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Gargravarr
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Day 22
Wanting to get things over with, I immediately took out 100 Blues (just in case), matured as many of the leaves as possible with egg nectar and headed over to yesterday's new area. I needed to make sure that Olimar and at least 20 Pikmin were raised up on the last see-saw block, so I started by having Olimar standing on the only ground level stone and had Louie throw Pikmin onto each stone in turn as Olimar made his way across to the last one. It wasn't long before Olimar and his new team were on the same level as the high platform with the Massage Girdle (100 pokos) and I escorted the carrier Pikmin back to the Onion in case of a Shearwig ambush or something. So that was the last above-ground treasure of the Perplexing Pool, now I had to tackle the last cave. Of this section of the playthrough, I mean. There's another cave I'll need to explore, the Submerged Castle, but there's no way in hell I'm attempting it anytime soon. The Shower Room is much more inviting, so I put away all but 20 Blues and took out 30 Reds, 20 Yellows, 20 Purples and 10 Whites, headed for the hole (avoiding the Toady Bloyster) and jumped in.
Remember how I mentioned the hole to the Shower Room was in an area that looked like it was covered in bathroom tiles? Well that's what the whole cave was like. Well, except for one floor, but I'll come to that later. Upon landing in the first floor I had to be wary straight away due to a White Wollywog being nearby, but I was able to kill it with no casualties. There were also some Wogpoles flopping around (some fell from the ceiling in certain areas, as did another Wollywog and a couple of boulders) as well as a pair of Watery Blowhogs, one of which was in a smaller chamber next to the Research Pod site while the other was roaming the second area that also had the exit hole. I had to lure the Wollywog away from the Blowhog (also no casualties) and then come back with just my Blues to kill the Blowhog itself. There were also a few electric nodes around the place, including blocking the exit hole, so I took them out with Yellows, claimed the Divine Cooking Tool (90 pokos) and moved on.
The main area of the second floor had a "tub" sunk into the middle of the ground with a Dwarf Orange Bulborb, a falling rock and the Durable Energy Cell treasure (160 pokos), while two more Dwarf Bulborbs, an adult and a new enemy called a Lesser Spotted Jellyfloat (basically a hovering jellyfish with glowing yellow spots that sucks up Pikmin and slowly digests them) patrolled the higher area around it. Well, the adult was actually asleep as usual. There were also some poison spouts, one blocking the exit hole, and a black wall with a treasure behind it. This area was connected to the Research Pod site (which had another Dwarf Bulborb nearby) via two exits: a short one near the Jellyfloat and a longer one near the adult Bulborb. I took the latter while scouting and accidentally managed to get the Bulborb to fall into the tub, where it became stuck. It was trying to get back to its sleeping spot, but the AI wouldn't allow it to use the slope on the opposite side of the tub so it just kept walking into the wall. This made it much easier to kill as I could just throw Purples down on top of it. I then jumped down with the rest of my army, killed the Dwarf Bulborb (the falling rock had already been triggered during scouting), headed up the slope, killed the Jellyfloat using the same tactics as airborne Blowhogs (weigh down with Purples then swarm when it falls), swarmed the two remaining Dwarf Bulborbs and knocked out the poison spouts with my Whites. The only tricky part after this came after I knocked down the wall to get at the Sud Generator treasure (60 pokos). I don't know if it had always been there or if it dropped from the ceiling, but a final Dwarf Bulbear appeared behind the treasure in the alcove and managed to munch one of my Purples before I could swarm it properly. So much for no casualties in this final (for now) dungeon...
The third floor had three paths leading off the Research Pod site (which had a pair of Lesser Jellyfloats that I had to take care of right away). The first had a Water Dumple and led around to a Hermit Crawmad in a small pool, but it didn't have a treasure so I left it alone. The second path, which had two entrances, contained the exit hole, a black wall with an egg behind it (and a Wollywog that dropped from the ceiling and killed 6 Blues), a small pool with another Dumple that snapped up another Blue but I petrified and killed it before it could swallow (and got a free Spicy Spray), and a Greater Spotted Jellyfloat (bigger, pink spots and sucks up captains as well) that yielded the Mirrored Stage treasure (140 pokos). The Greater Jellyfloat was actually the first enemy I killed in that passage as it was attracted by the presence of Olimar and Louie. The final path led to a large area with two Lesser Jellyfloats, two Dumples and two treasures, the Vorpal Platter and the Scrumptious Shell (both 60 pokos), the latter of which was behind a wall. The trick was to first lure each enemy closer, which was easier with the Jellyfloats, and kill them one at a time. Incidentally, the Vorpal Platter took my funds up to 9,015 pokos, pushing me over the 90% clearance mark. Less than 1,000 pokos left to go!
