I'm now awake after a rough night's sleep filled with nightmares. Those wretched dreams filled with memories of my beloved friends, I can't seem to get them out of my space-stranded head. The horrors keep revisiting me daily, reminding me that I most likely will never see my friends or my tutor again. The fate of ten years of training led to all of this; the most fantastic last adventure a hero could ever ask for.
I'm suddenly reminded that I do have friends with me when I look to my left. The Pikmin's union is floating along side me in the endless space, giving me a warm feeling. It proves that you can always have a friend, no matter what planet you're on.
The union is shaking, fighting its feeble way through the harsh, sucking current of gravity, as if begging me to land for the day and set off for another adventurous day. Acknowledging that, I look down to my opponent and see a glimmer on his big, round face.
“All, right! Let's go!” I see encouragingly to myself as I prepare to land back down on the planet. I put on a determined smile, kind of like awesome heroes do in movies.
But all of a sudden, something breaks my awesome smile and throws me off guard. No, not another bloody asteroid, for if another one of those hit me I'd give up and completely believe that I am a rock magnet in the span of two seconds. No, it was an union! The shape was exactly like one, except it was moving insanely fast! Some kind of boosters were on it's side, and now it's heading directly toward the Forest of Hope! There's no more time to waste! The Pikmin I have with me and I are chasing after that union to find out exactly what the Pikmin in there are up to.
I force the throttle on the Dolphin to full so hard it hurt my hoof. I'm now driving with one hoof and shaking the other in pain. Note to self: never try out as a totally epic actor, you would stink.
Bursting through the clouds, I can still see the speeding Onion, which is something I'd never thought I'd say, let alone see. It suddenly makes a sharp, almost ninety degree turn to level with the ground. With a “whoa!” shout, I pull the steering wheel with a flinch and slam the breaks. Once I am level, I hit full throttle again and continue chase of the odd union. I keep gaining and gaining on it, until fate decides to say “nope” and gives me and overheated warning. Thanks, fate, you're awesome.
I slam the breaks once again and turn the ship so it will land properly on the ground below me. I lower it to the ground gently and with precision. Once the Dolphin lands, I hop out of the cockpit and smile.
“Hey! That wasn't so bad! Catastrophe averted.” I say proudly.
Of course, the union that I had forgot about up in the atmosphere crash lands in front of me upside down, with burn marks, and then makes a “tsssss” sound when it stops moving completely. Whoops.
After sighing at my own stupidity, I walk over to the fried Onion, which is something I could really use right now, and I knock on the top of it. The door opens up and a poor, sweating, red stick figure pops out, falling face first into the dirt.
“Sorry.” I say shamefully.
“Mmm.” The red Pikmin muffles into the brown mush.
I look around to see thick trees. Big surprise, I know, but these are oddly bigger than the ones at The Impact Site. I must be smack dab in the middle of The Forest of Hope! Will I die today? Only one way to find out!
I use my whistling antenna... thingy... to call out the other 39 Pikmin from the Onion. I suddenly hear a lot of fidgeting noises from the inside of the Onion as it starts bouncing around. All the Pikmin suddenly pour out of the Onion like a stream of red coffee... eww.
It would be pointless to ask them all if they knew that Onion considering that they were born yesterday, so I discard the thought and begin my journey into the Forest of Hope. It's like a nice walk in the park of anxiety and futuristic death. Fun!
It kind of reminds me of when my friends and I dreaded the Everfree Forest, walking through it with the first time, acting as scared as Fluttershy when her animals get sick. Every snap of a twig is like a lightning strike, fierce and scary.
We all stop in our tracks as we are faced with another obstacle blocking our way, one that invokes the mightiest fear we've ever felt; a spotted bug on two legs and beanstalk eyes sniffing at the ground about the size of one of my Pikmin. We're wimpy and we know it!
Some of the Pikmin are sweating and trembling at their poor, stubby feet. This must be some kind of predator to them! How am I suppose worm my way around this one? Does it have a fourteen feet poisonous tongue I can't see!? WHAT DOES IT DO!?
