Once it was morning, Blue and Redd left their tunnel that protected them and looked to the sky for the Onions.
“Good morning sky.” Redd said looking around, “Have you seen our friends this morning?”
“Shut up Redd.” Blue warned, not wanting to attract late predators.
“Just joking…” Redd said edging away from his comrade. Redd looked down from the sky and spotted a patch of grass growing not too far away. He found the thickest blade and pulled it out, which revealed a sphere of golden nectar on the end of it.
“Breakfast?” Redd asked holding the grass and nectar.
“Not the time.” Blue replied still watching the sky for the Onions.
“Fine, more for me.” Redd said, then drank the nectar off the plant then began to chew the green plant itself.
“Personally, I prefer meat to grass, but the nectar makes it better.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Blue asked, annoyed.
“When I sleep.”
“I wish…” Blue sighed.
After a bit of searching and listening to Redd ramble about why he prefers meat over the grass, Blue finally spotted the Onions hovering close to where the camp was yesterday. The weeds obscured their view of them when the crafts began to land, but it wasn’t that difficult to find them.
“Well I see Redd is alive, just like I said he would.” Yellow said when her comrades arrived. “It’s good to see you both.”
“It’s good to see my Onion.” Redd said walking over to his Onion. The red ship was simple in design, with the bulb of a real Onion with three long legs held it above the ground. The flower on top slowly spun in the light breeze making a sounds along with its two similar comrades.
Yellow sighed then looked to Blue, “He’s more excited about seeing his Onion than anything else huh?”
Blue nodded then went straight to business, “How much food and nectar do we have left?”
Yellow said, “With the number of Pikmin we have… only enough to last us par way through the week.”
Blue was surprised, yesterday they had a full load, enough to feed them all for at least two weeks. “What happened? He asked. Yellow sighed then said, “Two things happened: first, some of the food became bad and I had to toss some from mine, and had the other two checked. There was bad food there too. And second, pearls were somehow put on board and created many more Pikmin. We now have a collected… twenty-eight thousand infant Pikmin. Give or take.”
“Twenty-eight thousand!” Blue yelled, unable to believe that, “We only had close to six hundred yesterday! How many pearls were put on?”
“I don’t know, but the Onions are nearing their max, we may have to regroup with the other Pikmin to drop off some of them.
“Pearls?” Redd asked, overhearing their conversation, “What do they look like?”
“They are round and light enough for a few Pikmin to carry. Why do you ask?” Yellow responded.
“Are they silver?” Redd asked, his face becoming fearful.
“Usually.” Blue answered, “What did you do?”
Redd looked down and said, “ I found a field of them. And harvested as much as I could.”
“You collected Pikmin Products!” Blue shouted, furious with the young leader. Pikmin Products were things that were collected to increase the production of Pikmin. Normal creatures and nectar provided food for them, but things like pellets and pearls created Pikmin.
“I didn’t know what they were!” Redd exclaimed, “I’m sorry.”
“But why didn’t the one who guarded the Onions catch them?” Redd asked, “I mean, there was someone guarding right?”
“Hey Blue, wasn’t that you yesterday?” Yellow asked. Blue opened his mouth about to object but then shut it like he was a gasping fish. He looked away, and then began to turn actually purple.
“You were guarding weren’t you? Why didn’t you catch it?” Redd asked, feeling the momentum of the argument shift in his favor.
“Dismissed. Today we just gather more food and supplies to manage our larger force. Redd, you guard, Yellow, you collect food, and I will collect nectar.” Blue said, changing the subject entirely.
Redd decided to give Blue one more jab and said, “I’ll be sure to tell Blossom hello.”
Blue turned beet red and stormed to his Onion, spouting out things about disrespect and mutiny. Redd laughed at the reaction and then said to Yellow, “Well, I guess I better enjoy the day off then right?”
Yellow nodded, “Just take it easy, and don’t wonder off again.”
Redd stretched his arms and grabbed a few red Pikmin whom, once on the ground, began stretching and getting their muscles loose.
“Alright guys, let’s relax.” Redd said.
When Yellow and Blue left to collect the supplies, Redd decided to play a game with the small group of Pikmin he had with him.
“Pikmin Sweeper.” Redd said, then passed out scraps of brown material cut from a strange wall they had overcome once before by tossing Pikmin atop and making it collapse. Along with these, Redd passed out pieces of chalk so the Pikmin could mark on the materials. On a few of the papers the Pikmin wrote down a large “X” to show that they have a “bomb”. The ones around it would mark down how many “bombs” were nearby, to give clues to the bomb.
While the Pikmin wrote down, Redd looked away and waited for them to finish. When they were done, Redd began to pick where he thought was bomb free. The first few rounds proved more difficult for Redd, whom would swear at each lose and have the Pikmin reset.
The Pikmin themselves seemed to enjoy the game, giving small noises that could be translated to laughter when their leader lost.
Before long, small groups of yellow and blue Pikmin began to arrive carrying their harvests, greater than usual to support the large quanity of Pikmin they now have. Blue and Yellow had left with larger forces, at least one hundred a piece, to make their jobs easier. Groups of three were the first to arrive, holding Dwarf and Spotty Bulborbs, or even a Honeywisp or two, to collect the nectar.
When they arrived, Redd directed them to their Onions to await the return of one of the other leaders. Naturally though, Redd began to be bored, and started to kick up his feet to take a nap in the morning sun.
“It’s a lazy day.” He said, not for the first time, before he shut his eyes. He knew his Pikmin would wake him if trouble occurred and so let his mind slip into sleep…
Redd found himself in the middle of a green meadow, with crisp grass that hugged his feet and warm air that rolled over his body. Redd walked along the field gazing at the long expanses of grassland that reached to meet the ever blue sky.
“It’s beautiful.” He said.
“I agree.” A feminine voice said behind him. Redd didn’t jump, nor did he turn around. He knew this voice would continue speaking though he had no idea how he knew that.
“Did you know?” She asked, “It didn’t seem like you did.”
Redd didn’t talk, though he wanted to, somehow he knew not to speak and to just listen.
“Do you remember? What about the photo? What is it that you seek?” Redd figured she was talking about the torn picture that was stuck to the ceiling above his bed in the Red Onion. He has had it for as long as he can remember, but doesn’t know who was in it, or what was ripped out.
“You know Redd. There are others like you. They look like you too.”
There was a flash when the voice stopped, a flash of silver which left Redd alone in the verdant field that meets the clear sky.
Redd woke to a large group of both blue and yellow Pikmin milling around the camp waiting for their next order. Some were stretching, while others copied Redd and appeared to sleep on the ground. The red leader sighed and stood up to separate the crowd all the while remember the dream he just had.
“What a lazy day.” Which was all he said.
