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Chapter Text

Captain Olimar was on one last work trip before his paternity leave started.  The delivery run was easy enough: just a standard cargo haul to the planet Ooji and then right back to his homeworld of Hocotate.  It was a route he'd taken a dozen times, so he knew it well.

His fingers gripped the steering wheel of his spaceship, the SS Dolphin.  Though the run was easy, it was long.  He was getting tired.  He should have heeded the suggestion from the manager of Ooji Imports to spend a night on their planet and rest, but given the circumstances, he was eager to get home to his family.

Not that he could miss the upcoming birth of his third child even if he tried.  After all, he was the one who was pregnant, as was normal for men from Hocotate.

Of course, pregnancy was as exhausting as long interstellar travel.  Olimar's eyelids drooped.  This was the second time he jerked his head up before it hit the control panel.  His fifth yawn convinced him that he needed a break.

He patted his belly gently.  His daughter hadn't started really growing yet, so he didn't look eight months along, but she was nearly fully developed.  He could feel every movement she made, and right now she felt as sleepy as he was.

"Just a quick nap.  Ten minutes, tops," he said to her. 

The Dolphin had a bed onboard, but Olimar didn't bother going there for naps.  It was easier to stay in the pilot's seat, which had an extra thick cushion for his comfort.  

He set the autopilot to continue along the tried-and-true route, reclined on his chair, and clapped his hands to deactivate the ship's interior lights.  It didn't take him long to fall into a deep, restful sleep.

The blare of an alarm woke him abruptly soon after.

Olimar saw the words "Collision Imminent!" flash on the status screen for a split second before an impact shook the ship.  He grabbed the steering wheel and tried to do something, but the controls weren't responding.

An explosion rocked the Dolphin.  The screen above him gave one final message before the main power went down: "Hull Breach!"

Olimar threw himself out of the pilot's seat and towards the suit rack.  He already had his space suit on, like always, but he had to get the helmet now, while there was still air in the cockpit.

Luckily it was close for emergencies like this.  A moment after Olimar heard the hiss of the suit pressurizing, the Dolphin lurched under his feet.  He grabbed whatever he could get his hands on as the ship went into free-fall.  A planet's gravity was sucking them in.  They were going down, fast!

Everything was too loud and too bright.  Olimar squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to block out some of what was happening.  Instead, he felt the ship shuddering and shaking, like it was breaking apart around him.

The Dolphin hit the ground nose-first and bounced back into the air.  The initial impact threw Olimar from the ship.  He landed hard on his back.

It took him a few terrified gasps to get his wind back.  When he could breath again, his first thought was for the baby.  He grabbed his stomach, searching for a kick or a punch or anything to let him know she was okay.

He didn't feel anything.  She wasn't moving.  His heart dropped.

"No," Olimar groaned.  "No no no no no no!"

She was dead.  His daughter was dead.  He killed her by falling asleep at the wheel.

He let his head and arms drop.  Depending on how damaged the Dolphin was, he may well have killed himself, too.  He could only hope the ship's radio was functional enough for him to call for help, and he would still have to survive until rescue arrived.  He didn't need to check a star map to know this planet was uncharted.  There weren't any colonies or stations in this part of the galaxy.  This was a mess.  A very terrible mess....

Was that a flutter?  Olimar's hands shot back to his belly, searching desperately for any sign of movement.  

There it was again!  A kick and a wiggle.  His daughter was alive!

Alive and angry with him, judging by the barrage of kicks she threw at his hands.  Apparently she didn't appreciate his crash landing.  Despite the tears welling in his eyes, Olimar laughed with relief.  He would take any good news he could get right now.

"Yes, you're right to be mad at me.  I should have.... I really should have stayed the night over at Ooji, huh?  But I sleep on trips all the time.  Autopilot has never failed me before...."

He stopped talking.  Excuses and rationalizing weren't going to do him any good.  There were other things he had to take care of.

"You go ahead and keep kicking me, okay?  I'll see what we have to work with," he told her.

Now that he'd broken out of his despair spiral, Olimar was thinking clearly enough to draw on his spaceflight training.  The first thing a pilot should do after a crash was check themself for injuries, and the second thing was to tend to those injuries.

He moved his hands from his stomach to his ribs.  They were mildly sore from the fall, but nothing stung or burned.  It didn't feel like they were broken.  Since his arms obviously worked, he moved onto his legs next.  He pulled his right foot up towards his chest, then the left.  There was no pain.

If his legs could move, he assumed his spine was okay, but he sat up slowly anyway.  Like his ribs, his back ached from hitting the ground.  Thankfully, there wasn't any serious damage beyond that.  He stood without difficulty.

Physically, Olimar had been very, very lucky. 

He checked the external information on his suit.  This planet had reasonably lower gravity than he was used to, about a third as strong as Hocotate's.  That had probably played a part in his non-fatal landing.  It also made him feel lighter, something he appreciated.

The atmosphere readings gave him his first set of bad news.  There were high concentrations of oxygen in this planet's air, a gas that was toxic to the carbon monoxide-breathing inhabitants of Hocotate.  Taking his helmet off would mean death by poisoning or suffocation, depending on which happened first.

That was sure going to complicate things.  The Dolphin's cockpit and cargo hold could be separately pressurized, but only if they were intact.  Olimar didn't know what shape the ship was in, but he knew the hold was only air tight if every part around it was in place.  If anything was broken, he was going to be living full-time in his space suit for awhile.

He checked the internal systems next.  The automatic waste disposal was working.  Temperature control was online.  The panel of life readings lit up with Olimar's heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and respiration rate, which were nearly all elevated due to the stress of the crash, but not dangerously so.

For the first time in his life, he wished the suit also came with a built-in ultrasound machine.  It would put his mind at ease to know the baby was okay, and not have to assume she was because she was kicking.

And his life support?  There was more bad news to be found there.  The suit's batteries would only last for thirty days and thirty nights.  

The Dolphin would have unlimited life support if she had either of her electricity generators.  But that wouldn't save him; he would be stuck in the Dolphin then, able to breathe but not leave and find the parts needed to fix her.  His food would run out eventually, with no way to replenish it.

He effectively had thirty days to find a way off this planet or call for help.  After that....

Olimar didn't want to think about that. 

He had checked himself.  The next thing on his to-do list was to assess the full extent of the ship's damage.  His chances of survival greatly depended on what parts of her were functional.

It was night, so he couldn't see much beyond the Dolphin's silhouette, but that was enough.  His beloved spaceship, which had faithfully carried him from star to star for ten years, was a smoking heap of rubble.  She was only upright because her stern fins were buried in the dirt.

Olimar used the glow from the fires on the hull to check the bottom of the ship, where the engine should be.  It wasn't there.  His engine was gone.  The cargo hold would be impossible to seal without it.

"Maybe it fell nearby?" he asked.

Checking his surroundings was next on his list, but that proved to be impossible.  Hocotatians were not known for their excellent night vision.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Because they came from a warm, generally sunny desert planet, their eyes were designed to keep excess sunlight out.

What that meant for Olimar was that the landscape was pitch black beyond the light from the Dolphin's wreckage.  He made out dirt and grass on the ground, but that was all.

The engine might be nearby.  It might not.  He wouldn't know until the morning.  For now, he went inside to check everything else.

Many of the Dolphin's parts were totally gone, ripped out in the crash.  That included the Interstellar Radio, to Olimar's dismay.  The emergency power was working and the fuel reserve (somehow) took no damage, but their utility was limited.  Only the weakest lights worked.  He needed one of the two electrical generators to run the regular light system and most other things, but they were gone too.

Olimar could practically see his odds of survival dropping before his eyes.

"Focus on what you DO have," he told himself.

The food storage was intact.  That included the instant space noodles he ate on work trips, a few thermoses of his wife's beet stew, and a bonus supply of pikpik carrots. 

The noodles and carrots would be fine as they were, but the stew was in the fridge, which currently had no power.  Olimar took out one of the thermoses to check it.  The stew looked and smelled okay for now, but that wouldn't last long.  If he could eat it now, before it spoiled, he would.

Unfortunately, he couldn't take his helmet off inside the ship right now.  There wouldn't be any eating until the engine was back.

"That's okay.  Hocotatians can survive eighteen days without food!" he said confidently.  He looked down.  "-When they aren't pregnant...."

He redoubled his prayers that the engine was nearby.

Since he'd completed the delivery to Ooji, the only other things in the cargo hold were his bed and bath tub.  The onboard water supply was two-thirds full, though it wouldn't be able to refill from the atmosphere without power.

Drinking was something Olimar could do without removing his helmet, because the built-in whistle-hole also fit a straw.  That was something.  His desert-adapted body would conserve water on its own, but drinking water might help him feel less hungry.

The toilet worked.  That wasn't particularly useful, since his suit handled that need automatically, but the bathroom was generally more comfortable.  Once he could take his suit off again, he would be thankful he had that.

Olimar checked the cockpit next.  It was clear from outside that the canopy had been blown clear off, but from the inside he realized his pilot's seat was also gone.  Trying not to think too hard about how lucky he was to not be in the seat when it was torn free, he investigated further.

Somehow, the display, steering wheel, and control panel were not only where they were supposed to be, but intact.  Even on limited power, the Dolphin's driving system came alive at Olimar's touch.

"Error: engine offline," was all the status screen had to offer.

"Thank you.  I didn't notice that," Olimar quipped.

The photo of his family was still in its place on the corner of his screen.  He took it down and looked at it fondly.

In the picture, Olimar stood beside his beloved wife Rosie.  Their twelve-year-old son Oddey and their five-year-old daughter Posy were in front of them, hugging the family space-dog Bulbie between them.

Olimar's family was the most important thing in the universe to him.  The thought that they would never see him again if he died on this planet sent a chill up his spine, but also a blaze of determination. 

He must survive and get off this planet.  Not only for himself and his unborn daughter, but also for Rosie, Oddey, Posy, and Bulbie back home.  They needed him.

A thought suddenly struck him: his children had given him gemstones to decorate the Dolphin with.  Did they fall off in the crash, too?

After carefully setting the picture back on the screen, Olimar went outside.  His eyes ran up the side of the ship, to where the decorations should be.  They were gone.  The ship would fly without them, but their absence stung.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound in the distance.  Then another and another.  When they came closer, he recognized them as footsteps.

Olimar turned in the direction of the noise.  At first, he couldn't see anything in the darkness.  Then, he saw hints of something white bouncing back and forth in the underbrush, which finally came into focus as a whole creature.

The beast faced towards him.  Its eyes reflected the glow of the ship's embers and lit up bright red.  Olimar swallowed hard.  Each of the creature's glowing pupils was nearly as big as his head!

The creature moved closer.  The Dolphin had stopped actively burning, but she smoldered enough to let Olimar see a vague shape of the thing.  He saw stalks under its eyes, a pointed snout, and a round body.  Even at a distance, he could tell it was massive.

It ambled closer casually, stopping to sniff the ground every few steps.  Its head turned in his direction and he saw its nostrils flare.  Could it smell him?

It could!  The creature moved pointedly towards him.

Olimar fled into the Dolphin's wreckage.  The creature was right behind him.  Once inside the ship, he pressed his back against the inner hull and stayed perfectly still.  Hopefully it wouldn't come looking for him...

The creature paced outside for a few tense minutes.  Its footsteps were loud enough to drown out the thumping of Olimar's pulse in his ears.  He was sure it could hear his heavy breathing even through his helmet.

Then, it gave up and wandered away.  Step by step, the creature's footfalls receded into the distance.

Olimar's heart pounded long after it left.

"What kind of terrible planet is this??" he thought.

It was abundantly clear that he didn't want to be out at night on this world.  There were predators stalking the darkness.  Big predators.  Big, hungry, Hocotatian-eating predators.

"I guess we're staying right here until morning," he said, then he snapped his mouth shut.  He shouldn't make any sound he didn't have to, not even to calm his nerves.  Something might hear him.

With nothing else to do, Olimar snuck to his bed as quietly as he could.  He crawled under the blanket and curled up, though he didn't need the warmth as much as the cover.  It felt like he would be safe so long as he was hidden, even if a simple blanket wouldn't protect him from anything.

The baby was unsettled because of his fear.  She rolled from side-to-side and stretched out her legs nervously.  Olimar didn't know what to do for her other than wrap his arm around his belly and breath more slowly to relax his nerves.

"Easy, easy, dear," he whispered as loud as he dared.  "It's okay.  We'll.... We'll be fine.  I promise."

She couldn't understand his words, but the sound of his voice had always soothed her before.  This time was no different.  It helped that his panic was easing.  She changed position one more time and settled down to sleep.

"There you go.  Good night, little one," Olimar said.

He expected to have trouble falling asleep in the wreckage of his ship on a dangerous alien planet with his space helmet on, but he was exhausted enough that none of those things mattered.  Mere moments after he laid his head down, he was fast asleep.

Lightyears away, back on Hocotate, Rosie went through her regular nighttime routine.

She tucked the kids into bed and kissed their foreheads goodnight.  Bulbie stood at the base of Oddey's bed until she hoisted him onto it.  The dog curled up by his feet to sleep.

Before Rosie settled in her own bed, she pressed her fingers lovingly against Olimar's framed picture on the nightstand.  She hid the picture when he was home, but it kept her company when he was away on work trips.

"See you in a few days, Oli," she said.

She pulled up the covers and closed her eyes.

He was due home in two days.  Until then, she wouldn't have even the slightest clue that calamity had befallen him.  So she slept soundly, content in the knowledge that she would have Olimar beside her soon.

Chapter Text

While he waited for the sun to rise the next day, Olimar sat in the Dolphin's cockpit, holding the photo of his family.  Their smiling faces were strengthening his resolve to go out and search for his missing ship parts.

The baby woke up when he did that morning.  Her grumpy kicks were probably a protest over the lack of breakfast, but Olimar couldn't do much about that.

"Hey, calm down in there!  I'm hungry, too," he said, patting his belly.  His stomach rumbled in apparent confirmation.

Hoping to distract himself from his fears and hunger, Olimar did some reminiscing.

This pregnancy had been something of a surprise.  Rosie and Olimar weren't exactly trying to have a third child, but they weren't really trying not to have one either.  They especially weren't trying not to that weekend he came home from a two-month-long business trip, when he missed Rosie so badly it ached.

Olimar put the pieces together on a work trip.  That wasn't a surprise.  He was away almost more than he was home, so the chances of him being gone when anything happened were pretty high.

He ignored the first symptom, a slight raise in his body temperature.  When the Dolphin's cockpit felt too cold, he merely assumed the thermostat was malfunctioning and turned the heat up a few degrees.

Then he developed an intense craving for kando beets.  Olimar didn't need a test or a doctor to tell him what that meant, because he knew.  Craving that particular type of beet was a universal trait of Hocotatian pregnancy.  The vegetable was packed with all the nutrients and vitamins a developing baby needed and they grew year-round, even during the rough drought months.  Olimar wasn't particularly fond of them normally, but when he was pregnant he couldn't get enough.

He remembered thinking, "Maybe we should have been more careful that night..." then feeling bad for having the thought.  Hadn't he always said that any children he and Rosie had were a blessing?  This one was, too, even if it was unexpected.

At the time, he wasn't sure how Rosie would take the news.  Their family wasn't struggling financially, but they weren't particularly well-off either.  They had to miss out on some things they wanted.  Blessing or not, a third child was another person to feed, clothe, and care for.  Rosie might not be as okay with this development as he was.

To lessen the shock a bit, he sent her a long-range message on his way home.  He rewrote it six times and still wasn't happy with it, but he sent it anyway.

"Honey, there's something you should know before I get home.  I'm pregnant.  I know our money situation isn't ideal right now, but I'll figure something out.  I'll be home pretty late tonight, but we can talk about it tomorrow.  See you soon.  Love, Olimar."

He figured that "something" would be him picking up more hours at work.  It would mean seeing his family even less, but he would do it if it meant supporting them.  Rosie, Oddey, Posy, and now the new baby were his top priority.  He would shoulder anything for them.

When he entered the house in the middle of the night, the kitchen light was on and the air smelled heavenly.  Confused but intrigued, Olimar followed his nose to the kitchen.

Rosie was there, waiting for him.

She rose from her chair and wrapped him in a warm, close hug.  All of his worries melted away in her arms.

"Oh, Oli..." she whispered in his ear, "There's nothing to figure out.  You do enough for us already.  I'll get a job while the kids are at school so money isn't a problem.  Maybe you can even have more time at home.  That would be wonderful, wouldn't it?"

"Y-yes.  I would like that," he replied.

He felt silly.  How could he have ever thought Rosie would leave him to deal with this situation alone?

The oven pinged.  Rosie opened it and revealed the source of the delicious smell in the house: kando beet casserole.  The exact thing Olimar had been craving.

"Have some of this.  Knowing you, you've been feeding our child nothing but instant space noodles," she said, her tone playful.

"It's the only thing I have on the Dolphin!" he protested.  But he said it in good humor.  At the end of the day, he would rather have his wife's magnificent home cooking than anything else in the galaxy, and she knew that.

The next day, they told the kids the news.

Oddey and Posy had just finished breakfast when Olimar came down the stairs in the morning.  They both abandoned their cereal bowls and ran to give him big welcome home hugs.  He wrapped them in his arms and gave them a good squeeze.

Rosie gave Olimar a questioning look.  He smiled and nodded.

"Oddey, Posy?  There's something we need to talk to you about this morning," Rosie said.

Oddey's eyes popped open and he stepped back from Olimar.

"You're not in trouble," Olimar said.

"Thank the stars!  I thought you knew something about my grades that I didn't!" Oddey said.

"I knew I wasn't in trouble," Posy said confidently.

Olimar got down on his knee and cleared his throat dramatically.  Then, he said, "Your Mama and I are having a baby.  You're both getting a new little sibling."

For a moment, the kids stared at him in shock.  Then Oddey pumped his fists in the air and Posy squealed in delight.
"A baby!  I'm going to be a big sister!" she yelled.

"I'm going to be a bigger brother!" he shouted.

"This is the best news ever!"

"That's soooo much better than being in trouble!"

"Is our new sibling a sister or a brother?"

"We don't know yet," Rosie said.  "For now, they're just a 'sibling.'"

"I'll like them whether they're a brother or a sister!" Posy said.

When the excitement settled, Posy looked around the room as if she expected to see something that wasn't there.

"Mama, Papa..... where is the new baby?" she asked.

Oddey slapped one hand on his leg and raised the other one in the air.

"Ooh, ooh, can I explain it to her?" he asked.

"As long as you keep in mind that she's four and hasn't taken any biology courses in school yet," Olimar said.

"Yeah, sure."  He turned to face Posy.  "Posy, the baby is in Papa's stomach!"

A look of horror crossed her face.  "How did they get in there?  Did Papa eat them?"

"No, no, of course not!  They aren't in his stomach stomach."  Oddey reconsidered his approach.  "See, Papa has a special organ in his tummy that'll hold the baby while they grow."

"Oooooooooh," Posy said.  "So...  I was in Papa's tummy?"

"Yeah, you were."

"And.... you were in Papa's tummy, too?"

"Yep!"

Posy stared at Olimar incredulously.  "But if there's a whole baby in your tummy, shouldn't it look bigger?" she asked.

"It will later on.  The baby is very small right now," he replied.

He held up his fingers, slightly apart.  Posy put her hand up to the gap.

"Was I really that small?" she asked.

"You were, once.  But you grew quickly, so you weren't this small for long."

"When will we be able to see the baby?"

"You won't see them for awhile, but you will be able to feel them kicking in four months or so."

"That's soon!  This is so exciting!"

Posy gave him another, bigger hug.  Olimar held her tight and smiled at Rosie and Oddey over her shoulder.

Now, they might never get to meet their little sister.

Olimar shook his head fiercely.  No, he couldn't think like that.  He would fix his ship and get home.  Somehow....

He pressed the family photo to his heart before returning it to its place on the status panel.  The sun was up now and he could take his first real looks at this strange planet he was stranded on.

The first thing he noticed was how green the landscape was.  The ground around the Dolphin was coated in short, soft-looking grass with little patches of dirt showing through.  Beyond the flat areas, what Olimar believed were trees towered above him, though they were hundreds of times larger than Hocotate's trees.  Their roots were massive enough to encircle the grassy field.

"The plants here are gigantic!" he said.

The creature he encountered the night before was larger than anything that roamed the lands of Hocotate, but even that beast was dwarfed by the vegetation.  It felt like that meant something, but Olimar couldn't even hazard a guess what that was.

He had other concerns, anyway.

Weary of leaning too far out of cover, Olimar checked the surroundings for any sign of the predator.  The plants were the only things that moved, blowing lightly in the wind.

He stepped out of the Dolphin's wreckage and slowly moved into the open.  His highly developed sense of smell could detect scents even after the suit's filter was done clearing the air.  Right now, the only smells around were wet leaves and early dew.

The wind picked up and rustled the leaves on the giant trees.  That was the only sound he heard.

As far as he could tell, he was the only living thing in the immediate area.

"That means I'm safe, for now" he said.  He let his shoulders relax slightly, but not completely.

Across the clearing, something red caught his eye.  Excitement welled within him.  That could be a piece of the Dolphin! 

When he approached, however, he instead found what looked like a vegetable sticking up out of the dirt.  If vegetables had white flower petals growing on top of them.

"That's strange," Olimar thought.  "Maybe I can eat it?"

He approached to investigate.  In the second before his hand made contact, the red vegetable shuddered once and lit up with a brighter shade of cherry red.  The petals on top started spinning.  Olimar leaned in to get a closer look, only to be whacked in the helmet when the vegetable flew into the air and unfolded a stick-like leg in his face.

The force of the blow rolled him head-over-heels before landing him on his backside.  He found himself looking up at a red onion-like object on three stilt legs.

A beam of light appeared beneath the vegetable, and while Olimar was still processing that, a seed popped out of the flower on top of the thing.  It fell all the way to the ground and embedded itself there.

A red plant stem grew up from the seed in a matter of seconds.  A little green leaf fanned out at the end and waved back and forth in the air.  It almost felt like the sprout was beckoning to Olimar, calling him closer with its gentle waving.

He took a weary step, then another.  The stem didn't look dangerous.  That could change at any second, though.

He inspected it before he touched it.  The stem widened at the bottom, as if there was an entire plant attached to it.

Olimar needed to know what was at the other end.  This plant might help him survive somehow, and besides, he was painfully curious about it.

He wrapped both hands around the stem and gave it a tug.  That wasn't enough, so he braced his feet more firmly and yanked harder.  The stem came free from the dirt with a loud "pop" and so much force that it flew clean over his head.

When Olimar spun around to see what he'd dug up, he beheld.... an animal?  A plant?  No matter how little sense it made, this creature appeared to be both.

The stem was attached to a head, which in turn was attached to a body.  It had arms and legs, each with three fingers or toes.  Every part of it was red other than the green leaf.  It had beady eyes and a thorn in the middle of its face that resembled a pointy nose.

Olimar stared at it in disbelief.  He knew a lot about the galaxy's animals and their biology, so he knew that this was impossible.  Plants and animals couldn't fuse together into one entity.  Either this planet operated on different natural rules, or he had suffered a concussion during his landing and was now hallucinating.

The plant creature looked down at itself curiously.  It stretched its arms and stomped its legs, as if it was getting a feel for them.  Then, it made eye contact with Olimar and tilted its head to the side.

"Hello?" he said.

The creature made a high-pitched "doot!" sound and walked closer to him.  Olimar held his ground as it approached.  He didn't know its intentions, but it wasn't waving claws or fangs at him so he gave it the benefit of the doubt.

It only stopped when its nose bumped against his helmet.  Then it studied him with its big eyes.  He studied it back.  If not for the face, fingers, and toes, this creature would look a lot like one of Hocotate's pikpik carrots.

Olimar's stomach growled, reminding him that he didn't have dinner or breakfast.  He would love to be eating pikpik carrots right now.

"Do you have a name for yourself?" he asked the plant creature.

It tilted its head and said something incomprehensible.  Of course it didn't speak Hocotatian.  That was a stupid assumption to make.

"I can't call you a carrot or a pikpik.  I'll be hungry every time I look at you.  'Pikmin' sounds better and less appetizing.  Can I call you a Pikmin?"

"Woo!" the creature said.

"The giant vegetable you came out of looks like the onions from my homeworld.  Are you okay with me calling that an 'Onion?'"

"Yawoo!" the Pikmin said.

It suddenly ran away from him in a seemingly random direction.  He thought it was leaving, but it stopped in front of a plant stem.  The flower on top had white petals, similar to those on the Onion, and a round red center.  The Pikmin jumped up and down, pointing to the top.

"Do you want that?" Olimar asked.

"Ooooo!" was the excited response.

He glanced up at the flower, then down at the Pikmin.  Maybe he could lift it up until it could reach?  How heavy was this creature, anyway?

He took hold of its stem, like he did when he picked it out of the ground, and lifted it slowly in case it protested.  The Pikmin watched him unblinking.  By all accounts, it looked like it was expecting him to do that.

He was surprised to discover it weighed less than Posy.  Maybe that wasn't so surprising, since it was only slightly taller than her.  The planet's gravity would make everything less heavy than Olimar expected, anyway.

The Pikmin still didn't protest.  It pointed at the flower and made a sound of encouragement.

Olimar lifted the Pikmin as high as he could, but its little arms couldn't reach the top.  He shifted his grip to its hips, and that still wasn't enough.

He set it back down and stared at the flower thoughtfully.  The Pikmin pointed at it more insistently and jumped up and down.

"I can't throw you up there.  I might hurt you," Olimar said.

Except.... maybe that was what he needed to do.  Could he throw the Pikmin hard enough to get it to the flower, though?  There was only one way to find out.

The Pikmin didn't resist when he grabbed it by the stem again.  Olimar wound up his arm, took aim, and gave the Pikmin a mighty toss.

Mighty but not well-aimed.  The Pikmin flew past the flower by millimeters and landed behind it.  Olimar flinched as it hit the ground, but the Pikmin was uninjured and returned to his side.  It wasn't at all put off by being thrown through the air like a living frisbee.

"One more try," Olimar said.

This time, his aim was true.  The Pikmin landed on the flower and held on.  It used the leaf on its head like a weapon, whacking the flower repeatedly.  Olimar stepped back just in time to avoid getting hit by the red pellet that fell from the flower's head.

The Pikmin slid down the plant and grabbed the pellet without missing a beat.  It carried it back to the beam beneath the Onion and set it down.  Before Olimar's awed eyes, the vegetable absorbed the pellet.  It then spit two more Pikmin seeds out the top, which took root the same way the first one did.

"Wow," Olimar breathed.

The Pikmin returned to him and looked at him expectantly.  He took the cue to lift it and throw it at the other plant of the same type beside the Onion.  The Pikmin broke it down and carried the pellet back, producing two more seeds.

Olimar had about three dozen other things to worry about, but his curiosity about these strange creatures overrode every other concern.  He needed to know more about the Pikmin.

"Who knows?  Maybe they can help me repair the Dolphin," he thought.  The only way he would find out was if he investigated them further.

He pulled each of the sprouts out of the ground.  The four new Pikmin shook themselves off and grouped around the first one.  They followed its lead in staring at Olimar.

He gave the five plant creatures a closer inspection.  He was trying to find a way to distinguish them from each other. 

Unfortunately, as far as he could tell, they were literally identical.  Their noses were the same length and shape and their leaves matched.  They were the exact same shade of red.  They didn't even appear to have biological sexes.

Olimar looked up at the Onion above his head and laughed at himself.  Of course they didn't have reproductive organs, their seeds came out of the Onion.  Somehow, this other plant was doing the reproducing for the Pikmin.

So they had no physical sex and probably no gender either.  He felt weird thinking of them as "it," though.  They were obviously living creatures with some manner of intelligence.  He decided to use "he" for all of them.  It would make his life a little simpler, and he was pretty sure they wouldn't mind.

One of the Pikmin ran to the next pellet flower and pointed up at it.  The others simply watched Olimar with their big, unblinking eyes.

"I know which one you are," Olimar said, "You must be the first one that came out of the Onion.  At least you act differently from the others."

As he threw the Pikmin at the flower, he wondered if he should give them names.  Part of him wished he knew how they named themselves, but the language barrier wouldn't allow that.

This first Pikmin's go-getter attitude reminded Olimar of the main character from a tv show he watched as a kid.  Space Trek sparked his initial interest in being a pilot.  He wanted to explore the vast reaches of space like Captain Kipard.

The Pikmin returned to him and stood at the front of the group like before.  His stem stood straight up, ready for Olimar's next order.

"I'm going to call you Kipard, if you don't mind," he said.  The look he received made it clear that the Pikmin had no idea what that meant, but he probably didn't need to know his name as long as Olimar could toss him where he needed to go.

Olimar pulled the two newest Pikmin from the ground.  They joined the others in one big group and waited for instructions.

"As for naming the rest of you...  You'll be Kosp, Vokech, Rekyr, Arik, Ood, and Forgla."

He had a feeling he wouldn't be able to tell which one was which as soon as they started moving around, but that was probably okay.

"Alright, um, team.  We're going to look around and see if any of the Dolphin's parts are nearby."

The Pikmin nodded and shouted a perfectly synchronized, "Yahoo!"  Olimar took that as a cue to start the search.

He finished checking the clearing around the Dolphin's wreckage.  There were two more pellets laying on the ground nearby, one the same size as those from the flowers, and the other multiple times larger.

Olimar threw one Pikmin at the small pellet, but contemplated the other.  It seemed silly to toss the creatures at objects on the ground when directing them would be easier.  But how could he direct them without speaking their language?

On a whim, he faced the Pikmin and blew his helmet's built-in whistle.  Their entire bodies stiffened from toes to stem.  That was some kind of reaction, but not the one he wanted.  He tried a shorter breath.  The Pikmin moved away from him and huddled together, looking dismissed.

"Not that one, then," Olimar muttered.

This was doing something, though, so he pressed his finger on the button that changed the whistle's tone and blew again.  This time, the sound was deeper.  The Pikmin clustered around him and grabbed at him with their hands.

"Wait, not me!  The pellet!" he exclaimed.

They stopped grabbing and stared at him again. 

Olimar pointed at the pellet and repeated the deeper whistle.  The Pikmin swarmed around it and grabbed ahold of every side.  They carried it back to the Onion, singing a chant as they went.

"I'm sure glad I have a whistle," Olimar said.  "It seems like the normal, long whistle gets their attention, the short one tells them to stand idle, and the deep one directs them to grab things.  They are very willing to grab me."

The Onion produced more seeds after absorbing the big pellet than the smaller one.  It spit out five from that one alone, then two more from the little pellet.  When Olimar was done picking them, he had fourteen Pikmin in total.

That was a lot to name, and he had mostly run out of characters he remembered from Space Trek.  

"You're Krik and you'll be Oksis.  The rest of you.... are Scarlet, Crimson, Brick, Vermillion, and Burgundy.  When I run out of varieties of red, I'll think of a different theme," he said.

The Pikmin chattered among themselves.  Olimar didn't know whether they were discussing their new names or talking about something else, but he was fascinated by their ability to communicate with each other from the moment they were born.

"Is it instinctual?  Does the Onion teach them as seeds?  Are they not speaking actual words so they don't have to learn a language?  This is not what I should be thinking about right now."

Olimar whistled to the Pikmin.  They stopped what they were doing and ran to his side.  He continued his sweep of the immediate area.

The clearing was empty of anything useful, from what he could tell.  There were a few giant clover plants and some towering tree-stumps.  The one thing that stood out was a section of the root wall that had a paper-like texture.

Curious about what it was, Olimar set his hand against it.  Up close, it looked like the brown boxes they used for transporting mail on Hocotate.  Other than being larger than the Dolphin was, of course.

"I wonder if this moves?" he asked.

When he leaned against it to try, the Pikmin lined up along the wall with him.  They pushed against it in-synch and moved it forwards effortlessly.

"Wow!  You little guys are stronger than I expected!" Olimar exclaimed.

The Pikmin stopped moving the giant item once they could walk past it.  When they were done, they let out a group cheer before they returned to Olimar's side.  He was about to congratulate them when a familiar sound reached his ears, a steady rumbling and clicking noise.

He followed the sound a few centimeters to the right.  There, sitting on the ground, was the Dolphin's engine!  

Olimar ran to it and gave it a quick inspection.  The main pistons were still firing, rising and falling rapidly in the air.  Somehow, it had miraculously avoided being damaged when it broke off the ship and collided with the ground.

"I can't believe my luck!  The most important part, right next to the ship!  With this, I can seal the hold, and eat, and sleep with my suit off, and hopefully even get the Dolphin back in the air!" he said.

He looked at the Pikmin.  They stared at him with unchanging expressions.

"Not that you understand what I'm saying....  I need to get this back to the Dolphin."

The engine was far too heavy for Olimar to lift on his own, but he wouldn't need to.  The Pikmin had proven capable of moving objects much larger than themselves.  He assumed they would be able to move the engine as well.

He pointed to the engine and blew the whistle.  The Pikmin circled around it and stuck their fingers under the edges.  They made one synchronized effort to lift it.  The engine didn't budge.

"I think this will work but I need more Pikmin," Olimar said.

He looked around the immediate area, and saw the top of a pellet flower on the tree stump beside him.  Though a root was sticking up near it, there was no direct route there.

The odd paper wall the Pikmin moved was attached to a massive cardboard box, like Olimar suspected.  It was wide and looked sturdy.

"That might make for a good ramp," he mused.

The Pikmin were still trying to lift the engine, even though it was pointless.  Olimar gave them a whistle and they abandoned the task to return to him.

"See this box?  Can you push it further, to connect the tree root to the big stump?" he asked.

The Pikmin didn't seem to understand.  He walked to the side he wanted them to move and mimed out the action of pushing it forward.

"Like you did before, but move it a little further that way."

"Do doo," one of the Pikmin (maybe Krik) said.

He went to the box and put his hands against the side.  The other Pikmin's stems rose in understanding.  They joined him.

"Yes, great!  That's exactly what I want," Olimar encouraged.

Together, the Pikmin pushed the box further.  Olimar watched them until it lined up with the stump.  When it was where he wanted it, he called them back.

There were four more pellets on top of the stump, three of the little ones and a large one.  The Pikmin returned them to the Onion, and eleven more Pikmin sprouted.  Olimar named them Cherry, Sunseed, Carmine, Ruby, Poppy, Rust, Cordovan, Garnet, Coral, Salmon, and Cinnabar.

There were 25 Pikmin now.  Olimar pointed at the engine again.  The Pikmin circled it, stuck their hands underneath, and succeeded in lifting it this time.

"Yes, that's it!  Incredible work, everyone!" Olimar cheered.

They made slow but steady progress.  He tried to lead them, but they ignored him and carried the engine straight to the Onion, like everything else.  When the beam refused to take it, their heads turned to Olimar for guidance.

"Bring it over here, to the space ship," he said.

They picked up on his meaning and followed him to the ship.  He stood beside the gaping hole where the engine was supposed to be.

"Can you line it up with this space?  I'll do the rest."

"Wahoo!" the Pikmin replied.

They lifted it as high as they could.  It was fairly easy to direct them to place it into its spot and hold it there.  Luckily, Olimar's basic repair tools were still in the cargo hold and he knew how to use them.

He spent the next hour reattaching the engine to the Dolphin bolt by bolt.  The Pikmin patiently held it steady the entire time he worked.

When they were done, Olimar tried to wipe his brow only to bump against his helmet.  That reminded him why having the engine in place was so vital.  The cargo hold could be sealed now.

Now that the hold was closed, he had to climb into it via the side hatch.  Before he could shut it, he saw Pikmin following him.

"If you breathe oxygen, you aren't going to want to be in here when the filter is working," he told them.

The head Pikmin twittered something and hopped through the doorway.  The others followed.  Olimar debated taking the time to shoo them back out for their own safety, but decided he could do so if they had a problem.  He closed the door to the tune of the internal seal pressurizing.

The controls for the air system worked on emergency power, but they did so slowly.  Olimar pressed the button to activate the vents.  The filters hissed to life.  The internal air reader gradually read less oxygen and more carbon monoxide.

The Pikmin handled the change in atmosphere well.  Maybe they didn't need oxygen, but rather the nitrogen or argon in this planet's atmosphere.  Those were harmless to Hocotatians, so the Dolphin left them alone.

"They might not be breathing at all.  It's hard to tell," he thought.

As soon as it was safe to take his helmet off, Olimar forgot about everything else and went straight to the fridge.  He pulled out the first thermos of beet stew, twisted off the top, and sniffed the contents.

The stew didn't smell fresh, but it didn't have a bitter, rotten scent.  He wouldn't have chanced it under any other circumstances, but he couldn't waste any of the food he had.

He was too hungry to care, anyway.

Olimar chugged the first thermos of stew so fast he barely even chewed the vegetable chunks.  He immediately reached for the next one.  That one didn't last much longer.

After a pause to justify the decision with, "It probably won't be safe to eat tomorrow, right?" he grabbed the third thermos as well.

The Pikmin were staring at him.  Olimar blinked at them a few times and said, "Don't judge me," before he started gulping down more stew.

There were two thermoses left, but the third one had filled him up.  He closed the fridge.

His daughter had been quiet all day, but she was moving around now.  That was fairly normal.  Baby Hocotatians slept most of the day and woke up in the morning and evening to eat.  She was already on that activity cycle.

Olimar rested his hand on his belly and took a moment to enjoy her little wiggles.  It was a nice bit of reassurance.  Then, he had to address the Pikmin in the room.

All 25 of them stood where he left them.  Their beady eyes were trained on him, only blinking occasionally.

"You can go do something else, if you want to.  I'm going to try to get the Dolphin into orbit and then go to bed," Olimar said to the Pikmin.

They didn't move.

"Oh, I get it.  You want some kind of payment, right?"  Olimar looked around the cargo hold.  "I don't have very much to offer you, I'm afraid.  My safe appears to have fallen out of the Dolphin in the crash.  What am I saying?  You wouldn't have any use for pokos...  I don't have a lot of food, but you can take some, if that's what you want.  I really appreciate your help with my engine."

He took one of the remaining thermoses out of the fridge and offered it to the Pikmin.  Kipard (well, Olimar was pretty sure it was Kipard) stepped closer and looked into the thermos.  He tilted his head, baffled.

"Not stew?  Do you want something else?"  A thought occurred to him, and he asked, "Do you need me to dismiss you?  Will you only leave if I tell you to go?"

Rather than wait for an answer that wasn't coming, Olimar put his helmet back on and exited the ship.  The Pikmin followed him dutifully.  At the base of the Onion, he blew the quick whistle that made them stand idle earlier in the day.

The Pikmin immediately climbed up the legs of the Onion.  Olimar's eyes followed them up, up, up until they crawled into the protrusions circling the Onion's base and disappeared from view.

"Note to self, Pikmin don't do anything unless they're told to," he said.

Now that they were settled, it was time for Olimar to test the Dolphin's engine.  Hopefully, it could get him at least high enough to be out of reach of the planet's hungry nightlife. 

"Engine online," the status panel announced.

He swiped that message away and clicked the ignition.  The engine's roar was abnormally loud without the cockpit's canopy, but the sound was music to Olimar's ears.

"Come on, Dolphin.  We can do this," he said, patting the control panel.

He nudged the lift throttle.  When he felt the ship rise into the air, he pushed it all the way forwards.  The engine put out a burst of energy and rocketed the Dolphin straight upwards.

"Yes yes yes!" Olimar cheered.

Her trajectory wasn't steady, thanks to lacking both of her steering jets and the Shock Absorber, but the engine itself was stable in its output.  When Olimar switched from gaining altitude to hovering in the air, the Dolphin remained at the same height with ease.  The only problem was that she rocked back and forth awkwardly.
"I'll have to ignore it," he muttered.  This wasn't the first time he would be living in an unsteady ship.  He would adjust to the turbulence fairly quickly.

He set the autopilot to hold this place in the sky, then turned to leave the cockpit.

What he saw outside the Dolphin made him think he was hallucinating anew.  But no, the bright red Pikmin Onion was in fact hovering beside his ship.  Somehow.

"You can fly?  How are you....  You know what?  I'll figure it out tomorrow.  Or I'll accept it as another strangeness of this planet and not worry about it at all."

Olimar carefully made his way through the door between the exposed cockpit and the cargo hold.  Once he was safely inside, he finally stripped off his space suit.

No one at work ever saw him without his suit, so he didn't bother looking fancy underneath it.  He wore a simple red, sleeveless shirt, basic tan shorts, and white socks, which served the basic purpose of keeping the spacesuit fabric away from his skin.  There were three more identical sets of clothing in the ship's cabinets.

Olimar never packed pajamas.  They didn't seem necessary on the road.  He would sleep in his day clothes like always.

Just as he was about to climb into the bed, something shiny caught his eye under it.  The corner of a device poked out from under the edge of the blanket.  He retrieved it, and realized it was his data pad.

"You must have been flung around in the crash," he said.  It usually made its home on the onboard computer's counter, but that was among the things that fell out of the Dolphin.

He lay in bed and sat the data pad on his chest.  The map and communications wouldn't work without certain parts of the Dolphin.  The log, however, was fully functional.

Looking at the log icon, Olimar thought of his best friend Kooper.  Kooper was an intergalactic archaeologist, so he traveled to planets across the established galaxy to study ruins of past civilizations.  He kept extensive voyage logs on everything he did during his trips.

"It's hard to remember all the details of an adventure after the fact," Kooper told Olimar.  "I write down everything important that happens to me, so I won't forget!"

He often let Olimar read his logs when they hung out together.  A lot of the entries were about work things, like artifacts, ruins, and ancient art, but a few of them were comments on the locations around the discoveries, the local wildlife, or even Kooper's thoughts at the time.

Olimar was on his own adventure right now.  He should make a voyage log.  He could show it to Rosie, Oddey, and Posy when he returned home, so they knew what he was doing while he was away.  Kooper would probably like to see it, too.

He opened the log program and started an entry.

"One day since Impact.  After the Dolphin crashed on this mysterious planet, I discovered the most peculiar creatures.  They appear to be half plant and half animal!  I'm calling them 'Pikmin' because they look like pikpik carrots.  They originate from a bulb-like vegetable I have called an Onion.

"Today, the Pikmin helped me retrieve the Dolphin's missing engine.  They are surprisingly strong for their size!  The night life of this planet is dangerous, so it is a relief to be able to fly the Dolphin to safety tonight.  I was surprised to see the Onion follow me into the lower atmosphere.  It seems I can count on the Pikmins' help again tomorrow."

Olimar hesitated.  Nothing was certain about this situation.  The Onion and Pikmin may vanish overnight and abandon him to his fate.  For now, he wanted to be optimistic, especially in logs his family might read.  He wasn't sure how he would ever fix the Dolphin and get home without the little creatures' help.

He saved the log and set the data pad on the floor.  Then, he clapped his hands to shut off the Dolphin's emergency lights and burrowed under the covers to sleep.

Chapter Text

The beet stew was very spoiled the next morning.  Olimar took one sniff and recoiled so hard he nearly dropped the thermos.  Letting the cold escape the fridge did it in.

He thought woefully that the hold's preservation system would have saved it, if the Dolphin had full power.  Without that, he wouldn't be able to keep any fresh food edible for more than a few days at a time.

He briefly considered having a few of the pikpik carrots, but he really couldn't eat those himself.  If the baby was born before he could leave this planet (which was a possibility he had to prepare for) she would need those carrots, or more specifically, their juice.  They would be a complete diet for her until her baby teeth grew in.  He had nothing else to feed her.

"That's okay, I have instant space noodles.  They'll stay good until they're opened, too" he said.

Fortunately, instant space noodles could be eaten raw.  Unfortunately, they weren't particularly pleasant to eat that way.

Olimar stirred the contents of the cup around.  The noodles flopped back and forth stiffly in the broth.  Yeah, this wasn't going to be fun.

"You need to eat.  You need to eat.  The baby needs you to eat.  The baby really needs you to eat," he repeated to himself a few times.

That did the trick.  He managed to eat the whole bowl and proceeded to the cockpit without dwelling on it.

Since he didn't see any Dolphin parts besides the engine around the impact site, Olimar knew he had to broaden his search area.  When he looked down at the landscape below him, there was a dense area of forest nearby.  It would probably be a good idea to start there, rather than push the barely-stable Dolphin to travel further.

"Since it holds my hopes for escaping this planet, I think I shall call it the Forest of Hope.  What do you think?" he asked his daughter.

It seemed she had already settled down to sleep for the day.  He didn't get an opinion one way or the other.

"We'll run with it, then."

The Dolphin was a struggle to steer in her current state.  Olimar fought to keep the thrusters firing in the correct direction the entire way to the ground.  He landed in the first clearing he saw just to get out of the air.

The Onion set down beside the Dolphin, but none of the Pikmin came out of it.  Olimar approached cautiously.  It wasn't clear what cues would make the Onion or Pikmin react.

He stood directly under the Onion and looked up the beam.  He couldn't see the Pikmin through the hole in the base, but he could hear their high-pitched voices chatting.

"Pikmin?  Hey, Pikmin!" he shouted.

Pikmin slid down the legs of the Onion like they were firemen's poles.  They ran to Olimar's side and let out a group chant of, "Haheehaa!"

"Good morning to you, too!  Did you sleep well?" Olimar asked.  He paused and added, "Do you sleep?"

"Dadoo," a Pikmin who might have been Carmine or Oksis replied.

Honestly, Olimar couldn't tell which Pikmin had which name.  The only one he recognized was Kipard, because his posture was more upright and authoritative than the others.

"Let's see what we're dealing with in this area," he said to the Pikmin.

The space he touched down in was encircled by natural rock walls on most sides.  Two distinct sections of the wall were alternately made from stacked rock and interlocking roots.  Olimar had a feeling the Pikmin could break one or both of them.

At least, he hoped they could.  He would have to relocate the Dolphin and the Onion if they couldn't remove at least one of the barriers.

The roots looked more promising, so he threw his 25 Pikmin at various parts of the wall.  They went to work whacking the fence with their stems.  Bit by bit, they broke off parts and chunks.  Eventually, the entire wall collapsed.

"Great work, everyone!" Olimar shouted. 

The Pikmin responded to his praise.  They returned to him and let out a perfectly synchronized group cheer, even waving their arms and leaves in the air.

"Now, let's take a look at what's on the other side."

He poked his head beyond the now-empty fence posts.  Ahead of him was a grassy patch amidst the giant trees he'd come to expect.  There were sprigs of clover and odd curly plants growing in the meadow.

Some kind of creature jumped into the air directly ahead of him.  It brought water droplets with it, creating a cascade before it dropped back with a splash.  So there was water in this area, too.

Before he walked through the gate, Olimar took a moment to get lost in the wonder of the wide world around of him.  The timing and circumstances could be better, but exploring an uncharted alien planet was the kind of adventure he had always dreamed of having.  As long as he was careful and diligent, this mission could be genuinely fun.

"Here goes the first step of the journey," he thought.

As soon as he was out in the open, Olimar noticed two things.  One was a part of the Dolphin sitting on the ground beside the pond.  The other was the bright red body of a wild creature.

From the back, it kind of looked like a mushroom with legs, white spots and all.  When it turned to the side, however, it revealed a yellow head, pointed snout, and eyes on top of stalks.

The creature looked a lot like a space-dog, actually.  Olimar's pet Bulbie had eyestalks and two stumpy legs, too, even if his body wasn't as round.

"Maybe it's friendly," he said.

He started approaching the creature.  The Pikmin followed to a point, then they realized what he was doing and twittered at him nervously.  Their behavior gave him pause.  They would have a better grasp of what was dangerous on this planet than he did, so if they were nervous then he should exercise caution.

The creature lifted its head and saw Olimar's group.  It squeaked, then waddled towards them with its mouth open.

Olimar realized far too late that he had no way to defend himself if the planet's wildlife was hostile.  If this creature tried to eat him, what was he going to do about it?  He didn't have any weapons on him and it was twice his size so he couldn't realistically grapple with it.

He took a worried step back.  The Pikmin, on the other hand, took a unified step forward.  Before Olimar could guess at their intentions, Kipard and seven of the other Pikmin charged at the animal.

The creature chomped down on one of the Pikmin, but the others grabbed onto the sides of it and hit it with their leaves.  After two whacks from each of them, the creature cried out and collapsed to the ground.

It took Olimar a few seconds to react, because he was thoroughly shocked.  The idea that the cute plant creatures who warmed to him on-sight would kill another animal with little provocation was unnerving.  Sure, they could instinctively know this particular creature was a dangerous predator, but why didn't they think the same thing about him?