“Guys.... I'm n-new at this.... wh-what do I do?” I whisper to my midget battalion. One pulls at my left arm shyly and gulps. I have a bad feeling about this.
He demonstrates a throw like when Pikmin number 1 wanted the Candy-Pop Bud from the flower, then proceeds to slam his face into his hands.
“You want me to... THROW you on to that thing!?” I exclaim loudly. A little too loudly, perhaps, for the Pikmin quickly put their hands under their nose, shushing me. I quickly glance over, but the bug hasn't taken notice. Is it deaf?
“....Are you all sure?” I ask once again. They all nervously nod their head at me. By their behavior, I can guess this can only end horribly.
“Alright... Let's... do... it.” I say, timing my whispers with my cautious hoofsteps. Pikmin in hand, I edge closer and closer to the bug, who is just sitting there like an orb, sniffing the ground. I've now decided to name these specimens Bulborbs.
My heart snaps as the tiny Bulborb looks up. I can see it's open beanstalk eyes staring at me and it's baby fangs dangling out of it's mouth. I never thought sheer terror could look so cute. We all stare at it as it does to us, not moving an inch. The Pikmin in my hoof is eager to be thrown at the tiny creature. All was calm until the creature opens its mouth.
“...Wah.”
“AAAAH! DIE, CRETIN!” I yell as I chuck the Pikmin out of my hoof with full force. Without looking where the Pikmin went, I immediately reach back, grab and throw another one, and another one, and another one. I end up chucking half of my little army over there before one moos at me to break my trance. He points over to where I threw them and I see them all staring at me, the Bulborb on the ground still.
“Oh. Eheh... Went a little overkill I guess.” I say as I start to walk over to the small beast. I poke it with my hoof and it makes a “squish” sound. Eww.
“Well,” I say with my battalion behind me, “that wasn't so bad! That could have been FAR worse!”
I suddenly hear a growling sound from behind me. Both the Pikmin and I freeze in place as we begin to hear heavy breathing mere inches behind us. Slowly, I begin to turn my head back toward the fear-inducing sounds, only to find that I've either shrunk more than I already have, or everything else grew.
Standing before me is another Bulborb. The only difference from the first one is that this one is about five times bigger... and angry. It's breathing so hard it sounds like it's panting. It's almost blazing red from the fury stored inside of it. What did I just say? “That wasn't so bad”?
“I just HAD to open my mouth. I just HAD to say it! As soon as I FINISH saying it!”
“WAAARGH!” The Bulborb roars. With a soiled space suit, the Pikmin and I take off running, me screaming like a banshee.
The only thing I can think right now is “GET AWAY”. The Pikmin are following me with the best of their ability. I can hear the Bulborb not too far behind though. I'm jumping over huge twigs and zooming past titanic leaves trying to make my escape, but I hear heavy footsteps and violent twig breaking still behind me.
I suddenly hear a high pitched scream. My heart suddenly sinks as I abruptly stop and turn around. I hate to see it, but a Pikmin has his foot stuck on a root sticking out of the ground. I'm whistling and whistling, but it's no use! He's stuck good on that branch!
The Bulborb suddenly breaks through the leaves and bushes. It looks down at the helpless being and growls. It suddenly starts to open it's gigantic mouth.
“NO!!”
“Weeh!”
The last thing I hear out of the creature was that squeal. I see it's crying eyes turning my soul to stone as I watch in horror the devouring of one of my heroic friends. The horrific beast growls at me, and turns around to leave as if to say “that's what you get”.
I'm crying and crying, unable to hold in the tears. For hours, it seems, I'm wandering back and forth, unable to get the image out of my head.
I'm lost in a hostile forest that rests on an unknown planet with ship parts scattered everywhere. Not to mention there are monsters that will eat my only ticket for survival in one bite. Suddenly, I begin to regret my decision of naming this place “The Forest of Hope”.