When Rupert and Mujika neared the end of the tunnel, they told their Pikmin to stay back. The duo approached calmly and crouched down behind some rocks.
Thousands of Plankmin were gazing at a pair of shimmering flowers on the stage. They were unmistakably Plankton's flowers, swaying to and fro as they glowed a soft gold. His body appeared to have been planted in soil, a spotlight shining on him. "That's a lot of Plankmin… too many for our numbers to deal with." Rupert took out his communicator and whispered, "Sind, it's Rupert. We've found Plankton, but there's a ton of minions. Call Lenari and ask him to bring his army."
"Okay, I'm on it."
"Rupert, he's in the process of absorbing Synthia." Mujika whispered. "That Light Chi is hers. If we don't stop him now, we might not get another chance."
"We don't have enough Pikmin, so we have to wait for Lenari."
"Mmmmhh…" Mujika knew he was right, but still… he was right there. The monster that killed her family, who corrupted her people into killing the humans and Minish. She desperately wanted to end him now.
"Even then, we can't go in too hot with our Pikmin or he'll just corrupt them."
"Wait… Rupert, look." Mujika pointed left. A thin ledge led along the wall and to a thin, weak point of a pillar. It was connected to a stalactite, which seemed linked to other stalactites along the ceiling. "Those rocks don't look very stable. I wonder if we could get them to fall…"
"Yeah, but if they see us cross that ledge, we're screwed."
"Rupert, we can't just wait. We should try to trim his numbers down as much as possible." Mujika picked up a Rock Pikmin.
"Mmmm…be careful."
The Gupna carefully balanced across the ledge, her clawed feet making no sound. The Plankmin were completely engaged to the twin flowers, none bothering to glance up left. She made it behind the thin pillar. Mujika began lightly hitting it with the Rock Pikmin. When it showed no signs of weakening, she hit it slightly harder. Rupert bit his lip anxiously as he watched, fearing if the Plankmin would look over.
Mujika took a break to recover stamina in her arms. "Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeh!" The Plankmin began cheering; Mujika ducked behind the pillar with a start. She nervously looked around: the Plankmin hadn't noticed her, but they were cheering at the stage.
The golden twin flowers rose from the ground, and Plankton breathed the atmosphere once more. "Aaaaahhhh! So, the Spirit of Growth was powerless to two of her own pieces. Synthia's power is now my own!"
It's too late?! Mujika thought. She grit her teeth and tried harder to break the thin pillar.
No, Mujika, just stay hidden! Rupert thought, hoping she would stop.
"With her, I'll be able to sense where all her other pieces are!" Plankton marched offstage as his minions cleared a path for him. "I'll shrink all the giants in this universe and my microscopic brethren will rule! But how about we pay a trip to-"
Mujika snapped the thin segment off, the rubble falling into the crowd. "Huh?" Plankton cocked his brow.
Cracks formed along the stalactite as a result, and they spread upwards and across the other ones. The ceiling crumbled, and the Plankmin scrambled as dozens of them were flattened under the rubble. "AAAH!" A boulder fell toward Plankton, but he shot a gold ray from his flower and shrunk it into a pebble.
As soon as the crumbling subsided, Rupert dashed around, stepped over the confused Plankmin, and JUMPED Plankton from behind, grabbing and tugging his antennae downward. "And that's what you call an impulse plan!"
"Rupert?! Curse you!" Plankton thrusted backward and flung him against the stage. The Plankmin tried to swarm him, but Rupert's Pikmin rushed in and started beating them down. Plankton's other flower became green and tried to spray them, but Rupert whistled and gestured, and his Pikmin swiftly maneuvered away. The Floofmin jumped Plankton from behind and began bashing him, but the specimen shook them off. Rupert tried to escape behind some rubble, but some Plankmin grabbed and held him in place.
