4. An Unpleasant Surprise

Virginian Forest

Chad had driven all the way back to the precise spot he dropped Rupert. He began to wander the forest in search of his son. "HELLOOOO? RUPERT? I'm here to pick you uuuuuup. It's not a trick this time, your mom's threatening me to bring you baaaaack. 'Cause as you will grow up to see, women have very different views on parenting."

The only sounds were the winds rustling the leaves and echoing chirps of birds. He skimmed the ground for possible footprints, but all he found was a series of peculiar tiny paths, probably meant for ants. He wondered what could've carved such convenient roadways. He heard light footsteps and looked ahead, seeing a loan deer wandering a small, round area, walking nonstop in many loops. He approached the deer and asked, "Looking for something?"

The deer looked at him quickly before running away. Chad examined the trees around the area, and found a set of three of them had tiny paths spiraling around them. He really wanted to look more into these… but he supposed Rupert came first. His cellphone rang, so he answered his wife. "Hello?"

"So did you find him?"

"I can't find him anywhere."

"What?!"

"Relax, Em, he probably ended up finding his way home after all, you're such a worry-wart."

"Or MAYBE he wandered into a bear's stomach or some maniac's secret CABIN! 'CAUSE I DON'T SEE HIM HERE!"

"Well, there's always the chance he decided to wander off to Cleveland. He'd definitely choose playing with Timmy and Hikari than working out."

"Ugh, fine, drive down there to see if he is. I'm gonna be down there soon with Vi and Scar, they'll be able to help track him just in case. You BETTER hope he's alright, Chad." She hung up.

Chad sighed and returned to his car. Even if Rupert was in some kind of danger… he would want him to handle it himself.

Goofy Goober's

'Twas a joyous time at Goofy Goober's, the ice creamy restaurant where no kid could be sad. Adults, maybe, since they had to drag their kids here and put up with the obnoxious noise, but that's mainly why they took the dark bar in the corner. A more peaceful area where kids would deem too boring to hang out. But as it turned, one kid chose to sit there.

Jessie Sidney guzzled down another shake, the strawberry substance spread around his mouth. There were bags under his dizzy dark eyes, and his hair was a mess. "'ey, MAC, gimme another'n… BUUUURP."

"Err, Dear Boy, I zink you've had too much."

"MMmmm…" he waved an arm, "I think I know my own damn body."

"THERE you are, Jessie!" his sister yelled, walking in to sit by him. "I thought I'd find you here."

"Er, and will you be paying his bill, Miss?" Mac asked.

"I'm too young to carry such an allowance." she said with adorable eyes.

"Oui-oui." And he proceeded to get more shake.

"Jessie, I don't think drowning yourself in ice cream is going to solve anything. So Shelly beat you again, what's the big deal?"

"Shelly always *** beats me, tha'sa problem… her and her lousy fourth-graders… how'm I suppose to be the First Grade President if I, mmmm-BUURP can't even stack a few, eh, blocks." He mumbled drunkly.

"Well, being older makes them more experienced, I guess."

"Experience, shmerience… when I took this job, I-ha wanted ta…ta leader the First Grades to glory, ya know… I-ha wanted ta SHOW all those big kids… we got ta stuff. But those…those DUMBASS fourth-graders, think they know it all… and SHELLY… with her cape and, big feet and, big older cousins… she thin' she queen o' the school, well you know what I SAY… BUUUURP."

"Huhuhu HEY, kids! To celebrate 28 years of Goober-TAAASTIC fun, that one peanut that makes the elephants MAD: GOOOFY GOOBEEER!"

But when the curtains opened and the dancing peanut danced out, Jessie's vision faltered. The world became blurry, and that smiling, goofy peanut was the center of attention. "Oh, I'M a Goofy Goober, yeah! YOU'RE a Goofy Goober, …"

A squiggly smile spread across Jessie's face. Entranced by that hypnotic singing, Jessie couldn't help but wobble forward. It wasn't long before he lost consciousness. (Play Goofy Goober's theme from the Spongebob Movie Game.)

Stage 3: Goofy Goober's… sort of

Mission: Wander around aimlessly.

Jessie aimlessly wandered the suddenly-barren restaurant and smashed many tables and chairs. He ran up on stage and followed the route behind, sending Bubble Torpedoes at Gooberlings, which were the same happy, goofy-faced peanuts as the original, except they were trying to beat him with mops. He came to gaps in the road that required him to double-jump, waving his bubble wand down for an extra boost, then reached a large gap with a large button. He jumped and blew bubble feet over his own to do a Ground Pound, pushing the switch to make a bounce platform.

After crossing the gap, Jessie appeared in an expansive, factory-like chamber with giant ice creams and candies. A series of giant, colorful ice creams wobbled back and forth on their cones, so Jessie was careful when hopping across them. He reached a safe platform and then had to cross giant, tilting Wonka Bars, but waiting on the following platform was a Cream-Cream, a Gooberling that shot ice cream. It did so to destroy Jessie's Bubble Torpedoes, so the boy was forced to avoid them across the unbalanced platforms and knock the enemy out normally.

Following that was a series of floating platforms moving toward him and away at quick speeds, each too high to jump. When the first one returned, Jessie performed a Headbash (in which he wore a bubble Viking helmet) to shoot up higher and land on it, doing the same with the others with careful timing, lest he fall to the chocolaty chasm. The third, highest platform brought him to a safe walkway along the side of the room (and above the entrance), which had a port-o-potty at the end. Jessie stepped inside, and, however this mechanic worked, turned into Sandy.

Using her lasso, she swung a series of hooks to reach a foothold across the chasm, leading to a wide hallway. Floating robots called Chucks drew torpedoes and hurled 'em at Sandy, but she easily caught the torpedoes in her lasso and threw them back. Sandy arrived at a room with another chocolate creek, having to first spin her jump-rope like a helicopter to glide to a far, low platform. The next platform was much higher, but a peg was on it for her to catch with her rope and pull herself up.

