Pikmin: Technological Advance

Living Room, Hanafuda

12 hours till Sunset

"Welcome, everyone, to Koppai news! I'm your host, Romeo!"

"And I'm Sierra!"

Shown on flickering TVs everywhere, two Koppaites sit, at a white desk. Romeo, the host, has a flat brown top and simple mustache, with a matching brown suit, complete with red tie. Sierra, the other host, has grape-colored hair, and a green dress with white polka dots. She's wearing cat-eye glasses with rhinestones.

"Today, it's another edition of Heroes' News. Who have the viewers suggested, Sierra?"

Sierra holds a letter in her hands. She carefully opens it and reads.

"Congratulations Drake! You want to hear about your grandson and his friends, the crew who saved us from starvation. That was a tough time, wasn't it Romeo?"

"It sure was," he said, rubbing his stomach, "But thanks to those seeds, we're eating like kings!"

"Well then," said Sierra, "Let's pull up the footage!"

The screen flickers, and now, the TV shows Alph sitting on a couch. A younger kid with stubby blue hair is driving a toy spaceship across his lap.

Alph is wearing his spacesuit, without the helmet, and looks the same as he had when he went on the mission, albeit, a bit taller.

An orange haired woman is sitting across from him, with orange, shoulder-length hair.

"Hi, this is Foxy here. Today, we have Alph, one of the heroes of the mission to PNF-404! Now then, Alph, tell us, any thoughts?"

The little boy is making noises as he flies the rocket around.

"Well, Foxy, was it?" Alph asked.

"Yes."

"I thought the mission was really an eye opener. I think I learned some things, and have seen some odd sights. For example, you should've seen what we called the Sand-Belching Meerslug. The thing was huge! But, I don't feel too different."

A figure with a blurred face walks up. Captions appear on the screen.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. This little one right here needs to go to bed."

"No!" warbled the little boy.

The figure picked up the kid and walked off.

"Anyways, I wish Drake was able to see it, but the people who gave us the mission said that there were processing limitations with the KopPad, and he decided to drop out."

"Do you feel as though your grandfather deserved to be put through that horrible planet then?"

Alph stared at Foxy with wide-eyed shock for a few moments.

"N-no! The monsters weren't too bad, but the scenery! The scenery was absolutely stunning! I even took pictures on my KopPad!"

Alph pulls it out and shows Foxy. The camera switches to a bird's eye view of it, showing scenes from places like Twilight River and The Garden of Hope. Various Pikmin are pulling off various stances, including one where all of them, along with Charlie, are doing a kick-line.

"There are quite nice!"

The TV switches back to Romeo and Sierra.

"How funny!" states Sierra, "That captain must be so silly!"

"I don't think Alph is that silly…"

"I was talking about Charlie! He and his kick-line… Let's actually go to him right now."

The TV switches to Captain Charlie sitting in a wooden chair. On the opposite end of a plastic table is Foxy.

"Coming to you with Captain Charlie, the leader of this expedition. Now then Charlie, would you say that you were a good leader of this mission?"

"Definitely!" he said proudly, his fists planted into his sides.

"Despite being eaten almost immediately after crash-landing?"

"Wait, what?"

"Or not caring about the food, but your rubber ducky when Louie from Hocotate Freight stole it all?"

"B-but…"

"Or, perhaps, the time that you murdered innocent children of the being that ate you?"

"Shut… shut up! How did you get that information?"

The TV flickers to a greenhouse, filled with varieties of large fruits.

"And then, he squealed when his rubber ducky fell off of Louie's body and into the mud!"

She and Foxy share a laugh.

"So, anyways, how do you feel about your crew members?"

"Charlie is such an arrogant jerk, it can be hard to deal with him, but I know he watches out for us. Alphie's always a team player too, in fact, if it weren't for him, I would have probably starved in that enclosure."

"Interesting, but how did you feel about this adventure?"

"It was actually quite pretty. Despite the monsters that inhabited the place, it was actually quite calming. Once we mastered using them, the place was almost free, except for monsters that didn't hurt them. I'm going to miss the little guys. It would be nice to have a little cottage or something there…"

The TV turns off. A figure gets up and turns to his cohorts.

"Lili, Zelia, Garren, do you see the business opportunity here?"

Lili tugged at her green hair, braided down her hair, with blonde highlights.

"I know that you asked us to gather the history of the planet, and we did… But… Well… The place is dangerous. Extremely dangerous."

Garren snarled, his short brown hair stuck up in a stub, modeled after Alph's, "Plus, if we go there and build a little cottage, it may turn into a place that we just clear out. Like what happened to here, Hanafuda."

