My second Pikmin fanfic. Hope you enjoy it. I actually wrote this one in my German class. That was one interesting language lesson. Writing an English fanfic in a Swedish school during German class where we use a Finish text book. I can only hope I didn't write anything in German or something...

Please read and review!

:)

A Night in the Wild

Another day was nearing its end. Olimar looked at the sun slowly sinking toward the horizon. He checked his watch before whistling the Pikmin over. He then turned to Louie and motioned him to come too. As soon as the Pikmin reached him, he did a quick headcount, as usual, to make sure they weren't leaving any behind.

25 reds, 20 yellows, 15 blues, 20 purples, 20 whites and Louie. All accounted for, then. He whistled the Pikmin and motioned Louie to follow him.

"We had a pretty good day today" he told Louie, who was walking quietly next to him. "But we only have about half an hour to get back to the Ship before it gets dark. We can get the rest of the treasures tomorrow." This day the duo had found a long canyon path. Near the end they found a lot of hard to reach treasure. They had managed to get five of them, but there were sill four left.

Louie glanced at him and nodded, not saying anything, as usual. It didn't really bother Olimar after he got used to it. Apparently Louie was a quiet person. He checked his watch again. 20 minutes left, and he could already see the Ship and the Onions.

Before leaving for the day, Olimar decided to do another headcount, just in case. Louie was there, and so were 20 whites, 20 purples, 15 blues, 20 yellows and 13 reds. Wait... 13 reds? He counted them again, and yes, there were only 13 reds. He quickly turned to Louie, who was getting ready to leave.

"Louie! We're missing 12 reds! Let's go get them before we leave." He whistled the remaining Pikmin so they would go back to their Onions. He was about to leave when he noticed Louie hadn't moved.

"Do we have time?" Louie asked. His eyes darted between the Ship, Olimar and the wilderness. "What if we get stuck here?" He seemed uncertain and slightly worried. This was the first time he had questioned what Olimar said. Maybe he was worried about going against his superior.

"They can't be that far away" Olimar tried to calm Louie down. He gave him a smile and motioned with his hand. "They were with us when we left the canyon, so they must be somewhere between here and the entrance. They probably stopped to look at something shiny, and fell behind."

This seemed to reassure Louie, since he relaxed slightly and walked up yo Olimar. They then went to find the 12 missing Pikmin.

It didn't take long to find the Pikmin. They were all huddled around a shiny rock just a few feet into the canyon. The rock was quite beautiful, very smooth and a nice deep red colour. The Pikmin seemed to have missed them, making happy squeaking noises when they saw Olimar and Louie approach. When Olimar whistled them over, they all ran over happily. Olimar turned to Louie, smiling.

"See? Didn't take that long, did it? We still have time to get back to the Ship." About seven minutes, he noticed after checking his watch. Louie didn't say anything, but smiled slightly and nodded, apparently relieved.

"All right, let's go!" They turned around to get back to the Ship, only to find themselves face to face with a Bulborb. Well, actually it stood several feet away, but it was blocking their way to the Ship. And it didn't look like it was going to let them pass. Olimar glanced at Louie.

"Ready to take it on?" He saw Louie nod. He looked slightly nervous, but didn't seem like he was going to run away. He glanced at the red Pikmin. "Are you ready?" Their answer was a chorus of squeals full of determination.

"Right then" He grabbed one of the Pikmin and threw it on top of the Bulborb, where it latched on and started attacking it. Louie joined in on the throwing and soon all 12 Pikmin were on the creature's back, attacking it.

The Bulborb roared in pain and charged forward, without even bothering to shake off the Pikmin first. It was aiming for Olimar and Louie.

"Look out!" Olimar yelled at Louie, before they both threw themselves out of the way to avoid being crushed against the canyon wall. The force of the Bulborb crashing into the wall caused the whole thing to tremble. Olimar looked up just in time to see some big rocks fall from the top. He franticly whistled the Pikmin to get away, while grabbing Louie's arm and dragging him away. They barely had enough time to get away when a ton of rocks landed on top of the Bulborb, crushing it. As well as blocking their way back to the Ship.

Olimar slowly got up, before pulling Louie to his feet, while checking both of them for injuries. It seemed they both were fine. At least until he noticed Louie wasn't putting any weigh on his left foot.

"Are you okay?" He asked, even though he could already guess the answer. He noticed Louie swaying a bit unsteadily on one leg, so he grabbed his arm to help him stay up. Louie took a moment to look down at his left ankle before looking up at Olimar.

"Hurts" he muttered in a small voice. Olimar nodded, having already figured that much. He would have to check if it was broken or just sprained. He also checked the Pikmin and did a quick headcount. Miraculously, all 12 were still there, looking at him and Louie with their big eyes.

His attention was brought back to Louie who tugged at his sleeve. "What is it?" He asked. Was Louie hurt somewhere else, too? Louie didn't say anything, he just pointed to the sky with a panicked look on his face. When Olimar looked to where he was pointing, he too felt scared.

The Ship and the Onions had just left the surface of the planet, rising into the sky to take cover from the night time creatures.

They were stuck for the night.

"Well..." Olimar started. "I guess we're staying here for the night." He turned to Louie, who was staring at him with big, frightened eyes. He gave him a pat on the arm and what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He then turned to the Pikmin and whistled them to get their attention.

