Somewhere unknown…
Lenari thought his vision had died with how bright everything had become. The abundance of odd, wriggly shapes helped attribute to this. "Hey, what's that little critter that done dropped in here?" a country voice asked.
"He must've landed here upon Plankton's miniaturization." A more stoic voice replied.
With squinted eyes, Lenari turned to two one-eyed amoebas floating over what seemed like an unbudded, pulsating flower. One was white with a horned eye and the other was green with antennae on its eye. "What are you things?"
"Ain't you ever see a Growth Spirit when ya see one?" the green one asked.
"Growth Spirits? …Then you're the pieces of Synthia that Plankton found!"
"Correct." The white one confirmed. "Your being here was entirely happenstance, but it matters not."
"Do you realize how much harm Plankton is doing?! Why are you helping him?"
"Plankton was tired of bein' fish food!" Green Synthia answered. "He an' his family were nothin' but prey to the bottom-feeders, so Ah helped them grow a bit."
"Plankton and his family hail from Aquaria." White Synthia followed. "Essentially, a Great Reduction happened there, too, except on a… smaller scale."
"It were a Small Reduction, ahyuck hyuck!"
"I'd wager it's because you possess far less power than I do."
"Ah, shucks you!"
"That doesn't answer my question." Lenari said. "What's the purpose of you Growth Spirits, anyway?"
"Since the day our universe began," began White, "things have appeared, disappeared, reappeared, and disappeared again. Out of all those things, only one survived and persevered through the ages. That was called Life. The reason Life survived is because its purpose was to multiply. It took the forms of many species and adapted to many environments. And with multiplication comes growth. But what happens when Life cannot 'grow'? Then its duty is to sustain the larger forms of Life, even if through prey. Alas, the different forms of life developed 'souls' and grew to be at odds with each other. Countless different species and races longed for their own survival, and many died out in favor of greater species. We Growth Spirits were meant to ensure the growth of all life, and it saddens us when such imbalance occurs."
"That's why we're helpin' out Plankton and the Gupna, a-hyup!"
"That makes no sense! You're helping Plankton exterminate our own species!" Lenari argued.
"The Gupna and the plankton were given no opportunity to grow. But Plankton's intelligence and the Gupnas' ability to become what they ate left much to be desired. They were deserving to grow, and they desired it as much as the humans or Minish. We shrank your races to determine who desired that growth the most. Which souls were worthy of Life?"
"That ain't for you to decide! You'll pay for what you did to Gibli!"
"There are still many more of your species remaining. Why only concern yourself with the one?"
"She was one of my best friends! I may not be able to do anything now, but just wait until my operatives get here! They'll show you who's not worthy to live!"
KND Convention Center
Team Rupert landed on the stage in the middle of the Convention Center. The four stepped out to find dozens of unconscious Gupna lain around the field. "It looks like the Minish ops already cleaned house." Timmy said.
"But look at their wounds." Sind noticed. "Those seem a little too intense for Pikmin attacks."
"Hey, Sind! Guys!" a girl's voice called. Ally Mitchels, Konbu, and Uzu Colins raced onto the stage with a couple Wing, Purple, and White Pikmin. They were being chased by a large, Black Bulbear with red spots, along with its children.
Sind quickly called out some Rock-types and Timmy some Purples, using their Pikmin in conjunction to quickly defeat the aggressive Bulborb, following by the young. "Do you guys know what happened here?"
"The shrunken operatives who were on Moonbase were brought down here." Konbu answered. "They're gonna try to fix the roots, so we decided to come, too!"
"We think we have a new way to fix the roots." Mujika mentioned. "But Plankton just arrived here ahead of us."
"He won't stand a chance against all those strong guys!" Uzu said assuredly.
"Except that Plankton is being powered by a Newborn now." Sind said. "We should catch up."
"Where's Rupert?" Ally asked.
"Er…he's actually in my hand." Timothy noted. The three operatives curiously walked up to see. "He was shrunk by Plankton."
"The four of us can still hear him with our earpieces." Sind noted.
"I can still give my Pikmin orders, but it'll be harder to manage them like this." Rupert said. "I'll have to rely on you guys."
"Do you think one of you guys can carry him since you have earpieces?" Sind asked.
"Why can't you do it?" Uzu replied.
"Uh…well, I'll have to be more careful if I carry him, so I… couldn't move as fast."
"Then I can carry him." Ally smiled, offering a hand.
"Fine by me!" Rupert cheered, using hers and Timmy's fingers as a bridge. "You look like a reliable cutie!"
"Tehehehe!"
"Ugh, now's not the time for flirting. Actually, someone should carry Mujika, too. Her leg is bad, and we kind of borrowed some blood from her…"
"Well, I'll do that!" Konbu walked up and allowed Mujika on his back. "If Rupert gets a cute girl, so should I~"
"Hehe…" Mujika blushed.
"Aww, did you want me to carry you, Konbu~?" Ally teased.
"I think I would crush you."
"We should probably get going." Sind inferred, wanting to break up the flirting. "Let's find a way down to the roots. I remember hearing they can get down there with an elevator." (Play "Underworld Castle Entrance" from Kid Icarus: Uprising!)
Stage 4: The Court of Heroes
Mission: Get down to the Roots and stop Plankton!
The kids gathered 14 of each Pikmin, making 196 total. Timmy and Sind acted as the main leaders, the group marching off the stage and across the grass field. Dozens of Sheargrubs emerged from the ground, so Timmy threw Purple Pikmin around to KO them with their shockwaves. They cleared the ground of the annoying bugs and proceeded toward one of the stadium entrances. The door was sealed, and two Gatling Groinks were mounted on pillars on either side of it. The Groinks were orange fish with cyborg legs, glass shields, and turret mouths. They shot small bombs down at the group, but Sind kicked Rock Pikmin up to smash their windshields. Their defenses weakened, Timmy tossed Yellow Pikmin up to beat them unconscious. "Their HP will regenerate, so let's get them back quickly." They used 10 Wings and Yellows respectively to carry the Groinks back.
"I'll bring them back after they're done!" Uzu said, running back.
The door opened from the Groinks' defeat, so they hurried into the stadium hallway. Several Minish-size grenades lined the floor, emitting poison gas, and further ahead, KND guards were fighting winged Gupna. Timmy told the White Pikmin to destroy the grenades, and afterwards, they rushed to take down the two Gupna, losing their four other Wings in the battle. "You guys okay?" Timmy asked.
"Those monsters ate my best friend!" one of the guards shouted. "I can't take this crud, anymore!"
"Let's kill them while they're down!" The other guard stomped and crushed the Gupna's heads.
"H-hey, don't do that!" Sind yelled.
"Why not?!"
