This is a bonus level I wrote for Operation: PIKMIN, it's not required reading. This level is based off one of my favorite playgrounds from childhood!
Adventure Station was an indoor playground built in Sharon Woods. Half of it was designed like a forest, while half resembled a Western village, with a well, a jail, horse stable, and a storehouse with large rubber crates and flour pillows. It was always lively with children running about the two-floored structure, but for the past couple days, attendance was fairly low. Only a few kids could be found enjoying their selves.
A Celery and a squad of 14 Onions landed on the floor of the playground's lobby; a fairly narrow room with coathangers. Sind Diego, Ally Mitchels, and Mujika stepped out onto the carpeted floor, addressing Rupert on the ship's ramp. "Alright, Pikmineers: this playground is suffering from rodent infestations and litter. Our mission is to clean up and make it safe for play!"
"If Ally were bigger, she could clean this place up in a jiffy." Sind said.
"Yeah, but exploring a giant playground feels way more fun!" Ally cheered.
"It's up to you to figure out how to divide and utilize your Pikmin. You can have up to 200."
"We won't let you down, Rupert!" Mujika responded.
"We'll take 14 of each type." Sind decided. "That'll put us at 196. Now, let's start exploring!" (Play "Mission Mode 2" from Pikmin 3!)
Stage B-1: Adventure Station
Mission: Collect all treasures on the playground!
The lobby had a left and right door on either side. The left door was sealed, so they could only lead Pikmin through the right door. The first area of the titanic playground already left them awestruck: a cave to the left, a ballpit to the right, and a tree in the center that would lead to the 2nd floor, where should they explore first? The trio first approached the tree: there was a large opening halfway up, but no way to reach it. A small bushel of vines lined the bottom beneath the entrance. "Let's have our Oranges do this." Sind suggested, their 14 Oranges beginning to grow the vines. "While they're on that… Mujika, check out the ballpit. I'll check out the cave, and Ally, survey the rest of this area."
"Aye-aye, Sir!" Both girls saluted. They each took different Pikmin and split up. There were slopes leading up to the ballpit, but there were steps to the left of it leading to a short slide. Mujika checked out the slide first: there was a pile of gold, 20 nuggets. "This should be easy for you guys!" Mujika had her 14 Whites collect nuggets. They would go down the slide as a faster way back to the Celery, and they would return to collect the rest.
While they were on that, Mujika traveled back down to the ballpit's entrance. There was a little boy curled up in the corner, flexing his toes anxiously. When he saw the tiny army approach, he said, "There's something in the ballpit…"
Mujika led her Pikmin up a slope into the pit's round entrance. To her, it was like a vast, rugged plain of giant green balls. They were somewhat difficult to cross, but as she did, Mujika grew anxious over what beast could be lurking beneath the balls. "…?!" A mound of balls rose up, and a giant, light-brown, lamprey-like creature emerged! Its big purple lips began to spit balls at Mujika, who quickly directed her Pikmin away. She called her team, "Guys, there's a huge monster in the ballpit!"
"That's a Sandbelching Meerslug." Rupert responded. "I have no idea why there's one here. Bombs are effective against it."
"Mujika, don't fight it until we find bombs." Sind called. Meanwhile, when the Hispanic boy had gone to the cave, it was blocked by two laying, rubber stalactites. The Purple Pikmin were strong enough to push them open. The interior of the cave was dark, and the massive hanging stalactites were unsettling. There were chubby, ghostly dinosaurs called Eeries roaming the cave. Sind threw the Green Pikmin, but as they couldn't attack the ghosts, the Eeries ate them. However, the Greens became Ghosts: Sind called them back and had them attack one Eerie at a time, KOing the ghouls.
There were two glass cases along the left and right walls. The case on the left contained a makeshift tree root with a model wolf, fox, and a turtle that didn't seem to belong. The glass couldn't be broken by Rock Pikmin, but it had a passage in the back of it. Sind sent four Ghost-types through to collect the turtle and carry it through the passage. The right case had more fragile glass, so Sind kicked two Rocks to break it. The glass had three Bomb Rocks behind it, so he let the Rocks collect them.
The end of the cave would fork in two ways, but there was also a red tunnel with steps inside it. Sind raced up the cave--three Dwarf Bulborbs dropped from the ceiling, two of them catching Purples and eating them. "AAH!" Sind quickly threw Pikmin onto the Bulborbs and crushed them. "Dang…" He let the bodies be for now and kept going. He went rightward and traveled up a slope, leading to a ledge above a wall.