Wait, predator.... the beast had grabbed a Pikmin in its mouth!

Olimar ran past the other Pikmin and pried open the dead creature's mouth.  He pulled the Pikmin free from its jaws and checked it for any signs of life.  There were none.  The Pikmin had been crushed to death.  Before his eyes, a red shimmer rose from its body and took on a vague Pikmin shape before it vanished.

"Oh no!  I'm so sorry, little...."  

He paused, because he realized he had no idea what name he had given this Pikmin.  He could have been Garnet, or Cordovan, or Vokech.  He only knew for sure that it wasn't Kipard, because he was once again at attention, waiting for orders.

A different Pikmin came up beside Olimar to look at his deceased comrade.  He gave the body a quick inspection, let out a quiet "Ooooh" sound, and walked back to the group as if this happened every day.

"You're not.... nearly as sad as I expected," he said.

He let the creature's mouth drop and stood.  If the Pikmin themselves weren't upset about losing one of their own, he probably shouldn't dwell on it, either.  There wasn't anything he could do now that he was dead, anyway.

"So much for the fun adventure of a lifetime," he thought.

The other Pikmin were looking at him expectantly.  He wasn't entirely sure why, until one of them glanced at the dead creature.  On a hunch, he pointed at the body and whistled.  Five of the Pikmin grabbed it and carried it towards the Onion.

"You can turn animal meat into Pikmin seeds, too?  That's interesting," Olimar said.

He followed them back and watched the creature disappear into the Onion.  It spit out four new seeds.  

Now he understood why they attacked the creature.  It was less a defensive action and more because it was fuel for their reproductive cycle.  Which meant the Pikmin were predators themselves, of a sort.  Olimar wasn't sure what that meant for their relationship with him, but he had other things to do than ponder his place in the food chain.  All that mattered right now was that the Pikmin were his allies.

He plucked the new Pikmin from the ground and stared at them.  It felt like he should name them, like the others, but he couldn't even remember what he had named the first 25.  They didn't know their names, anyway.

"I'm going to call you all 'Pikmin.'  Is that okay?" he asked.

They gave him mystified looks, except for the first one who nodded in approval.

"Except you.  You're still Kipard, because you really do remind me of the captain."

"Do doo!"

"Glad we have that settled."

The next thing Olimar did was go figure out what part of his ship was sitting on the ground.  He stopped halfway there when he heard deep breathing.  Turning his head, he caught sight of a massive version of the spotted red creature the Pikmin fought.

He froze.  The spots, the eye stalks, the towering size, the triangular nose....  This was the same type of creature as the one that hunted him the night he crashed!  It was the Hocotatian-eating monster!

As he stood frozen in fear, he noticed that the creature's eyes were closed and its loud breaths were steady.  It was asleep.

Of course it was asleep now, he thought.  The one he saw was out hunting at night.  It logically followed that the species was nocturnal.

There was a certain level of reckless confidence in sleeping out in the open like this.  Olimar had a feeling this creature was the apex predator of the local ecosystem.  Pikmin and Hocotatians were certainly on the menu, as well as anything else small enough to fit in those massive jaws.

It seemed their party would be safe as long as they gave the beast a wide berth.  It couldn't eat them while it was sleeping.

Olimar proceeded towards the Dolphin's part, but he did so on tiptoe.  When he glanced behind him, he noticed every Pikmin was imitating his posture and light-stepping.

The piece on the ground was the Eternal Fuel Dynamo, one of the two parts that made power for the Dolphin!  Olimar nearly hugged it.  This would make his time on the planet both easier and more comfortable!

He already knew it was heavier than the engine, but he asked the Pikmin to try lifting it anyway.  As expected, they weren't strong enough to move it with their current numbers.

He was still trying to figure out where he could get more Pikmin when a pair of the smaller predators ambled out from behind the huge one.  Kipard took two steps towards them and stomped his foot.

"We can bring those back, but let's be very careful not to wake up the big.... these creatures need a name.  They look like larger, rounder Bulbies.  Bulborbs, then?  Don't wake up the big Bulborb.  Only fight the Dwarf Bulborbs."

This time, Olimar threw the Pikmin at the Dwarf Bulborbs.  Two landed on the same one and killed it instantly.  The others went wide, but were able to mob the creature and defeat it before it could eat anyone.

The two bodies yielded eight seeds between them.  That still didn't give Olimar enough Pikmin to lift the Eternal Fuel Dynamo.

They were close.  It would only take a few more Pikmin to carry the part.

Olimar scoped out the area, starting with the pond.  The creatures he saw splashing around from a distance looked like tadpoles up close.  Really big tadpoles.  They didn't have spikes, fangs, or any other visible form of defense, which made them safer targets than the full-sized Bulborb.

When he leaned over the water to get a better look, the tadpoles scattered and churned up the mud.  They were gone when the dirt settled, buried somewhere at the bottom of the pond.

"We aren't going fishing, then," Olimar said.

He was hoping for some pellet flowers, but there weren't any around at their full size, only a couple of still-growing stems.

That left him two options of where to go: the stone wall behind the Dolphin and the root wall behind the sleeping Bulborb.  He was pretty sure he couldn't get to the root wall without waking up the predator, so he returned to the landing site to try the other way.

Olimar pointed to the wall and whistled.  The Pikmin ran at it and attacked like they did before.

This time, however, their attack did nothing to the wall.  The rocks held no matter how hard the Pikmin hit them.  Olimar called them back and tried throwing them onto other parts of the wall, thinking they might find a weak spot.  That didn't work, either.

"Alright, fine.  I'll fight an apex predator," he said.

He studied the Bulborb as close as he dared.  It didn't have a true shell like he expected, but the skin looked hard like leather.  The Pikmin might have trouble attacking through it, though he had to admit he wasn't sure how much of a punch they had.  The eyes were probably its weak spot, if he had to make a guess.

"We attack the face.  The skin's probably thinner there," Olimar thought.

He grabbed the nearest Pikmin and hesitated.  If this went wrong, more of them were going to die.  Asking the creatures to carry items for him was an entirely different thing from asking them to die for him.

Olimar's grip loosened and the Pikmin fell from his hand.

"I can't.  I can't ask you to die for me," he said.

To his surprise, the Pikmin took his hand and put it back on his stem.  When Olimar stared at him, he pointed at the Bulborb.

"Wao wao," he said.

"Are you saying you.... want to fight that beast?" Olimar asked.

"Doo!"

When Olimar thought about it, that made perfect sense.  They were eager to attack the smaller Bulborbs, weren't they?  Since Pikmin procreated by bringing prey to the Onion, the danger of a fight must be worth it to them.  Olimar would be helping them by leading them into battle, not only himself. 

With new resolve, he took hold of the Pikmin's stem and lined up his throw.  The others moved closer behind him, ready for their turn.

Olimar tossed the first Pikmin.  He was trying to hit the Bulborb in the eye, but the Pikmin landed between its eye stalks.  He bit his lip and sent more Pikmin as fast as his arm could throw.

The Bulborb's eyes snapped open.  It lurched to its feet and shook its body hard from side to side.  Every Pikmin on its head fell off.

The Bulborb took two steps to close the distance between it and Olimar's group of Pikmin.  It lunged forwards with its mouth wide open.  Olimar backed away as fast as his legs would go, but the Pikmin took a second too long to do the same.  Those massive jaws grabbed a whole mouthful of them.

"Oh no oh no oh no," Olimar repeated over and over again.

The scattered Pikmin from the first attack scrambled to their feet and charged at the Bulborb with a rallying cry.  The beast was still chewing on their comrades and wasn't ready to fight back.

That was Olimar's chance.  He shook off his shock and tossed more Pikmin at the beast, landing them on its head once again.

The Bulborb shook to get them off.  This time, Olimar didn't stop his tossing.  The beast took a lumbering step towards him and opened its mouth for another bite.

It tripped instead.  The Pikmin attacking its legs did enough damage to bring it down.

Olimar was out of Pikmin to throw at that point.  He watched them whack the Bulborb with their stems and noses until it stopped struggling and lay still.

The Pikmin stared at the body for a second, then gathered around to lift it and carry it to the Onion.  Before he followed them, Olimar checked the ground for any sign of the grabbed Pikmin.  There was none.  They were completely gone, eaten whole by the Bulborb.

The Pikmin fought willingly, but he still felt responsible for their deaths.

He was thinking about that when they passed the body of the first Pikmin who was killed.  Olimar paused.  It felt wrong to leave him there, especially since more Pikmin had died since then.

"You won't mind if I bury him, will you?" he asked the others.

Kipard continued staring at him.  He was pretty sure they wouldn't be offended if he held a little Pikmin funeral, and if they were they would let him know while he was doing it.

Olimar put the grave in the landing site, near the Onion.  With no other good option, he used a pointy rock for the digging.  

None of the Pikmin objected to him carrying the body there.  They watched him bury their comrade without saying anything.  When he was done, he set the pointy rock on top as a makeshift grave marker.

Olimar stood in front of the dirt and bowed his head.  Kipard stepped forward and put a hand on his arm, as if he was trying to comfort him.

"I'm okay.  I just feel bad.  This isn't enough for a creature who died to help me," Olimar said.

He looked up at the sky.

"They say my people are born from the stars.  We descend to Hocotate, live out our lives, and return to the great ocean of stars when we die.  It seems... fitting that Pikmin who are born from the dirt return to the ground when they die.  But then, I may be getting philosophical about nothing.  You don't understand anything I'm saying, anyway."

"Awo," Kipard said.

Was there a bit of relief in that little Pikmin sound?  Maybe.  Or maybe Olimar imagined it to make himself feel better about rambling to an alien.

From there, he assembled the newly grown Pikmin and counted them.  They lost six to the Bulborb, then gained ten seeds from its body.  That wasn't promising math, but Olimar didn't know how short he was on Pikmin power before.

They returned to the Eternal Fuel Dynamo.  Olimar pointed to it, whistled, and held his breath.  The forty Pikmin circled the part.  With one synchronized heave, they lifted it off the ground.

Olimar let himself relax.  "Oh, thank the stars."

Installing the part to the Dolphin was easy.  The Pikmin maneuvered it through the cargo hold hatch, Olimar connected two cords, and it was ready.  As soon as it was active, the overhead lights lit up at full power.

Olimar breathed a sigh of relief.  Aside from the lights, the food preservation system, the transport beam, and the fridge, he was looking forward to having warm instant space noodles for dinner.

He almost stopped for some now, but that would waste precious daylight.  There was still time to do some exploring.  It was worth ignoring the empty ache in his stomach to get a little more done today.

Now that the Bulborb was out of the way, there was nothing blocking the root gate at the end of the clearing.  Olimar set the Pikmin to work tearing it down. 

As soon as the wall collapsed, they were staring at the back of another full-sized Bulborb.  It didn't notice them, but the two Dwarf Bulborbs beside it did.  They lifted their heads and moved towards the Pikmin.

Olimar called the Pikmin quickly, because they were about to charge the beasts head-on.  He threw as many as he could as fast as he could, and managed to get enough Pikmin on each of the Dwarf Bulborbs' backs to kill them before they could bite.

Their backs.  He wasn't sure why it hadn't occurred to him earlier to attack the bigger Bulborb from the back, especially since it worked so well on the little ones.  He'd been fixated on hitting the eyes, he supposed.

He took hold of Kipard and stalked closer to the large Bulborb.  He wanted to be close enough to land them accurately, but far enough away that it didn't wake up.  

When he thought he had everything lined up, Olimar launched his attack.  The Bulborb woke up as soon as Kipard landed on it, but it was disoriented and looked from side to side in confusion.  Olimar kept throwing Pikmin.  The Bulborb shook itself fiercely and tossed off most of them, but more took their place.  It turned around to face its attacker, but collapsed before it fully faced Olimar.

"That's it!  That's the strategy!" he exclaimed.

The Pikmin started grabbing up the animals' bodies, but Olimar stopped them.  He wanted to be sure the immediate area was safe before he sent anyone back to the Onion.

When he walked around the dead Bulborb, he saw something he certainly didn't expect.  There was a ring of familiar white flower petals sticking up in the air.

"Is that.... another Pikmin Onion?" he asked.

He checked all around the area before he ran to investigate.  Every one of the other paths had a wall blocking it.  He was starting to wonder how the Bulborbs moved around so easily if there were root barriers and stone walls everywhere.

The nearby area seemed safe.  Olimar approached the Onion.

This one had a faint yellow color instead of red.  If there were other colors of Onion, would there be other colors of Pikmin?

He walked closer until the petals started spinning and the vegetable's skin turned bright yellow.  This time, he backed away before the legs popped out of it.

This Onion set itself up exactly like the red one.  The Pikmin let out a cheer on sight of it.  Like the first, it released a single seed that fell to the ground and took root.

The stem that grew was yellow instead of red, but it had the same leaf at the end of it.  Olimar regarded it a moment, then plucked it like any other Pikmin seed.

The newborn Pikmin had the same head, body, and limb shape as the other Pikmin, but it lacked a thorny nose and had a pair of pointy ears instead.  And, of course, its entire body was yellow.

"Hello there, Yellow Pikmin," Olimar said.

He offered his hand.  The Yellow Pikmin took it and fanned out his fingers to study them.  Then, she gave the rest of his body a thorough examination far beyond what Kipard had done.

"You're a curious little creature.  Since you're the first Yellow Pikmin, I'll give you a name.  Would you be okay with Saffron, because of your yellow color?" Olimar asked her.

He wasn't quite sure why he decide this Pikmin was a "she."  It probably had something to do with her inquisitive nature; it reminded him of Posy.

While he wasn't paying attention, the Red Pikmin circled around Saffron.  She looked at them curiously.  Kipard approached her, but his strides were more hesitant than usual.

"Oh no, do Pikmin of different colors get along?  I didn't even think that this might be a problem.  Are they going to attack her for being different?" Olimar thought.  He raised his arms, ready to intervene if the Red Pikmin attacked Saffron.

The tense moment passed, however, and the two Pikmin leaned their heads forward so their leaves brushed together.

Olimar let out a breath.  They were going to get along fine.

Having a lot of Red Pikmin was important, so he assumed more Yellow Pikmin would be good, too.  He started by bringing down the two pellet flowers growing beside the Onion with Red Pikmin, then sending both of the pellets to the Yellow Onion with Saffron.  As he had come to expect, the Yellow Onion made two new seeds for each pellet.

Olimar was glad he left the Bulborb bodies where they were.  He could use them to produce more Yellow Pikmin now.

The five he already had brought back the Dwarf Bulborbs.  Then there were thirteen, who were more than capable of carrying the full-size Bulborb.  That left him with a final count of 23 Yellow Pikmin.

Olimar glanced at the sky.  The sun was getting close to the horizon, so he was running out of time before the nocturnal predators became active.

"It was a productive day," he told the Pikmin.  "We found the Eternal Fuel Dynamo and more Pikmin!  I just wish we didn't lose anyone on the way here..."

"Doo," Kipard said.

As if she didn't want to be left out, Saffron added her own, "Wawoo."

Olimar dismissed the Yellow Pikmin so they would climb into their Onion, then he led the Red ones back to the landing site with him.  They put themselves away, seemingly because they were aware of how dark the sky was getting.

After a quick glance around to make sure all the Pikmin were in bed, Olimar positioned himself directly in front of the Dolphin's cargo door.  Now that the power was back, the ship's transport beam should activate automatically in response to motion in this spot.

The hatch opened and a rainbow-colored cone of light reached out.  It lifted Olimar slightly, then pulled him into the cargo hold through the open door.

"No more crawling through the side.  Beautiful," he said.

He drove the Dolphin into the air.  The Eternal Fuel Dynamo didn't make her any easier to steer, but he was getting used to controlling her wild jerks and twists.

The Red Onion followed him as before, but the Yellow Onion did not.  It remained sitting on the ground where he found it. 

Hoping to encourage it, Olimar swung the Dolphin towards the grounded Onion.  It rose into the air, retracted its legs, and flew upwards until it was beside the Red Onion.  When the Dolphin headed higher, both Onions followed after it.

"I still don't know how you're doing that, but it's fine," Olimar said.  "Good night, Pikmin."

He worked on the day's log while he ate his (blessedly warm) space noodles.  He decided to make one for the new creatures he discovered and a separate one for the Yellow Pikmin.

"Two days since impact.  I encountered a new type of Pikmin today!  The only visible differences between them and the others are their yellow coloration and their abnormally large ears.  The first Yellow Pikmin was more curious about me than the first Red Pikmin was, however it is unclear if this is an individual personality trait or a behavior common to all Yellow Pikmin."

"Spotty Bulborbs and Dwarf Bulborbs.  This species is quite plentiful on this planet.  They look like my dog Bulbie, but are far more ferocious than he has ever been.  The large Bulborbs are nocturnal but more than willing to do battle during the day.  Frontal results with Pikmin result in disaster while attacks from behind are more successful."

To finish the log, he used the stylus attached to the data pad to draw a little picture of the two sizes of Bulborb under the note.  He was pretty sure it was accurate, though it might have looked more like Bulbie than the Bulborbs themselves.

Thinking of Bulbie made Olimar think about home.  Today was the day he was supposed to return from his work trip.

"Rosie and the kids are going to realize I'm late pretty quickly.  Oh, they'll be so worried about us...." he said quietly.

All he could do about it was keep working to fix the Dolphin.  He and the Pikmin took a big step forwards today.  He was sure they could rebuild the ship if they kept at it.

He set his hand on his stomach.  "We'll get home, sweetie.  I promise."

.......................................................

Day 2 on planet Hocotate

Oddey and Posy were in the kitchen diligently washing and peeling beets.  Bulbie sat on the ground between the cutting board and the sink, his tongue lolled out to the side, waiting for scraps to drop.

Oddey let a chunk of beet skin fall on purpose.  Bulbie snapped it up and sat back to watch them again.  Posy giggled.

"You can't have all of them!  There has to be enough left for Papa!" she said.

She handed the next clean beet to her brother.  Oddey cut it up like the others and added the bits to the growing pile.

"Hey, Oddey?" Posy asked after a few more slices.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do we get to be there when the baby's born?"

"Probably not.  They left me with Grandma and Grandpa when you were born.  Mama said they were coming over again, so I assume we'll stay with them while it happens."

Posy pouted.  "Why don't we get to be there?"

"It's, uh...."  He rubbed the back of his head.  "It's... boring?  Or, it's not fun for kids.  Papa didn't seem to think I would enjoy being there when I was younger, and that hasn't changed as far as I know.  But he did let me time his contractions before you were born!  We'll get to do that."

"Oh!  Is that helpful?"

"It's very helpful.  It's how Mama and Papa will know when to head to the hospital for the delivery."

"Cool!  I want to be helpful to Papa and our sister!"  She scrubbed a bit of dirt off a fresh beet for a second, then asked, "Hey, Oddey?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Papa really going to eat all of these beets when he gets home?"

Oddey laughed.  "Oh yeah!  Even more than this!  The baby's going to grow a lot before she's born so Papa's going to be extra hungry!"

"We need more beets!"

Posy set the last beet she'd cleaned on the counter and ran to the cupboard.  There were three more bowls full of beets up there.  She grabbed an armful and carried them back to the sink.

The front door opened shortly after she began washing the first one.  Rosie came into the house with a big smile on her face. 

"I'm home!" she announced.

Bulbie ran to meet her at the door.  She scratched him behind the eye stalk, which was apparently all he wanted, because he returned to his spot under the counter when she stopped.

"Welcome home, Mama!" Posy shouted without leaving the sink.

"Bulbie was out already!" Oddey said.

"Thank you!"  Rosie paused and looked around the room.  "I expected Olimar to be into the beets already.  Is he upstairs sleeping?"

"No, he isn't home yet," Oddey said.

Rosie's brow creased.  "That's odd.  He was supposed to land a few hours ago.  I thought he would beat me home."

"Maybe he's running a little late?" Posy suggested.

"Yes.  That boss of his is probably holding him up," Rosie said.

She believed it at first.  Olimar was occasionally late returning home from work trips.  Anything could have held him up, from a client complaining about their delivery to a back-up on the shipping lanes.

When another two hours passed and she still hadn't heard from him, however, Rosie picked up the phone to call his boss.

She did so hesitantly.  Rosie didn't like the President of Hocotate Freight.  As far as she was concerned, Olimar was underpaid, under-appreciated, and overworked.  If their family could afford it, she would have convinced him to tell his boss to "eat dirt" years ago.  But companies didn't hire pilots while they were employed, so Olimar was stuck with his scummy boss who only let him have paid paternity leave when Rosie threatened to report the company to the Guild for Workers' Rights.

The President knew Rosie felt this way.  Interactions between them were usually tense.  Right now, though, it was more important to her to find out what was keeping Olimar away than it was to pick fights with his boss.  She could be civil for a few minutes.

Rosie dialed the phone and waited for an answer.

"Now remember, Louie, this delivery of golden pikpik carrots is very important," President Shachou said.  He patted the side of the company's only other ship besides the Dolphin.  "I'm counting on you to deliver it safely!  You don't even have to do it fast, just make sure it arrives in one piece!"

Louie nodded, but he didn't look like he was taking this job as seriously as he needed to.  Shachou threw his hands in the air.

"I mean it!  If even a single leaf on the smallest carrot is out of line, the client will have my head!  And yours, too!"

Louie nodded again.  This time, he looked a little more ready for his first solo interstellar delivery run.  Maybe.

Shachou sure wished Olimar wasn't going on paternity leave right now.  He would rather have a more experienced pilot handle this job, given the amount of money on the line.  Oh well, he would have to trust Louie.  The young man would probably surprise him.

The office phone rang.  Shachou gave Louie one more look to assess his seriousness, then went inside to grab the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hello, it's Rosie.  Have you heard from Olimar at all?" Rosie asked.

"Oh, Rosie!  Uh..... Olimar?  Right, he's supposed to be back today."

"He was supposed to be back seven hours ago," she specified.

Shachou double-checked the flight schedule.  She was right, Olimar was due to return from his Ooji run this morning.  He and Louie had been so preoccupied with preparing the golden pikpik carrots that he didn't even notice Olimar was late.

"Yes, you're right.  Let me see if he sent any messages....  No.  He probably spent the night over at Ooji.  That wouldn't be unusual, especially now.  You know how exhausting pregnancy is for a man."

Rosie paused, then said, "But if he was going to do that, he would have called you or me.  I'm sure he wouldn't want us to worry about him if he could help it."

"That would make sense....  If it will put your mind at ease, I'll call the guys over at Ooji and ask if he's there."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

Shachou hung up the phone and dialed in the number of Ooji's cargo receiving department.  He was well-acquainted with Majie, the woman who answered the phone.

After they exchanged pleasantries, Shachou moved to the matter at hand.  "Did the pilot from Hocotate Freight arrive on time at your end?"

"He arrived safely and then left again," Majie said.

"He left?  Immediately?  Two days ago?"

"Yep.  I suggested he stay in town for the night, because the poor guy looked only half-awake, but he was eager to get back to space.  I didn't push him, because I know how  freight pilots are, always chasing that next haul!"

She laughed, but Shachou couldn't join her.  He was calculating the flight path in his head.  If Olimar left Ooji right away, he definitely would have returned by now.  Unless something happened to him on the way....

"Thank you, Majie.  I have to go deal with something," he said quickly.

"Alright.  We'll be in touch," she replied.

Shachou called every other space station and colony between Ooji and Hocotate.  Everyone he spoke to was aware of who Olimar was, but none of them had seen him recently.

After the final call, he stared at the star map on his desk.  If Olimar wasn't resting at a space station, then he was.... out there somewhere.  On one of those hundreds of uncharted planets.

He called Rosie back.

"You found him?" she asked, voice full of hope.

"No, he didn't stay over at Ooji.  He's missing," Shachou admitted.

"Missing?" she breathed,  "What do you mean he's missing?  Mr. President, this isn't funny!"

"No.  No it isn't."

Chapter Text

- Day 3 on Hocotate -

The Rescue Corps's team of agents arrived at Hocotate Freight the next day.

Their captain was a tall Giyan woman named Erma Shepherd.  The pure confidence she radiated gave Rosie hope that Olimar could be found.

"Let's start with the basics.  Do you have identification information and a bio-scan of your missing employee?" Shepherd asked.

Shachou handed over Olimar's employee paperwork.  Shepherd and the Corps's communications officer, Collin, read it over together.

"He has the standard deep-space emergency signal installed on his ship, I assume?" Shepherd asked.

"Well....."  Shachou looked quite uncomfortable.  Shepherd raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't have a deep-space emergency signal installed on his ship?"

"Well, no.  He doesn't."

"What?!" Rosie yelped.

"You know those are required equipment on all spacefaring vessels, right?" Collin asked.

"They're expensive.  I didn't want to pay for them at the time..." Shachou admitted.

Rosie stared at him in disbelief.  Shepherd and Collin were doing much the same.

"In that case, do you have a general idea of where he went missing?" Shepherd asked.

Shachou gestured at the star map laid out on the counter.

"He left Ooji and headed for Hocotate via this route," he explained.  "Though, I'm not sure where along the path he went missing."

"I was afraid you were going to say that.  There are an awful lot of uncharted stars in that area," Collin said.

"And we'll search them all until we find him!" Shepherd announced.

"Does he at least have the standard issue life support that lasts a month?" Corps doctor Yonny asked.

"Yes, he has that.  And his ship has its own onboard life support that is infinite," Shachou confirmed.

"We have thirty days to find him if his ship is damaged, then," Collin said.

"Well, less than that.  We don't know how long ago he crashed," Shepherd said.

"Olimar doesn't have thirty days because he's pregnant," Rosie cut in weakly.

The three members of the Rescue Corps stared at her, slack-jawed.

"I'm sorry, he's pregnant?" Shepherd asked.

"You didn't know that about Hocotatians?" Yonny asked nonchalantly.

"No, but I don't think I've ever seen a pregnant Hocotatian, now that you mention it."

"You may have and not known it!  Their baby weight is very sneaky."  To Rosie, Yonny asked, "How long does your husband have before the baby is due?"

"He only has two weeks.  His paternity leave was supposed to start yesterday," she said.

"That.... certainly complicates things," Collin said slowly.

Shepherd stomped her foot.  "It doesn't complicate anything if we find him fast enough!  We'll have him home, safe and sound, by the end of the week!"

"But just in case we don't find him in a week," Collin interrupted, "you know how to deliver baby Hocotatians, right Yonny?"

"Of course I do!" Yonny replied, grinning.  "I've never done it personally, but I learned about it in medical school.  All space people go through more or less the same process, you know, with a few minor differences."

Rosie wrung her hands.  "Such as?" she asked.

"Well, Hocotatians bleed less on average than Koppaites do!  Then there's their 'hiding instinct' to consider.  Speaking of which, do you have any clothes or pillows that we can take with us?"

"Clothes?"

"Your familiar scent might soothe Olimar if he's in distress when we find him."

"Oh, right, of course.  Yes, I can give you some things."

Yonny raised his arm to gesture at the door.  Rosie cast one last look at Shepherd and Collin, then lead him outside.  Shepherd, Shachou, and Collin continued discussing where to search behind them.

The Rescue Corps's ship was parked outside.  The SS Shepherd barely fit in Hocotate Freight's landing area and positively dwarfed the cargo ship on the lot.

Shepherd's other crew-mates were by the ship.  Dingo, the field specialist, and Bernard, the pilot, were being good sports about entertaining Oddey and Posy.  Russ, who was in charge of the science division, was working on some kind of mechanical device off to the side.

"There I was, surrounded by ravenous space hornets on all sides!  I had no hope of escape, so I had to fight my way out!" Dingo said.

"Did you win?" Posy asked.

"You bet I did!  I punched every single one of them in the face, and they fell in one hit!"

"Those must have been pretty WEAK hornets," Bernard said.

"What?  No, the hornets were super-strong!  They fell in one hit because my fists are so powerful!" Dingo insisted.

"Wow!" Posy said.

"You're so cool, Dingo!" Oddey said.  Dingo smirked, until Oddey added, "Almost as cool as my Papa!"

"Almost?  Has your Papa ever punched out three-hundred space hornets with his bare hands?"

"No, but he has his own ship to drive, which is cool."

Bernard elbowed Dingo in the ribs.  "It sounds like I'M cooler than you TOO!" he said.

"You drive Captain Shepherd's ship," Dingo grumbled.

"Excuse me!" Rosie said.  They all looked her way, even Russ.  

"Kids, I'm going to the house with Dr. Yonny to pick up a few things he needs to help Papa.  Will you be good for Dingo and Bernard?" she asked.

"Yes, Mama, we'll be good," Posy said.  Oddey nodded vigorously.

"Will you keep an eye on them for me?" she asked Bernard and Dingo.

"Yep.  They're NO trouble at all," Bernard replied.

"Thank you."

"I'll keep telling them about my numerous exploits!" Dingo said, "Because I am the bravest field agent in the entire gal-"

"Woof woof!"

A space-dog with yellow fur, orange spots, and floppy ears skidded to a stop beside him.  Dingo yelped in fright and fled behind Bernard.

"Yep, you SURE are brave!" Bernard said.

"Oh, cool!  You guys have a dog!" Oddey exclaimed.

"Of COURSE!  This is Oatchi, the youngest of the Shepherd family's RESCUE PUPS," Bernard explained.

"Your dog rescues people too?  That's awesome!" 

Oddey held his hands out.  Oatchi sniffed at him and barked.

"Sorry, I don't have any treats with me.  Bulbie's are back at home," Oddey said.

"Oatchi is still young, but once he GROWS, he'll be big enough to RIDE!" Bernard said.

Posy reached up Oatchi's side and climbed onto his back.  He wasn't bothered at all by her weight.

"Hehe!  I'm small enough to ride him now," she said.

Oatchi turned towards Dingo and barked again.  Dingo flinched and took another step back.  

"You stay over there, dog!" he said.

"Why are you being mean to Oatchi?" Posy asked.

"I'm not!  He's just.... a dog!"

"Dingo's SCARED of dogs," Bernard said.

"I am not!" Dingo protested.

Oddey took Oatchi's face in his hands and mushed his soft nose.  Oatchi gave him an exuberant lick.  "He can stay over here with me, then!"

Watching them, Rosie sighed. 

"The kids don't really understand how serious this situation is, but they're so young..." she muttered.  She turned to Yonny.  "Our house is this way."

Yonny held back when Rosie went into her bedroom to sort through her clothes.  While he waited, he took the data pad out of his pack and opened a new file.

"Rosie, can you answer a few questions about Olimar's medical history for me?" he asked.

"I'll do my best," she replied from the other room.

"Does he have any allergies?"

"No, he can eat pretty much anything."

"Has he ever had a negative reaction to medication?  Painkillers, antibiotics, anesthesia, or anything of the sort?"

She paused.  "He's been on a few antibiotics before and never had a problem.  And he took prescription painkillers after he seriously strained his shoulder a few years ago.  I don't know about anesthesia...  As far as I know, the only time he's ever been under was to have his wisdom teeth taken out, but that was before I knew him."

"I see."  Yonny typed for a minute.

Rosie returned with a red dress in one hand and a pillow in the other.

"This is Olimar's favorite of my dresses.  I've worn it recently, so it should have my smell on it," she said.  "And this is my pillow.  I'll use his for now."

"Perfect, thank you!" Yonny said.

He folded the dress until it would fit in a bag, then tucked that and the pillow into his pack.  He raised his data pad again.

"One last question.  How does Olimar usually handle the birth process?  Did he have any complications with your other kids?" he asked.

Rosie shook her head.  "He never had any problems.  Our birth attendant said he 'had an easy time' for both of them.  He didn't even need pain medication, he just snuggled against me and...."

She trailed off and wrapped her arms around her chest.  Yonny put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"We'll find him, Miss Rosie.  Rescuing people is what we do.  Olimar will be snuggled in your arms again before you know it!" he said.

"I know he's in good hands but....  I've heard so many horror stories about people lost in space.  There are.... things out there.  Terrible, terrible things," Rosie said softly.

"I know, I've met some of them!  Things with tentacles, things with fangs, things with-"  He saw the look on her face and quickly added, "But there are nice creatures, too!  Wild space dogs, those giant slugs that grow fluff on their backs, even little insects that make honey and share it with strangers."

"Or he's been caught by one of those evil spirits that destroys a space ship to abduct its captain," Rosie said.  "Then they take them back to their lair, probe into their brain, and make them think they're home so they don't try to leave..."

"You certainly don't have to worry about that!  Those spirits aren't real," Yonny said confidently.

"There have been accounts of them in the past!"

"Well, the experts say they're all hallucinations made up by weary space travelers who have been away from home for too long."

"That was what Olimar told me, too."

"See, he knows his stuff!"  Yonny bobbed his head.  "Thank you for your assistance, Miss Rosie.  I'd better get back to the ship now before they leave without me!"

"Yes, you'd better.  My Olimar might need you when they find him," Rosie said.

The rest of the Rescue Corps was waiting when they returned.  Yonny saluted Captain Shepherd and returned to his place in the squad formation.

"We have our mission!  Rescue Corps, move out!" Shepherd shouted.

"Copy that!" Collin, Russ, Yonny, Dingo, and Bernard shouted in unison.

"Ruff ruff!" Oatchi added.

"Good luck!" Shachou said.

"Bring Olimar back safely!" Rosie yelled.

The SS Shepherd's rockets flared to life.  The thrusters along the bottom of the ship lifted her into the air so she was above the buildings, and then she burst forwards and upwards toward the atmosphere.

Rosie, Oddey, and Posy held onto each other for a moment, watching the ship's trail dissipate.  Then, Rosie turned to Shachou and said, "What was that about the Dolphin missing a part that would have made Olimar easier to rescue?  To cut costs?"

"Um...."

"Kids, cover your ears."

Oddey and Posy quickly pressed their palms over their ears.  Rosie sucked in a deep breath and whirled on Shachou.

"You-!"

....................................................

- Day 3 on the Distant Planet -

Olimar was unusually sore when he woke up.  It was mostly his right shoulder, but the rest of his arm wasn't particularly happy either.

"Throwing Pikmin uses weird muscles, huh," he muttered as he rubbed his arm.

He couldn't switch hands, not with his old shoulder injury.  His left arm was fine with day-to-day things, but it didn't quite have full range of motion.  It probably wouldn't throw Pikmin as far or high as his right arm could.

"I'll be here for awhile, no matter how fast I work.  My muscles have time to get used to this at some point."

He put his feet over the side of the bed and his back protested, too.  Olimar was expecting that, though.  That was totally normal, sitting-as-a-profession, eight-months-pregnant, walked-a-whole-day-yesterday pain.

He had a quick breakfast of instant space noodles and went straight to putting his suit on.  Once he was busy, the aches and pains would fade into the background.  Or, so he hoped.

The Pikmin showed no ill effects from their work yesterday.  Both Reds and Yellows were as perky as ever when they assembled beneath the Onion.

Kipard and Saffron stood ahead of their peers.  Olimar nodded to them and faced the open fence from the day before.  When he walked forwards, the group of Pikmin followed him.

They returned to the spot where they found the Yellow Onion.  Olimar didn't get a chance to look around much beyond seeing the walls blocking both paths, so he wanted to investigate the area.

Both walls turned out to be stacked rock, like the one stopping them from leaving the landing site in the other direction.  Olimar stared at them, at a bit of a loss.  Clearly he needed to figure out a solution to these extra-strong walls, but Pikmin were the only tools he had.  If they couldn't break these barriers down, what could he do about them?

"Woow!" a Pikmin called, pulling him from his thoughts.

Olimar didn't see which one made the sound at first, because it was inside a cylindrical, rusty structure against the side of the wall.  A few Yellow Pikmin came out of it and ran towards him.  Each one held a peculiar round rock in their hands.

One of them walked up to Olimar and held the rock forwards.  She made an excited noise.

"It's a rock?" he asked.

"Watiktik!" she replied.

He was a little baffled about why the Pikmin chose these particular rocks to pick up.  They looked like any other rocks to him, but something about them caught the Pikmin's eye.

"Does this rock.... do something?"

"Weew."

Olimar gave the rock a closer look.  There were cracks running across the surface.  He tapped it curiously.

An orange glow emanated from the cracks, along with a hissing sound.  It grew brighter and louder by the second.

"It explodes!" Olimar shouted.

He took the rock from the Yellow Pikmin and threw it as hard as he could away from them.  The other Pikmin fled the opposite direction, yelping in terror.  When he had run a safe distance away, Olimar curled up with his hands over his helmet.  The Pikmin likewise covered their heads.

The rock exploded with ground-shaking force.  The Pikmin who didn't run fast enough to escape the blast were flung so far they landed in front of Olimar and the others.  He raised his hands to check on them.  They were dazed, but unharmed.

After he was sure the explosion was over, Olimar stood.  He was greeted by the sight of five more Yellow Pikmin holding their own exploding rocks.

"Whoah, be careful with those!" he yelled, jumping backwards.

The rest of the Pikmin did much the same thing.  The ones with the bombs looked down at them innocently, as if they didn't realize they had each become a walking death trap.

Olimar approached the blast area slowly.  The ground was marked by black residue and singed grass.  There was even a dent in the dirt.  The metal structure the bombs came from had rolled further away.

"As if the giant predators weren't bad enough, this planet also has exploding rocks.  What kind of place is this?!" he exclaimed, not for the first time.

A thought occurred to him.  He looked at the impenetrable rock wall in his way, then at the Pikmin with the bomb rocks.  The plan forming in his head was a little crazy, but it just might work.

"You with the bomb rocks, come here," Olimar said.

He blew the whistle and pointed at them.  They ran to his side.  He took an automatic step back from them and the rocks.

"Everyone else, stand back.  Very far back."

The others didn't move.  Olimar walked their way and made a "shoo" gesture until they backed away to what he believed was a safe distance.

"Stay," he said firmly, pointing to the ground for emphasis.  The Pikmin stayed.

He walked closer to the wall.  After a deep breath to steady his nerves, he took hold of the closest bomb-wielding Pikmin.  He threw her at the wall like he would throw any other Pikmin at an enemy.

The Yellow Pikmin dropped the rock where she landed, right beside the wall.  Then she ran back towards Olimar with a cry of "Waaaaa!"  He grabbed her in his arms and ran back to the other Pikmin.

The rock exploded as expected.  Chunks of the wall broke off from the bottom, but it didn't fall.

"We have a few more bomb rocks.  I think we can knock it down," Olimar said.

This time, he threw the Yellow Pikmin at the top of the wall.  She dropped the bomb rock on it before leaping off the side and running back to him.

This explosion took a big piece out of the wall.  Olimar nodded.  This was actually going to work.

The other three bombs finished the job.  When the smoke cleared, the path forward was wide open.

"To think I thought you were crazy at first.  Great work!" Olimar told the Pikmin.  They cheered in response.

He peered through the fence slowly, in case there were more Bulborbs on the other side.  There were two of the small Dwarf Bulborbs, but no sleeping adults in the vicinity.  It was safe to proceed forwards, as long as he kept an eye on those creatures.

He saw something shiny on top of the rock wall surrounding the path.  It almost had to be a part of the Dolphin!

Olimar ran to the bottom of the wall and tried to see what it was.  The Pikmin followed him and craned their necks as well.  He couldn't see anything, so he would have to find out what was up there when the Pikmin brought it down.

Olimar walked backwards to make room for a throwing arc.  Then he tossed five Red Pikmin at the ledge.

Every one of them hit the wall and slid down to the ground.

Olimar grabbed another Pikmin and threw it harder.  This one went a little higher, but he didn't get anywhere near where he needed to go.

"Is it because my arm is sore?" he wondered.

It didn't look like he was throwing the Pikmin any worse than yesterday, as far as he could tell.  The lip of the ledge was higher than Pikmin could fly.

After a thoughtful pause, Olimar looked at his group.  He wasn't thinking about it at the time, because he was focused on the bomb rocks, but he had managed to land a Yellow Pikmin on top of the stone wall, a feat he hadn't accomplished with Red Pikmin.  Were they somehow easier to throw?

He took hold of Saffron's stem and lifted her.  To his surprise, she felt lighter than her Red relatives.  He took another step back and aimed for the shiny item above him.  

When he threw Saffron, she soared high into the air and landed on the top of the wall!

She disappeared from view, but Olimar knew she was trying to lift the part because he heard her making strained, "Ooooh ooooh" sounds.

"Yellow Pikmin, come here," he said, whistling to them specifically.

They eagerly moved closer.  He threw them up the ledge one at a time until their carrying chant started and they brought the ship part to the edge.

On sight of the piece, Olimar jumped with joy.  It was the Dolphin's Whimsical Radar!  This part would scan the nearby area for him and create a virtual map on his data pad.  It would even be able to detect other missing pieces of his ship!  He felt incredibly lucky to have found this so early in his quest.

The Radar fell over the ledge, scattering the Pikmin holding it.  They quickly rose to grab hold again.  Olimar directed some of the Red Pikmin to help them carry it back to the ship.  The extra power made them move faster.

With that done, he turned his attention to the pair of Dwarf Bulborbs blocking the path forward.

Defeating the little creatures had become routine.  Olimar tossed two Pikmin at each of them.  They successfully crushed the Bulborbs in one hit.

Olimar didn't have enough Yellow Pikmin to carry a whole body, so he wasn't sure what to do.  He had never tried mixing Pikmin on "food" before.  They were bringing the Whimsical Radar back without any fuss, but that wasn't a resource to them.  Would they cooperate when prey was involved?

"There's only one way to find out," he thought.

He sent another Red Pikmin to each Dwarf Bulborb.  The group with exclusively Red Pikmin went immediately, but the other group paused.  The Red Pikmin tilted his leaf at the Yellow ones.  They returned the gesture.  Olimar watched them.

They worked it out silently, somehow.  The Red Pikmin joined them lifting the Dwarf Bulborb.  Together, they headed back towards the Onions in perfect unity.

Olimar followed along behind the line of items until they returned to the landing site.  He kept an eye on the Pikmin with the second Dwarf Bulborb, but they went to the Yellow Onion without any argument or fuss.

"It seems division of prey is decided by how many of each color of Pikmin is holding the body.  If there are more Yellow Pikmin, they take it to the Yellow Onion.  I can test if the same is true for a Red Pikmin majority," he said out loud.

The baby offered him a little stretch in acknowledgement.

"Thank you for listening," he said.

The Pikmin looked at him like they thought he was addressing them.  He chuckled and gestured towards the Dolphin.
"Bring the radar over here.  It goes on the back."

The port for the Whimsical Radar was directly opposite the cockpit.  That meant it was two-thirds of the way up the side of the ship, and impossible for Olimar or the Pikmin to reach on their own.

"Can you form a stack?" he asked them.

They didn't understand him.  He picked up one of the Yellow Pikmin and set her feet on the shoulders of a Red Pikmin.

"Like this.  But all of you, so you can lift the radar.  We need to get it up there, to that circle of circuitry."

They thought about it for a moment, then discussed the idea with each other.  In a matter of moments, they coordinated a pile of Pikmin that reached up the side of the Dolphin.

"Yes, that's it!"  Olimar said.

He set his hand on the Whimsical Radar and pointed up the stack of Pikmin.  The ones at the bottom grabbed hold and hoisted it over their heads to the next row.  

The Yellow Pikmin at the very top considered the radar and the hole on the ship.  Olimar was preparing to climb the pile and give them directions, but they flipped it into position entirely on their own and pressed it into the spot without his guidance.

"Wow, good job!  You're really smart little guys," he said.

"Woo!" they replied.

As the Pikmin took apart their coordinated pile, Olimar checked his data pad.  The connection symbol in the corner flashed for a few seconds, then the previously darkened "map" button regained its color.  He tapped it and was presented with a virtual map of the entire area.

"This is going to make repairing the Dolphin much easier," he said.

Kipard and Saffron moved up beside him to look at the data pad.  They tapped at the screen with their fingers and were surprised when the map moved.

"It's a touch screen," Olimar said.  He scrolled the map around.  "See?"

"Waaaw!" Saffron exclaimed.

She was fascinated by the screen for the next few minutes.  Kipard lost interest almost immediately and returned to the group of Pikmin.

This wasn't the first time Olimar had to read something while someone was moving it around.  Posy had given him plenty of practice at the task.  He was more than capable of studying the map while Saffron zoomed it around the screen.

It seemed that the rock wall at the landing site was blocking a path that connected to the one he was using earlier.  What's more, there was another Dolphin part sitting a stone's throw from where he found the Whimsical Radar!

"And we know how to open these gates now, don't we, Pikmin?" he asked.

"Wahoo!" a handful of them replied.

"Do you think you can find more bomb rocks?"

Olimar flung his hands apart to indicate an explosion.  The Pikmin tilted their heads.

"We need more rocks.  Rocks that explode.  Like before."

"Woo?"

"Baboo?"

"Okay, we'll walk around and look for more.  I think you'll tell me when we find them."

It took only a few minutes of searching the area for them to find another rusty holding container.  Olimar sent a mixed group of Pikmin inside.  The Yellows returned with bomb rocks, but the Reds did not.

"Is this a unique behavioral trait of Yellow Pikmin?" Olimar asked.

He glanced in the can.  There was still one bomb rock on the ground.  He took hold of a Red Pikmin and gave him a short toss so he landed beside the rock.  He blinked at it but didn't even try to pick it up. 

An idle Yellow Pikmin ran past them, unprompted, and grabbed the bomb rock.  She returned to the group and stood beside the others holding rocks.

"Fascinating," Olimar said.

He lead the group of Pikmin back to the landing site and the rock wall.  Then, he repeated the process of moving the Pikmin group back a safe distance and dismissing them before throwing the bomb-rock wielding Yellows at the wall one at a time.  They dropped the rocks and fled the blast radius like before.

When Olimar reached for the third bomb rock Pikmin, he threw a bomb-less one instead.  The Yellow Pikmin bumped the wall uselessly, then ran back to him.

"Didn't I leave you over there?" he asked.

"Bep," she replied.

Olimar carried her back to the group by her stem and set her down.

"You need to be over there, where it's safe," he said.

For good measure, he blew the dismissal whistle.  She followed him back to the wall anyway.

Olimar wasn't sure why this one Pikmin was being disobedient.  She was almost acting clingy, like she wanted to stay close to him even if it was dangerous.  Why this particular Pikmin, though?  Olimar didn't have an answer.

"Okay, you can stay, as long as you don't get close to the explosions," he said.

"Doo!" she said.

He resumed tossing the bomb-wielding Pikmin at the wall.  It took six rocks to go down, leaving Olimar's group with three bombs to spare.

He continued up the path, ready for predators at every turn.  To his surprise and relief, there wasn't a single creature between him and the Dolphin part.

They did, however, find another rock wall.  It sat directly in front of the star on the map.

Olimar used the three bomb rocks he had and went to find some more.  Luckily for him, they were literally everywhere in this area.  There was a pile of them under a large fern further up the path.

It was almost a little concerning to know such dangerous yet innocuous-looking things were casually laying on the ground.

This wall was stronger than the previous two.  It was still standing after six bombs, then seven, then eight.  It took nine full explosions to finish the job, but it fell like the others.

When the wall came down, it revealed the Dolphin's Extraordinary Bolt!  This giant bolt was vital to the ship because..... because.... Olimar wasn't actually sure what made this bolt so special.

The salesman who sold it to him when he was customizing the Dolphin swore it had an "extraordinary quality" that was vital to space flight.  Supposedly, average people couldn't comprehend said quality.  Rather than admit he didn't understand, and thus that he was "average," Olimar bought it and installed it on his ship.  It cost maybe a little more than he would have liked, but it had never failed him.

"I mean, look at it!" he said to the Pikmin, "It truly is extraordinary!"

They chittered and warbled excitedly in agreement.  Either they could discern the extraordinary quality, or they didn't want to admit they were average either.

Olimar pointed at the Bolt and blew the command whistle.  Every Pikmin swarmed the part and hoisted it up.  Only a handful couldn't find a spot to grab, and they returned to his side.

The Pikmin made fast time back to the landing site, which was good because the sun was getting close to the horizon.  Olimar was worried they wouldn't get it installed into the Dolphin in time.

The bolt was easy to install, however, once it had been pulled into the cargo hold by the transport beam.  The ship's matter compression system brought the part to a reasonable size, and it only took four Pikmin to help Olimar twist the bolt into its place between the cargo hold and the outer shell.  

The fit was loose, and would remain loose until they replaced this section of the Dolphin's body.  Olimar didn't think that was anything to worry about.

