Sorry that took so long. I haven't updated in nearly a month, have I? Well, let's see if I can pick up the pace a bit for the next chapter (which is going to be a long one).

This chapter was difficult to write, to say the least, and of moderate length. Although, I did get a little help from the game itself: The Pod's speech at the beginning, yes all of it, is a direct quote from the game. I'm proud of how well I follow the Pod's character. I'm also proud of all the different Pikmin personalities I've come up with, especially because it's starting to get a bit more difficult. This chapter, in particular, featured some toughies, like the random red Pikmin who talks like a knight of the Round Table.

I notice that other Pikmin fan fics have been flowing onto the 'net recently. That's a good sign. The Pikmin games deserve a lot of respect and tribute. I should read these new additions. In the mean time... If you're reading this, that probably means you've been faithful enough to keep checking back this whole month to see if I've uploaded a new "day". Here's a big "Thank you!" to all those people still with me.

Day 4

I wake up suddenly and find myself lying on the very bottom of the storage vessel's interior. I realize with a shock that all the strange objects and carcasses we have collected have inexplicably vanished!

Many of my fellows have already awoken. They are all just as surprised as I am.

The floating vessel begins to speak. If only I could understand what it is saying, maybe then I would know why this place is bare.

Pod: "Mr. President! You've arrived! My scans indicate this planet is still heavily laden with treasure. We shall make Hocotate Freight the golden, indisputable king of deep-space, long-haul freight! Then everyone will be gaudily clad in gold, like me! ...No. I am unique... and beautiful. Yes. Olimar, I must ask that you take extreme care so as not to insult or endanger our president. For now, where could Louie be? To be stuck on an uncivilized planet with no food at all... I am concerned. You must waste no time in finding him!"

Possibly it is because the storage vessel has been emptied, but I can now hear the Leaders speak from outside.

Olimar: "What? You are 'concerned'! Louie is lost! He must be found at any cost!"

Pod: "According to his rants during the argument you had with him yesterday, he will likely be able to survive indefinitely here. Indeed, I am simply 'concerned', not fearful."

Olimar: -voice begins to shake- "It's my fault he's missing! I'll not have his life on my hands! Why are we in this unknown territory! We should be back at the Perplexing Pool, trying to locate him before he can wander too far away!"

It is then that I hear another voice. This is one I do not recognize.

President: "Oh, come now, Olimar. Louie's perfectly capable of fending for himself. For now, let's put these past squabbles behind us and claim some more treasure!"

Olimar: "YOU WANT ME TO JUST FORGET ABOUT LOUIE!"

President: "Of course! Money doesn't grow on trees, you know... although, in this place, it practically does! AH-haaaa!"

Olimar: "B-BUT, YOU CAN'T J-"

President: "I'm the President! I can do whatever I want! Now shut up and get to work!"

I press my head to the inner wall and hear some crunching steps from outside. Someone is walking away.

President: "Honestly, I don't know what to do with him. Doesn't know his place, that one."

Pod: "When he comes back from mauling those Dwarf Red Bulborbs, I'll tell him why we are here. Then we can get down to business. Hopefully those wild punches he's throwing are a way for him to vent his unhelpful anger."

I hear more steps. Whoever had left has now returned.

Pod: "Olimar, you showed quite some disrespect to the President just now. Let it not happen again. Furthermore, I should inform you that we have traveled into this 'unknown territory' simply because we are capable of doing so. With my new upgrades, I can probe larger areas with my sensors. This spot lit up as a real goldmine! We will be able to collect many treasures here, as that is our top priority."

Olimar: "What? Our 'top priority' is to get rich rather than save an innocent life! What kind o-"

President: "Olimar, I'll not have you disagreeing with my decisions. This must be done, for the good of the company. Louie will be fine. We'll find him at our earliest convenience. Now, since I'm leading this little excavation..."

Olimar: "Uh, Sir. No. I'm the leader here. I know how to control the Pikmin better than anyone, plus I have experience in exploration of both land and space. I wasn't made a Captain for no reason."