"Th-they're…"
"Sind, forget about it." Timmy said. "You guys can wait on our ship until you're back to normal. Whites, lead them back." With a sigh, the agro guards followed the Pikmin back.
"I appreciate it, Sind, but there's no point in trying to spare the Gupna, anymore." Mujika said. "When this is over, we'll shrink back down and it won't matter what happens."
Sind clenched his lips regretfully. The next area of the hall went over a flooded floor, with some zigzagged pipes leading over it. Two Cloaking Burrow-nits lurked in the shallow water, bugs with shelled backs and soft faces. They managed to catch three Silvers and a Brown on their stretched proboscis, and only the Blues were able to bring the water-bound enemies down. As the leaders carefully led their Pikmin over the pipes, Sind called Uzu and reported the amount they had lost. "Okay, I'll bring some new ones!" Uzu responded.
Past the shallow water was a stairway leading down. Tileworms hid under some of the tiles of the stairs, the first one surprising them by eating two Whites… but this caused it to be poisoned to death. The crew dealt with the other Tileworms carefully. At the base of the stairs, a couple Canine Gupna fled into a hole in the wall. The Pikmineers entered the dark tunnel with caution. Timmy switched on a flashlight, watching out for where the canines had hidden. There was a slightly open area with eight large leaves suspended along the wall.
"Hey, guys, I'm back!" Uzu called, bringing some new Pikmin.
"Good, I may need the Whites for this." Timothy brought the Whites up front. "They can use their special eyes to sense hidden enemies." The Pikmin indicated two separate leaves with something behind them. Timmy and Sind walked out to the center, keeping eyes on those leaves, and the canine jumped out as expected. They were quick to send Pikmin against the dogs and KO them. Past this area was a ledge into a watery pit. Timmy shone his flashlight down and saw a bridge submerged in the water. To their right was a lever hanging from the ceiling, but inside a thick glass barrier. "Sorry, Greens." Timmy threw five Greens into the water, letting them drown and turn into Ghosts. The Ghosts could phase through the glass and pull the lever down, allowing the bridge to rise up.
The bridge led to a ground with several baked bean cans. Large beans, ranging from red, green, and blue colors, and big open mouths popped out of the cans. The Germ Beans lunged to eat the Pikmin, swallowing three Reds and two Blues before the leaders could retaliate and KO them. "Hey, someone get me out of here!" a voice called from below the edge on the right. The group looked over and saw an operative flailing his arms in the water. There were fish creatures called Puckering Blinnow lurking in the water.
"I'll take the Blues and rescue him." Sind offered. "I'll go back for more Pikmin afterward."
"Be careful, Sind." Ally said. Sind took off his footwear and dove into the water, sending the Blues to clear out all the fast-moving Blinnow. Afterwards, the Pikmin carried the operative and could climb onto the starting ledge via a small path.
The other operatives headed to the left ledge: there were hanging walkways that would lead to an exit, but the first walkway had fallen in the water, its ropes submerged. The Wing Pikmin couldn't recover the sunken ropes, but the Ghost Pikmin could. Timmy had to sacrifice one more, so six Ghosts could grab the six ropes. They pulled the walkway up and tied the ropes to ceiling hooks. A Puffy Blowhog was also patrolling the walkways, threatening to blow them off, so Timmy sent the Ghosts to attack it. They left the Ghosts to wither away its stamina as the group exited the dark room.
A stairway led down into a new hallway, where they could see two Beady Longlegs marching to and fro. There were Gupna with crossbow arms mounted atop the four-legged spiders, shooting spiked bones down at the group. Uzu got directly under the first Longlegs and threw Yellows up at the spider's round head, and Timmy had Wings attack the second one. The Gupna could only aim at the other's Pikmin, but the leaders helped them evade long enough until the spiders were fallen. The Gupna dropped to the ground, allowing the leaders to swarm them with Pikmin, losing three Yellows and Browns in the process. They had these types carry the Longlegs' bodies back, and they signaled Sind about them.
The hallway turned right, leading out onto a picnic balcony. Operatives would normally sit out here and enjoy lunch with a view of the city. Unfortunately, most of the floor was covered in electric wires, and the only picnic table available had no way to climb up. However, there was a very tall cake standing beside the seat: their Cookie Pikmin could eat their way up the cake and convert it into stairs. But 14 wasn't enough, so they used the nearby Candypop Buds to convert their Reds and Oranges into more Cookies, making 24 total. They helped eat the cake faster. The group could walk up onto the table's bench, use a Cookie to take down a Candle Slug, then use a gelation bounce pad to bounce onto the table.
There were rubber tiles on three picnic tables. The first table had Anode Dweevils trying to carry the tiles off, so Timmy threw Yellow Pikmin to defeat the electric spiders. The others crossed a bridge to the next table, where Breadbugs were dragging tiles into their holes. "Purple Pikmin are effective against these things." Rupert said, while Ally transferred his words.
"Then let me take them down!" Konbu grabbed the Purples and threw them against the bugs with good aiming. Once they were down, the rubber tiles were ejected from their holes. The third table had no bridge to it, but there was a Fruit Roll-Up attached to that table. Ally told the Wing-types to fly over, grab its end, and stretched it over to their table, where it could be stuck to nails. They crossed the fruity bridge and approached the last rubber tile over a pizza—a Bug-Eyed Crawmad emerged from the pizza, startling them.
"Don't worry, this guy's easy!" Rupert said. "Just throw Rocks at its eyes, then attack the stomach." Konbu grabbed the Rocks and did so. When its eyes were injured, the giant shrimp flipped over, so they threw Pikmin onto its soft belly to KO it. With the enemies cleared, they could have Pikmin carry the rubber tiles from all three tables. They would be thrown and lined up over the electric floor, providing a path into a hole in the corresponding wall.
By the time they were finished, Sind made it back with some new Pikmin. "Do we need any more?"
"Well, we had to sacrifice some Reds and Oranges to make Cookie-types." Ally answered.
"How about I run back and rebalance them?" Uzu asked. "Since you just got back."
"No, just stick with us until we really need to." Timmy answered. They crossed the rubber bridge and entered the hole, leading to another dark room. There was a light-green antenna device, and when Timmy pushed its button, it released a signal. The Ghost Pikmin from the other room phased through the ceiling and joined them.
"Oh, that's how they can avoid the bright rooms!" Mujika beamed.
"Yeah, but there are lights in here, too. Let's be careful when leading them." As they traversed the darkness, chubby lizard ghosts called Eeries appeared. Only Ghost Pikmin could defeat them, but the Eeries ate two of the Pikmin, so Timmy quickly called them back. There were a spiked pit to their right, with which Timmy could kill the other Green Pikmin and convert them to Ghosts. With careful maneuvering, they were able to defeat the three Eeries. A drawbridge was suspended up on their side, and it couldn't be pushed down. Uzu saw a small path leading under it, where a Silver Pikmin could unscrew a bolt and cause the bridge to fall.