At that point, the last of the day's light was vanishing over the horizon.  Olimar stood between the Onions and blew the dismissal whistle.  The Pikmin dispersed and climbed whatever Onion leg they were closest to.  They were safely inside in a matter of seconds.  

Olimar glanced around one last time to be sure there were no strays, then walked into the Dolphin's transport beam.

After settling the ship into orbit, Olimar decided that he needed a bath.  Other than feeling sweaty and gross, he was hoping a warm bath would ease his various body aches.

He checked the tank to make sure it had enough water.  Now that the Eternal Fuel Dynamo chugged away, the ship was pulling in plenty of moisture from the atmosphere.  There was more than enough to fill the tub.

As the water poured, Olimar kept a close eye on the thermometer.  He wanted it warm, but anything higher than his own body temperature of thirty nine degrees celsius would be bad for the baby.

When he was satisfied, he stripped off his clothes and got into the tub.  The water soothed his aches and pains on-contact.  He let out a content sigh as he sank into the water until only his nose was sticking above the surface.

He remained there for a few long minutes.  It felt nice to float, weightless and carefree.  He had never really appreciated that until now.

Eventually, he had to focus on his true purpose for getting in the tub.  Olimar took the cleansing gel bottle from its hook and set to work cleaning himself off.  He was probably more thorough than he needed to be, if only to prolong his time in the warm water as long as possible.

When he reached his feet, he paused.  His ankles were sore because of the pregnancy, and also from walking for three days straight.  If he was home, Rosie would rub them for him.

"I can do it myself.  It just won't be as good as when Rosie does it," he muttered.

That was true of everything.  His food wasn't as good as Rosie's cooking and his empty bed wasn't as good as snuggling against Rosie.  But an ankle or back rub was a nice little bit of extra spoiling Rosie gave him when he was at the end of a pregnancy, to make up for the affections they missed when he was working.  That support was something he really, really wanted right now.

Feeling sorry for himself wasn't helpful, so he pushed those thoughts aside and focused his energy on massaging the tightness out of his feet.

He did a good enough job, but he still missed Rosie.

Olimar emptied the tub and put on a new set of clothes.  Then he heated a bowl of noodles and munched while he filled out a voyage log.  It was dedicated to the day's new discovery.

"Today, the Pikmin discovered a type of rock that explodes!  These bomb rocks pack enough of a punch to blast down the rock walls Pikmin can't destroy themselves.  Observation has thus far shown that only Yellow Pikmin will carry bomb rocks.  It is possible the Red Pikmin don't know how to handle them without setting off an explosion (I don't know how to safely carry them, either.)

"I also discovered today that Yellow Pikmin are lighter than Red Pikmin and fly higher when thrown with the same force.  The multiple abilities of the Yellows make me wonder if the Reds have any special abilities to discover.  I will be on the lookout for such skills!"

He saved the log entry and returned the data pad to the ground.  He couldn't help but smile.  What a day!  They'd managed to collect two missing parts for the Dolphin!  If they kept this momentum going, he'd be home with his family in no time!

The last thing he did before settling into bed was check on his daughter.  She had been soothed by the warm bath like Olimar was, making her evening excitement more subdued than usual.  He still felt a kick or two.  That was all he needed to be satisfied that she was doing okay.

"Good night, sweetie," he said.  He flipped off the lights and went to bed in good spirits.

Chapter Text

Olimar woke to his daughter stretching.  It felt like she had reached out every limb as far as she could before she relaxed again.

He chuckled and did the same thing himself.  Stretching his arms made the Pikmin-throwing soreness feel a little better.  He ended the move with his hands on his belly, giving it a gentle rub.

The bump had noticeably grown overnight.  He was going to look pregnant from here on out.

He drew a sigh, previous good mood dampened.  This was the stage when doctors advised expectant dads to slow down their physical activity.  Until this point, the baby was protected by his pelvis and fairly safe from harm.  Now, she would be vulnerable.

Olimar couldn't take it easy.  He had work to do or he would die on this dangerous planet and take his daughter with him.

"I'll be extra careful out there, okay?" he said to her.

She wiggled in response to his voice, like always.  That lifted his spirits just a bit.

Olimar proceeded to breakfast.  He heated one cup of instant space noodles and ate it ravenously.  Unsurprisingly, he was still hungry.

"That's all I can eat.  My supplies won't support me having more than one cup per meal," he said.

His daughter punched at him.  It tickled more than hurt, but it was an obvious demand for more food.

Olimar considered his stores.  He generally packed as many cups of instant space noodles as he would need for a given trip, plus five days' extra.  This was supposed to be the end of his run, so he only had about four days of food left total.

Four days' worth of food for a non-pregnant Hocotatian.  For one that was supposed to gain at least 94 milligrams a day over the next two weeks, well....

"I'll have to find something on this planet I can eat, and use it to replenish my supplies," he thought.  "At least the baby is past the point where she needs kando beets to develop, or we'd be in serious trouble."

He heated a second cup of noodles.  For now, keeping him and the baby fed was the top priority.  He could deal with his supply problem later.

The second bowl vanished as fast as the first.  Then, he forced himself to leave the kitchen and get a move on to the exit beam.

He called on the Pikmin and checked the Whimsical Radar as they assembled beneath the Onions.  There was another part of the Dolphin on the other fork of the path from yesterday.  He decided retrieving that piece was going to be his goal for the day.

"We're going that way," he said, pointing up the path.  "Come on, Pikmin."

"Yawoo," Saffron replied for all of them.

The trail was fairly long, and seemingly safe.  There weren't any predators around, as far as he could see.

As he walked, Olimar took notice of the tranquility of the forest.  There was a distant rustling of leaves, and the crunching of his feet on the grass, but no other sound.

He stopped short, confused.  There should be another sound: the footfalls of his 69 Pikmin.

He turned around.  Two pairs of eyes stared back at him.  He was pretty sure one of them was the Yellow Pikmin who followed him in spite of being dismissed yesterday, but the other was a random Red Pikmin he didn't recognize.

"Where is everyone else?" Olimar asked.

When they didn't answer, he waved his hands where the other Pikmin should be.  That communicated clearly.  Both Pikmin pointed back the way they had come, to the left side of the path.

Olimar found the missing Pikmin engaged in some particularly bizarre behavior.  They were moving among a patch of long grass, ripping the blades out of the ground.  There was a frantic intensity to their movements that they didn't even display in battle with hungry predators.

"What are you doing?" Olimar asked.

The Pikmin ignored him.  He whistled for their attention.  Their stems jerked up in acknowledgement and they started walking towards him, but they returned to tearing the grass before they reached him.

Olimar watched them, stupefied.  They had never been disobedient before (other than this one Yellow Pikmin, who was ironically behaving normally now).  It was like they were possessed.

He was about to wade into the grass and intervene directly when a big blob of yellow liquid oozed up from one of the pulled grass blades.  It grew and grew until it was as broad as Olimar was tall.

The Pikmin descended on the puddle like starving Steppe Wolves.  As many as could reach plunged their arms into the liquid and made a loud slurping noise.
For a moment, the Pikmin who drank stood perfectly still.  Then, their stems twitched and shuddered.  The leaves on their heads dropped to the ground and were replaced by curled white buds.  The buds unfolded into beautiful white flowers.

The fourteen Pikmin with flowers returned then to Olimar's side.  The others continued frantically digging up grass.

Kipard pointed up at his new flower with a proud "Oooh!"  Olimar reached his hand out and gently touched the white petals.  They were firm to the touch, not delicate like some of the flowers in Rosie's garden.  He leaned forward and sniffed it.  Kipard's flower smelled spicy, like a hot pepper.  He sniffed Saffron's flower.  It had a crisp, clean scent that the other Yellow Pikmin shared.

"So, Pikmin develop and mature by drinking this nectar?" Olimar asked.  "No wonder you want to find it so badly."

Another puddle of nectar oozed up from the ground.  The Pikmin pushed and fought against each other for a taste.  This was the first time they competed with each other rather than cooperated.

After two more puddles of nectar, every Pikmin possessed a flower except for the duo standing behind Olimar.  He looked at them expectantly, but they did not run to the remaining juice. 

"I can't say I understand you two.  It's hard to say if you're dim or particularly imprinted on me.  I don't know that I did anything differently when you sprouted...."

He walked over to the nectar and pointed at it.  The Red and Yellow Pikmin finally left Olimar to drink from the pool and grow their own flowers.

When they returned to marching, it was immediately obvious that the Pikmin were faster now than they were before.  They kept pace with Olimar rather than lagging slightly behind.  The only things that had changed were the flowers, so he assumed that maturing made the Pikmin quicker.

"That will be useful for bringing things back to the ship.  I wonder if you're stronger now, too?" he asked.

"Woo!" one of the Red Pikmin said.

They went around two more corners and reached an open area.  The radar said the part was here.

Olimar couldn't see it yet, but he hoped with all his heart that it was the Interstellar Radio.  If he found that, he could send out a distress signal and be rescued in a matter of days.  It wouldn't matter how many other repairs he had done if he could just find the radio.

When he looked around the field, Olimar saw a patch of clover, a rusty can of bomb rocks, and a grey rocket launcher with a flashing tip.  It wasn't the Interstellar Radio, but it was something else he was happy to see.

"My Nova Blaster!" he exclaimed.

He ran to the part and inspected it.  There wasn't any visible damage, thank goodness.

The Nova Blaster was a high-powered space weapon.  It could emit a dazzling burst of light capable of destroying almost anything.  That was what the brochure said, at least.  Olimar had never used it himself.

"If I had been awake when that meteor hit me, this would have made short work of it before the collision," he lamented.  "If it works as advertised.  Maybe nothing would have changed.  Best not to dwell on it."

He ordered the Pikmin over to collect the part.  They arranged themselves around the edges and hoisted it eagerly.

In spite of being more mature now, it still took about forty Pikmin to carry the Nova Blaster.  They moved it more quickly than before, though.

"They aren't any stronger, but I'll take faster," Olimar said.

He and the leftover Pikmin meandered along behind them as they followed the path back towards the landing site.

The Nova Blaster was halfway down the empty path when the Pikmin holding it suddenly screamed.  From where he was walking, Olimar couldn't see what had caused the problem, only the Yellow and Red Pikmin scattering in a panic.

He broke into a run and the Pikmin with him did the same.

Five grub-like insects were crawling amongst the group of Pikmin.  The three with purple shells actively attacked them, while the two paler ones seemingly ignored them.

Two of the Red Pikmin jumped on the first purple grub.  One of the other grubs pounced on the second Pikmin and grabbed him with its long, pointed jaws.  He squealed in pain.

Olimar grabbed the nearest Pikmin behind him and threw him at the insect.  He landed on it hard enough to crush it, killing it instantly. 

One of the fleeing Red Pikmin was suddenly grabbed from below.  A new purple grub rose from the ground and shook him in its mouth.  A Yellow Pikmin ran to his aid, but it was clearly too late to help him.

"They're burrowing insects.  That's why they appeared out of nowhere," Olimar thought.

He was close enough now to throw Pikmin at the rest of the attacking grubs.  The four initial insects died under well-aimed tosses.  The one that rose from the ground late was finished off by the angry Yellow Pikmin before Olimar could even try to attack it.

Before he let his guard down, Olimar watched the ground and waited.  The Pikmin had stopped panicking and returned to him for further instructions.  No more of the grubs rose to attack them.  It seemed he could relax and assess the damage.

Three of the Pikmin who had been attacked were completely gone.  One left behind the petal of a flower.  Olimar lifted it in his hand sadly before he moved on to the one casualty who was still alive.

The Yellow Pikmin lay on the ground, bleeding a yellow fluid that didn't quite look like blood.  Her arm was missing from the elbow down, clipped off by the insect's jaws. 

Olimar raised his arms, then lowered them again.  He wanted to help her, but he wasn't sure how.  Could Pikmin be bandaged like normal animals?  Or was putting her out of her misery the only option?  He wasn't sure he could handle that task.

Saffron knelt beside the wounded Pikmin.  She said something to her, and she whimpered a reply.  Saffron circled around to the injured Pikmin's head and grabbed ahold of her shoulders.  Another Yellow Pikmin took her feet.  Together, they carried her away, making a different carrying chant than they normally did.

Olimar followed them, perplexed.  When he realized they were moving pointedly towards the Yellow Onion, he understood their purpose.

"They're going to feed her to the Onion.  I suppose that makes sense.  In a.... cold, resource-management kind of way," he said.

The Onion pulled the wounded Yellow Pikmin up like prey.  The other Pikmin watched it intently.  Now Olimar was confused again.  It was like they were waiting for something...

Then something happened.  The flower on top of the Onion spun faster, like it did when it released seeds.  It wasn't a seed that came out the top, however, but a fully-grown Yellow Pikmin.  And not just any Pikmin, but the same one who was mortally wounded a moment before!

She did a flip in midair and landed on her feet.  The rest of the Pikmin cheered and she raised her hands in the air.  Flabbergasted, Olimar looked at her arm.  The skin that had been repaired was a slightly darker shade of yellow then before, but it was otherwise perfectly normal.

"That's incredible!" Olimar exclaimed.  He stared up at the Onion.  "Could it repair me like that if I was severely injured?  No, it probably only works on Pikmin.  I'd come out with a plant arm or a leaf on my head, or more likely as two or three Pikmin seeds."

He would hope he was worth five seeds.  Though he hoped more strongly that the Pikmin wouldn't eat him if he was ever wounded.

Olimar returned to the dropped Nova Blaster and instructed the Pikmin to carry it again.  Then he divided up the bodies of the vanquished grubs.  One purple one and two grey ones for the Yellows, and two purple ones and a grey one for the Reds.

That should have been a fair split, but the grey insects ended up producing less seeds than the purple ones, in spite of being the same size.  The Red Onion made six seeds and the Yellow Onion made only four.

"Oops," Olimar said.

He glanced at the Pikmin.  They didn't seem to notice that the number of sprouts was uneven.  Perhaps it didn't matter to them how many seeds grew so much as there being new seeds.  Olimar wasn't going to fret over it if they weren't.  He plucked the new Pikmin and they joined the squad.

The Nova Blaster attached to the cargo hold itself, aligned underneath a special panel that opened when it was in use.  This was a complex fitting to explain to the Pikmin, but they managed to tilt and twist it into the right spot after a few attempts.  Olimar put the screws in place while they held it steady.

"Great job, everyone!" he said when they were done.

"Woo!  Woo!  Woo!" the Pikmin cheered.

Olimar checked the sun.  It was past midday, but it wasn't late yet.  He looked at the radar map next.  There were a few parts in the nearby area that he probably could reach before sunset if he hurried.

He pressed his hand against his sore back.  His other option was to turn in early and rest his body for tomorrow's work.  It would be a stretch to get anything he found back before the sun set, anyway.

"You guys don't mind if we stop a little early, do you?" Olimar asked the Pikmin.

They didn't answer.  One of them cleaned her flower with her hands.  Another one wiped her ears.  A Red Pikmin tapped at his nose.

"I'm starting to think nothing I do or say would offend you."

They returned willingly to the Onions when he blew the dismissal whistle, in spite of the strange time.  When the Dolphin flew into the air, the Onions followed obediently.

From there, Olimar made himself space noodles and sprawled out on his bed to eat and relax.  He didn't work on his voyage logs until he was settling into bed for the night.

There, he ran into a conflict: he was unsure how to categorize the new insects.

Though the two kinds looked different in many ways, they shared similar body structures.  They coexisted without frightening or attacking each other.  He had a feeling they were the same species displaying some dramatic sexual dimorphism.

Which was which, though?  It was hard to say without directly witnessing one of them laying eggs.

His first instinct was to assume the larger, grey insect was the male, because larger size generally made for easier bearing of offspring.  On the other hand, the purple one had larger jaws, possibly for defending his mate after she took over care of his eggs.

Then he had to admit that he was looking at these alien creatures through a purely Hocotatian lens, where the female cared for babies borne by the male.  That system wasn't even universal to all species on Hocotate.  Bulbie's mother didn't have any part whatsoever in rearing him.  And the females carried pregnancies in the near-galaxy's other spacefaring races.  The universe was a vast place, so it was small-minded to assume there were only two ways for a species to reproduce.

Olimar pressed his palm to his forehead.  This train of thought was getting out of hand.  He wasn't supposed to be writing an entire theoretical essay on alien biology, he was supposed to make a few quick voyage logs about the day and go to bed.

He decided to err on the side of a protective male, because he would be the one fighting a threat if Rosie and their kids were in danger.  And if he found out later that the grey insects laid the species' eggs, then he would roll with the idea of egg-laying females.

He needed a name for the insect.  "Grub" was a necessary part to him, because that was his first thought when he saw them crawling.  "Assassin Grub" would describe their ambush strategy.  "Burrowgrub" fit their mode of locomotion.

He settled on "Sheargrub" because their jaws looked like a pair of gardening shears.  It was an apt description for the damage they did to the plant-like Pikmin.

The voyage log entry on them read, "Sheargrubs.  These insects live underground and rise to the surface to attack.  Males of the species are purple and have large mandibles.  Females are pale in coloration and don't appear to attack Pikmin.  It is unclear whether their attacks are driven by hunger or territorial behavior."

He opened a separate page for what he needed to write about the Pikmin.

"The Onion revealed an extraordinary ability today!  One of the Yellow Pikmin was injured so badly by Sheargrubs that I thought she was done-for.  The Pikmin brought her back to the Onion and it regenerated her to perfect health!  Her arm is slightly off-color, but she is fine otherwise.  I'm not sure how it works, but I'm relieved to know that it's possible to heal Pikmin when they are injured."

And, finally, he made a note about the Pikmin's flowers.

"Today, the Pikmin were distracted by a particular patch of grass.  When they tore up the plants, they discovered nectar.  Consuming the nectar made the leaves on their heads bloomed into white flowers!  I am assuming it is a natural part of their maturity cycle to bloom, rather than grow larger.  This melding of plant and animal traits is quite unique in the natural world!  The flowered Pikmin are faster than their leaf-headed counterparts, which is helpful for collecting ship parts."

The data pad jumped slightly in his hands.  It was sitting on his belly, so it made sense that the baby might bump it.  He started doodling a picture of a flowered Pikmin, but the bounce happened again, and again.  They weren't quite strong enough to be kicks, and she wasn't active right now, so what was...?

Olimar broke into a grin.  Hiccups!  His daughter had her first hiccups.  Well, not the first-first, because she could supposedly have them as soon as she had lungs, but this was the first time she was big enough for him to feel them from the outside.

"She has hiccups!  Oddey, Posy, come feel-"

He looked around excitedly, and found only the empty interior of the Dolphin.

Olimar lowered his head sadly for a moment, then smiled and pressed his hand over his belly.  The baby hiccuped again for him.

"They're special for us right now, little one.  Oddey and Posy can feel your hiccups when we get home."

When we get home.  That was starting to feel possible.

He made sure the voyage logs were saved and set the data pad on the ground.  Then he clapped out the lights, pulled up the covers, and spent the next few minutes enjoying his daughter's little hiccups.  It was a soothing feeling to fall asleep to.

Chapter Text

Day 5 on planet Hocotate

Rosie was in the kitchen washing the breakfast dishes.  Oddey and Posy were at school, so it was just her, Bulbie, and the constant feeling of terror that Olimar's chances of survival shrank every day he wasn't found.  She had been able to focus on work yesterday to keep her feelings at bay, but today was her day off.

The phone rang, and she jumped.  Trying not to have any expectations, she dried her hands and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Rosie dear!"  It was her mother, Pearl.  "Your dad and I are wondering what the plan is for our visit.  How early do you want us to come over?  Should we expect the baby to be late like last time, or do you want us there on the due date just in case?  We don't mind hanging around with you for a week if we have to!"

Rosie sucked in a breath.  With everything going on, she'd forgotten about her parents coming over to help with the older kids when the baby was born.  They had no idea what was happening.

"Mom...." was the only thing she could get out.

Her voice got the message across.  The happy tone was gone when Pearl asked, "Oh no, what happened?  Is the baby okay?"

"I don't know.  Olimar went missing on his last work trip.  We don't know where he is.  There's a team of rescuers looking for him, but they haven't found him."

"Oh, Rosie!  That's terrible!"

"Y-yes.  It is terrible."

Her eyes were wet.  She'd managed not to cry since this ordeal started, because crying would mean admitting that Olimar wasn't coming back.

"Do you need us to come over now?  We can help take care of Oddey and Posy, if you need some support," Pearl asked.

Rosie wiped her eyes on her sleeve.  "If you have the time, I think I could use some help right now."

"We always have time for our daughter and grandkids!  I'll get your dad packing immediately!"

"Thank you, Mom.  I appreciate it."

They said their good byes and hung up.  Rosie's hand remained on the receiver for a long moment.

Bulbie bumped into her leg.  He could tell she was upset.  She scratched him behind his eye stalks.

"Oh, Bulbie.  How could things have gone so wrong?  This is supposed to be the happiest time of our lives, and now I'm waiting for a call that they found Olimar's body...."

The phone rang again.  Rosie jumped again.

"Rosie, I heard Olimar went missing!  Are you okay?  Is there anything I can do?"

It was her best friend, Adela.  Rosie forgot to call her, too.

"I think I'm okay.... for now.  My parents are coming over to help out," she replied.

"That's good.  If you need anything, I'm here.  I know I would be losing my mind if anything happened to my dear husband."

"The Rescue Corps is on the case.  I'm trying not to lose my mind until I hear from them."

"I've heard good things about them.  If anyone can find Olimar, they can!"

"I hope so."

"I'll let you go.  You're probably waiting to hear news.  But, really, give a shout if you need anything at all!  I'll even take the kids for a few hours, if you need me to."

"Thank you, Adela.  I really appreciate it."

She returned to the dishes.  After she set the last one onto the drying rack, the phone went off again.

"Hello?" she asked, terrified.

"We've been trying to reach you about your home warranty.  Don't hang up!" the half-robotic voice on the other end said.

Rosie hung up the phone and pressed her fingers against her forehead.  It was going to be a long day.

.......................................................

Day 5 on the Distant Planet

The Whimsical Radar told Olimar there was a part on the little island across the pond near his landing site, so he headed there first thing in the morning.  The Pikmin followed on his heels.

Near the edge of the water, Olimar caught a glimpse of the piece.  It was short, lime green, and domed.  He was sure it was one of the gifts from his children!

He jogged forwards into the water without a second thought.  He was immediately surrounded by the frantic, bubbling cries of thirty drowning Pikmin.

"Pikmin can't swim!" he yelped.

He ran back to the shore behind him and whistled at the squad.  The Pikmin spun in the water and paddled weakly with their arms and legs until their feet touched the bottom.  Every one of them shook their bodies off, sending water droplets scattering on the ground, then looked at Olimar attentively.  They didn't seem at all upset with him for accidentally walking them into a death trap.

His first thought was to try carrying them across the water.  If he put two on his shoulders, he would only have to make.... about twenty trips.  That would be tough, but doable.

Would that help him, though?  The Pikmin wouldn't be able to carry the part back through the water even if they reached it.  Bringing them over would be a waste of time and energy.

Olimar gave the Pikmin the dismissal whistle and walked across the water without them.  Even if he couldn't get this part back to the Dolphin right now, he wanted to see it.

This was Sagittarius, named after Oddey's star sign because he picked it out for his Papa.

Olimar rested his hand on the green crystal top of the decoration.  He thought about little Oddey, who wasn't so little anymore.

He saw a lot of himself in his son, from his sensitive temperament to his natural curiosity.  Oddey was starting to be interested in girls and space travel.  Frankly, Olimar was worried about both of those things for different reasons.  Space was full of pirates, loneliness, and meteors, and love could be complicated and painful.

Still, it warmed his heart whenever he heard Oddey proudly say, "My Papa's so cool!  I'm going to be a ship pilot like him when I grow up!"

"I'll be there to see you fly your own ship, Oddey.  I promise," he said softly.

He gave the gem one more pat and shifted his focus.  There was no readily available way to transport Sagittarius over water, so he would have to leave it here and come back later.  There were other things he could work on today.

The next ship part was down the opposite fork of the path where he found the Whimsical Radar.  There was a rock wall in the way, but Olimar's Yellow Pikmin made short work of it with a few well-placed bomb rocks.

The explosions woke up a pair of Spotty Bulborbs behind the wall.  They caught sight of the squad and pursued.

"Back!  Get back!" Olimar shouted, fleeing up the path.

One of the Bulborbs gave up quickly, but the other kept coming.  It didn't lose track of them until Olimar herded his squad into a patch of clover to break line of sight.  

When the creature turned to wander off, he sprang back out, throwing Pikmin onto its back as fast as he could.  The Bulborb fell dead without harming a single Pikmin.

The other Spotty Bulborb had returned to sleep.  There were two of the Dwarf Bulborbs meandering around near it, sniffing the ground.

Olimar decided his best bet here was to defeat the smaller creatures first, hopefully without waking up the bigger one.  

The first Dwarf Bulborb was hit directly and died instantly, but the second Pikmin missed its target.  When the Dwarf Bulborb walked towards it, it bumped against the adult and woke it up.

Olimar's knee-jerk reaction was to throw more Pikmin as fast as he could at both beasts.  

The conflict became a wild battle in a matter of seconds.  The Spotty Bulborb grabbed a mouthful of Pikmin, but it was impossible to tell how many from Olimar's position.  The Red Pikmin released a unified rallying cry and swung their flowers harder.

The fight ended as abruptly as it began.  The Spotty Bulborb collapsed and scattered clinging Pikmin all around.

The Dwarf Bulborb had somehow survived, with three Yellow Pikmin clinging to it.  It grabbed one more Red in its mouth and munched it before it succumbed to the attackers on its back.

Olimar bit his lip.  Four red glimmers and two yellow ones rose into the air, signaling six Pikmin deaths.  Those weren't horrible losses, given that he started the day with over 70 Pikmin, but he felt like he could have saved them if he aimed a little better...

The Pikmin weren't put off by the deaths, which he expected.  Rather than dwell on it, he walked past the defeated beasts to see what he could find.

What he found was not a part, but a pond that could only be crossed via a slim path.  Said path was blocked by a giant paper bag.  This time, it was facing open-side towards them, the wrong way for the Pikmin to push it.

Water was blocking his way again.

Olimar huffed once then turned back.  There were still other parts on the map he could reach.  This one would have to wait until he found.... some solution to getting Pikmin across the water.

He divided the prey among the Red and Yellow Pikmin, with a slight favoring of the Yellows because their numbers were behind.  Then, he lead the remaining Pikmin towards the next radar blip.

This part was on the other end of the map, near where he found the Nova Blaster.  On making his way there, Olimar found.... more water.  The gate he would need to open to get through the path was sitting in yet another pond.

Olimar flopped on the ground and released a frustrated sigh that lasted a full ten seconds.  Then, he groaned and rubbed his ankles.

This would be a lot of walking for him even if he wasn't heavier than normal.  He was sore and worn out and had nothing to show for it.

The sounds of a few dozen "plops" made him turn his head.  The Pikmin were sitting down around him.  A few of them mimicked him rubbing his feet.  Most of them waved their heads back and forth happily.  After a moment, they sang a little song together.

Olimar chuckled.  At least he could count on the Pikmin to cheer him up.

He sat another moment to rest, then returned to his feet.  The Pikmin stood when he did.

"What are the chances I can find another way around the wall?" he asked.

They were pretty good, it turned out.  A little to the left of the wall, he found a ledge above his head that he could throw Pikmin to.

Olimar tossed all of the Pikmin up to the ledge.  Then he stared at them with the dawning realization that he needed to get himself up there to direct them.

"There's no way I'm going to climb this slope," he said.  "I couldn't even do it if I wasn't pregnant.  It's totally beyond my physical capabilities."

He tried anyway.  The sun was nearly across the sky.  This was his last chance to bring something back to the Dolphin.

The Pikmin up top cheered Olimar on as he dug his hands and feet into the dirt.  It was as hopeless as he'd expected; he couldn't even find purchase to use what little pulling power he had.

When he slid and nearly overbalanced, he immediately gave up.  He could not fall.  It would be too risky for the baby.  Especially since he knew trying was pointless.

Olimar whistled to the Pikmin.  They threw themselves over the ledge and landed safely on their feet around him.  He patted their heads, though he was trying to reassure himself more than them.

"It's okay to have unproductive days once in awhile.  This won't stop us from fixing the Dolphin," he said.

And yet..... Olimar felt seriously discouraged.  If a little pool of water could stop his entire recovery operation in its tracks, what hope did he have of getting home?  What was he going to do?

His stomach rumbled, and that only made him more despondent.  His needy appetite was not making his situation any better.

"Awoo," a Pikmin said.  

It was a Yellow one, probably that same one that always stuck near him.  She patted him on the arm gently.  Physical affection from the Pikmin was not something he expected, so he assumed she understood his dismay and was trying to cheer him up.

"Thank you.  I appreciate your support," Olimar told her.  "Since I always know which one you are, how about a name?  I believe Yellow Pikmin use their ears to shape air currents and fly higher.  How do you feel about being named Current?"

"Do doo," she said.

Current's moment of affection lifted Olimar's spirits somewhat, but it was hard to keep that energy going.  Especially after he returned the Dolphin and Onions to orbit and was reminded of his supply woes.

He stared at his empty cup of space noodles.  He was still hungry.  The baby kicked to say she agreed.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have enough food for me to eat more," he told her.

His stomach grumbled in protest.  He flopped on his bed and groaned out loud.  The day had started out so promising and ended so poorly.

Hoping to distract himself from his hunger, he opened a new entry of his voyage log.

"It has been five days since impact.  I wonder if I shall ever be able to escape from this world.  How much suffering must I endure before I can finally see my family back home again?"

Olimar stopped typing and massaged his temples.  That had to be the most self-pitying log entry anyone had written ever.  Talking like that made it sound like he had given up.  He couldn't give up.  Too many people were depending on him.

His daughter wiggled, as if to remind him that she was depending on him the most.  He pressed his hand to his belly and felt her change position.  Yes, he needed to keep fighting for her.  And for Rosie, Posy, and Oddey, too.

He added one last sentence to his log.  "I will get home, or I will die trying."

As he pulled the covers over himself and tried to ignore his growling stomach, Olimar couldn't shake the feeling that there was a higher chance of the latter than the former.

Chapter Text

Olimar stood in front of the mirror, looking at his reflection.  He pressed his hand to the top of his belly and moved it along the curve to the widest point.  The baby was really growing now, and that meant she was going to become more nutritionally demanding.

In the time of Olimar's distant ancestors, this strange development system was vitally important for survival: it meant the baby's growth would coincide with their arid homeworld's rainy season, when food was at its most plentiful.  As the planet's agriculture developed, that didn't matter anymore, but the reproductive quirk remained.  Every Hocotatian knew their appetite was going to double at the end of their pregnancy, and prepared for it accordingly.

If Olimar was home, he would be stuffing his face on his wife's cooking right now.  He needed the extra food.  That was the main reason his paternity leave was supposed to start when it did.

Slowly, worriedly, he moved his palm to his hip, where he could readily feel his bones.  The baby would take everything he could offer, and he didn't have a lot of his own weight to lose.

His food supply situation was now an urgent issue.

He cast a glance at the cabinet full of pikpik carrots, but tore his eyes away.  Those really had to remain uneaten in case his daughter needed them.

"Not that she'll need the carrot juice if I starve to death before she's born," Olimar thought.

He turned from his reflection and straightened his back.

"I can't think like that.  I have to be strong!  I must survive!" he announced.  "There's food on this planet somewhere that I can eat!  And parts we can reach!  There must be!  And I'm going to find them!"

Now ablaze with fresh determination, he grabbed his spacesuit off its hook and dressed for his excursion.  It was time to get to work.

After calling for the Pikmin, Olimar opened his data pad and checked the map again.  Hopefully, he had missed something when he was scanning for accessible parts yesterday.

He had!  There was a piece of the Dolphin resting slightly above where he found the Nova Blaster!

According to the radar, the piece was past two solid lines of ledge, but there was a little opening on the other side.

"Can we get up that way?" he asked aloud.

Kipard tilted his head.  Olimar ran in the direction of that possible opening in the wall.

It was on the side of the landing site with the pond.  When he first laid eyes on the opening, Olimar thought he would be blocked by water again.  There was another pool in the way.  When he looked closer, however, he saw that there was a tree root running from the other shore into the water.  It created a natural ramp.  The Pikmin couldn't use it, but...

"I can get up that way.  I can throw the Pikmin to that ledge there, and this time I would be able to climb up and meet them!"

The Pikmin's stems rose higher in the air, intrigued by his excitement.

"Come on!"

He threw the entire group of Pikmin up to the dry spot above him, then circled back to the water.  The root was a little slippery, but it held Olimar's weight and lead right where he needed to be.  The Pikmin waited for him at the other side.

"And the part is-"  He checked the map again.  "-Right over there!  Let's go!"

There were three Spotty Bulborbs nesting in the immediate area and a handful of the smaller ones.  Olimar and his Pikmin were used to the from-behind strategy by now, so they approached the first one confidently.

After easily dispatching it, the Pikmin lifted the Spotty Bulborb's body to return to the Onion.  Olimar whistled for them to drop it.  A thought had occurred to him: maybe he could eat these alien bugs?  The Pikmin ate them, in their own way, so they must be edible.  It wasn't like Hocotatians were herbivores.  His family had meat for dinner less than vegetables and fruit, but they still ate it regularly.

When Olimar looked at the Bulborb up close, however, he swallowed hard.  Meat back home came pre-sliced in a neat little container.  He had never butchered anything himself before.

"It can't be that hard, can it?" he asked.
He pressed his finger against the beast's body.  The raw flesh moved under his touch in a way that turned his stomach.  He took three hurried steps backwards and faced away from the Bulborb.

The planet's wildlife was decidedly not going to save him from starvation.

"Take it away," he said to the Pikmin, waving his hand in the direction of the body.

The Pikmin twittered and swarmed the Spotty Bulborb.  They carried it off before Olimar had to look at it again.  He wasn't even sure which color of Pikmin had claimed it, not that it mattered.

To get his mind off the dead Bulborb, Olimar approached the next sleeping one.  

He paused mid-reach for a Pikmin.  Maybe he didn't need to fight this Spotty Bulborb.  The part was further to the right, so the Pikmin wouldn't have to carry it this way unless they tried to wake the creature.

"I think we should pick our battles more carefully," he told the Pikmin.  "The less we fight, the less of a chance there is of me messing up and getting Pikmin eaten.  And I don't want to kill more of the native wildlife than I have to..."

Kipard and three of the other Red Pikmin stared at the sleeping Bulborb with a longing look, like they were disappointed that they couldn't battle it.  Olimar shook his head and pointed at the area's other Spotty Bulborb. 

"That one's directly blocking the ship part.  You can fight it instead."

"Doot!"

This Bulborb had Dwarf Bulborbs foraging near it.  Olimar knew from experience that trying to fight the little ones near the adult would lead to catastrophe.  He needed a plan to lure them away.

The simple solution was to throw a Pikmin near each one, then whistle him back before he was eaten.  That was what Olimar did.

The Red Pikmin landed a few centimeters from the Dwarf Bulborbs.  He immediately ran towards the nearest one with a rallying cry of, "Ooooooohh!"  Olimar waited until the first Dwarf Bulborb saw the Pikmin and walked towards it before he whistled.  The Pikmin changed course and ran back to him.  The Dwarf Bulborb followed.

When he was sure it was a safe distance from the adult, Olimar threw more Red Pikmin at it.  They killed it without any trouble.

They repeated the plan for the other one.  This time, the bait Pikmin didn't retreat quite fast enough and was grabbed by the Dwarf Bulborb.  The Pikmin Olimar threw as back-up managed to save the little fellow from being eaten.  He shook himself off and rejoined the group as if he wasn't chewed on.

That left them alone with the sleeping Spotty Bulborb.

Its face was pointed towards them and the area wasn't wide enough for them to maneuver past it.  Olimar wondered if he could throw Pikmin onto its side safely from this angle.

"I'm going to have to try, and change strategy if it doesn't work," he thought.

He lined himself up in a good position.  The Pikmin grouped behind him, the Red ones pressing close.  Kipard and a few of the others made eager noises.

He started throwing Pikmin.  They landed on the Spotty Bulborb's side in rapid succession and began attacking.  The beast opened its eyes, rose to its feet, and turned in that direction with speed that surprised Olimar.

He quickly moved in the other direction, out of the way.  The Spotty Bulborb shook itself violently.  The Pikmin were flung off.  By then, Olimar was positioned on the Bulborb's other side, and began throwing Pikmin at it again.  

The Bulborb lunged forwards with its jaws, but it caught nothing and tripped instead.  

That stumble was the mistake the Pikmin needed.  By the time the Bulborb righted itself, it was so wounded by their assault that its next shake only knocked a handful of Pikmin off.  It fell before it could do anything else.

Olimar breathed a sigh of relief.  Any battle without Pikmin losses was a good one.

He passed by the massive body to finally behold the ship part.

Olimar recognized it instantly: the Dolphin's Shock Absorber!  It was a yellow metal corkscrew with a red bar across the top.

This nifty device counteracted the shaking and swaying that occurred during space flight.  Once it was reinstalled, the Dolphin would stop jerking in the air when she hovered at night.  She would fly straighter, too.

"Sleeping is going to be easier with this in place," Olimar said.  The grander implications of the Shock Absorber sank in, and he added, "And I can fly the Dolphin further afield, and search new areas for ship parts!  Maybe I can find a solution for the water problem as well!  This is a lucky find!"

The Pikmin didn't understand what he was saying, but they could tell he was excited.  It made them excited, too.  They jumped up and down and waved their arms in the air.

Olimar instructed the Red Pikmin to carry the Shock Absorber and sent the Yellow Pikmin for the Bulborb bodies.  They were still behind the Reds in numbers, so this would make it a little more even.  When they had been divided, Olimar still had about 15 Pikmin with him.

On the way back, three Yellow Pikmin suddenly ran off the path.  Olimar was going to let them explore and come back, until he heard a metallic clink noise and disappointed sounds.  That lead him to investigate. 

The Pikmin had found a can, like the ones that held bomb rocks.  This one, however, was neither open nor rusty.  It even had a paper wrapper around the middle.

The image on the wrapping compelled Olimar to look more closely.  It was a picture of fruit slices, with alien text written around it.  He pressed his hand to the wrapper.  Did this giant can contain fruit?  A kind of fruit that Hocotatians could eat?

His stomach rumbled at the very idea.  The picture sure looked appetizing...

"I might as well take it back to the Dolphin and see how hard it is to open," he said aloud.  "If there's food in here, it would help with my supply problem."

"Hum hmm," Kipard said, nodding in agreement.

Fifteen Pikmin weren't enough to lift the can, so Olimar went ahead and called back five of the ones carrying the Shock Absorber.  The others continued on, so Olimar added those five to the can of food.  Twenty was enough.  

There was a line of objects going back to the landing site.  It was quite satisfying to see.

At the base camp, Olimar noted that the Pikmin who took the first Spotty Bulborb back were assembled beneath the Red Onion.  For some reason, there were only three sprouts growing from the ground.  The Yellow Pikmin sent up their prey, and the Yellow Onion's flower spun, but no seeds came out at all.

"That's odd," Olimar said.

He plucked the three new Pikmin and stood beneath the Onion.  He could hear the chittering of others inside, meaning more had been made, but they weren't coming down.  The whistle didn't encourage them to leave.

On a whim, Olimar counted the Pikmin outside the Onions.  There were an even hundred.  There was no way that was a coincidence, right?

"Do the Onions stop more than one hundred Pikmin from being outside them at one time?  Why would they do that?  How do they know there are 100 Pikmin in the first place?" Olimar asked.

None of the Pikmin had an answer for him.  He would have to keep this limit in mind going forward.  It shouldn't be a problem.  His group of a hundred Pikmin was impressively large.  They should be able to handle anything he could conceivably need to lift, move, or fight.

Olimar's empty stomach started to ache, reminding him that he had a can of potential food he needed to investigate.  Before he delved into that mystery, he wanted to make sure the Shock Absorber was installed on the Dolphin.

This part attached to the engine and wrapped around the machinery above it.  The Yellow Pikmin figured out how to twist it into place without any guidance.  They were proving to be natural mechanics in their own right.

"And now for the food," Olimar said.

He told every free Pikmin to return to the Onions then lead the can-carrying Pikmin into the Dolphin's transport beam.

The food can looked massive inside the Dolphin's hold.  The top of it almost reached the ceiling.  Olimar deliberated for a few moments on how he was going to get to the top to try opening the thing.

A ladder would be ideal, but the Dolphin didn't have a ladder onboard.

The most obvious solution was to stack Pikmin next to the can and climb them, but that didn't seem plausible.  That might get the can open, but then he would have to dive in to get at the contents.

He looked at what other items he had available.  The bath tub offered an intriguing possibility.  Could he get the Pikmin to tilt the can on its side, then open the top and dump the fruit into the tub?

Olimar ran his finger along the inner edge of the tub.  It was probably clean enough to eat out of.  It had sanitizing gel in it regularly, at the very least.

He whistled to the Pikmin, who jumped to attention.  He waved towards the can, then tried to make a gesture of it tipping over.  The Pikmin blinked at him.  He repeated the gesture and pointed at the can again.  They tilted their heads.

After a moment of consideration, he went to the can himself.  He made sure the Pikmin were watching and mimed what he wanted them to do: stick their hands under the bottom of the can and flip it.

"Doo!" Saffron said.

She ran to Olimar's side and slipped her fingers under the can.  The rest of the Pikmin joined her and did the same.  With one combined effort, they lifted the near side and toppled the can onto its side.

It rolled, but the Pikmin quickly intercepted it.

It was easy to direct them to line the can up with the tub.  A few of them had to hold it steady, in case it moved again, but they didn't protest.

Olimar inspected the lid and found an indented line around the perimeter of it.  It looked weaker there than the rest of the can.  He retrieved his vegetable knife from the kitchen drawer.  Then, he set the blade against the indentation and pressed down.  When nothing happened, he increased the pressure slowly.

Eventually, the seam split with a hiss.  A spurt of juice shot out of the cut and into the tub.  Olimar expected the Pikmin the descend on the drops like nectar, but none of them moved.

He went back to work on the lid, following the indent with the blade until the top half was sliced.  Then, carefully, he bent the metal towards him.

Some of the contents of the can poured into the tub.  It was indeed fruit; yellowish-orange, wedge-shaped fruit.  Each slice was three times as long as Olimar was tall.

If Olimar was thinking more clearly, he would have pondered what kind of giant creatures could eat fruit this big.  But the empty ache in his stomach was starting to hurt, so his thoughts were focused on if he could safely consume this massive fruit.

There was a chance that Olimar would taste this alien food and instantly die.  Any number of things could make it harmful to him, from incompatible chemicals to natural toxins he didn't know about.  Sure, something had canned it to eat, but that didn't mean it was safe for a Hocotatian.

He didn't exactly have a lot of options, though.  If his choices were a fast death by alien food poisoning or a slow, agonizing death by starvation, well.....

He dipped his hand into the thick syrup and raised it to his face.  It looked like the fruit juice on Hocotate.  He sniffed it.  It smelled slightly sweet, not bitter or sour.  It certainly wasn't rotten.

After a moment of hesitation, he stuck his hand in his mouth to taste the juice.  The flavor wasn't strong, but it was sweet.  It tasted a lot like the tree fruit back home and Rosie's homemade pies.

Olimar swallowed and waited for... anything that might happen to him.  The Pikmin stared at him all the while, though they didn't know what he was doing.

When he survived that first taste, he used his knife to cut a hand-sized piece off the slice of fruit.   He took a bite and his eyes went wide.  The alien fruit was delicious!  It was sweeter than candy and had a delightfully soft texture. 

That first wonderful bite made Olimar a little food crazy.  He finished what was in his hand and greedily went into the tub for more.  He ate until the painful ache in his stomach was gone and still didn't stop. 

He continued feasting until he was too stuffed to moved.  Finally satisfied, he pressed his back against the side of the tub and slid down to the floor.  He let out a long sigh of contentment and relief.

This was a pleasant change from that morning, when he thought he was going to run out of supplies and starve.  Judging by the size of the can, there would be more than enough fruit to keep him fed for 23 days, even with his increased appetite.

He rested his hand on his belly and patted it gently.  The baby swatted at him, which brought an affectionate grin to his face.

"It's going to be okay now," he said.  After a pause, he added, "Well, maybe not okay-okay yet, but we have more of a chance of surviving this mess.  So it's going to be better."

The pitter-patter of Pikmin feet drew his attention.  The ones who had been holding the giant can rejoined the others.  All of them stared at him.

It took Olimar a moment to realize they were staring at his hand.  As he watched, the closest Red Pikmin, the one who always stayed close to him, put her hands on her own stomach and patted it.  She didn't understand why he was doing that.

Of course they didn't understand, he realized.  They were born from seeds.  The idea of pregnancy was as foreign to them as growing from the ground was to him.

"My daughter is in here," he said to the Pikmin.  That was a silly thing to say.  The Pikmin didn't know his language, and even if they did, the words "daughter" and "son" would mean nothing to the plant creatures.  He would have to teach them without words.

Olimar made a "come here" gesture with his hand.  The nearby Red Pikmin skipping to him, but stopped out of reach.

He waved again.  "Come a little closer.  It's okay."

She slowly approached until she was beside him.  He reached for her hand and guided it to his stomach.  The Pikmin was clearly confused but she didn't protest.

Nothing happened at first.  Then, the baby gave a strong kick.  The Red Pikmin jumped slightly in surprise, but she didn't leave.  She added a second hand and rubbed his belly curiously.

This was a cue to the other Pikmin.  First Kipard and Saffron joined in the inspection, then the rest of the Red Pikmin.  When they didn't get in trouble with their "boss," the other Yellow Pikmin came over, too.

Olimar was suddenly surrounded by 20 Pikmin with reaching hands.  They came on so strong that it sent a wave of unease tingling through him.  He fought it down, bracing his arm on the tub and forcing himself not to move away.  They were only curious, after all, and he had invited them over.

For how fearsome the Pikmin were in a fight, they were very gentle in their inspection of Olimar.  Some of them poked and tapped him, but most of them mimicked the first Red's rubbing motion.  

Two of the Yellow Pikmin babbled something to each other.  Another one joined in the incomprehensible conversation.  Olimar wished he knew what they were saying about him, though it was probably something simple like, "Wow!  This life-form has a smaller life-form inside it!"  They might even be speculating about how a little creature could get into a bigger one in the first place.

The Pikmin must have unanimously decided that he didn't eat her, or they wouldn't still be pressing in so close.

The baby loved their attention.  She stretched her little arms out and kicked her feet.  The movement only further encouraged the Pikmin's curiosity.  One of the Yellow Pikmin's hands followed a wiggle right across Olimar's middle.

It was adorable.  The Pikmin were adorable.  They reminded Olimar of his kids' curiosity about their little sibling.

He remembered how excited Oddey was the first time he found out he was going to be a big brother.  He had so many questions.  The best one, though, was, "Can she hear me talk to her?"

"She must be able to hear," Rosie answered.  "You recognized our voices when you were born.  You would turn your head to look at me and your Papa whenever we spoke to you."

Oddey's eyes widened in surprise.  "That's so cool!"

That night, he came into their bedroom with one of the books he had outgrown.

"Papa, can I read to the baby?  I want her to learn my voice!" he said.

Olimar and Rosie smiled warmly at each other, and he moved over in the bed so Oddey had room to sit. 

"Of course you can.  I think she would love that," he said.

Little Oddey grinned from ear to ear and climbed onto the bed.  He snuggled against Olimar's side and opened the book.

"This story is called The Littlest Space Explorer.  I'll tell you what the pictures look like, because you can't see them yet," Oddey explained.

It ultimately worked, because Posy knew her brother's voice from the moment they met.  Oddey was quite proud of himself.  Olimar and Rosie were happy that it seemingly prevented any kind of sibling rivalry between their children.

Since Oddey was older this time, Olimar didn't expect him to be as eager to bond with the new baby as he was with Posy.  He was wrong.  The night after the pregnancy announcement, Oddey trotted into his parents' room with a kid's book in his hands.

"Papa, do you mind if I read to the baby?  I want them to know me when they're born, like Posy did!" he said.

Rosie, who was already tucked under the covers, looked over her shoulder and smiled.  She wiggled to the right so Olimar could move over and make room for Oddey.

Not five minutes into the reading session, Posy appeared in the doorway.  She also had a book in her hands.

"Papa!  Papa!  Oddey says babies like to be read to!  Can I read to the baby?" she asked.