From there, a series of scattered platforms with little bobble targets led to a path in a far right corner, and Sandy had to lash her ropes quickly to haul herself across them. Not a difficult hazard as she reached the next hall easily. A Gooberling on a floating pod skimmed the hall for intruders, and there was nothing to hide behind within his laser's range. There were plenty of pegs around the floor and walls, with only one close to the next, intending a certain order. Sandy pulled herself to each of them at a quick speed, the Gooberling unable to keep up with its laser before Sandy wrapped her rope around its turret, and pulled the pod to pieces.

The hall led her to a giant freezer chamber with many giant ice cream boxes. Once again, many frosty pegs were spread around, along with several pitfalls, and a Chuck floated over the room and threatened to blow Sandy into the chasms. She had to latch the pegs and pull herself over, but the slippery floor forced her to pass the pegs and keep skiing 'til she latched another and switched direction. That would be dangerous with the many pits, so she first skied across the narrow path, pulled herself left, then right to ski across a narrow path on the side, two more rights to ski up a slope that flew her onto the giant ice creams. She kept the speed going and pulled herself to pegs that flew her up ramps, until she skied into an icy tunnel. The speed was still going as she pulled herself around loops and zigzaggy paths, avoiding frosty water, until her skiing finally led her into a port-o-potty.

Having switched back to Jessie, the boy stepped down a small slope and began to jump Bouncemallows across a vast chocolate lake. He bounced to one of many islands where, after knocking out some Gooberlings, pressed a switch that made a bounce platform appear over the lake, aimed at an angle. Another spring on this island could bounce him to it, but when he did so, the spring sent him right back. He saw there was a slot on the island spring's back, and he could stick his wand into it to turn and aim at other islands. He bounced to an island on the left, having to simply Headbash a switch above him, activating another floating spring.

Jessie knocked out the Goobers on that island quickly before bouncing to the first island, but realized the Goobers there previously had returned. After knocking them out, he saw the ones on the second island respawn, and realized they were coming from a Duplicatotron in the hall he would eventually get to. He aimed the spring at another island across the room, where he had to deal with G-Loves, purple and green saucers that spun around, swinging many gloved hands. He bested them just by Ground Pounding, then did the same to press a switch, revealing another floating platform.

He returned to the first island (knocking out the Gooberlings again), but the last island was in a further corner, too far for the spring to reach. However, he returned to the second island, and realized another spring sat atop a stone pole. Behind that pole was a smaller spring which bounced him up to it, then was bounced to that last island. He had to stand on a switch that opened a gate protecting the last switch, across the chocolate lake with a series of rising and sinking platforms leading to it. He spun his wand and rolled a Bubble Bowl when the platforms rose in a perfect order, pressing the switch and making the last floating spring appear. He returned to the first island, aimed the spring at the first floating one, and let each bounce him to the next, 'til he landed at the cave's base.

He took out the Duplicatotron and proceeded through the cave that led to an outside land, fields of candies, pink skies, and ice cream mountains. Sandy was there to help him, holding on as she swung hooks from giant ice creams that fell afterward, making it to the top of a huge, ice cream slide. They zipped down at fast speed, ramming any Gooberlings in the way and jumping ramps to score extra points. They split up as Jessie took a higher route into a cave, jumping some java pits 'til he was outside again, sliding across a narrow path over the lower slide, where Sandy was.

At the end of the narrow slide, he grabbed a discarded sock (sound familiar?) and dropped down to rejoin Sandy. They once again split up on a fork leading into a mountain, where inside was a series of slides leading many directions, far too many to see in one go. Jessie slid to a large chasm where he had to jump a trio of bounce pads, each fairly far apart due to his momentum, and upon landing, he had to tightly turn right as the slide spiraled downward. He and Sandy met up once more as the conjoined slides led into a cave, the two having to jump a few java pits and dodge some heat geysers before landing at the bottom.

The semi-natural cave started to blend into a restaurant again, more specifically the restaurant's basement. Jessie kept forward as Sandy gradually faded. (End song.)

"Huu, huu, huu…" Jessie had no idea how he winded up down here. He barely remembered what he was even doing. …Oh yeah, sinking in depression.

"Jeeessie…"

His vision was failing again. He could vaguely make out a blurry, yellow creature.

"Jeeeeeeessie."

"Sponge…bob?…"

"Jessie… there's no reason to feel depreeeessed. Not if you… belieeeeeve."

"Mmmm…"

"Jessie…Jessie?…"

"Jessie?" The blur vanished, and the yellow creature morphed into Sandy.

He shook his head, "Whuh?"

"Jessie, you got drunk again and wandered into the basement. You know what brainfreezes do to you."

"Mmmm…" He held his head. "Whaddid I do last night."

"Trained for the block contest. But then, well… Shelly beat you."

"Oh…" Jessie looked at his bubble bottle. "Almost out… guess we'll need to go to Sabaody and get more."

"Young man, you're gonna have to leave." A man approached them, his Goober costume off. "You knocked out all of our backup Goobers." They looked behind, seeing a bunch of Goofy Goobers on the floor.

"Ahhh this *** level's drawing on, anyway." Jessie said.

"HE CUSSED!!" The men screamed.

"He's having a bad day." Sandy said with teary eyes.

"POOR KID."

"Let's get outta here." Sandy said as she led her brother along. A small, gray mouse-like creature watched them from a hole in the wall.

Düssenheim, Germany

The Airline Gilligan finally took land as Kim led her daughter outside. "Well, Em… welcome to our homeland."

