And now, the plot thickens…
I understand that some of you are confused by the last chapter. I also understand that some questions have arisen throughout the reading of this fic. Well, since the last boss before Wistful Wild, the Empress Bulblax, cannot attend Land Council meetings, this chapter will be quite short. However, I believe I shall also take the time to clear some things before we finish this chapter. Enough about me, here's what you came for!
Fate of the Empress Bulblax.
--
"Oh Empreor Bulblax…" wept a Red Bulborb, "how could this have happened?"
Many Bulborbs had gathered around Emperor Bulblax's grave, the site where he died, the site where he was last seen. His slobber had soaked the floor, his blood was spotted on the floor, his eyestalk laid there, lifeless; the last remnant of their king was sitting there right in front of them. The room, the last level of Bulblax Kingdom, was crowded with the melancholic Grub-Dogs, each one mourning for the loss of their prince, for the loss of their country, for the loss of their future.
"We will miss you Emperor Bulblax," another large Emperor Bulblax said.
He seated himself in the water filled portion of the room, sitting there as the wall of fire erupted behind him. Though the others were clearly heartbroken, this Emperor didn't seem too fazed by the death of his brother.
"You make me sick, you know that?" Raging Long Legs said to him in disgust.
"I took necessary action. I need to stay alive to see this ordeal to the end."
"But why sacrifice your own brother for the sake of your safety?"
"At least he didn't know they were coming. I told him that he was allowed to sleep in my room for the night. I was hoping that the backup would be able to take care of the pikmin should he die, but apparently, they didn't make it."
"What do you mean by, 'they didn't make it'?" he asked in a brow raising manner.
"Apparently, the entire group was found somewhere in a forest clearing slaughtered to pieces. Many of them had their eyes jabbed out and they bled to death. Others were blown apart by bomb-rocks, as discovered by our Careening Dirigibug experts."
"What? That's unthinkable! How could those troops of yours, the allegedly strongest of the species, have been killed off?"
"They were ambushed, apparently."
"But how can this be? There is no way the pikmin could've done it!"
"Now do you see? This isn't a survival of the fittest anymore," he said as he walked a bit forward, "this is a War…"
--
"So, how shall the arm be prepared?" he asked the blue alien who hopped down the large stairs.
"Mm… I was thinking of a nice Chocolate Mousse to help make use of the spare chocolate I have in my ingredients kit. Let me brainstorm first…" he said as he brought out a little notebook and pencil.
"So what should be prepared in the meantime?" he inquired.
"I feel like having a Snagret shish kabob. Prepare the grill," he yelled from a distance.
"Very well then. I'm assuming it's charcoal fire?"
"Of course!"
As the Titan set up the grill, he looked over to the stove to see that the dinner inside was nearing completion.
"Hey Louie! The Orange Bulborb fajitas are almost done. Should I cool down the oven to make them easier to remove?"
"What? No!" he said, returning, "Hot foods like fajitas must stay hot. It's the mitts and nothing but the mitts, got it?"
"Fine," he groaned, "but the mitts feel weird…and embarrassing."
"The price of food and its art cannot be measured in labor and personal etiquette, Dweevil."
"Yeah ,yeah. Let's hurry up and eat."
"The smartest thing you have said all day. Maybe those leftover Wollywog burgers from last night shall work up our hunger before the main course," he said to himself as he walked past a large, unconscious, blue-shelled, female Crawbster.
--
"Hey, why aren't you asleep?" one individual asked.
"I've been thinking…there's one cave left before the ones in Wistful Wild. I mean, we've gone this far and I know there's no turning back now…"
"Are you worried?"
"Sort of…I just can't shake the feeling that this feels wrong for some reason…"
"How is it wrong? I mean, yeah, we've been killing off the Land Council members slowly. Isn't that our goal?"
"Well, all we've been doing is following the leader to our death. I mean, after we kill them all off, what will be left for us? What will become of this harsh land carved by the brutal laws of this corrupt government?"