"Hey, Sind!" Ally was down there to greet him. "I knocked out some Snitchbugs along this path."
"Great!…" Sind looked up-left and saw a Pop-Tart glued to the wall. "Looks like this is a one-way route. Good thing I brought Browns. Keep exploring, Ally." She nodded and ran off. Sind threw Brown Pikmin onto the glue, so they could peel off the Pop-Tart.
As she said, Ally used her Wings to take down two Snitchbugs. She backtracked and traveled along a path past the lobby. There were holes in the wall that an Anode and Fiery Dweevil crawled out of. She used Yellows and Reds to take them down. Up this path, there was a sloped path to the playground's second floor, an elevator, and the alternate door into the lobby, being held shut by cinder blocks. The glass elevator had a pack of batteries inside, but there was no way in. Past the elevator was another one-way exit to the cave, and Sind had two Purples collect a teddybear at the edge of it.
"Sind, we need a bomb over here!" Ally called.
Sind jumped out of the cave and ran to her. "I just found some. We need to save two for the Meerslug, but we can use one." With that, one Pikmin threw its bomb and destroyed the cinder, allowing the door to slide open. The Purples could easily carry the teddybear through it and return to base faster. Sind decided to enter as well: the Celery was parked in a shaded spot where the Ghost Pikmin were safe, and Sind could order them back through the secret passage. Meanwhile, Ally traveled up the slope to the second floor, but saw a giant boy in cowboy clothes blocking the top.
"Ain't no bugs allowed in MY town!" The boy shot pellets from a toy gun. Ally screamed and quickly retreated back down.
The Orange Pikmin finished growing the vine wall leading up the tree, and Mujika returned with her recollected Whites. "Okay, now might be the time to scour the second floor." Sind said. "I'll take my guys and take out that Meerslug. Ally, climb the tree, and Mujika, there's a tunnel inside the cave. Can you check that out? You can take the Ghosts with you, too."
"Cave it is!"
Sind ran to the ballpit and climbed in. He anticipated the Meerslug's ambush, but panicked when the balls began sinking: the Meerslug's mouth waited at the bottom of the crater. It tried to suck them in, but Sind asked a Rock to throw a bomb down. The Meerslug swallowed the bomb and suffered damage.
The Orange Pikmin had turned Rotten, but Ally gathered them up as they climbed the vines. They could enter the tree, and an Orange Bulborb waited inside it. Ally threw her Pikmin to gang up on it, but she lost three Yellows before they could beat it. The Bulborb barfed out a toy saw, so she had 10 Rottens bring it back. Another vine wall led further up the tree and onto the boarded walkway of the 2nd floor.
To her left, a boy was swinging a line of bars hanging over an inclined bridge. To her right was a tunnel exit, too high to enter. Past that was a green pole with a speaker phone. If she went around the tree, it would lead to the Western village. Ally first went to investigate the hanging kid: the inclined bridge had a bounce pad to get back up here, but no such thing on the other end. But Ally noticed the magnetic path leading up to the bars' chain. The Silver Pikmin could climb the path.
While they did that, Ally explored around the tree; there was another tunnel to the left of the bridge, so she went inside. A Lithopod spat rocks that rolled along and up-and-down the tunnel's slopes. Ally tried to maneuver her Pikmin, but three Rotten ones were crushed. Ally reached the Lithopod and had her Pikmin defeat it. Past the tunnel, there was a slide to the right and another tunnel left, but it was blocked by a cardboard wall. It couldn't be pushed from the inside, but from outside, Ally was able to have Pikmin push it down.
Meanwhile, Mujika regathered the Ghosts and led her squad into the tunnel from the cave. Pyroclasmic Slooches lurked on the tunnel's steps, so Mujika threw Red-types to defeat them. She could either travel upward or follow a route downward. She went down first, finding a large window that provided a view of the pathway where Ally beat the Dweevils. …From here, she noticed a gap high up in the opposite wall that had a blue crystal heart. She would make a note to tell her friends about that.