Düssenheim was a lovely city, mostly pearl-white buildings, and kind of a futuristic feel to it. The city was divided in two halves, with a great suspension bridge connecting both of them. Emily's nose, although mostly unfunctional, could whiff that sciency feel in the air, and the idea of being someplace like that made her nervous system react something fierce. The two took a taxi across the giant bridge to the other side of town where Adams Tech Co. resided. On the way, Emily spotted a particular mechanical tree in the distance. 'Twas her mom's old treehouse, Sector G.

They made it to Adams Tech, a large, mechanical building that took up an entire block, with a wide stairway entrance to many glass doors, and giant letters that emphasized the company's name on the center of the front. Emily restrained herself from rushing ahead of her mom, but her heart raced faster, the closer she got to the entrance. "Just remember to put on sunglasses before we enter the plasma radiation chamber." Kim cautioned with a humorous smile. "Let's go find my dad first and we can-"

"AAIEEE! AAAIEEE!" The two jumped when a brown monkey in yellow shorts, wearing a helmet with a red light, suddenly jumped between them in a frantic fashion. All around, monkeys were harassing the employees, tying them up, and taking many tools and inventions before escaping out the windows or doors.

"AAAAAH! Somebody get the containment chamber fixed!" a scientist cried as monkeys tugged on his white hair.

"Oh no! It's happening again!" Kim cried.

"What? What's happening, Mom?" Em asked.

She dropped her briefcase and said, "Em, just wait outside, I need to help them straighten this. Er- HEY, that guy's pen is not a cavity driller!" She hurried in.

Emily looked around and saw a huge, broken glass chamber, and a another one being brought in. She grabbed her Infi-Cube and extracted a mechanical net with tight, blue string.

Kids Next Door: T.E.L.A.-N.E.T.

Targets Energy Location Allowing Network Enemy Transport

A mini monitor activated on the net, and she aimed it at that glass chamber. After confirming its target, a monkey screeched and jumped to her, but she kicked it upside the chin to knock it down. "Hu hu! Thank goodness for my size-10s." She caught the monkey in the net, and in a flash, the creature vanished and appeared inside the glass chamber. "Let's hope my mom can handle things here. Time to catch some apes!" She smirked excitedly at the rampaging apes outside. (Play the Title Screen theme from Ape Escape 3!)

Stage 4: Downtown Düssenheim

Mission: Capture 10 monkeys!

Two monkeys were terrifying drivers on the street, forcing them to stop their cars and run away. Emily wore a green- and blue-striped hoolihoop called the Super Hoop, increasing her speed as she ran against one of the monkeys, knocking it down long enough so she could net it. The other monkey hopped across the cars to get away, and even her Super Hoop couldn't match his speed. He hopped his way up some building signs and windows, with athleticism Emily could never match. So she figured she'd find another way.

She turned down the left street where two monkeys hid behind cop cars at a roadblock, trying to shoot Emily with laser guns. She took cover behind two other cars and pulled out a slingshot called the Slingback Shooter. Through the cars' glass, she locked onto each monkey, so while they were behind their cars, she launched homing pellets that flew over and stunned the apes. She quickly hopped over the cars, and before the apes could get away, Emily whipped out her Stun Club – basically a toy lightsaber, but effective – and bashed the apes in the head. She caught them both in her T.E.L.A.-N.E.T., then proceeded to a town square with a huge, beautiful reflecting pool. Since all the roads were blocked for construction, Emily had to swim across using a small, yellow floatable device called the Water Net, which could fire a projectile T.E.L.A.-N.E.T. by pressing a button.

A monkey was quickly trying to swim away from her, but Emily kicked faster and switched on the mini boost setting, able to get close enough and catch the monkey in her net. She swam to the other side of the pool and climbed out, seeing the next round of monkeys down a street sloping downward. However, she first noticed the set of platform-stairs leading up a building, and used a helicopter device called the Sky Flyer to float up each platform and reach the roof.

In the distance, she saw the monkey that evaded her earlier, and quickly hopped across the rooftops to reach it. The monkey hopped into a small flying saucer and tried to shoot her from the air, but Emily narrowly avoided and locked on with her Slingshot's homing pellets, making direct hits. The saucer shot at her feet and made her wobble backwards, nearly falling over the edge. She thankfully held on with her right hand, and when the saucer loomed closer for one last shot, Emily flipped up and sliced the saucer across the bottom with her Stun Club. The ship exploded on the roof as the monkey flew out, dizzy, allowing Emily to catch it.

With her job half done, Emily returned to the top of the hill and ran down using the Super Hoop. She arrived at the suspension bridge, but huge gaps of it were destroyed as a roadblock blocked it. She noticed two monkeys on both the first two towers, so her only way across was up. Before going, she noticed a camera aimed up at the right tower, whose monkey was dressed in a Sonic Hedgehog suit. She pressed the switch by the camera to record the monkey.

Why do hedgehogs think this is fun? The subtitles read.

Having acquired the film, Emily wrapped both arms and legs around the left metal pipe that curved up to the tower, holding on tight as she inched her way up. She would never understand how Sonic and Shadow do this so easily—maybe she would make her own grindboots. She slowly inched toward the top of the tower, net ready as she prepared to catch the monkey. With a stylish flip up, the monkey was IN her net and teleported, while the Sonic monkey on the right tower slid down his rail and made the escape. Emily could make the slow climb down, but there was fixed road below her, so- "WHOOoooaaa." She dropped straight down and whipped out her Sky Flyer, landing softly.

The next bit of road was destroyed except a few platforms, so Emily hopped across until the last one stopped at a larger gap before a road sealed by a mechanical gate and archway. Two Pipodactyls came out, genetically created, small green pterodactyls with apelike mouths. They coughed fireballs that Emily narrowly jumped and dodged on her small platform, trying to shoot them with slingshot pellets which they dodged. She switched to homing pellets and had an easier time shooting them down, causing the gate to sink open.

