Man, I haven't updated since LAST YEAR. Well, this time it wasn't really my fault. Day 7 has been complete for weeks, but SolGardien was unavailable for a long time, and since she tends to notice all the errors I tend to make, I didn't want to post before she could view my work.

So, notes about the Day...

Day 7 is a tribute to what is, in my opinion, by far the scariest boss in the game.

There are many things in this Day that won't be explained until Day 8.

Also, for those of you who have read Sianaris' Our Fair Leader, I should tell you that I am not stealing from her work with an element I am putting in this Day. I've had this story entirely planned out since I wrote Day 4, so the fact that our stories share the aforementioned element is pure coincidence.

Day 7

I reawaken before anyone else.

I toss and turn on the floor of the storage vessel, unable to get comfortable enough to get back to sleep. This really frustrates me, because I can't let myself be woken up again by a whistle in the morning. A Leader may call for white Pikmin this time and I need to be ready to jump out. I wish I could get enough sleep, but now that that doesn't seem to be an option, I rise and walk over to the exit nozzle. I know there's no way to get out of it without a Leader calling us out, but I lie down in front of it, intent on being able to rush out of it even if I'm woken up by the call.

A long time later, just before I could have gotten back to sleep, I hear what I had been waiting for: the Dark Leader's whistle, calling for 40 whites and five purples!

I jump up and practically fall out of the exit nozzle. I quickly get out of the way as 44 other Pikmin exit after me. I don't want to admit it, but I'm tired; I didn't get enough sleep. Yet, I can't let that get in the way of spending the day with the Leaders.

I am back in the area from two days ago, its muggy air still as irritating as ever. It seems as though I'll never be able to go back to that flowery paradise I only just glimpsed on my first day. I look upward in longing, registering as I do so that the sky is now a dark grey. Something's not right here...

We are joined by 55 blue Pikmin. My mood improves as I see my blue friend walk over to me. Its expression is so ridiculously cheerful that I have to comment.

"My, you sure look happy today," I say.

"That's because I am!" sings the blue, dancing around. "Water, water, everywhere! In the land and in the air! You're not a blue if you're not ecstatic on a day like this!"

It seems to be right. Once glance in the direction of the 54 other blue Pikmin is enough to tell that each and every one of them is displaying some degree of delight. I try to find reassurance in this, but can't. I still feel uneasy.

"You okay?" asks my friend, not quite able to change its facial expression to a more concerned one.

"I'm fine," I reply, not completely believing myself. "I just didn't get enough sleep. Wait a moment, the Leaders are talking."

Olimar: "You still haven't told me what your plan for today is, Sir."

President: "Let me tell you a story, Olimar. There was once a big puddle in the far part of this area, then there came a big heat spell and dried it all up... well, most of it anyway. You could have explored that area once the water was gone, but you didn't. Now, it's my job to whip you back into shape."

Olimar: -raises eyebrow- "You seem to have done your research..."

President: -grimaces- "What do you mean by that, Olimar?"

Olimar: -lowers eyebrow- -looks to the side- "Well, I... I just..." -suddenly looks upward- "Sir, what's that noise?"

President: "What?" -looks upward as well-

A strange whistling noise is coming from somewhere, getting louder and louder, while its pitch decreases rapidly.

Then a ball of water about as big as I am tall suddenly splashes down not far away, making the whistling noise stop abruptly.

I whirl around, looking in the air for the source of the water droplet. It had just fallen out of the sky!

Suddenly, I hear it again: a whistling sound, followed by a drop dropping from the sky.

"RAIN!"

I look over at the blue Pikmin, who have all started running around in apparent joy, cheering one word over and over.

"RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!"

My blue friend jumps over to me and shakes me gleefully. "Rain!" it repeats.

"What's 'rain'?" I reply, slightly disturbed as I hear more whistles and more water begins to fall.

"It's what we blues call water that falls out of the sky," answers my friend. "I can't believe I'm actually seeing it! It's supposed to be really rare!"

Suddenly, a huge drop falls into the middle of the group of Pikmin. Luckily, I'm on the outside of the group, because every non-blue Pikmin hit is encased in a bubble of water!