Before crossing, Timmy noticed a spider-web set up, and a terrified girl was tied in it. They sent Wings to kill the Arachnode, then tossed Browns to climb the web and rescue the girl. The bridge led to a grated floor where Poly-Spikes roamed about, easy for the Silvers to take down. Beneath the grated floor was a drain plug, with water struggling to seep out of it (so, it was the opposite of a drain). Only the Ghosts could phase down, grab its handle, and pull it up. Water spouted out of the hole and flooded the room, but it stopped level with their floor. There was a doorway across the water, so the Ice Pikmin froze a path for them all to cross.
The doorway led to some stairs that led down into a room with a massive (human-size) elevator door. There were five Gupna soldiers, two Glowing Bulborbs, and three Swooping Snitchbugs guarding the elevator. "Here goes nothing…" Sind said nervously.
The following battle was relentless and chaotic as the Pikmineers struggled to direct all their troops against the monsters. It was only a miracle that they were able to defeat them, but a great chunk of their Pikmin were lost. "We're really gonna have to restock now." Sind commented.
"Hey, what's that other elevator over there?" Ally noticed a smaller elevator fit for their sizes. It was blocked by a cinder block, but there was a Bomb Rock right there for them to blow it open. The kids decided to enter the elevator and ride it up. It let them off right back at the stadium, where the Onions' platform was in sight.
"It's a shortcut back!" Sind beamed. "Perfect! Leave the restocking to me!" Sind eagerly dashed to the stage and re-amassed 14 of each Pikmin. The teammates watched as the colorful army followed him back.
"La la la la la la la! La la la la la la la! La la, la la la, la!"
"Hey, they're singing!" Mujika smiled.
"When there's an even number of every Pikmin out, they sing this!" Rupert said. "It's called 'Ai no Uta.' I don't remember the lyrics, but they basically sing about everything they do. They'll follow us, be thrown around, be eaten, but be uprooted again."
"It's hard to believe how much they like their job…" Timmy commented. "Not to sound like Plankton, but… they really only exist to serve us. It's kind of sad…"
"That's why it's important to appreciate them. To be nice to them! These little guys work so hard for us!"
"You're right, Ally." Uzu agreed. "But it makes me feel bad for losing so many."
"Oh, Rupert said that, not me. But I agree with him! Let's trust in the Pikmin to lead us to victory!"
"That elevator must lead to the Roots." Timmy deduced. "Let's go!"
They rode the small elevator back down to the giant one, the doors open just wide enough to fit the tinies in. There was an open hatch with broken wires, but by tossing Yellow Pikmin inside, they could connect the wires and enable the elevator to carry them down.
Act 2: The Sacred Roots
The elevator opened to an almost mystical forest of massive, violet flowers. "Whoa… that's a lot of Vidas." Sind said, feeling intimidated.
"Well, we're already affected by them, so they can't do any more." Ally replied.
"It's gonna take a lot of my blood to destroy all of these…" Mujika said worriedly.
"Let's save that blood for Plankton first." Timothy suggested. The Pikmineers led their army across the first path, and a Black Bulbear marched up the slope. Konbu bombarded it with Purple Pikmin, dizzying it enough for the others to swarm it. The Bulbear had come up a winding, sloped walkway leading down to the next level of the violet abyss. However, there was also a metal pipe beside it that also led further down, but away from the path. They tossed a few Silver Pikmin onto the pipe to magnetically climb down it. The operatives traveled down the winding path and watched their progress, but saw that Flighty Joustmites (red-armored bugs with soft behinds) were waiting to snatch them. Ally sent Wing Pikmin to take down each of the flying bugs.
The Silvers would crawl into a vent that led under a stable walkway. When the Pikmineers crossed this bridge, a giant screw stuck up from below and blocked the way. Thankfully, the Silvers could access its base and unscrew it downward, allowing them to pass. The Silvers would climb up through its hole and rejoin them. The following road led around and alongside some bark, but would come to an end. There was a vine strip along the bark, connected to small leaves. They sent Orange Pikmin to climb the vine and sprinkle the leaves with their dust. The leaves grew enough to serve as platforms, but Whiskerpillars would climb down the bark with the desire to feast on the leaves. The Wing-types helped take them down.
They all jumped the leaves and landed on a slide, zooming down in a snaky fashion! The slide brought them to a wider floor beside a very tall wall. The wall had a thin walkway leading up and along it, would curve left, and end at a platform with a broken bridge. The bridge would lead to another platform, but serve to block several geysers of toxic gas on the ceiling. The 30 bridge tiles were right beside them. "Okay, this is pretty clever." Timmy admitted. "At least the Whites are fast."
"I can help them go faster!" Uzu said. "Go, Whites, go!" He performed whistling gestures that somehow made the Whites run faster than ever, carrying bridge tiles up the thin walkway swiftly.
"For being newbies, you guys are already pretty good!" Rupert praised.
"You're a newbie, too, Ally!" Uzu remarked.
"Once again, I was speaking for RUPERT!"
"I know, I'm only teasing~"
While the Whites were busy with that, they used Rocks and Silvers to defeat the Wollywogs lurking around the floor. A Gatling Groink approached them as well, but Sind kicked a Rock threw its windshield and left it helpless to an assault. The 14 Whites quickly returned to get the remaining tiles and finished building a blockade for the gas jets. The Pikmineers could safely cross the lower bridge. It led directly within a tunnel of leaves, dark without the Vidas' glimmers. The ops proceeded carefully- "Whoa!" Timmy yelped when a Volatile Dweevil dropped, a spider carrying a bomb. They hurriedly steered their Pikmin around and away from the spider, but more Dweevils would drop down from the leaves. "Run run ruuuuun!" Sind cried, ushering their Pikmin to bolt from the spiders, hearing a cluster of explosions behind them.
"Did we lose anyone?" Rupert asked.
"Nope! All fine!" Sind beamed.
"Nice work!"
Past the tunnel was a stairway littered with fallen Gupna, likely beaten down by the operatives who were here before. The stairs led down into water, the explorers fearing the dark pool. Timmy gathered his Blue and Ghost-types and bravely dove in. There were Glimmering Blinnow swimming around, an angler version of the fish from before. Only the Blues could attack the light fish, but Skeletal Blinnow would ambush them from the darkness. They ate two Blues, and Timmy quickly had the Ghosts attack the undead fish. Timmy swam down to catch an air bubble for extra breath, searching the darkness for a way to drain the water.
