Timmy and the Pikmin flew to a nearby town and landed in the yard of an ordinary house. His head was spinning from the tragic event, not even sure what he should do or where he should go. "Gibli… they killed Gibli… w-what're they gonna do with Rupert? I-Is he already…" He glanced to one of the pilot Pikmin, a yellow one. "…But you would already know, right? Is Rupert…"
The Pikmin nodded and raised its hand in a cheery manner. "…He's still alive for now." He sighed in relief. "Let's check on how many we have."
Timmy disembarked and called, "Everyone, out of the Onions!" Pikmin were soon spilling out of the colorful pods. …Compared to the massive amount Rupert had running around the spring, a substantially smaller army was left. "We only have, like, 10 Pikmin from every color? Wait, how many Ghosts are in the green Onion?" Indeed, they couldn't come out in this sunlight. "If we have enough, we could still stage a nighttime operation. Hey, do you guys know where-"
"Weah! Weah!" A Wing Pikmin pointed skyward.
Timmy gasped, seeing a small group of tiny creatures. …They appeared to be more Wing Pikmin, and they were… carrying someone.
That someone landed behind the grass several yards away. They could hear footsteps, waiting anxiously for the person to show their self. …A lavender-haired girl with white skin, a dress, and a mask covering her upper face appeared, accompanied by Wing Pikmin. "!" Timmy gasped. While she was about his height and looked more human-like than the monsters, she was still similar in appearance. "PIKMIN! Atta-!"
"No, no, please!" The girl raised and shook her six-fingered hands and head. "I'm a friend!"
"A friend?! You look like one of those 'Gutnar' monsters!"
"W-We're called Gupna. …But, um, yes."
"I KNEW IT!"
"No, I'm friendly! I swear!"
"…" Timmy kept his Pikmin trained on the girl. "Then what's your deal? What even are you things?"
"We're a race that lived deep underground for centuries. We were placed there by the Spirit of Growth to live in peace, away from the larger species… but then Plankton discovered our land and corrupted my clansmen. I was the only one who escaped, and…"
"Ah, the classic 'only survivor of an invasion' cliché? How convenient for you…"
"I know… I want to explain more, but first, we need to save your friend. It's only a matter of time before they either eat or transform him!"
"WHAT?!"
"I've been trying to keep track of Plankton ever since the incident. He's been plotting all this for over a year. He established hidden farms around the world, run by his Pikmin and the Gupna. It's where he planned to process all the captive prisoners, either to use as food for the Gupna or to change into General Pikmin to help him control his army."
Timmy grit his teeth at the insidious plan. "…Why would he let the Gupna have them as food?"
"Well, because… they get stronger with the types of creatures they eat."
Timmy narrowed his eyes. "And how did they learn that?"
"I promise I'll explain later. For now, we have to rescue him. I had some of my own Pikmin blend in with Plankton's normal ones. In time, they should return and report back to me."
"That'll take too long. We'll just let these Pikmin lead us."
His Pikmin nodded, running into the Onions. "You mean they know where Rupert is?"
"Yeah. He's become such a master that they're connected telepathically or something."
"That's incredible! No wonder he was chosen to be a Guardian."
"Wait, how'd you hear about that?"
"Oh, my own Pikmin did. While they were spying alongside… Plankton's Pikmin."
"…" Timmy stared at her again.
"No, that's just a coincidence, I swear! I have to try and keep one step ahead of him."
"Yeah, then why didn't you already tell the Minish KND about this plan?"
"Th…that's kind of hard to explain, too."
"Well, I'm not buying it. If you'll excuse me, I have a friend to save."
"I'm still coming with you! As a Gupna, I owe it to you guys… and besides, I have my own reasons. So, just… trust me."
Though Timmy still had reservations, he couldn't really suspect her of setting a convoluted trap. If she could track him like this, she could've already led other monsters to him. "Fine. But any wrong moves and you're Pikmin fodder."
"Okay…"
"Still, it looks like you can use Pikmin yourself. How many do you have?"