Further down the tunnel, Mujika found the entrance to an underground cave. "Oh! I wonder if this is where all these creatures are coming from? We should explore down here afterward." With that, Mujika led her Pikmin back up and ascended the other route. The path forked again, so Mujika followed one route, patrolled by two Careening Dirigibugs and a Withering Blowhog. The Dirigibugs were green bugs floating with balloons that could drop bombs, and the orange balloon-like Blowhog could blow Pikmin off their feet. Mujika tried to attack the Dirigibugs first, using the Ghosts to ground them. She had other Pikmin lend their support, but with the Bloghog to stun them, she lost five Reds and four Blues to the bugs' bombs. "I wish I brought Wings… Huh?"
It was then she saw Ally running from the opposite way. "Muji!" Seeing the Blowhog, Ally sent her Wing-types against the balloon. Ally's influence prevented its wind from harming the Wings, so they were able to defeat it. Mujika dealt with the Dirigibugs meanwhile. "Thanks, Ally! But where did you come from?"
"I opened a way back there! There's also a nugget pile, and a slide that goes back down."
"I'll have some White Pikmin get them!"
"Sweet! I'll head back to cover more area."
"I'll check the rest of this tunnel!"
"Guys, this is Sind." The leader called. "I beat the Meerslug! It spat out a pineapple."
"Meet up with us soon, Sind." Ally answered. "We're exploring that town next!"
"I'll regroup our Pikmin first."
There was a nugget pile worth 30 at the tunnel's exit, so Muji sent the Whites on that. They would go down the slide, run to the lobby, return up the tree, and through the shorter tunnel back to the nuggets. Mujika backtracked through the dark tunnel and followed the other route. At the top, there seemed to be a watery ceiling with Blinnow swimming around.
But more notably, there was a pair of bulbous eyes looming over the exit: they belonged to a 4-year-old girl with puffy orange hair and a white dress. "HI, little buggies!" she greeted with a gruff voice and a big grin. "I'm Polly! I like to burn things!" Polly pulled out a lighter.
"Hey, you shouldn't use that in here, Polly!"
"Tee hee! Bye-bye, buggies!" Polly began to swipe her lighter at the tinies. Mujika threw Red Pikmin onto her lighter hand to attack it. Mujika shook them off and tried to squish them with her other hand. Mujika tried to call them back, but lost two Reds. Mujika dealt enough damage to both of Polly's hands until she dropped the lighter. "Ow! You buggies are mean! I'm leaving!" She crawled out of the tunnel and ran away. Mujika told five Reds to carry the dropped lighter away. She walked out of Polly's exit and found that it was the well in the Western village.
Ally returned to the Silver Pikmin: they had climbed up to the hanging bars and unscrewed them, causing the hanging boy to drop onto the inclined bridge. "Ow! Well, I guess down here is fun…" The boy sadly began to crawl between either end of the bridge. When he was on Ally's side, her group could jump onto his back, be carried across, and jump off the other end. There was an open area, where a large, black-armored beetle with an orange cannon mouth waited. "What's this thing?"
"That's an Adult Lithopod." Rupert responded. "Only Reds can hit its back."
"Hmmm…" Ally told her Pikmin to stay behind and went ahead to study the field. In the left corner, there was a music note platform beside a tall, green pole with a speaker phone at the top. To the right was a tunnel leading into a giant bird's nest. Ally called her Pikmin and ran to that tunnel. A giant egg sat in the middle of the nest. When she approached it, a pair of small talons poked out. It tried to chase the tiny group and jump on them. Ally led her Pikmin away and into another tunnel that sloped up. It dropped her out beside the central tree. "Oh, that's where that tunnel leads… And there's another one of those." She noticed another music pad beside a speaker pole to her left.
"Hey, Ally!" She noticed Sind had climbed up the tree with his squadron. "You find anything else?"
"Yeah, but I need Mujika's Pikmin. Let's go meet up." The two crossed the walkway to the Western town, seeing Mujika waiting by the well.
"Hey, guys! So, where should we start?"
Sind studied the jail, the horse stable (which had a giant rubber barrel blocking it), the storage room, and an area further right past the well. "There's a couple enemies back there that need Red and Rock-types," Ally thumbed back, "and some things for Musics."
"I'll go take care of them." Mujika offered.
"You can borrow my Rocks." Sind said. "Ally, you check out the jail and I'll try the storage room."
Mujika backtracked to the area Ally explored. In the corner of the wooden walkway past the tree, she found a speaker phone pole with a Music Pad before it. Mujika threw her Music-types onto it. They began to shout and hum like a siren, the platform raising them to the speaker.