Timmy found a glass wall with a Bomb Rock behind it. He sent a Ghost Pikmin through the glass to grab the bomb and drop it at the glass before returning. The bomb destroyed the glass, and the water spilled out through the passage. The other ops led their Pikmin into the drained cave, with no other way to go but the passage where the water flowed. They exited back into the glimmering abyss of violet Vidas, excitedly jumping Bounce Shrooms to travel down lower. They dropped to another wide floor where a giant textbook lay within a path between a series of parallel, aligned pebbles. The group could simply walk over the pebbles and bypass this area, until they found a gap that the textbook could cover.
The Purple Pikmin had to not only carry the textbook, but they could only carry it within the pebbled path. Several fire spouts threatened to burn them, so the humans scouted ahead with Red Pikmin to destroy them. The Purples succeeded in filling the gap, ensuring passage to the next zone. What awaited was a fairly long bridge with a giant fan blowing from the end. "There's no way our Pikmin can walk through that gust!" Timmy said.
"Let me try!" Ally volunteered. "Uzu, can you hold Rupert for me?" She entrusted the tiny boy to him. "Wings, let's go!" She charged forward and withstood the strong gust, and her directing helped the Wing-types survive as well. They reached the giant fan and ran onto the walkway on the right. She told the Wings to destroy the generator powering the fan, allowing her friends to catch up. From there, they traveled down another stairway to a wide, circular floor with 13 segments. There were 13 holes with lines connected to the center, which had a music note. The 13 segments had different hazards.
"Oh, I see!" Sind beamed. "These are all the different Pikmin hazards! This is clever!"
"And it looks like each of these segments have orbs." Timmy noticed. "Guys, you know what to do!"
The Red Pikmin were thrown into the fiery segment. The Yellows were thrown into the electrified segment. The Blues were thrown into the pool. The Ices were thrown into the freezer. The Purples had to lift a heavy weight off. The Whites were thrown into the gas. The Browns were thrown onto the sticky floor to peel tape off the orb. The Rock Pikmin were thrown to break an orb out of its crystal prison, but as soon as they grabbed it, a press came down to crush them. Luckily, they were immune to crushing. The Wings were sent over the chasm to retrieve an orb hanging from a branch. The Ghosts were sent through a wall to grab an orb and carry it up through the top. The Silvers were thrown onto a spiky floor. The Cookies had to eat up a large fudge cake. The Oranges had to grow a flower that would bloom and release the orb.
When all the orbs were inserted into their slots, the note in the center glowed. "Music Pikmin: sing us to victory!" Mujika declared.
Their song was the last source of power required to make this whole platform descend! They hummed the "End of Day" song that plays at the end of each level. The platform ended before a bridge leading straight to the core of the Roots. However, a large thicket of Shrinking Vidas blocked the way. "Time to see if this works…" Timmy took out the spray bottle and asked the Pikmin to bunch together. He sprayed Mujika's gold blood over the critters and powered them up. The shining Pikmin whaled upon the Vidas, withering the barrier away. "Alright! Now the question is if it'll work against Plankton." (End song.)
The gold lights shimmering near the Treehouse Roots were unmistakably Plankton's flowers. There seemed to be three operatives facing up at him and panting, positioning their hands as if holding something. They were Kodama, Aeincha, and a certain orange-skinned boy. "Hey! It's Doran!" Sind pointed.
"Hmm?" Plankton heard the crowd running and glanced up. "Reinforcements? And… isn't that the traitor girl?!"
The operatives turned back curiously.
"Sind!" Doran exclaimed, the three operatives racing to the Pikmineers.
"Watch out!" Timmy shouted—the three jumped apart before Plankton's beam could strike them.
"Don't underestimate us!" Aeincha remarked.
"Are you the only operatives down here?" Sind asked.
"No, but Plankton shrunk all the others."
"AAH!" Sind fell on his rear in shock. "W-w-where are they?!"
"Uh…they're in our hands."
"Wow, Karin, I think your boyfriend wet himself!" Jinta joked.
"Ugh, how embarrassing." Karin said.
Aeincha and Kodama were holding their teammates while Doran was holding Nagisa and other operatives. "Take them to safety." Sind ordered. "We'll take Plankton down!"
"Haven't you kids learned?!" Plankton blasted his rays down, but the operatives dodged once more.
"Now, Wings! While you still have charge!" Rupert's intentions reached the Pikmin, so they swooped up in a curve and latched onto Plankton.
"OUCH! AAAAH!" The beatings of their shining flowers felt unnaturally painful, so he desperately shook them off. "What the hell have you been feeding these things?!"
"It worked!" Mujika pointed.
"Worked?" Plankton questioned. Could they have discovered a weakness? "Grrr…PLANKMIN! TO ME!"
A massive swarm of Plankmin stormed out from behind the Roots and amassed into a giant stack around their master, assuming his very likeness. "It's now or never, team!" Timmy declared. "Let's give him everything we got!"(Play "Revenge of Giant Plankton" from Creature from the Krusty Krab!)
Boss fight: Plankton
The giant shook the ground with each step it took toward the ops. Sind kicked Rock Pikmin against its legs, but it showed no signs of weakness. The operatives divided around the cluster as Plankton unleashed flames from his pupil. "His legs are probably made with Purples!" Timmy deduced.
"Then we need Purples to topple them!" Konbu grabbed the Purples and tossed them at the legs without having to get too close. Plankton threatened to crush them beneath the rest of his body, so Konbu whistled them back. Sadly, two of them were crushed. Plankton's right arm lowered to the ground and swiped at Konbu's Pikmin like a blade; it was probably made of Silvers. Timothy rushed over and threw his own Silvers on the arm, the Pikmin climbing up to attack the base. Plankton stretched up on his legs as he tried to shake them off, but Konbu was able to throw Purples on the legs again. They damaged them enough to knock those Pikmin out, causing Plankton to fall on his back.
"Yeah?! Well, I don't need legs to crush you!" Plankton used his arms to crawl at Konbu and Mujika, spewing a gush of saliva from his tongue (made of Blue Pikmin). The flow would cover a great area of floor, but under Mujika's instruction, Konbu crossed the water. Mujika told the Ice Pikmin to follow, and she threw them onto the blue tongue. The Ice-types froze it solid and stopped the flow, but Plankton threatened to bite them with Cookie Pikmin teeth. Mujika whistled them off in time, but they retreated before Plankton followed up with a fire beam.
Meanwhile, Timmy threw more Silvers on the right arm, attacking the Silver Plankmin until they were down. "GAH!" Plankton's unbalanced weight caused him to lay flat. "Try to survive this!" Plankton rolled along his side, but Timothy ran out of the way in time. The Silver-types survived the crushing, but Plankton rolled the opposite direction and tried to crush Ally. She was able to escape, but four Reds and three Cookies were squished. Plankton rolled back to the center and used his other arm to try and scoot himself around. Sind kicked Rocks at Plankton's side, but they couldn't penetrate his Plankmin armor.
