Chapter Six

Redd twisted the knob to his apartment door. He had thought about visiting his family, but he wanted to catch up a few things before he did that. HIs door was at the top of the steps but the stubborn old door refused to open.
"Stupid door." He said, "Can't a guy get in his own place."
He began to ram the door with his shoulder until it gave way. When the door suddenly did, Redd had to swing his arms to keep from falling over.
"Well, I didn't break my nose." Redd said, remembering a pretty bad incident one of the first days he moved in, "Home sweet home." He slammed the door behind him but still the door swung back open, now refusing to close. Redd sighed and repeated his technique on this side of the door.
Finally it shut itself and Redd turned back to his single room studio. It had really only the basics, and it was originally just a single large room with one extra room for the bathroom. Since Redd moved in, he put up fake walls to divide off areas; the kitchen, the bedroom, and the t.v. room.
Redd put his coat on a peg in the wall to his right of the front door, and thought about getting a cup of nectar from the kitchen. He barely took a step with something slid across the floor from his foot.
"Well what do we have here?" He asked reaching down. It was a small silver envelope with a single leaf design on both the back and the front.
"It looks like I have mail." He said, "And at least it's not from that lonely guy who wants to meet me. Stupid spam." He flipped the envelope around to find an address but there was nothing.
"Weird. I don't know anyone who would send me this." Using his index finger he tore open the top and unfolded the letter within.
"'When all has failed, and life deserted you!'" Redd began, "'When your gods of Pikmin have been made a sham.'" Redd stopped and rolled his eyes.
"Great, a cult group letter."
He was tempted to throw it away when something caught his eye; the words "silver-skinned Goddess".
"'Turn to the one true mother of the Pikmin race! The silver-skinned Goddess herself given us a glimpse to a new tomorrow. A tomorrow that brings with it the promises of many and the future of many more!'"
Redd felt his heart stop for a moment.
"Silver? Could she be the one I saw out in the forest?" He read the bottom of the note and added, "There is a gathering in the Wistful Wood, just across the ocean. I wonder if I should go or not."
Everyone knew the main religion of the Pikmin was of an ancient race of giants who created the Pikmin. There were so large that even the biggest Purple Pikmin barely matched their thumbs. Redd didn't really believe in this religion because of the sheer size of the race. How could Pikmin have been born from such large creatures? But Redd had to follow what his father always said; to each their own.

Yellow was going to head home but the encounter with Roy only made her nervous. "What if he is following me?" She asked herself nervously, then decided she was going to walk around for a bit. Eventually, her path lead her to a popular spot for the community, especially the younger Pikmin:
The Nightbulb.
It was a bar that specialized different berry drinks and nectars so patrons could get a nice buzz. Yellow herself was not proud to admit going home with her leaf lit up like the Onions during ceremonies a few times.
The small square grey building wasn't in the best part of town though, so Spore dealers crept in now and again. Thinking about this, Yellow wondered if it was a bad idea going here: Roy could be following.
"Roy wouldn't try anything here," She assured herself, "Some of the best people in town run the Nightbulb." She trusted the owners with her life, she knew they wouldn't let anything truly bad happen to anyone.
Assured that she was safe here, Yellow pushed open the double doors and took a deep breath. The bar had just opened for the night so the place was most likely empty.
Yellow had been wrong though.
The place was packed with Pikmin of all shapes, sizes, and colors filling up every available space, even a few flying in the air. A group of white and purple Pikmin were around a few tables and cheering on their friends who were competing in arm wrestling contests. Poor white Pikmin. And the biggest thing to note was that every single Pikmin had a drink in their hands.
Through the crowd, Yellow noticed an empty chair and sat down. She turned away from the bar and looked around the noisy, fun-loving group. Her youth had been filled with this sort of activity. She would come in with friends, have a good time, then wake up in someone else's bed or couch, with the other person passed out half in the toilet.
She wasn't too proud of her old life, and on more than one occasion wondered how she lived through it.
"Well, I haven't seen you in a while." Someone said from behind the bar.
Yellow turned around but already knew who was talking: William.
"William! Hi!" She said when she turned around. She could feel her face flush when she saw the bartenders face. He was a white Pikmin with ruby eyes that could see right into you, almost literally. He stood there over the counter cleaning a glass with a rag like a classic bartender would do.
"How is it going?" He asked and Yellow immediately replied, "Me? I'm fine, just fine! How about you?" She hated when she got like this, she always ended up looking like a stammering fool.
"I've been alright." He replied but something in the way he said it stopped Yellows giddiness and made her wonder what was wrong.
A few moments passed before anyone said anything, and it was Yellow asking, "Anything new?"
William looked around a bit and, almost as if ignoring her tended to the other patrons at the counter, then said something to the other bartender, another white one then came back.
"Got a minute, it's a bit noisy in here." William asked Yellow.
"Uh, sure. Do you want to go outside?" Yellow asked and William simply nodded.
Yellow stood up and William walked down the counter till he pushed open the half door. The floor behind the counter was much taller than the main floor, because the bartenders were white Pikmin so they were much smaller than everyone else. When William took off his apron and hopped down the lower floor, Yellow had forgotten how small William was. His bud on his head only reached her forehead.
He looked at her and simply asked, "What? Something on my face?"

