Colors

Chapter 1: Green

Olimar and his collection of Pikmin trudged across the swamp. They had been searching for treasure for half of the day, but with no luck. Louie was back at the ship eating. He did that quite a lot.

They came to yet another mud puddle; there seemed to be thousands of these in the swamp. Olimar looked back to his Pikmin once again, as if he would suddenly figure out a way to cross them. His swarm was made up of every color of Pikmin known: 15 reds, 15 yellows, 15 blues, 5 purples, and 10 whites. But not even the poison-resistant whites had a chance against this sludge, which slowly dissolved every Pikmin that entered it.

Olimar sighed. This was particularly frustrating in this case, as he could clearly see a treasure (a large golden band with a diamond set into the top) floating on top of the mud not far away. But no Pikmin could reach it, so he decided it would be best to just leave.

He was turning to leave when he noticed a clearing in the trees not too far away. He walked over to see what was in it...and what he saw took his breath away.

The clearing was fairly large. There were a few Pellet Posies lining the edges, with both 1 and 5 pellets as well as a couple 10s and a 20. The clearing was filled with all sorts of sounds from the swamp outside. But Olimar didn't care about any of that. All he could focus on was the object that sat in the center of the clearing.

It was a Green Onion.

Olimar walked forward reverently. He had never seen an Onion this color before, even when the ship was in orbit around the Distant Planet and the Onions lifted into the sky from all over the planet's six continents. It looked like most other Onions, with a large bulbous central chamber with an odd propeller-like flower on top and three "stilts" to keep it off the ground. Strangely it seemed as if this Onion already had been activated; had Louie been here?

As Olimar walked forward, the Onion suddenly shot a single seed from its top. Olimar walked forward toward the spot where it had fallen. After a moment, a sprout appeared where the seed had fallen: a green leaf at the tip of a bright green stem.

Olimar began to approach when he stopped. For some reason this particular stem had two leaves growing from it, rather than one. This was indeed unusual...

Olimar shrugged. There was no time to worry about it. He gave the stem a tug and the Pikmin below was revealed.

The green Pikmin was similar in shape to a red Pikmin but without the nose. Instead, it had a second leaf on top of its stem and what appeared to be tiny claws on its hands. Its eyes looked up at Olimar in surprise; it clearly hadn't seen anything like him before.

Olimar began to have the green break down the Pellet Posies around the clearing, aided by the other colors; it was only now that Olimar realized that they were Green Pellets. Soon Olimar had gone from just one green Pikmin to thirty.

The ship's sensors were going crazy. "Incredible!" the voice exclaimed in Olimar's helmet. "This new Pikmin has strange properties! Its molecular structure seems to be able to be highly durable, indicating it may be able to endure in conditions which other Pikmin cannot. Its dual leaves seem to also indicate some kinds of abilities which are related to plants in some way..."

Olimar was no longer listening. He was focused on the ship's earlier statement. These Pikmin could survive where others couldn't? Could that mean...no, it was just too much to hope for.

Still, Olimar had to try. He whistled to call together all the Pikmin, including the new greens. He picked up a green Pikmin, carried it out of the clearing, and took it back to the large mud puddle with the treasure. Figuring he had to give it at least a shot, he threw the Pikmin into the puddle.

He expected the green Pikmin to dissolve like the rest, but instead it stood there wondering what it should do. The other Pikmin stood there watching the green back.

Olimar smiled. His problem was solved.

Green Pikmin are a Standard Species of Pikmin; this is a complicated way of saying they live in an Onion like red, blue, and yellow Pikmin. Their natural species immunity is mud, a substance found commonly in rainy areas. Puddles of mud function much like water except that Pikmin tend to get stuck in them as they slowly dissolve, making it almost a definite kill. Not only are greens unfazed by mud, but they also don't get stuck in the sludge, which means they are highly effective at getting treasures out of it.

The greens also have another unique power: climbing! Green Pikmin have the power to climb up vines or walls of ivy. This allows them to access new areas which Pikmin of other species cannot, both by climbing up walls of ivy and by swinging across gaps to build bridges for other Pikmin. This makes greens quite valuable for your team.

Fun Facts:

- Originally green Pikmin were going to have their notable feature be a larger leaf, but I figured this wouldn't really be enough of a difference to count.

- Mud was originally going to be instant-kill, but changed it when I realized that feature would be more suitable for lava or magma. To keep mud from being just a repeat of water, I made Pikmin get stuck in it and slowly dissolve, thus making it harder to escape.

- The Green Onion was already activated as part of a story I will be adding in a series of oneshots which I will probably publish, at my current rate, just before the Sun goes out.

- Green Pikmin also have better AI than other Pikmin, but I don't know why.

- When I first published this I made a mistake in the early story saying that normal Pikmin dissolved and then later said they drowned instead. Let's say that they dissolve, but it takes a while so they have a chance to escape. Sorry about any confusion.