"I think most of his main body is made of Rock-types!" Sind observed. "That's why it's so tough!"
"But blunt damage won't work against Rocks." Timmy said. "How could we…?" Walking near the wall, he stepped on something: it was a small Bomb Plant. "Hah! Ally, I need Oranges over here!"
"Coming!" Ally raced over with her group. "AH!" But Plankton stretched a vine over and grabbed her; it was grown by his own Orange-types.
"I'll save her!" Sind called the Silvers over and threw them to cut the vine, while Timmy called the Oranges and had them start on the Bomb Plant. (The Oranges had also been revitalized during the Music Pikmin elevator ride.) Once Ally was saved, Sind called the Silvers and threw them onto Plankton's other arm, but they were frozen. Plankton rolled and smashed their icy forms, killing the four Silvers. "His arm's made of Ices, get the Ices!" Konbu rushed over with their Ice squadron and threw them onto the arm. Mujika whistled them away before Plankton try to crush them, but when his arm was free again, they repeated the process and KO'ed his arm Plankmin.
"Grah! No one told you imbeciles to sleep on the job." Plankton said to the unconscious Plankmin. "Music-types! I think they're in need of an alarm."
Music Plankmin emerged on the antennae, beginning to screech annoyingly. "Oh, no! They won't stay unconscious under all that racket!" Ally shouted.
"This is Lea to Team Rupert. We've brought something to help!"
The group saw a squad of Wing Pikmin carrying a large, polka-dotted Candypop Bud. They dropped the Candypop on the ground. "That's a Queen Candypop!" Timmy exclaimed. "We can change all these Plankmin back to their respective colors!"
"White Pikmin, you can do it!" Uzu threw the Whites onto the fallen Plankmin. "Hurry before they wake up!" With his guidance, they moved more swiftly, tossing the Plankmin into the multi-colored Candypop and going back for more.
"How dare you steal my minions!" Plankton shot Gas Bombs out of his rear (made of White Plankmin), but they had no effect on the Whites.
Timmy beamed when the Orange-types finished the Bomb Plant, so he had them collect the resulted spores. Timmy lured a punch of Pikmin to Plankton's side, attacking him and baiting him into rolling. He steered them away in time, but the Rotten Oranges had already dropped the Bomb Spores in his path. "AAAAHH!" They exploded and killed his Rock Plankmin armor. "That's not fair! I won't let you cut ME down to size!" The mass of Plankmin flipped up to stand on its bottom. While the central body was trimmed down, the bottom and head were still rotund.
Plankton emerged from the head of the Plankmin and charged his light rays. As the kids dodged his rays, Uzu threw White Pikmin to attack the poisonous Plankmin on the rear. The huge mass became unstable and fell over, landing Plankton close to the ground. Timmy directed the Wing, Red, and Purple Pikmin together and sprayed them with Mujika's blood. The Wing-types swarmed Plankton first while the others threw Reds and Purples over Plankton, their shining antennas thrashing him relentlessly.
Plankton shook them off and retreated back into the Plankmin. Its unbalanced body condensed into the head, which sat itself up and bounced around. The Yellow Plankmin composing the antennae electrified and struck bolts down, injuring several Pikmin. Mujika whistled them to their senses while Sind led Yellow Pikmin behind Plankton. Since they could be thrown high, he chucked them to the top of the head, allowing them to attack the antennae. They KO'ed some Plankmin before Plankton shook them off. He jumped to smash six Yellows while Sind whistled the others away.
Uzu ordered the Brown Pikmin to grab some Plankmin around the bottom of the head, so when Plankton jumped away, those Plankmin didn't come with. The others had to readjust themselves to keep the head balanced, causing the head to shrink slightly. When Plankton caught wind of this, he moved the mouth above the Browns and tried to bite down on them. Uzu whistled them away and threw Cookie Pikmin onto the Cookie teeth. Plankton tried to take a bite of them instead, but those Pikmin shed their chocolate chip skin and kept beating on the teeth. The Cookie Plankmin were KO'ed, and Uzu quickly called the Pikmin away. Sind was already throwing more Yellows to take out the rest of the antennae.
The Music Plankmin emerged on the head and tried to wake the fallen Plankmin, but Uzu sent White Pikmin to recover their bodies and throw them into the Queen Candypop. Plankton's eye unleashed another fire beam, but Ally threw Red Pikmin to attack it. The eye "blinked" to shake them off, but Timmy threw Blue Pikmin at the eye to douse the flames of the Red Plankmin, KOing them.
"I think he's all out of options!" Timmy observed. "Don't hold back! Everyone, tear down the last of those Plankmin!"
"WRIGGLE!" The Pikmin charged the deformed head, climbed around, and took down all the Plankmin on it. Seeing them reminded Timmy and Rupert of when they defeated the Titan Dweevil, Plankton's beast overwhelmed by their army. Eventually, Plankton had no choice but to expose himself.
"NOT THIS TIME!" Plankton's flowers were linked together, charging a powerful surge of light.
"RUN!" Mujika screamed. "He tried this last time, he's gonna explode!!"
The kids bolted as Plankton dropped a shining ball, releasing an explosion of light. Unfortunately, Konbu, Mujika, and Uzu were caught in the blinding radius. Sind, Timmy, and Ally turned back after the light disappeared, horrified that their friends were missing. "They've been shrunk!" Ally yelled.
"Mujika!" Timmy panicked.
Konbu and Mujika froze with fear before the giant organism. Several Pikmin were reduced by the blast, too. "No! My blood can't affect him like this!"
"It looks like that bottle of yours is empty, kid!" Plankton smirked, stomping forward. "I dunno what that stuff is, but I won't let you get any more!"
Konbu tried to stay between the titan's legs, but had otherwise lost the will to move. "WHOA!" But he and Mujika were swept up by a Wing Pikmin.
"And what're you doing?" Plankton glared up at the lone Wing. "Carrying your masters? They might as well be food to you now!"
"You wouldn't know about loyalty, Plankton!" Rupert retorted.
"Looks like we can't fight, anymore…" Konbu said. "You think our Pikmin can still take him down?"
Mujika focused on Plankton's flowers, swaying as their light began to build again. "If my blood is toxic to the Growth Spirit… maybe I need to confront it directly."
"Huh?" Before Konbu could question her, the Pikmin flapped over Ally and dropped Konbu onto her nose. The Pikmin flew Mujika directly to Plankton's flower and disappeared.