"As much as I like adventure," said Zelia, her pink and purple hair bobbing up and down like a wave. "This place is not a place to mess with. Yenom, you must reconsider-"

"I'm not reconsidering," said Yenom. He stepped into the light.

He looked at the dress Lili was wearing, the brown skin of Garren and his gray suit, and Zelia's spacesuit, which she refused to take off.

He inspected his hair. Three large black hairs pointed straight up on his head. He checked his mustache. Perfectly curved into five round bumps. His suit was the perfect shade of gray that he had selected. He straightened his black tie, adjusted his handkerchief, and slowly polished his boots.

"Perfect… Now then, I have been thinking of this ever since you came back. This has sprung our opportunity. Many people have watched this news broadcast. Tomorrow, we shall advertise it. A new lodging place on PNF-404. We'll make millions!"

"But sir!" said Garren, "What about the monsters? Sure, we can breathe the oxygen on the planet, but those monsters are fierce creatures, and I doubt-"

"Garren! Have faith!" said Yenom, exasperated, "We can deal with these issues. Tell Mary and Sue that they have to start making the commercial… now."

Garren glared at Yenom for a bit, then walked off.

"Lili, Zelia, prepare your spaceship."

"ADVENTURE?!" said Zelia gleefully.

"Adventure?" moaned Lili.

"Yes," said Yenom, "Now go."

Zelia ran off, Lili stomping behind her.

Yenom turned around and stared at the TV screen. He turned it on, and hit the play button.

"Of course," continued Brittany, "I wouldn't want to do that. It may harm the Pikmin, unless they decided to agree with it. Plus, if we built a cottage, everyone else would want to go to it, and it may just create a giant cash cow for someone."

Yenom touched an earpiece on his ear, "Is Garren still there?"

"Umm… no, why?" replied the voice of Mary.

"I've changed my mind about the commercial. Also, you and Sue are fired."

"Wait, what?"

"You may take them now," said Yenom calmly.

"What are you talking- AGH!" muffled screams erupted into Yenom's earpiece, with a crashing noise banging in the background. Yenom turned off the earpiece, and Garren entered the room.

"They're working on it," he replied gruffly.

"Good," said Yenom, and he took out a little antennae, tossing it to Garren.

"You're going to PNF-404 once again. I want you to place that on the planet's surface. I have programmed it to build a cottage."

Garren stared at the antennae, then looked at Yenom, "You do realize this is a bad idea, right?"

"I feel as though that there is nothing wrong with this," replied Yenom.

Garren glared at him one last time, and walked off.

Yenom stared at the TV again, then picked up a teapot, poured himself a cup, and walked away.

Awakening Woods

2 hours to sunset

The ship made its final descent. Zelia flicked several switches, and Lili checked the radar.

"Status?" Garren asked.

"All good!" saluted Zelia.

"We're OK… I guess," replied Lili.

"Good," said Garren. They slowly stopped near the ground, and landed on a patch of circular land.

The three put on their spacesuits. Lili put on a yellow one, Zelia, a purple one, Garren, an orange one.

"OK then," said Zelia, "Let's find a good place to put this cottage!"

The three set out into the woods. Garren made sure to carefully inspect the ground and flowers. With the Sheargrubs and Burrowing Snagrets, you could never be too sure. In fact, Garren swore that a Marigold was eyeing him hungrily. He thought back to the Jungle Incident. The group had sworn never to talk about it, and anything possibly relating to it. So, Garren kept his mouth shut.

The group walked slowly, and into a clearing. The place had been cleared up from weathering elements, and it didn't appear to match the description the discoverer of this planet, Olimar, had given it.

A Dwarf Bulborb charged out, shrieking, and Lili, shocked, socked it in the face. It was hit so hard, the Dwarf Bulborb literally crumpled into the ground, almost deflated.

"Good job Lili," said Garren, used to this sort of behavior.

"You did excellent!" said Zelia, giving a thumbs up.

The group walked to a nice clearing, with a waterfall. Olimar had clearly forgotten to mention waterfalls in the woods. Spectralids floated around, all of them giving clear space. They clearly recognized the three explorers, and gave them a wide berth.

"This looks like a good place," said Garren, and he kneeled on the ground, antennae in hand.

Just as he was about to place it, cries erupted from the waterfall, and some Pikmin rushed out.

There were Red Pikmin carrying some sort of gray Pikmin, and Blue Pikmin shaking off the water droplets, so they didn't drown.

Zelia, Lili and Garren all stopped placing the antennae and whistled. Water droplets were shaken off, and the Pikmin all rushed over. The gray Pikmin was dropped into the water, and some Blue Pikmin grabbed it and carried it over.

Garren attempted to whistle to it, but it refused to respond.

Lili kneeled over it, and gasped.

"What happened to it?"