Rosie snorted an undignified laugh and moved over even further.  Olimar patted the bed between her and him.

"Yes, Posy, babies love being read to.  Come on up."

There was barely enough room for all four of them to fit in the bed, but they made it.

"If we have another one, we're going to need a bigger bed!" Rosie said, elbowing Olimar.

"This is the last one!  I promise!" he replied.

As fond as the memory was, it also sent a stab of homesickness into Olimar's heart.  He missed Oddey, Posy, and Rosie terribly.

He reached around the curious Pikmin and squeezed his wedding ring.  His family would know he was missing by now.  What was running through their heads?  Did they think he was dead?  Or were they holding out hope that he was out here, trying desperately to get back to them?

The Pikmin's stems suddenly stood up straight, as if they were reacting to a signal Olimar didn't notice.  In one synchronized group, they ran for the ship's exit.

He looked out the window.  The sun was low, moments from dipping below the horizon.  The Pikmin were returning to their Onions for the night.  That was his cue to take the Dolphin back into the lower atmosphere. 

"I don't want to move the Dolphin, I want to fall asleep right here," he grumbled.  The floor wasn't comfortable, but he didn't feel motivated to haul his fruit-stuffed body to the cockpit.

The potential threat of hungry Bulborbs encouraged him to rise from the floor and drag himself to the controls.  The Dolphin soared back into the lower atmosphere with the two Onions in tow.  The ride was smoother than before, thanks to the Shock Absorber.

Olimar set the autopilot to hover and trudged back to the cargo hold.  After taking a moment to activate the preservation field over the giant fruit can, he retired to his bed.  He laid down and took only a moment to get comfortable before he fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

If he suffered any terrible side effects from eating weird alien food, he would deal with them in the morning.  For now, it was nice to sleep with a full stomach.

.....................................................

Day 6 on planet Hocotate

Louie stood across the desk from President Shachou.  His boss was thinking.  Quite hard apparently, because Louie had been standing there for five minutes and wasn't addressed yet.

Finally, Shachou pressed his palms together and spoke.

"What happened to Olimar is tragic.  Very sad.  But, I don't see any reason why business shouldn't continue.  Do you agree?"

Louie thought about that a moment, then shrugged.  Shachou nodded vigorously.

"I'm glad you agree!  Because I'm sending you out with that shipment of golden pikpik carrots!"

They went straight out to the Freight ship and did the pre-flight inspection.  Shachou double-checked that the carrots were safely boxed.  Then he handed the keys over to Louie with a smile.

"I have complete confidence in you!  And if you get nervous remember: accidents like Olimar's are extremely rare.  You shouldn't have any problems!" Shachou said.

"Sure, boss," Louie replied.

"Now get going!"

Chapter Text

The next morning, Olimar could say with confidence that he hadn't suffered any negative side effects from eating the strange fruit.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  He'd become less gaunt overnight and he was bursting with energy.  Anything felt possible!

"I wonder how much sugar is in this...." he wondered as he sliced more fruit for breakfast.

His portion was more controlled this time, because he had a lot of work to do and couldn't afford to overstuff himself.  Maybe later, for dinner.

Today's goal was to find a way to get Pikmin across water.  Olimar knew there wasn't anything in the Forest of Hope that could help him.  Luckily, the radar picked up another area nearby with a cluster of ship parts in it, and the Dolphin was repaired enough to handle the travel distance.  Maybe he could find a solution to the water problem there?  Even if he couldn't, there would be other parts to collect.  If one of them was the radio, the water wouldn't matter.

He looked down from the Dolphin's topless cockpit at the spot where the radar signals were clustered.  There was a depression in the middle of the forest that turned out to be a great hole in the earth.  It looked kind of like a belly button.

"Let's call this cave the Forest Navel," Olimar said.  His daughter gave a little kick, which he took as approval of the name.

The entrance was a tight fit for the Dolphin, but the Shock Absorber made her handle almost as well as normal.  Olimar skillfully guided her through the mouth of the cave and to a safe landing.  The Onions followed, landing beside the Dolphin as usual.

Before he called out any Pikmin, Olimar scanned his new surroundings.  

The majority of green plant-life was in the landing site, where light filtered down through the hole in the roof.  A few grass shoots and red plants rose in patches here and there.  Everything else was dirt, rock, or sand, which made the landscape grey and brown as far as the eye could see.

There was a lot of water around.  Unless Olimar could find a solution quickly, this was going to be a harder place for him to get things done in than the Forest of Hope.

The landing area itself was slightly raised from the surroundings.  From where he stood, it looked like a grand stalagmite with the top cleaved off.  All around were natural ramps and ledges, probably carved by dripping water.  One such ramp was blocked by a big stone wall that only bomb rocks could break.  Olimar and the Pikmin would have to find some.

He nodded and approached the Red Onion.  That was enough looking, it was time to explore.

When he called down the Pikmin, they swarmed him.  Every single one of them wanted to touch him.  More specifically, they wanted to touch his stomach.

"Right, only some of you got to meet the baby yesterday," he said.  He laughed.  "Is that what you guys talk about in the Onions overnight?  'Strange new discoveries about the boss's biology?'"

"Wawoo!" a Red Pikmin said.

"I guess I have been making notes to the same effect about you.  This is only fair."

The baby had been asleep, but the pokes of a hundred Pikmin got her moving again.  The Pikmin were mystified by her wiggling.  Every single one of them tried to feel her kick or punch at them.

After giving them some time to play, Olimar waved his hands.

"Alright, we can't do this all day, or we'll never get anything done!" he protested.  "I'll let you talk to her more later, but right now, we need to explore this new area.  It's important."

"Iff," Current said.

"Wewooo!" Kipard announced.  He stomped his foot and pointed out of camp.

"I'm glad you agree.  Let's start by taking a walk around," Olimar said.

They found a ship part almost immediately.  It had landed on a separate flat stalagmite near their base.  It was slightly taller than the landing site.  

It looked like the Dolphin's Automatic Gear, but it was hard to be sure at this distance.

The direct route to it was blocked by the stone wall, so they had to follow a declining path in the rock that circled around the stalagmite.  It brought them to a gap in the ground that cut them off from the ship part's platform.

"I'm not sure if I can throw Pikmin that far.  Not even Yellow ones," Olimar said.

He leaned carefully over the side of the cliff edge.  The path below them went two ways.  The first one met up with the other side of the stone wall at camp.  He wasn't sure where the other path lead, but he had a feeling he should find out before he sent any Pikmin that direction.

"Oot oot," a Pikmin said.

Olimar turned and saw a few of the Yellow Pikmin fiddling with a pile of sticks.  It looked like random vegetation to him, but he was quickly learning to trust his allies' impulses on these kinds of things.

"What do you have there?" he asked.

"Waa," Saffron replied.

She picked up one of the sticks and whacked the pile with her flower.  Nothing happened, so she did it again.  This time, sap oozed out of the stick on the ground.  Saffron collected some on her fingers and spread it on the end of the stick in her hand.  Then, she attached it to another one from the pile.  It held.

The Red Pikmin watched the Yellow Pikmin work for a minute before joining in.  They glued sticks together end on end until they had made one long branch.

Olimar took hold of the branch at one of its seams and gave it a shake.  It felt completely solid.

"Very nice!  Will it reach the part?" he asked.

The Pikmin stared at him, confused.  He tried to lift it and show them where he needed it to go, but it was far too heavy for him.  He gestured towards the stalagmite and made a lifting gesture.

It took a moment, but his intentions communicated.  Ten of the Pikmin took hold of the stick and swung it in the right direction.  The end rested on the top of the distant stalagmite.

"Very nice!"

Olimar studied the group of Pikmin.  If he left the ten holding the stick and sent thirty of them to carry the part, he would have sixty left to go ahead of them and scope out the route back.

With that thought in mind, he pointed at the stick and gestured at the group of Yellow Pikmin.  A handful of them followed his directing immediately, crawling across the twig bridge.  It wasn't quite the thirty he meant to send over, but the group of them managed to lift the ship part without any more help.

"It must be lighter than I expected," Olimar said.

He shifted his main group's focus to scouting the way back.

The edge of the cliff was sloped rather than sheer, so Olimar put his feet over the edge and slid himself carefully down the side.  The rest of the Pikmin followed after him.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he heard the familiar sounds of Sheargrubs burrowing up from the dirt around him.

When they had fully emerged to attack the Pikmin, Olimar noticed that these Sheargrubs were different from the ones in the Forest of Hope.  They were green and had bigger, more curved mouthparts.

One of the green-Sheargrubs grabbed a Yellow Pikmin in its mouth and flew into the air on veined wings, making the difference even more obvious.

"Oh no, you don't!" Olimar yelled. 

He threw a Pikmin at them, and managed to knock both the attacker and the captured Pikmin to the ground.

Then the Automatic Gear dropped into the middle of the path, scattering the Pikmin carrying it and spiraling the situation into chaos. 

Three of the insects leapt at once, every one of them grabbing a Pikmin.  Olimar took a second too long to decide where to send help, and all of them were crushed in the winged Sheargrubs' jaws.

He managed to nail one of the insects head-on with his next throw, killing it.

Behind Olimar another Pikmin cried out.  He turned and threw two more of them in that direction.  He managed to land the second Red Pikmin for a kill.

Kipard and two other Red Pikmin took the initiative to attack the final insect.  It had already taken hold of another one of the Pikmin in its jaws.  The Reds killed it, but not before the captured Pikmin's spirit shimmer rose into the air.

Olimar stared at the battlefield in dismay.  He was pretty sure, without counting, that they lost five Pikmin.  It felt like he should be better at preventing casualties by now.

The Pikmin did not hesitate.  The ones who had been carrying the Automatic Gear resumed their task, bringing it up the winding road back towards the Dolphin.

A few of the Pikmin left behind grabbed the bodies of the flying Sheargrubs and carried them back, too.  It was their chant that pulled Olimar from his thoughts.

"You're right, there's nothing we can do but grow more seeds," he said.

The plan to scout the area ahead of the part wasn't working out, but Olimar could see the Gear bobbing side-to-side ahead of them.  At least he knew they weren't being stopped by anything.

He whistled to the Pikmin holding the stick above and picked up a jog to pursue the Gear.  

At the curve in the path, Olimar caught a glimpse of something in the pool of water below that stopped him in his tracks: a third inactive Pikmin Onion!

"Another Onion!  And it's sitting in water!" Olimar exclaimed.  "Does that mean...?"

He quickly turned on his heels and whistled as loudly as he could at the prey-holding Pikmin.  The one in the lead was too far away to hear him, but the four in the back dropped their prizes and returned to his group.

"Let's save those for the new Onion," Olimar said.

They clearly didn't understand, but they didn't argue over the change in plans.

Olimar picked his way down a safe path to the Onion.  It rested in a water-filled crater attached to the main trail.  From the shore, its dark exterior had a blue tint.

He threw a glance in the direction of the Automatic Gear.  It was nearly out of sight and moving unimpeded.  He couldn't hear any danger nearby.  They should be able to make it back to the Dolphin without him.

Olimar could return and install the part to the ship once he had investigated this Onion.  He would also need to return some of his ninety-five troops to their own Onions before he could grow more than a few of these new ones.

He dismissed the Yellow and Red Pikmin on the shore, where they would be safe.  Then, he waded into the pool of water and approached the dark Onion.

The process of awakening dormant Onions was familiar to Olimar by now.  He tapped its top and scurried away when the petals spun.  Like the others, this Onion popped up from the ground, extended its legs, and spit out a single seed.  It landed in the water and grew a Pikmin stem that was blue in color.

Olimar confidently grabbed ahold of the stem and yanked.  As expected, it was a brand new type of Pikmin.

Since the Onion was over the pool, the newly picked Pikmin landed in the water.  It didn't panic like the Yellow or Red ones did because it wasn't drowning.  It regarded Olimar with absolute calm, as if it was as at-home in the water as the others were on land.

"Interesting," Olimar said.  

He leaned closer to the Blue Pikmin to inspect it.  Instead of a nose or ears, this one had a pink opening where a Hocotatian had a mouth.  There were also little slits on its cheeks.  As Olimar watched, the slits fluttered in the water. 

"Ah, those are gills.  You can breathe underwater because you have gills," he said.  He offered his hand, like he had to Saffron.  "Welcome to the family, Blue Pikmin."

The Blue Pikmin walked past his arm and looked at his face first.  She tapped on his helmet with her finger.  Then, she explored the pool rather than Olimar, walking through the water to each corner of the crater and studying it thoroughly.

When she was satisfied, she returned to Olimar and looked at him expectantly.

"You need a name, because you're the first Blue Pikmin.  A Pikmin who swims....  Diver?  May I call you Diver?" he asked.

"Wawoo!" she replied eagerly.

Olimar walked away from her, towards the other side of the pool.  There were two of the pellet-bearing flowers growing in the water behind the Onion, and one of the larger pellets laying on a sliver of land at the back of the crater.  It was as if they were waiting for Pikmin to collect them.

He tossed Diver at the leftmost plant.  She took it down the same way any other Pikmin would and carried the pellet back to the Blue Onion.  It released two more seeds.

Olimar took a moment to pull up the second and third Blue Pikmin, then turned back to the group on shore.  They should return to the landing site before he grew any more Blue Pikmin.

Saffron was at the edge of the water, as close as she could possibly be without falling in.  The reason became clear quickly; her curiosity about the new color of Pikmin was almost uncontainable.  Her feet tapped excitedly until Diver stepped onto her level.  The Blue Pikmin's stem straightened.  Saffron's did the same.  They walked in a tight circle, mutually inspecting each other.

When they were satisfied, Saffron and Diver threw their arms over their heads and let out a synchronized, "Adoo!"  Then they hugged each other.

Olimar let out the breath he'd been holding.  He was glad the Red and Yellow Pikmin getting along wasn't a fluke.

Kipard watched from afar.  Diver approached him specifically, seemingly aware of which Red Pikmin was the oldest.  She waved her leaf back and forth.  He did the same.  Then she gave him a hug, too.

The rest of the Yellow and Red Pikmin took a minute to meet the three Blue Pikmin.  Olimar didn't interrupt them.  When their meet and greet was done, their eyes found him.

"Are you ready to go?" Olimar asked.

The Pikmin chittered various responses.  He took that as a yes and lead the way back towards camp.

The Pikmin had set the Automatic Gear down in front of the Dolphin.  Olimar checked it and felt his heart sink.  The face of the gear was spotted with thin cracks.

"I've been very lucky with damages so far.  I suppose that luck had to run out sooner or later.  They did fall out of the sky at high velocity...." he grumbled.

He didn't have any tools with him that could fill gaps in a metal object.  On a whim, he dug some dirt up from the ground and packed it into the cracks.  It didn't look great, but hopefully it would work.

The bright side was that the Automatic Gear's job wasn't physically demanding.  Its mere presence kept the broader mechanical functions of the Dolphin running smoothly, which let Olimar focus on the finer points of driving.  His trips around the atmosphere would be simpler with the gear in place.

The Yellow and Red Pikmin helped Olimar carry the part into the cargo hold and slot it back into its place.  It whirled like it was supposed to, so he assumed it would work as intended.

When he went outside, the three Blue Pikmin were spread out around the Dolphin.  It looked like they were studying it.

Olimar let them go.  He didn't mind their curiosity.

When the trio were done, they returned to him.  Diver stood at the lead, like Saffron and Kipard did for their respective colors of Pikmin.

"I think we'll spend the rest of the day growing as many Blue sprouts as possible," Olimar told them.  "There are a lot of places in the Forest of Hope blocked by water, so I'll need as many of you as I can get."

Diver, Saffron, and Kipard bobbed their heads. 

"Alright, let's go."

First, Olimar picked the two Yellow sprouts that grew from the flying Sheargrub's body.  Second, he sent twenty Red and twenty Yellow Pikmin back into their respective Onions.  That left him with twenty-nine Yellows and twenty-eight Reds on the field.  He would have more than enough room for added Blue Pikmin that way.

"I wonder how the Onions communicate with each other to discuss how many Pikmin are outside of them," Olimar mused as he walked down the ramp with his group.

As usual, none of the Pikmin had an answer to offer him.

He started at the pool where the Blue Onion waited.  The Blue Pikmin broke down the pellet flower and retrieved the small pellet, which made two more seeds.  Plucking both of them gave Olimar the power he needed for the bigger pellet, and five more Blue Pikmin were born from that.

They had to go further afield for more food.  Luckily, a row of three more pellet flowers had risen from the ground further along the path.  Olimar sent those back with the Blue Pikmin as well.

While he was waiting with the land-bound Pikmin, Olimar heard a strange sound coming from ahead, in the direction they fought the winged Sheargrubs.  It almost sounded like an animal snorting.

"Maybe that's some kind of prey we can bring to the Onion?" he asked Kipard.

"Doo," Kipard said, nodding almost sagely.

Only one way to find out.  He retrieved the Blue Pikmin and followed the trail to unexplored territory.

Olimar wasn't quite ready for the bottle-shaped, pig-snouted creatures he discovered at the end of the path.  Their grey skin was thick like leather and rested in folds along their bodies.  He didn't see any hair or fur, though these creatures strongly resembled mammalian pigs in shape and sound.  The legs were so short and stumpy that it was surprising the beasts could walk on them. 

It was the red ring on its snout that worried Olimar.  Bright colors in Hocotate's wildlife were usually a threat or a warning.  The Bulborbs were bright red and dangerous, so this planet's nature clearly followed that rule, too.

Maybe it was poisonous, like the ruby-backed sloths on Hocotate.  If that was true, the Pikmin should be fine, because they weren't going to eat the pig creature.

Olimar decided to throw Pikmin at it and see what happened.

"Be careful over there," he told them.

He started throwing Red and Yellow Pikmin.  It was his intention to leave his few Blue Pikmin out of the fight, but one of them pushed up through the group from the back and ended up in Olimar's hand anyway.  He was a little baffled when he saw it fly through the air and land on the pig's back with the others.

"Wait, little guy, I would rather you stay-"

Olimar didn't get to finish.  The pig creature reared up on its back legs then bucked forwards.  Every Pikmin on its back flew in front of it.  As they were still clamoring to their feet, the creature sucked in a raspy breath and exhaled a stream of fire!

The group of Pikmin scattered in panic as their flowers and leaves lit up like matches.

"No, wait!  I can help you!" Olimar shouted.

He wasn't sure what else to do but chase after them and whistle.  The sound pulled them from their panic, which let them focus enough to smack their stems on the ground until the flames went out.

To his horror, Olimar saw that two burning Yellow Pikmin had run out of hearing range of his whistle.  He ran towards them, but it was already too late.  The Pikmin fell to the ground and were consumed by the flames.

"Well, at least I saved most of them...." he muttered to himself.  "But how am I ever supposed to fight a creature that breathes fire with plant creatures?"

The familiar sound of Pikmin flowers hitting flesh reached his ears.  Confused, Olimar turned to face the pig creature again.

To his surprise, a group of Red Pikmin was back on top of it, attacking as if they hadn't been set aflame a moment before.  The beast flicked them off again, but when it breathed fire, the Red Pikmin charged straight through the flame as if it wasn't there!

"Red Pikmin are.... fireproof?" Olimar asked.

"Awoo," a Yellow Pikmin commented, as if this should have been obvious.

"But they're plants!  And they're animals!  How can they possibly be fireproof?"

It didn't make sense, yet he was seeing it before his eyes.  He knew that Blue Pikmin could survive in water and Yellow Pikmin knew how to carry bomb rocks, so it logically followed that Red Pikmin would have a resistance of their own.

The pig beast collapsed to the ground and the Red Pikmin cheered.  They trotted back to Olimar and waited for his next order.

He blew the dismissal whistle and called the Blue Pikmin over to collect the creature's body.  They lifted it with seven, but he sent more to get it back to the Onion as fast as possible.  It was hard to tell the time inside the cave, but his suit's clock told him the hour was getting late.

There didn't appear to be Bulborbs living in this cavern, but Olimar didn't want to take any chances.  For all he knew, this biome had a different, more dangerous apex predator that only appeared at night.

That made him think about the fire-breathing creatures.  They needed a name.  Pig-like animals that blew fire out of their snouts....  He decided to call them Fiery Blowhogs, to describe their shape and their offensive capabilities.

The body of the Blowhog produced eight seeds from the Onion.  Olimar pulled the resulting Blue Pikmin from the ground and counted them alongside the others.

"That gives us 32 Blue Pikmin.  I think that's a good number," he said.

He was going to call it a night and send all the Pikmin to bed, but a call drew his attention.  One of the Yellow Pikmin was hopping up and down and pointing into the air.

"What's going on?" Olimar asked.

He walked to her side to see what caught her interest.

Hovering a few centimeters above the ground was a peculiar creature.  It had a pink tube body surrounded in a translucent bubble.  The bubbly outside had its own fin-like arms and spines rising from its back.  The base of its tail appeared to be a speckled ball, or maybe an egg.  Excluding the ball, it wasn't much larger than Olimar himself.

He couldn't quite figure out how this creature was flying.  It didn't have visible wings.  His best guess was that the semi-clear bubble around its body was full of air, like a balloon.

The other thing he didn't understand was the Pikmins' interest in the flying creature.  It was ignoring them and didn't seem like a threat, but now four of the Yellow Pikmin were pointing at it and bouncing in place.  What did they want from the little creature?

Olimar observed it for a moment.  It floated towards one of the grass stalks on the rocky ramp.  The fin-like arms rubbed against the stalk and came away with a sliver of plant nectar.  It tucked the substance into the ball on its tail.

"Nectar!  That's why you guys are interested!" Olimar exclaimed.  He wasn't going to ask how they knew this particular creature carried the nectar they liked.  Instincts, he assumed.

He grabbed the first Yellow Pikmin who pointed and threw her at the little creature.  She bumped into it and made it squeak.  The speckled ball fell off its tail, shattering on the ground below.  Sure enough, the broken shell contained a puddle of flowering nectar.

The Blue Pikmin and the flowerless Red and Yellow ones rushed at the puddle of nectar.  Olimar instead watched the transparent creature.  It stared down at the broken ball for a moment, then vanished from sight.

He felt bad all of a sudden.  It was probably going to eat this nectar.  Did he just thoughtlessly deprive a harmless creature of its next meal so his Pikmin would be faster?  What if that food was for its hungry mate or possibly a nest of babies?

The creature reappeared a moment later.  It had a new ball on its tail and went straight back to collecting nectar from the grass blades.  

"It looks like this one's going to be fine, but I should think before I throw Pikmin in the future," Olimar thought.

He looked at the Pikmin.  Every single one of them had a flower atop their stem now, except for one Blue Pikmin.  He stood directly behind Olimar, unmoved, with Current and the particularly clingy Red Pikmin.  This was also the Blue Pikmin with the tear in his leaf from the Blowhog's fire.  Clearly, he did not have a good grasp on where he needed to be and when.

"I'm starting to think every Onion intentionally makes one Pikmin who is odd," Olimar thought.

He walked towards the broken shells.  "Come here, little guy.  You can still find some-"  The nectar was completely gone.  "You'll get the first taste of the next puddle we find, okay?" 

"Weeboo!" The Blue Pikmin replied.

Olimar's thoughts were interrupted by Saffron and Current rubbing their hands on his stomach.

"Oh, I did tell you I would let you talk to the baby later, didn't I?" he said.  

He moved his arms further to the sides, to give more Pikmin room to come over.  Red and Yellow ones quickly accepted his offer.

The Blue Pikmin watched them, confused but curious.  Saffron waved to them and pointed at Olimar's stomach.  Tentatively, Diver approached.

When she was within reach, Saffron grabbed her hand and pressed it against Olimar.  Diver remained confused until the baby kicked.  She jumped back a step with a frightened noise and grumbled, "Wey dooo wee?" at Saffron.

"Beebo," Saffron said.

"Eep?"

The leaf-headed Blue Pikmin walked under Olimar's arm and put his hand beside Saffron's.  He was surprised by the baby's kicking, but he didn't flee.  He pressed the side of his head against his belly, as if he was trying to hear what was going on inside.

"Doo doot?" he asked.

"I'm afraid you won't hear anything from her yet," Olimar said.  "There isn't any air in there to breathe, so she can only communicate by kicking and punching."

As if to confirm that statement, the baby punched in the Pikmin's direction.  His little mouth opened into a smile and he rubbed his cheek against Olimar.

"I think she likes you!" Olimar said.

Two other Blue Pikmin came closer.  The Yellow and Red ones moved out of the way to give them space.  They joined in the patting, and quickly became enthralled like the other Pikmin were.

When it became clear they were enjoying themselves, Diver tried a second approach.  

She made a quizzical sound at the leafed Blue Pikmin, who offered a reassuring word back.  Then, more confident, she placed her hands beside his.

The baby didn't kick this time, but she did move around and resettle herself.  Diver's demeanor softened at the feeling.

"Aw ho ho," she said.

"Yeah, see?  She isn't dangerous or scary," Olimar said.

He glanced at the clock again.  Sunset was close.  As cute as this moment was, it couldn't last for much longer.  They needed to go.

"Come on.  Time for bed," he said.

The Pikmin didn't protest.  In fact, the Blue Pikmin ran past him and climbed their Onion's legs as soon as he walked in that direction.  The Reds and Yellows returned to camp with him, like any other evening.

Olimar took one last look around the area, to be sure he had all of his Pikmin, then whistled for dismissal.  They dispersed happily to their Onions.  

Like before, Olimar swung the Dolphin over towards the Blue Onion.  It took to the sky and smoothly joined the Red and Yellow Onions' formation, like it belonged there.  Satisfied, Olimar steered the ship back through the hole in the roof and to the safety of the atmosphere.

On his way through the cargo hold, Olimar caught his reflection in the mirror.  With his weight concerns under control, he now noticed that his face was looking more than a little scruffy.  He would never grow this much facial hair at home, because it tickled Rosie when they snuggled and she insisted he trim it down.

"I could grow a beard.  I'd look like a real castaway, rough and rugged and braving the wilderness!"  He set his hand on his belly.  "What do you think?"

The baby wiggled around, which wasn't a real answer.  Feeling her move made him think, though.  He remembered how soft Oddey and Posy were when they were born.  Their newborn skin was so delicate.  A baby would be more sensitive to poking hairs than Rosie.

Olimar grabbed the can of shaving cream and razor from the cabinet.  There would be no beard on this trip, not if he wanted his little girl to snuggle comfortably under his chin like her older siblings before her.

He personally thought he looked batter clean-shaven, anyway.  Probably because he wasn't rough and rugged, even if he was braving the wilderness.

When he was done, he ran his finger over his smooth chin.  Perfect.

After that, Olimar made a quick voyage log.  It was dedicated to the new Pikmin.

"Deep in the Forest Navel, I discovered Blue Pikmin.  These fellows have something resembling gills on their cheeks, and they appear to be amphibious, surviving both in water and on land.  They are the key to retrieving the rest of the Dolphin's parts in the Forest of Hope!  Tomorrow, I will return there and claim the pieces I was missing."

He would have made another entry for the Fiery Blowhogs and the little translucent creature (he was considering calling it a Honeywisp) but by now he was starving and exhausted.  So he ate a frankly excessive amount of fruit instead.  He didn't stop until he was too full to eat anymore.  Then, he snuggled into bed and fell into a contented sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a productive day, he was sure of it.

............................................

Day 7 on Hocotate

After she was home from work and had dinner in the oven, Rosie checked the next week on the family calendar.  There was a doctor's appointment in two days for Olimar and the baby.

"I guess I'd better... call and cancel that," she said slowly.

She picked up the phone, then hesitated.  What would she say?  "Olimar won't be at his prenatal appointment because he's late getting home"?  That was technically true, but made it sound like she could reschedule.  "I need to cancel Olimar's appointment because he's lost in space and may never come back"?  She didn't want to say that, even if it was the whole truth.

Rosie and Dr. Maple were quite familiar with each other.  He would be understanding if she told him exactly what was happening.

She dialed the number and waited.  It was Dr. Maple who answered her, rather than a secretary, but that was pretty typical for him.

"Hello, Rosie!  How are you and the family doing?" he asked.

"We're.... okay.  Mostly.  That's why I'm calling, actually," she said.  "Olimar is.... he went missing on his way home from a work trip, so I'm calling to cancel his appointment this week.  He won't be able to make it."

"He's missing?  Oh, Rosie, I'm so sorry.  Stars, this is a bad time to lose track of him."

"I know....  There's a team out looking for him, but they haven't found any trace of him yet."

Dr. Maple paused, and said, "Well, Olimar was perfectly healthy the last time I saw him, so his chances of surviving until rescue arrives are pretty high."

"I'm hoping that's true.  I know he's tough.  I'm just very worried."

"I understand."  She heard his eraser scratching on paper.  "I'll take the appointment out of the book for this week, but would you like to reschedule in case Olimar is found?  We can set up a new one next week, tentatively, and you can call to confirm if he's home."

"I don't want to waste your time if...."  Rosie couldn't finish that sentence.

"No waste at all!  It's quiet here right now.  I have open time slots that can be used for temporary appointments.  And if he's been lost in space for awhile, he'll need a general check-up anyway.  How does next Wednesday sound?"

"I'm free next Wednesday.  And Olimar won't have any plans when he gets home.  If they find him, he can be there."

"Excellent!  I'll pencil him in for 11:00.  You can call me if he's been found, and I won't assume you're coming unless I hear from you, okay?"

"That sounds good.  Thank you, Dr. Maple."

"You're welcome.  If you need anything from me, and I mean anything, I'm here to help."

"I appreciate that, Doctor.  My parents are keeping an eye on me and the kids right now, so I think we'll be okay."

"I'm happy to hear that.  We'll be in touch.  Take care of yourself."

"I will.  Thank you again, Dr. Maple."

After she hung up the phone, she focused on what Dr. Maple said.  "Olimar's chances of surviving until rescue arrives are pretty high."   He always knew the right thing to say to help settle someone's nerves.

Rosie imagined Olimar holed up in the Dolphin, trapped on an alien world, but happily munching on those stupid instant space noodles he insisted on packing for every trip.  In her mind's eye, he was warm and safe, in spite of being lost.

She tried not to think too hard about the chances of him being injured, or how his food needs at this stage were beyond what he usually packed for a long-haul.  No, she had to be positive.  She had to imagine he was safe and happy, and that the Rescue Corps would find him while that was still true.

"Stay safe, Oli.  I'm sure you'll be home soon," Rosie whispered.

Chapter Text

Olimar returned to the Forest of Hope with his Blue Pikmin in hand.  

He confidently crossed the water to where the Sagittarius lay, Pikmin on his heels.  Getting the piece back to the Dolphin was as easy as directing thirty of them to lift it.  They brought it through the water and back to the landing site in a matter of minutes.

Seeing Oddey's gift affixed to his ship where it belonged gave Olimar a sense of peace.  He would feel better once the Libra was beside it, but this was good enough for now.

He shifted his gaze from the Sagittarius to the sky.  The sun was only starting its climb.  There was plenty of time left for him to investigate another water route.  He decided to check the closest one, where the giant bag blocked the path.  After calling together a mixed party of Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin, he headed in that direction.

They had already defeated Spotty Bulborbs here two days ago and no new ones had moved in, so the path to the bag was clear.

Olimar left the Red and Yellow Pikmin on land, lead the Blue Pikmin into the water, and tossed them onto the opposite shore.  They pushed the bag until it was out of the way.  Then, Olimar carefully guided his full group across the thin land bridge, ready to jump after any Pikmin who fell into the water.  They made it safely.

A seemingly empty field lay on the other side.  The Whimsical Radar swore there was a ship part here, but Olimar couldn't see one.

What he did see made him nervous: the open area was dotted with holes, as if someone had been digging in the dirt in a haphazard but intentional way.  There were at least a dozen of them scattered about.

Olimar disbanded the Pikmin and approached one of the holes alone.  It looked like an animal's burrow.  The edges were irregular and scraped, as if the hypothetical creature dug as it crawled thru the earth.  The tunnel descended the length of the Dolphin before it veered gradually to the left and continued out of sight.

He held his arms out to the sides, but his fingers didn't make it to the edges of the hole.  Whatever dug it was wider around than he could reach.  It would be best not to meet the burrower, if he could help it.

Frankly, Olimar would avoid this area if he could.  The field was peaceful enough now, but the burrows offered dangerous creatures a hiding place to ambush him and his Pikmin.  Something could be waiting for them right now.

But he needed the Dolphin's parts, and one of them was supposedly here.  He had to chance it.

"Maybe the animal that made these holes buried the ship part?" Olimar asked Kipard.

The Pikmin chittered a response.  He walked two steps forward and stomped his foot down confidently.

"I'm about to find out how good Pikmin are at digging."

They crossed the field slowly.  Olimar tapped his foot on the ground every few steps, listening for hollow or metallic sounds underneath him.  The Pikmin mimicked him, but he was fairly certain they wouldn't know to report anything they found.

Halfway through the field, he caught sight of a glimmer ahead of them.  There was something metallic peaking up from one of the holes.  It had to be the ship part he was looking for!  It might even be the radio!

Olimar ran towards it.  The Pikmin followed after him.  The ground shifted under their 202 pounding feet, making them stop in their tracks.

"Uh oh...." Olimar said.

The next moment, something erupted from the earth behind them.

By now, it was instinct for Olimar to immediately throw Pikmin at any perceived threat.  He spun around and tossed four of them before he even knew what his target was.

The first thing he saw was a pillar of blue scales that rose high above him.  At the top was a puff of white feathers and a black-tipped beak.

It was a bird, but also a snake?

The first two Pikmin, both Red, bounced off the creature's smooth scales, but the second two were Yellows.  They flew higher, grabbed hold of the head's feathers, and started to hit it with their stems.

The bird ignored the attackers.  It squawked a loud "reeee!" and pecked at the group of Pikmin.  Two were caught by its first lunge, and even Olimar's quick retreat didn't stop the bird from grabbing four more of the Pikmin.

Before his horrified eyes, the bird snapped its beak closed sharply.  Six souls rose into the air above its head.

"No!" Olimar shouted.

The bird shook from side-to-side, flinging off the attacking Yellow Pikmin.  Then it withdrew, vanishing smoothly into the tunnel it had risen from.

The ground shifted under their feet again and Olimar frantically scanned the field for the nearest hole.  There were many of them.  That bird snake could come from anywhere!

He called the Yellow Pikmin to the front of the group.  They seemed like the ideal choice to get to the bird's vulnerable face.

The scraping sound of claws reached his ears.  He turned toward the tunnel entrance on the right and grabbed a Pikmin.

Sure enough, the bird emerged in front of him, sliding from the dirt as smoothly as a snake would slither across the ground.

Olimar threw Pikmin as fast as he could, aiming for the pure white feathers of its head.  This time there were enough to have an effect.  The creature flinched in place with an annoyed squawk and didn't attack.

It shuddered like this twice, then flailed its neck and withdrew into its tunnel again.

Pikmin scattered everywhere.  Olimar hurried to whistle them back to his force, already anticipating the next assault by the bird.

It came moments after he collected the last Pikmin.  This time, its strike was lightning fast, and it had three more of them in its beak before Olimar could take aim.  He reacted quickly, throwing enough Pikmin onto its head to make it stagger instead of chomping the poor Blues in its mouth.

"If we deal enough damage, maybe I can save them!" Olimar thought as the bird flinched.

The ground shook again.  The next thing Olimar knew, a second bird's beak descended on him and his squad from behind.

A sharp stab of pain shot up his arm, telling him he'd been hit.  His helmet's HUD confirmed it, flashing the words, "Suit breach detected!"

Oxygen was leaking into his suit!

Blind panic took over his brain.  Olimar slapped his hand over the slice in his suit and fled in the direction of the Dolphin.  He didn't even pause to call the Pikmin.  All he could think about was the cool tingle of outside air flowing across his arm, air that would kill him if it reached his lungs.

Olimar ran.  He crossed the bridge between the water and slid down the declining path.  His legs struggled to catch him at the bottom, but he forced himself to keep running.  When he passed the pond, he knew he was mercifully close to his destination.

Unfiltered air tickled his cheek.  He sucked in a deep breath and held it as he ran into the clearing with the Onions and the Dolphin.

The ship's beam brought him into the cargo hold.  He immediately tore off his helmet, where the air was tainted, and gulped down deep breaths of the ship's safe air.

Olimar's legs shook and he staggered.  He was sure he didn't breathe any of the planet's air, so why was he so light-headed?  That was when he registered the wet, sticky feeling trickling down his fingers.  When he lifted his other hand in front of his face, his glove was darker red than usual.

His injured arm was bleeding, and bleeding badly.

He tried to walk towards the first aid kit, but his first step wobbled sideways.  He felt like his lungs couldn't get enough air.  His vision was swimming and his balance failed him.

"Don't fall forward, don't fall forward!" was the one thought he could focus on.

Then he was falling backwards.  Something caught him before he hit the ground.  Six somethings.

Pikmin lowered Olimar gently to the floor and remained clustered around him.  He recognized Kipard and Diver even in his haze.  They had Current, another Red,  and two more Blues with them, one of which was the Pikmin with the torn leaf.  They made nervous sounds at him.

Were these the only Pikmin who survived the attack?

There was no time to think about that.  Olimar reached his hand towards the cabinet which held the first aid kit.

"I need.... I need the green box," he said, hoping they would understand.

The ripped-leaf Blue Pikmin ran in the direction he pointed.  He held up the blender.  Olimar shook his head, though the motion made his dizziness worse.

"Open the door."

The Pikmin looked in the cabinet and let out a "Wooh!"

"Yes.  Yes, that's it," Olimar said when he returned to him.

He opened the kit and pulled out the sterile gauze.  Hopefully, he could stop the bleeding with pressure alone, because he would never be able to stitch his own arm.

The wound stung when he pulled down the suit.  Olimar set the gauze on the cut without looking at it and pressed down firmly.  He was out of strength after that, so all he could do was close his eyes, lean his head against the Red Pikmin behind him, and hope the bleeding stopped before he lost too much blood.

After a few minutes, the pain lessened and his breathing returned to a less frantic rate.  It was then that Olimar heard the muttering voices around him.  There were more Pikmin in the Dolphin than the ones looking after him.

"How..... How many Pikmin...?" he asked Kipard weakly.  He wasn't sure if he meant "How many lived?" or "How many died?" but he was sure he wasn't going to like either answer.

He craned his neck to try and count the Pikmin on his ship.  He had a full team of 100 with him when he ran into the bird-snakes, but it didn't sound like there were that many talking.

Every Pikmin present was amassed in one place, watching him.  They looked worried.  Saffron was obvious among the Yellow Pikmin.  Olimar counted forty-two more before his head started to throb from the effort and he closed his eyes.  There were more than that, though.  At least half of the squad escaped the assault.  He wondered if they broke off their attack and followed him as soon as he turned tail, meaning the creatures only ate the few they grabbed before that.

Of course, any Pikmin losses were bad, but given the circumstances there wasn't much Olimar or the Pikmin could have done differently.  They faced a new enemy with a unique hunting style.  It was only natural that they struggled to deal with it.  His one regretful misstep was forgetting to be cautious with the burrows, and that was something he would learn from going forward.

Olimar had been lucky that he'd only been pecked in his non-dominant arm, and not torn clean in half or swallowed whole.

Eventually, his head cleared enough to let him take a glimpse at his damaged arm.  The gauze came away from it covered in blood, but it was dark and dry.  A good sign, because it meant he wasn't bleeding anymore.

He'd been sliced slightly above his elbow.  The cut wasn't deep, but it was as wide as his fist and stretched all the way from the top of his arm to the bottom.  Everything between the wound and his fingertips was brown with dried blood.

Olimar swallowed hard.  This could kill him if it became infected, or even if it started bleeding again.  He'd have to clean it thoroughly and wrap it well, and that might not be enough....

He went back into the first aid kit and found the bottle of iodine solution.  Then, he held his hands in front of him.

"Will you help me up?" he asked.

It took a moment, but Kipard and Diver caught his meaning.  They each took one of his hands and pulled him to his feet.  Olimar wobbled, but he stood on his own once he was upright.

He staggered to the counter.  The wound was in an awkward place for him to hold it over the sink, but he managed to get it close enough.  Slowly, he poured the iodine over the cut.

It stung worse than he expected.  Olimar grit his teeth at the burning sensation.  That meant it was working, though, so he applied more iodine until he was confident the wound was properly disinfected.

He had to whistle with his lips, but Kipard understood enough to bring him the first aid kit.  He withdrew a clean section of gauze and the roll of wrap tape.  Slowly, because it hurt with every touch, he pressed the gauze against the cut and wrapped it in place.  He didn't really know how tight it needed to be, but he erred on the side of too loose because the wrap falling off would be better than cutting off circulation in his arm.

It looked passable when he was done.  At least it stayed put when he moved his arm back and forth.  The only problem was that the cut was throbbing now as well as burning.

Olimar found the painkillers in the kit and stared at the bottle.

He was pretty sure it was safe to take medications while pregnant, as long as he stayed within the normal dosage range.  What was it Dr. Maple said?  "The blood transfer barrier is strong enough that none of the chemicals will affect the baby," or something like that?  He should remember the exact answer, since he had specifically asked in case his shoulder problem interfered with his work before Posy was born.  Unfortunately, that conversation was six years ago.

"I think the worse this can do to you is make you a little drowsy.  I'm sorry if that happens.  I wouldn't take anything if I thought I didn't need it," he said to his daughter.  

She had been fairly quiet about the situation up to this point.  Now, she shifted around restlessly, as if she was uncomfortable.  But of course she was.  Olimar's pain and distress affected her, too.  The only thing he could do about it was take the pills and lessen the pain, so he did.

The painkillers dulled the throbbing quickly.  Olimar leaned on the counter with relief.

One of the Pikmin bumped his elbow.  It was the Red one who helped catch him.  Now that his head was clearer, Olimar recognized this Pikmin as the one who was always close to him, as well as the first one who met the baby.  One of the ones he had called "odd" before.  She fussed at him with her hands, as if she could help his arm feel better by touching it.

"You're a little sweetheart," he said.  He rested his hand on her head.  "I'll have to give you a name.  Tomorrow."

There wouldn't be anything else he could do today, not in this state.  He needed to rest and heal for now.

Olimar stripped off his damaged space suit and dropped it into the ship's repair system.  It would be patched up good-as-new by morning.  Then, he managed to fly the Dolphin to the lower atmosphere in spite of being one-handed and woozy.  He sighed when it was stable and left the cockpit to go straight to bed.

He was met by Pikmin, the same seventy or so that were in the ship before.  It took a few blinks for him to register why they were there.  He had flown into space without telling them to leave!

"Uh..." he said.

The Pikmin tilted their heads to the side more or less in unison.  By all appearances, they were more worried about Olimar than about being inside the Dolphin.  Would they be content to stay here overnight, or instinctually try to return to the Onions in a few hours and panic when they couldn't?  Olimar didn't know the answer.

"There's not much we can do about that now," he told them.  "You'll have to sleep on the Dolphin.  Or rest, or whatever it is you do.  I don't know.  I'm going to sleep."

Seventy eyes followed him to his bed.  They continued watching him intently when he laid down on his right side, to keep his wounded elbow elevated.  The extra-affectionate Red Pikmin climbed up onto the bed beside Olimar and leaned against his back.

He wasn't aware of anything after she sat down, only the darkness of exhausted sleep. 

Chapter Text

Seeing their Leader injured worried the Pikmin.  Deeply.

Every Pikmin was born with three core drives: protect their colony, expand their colony, and protect their Leader.  They had failed in all three of those tasks today.  They knew the colony could recover, but they weren't sure if Leader could...

Having a Leader was very important for a colony of Pikmin.  Together they were strong, but their instincts didn't include any strategy or planning ability.  Someone else had to show them how to fight and work efficiently, or their colony would never grow.

Though they hadn't known this Leader long, the Pikmin knew he was a good leader: smart, kind to them, and eager to hunt predators and prey.  They didn't want to lose him.

The Red Pikmin who Olimar referred to as "Kipard" was known as "First Red" to the other Pikmin.  He was the first seed released from the Onion after its dormant time, so the other Red Pikmin deferred to his experience and judgment.  The same was true of "Saffron" and "Diver" for the Yellow and Blue Pikmin.

In times like this, Leader-less times, the Firsts were in charge.

First Red approached the bed and consulted the Red Pikmin beside their Leader.  He recognized her the way he recognized every individual Pikmin: by unique scent pheromones only others of their kind could detect.

This Red Pikmin was a "Helper Pikmin," whose role was to watch over and directly assist their Leader.  She was always at his side.  Her scent was softer and warmer than most Pikmin, making her easy to identify.  The only other Pikmin in the colony to have a similar smell were Blue Helper and Yellow Helper.

First Red's question to Red Helper was relayed by a change in his pheromones.  "What is Leader's condition?"

She waved her flower from side to side and released a scent that was soothing but tinged with worry.

"Leader is still breathing," was her reply.

That was the best response she could give him.  Pikmin didn't know about blood pressure, or heartbeats, or body temperatures, but they knew their Leader was always breathing.  It was the only way they could confirm he was alive.

"Good," First Red replied.

Their exchange settled the collective nerves of the entire colony.  They stopped staring worriedly at their Leader and instead wandered curiously around the inside of the metal Onion where he lived.

Blue Helper bobbed his torn leaf at First Red and climbed onto the bed.  He lay against their Leader's back, beside Red Helper, and settled protectively.

Yellow Helper joined them on the bed, as was to be expected.  She set her hand on their Leader firmly.  Her message to First Red was, "Take care of the others.  We will watch Leader."

First Red knew he could trust these three to take care of Leader.  It was their job, after all.

He had something to take care of as part of his own job.  They lost Pikmin today.  He had to comfort the survivors.

In their lives, an individual Pikmin mattered less than the whole colony.  The colony must survive and grow above all else.  Every one of them had that concept entwined in their very being.

They missed their fallen comrades of course, but they waited to mourn until tasks that helped the group were done.  Night was the time for those feelings.

First Yellow was talking to a handful of her fellow Pikmin.  Some missed the Blue Pikmin with the sharp scent who was eaten first by the bird-snake.  Others mourned for the citrus Red Pikmin, who was grabbed while they retreated.  A still different group were sad for the pair of Yellow Pikmin who were nearly identical even in smell, who did everything together.

For every lost Pikmin, there was a survivor who missed them.

First Red joined them in their group.  He gave each of his comrades a gentle hug of sympathy.  First Yellow did the same.

"Will we avenge them?" asked the Blue Pikmin with a sunflower-like scent.

"If that is what our Leader wants us to do, we will," First Yellow said.

"Yes," First Red said in agreement.

"And if not, we will grow more sprouts in their memory," a Red Pikmin with a deeper scent added.  He was the fourth oldest of the Reds, and the second oldest still alive after First Red, so his words carried extra weight.

The mourning Pikmin were satisfied by their words.  Their scent took on a lighter, less sad tone.

When First Red returned to check on Leader, he had twice as many Pikmin laying with him.

He almost shooed some of them away.  The Pikmin didn't understand sleeping or healing, but it seemed their Leader needed sleep to recover.  If anyone disturbed him, he might remain injured longer.

They didn't appear to be bothering him, so First Red let them be.

"Leader is warm," a Red Pikmin with a subtle scent said.

"Leader is safe," a Blue Pikmin said.  He leaned more protectively over their Leader, his normally fruity scent growing slightly sharper.

First Red bobbed his stem.  Since this was under control, he went to check on the exploring Pikmin.

First Blue was more curious than the other two First Pikmin.  She and a hyacinth-scented Blue Pikmin had found the box their Leader used to make notes.

The words on the box were no more than pointless images to the Pikmin.  Without direction, they tapped the first button they saw.  The screen lit up.  The Pikmin's stems rose in surprise.

First Blue tapped a symbol.  The screen turned into an image of a spotted predator.  Hyacinth Blue squeaked in surprise.  First Blue tapped the screen a few times.  When she wasn't bitten, she giggled at the picture.

"It's not real.  It can't hurt us," she said.

It took her a few tries to figure out which button scrolled through the other pages.  She couldn't read Leader's writing, but she recognized the images he had drawn.  There were a few of Pikmin, and also the crawling insects, the fire-spewing beasts, and an Onion.

The pages repeated eventually.  First Blue hit other buttons until she returned to the main screen.  She tapped the second icon.  The screen turned into rows upon rows of little pictures.

The other Blue Pikmin beside her, who possessed a ginger smell, pressed one of the pictures.  It grew to take up the entire screen.

The picture was blurry and mostly pink.  Neither of them could tell what it was.  The picture after it was also impossible to understand, a swirling mess of green, red, pink, and yellow.

