. Flingers were in there hands, but they were useless without bomb rocks. I watched as a stone bolted through the air and nicked a straggler in the stem.
The white pikmin seemed relived by this. Letting out a huge sigh, he said, "Good, seems like they've beat us to the retreat."
"Great," the yellow pikmin said. "I say we get back to the main group."
We both nod in agreement and started to head in the direction that the white pikmin had appeared. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and I started to feel tired. I now realized how hungry I actually was. I wondered how much nectar we still had left, if there was any left.
"I should never have gone, I almost killed us both," I started to say.
"Yes you should have, you did it for the good of everyone. You were trying to find food," the yellow budded pikmin replied.
"No I was selfish, I used the whole food idea as an excuse. I just wanted to get away from you."
I waited for the yellow budded pikmin's reply, but it never came. Amused I said, "Is it really that surprising?"
The white pikmin and I sensed the danger at the same time. We turned around and saw the yellow pikmin, one of the cyan's sharp sticks jutting out of him. Everything seemed fuzzy as I started to run towards him, even as he collapsed to the ground. I was screaming by then, screaming at the yellow budded pikmin, screaming at the white pikmin. Even before I could reach the yellow pikmin, I felt a searing pain in my torso. I looked down to see the sharp end of the stick that had burst through my left side.
I fell to my knees, feeling light headed, it was hard to breath. The white pikmin was beside me, pushing and pulling on the stick, trying to keep me upright. Then the white pikmin was pulled away by one of three cyan pikmin, who had gathered around us. I felt like I was going to die, and this, this scene that was unraveling before me, was going to be the last thing I witnessed in this cruel world.
"You idiot!" screamed one of the cyan's. "You've managed to kill one of them and seriously wound the other!"
"Who cares, we can still take them back," insisted another.
"What you're going to do, carry them?"
"No, but that one….." He seemed to be pointing at me.
"That one's too weak to travel, he won't last!"
"We could give him nectar………"
"Never! You don't realize how limited our supply is do you?"
"Well……"
"Shut up! Never mind, we got what we wanted; we all decided we wanted to try something different right?" The cyan was gesturing at the white pikmin who struggled in his arms. "Well this guy looks different."
"He's so small though….."
"We caught him though! So we claim him!"
Then they were gone, running swiftly away. I didn't bother to look at them; I already realized that they had taken my white friend. That was enough; I knew I couldn't die yet. But my body had already seemed to decide for me and I gave one last shallow breath before everything vanished into a hazy red. A red that blotted out all hope…
Very long action scene there. But it's meant to set up the next part of the story.
Expect the next chapter up..sometime. But thanks for reading this one!