Emily floated over with Sky Flyer and encountered a monkey controlling a green tank. She rolled and dodged its bombshells as she hurried around in search of a weakness. It was a fairly small tank, big as a go-kart, so Emily decided to rush up and try wailing on it with her Stun Club. The tank whipped around and knocked Emily down with its turret, and she gasped when it aimed directly at her. In a desperate attempt, she squeezed the turret and tried to force it upward, but it seems after a small error on the monkey's part, the tank hatch exploded and flew the monkey out. "Huhu! Never let a monkey run a spotlight!" So she caught it in her net and proceeded.

She made it to the other side of town, patrolled by Camerabots that shot small missiles which she batted away with the club, and exploded on them. There was a scaffolding nearby where a monkey dressed as Mario was jumping barrels thrown by a monkey dressed as Donkey Kong. She started to make her way up those narrow scaffolds herself, jumping any barrel that threatened to take her down. She made it to the Mario monkey and netted him, then continued up the building in her goal to catch the DK monkey (and not the one we all love :P). Once at the top, the monkey ran around frantically, but since it didn't have much room on this small road, he was easy to net.

"Just one more!" Emily exclaimed as she was one monkey away from her goal. She jumped down the scaffold excitedly, looking around for her next victim. A monkey spotted her as she eyed him like a prey, for this reason, he carjacked a random civilian and drove away. Even the Super Hoop wouldn't catch up, but she rushed up to another citizen in his parked car. "Excuse me," she panted, not used to this much exercise, "may I borrow this?"

"Uhhh… ja?"

"Great!" So he got out and allowed Emily to hop in and drive away.

"Vas she old enough to drive?"

Emily drove at high speed after the monkey, but they only seemed to follow a particular circle around some buildings. Emily rammed him from behind once, but since she hadn't acquired a license yet, keeping up was a pain. So using her brain instead, she decided to drive the opposite direction and ram the monkey when he came around. She did this twice before the ape swerved out of control and came to a crash. Dizzied and defeated, Emily could run up and- "YES!!" send him warping in her net. "GOT 'EM ALL!" Feeling purely victorious, she danced around like the joyous little nerd she was. She jumped high in the air, expecting to teleport for some reason, but- "OOF!" plopped onto her front. "Hehe… 'course there's actually a few left to capture. Huh?"

A group of remaining monkeys looked at her with worry. "AIEEEE!" They began to leap their way out of the city, in multiple directions before Emily helped herself to stand.

"Or not… oh well, they'll come back. Eventually. But holy WOW, that was awesome! Can't WAIT to see the look on my mom's face when she sees all those monkeys I caught! Hehe, I'm gonna go see her now! Ooo- and also get my anti-itching cream." Her skin was itching with excitement as she ran back to Adams Tech, scratching the whole way.

Cleveland Beach

Children were excited to be on the beach after a long, boring school day. Of course, a particular area was restricted, the humongous sandcastle created by Princess Shelly and her knights. Still, there was plenty of room on the other side of the beach. And that was where Rupert, Sappo, and Gibli landed in their tiny Onions.

The beach seemed much different to Rupert from his Minish-sized view. As big and vast as a scorching desert, the sun beating on his tiny body. They could feel the quaking of all the gigantic children frolicking on the beach. "So whaddo you guys do again?" he asked, trying to shield his eyes from the sun.

"We Minish mostly assist the bigger Kids Next Door, by giving them stuff they need."

"So we search around and steal stuff from big people before giving it to THEM!" Gibli bounced.

"But we gotta be discreet, 'cause most humans don't like havin' their pie snuck off the picnic blanket."

"And no one likes itchy ants crawlin' around their pants!"

"Yuck! I'm not going in anyone's pants!"

"You're not, Stupid, you're just taking stuff." Sappo stated. "But why'd you wanna go here, anyway?"

"'Cause I thooought…" It was hard to search around with that giant sun in his eyes. But in the distance, he could make out a peculiar sand statue, and two kids building it, a chubby boy in a hat and cape, and a girl with droopy sleeves. "There they are! Timmy and Hikari! I kinda wanted to get them on this, too."

"Hmmmm. Well, Pikmin users always work better in teams."

"If you can lead them to a Minish Portal, we can make them mini, too!" Gibli beamed.

"Where's a Minish Portal?"

"We have one in that rock over there." Sappo pointed to a mountain-sized (to them) boulder with a cave at the bottom. "Some Minish come here often. Just one problem: we don't have any reverse-Minish Dust left, so you won't be able to expand and get them to come over."

"I'll just get their attention like this."

"If you say so. We'll get the portal ready, good luck." (Play "Tropical Wilds" from Pikmin 3.)

Stage 5: Bullies' Land

Mission: Collect treasures from the unsuspecting beach-goers.

Rupert gathered 20 Reds, 20 Yellows, 22 Blues, 10 Whites, and 22 Wings, making 94 total. He first led them through a wide, snaky gorge dug within the beach, where Yellow Wollywogs (frog-like creatures with no mouths) tried to crush them with their bulky bodies. Rupert kept his Pikmin away from their stomps and rapidly tossed Pikmin onto them, keeping the frogs down until they were defeated. He bested the three Wollywogs, but lost 4 Reds in the scuffle. He decided to let the Reds take one of them back and make 5 Reds, had the Whites take one back, then the Blues. He now had 21 Reds and 15 Whites, marking 100 total.

After the snaky gorge came a vast, open field of the beach where many people roamed. Rupert led them to a gigantic pool chair where it appeared some woman was getting a tan, although it was far too high to see from this view. A bottle of sunscreen (Contained O-zone) was sticking over the edge of the chair, so Rupert sent his Wing Pikmin up to grab and begin to carry it back. They further explored the beach, but the other half was blocked by what appeared to be a Minish-size river. The river required another bridge of tiles, which was once again missing, so they searched this field for the pieces.