President: "But, Olimar, I'm the President! That's a higher rank than Captain!"

Olimar: "Oh, and while we're on the subject of the word 'Captain', I... uh... I was wondering if you would... do me the favor of addressing me... by said title. You see, Lou-"

President: "I can call you whatever I like! I could call you Mr. Apple Pie if I wanted to! Oh, darn it. Now I'm starting to get hungry."

Olimar: -sighs- "Well... it was worth a try. Anyway, I still don't get how you expect to lead this expedition. You have never handled even a single Pikmin."

President: "I've been monitoring your progress using the Pod's Internet-streaming video camera. I know how to identify and use every one of the seven Pikmin types."

Olimar: "Uh... There are only five types, Sir, not including the Bulbmin."

President: "Wha- I mean, sure! Of course! I was just testing you!"

Olimar: "Well, I think I'm going to need proof."

The Red Leader's whistle rings out. He's calling for one white and one purple!

I rush to the exit nozzle, desperate to be the white Pikmin that gets to leave. I push another white aside and jump out. I made it!

The area I am in today is colored brilliant shades of brown and red. Dry leaves cover almost every bit of the ground on which I walk and I make crunching noises with every step. The air here is brisk and invigorating, yet sad and joyous at the same time; it's as if this region is giving its last hurrah before going to sleep.

I suddenly notice a shining light coming from somewhere behind me. I look back and see that the entire storage vessel and floating vessel have been coated with a glistening yellow substance. It almost hurts my eyes to look at its smooth, gleaming surface, so I look away.

The Red Leader has called one of each Pikmin type. He makes a few beeps, instructing us to stand in a line.

The Blue Leader is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a new Leader is watching us. He is much more obese than the other two and wears black instead of white. I realize, to my dismay, that he seems to have stolen the little blue light that once resided at the end of the Blue Leader's antenna.

I'm standing in the very middle of the line, next to a purple and a yellow. The Pikmin on the other side of the purple is a red. The one on the other side of the yellow is a blue.

Olimar: "Since you've been watching us, you'll have no difficulty whatsoever putting these Pikmin through their paces. This is your first test: You mus-"

President: "I don't need you to test me! I could tell the Pikmin to attack you right now. In fact, you need to stop doubting me, it's insulting, and I won't tolerate insults, so..."

The new Leader issues a series of commands to us, the translation of which is "Go found knock bubble try build clustered through break of jump thing attack absolute run objects with."

I blink my large, red eyes. Is this some new language that we are supposed to understand or decode? No one else has understood, so we remain standing at attention.

Olimar: -raises eyebrow- "Uh, Sir. That command made no sense."

President: "Of course it did! Any moment now, they will attack you! Then you will know not to disrespect me again! AH-haaaa!"

Olimar: "Pikmin always follow orders immediately after they are given, Sir. I am in no danger. Do you even know how to call them to you? It's the most basic and important command."

President: "Bah! I don't need basic training. I'm too advanced for your petty tests. Here!"

The new Leader gives two short beeps in rapid succession. The command: "temporary dismissal". Well, at least he knows one command.

Our flowers glow our respective colors. The "temporary dismissal" command means that we don't have to listen to the Leaders' commands until they call us again. While we are inactive, our flowers light up.

The red Pikmin lies down, the purple kicks a little dust speck around, and the yellow pulls its flower down in front of its face to inspect it. I look at the blue Pikmin. It looks back at me.

Olimar: -rolls eyes- "Sir, that was the exact opposite of the 'call' command. If we're going to get anything d-"

"Have any of you ever seen this new Leader?" the blue Pikmin asks, shifting my attention from the Leaders' conversation.

"I was considering asking the same thing," I reply.

"I never seen 'im before," says the purple, looking over.

"Nor I," comments the red, propping its head upon its arm. "The newcomer's garbs art passing strange. Methinks there art naught of our company who canst answer 'yea' to thy question."

"My analysis is inconclusive," says the yellow, letting its flower whip back up above its head. "I have, however, formulated a hypothesis: We have been led out here, the five of us, as test subjects and messengers. We are to be the first to lay eyes upon this new Leader so that we can then report back to the others of our colors."