"I only have about 21 Wings. I didn't have the chance to build up large numbers. Wing Pikmin are handy to get around."
"True that. Unfortunately, Rupert's 10,000-something Pikmin were reduced to 102 after that disaster. We'll have to build up more on the way."
Timmy ordered the Pikmin back in the Onions as he welcomed the girl on his Celery. "My name is Mujika, by the way. And you're…?"
"Timothy. The Pikmin should lead us to wherever Rupert is, but do you mind if I contact the KND about this little incident?"
"Of course you can. Actually… there's something else Plankton has done. And I'm sure the Minish operatives are already aware of it."
"What did he do?"
KND Moonbase
"They've all been shrunk?!" exclaimed Cheren Uno, the Human KND leader.
"Hey, not so loud!" Lenari cringed, standing on Cheren's desk. The Minish Supreme Leader wore a blue shirt, black shorts and shoes, and a pointed black hat. Panini Drilovsky, Cheren's vice-leader, was standing opposite of the desk. "But it's true. All my operatives in your treehouses reported violet flowers growing around, and suddenly, all the big operatives shrank! The same is happening to people coming near the treehouses, too."
"What are these flowers? Who's causing them?!"
"The treehouses were invaded by strange mutant Pikmin, along with hordes of skull-faced monsters. We haven't determined the exact cause or mastermind… however, it didn't seem like the flowers were secreting any form of gas. The giants were shrunk by some kind of magical power, but the Minish were unaffected. They're working to help fight off the monsters."
"Some kind of magical force shrunk all the operatives?" Panini inquired suspiciously. "Hang on… didn't Index say she was bringin' that tiny Newborn to Rupert?"
"You must mean the nun. And, actually… she did come asking for Rupert. I sent her to the Distant Spring where he was. But after this crisis started, we tried to contact the spring and ask for Rupert, but our sector there didn't respond."
Panini and Cheren shared a knowing, tooth-gritted glare. "That Newborn had something to do with this!" declared the Irish vice-leader. "It can shrink people, so it has to be!"
"It only makes sense…" Cheren replied. "But, this is still too sudden. Index said she was being fairly cooperative."
"Maybe she set all this up without us knowin'! To get back at us for keeping her prisoner or somethin'!"
"She was barely even a prisoner, it doesn't make sense. Sigh, either way, we gotta get them back. Panini, contact Nebula and have her ask about other KNDs. If they're not facing a similar problem, maybe some of them could help."
"If they go near the treehouses, they'll be shrunk, too!" Lenari reminded.
"I know that! But if they're all left in that state, villains will have the run of the place. We'll need backup in case that happens. …Unless the villains get shrunk by the flowers, too. I guess that'd be convenient." Cheren cracked a light smirk.
"Hehe." Panini giggled passively. "Ah right, I'll send the call." She rushed outside.
"Actually, though…" Lenari began once more, "hearing of those creatures reminded me of an old legend."
"Well, this'll be juicy." Cheren figured. "What legend?"
McClintock High School
Timmy and Mujika followed the Pikmin to a high school in Cleveland, Virginia. The Onions seemed to fly into a vent on the roof of the gymnasium, so Timmy did the same. They landed within the interior of the vent. "Isn't this McClintock High School?"
"I remember hearing that Plankton set up a farm here." Mujika said as they stepped off the ship.
"But how? School is still in session today!"
"I mean… don't the Minish have secret homes and bases in a lot of human facilities?"
"Ah, that's true. …I still can't believe Plankton managed to set all this up under our noses. I'm not totally worried about the Top Sectors since they're pros at this stuff… but even I don't think they can protect all the people nearby in this state."
"For now, let's just save Rupert and anyone else in this farm. Afterwards, I'll tell you more about our background… and how we can stop Plankton."
"Then let's get started. But since you're technically an amateur at this, and these are mostly Rupert's Pikmin, we can only manage 100 of them. Let's try to manage them as best we can. We'll also need to produce more so he'll have something to work with."