The next picture was clear.  It showed Leader with two creatures that looked like him, only smaller.

"More Leaders!" Ginger Blue said.

She tapped the picture and the screen automatically switched.  This picture had the same three Leaders, and a fourth as well.

First Red joined the circle.  He tilted his head at the sight of the other Leaders.

"There must be a whole colony of Leaders," he said.

"Why do you think we haven't seen them?" Ginger Blue asked.

"Maybe they are hiding in flying metal things, like our Leader does," First Blue suggested.

They flipped the pictures.  The next one had a spotted predator-looking beast in it, chasing a ball.  One of the smaller Leaders was also in the picture, playing with the beast.

"They have found a way to tame predators!" Hyacinth Blue exclaimed.

"That must be why Leader walked up to one on first sight," First Red said, "He thought it was friendly, like this one.  But the predators are hungry here."

The next picture baffled the Pikmin, because it didn't resemble anything they had seen before.  It was mostly black, with odd white shapes and squiggles mixed in.  Ginger Blue traced her finger along the lines, but she couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be.

First Blue flipped to the next picture, but First Red's attention was pulled away by a peculiar zap sound, then the yelp of a Pikmin.  He quickly located the source and ran towards the duo of Yellow Pikmin who yelled.

When First Red reached them, the sweet-smelling Yellow Pikmin stuck her finger into a socket in the wall.  It sent a visible jolt of electricity up her arm, across her chest, and to her flower.  She removed her finger, stared at it, made an excited sound, and stuck it into the socket again.  It zapped her again and she giggled.

"Why are you doing that?" First Red asked.

"It's fun!" Sweet Yellow said.

"My turn!" the other Yellow Pikmin said.

He poked his finger into the socket and received a zap of his own.  He giggled, too.

First Red's instincts told him he should not join them in this activity.  He wasn't sure where that feeling came from, because he didn't have a similar avoidance response to water, which he also couldn't survive.  He had to learn drowning was bad, but the jolt was inherently frightening.

Instead of trying it, First Red went to check on Leader again.

Leader was still asleep and still breathing.  Blue Helper had moved around to his other side.  He placed a curious hand against his stomach. 

The Pikmin didn't completely understand what was happening inside their Leader.  They did grasp that the thing inside him was alive and separate from him, because it moved under their touch and reacted to their voices.  And they understood that this separate, living creature was important to their Leader.

Still, the idea that one living thing could be inside another and that would be good was strange to them.  The first day they felt the creature kick, they thought it was because Leader had swallowed it whole like predators did to Pikmin.  But they never witnessed him eating anything but the canned fruit, which was not alive, so they decided that couldn't be the case.

This was something else, something alien.  They were curious about it, but their investigations hadn't made sense of it.  All that mattered was their Leader cared about the little creature.  That was why Blue Helper was checking on it as well as him.

First Red climbed up beside the Blue Pikmin and added his hand to their Leader's belly.  The movement from inside was as lively as ever.

"Leader's tiny creature is okay," Blue Helper said.

"It is doing better than Leader is," Red Helper confirmed.

"What do you think the tiny creature is?" Yellow Helper asked.

"It is important," Red Helper answered.

"Obviously, but what is it?"

"I think Leader has a sprout in his belly," a Yellow Pikmin with a honey smell said.

"A sprout?" First Red asked.

"Leaders don't come out of Onions like us, so they must come from somewhere."

"Are you saying Leader's belly is a miniature Onion?" a citrus-scented Blue Pikmin asked.

"When you put it like that.... I don't know."

"What if the creature is some kind of parasite and it's slowly eating Leader from the inside out?" the Yellow Pikmin with the oddly-colored arm asked.

"I don't think Leader would like the tiny creature so much if it was hurting him," Honey Yellow said.

The tiny creature bumped their hands.  Leader groaned but didn't stir.

"Maybe the tiny creature is hurting Leader!" a Red Pikmin who smelled like a daisy exclaimed.

Blue Helper followed the tiny creature's movement.  It kept wiggling, but it didn't disturb Leader this time.

"I think Honey Yellow is right," Blue Helper said.  "Leader pats the tiny creature and talks to it with the same happy voice he talks to us with.  Since he likes us, he must like this creature too, whatever it is."

"The creature definitely isn't hurting Leader.  His discomfort is because his arm is damaged," First Red said.

The other Pikmin nodded in agreement.

"Why would he need to grow a sprout inside him, though?  There is plenty of dirt to leave it in," Citrus Blue asked next.

"Maybe Leaders can't grow in the ground.  They don't have roots," Yellow Helper said.

"We don't know that Leader's body isn't full of dirt...." Odd-armed Yellow said thoughtfully.

This situation was under control, and perhaps getting a little weird.  First Red wandered away from the group to check on someone else.

He started to, at least.  A frightened cry from the counter area caught his attention.  When he ran to see what was wrong, he found three Red Pikmin backing away from an open cabinet.

"What happened?" First Red asked when he was closer.

"Dead Pikmin!" the cinnamon-scented Red said.

He pointed into the cabinet.  First Red saw a pile of red, yellow, and blue bodies, stem and all.

"What killed them?" the other Pikmin, who smelled like lemon, asked.

"It wasn't... Leader, was it?" Cinnamon Red replied.

"Leader would never do such a thing," First Red said firmly.

Still, there was something unsettling about the sight above them.  First Red approached the open cabinet with weary steps.  He climbed onto the counter and took a closer look inside.

"Oh, these are not dead Pikmin," he said to Cinnamon Red and Lemon Red.

"What are they?" Lemon Red asked.  He moved closer.

First Red lifted the topmost of the objects for them to see.  It certainly resembled a Pikmin, but it lacked eyes and limbs so it couldn't be one. 

"It is a regular plant," First Red announced.

"Why would a regular plant look like one of us?" Lemon Red asked.

"Maybe it wants to appear scary, so predators don't eat it?" Cinnamon Red suggested.

"That can't be it.  Predators eat our brethren all the time!"

"Maybe it wants to be eaten, so it pretends to be a Pikmin to appear edible?"

"Why would it want to be eaten?"

"I don't know."

First Red set the strange plant back on the pile.  It was odd to him that Leader hadn't eaten them yet, especially since he was so eager for the contents of the metal can.  But a lot of Leader's behavior didn't make sense to the Pikmin.  As long as he was a good leader, the reasons for what he did weren't important to them.

"Leader must have a purpose for these weird plants," was what he offered as an explanation to the others.

"He's not going to eat them, obviously.  They wouldn't still be here," Cinnamon Red said.

"Ooh, what if they're poisonous plants, and Leader is saving them to defeat a particular predator?" the third Red Pikmin, who hadn't spoken until then, chimed in.

"That makes about as much sense as anything I can think of!"

"I wonder what kind of predator would require that much poisonous bait...." Lemon Red said.

Further discussion was interrupted by a synchronized shift in every Pikmin's thoughts.  Their internal concept of time told them it was night and they needed to rest.  

They usually did so inside their own Onions.  All prey they collected that didn't produce seeds was converted into food nectar, which the Pikmin lay in at night to "eat."  They could gain nutrients from the sun as well, but the nectar was a helpful boost of energy.  It would be nice to go back, if not entirely necessary.

For a few minutes, all but the Helper Pikmin tried to find a way out of Leader's metal Onion.  They tried the spot where they could usually leave, but it didn't open.  They leaned on the windows, but they didn't budge.

Sweet Yellow climbed into the cockpit and observed the levers and buttons.  She moved the wheel, but that only made the screen flash alien words on it.  Nothing else happened.

"We can't steer the metal thing," she told First Yellow.

"It sounds like we'll be staying here for the night," First Yellow said.

The message traveled over the pheromone channels to every Pikmin.  They shifted their actions towards choosing a good place to rest.

It was normal for the Pikmin to stay with their own color.  First Yellow wanted to be up high, so she climbed on top of the fruit can and sat down.  Her flower petals closed with her eyes.  The rest of the Yellow Pikmin joined her and settled across the side of the can.

First Blue laid down in the nearest corner.  Half of the Blue Pikmin joined her, laying close together and closing their eyes.  The other half of the Blue Pikmin formed their own patch in a different corner.

The Red Pikmin settled down around Leader's bed in a big bunch.  First Red ended up at the center, because the other Reds lay around him in a slowly expanding circle.  They settled into contented resting.

Blue Helper and Red Helper cuddled against Leader.  He stirred slightly, glancing at them like he didn't know what they were.  They thought, for a frightening moment, that they had interrupted his healing sleep, but he lifted his arm and muttered something that sounded like his words when he wanted them to go somewhere.

The pair crawled carefully against Leader's chest.  Yellow Helper scrambled over to join them.  Leader closed his arm over them and released a relaxed breath.

"Bleetho, Posy..." he muttered.  Then he was asleep again.

Blue Helper, Red Helper, and Yellow Helper snuggled into Leader's warmth.  They were comfortable there for the rest of the night.  Even when Leader rolled completely over in his sleep, they simply followed him and nestled against his chest again.

The metal Onion ended up being as good to rest in as an organic Onion, they decided.

Chapter Text

Olimar fully expected to wake up the next morning to labor pains.

He knew his biology, so he knew his body would sacrifice the pregnancy to save itself in the event of physical trauma.  The irony was that he was far enough along that his daughter would be born perfectly healthy, but Olimar might not survive the stress of giving birth after yesterday's injury, and she couldn't live without him....

Luckily, the only pain in his body came from his arm.  He ended up laying on his elbow overnight and it throbbed the moment he was conscious.

"Urrrrrr," he groaned, quickly rolling to his other side.

He disrupted the three Pikmin who had climbed into his bed overnight.  They jumped out of the way before he rolled them over.  The rest of the present Pikmin rose to their feet and ran to his bedside to await instructions.

Before he addressed them, Olimar checked the baby.  She was stretching and kicking like normal, which told him that she was doing alright.  And she seemed perfectly content to stay where she was.  That was one thing he wouldn't have to worry about.

The Red Pikmin he promised to name reached her hands towards him, offering to help him stand.  He gently waved her off.

"I want to try on my own first," he said to her.  If he couldn't stand without the Pikmin's help, his survival mission was fully doomed.

His head was as clear as day now, so he stood without issue.  The pain in his arm lessened once his weight was off it.  The Pikmin watching him cheered and waved their arms in the air.

"You look content enough.  I assume the Dolphin's hold was to your liking?" Olimar asked the Pikmin.

They didn't give him any answer he could understand.  He would take their apparent ease as a sign that they hadn't panicked without their Onions.

The affectionate Red Pikmin ducked under Olimar's arm and put her hands on his chest.  He wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she ended up hugging him with a happy, "Mmm" sound.

"Thank you for keeping an eye on me, Pikmin.  Mercy?  Can I call you Mercy?" he asked.

"Do doo," she replied.  And so Mercy she became.

When he tried to turn around, he nearly collided with a Blue Pikmin.  It was the one with the torn leaf, who had been taking care of Olimar alongside Current and Mercy.

"You're really determined to stay at my side, aren't you?" Olimar asked.

The Pikmin continued smiling his big smile.  He tilted his head and said, "Pikii!"

"You should also have a name.  Posy had a teddy bear that watched over her at night, like you watched over me.  Squeakers.  It isn't a fierce or proud name, but I don't think you're a particularly fierce Pikmin.  You seem more like the snuggling type."

"Doo!"

"Then Squeakers you shall be."

From there, Olimar took care of his needs in order of their apparent urgency.  Being sick or injured had always made him hungry, so he was subsequently starving this morning, especially since he missed dinner the night before.  He went to the tub first and ate alien fruit until he was satisfied.

Next was the pain.  He would rather not take any more pain medication, but his arm started throbbing during breakfast and he couldn't ignore it.  After a moment of indecision, he took half a dose.  It worked well enough.

The wound itself needed attention next.  Peeling off the old bandage was unpleasant, because he had bled lightly overnight and the fresh blood stuck to the gauze.  He flinched when it came free.

The wound was bright red, but that was good.  If it was green or yellow, he would have a more serious problem.

Olimar rooted around in the first aid kit and found antibacterial cream.  The stars knew what kind of alien bacteria might live on this planet.  Hopefully they were susceptible to the same agents as Hocotatian pathogens.

After he rubbed the cream on and added new bandages, he considered the bottle of oral antibiotics.  It was probably better safe than sorry in this regard.  An infection would ruin his chances of surviving and getting off this planet.  Besides, he knew for certain that these wouldn't affect the baby.

He took one pill and left the bottle on the counter for later.

The next thing Olimar had to deal with was, naturally, the giant bird-snakes.  He had decided to call them "Snagrets," because their long necks and lightning strikes resembled the swamp egrets of Hocotate.  Except that they flew through the ground instead of the air.  Burrowing Snagrets.

The Snagrets stood between him and a necessary part of the Dolphin.  Was he up to the task of defeating them, so soon after being wounded?

"I'm going to have to be," he said.  "Every day that I get nothing done increases my chances of being on this planet when the baby's born.  And of not leaving at all."

He studied the Pikmin.  What would they do if he fainted from pain or exhaustion?  They would probably carry him home, even if they did it with the intention to feed him to an Onion.  He could work with that.

Olimar took a quick count.  There were 78 Pikmin in the ship.  That meant they lost 22 to the Snagrets the day before, and mostly Reds by the looks of it.  Those were the heaviest losses his squad had yet suffered in a single day.

"I'm sorry about the Pikmin we lost," he said to Kipard, Saffron, and Diver.  They moved closer and held his outstretched hands.  "I know it won't bring back the dead, but we'll pay the Snagrets back for eating them, I promise."

"Weyoo!" the trio of Pikmin replied as one.

Olimar took that as agreement, even though they didn't actually know what he said.

He landed the Dolphin and called Pikmin down from the Onions to replenish the group.  Thinking about how high the Snagrets heads were, he made sure he brought more Yellow Pikmin than Red or Blue.

There was a brief moment during the Pikmin-counting when Olimar felt light-headed, but he steadied himself on Saffron and Mercy until the weakness passed.

When he was certain he had enough of them, he set out in the same direction he took the morning before.  Behind him, the Pikmin began a song that sounded like a battle chant.  Olimar found himself bobbing his head to the beat.  It invigorated him as well as the Pikmin.

The field was quiet, but Olimar knew that was deceiving.  There were two hungry Snagrets under the dirt, waiting.

"A distraction would be the ideal strategy, but I don't want to risk any of your safety by using you as bait.  Those beasts have already eaten enough Pikmin."  A thought occurred to him, and he looked at Saffron.  "Do you think maybe we can use a bomb rock for this?"

"Wiha?" she asked.

He made an explosion gesture with his hands.  Unlike last time he tried, the Pikmin caught his meaning and ran into the nearest patch of clover.  She returned with a bomb rock.

"Yes, perfect!" Olimar said.

He didn't think it would be possible to hit one of the birds directly, but that wasn't his plan.  All he needed was something that would shock the Snagrets into revealing themselves.

Olimar left every Pikmin but Saffron a safe distance back from the tunnels, where he hoped they were still close enough to summon.  Then, he walked into the field slowly.

The ground was quiet under his feet.  The Snagrets didn't know he was here yet, or maybe two targets weren't enough to catch their interest.

He tossed Saffron into a spot between three holes.  She dropped the bomb rock and ran back to his side.  After a pause, the rock exploded with a sound that echoed through the air.

As Olimar had hoped, both Snagrets erupted from their burrows.

One of them was right beside the blast.  It flailed its head in the air with a shriek of pain and rage.  The other was further away and seemed merely startled by the loud sound.  The first bore the tell-tale battered feathers of a Pikmin attack.

Olimar whistled for the Pikmin and piled them onto the already-wounded Snagret.  It was too disoriented to fight back and injured enough that it went down in one solid round of hits from the team.

The second Snagret recovered from its shock and vanished underground, but that was fine by Olimar.  It made all the difference in the world to be facing only one of them.

When he turned back around, the Pikmin were dragging the Snagret's huge corpse out of the tunnel by its head.  Its body widened as it went down but remained scaly and snake-like.  It got stuck for a moment, so the Pikmin gave a sharp tug to free it.  It had wings on the thickest part of its body and also a feathery bird tail.

"Leave that there for now.  We have another fight on our hands," Olimar said.  He whistled to get them back in line.

The ground shuddered, giving away the other Snagret's movements.  It was closing in through a different burrow.

Luckily, it was loud.  Olimar knew where it was coming from, and threw Pikmin before it was even visible.  When the Snagret breached the surface, the Pikmin grabbed onto it immediately to begin their attack.

It shook its massive head from side to side and dislodged a few of them, but the Pikmin kept coming.  With a shriek, the Snagret retreated back into its hole.

The Pikmin were scattered by its dive.  Olimar blew the whistle repeatedly to gather them before the beast returned for another attack.

He wasn't quite ready when the Snagret rose from a different hole.  Five Yellow Pikmin still clung to its head, whacking away with their leaves, but the Snagret ignored them.  Its eyes locked on Olimar, or more specifically, the light on his antenna.  Then it lunged at him with its beak wide open.

He executed an unexpectedly graceful roll out of the way only to hear a Pikmin yelp in pain.  Squeakers had been standing directly behind him, and was now struggling in the Snagret's beak!

"Drop him!" Olimar yelled.

He threw Pikmin as fast as he could.  They shared his urgency and attacked with extra speed.  The Snagret snapped its beak once, then stiffened and collapsed to the ground, dead.

Kipard and Diver pried its beak open before Olimar made it there.  He expected to see the little Blue Pikmin crunched or halved or otherwise destroyed.  To his surprise and relief, Squeakers climbed out of the Snagret's mouth and stood tall beside Diver.

Olimar grabbed all three of them in his arms and hugged them tightly.

"Thank the stars!  We lost enough Pikmin to these creatures yesterday!" he exclaimed.

The Pikmin hugged him back and made little cooing sounds.  The moment was ruined when the dead Snagret shuddered under their feet.  Olimar looked down and saw the idle Pikmin pulling on it, already trying to bring it back to the Onions.

"Hold on, hold on!  We still need to retrieve the ship part," he said.

He headed to where he had seen the shimmer of metal the day before.  The part was no longer visible, but the radar swore it was still there so they kept walking.

Olimar thought he heard loud breathing as they approached the burrow.  When they reached the exact location of the ship part on the radar, he found the source: there was a third Snagret!
It was clear this one wasn't going to be a problem, though.  Its head lay at the bottom of the tunnel.  Its eyes were hooded and its breathing was raspy.  There was something very wrong with it.

Olimar managed to instruct the Pikmin to make a chain and lower him into the hole.  He had a feeling he knew why the Snagret was in such bad shape.

Sure enough, when he was close, he saw the corner of something metal sticking out of its beak.  It was the part of the Dolphin he was looking for!

"Why did you try to eat that?" Olimar asked.

The Snagret's eyes opened and it tried to lift its head.  He moved backwards quickly, afraid he'd made a mistake by getting close. 

There was no fight in the bird.  It dropped limply to the ground again.

Olimar whistled to the Pikmin.  They didn't move at first, only stared at the Snagret.  Wounded or not, it read as a threat to them.

"Come on.  We need to get the part out of its throat," he said.

They hesitated another minute.  Then, Kipard and a second Red Pikmin approached.  Their every step was cautious, ready to flee if the Snagret attacked.

"I don't think this one's going to eat you.  It can barely lift its head," Olimar said.  "It will probably appreciate our help and never eat a Pikmin again."

He managed to coax a few more Pikmin over.  Hesitantly, they put their hands under its beak and lifted it open.  The Snagret shuddered but didn't try to bite.

With the bird's mouth open, Olimar identified the part as the Geiger Counter.  It was flat and not very big, which allowed the Snagret to fit it in its mouth but not swallow it completely.

"Lucky you didn't.  This would have killed you from the inside," he said.

It took a lot of convincing, but he managed to encourage a few more Pikmin over.  They took hold of the Geiger Counter's free end and tried to pull it.  The Snagret let out a pained squeak.

"Try again!" Olimar said, waving his hand.

Five more Pikmin took courage when the others weren't eaten.  When they got ahold of the Geiger Counter, there were enough Pikmin assembled to loosen the part.  With one more mighty tug, they freed it from the Snagret's mouth.

Olimar grabbed the Pikmin holding the beak and carried them backwards.  They waited at a safe distance, watching the Snagret.

For a moment, the bird didn't move.  It puffed out a few heavy breaths, then seemed to realize it was breathing more easily.  It raised its head off the ground and clicked its beak a few times.

"We don't have to fight..." Olimar said under his breath.

The Snagret backed away.  He saw the flutter of its wings deeper in the tunnel.  Then it got its limbs where they needed to be and retracted down the hole with surprising speed.  It was gone in the blink of an eye.

"There, see?  He appreciated our help," Olimar told the Pikmin.  "Let's get out of here before he changes his mind."

The Pikmin had enough of a grasp on the chain idea to lift the Geiger Counter out of the hole with a little guidance from Olimar.  The part only took fifteen Pikmin to move, so there were plenty of them present to get it out.

Rather than go the long way around, the Pikmin took the part straight down the ledge at the edge of the field.  It dropped them beside the pool where they found Sagittarius, near camp.  Olimar watched them go, then lead the leftover Pikmin to the bodies of the defeated Snagrets.

"One for the Red Pikmin, and the other for the Blue Pikmin," he said as he tossed them.  "And we'll grab the pellet flowers I saw on the way over here for the Yellow Pikmin."

"Woo!" the Pikmin agreed.

The birds' bodies were awkward to move, so their trip back took longer than the walk out.  By the time they reached the landing site with their spoils, Olimar was sore.  The pain medication was wearing off and his arm hurt again.  The throbbing was making it hard to think, never mind walk and work.

"We managed to do what we set out to do, so I'd say this day has been a success," he told the Pikmin.

They cheered, and he assumed that meant they were satisfied with the day's work.  There were a lot of new Pikmin from the Snagret bodies and the extra pellets, which seemed to be very important to them.  That must be why they were happy.

It wasn't his intention to have enough Pikmin on the field that the new ones remained in the Onions, but he was glad they did.  Pulling forty new sprouts from the ground would have been torture with an injured arm.

Olimar took another quick half-dose of painkillers to lesson his pain, then set to the task of attaching the Geiger Counter to the Dolphin.

It had its own spot on the front of the entry hatch.  Olimar didn't need the Pikmin's help for this, because the Dolphin's tractor beam would hold it in place while he reattached it.  Once it was locked in place, he climbed onto the open hatch and reconnected the wires through the back.  The Geiger Counter lit up and its needle wavered back and forth.

"Like it was never gone," Olimar said.

Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure what this gauge was for.  Intergalactic laws required every space ship to have one, so the Dolphin did.  Olimar had never paid it much mind.  Right now, it was clicking and buzzing, but it had done that before and nothing ever came of it.  He elected to continue ignoring it.  All that mattered was that he had this on his ship if any members of law enforcement pulled him over on the way back to Hocotate.

"Great job today, everyone!  I'm one step closer to getting home!" Olimar said to the Pikmin.

He returned them to their respective Onions and headed to the entry beam as usual.  Before he could enter the Dolphin, however, he heard the pitter-patter of multiple Pikmin feet.  When he turned back, Mercy, Current, Squeakers, and two other Blue Pikmin stood behind him.

They regarded him curiously.  He returned the favor.

"I know you were worried about me last night, but you don't have to watch over me now.  The wound's under control.  I won't die on you while you sleep, I promise."

Mercy walked up to him and patted his injured arm.  She muttered a little "Ooooh."

"Well, I don't mind having you on the Dolphin with me.  You're welcome to come in, if it will make you happy," Olimar said.

He went into the ship and wasn't surprised when the five Pikmin followed him.

Olimar started with supper, because he would have to change his bandages twice if he got fruit juice on them.  Which he did.  Once he was done and cleaned up, he removed the soiled bandages from his arm.

There was another blotch of fresh blood, but it was less than he saw that morning.  There still wasn't any worrying green or yellow on the wound.  Olimar reapplied antibiotic cream and wrapped his arm like before.

With those important tasks done, Olimar sat to update his data log.  He missed the day before, but he knew what he would write for that entry.  Nothing about his injury, because he didn't particularly want Rosie to read the logs one day and realize how badly he'd been hurt.  The wound would look less terrible by the time she saw it in person.

"Burrowing Snagret.   This large, subterranean life-form suddenly erupts from underground to feast on nearby Pikmin.  Its body is covered in slick scales, which render Pikmin attacks ineffective.  The feathered head, however, is a weak spot.

"One of these creatures tried to eat the Dolphin's Geiger Counter and nearly choked to death.  This implies they will snap at anything that appears to be food in their vicinity and test its edibility by eating it.  It was a fascinating moment of instinct over thought, especially since a different member of the species was smart enough to pick me out as the one organizing the Pikmin."

He clicked save and moved to the next entry, the one for today.  Certain Pikmin behaviors had been on his mind, and he used this entry to collect those thoughts.

"I am starting to notice that certain individual Pikmin have designated jobs within the whole group.  The same three Pikmin have tended to me since I was hurt, and they appear more affectionate than the others in general.  Before, I thought they were 'odd,' but it seems they actually serve a unique purpose.  I believe their job is similar to the king's closest attendants in an ant colony in that they care for the leader of the group.  It doesn't seem like a coincidence that there is one caretaker Pikmin for each color.  Does that make me akin to the king ant of the Pikmin colony?  I have been responsible for their reproduction in a sense.  That's weird to think about....

"There are also Pikmin more interested in either gathering food or fighting enemies.  Kipard is the first Red in line to battle wildlife, and the same is true of Saffron and Diver for their respective colors.  Other Pikmin move to grab downed prey without being told, as if that is their job.  Kipard, Saffron, and Diver never do this.  This difference in behavior may be due to them being the oldest of the Pikmin colors, and every other Pikmin carries prey readily.

"This theory is hard to prove generally speaking, because Pikmin look identical.  There are possibly more roles in the group I don't know about.  If I had more time and resources, I would write little marks on their heads in pen and track which one does what to determine if they have preferences in their work.  For now, all I can say for sure is that the first seed of every Onion grows a 'leader Pikmin' and every color has a 'caretaker Pikmin.'"

Olimar felt something bump against him.  It was Squeakers and Current, as he expected.  They didn't seem to be trying to do anything except stand close to him.

"You're welcome to keep an eye on me," he said.

Mercy appeared on his other side.  She climbed up into his lap and wrapped her arms around his midsection.  The baby had been moving nonstop since he sat down, and now she aimed her kicks at the Pikmin.

"You're welcome to keep an eye on her, too.  She likes the attention," Olimar said.  "I hope you don't expect me to function like an ant king and have an endless number of Hocotatian babies.  That would be a little hard to do without Rosie.  Or breathable air..."

He closed his eyes and rubbed his arm.  It sure would be nice to be with Rosie right now.  Sitting on the couch with not a care in the world, eating her delicious cooking, not having to worry about giant birds or hungry Bulborbs or burrowing insects.  He'd have a kid on either side of him, snuggling close.

Snuggling close like the Pikmin.  He opened his eyes and patted Mercy on the head.

"I know you don't understand my words, but I really appreciate everything you're doing for me.  You little guys are the only reason I have a chance at getting home," he said.

"Da doo," Mercy said.

"We hoo," Squeakers added.

One of the other Blue Pikmin approached.  She put her hand on Olimar's leg and pointed towards the data pad.
"You want this?" Olimar asked.

He lowered it where the Blue Pikmin could reach it.  The Pikmin tapped on the icon for the photo gallery and sought out the black and white picture.  She pointed at it and said an inquiring, "Wewoah?"

"You want to know what this is?  You must have been looking through my pictures while I was asleep last night....  This is a sonogram.  It's a picture of my daughter that the doctor uses to check on her while she's in the womb.  It looks pretty funny, huh?"

Olimar pointed at the screen, then at his baby bump.  He repeated the gesture a few more times.  The Blue Pikmin traced one of the lines in the image, then pressed the same finger against Olimar.  

"Dee," she said.

"Yes, exactly.  That is what it looks like in here," Olimar said, nodding.

"Awoo."

The pointing Blue Pikmin consulted with the other for a moment.  They both studied the screen more intently.

"This was my second sonogram, where they figured out the baby's due date.  This was also when we found out she's a little girl.  This is her head here.  She didn't have much of a nose yet.  And those are her little arms.  You can.... kind of see her legs, but they were moving a lot when the poor technician tried to get the pictures."

The baby kicked, and he chuckled.  "That hasn't changed!  She's been far more energetic than Oddey and Posy were."

At first, he was pretty sure the Pikmin didn't understand what he was saying.  But they started touching the arms on the picture and then their own arms, and he had a feeling they at least realized this was a living thing in the picture.

When the Pikmin returned the data pad, Olimar touched the screen himself.  His precious little daughter.  She would look like a proper Hocotatian now, big nose and all.

He turned off the pad and set it on the floor.  His arm was getting sore from holding it.

Squeakers, Current, Mercy, and the Blue Pikmin watched Olimar settle into bed.  They waited patiently for him to adjust and shift until both his arm and his body were comfortable.  Only when he pulled the covers up and stopped moving around did they join him.

"We'll see how you feel about this arrangement after I roll on top of you in my sleep," Olimar said.

Mercy's response was to burrow under his blanket and lay against his stomach.  She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes.  Squeakers, the two Blue Pikmin, and Current opted for resting against his chest.

"Yeah, that's fine."

Olimar wrapped his good arm around the Pikmin and pulled them closer.  He slept well in spite of, or perhaps because of, having Pikmin all around him.

Chapter Text

There was one last path to take in the Forest of Hope: the one behind the submerged wall.  Olimar couldn't see what was behind it, but he could hear the stomping of a creature.  It sounded far louder, and thus larger, than a Bulborb.

He was a little worried about that, but there was nothing for it.  He needed the Dolphin part up there and he was willing to fight any creature to get it back.

The Blue Pikmin made short work of the wall.  They walked through it to look around briefly before returning to Olimar for instructions.

The path on the other side sloped upwards.  The source of the loud footsteps was somewhere above them.  Olimar followed the sound cautiously.

He didn't make it far before he saw something moving up ahead.  At first it looked like a black dome bobbing one way then the other.  As they got closer and saw more of it, it became clear it was the carapace of an insect.  A massive insect.  So massive that it made the Spotty Bulborbs look small by comparison.

Olimar crouched low to finish the approach and observe the insect.  It looked like Hocotate's beetles, if they were the size of a double-decker bus.  The black-shelled body was round at the top with an odd fleshy hole dead center.  Its head protruded below the hole, like a tube with a flat end and teal eyes on the sides.  It moved around on four fat, stumpy legs that were covered in the same shiny black armor as the body was.

"Armored Beetle," Olimar wrote on his data pad.

A Dwarf Bulborb ambled into the field.  The beetle took notice and turned towards it with lumbering steps.  The hole on its shell opened, sucking in air.  Then it expelled a rock from its mouth.  The rock rolled after the Dwarf Bulborb, missing only because the hapless creature saw the danger and fled squealing into the underbrush.

"Armored Cannon Beetle," Olimar corrected in his note.  "This creature spits out massive rocks and boasts what is probably an impenetrable shell.  Just before spitting out a boulder, it sucks in a large breath of air."

"The part is behind this creature somewhere, but it seems too territorial to skirt around," he said to the Pikmin.  "We'll have to fight it.  I don't think we can cause damage through the shell.  The only weak spot appears to be the air hole.  If I get you up there, will you attack it?"

"Oot," the nearest one replied.

"Alright, everyone stay close.  There are going to be a lot of rocks rolling around."

Olimar and the Pikmin caught the Cannon Beetle's attention mere centimeters into the clearing.  Its head turned their way and it began its waddling turn.

His plan was to throw Pikmin onto its presumed weak spot before it could line up a shot.  With that in mind, he started tossing them while the Cannon Beetle was still turning.

As he expected, every Pikmin that hit the shell couldn't hold onto it and slid to the ground.  Five of them grabbed the edge of the intake hole and whacked at it with their stems.  The Cannon Beetle shook its great body once to try and knock them off, but gave up and trained its sights on the rest of the group instead.

Olimar couldn't tell if the Pikmin were dealing damage up there.  It wasn't a good sign that the Cannon Beetle was ignoring them.  Then it was facing towards him and planting its feet, so he had to shift his focus to dodging the incoming attack.

The Cannon Beetle sucked in air.  Olimar hurried to the right, so he wasn't directly in front of it.

The rock never came.  The Cannon Beetle backed up a few steps, waving its body back and forth in frustration.  Steam rose up from the crease in the center of its shell.  Olimar wasn't sure what was happening until he saw blue arms flailing near the air hole.

One of the Pikmin had been sucked into the Beetle's intake hole, blocking it!

The Beetle's shell lifted, as if it was about to fly, but there were no wings, only an abdomen so hot it glowed fiery red.

"That's the real weak spot!" Olimar shouted.  The Pikmin whooped.

He ran behind the Beetle, throwing Pikmin onto its back as he went.  They had no trouble grabbing on and attacking.  They weren't even bothered by the heat pouring off the insect.

About half of the Pikmin were on and hitting when the Cannon Beetle raised its foreleg to bat at its head.  It dislodged the Pikmin trapped in its intake and shook itself.  The rest of them lost their grip and scattered around the area.

The Cannon Beetle immediately sucked in a new breath.  Olimar frantically ran and whistled to get all of the Pikmin out of the way of the incoming attack.  Diver ran to the stragglers and shoved them in his direction.

The rock rumbled past, missing a few of the fleeing Pikmin by a hair's breadth.  Two of them weren't so lucky.  Olimar grit his teeth at the crunch and their pained cries.

There was no time to help them now.  The Beetle was aiming for the squad again.  

Olimar stood his ground and grabbed the Pikmin behind him.  He didn't have to look to know it was Squeakers.

"I'm sorry, Squeakers, but you're going up the Beetle's nose," he said.

"Woo!  Woo!" was the surprisingly eager response.

When the Cannon Beetle sucked in air, Olimar tossed Squeakers at that same spot.  The intake sucked him straight in, blocking it once again.

This time, Olimar and the Pikmin were behind the Beetle when the shell opened.  The attack began immediately, and he managed to pile every one of his 48 Pikmin onto its back.

The Cannon Beetle made one effort to shake them off, but it was weakening.  One of its legs collapsed and it tilted to the side.  Within the next half-minute, it fell to the ground, dead.

"We did it!" Olimar cheered.

Then he remembered the Pikmin who were hit by the rock and ran to check on them.  If either survived, he could have them taken back to the Onion to recover.  

Unfortunately, they were both completely crushed, which he expected even if he hoped otherwise.

"Two losses are better than twenty-two," Olimar thought.  "Especially against a new enemy.  We were lucky this one was comparatively easy to figure out."

Three Pikmin had followed him to check the wounded.  They approached the bodies, looked them over, then returned to the rest of the group.  Olimar patted the dirt and said a quiet, "I'm sorry," before he went with them.

The other Pikmin were arranging themselves around their spoils.  This was in spite of Squeakers's feet still sticking out of the dead Beetle's intake hole.

Unsure how else to get him down, Olimar tossed a second Pikmin up to him.  She grabbed his legs and gave him a solid pull.  He popped free and sent both of them tumbling down the side of the insect's round body.

Olimar caught both of them and set them on their feet.  Squeakers shook himself and waved his arms triumphantly in the air.

"You did a great job," Olimar told him. 

"Wawoo!"

Olimar realized then that all of his other Pikmin were gone.  Every single one of them had taken hold of the Cannon Beetle's body and they were already down the hill with it.

"I guess we'll come back for the Dolphin part," he said to Squeakers and the other Blue Pikmin.

Olimar returned to the ship ahead of the Pikmin and used the opportunity to grab lunch.  He ate a whole half of a piece of fruit while the Cannon Beetle rose into the Onion.  It created a truly impressive number of blue seeds.

"We sure won't have any trouble carrying the part back now, no matter what it is," he said.

He collected and counted the new Pikmin.  The Cannon Beetle had produced an incredible fifty sprouts.  That doubled the population of Blue Pikmin, bringing them to 99.  Olimar tried not to think that it would be 101 if he had been faster retrieving the scattered Pikmin in their battle.

"Welcome to the mission, new Pikmin," Olimar said to them.  "We're trying to collect thirty ship parts in thirty days so I don't die.  Let's get out there!"

They returned to the clearing and found the part the Beetle had been guarding.  It was still not the Interstellar Radio, but rather the Radiation Canopy, which covered the Dolphin's cockpit.  

Olimar had been looking forward to getting this back.  Leaving the atmosphere of the planet would literally kill him without this part to shield his body from the radiation and harmful molecules of space.  Driving in the atmosphere would also be more comfortable with the cockpit closed off from the outside air.

As many Blue Pikmin as possible circled around and lifted it.  There were thirty or so to spare, who went back to Olimar's side.

He checked the Whimsical Radar as he walked back alongside the part-carrying Pikmin.  The Radiation Canopy should be the last piece of the Dolphin in the Forest of Hope, but he wanted to be sure before he celebrated that fact.

It was!  There weren't any more parts in the nearby area.

"We're doing a great job with this recovery mission!" he said to the Pikmin.  After a pause, he added, "It's.... actually possible for me to get home to my family.  I can....  We can do this."

The ship's tractor beam held the canopy in place while Olimar reattached the screws.  It was a little precarious, but plenty of Pikmin wanted to help.  Diver organized them into two chains that reached from the open beams of the Dolphin's nose to Olimar.  They held onto him while he worked on the repairs.

When he was done, he pointed at the ground.  Diver gave a command, and the chain slowly lowered until Olimar and every Pikmin was safely down.

"Thank you, everyone!" he said.

They looked up at the Dolphin together.  She was still tattered and rough, but some of her majesty was returning.  The sight filled Olimar with fresh hope.

He returned the Blue Pikmin to their Onion.  He was not particularly surprised when Squeakers refused to go.  It didn't even surprise him when Current and Mercy slid down the legs of their own Onions and ran to his side.  He didn't offer any question or protest when they followed him into the entry beam.

Once the Dolphin and the Onions were safely in the air, Olimar let his attention wander to himself.  He rested his hand on top of his belly.  The baby was getting bigger every day.  There were brand new stretch marks developing over his faded old ones.

He couldn't help but think about Oddey and Posy.  They were looking forward to seeing their little sister grow, but circumstances were going to make them miss it.

He remembered how happy Posy was when she felt the baby kick for the first time.  It happened right before he left on his trip to Ooji, when the baby was finally at a point where people other than Olimar could feel her move.  Posy had spent the next hour sitting beside him, hands on his stomach, trying to catch every wiggle and punch.

"Do you mind, Papa?" she asked.

"I don't mind at all," he replied.  He patted her on the head.  "Your brother did the same thing when you started moving.  I'm glad you two are bonding."

At least she'd gotten to have that experience with the baby, Olimar thought.

He glanced over at the data pad on the bed.  Maybe he should take some pictures, so Oddey and Posy could see what their sister looked like while she was growing.

As soon as he angled the camera, however, Olimar felt embarrassingly vain.  He was really just taking a picture of himself, like he was a model trying to show off his "magnificent" figure, or one of those attractive young guys proudly posting their pregnancy photos to the internet.

Rosie would think he looked magnificent.  She would be happy that he was eating well and keeping their baby healthy and strong.  And the kids would be curious about this when he returned home.  This picture wasn't for him or his ego, it was for his family.

He raised the data pad again.  It took him a few tries to settle on a pose he liked, but he decided to go with the classic hand-on-the-belly pose he saw in paternity shoots.  He assumed there was a reason photographers favored it.  It also conveniently hid the bandages covering his arm.  He put on a relaxed smile, like everything was normal and he wasn't facing threats to his life every day.

Olimar took a few pictures, then sorted through them to pick one that was passable.  It was still a little embarrassing to be the center of a photo in his voyage log, but he would be able to ignore that.  

He made the description, "The baby is doing well at 36 weeks.  She's grown big and healthy!"  He almost added "One week to go" but thinking that made him anxious, so he didn't want to put it in writing.

Maybe it wouldn't be a week.  Babies could be late.  Oddey was exactly on-time for his due date, but Posy waited five days longer than the doctor expected.  That might happen again.  Late would be ideal, actually.  It would give Olimar more time to repair the Dolphin or find his radio.

He clicked off the data pad and drew a long sigh.  The baby might be late, but she could also be early.  It was a miracle that she hadn't been born already, with how much stress he was under.

"I'm going to give birth on this planet, aren't I?" he asked Current.

She tilted her head and wiggled her ears.

"You're right.  It's inevitable.  Even if I find the Interstellar Radio and call for help, they probably won't get here before the baby arrives.  I'd better make sure I'm ready when that happens."

That was work for tomorrow, though.  His arm was sore after the long day and he was tired from running around the Forest of Hope.  It was time to eat some more fruit, change his bandages, and go to bed.

The Pikmin watched everything he did.  By now, Olimar was used to their curious eyes.  He also fully anticipated them climbing under the covers with him when he finally settled into bed.

Current snuggled right up under his chin to rest.  Olimar wrapped his arms around her and sighed in contentment before slipping into sleep.

Chapter Text

The Whimsical Radar told Olimar there was one more ship part in the area where he initially crashed.  Since he had cleared out the Forest of Hope, now would be a good time to go back there.  He could devote his focus to the Forest Navel after that was done.

"What do you say?  Want to go clean up the Impact Site?" he asked the baby.

She swatted at him in what very clearly felt like an answer.  He chuckled and turned the Dolphin's wheel.

"Impact Site clean-up it is!"

After he was suited up and ready to go, Olimar paused and looked around the cargo hold.  His thoughts from the night before came back to him: he needed to make his living space baby-ready.

What did he need for the delivery?  The only thing he technically needed was a soft place to sit down, so his bed would work.  However, Olimar didn't really want to give birth in his bed.  He had to sleep there, after all.

"There are a lot of giant leaves outside.  I'm sure the Pikmin will help me collect some together to make a nest," he said.

Mercy and Current offered "Da doo"s in confirmation.

Then there was the Hocotatian "hiding instinct" to keep in mind.  When Oddey was born, the urge to hide hit Olimar hard.  He jumped straight into Rosie's lap face-first and curled up there, even though he barely fit.  As silly as it must have looked, having her arms wrapped around him satisfied his brain's need to be hidden, and her familiar smell soothed his nerves.

He wouldn't have Rosie this time.  What did Dr. Maple say about this?  "The hiding urge hits everyone differently.  You might be okay holding Rosie's hand, or maybe you'll be happier under the blanket.  Some people want a pillow over their head.  I had a patient who wasn't satisfied until he was under the side table, and we worked around it.  Do whatever makes you comfortable."  Olimar remembered that Kooper was quite happy with a blanket.

Maybe an extra big leaf would hide him well enough.  Maybe he would want to put his pillow over his head.  It was hard to predict what he would want until the urge was upon him.  He certainly hadn't expected to climb on top of poor Rosie for comfort.

Olimar thought back to his previous trips to the delivery room, trying to remember what tools his birth attendant used.  There weren't many.  He and Rosie had sought out Dr. Maple specifically because he didn't believe in interfering in the process unless it was necessary, but he still practiced in a hospital in case something went wrong.

The one tool Olimar remembered Dr. Maple using was a stethoscope, to keep an eye on on the babies' heart rates in case they showed signs of distress.  He had a stethoscope in the first aid kit, but he wasn't sure he would be able to recognize signs of trouble (and there wouldn't be a lot he could do about it if the baby was distressed).

Towels.  Yes, there were towels to dry the babies off.  There were plenty of towels in the Dolphin's cabinets.  He could bring those out later, after the day's work was done.

He didn't want to think about what he would do if there were complications.  The answer was most likely "Perish."  There wouldn’t be a lot he or the Pikmin could do in such a situation....

"I'm not a young man having his first child.  I've done this before.  Twice," he said out loud to quiet his concerns.  "And I've never had a problem before.  The odds favor me having a third complication-free birth."

He rerouted his train of thought.  What would the baby need after she was born?  

The very first thing she would need was warmth.  Giving her that would be as simple as holding her close against his own skin and covering her with a towel.  Her second need would be food, but that would also be easy to provide.  Olimar had plenty of pikpik carrots to juice in the cupboard.  That wasn't a task he could start on ahead of time.

Diapers.  The baby would need lots of diapers.  He definitely didn't have those on the Dolphin, or a good replacement.

"Would I be a terrible parent if I fastened a leaf around her waist like a loincloth?" he thought.  

That might be his only choice.  If he used the towels, he would have to clean them nonstop, and he didn't have time for that.  Leaves could be thrown outside when they were dirty, at least.

She would also need somewhere to sleep, because it was considered extremely dangerous to keep a newborn in bed with her parents.  Olimar had rolled over on enough Pikmin to know that wasn't an idle concern.  He could build a bed for her out of leaves while he was making his own "nest."

"We're going back to the old ways, sweetie," he said to the baby.  "Our ancestors kept their children in nests of grass and leaves.  If they made it work, we can, too.  I'll make sure you have the softest ones to sleep in, okay?"

Her only answer was her usual content wiggles at the sound of his voice.

Warmth, food, and diapers were just about the only things the baby would need for awhile.  Newborn Hocotatians were simple to care for during the first five months or so.  Most of their energy went into growing, so they were content to sleep most of the time.  As long as his daughter was eating regularly, she would be fine.  When Oddey and Posy were babies, Olimar and Rosie put them in carriers and went about their normal activities with the kids strapped safely to their chests.

On this particular planet, the baby's unique need was protection from predators.  Luckily, the Dolphin provided that naturally.

With a nod, Olimar turned for the exit beam.  The Pikmin leapt off the bed to follow him.

He had a two-fold plan for the day: find the Dolphin's part and collect enough leaves for two nests and a supply of stand-in diapers.  It was time to get started.

The Impact Site looked exactly the same as he remembered.  Even the dent in the dirt from the Dolphin’s crash landing remained.  Olimar parked beside the mound.

He wasn't sure which Pikmin he would need, so he brought 33 of each color.  They formed a group behind him, bouncing on their heels, as ready for action as ever.

"Alright, let's go!" he said.

They returned to the place where the engine landed.  Somehow, the massive paper bag was now full of bomb rocks.  Olimar didn't question it.  He instructed five of the Yellow Pikmin to grab them in case they were helpful, and carried on up the ramp.

At the top of the stump, Olimar beheld the strangest life-form he had ever seen.

It looked like a moving blob of translucent jello with two orbs floating inside.  As he and the Pikmin watched, it stretched half its mass across the area and snapped the rest along behind it.

"Is this even a creature?  Or is it... something else?" Olimar asked.  He wasn't sure what else it could be, but it sure didn't look like an animal.

He consulted his data pad.  The mark for the ship part wasn't here, but further beyond.  Maybe he didn't have to fight this thing.  It would save time and possible casualties to go past it.

That was what he tried to do. 

Olimar lead the Pikmin around the goo creature in a wide arc.  Before they made it halfway across the stump, the creature moved to intercept.  Its smooth, sliding motion made it faster than Olimar and the Pikmin.

He stopped short and moved backwards.  The creature came forward with what could only be read as aggression.

There would be no going around.  Olimar retreated to the ramp, where the creature finally stopped chasing them.  It returned to idly oozing across the top of the stump.

"A fight it is, then," he told the Pikmin.

They bobbed their heads eagerly.  Kipard clenched its fists, ready for battle.

It seemed to Olimar, however, that fighting this beast would be a Blue Pikmin's job.  The goo around it was water-like enough that it would probably drown Yellow or Red ones, especially since they would have to swim inside to attack those suspended orbs.

He was pretty sure he would need the bomb-wielding Pikmin for the other end of the stump, because that side looked like a solid wall, but that left him with 61 idle Pikmin.  He knew exactly what to have them do while he battled: item two on his list.

The Pikmin stared at him strangely when he searched among the leaves on the ground.  When he found a green and undamaged one, Olimar held it up for them.

"I need a lot of these big, fresh leaves.  I'm going to make a pile of them to lay on."

The Pikmin tilted their heads in unity.  Olimar picked up a second leaf and set it with the first one on the ground, then laid on it like he was sleeping.

"See?  I need leaves for a bed."

Kipard let out a chipper "Ooh!" sound and ran a few feet away.  He returned holding a perfect leaf in his hands.

"Yes!  That's exactly what I need!" Olimar said.  He pointed at the leaf and nodded vigorously.

The other Red and Yellow Pikmin scattered in every direction and sorted through the leaves in the immediate area.  Satisfied, Olimar returned to dealing with the gelatinous mass moving around the top of the stump.  