As I shriek in shock, I hear my blue friend murmur, "Oh... no..."

The Dark Leader immediately unleashes such a strong whistle blast that I am nearly thrown off balance by it. I see every suffocating bubble pop. I would be relieved, but the "rain" is coming down even harder now. Drops are falling everywhere.

Then, all order is lost. All non-blue Pikmin start yelling and running in every direction. I join them, not knowing where the next drop is going to hit. I can't think, I just gotta run!

Noise is everywhere. I hear faintly the Leaders shouting and whistling, trying to restore order. Then I feel a terrible, crunching, piercing pain as a drop hits me, but thankfully the suffocating bubble around my head is instantly popped by a strong whistle blast from the Dark Leader. The shock helps me somehow come to my senses. I rush over to the Dark Leader, who is still whistling extremely loudly, calling as many Pikmin as he can towards him, as the Red Leader quickly dismisses them. As I return to the storage vessel, I look behind me. There are few scampering Pikmin left and all the blues are evidently already back in their Seed Hut. The last thing I see before jumping into the entrance nozzle is the Dark Leader getting bowled over by another drop of "rain".

The "rain" doesn't let up. Occasionally, there is a huge bang from above and the storage vessel will shudder as a drop hits it. Eventually, the Leaders' voices can be heard above the pounding. I remove myself from the frenzied chatter of my fellows and listen. The Leaders seem to be back in their part of the storage vessel.

President: "WHAT IS THIS, OLIMAR? WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Olimar: "This is unlike anything I have ever experienced before, Sir! Water droplets falling from the sky! What could possibly be causing this horrendous phenomenon?"

President: "THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING YOU!"

Olimar: "Well, I obviously don't know! Sir, I'm as baffled by this bizarre, seemingly-natural anomaly as you are! Water! Falling from the sky! Surely this is a momentous scientific discovery!"

President: "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR SCIENTIFIC PREOCCUPATION, OLIMAR. DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT THIS WATER WILL FILL UP THAT DISTANT AREA AGAIN?"

Olimar: "Sir, you don't need to be so loud. The falling drops aren't that noisy."

President: "OLIMAR... Darn it... This unheard-of falling water completely ruins my plan for today. How am I supposed to take the purples and whites through this mess?"

Olimar: "Sir... Uh... What were you planning to do with those Pikmin?"

President: "That's for me to know and you to find out!"

Olimar: "But, Sir, now that th-"

There is a loud bang from above and the storage vessel trembles.

Olimar: "...As I was saying, now that these water droplets have begun to fall, I'm not going to find out."

President: "Well, then that's that! Ah-haaaa!"

Olimar: "Sir... Sir, if I may, you've been acting very strangely lately."

President: "Oh, really? How exactly?"

Olimar: "For one thing, instead of returning to the ship two days ago, you opted to perform some reconnaissance of the Perplexing Pool. Then, even though your exploration gave you an idea of something that could be done here, we went back to the Wistful Wild yesterday. Now we finally come back here and you tell me a story of environmental intrigue to explain a plan that you have conceived! These are most unlike you..."

President: "WHAT EXACTLY IS SO UNLIKE ME ABOUT THOSE THINGS, OLIMAR?"

Olimar: "Er, uh, it's just that... I mean... Sir, could you please keep it down? You've gotten louder again."

President: "YOU'D BETTER ANSWER MY QUES-"

There is another loud bang from above, accompanied by an even worse wobble of the storage vessel. It is a very unpleasant feeling.

President: "Wow, that's even louder than I am! POD! THIS SHIP HAD BETTER BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND SUCH HEAVY FIRE!"

Pod: "My new gold plating is highly robust, Mr. President. This falling water presents very little threat."

President: "Good, good! Now, Olimar, speaking of things that aren't threatened by this falling water, are the blue Pikmin affected by it at all?"

Olimar: "If anything they seemed excited about it, Sir. I'm certain that they would be able to easily survive outside at this time."

President: "Then let's get going! That distant area should be full of water again by now. We can probably get some work done there with blues alone."