Plankton's flowers turned gold again as he aimed at Rupert. "Let's see if your Pikmin obey you now!" He shot two gold rays, but the Floofmin quickly jumped in the way. The furry Pikmin were shrunk to the size of dust mites, Rupert barely able to see them. Some Red and Wing Pikmin beat off the Plankmin, allowing Rupert to recover and retreat. Plankton switched to gas and tried to spray them, but Mujika jumped him this time, taking a firm bite of his head. "OUCH! Get off me, you little-!"
He forced Mujika off as she slammed against a boulder. "What are you supposed to be, anyway?"
"What am I?! I'm a Gupna, you monster!"
"Gupna?" White and Ice Pikmin attacked Plankton, but he withstood the Ices' freezing and tried to gas them, only for Rupert to quickly recall them. "Then you must be one of the traitors! I could've sworn I crushed you all."
"You killed my family!" The Plankmin attacked her, but Blue and Wing Pikmin fought them off. "I won't let you abuse my people, anymore!"
"Abuse them? I restored the Gupna to their true glory!" Plankton crushed and killed a Blue one. "You traitors condemned them to a minuscule life of nothing! Why don't you return to that life if you loved it so much?" His gold flowers threatened to shrink her. Mujika ran behind some boulders, but some Plankmin tackled and forced her back out.
"Mujika!" Rupert sent more Pikmin to intercept the blast.
"Fooled you!" Plankton immediately whipped around and fired at Rupert.
"RUPERT!" Mujika cried as her friend seemed to vanish on the spot.
Rupert was nearly blinded by the light. After recovering his vision, he couldn't tell where he was. The ground of the cave seemed like a rugged mountain range to his tiny eyes. "I don't even care about making you a General Pikmin now." Plankton's voice echoed ominously. Rupert could only make out a tremendous, ovular shadow with massive gold flowers swaying atop it, and Plankton's malicious eye peering down on him. "I'd rather just crush annoying worms like you!"
Rupert considered hiding from Plankton in a crevice. "WHOA!" But Rupert was suddenly snatched in a large, but stubby hand and whisked off into the air. Though he could barely tell, a Wing Pikmin caught him.
He was then discarded onto another mass that seemed to be bobbing up and down, making it hard to stand. The eerie green light of some Ghost Pikmin allowed Rupert to make out where he was: six colossal towers with nail-like tips surrounded him, and a pair of massive, vertically-aligned eyes were observing him through the holes of a mask. "M-Mujika!"
The Gupna began to run back through the tunnel, and some of their remaining Pikmin tried to follow. She tried to study her friend as she fled. "Rupert, I'm sorry!" she whisper-panted. "I should've been more patient."
"It's okay! We took out a few of them."
"Huff, I can't hear you… Rupert, I promise I'll make this up to you."
"I'm not mad, Mujika! Just protect me and get out of here! …You know, I just noticed you have six fingers. Heh, that's cool!"
"Where do ya think you're goin', beautiful one?!"
Mujika halted, a band of Gupna soldiers waiting at the drained milk lake. "Crud!" Rupert yelled. "Ghh…Pikmin, attack them!"
Though his voice was inaudible, his intentions were still felt by the Pikmin, charging to attack the monsters. They dodged the Gupnas' spears, but some Ices and Rocks were pierced. Mujika's Wing Pikmin grabbed and carried her across the chasm. They dodged Plankton's light rays, but one of the soldiers tossed their spear, taking down the Wings and scraping Mujika's leg. "AAAH!" She kept her fingers closed around Rupert, but feared for her own life as she fell, fortunately to land on a Bloominous Stemple.
"Ow…" Despite her bleeding leg, her first priority was to open her hand and confirm her friend's safety. "Rupert, are you okay?"
In truth, Rupert had violently bounced and thrashed around within her hand during the collision, and he could've sworn his brain had been knocked upside-down or possibly misplaced. "Uck…" Still, he felt that Mujika was wounded just now and wanted to ask the same thing… but he knew his voice wouldn't carry.