"You know what I think? I think you've been thinking too much. So stop thinking of thinking and think of sleeping. That should help, y'know, to stop thinking and stuff."
"…" he stared at him for a while, "are you serious?"
"…" rubbing the back of his head, he replied, "I think…"
"I think you're right," he said, exhausted and irritated, "maybe I should stop thinking and follow our leader to the end of all this."
"That's good because you lost me at 'death'."
"…" he stared at him again, "I'm just gonna go straight to bed."
"…" he soon found himself alone in the room, left with his own little mind of theorems and complex philosophies that would cause brain meltdowns of apocalyptic proportions.
--
"We want out!" yelled a clamoring crowd of angry animals.
Gathered outside the entrance of the Forest Navel were an angry, upset, and completely pissed crowd of bugs and animals waving sticks and shouting profanity. Many of them had gathered out of courage to face the remaining Land Council to pour their thoughts of conspiracy and mutiny to the Land Council, the very government that has disappointed and failed the very citizens of the country. Even a large number of the Grub-Dog family was present at the protest. Though their efforts would threaten a monarchy into a revolution, in hindsight, there was nobody present at the Forest Navel.
Well, at least for the first few hours of the day.
"I came as soon as I heard," the Emperor Bulblax said, "I would've come earlier but I was at my brother's funeral."
"I don't think Segmented Crawbster is in a good mood today," Raging Long Legs said.
It was true. Segmented Crawbster had been quite crabby recently, no pun intended (A/N: seriously). He would walk around nervously, pacing himself between each step as his head seemed to be somewhere else. Nevertheless, a single word is enough to make him snap, as usual.
"Where the hell is Titan Dweevil?" Raging Long Legs asked no one in particular.
"I sent an Antennae Beetle for him. He doesn't live in a cave like the rest of us, so I sent a few animals to help him navigate."
"Where does he live?"
"Somewhere in the forest in complete isolation."
--
"Why doesn't this guy write a map or something?" groaned an Antennae Beetle.
"Look, this is important since the Emperor sent us," said an Orange Bulborb, "besides, I hope you're memorizing this, because we won't guide you back."
"I'm only doing this for the points," mentioned a Pileated Snagret, though noticeably smaller than the Land Council one, "I also want to talk to Titan Dweevil about replacing the Pileated Snagret if I can."
"You will most likely not get in," said a white Wollywog as he hopped low to keep up with them, "I heard that Land Council Members are born into the system."
"That's only true for the Emperor Bulblax," the Orange Bulborb said.
"I thought it also counted for Raging Long Legs…" the Pileated Snagret said.
"We're almost there you guys…" the Wollywog said.
As if on cue, they entered the forest clearing, the supposed area where Titan Dweevil lives. To their surprise, the whole area was littered with large mechanical blocks that sat there, unmoving, yet there were clear signs that they've been moved.
"Titan Dweevil!" the Antennae Beetle yelled out, suddenly surprised that his voice echoed throughout the area.
"This place is creepy…" commented the Pileated Snagret.
"…I'm gonna go tinkle," the Wollywog said.
"Wait! Don't go alone!" yelled the Pileated Snagret.
"I'm gonna go find the Titan Dweevil, later," said the Antennae Beetle.
"Oh great, we're splitting up," Pileated Snagret said, worried for himself and the others.
"Calm down, man. It sounds like you're in a horror movie or something," commented the Orange Bulborb.
The Pileated Snagret stared at him, confused.
"What's a movie?" he asked, confusing the Bulborb as well.
"Where in god's name is he?" said the Antennae Beetle.
At the moment, he was on top of what seemed to be a large metal box with four squares of assorted metal and a saucer under them. There was a little wall up ahead with dials and buttons, littered with words like 'broil' and 'bake'.
'Man, I really don't want to be here…' he thought.
Suddenly, he found himself under a looming shadow of a four legged spider. Surprised, he turned around quickly, but felt relieved when he saw it was only Titan Dweevil.