"Okay. I at least know what the different colors can do, so I'll do my best to help." (Play "Fitness Center" from Luigi's Mansion 3!)
Stage 1: The Rumbling Dungeon
Mission: Rescue prisoners from the farm!
Except for Green ones, Timmy and Mujika called 10 of each colored Pikmin. Guiding their small army through the vent, they followed a right turn and found three Dust Bunnies. The dusty creatures pranced to attack them, but were weak before the Pikmin's strength. They let the Magentas carry them back. The vent seemed to fork, so Timmy told Mujika to go right while he went left, dividing their Pikmin up. Timmy turned another corner and found a chasm with a fan beneath. The base of a broken bridge was on his side. Coincidentally, some Pikmin came from the other route carrying some bridge tiles: Mujika must have already found them on her side.
Mujika entrusted the Pikmin to bringing the tiles wherever they needed to go, leading the others further through the duct. She needed to throw some Rock Pikmin to break a glass barrier before turning another corner. "Wh-who's there?!" someone shouted. Mujika encountered a dead-end wall, but found a Minish suspended in a spider-web. They were cuffed by the hands and legs. "You! Are you one of those monsters?!"
"M-Monsters? Are you a prisoner from the farm?"
"Get lost! I'd rather get eaten by a spider!"
"I-It's okay! I'm here to save you. We have a KND ship."
"You don't look like a Minish operative!"
"Just let me get you down. Let's see… Brown Pikmin should work on webs, right?" She threw her five Browns onto the web, immune to the stickiness as they picked the Minish down. Three of them would carry the prisoner to the ship. Mujika held up a communicator shaped like half a chestnut. "Timmy, I just found a Minish prisoner. Having some guys bring him back."
"Neat!" Timmy answered back. "Hey, Mujika, I think I need you to bring those Music Pikmin back here. I think I need them to cross this chasm."
"Okay, I'm coming."
Timmy had some Ice, Blue, and White Pikmin attack some Sheargrubs and bring them back to the Onions. Shortly after, he encountered a chasm with some disabled fans, and beside it was a stage for Music Pikmin. Once Mujika brought her squadron, they sent all 10 Music Pikmin onto the stage. The Pikmin hummed the Glitz Pit theme from Paper Mario, their notes sparking life back in the miniature fans. The updrafts from those fans could propel the small army across the chasm, landing on the other side, which was sloped as they slid downward. There were other fans traveling up the side of the slope, and would help carry them back up if need be.
"Timmy!" Mujika alerted. A pair of quadruped Gupna stood guard in the passage. The beasts snarled at the duo and attacked, so Timmy threw Ice and Browns on the first one. The Gupna shook the Ice ones off, but the Browns remained stuck and kept attacking. The beast devoured three Ice Pikmin and became frozen from the inside. "Destroy their masks and attack the heads!" Mujika threw Rock Pikmin at the other one's skull mask and broke it. She then sent Wings and threw Reds to attack its head, but four Reds and two Wings died. The other Gupna ate three Brown Pikmin before they were able to KO the beasts.
"So, what do we do now? If these things are your people, I doubt you'd want them turned into Pikmin."
"Well, not really… but I won't stop you from doing it. Other operatives are probably already killing them. We are just monsters in the end."
"…" Timmy stared at her questionably. "I guess we'll just leave them be for now." They proceeded through the duct and found a sealed hatch on the floor, but it seemed none of their Pikmin could untwist the screws. But after turning one last corner, they discovered a horde of Plankmin, trying to jump up at a silver Onion, tied in barb wire, with a Pikmin cowering on it. The one-eyed monsters heard the kids' footsteps and turned. Upon spotting the intruders, the Plankmin charged, so Timmy and Mujika sent theirs to intercept. Their army outnumbered the Plankmin, but they still lost 2 Wings, 3 Blues, and a Rock before the monsters were killed.
"Hey, Timothy, isn't that a new Pikmin color?" Mujika asked.
