Take a deep breath or pinch yourself, you're not dreaming . Spored really was updated this quickly!!!
Disclaimer: Vrex will be sued if he even jokes about owning pikmin
Red n' blue
"What's happening to him?"
"I think he's waking up…"
The voices came from the far side of our group. They sounded urgent and it prodded my immediate attention. I took the nectar out of my mouth and began to wander towards the pikmin who were attracting such commotion.
We had been traveling for a day and a half now, following various signs that the cyan's had left us. They were usually in the form of the spidering dots that were left by pikmin's feet. It felt actually pretty good to be traveling again and to not be staying in one place. I surprisingly felt safer when I was on the move and less of a sitting target. We had been extremely lucky so far in our journey, finding numerous nectar pieces and pellets. There had been little encounters with creatures of any sort. It was beginning to feel too easy. The urgent voices now had been the only thing to have sparked my unease.
The two pikmin that had been speaking had drawn the attention of everyone else in our group. I had to shuffle around many pikmin to get a better look. Finding a gap, I was able to glance at the source of our sudden awareness.
It was the unconscious mushroom pikmin. Only that he was not unconscious any more, he seemed to be coughing and groaning. He shook his head multiple times as if trying to shake something off of it, nothing was there though. He started to blink multiple times, exposing the pure white of his eyes each time. It felt like I was looking at a perfect reflection of myself and I started to feel a bit intimidated.
"Get him some nectar," a blue shouted. The blue himself was busy trying to help the mushroom pikmin sit up. He was successful though the mushroom pikmin seemed to sway slightly, like a leaf in a light breeze.
Nectar came in a few moments and was thrusted into the mushroom pikmin's hands. He grasped it tiredly and delicately took a bite with his mouth. After taking forever to swallow he let out a deep sigh. That's when he seemed to notice his body; he eyed his purple arm before moving it up to tenderly touch his mushroom. His eyes seemed to droop in despair. "What happened to me?" he asked, his voice was quavering.
"You were spored by a mushroom back in the desert," a yellow replied flatly.
"But…"
"Don't worry we'll find a way to put you back to normal. And this guy as well," the yellow pointed at me and I raised my eye at him. Shrugging the yellow turned back to the other mushroom pikmin. "You're safe with us," he confirmed with a nod.
Safe. Hardly, we will never be safe. Where we were going right now was anything but safe. I know the yellow pikmin was just trying to comfort this mushroom pikmin, but his words still bothered me like an itch.
The mushroom pikmin was in good condition and was able to do everything without assistance. When we resumed our trek he was able to keep a steady pace without tiring. Pretty good for a pikmin who's been unconcious for numerous days.
I was uneasy around him though. I remembered that time when the mushroom had used him as a mouthpiece and had spoken to me. The idea of this was more alarming than the words the mushroom had actually said.
These thoughts clouded my mind from my main mission. The cyan's lay out there with the white pikmin; who I had no idea whether he was dead or alive. It could already be a lost cause already. I could just be leading myself towards something that was impossible to win. If that was the case though, the white pikmin already dead, then the idea of revenge would appear as delicious as a piece of nectar…
We had found more cyan tracks by late afternoon. A yellow was situated at the front of the group, leading us on. The skies above were completely clear so we did not have to worry about snow fall. I was at the rear, constantly gazing behind us for any signs of creatures. That flinger that was once the white's was in my hand. I was doing this when the other mushroom pikmin appeared beside me.
I gave him a blank look before saying, "What do you want?"
"To talk to you," was his steady reply.
"Why?"
He smiled at my indifferent attitude and said, "We're both the same. We're different than the rest; I think it's fair to say that we should know each other."
I may have looked indifferent on the outside but inside I was nervous. Thoughts of the mushroom flickered on and off in my head. I really did not want to be around the mushroom pikmin. "Just because we're both mushroom pikmin doesn't mean we are the same."
"We are the same in their eyes," the mushroom pikmin gave a gesture towards everyone else in the clearing. "We're seen as not pikmin. We are looked at as something that can't be like them. We've been attached to a different entity, a mushroom and for all they care we still are attached."
A chill went through me. "Not everyone thinks that. Besides a lot of them were once mushroom pikmin too."
"They were mushroom pikmin, but not anymore."
"They are only just normal pikmin," I said. "They're still our friends."
"Are they?" The mushroom pikmin said. "There is someone they put more love into than anyone in this group."
The answered appeared into my head. I didn't speak it because it was so clear. The mushroom pikmin gave me a nod and then walked back towards the front of the group.
Maybe we were the same…
The forest was beginning to change now. As I walked I noticed that the "Evergreen" trees were slowly getting replaced by the normal looking trees that lacked any leaves. It was odd looking at these trees now, maybe because it was their leaves that made them whole and not naked. Looking up into the maze of branches I could see numerous creatures scurrying up and down, carving their way through the bark. They were so high up that they didn't seem a threat.
We were going to find a place to settle for the night soon. The sun was beginning to melt on the horizon causing colours to splash across the sky. I would envy if the clouds returned right now, blocking my view of this wonder.
"There's something over there!"