"But, what about the Blue Leader?" asks the blue Pikmin.

"Well, he has obviously been replaced by this darker one," answers the yellow Pikmin.

"This guy has no idea how to be a Leader," I say. "He'll lead us all off the edge of a cliff! Why did the Blue Leader abandon us like this? Why did he walk away while we were shifting locations?"

What followed was silence. The four other Pikmin all turned to look at me.

"Ya know some'm we dunno?" asks the purple, towering over me. "Spill it, kid."

"I was the last Pikmin to enter the storage vessel yesterday," I explain. "I saw the Blue Leader turn away from the ship instead of entering it with the Red Leader."

"Pray tell," questions the red, "for what purpose wouldst the Blue Leader abandon us so?"

"I'll bet it was because of their argument that he decided to leave," I finish.

"Yeah," confirms the blue. "It was horrible. No wonder the Blue Leader isn't with us anymore."

"A probable explanation," assesses the yellow. "A predictable concl-"

The new Leader's whistle calls us. We get in a clump behind him, ready to move.

But, then the Red Leader calls us to him and dismisses us.

I walk back to the storage vessel along with the purple.

On reentry, we are swarmed by a mass of all the Pikmin in the storage vessel. Apparently, not only did they hear the new leader through the walls, but they heard the conversation between us five Pikmin as well.

We go into a long explanation of what happened, the purple and I. The rest of the Pikmin watch in horror, mortified that the new Leader is such bad news.

When we finish, screams and shouts break out in the crowd. Some are yelling empty threats at the new Leader beyond the wall, while others are crying about how the Red Leader could have made such a poor partner decision.

Then a voice rings out from the crowd. A white Pikmin is yelling while standing atop a purple Pikmin's head.

"So, what shall we call this purveyor of misfortune?" booms its voice. "Surely he cannot be called the Second Blue Leader. We are undoubtedly at the brink of some dark times, and, because this new Leader wears black, I propose that we refer to him as the Dark Leader."

A rumbling murmur of agreement issues from the crowd, yet is interrupted by the newly-named "Dark" Leader's whistle. He is calling for fifty purple Pikmin.

There is a split-second hesitation among the purples, but that is all their instincts will allow for. Fifty of them file out.

"But, ain't there some'm we can do?" asks a voice from the crowd.

"There's nothing we can do," says another.

"But, we can't just-" begins another before everyone chimes in.

The crowd begins to mill around in a chaotic fashion. I remove myself from the confusion, as some others do as well.

I look back at the swarm. If the Dark Leader can cause such confusion even when only two of us have seen him, imagine what catastrophe will befall... My heart skips a beat. The Dark Leader has already called forth fifty purples! It'll be a miracle if they return unharmed.

"Look at them," says a voice to my right.

I look right and see another white Pikmin. It is looking at the swarm with half-closed eyes.

"How pathetic," it continues in a half-hearted tone of voice. "There is nothing that can be done about the Dark Leader. All this fuss isn't accomplishing anything."

"Well, what do you propose we do?" I say more sharply than intended.

"Nothing, of course," it replies. It then falls backwards onto its back and lies still, with its eyes remaining half-closed. "Nothing..." it repeats.

This leaves me with nothing to do but panic with the swarm, which I would have done had the purples not returned a second later.

I am overjoyed to see them safe! Perhaps the Dark Leader is not as bad as we thought.

But, moments later, I find that I'm going to find out regardless. The Dark Leader is now calling for fifty white Pikmin.

I, along with 49 others, file out.

Pod: "What's wrong, Mr. President? You returned too quickly to have put the purple Pikmin to any use."

President: "When I got to the gate he wanted busted, Olimar told me that I had taken out the wrong type of Pikmin!" -flings arms wide- "The nerve of him! POISON is PURPLE! So, why aren't purple Pikmin the ones that are immune to it! Instead of the powerful, burly purples, I have to use the runty, lightweight whites to get the job done!"