"It looks like living goo.  Goolix, for the name?" he asked the Blue Pikmin.

Diver and Squeakers blinked at him.  He chuckled and typed the name into his data pad, along with a quick note.

"Within the transparent gel that envelops this organism are two nuclei that appear to make up its actual torso - and most likely its entire nerve center.  The nuclei look like they're hard, but I believe the Pikmin might be able to crack them."

Olimar tucked the pad away and stepped onto the stump.  The Blue Pikmin followed him eagerly.

The Goolix took notice of them immediately and advanced.

Olimar threw one Blue Pikmin to see what would happen.  As he expected, she sank into the top of the blob creature and swam through it.  She attacked the back-most orb as if the rest of the creature wasn't there.

He tossed more of the Pikmin onto its back.  They sank in and targeted the same orb.  On the assumption that they must know what they were doing, he let them go.

Even though it was under attack, the Goolix ignored the Pikmin.  It continued oozing towards Olimar with a level of determination that was almost unsettling.  He backed away quickly and still it followed.

"I thought you were trying to preemptively attack the Pikmin, but it's me you're after.  Why?  I'm not even a threat to you," Olimar said.

Then they collectively reached the stump’s entrance.  The Goolix shifted its course towards the Yellow Pikmin sitting outside, the ones it could actually hurt.

“Hey, leave them alone!” Olimar shouted.

He threw one of the Blue Pikmin still behind him at the first nucleus.  The moment she landed she struck the orb with her flower.

The Goolix’s body jolted, making the two nuclei collide with a loud crack.

Pikmin scattered everywhere.  They were unharmed and quickly rose to their feet to resume their attack on the Goolix.  

Olimar was two steps into frantically whistling the Pikmin back when he noticed something off about the Goolix.  Was it his imagination or were the edges of its body less crisp?  

They were!  It looked like the creature was losing control of its shape.  When it stretched towards him again, it was slower to move.  It seemed the single blow to the main orb did far more damage than the mob of Pikmin hitting the second one.

“Then that’s the weak spot,” Olimar said.

Even though the only effective attack was on the first orb, the Blue Pikmin swam to the back one again.  He wasn’t sure what was making them focus there, but he knew now that it wasn’t the answer.

Olimar lifted another Pikmin.  When he was sure his aim was true, he threw her at the lead orb.

This time the two nuclei slammed together with such force that the sound made Olimar's ears ring.  Blue Pikmin flew in every direction from the blow.

Before his eyes, the Goolix lost its shape.  The gel that made up its body literally melted until it fell to the ground in a puddle.  It dissolved completely, leaving behind the two orbs.  Then even those vanished in a blink of light.

Two of the Pikmin checked the ground where it had been, but they found nothing and returned to Olimar.

"That was weird, but alright," he said.

He whistled every Blue Pikmin back to him and retrieved the Yellow Pikmin with the bomb rocks from the ramp.  They found a less stable section of the wall across the way and made quick work of it with three bomb rocks.

Olimar and the Pikmin walked through the gateway and froze almost immediately, mid-step, staring at the creature to their right.

It was a rock-looking animal that sat among flowers of various types and colors.  If it wasn't for the beady eyes on its face and the slow moving of its shoulders, Olimar would have thought it was a statue rather than a living being.

Olimar stared at the creature and the creature stared at Olimar.  The Pikmin had lost all signs of concern, milling around as if the area was totally safe.

"Is it going to attack?  Or is this one friendly?" Olimar asked.

"Ahh oh oh," Diver replied.

The creature lifted its arms, which turned out to be disproportionately large for its stocky body, and used them to rise onto its tiny feet.  It waddled towards Olimar and his squad.

The Pikmin were oddly relaxed about this particular beast's approach.  Because they weren't afraid, Olimar decided to wait before he attacked or retreated.  His spine stiffened, though, when the creature was within swatting distance with its paddle arms.  Up close, he realized its body was covered by a layer of grey fur that only looked like rock from a distance.

The creature blinked at the closest Pikmin.  It raised its hand towards Diver.  She leaned closer to it, making a quiet muttering sound.

It brushed the tip of its hand over her flower, with only enough pressure to make the petals flutter.  It repeated the gesture on the flowers of the next three Pikmin.  Every one of them hummed when it touched them.

Its gaze met Olimar's then.  They locked eyes for a mere second, then the creature looked over the rest of him, from his feet to his antenna.

The antenna was what caught its attention.  It studied the light curiously.  When it reached out its hand, Olimar forced himself not to move.  He was unsure of its intentions, but the Pikmin trusted this creature so he would give it a chance.

The creature flicked his antenna with the same gentleness as the Pikmin flowers.  Olimar finally let the tension leave his limbs.

Yes, this one was friendly.  Or it really liked Pikmin and thought he was one himself.

The creature turned in a slow, lumbering circle and walked back from whence it came.  It sat in its original spot, perfectly content.

The Pikmin waved to the creature, then returned their attention to Olimar.  He paused to wave, too.

"Yes, good bye whatever-you-are.  Have a good afternoon.  Thank you for not trying to murder me or my Pikmin," he said.

Then, he turned his attention to finding the allegedly nearby ship part.

The area they were in was half sandy beach and half pond.  Along the shore to the left, Olimar saw a white root wall blocking the path.  His map showed him that the landing site was on the other side, so opening that wall would reveal a handy shortcut.

The space’s other notable feature was the three shells resting in the water.  They looked like very, very, very large Hocotatian clams.  In fact, they towered over Olimar and the Pikmin.  Their mouths were wide open, so he could see a lustrous pearl in the nearest one.

“Don’t tell me…” Olimar muttered.  He had connected the part’s location on the map to what he was seeing.

He approached the leftmost shell.  Sure enough, the missing part of the Dolphin was visible in the mollusk's mouth, perched on top of its tongue.  It was not the Interstellar Radio, but it was a vital part of the ship: the Positron Generator.

The Positron Generator was like the Eternal Fuel Dynamo in that it created energy.  This part, however, generated power specific to space travel.  The Dolphin needed this in place to have enough energy to leave a planet's atmosphere.

It could have powered the other functions on the Dolphin as well, because the positrons were that powerful, but that wasn't necessary with the Fuel Dynamo in place.

For the life of him, Olimar could not figure out how the part got into the clam’s mouth.  Did it fall in at terminal velocity, from space, without harming the creature?  Could these seemingly sedentary animals actually move to grab things?  Did something else put it here?

Ultimately it didn’t matter, it was just perplexing.  The important thing was that he needed to retrieve it.

"Let me guess, its mouth will close if anything goes inside it," Olimar said.

He picked up a nearby stick and prodded at the fleshy part of the mollusk.  The shell opened wider, but it did so slowly.  It held for a moment, then snapped shut.  The Pikmin jumped at the loud pop.

"Just as I thought," Olimar said.  "A clam that clamps down on potential prey.  A Clamclamp."

His first thought was that the Pikmin might be able to carry the Positron Generator out of the Clamclamp’s mouth without fighting it.  When he bumped the stick against the part, however, he discovered some kind of membrane encircling it.  The mollusk must have a system for protecting either itself or the objects it was using as a lure.

Olimar prodded the flesh again.  This time, he counted off seconds as the shell opened.  One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, SNAP!

After a pause, he did the same thing to another Clamclamp.  It also opened for eight seconds before slamming shut.  That was how long the Pikmin would have to attack safely inside the shell.

“Pearly Clamclamp.  This mollusk creates a pearl inside its mouth to use as bait for potential prey.  It appears to grab outside objects to use in the same manner, though how it goes about acquiring said objects is unclear,” Olimar wrote in his notes.

He wouldn’t be able to throw all of his Blue Pikmin into the mouth in eight seconds, so he took some of them to work on the wall blocking the shortcut.

First he sent in the two Yellow Pikmin holding bomb rocks.  The explosions did not bring down the whole wall, but they left large gaps in the roots.  The Yellow Pikmin and half of the Blue ones went to work clearing the rest.  Then, Olimar and the other half of the Blue Pikmin returned to the Clamclamp that held the Positron Generator.

Olimar threw Pikmin into the clamshell.  They didn’t understand what he wanted them to do at first, glancing this way and that without seeing their target.  Meanwhile, the Clamclamp’s jaw slowly hinged open.

“Get back!” Olimar shouted before he whistled.

The Pikmin jumped and returned to him.  Not a moment too soon; the shell slammed shut on their heels.

“There’s a ship part in there,” he tried to explain.  “Can you not see it?  Is there a reflection?”

Maybe they needed an example.  He lead them over to one of the other Clamclamps, which had a pearl on its tongue.

“Do you see the pearl?” he asked.

Diver and two other Pikmin followed his pointing finger with their eyes.  They saw the pearl and reached towards it eagerly.

“Yes, exactly.  We need the things in their mouths.”

Olimar took Diver by the stem and threw her into the Clamclamp’s mouth.  She attacked the pearl immediately, or more likely the membrane surrounding it.

“Right!  Keep attacking!”

He sent in more Pikmin while he counted seconds.  At six, he blew the whistle.  They abandoned their attack and scurried out of the shell just in time.

It wasn’t clear how durable the holding membrane was, so Olimar repeated the same steps and hoped the creature would release the pearl eventually.  

The moment came on the fourth attack.  While the Pikmin were hitting the pearl, the Clamclamp’s fleshy tongue bucked violently.  It sent the Pikmin and the pearl flying into the air.  Then the shell closed with an angry crack.

Olimar nervously whistled, sure some of the Pikmin had been eaten.  On counting them, he discovered there were still seventeen.  Five of them took hold of the pearl and brought it towards the shore.

The wall was down, and they headed in that direction as if they knew that already.

Olimar decided it would be better to give the pearl to a different color of Pikmin, seeing as the Blue numbers were high from the Cannon Beetle’s body.  As soon as the pearl reached land, he called the Blues off it and told the Yellow Pikmin to take it instead.  As usual, none of them protested his division of the prey items.

“And now for the Positron Generator,” he said.

This time there was no confusion among the Pikmin.  They set to attacking the barrier around the part the moment they landed in the Clamclamp’s mouth.

They followed the tried and true strategy.  Olimar threw as many Pikmin as he could in five seconds, let them attack for another, then whistled for them.  They ran free of the imminent clamping to begin the cycle over again. 

There were more Blue Pikmin now, so the Clamclamp spit the Positron Generator out after only three rounds of attack.  The Pikmin whooped in victory before grabbing hold of the Generator.

Olimar let them go then looked more closely at the clam.  The shell was open again after its final snap.  He picked up his stick and gave the tongue an experimental poke.  Like before, the mouth opened wider and smacked closed.  The creature was still very much alive, it would just need to make or acquire a new lure.

“We found another ship part and got more Pikmin seeds without a single death on our side or unnecessary killing of wildlife.  Well, depending on how alive the Goolix was, and if we even killed it….  I call that mission success!” he said.

Diver and Squeakers nodded in agreement.  The other Pikmin still there did the same.

Together, Olimar and the Pikmin with the Positron Generator followed the shortcut back to camp.

They were met with quite a sight.  Olimar had been so preoccupied with the Goolix and the Clamclamps that he'd completely forgotten about assigning the other Pikmin their collection task.  The entire center area of the landing site was coated in leaves, and the Red and Yellow Pikmin brought more as he stared slack-jawed.

"That's.... I sure have a lot to choose from!" he exclaimed.

While the Blue Pikmin brought the Positron Generator to the transport beam, Olimar called the leaf-collectors to attention.  The four with leaves in their hands tossed them into the pile before they lined up.

"Everyone did great work today!" he announced.  "You should all be proud of yourselves."

Of course, the Pikmin didn't understand him, but he was pretty sure they picked up on his positive tone.

Olimar sorted through the heap of leaves and selected what looked like the softest ones to bring into the Dolphin.  Inside, he pulled off his glove and ran his fingers across the top of each leaf.  These were indeed soft and would make a great top layer.  He set them on the bed and returned to the pile.

He sorted through the leaves one-by-one.  Kipard and Saffron helped him carry them into the ship.  The drier, crunchier ones went on the bottom as a base and the softest went on top.  Olimar saved the largest leaf to the side as a makeshift hiding blanket.  He also made sure there were a dozen small ones set aside for diaper-making.

When he was done, he climbed onto the larger bed and sat in it.  It was more comfortable than he expected.  He lay on his side and tucked his arms under his helmet.

"Yes, this will do," he muttered.  

It was maybe a little too comfortable.  He was drifting to sleep just laying on it.  That was promising where the baby's bed was concerned.

He lay peacefully for a moment.  Then, his eyes snapped open.  He couldn’t sleep yet!  He had a few more things to take care of first!

The most important was the attaching of the newly-recovered Positron Generator.  It was easy to install.  Olimar directed the Pikmin to carry it to the special outlet for it in the cargo hold.  Once it was plugged in and activated, it crackled to life before their eyes. 

The next task on the list was to settle the Pikmin in their Onions.

Olimar stood below the Yellow Onion and looked up.  He would have to call every Pikmin out to know how many sprouts were made, but he heard a lot of them chatting up there.  Was there a limit to how many the Onion could hold?  

“I guess I’m going to find out,” he said.

He blew the dismissal whistle.  Every Pikmin except Mercy, Squeakers, and Current climbed the Onion legs and vanished as usual.  There wasn’t any fuss from the Yellow Onion and no one was kicked out either.  Satisfied, Olimar went into the Dolphin.

His next nightly tasks after flying into the atmosphere were to eat and change the bandages on his arm.

The wound was less red now.  It looked better than it had even that morning.  This was probably not going to get infected and become a threat to Olimar’s health at this point, but he rubbed more antibiotic cream on it to be safe.

His final goal for the night was to find those towels he knew were in the Dolphin’s cabinets somewhere.

While searching for the towels, Olimar found something else in one of the  drawers.  It was a charm in the shape of a six-winged bird, made of silver with a sapphire in the center.

He'd forgotten he had this.  It was a gift Kooper gave him at his baby shower twelve years ago.  Supposedly, the bird was a deity worshipped by ancient Hocotatians: Harophere, the creation god who appeared in the void and gave birth to the universe.

"My mythology-minded colleague said Harophere was considered a god of childbirth back then," Kooper explained when Olimar stared at the charm with confusion.  "He was said to watch over pregnant dads and descend from the stars to assist if one of them was struggling to have their baby.  I doubt that's true, but I figured you might appreciate a good luck charm, right?"

"I sure do," Olimar said in the present.  He smiled.  Kooper always found the coolest things in his line of work.

He doubted he was important enough that a god would come to his aid, but he had this charm nearby when Oddey and Posy were born and everything turned out alright, so maybe there was a touch of luck to it.  He tucked the charm into his suit's chest pocket and smoothed his hand over it.

The towels he needed were in the next drawer over.  He collected as many of them as he could and stacked them beside the bigger leaf nest.

Olimar looked over his set-up.  Besides a stethoscope, he had everything he would need to deliver the baby here in the cargo hold.  He was hoping he wouldn’t need these things, but it eased his mind to know he had them, in case they became necessary.

When he was settled into bed, Olimar realized he missed something.  He never made an entry about the odd rock creature in his voyage log!  He reached off the side of the bed and retrieved his data pad.

“Last thing for the night,” he said.

And then he realized he didn’t know what to say about the creature.  The only thing he knew about it was that it didn’t attack him or eat Pikmin.  It appeared to like flowers, but that was pure conjecture based on its lack of aggression.  Olimar wasn’t even sure what to call it.

Okay, he did have an idea for the name, but it was a little silly.  The creature’s disproportionally large arms reminded him of a character on Space Trek.  The Hocotatian actor for him wore extra long and broad sleeves to give the impression that he was some kind of alien being with giant arms.

“I guess there’s no good reason for me not to name it ‘Mamuta’ after the character,” Olimar said.

“Weboo,” Mercy said.

“Oot,” Current agreed.

The baby offered a punch that nearly sent the data pad tumbling off his stomach.  She was either giving her approval or protesting that his work was keeping her awake.

“I’ll go with it,” Olimar said.  “And if I make educated guesses in my notes, no one will know, right?”

For the log, he wrote, “Mamuta.  This gentle creature appears to love flowers, even when they are attached to Pikmin.  Its rock-like body is covered in grey hair.”

He saved the log and set the data pad down.  Then he snuggled up with the Pikmin and fell into contented sleep, comfortable that he had taken care of everything he needed to for the day.

Chapter Text

Olimar rubbed his back and groaned after he'd collected the day's team of Yellow and Blue Pikmin.  He was having a bout of false labor pains this morning.  At least, he was pretty sure they were false, because they were erratic and weak.  He had been warned that they would happen more often during successive pregnancies.

The pains were more of an annoyance than a problem, but they sure weren't helping his focus or his sore back.  Especially since every twinge disturbed his daughter, preventing her from settling for the day.

She kicked at the most recent pain.  Olimar traced the spot with his finger.

"You'd better not be ready right now.  You're facing the wrong direction," he told her.

She was very clearly head-up, which would change before real labor started.  It needed to, because a Hocotatian baby physically couldn't be born feet-first.  He would need serious medical assistance if she was breach when the time came, and he wasn't going to get that out here....

Luckily, the pains remained weak.  Olimar was sure he wasn't in any danger, not from his own body anyway.

The Pikmin were acutely aware of his discomfort.  Squeakers, Current, and one of the other Yellows patted his arm and hummed to him.  When he flinched and pressed on his back again, the Yellow Pikmin put her hands on the spot and hummed louder.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’m okay.  We’ll go find a part that’s close to home today, that’s all,” Olimar said.

“Do doo,” the Yellow Pikmin replied.

He consulted his map.  To his surprise and confusion, one of the part markers was moving.  It navigated around a solid wall and followed one of the paths he couldn’t see from camp.  It was far away, so he set that mystery aside for now.  

There was a stationary part fairly close to camp, near the spot where he found the Blue Onion.

“That’s probably a good goal.  And maybe we’ll find some bomb rocks along the way for the gate blocking our landing site.”

"Yigo," Diver said.

"Wewewe,” a Yellow Pikmin added.

Maybe this part was finally the Interstellar Radio.  Then home, and medical help, would be one call away.  Olimar had a feeling his life wasn't going to be that easy.

They exited camp down the natural ramp on the Dolphin’s left.  It forked into the righthand path the Pikmin brought the Automatic Gear up and a lefthand route that went the way Olimar wanted, according to the map.  He headed left.

Almost immediately, they came upon one of the white root walls.  The squad of 100 Pikmin made short work of it, allowing them to continue.

The area ahead was dotted with craters like the one the Blue Onion was sitting in.  These were deeper because the walls were higher, though the water level in the enclosed ponds was only about shoulder high on Olimar.  That made it deep enough to drown Yellow Pikmin, so he proceeded cautiously.

There were more smooth ramps connecting the craters together, but Olimar couldn’t see one that didn’t lead to water.  In the interest of keeping all his Pikmin with him, he opted to slide carefully down the first crater’s edge, where there was solid ground for the Yellows to walk on.

When they crossed the second crater, they arrived at the one that contained the part.

Olimar noticed four things on his quick inspection of the pool.  The first was the crater’s lack of enemies, which was his biggest concern.  The second was a rusty can directly below his vantage point, overflowing with bomb rocks.  The third was the part he came for, which was one of the Dolphin’s Ionium Jets.

The final discovery was the most surprising: there was a heap of debris at the other side of the pool that loomed high over Olimar and the Pikmin. 

Olimar studied the mysterious heap for a moment.  Initially, he thought it might be the remains of a crashed spaceship thirty times the size of the Dolphin, but part of the pile rolled to the side and revealed itself to be a broken glass bottle.  There were edges of paper labels visible as well as metal can pieces.

This was a pile of garbage, he realized.  It contained many things he expected to see in a dump on a civilized planet, but they were all huge.  The items were in-scale to his can of alien fruit, actually. 

“Some kind of massive civilization must have left these things sitting around.  I wonder who they were,” Olimar mused.  He looked to the Pikmin.  “Have you seen any organism large enough to leave these relics behind?”

“Be doo,” Squeakers replied.

“I didn’t think so.”

Olimar found himself wondering if there were more containers of preserved food in there.  He was doing fine on the fruit, but it would be nice to add some variety to his castaway diet.

Another pain tingled through his stomach, the first in awhile.  It reminded him that he had more important concerns than expanding his food stores.  

Olimar lowered himself into this crater as slowly as the last.  The Pikmin walked straight off the edge and waited for him to reach the ground.

He pointed into the open can and blew his directing whistle.  The entire Yellow half of his group charged inside.  Their excited cries of discovery echoed out of the container.

When they returned to Olimar, he counted the bomb rocks.  There were fifteen, a large number compared to the stockpiles they usually found.  

“We can clear more than one wall with these, if we find one,” he said.

Unsure how else to get the Yellow Pikmin back, he tossed them one by one up the ledge they came down from.  He assumed the bomb rocks wouldn’t explode on landing, because the Pikmin usually had to drop them on gates to activate them.  He was correct.

The Yellow Pikmin stood idle, patiently waiting for him to call on them again.  Before he did, Olimar waded into the water with the Blue Pikmin.

The way back to their landing site was open and safe, so it was his intention to send the Ionium Jet back to the ship and then deal with the wall.

When he was close, Olimar’s nose wrinkled reflexively.  The Dolphin’s two Ionium Jets were impressively powerful and magnificently fuel efficient, but they also released a strong smell.  It wouldn’t be noticeable inside the ship, but the landing site would stink for awhile after the Dolphin touched down.  This was more of a problem than usual because he had an oversensitive “pregnancy nose” which made bad smells worse. 

“It’s worth it for the ability to jump to escape velocity in an instant on a tight budget,” Olimar reminded himself.  It was the same thing he thought when he chose this model over others.  The less odiferous rocket jets were more costly to operate in the long run.

His thoughts replayed the ad for the pair of jets.  “With excellent mileage that’s easy on the family budget, these jets will keep your wife smiling and propel you to a happy home life!”  He almost laughed.  He had never wanted to be propelled to his happy home more than he did right now.

Olimar threw Pikmin at the Ionium Jet until there were enough to lift it.  They began their carrying chant when fifteen had ahold of it.  He added six more to help.  Diligently, they travelled up the nearby ramp and followed the winding path towards the Dolphin.

Olimar watched a moment to be sure they weren’t being impeded, then turned toward the far side of the crater.  He was curious about two other ship parts he saw near them on the map, which appeared to be directly on the other side of this raised edge.

The shortest part of the crater’s side was low enough for him to almost reach.  It took some hand gestures, but he instructed two of the Pikmin to cup their hands so he could step into them.  They hoisted him to see over the wall.

The path on the other side was down a drop.  Olimar’s stomach fell to his feet at the sight and he flailed his arms in panic.

Two other Blue Pikmin grabbed onto the back of his suit to stabilize him.  He nodded to them in appreciation.

“Thank you.  It’s hard to judge vertical distance on the radar,” he said.

Olimar took a deep breath and waited for the wave of fright to pass.  Then he looked down the ledge more slowly.  The Blue Pikmin held onto his suit to keep him safe.

The trail was another rocky ramp-ledge directly below them.  Beyond it was a sheer drop to a black abyss that Olimar could not see the bottom of.  By far the most peculiar feature of the path were the geysers sticking up along its center.  It was not water or steam that burst forth from them but fire.

“Some things about this planet simply baffle me,” Olimar said.

“Gaboo?” the nearest Blue asked.

“I mean, look at that!  How is fire forming underground and bubbling up like that?  You would never see that happen on Hocotate, or Giya, or Flukuey, or any other planet I’ve been to.  It’s a very strange phenomenon.”

“Bee,” a different Blue Pikmin said.

“You’re right.  This is a silly thing to be worrying about right now.”

What he was worried about were the parts down below.  One of them was at the end of the flame-speckled trail and the other sat on a topless stalactite that branched from the path.  

The stalactite was taller than where Olimar stood, so he couldn’t tell what the part was, but he didn’t see the antenna of the Interstellar Radio sticking up.  It was something he needed, certainly, but if he was going to take the chance of finding his radio sooner, the other part was a better bet.  He couldn’t see that one at all from here.  He would have to get to it to figure out what it was.

“That means tomorrow is a Red Pikmin day.  I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” Olimar said.  “The map shows water at the end, so some Blue Pikmin will need to come as well.”

The Pikmin lowered him down from the ledge.

“For now, let’s take down the wall.”

“Wehoo!” the Pikmin group chorused.  There was an answering cheer from the nearby group of Yellow Pikmin.

On his way up the ramp, Olimar cast a glance at the pile of garbage.  He didn’t stop to look at it, though, not yet.  There was a hole in the cave roof above the pile, which was how the mess of stuff fell in here.  He could see the sun above him, not quite halfway across the sky.  

If he decided he wanted to comb the dump for alien food, he would have time after taking care of the wall and the jet.

Olimar threw the Yellow Pikmin up again from the middle crater to the top one.  They held tightly to the bomb rocks when they landed.  He and the Blue Pikmin took the final ramp to return to their level.

When they made it to the blocked exit, they discovered there was in-fact a second stone wall slightly down the path from the first one.  This one was made of black rocks and looked more solid.

“I hope we have enough bomb rocks for that one…” Olimar muttered.

He started on the wall at camp.

He threw bomb-wielding Pikmin at it in pairs of two.  Both of them had plenty of time to drop their bomb rocks and run to a safe distance before the explosions went off.  The white wall was down in six explosions, as Olimar had come to expect.

He turned about-face to confront the second wall. 

The first bomb rock didn’t do any visible damage.  Olimar tried another.  This one loosened a few of the rocks.  The third bomb created cracks in the higher parts of the wall. 

“I’m pretty sure this is working, if a bit slowly,” he said.

Saffron bobbed her stem in apparent agreement.

Olimar continued throwing the Pikmin with the bombs, aiming for the weakest spots one-by-one.  It took every one he had with him, but the wall was finally cleared from their path.

“Great bomb-handling, everyone!” Olimar said.

“Eep aboo!” the Yellow Pikmin cheered.

They now had a straight path to the area with the Fiery Blowhogs.  One of the beasts waddled past the end of the ramp, but it took no notice of them.  Olimar was happy to keep it that way.

He and the Pikmin took the unblocked path back to the landing site.  The Blue Pikmin stood beside the Dolphin, holding the Ionium Jet.

“It goes up here, on the side,” Olimar told them.

He glanced at the base of the jet.  The pair was marked with symbols to denote which side they went on, for system calibration’s sake.  This was the starboard Ionium Jet.

With Olimar’s instruction, the Pikmin built their lifting tower to get the jet up to its connection spot in the hull.  A smaller stack took him up there too, so he could attach the screws that kept it in place.  

It was a simple job, but not a particularly easy one.  Olimar and the Pikmin had to move around the jet to reach every screw-hole in the base, and maneuverability was not one of his strengths right now.  If every screw wasn’t in place, the jet might shake loose during space travel, so Olimar gave the task the necessary time and effort.

When it was secure, he and the Pikmin lined up to admire their work.  The Dolphin looked more complete, but decidedly lop-sided.

“I hope that doesn’t affect the steering too much….” Olimar muttered.

The sun was beyond the midway point in the sky, but there was more time before nightfall.  Olimar set his hand on his belly.  There hadn’t been any pains since they picked up the bomb rocks and his daughter was finally sleeping peacefully.  He decided it would be okay to spend the rest of the day hunting for food in the pile of giant objects.

He returned the Yellow Pikmin to their Onion and lead the 50 Blues back to the crater pool.

The first metal can he inspected was already open at the end and contained only the remains of food.  It was rotten, the stench so vile that it stung Olimar’s nose even through his air filter.  He recoiled from it and moved to a different part of the pile.  The Pikmin followed curiously.

Most of the items here were broken or rusty, so his chances of finding good food were looking pretty slim.

Something caught his eye among the debris.  There was an item that looked like a bottle cap sitting amidst shards of glass.  Olimar carefully stepped around the pieces to get a closer look.

The bottle cap wasn’t as large as the other objects in the pile; it was only about half as wide as Olimar’s head.  He picked it up with ease and traced the star symbol on top with his finger.  It reminded him of the logo for the game Oddey had been playing recently, Tales of Galaxia.

“I don’t see why I couldn’t bring this home for him,” Olimar said.

A handful of Pikmin followed him into the pile.  He handed the bottle cap to the nearest one and looked around.  There were other caps among the debris, all of which were in better shape than the bottles themselves.

“If I bring home a gift for Oddey, I’ll need one for Posy as well.”

Posy had been fond of animals as of late, so Olimar tried to find a bottle cap with an animal on it for her.

That was a common theme.  A few of the tops had the same bird on it, with its wings spread open over alien text.  Another cap was decorated by a leaping creature with antlers.  Posy was more of a horse and pony person, so he kept searching.

He finally found what he was looking for near the back of the pile.  The animal head depicted on the cap had a similar shape to a Hocotatian horse, except without stalks under its eyes.  Posy would understand what it was.

Olimar handed this cap to another Blue Pikmin and pondered the pile.  Should he find something here for Rosie, too?  Or would she prefer a different souvenir?

“Rosie loves flowers.  I should collect one of the big ones I’ve been seeing to give to her instead.  She would like that a lot more,” he said.

He patted his belly.

“I feel like I should find something for you, too, but I don’t know what you like yet.  It’ll be hard to pick out something that you’ll appreciate,” Olimar told her.

When she grew up, she would probably like any cool alien object he had for her.  After a moment of indecision, Olimar chose a bottle cap with a particularly interesting pattern of colors on it.  Hopefully, his daughter would be a fan of red or yellow.

“Beboo!  Ee ooh!” a Pikmin said from out of sight.

Olimar handed the third bottle cap off and climbed out of the tangled pile.  He saw a Pikmin jumping up and down and pointing at a can.

“What did you find?” he asked.

Diver joined the other Pikmin, studied the can, and copied the call and the jumping.  More Blue Pikmin joined in, every one of them drawing attention to the same can.

Olimar was intrigued to discover this particular can was completely intact on every side.  It seemed Pikmin had a talent for picking these out from damaged ones.

“But what is it?” he asked.

The label on this can was dirty and peeling in places, making it impossible to read.  He wasn’t sure if he should try to eat the contents with the container in this state, but the inside should be okay as long as the can was closed.

“Alright, bring it back to the Dolphin.  We’ll figure out if the contents are safe,” Olimar said.

This can was larger than the fruit-filled one, so all fifty Pikmin could get their hands under it to carry it back.  The return trip took only a few minutes with everyone helping.

He had them set it down outside the Dolphin, because he wasn’t sure if it was rotten or not and he didn’t want to make a mess inside.  

Olimar employed the same strategy he used on the alien fruit can to open the new one.  The juice that trickled out of the edge when he cut it was thicker than the fruit juice and tinged orange.  When he bent the lid down, he had to sidestep the gush of the can’s contents spilling on the ground.

It was definitely food, but it didn’t look like anything Olimar had ever seen before.  The pieces that fell to the ground were orange and firm to the touch.  They had been cut into vaguely square shapes.  When he pressed his finger against it, he went through the tough exterior to softer meat within.

It was probably some kind of vegetable, but unlike the alien fruit, it didn’t resemble any plant on Hocotate.

Olimar didn’t see or smell any indications of rot on the vegetable chunks.  As long as they weren’t inherently poisonous, they should be safe to eat.

For a moment, he mused on whether eating it was really a good idea.  He wasn’t desperate for food anymore, so he was taking this risk purely for self-satisfaction.  Well, that and curiosity.

If it was just him on the line, it would be different, but his daughter would be taking the risk with him.

“The fruit didn’t hurt us, so the chances are good this vegetable won’t either.  Whatever put this in a can must have a similar digestive system to a Hocotatian.  And the transfer barrier that protects her from painkillers will protect her from toxins, too.  At least, a little bit.  This food might even have nutrients the fruit is lacking that will benefit both of us,” he thought.  He paused, and out loud added, “I’ll only eat a little at first, just to be safe.”

The Pikmin were baffled by his words, but they nodded in support of his decision.

Olimar reached into the can for a fresh piece of vegetable that hadn’t touched the ground.  He brought it into the Dolphin.  There, he lifted his helmet enough to get the piece to his mouth and took a bite.

This alien food wasn’t as sweet as the fruit, but it still had a pleasant flavor.  The texture reminded him of Hocotatian potatoes, though this was slightly softer.

He took three bites and set the rest of the chunk on a plate.  That seemed like a safe portion for now.  If he didn’t suffer any side effects, he would have more tomorrow.

The Pikmin brought the whole can into the cargo hold for him and set it down beside the other.  Olimar made sure it was all within the reach of the preservation field.

When he sent the Blue Pikmin to the Onions, Current and Mercy came down to join Squeakers as Olimar’s night attendants as usual.  They were joined, oddly, by two other Red Pikmin and one of the Yellows.  He didn’t question them.  The Pikmin must have their reasons for doing things like this.

The Dolphin rose into the air smoothly, until the Ionium Jet started firing.  The ship tilted hard to the side, almost hitting the edge of the Forest Navel’s opening.  

Olimar jerked the wheel to right the Dolphin, a half-second before the nose scraped the ground.  He quickly tapped the control panel one-handed to turn the Ionium Jet off.  Their course corrected in an instant.

“Okay, I can’t use one of them without the other.  That makes sense,” he said to himself.

He wouldn’t truly need the jets until he wanted to leave the atmosphere.  What mattered for now was that he had one of them.

Once the Dolphin was hovering in place, Olimar went back to the cargo hold.

Before doing anything else, he stacked the collected bottle caps in one of the Dolphin’s empty cabinets.  They should be safe in there no matter how the ship moved during flight. 

The souvenirs made him think about his family.  What were they doing right this moment?

If he was home, they would be inviting Rosie's parents over to their house soon.  They were always there for Olimar’s due dates.

It was tradition in their part of Hocotate for a dad-to-be's parents to stay at his house around the time a new baby was born.  They would help with preparations for the delivery, offer advice and support, and watch over the older kids.

Unfortunately, Olimar's mother was long gone and his father was hard to get along with.  He was stern and judgmental, someone Olimar found stressful to be around at the best of times.  Even during his first pregnancy, he knew he did not want his father around during the most vulnerable time of his life.

Conversely, Olimar loved his in-laws.  Pearl was a warm and kind person.  Wesrob was the most chill man Olimar ever met.  They were relaxing to be around, and definitely the kind of people a new parent would want to have on their side.

He asked Rosie if she would invite her parents to their house before Oddey was born.  They were surprised to receive the invitation, but happily accepted.  Rosie was their only child, so they wouldn’t have had the chance otherwise.

Olimar didn't regret inviting them.  As soon as Pearl showed up, she cleaned their entire house.  When Rosie tried to step in and help, her mother shooed her back to the couch.

"I'm here to take care of less important things so you can take care of Olimar," Pearl said.  "So go take care of him!"

He got a lot of ankle rubs and back massages during that time, as well as plenty of cuddles.

Wesrob's help was relaxed and patient and came from experience.

He showed Olimar the right positions to sit in to lessen his early birthing pains and put something on the tv to distract him from his discomfort.  He also advised them on when it was time to head to the hospital for the delivery.

They didn't rudely barge into the hospital room right after Oddey was born, which Olimar was pretty sure his own father would have done.  Instead, they quietly asked Rosie at the door if they could come in.

"Are you ready for visitors, Oli?" Rosie asked.

"Of course.  They can come see him," he said.

Olimar remembered being very proud of his son and wanting to show him off.  However, his protective instincts were in high gear, so he was loathe to let anyone else touch him.  He held Oddey forward eagerly for a second then hurriedly pulled him back against his chest.

“We can see him from here, Oli.  You keep holding him close,” Pearl said.

“I didn’t want anyone near Rosie when she was a wee one, either,” Wesrob said.

They came within arm’s length to see little Oddey.  He looked up at them with sleepy eyes.

"Oh, Olimar, Rosie!  Look at him!  He’s perfect!" Pearl said, wiping away a tear.

"He looks like a healthy, strong little fellow," Wesrob said.  He patted Olimar on the shoulder.  "You did a great job, son."

All he could think to say at the time was, "Thank you."  

He made sure he showed his appreciation more coherently in the following weeks, when Pearl showed them how to best blend pikpik carrots for a hungry newborn and Wesrob took a few turns rocking Oddey when he was fussy.  Olimar and Rosie really couldn't have asked for a better support system.

Of course, his own father was more than a little annoyed to discover he had been left out of the loop, to the point of not knowing when Oddey was due until he was a few weeks old, but Olimar didn't really want to think about that argument....

"And then my father wonders why I never talk to him," he said to the Pikmin.

Mercy and the other Red with her tilted their heads.

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s nothing that affects you Pikmin.

Honestly, he hoped Pearl and Wesrob went to their house anyway, so Rosie and the kids would have support in his absence.

Olimar moved on to what he had to do next.

When he took the bandages off his arm, he seriously considered if he should put new ones on.  It was fully scabbed over and getting smaller besides, so it didn’t need as much protecting as before.  His suit wouldn’t rub it.  It might be better to save the rest of his wrapping in case he suffered any more injuries during his stay on the planet.

At the very least, he could sleep with it uncovered.  He didn’t rewrap his arm for now.

He ate half of a piece of fruit and headed for bed.  The six Pikmin waited for him there, but they moved to the side so he could get under the covers.

Once he was settled, Olimar opened his data pad.  The baby was sleepy from her day of disturbances, so she didn’t object to him setting it on his stomach to make his voyage log.

“Day 12.  Across this planet, I have found a number of objects that look like normal items from Hocotate, but on a grander scale.  The bottles are taller than the Dolphin!  It seems they are the remains of a lost, giant, and sapient alien species.  Could this be why the plants of this world are so large themselves?  I wish I could pick Kooper’s brain about these ideas.  He knows far more about relics than I ever could.”

That finished, Olimar set the data pad aside and clapped off the lights.  He hugged the nearest Pikmin and lay his head down to sleep.

Chapter Text

- Day 13, Somewhere in Space -

"The radar is detecting a downed ship on this planet!" Collin said from his control panel.

"I told you we'd find Captain Olimar in no time!" Captain Shepherd exclaimed.  "Bring us down!"

"Copy THAT!” Bernard replied.

The SS Shepherd dove into the planet’s misty atmosphere and honed in on the other ship's signal.  Shepherd bounded to the exit and grabbed her helmet.  Oatchi followed on her heels.

"Dingo, you, Oatchi, and I will go in first to make sure the area's safe.  I want Yonny right behind us.  We're going to assume Olimar needs medical attention and be ready to provide it!" she said.

"Yes, Captain!" Dingo and Yonny said.

“Woof!” Oatchi added.

The airlock opened and Shepherd ran out first.

The planet surface was barren and mostly rock, so the downed ship stood out in front of them.  It rested on its side and had a gaping crack running vertically up its hull.

The Rescue Corps ran straight towards it.  Shepherd gestured for Dingo and Yonny to stand back and pointed at the dented entry hatch.

“Oatchi, rush!” she said.

He lined his head up with the door, pawed his foot three times, and rammed it.  The hatch broke off its hinges, allowing them inside.

“Yonny, stay here until we know the structure is stable.  Dingo, recon the cargo hold to the right.  Oatchi and I will check the cockpit on the left.  Report anything you find,” Shepherd ordered.

“Copy that!” Yonny and Dingo said.

Dingo threw his back against the righthand doorway.  Holding his hands up as if they were guns, he charged into the hold.

Shepherd went the other direction, Oatchi at her side.

“Smell anything dangerous, boy, or just the Captain?” she asked.

Oatchi sniffed the ground as they went.  He replied with a “Ruff!” that meant, “All clear!”

The moment they entered the cockpit, Oatchi let out an alerting bark and ran to the pilot’s seat.  Shepherd followed.

The pilot lay motionless in his seat.  Shepherd was surprised to see that it was not Captain Olimar, but rather a Flukueyan with mid-length purple hair.  

She was disappointed for a moment, but the feeling didn’t linger.  Olimar or not, this was someone who desperately needed saving.  He wasn’t even conscious, judging by his lack of reaction to Oatchi sniffing him.

"Dingo, I found the pilot!  Meet me in the cockpit as soon as you're done with your sweep of the ship!" she said into her comm.

"Copy that!" he replied.

"Yonny, I need you immediately!  It isn’t Olimar, but this guy’s in bad shape.  Take the left-hand corridor."

"Right away, Captain!" Yonny answered.

Shepherd moved to the pilot’s side and looked him over.  There weren't any marks on his face or his suit, but his breathing was heavy and raspy.  He probably had internal injuries from the ship’s impact.

She leaned over him, trying to check the life readings on his suit panel, but she woke him up instead.  He groaned and looked at her with a glazed expression, like he wasn't really seeing her.

"Hold on, castaway!  We're here to save you!" Shepherd said.

Yonny and Dingo arrived at the same time.  Dingo finished scoping out the room while Yonny pulled out tools to inspect his patient.

“Oh my.  ‘Bad shape’ might be an understatement,” Yonny said.

He pressed his finger down on the pilot's chest in three different spots.  He whined weakly in response.  Yonny glanced at his life readings before delivering his diagnosis.

"He's got at least two broken ribs.  Possibly internal bleeding too.  His blood pressure is worryingly low, but holding steady.  We have to get him to a hospital for treatment before that changes."

"Got it.  Dingo?” 

“Nothing to report.  The ship’s hull isn’t collapsing anywhere.  It should be safe for the others to come in here,” he replied.

“Great!”  Shepherd activated her comm.  "Collin, we need a stretcher!  Can you and Russ bring it out to us?  The area is secure."

"We'll be right there, Captain!" Collin replied.

The pilot groaned again and tried to sit up.  Yonny held him down with a gentle but firm hand.

"You're going to want to stay where you are.  You're hurt pretty badly," he said.

"We're the Rescue Corps, and we'll get you patched up and on your way in no time!" Shepherd said.

The pilot blinked at her slowly.  Weakly, he asked, "H-how did you find me so fast?  I didn't even get a chance to send an SOS signal...."

"We were in the area," she replied.

Collin and Russ arrived promptly with the Rescue Corps stretcher.  Under Yonny’s exacting guidance, Shepherd and Dingo lifted the pilot and settled him carefully onto the stretcher.

“Oatchi, take the other end.  Go slow, we don’t want to shake him up,” Shepherd said.

“Woof woof!” 

Oatchi took the stretcher’s first set of handlebars in his mouth while Shepherd grabbed the other side.  Together, they lifted it and began the steady trip back to the SS Shepherd.

“It’s not Captain Olimar?  Let me check his identification real quick,” Collin said.

He passed the ID reader over the wounded pilot’s suit pocket and read the screen.

“Dash of Flukuey.  What are you doing out here, Dash?”

“I’m a spelunker,” Dash replied.  He drew in a deep breath before he continued.  “A buddy of mine said this planet had good caves to explore, so I came to check it out.  The planet’s atmosphere is lighter than I expected, so I came down too fast…  Hit a tall rock.  That’s the last thing I remember…”

“I see.  We’ll get you taken care of, and we can send a towing service to retrieve your ship.”

“Doesn’t spelunking in caves on random uninhabited planets all by yourself seem a little dangerous to you?” Dingo asked.

Dash laughed, but was interrupted by a cough.  “I live for this kind of danger!”

“Here’s hoping you don’t die for it!” Yonny said.

They finally reached the SS Shepherd and brought Dash inside.  Yonny deliberated for a minute about moving him over to the medical bed, but decided against it.

“Every time we touch him, we risk exasperating any neck, back, or rib injuries he has,” he said.  “For now, let’s keep him on the stretcher.  The doctors at the hospital will probably start working on him without moving him.”

“Works for me.  Bernard!  We need to get to the nearest planet with a hospital!” Shepherd shouted.

“The nearest HOSPITAL is on planet CONOHAN, seven HOURS away,” Bernard said.

He adjusted the controls and turned the wheel, bringing the SS Shepherd into the air.  As soon as a he could, he made the jump to warp.

“Seven hours?  Man, this is going to be a long trip…” Dash groaned.

“And you aren’t even the person who has to perform emergency surgery on a man if his blood pressure drops too low!” Yonny said.

Dash’s eyes widened. 

“He’s joking.  I think,” Collin said quickly.

“I don’t think he is,” Russ pointed out.

“Just don’t think you can rope me into helping with that, Yon!” Dingo said.

“Oh no, I would get Oatchi’s help.  He’s the least squeamish!” Yonny said.

“Now I know you’re joking,” Collin said.

Shepherd sat in the seat beside Bernard and drew a sigh.

“I’m glad we were able to save Dash, but this is going to delay us finding Captain Olimar,” she muttered.

“Hopefully he can HOLD OUT until we get the SEARCH going again,” Bernard said.

“Yes.  Keep surviving, Olimar, wherever you are.  We haven’t given up on finding you yet!”  

.................................................

- Day 13 on the Distant Planet -

Once again, Olimar had survived eating strange alien food without side effects.  He was either lucky, or toxic chemicals were universal across the galaxy’s life-forms and nothing would put them in a can.

He moved the fruit pieces to one side in his tub and added a few chunks of the vegetable to it.  That way he could access both easily.  

Then he cut off some of the vegetable piece from yesterday and took a bit of fruit as well.  It made for a good, filling breakfast.

As Olimar ate, his mind went to the day's plans.  The first thing he thought was that he could use another bath.  The problem was, of course, that his tub was filled with alien food, so that task wouldn't be as easy now as it had been before.

There was plenty of water outside the Dolphin to bathe in, and his helmet could form a limited-time seal without the rest of the suit, but he was a little apprehensive about being naked on such a dangerous planet.  Without his suit, he had no protection from teeth, claws, and giant bird beaks.

The Pikmin could probably be instructed to stand watch for him.  Maybe it was worth the risk to stop smelling quite so strong.

That, however, was not his priority.  His first objective was to collect the unseen ship part down the fire geyser path.  After that was secure, he could worry about being clean.

Olimar landed the Dolphin at her usual spot in the Forest Navel.  Once the Onions were down, he sent the Yellow Pikmin who stayed with him overnight back to theirs and called on every Red Pikmin he had.  There were a little more than sixty.  He filled out the rest of the group with Blue Pikmin.

According to the Whimsical Radar, the path with the fire geysers connected to the beach where the Fiery Blowhogs lived.  The map also showed him that a part was still wandering around the map…. somehow.  It was on the complete other side of the area from where they were going, so Olimar had a feeling today wouldn’t be the day he figured that out.

“Ready?” he asked the Pikmin.

“Awoo!” Kipard and Diver replied.

“Then let’s go!”

They took the newly opened shortcut directly to the beach.

Olimar briefly considered hunting every Fiery Blowhog in sight, both to protect the Pikmin and to add to the Red Pikmins’ numbers.  He decided against it.  The Red Pikmin would be carrying the part through the geysers, and he had yet to see a Blowhog hurt a Pikmin with any attack besides fire.  He wouldn’t have to clear any of them out to get the part through safely.

The point about the Red numbers still stood.  They were behind the Yellow and Blue Pikmin in population, which would be a problem if they encountered any strong creatures to fight.  Hunting a few Blowhogs would be a good idea.

“Can I leave you in charge of bringing some Blowhogs back to the Onion, or will that turn into a disaster?” Olimar asked Kipard.

He pointed at the nearest Blowhog.  Kipard took a step towards it and stomped his foot, which was usually a sign he was itching for a fight.

Olimar knew seven Pikmin could carry a Fiery Blowhog, so he tossed that many on the back of the nearest one.  Once they knew the plan, the other Red Pikmin crowded in close to him, eager to be the next ones sent into battle.

He threw another seven to fight the second-closest Blowhog.  Then, he headed for the path he needed with the rest of the Red and Blue Pikmin.

The Reds who didn’t get to fight looked disappointed, but they didn’t resist Olimar’s orders.

They weren’t disappointed for long.  Around the corner, Olimar and the Pikmin discovered a huge black-root gate, as well as a Blowhog who was very much in their way.

He left the Blue Pikmin a safe distance back and charged in with the Red Pikmin.  They swarmed the Blowhog through its flames, defeating it quickly.  

They left the body, for now.  It could be retrieved alongside the ship part.

This dark wall was tougher than the usual roots.  Even with eighty Pikmin working on it, the task took longer than usual.

Olimar peeked around the bend at the Pikmin fighting the other Blowhogs.  They were fine, from what he could tell, so he let them carry on without him.

When the roots came down, the geyser path lay ahead of them.  On the right side was the wall of the cliff they were above yesterday.  On the left was a sheer drop into darkness.

Olimar set his hands on the ridge between the path and the abyss and leaned forward to look down.  There must have been a bottom down there, but he couldn’t see it.

“Let’s stay away from this side,” he told the Pikmin.