"Oh, it's just you Titan Dweevil," he said, relieving the fear from his breath, "listen, there is a little protest going on outside the Forest Navel and we need your help in calming down the crowd."
Titan Dweevil, however, looked more interested in the Antennae Beetle as he gripped his weapon in his hands.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" the beetle asked, noticing a glittering blade in his hand, "what is that you are holding?"
"How long can a frog pee?" the Orange Bulborb commented.
"AAAAGHHH!"
"What the hell was that?!" the Pileated Snagret loudly exclaimed.
"It sounded like screaming…" the Orange Bulborb said.
Suddenly, a loud thunderous stomp was heard behind the Bulborb as he shuddered fearfully. He quickly turned around and was faced with Titan Dweevil holding a large stick attached to a sharp, wide blade. Upon eye contact, Dweevil raised the weapon high above his head. The Bulborb screamed in terror as the Dweevil struck the Bulborb in between the eyes. The Snagret shrieked in terror as he turned around and sprinted, but tripped on his own foot and fell. Titan Dweevil walked over at him, attempting to take his weapon but it was lodged in the head of the now dead Bulborb. Pileated Snagret tried desperately to stand up and run from the Dweevil, but the Dweevil had already raised his razor sharp foot in the air.
"NO!" he yelled.
SHIINK!
His life flashed before his eyes. He looked down to see that the foot landed in his heart cavity. Feeling like he was drowning in blood, he coughed, gagged a bit, and fell over his head as he died. Witnessing the scene, the lone frog shuddered as he feared for his own life.
"Oh crap…" he muttered.
From behind him, Louie slowly walked to him, in a lifeless, murder-hungry stance as he held a butcher knife in his hand. The wollywog quickly looked behind him, but it was too late.
"AAHH!"
SHIINKK!
--
"Drink my brothers!" the bulbmin yelled, "The fall of the Land Council is imminent!"
The large crowd of bulbmin hollered as they held their leaves high in the air as they drank from the stem of the nectar-filled flower in front of them.
"It is a glorious day for celebration, wouldn't you say?" another bulbmin asked.
"Mmm, yeah. Especially after our first victorious battle," a certain bulbmin said.
"Hey, that was a clever thing you did over at the Forest Navel, tricking the king so we can ambush his most powerful forces," the bulbmin said.
"Thanks, it took me a week to think of that one," he replied.
"Excuse me," a nearby Bulbmin asked, "but why are we helping the pikmin win the fight against the Land Council?"
"Ah, I thought the briefing from earlier would've been enough, but I think you guys deserve a full explanation," he said as he stood up on the table and spoke out loud.
"Excuse me everyone," he spoke out loud to the entire tribe, "but, as leader of your tribe, I believe it is time to reveal the true intentions of our mission."
The whole party of bulbmin hollered in glee as they paid attention to their self-proclaimed leader.
"As you know, our pikmin brethren have been doing a fine work of ridding the Land Council of its members."
Again, the crowd clamored in happiness.
"Even though many of us were born into the system of the government, we are proud for resisting the system, and align ourselves with the pikmin to bring down this corrupt country!"
Once more, the crowd happily yelled.
"But why do we help the pikmin, you ask? I, too, couldn't imagine myself slaying a bulborb. But when I heard news of the pikmins rise in power, I had confidence that the fall of the Land Council was imminent. Then you may ask, what has the Land Council done to us? Well, long ago, we bulbmin and the pikmin had lived in peace, friends if you may. However, the Grand Emperor disliked the pikmin and hatred led to
his command of their extinction. What became of us is that we were adopted by the Grub-dog family, birthed and brainwashed into believing the pikmin were our enemy. What especially encouraged me to begin this rebellion is the interesting tale of a fellow bulbmin who made first contact with the pikmin. I think he's here right now…"
As he squinted his eyes to look for said bulbmin, the bulbmin stood up and waved his flower stalk in the air.
"Ah, there you are. You are one of the survivors from Submerged Castle, right?" he asked.
"Yes I am!" he proudly replied.