"Hey! Konbu, what's Mujika doing?!"
"I think she's planning to fight the spirit all by herself!"
"She's not going in alone!" Rupert yelled. "Pikmin, we're going in!" One of the Wings swooped by and took him from Ally's ear.
"WRIIIII!" With that Wing leading the charge, the swarm bolted for Plankton. The villain tried to blast them, but they divided in evasion. He braced himself as the Pikmin completely crowded him… only to wind up shrinking into his flowers.
"Grrrr! Just what are they planning?!" Plankton shouted in panic. "I can't wait anymore…" He ran for the Treehouse Roots. "I'll shrink all the towns around the treehouses and take their Size Chi for myself! They'll never stop me!" (End song.)
…
"Waaaaaahhh!" Rupert and his Pikmin plummeted into a vast realm of light. There were countless wriggly, alien plants and amoebas floating around.
"Rupert!" Mujika limped toward him, her Wing-type supporting her.
"Mujika, don't just rush in by yourself! You didn't even take Pikmin!"
"Rupert, is that you?!"
The Minish leader approached in a surprised manner. "Lenari! So, this is where you wound up!"
"More of 'em?! Whitey, I reckon we got some bad weather."
The sight of the twin, one-eyed amoebas drew gasps out of the two. "It's… the Growth Spirits…" Mujika noticed the pulsating bud in the center. "I feel another energy from that thing… Is that where Synthia is?!"
"See for yourself." White Synthia opened the bud. The sun-headed, orange spirit struggled within green and white brambles.
Synthia perked up. "Rupert! Lenari! It's you again! And…"
"Synthia!" Mujika removed her mask, allowing her eyes to absorb her radiance. "My name is Mujika! I'm a member of the Gupna priests sworn to honor your teachings. It's an… honor to meet you."
"Whitey, don't that one smell a li'l funky to you?"
"Yes, Greenbutt… this girl smells like an Evil Blood."
"Evil… Blood?" Mujika repeated.
"Wait, I can sense it… That blood is made from my Light Cells!" Synthia exclaimed.
"Light Cells?"
"There's a dark force deep in my being that sometimes compels me to do bad things, but my Light Chi is able to restrain it. I've been dividing myself as a way to banish those Dark Cells. But I also had to leave pieces of my light behind to keep them in check. For some reason, your body seems to contain that light."
"That's because the ancient Gupna consumed your light piece eons ago." White Synthia clarified. "They attained everlasting intelligence and were compelled to turn against me, while I sought to lead the other Gupna to greatness."
"But that dern light is poison ta us!" Greenbutt shouted. "We ain't ever gonna win with that shiz!"
"We will so long as we keep the source under wraps." Whitey willed the bud to seal Synthia once more. "Plankton will succeed! We will restore balance to the size hierarchy and minimize all giants in the universe! Once we're through with this planet, we'll search for our pieces on other worlds and make our host ever stronger."
"Rupert, Mujika, I've about had it with these haughty germs." Lenari stated. "Please tell me you have a plan to beat the tar out of them."
"They're weak to Mujika's blood. The Pikmin can power up with her blood, but we can't just drain her."
"Then let's get Synthia out of there and have her help us!"
"Over mah dead chloroplast!" Greenbutt lunged into battle.
"You don't have chloroplasts!" Whitey followed suit.
"You get mah point!!"
"You get mah point!!" (Play "Plasm Wraith Battle" from Pikmin 3!)
Final boss: Whitey and Greenbutt
Whitey zipped around the air and dropped energy balls over the Pikmin. The Pikmineers steered them in evasion, with Lenari carrying Mujika on his back. Rupert ordered the Wings to swarm Whitey, the spirit shaking them off easily, but Rupert quickly tossed Yellows up next. The Wings returned to lend aid, dragging Whitey to the ground. "You know, I just realized the Ghosts couldn't come in here. Heh, it's way too bright!" Rupert said.
Lenari and Mujika sent Pikmin to attack the bud, but it remained sealed. "This thing seems to have been made with their energy. Maybe if I pray to Synthia, she'll muster the strength to open it!"
"If that could work, why didn't you pray to her earlier?"
"E-everything was happening too quickly! Besides, these two were probably watching her this whole time."
"Just do it!"
"Hold up there!" Greenbutt conjured amoeba versions of Bulborbs to attack them. Lenari set Mujika beside the bud to pray while he attacked the Bulborbs with Pikmin. The dwarf ones were easy to beat, but he only lost one Blue to the large Bulborb, the creatures melting once defeated. Whitey shaped himself like a bull and tried to ram Mujika with his horns, only for Brown Pikmin to run in the way and stick him. Rupert also tossed Purples to further weigh him down.
Mujika's prayers allowed the bud to bloom like a Candypop. "Synthia, this is gonna sound weird, but let these fellas drink your blood!" Rupert ordered numerous Pikmin to leap into the flower, but the evil spirits would forcibly close it after a few seconds. However, like a Candypop, the flower spat the Pikmin out, shining with light! Rupert and Lenari mercilessly threw them onto Whitey and Greenbutt, the spirits screaming in pain! They shook the Pikmin off as Greenbutt emitted a cloud of gas cells and Whitey fire cells. Only the Whites and Reds could be thrown onto the respective spirits, chipping down more HP until the affect wore off.
Whitey floated overhead and began to jab elongated, needle-like arms down at the Pikmin, stabbing five Whites and three Reds. Rupert directed the Silvers to tank these attacks. Mujika prayed before Synthia's prison once more, but Greenbutt conjured Cellular Puffy Blowhogs to blow her down, with Watery and Fiery variants to help. Lenari threw Blues and Reds to attack their elemental counterparts and sent Wings at the aerial ones. Whitey tried to keep the flower closed with cellular barb-wire, but the Silver Pikmin quickly did away with it. The flower bloomed, so they ordered the Pikmin in once more and powered up.
Greeny and Whitey were thrashed by the shining Pikmin, until the latter zapped them off with electrical cells. Greenbutt formed a sticky bubble around himself, so only Yellow and Brown Pikmin could attack through these defenses. The power-up wore off once more, so Mujika returned to praying. Greenbutt sent Sweet Cells to stop her, so Lenari had the Cookie Pikmin devour them. Sadly, Whitey began to screech horrendously, making all the Pikmin run wild while Mujika's prayers were inaudible. Rupert threw Music Pikmin, the only ones immune to the sound, to silence Whitey's awful singing!
The flower bloomed, so another dose of light fed the Pikmin. Whitey hardened himself like crystal, but Rupert hurdled Rock Pikmin to shatter his defense; Greeny formed a bubble around himself, but the Blues dove in for the attack. Greeny simply dove out and entered a new bubble. The Blues were thrown into this one to keep attacking, but the Ice-types froze the bubble to keep Greeny from escaping.