"Yeah! That's a Silver Pikmin! Not even Rupert was able to find this type! And only a few other operatives have them."
The Pikmin in question began to bash the barbed wire holding its Onion captive, eventually bending the wire so it could escape. The Onion stretched its three legs to land properly on the floor. The lone Pikmin stood to address the group.
Timmy discovered Silver Pikmin! These malleable metalheads are immune to spikes and can flatten out spiked obstacles! They're also handy as screwdrivers and are immune to crushing! However, their metal is still susceptible to other elements, so don't assume they're invincible.
"Could we use it to open that panel over there?" Mujika asked.
"Yeah! But let's make some more first." There were flowers nearby with gray Pik Pellets. They had the Silver collect some to breed more of its kind, steadily building up 15 of them. "That should be a fair number to work with. Let's see what's down here." They led the Pikmin to the sealed hatch. The Silver ones could stick their heads into the screws and pull them off, causing the hatch to hang open. The group dropped into the shaft, the breeze allowing their tiny bodies to land safely, and there were small fans to take them back up. They could exit out of a vent and into a giant hallway.
"WHOA!" A stampede of enormous sneakers came storming past them. They were a team of female athletes. "They must be doing laps." Timmy said. "We'd better stay to the sides. Pikmin, which way is Rupert?" The creatures squeaked and pointed leftward. The group headed that way, staying against the wall lest they be trampled by the teenagers' sneakers.
"Hey, Timothy." Mujika alerted. "I'm sensing something… in that wall over there." She pointed to the opposite wall. She led some Pikmin across, but when the herd of athletes came jogging, Mujika bolted to the other side. Some Rock Pikmin were crushed by the sneakers, but they survived. Timmy joined her after the athletes cleared. "It's coming from this spot." She indicated a soft spot in the wall.
"It looks like we can dig here." Timmy said. They ordered their Pikmin to begin digging that spot, eventually paving the way into a secret room. There appeared to be a pile of light-purple seeds in this room.
"Ah!" Mujika gasped. "Timmy! These are Shrinking Vida seeds! The flowers that shrunk the human operatives!"
"What're they doing here?!"
"It's probably another purpose of the farms… to shrink other people beyond just the treehouses."
"We should get them out of here. There's about 30, so let's just have six Pikmin work on them."
"Only six?"
"Yeah. When collectibles are stacked in piles like this, they know to come back to collect the rest. You saw that with the bridge tiles a moment ago."
"Oh, yeah. So, which ones should we use?"
"White Pikmin are best for this." With that, they sent six Whites to grab some seeds. They raced up the hall swiftly and seemed to enter another vent further up. This vent was a one-way shortcut that led to the dead end where Mujika found the Minish prisoner, a faster way for them to return to base.
The remaining Pikmin followed Rupert's signal and led them to the doorway of the boys' locker room. The door seemed to be propped open by somebody's discarded backpack, which only served to block them. Figuring they could use this to their advantages, Timmy ordered the 10 Purple Pikmin to push the backpack and push the door further open. Their superb strength was able to push the door open enough for them to get through.
To their right were the lockers, where some boys were sitting on the benches, while it sounded like others were in the showers. But to the left, a trio of purple, four-legged spiders – Munge Dweevils – were gathered around a discarded, sweaty sock. "Do they just like the smell or… is something in there?" Timmy wondered, deciding to go over and have his Pikmin K.O. the poison Dweevils. However, since the inside of the sock was too toxic, he could only lead White Pikmin inside.
"Shoo! Shoo! Go away!" a voice yelled from within. "I ain't about to be your…" Timmy discovered a cuffed Minish crouching in the lint. "Hey, you're a human!"
"Yeah, honorary Minish operative. You were held in those monsters' secret farm, right? Where is it?"
"The entrance is in a drain in the shower room. But can you get me out of here first?"
Timmy used three White Pikmin to carry him out of the locker rooms and all the way back to base. "Yuck…" He hurriedly climbed out of the sock afterwards. "He said the farm's entrance was in the shower room drain. Mujika, go back to base and recollect the Pikmin we've sent back. Get the White ones from the seed room when they're done."