"Of course. You see, he was born into the system like the rest of us. But then the pikmin came and recruited our little sport and helped take down the Waterwraith!"
At this, much of the crowd looked worried, though happy with disbelief. Wanting to ease them, the bulbmin spoke.
"Do not be afraid, my brothers! He is long dead and so shall the rest of the Land Council!"
The silence soon turned to excitement as the audience grew more confident.
"Now I'm not going to lie, but mother would never have approved of it. So, I did something that would scar me for life. …I…took the life of my own mother…"
Gasps of worry and disbelief spread throughout the whispers of the crowd.
"So, is that what it is?" a random bulbmin asked, "Should we really kill our mothers if they disapprove of this?"
"Our mothers do not even know of this meeting, much less our ambush on the Bulborb warriors."
"So you're saying that sacrifices are necessary to win this war that might never end? What if the pikmin do not accept us? What if they kill us like they did to our king?"
"That is not true!!" a certain flower bulbmin yelled, "For that adventure, I learned of what it was like to be a pikmin. I learned of their abilities, their personality, their pain... The pikmin have suffered more than what we could possibly imagine!!"
"But is it worth it?! That's what I'm asking. If we lose this war, who will adopt a bunch of traitors?"
"We will NOT lose this war!" the leader said, "We will see this war to the end and we will ride with the pikmin to victory!!"
"THAT IS NONSENSE!!" a loud voice yelled.
"…could that be…?" a random bulborb said as he looked back along with the rest of the bulbmin.
"We are very disappointed in you all," said a much larger bulbmin, "especially you, the one they call, 'leader'."
"How could you even think of conspiracy?" another larger bulbmin asked.
"This misdeed will not go unpunished," the large bulbmin said as the others nodded in agreement.
"Mom, I can explain," one bulbmin said.
"You will explain nothing! We've been here listening the whole time. Everything! From your disobedient ambush to your plans of siding with the pikmin. We will not kill you, god forbid, we will just take you all home and give you all one hell of a disciplinary beat-down!"
"You will do NO such thing!" the leader said.
"YOU on the other hand, since I do not care for you nor are you the child of any willing mother, I have total freedom to kill you off. You've been feeding our kids nothing but garbage!"
"…guys…" he said in a low tone, "clean your mind of any guilt, any restraint, and every thought of your mother…"
"What do you plan to d-" suddenly, she was stopped as she looked down to see her son, who had driven a stick through her heart.
"J…Jules…why?"
"You wouldn't understand mom. You are not my mother anymore…"
As she fell over with tears in her eyes and blood on the ground, the other parents were looking in shock and total disbelief at the murder committed.
"My brothers…leave no vein uncut. Leave no bones unbroken. Leave no one…alive," he said in cold blood.
(A/N: And you thought TV turns kids into criminals.)
--
"Where the hell is he?" said Raging Long Legs, "He should've been here hours ago. …that bastard."
Suddenly, a large rock was hurled, hitting the Long Legs square on the head.
"Ow! Son of a…that's it! I can't wait any longer for that asshole. I'm gonna take matters into my own hands!" he said angrily as he waltzed forward toward the crowd.
"Calm down Raging Long Legs," Emperor Bulblax said, "I'm sure he'll be here soon…"
"I can't wait anymore! If he doesn't come soon, I'm cracking skulls!"
Emperor Bulblax groaned at this, but then saw Titan Dweevil arriving from afar.
"Well, speak of the Dweevil, here he comes now!"
"Terrible," Raging Long Legs said, "You are terrible."
"Sorry that I'm late, I was busy finishing a meal," Titan said, suddenly burping as he hid his mouth embarrassed, "make that four…"
"Enough about your food. Help us calm down this crowd!" Emperor Bulblax demanded.
Titan Dweevil looked out at the whole crowd of angry protesters. Trying to think of an answer, only one thing came to mind. He grabbed his Shock Therapist, charged it and launched electric nodes at the crowd, scaring a few away as well as killing a few of them.