Silence.

President: "WELL!"

Pod: "What... What a tragedy."

President: -nods- "Precisely!"

The Dark Leader turns and walks away from the storage vessel. We follow him. He heads left down a small incline and up another one to the right.

It is here that we meet a number of blue Pikmin who are carrying one of those yellow-and-green creatures back to their Seed Hut.

The Dark Leader stops to watch for a moment. Then he whistles to the blues, calling them to him. They drop the creature and join our group.

The Dark Leader then turns left again and leads us to a bridge across a puddle, which we cross.

We meet the Red Leader, along with a sizeable army of blue Pikmin, on the other side of the bridge. I'm glad to see him; I feel a bit safer with him around.

Olimar: -has hands on hips- "Good. You have the white Pikmin. Now, direct them to that poison-spouting wall."

President: -points at self- "Hey, I'm the one who gives orders around here!"

Olimar: "Then would you please order the Pikmin to break d- What? Why do you have those blue Pikmin with you?"

President: "These Pikmin were wandering off with an animal carcass for no reason. I have saved them from their own foolishness."

Olimar: "I told them to carry that Yellow Wollywog back to their Onion."

President: "Well, in the future you shall be required to consult me before making any such decisions! I can't have you giving out these rash commands to our troops without informing me first."

Olimar: "I know what I'm doing, Sir. Having the Pikmin bring carcasses back to their Onions is how Pikmin are propagated. It's how things work on this planet. I can't simply 'consult' or 'inform' you every step of the way. That would waste too much time."

President: "But, you can, you must and you will! I'll not have you simply using these Pikmin any way you wish. There are more important things at stake, like all that treasure we're going after!"

Olimar: "And Louie, WHO WE WILL NEED TO FIND."

President: "Olimar, this is why you need constant supervision. If I find out that you've been wasting time and energy searching for that former sidekick of yours, I will be forced to discipline you!"

Olimar: "But, Sir, for the sake of efficiency, it is necessar-"

President: -stands right up against Olimar- "DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME, OLIMAR."

Olimar: -backs away slowly- -diverts gaze to ground- "Yes... Sir..."

President: "That's more like it."

When I see the Red Leader hang his head while backing away and speaking weakly, I am fearful again. The Dark Leader seems to have a higher authority than the Red Leader, just as they both have a higher authority than us Pikmin. Will the Red Leader be able to save us if the Dark Leader does something terrible? I fear to imagine it.

The Dark Leader seems to have mastered a number of commands in a short amount of time. He separates the blues from the whites and directs us whites to knock down a root wall that is emitting poison gas.

With fifty of us working, we have it destroyed without difficulty.

Olimar: "Well, the wall's down. I'm glad that little task has finally been accomplished, but it is now too late in the day for us to progress farther forward. Besides, irritable monsters lie ahead and we do not want to wake them so close to nightfall. That could spell disaster for our Pikmin. Let's move back towards the ship. The Pikmin you stopped from returning there have a load they still need to carry."

President: -frowns- "Very well. I approve of this course of action."

The Red Leader begins to lead us back in the direction of the storage vessel, but the Dark Leader cuts in front of him.

President: "I lead."

We are led back to the carcass that the Dark Leader had the blues abandon. When we arrive, he assigns some blues to pick it up again and finish the job of carrying it.

It is at this point that I hear someone say "Hi!" to me.

I look around and see the blue Pikmin that had been in the line with me at the beginning of the day.

"Hi!" I reply, glad to see a friendly face.

"What do you think of the new Leader?" it asks.

"You mean the Dark Leader?" I ask back.

"Is that what he's called?"

"Us whites decided on calling him that. Yeah. The purples too."

"That's a good name. Because he doesn't seem to be very bright!"

We laugh at the joke. "Why did he bring out those purples?" I ask.

"That's one of the reasons I think he's not very smart. He brought all those purples out to meet us in front of the poison wall, but then had to take them all back so that he could get whites!"

We laugh again, although I stop short and say, "You know, this really isn't funny."