Ally entered the jail: there was a bench behind the spread-apart bars, a barred window on the left (which overlooked the ballpit area), and an actual window beside the bench with a view outside (but also barred). There were three nerdy boys sitting on the bench and playing handheld games. To Ally's right was a hole short enough for them to crawl through, but it had an orange see-through curtain that would block the tinies.
It was then Ally heard a siren sounding from the speaker-phone beside the window. "Oh, crud!" The boys panicked. "It's the Playtime Police! Quick, scram!" The boys ducked and slid through the curtained hole, tearing the curtains down as a result.
"Bet you Muji was responsible for that one!" Ally beamed. There was a small trampoline that could bounce them up onto the bench, where she found a ring of lost car keys. She had her Silver Pikmin carry them back. A bar connected the bench with the larger barred window, so Ally crossed up to it, taking in the view of the lower playground. In fact, from this angle, she saw an abandoned sandal sitting atop the shoe rack. She sent her Wing-types down to collect it. There was also a dime up on this windowsill, so she let five Yellows take it.
Ally dropped back to the floor and traveled through the gap that the giants opened. She made it inside the horse stable. There was a boy riding on a suspended saddle with no horse, and of course a makeshift horse carriage attached to a painting of a horse. Behind the carriage was a pole with bars winded around it: they were meant for kids to climb up or down, but to the tinies, it was a slide they couldn't climb up.
There was also the rubber barrel blocking the doorway, with a black belt attached to either wall to prevent it from being pushed inward. It could therefore be pushed outward, but… "I need some Purples."
A few minutes before, after setting the Musics to their task, Mujika proceeded to the area with the Adult Lithopod. She took only the Reds and dodged the beetle's boulders. When the beast tried to charge her, its back shell opened. Mujika hurried behind to its heated weak spot and threw Red Pikmin onto it. She repeated the process until the beetle was defeated, spitting out a large butterfly pillow. Before sending Pikmin on either of them, Mujika led them into the bird's nest.
The egg walked about aimlessly on its talons. Mujika only took the Rock-types and threw them against the egg. With enough hits, the shell cracked, exposing a smallish orange and blue rooster with wide, mad eyes. The Clueless Roost marched toward Mujika and pecked down, but its head was too heavy to lift up right away. This gave her the chance to throw Rocks at the eyes. She repeated this until the Roost fell over in defeat, barfing out a green stone with a swirly design. Five Rocks could carry the stone back, and nine of them plus a Red could carry the Roost.
Mujika followed the exit tunnel back to where the Music Pikmin were singing. Assuming they weren't needed there anymore, she called them back and backtracked to the Lithopod room. She threw the Pikmin onto the other Music Pad, which rose them to the speaker.
The Pikmin began to sing a country song, their notes resounding through another speaker. It was located at the top of the slope that the cowboy kid was guarding. "Whoa, it's my favorite song! Boy, howdy!" The boy left his post and began to dance beside the speaker.
Mujika needed 30 Pikmin to carry the Lithopod, so she got 10 Reds, Blues, and Ices to do it. She had the other four of each carry the butterfly pillow. With fewer numbers to work with, Mujika decided to go back down to the cave and have the Ghost Pikmin collect the fallen ghost enemies.
After the split-up, Sind went into the storage room. Giant kids were jumping around giant rubber crates, probably playing some "floor is lava" game. Flour sacks were laid between some crates, so Sind had to maneuver around a slight maze. Flour Bunnies pounced out of some sacks, so Sind threw Cookie Pikmin on them, as they could tolerate the flour clouds. Sind eventually found some sacks forming a slope up onto a crate. There was a hole in the nearby wall and an unfinished bridge on this crate. Small bridges connected the other crates, and the furthest one had bridge tiles. However, with the giants jumping around, it would be dangerous for the Pikmin to carry them.
Sind called the others and said, "Girls, I need either Rocks or Silvers."
"I sent my Silvers on something." Ally answered. "But I need some Purples."
The two met at the entrance to the room as Sind lent her the Purples. Ally returned to the horse stable and used the Purples to push the giant barrel away, stopping it beside the well. Afterwards, Ally called them back and traveled up a slope leading onto the carriage. There were several Breadbugs lurking around the carriage, but she could easily defeat them with the Purples' shockwaves. A giant apple, banana, orange, and a bundle of grapes sprung out of the Breadbugs' holes. She threw a couple Purples on the former three fruits, but the grapes could only be carried back individually. "Hey, Mujika, could I borrow your White Pikmin?" Ally called her. "I have a good task for them."
