Shay: This a one-shot for Pikmin I wrote. It ties together a whole bunch of hints the games drop, so hopefully if you've noticed them too this will be a fun read!
Day 256 of 25 Years After the End: Success! I’ve successfully engineered an animal that can be grown from seed! Finally, months of testing has paid off! The creature was rather stupid, however, and expired mere hours after blooming and pulling itself out of the ground. Imagine that—a plant pulling itself out of the ground! Wait ‘til my colleagues here about this one.
Day 257 of 25 AE: They didn’t seem too terribly impressed. Clearly they don’t see the potential of an organism that can be easily harvested while gathering its own nutrients! They’re all too concerned by cleaning up the radiation left after the war to bother with “petty side projects” like mine. I suppose more testing is needed to show them. First I’m going to have to find a way to get that germination time down.
Day 280 of 25 AE: No luck so far. I’ve tried engineering in genes from the fastest-growing plants we have stored here, but it’s still a whole day from planting to blooming. There’s got to be something I can try…
Day 300 of 25 AE: Aha, another success! Without going into too much detail, I managed to engineer the organism to germinate within a manner of minutes. But not only germinate, but be ready to pluck at that! Granted I’ve had to shrink them to the size of a dime—which was a small, flat metal disc that could be exchanged for others’ goods before the war—but now I can just plant and pull whenever I need to do a few more experiments.
Day 370 of 25 AE: Every year these dates, what would once be considered “December 32-36”, serves as a somber reminder of what the war had done. Who would have guessed that so many bombs would slow down the Earth’s rotation enough to add five days to our calendars? Our species is truly capable of terrifying things. As for my project, I’ve had little time for it—my skills are needed for more pressing matters, such as growing radiation-resistant crops. After all, these bunkers can’t protect us forever; already radiation levels are worryingly high. I’d also like to see if I can get my own creatures to help clean up this mess, so if possible we won’t need to worry about the leaks at all.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 1/300 Slowed Time: I have little personal interest in traditional physics and its abstract concepts of forces and energy. But there is no denying my surprise and amazement when it was announced that our top physicists finally pieced together some theories that had been stipulated for centuries. The result? A machine that will slow down time by a factor of 300! No longer do we have to worry over the gradual encroachment of radiation through our walls—this machine provides a perfect shield against the elements, so for the moment we are safe.
My plant creatures are coming along well. I’ve taken inspiration from those hardy ants who adapted fast enough to survive the war—they are weak individually, but when they work together they become a shockingly powerful force, able to engulf foes a hundred times their size. I’ve been tinkering with some genes, trying to work out a system to get them to work collectively—and indeed, work at all. They still act rather aimless.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 86/300 ST: No luck with my ant idea so far. Something strange happened near the Time Machine today, though. It looked as though reality was warping around it and a black hole was about to form or something along those lines. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared, and became nothing more than a slight blip on our instruments. Strange.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 90/300 ST: Breakthrough! In a mad flash of inspiration these past few days, I’ve engineered my creatures to respond to whistling! Different frequencies and patterns will prompt them to follow certain orders, whether it’s to carry various objects, stay where they are, follow a light, or attack any of the “training dummies” I created for them. And to think I was feeling so stuck for months… now I’m just buzzing with ideas!
Day 30 of 26 AE, 99/300 ST: Another breakthrough! Incorporating different minerals into a seed gives it unique properties, which I’ve color-coded for my own convenience. So far, “red” creatures have a fire-proof body, “yellow” can channel and generate electricity (which somehow makes them astonishingly light), and “blue” can diffuse oxygen from the water, allowing them to stay submerged indefinitely.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 100/300 ST: Sometimes it feels as though these answers are being whispered to me by some supernatural force. How silly. I suppose my brain just doesn’t know how else to handle all these ideas I have!
Day 30 of 26 AE, 105/300 ST: Another breakthrough! Whites can metabolize radioactive fallout of all things! While this makes them potently toxic (which is thankfully biodegradable), this grants them the ability to see underground and an enormous potential to fight off our radiation problem. Finally the other scientists are beginning to respect me.
But soon, they will fear me.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 108/300 ST: At the insistence of my colleagues, I’ve hacked together a way to quickly produce those Whites they love so much. First, a special tomato-like… thing, a unique amalgamation of machine and plant whose design was whispered to me as I created it. I’ve learned to trust my little voice—so far, everything I’ve told myself through those whisperings have been spot-on. I guess my subconsciousness is smarter than I give it credit for!
Anyway, the tomato can assimilate nutrients from any organic material I feed it to rapidly produce either Reds, Blues, or Yellows. Then I use the special flower-like plant I engineered over a 24-hour period to gather radiation from the soil and use it to rebuild any other color of mine into a White one. The only downside is that the flower is extremely sensitive to UV light, and so must be planted underground.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 109/300 ST: I was reading through my logs while taking a much-needed break, and I thought I should clarify that I have no intention of anyone fearing me. I guess I was just feeling silly that day.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 110/300 ST: I was whispered the perfect words to say to get my colleagues to leave me be for a month or more. After all, they have my Whites, and they’re hard at work decontaminating the shelter and preparing to do the same with the land above. Good for them. But now I have all the time I need to put my newest batch of ideas to good use!
Day 30 of 26 AE, 121/300 ST: I have too many ideas to try, so I’ll keep these brief. Finally synthesized the perfect material and engineered a way to mass-produce it. Now to find a suitable animator.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 123/300 ST: Containing brain beside a large nucleus in the material leaves it with the appearance and stupidity of an amoeba. I washed it out of the shelter.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 129/300 ST: These whisperings are becoming increasingly complex, so I’ve given up on trying to understand the meaning behind their instructions. Now I just follow them.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 131/300 ST: Dissolving the animator as fine grains into the material nearly worked. The silvery liquid-like material came to life, wailed in pain as it shook, then imploded on itself and vanished entirely leaving no trace whatsoever. Sometimes I think I see it out of the corner of my eye.
