This is for that contest. In all honesty, I would care less if I miss the deadline (I'm more worried about medical work) so I want to write about the forgotten characters

Ganondorf takes a cold sip of water from his cup. He just lost to his rival, Link, in sudden death. He is not angry as he knows that when it starts to rain bom-ombs, he is doomed.

The tourney for this month is having Link reign supreme. Considering the last tourney Link won was before Roy left, Ganondorf see no reason why Link couldn't win.

He stops when he sees a red plant with a leaf just wandering about. He looks up to see the space man know as Captain Olimar.

While Ganondorf isn't the most sociable person (the only conversation he could actually have is with either Link or Zelda oddly enough) he is curious. He knows those creatures, which are pikmin, follow his orders without question, but he doesn't know anything beyond that. Grunting, the King of Evil shuffles to Olimar's side…which surprises the astronaut.

"Oh, Ganondorf! What an expected surprise!" Olimar whispered to Ganondorf's earshot.

Ganon remembers that Olimar is supposed to fight Link in the final round. He could imagine his eternal enemy, and sometimes ally, training relentlessly. Compared to the Hero of Time (or was it Twilight? Even Ganondorf himself is not sure anymore) he doesn't think much of this 'captain'.

"May I inquire what you are doing?" asked Ganon politely.

"Erm…it's a little rude of me…but right now, I'm observing Bowser." replied Olimar.

"Bowser?" Ganondorf poke his head out of the bush a little bit to see the Koopa Kiing sharpening his claws. "Why would you be studying him? Your opponent is going to be Link."

"To be honest, I'm not really into fighting very much. I would rather do exploring than training. Also, Bowser is just full of mysteries."

Ah, so that is why Ganondorf doesn't Olimar very much, yet another question pops his mind.

"Why study about Bowser? All you really need to know is that he is the King of Koopas." said Ganon.

Olimar's antenna perks up, as if he can't wait to tell somebody. "Actually, that may not be true."

"Hm? Care to explain?"

"Of course, of course. When I visited the Mushroom Kingdom, I was able to do some research on the inhabitants. I studied the goombas, bom-ombs, piranha plants, toads, shy guys, and the koopas themselves." explained Olimar "And I suddenly realized that perhaps Bowser isn't part of the koopa species."

"What? How can you be sure?" asked Ganondorf curiously.

"I can tell you why my hypothesis holds water…it is because the other koopas don't have pyrosis (ability to use fire)." said Olimar.

"It could be just a genetic mutation." replied Ganondorf.

"I thought so too, so I am researching into this a bit further." admitted Olimar "However, I noted that the spikes on the shell are unique only to Bowser. Not to mention he exceeds the height of a large koopa, which is 190 cm, while Bowser himself is 255 cm."

Ganondorf is rather impressed by Olimar's insight. He never put much thought into it, but the spaceman did made a few good points.

"You know, I had never thought of you as the exploring type." chuckled Ganondorf.

"Yeah, I didn't think so too. I guess being crash landed into a planet could really do wonders for you." chuckled Olimar.

"…Excuse me?"

"Er…it's a long story…let's just say the reason I discovered the pikmins is because I crash landed on their planet."

"…How bad was your situation?"

"Er…looked pretty hopeless because: my ship was almost destroyed, there were wild beasts ready to feast on me, and my life support system would only last for 30 days at max." said Olimar.

Ganondorf is speechless. In a situation like that, one could easily die out of fear…even if you have an army of these carrot creatures.

"Weren't you afraid?" asked Ganondorf curiously.

Olimar could only laugh as he says, "I was…until Day…10…no, I think it was 12...that I stopped being afraid of dying and truly appreciate the world I was in." Olimar glances at the pikmin who are play fighting "In all honesty, if it weren't for the pikmins, I would never have discovered my adventurous spirit."

Ganondorf could only nod by this information.

"To be honest, I'm not even a hero. I never went out to save the world or something. All I can truly do is research the specimen for future explorers." said Olimar.

There is a long silence between the two colleagues only to be broken by Bowser's sneezing. Ganonodrf stands up and walks away.

But not without saying something…

"This might sound strange coming from me but," Ganondorf turns around to the explorer "you're a lot braver than people think…Captain Olimar."

Olimar continues to observe Bowser, but is pondering on why would the King of Evil would say such a thing.

The Next Day…

Link and Olimar have both took critical damage. At this point, the next attack could determine the match.

Link has first and second degree burn from being scorched and electrocuted, his epidermal is starting to swell, and he tasted bad soup.

Olimar has several slash marks all over his body. He could conceivably see that Link has the upper hand. He had only gotten this far because of his pikmin. Exhausted, Olimar figures there is no harm in forfeiting at this point. That is until he hears that statement…

You're a lot braver than people think…

Olimar clenches his fist and perks up his antenna. He does what no one would expect him to do.

Run straight to Link.

Link is momentarily confused, but gets ready with his sword and positions his legs. He bends his knees, ready to strike at the last second.

Olimar keeps running, holding onto the plump violet pikmin in his hand, with five other pikmin running with him.

Link, with the instincts he honed as a warrior, jumps over the violet pikmin and is about to do the jump attack.

However, he didn't expect Olimar to be very cunning.

At the moment Link jumped, Olimar rolled underneath him, grabbed the violet pikmin, and tosses it to his foe's backside. This only succeeds in bringing Link down.

Link struggles at getting back up as he feels another 10 km of weight is put on his back. He soon feels being electrocuted, bashing, and that strange soup.

Olimar looks at the red pikmin as he picks it up. He sees Link getting up, using the sword as support. With all his might, he throws the red pikmin at a high enough velocity to knock Link off the stage.

When the match got over and done with, Olimar lies on the floor exhausted, thinking…

"I should visit Hyrule next. It would be fascinating to study their diverse civilization."

Yup, thus is my one shot. If you wish to see more, drop in a review. In all honesty, I don't care much about prizes.

Also about the conversation on Bowser…I seriously doubt he is part of the koopa family.