They found a giant, 10-year-old girl seated on her knees while she played with a Barbie doll. The doll's dress was composed of the tiles that made the bridge, so they would have to distract her somehow. Near the girl's foot was a hole containing a Hermit Crawmad, which emerged at the sight of the Pikmin. Having an idea, Rupert only led a single White Pikmin between the Crawmad and the girl's pinky toe. When the creature lunged, Rupert dodged and caused it to nip the toe. "Ow!" The girl leapt to her feet and stomped the Crawmad before walking off to get some lotion, dropping her doll in the process. He put his Pikmin to the task of taking the tiles to the bridge while he rushed back to get the 22 Wing Pikmin.

Upon the bridge's completion, Rupert guided his Pikmin to the second half of the field. He saw a boy buried up to his chest in sand, struggling to escape, likely the work of some bully. Even though Pikmin could dig, it would take a bit more work considering his size. He decided to leave him 'til he had a solution, and instead walked to another boy building a sandcastle. Actually, it was more like a series of platforms, each taller than the next, with the middle, tallest one having a tiny Lucario statue on top. The first set of platforms were easy to jump on his own, the annoying part was throwing the Pikmin onto each one. Unfortunately, the last few were farther up, and while he could throw his Pikmin, he couldn't jump up himself. He decided to send the Wing Pikmin to collect the statue from there, but the boy swatted the Pikmin away, believing them to be bugs.

With no known solution, Rupert dropped from the platforms and gathered his Pikmin to continue on. They marched up a sandy hill where they finally arrived at Rupert's friends, Timmy and Hikari. They appeared to be constructing a giant sand statue of First Grade President, Jessie Sidney, hands on his hips and a proud smile. The sand-plaque on the pedestal read Jessie Rulez! Shelly Sucks! "I still don't think the hands-on-hips looks good." Timmy said. "I mean, GUYS don't do that!"

"YES they do! I saw Dad do it all the time!"

"No you didn't."

"HEEEEEEY! TIMMYYYY! HIKARIIII! I-"

"… … … …!" Their ears were miles away from Rupert's tiny voice.

"Ah, crud… Wait." Rupert noticed something odd about the statue's right eye (his left). It was darker than the other one, which was just a dimmer shade of sand. "…Hey, let's see if we can knock that down." He found a slight slope of sand that allowed them onto the pedestal, where he sent his Pikmin to attack the statue's shoes. The vibrations caused the mysterious object to fall. It was a Purple Onion, which landed in front of the pedestal on three legs. A single seed plopped out of the statue and planted in the ground. Rupert hurried down to pluck this new Pikmin. It was purple with eyelashes, and notably chubby. He also noted how heavy it felt when plucking it.

Rupert discovered Purple Pikmin! They may be small, but these guys are bullies of the beach! They are 10 times stronger than the average Pikmin, and guys you shouldn't engage with in a fight! They're pretty slow, so keep an eye on them.

Rupert tried to make the Pikmin follow him, but he shook his head no. Reason being, Rupert already had 100. So he told 10 Reds and 5 Whites to return to the Onions ('cause he ain't makin' that run :P). He was then able to get the Purple Pikmin to follow him, having the strong guy take several purple Pellet Posies and produce more. By the end, he had 13 Purples, 98 total. He still wasn't sure how to get Timmy and Hikari's attention, but he noticed Hikari's dark-purple Rainbow Monkey on the ground behind her. It was a Ten-Tons-of-Goodness Rainbow Monkey, much heavier than it appeared. It required 101 Pikmin, so his 13 Purples were on the case. Since they moved exceedingly slow, he sent other Pikmin to help, too.

"Huh?" Hikari looked up when her Rainbow Monkey began moving on its own. "LOOK, Timmy! My Ten-Tons-of-Goodness Rainbow Monkey wants us to follow it!"

"Huh?" Indeed, the stuffed toy was going somewhere. "Ummm… I think some ants mistook it for a snack."

"Those silly ants know better than THAT! Let's go see where it's going!"

They followed the Pikmin all the way back to the landing area, with Rupert keeping a steady distance behind. The Pikmin brought it to the boulder where the Minish Portal was stationed and tossed the stuffed toy on top. The kids watched with wonder as green dust rose from the hole in the boulder and sucked the monkey inside. "Heeeeey!" Hikari whined. The two climbed on and tried to peep in the hole, and were soon sucked in by the green dust as well.

"WAAAAHH- uuh!" They took land on the ground after bouncing down some boulders.

"Hey, guess Rupert figured something out!" Sappo said. Timmy and Hikari exchanged baffled looks.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" Rupert greeted, entering the boulder.

"RUPPY? Where are we?" Hikari asked.

"You're in the Minish World!" Gibli bounced. "Rupert led you to our portal. You're tiny now!"

"Say what?" questioned Timmy.

"Hehe… you guys wanna hear a funny story?" Rupert grinned.

So for the next few minutes, Rupert explained the random events that led him to the Minish World. Hikari also proceeded to take back her minimized Rainbow Monkey from the Purple Pikmin. "So why'd you drag US into this?" Timmy questioned.

"What, I thought you guys might like it, too. You are explorers, right?"

"Well, you coulda ASKED us!"

"Come on, Timmy! I bet it'll be fun!" Hikari beamed. "I wanna see what Jessie's statue looks like from here!"

"Well, okay… but I get 10 bucks after this!" he demanded from Rupert.

"Deal."

And with that, they continued the journey across the sandy fields. They returned to the boy that was half-buried in the sand. "What happened to him, anyway?"

"One of Shelly's knights." Timmy replied. "Stupid meanie."

"Well, let's help 'im!" Rupert sent all the Pikmin to dig him up, and with the 13 Purples' help, it was easy.

