Today, Tori managed to get ready much faster than yesterday. Apparently, not being able to cook breakfast really got to her. And I know that because she was going into more detail than before about her cooking.

"I've made for us some nice, fluffy pancakes, perfectly golden brown and with a flavorful mixed berry syrup to give it a nice sweet but tart compliment! These are gonna be the best pancakes you've ever had and quite possibly the best I've made in a long time!" she announced happily as she walked from the kitchen part of the room to the dining part, holding the stack of pancakes and berry syrup.

... Honestly, I get the feeling that the only reason she describes her cooking so vividly is to just make people hungry, thus making it taste better. If she seriously has been doing it for that sole purpose all along, then she's a goddamn genius, because it works way too well. As she set the pancakes and syrup on the table, she gave me an expectant look, awaiting me to taste what she had managed to make.

Well, she is studying to be a chef. She'll need all the constructive criticism she needs.

With her eyes not leaving me, I took one off of the plate, poured some of the berry syrup onto it, then tasted (all slowly, just to add to the tension). "... Well? How do you like it?" she asked, actually a little bit nervously. I made sure to give her a cold stare, which made her visibly heat up.

"Was-was there something wrong with it?!" she stammered, trying to read my face for any signs of what could be wrong.

"It..."

"Yeah?"

"It's..."

"WHAT WAS WRONG?!"

"It's perfect. Thanks," I finally said, then gave her a smug grin. After that was said, she was silent, then just groaned.

"God dammit, Gin. Why do you pull that when I make something extra special?"

"Because it's hilarious. And it gives you a taste of your own medicine."

Tori was about to retort, then stopped. After thinking about it, she just shrugged, "Yeah, I guess it's only fair you have something to tease me about when I have plenty of stuff to tease you with."

After we both had our (heavenly) pancakes, we were ready to go to the next area in the game. A much warmer area, thankfully. With our space helmets secured, we climbed into our cockpits.

~—~

The Awakening Wood.

My absolute favorite area in the game. Not sure why. Maybe because it had the cave where I beat the boss with one yellow Pikmin? Or maybe because it had my favorite upgrade? Who knows. All I knew is that I was excited for the arrival.

With my sub-par piloting skills, I managed to avoid quite a few branches this time. More than the first time I had attempted to pilot... But I eventually hit one.

Just like the other day, I had made impact with another branch. It was bound to happen, but I had to make sure that Tori didn't fall out again! Before I could look back behind me to see if she was alright, I found myself flying through the air.

You know that sometimes when something so terrifying happens, you lose the ability to scream? That's what was happening right now.

Tori had at least fallen into some snow. But me? I had nothing. No possible form of cushioning.

Shutting my eyes, I braced myself for the impact, trembling as I felt the air against me. This wasn't how I wanted to go... I at least wanted to die as myself rather than like this. Unfortunately, that wouldn't happen. I was going to die as someone I'm not—

SPLASH!

Through my (very poor quality) suit, I could feel a slight... Coolness? I was also floating for some reason. Was this what death felt like? Slowly opening my eyes, I could see light peeking out of the leaves of the trees.

So... I'm not dead? Glancing around, I now confirmed that I was floating on my back in a small pool of water. Did I really just avoid death? As much as I wanted to celebrate, I couldn't work up any energy to drag myself out. The entire panic of almost dying really drained me. I was honestly still in shock. Plus, floating on my back in a pool of water as sun slightly shown through the leaves onto my face was really relaxing... No, I shouldn't be tempted by this! I needed to get back to Tori, even if I'm dazed!

It was at that moment that I registered what was right near the pool of water.

... Yeah, I should just stay here if I wanted to live.

So, with the overall trauma immobilizing me, I closed my eyes to calm myself. Hearing the leaves rustling with every small breeze along with the sensation of the warm sun on my face was definitely soothing my frazzled emotions.

I had confidence in Tori. She was strong and I knew that she would be able to find me. I didn't just think that.

I knew that.

— —

To say that I was freaking out would be a serious understatement. Ooooh no. I was freaking the FUCK out. I had no idea where the hell Gin was and I know JACK SHIT about this stuff! I think the ship said something about her terrible piloting and how she was unresponsive? I wasn't really paying attention, but what I DID pay attention to was the part that involved 'find Olimar quickly'. Gin's name might not be Olimar, but she's him at the moment.

"Just so you know, the purple Pikmin are inside of my hull. I believe that you will need all the help you can get in order to safely find Olimar. Go to the hologram and select how many you would like to take out," the ship explained, which I returned with a nod. Because the ship had mentioned it, I went up to the touch screen hologram floating above the ground and hesitantly tapped on it.

What was pulled up was a small box with two purple arrows, the number '10' above the box. Curiously, I tapped the top button, which only ended up with an 'error' message. So, I tapped the bottom button... And the '10' changed to '09' as a single purple Pikmin popped out of the ship.