...Funny, I don’t remember creating the animator this time.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 140/300 ST: No luck with this animator. The voice has been wrong for once. It promised to try harder. My month was up, but in return for my forgiveness the voice manipulated them into granting me an extension.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 154/300 ST: No luck with this animator.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 167/300 ST: No luck with this animator.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 175/300 ST: I stole enough gold from the people in the shelter to forge a special cube. The voice helped me to craft it just so, embedding circuits, DNA from all my little creatures, and many more materials that science did not have a name for. I resolved to document my various findings once the voice was satisfied. The cube can produce fire, lightning, or water, or crystallize at my command. Now to implement it into my material...
Day 30 of 26 AE, 175/300 ST: Plasm was the source of the voice, that tricky creature! Now with a proper form, resembling an amoeba with the golden cube as its nucleus, It explained to me in the way that only It can how It came through the void created by the Time Slow Machine. In thanks for providing It with a new body in this reality, Plasm promised to assist me in any task I asked of It, and protect me at all costs. I asked It to help me with my plant-like creatures, and immediately I was filled with knowledge. I was also given a witty name for them—Pikmin.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 177/300 ST: Two more subspecies created, one strong and purple, the other pink and with wings. The techniques for hastening the engineering process Plasm taught me is truly marvelous, via upgrading my tomato machine-organism into what he called an Onion. He also taught me how to engineer an organism that could tend to the Pikmin as they grow. It’s endearingly lumpy.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 182/300 ST: They tried to separate Plasm from me, the fools. I watched in wonder as somebody grabbed It, only for It to surround his hand. It changed into Its unique golden plasma, consuming his hand whole as It dropped off. The rest fled, but Plasm warned me they couldn’t be trusted anymore. At least I have the lab to myself now, to prepare for their next attack.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 185/300 ST: I’ve run out of material to produce my army of Pikmin. All that’s left is the humans who have locked themselves away with the rest of the food, and of course Plasm and myself.
Day 30 of 26 AE, 190/300 ST: It turns out the calcium in human bones were a perfect base to produce a new subspecies of Pikmin, one made of hard black crystal.
Day 31 of 26 AE: The Time Slow Machine malfunctioned violently today. Plasm taught me how it was now fully and permanently intertwined with the Earth’s magnetic field, almost freezing time underground. I wouldn’t expect anybody reading this to understand how or why—Plasm’s wisdom stretches far beyond that of mortal men. Suffice it to say that continents are now drifting so rapidly the Earth is becoming unrecognizable.
Also, we are out of food and eating my Pikmin will only last me so long. Plasm does not need to eat, thankfully. He transcends mortal needs. Nevertheless, I must go above ground with my Pikmin to hunt. I am overjoyed that Plasm has many ways to shield me from the radiation.
Day 68 of 26 AE: Plasm and I have found many wonderful creatures on the land above as they emerge from the time-stopped caverns. Spiders that tote around various objects on their backs for camouflage, two-legged, mushy, spotted insects that occasionally come up to my knee in size, an electrical rat, and many more! They make wonderfully fun foes to challenge my Pikmin, who have evolved in ways I could have never dreamed of. We have made this world our oyster, and Plasm is the shining golden pearl.
Day 100 of 28 AE: We lived peacefully for a couple years before we came across another human shelter. They were hostile and threatening murder, so my Pikmin showed them no mercy. Our army swelled.
Day 34 of 30 AE: Plasm grows larger every day. It’s breathtaking now.
Day 367 of 33 AE: A few more humans ventured near the home Plasm and I made near that shelter, They weren’t hostile at first, but Plasm thankfully warned me of what trust in them could lead to. With a series of whistles, my Pikmin killed two of them and prepared them for the Onions. The third ran.
Day 370 of 33 AE: The third human returned with a knife. With a few whistles my Pikmin scared him off.
Day 5 of 34 AE: He returned again, this time with a firearm. He tried to shoot me, but Plasm engulfed the bullet with Its marvelous golden plasma. While we were distracted, he stole one of my Onions. I gave chase with my army, but he had slipped away.
Day 8 of 34 AE: Earlier today I awoke to a battle. The young man had returned, somehow having mastered my whistles to call my Pikmin to his aid. Plasm was fighting valiantly for me in a strange, vaguely humanoid form that could summon the elements I incorporated into it those years ago. But even it couldn’t hold against an army of hundreds of thousands of Pikmin. As I whistled to call them off, the human whistled again, this time turning them to me. My body became engulfed in the tiny creatures, the Pink Pikmin flying into my mouth to prevent me from commanding them as the rest of them tore at my skin. Plasm stabbed the man through his heart with a golden needle before it was torn apart by the Pikmin and destroyed. Soon after I managed to call the Pikmin off me and send them away.
What had I done? Now free from its influence, I finally realize that Plasm was so overprotective of me that he convinced me to kill all those people in cold blood… and now I’m paying for it. Already I feel lightheaded from lack of blood, but I will shut down the Onions and set them to scatter across the world before I die... If Pikmin are to return, it will hopefully be under the command of a new, more humble species...
Day 9 of 34 AE: I SWEAR TO PROTECT THE NEXT COMMANDER OF PIKMIN AGAINST ANY USURPERS AND AT ANY COST
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Subject: Electronic Heiroglyph (Pikmin) 