The call came from the front of the group. Everyone immediately turned their attention towards the individual min. It was a red and he was pointing to our left. I looked that way along with everyone else. I squinted but couldn't see anything of mild interest, just trees and a waving sea of snow. Slowly other pikmin reacted.
"Is that…"
"No it's impossible."
"Yet look, there they are!"
Pikimn began to run towards this invisible object and I was subject to follow. It seemed it must have been good as pikmin around me gave cries of joy, whopping and hollering happily. I fixed my eyes up ahead, until I saw…
No…
That's impossible…
Up ahead lay the three onions, blue yellow and red. They sat in a small valley legs embedded in the snow. Around them were small clusters of pikmin, but even more shocking was the fact that a leader's vessel was with the onions.
It was a different vessel then last time. Last time the vessel seemed as fascinating as our onions. This vessel seemed rusted and bent up as if some creature had took it in its great maw and bit down on it before throwing it back to the ground. I would have been surprised if this piece of junk could fly. Yet this vessel alone had caused a stroke of fear to overcome me.
We stopped at the edge of the valley, looking over this shocking discovery. The pikmin down below hadn't noticed us yet. The more I stayed gazing at this improbability the more I wanted to leave and take everyone with me. But something told there was no way I could convince anyone to leave without an explanation.
A blue pikmin whispered anxiously," What should we do?"
"We should talk to them."
"But…"
"We are pikmin too. They will befriend us."
As everyone chattered around me my eyes remained fixed on the vessel. My breaths became shallow and my mind swirled with possibilities. Possibilities that needed to be answered. Hesitating, I shouted out to the pikmin below, "Where is the leader?"
All the pikmin in the valley below looked upward at us. When they saw me their stems stiffened in alarm. A red pikmin beside me, the same one I had talked to two days ago quickly said, "Don't worry this mushroom pikmin along with the other are with us. You have no need to fear them."
A yellow pikmin in the valley shouted up to us, "Where have you come from?"
"You still haven't answered my question," I yelled back. "Where is the leader?"
The yellow pikmin cautiously approached the foot of the valley before gazing back up to us, "You mean leaders."
"What?" The red pikmin said in surprise.
"There are two leaders," the yellow pikmin continued. "The red leader and the blue leader."
"Red n' Blue!" Chorused the pikmin in the valley below.
"Where are these leaders," I pressed again.
"They are exploring in a cave," A yellow explained, "looking for treasure."
Probably to fix up their rusted space ship. "A cave, underground?" The red pikmin asked.
"Indeed, have you not ventured underground before?"
My mind was boiling with visions, possibilities, fear. The red pikmin replied, "No, I did not think it was possible."
"How long have they been here?" I asked, my was voice cracking when I said it.
The yellow pikmin looked at his friends for a confirmation. He whispered, they nodded, and then he looked back up. "This is their six day."
When he said this my eye caught something that inhaled my attention. I squinted my eyes to see if it was true, and it was. Standing among the pikmin were purple pikmin. They didn't resemble me any bit besides our colour. No, they were plump as a ripe berry, and had a leaf, bud or flower not a mushroom. The flowers were pink in colour, but what difference was that? How could there be two pikmin of the same colour and not look the same. Was I not even a pikmin any more?
What was I?
"The leaders," I said to the yellow pikmin. "What do you do for them?"
"Exactly what pikmin are supposed to do," the yellow answered curtly.
"Then they haven't changed at all, have they?"
"Why should they change their ways?"
"Shouldn't you all know," I muttered sorely. I turned to our group and said to them, "It is going to be dark soon. We can make a bit more ground and get away from here."
"Why?"
A blue pikmin had said this; I turned around to face him and gave a tired look. "Listen…" I began.
"I see no reason to leave," The blue stubbornly crossed his arms. "This is where we belong; I want no more part in whatever you're planning."
"Planning!? This is not…"
"We've heard you muttering in your sleep, and the other guy too." He gestured to the other mushroom pikmin. "That mushroom, you're talking to it. Communicating to that thing." His words were venomous.
"I would never think such a damn thing!" I was enraged; my mushroom was curled up behind me.
"You plan to take us back to it, so he can spore us again. Then we'll be like you, with a corrupted mind and a slave…"
My mushroom caused his head to be blown sideways. There was a loud crack and then his entire body spilled down onto the snow, his head at an awkward angle. I had killed him, it was easy, I didn't care, and I was just enraged.
As I stood there breathing heavily, no pikmin dared move. Except for the other mushroom pikmin, he moved beside me as if to defend me in case anyone attacked. "Go then," he said. "Go back to your leader. Keep your opinions of us and yourselves. You know you long too, so do it!"
And so they did. One by one they moved down the slope of the valley, down to their onions and friends. Not one of them looked back, out of fear or indifference I was not sure. As soon as they were at the onions they greeted their fellow pikmin, soon forgetting about the dead blue pikmin. Dozens of pikmin die with the leader every day, what does one matter?
And then it was my turn to walk away. Slowly I walked, the other mushroom pikmin by my side, neither of us even thinking about looking back.
Next chapters will be pretty intense I guarantee it. Reviews would be nice