That meant they would be following the right side.  Olimar pressed his back as close to the rock wall as he could without bumping his life support pack against it.  He walked along the path sideways, with his arms out, to stay as far from the geysers as possible.

One of them erupted beside him.  Even at that distance, he felt the heat through his suit and hopped forward to get away from it.  After that, he waited for the geysers to stop firing and go dormant before he passed them.

At first, the Pikmin imitated Olimar, complete with spreading their arms out to their sides as they walked.  Then, the Red Pikmin registered that he and the Blue Pikmin were avoiding the fire, which they knew wouldn’t hurt them.  

One of them broke out of the line and strolled right up to an inactive geyser.  She leaned over it, looking directly into the mouth.  A burst of fire shot up in her face.

Olimar flinched, but the Pikmin was as unharmed as expected.  She proceeded to jump through the jet of flame multiple times, giggling as she did.  Four more Red Pikmin joined her.  They looked like they were dancing in the fire and loving every second of it.  Meanwhile, the Blue Pikmin stared at them like they were crazy.

“They feel the same way when they see you walk into a pond,” Olimar told them.

The geyser stopped firing, so the Red Pikmin returned to the main group.  They stayed until a geyser ahead went off, then ran to play in that one.

The path was a good deal longer in-person than it looked on the map.  At the end, Olimar leaned on his knees to catch his breath.

Nearly two weeks of nonstop walking had his leg muscles in great shape (probably the best shape they’d been in for a decade, if he thought about it) but that didn’t change the fact that he was getting quite round in the middle.  Even with this planet’s lower gravity, walking was becoming cumbersome.  That was only going to become more of a problem as his daughter kept growing.

A Red Pikmin touched his hip, checking on him.  Olimar chuckled and patted his head.

“I’m okay.  I just need a minute,” he said.

He recovered quickly and stretched out his back.  Then, he went to see what the part ahead was.

“Why, it’s the Dolphin’s Analog Computer!” he exclaimed on sight of it.

Some Hocotatian ships had artificial intelligence installed on them via their onboard computers.  Olimar wanted one for the Dolphin, but he couldn’t afford the steep price.  He originally planned to save up and buy one later, but then they had Posy, and then Oddey wanted a dog, and now there was a third baby on the way, and all of those things were far more important.  Besides, President Shachou’s personal ship had its own personality, and that honestly made it harder to drive….

Without an AI, the Analog Computer’s main function was to store and process vague data.  It would back up Olimar’s voyage log files for him.  It also allowed the autopilot to perform more complicated functions than the hovering it was currently capable of.

The computer sat in a pool, like the radar said.  He was a little worried to see this part sitting in water, but it was built to be fairly tough.  Hopefully it hadn’t suffered any electrical damage.  He would have to power it on and see.

Olimar dismissed the Pikmin into groups and called on the Blues.  They took a step towards the water, and were promptly faced with a creature leaping out of the dirt and charging at them!

With a yelp, Olimar ran backwards and blindly threw Pikmin in the direction of the beast.  It ran past him, towards the idle Red Pikmin.

“No, Pikmin!  Run!” he shouted.

The Pikmin did run, towards the creature.  It didn’t attack them, like Olimar feared, but changed course and ran in a different direction.  The Red Pikmin chased it.   Olimar whistled to the Pikmin before they followed the creature out of sight. 

They gave up the chase and returned to his side.

Now that the Pikmin were under control, he watched the creature.  It ran in one more spurt, then stood still so he could see it clearly.

This creature was another insect, one slightly larger than a Dwarf Bulborb.  It had a shiny shell like the Cannon Beetle, but Olimar couldn’t see a division in it.  Stripes in yellow and green alternated down its body.  There were two stalked eyes on top of its head, which were the only features distinguishing the front end from the back.  On the bottom, the beetle had four little brown legs.

He didn’t see a mouth, so it must be under the shell or on the belly somewhere.  It definitely didn’t eat Pikmin, or it would have tried to do so already.

The beetle turned in place and ran past Olimar and his Pikmin.  Both the Red and Blue ones charged at it again.  This time Olimar let them go, mostly out of curiosity.

The Pikmin mobbed the beetle and whacked it with their flowers and leaves.  Their attack was useless; the insect didn’t react to them at all.  It stood for a moment, then scurried a short distance away.  The Pikmin continued to pursue.

Olimar looked behind him.  Squeakers and Mercy were there, as immune to this creature’s alluring shimmer as they were to the sight of nectar.

Nectar!  Perhaps this beetle was another creature that carried nectar!  The Pikmin had been able to identify them in the past.

Olimar grabbed Mercy’s stem, then paused.  

He had promised himself to be less aggressive towards the planet’s more innocent wildlife.  This beetle wasn’t hurting anyone, as far as he could tell.  But that was also true of the Fiery Blowhogs who weren’t blocking his path, wasn’t it?  Olimar sent Pikmin to kill them with only a brief second thought.

The fact of the matter was Olimar had to survive, and the Pikmin did as well, which required a little aggressive behavior now and then.  He would go for it this time.

He waited for the beetle to run and stop again.  Once it was still, he took aim and tossed Mercy.

She landed on the insect’s back hard enough to flip it over.  It somersaulted through the air and released two puddles of nectar as it flew, before landing on its feet and running as if nothing happened.

The Pikmin abandoned the chase for the nectar.  Even the flowered ones clustered around it to plunge their arms in for a taste.

“Hold on, let Squeakers in there!” Olimar said.

He threw Squeakers so he landed in the center of the group.  He got a good slurp of nectar and finally grew his own flower.  It was perfect like the other Pikmins’, in spite of his leaf being damaged previously.

The beetle was still visible.  Olimar was interested in what would happen if he hit it with another Pikmin.

He approached it, a Red Pikmin primed to throw.  The beetle dashed, going up the dirt ramp beside the Analog Computer’s pool.  Olimar and his Pikmin followed.

When he saw what was at the top of the ramp, he forgot about the beetle completely.  He didn’t even notice when it burrowed under the ground and disappeared.

There was a big, land-bound flower on the side of the path.  It caught Olimar’s eye because it was the same radiant color as the Red Onion.

Olimar circled the flower, studying it.  The bloom had five petals, each twice as long as he was tall.  Unlike the petals on the Pikmin, the ones on this flower were fat at the bottom and shrunk to points.  Each tip had a pale yellow growth on the end.  There were no leaves to be found, but the center of the flower was a cup-like opening of some kind.

The Pikmin stared at the flower intensely.  They seemed interested.

“Is this another source of nectar?” Olimar asked them.  “No, it can’t be.  You’d be over here digging it up already.  Is it food the Onion can use, maybe?  I wonder…”

He reached out and tapped the nearest petal.

The flower’s petals clamped together with a loud snap, nearly catching his hand.  Olimar jumped backwards, holding his arm to his chest.

“It’s carnivorous!” he exclaimed.

The flower remained closed for a moment, then spread itself open again.  Olimar stared at the plant, then looked at the Pikmin.  None of them were frightened by the plant’s attempt to eat him.  In fact, they moved closer to it and tried to touch the petals for themselves.

“No, stay back!” he shouted.  He put himself between the Pikmin and the red flower and held his arms up.

A Blue Pikmin tapped a petal around Olimar.  The flower snapped shut.  The other Pikmin reached towards it when it opened.

This was one of those instances where Olimar couldn’t understand why the Pikmin wanted something.  This plant acted like a predator, yet the Pikmin wanted to be eaten by it for some reason.

“Unless this bud looks like an Onion because it acts like one?” he wondered aloud.

Maybe something interesting would happen if he tossed some Pikmin into the center?

“Okay, I’ll try it.  But if anything goes wrong, remember you asked for this,” he said, pointing at the nearest Pikmin.

“Tatoo!” the Pikmin replied.

Since the flower was red, Olimar tossed a Red Pikmin at the opening in the center of it.  The Pikmin made a yelping sound that usually indicated pain, and disappeared.  Olimar froze in horror, thinking he had killed her.  

Then, the flower smacked its petals closed, scrunched, and spit a seed out of the top with an echoing “Pop!”  The seed took root like any other Pikmin seed and grew a red stem.

Olimar approached it hesitantly, in case it was a trap.  When he wasn’t attacked, he grabbed the stem and yanked the sprout from the ground.  The Pikmin landed behind him and shook herself off.  Other than her flower reverting to a leaf, she didn’t look any different.

“I don’t understand…” Olimar said.

Did he have it backwards?  Would the plant do something only if the Pikmin sent in wasn’t Red?

He took the stem of a Blue Pikmin.  The Pikmin chittered in excitement.

“Bear with me, this is an experiment,” Olimar said.

He threw two Blue Pikmin into the flower’s “cup.”  It closed and spit two seeds out of the top.  When the new stems rose, they were now red, even though the Pikmin started blue.

“Interesting.  This is either an undeveloped Onion, or an evolutionary offshoot of one, that changes a Pikmin’s color instead of making brand new ones.  Or these two plants are entirely unrelated and I’m making connections where there aren’t any.”

Olimar pulled the two now-Red sprouts from the ground and watched the Pikmin.  The duo studied their arms and legs.  One of them held up her hand and yelled, “Adoo!”  The other walked in a tight circle, staring at his own backside.

The second new Red Pikmin broke from the group and ran down the ramp.  Olimar and the other Pikmin followed him.  He went to a fire geyser.  After staring a moment at the stream of flame, he jumped clear thru it and landed on the other side, unburned. 

“Ehh hee wee hoo!” he said.  He proceeded to jump over the geyser excitedly a few more times.

“It seems you’re aware you used to be Blue Pikmin, but are now exactly the same as Red ones,” Olimar said.  “You appear fine with the conversion.  Possibly even thrilled.  I did say I could use more Red Pikmin...”

Before he messed around with the flower more, Olimar instructed the Blue Pikmin to carry the Analog Computer out of the water.  A mere twenty were enough to lift it.  They left it on the shore and returned to the flower.

“The bright color reminds me of those hard candies Oddey and Posy like to chew.  A Candybud?  I think there are actual candy-buds on Neechki though…  The sound it makes when it spits out seeds is distinctive.  I could call it a ‘Candypop Bud.’”

As usual, the Pikmin had no opinion on the name.  Olimar added “Candypop Bud” to his voyage log, snapped a picture of the plant, then tucked the data pad away for later.

Without any real plan in mind, other than “get more Red Pikmin,” he threw Blue Pikmin into the center cup of the Candypop Bud.  After the eighth went inside, the flower suddenly snapped closed.  It spit out the seeds, but this time it withered instead of  opening like before.

Olimar tapped the plant husk with his foot.  Nothing happened.

“It seems the Candypop can only transform ten Pikmin.  The one it released without changing didn’t count.  Fascinating,” he said.

It occurred to him that Squeakers may have just been changed into a Red Pikmin, and he wondered if that would affect his unique behavior.  

However, Squeakers stood alongside the other Blue Pikmin who were idle. Unusually, he was on the other side of the group, when he would usually be beside Olimar.  This was especially odd because Mercy was at his hip like she always was.  On second glance, Diver was there with Squeakers.

“Did you go out of your way to not be changed by the Bud?” Olimar asked them.

As if in confirmation, Squeakers returned to his usual spot beside him.  Diver remained where she was, but that was fairly normal when nothing was happening.  

Did Pikmin with unique roles resist a change in color?  Olimar wished he could test the idea more thoroughly, but he would need another Candypop Bud for that.

“We’ll do it later.  Right now, let’s take care of the computer,” he said.

He pulled the new Red Pikmin from the ground.  They assembled with the other Reds comfortably.

Olimar pointed to the Analog Computer and blew the directing whistle.  They swarmed around the part and carried it up the geyser path.  Olimar nodded and put his back to the wall to begin the slow journey back to the Dolphin.

“I’m going to really need a bath after all this heat,” he thought, when he bumped his helmet trying to wipe sweat off his brow.

The return trip was uneventful.  Olimar stopped to pick up the remaining Fiery Blowhog with the Red Pikmin before continuing on to the landing site.

The Red Pikmin from the independent Blowhog-fighting group waited for them beneath their Onion.  All of the new Pikmin were inside, as expected.  Olimar could hear them talking to each other above his head.

“Excellent work, Kipard!  And to your team, too!” he said.

“Begoo!” Kipard replied, puffing his chest proudly.

The Analog Computer had its own plug to connect it to the Eternal Fuel Dynamo, so they sat side-by-side.  The Pikmin set the computer down and stood back while Olimar reattached all the necessary wires and cords.

When he was done, the computer screen lit up.  The default message, “Hello, Captain Olimar,” appeared.

“Very nice!” he said.

He went into the system long enough to back up his data pad files, then shut the computer down.  He wouldn’t need it until he was flying through space again.

Before doing anything else, Olimar made a quick stop at the tub.  He was positively famished after the trek to the Analog Computer, so he ate as much food as he could handle.

Once he was satisfied, Olimar moved on to his second goal for the day: bath time.  

He half-removed his suit and took his shirt off in the ship, because it would never stretch over his helmet.  Then, he zipped the suit up for the walk to the pond, to have as much time with the life support running as possible.  He grabbed one of the towels from his pile, as well as the bottle of cleansing gel, and headed outside.

The pool where he found the Blue Onion was ideal for this because it was close to the landing site and had been wildlife-free so far.  The same group of Pikmin from the day’s work accompanied him.

"Stay right here and keep watch.  I need to know if anything dangerous comes our way," he said.

The Pikmin bobbed their heads and stood in place.  They didn't know what "keep watch" meant, but surely they would react if a creature approached the pool.

Olimar pressed the button on his suit to activate the helmet-seal.  It made a whooshing sound and he felt the fabric tighten at his neck.  After a pause to be sure it was working, he pulled down the zipper of his suit and stepped out of it.  He dropped it haphazardly on the shore beside the towel.

When he put his hands on his belt, however, he hesitated.  He hadn't expected to be self-conscious about nudity around the Pikmin, but they had given up sentry duty and locked their eyes on him.  It was more than a little unnerving, now that he was in the moment.

"When I said 'keep watch' I meant the area, not me," he said.

Two of them went back to watching their surroundings, but most of them continued staring at Olimar.

"What exactly are you worried about them seeing?" he asked himself.  "They won't understand your anatomy.  You're wasting carbon-monoxide-in-your-helmet time.  Don't worry about it."

He discarded his pants and underwear on top of his space suit.  The Pikmin were still watching him, but their level of interest hadn't suddenly increased because he was nude.

Olimar waded into the pool up to his arms and splashed himself with water until he was completely wet.  Before he could squeeze any cleansing gel into his hand, another splash hit him.

One of the Blue Pikmin stood beside him in the pool.  He slapped his hands in the water and splashed Olimar again.

"You didn't know you could do that, did you?" he asked.

Olimar splashed water at the Pikmin.  He let out a bubbly giggle and swatted the water to make cascades of droplets.  

"It's fun, isn't it?"

The other Blue Pikmin went into the water and made a game of splashing each other back and forth.  A Red tried to join in, but she immediately started drowning and had to be rescued by the nearest Blue Pikmin.  Diver solved the problem by tossing smaller drops of water at the land-bound Pikmin so they could feel it without getting too wet.

While they were paying attention to something other than him, Olimar covered himself in gel and scrubbed his skin thoroughly.

When he was as soaped as possible, Olimar sat down in the pool.  The water engulfed his helmet.  He leaned backwards and let out a dreamy sigh.  The cool water was soothing on his aches, pains, and wounded arm.  It felt wonderful to be off his feet, too.

A nearby disturbance in the water made him open his eyes.  Two Blue Pikmin swam past him, moving their arms in smooth strokes.

"You must do that instinctually.  I know I didn't teach you how to swim," he said.

He briefly wondered if maybe the other Pikmin could learn to hold their breath and swim like the Blue ones.  It probably wasn't possible.  Since the others lacked mouths, they must breathe through their skin or their leaves and flowers.  They couldn't turn those off the way he could shut off his lungs.

Then he stopped thinking and closed his eyes.  All he thought about for a little while was relaxing every muscle in his body and breathing slowly.

It had been a long time since Olimar was this at ease.

The moment had to end eventually.  He got his feet back under him and worked on rinsing the cleansing gel off his body.

When he was completely clean, Olimar left the pool.  He shook himself and reached for the towel to dry off.

One of the Red Pikmin was staring at him more intently than before.  She moved closer and raised her hands slightly.

"What?" Olimar asked.

She walked right up to him and put her hands on his stomach, still staring.  It took him a moment to realize what she was so enthralled with.

"That's my bellybutton," he said.

Of course she was confused, Pikmin didn't have those.  She gave him a quizzical look.

"Hocotatians have bellybuttons because we're viviparous.  It connected me to my dad before I was born.  My baby will have one, too."

Yeah, she couldn't understand what he was saying.  He let her be curious about it on her own, right up until she stuck her finger into his bellybutton and made him jump four centimeters in the air.

"Whoah hey!" he yelped.

All of the Pikmin jumped to alert.  The Red Pikmin pressed her hands on him, making soothing sounds to apologize.

"You didn't hurt me, I just wasn't expecting it," Olimar said.  He patted her head to reassure her.

The beep of his heads-up display told him he was running out of pre-filtered air.  It was time to go back to the Dolphin.  He wrapped the towel around his waist, collected his space suit and pants, and headed for the landing zone.  The Pikmin troupe followed him.

Once the Pikmin had been tucked into the Onion and he was back in the Dolphin, Olimar went to the sink.  He soaked the towel and twisted out water over his head.  It was really the only way he could get that part of himself clean.  His hair was still greasy when he was done, but that was something he would have to put up with.  At least the rest of him felt better.

His daughter was over the soothing bath and getting rambunctious.  She stretched and kicked and even changed sides.

Olimar was still fully relaxed, so he responded by sitting on the bed to enjoy her little movements.  When he set his hand on his belly, she reached in that direction and tapped back.  That was new for her.

“Look at you!  You’re already so smart,” he told her.

Current set her hand on his belly too and said a string of excited comments.  The baby wiggled in response and reached towards her voice.

“At this rate, you’re going to come out speaking fluent Pikmin,” Olimar said.

He left Current to play with the baby, instead grabbing his data pad.  He would make two quick voyage logs, eat, and go to sleep.

First, he finished the note on the Candypop Bud that currently had a simple title and a picture.

“Candypop Bud.  When I threw Pikmin into this flower, they were spit back out as seeds.  The Blue Pikmin were turned into Red ones, matching the color of the flower!  The Pikmin seemed eager to be thrown inside.  I hypothesize that the Candypop might be related to the Onions, but can not prove that without further study.  If only I had more time…

“It is highly likely that there are yellow and blue Candypops as well, but as of now I can not confirm this theory.”

Then he named the curious shiny beetle and gave it an entry for itself.

“Iridescent Flint Beetle.  This creature’s hypnotic reflective shell is quite hard, giving it a good defense against Pikmin attacks.  It needs it, because the Pikmin chase it in a frenzy!  When hit directly, the beetle releases nectar.  The Pikmin must have known it was holding nectar inside of it somehow…”

Olimar set the data pad down and went to his tub for dinner.  He was hungry even after the mid-afternoon snack.

When he was done, he rinsed his hands and joined the Pikmin in his bed.

It took longer than usual for him to settle.  He had reached the point in his pregnancy where the baby’s size made it a struggle to find a comfortable sleeping position.  It didn’t help that he couldn’t lay on his back without cutting off his circulation and also couldn’t lay on his stomach without more pillows than he had access to.

The Pikmin watched him patiently.  He turned over and repositioned his arms about five times before he finally lay still.  When they were confident in his comfort, they snuggled against him to rest for themselves.

“Good night, baby.  Good night, Pikmin,” Olimar muttered as he drifted to sleep.

Chapter Text

Olimar finally knew why a Dolphin part had been moving around the radar map.  Today, the marker for it walked right into his camp.

He stared at the new creature for a long time.  He couldn't get over the fact that it looked exactly like a roll of bread.

A roll of bread with two little legs and a big round nose sticking out of the front.  The beast sniffed the ground in front of it as it waddled along.  When it walked towards Olimar head-on, he saw buggy blue eyes under the folds of its bread-like shell.

"I don't feel like being creative today.  I'm calling it a Breadbug," he said.

Honestly, he didn't feel like doing anything today.  He was exhausted.  His inability to get comfortable the day before was the start of a horrible night’s sleep.  On top of making it hard for him to find a good position to lay in, his growing baby was also taking a lot of room from his bladder.  He was in the bathroom every two hours, and then he had to go back to bed and find a comfortable sleeping position again.

Olimar yawned, then tapped his helmet and put his focus on the Breadbug.  It wasn’t carrying a Dolphin part in its mouth, so it must have eaten it.  That didn’t make sense, but it was the only explanation for the radar mark following the creature.

If he could catch the beast and retrieve the part quickly, he could go back to bed.  Maybe he'd be perkier tomorrow if he managed to fit in extra sleep today.

The Breadbug didn't move a muscle as it watched Olimar collect Pikmin.  He called for less than the full hundred, in the interest of having less individuals to worry about.

When he advanced towards the Breadbug, however, it turned tail and waddled away from him.

It wasn't fast by any means, so Olimar followed it and threw a Pikmin.  The Yellow landed on the Breadbug's back and slid off the side harmlessly.  The Breadbug didn't even react.

He tried a Red Pikmin and met with the same result.  The Breadbug waddled onwards as if none of them were there.

This would not be happening quickly.

Hoping to figure out a different way to fight it, Olimar and his Pikmin followed the Breadbug.  It stopped a few times to sniff at blades of grass or roots sticking out of the ground, but didn't try to eat them.

"What are you looking for?" Olimar asked.

The Breadbug ended up on the beach.  There were a few of the pellet-bearing plants growing along the edge of the nearest rock shelf.  The Breadbug stared up at them, then waddled towards one of the Fiery Blowhogs.

It gave the Blowhog a nip on the flank.  The beast made an annoyed squealing sound and turned on the Breadbug.  It was already running back towards the flowers.

Before Olimar's surprised eyes, the Breadbug stood in front of the pellet flowers until the Fiery Blowhog breathed a gout of fire at it.  It moved out of the way in a hurry.  The flames burned the stem of the plant and sent the pellet falling to the ground, undamaged.

The Fiery Blowhog lost track of the Breadbug and wandered away.  After a moment of waiting, the Breadbug reappeared, grabbed the pellet, and dragged it away.

Olimar was trying to figure out a way to use this behavior to his advantage when Saffron and another Yellow Pikmin ran past him.  They both grabbed ahold of the pellet in the Breadbug's mouth and tried to pull it away.

The Breadbug was strong, and dragged them along with the pellet.

"I think they have the right idea," Olimar said.

He pointed at the pellet and gave the other Pikmin the charge whistle.  Four more Yellow Pikmin ran forwards and grabbed ahold of the sides of the pellet.  Together, they overpowered the Breadbug and started pulling it towards the Onions.

"That's it!  Keep pulling!" Olimar cheered.

"Wawoo!" the other Pikmin cheered with him.

The Breadbug refused to let go of its food; it let the Pikmin drag it all the way to the Yellow Onion.  The beam grabbed the pellet and lifted it up.  The Breadbug held on until its back smacked into the bottom of the Onion, forcing it to let go and fall to the ground with a pained yelp.

It took a moment to regain its bearings then trundled off to look for more pellets, in spite of the noticeable limp in its gait.

"Ah hah," Olimar said.

He threw a Blue Pikmin at the nearest pellet flower.  When she tore it down, he whistled her back to his side and left the pellet. 

The next time the Breadbug sniffed, it turned completely around.  It locked its eyes on the pellet.  Olimar preemptively grabbed the Pikmin behind him and prepared to toss it.

As soon as the Breadbug grabbed the pellet, he tossed six Pikmin at it.  They took the other side and pulled the Breadbug to the Blue Onion.

It hit the Onion as hard as before and landed with one final yelp.  Then it collapsed, dead on impact with the ground.

"Thank goodness that's over," Olimar said.

Except, it wasn't.  Now he had a dead creature that had somehow consumed a ship part.  How was he going to get it out of the Breadbug?  His lip curled as he realized he was probably going to have to cut the beast open with his vegetable knife and dig around inside for whatever it had eaten...

While he was thinking about that, the Blue Pikmin who dragged the Breadbug to the Onion picked up its body.  Three more ran over, giving them enough to lift it.  They brought it back to the beam of the Onion like any other prey.

When Olimar noticed, he waved his arms at them.

"Hold on, Pikmin, there's a part I need in-"

Too late.  His eyes popped wide open as the Breadbug's body disappeared inside the Onion, taking the Dolphin's part with it.

"Wait, no!"

The Blue Onion shuddered in an odd way for a moment.  The flower on top spun up faster and faster until it spit out a large object that Olimar had to jump away from.

It was the Dolphin's Space Float!  The Onion had realized it wasn't "food" and somehow separated it from the Breadbug corpse.  It proceeded to spit out seeds normally.

"That's a relief," Olimar muttered.

He gave the Float a quick inspection.  It was deflated, but he only found one hole in the entire thing.  That would be easy to fix with repair tape.  Olimar didn't particularly need a flotation device anyway, since he was a great swimmer.

"It's here for emergencies," he reminded himself.  There had been a lot of emergencies in his life recently.  He'd better fix the Float.

Later.  Right now, he longed for the warm embrace of sleep.

"Thank you for making this mission as quick and painless as possible," Olimar said to the Pikmin.  He gave the nearest one a pat on the head.  "You don't mind if I turn in early, do you?  Super early?  We'll do some actual work tomorrow, grow some more seeds, and all that fun stuff."

The Pikmin made calm, content noises.  Olimar was sure they wouldn't mind an early bedtime.

He sent 27 Pikmin to carry the Space Float onto the Dolphin.  When they were done, he gave the dismissal whistle.  The main group went back inside their respective Onions without any complaint or fuss.  Mercy, Current, and Squeakers were the only ones to remain at his side.

The last thing Olimar did after returning the Dolphin to orbit was eat.  He had as much food as he could handle, then wiped his hands off and climbed right into bed. 

He almost forced himself to write a voyage log, but he knew that was a bad idea.  All he could think about the Breadbug at the moment was: “This pesky scavenger is truly annoying” and that was his foul mood talking, not his observations.  It wouldn’t do for his log to be tainted by his lack of sleep.

“I’ll make an entry tomorrow.  It’s fine,” Olimar mumbled.

Then he gave into his exhaustion.  With one final good night pat for his daughter, he found himself the most comfortable position he could and fell asleep.  The Pikmin snuggled against him, careful not to wake him but determined to stay close.

....................................................

- Day 14 on Hocotate -

Rosie and Olimar's backyard had a large area set aside for her garden.  She mostly grew flowers, but there were also herb plants for her to use in her cooking.

The garden was her happy place.  She went there to relax.

Oddey and Posy were inside playing a video game, so Rosie was enjoying a little yard work.  The spearmint plants were spreading too far into the flowerbed, so she had to tear some up to save her peonies.  It was a good excuse to make some of the mint-flavored ice cream the children loved.

She set another strand of spearmint in the harvesting basket and paused.  

"Olimar would love some mint ice cream, too," she thought.  Part of the reason she came out to work on her garden was to get her mind off worrying.  It had only worked for about fifteen minutes, and now her thoughts were back with her husband, wherever he was.

Rosie heard footsteps on the other side of the yard fence.  When she looked up, she saw the top of a leather hat bobbing up and down above the posts.  She knew who it was before Kooper’s face appeared over the fence.

"Good afternoon, Miss Rosie," he said.

"Hello there, Kooper.  How are you?" Rosie asked.

He removed his hat and rubbed his thumbs on its rim.  "I'm okay.  I... got back from a dig last night and the missus told me Olimar went missing.  I came to check on you and the kids.  How are you holding up?"

"We're doing okay, I suppose.  My parents were here, and Adela stopped by a few times.  I’m… very worried.  Olimar’s been gone nearly two weeks.  The Rescue Corps's looking for him, but they haven't found him yet.  We keep hoping, but it feels like his chances of coming home alive drop every day."

"I can't even imagine what you're going through.  Or what Olimar is!  How awful....  And the baby's due soon, right?"

"Yes.  She was supposed to-  She's due on the 24th."

Kooper counted on his fingers and bit his lip.  He replaced his hat.

"I'll go looking for him myself, if it'll help.  The Star Scholar and I will gladly join the search," he said.

"I couldn't ask that of you, Kooper," Rosie said with a shake of her head.  "You just got home from work.  And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you went looking for Olimar and disappeared too."

"I still owe you and him for the last time you helped me out!  This is the least I can do."

"Olimar drove you to the hospital because your wife wasn't home.  I don't think risking your life in uncharted space is the same level of favor!"

"It is to me."  Kooper looked at the sky, considering.  Then he returned his hat to his head.  "Though, you're probably right.  Two of us being lost would be a problem.  I'm sure the Rescue Corps will find him before....  They'll find him.”

Rosie looked at her hands and fiddled with the mint-scented leaf between her fingers.  She was pulled from her thoughts when Kooper spoke again.

"There are other ways I can help.  I can come over for tea, if you'd like, and we can relax and chat.  I'll bring Sandy and Barry over for a playdate with Posy, to keep the kids occupied."

Rosie managed a smile.  "I would appreciate that.  My favorite tea is-"

"-Salted caramel."  Kooper winked.  "Olimar told me.  I'll pick some up and drop by.  Thursday, maybe?  The day after tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan.  Thank you, Kooper."

"Don't mention it!  Here's hoping we can have tea with Olimar soon."

"Yes, I hope we can."

Kooper nodded politely to her and strolled up the fence.  Rosie returned to her gardening in slightly higher spirits.

Chapter Text

Olimar’s rest was as disrupted that night as the one before.  However, he had a lot more time to sleep around his trips to the bathroom and his changes in position, so he felt as energetic as he’d hoped on the dawn of the fifteenth day.

His only regret was that he squished Mercy’s arm during one of his attempts to get comfortable.  The Pikmin was unbothered, or at least polite enough not to complain.

Rosie was like that, too.  She was never upset with Olimar about his tossing and turning at home, even the time during his first pregnancy when he elbowed her by mistake.

"I'm sorry you're losing sleep with me," Olimar had said as he rubbed her ribs.

"Don't worry about it," Rosie replied.  "I know you're having a harder time of it than I am.  Besides, I'm the one who did this to you, remember?"

"I wanted you to."

"Then we're both responsible, and we'll both suffer for it.  We'll forget all about these little problems when we're finally holding our son."

Olimar set his palms on his belly and felt his baby’s little morning kicks.

“You’re very much worth all the little problems.  The big ones, too,” he said to her.

He climbed out of bed and went to have breakfast.  While he was eating, he added an entry to his voyage log about the Breadbug.

“Breadbug.  This creature competes over similar food sources with Pikmin, specifically pellets.  Its thick, bread-like hide allows it to withstand most Pikmin attacks.  Breadbugs have proven unwilling to release food once it is held in their jaws, even when said food is being lifted into a Pikmin Onion.  This habit lead to its defeat.”

That was much better than the entry he almost wrote the day before.  He was happy with this one.

On landing the Dolphin in the Forest Navel, Olimar was slightly embarrassed to see Pikmin seeds planted in the ground from yesterday.  He wasn't even thinking about that at the time.  Luckily, the night predators left them alone.  They even bloomed into flowers overnight.  

"I'm sorry, little guys," he said out loud to them.  "I kind of forgot about you.  That was rude of me.  I'll get you out of the ground now."

The nearest blue stem twitched.  Olimar stared at it.  It flailed, then wiggled back and forth in the air.

"Are you okay, Pikmin?" he asked.  No underground sprout had ever behaved this way before.

The motion grew stronger in response to his voice.  He knelt down beside the stem and watched it, enraptured.  The dirt around the Pikmin's head shifted and a little hand stuck up from the ground.

The Pikmin was trying to dig himself out of the ground!

Olimar had never considered that this might be possible.  Now that he thought about it, the Pikmin must be able to pick themselves, or else they would never survive without alien assistance.

"Can you make it on your own?" he asked.

The Pikmin wiggled his limbs harder, disrupting the dirt even more.  He got his other hand free and clawed at the ground.

"You've got this!  Pull, little guy, pull!" Olimar encouraged.

He heard a chorus of "wee"s from around him.  The Blue Pikmin were sliding down the Onion’s legs in response to hearing him talk.

They took notice of the wiggling sprout and circled around it.  Diver spoke a rhythmic chant that seemed to come to her instinctively.

"Too, too, too, too, too."

The other Pikmin joined in, on the beat.  Their chant further encouraged the buried Pikmin’s struggling, so Olimar figured he might as well do it too.

"Too, too, too, too, too, too, too."

The Blue Pikmin gave one mighty tug and pulled his head above the ground.  He stayed like that a moment, his mouth opening and closing.  Then, he dug his fingers in and dragged himself completely free.

"Wawooooo!" the rest of the Blue Pikmin cheered.

"You did it, Blue Pikmin!" Olimar said.

The rest of the group began their chant again.  The other buried Blue sprouts were wiggling and squirming as if the rhythm was driving them to awaken.

Olimar knelt in front of the first new Pikmin.  He was still laying on the ground, looking weak and exhausted.  That didn't happen to any Pikmin Olimar plucked from the ground himself.

It reminded him of a newly hatched bird.  Getting out of their eggshells by themselves was hard work; most baby birds needed a break to catch their breath and regain their strength after they hatched.  Climbing out of the ground would take about the same level of effort as breaking free from an egg, maybe even more.

These Pikmin would probably recover with time, but Olimar felt bad making them work after they already had to burrow out of the ground.

He picked up the first one and lifted him as high as he could on the Onion's leg.  The Blue Pikmin looked at him, then grabbed the leg and climbed inside.

"Take it easy, little guy," he said as the Pikmin disappeared.

Olimar returned to the four half-buried Blue sprouts and pulled them the rest of the way from the ground.  This batch was less worn out, but they definitely weren't as energetic as the others.

"This was an interesting experiment, but I'll make sure I pull you up myself from now on, okay?  It's easier on everyone," Olimar said.

He returned the young Pikmin to the Onion, then sent some of the older Blue Pikmin back inside as well so there were thirty-three of them.  He plucked the single Yellow sprout from the day before and called down some more Yellow and Red Pikmin.  They somehow got their numbers close to even, though Olimar didn't have a way to specify that was what he wanted.

Back to business.  There were two parts near each other on the radar, in the vicinity of the beach.  One was to the left of the exit ramp and the other was in the lake itself.

Olimar was hoping he could collect both of them today.

Most of the Fiery Blowhogs had been cleared out from this area already.  The ones who remained were gathered on the far side of the beach, near the path with the fire geysers.  Olimar couldn’t tell what they were doing and he didn’t want to waste time investigating.  Their absence would help him, so he wasn’t going to look a gift space-horse in the mouth.

The first part was on top of a flat stalagmite beside the water.  Olimar couldn’t see what it was from down below.  

“Yellow Pikmin can make that distance, right?” he asked.

Rather than wait for an answer, he threw the closest Yellow Pikmin at the ledge.  She almost reached the top, but bumped against the wall and slid to the ground.  Olimar tossed three more to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and met with the same result.

“We need a different way up there.”

He and the Pikmin walked around the side of the stalagmite’s base, looking for a way up that wasn’t visible on the radar.

What they found instead was an assorted collection of sticks and branches scattered on the ground.  It looked like the remains of a bird nest, if birds were the size of the Dolphin.

“A Snagret would build a nest this big, if they roosted above ground,” Olimar thought.

A different idea came to him: he had seen the Pikmin build a pole from sticks before.  Could they potentially build a ship-part-sized ramp with this much material to work with?

Olimar picked up two of the sticks and held them out for the Pikmin to see.

“Do you have the instincts to build a bridge or ramp out of these?” he asked.  “Or can you figure it out for yourselves?”

Saffron took the sticks in her hands and stared at them.  Without being asked, another Yellow Pikmin took one off the ground.  They put them together in a few different ways, but couldn’t make them fit.

“Aboo nu!  Debadoo!” a third Yellow shouted.

He took three sticks from the ground and stole one from the other Yellow, in a manner that said, “You’re doing it wrong!  Do it like this!”  He meshed the sticks together in a different way.  They stayed in place!

“Yes, like that!  Do that, but an entire ramp,” Olimar said.

He pointed at the connected sticks, then up at the top of the stalagmite.  The Pikmin looked back and forth.  Then, the rest of the Yellow Pikmin spread out among the scattered sticks to fit them together.

After watching them build for a few minutes, the Red and Blue Pikmin understood the construction process enough to join in.  All one hundred of the Pikmin worked together in perfect harmony.  

In seemingly no time, they had built a ramp that looked long enough to reach the stalagmite, with a few sticks to spare.

“Very good!  Now bring it over here,” Olimar said.

It took thirty Pikmin to lift and move the ramp where he directed.  Olimar hoped that meant it was sturdy enough to hold the part on its way down.

The Pikmin shifted their grip to one end of the plank and hoisted the other.  It bumped against the upper ledge, but was at too high of an angle to walk on.  Olimar waved his hands and walked backwards.

“Bring this end back a little bit.  Just a bit,” he said.

The Pikmin dragged the ramp backwards until the top was barely above the edge of the stalagmite.  Olimar whistled to call them back.  They dropped the bottom edge, so it stuck in the ground. 

The structure looked like a perfectly functional ramp, leading directly to the Dolphin part.

“Great work!  But will it hold?” Olimar asked.

Carefully, he stepped one foot onto the ramp.  He shifted his weight to that foot a little at a time until he was standing fully on it.  The woven sticks held steady.

That was promising.  Olimar walked up further until he was near the center.  He hopped up and down gently.  The ramp moved with his weight, but didn’t collapse or even creak.

He turned to the Pikmin.  “Come up, but do it a few at a time,” he said.

They swarmed excitedly up the ramp en masse.

“Not so fast!  Wait!” he yelped.

The sticks managed to hold all of them at once.  Olimar looked to either side of him and saw no issues with the bridge.

“Okay.  Okay, that’s good,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

He made his way to the top of the ramp, Pikmin in tow, and beheld the Dolphin part on the stalagmite.

It was the Gravity Jumper, a part that took the shape of a giant spring.  It was an essential component for space flight, because it gave the Dolphin the final jump she needed to reach super light speed.  Its anti-gravity properties also made interspace travel smoother.

“With this, the Dolphin will swim through the sea of stars like…. well, like a dolphin,” Olimar said.  The Pikmin didn’t understand, but they shared his optimism about the newly-discovered part.

Before he sent it back, Olimar took a look around from this high vantage point.  

He glanced carefully over the other side of the stalagmite.  There was a rusty can of bomb rocks down there, on a bit of land accessible from the lake itself.  He didn’t need them right now, but he had a feeling they would be important at some point in the future.  Retrieving them would take time away from his current mission, so he decided to leave them here until they were needed.

He tried to see what the Fiery Blowhogs were doing at the other end of the beach.  They were too far away for details, but one of the Blowhogs reared up on its back legs and breathed a gout of fire into the air.  The others were crowded around, watching intently.

Olimar was intrigued.  Clearly they were doing something important over there.  Was it a courtship ritual?  A dominance display?  Something Hocotatians wouldn’t understand?

There was no way he could waste time indulging his curiosity.  He pulled his focus off the odd Blowhog behavior and back to instructing the Pikmin to carry the Gravity Jumper.

Thirty Pikmin lifted the part and began their descent.  Olimar waited behind, so there wouldn’t be too much weight on the stick ramp.  It held up without issue.

Suddenly, Olimar heard a strange croaking sound.  He looked over the third side of the stalagmite and into the lake.  

There was an unfamiliar creature in the water.  It looked like an orb with tiny legs in the front, longer ones in the back, and bubble-like eyes sticking up from its head.  As he watched it, the creature’s body puffed up and shrank again, accompanied by the croaking.  It looked and sounded like the frogs on Hocotate.

“I wonder why I haven’t seen one of those before,” Olimar mused.  “Do they only live in the water?”

No sooner had he finished the thought than the frog creature scrunched up its legs and leapt into the air.  It floated for a moment, hovering right above the Pikmin carrying the Gravity Jumper!

Olimar reacted with quickness he was surprised he had, blowing his whistle at the group.  The Pikmin dropped the part and ran in his direction that same second.

It was too late.  The frog came down with a loud smack, crushing all the Pikmin running beneath it.

“No!” Olimar yelled.

The Red Pikmin near the beast quickly changed their course to charge at it.  They jumped on its sides and attacked.

The frog was still a moment, then it leapt straight up.  Half of the Pikmin holding onto it lost their grip and fell, while the rest continued their attack in the air.  Again the beast hovered before dropping on the group of Pikmin.  Every one who had been holding on was thrown to the ground.

By then, Olimar was at the bottom of the ramp, running so fast he nearly tripped down the end.  He threw Pikmin onto the frog as fast as he could, but it rose into the air a third time.

“Move!  Get out of the way!” he shouted.

The Pikmin scattered, but the frog’s drop caught more of them.  Olimar’s heart jumped to his throat at the number of soul shimmers rising from beneath it.

He needed to get this situation under control, now.

He blew his whistle as loudly as he could.  The Pikmin’s stems jumped to attention and they ran to his side.

The frog creature waddled in a circle to find them, then did two short hops to close the distance before leaping in the air.

Its shadow fell over Olimar.  He took three hurried steps back and waited for the beast to land.  As soon as it hit the ground, he poured Pikmin onto its back.

They attacked with their full ferocity.  The creature was clearly wounded, but managed another leap into the air.  Some of the Pikmin dropped off it again.  

The frog let out its final gurgle in midair, but the body landed on the Pikmin clustered under it.  Four of them were crushed under the dead beast.

Olimar stared at the scene.  His eyes passed over the Pikmin bodies laying limply on the ground, some Red, some Blue, but mostly Yellow.  There were twenty-two.  This one creature had killed twenty-two Pikmin.

His legs started shaking.  The rest of his body did, too.  He clenched his fists and bared his teeth.

This shouldn’t happen.  He was supposed to be a better leader by now.  And yet, this situation spiraled completely out of his control in a matter of seconds.  How could he lose so many Pikmin at once…

Frustration, rage, and guilt bubbled up in his chest.  They burst out of him in an angry howl.  He ran at the beast’s corpse and kicked it as hard as he could.

"Twenty-two Pikmin?  You killed twenty-two of my Pikmin!  We weren’t bothering you!  You didn’t even want to eat them!  You horrible, stupid beast!" he shouted.

He kicked the body again and again.  He kicked until his rage ran its course and he wore himself out, then he sat down in the dirt.  The tears came next.  He wrapped his arms around his chest and cried.

Suddenly, his arms were pulled away from him.  He looked down and saw Squeakers, Mercy, and Current moving them aside to get closer to him.  Squeakers’s mouth was turned in a frown, and the other two had wide eyes.

"Da doo.  Dab a wee woo," Squeakers said in a soothing voice.

“Awee,” Mercy said.

Wordlessly, Olimar hugged the three Pikmin against him and let the tears fall freely.

His sobbing was interrupted by more Pikmin moving closer.  One was definitely Kipard, and he had a Red and Blue Pikmin with him.  They patted Olimar’s sides, an attempt at comforting him.

Olimar sniffed and looked at each of their faces in turn.  He couldn’t read their expressions, but they seemed worried about him.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  He wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for the deaths of the Pikmin, for his breakdown, or both.

He tried to wipe his eyes with his arm, bumped his helmet, and almost started crying again.  It had been a rough two weeks.  The stress of surviving on this dangerous planet for so long must be getting to him a little bit.

Or maybe nothing was getting to him.  Was there anything wrong with being upset by the deaths of his loyal companions?  It would be worse if losing Pikmin didn’t affect him at all.

He patted every Pikmin on the head gently.

“Thank you,” he said.

All the crying made his stomach muscles hurt and unsettled the baby.  She was kicking in protest.  Olimar drew a deep, steadying breath and patted his belly to calm her down.  Squeakers and the Red Pikmin joined him.

“We’re okay, little one.  This won’t happen again.  You can go back to sleep,” he said.

His touch and voice soothed her.  She relaxed and settled down.

That left Olimar with the aftermath of the frog battle to deal with.  He rose slowly to his feet and surveyed the battlefield.

As he had come to expect, the rest of the Pikmin weren’t mourning their fallen comrades.  He was surprised to see them watching him with neutral expressions, as if he hadn’t attacked a dead creature and cried his eyes out a moment ago.

“Okay, back to work, then,” he said.

He sent the Blue and Red Pikmin to carry the Gravity Jumper to the ship.  He gave the frog’s body to the Yellow Pikmin, to try and recover some of the numbers they lost.

Since the frog didn’t eat the Pikmin it killed, their bodies were left laying on the ground.  Olimar stared at them for a long moment.  He felt like he should bury them, but he didn’t have a lot of time.  The Pikmin didn’t object to him leaving the bodies of their fallen comrades behind before.  But this time there were a lot more of them, and the sight of their lifeless forms made him feel worse about the deaths.

“We really don’t have time for sentiment right now.  You have another ship part to collect so you can go home,” he thought.

He turned from the dead Pikmin and followed the survivors to the landing site.  None of the Pikmin tried to stop him.

Installing the Gravity Jumper was quick and easy.  It sat in the base of the engine, where it connected to the Dolphin.  Olimar opened the access panel on the bottom of the cargo hold and gestured inside.  The Pikmin dropped the spring into place.

Olimar’s cheeks were sticky with tears.  He removed his helmet to splash water on his face from the sink.  Then he grabbed a quick vegetable snack before he headed out for the next part.

"Alright, let's go get whatever is in the water," he said to the Pikmin.  “And hopefully there are no more of the frog creatures out there.”

Since they were going into the water now, Olimar sent the Yellow and Red Pikmin back and summoned all of the Blue Pikmin.  Even the ones who dug themselves up that morning answered his call, looking refreshed and ready for action.

They returned to the lake.

Of course there were more frogs.  One of the beasts was watching them as soon as they set foot in the water.  The hide of another gleamed in the low light further ahead.

Olimar drew a long sigh.  He felt like he hadn’t learned anything from his first battle aside from the obvious: getting crushed by these creatures was bad.  He didn’t know what their weak points were or if there was a way to stop them from attacking.  

“A name is a good place to start understanding them,” he said aloud.

The first thing that came to his mind in relation to frogs was the word “pollywog.”  Technically, that term only referred to tadpoles on Hocotate, but Oddey went through a time in his life where he called every frog a pollywog.  These creatures had no tails, but they still would have been “pollywogs” to young Oddey.

“Pollywogs who wallow in caves.  Wollywogs,” Olimar said.

That worked.  Now to deal with the Wollywogs.

As much as Olimar hated to admit it, the best way to learn was to fight.  He would try calling the Pikmin back when the Wollywog jumped and see if that was the key to a low-casualty victory.

He knew better than to attack immediately.  Instead, he approached until the Wollywog made the first move.  It leapt towards him, like he hoped.

Olimar backed away enough to be out of range and waited for it to land.  As soon as the Wollywog hit the ground, he tossed his Pikmin on its back.  They whacked it with their stems fiercely.

The Wollywog jumped in the air.  Olimar whistled, like he planned.  Unfortunately, the Pikmin who abandoned the attack and ran towards him passed directly under the Wollywog as it was coming down.

He closed his eyes, but he still heard the crunch and the pitiful cries of the Pikmin.

“That isn’t the right strategy…” he thought woefully.

Like before, the scattered Pikmin piled on the Wollywog.  Olimar almost called them back, but then he saw the beast try to jump in the air and fail.  It was being weighed down by the Pikmin!

With one great effort, the Wollywog managed to leap into the air.  Diver and Squeakers were among the Pikmin in the middle of the fight, and they were knocked off their feet by the force of the jump.  The Wollywog came straight down, landing on the closest Pikmin to it.

“Oh no!” Olimar yelped.

The Pikmin who were still standing jumped back onto the beast, attacking it full-force.  

The Wollywog didn’t have another chance to act.  It collapsed under the swarm of Pikmin and fell dead.  They let out a celebratory, “Woo!” 

Rather than join their excitement, Olimar went to see how many more Pikmin were killed.  To his surprise, Squeakers rose from the ground and shook himself, unharmed aside from a missing petal on his flower.  He went to Olimar’s side like always.

“Was anyone else that lucky?” Olimar asked him.

He checked the bodies.  There were nine total, four from the initial charge and five from the final attack.  It felt like these deaths were his fault, because his terrible plan put the Pikmin in danger…

One of the Pikmin on the ground moved.  She raised her arm and grabbed at the air.  Olimar’s heartbeat quickened.  It was Diver, and she was still alive!