"Did…you just do what I think you did?" Raging Long Legs asked.
"You wanted me to calm down this crowd? I did."
"But now they're angry at us," Emperor Bulblax exclaimed, "They'll start attacking back since we've made the first move!"
"Then I suggest you bring back-up because they're bringing out toys of their own," Titan Dweevil said as they brought a catapult almost out of nowhere.
"Well, there's no way I could… ah screw it!" he said as he turned around and roared a mighty roar.
The roar stretched for miles as it spread across the land, signaling the call for every bulborb in the vicinity. As he waited for back-up to arrive, Titan Dweevil made his way to the internally struggling Crawbster.
"You look discontent. What's wrong?" he asked.
"I haven't seen her in a while. I'm starting to get worried. She wasn't there when I arrived at her home and hasn't been there all day. I'm worried that she might've been…killed," Segmented Crawbster said in sadness.
"You know what I heard? I heard that she was ambushed."
"WHAT?!"
"Yup. Her carcass was found today in a forest thicket. Her arm had been removed, and she had been brutally gutted."
"This…this can't be… impossible…"
"You and I both know that no pikmin, no matter how many, could've done that. It only leads to other suspect then," he said as he pointed to the angry crowd.
"I will make every living moment of mine a life of murder and revenge! Those bastards will pay for the loss of my dear mate!!"
"They had no right to take her. Let yourself loose and unleash your rage on the thousands who wrecked your life."
Crawbster hesitated a bit before suddenly lunging at the crowd and landing on the first creature. He landed his claw on a Whiskerpiller before lashing out against the entire crowd as they ran. He crushed, obliterated, and destroyed everyone who was near him. It was total chaos.
'She was mighty tasty too…,' Titan Dweevil thought as he licked his lips in reminiscence of his recent meal.
--
Oh how I yearn to be free…
Free of this poisoned country…
It has been a few days since I started spawning. It was painful at first, but I got used to it after the first four hours. Since then I've been spawning nonstop. When the kids get a day old, they venture off into the outside world. Normally, they would be registered into the system by the Land Council, but ever since the pikmin have made their rise, it has been nothing but chaos out there. I feel that my children have been born into a terrible generation…
I've been getting my news of the outside world by a Puffy Blowhog who strays outside of the cavern's entrance. But recently, he hasn't been around all day. I'm starting to get worried that the pikmin may have already planned their next attack. And if that's true, then the Grub-Dog family will suffer greatly if I die…
"Momma!"
I looked down to see my little child waddling over to me. Along came the rest of my offspring who were cuddling together and started yawning.
"Oh my children," I said to them lovingly, "Rest for tomorrow. You will all give face to a new world."
As they cuddled against me, overtaken by sleep, I began to wander through my memory.
'Burrowing Snagret…I have not forgotten what you said to me… like you said, I'll sacrifice anything for the sake of survival. But…should I go so far as to sacrifice my children in the process? I can always make more…'
Suddenly, I yawned, feeling that the young have stopped spawning behind me. I was getting tired…
'Man-at-Legs… you were also a great friend… being different hurts, but it means that everyone must be the same. Everyone is the same because everyone is different. You must never feel ashamed of being different. That's what you taught me…'
I soon drifted off to sleep, hesitatingly waiting for the dawn of a horrible day…
'This place smells horrible!'
'It smells like crap everywhere.'
'What is that?'
'Aw, it's so cute!'
'…'
'Kill it!'
"GAWK!"
Ugh…what?
"GAWK!"
That sounded like…
"MOMMA!"
My kids!
As soon as I woke up, I started spawning in the back end. I couldn't move at all, but I knew that my children were hungry. Really gluttonous, if I say so myself. And if the pikmin dare attack, they have another thing coming. Because the bulborb-
"Doo de doo de doo, Hmm hm hmm hm hmm hm…"
Wait… how the?
