Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters
Chapter 13: the distant spring
I woke up feeling warm and refreshed. "Good morning Olimar" I said with more enthusiasm than ever. "Morning Alex" he said a bit sadly. "What's wrong?" I asked him. "I just miss my family." He replied. That reminded me about something. "You never told me about your planet." I said curiously. "Well," he started, "most of the planet is a barren waste land because of radiation. We Hocititians (not sure if I spelled that right) don't live long because of it. Some of the richer inhabitants, like myself, can get radiation proofing to protect us." He sighed. "What about you?" I smiled, wondering how much to tell him. "Well, you've seen the wilder parts of my planet, but most of it is civilized.Man people live in luxury, enjoying the mix of nature and civilization…" I stopped there, because I started feeling home sick. "Are you ok Alex?" Olimar asked worriedly. "Y-yea, just home sick." I said. I had completely forgot about my home, my friends, my family, all of it had moved to the back of my mind with how much fun I was having. Now it was coming back in a rush. "Ok, let's land before you get too sick." Olimar said as he landed in the new area. I got out, and was greeted by Aqua. "What's this one doing out of the Onion?" Olimar asked. I shrugged as Olimar got out 99 more blues. I tried to remember where we were supposed to go for the first part, and then it came to me. I quickly threw them onto the ledge and guided them to the ship part: the repair-type bolt. They carried it to the ship quickly. I checked the watch and realized we had a ton of time. I did remember the bulbax though, and I wasn't sure I wanted to fight another hard enemy. The pearly clamp-clamps were a tricky enemy to figure out, and they were area exclusive, meaning they were only in one area. The bulbax was not only area exclusive, it was SUPER hard to beat. I shudder even now at the thought of fighting a larger version of it. There was a different part nearby in the water, and I figured we could go for that. Then I remembered how tiered I felt. "I need to think about some things today, why don't you rest out here with the pikmin?" Olimar suggested. It was a great idea, and I realized I could ask the leaders some things that were on my mind. I made sure I had 33 of each, with an extra pikmin in red, and I let them do whatever while I talked to the three leaders. Daisy and Aqua walked off to talk amongst themselves, I still don't know why, but Flame stayed nearby. "What's wrong Alex?" he asked. I burst into tears. Everything that had happened hit me at once (this wasn't the only time events caught up to me either), and the home sickness hit me hardest of all. The gentle pressure on my back told me Flame was trying to comfort me. "I guess you miss your family, huh?" he said. I had never talked about my family, or even that I had one, that meant he was speaking from experience. "That obvious?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky. "Something you might not know about pikmin, we have families too." He said. "You do?" I asked, curiosity over powering my sadness. "Yea, there's a city full of us, and only certain pikmin get to go out. Unfortunately, us three got stuck, and our Onions ended up failing. If it weren't for you and Olimar, we'd still be stuck in the ground. "Wow…so you guys crashed?" "Kind of. Each of us were sent somewhere different. Our tracking devices got messed up and we ended up in the middle of nowhere. My onion ended up in the 'impact site', but it was in the water. I was the only one with enough sense to not get out. I got the onion in the air, but I was the least experienced with its controls. A swerve here, a lurch there, and an unexpected branch, and I spiraled into the ground. I became unable to leave, so I went into stasis. Without a pikmin to operate it, the onion dug itself into the ground, waiting for someone who could command me to come by. When you did finally come, the onion started up. Sense I was in stasis though, it ejected me as a seed. The pikmin I knew from the other onions had died through some means, and the leaders were the least experienced since they were the most protected. And that's how I got here." Flame finished the story with a sigh. "Wow…do you know how long?" I asked. "Nope, and I can't get back either, I don't know how and the tracking system is broken." He replied. "Doesn't it drive you insane?" I asked "nope, most reds get furious at the onion because it's always malfunctioning in some way, that's why I survived, I have the coolest head out of all the reds. I can make better decisions, and I'm a better companion…just like you." I could imagine a smile on his face as he looked at me. I looked at my watch and realized it was sundown, so I made sure all the pikmin got in their onions. After climbing in the ship, I paid special attention to the red onion as it took off, and realized it was a bit wobbly…like a flame. Then we rocketed into space. I thought about what red said as I went to sleep.
13 out of 30! I'm having a bit of trouble finding suitable fillers for non-action parts of the story, and the action can't always be top-notch with one part per day. As you can probably tell, I've put a lot of thought into the development of the pikmin personalities, while Olimar's personality isn't shown as much. For any who are wondering, I will go over the back stories of all the pikmin leaders, not Alex's or Olimar's because you already know those, but I won't go over them chapter by chapter. Anyways, the next chapter deals with an enemy I personally hate, and it is a boss battle. Remember, I love criticism of all kind, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!