"WHOA!" He was surprised when his arms popped out, and was able to push himself out the rest of the way. "…Ha ha! Who's a wimp NOW!" Proud of his newfound strength, he ran off. The three looked inside his hole and spotted a discarded No. 2 pencil (Tool of Creation). They sent 5 Wing Pikmin down to take it back while they led the other Pikmin to the group of sand platforms. They jumped their way up, bringing the Pikmin, and this time, Timmy could throw Rup and Hikari on the second-highest platform, while Rupert threw Hikari to the highest afterward.

The boy fixing this sandcastle took notice of the little creature that was just thrown on. He squinted closely, seeing the teeny Hikari wave happily. The idea of a little person was too much to bear, so he fainted. They were safely able to take the Lucario statue (Lost Hero) using 5 White Pikmin. The trio proceeded up the hill where the Jessie statue rested. From this view, Jessie's proud figure looked even more heroic. Probably because it was much bigger. "SEE, I TOLD you the hands-on-hips looked cool!" Hikari stated.

They passed the statue and continued down a hill, seeing a volleyball game taking place between two boys and two girls. Their movement was random, so they would have to guide the Pikmin through carefully and quickly, for they could lose tons in just one stomp. When the ball was knocked fairly far, they seized the moment to run across the center. They were almost out of breath by the time they reached the center line under the net, but panicked when the Purple Pikmin were falling behind. One of the boys came back and squished three Purples, their spirits floating away. Before proceeding, they noticed the referee boy seated atop a tall chair on the side of the court, and the shiny whistle on his armrest. They hurried to the chair and climbed the convenient, Minish-size ladder to his armrest.

They used their 10 remaining White Pikmin to take the whistle (Sound of Sadness) without the boy's knowledge. "Hey, Timmy, run back to the start and get the Pikmin back." Rupert told him as they climbed back to the ground. Timmy avoided the boys again while Rupert and Hikari continued past the girls. But since the whistle had been taken, the game went on forever. Rupert and Hikari saw a series of floatable items off a nearby shore, so they decided to explore them. An inflatable raft floated close to the shore, so they threw their Pikmin onto it before jumping on their selves.

They crossed the raft and found a remote-controlled toy boat zooming around a set circle, controlled by a kid in an inner-tube. They hopped in the boat with all their Pikmin and waited for it to pass the boy's floatie, then hopped off. The kid didn't notice the swarm of bugs as they walked around the back of the floatie. A squirt gun was in the back of the boy's pants, so they had some Wing Pikmin pull it out. They called the Wings back and had the Blue Pikmin take the squirt gun through an underwater route. "Hey, why don't we just SWIIIIM?" queried Hikari.

"I ain't swimmin' in that stuff, might get eaten by a fish."

The duo jumped back to the boat and waited for it to pass a series of fun-noodles, which were spinning in place. When the closest noodle's end looped by them, they could jump when the boat passed, and had to wait for the other noodles to make loops before jumping. They were led to a boy that was sitting on three noodles, bobbing up and down, with all three making a staircase when they went up, and at level when going down. They gathered on the third, highest one and could make the jump to a giant fat guy snoozing on an inflatable raft. There was no other way to go, but the bouncy belly sunk up and down as he breathed. …The two formed an idea.

"Whoooaa!" Timmy finally made it back with the other Pikmin, jumping from the noodle to the huge belly. "Hey, guys. What'd I miss?"

"We're about to do something really cool!" Rupert grinned. They began to rapidly throw their Purple Pikmin onto the stomach, the intense weight making it sink further and further down. Once all the way down, it shot up, the trio and the Pikmin flying many meters across the sea. They fell right in the hole of a fun-noodle held by a boy who, after dipping it in water, blew the water at a girl with a fun-noodle, and the many Pikmin and trio with it. They flew over the girl and landed perfectly on a starfish carried by a giant seagull. They soared all the way back to the beach and dropped off right atop the Jessie statue's head. From here, they could see the whole beach. (End song.)

Stage Progress: Red Pikmin: 26. Yellow Pikmin: 24. Blue Pikmin: 27. Pink Pikmin: 30. White Pikmin: 26. Purple Pikmin: 10. Total: 122.

It really was a spectacular view from this colossal statue. Kids running around and having fun, almost no concerns at all around this beach. "You know, this actually is kinda fun, Rupert." Timmy smiled.

"I bet JESSIE would love this, too!" Hikari beamed.

"Hey, what is with this statue, anyway? Jessie win something?" Rupert asked.

"No, actually he… lost something." Timmy informed. "He, uh… took it kinda bad."

At this time, Sappo and Gibli were flying to the statue using Wing Pikmin. "Well, you guys look pretty adjusted." Sappo figured.

"WAIT a second, we can just FLY everywhere with these wing guys??" Rupert questioned.

"Yes, but THAT'S no fun!" Gibli said. "Great job on all the treasures you collected! You serve your Kids Next Door proud!"

"Well, technically we aren't Kids Next Door." Rupert said. "We're- WHOOOAA!" A giant beachball flew in and blew the statue's head clean off.

The kids recovered dizzily and- "AAAH!" jumped when a gigantic foot stomped behind them. Towering over them was a furious Princess Shelly. Timmy and Hikari didn't like her enough as is… they sure hoped this 100-foot one didn't discover them.

"Can't a princess go on a leisurely stroll without REBELLION in her kingdom? WHO BUILT THAT STATUE? WELL?" The beach-goers exchanged baffled looks.

"My Princess." One of the knights bowed. "I have interrogated all of the peasants. All claim to be innocent."

"Well, SOMEONE must be lying. And I'll find out at any cost. No liar can escape ME when my foot is down. And whoever done it's getting so much sand in their shorts, they won't-" She was about to take a step forward, the kids ducking under the shadow of her giant foot.

She froze in place when the beach began trembling. Over the shore, a huge, black battleship emerged from the sea and lowered a ramp to the beach, allowing a van to back up onto it. A squad of Teen Ninjas hopped out, led by Nya LaMar. "Hey, Princess Brat, time to go. His Majesty wants you."