"We need to find a safe place for the night" He wasn't sure how much they understood, but it was worth a try. Normally they seemed to like it when he talked to them or praised them for a job well done. "A small cave or something similar. Could you find something like that?" They all squealed and nodded with enthusiasm. They then spread out, seemingly investigating the canyon walls. Apparently they understood at least something of what he said. Now to the other matter at hand.

Olimar spotted a rock behind Louie and motioned to it.

"Could you sit down so I can check on your ankle?" Louie nodded, and hopped over to the rock. Olimar sat down in front of Louie and started checking his ankle. "Tell me if it hurts" he told Louie, who nodded again, looking down at Olimar curiously. Olimar started feeling around Louie's ankle. He tried to be careful and even though Louie didn't say anything, his foot twitched sometimes in pain. He was almost certain Louie was also biting his tongue or something to keep himself from yelping in pain. He was done after just a few minutes, and got up again.

"Just sprained, not broken. It'll be fine in a couple of days." Louie seemed to like the news, but still looked a bit concerned, like he wasn't completely sure. Olimar noticed this and chuckled slightly, shaking his head.

"I have two children. I know the difference between a sprained and a broken ankle. Trust me." Well, his daughter wasn't so much of an adventurer as to get injured, but his son was another story. He loved running and climbing, and had taken a tumble more than once.

They were interrupted by one of the Pikmin squeaking loudly to get their attention. It had found a small hole in a cracked wall. If there was a small cave behind there, it might be a good place to stay the night. He whistled the other Pikmin so they could help with the digging.

He turned to Louie, who was staring off into nothing, apparently lost in thought. He tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Come on. Let's go see if the cave the Pikmin found is safe enough to stay the night in." At Louie's nod, he grabbed his arm and pulled him up. He pulled Louie's left arm and pulled it around his shoulders, while his own right arm went around Louie's waist to support him. Unfortunately, Louie seemed rather unwilling to move at all by himself. He just put all his weigh on Olimar as if expecting him to carry him. Sure, he was kind of skinny, but still way too heavy for Olimar to carry. Not to mention his heigh making it even more difficult. Olimar grunted slightly as he tried to stay up with all of Louie's weigh on him.

"Louie, you have to help me here. I can't carry you, you're too heavy." Louie complied, taking some of his weigh of Olimar. Soon they slowly made their way to the small cave the Pikmin had dug out in the wall. He nodded at the Pikmin when they turned their attention from their dig to him.

"Good job" he told them. Then he and Louie made their way into the cave, the Pikmin following them. The cave was very small, with barely enough space for the two Hocotatians and 12 Pikmin. Olimar noticed a big, flat stone that could be used to block the entrance, to prevent any of the night-time creatures from getting to them. He helped Louie down to the floor in a somewhat comfortable position that wouldn't put any strain on his injured leg.

After that, he pushed the stone in front of the entrance, making the cave completely dark. After a few moments of scuffling he managed to find the small flash light in one of his space suit pockets. When he found it, he went and sat down on the floor as well. In the small space he sat down on Louie's right side, so he wouldn't accidentally hurt the sprained ankle in case he moved around if he managed to fall asleep.

He soon noticed Louie digging around his own pockets to find his flash light. As soon as he found it, Olimar told him

"Don't turn it on. Better save it in case mine runs out of energy." Louie nodded and put it down next to him. Olimar shifted a bit, trying to get somewhat comfortable. He didn't succeed very well.

"Well, this wont be the best night." he offhandedly commented to Louie. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he should try talking to Louie. Maybe because he was looking so sad , lost and hurt. And maybe because it was Olimar's fault they were trapped here. If only he had kept a better eye on the Pikmin, or if he hadn't told Louie to come with him. Yhen at least Louie would be safe.

But, no. This wasn't the time to think about what ifs. Focus on something else, he told himself.

"Sleeping in these suits on the ground won't be very comfortable." He paused a moment to think about what else he could say. "We don't have any food, either"

As if protesting against the lack of food, Louie's stomach chose this moment to growl loudly. Louie ducked his head to hide his blush, making Olimar laugh.

"How about we eat double rations tomorrow, to make up for not eating tonight?" He saw Louie nod happily, before yawning. The childish way he tried to cover it up by turning over so his back was facing Olimar, made him chuckle slightly. It was somewhat endearing, the sometimes childlike way Louie acted. It also somewhat reminded him of his own children, how they would try not to yawn or show they were tired, so they could stay up a bit longer.

"Guess we better try to get some sleep, huh?" After he saw Louie slightly nod, he turned his attention to the Pikmin. They were scuffling slightly, already mostly asleep. They were all huddled up around each other, as well as around Olimar and Louie. When Olimar moved his arm slightly, one of them curled up to his side with a content sigh. They were quite adorable, huddled around each other, snoring softly.

Olimar closed his eyes, trying to relax and get some sleep. There were still many hours left until sunrise...

*****End*****

A few things

First, I know several of the things in this fanfic aren't actually possible in the game. I just did it anyway. I don't think there is any area in Pikmin 2 that is like what I described in this story. But whatever, right?

Second, I know in the game, it isn't possible for the captains to get left behind. But the Ship is kind of a jerk in Pikmin 2, so I can totally imagine it flying off without Olimar and Louie, because it's afraid to get attacked and dented by the night time creatures or something.

Third, this is my second Pikmin fanfic, and in both I have hurt Louie in some way and then have Olimar help him. Maybe I like hurt!Louie and Olimar helping him? Olimar just seems like the type of person who cares about everyone. Maybe I should try a fanfic where Olimar is hurt and Louie has to help him?

Anyway, please tell me what you think!

Thanks!