The Gupna soldiers charged up the path, their long, fanged mouths drooling. "I wonder if we'll look beautiful if we eat you!"
Mujika desperately tried to crawl away with her only free hand, but felt that it was futile. "WRIGGLLLLE!" It was then a swarm of Pikmin charged past her and mercilessly attacked the Gupna, shoving them off into the abyss.
"Mujika!" The Minish leader, Lenari hurried behind the Pikmin. "Where's Rupert?!"
"H-He's in my hand. He was shrunk by Plankton!"
Lenari could barely notice the tiny human in her palm. "Was he shrunk by those flowers?"
"No, it was Synthia! Plankton absorbed her!"
"Weegah!" Ghost-types swooped by and hauled the two aside, dodging Plankton's light ray. Some Wing Plankmin were helping him fly, so Lenari sent a swarm of Wings up to attack. The Pikmin dodged his rays and drew in, so Plankton made a retreat.
"I'll deal with all of you later! For now, there's something else I wanna try~"
Plankton escaped through a hole in the high ceiling. A Plankmin swarm raced after the group, but Lenari directed his army into attacking. "We have to go after him!" Mujika said.
"You guys, get them out of here!" Lenari ordered, instructing some Whites to pick her up, keeping her hand steady as they carried them. "Make sure to get Rupert some help. I'll take my guys and stop him!" Some Wing-types grabbed him, and he grabbed onto a whole chain of Pikmin as they ascended toward the hole.
"Wait! You won't be able to beat him, he's…"
"I've got other operatives waiting outside, I can at least wear him down!"
The Minish leader landed on a winding stairwell within the shaft, allowing him to land as he and his Pikmin swarm raced up. As soon as they reached the exit up top- "WHOA!" Lenari dodged a golden ray, and a few of his Red-types were shrunk.
"Thought you'd follow me up here." Plankton smirked, two Gupna guards beside him. They were in a fairly wide chamber with Vida Seeds planted in the center, roots growing from them.
Lenari swarmed his Pikmin over the Gupna and KO'ed them effortlessly. Plankton directed a horde of Plankmin to intercept when they tried to target him, but Lenari's Pikmin fled before gas could spray them. "You know, you were planted in the same cave as Malarko's Pikmin Army."
"I dunno who that is, but yeah! There was a handy amount of Pikmin in that cave!"
"Then it's true! You corrupted my ancestor's Pikmin!" Lenari sent Ghost-types, who were immune to Plankton's gas as they bashed the organism. Plankton shone the light ray over the ghosts and destroyed them.
"Aww, sad that I took your minions? You won't have any need for them after the Gupna take over! Now then, I believe it's feeding time!" Plankton stretched golden vines from his flowers, connecting to the seeds as golden chi flowed through the roots. His Plankmin formed a wall to protect him.
"What're you doing?!"
…
The White Pikmin made it back to the Storage Nut, where Sind waited. "Mujika, where's Rupert?!" The boy rushed to meet them.
"Plankton shrunk him!"
"WHAT?!" Sind immediately fell back with a start.
"I know… it's all because I rushed in without thinking."
"W-w-where is Rupert?!"
"He's in my hand…"
"Oh…" Sind crawled closer, seeing the tiny boy. "Rupert…"
"Hiya, Sind! You really look like a giant now!"
"Haha…I…!" Sind glanced up: Mujika's dress was cut as gold blood seeped from her leg. "Mujika, you're bleeding!"
"I'm fine… Lenari went to fight Plankton on his own. We have to get help!"
"Yeah, get help for that cut. Um…j-just hang onto Rupert."
"Why don't you carry me, buddy? Mujika needs a freakin' break!"
"Oh, I guess so…" Sind answered nervously. "Er…"
"Ree-ree!" A Wing Pikmin fluttered down and took Rupert in its hands.