"Nnn…nnn…nnn…aaaaahh!" The damage they had taken caused Synthia's prison to weaken, the light spirit bursting free with a determined glare! "Huff…huff…" However, her lush orange color had dulled like a Rotten Pikmin, the spirit panting on the ground.
"Shoot, partner! She done escaped!" Greenbutt panicked. "What do we do?!"
"Patience, you imbecile! Plankton has already absorbed enough of her power, and the rest was consumed by those Pikmin."
…
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Plankton channeled his chi through the seeds in the Treehouse Roots. The Shrinking Vidas began to rapidly reproduce around all the treehouses, shrinking great chunks of the neighborhoods. Even the operatives inside the roots—Timmy's group, Kodama, Doran, and Aeincha—underwent another rapid reduction. "All knees will bow to Plankton, the biggest threat in the entire universe! I'll crush them all… The Four Emperors, the Koopas, the Brotherhood! And if my old pals from Team Gnik are still around, they'll say, 'Wow, Plankton, you sure got big and strong! So, uh, you aren't still mad about all those stomps, right? We were only playing around.' And I'll be like, KERSPLAT! Eee hehehehehehehe!"
…
A gush of Size Chi came pouring into the bright realm. Whitey and Greenbutt flew up to better channel it directly into Plankton. "It's Size Chi!" Synthia yelled. "Plankton's growing!"
"Wing Pikmin, eat the rest of my blood!" Mujika yelled. "Please, you have to take them down!"
"We can't risk that!" Rupert argued. "You might die!"
"I don't care! There's no other way to stop them!"
"Yes there is! We just need more blood!"
"What?"
"Synthia, do you have enough strength to shrink us?"
"Huh? Er, I think so… but why?"
"Can you transfer Size Chi the same way they can?"
"Yes?"
Rupert looked around all the Pikmin with a smirk. "Here's the plan!"
In the midst of channeling the chi, Greenbutt glanced down. "Uhhh…Whitey, what're they doin'?"
"?" It seemed that all the Pikmin were touching Synthia and letting their selves be shrunken. Rupert and Lenari were reduced as well. "Hur…?!" Once the last Pikmin were gone, Mujika reached to touch Synthia. "NO! Greenbutt, stop-"
Mujika BLEW to a gigantic size. "Whoa! It worked!" her voice echoed.
"Shrink her!" The two spirits flew up.
Mujika scratched her arm and splashed gold blood over the spirits. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" It was as searing as boiling in acid. The twin spirits lost the rest of their stamina and fell to the ground. (End song.)
Synthia weakly crawled to the flow of Size Chi and willed it to stop. "Huff…huff…I'm back in control again… you jerks… Are you okay, Mujika?"
"I'm fine, Lady Synthia. Thank you."
"Good. I still have your friends on my body. Now… what do you say we give Plankton a little surprise?"
…
"Hey, what's going on up there?" Plankton asked, glaring up at his flowers. "I'm scheduled for a 5:00 biggening. Get on with it or I'll-" He shrunk a bit. "Huh?" He shrunk again. "Uh, this is the opposite of what I was-"
He soon stopped at 100 times smaller than what he was. "AAAAH!" But to his utter terror, a tremendous force blew up before his eyes. He was between a pair of pale, clawed feet, staring up at a mountainous white gown, ending at a looming, lavender-haired head with vertical eyes.
Mujika looked around. She seemed to be back inside the Roots. The Size Chi was redirected into her, putting her back to normal. But as for Plankton… she looked to her feet. A flower-headed organism seemed to be staring up at her confusedly.
"Ehhhh…oh." Plankton only now processed who this girl was.
This was the man that trampled over her homeland… The villain that squashed her family. The giant that towered over them… and conquered them. There was something satisfying… in seeing him so small. ". . ." Mujika's eyes narrowed in spite. She stretched her legs up and fully towered over him.
"Uh, so, um…heh, this has been a crazy day for both of us, huh?" Plankton laughed nervously. "What do you say we… put this silly business behind us and move on with our lives, eh heh heh…eh."
Mujika raised her foot. "No, no, NOT THE FACE—AH!" And brought it down with great force. "AAAH, OOOW, NYAAAAH!" She twisted and grinded her sole until she was sure every trace of him was wiped from the face of the Earth. "Aiiiiieeeeeee…"
"Huff…huff…sigh…" Her pale face was swollen with frustration. She glanced at her shoulder, seeing the flicker of Synthia's light. Rupert and Lenari were slowly growing on her shoulder, smiling up at their friend proudly. She turned around and saw Sind, Timothy, Ally, and the others cheering for the giant Gupna. Their praise compelled Mujika to blush.
…
Within minutes, Mujika recited the incantation to seal the rogue spirits into seeds. The Vidas around the planet withered and decayed. Mujika giggled as dozens of tiny Pikmin were sliding down her dress, sprouting back to normal size as soon as they hit the ground. Rupert, Timmy, and Sind shared a hug with Mujika in the center. "…WAIT A SECOND!" Sind screamed. "We're about to grow back to normal, aren't we?"
"That's correct!" Synthia cheered. "It's going to happen riiiiight… NOW."
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Sind immediately bolted as fast as possible, and the other GT ops thought it best to follow, not wanting to smoosh any of their friends.
"Haha! Don't worry, it's a pretty slow process! You guys still have some tiny time left."
"I don't think Sind can hear you." Timmy said, seeing that he was still running. "But what about Mujika? Isn't she going to shrink, too?"
"I should be… along with the rest of the Gupna."
"Now, why would we want that?" Synthia winked. "I think Plankton deserved his downsizing. Little Mujika here deserves a nice promotion."
"Oh!" Rupert perked. "So, you let Mujika keep Plankton's own Size Chi!"
The Gupna looked to the floor, barely able to see the squished remains of her foe. "Whaddya say, Muj?" Lenari asked. "Care to stick around?"
She cracked a light smile and looked down with a blush. "Well… if you don't mind…"
Unbeknown to them, a tiny, one-eyed ghost was glaring up at the back of the Gupna. "Heh heh heh heh!" Plankton laughed. "It looks like they forgot I was a Green Pikmin! I owe you one for that, Rupert!" He soared directly to the back of Mujika's chest. "I'll repay you by squeezing the life out of that traitor's heart!" He phased through Mujika's body. "I'll tear her up from the inside and—AAAAAAHH!" But as soon as he contacted Mujika's golden, light-imbued blood, the Ghost-type seared in pain. "NNNNOOOOOOOOOO…" His ghostly form slowly dissolved in the sacred blood.