The gray Pikmin wasn't gray at all, but metal. Bolts lined its plating, and instead of a leaf, there was a small antennae, light slowly blinking around it.

The Pikmin's eyes were barely open, but were a deep metallic red, with no pupils, similar to a White Pikmin's, if they were wearing goggles.

Around its bodies were drops of water, sparking against the Pikmin's "skin."

Lili immediately took off her glove, and began to dry the Pikmin with it.

Luckily, the people of Hanafuda were able to breathe in a small amount of oxygen, otherwise Lili would've been dead.

The Pikmin stopped sparking, and slowly got up. It blinked its robotic eyes at Lili.

"What is this?" Lili asked, "Who would do this."

Lili reached out her hand, and the Pikmin cuddled it. It felt cold.

Then, a sharp noise filled the air, like an alarm going off. The metal Pikmin stood upright, its eyes turning into a dull yellow. It walked away from them in a drone-like manner.

"…Follow it," said Garren.

….

1 hour till sunset

The group slowly stalked the Metal Pikmin, following it through long halls of rock, and clearings of dewy grass.

Some creatures were walking around, but nothing appeared to be dangerous. Some female Sheargrubs followed the group for a bit, and even helped them nuzzle through a hole the Metal Pikmin walked through.

The group finally crawled through the hole, and the female Sheargrubs crawled back through it. The group didn't notice, because they were in a state of shock.

Towering above them was a large antennae. Hanafudans were building it.

The group of explorers immediately ducked behind a rock, with Garren grabbing the Metal Pikmin. He pulled off his glove and managed to tie it around the Metal Pikmin's antennae. The Pikmin's eyes transferred back to a metallic red, and it stared at Garren, registered the situation, and ducked.

Metal Pikmin were walking out of many holes in the clearing, all of them with dull yellow eyes. They were carrying other Pikmin.

They were clearly struggling. Yellow Pikmin were zapping the drones. Blue Pikmin squirted water. Red Pikmin were simply beating them. One dented Metal Pikmin was carrying what appeared to be a rock.

The alarm was still blaring, and all of the Pikmin were converging on a single spot in a clearing. Sitting there was an object that looked like a wood chipper. Standing there was a familiar face.

Yenom Gabs decided to grace PNF-404 with his presence.

The Metal Pikmin all got in a line in front of the wood chipper object. Yenom nodded towards a Hanafudan, and he nodded. A switch was flipped, and the alarm changed tone. The Metal Pikmin walked up, and one by one, threw a Pikmin in it.

Zelia covered Lili's mouth to stifle her scream.

Little Pikmin souls slowly floated out of a slot in the machine, and was caught in a glass dome. The wood chipper sputtered, and a Metal Pikmin fell out, all of them the same size, despite what they looked like originally. The glass orb emptied itself into the Pikmin, and a Soul floated into it. The Metal Pikmin's eyes opened, and stared at its hands, before being caught in a bug net and transported off.

Garren felt a drop of liquid on the hand that wasn't gloved. He looked at the Metal Pikmin, who was crying oil.

"This is horrible…" muttered Zelia, a look of disgust and determination on her face. Garren understood what she was about to do.

"If that alarm controls Metal Pikmin," muttered Lili, "Do you think..."

"If we could distract the Metal Pikmin…" muttered Garren.

"Then we grab that Rock Pikmin…" muttered Zelia.

The three nodded, and Lili ran out of their cover, and slid onto the ground, foot outwards, and knocked a Hanafudan down.

Yenom saw her, and immediately snapped his fingers. Another Hanafudan flipped a switch on the antennae.

The Metal Pikmin all faced towards the explorers, when Garren whistled. Caught off guard, the Metal Pikmin were beaten down by their captured buddies.

Garren whistled a Rock Pikmin over to him and threw it to Zelia, already in midair. She aimed, and fired.

The Hanafudan ducked for cover as the Rock Pikmin slammed into the switch, completely destroying it.

The many Metal Pikmin all turned towards Yenom, glaring at him with red eyes.

Yenom appeared calm. Then one charged.

He easily grabbed it and chucked it away, before blowing a whistle. The entire clearing covered their ears, except for the Metal Pikmin. They all turned towards the explorers.

Garren was hit with shame. They had failed!

Yenom slowly walked towards the group, "What are you doing?"

"This is wrong!" shouted Zelia into his face, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Business," Yenom replied simply.

"But this is-"

"I. Don't. Care," said Yenom coolly.

He silently picked up a Metal Pikmin.

"Rufus, grab them."

A large Hanafudan grabbed the three of them. Yenom walked up.

"I'm afraid that you're fired," he stated and smacked them with the Pikmin.

Garren's conscious slowly faded.