"Oh…thank you." Mujika said. "I guess I'm not very reliable…"
"What? I just thought you were tired!" Rupert shouted.
"Sigh, let's get going." Sind ushered. "It's gonna take a while to get back through this restaurant."
The group climbed a ladder back through the hole in the restaurant kitchen, with some Wings helping Mujika this time. "?!" To their surprise, flowers were now growing from the kitchen's surfaces, blooming into Shrinking Vidas. Everyone in the restaurant was shrunk to Minish size. Winged Gupna flew in and began to seize anyone they could, but Minish operatives followed suit to battle them.
…
"I've increased the growth and reproduction speed of the Vidas!" Plankton declared. "By now, those hungry simpletons are becoming prey to the Gupna!"
"I had operatives on standby! You'll never get away with this!" Lenari directed the Rocks into rolling behind and ramming Plankton's back. He fell on his front, but sprayed backwards afterward. Some of the Pikmin escape, but others were caught and corrupted.
"You're the one who ain't getting away, kid!" Plankton's flowers linked together as bulges traveled up either antenna. "You Minish are only as strong as your minions. A real leader has TRUE power!" The flowers opened, dropping a dark-green ball of condensed gas that exploded, covering the whole room!
Lenari tried to order his Pikmin to the exit, but almost all of them were poisoned and converted to Plankmin. They turned against their former master and beat Lenari to the ground. "No! Stop! Don't let him control you! It's me, Lenari!"
"Give it up, brat! Pikmin are just machines! They're only loyal to the controller! They won't even be sad if they beat you to death!"
"STOP! PLEASE, PIKMIN! I was gonna marry Gonshiri one day! I wanted you around when I do!"
"Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh!" They chanted snidely with each beating. "Nnnnnnnn…" But when Lenari said that, they seemed to freeze up. Their eyes narrowed as they moaned in an uncomfortable fashion.
"Ah…" Lenari cracked a smile. "Yeah… I've always treated you well. Pikmin aren't tools… they're friends. Don't listen to Plankton! All he wants is to hurt everybody!"
"Kill him, you idiots!" Plankton ordered.
"No! Don't kill me! Stop Plankton!"
"Fine! I'll make it easier for you." Plankton's flowers charged with gold again. "Once I shrink you, your orders will fall on deaf ears!"
One of the Plankmin glanced between Lenari and Plankton, its distorted instincts compelling it to obey both orders. How could it satisfy Lenari's desires along with Plankton's? With that, the lone Pikmin grabbed Lenari and threw him directly at Plankton right as the rays fired. There was a great flash, and Lenari vanished completely. "What?! Where did he go?!" Plankton searched around frantically. "Just what were you thinking in doing that, fool?"
"Nree? Nree…" The lone Plankmin seemed to be confused.
"So, my control over you isn't perfect. Well, no matter where he is, he's too small to do anything now. But I think you're owed some punishment." Plankton shrunk that Plankmin down and crushed it. "The rest of you, let's move out!" They saluted and followed him.
Team Rupert's Celery
After meeting with Timothy, they recapped the events, and the Gilligan looked over his diminished friend with concern. Rupert was placed on a small table, his friends gathered around him. Mujika's leg was wrapped in a Soreaway leaf bandage. "Before we attacked, Plankton mentioned something peculiar." Mujika said. "He said the 'Spirit of Growth was powerless to two of her own pieces.' I think he has two pieces of Synthia, besides the one he took from us."
"So, Plankton already kind of knew what they were." Rupert figured. "It actually sort of makes sense… Since he's plankton, then he should be microscopic, too. But he's fairly large even at this size. I wonder if Plankton made himself bigger similar to… UGH, what am I doing?! They can't frickin' hear me like this!"
"No, I heard you, Rupert." Sind glanced over.
"Huh? Did Rupert say something?" Timmy asked.
"Y-yeah. He said…" Sind recapped.
"Wait, how come you can hear him, but we can't?"