"Okay. I'll catch up soon!" Mujika returned to the hallway.
Timmy made a left turn in the locker room area and entered the shower room. Naturally, he kept his gaze forward and avoided looking up at the naked teens… in fact, there weren't even steam clouds to obscure them. "Man, these showers suck! The hell is with this lukewarm water?!" a boy asked.
"Y'know, I heard a rumor saying the president wanted to punish this school for being a Teen Ninja base. That's why our budget sucks now."
"Cool water? Aha!" Since the floor was soaked, Timmy couldn't easily lead the Pikmin across, but the Ice Pikmin could freeze a trail over the water. First, he had to wait for Mujika to come back with all their Pikmin, and they afterwards formed a frozen trail over the flooded floor. The small army crossed unbeknownst to the giants and reached the drain that the water flowed into. The Pikmin were jumping, yelling, and pointing down there. "It sounds like Rupert really is down here."
"There's probably a lot of Gupna, too. Let's be careful, Timmy."
"Same to you." With that, Timmy leapt in first, then Mujika, and the Pikmin mimicked their action.
Act 2: The Shower House
The group landed on a grated floor, where they could enter a tunnel safe from the waterfall. It led to an old, Minish-size locker room where spike-backed Gupnas crawled around, the size of Dwarf Bulborbs. They threw the Silver Pikmin to KO the Dwarf Gupborbs. They let some Ice, Brown, and Silver Pikmin carry them to the drain entrance, where they were sucked into a floating nut, glowing with green energy. "Wait, what's that?" Mujika asked.
"That's our Storage Nut. Whenever we go into caves like this, we can call our ship to send it down. It stores our collectibles like an Infi-Cube, so our Pikmin don't have to travel far."
"Oh! …But why doesn't it just follow us around everywhere?"
"Bad programming, it ruins the fun, I dunno, we just roll with it."
The lockers exited to a hallway, where electrical beams covered the floor, linked to rods on the walls. The Yellow Pikmin could destroy the rods, clearing the way for them. There was a bipedal Gupna guarding a door, but was easily displaced by the Pikmin. The door was locked, but they could see into a window. It was an exercise room where some Minish were being forced to lift weights, bench-presses, or race around a track.
The duo threw Rock Pikmin against the window to smash it open, afterwards climbing into the room. "Hey, who are those two?!" a weight-lifting Minish asked.
"We're KND! Sort of…" Timmy answered. "Are you guys prisoners?"
"Yeah!" answered the bench-pressing Minish. "These monsters are making us build up our strength for some reason."
"They're doing that so you'll taste better." Mujika said.
"WHAT?!"
"Plankton is planning to make the Gupna stronger, so they need lots of strong prey."
"You mean we were gonna die, anyway?! They said that if we didn't do this, we'd be fed to those monster Pikmin!"
"We'll get you guys out of here." Timmy assured. "Let's climb out of this room and we'll have the Pikmin escort you to our Storage Nut."
"LOOK OUT!" a Minish screamed as three guards jumped into the window and doorway. Timmy threw Rocks against one's mask, broke it, and threw Reds on afterward. Mujika threw Purples and Silvers onto the second one, but when the third one attacked her, she threw Brown and Ice Pikmin, to induce brief freeze stuns as well as constant attacks. Once the Gupna were KO'ed, they had the Reds and Wings escort the Minish back.
The group proceeded down the hallway and reached a door, but a chasm lied beyond it. There was a crank across the pit, but it was covered in barbed wire. It was then Timmy noticed a Silver Pikmin clung to a pipe on the left, which connected to the other side. "Are these Pikmin magnetic? Can you climb across this pipe?" They saluted and proceeded to do so. "They can! Sweet!" Once across the pipe, they dropped onto the crank, tore down its wire, and began turning it to make a bridge stretch. The group could cross and enter a classroom area, where there were large flowers of varied colors.