The fourth floor was a rather curious one. Instead of bathroom tiles it consisted of a network of drain-like pipes with plant life here and there. There were two larger chambers with sunlight shining through grates in the ceiling and a pair of Queen Candypop Buds (I used one to replenish my supply of Blues, plus one extra due to the space left by the dead Purple on the second floor), a leaf treasure (Arboreal Frippery, 10 pokos) up in the end of a high pipe so I threw a Yellow up to collect it, and, rather oddly, an exit geyser. If I wanted to I could quit right now and leave with the treasures I've collected so far. But I don't, so I didn't.
The Research Pod site of the fifth floor was between two larger chambers and was inhabited by two Withering Blowhogs, which were swiftly taken down before they could actually do any withering. Both chambers were accessible through a short path in the middle and a longer path that led around to the side of the respective rooms where there were fewer enemies. One chamber's paths were blocked by fire geysers and the other was blocked off by a pair of walls. The room blocked by geysers had a huge pile of sand in one corner, on which were about four or five Dwarf Orange Bulborbs, as well as a Wollywog near the geyser that blocked the long path. Another Purple was killed by this creature, but all of the Dwarf Bulborbs went down with little trouble, though it was a small struggle getting the Pikmin to swarm up the steep pile. Next to the sand pile, and indeed what the sand was piled against along with the cave wall, was a large structure with a grate on top of it and a treasure (Permanent Container, 130 pokos) in some running water under that, so I threw some Blues down to collect it. The other room was accessible through the two walls and contained two Dwarf Orange Bulborbs, two Fiery Blowhogs, two fire geysers and two treasures, one of which was lying on the floor (Happiness Emblem, 100 pokos) and the other (Merciless Extractor, 90 pokos) was on top of a small platform that I would have to use to transport my non-Blue Pikmin past the small puddle that blocked off the exit hole. Not wanting to risk my Blues, I instead punched the Dwarf Bulborb that was in the puddle to death with Olimar, swarmed the other Dwarf, and took out the Blowhogs and geysers with my Reds.
There was another Wollywog right near the Research Pod on the sixth floor, but this time I had to actually move my Pikmin out of the way as it was close enough to leap straight away. Almost immediately after killing the Wollywog I spotted a sleeping Orange Bulborb with its back to me and three Dwarf Orange Bulborbs nearby. I decided to petrify the whole lot of them with a couple of Bitter Sprays as I didn't want to risk attracting the Dwarfs' attention while I was killing the adult. There were three passages leading off the Research Pod site, the first of which was behind a wall and had some Dwarf Orange Bulborbs with the final one in a small puddle that also contained the Rubber Ugly treasure (90 pokos), so I punched it to death with Olimar again, then brought the rest of my army to swarm the other Dwarfs and sent the Blues to collect the treasure. The second path was a very short one and just had a black wall with the Behemoth Jaw treasure (100 pokos). It seemed simple, but as my Pikmin started to carry the treasure back to the Pod, they were ambushed by an Anode Dweevil (a yellow version of the Fiery Dweevil that can shock Pikmin instead of breathing fire) which stole it, so I had to retreat and come back to take it back with my Yellows. The final passage, which had the exit hole behind a wall at the end of it, was a short straight line with four pipe-like alcoves leading off it, while the passage itself was being patrolled by a Bumbling Snitchbug. This creature is much the same as a Swooping Snitchbug, but it goes after captains instead of Pikmin, so I had to lure it close with Olimar and then have Louie come in with the Pikmin to take it down with my usual tactics for airborne enemies (weigh down with Purples and swarm with the rest when the enemy falls). I had to be careful with all this, however, as three of the four alcoves had Dweevils in them. One was an Anode Dweevil, another was a Munge Dweevil (pink/purple and breathes poison), but by far the most dangerous was the Volatile Dweevil, which is basically a Dweevil with a Bomb Rock on its back, so by necessity that was actually the first enemy in the passage I dealt with. Just wake it up, run away and maybe try to lure it close to another enemy to take them out as well when it explodes. No such luck in that department, but it's not exactly difficult to kill dweevils anyway. A little time-consuming with just 10 Whites for the Munge dweevil, but not difficult. Anyway, in the final alcove was the final treasure of the floor (Plentiful Tank, 50 pokos) which I collected before moving on to the cave finale.