Olimar: "Uh, Sir, I can't help but say you've sort of forgotten abou-"

President: "I'll not have another word out of you, Olimar! We are going to the puddle in the distan-"

Another bang. Another tremor.

President: "Come! Now!"

I hear the Leaders exit the storage vessel. I put my head up against the wall to listen to them outside, but can't discern any noises other than falling drops. Suddenly, another loud bang issues from above, and as my head is against the wall of the storage vessel, the sound is amplified through the metal surface. I fall to the floor and lie there for a while, allowing the ringing in my head to subside.

It is a very long time before anything happens. I find that I am thankful for this extended opportunity to rest. I definitely didn't get a good sleep last night. Even with drops still hitting the storage vessel every once in a while, I manage to get some needed rest.

Eventually, a huge, metal, ring-like thing falls into the storage vessel. It is all wet from the "rain".

Pod: "Initiating valuation of recovered treasure. The artifact is worth... 100 Pokos. I hereby dub this object... the Massage Girdle."

I faintly hear the Leaders speaking outside, but can't discern any of their speech.

Pod: "Maximum number of blue Pikmin recommended. This falling water is sure to thoroughly flood every underground area. Besides, I highly doubt you'd be able to even get to that distant hole with any other color Pikmin at the moment."

The Leaders continue to speak. Eventually, the Dark Leader says something loud enough for me to hear clearly.

President: "Olimar! We are going down there and that is final!"

After that, I hear nothing more.

"Excuse me," says a voice.

Startled, I roll over on the floor to see who had spoken. A white and a purple Pikmin are standing there.

"We are conducting a survey," continues the white. "How do you feel about these falling drops of water?"

"I don't like them at all," I say quickly, still slightly off-put by the pair's sudden appearance.

The white sighs in response and asks the purple, "What's our standing?"

"Pikmin interviewed: 47," replies the purple in a completely flat voice. "Percent disliking the falling water: one hundred. Percent liking the falling water: zero."

"I suppose there's no point continuing, then," says the white. "Oh, well."

As the two walk off, I roll back over and continue to wait. Many moments pass in silence.

Suddenly, there is a clunking noise from above, followed by a shower of bug carcasses and objects into the storage vessel.

Loud whistles are heard outside, above the pounding of the rain. Then, eight new purple Pikmin enter the storage vessel.

Instantly, the mob of Pikmin in the storage vessel surges toward the eight newcomers. I get up and walk over to see what's going on.

The new purples are huddled around each other, shivering in what is obviously fear, their eyes wide and staring around at everyone else. They were muttering things like "Is it over?", "What now?", "Please tell me it's over..." and "What are you all staring at?", their voices shaking as badly as their bodies.

It's instantly apparent to me that they came from an underground cave, in which they must have had a terrible time. It is instinctive knowledge to Pikmin that time spent underground does not advance in the world above, and the short time it took for the Leaders to leave and come back with these purples indicates that they must have gone underground.

Some of my fellows try to console the purples. Miraculously, this works, and the newcomers are welcomed into our home. But, they remain wide-eyed and after attention does not shift from them for the longest time, I hear one of my fellows ask a question of them I know everyone has been itching to ask, but not worked up the nerve to yet.

"What happened down there?"

Most of the eight squeak in alarm and give the speaker insane, furious looks. One, however, replies, "It is too horrible a tale to impart on common folk..." But, it says it in such a way that makes it clear the Pikmin actually really wants to tell the "tale".

The crowd gathers closer, me among them, intent on hearing the purple's story. Pikmin are saying things like, "Tell us what happened.", "Come on, tell us.", "Please tell your story.", etc.

The one purple in the middle of the crowd seems strangely pleased with all the attention and finally answers, "Oh, very well, if you want to hear it that badly."

The crowd immediately erupts into cries of, "The Pikmin's going to tell it!", "We're gonna find out what happened!", "Everybody, quiet now!", "The story's gonna be told!", "Please, enough with all the noise!", "It's time to listen now!", "We are going to hear it!", "Shut up!", and other similar exclamations until the chatter dies down and the Pikmin can start.