"?" Mujika bent an arm and scratched her back. She felt a light tickle, but it was gone now.
Tree of Beginning
Sappo had a relaxing sleep that night. The despicable voice of Plankton had left his head, but knowing he would never hear his sister's cheerful voice again left a weight in his heart.
"Hello." Mujika greeted after seeing him awake.
"Hey… Mujika, right?"
"Yeah. Plankton's gone. We've stopped the crisis, but the human operatives won't fully grow back for a couple days."
"Well, they're used to the occasional shrinkage. They can survive. But shouldn't you and the Gupna be shrinking?"
"Lady Synthia allowed me to stay big in exchange for Plankton's size. And I decided… I'm going to join the Minish KND. A lot of people died because of Plankton, so I wanna make it up to them by helping out."
"We would like that. As for me…" Sappo helped himself out of bed. "I can't just lay around all the time. I need to keep going for Gibli's sake. Only problem is…" He stared at his now-stubby hands, "I'm a Pikmin now."
"How long can Pikmin live?"
"Well, if a normal Pikmin received the right nutrients and stayed out of combat… at best, 10 years. The reason Malarko's army sustained itself for 5,000 years is because they were constantly collecting food and reproducing on their own. But Lenari explained that this happened to Minish before, as part of experiments. My body is weaker, but stronger than individual Pikmin, and I still have my normal biological functions."
"I wonder if Synthia could do something to help? She's with Rupert on an outside cliff."
"Let's go find them."
Mujika led him to one of the cliffs along the outside of the tree. Timothy was with a small crowd of Pikmin, and a small light was gravitating around a red one. "Hey, Rupert, Muj and Sappo are here."
"Really? Beam me up!" Synthia touched the Pikmin and sprouted Rupert back to normal.
"What were you doing, Rupert?" Sappo asked.
"Studying Pikmin cells up close." Timmy answered. "I think his obsession just got even more unhealthy."
"I'm only trying to understand them better!"
"We wanted to ask Synthia something." Mujika replied. "Is there anything she can do to fix Sappo's cells and change him back?"
"You're asking me to change his DNA. But I can't really do something like that." Synthia orbited around Sappo in observation. "The Pikmin cells are tightly integrated within him. And at the moment, they exist in harmony."
"Then what can you do besides shrink people, anyway?"
"I can consume pieces of chi and produce cells from them. I can even combine different chis for some unique effects. But I can't undo the evolution of your cells."
"So, I'm essentially stuck like this…"
"I'm sorry." Mujika bowed.
"It ain't your fault."
"If anything, it's my fault." Synthia said. "When I abandoned those dark pieces, even with light pieces to manage them, I didn't think they would cause so much harm."
"How many pieces of you are there, anyway?"
"Thousands."
"WHAT?!"
"Of course, some of them took larger quantities of power."
"Then couldn't similar incidents be happening around the universe?" Rupert asked.
"I suppose there could…"
"Why couldn't you just keep these pieces inside you?"
"Because sometimes, they take control of me, compel me to shrink everyone around me. The dark cells believed that the sizes should be balanced, while the light cells believed things were balanced as they are. That the universe was meant to have variety in both life and size."
"What did you think, Lady Synthia?" asked Mujika.
"I was tired of all the voices in my head! I didn't care who was right, I just wanted to get rid of them! Let them fight amongst their selves. But, in a way… I think I agreed with the dark side."
When the many species of Life developed souls, those species were at odds with each other. Stronger species wiped out weaker ones, bigger ones ate smaller ones, and those with higher quantities snuffed out those with less. Extinction was a threat to Life, and so the idea of it saddened Synthia. That was why she empathized with Skull Face's plight.
"Small species are meant to serve big species." Synthia said. "Millions of cells live in your very body, working hard to keep you alive. The Pikmin serve the Minish, and the Minish serve the humans."
"It sounds kind of sour when you phrase it like that." Rupert replied.
"Here he goes again." Timmy rolled his eyes.
"It isn't just about one serving the other, it's about relying on each other." Rupert kindly patted his Red Pikmin. "It's about showing them we can be trusted. So, if one of us winds up bigger or smaller, we can still count on the other to help us."
"Then why don't we do the same with the Bulborbs and other creatures? They always try to eat us, but we eat them in turn."
"Eh heh…well, that's the circle of life, I guess."
"Some life only exists to survive and prolong itself." Mujika said. "Even the Gupna were guilty of that."
"Well, so are we." Sappo replied. "Eating other forms of life is the only way we live. But we don't just live for the sake of it. We live to have fun." He patted one of his Blue Pikmin. "All my sister and I wanted to do was play with Pikmin. We didn't need to become Pikmineers or join the KND, but we wanted to, because it was fun."
"Exactly." Rupert smiled. "Just look at the Human KND. They risk their lives on every mission, putting their own survival at stake. They don't have to be heroes if they don't want to, and I heard some of them quit. Because the reason they do it in the first place, fighting villains and traveling the universe, is that it's fun for them. And it's even more fun when they have friends to do it with. The kinds of friends they can rely on no matter their size."
Lenari had organized a funeral for all the Minish that were lost. Rupert's team observed the grounds from afar. "I hope their souls will find solace in the Spirit World…" Mujika said, hands folded in prayer.
"You know, if Mujika's family gained intelligence from eating Synthia's light cells, what would happen if they drank her blood, too?" Timmy wondered. "I mean, they're small enough that it shouldn't hurt too much."
"No offense, but are you sure they aren't better off without it?" Sappo asked. "Wouldn't they just plot to get back at us?"
"They were also corrupted by Plankton." Mujika reasoned. "I wonder which option would make them more happy…"
"We should at least wait for some time to pass before we decide." Rupert said. "Give them time to… maybe forget, or somethin'?"
"Yeah…"
"Hey, Mujika…" Synthia flew up. "Don't think you're alone in this. I'll be sure to help you make up for this, too. In fact, I'm starting to wonder… if I should try to reunite my scattered pieces? I feel like I could control them a lot better."
"I don't really feel up for an intergalactic adventure for amoeba spirits." Timmy said.
"Either way, we're happy to accept your help." Rupert drew the shiny orange Spirit Ball. "Synthia and Mujika… welcome to the team!"
He popped the ball open, and Synthia happily flew in. The ball began to wriggle and beep… and this time, the ball completed its seal. There was a soft flash as the ball glowed orange.
Rupert captured a NEWBORN! Only 2 left!
"Alright… let's go see Gibli."
"She's with all of our old Pikmin now…" Sappo said. "And if I'm not careful… she might end up getting more. But I'll still keep making more, for both of us."
"And hopefully, Hikari can join us, too." Timmy followed. The friends proceeded to the funeral grounds with their loyal Pikmin at their backs.