He knelt beside her.  There was another Blue Pikmin with her, flailing her legs. They must have missed the full brunt of the Wollywog’s attack, but they were both seriously injured.  Diver’s legs and the other Pikmin’s right arm had been flattened.

They were wounded but alive.  That meant he could help them!

Olimar grabbed a Pikmin in each arm and ran towards the landing site.  His only thought was that the Onion could heal them, but he had to get them to it quickly.

“Hold on, Diver!  Stay with me, Blue Pikmin!  I’ll save you!” he said as he ran.

“Wee!” the rest of the Pikmin yelled.  They were around him, running for camp with feverish energy that matched his own.

It wasn’t a far distance, but Olimar was out of breath by the top of the ramp.  He paused, taking a few deep gulps of air.  When he glanced at the Blue Pikmin in his arms, Diver’s eyes were closing, and that motivated a desperate burst of speed out of his tired legs.

Finally, he reached the Onion and laid the two Pikmin down in its beam.  He promptly flopped on the ground, panting for breath.

The beam glowed brighter.  It pulled Diver and the other Blue Pikmin inside the Onion, where they vanished from view.

“Did we make it?” Olimar breathed.

The rest of the Pikmin stared up at the Onion.  Squeakers knelt down to check on Olimar.  

“Don’t worry about me.  I’ll be okay,” he said.

The Onion’s petals spun.  A moment later, it spit two Blue Pikmin out of the top. 

Diver and the other Pikmin landed side by side.  They looked at each other, then themselves, then they threw their arms over their heads and yelled, “Woo!”

“Woohoo!” the rest of the Pikmin chorused.

“They’re alive!  Thank goodness,” Olimar said.

After all the deaths they’d suffered today, it lifted his spirits to be able to save two of the Pikmin.

He probably could have had the other Pikmin carry them to the Onion, he thought with a laugh.  Then he wouldn’t be on the ground, struggling to catch his breath.

“It was worth it to get them back in time,” he thought.  His wind was coming back, at any rate.

Diver and the other Blue Pikmin knelt in front of him.  Their formerly damaged limbs were a lighter blue color now, like the arm on the repaired Yellow Pikmin.  The pair said a few things in their Pikmin voices, but as usual, Olimar couldn’t understand them.

They made their point more clearly by hugging him.

“Wheee,” Diver said.

“Oh.  You’re welcome, little guys,” Olimar said.

He rubbed their heads affectionately.  They released him and returned to the group as if the whole incident with the Wollywog never happened.

He made one unsuccessful attempt to stand by himself.  Rather than try again, he offered his hands forward and received Squeakers’s help in pulling him to his feet.

The sound of the Onion beam activating again made him jump.  While he had been distracted with the injured Pikmin, the others had grabbed the dead Wollywog.  It disappeared in the Onion, which created eight seeds.

Olimar plucked the new Pikmin and moved to his next problem.  There was a third Wollywog to fight.  Only by defeating it could they claim the ship part behind it.

“Alright, one more round,” he grumbled.  

They returned to the lake, walking straight towards the marker on the radar.

The part at the end of the lake was huge, so Olimar could see and identify it from a distance.  It was the Anti-Dioxin Filter, a part which made up a portion of the Dolphin’s outer hull.  The ship would look more complete with this in place. 

Functionally, it cleaned toxic chemicals out of the Dolphin’s engine exhaust while she was flying.  Olimar wouldn’t have to worry about adversely affecting the planet’s atmosphere with the Anti-Dioxin Filter at work.

There, between the part and them, sat the final Wollywog in the lake.

They stared each other down for a moment.  The Wollywog wiped its forelimbs across its face.  The Pikmin stood ready, waiting for Olimar to make his move.

He opened with a dash forward.  As he expected, the Wollywog leapt to meet him.  Olimar stopped and back up, so the creature landed in front of him.  He blew the charge whistle a second before it hit the ground.

The Pikmin swarmed the Wollywog.  As Olimar hoped, they were able to cling to it before it could react.

The beast tried to jump and failed.  It made a second attempt, but was still held down by the sheer weight of four dozen Pikmin.

Olimar would have felt bad if he didn’t know what it was capable of.

He saw the Wollywog’s legs bunch for a desperate leap.  This time, he called the Pikmin before it could leave the ground.  They were at his side when the Wollywog jumped above them, and they dodged the landing together.

As soon as the frog hit the ground, Olimar threw Pikmin onto its back.  They defeated it before it could make another move.

“Yes!  A flawless victory!” Olimar exclaimed.

“Awooo!” the Pikmin chorused.

They didn’t have time for more celebration.  The light from the roof was becoming orange, signaling the approach of sunset.  They needed to get back to the the Dolphin as quickly as possible.

“Grab the Filter!  Grab the Wollywog!” Olimar said.  

He pointed at them and blew his directing whistle.  The Pikmin hurried to lift the part and the body.

They jogged back to the landing site as fast as fifty Pikmin could carry the Anti-Dioxin Filter.  

The ones bringing the Wollywog body reached the Onion well before the ship part, but Olimar paid them no mind.  He knew now that he could leave sprouts in the ground overnight without a problem.

The Anti-Dioxin Filter had hinges in the front and back that let it open and fit around the ship’s middle.  The Blue Pikmin didn’t understand at first, but Olimar demonstrated the motion with his hands and they figured it out.  Once they had the part attached, he pressed the button that reopened the filtering screen.

Done.  Just in time, too.  The sky above was getting dark.

Olimar heard an ominous thumping sound.  It came closer and closer, increasing in frequency and volume.

He turned in that direction and saw five Wollywogs hopping steadily towards him and the Pikmin.  They must be roaming because nighttime was here.

“Let’s get out of here.  Quickly,” he said.

He blew the dismissal whistle, sending the Pikmin running to the Onion.  Once he was sure they were safely inside, he hurried to the entry beam.  Current and Mercy slid down the legs of their own Onions to join Squeakers at Olimar’s side.

The approaching beasts reached the landing site as the Dolphin’s engines fired.  Olimar craned his neck and saw one leap for the Red Onion, but it had already risen too high for them to reach.  They were safely away before any of the Wollywogs could try again.

Olimar settled the Dolphin into a stable orbit and activated the autopilot.  He rubbed his eyes.

It had been a productive day, but also a difficult one.  He was looking forward to getting some rest.

Before taking care of himself, he updated his voyage log.  He started with the new creature notes.

“Wollywog.  This troublesome creature lives in the water.  It tries to jump on and squish Pikmin on-sight.  If I don’t quickly issue commands, the Pikmin get flattened.  Numbers are the key to victory: if enough Pikmin hold onto the Wollywog, it struggles to jump.”

Once that was finished, he made a more personal entry.

“15 days since impact.  I have exhausted half of the power in my life support system.  I’m not sure how many parts of the Dolphin are missing, but I have retrieved 16, which must be around half of them.  My beautiful spaceship is starting to look more like herself.  This gives me hope that I can make it home before my life support runs out.  I must!  My family is counting on me!”

He set his hand on his stomach, the baby’s kicks reminding him of his other time limit.  She was due in two days…

Thinking about that stressed him out, and the only thing he could do about it was keep repairing the Dolphin, so he didn’t dwell on it.  Instead, he closed the data pad and ate dinner.

Olimar stared at his bed before getting into it.  He thought of his spacesuit, hanging off its rack by the exit hatch.

“Can I sleep in my suit to utilize the waste disposal system and avoid getting up at night?  Would that be lazy and uncouth, or brilliant strategizing?” he asked.

The Pikmin blinked at him, but had no answer.

Olimar had never considered this at home.  Rosie would let him nap whenever he needed to during the day, so it didn’t matter if he struggled to sleep through the night.  His very survival didn’t count on being well-rested at home, either.

It was fine under these circumstances, he decided.  He removed the life support pack and left it by the rack, so it wouldn’t get in the way.  Then he put the suit on and zipped it to the widest point on his stomach.  That left his upper body in his shirt alone, which would feel better on his skin.

Satisfied, Olimar settled into bed.  His companion Pikmin waited for him to be comfortable before they climbed up with him.

They snuggled together for an unbothered night’s sleep.

Chapter Text

The Pikmin understood Leader’s anger at the newly-dead hopping creature.  They felt vengeance for themselves against any predator that killed members of their colony.  

They were confused, however, when Leader fell on the ground and started crying after his rage passed.

He was clearly upset about the deaths, but they didn’t understand why.  Pikmin mourned for Pikmin.  There was no expectation for leaders to do the same.  

It wasn’t like the fallen Pikmin weren’t avenged, either.  The hopping creature was dead.  The treasure it left behind would grow new seeds for the colony.  The survivors would miss their lost brethren, but their deaths weren’t for nothing.

But Leader cried anyway.

Blue Helper, Red Helper, and Yellow Helper tried to console him, because they didn’t know what else to do.  They only knew they didn’t want him to be upset.

“Please don’t cry, Leader,” Blue Helper said.

“The hopping creature is dead.  It’s okay now,” Red Helper added, with her most comforting smell.

Leader pulled them into his arms and kept crying.

The scent on the air was rife with confusion from all of the Pikmin but two.  First Red and Deep-scented Red had an air of understanding.

Mint Red sent a questioning trail their way.

“Leader has done this before,” First Red said.

“On our second day, a small spotted predator ate some of our companions,” Deep Red said, “Leader found the body of the first Red Helper in the creature’s mouth.He took him back to the base and buried him.He was affected then like he is now.”

“Does that mean it’s normal for leaders to be sad about losses, and we didn’t know?” Honey Yellow asked.

“It is normal for our Leader, at least,” Daisy Red replied.  “What did you do for him last time?”

“I put my hand on his hip for support.  That seemed to help,” First Red said.

He walked over to Leader and offered him a comforting hand.  Daisy Red and Coconut-scented Blue followed his lead, going to Leader’s other side and setting their hands on his shoulder.

Leader looked at one group then the other.  He sniffled and released the Helper Pikmin.

“Ip kapo,” Leader said.

The Pikmin did not understand Leader’s language, and they knew from experience that he couldn’t understand theirs.  They were learning to read his tone, though, and his voice sounded less sad now.

He drew a breath and patted the Pikmin on the head.  They weren’t sure what this gesture meant, but Leader seemed to do it when he was happy with something the Pikmin did.

“Taptoo,” he said.  He sounded a lot more like his normal self.

Leader pressed his hand to his stomach.  Blue Helper and Daisy Red set their hands beside his.  The thing living inside was kicking harder than usual.

“Leader’s tiny creature is upset, too,” Daisy Red said.

“It’s okay, tiny creature.  We lost Pikmin, but we will grow more,” Blue Helper said.  He rubbed his hands across Leader’s belly gently.

Leader talked to it as well, speaking more words the Pikmin didn’t understand.  The tiny creature stopped struggling, though the Pikmin didn’t know if it was their actions or Leader’s that calmed it down.

Leader rose slowly but surely to his feet.  The Pikmin stood at attention, ready for his next instructions.

“Dee, baboor apcho wepu,” Leader said.

He split the Pikmin between the two tasks they expected: carrying the hopping creature treasure and the piece of the metal Onion.  

First Yellow was put in charge of the creature treasure.  The Pikmin didn’t know Leader’s reasoning when dividing treasure, but he seemed to give prey to the color who lost the most numbers in battle.  They appreciated that.  Using fallen predators to plant new seeds satisfied the Pikmin’s need for vengeance against their foes.

The other Pikmin were given the metal part to carry back.  None of them understood the importance of these items, which seemed like random garbage to them, but Leader was very happy every time they attached one to his Onion.  That made the Pikmin happy, too.

The Yellow Pikmin were best at understanding how the metal parts fit together, but the Reds and Blues could figure it out with Leader’s guidance.  Chocolate-scented Red was particularly good at these tasks. 

Leader smiled when he saw the item in place.  His approval satisfied the Pikmin.

He spoke again, but they had no idea what he said.  They could only pick out the word “bru,” which he used when he wanted the Pikmin to go somewhere.  They assumed that meant they were going on another expedition.

The Pikmin were ready.

Leader changed his personal group, returning every Pikmin who wasn’t Blue and summoning as many of the resting Blues as possible.  Experience told them this meant they were going in the water, where only Blue Pikmin could go.

They were excited by the idea.  That feeling did not falter when they saw another hopping creature sitting in the pond.

First Blue worried Leader would hesitate to fight this creature after what happened before.  He did not.  He walked closer and stopped, but he wasn’t afraid of the creature, he was studying it.

The Pikmin knew this was an important part of a battle.  Things went wrong earlier because the Pikmin were reacting on instinct and Leader was as well.  When Leader had time to analyze a foe and form a strategy, things went well.  The older among them learned that during the encounter with the bird-snakes: the first battle went awry but the second was a grand success.

First Blue was confident their second attempt would be good as long as Leader had time to plan.  The Pikmin waited.

When Leader advanced, the Pikmin reorganized themselves into combat position.  First Blue stood at his right, to be sure she would be the first Pikmin thrown.  Hyacinth Blue used to stand behind her, as the second oldest, but she was red now, so Honey-scented Blue took up that position instead.  

Blue Helper was supposed to go to Leader’s left, where he would be safe, but he pressed in with First Blue and Honey Blue.  

First Blue’s scent gave him a scolding, to try and get him where he was supposed to be.  But Leader stepped back to avoid the hopping creature’s first attack and grabbed her.  The time for discussion was over.  Now it was time to fight.

Leader sent the Pikmin onto the hopping creature.  They attacked it with their stems.

The beast leapt in the air.  Leader’s high-pitched whistle rang out.  The Pikmin could not resist his call; they immediately stopped their attack and ran in a straight line toward him.

They paid no heed to the hopping creature, until it landed in their midst and crushed the Pikmin beneath it.  Daisy Blue, Sugar Blue, Mint Blue, and Cinnamon Blue’s scents faded and vanished.

The Pikmin behind Leader saw his body tense at the losses.  The Pikmin near the hopping creature changed course to seek vengeance for their fallen brethren.

They were acting on instinct again, but in the absence of instructions they didn’t know what else to do.

Something unexpected happened.  When the hopping creature tried to hop again, it could not.  The Pikmin weren’t sure why.  Leader gave no orders, so they continued their assault.

First Blue was sure they were about to win.  She felt the hopping creature weaken.  As a result of her confidence, she was surprised when it managed one more leap in the air.

First Blue lost her grip and fell.  Blue Helper, Citrus Blue, Almond Blue, Blueberry Blue and a few others landed around her.

The hopping creature landed on top of them.  First Blue felt a burst of pain in her legs.  It didn’t last more than a second, and she thought she could rejoin the battle, but her legs wouldn’t respond.  She tried to move, but to no avail.

She was injured so badly her legs didn’t work.  Pikmin bodies couldn’t handle a lot of damage, so she knew this injury would kill her soon.

Most of the pain scents around her quickly faded, but one remained.  It was Citrus Blue.  She was also dying but not dead.

First Blue knew Pikmin could be healed by the Onion, but she also knew victory in the battle was more important.  It would be fine if her life ended here.  She had done her part in the fight, and the colony would grow bigger because of her contributions.  Honey Blue would make a good replacement First.  She was content that this was the end.

She was vaguely aware of the hopping creature’s death gurgle and the spikes of joyful scent all around.  They won!  There would be new seeds to take her place.

She was suddenly lifted from the ground, not by other Pikmin, but by Leader himself!

He pulled her against his chest and grabbed Citrus Blue as well.  Then he ran in the direction of the Onions.  His heavy breathing was so close as to be deafening.

“Beeb atu, Diver!  Plee Pikmin, hacho pat!  Ib oppo dob!” Leader said.

The other Pikmin were surprised for a moment, because carrying wounded Pikmin to the Onion was no more a leader’s job than mourning was.  But they quickly picked up his energy and ran with him, shouting encouragement.

Leader paused at the top of the hill and gasped for breath.  The Pikmin held their hands up, ready to catch him if he collapsed, but he did not.  He ran onward until he reached the Blue Onion.  

First Blue had been content to die for the colony a minute before.  Seeing Leader put so much effort into bringing her here made her want to live for his sake.  She fought to stay conscious until she felt the warmth of the Onion’s light.

For a moment, she felt frighteningly weightless.  Then she was pleasantly warm.  In that moment, she and Citrus Blue knew they would be okay.

Leader flopped on the ground as soon as the Pikmin were inside the Onion.  The Blue Pikmin watched it, waiting.

There was a nervous smell in the air.  If the Blues’ First didn’t recover, they would need to move the title to the next in line.  Losing a First was a frightening moment for the colony, even if they trusted Honey Blue to do a good job in the role.

Blue Helper hurried to check on Leader.  The only indicator the Pikmin had of his health was his breathing, and it didn’t sound very good right now.  It was strained, like it took him extra effort to stay alive.

Leader said a string of words that Blue Helper couldn’t understand.  His expression was more positive than negative, so that probably meant he was alright.

The Onion released First Blue and Citrus Blue, fully healed.  The two Pikmin looked at each other and saw their new limbs.  First Blue had light blue legs and Citrus Blue had a lighter arm, but they worked the same as before.  They inspected themselves curiously, learning what had changed about their bodies.

First Blue threw her arms in the air and yelled, “We’re okay!”  It was a sentiment  Citrus Blue shared.

However, Citrus Blue was also confused.  It made sense for Leader to save First Blue, because she served a distinct role, but Citrus Blue was a normal Pikmin.  She wasn’t special.  Her death wouldn’t hinder the colony.  Why did he go out of his way to rescue her?

The Pikmin were instinct-driven to protect their Leader, because he was important to the colony.  They didn’t need Leader to protect them in return.

But this Leader did.

He had even suffered for it, which was more confusing.  Even after the Pikmin had recovered, Leader still sat on the ground panting for breath.  

Why would Leader weaken himself for the good of the Pikmin?

The onlookers were confused too, their baffled scent making an undercurrent to their happiness.  The thoughts mingled and tangled together, to the point that it was unclear who was even thinking them

“Leader values every Pikmin, but why?”

“A Leader must grow the colony not maintain the Pikmin.”

“It is good strategy to keep Pikmin alive.”

“But Leader does not have to save them himself.”

“Pikmin look out for Pikmin because we love each other.  If Leader looks out for Pikmin, that means…”

“Leader loves us?”

“Leader doesn’t have to love us.”

“But he must, or he wouldn’t have saved First Blue and Citrus Blue.”

“And he wouldn’t mourn Pikmin when they die, like we do.”

“Leader loves us.”

The Pikmin knew what love was, in a familial sense.  They loved members of their own colony.  Being loved by a leader was unexpected, but the feeling was one they understood, and it made sense of their current Leader’s behavior and actions.

It wouldn’t change anything about their situation.  The Pikmin would still obey and protect Leader and Leader would teach and direct the Pikmin.  But there was something… comforting about knowing Leader wanted to keep individual Pikmin alive as well as grow the colony.

Citrus Blue decided she wanted to return Leader’s affection.  She and First Blue approached him and knelt in front of him.

“Thank you, Leader,” First Blue said.

“We love you, too,” Citrus Blue added.

Leader gave them a baffled look.  They decided an action would be a little more clear, so they hugged Leader like they would a fellow Pikmin.

“Oh.  Shep kamor, pepeylu,” Leader said.

He patted them on the head.  That told the Pikmin they succeeded in getting their point across.

Then it was time to go back to work.  First Blue lead Citrus Blue into the core group, where they waited as one for Leader’s next command.

Leader tried to stand, but failed.  A wave of unease traveled through the Pikmin scent channel.

Had Leader injured himself when he carried First Blue and Citrus Blue to the Onion?

He held his hands forward, toward Blue Helper.  The Pikmin took them and pulled backwards.  That was all the help Leader needed to be steady on his feet once again.

The Pikmin carrying the hopping creature’s treasure finally reached the Onion.  The new seeds replenished the colony.  The Pikmin were at peace with the battle losses.

Leader woke the new sprouts from the ground and looked over the group.  He turned the way they had come, in the direction of the water and the hopping creatures.

“Dlepp, opp waho,” he said.

The Pikmin bunched up behind him, more ready to follow his lead than ever before.

Chapter Text

It was with great annoyance that Olimar discovered his clothes no longer fit.

The fabric of his shirt couldn't stretch enough to cover his bump and his belt didn’t reach around his waist even on the last notch.  Frankly, it was impressive they had endured for so long.

He sucked in his breath to try the belt again, and felt stupid when that didn’t make a difference.  He gave up with a groan.  In the grand scheme of things this wasn't a big deal; his space suit was designed to be extremely flexible and that was all he needed to work.  It was annoying because this was a preventable problem.

"I have paternity clothes, but they're back at home.  Where I thought I would be," he grumbled.

His daughter pressed her hand against his.  Olimar smiled and laid his palm where she was wiggling.

"It's not your fault, sweetie.  It's good that you're growing.  Go ahead and keep getting bigger.  I want you to be healthy and strong, okay?"

Both of her arms stretched out.  He took a few minutes to play with her, tapping on his belly in different spots for her to grab at him.  The effort wore her out quickly, and she stopped swatting at him to settle and sleep.

He chuckled, his frustration with his clothes forgotten.

While he was eating breakfast, Olimar studied the radar map of the Forest Navel.  There were three Dolphin parts left in the area: the one on the stalagmite they passed with the Analog Computer and two on the side of the cave he had yet to explore.

Any one of them could be the Interstellar Radio, or none of them could be.  It was impossible to tell from here.

The biggest strategic consideration for Olimar was his mobility.  The larger the baby grew, the harder it was going to be for him to travel long distances.  The unexplored area was closer to the landing site than the stalagmite, so he should save those parts for later.

“That’s assuming that I don’t give birth tomorrow,” he said to the Pikmin.  “I don’t feel like I’m going to give birth tomorrow.  Usually I kind of know, you know?”

“Eeba doo,” Mercy replied.

“Of course you don’t.  We’ll see.  For today, let’s go scale the stalagmite.”

He didn’t explicitly study the area when they were bringing in the computer, but he glanced that way as they passed.  The stalagmite’s base definitely didn’t connect to the geyser path.  There was a many-kilometer-deep pit between Olimar and the ship part.

His first thought was to have the Pikmin carry the ramp they built yesterday over to the gap and see if it was long enough to reach the other side.  The problem was the connecting path was full of fire and the ramp was made of wood.

If the Red Pikmin turned it on its side and carried it close to the wall, they might be able to make it.  Maybe.

His second idea was to steer the Dolphin over to the stalagmite and attempt a landing directly on top of it.  With how close it was to the roof, he was risking a collision with the ceiling that would re-break his ship and send her plunging into that dark abyss surrounding the platform.

“We’re going to try moving the ramp,” Olimar said.

Ten minutes later, he was fed and ready to go.  He brought the Dolphin in for a landing at their usual spot.

Since he didn’t know what hazards he would face besides the fire, Olimar brought an even split of Red, Blue, and Yellow Pikmin.  They assembled in the center of camp, ready for the day’s mission.

“Stalagmite, here we come!” he said.

The Fiery Blowhogs were done with their odd behavior from the day before.  They had dispersed around the beach like usual.

Rather than make trouble, Olimar and his Pikmin hugged the rock wall on their way to the ramp.  The Blowhogs ignored them.  

Olimar walked up the ramp to the top of the stalagmite and looked at the can of bomb rocks below.  He had a feeling he should take these with him and leave them at camp for later.  Once the ramp was moved, he wouldn’t be able to get Pikmin to them anymore.

He called for the Yellow Pikmin and threw twenty of them over the edge.  They ran into the can.  Olimar heard their excited yells of “Woo!” a moment later.

Fifteen of the Pikmin returned, proudly holding bomb rocks over their heads.  The rest were empty-handed.

“Very good!  Stay right there, I’m coming to get you,” Olimar said.

He disbanded the rest of the Pikmin on the shore and waded into the pond.  Three steps in, he heard a croak and froze.

There was a Wollywog sitting a little ways from him in the water.  It made eye contact, then cleaned its face with its forelimbs.

“If you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you,” he said.

He took a few more steps, closer to the side of the stalagmite.  The Wollywog didn’t make any threatening moves.  It probably didn’t have a reason to attack a random spacefarer.  The Pikmin were it’s primary target.  

Olimar reached the patch of shore behind the stalagmite.  The Pikmin were waiting for him.

He tossed each one of them back up to the ledge.  Like before, they landed without losing their grip on the bomb rocks.

Olimar circled back and collected everyone.

“Now, the ramp,” he said.

The idea that the stick structure could be moved was already clear to the Pikmin, so they understood what Olimar wanted when he pointed at it and whistled.  They weren’t sure where to go, though, so their heads turned towards him for directions.

He wasn’t sure where he wanted it.  Now that he was looking at the ramp, there was almost no way it would fit past the fire geysers, even on its side.  That was asking for it to ignite.

“Do you think we can push the bridge down from above?” he asked the Pikmin.  “You know, from the pool with the garbage pile.  We could see the geyser path from above.  If we go that way, we would miss all the fire.”

“Wabawoo,” Kipard said.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.  What’s the worst that can happen?”

The bridge could shatter on impact or overshoot and fly off the cliff.  But if that happened, they could try and find more sticks for a new one.  They would assemble it down by the gap, so it didn’t need to move.

Olimar recalled the Pikmin from the ramp and threw exclusively Blue Pikmin at it.  While they aligned themselves, he and the others headed towards the upper pool area.  The carrying party followed them.

There were a few tight turns on the way that were hard to maneuver the inflexible ramp through.  Olimar almost intervened twice, but the Pikmin figured it out on their own with a combination of coordination and patience.

Finally, they reached the pool.  The garbage pile was still there, and there was a fresh set of bomb rocks in the can.  This was the kind of thing Olimar chose not to question.  

He saw six bombs, so he sent six Yellow Pikmin to collect them.  Only five returned.  The sixth Pikmin stared at the final rock a moment, then looked at the ceiling instead.

“Get the bomb rock,” Olimar said.

He pointed at it and blew the directing whistle.  The Pikmin jumped to attention, but returned to the group without following the order.

“No, that.  The bomb rock.”

He tossed the Pikmin so it landed beside the rock.  Again, he looked at it, then  ignored it in favor of staring at his surroundings.

“This one seems odd.  I know Mercy, Current, and Squeakers displayed different behaviors, but he doesn’t seem to have another role.  He might just be lazy,” Olimar thought.

Curious, he threw Current at the rock.  She grabbed it like any other Yellow Pikmin would, in spite of that not being her “job.”  He shrugged and whistled for both of them.  They returned to the group, sorted by bomb carriers and non-carriers.

Olimar left all of the non-Blue Pikmin safely at the upper section of the pool, then guided the ones holding the ramp into the crater.

Using the radar map as a guide, he got the Pikmin into position so the end of the ramp lined up with the widest part of the path below.  He leaned over the high edge to double-check his work.  When he was satisfied, he circled behind the ramp and made a hoisting gesture with his hands.

“Now toss it over the edge,” he said.

“Do woo?” Diver asked.  The group tilted their stems at him.

He repeated the flipping motion.  “Push it over the edge.  Let it fall.”

The Pikmin copied him, lifting and shoving the bridge forward.  The end went over the lip of the crater.  They pushed again.  The ramp listed and slid, so Olimar quickly called for them to let go.

They released it a second before gravity took over and pulled the structure over the ledge.  He heard the impact on the other side, but no crunches or cracks.  It sounded like the ramp landed safely.

“Very good!  Let’s go down there and put it in the gap,” he said.

They stopped at the landing site first to drop off the bomb rocks.

Olimar was a little concerned about doing so, because he had yet to see a bomb rock touch the ground without exploding.  Fortunately, the Yellow Pikmin were capably of setting the rocks down gently enough to avoid setting them off.  They stacked them at the corner of the landing area opposite the Dolphin, so none of the Onions would bump them during takeoff or landing.  

That done, Olimar and the Pikmin headed for the fire geyser path.

Like before, they snuck along the cliff to avoid the flames.  The Red Pikmin went to dance through the geysers as they walked, to the continued bafflement of their Yellow and Blue peers.

They reached the stalagmite with the ship part halfway along the trail.  The ramp rested against the cliff-face, directly below the spot it dropped from.  

Olimar pointed at it and blew the directing whistle.  Every Pikmin ran to grab hold.  Together, they pulled it fully to the ground.

“But is it long enough to reach the other side of the gap?”

He measured the open space with his eye, then looked at the bridge.  He was fairly sure it would reach the other side.

“Bring it over here, and slide the end across the gap,” he told the Pikmin.

The Red and Yellow Pikmin were confused, but the Blues had done this already.  They guided the group in sliding the ramp across the open space.

The further it stretched, the closer the Pikmin came to the edge.  Halfway across, the ones holding the middle let it go and moved to grab the back.

At last, the end of the ramp touched the other side of the gap.  The Pikmin gave one fierce upward heave to clear the top, then set the structure to rest.  It reached across the space with distance to spare!

“Great work, everyone!  It’s a perfect fit!” Olimar said.

He stepped up to the new bridge wearily.  While he knew the ramp held with a ship part and Pikmin on it before, he was more nervous about its weight-bearing capacity now.  Falling from the Gravity Jumper’s stalagmite would not have been fatal.

He poked his head over the side of the cliff.  There were some bioluminescent mushrooms casting a faint blue glow on the side of the massive stalagmite, but that was the only feature he could discern in the darkness.  If the bridge didn’t hold, it would be a long way down…

“The ramp held the Gravity Jumper, so it should hold us,” he told the Pikmin.  His voice sounded more confident than he felt. 

“Keepo!” Kipard replied.

Olimar took the deepest breath he could and stepped onto the bridge.  It held.  It continued to hold with one hundred Pikmin walking across it.

Once he reached the other side, Olimar nearly fainted with relief.  They now stood at the base of the stalagmite.

Up close, it towered over him like the skyscrapers back home.  He saw a ledge above him, about halfway up the side.  If the Dolphin part was there, this would be easy.

He reached for Saffron and tossed her at the ledge.  She landed on it and disappeared from view.  With a confident smile, Olimar threw the rest of the Yellow Pikmin up to the ledge.

Something was wrong.  He didn’t hear the Pikmin’s carrying chant, or even grunts of effort from them trying to lift something.

“The part must be further up the stalagmite…” he said.

He would have to get up there to direct the Pikmin.  The easiest way he knew to scale the wall was to have the Pikmin form a chain and lift him.  They’d done it before, to attach parts to the Dolphin and to lower him into the Snagret burrow.  All he had to do was get the Yellows’ attention.

“Pikmin?  Pikmin, look down here please!” he called.

Current stuck her head over the ledge, then Saffron.  Olimar held his hands up, reaching towards them.

“Pull me up?” he asked.

“Beboo,” Saffron said.

The Pikmin’s heads vanished.  He heard them talking for a moment, then two lines of Pikmin slowly descended down the cliffside.  The pair at the bottom, one of which was definitely Current, reached out their free hands for Olimar.

“Thank you!” he said. 

He accepted their hands and held tightly as they pulled him up.  Mercy and Squeakers gave him a gentle push from behind to help.

When he reached the shelf, the Yellow Pikmin circled around him and cheered.  Olimar patted their heads before he looked up.  The stalagmite’s flat top was visible above them.  He was certain that was where the ship part was waiting.

Since he still couldn't see what it was, he repeated his plan of throwing Yellow Pikmin up there until they could lift it.

He was surprised when the Pikmin's carry chant started after he sent only fifteen of them.  Most of the ship parts were heavier than that.  Then the edge of the piece came into view above him.

It was Libra, the gemstone Posy gifted him for the Dolphin!

Olimar moved out of the way when the part fell to the lower shelf.  The impact made the Pikmin fall on the ground, but they quickly got up and took hold of the Libra to resume their carrying.

There were plenty of Pikmin left with Olimar to lower him to the ground level.  Squeakers and Mercy stepped in to take hold of his legs and ease him down slowly.  

Once he was safely on the ground, the Yellow Pikmin up top let go and rained down around him.  They were promptly followed by the ones carrying the Libra.

Olimar whistled to the Yellow Pikmin to make them drop the part.  They would have to pass through the fire geysers to get to the Dolphin, so he sent the Red Pikmin to bring it the rest of the way.  

He and the other Pikmin crossed the bridge ahead of them and waited on the safe side.

The Libra was light, so they made it across safely.  Olimar felt lucky that this part was the one to land across the gap.  A heavy item like the Eternal Fuel Dynamo would have collapsed the bridge and plunged into the abyss.

The Pikmin headed for home, straight through the flames.  Olimar and the others pressed against the wall and followed them.  It was a relief to know they had collected all the parts down this path and would never have to sneak past the geysers again.

As they walked, he found his eyes locked on the Libra.  Seeing it was making him think about sweet little Posy.

Her personality was a lot like Rosie’s, but Olimar still found common ground with her in terms of interests.  It was becoming apparent that Posy had inherited his curiosity about creatures of all sizes.  She loved to hear him talk about biology facts for various animals, even if she barely understood most of them.

Last year, Posy discovered a snake in the garden.  It was neither large nor dangerous, but Rosie and Oddey were freaked out by it and told her to put it back immediately.  Posy brought it to Olimar instead.  He helped her hide it in a bucket in their garage, even going out to catch bugs for it to eat.

It had to return to the wild eventually, but Posy loved the time she had with the snake.  And he loved seeing her so happy.

Olimar sighed.  For all the happy times, he also had a lot of regrets about Posy’s childhood.  Honestly, he had missed too much of it.

He took a lot of business trips when she was very small.  The family needed the money, especially with a new baby.  He was back in the Dolphin for a three week long roundtrip as soon as his paternity leave ended.

After a particularly long run, Olimar came home to discover Posy didn’t recognize him.  She cried and flailed her arms when Rosie tried to hand her to him, like he was a stranger.

“Posy, it’s me!  Your Papa!” he said desperately.

His voice jogged her memory.  She settled and looked up at him with a little more familiarity.  Once she had breathed in his familiar smell, she giggled and reached for him like she usually did.

“Don’t feel bad, Oli.  She’s fussy right now, that’s all,” Rosie said.  It was an attempt to reassure him, but they both knew why Posy was upset.

That memory stung even now.

More recently, he missed her fourth birthday party because of a delay on the shipping lanes near Enohee.  He ran back home, but everyone was gone by the time he showed up.  Posy took his gift and said, “That’s okay, Papa.  I know you wanted to be here.”  She seemed to have forgiven him since then, but he had a lot more trouble forgiving himself.

He kept saying he was going to do better, and Rosie got her job so he could afford to work less.  Yet here he was, stranded on a dangerous planet, heavily pregnant, because he couldn’t refuse a long delivery run right before his paternity leave started…

“No more excuses and no more letting President Shachou push me into overtime,” he thought.  “I’m going to do better.  I have to.  For my family and for myself.”

Libra was as easy to attach to the Dolphin’s hull as Sagittarius.  Within minutes, the pair of jewels were side by side.  Olimar smiled.  He didn’t need the decorations for space flight, but he would have hated to leave the planet without Oddey and Posy’s presents.

Part of him wanted to go look for bomb-able walls, but a bigger part of him was ready for bed.  This wasn’t a hard day, but he had done a lot of walking.  The bombs would be fine here overnight.

“I shouldn’t push myself, should I?” Olimar asked no one in particular.

The baby stretched.  Squeakers and Current patted his stomach to feel the movement.  That was enough of an answer for him.

He stood in the center of the landing site and whistled his dismissal.  He was surprised but not concerned to see seven Pikmin stay with him, including the three regulars.  They happily went into the Dolphin with him.

After dinner, Olimar sat twirling his fingers on his belly.  He was still thinking about Posy, and the rest of his family too.  They were probably worried sick about him.

“You’ve been missing out on Oddey and Posy reading to you for awhile,” he said to the baby.  “And Rosie’s singing.  I’m sorry you aren’t getting to hear them.  I know you enjoy hearing their voices.”

His daughter reached for his hands and swatted at his touch.  Olimar smiled.

“Hey, I can sing for you!  Your Mama, brother, and sister don’t like my singing very much, but I think their taste in music just isn’t refined enough to appreciate my voice.  I’m sure you’ll like it.”

He cleared his throat for effect.  The Pikmin tilted their heads curiously.

“If you’ll be my star, I’ll be your sky.  You can hide underneath me and come out at night.  When I turn jet black, and you show off your light-“

His daughter interrupted him with a direct kick to the diaphragm that nearly knocked the wind out of him.  He doubled over and rubbed his stomach tenderly.

“The gene for bad taste in music must come from Rosie’s side…” he grumbled.

When he sat up straight, the Pikmin were gone.  He caught them standing on the other side of the cargo hold, their hands over the sides of their heads.

“Oh, so everyone is a critic now?” Olimar said.

The offense in his voice was fake.  Frankly, he thought it was funny that the Pikmin would forgive him for ending work days early, having them carry random objects, and accidentally getting members of their group killed, but not for having a suboptimal singing voice.

“How about I read my voyage log out loud to you, instead?” he asked the baby.

Her response was to stretch out her back before settling down.  Olimar smiled fondly and took out his data pad.  He began reading the entries to her in order.

When it was clear he wasn’t going to sing anymore, the Pikmin returned to listen.  Two of them snuggled right up against his side.  Squeakers set his hand on Olimar’s belly, feeling the baby’s happy kicks.

He reached the end of the logs and decided he’d better make a new one for the day.  He wasn’t sure what to write at first, because they hadn’t seen a new creature or discovered anything about the planet.

Then he remembered that one Yellow Pikmin who refused to pick up a bomb rock.  He could use today’s log for a little speculation.

“I previously believed that there were three kinds of Pikmin: leaders, caretakers, and ‘everyone else.’  Today, however, I encountered a Pikmin with distinct behavior.  He would not pick up a bomb rock like most Yellow Pikmin will.  This is a task even Saffron and Current will participate in.

“Whether this is a fourth classification within the group or merely a demonstration of individuality is unclear.  I find myself wondering if the other Pikmin have unique behaviors so subtle that I don’t notice them.”

Olimar looked at the Blue Pikmin leaning against him.  She wasn’t Squeakers, because he was on the other side.  He had received special attention from Pikmin other than his “caretakers” before.  Was this one always among them?

“You might even be the Pikmin who asked about my sonogram,” he said.  “If you were, I would never know…”

“Wewewoo,” she replied.

“The only way I would figure it out is if I wrote numbers on your leaves or something, and I’m afraid I don’t have time to track that…”

The baby interjected with a powerful kick.  It bumped the Blue Pikmin, who recoiled and stared at Olimar’s stomach with a bewildered look on her face.  He laughed so hard it made his sides hurt.

“Sorry about that, Pikmin!  She’s getting strong, and apparently quite rude.”

“Eepoo!” she replied.  It did not stop her from leaning against him again.

Olimar saved the voyage log and set the data pad to the side.  He settled under the covers and played with his daughter alongside the Pikmin until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Day 16 on Hocotate

Kooper arrived at the house for tea a little after noon.  He smiled when Rosie opened the door.

“Hello, Miss Rosie,” he said, doffing his hat.

“Hello, Miss Rosie!” his kids said.

“Hello, Kooper.  And hello, Sandy and Barry,” Rosie said with a warm smile.

Sandy was less than a year older than Posy, and Barry was two years younger than his sister.  They had known Rosie and Olimar’s kids for their entire lives.

Oddey and Posy had been subdued that morning.  It was sinking in how serious Olimar’s disappearance was.

When Barry and Sandy walked in, however, Posy snapped into play mode.  She greeted the pair gleefully and lead them away to her bedroom. 

The sounds of a wild toy dinosaur battle rose from the room minutes later.  Oddey glanced up from his video game for a brief moment, then went back to playing on his own.

Rosie set up the tea kettle and Kooper rummaged around for the cups.  He brought a brand new box of salted caramel tea for her and an exotic fruit blend from Koppai for himself.

“Supposedly it’s packed with that Piktamin U compound Koppaites need to eat,” he explained, “I just like the taste.”

“I tried the Piktamin U diet once, when it was really popular around here,” Rosie said.

“Did it do anything for you?”

“Not a thing.  I didn’t lose a single milligram!  I lost Olimar at dinnertime, though, because he wanted ‘solid food’ and not just fruit smoothies.  If Oddey had been old enough to eat anything but carrot juice, he probably would have protested, too!”

While they drank their tea, Kooper talked at length about his most recent expedition.  Rosie listened, enraptured.

“We found a whole new type of rock on the way to the site!  Robby, he’s the team’s geologist, said that he had never seen that particular composition of minerals before on any planet.  He wanted to call it ‘Robinite,’ and we couldn’t convince him otherwise!  

“And then we reached the actual ruins.  It was supposed to be a place of worship, but we were finding it to be more like a school.  A huge school where everyone took class in the same room.  There were books full of diagrams, notes, and other things that looked like students would use them.”

Kooper stopped talking and laughed.  “I’m sorry, Miss Rosie, I’m probably boring you to tears right now.”

“Oh no!”  Rosie shook her head.  “I’m fascinated by this stuff.  I just feel bad that I’m not as good of a conversation partner in these matters as Olimar would be…”

“Hah!  Olimar definitely doesn’t know enough about archaeology to make it a conversation.  He has helped me identify and understand a lot of creatures I see on my travels, though.”

“Have you ever seen giant slugs with fluff on their backs?” she asked, remembering what Yonny said.

“Yes, I have!  Those were friendly creatures.  And ‘giant’ is an accurate way to describe them.  They were the size of a bus!  Hold on, I think I have a picture…”

Kooper retrieved his data pad from his pocket and flipped through his picture gallery.  When he found the image, he held it up for Rosie to see.

“Wow!  They are huge!” she said.  “Who is that sitting on it?”

“That’s Boxter, one of my teammates.  He’s a little more adventurous than the rest of us!  According to him, the slugs’ fur was quite comfortable.”

“Do you think there’s any chance Olimar is on a planet with fuzzy slugs?”

Kooper was quiet a moment, thinking.  “I could say I hope so, because the slugs were nice, but they exclusively breathe methane gas, so Olimar wouldn’t be able to survive on such a planet without his space suit.  I mean, hopefully he has it, but if he didn’t…”

“I see…”  Rosie bowed her head.  “I’m sorry to bring the mood down, Kooper.  I’m just so worried about him.  Our baby is due tomorrow!  When I checked the calendar this morning, I saw the ‘Baby’s due date’ note and it felt like it was mocking me!”

Kooper reached across the table and set his hand on her arm.  “I came over to talk and listen.  If you need to get anything out, especially something you don’t want the kids to hear, you can say it to me.  I won’t tell a soul.”

She took hold of his hand and held it tight.  “I just… I don’t know if Olimar is still alive.  I’m trying to have hope, but what if he’s stuck on some lifeless, airless planet without the Dolphin?  I know enough about space travel to know he can’t eat inside his suit.  Oli wouldn’t last a week without food, not now.  If he isn’t eating, then it’s already too late…

“And he’s alone!  He’s never had a problem giving birth before, but he’s always had Dr. Maple in case there were complications, and he’s always had me.  This is probably silly, but I’m most worried about his hiding urge.  When Oddey and Posy were born, Oli climbed into my lap.  He was so frightened, but as soon as my arms were around him, he relaxed.  Dr. Maple said it was probably my familiar scent.  I soothed him when he needed me the most.

“What will he do if I’m not there?  I know most men are happy with a pillow or a blanket, but Oli’s always wanted me.  What happens if the hiding instinct isn’t satisfied?  Will he have the baby, but be terribly frightened the entire time?  Or will his body refuse to give birth if he doesn’t feel safe, leaving him suffering until it kills him?  I don’t know, and it terrifies me…”

She lowered her eyes.  Kooper squeezed her hand.

“I know.  And I’m sorry.”  He turned his head and stared out the window.  “Do you remember the day Olimar drove me to the hospital because my wife wasn’t home?”

Of course Rosie remembered that day.  Olimar was home for the week, using his accumulated vacation days to spend time with his family.

They had just returned from dropping Oddey off at school when the phone rang.  Olimar answered, while Rosie headed to the kitchen to start on the dishes.

She heard him say, “What’s wrong?” and came back.  His expression was worried.

“Yes I… hold on a second.”  Olimar covered the phone and said, “Kooper’s in labor and Kymma isn’t back from her business trip.  Do you mind if I take him to the hospital?”

Rosie gestured urgently to the door.  “Go go go!  Hurry!” she said.

“I’ll be right over,” he said into the phone.

Olimar came home three hours later.  He smiled and said that Kooper and Sandy were doing fine, and that was all Rosie ever heard of the situation.

“I remember.  Olimar didn’t tell me much, but I assumed what happened was between the two of you so I didn’t press,” Rosie told Kooper.

“Hah, that’s funny!  I wouldn’t have minded if he told you more,” he said.  “Well, I’ll fill in some blanks.  Kymma was on a two-day trip out of town for business.  She’d gotten a promotion, and I told her she had to go so her boss didn’t get angry with her.  She would have been back before my due date, but the baby didn’t want to wait that long.  When I figured out my contractions were the real deal, Kymma was on her way home.  She said she was four hours away.  I thought I could make it that long.  When it turned out I couldn’t, I called Olimar because my parents weren’t in the area yet and I… didn’t know who else to call.

“He didn’t just drive me to the hospital.  He stayed with me the entire time, keeping me comfortable and updating Kymma over the phone.  He was there to support me when I desperately needed someone.  When Kymma finally arrived, Olimar asked me if I wanted him to leave.  I begged him to stay.  It couldn’t have been ten minutes later that little Sandy was born.”

“I had no idea he was with you till the end,” Rosie said quietly.

“I couldn’t have done it without him.  Well, I could have, but it would have been the worst day of my life.  Olimar could probably use some support of his own right now…  What I’m saying is: I will go look for him in my ship.  I owe him that.”

“I understand.  The stars know I won’t try to stop you if your mind is set.”

Kooper smiled.  “I can’t leave right now, though, so let’s talk about something more hopeful.  Did you name the baby yet?”

Rosie’s tense body relaxed a little.  “Yes, Oli and I chose a name as soon as we found out she was a girl.  He picked, because I got to name Posy.”

“What did he pick?”

“Kooper!  You know it’s bad luck to share a baby’s name before they’re born!”

“I know!  I’m teasing.”  He sipped his tea.  “Is it a good name?”

“I think it’s a good one, or I wouldn’t have agreed to it.”

“Of course, of course.  What letter does it start with?”

“So, how is Kymma doing?  She got another promotion recently, right?”

“Haha!  Yes, she’s the senior manager at her company now.”

Posy and Sandy suddenly ran into the room waving dinosaur toys in the air.

“Run!  Run!” Sandy yelled.

Barry came through the doorway with one of the predatory dinosaurs.

“You can’t get away from us!” he shouted.

Oddey appeared beside him, holding his own dinosaur.

“We’re going to eat you up!” he said.

They charged after the girls.  Bulbie brought up the rear, barking at the excitement.

“So much for a relaxing tea time!” Rosie said.

“Yeah,” Kooper said.  “Want to join them?  It’ll do you good.”

She considered a moment, then set down her nearly empty tea cup.  “Yes, let’s play with some toy dinosaurs.”

They went into Posy’s room and each took a dinosaur for themselves.  Posy and Sandy were circling back.  Rosie jumped out in front of them and yelled, “Ambush!”

The girls screamed.  Barry skidded to a stop and waved his dinosaur threateningly.

“And from the rear, too!” he shouted.

“You can’t escape us!” Oddey said.

“I’ll get you with my… Posy, what is this dinosaur called again?” Rosie asked.

“Papa said that was a Balogacephalophus,” Posy said.

“Um… One more time?”

“It’s a Balogacephalophus,” Kooper said.  “And mine is a Pagosaurus.”

“Who names these creatures?”

“Paweatologists!” Barry exclaimed.

“Never mind, I’ll roll with it.”

They chased each other around the house until Rosie and Kooper ran out of energy.  They sat in the kitchen chairs to catch their breath.  Bulbie lasted a few minutes longer before he flopped on the ground at Rosie’s feet, panting.  The kids carried on without them.  

Eventually they wore themselves out.  Barry stood at Kooper’s heel and held his arms up to be carried.  Kooper obliged with a smile.  It took about seven seconds for Barry to fall asleep with his nose tucked under Kooper’s chin.

“I guess that means playtime is done,” he said.

“I think so,” Rosie said.  “Kids, will you put your toys back into the box?”

“Yes, Mama!” Posy and Oddey said.

They ran into the other room.

“You can help too, Sandy,” Kooper said.

“Yes, Dad,” she replied.

The cleanup was more subdued than the dinosaur battle, now that everyone was tired.  When they were done, they returned to their parents.