Looking at it, I pressed the top arrow, which resulted in the Pikmin being sucked up. Huh.

Withdrawing all ten of the purple Pikmin, I made my way over to the red Onion.

I was about to take out all of them, but stopped myself. If something happens to them, what would happen if the red Pikmin were all gone?

After much consideration, I decided to take out 49 reds, leaving ten inside in case of disaster. Hopefully this was a right move.

I could see an elephant bulburb sleeping in the distance, seemingly undisturbed. If Gin had landed near there, it might have woken up... Right? So, no use checking over there. Yep. Totally.

... Yeah, I probably wouldn't have a choice. But it doesn't hurt to prolong the inevitable.

To the left of the ship was a dead end. Even I could see that no matter how much I searched. Sure, there might be 'treasure' somewhere over there, but Gin comes first! I don't care if it extends our stay here. So, there was only one way to go before having to deal with the elephant thing. To the right of the ship. I really couldn't believe that I didn't just go that way in the first, as it led deeper into the forest, but I definitely wasn't going to ignore any possible areas she might be in. Even though I technically was ignoring one of them for now.

I was going to find my best friend regardless.

Approaching the entryway to the right, the ground seemed to rumble beneath me... Then out popped OH GOD WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?! THEY LOOK LIKE OVERSIZED STUBBY WORMS WITH EYES! I was now throwing Pikmin like crazy, hoping that they would kill these things. Well, they definitely did, but now I was in front of some dead... Whatever they were. Yeah, now I'm definitely getting away from there. No way in hell was I going to stick around for more of those things to pop up to take revenge.

After getting the outta there, I was now entering an enclosed area, complete with two small small plants—whoa wait, they just grew bigger before my eyes. Uuuuuuh... Okay then.

I would react later.

For now, I could see a dark colored wall; similar to the one from yesterday.

Alrighty, what did Gin do with the Pikmin to take down the wall?

... Oh, right! She did that directing thing. As the Pikmin stared at me with their tiny eyes, I pointed to the wall, whistling a little bit with the whistle... That's how you do it, right?

Nonetheless, the carrots got the hint, because they immediately went at the wall and began to pound on it.

I was doing it! I was controlling Pikmin! Now, I just had to wait until the little guys were finished!

~—~

... This was really taking a while. I don't think I remember the other one taking this long. I had around the same number working on it as Gin did, right? And that the purple ones were strong or something? Strength of ten Pikmin? Huh. Well, it had been about two hours now and the wall was just about down.

I had been able to survive the boredom of waiting by watching the berry plants sway in the wind as I just relaxed on the side of one of the stone walls around us. Apparently, my presence had gotten us a ghostlike fish thing to watch us as it floated through the air while making cute little noises. It seemed to be holding onto an egg or something. Did those have little floaty fish-thing babies inside?

With that thought fresh in my mind, I felt the ground shake slightly. At first, I thought the freaky worm things were back and ran into a clover patch, but upon further inspection, it was the wall that I had instructed the Pikmin to destroy. Thank god.

Whistling the Pikmin back to me, I was about to keep on going... Only to stop at the sight of a weird looking shell. It almost looked like a set of eyes, actually. Was it treasure or something? As soon as I moved closer, it sprung into action, shaking itself from the ground and revealing what it truly looked like.

A big ass beetle.

As it chittered closer, I began to throw Pikmin so fast that I think my throwing arm would be sore later, all the while yelling my battle cry:

"GET AWAY FROM ME GET AWAY FROM ME GET AWAY FROM ME—,"

Well, it didn't get away from me. Instead, it shook the Pikmin off and sucked itself inwards. I would have missed what happened next if I had blinked, because in a flash, a huge proboscis or whatever shot out from it, impaling one of the red Pikmin. The beetle then proceeded to SUCK UP THE PIKMIN LIKE IT WAS A FRUIT CHUNK CLOGGED IN A SMOOTHIE STRAW.

OH MY GOD.

Fortunately, my Pikmin recovered from being thrown off and immediately ran right back at it. These little guys... They were definitely brave. A whole lot braver than I was. Looking at the remaining Pikmin with me, then back at the gigantic bug, I took a deep breath, then threw more right at its face. As the little guys clung on, the bug was chittering in distress as it tried to shake the Pikmin off once more. Apparently, they were better at holding on this time. Try as the insect might, only a few were tossed to the side with a good number still pummeling it.

With a final pained chitter, it fell to its back, twitching a final few times.

... Wow.

So, do I just... Get the Pikmin to carry it back? I didn't really know how many it took to lift it, so I just sent out two Heracles Pikmin. It was enough, apparently, because the corpse slowly was dragged away to the Onion. Out of sight out of mind... I guess.

