Pikmin Rescue Mission - Day 1: Far away from home - Part 1
…what just happened…?
A lone Red Pikmin lay near a field of flowers, close to a small creek. As it got up, it began to observe its surroundings.
That’s not our home… where are the others? Where is the nest?
The Pikmin looked around to see a structure similar to the one back home, only smaller, and filled with even more tiny ones. And all around it could see-
-predators!
It instantly dove into the flowers and started digging itself into the ground, praying that the big, scary predators hadn't seen it. Maybe with lots of luck, they would go away. Far, far away.
The Pikmin hadn’t been in the ground too long when it began to feel a vibration. Oh dear, this vibration wasn’t small. It was big. Very, very, very big. It felt itself shaking in the ground, hoping that the closing predator wasn’t going to see a trembling flower in the ground.
It heard something interesting though. It sounded like… humming?
Yes, gentle humming! In a way that sounded almost… comforting… like home…
But not long after it started, the Pikmin felt itself being tugged. The humming stopped, being replaced with sounds of struggling.
Oh no… I’ve been exposed!
The tugging continued. The Pikmin was terrified. This was it.
I hope I see my fallen loved ones…
As the Pikmin got tugged out, it opened its eyes after a few moments… and it could not believe what it saw.
It was quite a beautiful day, Fluttershy had to admit. After stepping out of her cottage, the pegasus took in a breath of fresh air. Combining the morning air with the smell of nature made sure that her day had a great start.
Speaking of great starts, as Fluttershy glanced over to her little flower field near the creek, and saw the flowers were in bloom. Feeling delighted, she went over to her field to pluck out the flowers. Ponyville’s flower trio had requested a few natural grown flowers be delivered, so she was happy to see them finally in bloom.
She walked over and started plucking them out with her wing, humming to herself a song she heard a few days ago. Songbird Serenade was really stepping up her game, as Rainbow Dash would put it.
As she was finishing up, she stopped to smell the flowers, only to notice a peculiar little flower, a smaller, white one with a red stem, seemingly out of place.
“Oh? I don’t remember planting this. How’d you get here?” she thought out loud. Still, a flower was a flower, so she began to pluck it out.
But this one was more tricky. Fluttershy needed to put in more force to pluck it out, and once she got it out, she saw that it wasn’t a flower, but a living creature.
A tiny, red creature, with tiny limbs, a tiny nose, eyes, and a flower looking like a daisy on top of its head. It seemed to be trembling, it had its arms and legs tucked in, and its eyes were closed. But not long after being plucked, it opened one eye, then both, and the creature and Fluttershy made eye contact.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
“Eep!” Both the creature and Fluttershy startled each other. The creature was dropped, and it began running around, panickedly. It tried to go towards her cottage, then to the water, then backed up into the bridge. Fluttershy herself felt startled, but the feeling went away after seeing it meant no harm. It simply looked scared.
“Please don’t eat me! Please don’t eat me! Please don’t eat me!”
The poor little thing was trembling at the bridge, having shut its eyes and awaiting doom. Fluttershy felt her heartstrings being tugged at. She had no idea what it was, but it was scared beyond belief. And she could understand why such a tiny being would be scared, considering how big she was compared to it.
“O-oh my, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you! Are you alright, little one?”
Her gentle voice seemed to calm the little creature down, and it stopped trembling.
“I-I-I guess? You’re… not gonna eat me?”
That question shocked Fluttershy greatly. “Why would I ever do that!?”
Now the creature simply looked… surprised. “You… can understand me…?”
“Um, y-yes, I do,” Fluttershy nodded. “I can understand all kinds of animal languages, it’s how I can take care of them best.”
The creature blinked. “That’s… w-wow. No one apart from my kind can understand me.”
“O-oh?” Fluttershy tilted her head, intrigued. “And what is your kind? … if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Well… our leader calls us-”
At that moment, Fluttershy heard a strong, whistle-like sound in the distance. Immediately, the creature perked up and began to run in the other direction.
“Olimar! Olimar! I’m coming!”
“W-wait! Where are you going?” The creature ignored her and kept going, yelling the name of someone called Olimar. Wanting to make sure it’s okay, Fluttershy silently followed it at a steady walk as it ran.
The whistling got louder the closer they got to the Everfree Forest. Eventually, they discovered another little creature, and the red one ran eagerly to it.
This one had fair skin, narrow eyes and a rather big nose, along with three little brown hairs on its head. Another interesting thing was that it was wearing some sort of spacesuit, judging by the helmet covering its head. It started speaking to the creature before noticing Fluttershy… and then it looked in surprise, as did the pegasus.
“Um, hello there…” Fluttershy murmured.