"His Majesty?" A knight gaped.

"Doth she mean…" another spoke.

"What? Do they mean Shelly's dad?" Rupert asked.

"Well, yeah. Don't you know who her dad is?" Timmy asked.

"Sappo! Sappo! It's her!" Gibli bounced with worry.

"I know." With a fierce look, Sappo whistled and summoned a swarm of Wing, Purple, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin to attack Shelly's feet while the Minish climbed her left leg.

"What the-?!" Shelly was quick to feel them.

"GIVE BACK OUR PRINCESS YOU BIG-FOOTED FREAK!" Gibli yelled.

"Uck, bugs!" She stomped her feet, blew the Pikmin away, and made Sappo and Gibli fall.

"WAH!" The twins were then caught inside a glass jar by one of the knights.

"My Princess: these be the rebellious bugs." He presented them to Shelly.

"Hmmm aren't you a peculiar breed of vermin." Shelly smirked wickedly at the Minish. "These'll make an excellent prize. To the sea, knights." As they marched to the truck, Sappo pressed his face to the glass and yelled to Rupert, his voice still muffled.

"RUPERT! Take our Pikmin! They're not just ours, they're…" His voice was barely audible the further he got.

"Where do you think they're going?" Timmy asked.

"I dunno... but I feel like we won't be getting bigger anytime soon." Rupert said with worry.

Updated Progress: Red Pikmin: 26. Yellow Pikmin: 30. Blue Pikmin: 33. Pink Pikmin: 35. White Pikmin: 26. Purple Pikmin: 20. Total: 170.

Chariton Household; backyard

After Sunni left, Mika returned to her peaceful slumber beside the tree. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves and chilled her mocha skin. There was no better time to sleep. The rustling of leaves and those three particular bushes would ensure her good dreams. …Wait a sec. Did those bushes just move forward? And since when did she have them, anyway? Waaait…

At that instant, a woman with long, rose-red hair, a handsome man with short blue hair, and a short catlike creature jumped out from the bushes. They wore white shirts and pants, black shoes, and big red "R" symbols on their shirts. "PREPARE for trouble!" The woman exclaimed.

"And make it double." The man followed.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" Mika continued snoring.

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

The woman spun. "Jessie!"

The man joined. "James."

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The cat jumped on their shoulders. "Meeeeowth! That's right!"

A blue blob popped out and said, "Woooobbuffet!"

"Snoooore…shoooo." Mika looked very peaceful.

Team Rocket glared in disbelief. "…Told you we shoulda gave the updated version." Meowth mumbled.

"We have so many mottos, Meowth, I can't possibly remember them all." James spoke in a sheepish fashion.

"Woooobbuffet!"

"Grrrrr WAKE UP, YOU DITZ!" Meowth lunged at Mika for a scratch to the face, but was immediately bounced away by her Logia defense.

"Yyyyyaaaaawwwwn." Mika stretched awake, finally seeing her "assaulters". "Huh… who are you guys." Her eyes were still weary.

They exchanged confused glances. "We're Team Rocket… and, we're here to capture you." Jessie said.

"Team Rocket… huuuuh… !" Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, you guys are Team Rocket cosplayers!" They exchanged another glance. "Hold on, I'll get one, too!" She giddily ran to her house. The agents merely stood and stared confusedly. Mika soon zipped out dressed as, "TA-DAAAA! I'm Bianca! Heehee!" She made a cute pose.

"…" They didn't get this girl at all. "Um, we don't understand the 'cosplay' part, but… we are Team Rocket agents, and we're here to capture you for your power." Jessie explained once more.

"…Oh? Hmmm…" Mika's costume fell off (her real clothes underneath) as she studied the trio. "…PLAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" She held her stomach and fell on her back laughing.

"HEY, TOOTS! What's so funny?!" questioned Meowth.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA you guys are, gonna try and capture me, PLAAAH ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Grrrr we'll teach YOU to laugh at us!" declared Jessie. "GO, Arbok!" She threw her Poké Ball and released the purple cobra.

"CHAAABOKUP!" it hissed.

"GO WEEZING! Victreebel!" James released his Pokémon.

"We're scared." said the Weezing. The Victreebel however-

"GAAAAH! Stop it you stupid thing, can't I release you just once without-" The plant Pokémon munched his master.

"Arbok, use Poison Sting!" Jessie yelled.

"CHAAAA!" It unleashed a storm of needles which Mika blocked.

"Weezing, Smokescreen!" commanded James.

"Wee-" The Weezing clouded the area with poison gas, making Mika hold her breath.

"GO, Victreebel!"

"Bel!" The plant-type wrapped Mika in its vines. With a smirk, Mika stretched a barrier to free herself, then flew up to blow all the gas away with psychic.

"Arbok, go!" The cobra launched up to wrap itself around Mika, bringing her to the ground. She merely teleported away and thrusted her arms, blowing them away with psychic.

"Graaaaah forget this crud!" Meowth decided. "Listen, Toots, we got us a whole fleet waitin' to blow this city to bits, so you better play your cards right and come with us!"

"Hmmmmmm…" With an innocent grin, Mika raised her hands, "Then I GUESS you caught me!"

"…" They froze stiff. "Huh?"

"I don't want the city getting destroyed so, I'll just come quietly." She held her arms out.

"…Well, that's great." Jessie said.

They summoned a helicopter with an "R" symbol and led Mika onboard. Sunni woke up from her nap and walked outside to see the commotion. She gasped, "Mom!"

"Oh, hey Sunni!" Mika called over the loud propellers, still with a grin. "Tell your dad I've been taken captive, so I won't make it to dinner! See you later, Honeeeeyy!" Too dumbstruck to speak, Sunni only watched as her mom boarded the chopper and flew beyond the heavens. Who on Earth would be able to kidnap her mom, and why would she go with them so easily. …Looks like Sunni was in for a whole new adventure.