As soon as the two Purple Pikmin were gone, my mind put everything that had just happened together.

That thing could have killed me.

I could have ended up like that Pikmin.

I just survived.

Kneeling down, I began to hyperventilate as I now understood the situation. Gin still was lost—maybe dead—without any of the Pikmin to defend her from these things. I might be too late. Without her, what would I even do?!

After thinking that, I shook my head. No. She wasn't dead. I could feel it.

She was alive somewhere and I needed to suck it up and stop being weak. And that meant going to the elephant sized freak of nature and killing it. I couldn't avoid looking just because a monster was there.

Whistling around the area just in case I was missing some, I marched my way back to the landing site and towards the elephant-bulburb, ignoring the smaller one nearby.

Okay.

Time to go.

It is now go-time.

Tossing as many Pikmin as I could, the bulburb snapped awake after feeling the multicolored carrot people clinging onto it. Angrily, it shook the Pikmin off, then took a huge bite, devouring what had to be five Pikmin at once, one being one of the precious Heracles Pikmin...

Holy fuck.

What happened next surprised me. As I tossed Pikmin without caring what one I was gripping, a single purple was launched into the air, then landed on the monster's head with a loud 'THUMP'. The impact had apparently caused some sort of concussion, because the giant bulburb was completely dazed from it.

This allowed all the Pikmin to swarm it, quickly demolishing the thing. Afterwards, a large group of red Pikmin took hold of the dead bulburb and made their way to the red Onion.

Okay. Time to see if Gin was here. At first, I didn't really see anything that resembled the red light her antenna had... Until I looked into the water.

There she was.

Floating on her back and unmoving.

Oh my god...

"GIN!" I screamed, dashing to the water's edge. Hold on, could this suit work like scuba gear? Whatever, I'm going in there! Splashing into the water, I clumsily made my way to her side. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I began to push her to shore, my mind racing with worst case scenarios.

Should I give CPR?! Wait—that's just stupid. But, what should I do?! Was she DEAD?! Oh god oh god oh—

"Mngh..."

I blinked, then slowly looked down at Gin, who was half awake. "Tori..?" she asked sleepily, which was simply returned with a smack to her helmet, courtesy of my palm, then jabbed a finger in her chest. "I thought you were DEAD! I got chased around by worm things, waited two and a half hours for a wall to come down, almost got impaled by a big ass beetle, and had to give an elephant sized freak of nature a concussion before it ate all of our carrot people! And then you just float around in a pool of water UNMOVING?! FUCK YOU!" I snapped.

I had apparently stunned Gin, because she was giving me a long stare. "You mean... You did all that?"

"Do I have to repeat myself?!"

"Tori... That's amazing!" she exclaimed, "I knew you'd be able to save me, but I didn't imagine that you'd be able to accomplish all that!"

I had accomplished something? Well, I guess the wall was an accomplishment, but other than that... Well, now that I thought about it, all of this was completely badass.

Getting off of the ground and dusting herself off, she pointed up to something on a ledge near us. "How about we take this back before the day is over?"

Once I took a look for myself, I was now staring at a massive strawberry. Holy shit. Eating that thing would make me sick of strawberries for the rest of my life.

"Alright. I'll throw some Pikmin up there if you can take care of the bulburb over there."

"They're actually called bulbORBS, but whatever. I'm on it!" Gin replied, then went to the Onion to get the idle Pikmin under it (I could see her looking around at the sprouts that had popped up and nod with a smile, so I guess she was happy that I remembered to bring some of the corpses back). Now armed with some Pikmin, she walked over to the bulburb—or 'bulborb'—then began to throw.

All of them had missed the one-shot sweet spot, but there were enough to overwhelm the smaller bulborb. Now, the way was clear for the strawberry to get transported. Tossing a few purples and reds up there, the Pikmin eventually got a good grip on the strawberry and hefted it off to the ship. Sure, it took a little bit, but the berry eventually got to the ship. Now, I was pretty curious as to what the ship was going to call this.

"This treasure is worth 170 Pokos! I shall name it the Sunseed Berry!"

That was... Actually pretty fitting. I liked it. Before I could return to Gin, the ship made another announcement.

"10% of debt has been recovered! Very good work, gentlemen!"

Whoa. Did I just hear that right? If we keep it going like this, then we'll be out of here in no time!

Turning to Gin, she gave me a thumbs up before going to the Pikmin that were awaiting to be pulled up before the day was over. So naturally, I went to help. After all, that's what friends do.

... I need someone to punch me for saying something so sappy. Damn.

—

Gin's Treasure Logs

Sunseed Berry:

I loved these types of fruits before I ended up here. Now witnessing a massive version of one? This is amazing! So now, I'll take it upon myself to see if every food item we find is poisonous or not. For the good of everyone.

Debt recovered: 1,100/10,000