The spacesuit-wearing creature looked in surprise, until the red creature tried to show it that she meant no harm. The spacesuit-wearing creature warily came a little closer, and said something to her.
Unfortunately, she did not understand. “Um, excuse me?”
The creature said something else.
“… I-I’m afraid I don’t understand…”
It then looked to think about something, before snapping its little fingers. It then pressed a button on its spacesuit, and the whistle sticking out of the suit was replaced by a metal plate with three lines.
“Do you understand me now?” it asked.
Now Fluttershy was the surprised one. “Oh! Um, y-yes… h-how did you do that…?”
The creature smiled. “Thank heavens! I was hoping this translator prototype would work. The technology from Koppai helps to embed useful features within my spacesuit.”
“Um, that’s, uh… nice…” Fluttershy honestly didn’t know what to reply to this. This sounded like something Twilight would say, let alone understand.
The creature then looked sheepishly. “Oh, I apologize, where are my manners?” It cleared its throat. “My name is Olimar. I am the captain of the S.S. Dolphin, my spacecraft over there.” The creature, Olimar, gestured to the craft, the Dolphin.
So this is Olimar. Fluttershy thought to herself.
“I assure you, the Pikmin and I mean no harm. We tend to avoid any unnecessary conflict.” Olimar finished.
“Oh, that’s alright,” Fluttershy quickly assured. “M-My name is… um… Fluttershy…” She still had trouble introducing herself to strangers.
Olimar looked sheepish again. “I apologize, my sensors did not catch that. Could you repeat it a little louder, please?”
“It’s okay,” the little red creature, the Pikmin, assured her. “Olimar is a good person.”
That gave Fluttershy the assurance she needed. “I’m… Fluttershy.”
“A delight to meet you, Miss Fluttershy.” Olimar said. “I trust you are already acquainted with the Pikmin?”
“O-oh, so that’s what they’re called? Pikmin?” Fluttershy wondered.
Olimar chuckled. “Yes, indeed. I am not one to brag, but I was the one who named them that. They resemble Pikpik carrots, my favorite vegetable, hence the inspiration.”
Sounds like something Twilight would do. Fluttershy thought to herself.
“Unfortunately, we cannot stay for long,” Olimar declared. “I am searching for more Pikmin, as their nest, the Onion, crash-landed on this planet, which is why I’m here.”
“There is more of them?” Fluttershy inquired.
“Oh yes, there are a lot more. The Red Pikmin here,” Olimar gestured to the Pikmin. “is merely one of nine kinds of Pikmin.”
“Nine?!” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly. “B-But… where… could the others possibly be?”
The captain looked down sadly, along with the Pikmin. “That, unfortunately, I do not know. There are a lot of them, and I haven’t a clue where to begin looking. It is lucky you found one, but I’m afraid it may take a while to find more.”
“If only we knew where to start looking…” the Pikmin commented.
Fluttershy felt devastated. She might never know what it felt like to be stranded on a completely different planet, but just the idea made her blood freeze. They were all by themselves, if only somepony could help them navigate Ponyville…
… I’m somepony.
Fluttershy felt herself smile with excitement. The opportunity to help out two entirely new species? A chance to get to know a new kind of animal? A story to tell for a lifetime, perhaps reaching even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves?!
“I can help you out!” she loudly exclaimed, startling Olimar and the Pikmin. She instantly realized her outburst and shrunk sheepishly. “That is… if you don’t mind.”
Olimar smiled gratefully. “Of course we don’t! We’ll take any help we can get!”
The Pikmin was happy too. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Fluttershy giggled. “Aww, it’s no big deal, really… I-I know Ponyville like the back of my hoof, so it won’t be a hassle. We… can go to all the places the Pikmin m-might have ended up in.”
“Splendid!” Olimar exclaimed. “Then we’ve no time to waste. Ah, the question is, however… how will we get around? We are not exactly as, er… big as you are, Miss Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy smiled. She knew exactly what to do.
Olimar would never have imagined experiencing anything like this. Riding on the back of a giant, albeit timid and friendly creature alongside the Pikmin, searching for the missing Onions. She was gentle, luckily, so the ride was not bumpy at all, and Olimar was invisible within her giant pink mane, as was the Pikmin.
“So, i-if I understood this correctly… we’re… not only looking for these little guys,” Fluttershy gestured to the Pikmin. “B-But also their nests? Onions, right?”
“Correct,” Olimar confirmed. “There are nine Onions for the nine kinds of Pikmin, one for each color, red, yellow, blue, purple, white for Pikmin of the same color, as well as gray for Rock, pink for Winged, and cyan for Ice.”
“But, um… th-that’s only eight?”