But, there is one more interruption. One of the other eight new purples strides from the now-sitting bulk of the crowd to the center where the soon-to-be-storyteller stands. The intruder is clearly very angry, though it is uncertain why, and bellows, in a rasping voice that sounds like the Pikmin is having trouble using it, "A story can't not have sound effects! Those will be a job of mine!"

The interrupted Pikmin blinks, clearly as perplexed as the rest of us as to why the intruder is acting so angrily, but says, very politely, yet sincerely, "Yes, I think that would be a very nice idea."

"Verily," replies the intruder, satisfied.

And so the two Pikmin begin, the rain continuing to crash down on the world outside, occasionally hitting the storage vessel as before.

It was dark in that underground cavern. The ceiling dripped tiny water droplets, small enough not to cause any damage, but big enough to sting if they hit you. The walls were covered by slow-growing mold, which reeked with the stench of a thousand buried years. And, the floor was mud, squelching beneath our feet. It wasn't the nicest thing to awaken to, I'll tell you that, nor was the first face of a Leader I ever saw, when he pulled us from the ground.

The sound effects Pikmin makes extremely convincing plucking sounds when the storyteller says this.

This Leader was as wide as they come, with a body of mostly black and two big, staring eyes. It was as if we were staring into the corpse of someone who had been scared to DEATH.

The Pikmin speaks the last word so that it reverberates all over the storage vessel, widening its eyes as it does so.

"Surely that's not the Dark Leader you're speaking about..." remarks one of my fellow whites in the crowd.

"Of course it is," responds the voice of another Pikmin. This one I can't find in the crowd. "What other Leader could it possibly be talking about?"

"Since when has the Dark Leader been known to stare like that, eh?" replies the first, causing a murmur to run through the crowd. I wonder myself why the Dark Leader is being reported to stare in such a way.

"Hey, I just tell it like it happened, folks," says the storyteller over all the babble. "I don't know why this... You called him the Dark Leader? Well, I don't know why he was staring, but we purples down in the bowels of the earth, we called him the Staring Leader, as that was all he ever did. Do you call the other one the Red Leader?"

The crowd gives its affirmation.

"Well, good," acknowledges the storyteller. "Okay, let's continue."

So, this "Dark Leader" called us to him and led us over to the other guy, the Red Leader.

The sound effects Pikmin makes noises of the Pikmin squelching through the mud.

We called him the Red Leader because of the red on his suit, the red of the ball above his head, and the red of his face.

The crowd begins to murmur again and the same white Pikmin pipes up, "The Red Leader doesn't have a red face. What are you playing at, eh?"

"Look, I'm just telling the story as it happened, alright?" snaps the storyteller. "If you think you can do a better job, go right ahead."

"Hey, now, that's not what I'm saying at all," replies the white, arms wide. "I'm just saying it's a bit hard to believe that one of the Leaders actually had his skin change color since the last time we saw him."

"Well, believe it," answers the storyteller, with a kind of fierce finality. "We were born into a world where one Leader stared and the other had a skin condition. That's all we've ever known. Isn't that right!" The Pikmin turns suddenly on a group of purples that had been down in that dungeon. They all squeak in fright and hurriedly agree with the storyteller, who finishes by exclaiming, "There! Now where was I?"

The Red Leader was accompanied by a group of about forty blue Pikmin, all of which were shivering with terrible fear, not unlike my fellows here.

The storyteller indicates the group of trembling purples he just confronted to back his story.

Their eyes were wide like the Dark Leader's and they could barely speak. It wasn't a heartening sight.

The Red Leader wasn't looking at us when we approached. His face was set and he was glaring through the cracks in a high wall of roots that separated us from a huge circular room... like an arena... As he looked at us twenty new purple Pikmin, his mouth turned up on one side, and he spoke, but not in a language we understood. Yet, we understood the command he gave seconds later for us to break down the root wall.

With some trepidation, we executed the command.

The sound effects Pikmin provides the noises for the wall being torn down.