"What are these?" Mujika wondered.
"Candypop Buds. They can change the color of Pikmin. They're usually good for—whoa!" Some Plankmin suddenly rushed out and started biting their Pikmin, killing two Blues and Rocks.
"Wait, that's it!" Mujika grabbed two of the monstrous Pikmin. "Maybe these can fix them!" She threw them into a black Candypop. It would spit the Plankmin out as restored Rock Pikmin.
Beaming at her creativeness, Timmy snatched some Plankmin up and threw them into a green Candypop, while Mujika restored some Blue ones. "Mujika, you're a genius!"
"Heh heh! But, we can still only have 100 out, right?"
"Good point. Hmm…why don't we take some Greens with us, since it's mostly dark in here? Mujika, take some of these Silvers and Blues and have them wait in the Storage Nut. I'll scout ahead."
"Okay!" Mujika took five Silvers and Blues back with her. Timmy plucked the extra Blues, Greens, and the new Rocks. He exited to another hallway where a Sticky Slooch was roaming, a large brown slug with a sticky body. Naturally, Brown Pikmin were the best choice to defeat it.
"Help! Someone help!" Timmy heard a muffled voice and turned left. A teenage human girl was strapped to a table.
"A human?! Did they shrink some people!"
"HELP!" A Gupna crawled in, raising a flower with a sharp stem and pale buds. Timmy threw Rock Pikmin against the window, but it refused to crack. "SOMEONE HEEE-" The girl was stabbed by the flower. As the girl's flesh faded and shriveled, the pale flower bloomed into a beautiful crimson.
Timmy grit his teeth in turmoil: with no other way in that room, he decided to crack the necks of his Green Pikmin and convert them to ghosts. He sent those Ghosts through the window to start beating the Gupna. Just the five of them did little damage and they kept getting shaken off, but the beast was unable to eat the ghosts. They kept bashing until the monster fell.
"Timmy, I'm back!" Mujika returned. "What's going…oh." She saw through the window.
"It…it killed that girl. They must've shrunk some people from the school."
"I…I'm sorry."
"Let's at least get her body out of there." He directed the Ghost Pikmin to lift the girl up, carrying her through an opening on the ceiling. It was a tunnel that would lead back to the Storage Nut. To their right was a freezer that was too cold for any but their Ice Pikmin. There were frozen Minish inside the freezer, possibly already dead, but Timmy asked the Pikmin to carry their bodies back.
They reached a dead end with a magnetic wall, but there was a wooden gate blocking the top. They needed five Wing Pikmin to lift the gate up, so their Silvers could climb the wall afterward. They found a few planks, which they pushed off the ledge to serve as slopes for the group to come up. "Mujika, go back and get those Pikmin. When you come back, get these Wing Pikmin off the gate." She nodded and returned to base.
Timmy entered a down-spiraling stairwell afterward. Unfortunately, a huge box impeded them partway down, so the Purple Pikmin began to push the heavy force further down. But behind them, a Lithopod emerged from the top of the stairs, the green worm threatening to spit boulders down. Timmy quickly recalled the Purples and ordered them to the side, but one of them was crushed by a boulder. He led the Pikmin up and had them gang up on the Lithopod, KOing the worm.
The remaining Purples finished pushing the box down and into a gap at the bottom, allowing them to enter the next room. He sent one of them to take the Lithopod back to eat later. The next room was flooded from water pouring and flowing in from the right. Timmy could hear the echoes of female voices reverberating from the pipes: he assumed the girls were showering now. "Hey, you! Help!" Timothy saw a human boy hanging upside-down above the water. A wire suspended him, shocking him every few seconds. "Please get me down! They're gonna fry me when the water fills up!"
"H-Hang on, I'll do something!" Timmy first took his shoes and socks off before diving in the water with his Blue Pikmin. He could ask them to push the handle on a drain plug, twisting them until they popped off. This lowered the water a bit, but his other Pikmin still couldn't cross the flood. There were two platforms with screws on them, and they seemed to be holding the floodgate open.