“Ah yes, the last one is a mystery, even to me. The Glow Pikmin. I haven’t seen one myself unfortunately, but I’ve heard their nest is not an Onion, forgive me for my error from before, but something called a Lumiknoll. The Glow Pikmin may not even be with us though, as they only come out at night, or in some cases, dark places like caves.”
Fluttershy nodded in acknowledgement. Inwardly, she hoped that meant they didn’t have to go into the Everfree Forest.
Along the way to her friend, Olimar and Fluttershy spotted a couple of plucks in the ground, which the captain immediately recognized as Pikmin. The good thing is, they were easy to pluck out and they were found very often. However, Fluttershy noticed something interesting, as did the tiny captain.
When Olimar whistled, the Pikmin immediately hid in her mane, only their flowers being visible. It looked as if she decorated her mane. They were acting similarly to when the Pikmin clinged onto Moss when he was riding the dog.
“Fascinating…” Olimar muttered.
“Hmm?”
“Whenever I whistle, the Pikmin immediately come to me. It is as if there is a certain frequency within my whistle that draws the Pikmin in. I don’t know if it’s always been like that, as I had merely discovered it by accident. Either way, Pikmin seem to communicate with sound waves. Do you know what that means, Miss Fluttershy?”
“... that the Pikmin communicate in a s-similar way to dolphins?”
He snapped his fingers. “Precisely! When a whistle is heard within a frequency, the Pikmin are drawn in, as how dolphins communicate with each other, and how they stay in groups, like the Pikmin do!” Olimar then perked up. “Oh my word, I have to log that!”
As Olimar was logging, Fluttershy looked deep in thought.
A whistle with a certain frequency… could that mean…?
The pegasus then tried imitating Olimar’s whistle. At first, no reaction, and she tried a few times in different ways. After a while, she tried a louder, sharper whistle with her hoof, and she was surprised to see around twenty Red Pikmin, mixed with leaves and buds on their heads, run up to her and climb her, hiding in her mane.
“Oh my… I-I think I did it…” she muttered.
“Pardon?” Olimar looked up from his log.
“I think I mastered the whistle,” Fluttershy repeated in awe. “They all came to me!”
She then whistled again, and surprisingly, around five more Pikmin ran up to her and climbed into her mane. Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle profusely.
“Aww, aren’t they just precious?” she cooed.
Olimar could only smile to himself. Such a sweetheart, she is. “Quite precious, indeed. And very diligent, too!”
They continued on for a while to their destination. Along the way, Fluttershy and Olimar whistled a couple of times to attract more Pikmin. The good thing was that it worked often, and Pikmin would rush up to her and burrow in her mane, leaving their flowers, buds and leaves visible, but mostly the flowers.
By the time Fluttershy, Olimar and the Pikmin reached the outskirts of Ponyville, there were around fifty-five Red Pikmin within her mane, she had estimated.
“Captain Olimar, Pikmin…” Fluttershy gestured with her hoof to the town in front. “Welcome to Ponyville, my hometown.”
The captain and the Pikmin were in awe of the town, especially Olimar. He began writing down his logs right away, so the pegasus figured it would be best to leave him to his devices.
After Olimar was done, she began to explain the different areas of Ponyville, and Fluttershy figured it would also be best to seek out Twilight. Being the smartest pony she knows, the pegasus was sure she would be a great help in finding the other Pikmin, as she could further determine their possible locations with her logical thinking and deduction skills.
Olimar hid in her mane to avoid attracting attention, but the Pikmin’s flowers in Fluttershy’s mane were still visible. She said she first had to pay a visit to a trio she promised to pick flowers for. Through the translator, Olimar was able to understand a few things he heard from the different creatures. It sounded like she was being complimented.
“Fluttershy, you look amazing! Did you do something to your mane?”
“Fluttershy, are those flowers in your mane? They look so beautiful!”
“Nice look, Flutters! That mane of yours rocks!”
Compliment after compliment Fluttershy felt her face getting redder and redder. Though she would have to admit, the flowers atop the Pikmin’s heads looked quite beautiful. Said creatures seemed quite relaxed within her mane, and Fluttershy smiled to herself. They were cute.
And just when she thought they couldn’t get cuter, once no ponies were nearby, she heard a faint sound from her mane. It sounded like humming. A gentle, light humming, an unfamiliar melody. Fluttershy felt her heart melt when the Pikmin sang.
“I’ve found that Pikmin have interesting ways to show their contentment,” Olimar commented, getting the attention of the pegasus. “One of those ways is by humming. As they communicate with sound waves, it would seem fair that humming is a way for them to show that they feel safe.”
Fluttershy smiled brightly. I can’t wait for Twilight to meet the Pikmin!