"It must be because of my earpiece." He pointed at his left ear. "Each of us operatives is given these so we can hear little people talk. Since it happens a lot, after all. Hehe, but it's sort of limited for me since I'm usually so big."
"At least there's that. But how're we supposed to beat Plankton is he has THREE pieces of this Growth Spirit thing?!" Timmy shouted.
"Hey, not so loud, Timmy!" Rupert winced; Sind transferred his words.
"Fine, then let's ask Mujika. She's the priest, maybe she knows how to stop him."
"I…" Mujika bowed nervously. "All I know is… my ancestor and the Minish Hero defeated the evil spirit, and the Gupna priests performed a sacred incantation to seal it inside a seed. It dispelled the Vidas as a result. I remember what the incantation is, but…but I don't know if I could do it by myself. And even then…"
"We still have no good way to beat him, of course we don't." Timmy huffed.
"I'm sorry… I guess I really messed things up…"
"Mujika, this isn't your fault." Rupert said, Sind translating.
"But it is…" As she spoke, one of the Wing Pikmin curiously looked at its hand. It was one of the Wings that helped carry Mujika out of the dungeon: because it was holding her leg, some of the gold blood drenched her hand. "I should've flown in to stop Plankton as soon as you were kidnapped. All I did was watch and wait, but I should've done something. But now because I tried, you ended up…"
"Look, just because I'm smaller, my Pikmin are still loyal to me. They can still listen to me, so I'm not even worried about myself. And I'm not mad at you either. But we all need to work together if we're gonna stop him!"
"But how can we-"
"Mmmmmm!" A Wing Pikmin seemed to perk up: its flowery head started brimming gold.
"W-what's wrong with that one?" Sind wondered.
The Pikmin called for its mates and pointed at Mujika's bandaged leg. A couple flew down, the operatives confused as they brushed some leaked blood off. They watched in disgust as they slurped it in. "Mmmmmm!" Their flowers lit up as well.
"What're they doing?" Timothy questioned.
The Pikmin flew to the Storage Nut and went inside. They took out some Vida Seeds and began to beat them with their shining flowers. The seeds seemed to rot and fade away. "They…they killed the seeds for the shrink flowers?" Rupert observed.
The Pikmin went in, took out more seeds, and beat them to nothing. This went on for a minute until the light wore off on them. "My… blood?" Mujika looked down at her leg. "They were able to do that… by drinking my blood?"
"Mujika, do you have magic blood?" Rupert wondered.
"I…I don't know. Although, I know my family had a different blood color from normal Gupna."
"And it powered the Pikmin up… and they killed the shrink seeds." Timmy recounted. "How were these seeds made again?"
"Th-the Shrinking Vidas are grown and reproduced with the spirit's power. They're extensions of the power, so to speak."
"Hey, Timmy!" Rupert yelled. "Do you think Mujika's blood is somehow toxic to the spirit?"
"I never knew anything about that…" Mujika replied.
"Then maybe Malarko used her blood a long time ago." Timmy configured. "Do you think… it could stop Plankton?"
"I don't know, but… I'll give it a try!" the Gupna vowed. "Take all the blood you need!"
"H-hey, hey, hold on!" Sind yelled. "We can't just take blood, you'll get drained out!"
"I wonder if that means it's harmful to Synthia, too." Timmy thought aloud. "Because if it isn't, we still can't-"
"Aaaaahhhhh!" Another band of Pikmin ran onto the ship, panicking. "What now?!" Sind asked.
"These are Lenari's Pikmin!" Rupert exclaimed.
"How can you tell?"
"Ree, ree, ree ree ree!"
"Something bad happened to Lenari and the rest of his Pikmin! And they were instructed to run to me."
"No!" Mujika gasped. "We have to save him!"
"All troops, this is Lea! The target is leaving the building, he's heading east-northeast!"