Chapter Five

The City itself was nothing too fancy, mostly for the fact that it was located inside a mountain. The buildings weren't too large, the tallest being the the Landing Building, the one that the Onions collected at to be maintained, repaired, and both build and destroyed. That building was four feet tall, and the other buildings were at most two feet. Because the Pikmin were plant creatures, there needed to be sunlight to help stimulate growth and life in the City, so above the City was thousands of lights that worked together to create the outside sky, even having a sun and moon that passed overhead at each point in the real sky.
Yellow and Redd had stepped out of the main entrance and onto the sidewalk that ran all over the City. Pikmin of all Colors adorned these streets, making their way home, to the store, to work, or just to walk. It was in this crowd that one very bright Pink Pikmin strolled by and gave a wink with an air kiss to Redd. The flirting Pikmin kept walking but kept looking back as Redd's mouth dropped. His skin became a few shades lighter and he said, "But... I'm a guy too!"
Yellow had to laugh at that, it already felt good to be home.
"I guess this is were we split up." She said, and Redd gripped her arm.
"Can I come with you?" He asked.
"Why?"
Redd gave a sheepish look around then said, "That guy is still around, and I think he has a thing for me..."
Yellow laughed again then said, "And you think that being with me will get him to leave you alone? I'm at least 6 cycles older than you."
"Just until we get to the Bus Station. Please?" Redd begged and gripped tighter.
Yellow sighed, and, at the cost of a jealous Pikmin's glares, took his hand and agreed. The two walked down the street heading toward the next bus station that would take Redd to the Inner City where his family lived.

Eventually they found one, and the went their separate ways. Yellow lived not far away, just a few blocks down the street. Her family also lived the area, they were only slightly farther away than her home.
"I'll be glad to get home." Yellow said when Redd stepped onto the bus and waved goodbye. Just as the door closed, Yellow could have sworn she had seen a color in the crowd: a bright pink color.
"My family would also like to see me." Yellow said, as she began to walk home.
"Hey pretty lady..." Someone said to Yellow moments after she started walking.
She turned around to see three Pikmin standing before her. One Purple, one Orange, and one Red. It was the red one that had addressed her.
"Haven't seen you around, not lately at least." He said and Yellow stood up straighter then made a disinterested sigh.
"Been doing things." She replied.
The red one smiled at that, his drooping nose cutting his smile in half.
"What kind of things?"
"Better things than you guys do." Yellow retorted.
"What spunk, I've always liked that Lily."
The red one said, calling Yellow by her first name.
"Shut it Roy." Yellow said, beginning to get annoyed by this, "I'm not some play thing, not anymore. So don't talk like I'm a toy in a store."
"Whoa, Whoa. Easy there, I'm just trying to chat with an old friend of mine, Is there a crime against that?" Roy replied, putting his hands, up to show no harm.
"There's a crime in what you do." Yellow retorted.
"I make a decent living doing what I love. Isn't that what we are meant to do in life?"
"Selling Spore isn't a 'decent' living. It's criminal what you do to Pikmin." Yellow said, wanting nothing more than to get away from this creep.
He shrugged his shoulders then said, "To my many customers, spore makes them happy, and when they are happy I get happy. I don't see how that is so bad."
"Enough Roy. I'm done talking with you." Yellow yelled, memories beginning to surface. She turned sharply on her heel and began to walk away.
"Hey Lily! Get back here! You didn't even say good-bye!" Roy yelled, but Yellow kept walking, not daring to look back.

“The Council, which presides over all matters of the Great City, allows James Blue to step forth and present an urgent report from his picking in the Southern Forest.” The speaker of the Council introduced, taking his seat after leading Blue into the small meeting room that held only one of each color Pikmin, the representatives of each race. They sat in rows raising slightly above the last for only a few rows. Blue stood at the bottom looking up at the Council and waiting for the formalities to finish before speaking. When Grey finished naming each councilmen, he turned to Blue and said, “Proceed”
Blue introduced himself and gave his command number, then began to talk about his encounter with the unusual, metal, creature.
Blue spoke calmly and clearly throughout the report, giving as much details as he could. The Council was silent, save for the occasional question and for Blue to clarify what he said.
“As the Old History explains, the era before civilized Pikmin described machines built of metal and were meant for war. The arm I witnessed I don’t believe was feeding, but harvesting.”
“Much like one of the more well known stories from the Old History, about giant creatures who gathered and studied all things, and one of the most common methods they used was technology that would collect for them. If what you has anything to do with these creatures of lore, they might have sent that arm to take Pikmin for study. A Yellow stated and the Pink councilman agreed.
The Council began to chat and mutter and a white one stood up and asked, “Is there any descriptions to the beings themselves?”
The Orange representative stood up and said, “In the volumes of the Old History, the only descriptions of these beings is that they were very great in size, but they are believed to have gone extinct. A creature of that size surely would have been discovered long ago, when our Onions first took flight.”
“Captain Blue, would there be anything else you would like to present to the Council?” The Speaker asked and Blue replied, “Nothing more Sir.”
“Then you are dismissed, the Council shall discuss and find a course of action in case of another attack such as the one you experienced should arrive. In the meantime, I suggest you head home and get some rest, you look like you could use some.”
Blue nodded and said good bye, and made sure to thank the Council for his time. He was in fact, very tired.