As the wall tumbled to the ground, we heard the Red Leader mumbling in his strange dialect. Looking at him revealed that he was shaking as well, but in a different way than that of the utterly terrified blue Pikmin. It's hard to describe, but it was as if the Red Leader was giving off a blazing heat, an impression helped by his red complexion. Suddenly, he stood up straighter than he had so far and shouted something at the Dark Leader, who did not react in the slightest. The Red Leader then gave us this intense look, one that showed his teeth and caused both sides of his mouth to turn up. We had no idea what this meant, nor did we know what would happen when we crossed the threshold into that arena.

The Red Leader called us to him and led us in.

More squelching footstep noises, except slower this time, come from the sound effects Pikmin.

It was then that we heard this... whistling sound...

The sound effects Pikmin makes the sound of something whistling through the air.

...and two, big, stone cylinders dropped from the blackness above us into the area in front of us. But, before they could roll away, as they fell on their rounded sides, "It" came...

The sound effects Pikmin makes a lower whistling sound.

"It" fell onto the rollers before us... huge, translucent, and terrifying... and then we heard its low wail...

The sound effects Pikmin makes an odd gargling noise that completely ruins the mood of the story. Its face contorts with fury again as it snarls, "I can't not get it wrong..."

The sound effects Pikmin looks around for a moment and its eyes stop on a cylindrical orange thing, the top of which increases in diameter from the rest of it. The item is lying on its curved side. Then it looks over at the dead yellow bugs from two days ago, on one of which there remains a deposit of yellow goo.

The sound effects Pikmin goes over to the bug, smears its own face with the yellow goo, walks over to the orange object, and climbs up onto it.

An unearthly sound fills the storage vessel, a strange, low, gargling, wailing moan that doesn't fade after the sound effects Pikmin finishes, but continues to ring in the air, chilling everyone. The mood of the story has returned in full force and the crowd is more silent than ever, desperate to hear more.

Even though we purples were fresh out of the soil, we could tell that "It" was not a common apparition, although it immediately became apparent that this beast was what the blue Pikmin were deathly afraid of. They were practically crying with unimaginable fear... fear we wouldn't even have time to experience.

"It" seemed to be made of water, yet formed into a... into an unwavering shape; it had a bulbous body, to which were connected four limbs, the ends of each inserted themselves into the small holes on the cylinders' unrounded sides; it also had an head, though this was nothing more than a large bump on one end of its body. Because of how "It" was situated on the stone cylinders, it appeared to be in a sitting position.

Then... "It" started to roll in our direction, using the cylinders as wheels to move across the arena toward us.

The sound effects Pikmin, who has now absorbed the yellow goo that it had smeared on its face, creates the noises of the beast rolling towards the Pikmin.

The Red Leader, moving with intense force and precision, swung around, snatching up one of our number, and hurled it at the beast's head. The thrown purple hit its target. The phantasm recoiled, its body shuddering. Then the strangest thing happened to it: "It" seemed to solidify before our eyes, turning a dark purple color. The battle had begun.

The Red Leader began throwing every one of us at the beast. I was thrown with the others. We thundered down upon "It"s purple surface. Moments later, we were joined by a cascade of the blue Pikmin, each with varying degrees of insanity evident on their faces. We pummeled it with our flowers and, in the case of some of the blues, leaves. But, then...

The creature's substance once again became... insubstantial... and its body translucent. It reared upward, flailing its arms, flinging us off like dust. The lucky ones of our number were those that landed on their feet or on parts of the body that did not get hurt easily. However, many landed on their heads... flowers... faces... destroying their flowers to have them replaced by leaves. And, then, "It" began to attack. "It" used its rollers to... roll over us, crushing us into the mud. The Red Leader wasted no time, however. His movements were sudden and wild, but not without a... fantastic exactness... He once again hurled a purple Pikmin straight at our ghastly foe, this time striking "It" in the side. The effect was immediate and identical to the first time "It" had been struck. The beast solidified and the Red Leader began throwing us upon it once more.

The sounds of battle rage from the sound effects Pikmin as the story continues.