"I'm busy with things, but I'll be up in a few minutes!"
Mujika later returned upstairs with all their waiting Pikmin, gave Sind Rocks, and Ally Whites. Ally headed back to the carriage and had the Whites start carrying the grapes; they could slide down the winding latter as a fun shortcut, run out the exit, and they seemed to run past the well. Sind returned to the flour room and carefully crossed the crates without getting stomped. His Rocks started carrying bridge tiles across the crates, surviving the giants' stomps. The bridge connected with the hole in the wall, which led to a room with a half-buried sheriff badge. He set the Rock Pikmin to digging it, then went back to have his Cookies carry the Flour Bunnies back.
Mujika noticed the barrel beside the well and found an entrance on the barrel. Inside was a staircase leading atop the barrel, from which she could set foot on the well. The top of it was a relatively shallow lake: Mujika remembered seeing the underside of this lake from inside the well, as it had a glass bottom. The Puckering Blinnow were swimming around it. Mujika threw Blue Pikmin inside to fight them, and she sent Ices across the water, attacking the Blinnows when they tried to jump out.
There were 10 Blinnow, and one Pikmin was enough to carry each of them. The Ice-types went to collect a toy boat on the surface. The Pikmineers would meet up and head to the area past the well. They saw the cowboy kid dancing to the speaker. "So, that's what the Music Pikmin did!" Mujika learned. The sloped stairs were free to use for a shortcut. There were makeshift windows along the speaker's wall, another rubber barrel on its side, and the top of the elevator.
There was an open electric compartment, so they threw Yellow Pikmin inside to power it. The elevator rose to their level and opened: the pack of batteries Ally saw before were now free to take. She had seven Yellows pick them up and carry them down the stair-slope. Sind gathered the Purple Pikmin behind the laying barrel. They could push and roll it under the left makeshift window. They stopped it at the perfect angle where they could access a staircase inside the barrel, leading up to the windowsill.
From here, Sind had a view of the viney roof covering the cave and tunnels. Sind noticed a walkway along the left wall beside the window: several ventilation fans were blowing on it. He called Ally up and asked her to bring the Wing Pikmin. Ally could cross the walkway and help those Pikmin endure the wind. The path led to a pink plant that only the Wings could pull, uncovering a small duster. The Wings carried it across the viney roof and back to base.
The Pikmineers regrouped with each other. "I think we've covered the whole playground now!" Ally said.
"There are still treasures we missed. Let's give it one more lookaround!" Mujika ushered.
Once the Wing Pikmin finished with the duster, Mujika brought them to collect the crystal heart she saw in the wall gap earlier. Sind went back to the cave and noticed a pair of undies hanging on a stalactite. He got the Ghosts to bring it down, then used Reds to carry it back. Ally investigated the flour room again: one of the sacks had a rip on top of it, exposing a patch of flour. The White Pikmin seemed sensitive to it, so Ally climbed up onto the crates, avoided the giants, and dropped on the sack from one. The Whites began to dig in that flour and bring up several gold nuggets hidden within. She set them to start carrying the nuggets, racing down the slope, to the lobby, then back up. Luckily, the Whites were fast enough to avoid the giants upon their return.
The Pikmineers made sure to collect all the fallen creatures in the tunnels, the last Flour Bunnies in the crate room, and the Dweevils and Snitchbugs on the ground floor. "Great job, team!" Rupert called. "The sensors aren't picking up any more monsters or treasure!"
"The playground isn't safe, yet." Sind replied. "Mujika, what about that cave that you mentioned?"
"Yeah. If we don't clear out the creatures inside the cave, the playground could get infested again. Let's regroup our Pikmin and go in!"
Once the Pikmin carried the last of the loot, the explorers ventured back into the makeshift cave and through the dark tunnel. The deepest, darkest part of the tunnel contained a hole that didn't seem crafted by the playground owners, rather something that was dug up from beneath. "The Storage Nut will be down to follow you!" Rupert called. "You won't be able to make Pikmin easily down there. Manage them wisely and bring home the gold!"
"Aye-aye!" Sind acknowledged. "Let's go!" The Pikmineers dove into the hole, their small army pouring after.