Timmy quickly jumped at the controls. A yellowish saucer with plankton-like antennae rose from the surface. A squad of Onions lined up alongside it and took off with. Some of the Minish ships engaged pursuit. "Should we stay here and look for Lenari?" Sind asked.
Timmy tried to call the Supreme Leader on his comm. "…He isn't responding. Ugh…what should we do?"
"We should go after Plankton." Rupert suggested. "We can eat and rest up on the way. He's probably got a destination in mind. And if Mujika's blood can be used against him… we should figure out a safe way to do it."
"Are you sure we shouldn't check on Lenari?"
"Mmm. Mm, mm, mmm." Lenari's Pikmin assured.
"He says Lenari's final wish was to stop Plankton no matter what…" Rupert translated.
Timothy sighed. "Alright… we're taking off. I hope we're right about this…"
Los Angeles
Tsuyu and Kotoko were able to defeat the Trident army, letting GUN arrest the Fishmen. The real Trident would be identified while the clones would be set for execution.
Tsu and Kotoko would receive a low-reception call telling them to go to the park. It was there that some Minish operatives brought Melody, Yuta, and Eric (and his Kremling bodyguard, Klubba). Tsu and Kotoko sat at a table as their tiny friends crossed the table to meet them. "Oh, you guys are so cuuuute!" Kotoko squealed, resisting the urge to poke them.
"Tehe! I just knew you would say that!" Yuta grinned.
"The Minish helped us stop the monsters in our treehouse." Melody explained. "Then we heard you guys were in town."
"The Brotherhood were attacking several towns with KND sectors." Tsu explained. "GKND already requested several planets for backup, so I decided to come, too."
"Well, you were gonna transfer here, right?" Yuta asked, thinking back to their discussion during the festival. "Is that still on the table?"
"Ha ha ha ha!" Kotoko laughed at the pun.
"It is!" Tsu smiled. "My teachers and Lemillion approved my transfer. We were gonna meet with Cheren when this happened…"
"It's a bad time to be out of shape." Eric said sheepishly.
"Just don't mistake us for flies, Tsuyu!" Yuta joked.
"Ugh, Yuta!" Melody slapped him.
"Asui may be a froggy, but she wouldn't do something so degenerate!" Kotoko supported.
"Exactly!" Tsu agreed. "…I've been trying to quit…" and she drooped in embarrassment.
"By the way, the shrunken operatives on Moonbase were taken down to the Treehouse Roots. They're going to try and destroy the source of the shrinkage."
"Ugh, I figured." Eric huffed. "The Treehouse Roots can transfer any kind of injected energy to all the sectors. And weren't they all grown from Celebi's chi, anyway? You'd think they'd be a little less vulnerable!"
"I guess we should join up with them, too." Melody figured. "We can't do anything else."
"And we sure can't have these big girls putting Melody to shame!" Yuta joked, nudging her with an elbow.
". . . ." The three girls glared at the puny Adabatian, sensing his joke. "Klubba." Eric snapped.
The Kremling reeled his club back and WHACKED Yuta clean off the table like a baseball.
Treehouse Roots
Nagisa Shiota, Doran Dodley, Sectors W7, JP, and other "available" sectors fought their way through countless Gupna, eventually reaching the core of the roots. Numerous seeds were implanted into the roots, giving them glowing purple veins. "Those are the source of the flowers!" Nagisa knew.
"Let's bust those seeds and get big!" Jinta declared.
"Don't get any ideas, you termites!"
The villainous voice drew their attention about-face. "PLANKTON!" Mocha shouted.
"Looks like you're getting your rematch after all, Mocha!" Aisa smirked. "Let's squash this germ for good this time!"
"Let me drag him down first!" Nagisa performed Moon Walks to leap up to Plankton's level.
"Egads!" cried the villain. "What will I do to—kerzap!" He fired a light ray, but Nagisa dodged—Jinta took the hit instead and zapped down to a tinier size.