"Yeah," replies the blue, "but you can't blame me for trying to lighten the mood. You know, he's actually not too bad. He's gotten a lot more skilled since this morning with commands."

"I've noticed. You think there's hope for us?"

"Why not? In fact, the 'Dark Leader', as you call him... Actually, I think I'll tell the rest of the blues to call him this now. But, anyway, the Dark Leader might not really be that stupid. He learned a lot in one day; he just isn't that skilled yet; he still can't really handle us too well. He'll probably improve as the days go by."

"That's good to hear," I say, relieved.

We arrive back at the clearing where the storage vessel resides.

The Red Leader dismisses us.

"See you later, then!" I say as I part with the blue Pikmin.

"Tomorrow if we're lucky!" it replies as it heads toward the blue Seed Hut.

I enter the storage vessel through its entrance nozzle.

I wander around the floor of the storage vessel and eventually sit down by a wall. I can hear the Leaders talking above us. They have entered their dwelling area as well.

President: "Well, my first day here is over and I must say that the progress we made was unsatisfactory. We didn't get a single treasure! Why didn't you make more purple Pikmin before I came, Olimar? If you had grown 100 by this time, we would have acquired a new item today!"

Olimar: "I had never been to this part of the planet before, Sir. If I had, I would have put in the effort to collect that high-density object by now. And speaking of effort: I must say I am pleased with yours today. You have improved so much since morning. You should be proud of yourself."

President: "Now THAT's what I like to hear! AH-haaaa!"

Olimar: "Plus, I have formulated a plan for tomorrow that will get us loads of treasure!"

President: "Music to my ears, Olimar! Perhaps I was wrong about you!"

Olimar: "Now, if you please, Sir, I am quite tired. May I retire to my quarters?"

President: "You most certainly may! Have a good sleep. You've got lots of work ahead of you tomorrow!"

I hear footsteps, among a few other noises that I do not recognize. After that, there is silence.

But, wait. I can still hear something. A muttering noise... It is the Red Leader. He seems to be speaking to himself. Could he be trying to talk in such a way that the Dark Leader cannot overhear?

Olimar: "Captain's Log: dictated entry. Day 73. The President of Hocotate Freight has joined me on this planet, now that Louie, my dear companion, has been lost. It is with a heavy heart that I must assume blame for this occurrence. If I had not treated Louie so poorly, he would likely still be with me today. I am still intent on rescuing him, whether the Pres-"

At this point, the Red Leader's voice seems to catch itself, as if it was speaking too loudly; now it continues, but too faint to discern. I try to listen, as the Red Leader's voice is soothing to my taxed mind, but I can barely hear. After a while of listening, his voice does get slightly louder again.

Olimar: "The President, although seemingly nothing but bad news at dawn, has improved at an unimaginable speed over the duration of the day. He has mastered no less than six commands since morning. He may..."

I strain to hear as the Red Leader's voice gets softer.

Olimar: "...be careless and impulsive, but he's no fool. It felt utterly terrible to be subdued by him today and, if possible, even worse to ingratiate myself with him just now. Under his iron fist, I will find it very difficult to locate Louie on this planet. For now, I can only pray for some miracle to occur by which I might save him. In honor of my lost friend, and because of my newfound loneliness, a loneliness I haven't felt since my first adventure on this planet, I have dubbed this rough new region the Wistful Wild."

The Red Leader finishes. The day is over.

Whoo! So... Whaddya think of the PRESIDENT? He may have seemed like an idiot when he first met the Pikmin, but first impressions can be deceiving. He's more like a manipulative dictator! Plus, he has a strange recurring laugh. It's "Ah-haaaa", but with emphasis on the "Ah", rather than the "haaaa".

Oh, and if you thought Olimar's ego took a hard blow in this chapter, things are just going to go from bad to worse.

On the bright side, however, our main Pikmin seems to have made a blue friend. But will this friendship survive? Actually, will these Pikmin survive to have a friendship! Find out tomorrow, when our heroes dive down into the depths of a dungeon, directed by the Dark Leader!