"Timmy, are you in here?" Mujika called, returning with the others.
Timmy resurfaced. "Mujika! Make the Ice Pikmin form bridges to these platforms and bring the Silver ones to them!"
"Got it!" Mujika first froze a bridge, then led the Silver ones across to stick their heads in the screws. After untwisting them, the floodgate sealed. The water shrank into a reasonable shallow height, enough for the Pikmin to cross. Timmy took some Yellows and threw them to cut the electric wire suspending the human prisoner.
"Are you from this school?" Timmy asked.
"I am. I was using the bathroom when suddenly, there was this purply flash, and I somehow fell into the toilet! Next thing I know, these monsters were tying me up and wanting to fry me!"
"They must've set a Shrinking Vida up in the bathroom to trap people." Mujika figured.
"Follow this Purple guy back to our base." Timmy requested. "The path back should be safe."
"Sure thing, little dudes." The teen replied, following the Pikmin in question.
Timmy put his shoes back on as they continued across the shallow floor. There were squishy-looking, dark-gray balls around the floor, but when they approached, they sprouted silver spikes and began rolling around. The Poly-Spikes (the same enemies from Zelda's Water Temple) could naturally be defeated by the Silver Pikmin.
The path led to a wall of dark-gray cinder blocks. Hanging above it were more Poly-Spikes on chains. "These must be the explosive types." Timmy figured. "We've seen these in a few watery areas. But now we have a way to use them." He threw a Silver against one of the Spikes. It began to sizzle, but the Pikmin cut it down in time, hanging onto the chain while the bomb damaged the cinder wall. Timmy repeated this twice more until it was destroyed. As they followed stairs going down, the rumbling that had been reverberating within the dungeon seemed to grow stronger. "It feels like we're right under the gym. They're probably playing a game."
A gate of barbed wire impeded them at the bottom. After sending the Silver Pikmin to begin tearing it down, a horde of Gupborbs charged down the stairs. They could instant-KO the creatures by throwing a Pikmin directly on them, but it took several throws to land one precisely. Afterwards, three larger Gupna came down, and in the ensuing scuffle, they lost three Rocks, four Yellows, and two Ice Pikmin before the monsters fell.
The wires were destroyed, allowing the group to enter a large room that rumbled under rapid gym shoes. A light was shining on a person across the room, tied in a web. "RUPERT!" Timmy exclaimed, racing across.
"Timmy?! Be careful, it's a-"
"AAAH!" An enormous daddy longlegs spider crashed on the ground, wearing spiked cleats and spiky legs. It wore the skull mask of a Gupna. (Play "Boss Battle" from Pikmin 2!)
"Hur hur hah hah hah! It actually worked! With Rupert here, we'd be able to lure way more prey to this dungeon!" the Gupna said in a monstrous voice. "Looks like we have a couple of Pikmineers with us! Maybe you'll make good Officer Plankmin. A nice, meaty human boy and… wait! Who is that with you?!"
"So, you still have your intelligence." Mujika observed.
"Wait… I remember you! You're the traitor! The one who got to keep your beautiful form! The servant of the Spirit of Growth!"
"We endangered both human and Minishkind! We all should've understood why we were banished down there."
"And I refuse to live as an insignificant nothing any longer!"
"Plankton is making you feel that way! Our lives were peaceful before he cursed us!"
"Plankton helped us remember our full potential! We'll devour every last giant on this planet until we're strong again! To hell with making you Plankmin… you lot are about to be my next meal!"
Boss fight: Cleaty Longlegs
The beast attempted to stomp on the group of Pikmin, but Mujika directed them away while Timmy kept the Silvers. He ordered them to climb the spider's legs, but Longlegs kept chasing Mujika's horde, spitting web clods at her Pikmin. Some of them were trapped as Cleaty stepped on three Blues and a Rock, his spiky cleats crushing the stone Pikmin. Before he could kill any more, the Silver Pikmin beat up and severed the angles of his legs. "DAH!" He plopped on his body, so they sent all Pikmin to whale on him, with the Rocks shattering the mask. "HURRR!" He spun around to shake them off after a few seconds. "Those weren't my only pair!" The ends of his halved legs sprouted smaller cleats. He then bent his legs down to properly walk on them, running away from the group.