"Jinta-kun!!" Ururu screamed.
"Are you kidding me?!" the baseballer squeaked. "This is fuckin' bullshit!!"
"That's one down! Who's next?!" Plankton shot a ray at Mocha, who dodged. Nagisa sliced a Tempest Kick and knocked him away, but Wing Plankmin swarmed Nagisa and bit him, forcing him to use Iron Body. "Uuuck!" Plankton found himself struggling in a psychic grip: Doran was using plantbending to control the half-plant cyclops.
"Tell me what happened to Sind and the others!"
"Perhaps they already got eaten! Why don't you JOIN them!" Plankton blasted a ray, but Apis pulled the orange boy aside.
"Thanks, Apis!"
"Don't mention it, big guy!"
About an hour earlier; Rupert's Celery
Timothy followed the other Minish ships at a moderate pace. The four kids shared the leftover grub that the Pikmin let them have. "This is Lea to all pursuing ships: we've determined Plankton's destination to be the KND Convention Center in New York."
"The Convention Center…" Sind realized. "The Treehouse Roots can be accessed from there. That must be his target."
"He's probably going to expand the range of the Vidas." Mujika assumed.
"Alright… I'm setting this to autopilot." Timmy input the command. "Now then…" The boy withdrew a round, glass bottle with a spray top. He stuck a syringe onto the top. "Mujika, I'm gonna use this to extract some blood."
"Um…okay." She patiently held an arm out. Timmy gently stuck the syringe in her arm and filled the bottle with gold blood, Mujika tensing at the act.
"Sometimes, we fill these things with juices that we spray over our Pikmin. If we use your blood the same way, we'll have a chance against Plankton. Hopefully…"
"I feel bad about doing that after she was just injured." Sind said.
"It's alright." Mujika assured. "I'm happy to help however I can…"
Rupert felt the downtrodden voice, and was no stranger to Timmy's mild assertiveness. "…Hey, Sind. Can you ask if Timmy's mad at Mujika?"
"Um…Hey, Timmy." As Sind relayed the words, Mujika glanced up anxiously.
"No, I'm not mad at her."
"It just sounds like you're being kind of… I dunno, pushy to her."
"Well, if you hadn't noticed, Rupert, we've been flying all around the world in a mindless attempt to stop Plankton from killing everybody." Timmy reminded him plainly. "Wasn't the Minish KND supposed to be fun? Wasn't Pikmin supposed to be relaxing? My uncle Hoagie died, my sister's in a coma, and all I have to take my mind off of it was Pikmining, but now Plankton's gone and ruined that, too! I never wanted to be in KND in the first place, especially none of that crazy stuff my cousins do. I was fine with being a Minish operative, but now it's not relaxing, anymore."
"But it will be again! After we stop Plankton, things will go back to normal!"
Sind relayed the words with a meeker tone. "Stopping Plankton isn't gonna bring Gibli back or wake my sister up! Not to mention anyone else who died, or what happened to Sappo, and we still don't know what happened to Lenari!"
"Ahem, um, he's trying to speak…" Sind said.
"Well, tell him to let me finish talking!"
His outburst made the shrunk giant wince, and Rupert was rattling under his friend's frustration. "All you care about is Pikmin. You're not even bothered when your own friends or family die. And even when the Pikmin die, you can make new ones in a heartbeat."
"But I do care, Timmy." Rupert approached the edge of the table. His earnest eyes and tone were too small for his friend to see or hear. "I know I get obsessed with them, but you and Hikari are my best friends. I wanna hope that Hikari will wake up someday, and I wanna kill Plankton for what he did to Gibli. I just…I just don't wanna be broken up about it. I wanna keep enjoying what I love. And I'd like it if my friends enjoyed it with me. But if you don't want to, anymore… I guess you don't have to."