So here we are. The final floor of the final cave of this half of the game. The Research Pod area was separated from the boss arena by a series of winding, criss-crossing passages full of walls that needed to be broken down, with the exit geyser behind another wall in the boss arena. I made my way to one of the possible entrances to the arena and came face-to-face with the Ranging Bloyster, which is essentially a larger version of the Toady Bloyster that also has a longer reach with its tentacles when it attacks. Another difference is that instead of going after the Pikmin, the Ranging Bloyser tracks the captain that is currently being controlled by the player and when it gets close enough it lashes out to grab any Pikmin that might be nearby. Fortunately this predatory technique is rather easy to exploit. First I had Louie run out to get behind the Bloyster (what? Bosses always delegate unpleasant tasks to their subordinates). Then once it had turned to face him I had Olimar come out and start throwing Pikmin at the bulb on its back, its only weak spot. All I had to do was keep switching back to Louie when it was about to turn and get Olimar's Pikmin and have Olimar stay behind it to have easy access to the weak point. It was pretty nerve-wracking, especially as Pikmin ended up getting thrown all over the place as it kept turning to follow Louie, but I was thankfully able to wear it down with no Pikmin casualties and claim the Amplified Amplifier treasure (100 pokos), which The Ship developed into the Mega Tweeter, greatly increasing the range of the captains' whistles. I then knocked down the wall blocking the geyser and blasted out.
After landing back by The Ship and Onions and getting the "90% Debt Cleared" fanfare, I went to re-mature any Pikmin in my current squad that had been reduced to leaves. I threw a Purple onto the eggs, as I now always do wherever possible, and sure enough a swarm of Mitites sprang out of one. I threw a couple more Purples, killing the Mitites with their shockwaves, got a whole load of nectar as a result, re-matured my entire army and had my Yellows carry the corpses back to their Onion, finally bringing their numbers up to over 300 like the Reds and Blues. I spent the last remaining hours collecting a few more berries, because there are no Burgeoning Spiderworts where I'm going next. Where is that, you ask? Why, back where this whole adventure started, of course! With both the Awakening Wood and Perplexing Pool completed, it's finally time to return to the Valley of Repose and clear the last little bit of the debt.
Next Time: The Final Push.
Day Summary
Treasure
Massage Girdle (metal nut) - 100
Divine Cooking Tool (broken ladle) - 90
Durable Energy Cell (Duracell C battery) - 160
Sud Generator (bar of soap) - 60
Mirrored Stage (powder case/mirror) - 140
Vorpal Platter (bent lid of aluminium can) - 60
Scrumptious Shell (top half of a scallop shell) - 60
Arboreal Frippery (maple tree leaf) - 10
Permanent Container (sealed "ICC" tin) - 130
Happiness Emblem ("Fristi" bottle cap) - 100
Merciless Extractor (manual fruit juicer/lemon squeezer) - 90
Rubber Ugly (rubber duck) - 90
Behemoth Jaw (set of dentures) - 100
Plentiful Tank ("Breitsamer" honey jar) - 50
Amplified Amplifier (loudspeaker) - 100
Day Total: 1,340 pokos
Overall Total: 9,745/10,000 pokos
Pikmin
Red Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 311
Purple Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 2
Day Total: -2
Overall Total: 37
White Pikmin
Sprouted: 0
Killed: 0
Day Total: 0
Overall Total: 47
Yellow Pikmin
Sprouted: 18
Killed: 0
Day Total: 18
Overall Total: 308
Blue Pikmin
Sprouted: 7
Killed: 6
Day Total: 1
Overall Total: 334
Total Pikmin: 1,037
Total Deaths: 80
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