Mujika asked the Brown Pikmin to break the webs binding the other Pikmin. Longlegs shot more webs from afar and would run if the group got close. Furthermore, as the rumbling continued, boulders began to drop from the ceiling. "Mujika, help the other Pikmin dodge! I have an idea!" Timmy whispered. He led the Silvers closer to the Longlegs, tricking him into shooting webs at them individually. He then ran while Longlegs moved to step on the trapped Pikmin. However, his cleats not only failed to puncture them, the metal spikes were magnetically attached to the Pikmin and weighed down.
"Gah! What've you done?!" Longlegs shouted, struggling to squirm free. "What kind of Pikmin are these--OW!" One of the boulders crushed Longlegs. He thrusted up to knock it off. "Screw this!" He decided to tear free of his own legs. "Just try to get me up here!" He aimed his rear upward, launched a web at the ceiling, and reeled himself halfway up. "I've eaten my fill of Fire Dweevils, too! Have some of this!" The No-Legs took a breath and blew a breath of fire at the group. Some Pikmin were burned, but Mujika blew her whistle to calm down and save them. She sent Wing Pikmin to attack the monster, but after a few hits, he spun around, wrapped himself in his own web, and suffocated the Pikmin trapped on it. The Wings died.
However, during this, Timmy noticed a web traveling up the side of a wall. It would lead to a small fan that could blow Pikmin onto the web string that No-Legs hung from. He took the Brown Pikmin and had them start climbing the web. After No-Legs unraveled, he resumed trying to burn them again, not seeing the Brown Pikmin. The Browns reached the fan and were blown onto his web, quickly cutting it. No-Legs decided to set himself on fire to keep the Pikmin army away, but the Red Pikmin were immune to it, and the Rocks decided to tank the damage. "NO! The cleats have failed me!" he cried after taking one last fatal bash. "Lord Plankton! Send me a new paaaiiiir…!" The last of No-Legs' stamina fell as the creature lay. (End song.)
The duo sent the Brown Pikmin to cut Rupert free of his webs. "Timmy! You saved me!" Rupert embraced his friend in a hug. "Know why you're my best friend? That's 'cause!"
"Heh, stop it, Rupert, you still have some web gunk on you!"
"And are those Silver Pikmin?! Dude, how did you find those, I'm so jealous!"
"Rupert, this isn't the time for that! Gibli just died, and I saw someone get killed in this farm!"
"Oh…" Rupert released him. "Sorry. I was just… glad to see you. I already saw a few people get killed, too. So, who's this girl? That monster looked like he recognized her."
"This is Mujika. She's a friendly Gupna."
"A… friendly one?" Rupert looked at her curiously. Mujika seemed to turn her head shyly.
"Yeah… she helped me save you. Though I still don't know much about her."
Rupert approached the lavender-haired girl. He gently took her mask and pulled it off. Her vertical eyes met his horizontal ones, twinkling innocently, but nervously. "She looks nice to me!" And he placed the mask back over her blushing face. "Thanks for the help, Muji."
"Um…you're welcome."
"Rupert, what happened to Sappo?"
"They took him to a different farm. Should we go find him?"
"We need to comb the rest of this farm and save any more prisoners first. After that, we're taking Mujika to meet the Supreme Leader. She can explain what's going on to all of us."
"Oh…your leader, huh?"
"Is that a problem?" Timmy cocked a suspicious brow.
"No, it's fine. I'll need all of your help to fix this mess."
"Then let's fix this mess of a dungeon up first!" Rupert declared. They rewarded their Pikmin with the boss's unconscious body to be carried back for a snack. Timmy returned to base to reorganize their numbers while Rupert and Mujika took the other Pikmin to search the rest of the farm.