We fought and fought, repeating the same process over and over again, hoping to win a war of attrition. I call it that because our forces were not invulnerable: Those Pikmin that were hurt, with their flowers replaced by leaves, were automatically singled out by the terrible phantasm. Unable to run fast enough to evade "It"s rollers, they were crushed beneath them. And, as our forces dwindled, us slow purples taking even more casualties than the faster blues, the Red Leader had to scramble to get his hands on purples with which he could cause "It" to become vulnerable. All was chaos. Pikmin were running in every direction, desperately trying to evade the beast as it rolled over us. The muddy ground was soon littered with the smashed bodies of those who were not able to escape. But, also, the beast was beginning to strain under our blows. "It"s movements were becoming more and more wild... until...

The sound effects Pikmin makes simultaneously the noises of water spurting and stone crumbling.

..."It" lost control of its rollers. "It"s arms broke through them and the stone crumbled onto the ground where it dissolved in the mud. "It" then began to run, but the Red Leader immediately flung one of the remaining eight purple Pikmin at the beast's retreating back. "It" was knocked to the floor, solidly purple once more. And, the Red Leader commanded everyone in the area to swarm "It"s fallen figure and attack at once. With one final assault, we broke the beast's hide.

The sound effects Pikmin makes the water spurting noise again multiple times, each spurt stronger and wilder than the last.

Purple liquid gushed from holes in the phantasm's outer membrane. We stood back and watched "It"s form shrink as the liquid spilled all over the ground. "It" writhed before us, growing smaller and smaller...

"It" was gone.

The storyteller finishes.

There is silence throughout the storage vessel. When it had finished, we were all completely immersed in the story. The sound effects Pikmin, especially, had brought the tale horribly to life. My mind is swimming with pictures of that terrifying, faceless wraith of water.

Another drop of "rain" hits the storage vessel with a terrific BANG, making everyone jump.

"That's it?" says a Pikmin in the crowd, rather rudely in my opinion.

"That was the battle..." replies the storyteller with a sigh. "Yes..."

"There wasn't even anything to bring back to the floating vessel?" persists the Pikmin that had spoken.

"Now that you mention it..." answers the storyteller. It motions to the big cylindrical orange thing that the sound effects Pikmin used in part to imitate the terror's "low wail". "That object seemed to materialize out of thin air not long after the beast was defeated. The Red Leader instructed us to take it to some sort of floating conical vessel. When we released it, it was sucked up int-"

"Yes, yes, we know," interrupts a white Pikmin.

I am annoyed by the insensitivity of the two Pikmin who have so far spoken to the storyteller after it finished. But, what DO you say to a story like this? The storyteller and sound effects Pikmin truly immersed us in the tale, and yet it's not the type of thing that anyone who hasn't truly experienced it can really understand. The fact that everyone jumped when the water drop hit the storage vessel was proof that the recounting certainly scared us, many out of their minds I'm willing to bet... But, as for a verbal reaction? ...I'll just remain silent.

There is a small backlash at the interrupting white, however. Many Pikmin are angry that it had cut off the storyteller. I do agree with what that white said; the storyteller wasn't telling us about anything we haven't done many times before when it recounted taking an object to the floating vessel. Yet, it didn't know that, and there was no reason for that white Pikmin to disrespect it.

Unfortunately, order is lost after this. Pikmin all over the storage vessel begin shouting at one another. I remove myself from the mob as I tend to in moments like this. Pent up emotion from hearing the story seems to have surged forth in the form of anger. I have a small urge to join the others, but I, reasonably I believe, don't do so.

The purple Pikmin's story has posed many more questions than it did answers. Why was the Dark Leader staring? Why was the Red Leader... red? What was that thing they fought down there? And... Oh, no... All those blue Pikmin! My blue friend was surely among them! It wouldn't have missed being outside on a day like this! It might be... dead... And, I have no way of knowing. I have no way of knowing...

As the rumble of the crowd subsides, so does the roar of the "rain" outside, the intervals between drops hitting the storage vessel growing longer and longer. I feel myself drifting off to sleep. I lay back on a strangely comfortable, square, brown-and-tan, flat thing. Everything fades into darkness, into silence, into worry.