Somehow, the pikmin and his leader managed to get around the entire army of larvae that I had laid already. Along with a black-attired little alien that hurriedly ran to his side. Without warning, the red one began tossing pikmin at me! As I struggled, my whole face was soon covered with the pikmin. Though it has been a while, I decided that I should take the moment to try to do some eating myself. I moved a bit to the side to try to get a nibble on a few of them, but to no avail. I felt myself bleeding profusely so I stopped moving and did my best to shake them off. He blew his whistle as the pikmin quickly recollected behind their leader. I didn't want them to cloud my face again so I did the only thing I could. I threw all of my weight to my left as hard as I could. I hit the wall with a hard force as I saw that the pikmin were looking sternly at me. I knew standing still would be the end of me. So I forcefully threw my weight back to where I was, but I soon found out that I used too much force and slammed straight into the opposite
wall. Feeling stupid, I forcefully rolled back a little less harder to land at the right spot, in front of the pikmin.
Suddenly, something came up in me.
Ooh…resisting the spawning caused me immense internal pain. I couldn't move anymore and I had to start birthing more bulborbs. Once I started birthing again, I felt more at ease on the inside as the voices of newborn bulborb filled my ears.
As soon as I started birthing, the little pikmin started throwing pikmin onto my face. The excruciating pain of the pikmins attack began to get to me. I couldn't stop birthing or else I'll feel that restricting pain again. But the pikmin were killing me and I couldn't depend on my young children to take care of the pikmin. They would die.
I had no choice but to shake them off forcefully. I also had no choice but to forcefully roll my way to the wall again. As soon as I hit the wall, it just hit me that my children were heading to the pikmin to try to eat them. I didn't want them to do that just yet. If I stood still and allowed it, they would die and I'd be helpless. If I act now, I can fool the pikmin into attacking the kids and I'll crush them. Quickly, I forcefully pushed myself towards the wall. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to get dizzy. When I hit the wall, I opened my eyes to see that the pikmin didn't move at all. Then that means…
I…I killed my own…
No…
Sacrifices are necessary to win!
With newfound confidence in the loss of my kin, I rolled back into place just in time before my inner pains set in. I was focusing on birthing more bulborb to ease the pain, but the pikmin captain started throwing more pikmin again. The pikmin were attacking far more ferociously than before. Their flowers and leaves were replaced with a bright red spark that hurt more and more with every hit. I was blinded by a rainbow of madness as I felt my body giving in. My mind was blanking out slowly, my breath was withering and I felt my body writhing and shrinking inside. I was bleeding severely and my eyesight suddenly blurred. I knew what was happening. I was dying.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" I screamed.
I gave in to the brutal beating of the pikmin as I exhausted all of my breath. My body unexpectedly exploded in three parts, leaving only my head and a mistaken dinner to remain. The voice of my children had long disappeared, and now the sound of the world was slowly fading away…
This country is corrupted. Poisoned by the heinous government of the Land Council, this land has lost its honor and it started when the pikmin were killed in the Extinction movement of the King. The pikmin are exacting their revenge on this land, but now the question stands. If the pikmin win, what will happen to the country? If the pikmin lose, will they be mercilessly slaughtered to extinction? Either way, this war
has delved far too deep into the problem to fix it. Only one side will win in this war. A war that we cannot hope to win…
Dear Pikmin, if you plan to win this war, good for you. I wish that you fix this corrupt country in any way possible. Restore peace to the world that you have taken back and promise the future generation a beautiful world. A world where life is normal, where normality is beautiful. If you do, perhaps dying in your name would be for the best.
To die in their name is dying for the future.
Emperor Bulblax from the last chapter is still alive, Louie has convinced Titan Dweevil to betray the country, the Land Council kill off their own animals, the bulbmin resent the Land Council government and their parents, and now the Empress Bulblax is dead.
This is, by far, one of the most intense chapters I've written so far. There's only three more chapters to go you guys! I'm not gonna give up now! In fact, wait for next because that is when I'll have a new chapter up.
There are still some mysteries left unsolved even through this chapter. Do not worry, because that is for the end of the fic. Now, R&R or my money back!