"…" Sind did a half-decent job of conveying Rupert's tone. Timmy extended a hand and lay his pinky on the table, his voice calmer. "Sigh, you're my best friend, too, Rupert. It's just… It just feels like you care more about Pikmin than us sometimes."
"Well… if anything, I like you both the same." Rupert climbed onto his pinky. "You're all important to me." Timmy brought his tiny friend closer to his goggled eyes. The sincerity in each other's eyes were all too clear. "I love you as much as I do the Pikmin."
"…" Timmy hadn't expected to wind up in such a cheesy conversation. He almost couldn't think of what to say. "Well, I don't."
"W-what?" Rupert frowned.
"Yeah… I only like you as a friend. I don't 'love' you."
"W-w-what??" Rupert let out a laugh. Sind and Timothy choked out one, too.
"Yeah, dude… Save that sappiness for Berry or someone."
"C-come on, dude, you started it!"
"Hahaha…" Sind chuckled. "Um…Mujika?" The girl wasn't making any response.
"Mmm…" The Gupna pulled off her mask, her vertical eyes crying. "For some reason, my eyes are watery."
"Awwwww, someone's got the feels." Rupert cooed.
"The… feels?"
"It's a friendship thing, Muj." Timmy smiled. "People get this way during tender moments."
"Oh…is that good?"
"Yeah." He put a free hand to her shoulder. "And I'm sorry if I got a little hard on you a moment ago. You've been a great help on this mission, and a great friend!"
"Timmy, put me a little closer. This Gupna needs a hug!"
"Heh, sure thing, buddy." Timmy touched his pinky to Mujika's tiny nose. Rupert put his arms around and hugged it. Her tears sounded like a waterfall pouring past her nose, growing lighter as the eyes gazed down at him tenderly.
"Mmm…thank you, Rupert. All three of you have been great friends…"
"Yeah… it's been great getting to know you guys." Sind smiled. "I almost wish I could stay like this a bit longer. Shrink affects don't actually last long on us…"
"I'm sure we'll find some way, Sind!" Rupert cheered.
"I just…sigh." The Hispanic boy rubbed his arm anxiously. "Can I tell you guys a secret?"
"Sure." Timmy answered.
"Well… a few years ago… I accidentally…um…"
"Yeah…?"
"I… k-killed… some people…"
The three were silent, stunned by his words, but expecting some kind of explanation. Sind tensed up, shivering as he brushed his arm meekly. "We were kidnapped… by a mad scientist… A bunch of us… Humans, merpeople, aliens… even Minish and some little people. He fed us all drugs to turn us into giants… but the drugs made us go crazy… We went crazy… and I…I…"
He could feel the crunching directly under his own feet. Sind fell on his rear and grasped his legs. "I killed them… I killed them… I killed them… I never learned who their families were… I don't remember their names… There were a lot of us, so of course I'd forget… but I killed them… Do their families even know… I'm a horrible person… I'm a horrible… person…"
"Sind…"
Timmy knelt down to his level, holding Rupert closer. The quivering pupils fell directly on the tiny boy. "It's alright, Sind… It wasn't your fault. You're not a horrible person."
"I'm just… I'm afraid of being around little people, because of it… I don't wanna make any mistakes… and when we stop Plankton, I have to be far away from you. I don't wanna just blow up and flatten you guys. I wouldn't wanna… hurt Mujika after all she's been through."
"Thank you, Sind…" Mujika knelt in front of him, her six-fingered hands around his shoulders. "I appreciate your concern. You're a kind boy. I hope we'll be able to talk to each other safely… when this is over."
"…" Sind shared a hug with her, his nerves calming. Timmy put his arms around them both. All three friends turned to Rupert on the Gilligan's pinky, his little arms open and metaphorically hugging. Though he was much too small to do so, they felt his warmth all the same.
"Approaching destination."
They looked up, standing as Timmy returned to the controls. The KND Convention Center was in sight, decorated with violet flowers. "It's now or never." Timmy said. "Let's take Plankton down."