Sector V's C.O.O.L.-B.U.S.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder if MaKayla knows anything about these Keys." Haylee mentioned, piloting her team's aircraft. "After all, she did go through a phase where, she knew everything."

"So did Mr. Garley. For a moment." Harry remembered.

"Let's pick up Dillon at Rhode Island first." Aurora said. "His school should be clearing out, too."

"Yaaaaawn. You mates go ahead 'nd do that… I'ma lay down for a wee nap." Sheila moaned, lying on her bench.

"Okay, but if we end up crashing in a really ripper land of bigness and adventures, don't blame us if we don't wake up." Mason chuckled.

But his friend was already fast asleep, snoring away. Seeing her so peaceful always made Mason smile, and made him wonder what she could be dreaming about. He'd really love to have those dreams with her.

Quahog; James Woods Elementary

School was clearing out at James Woods Elementary, but a few kids were staying to play on the playground. Among these students were Dillon York and Zach and Maddy Murphy. "Siiigh, I have got loooads of homework to do." The former said.

"I'm glad I'm not in your sector." Maddy replied. "So Dillon, is your cousin still a giant?"

"Yep. It's gettin' kinda rough 'cause he can't sleep inside his house. His mom usually has to come out and pat him to sleep. Feel kinda sad for 'im."

"I'd feel sad for that Gang of his, having to put up with his stink." Zach remarked.

"Like you ever had to complain about-"

"BARK! BARK! BARK!"

"Sparkyyyy!" Maddy smiled joyously when her puppy ran over to start licking her. "What're you doing here!"

"Great, the minute I thought school was the only safe place." Zach said smugly.

"You think he got lonely?" Dillon smiled humorously.

"Awwww did you get lonely boy, you missed me?" Maddy cooed, ruffing the puppy's hair.

Unbeknownst to them, the image from Sparky's eyes was displayed on a screen. "Yes… THERE she is!"

"Mwah ha ha hah! Then let's GET HER!"

The children's playtime came to a halt when a tremendous shadow fell over the land. They looked up, mouths frozen agape. A humongous spaceship hovered over the school and dropped swarms of robots with slug-like eyes inside green domes, two arms with electric claws, and no legs. One robot skimmed around and scanned Maddy's body. "Target identified. Preparing to-" Said girl immediately lunged over and kicked through the robot's dome, knocking him down. "You didn't even give me a chance…" He fainted dead.

The robots furiously began blasting lasers around the playground, the kids scurrying away in terror. Dillon trapped several robots in Shadow Possession and Strangled them, and Maddy easily flipped around and bested most of the robots with a single kick. "Nnn! Zach, we could use help from you, too." Dillon grunted.

"I'm a lizard. Oink oink." Zach had turned into a duck.

"QUIT PLAYIN' DUMB AND GET OVER HERE!"

Two robots tried to grab Maddy, but she grabbed and tied their tentacles together, making them shock each other, then grabbed another's tentacle to swing him into another, then slipped behind one's back, pulled and twisted his wrist, then kicked him to the ground. She raised her fist at another approaching robot, but it pretended to choke, and fell. "Heh! Whatever alien freak sent you guys, he's got a-" She was suddenly trapped inside an anti-gravity bubble.

"Pitiful humans. You who try to resist the inevitable, against some reasonably inferior minions… prepare to suffer humiliating defeat by, wait for it… LORD VORSELON!!" A robotic alien with an orange, buff metal body, claw hands, tentacle legs, and a green, one-eyed head inside a dome presented himself.

Mercenary, former Zordoom prisoner

FLINT VORSELON

"Vorse-who?" questioned Zach.

"I said, LORD VORSELON! The greatest assassin in ALL of POLARIS! And by the command of his greatness, Dr. Nefarious, THE CHILD THAT IS MAD is coming with me!"

"Who the heck is Dr. Nefarious and whaddoes he want with Mad?" Zach demanded.

"Lord Vorselon reveals NOTHIIING! You have heard of no plans from him!"

"Uhh… yeah we did." Dillon said.

"WHAT'S that? You think Lord Vorselon is AWESOME?"

"NO WE DON'T."

"MWAH HA HAAAH! Once again, Lord Vorselon has-"

A grappling hook shot over and scratched his suit's waist. "-been made a complete fool." remarked Drake Puncture coolly.

"Drake!" Dillon beamed.

"WAH!" Vorselon zapped Drake with the same anti-gravity bubble.

"Fool! You will make an EXCELLENT trophy for Vorselon's successful capture! I retreat for now, but you haven't seen the last of… LORD VORSELOOON! MWEH HA HA HEH!" The alien teleported, and both anti-gravity bubbles flew into the starship.

"MADDY!" Zach yelled.

"Zach! Dillon!" Her voice was barely heard as she vanished inside the vessel. The starship faced toward the heavens and took off for the stars. Zach and Dillon exchanged frantic glances and decided to ditch school early.

Team Gnik's Hideout

The mysterious being sat quietly in his chamber. His subordinates had gone to their designated areas, so their plans may proceed. The first terminal to switch on was that of Giovanni, the man in the orange tux petting his Persian. "It's been 3 days as you said, Lesser Lord. May we finally begin?" The other screens switched on, displaying the others' images.

"Yes… the month of May has arrived." Ragaj Gnik said. "The Apocalypse will happen at the end of this month. So capturing the Seven Lights is our top priority. The Darknesses, on the other hand, will take care of themselves. So… Giovanni!" He looked at the grinning man. "Specter!" He looked at the white-furred monkey in the floating chair. "Plankton!" He looked at the single-eyed microorganism. "Mr. Dark!" At the blue-cloaked man with yellow eyes. "Dr. Nefarious!" At the blue-skinned robot with a dome head. "And… X.A.N.A., wherever he is. The Quest for Seven Lights begins now. We will set off for the New World."